The wedding took place in a Birmingham hotel. The bride and her father arrived in a new black American sports car. Her father looked nervous and uncomfortable in front of the cameras. The bride wore a silk wedding dress. She smiled nervously at the waiting photographers and went to a room on the first floor where she met her future husband for the very first time.
Carla Germaine and Greg Cordell were the winners of a radio station’s competition. The aim of the competition was to find two strangers prepared to marry without having met each other. Miss Germaine, 23, is a model. Mr. Cordell, 27, is a TV salesman. They were among the two hundred people who entered for a peculiar “experiment” organized by BMRB radio in Birmingham, England. Greg and Carla were among eight finalists who were interviewed live on radio. They took a lie detector test and the station also spoke to their friends and family about their personalities. The competition judges included an astrologer (占星家) who declared that they were suited.
The couple celebrated their wedding with a wedding breakfast and a party for 100 guests in the evening, but not everyone shared their joy. Miss Germaine’s mother looked anxious throughout the wedding and Mr. Cordell’s parents are reported to be less than delighted.
Organizations, including the marriage guidance service relate, have criticized the marriage. As one person put it, “we have enough problems getting young people to take marriage seriously without this. Marriage should always be about love.”
The couples are now on a Caribbean honeymoon followed by journalists. Their other prizes include a year’s free use of a wonderful apartment in the centre of Birmingham, and a car. But will it last?What can we know about the couple from the passage?
| A．The couple know each other before the wedding. |
| B．The bridegroom is a model and the bride is a TV salesman. |
| C．The bride is 4 years older than the bridegroom. |
| D．The couple can use an apartment free for some time as one of the prizes. |
Some experts believe that ______ .
| A．marriage without the couple’s meeting each other first ends up in divorce. |
| B．young people nowadays are too careless about marriage |
| C．taking a lie detector test can not solve all the marriage problems |
| D．most young people take marriage seriously except this couple |
The goal of the competition was_______.
| A．to find two strangers prepared to marry without having met each other |
| B．to win a free honeymoon |
| C．to win a year’s free use of a wonderful apartment |
| D．to make the radio station famous |
Which of the following is the best title of the passage?
| A．Two Strangers and a Wedding | B．A Wedding Based on Love |
| C．A Short-lived Marriage | D．A Well-Matched Couple |
When Cathleen Gardiner’s twins were born 17 years ago, doctors told her that they were a pair in a million. One had Down syndrome(低能综合症), while the other did not. Here, Cathleen tells their touching story.
Since Sean was born 17 years ago, I have always thought that he is just as wonderful as his brother and sister. Though he had a disability(残疾), we have never viewed him as a burden. He has always been a blessing. The doctors explained that though they were twins, they came from two different eggs. Lisa could walk at 11 months old, while Sean didn’t take his first steps till he was three. By two, Lisa was talking a lot, but Sean wasn’t able to speak until he was nearly four.
For the first five years of his life, Sean needed a great deal of care. Looking after him was my full-time job, though I also worked as a technical adviser in a computing company. We never treated them differently. We gave them the same toys and spoke to them in the same way. We encouraged Sean to keep up with Lisa, even though he never could, and we would help him develop his abilities. We sent them to the same primary school even after doctors advised us that Sean should go to a school for the disabled.
We had to explain to Lisa that he wouldn’t learn as quickly as she would. She told us that she’d help him with his school work. Having a non-disabled twin has really helped Sean develop. The love they share has given him a great deal of support. Now Sean and Lisa are both about to finish high school. I don’t think he would have done nearly as well today without Lisa’s help.At least how many children does Mrs. Gardiner have?
| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Four. | D．One. |
Mrs. Gardiner and her husband regarded Sean as _______.
| A．a boy making others touched | B．a normal child without disabilities |
| C．a special gift | D．a burden of their family |
The third paragraph mainly tells us that _______.
| A．the couple treated the twins equally |
| B．Cathleen did all she could to look after Sean |
| C．the couple didn’t follow the doctor’s advice |
| D．the couple encouraged Sean to grow up |
This passage tells us that _________.
| A．love can do wonders | B．nobody is foolish or clever |
| C．being stupid doesn’t matter | D．all men are born equal |
Carrot juice, because of its many healthy benefits, is commonly called the "magic juice". It has been found that adding carrot juice to people’s diets greatly improves their health. And its delicious taste makes it popular with all members of the family as a beverage.
Carrot juice is one of the richest sources of vitamin A that can be used in the daily diet. Lack (缺乏) of vitamin A can cause dryness and damage to the skin, nails and hair. Drinking carrot juice to increase the vitamin A in the diet is said to be good for many parts of the body, including the bones and teeth.
Drinking carrot juice is thought to be extremely helpful to the liver (肝脏), because vitamin A helps to clean the liver and reduce fat in it. And it is suggested that drinking carrot juice should be done regularly, rather than just from time to time.
Drinking carrot juice is also thought to improve the eyesight because of the vitamin A in the juice. Lack of vitamin A can lead to night blindness, which can be very dangerous, especially when the person is driving a car. An easy way to find out if you are lacking in vitamin A is to walk from a bright room into a dark room. Your eyes may have some trouble in getting used to the change of light if you are lacking in vitamin A.
How can you make carrot juice? Wash some carrots well in cold water. Scrape (刮) them lightly, but do not peel them, as this will take away valuable vitamins and minerals that lie close to the skin. Lack of vitamin A can lead to _____.
| A．skin dryness | B．broken bones |
| C．complete blindness | D．liver cancer |
According to the passage, carrot juice ______.
| A．is popular because it is a magic cure for many diseases |
| B．does a lot of good to the teeth and other parts of the body |
| C．can wash away the waste from the body |
| D．may be harmful to the body if it’s drunk too much |
We can learn from the fourth paragraph that _____.
| A．drinking carrot juice helps to protect your eyesight |
| B．driving cars at night may lead to night blindness |
| C．walking from a bright room into a dark room may lead to night blindness |
| D．you will find it easy to get used to the change of light if you lack vitamin A |
Which would be the best title for this passage?
| A．Tips on How to Make Carrot Juice |
| B．The Way to Keep Good Health |
| C．The Great Benefits of Carrot Juice |
| D．A Healthy Diet for Patients |
In March 1987, I started a new magazine called Creating Excellence. It was a very proud moment for me. I’d worked hard for over a year to create it, and the premiere issue (首次发刊) was a real success.
Shortly after we mailed 25,000 copies, I received one in the mail. But this one wasn’t as beautiful as the ones we’d sent out. It was marked in red ink correcting the grammatical errors (语法错误) in it. A talented editor had read the issue carefully and found more errors than I could have imagined.
I felt abashed. A magazine called Creating Excellence should be perfect in its content (内容). The stories were good, but the errors this woman had found showed that we were far from being excellent.
At first, I was upset with my editor for not having caught more mistakes, and also upset with the woman who seemed to have taken pleasure in pointing them out. Later, I was upset with myself for not having employed a better editor.
Then I realized that I had to face up to my mistakes. I called the woman who had shown me that we were not so excellent. I thanked her for taking the time to read our magazine so carefully. As painful as it was, I accepted responsibility for it.
Then I offered her the job of editing our publication. The result was a great improvement in it; we could now be very proud of our magazine.
From this I learnt that an upsetting moment could be an opportunity to see the truth, and accepting responsibility could help to prevent one making the same mistakes for a second time, and to make "excellence" a reality.From the first paragraph we learn that _____.
| A．the author put little effort into his first magazine |
| B．the author’s job was selling magazines |
| C．the author was very satisfied with his work |
| D．the author experienced a total failure |
What does the underlined word "abashed" mean?
| A．excited. | B．embarrassed. | C．interested. | D．exhausted. |
What do we learn about the woman who had found the errors in the magazine?
| A．She was causing trouble on purpose. |
| B．She liked pointing out the errors of others. |
| C．She contributed a lot to the success of the premiere issue. |
| D．She ended up joining the magazine. |
What do we learn from this passage?
| A．Pride is the biggest enemy of success. |
| B．Success is behind many failures. |
| C．Picking holes in something can help you find a job. |
| D．Accepting responsibility for one’s errors can lead to real excellence. |
Have you ever heard of blogs (博客)? If you haven’t, you should have. It’s here, it’s growing and it’s having an influence on our life. Surf the Internet and you’ll find blogs everywhere. A blog, shortened from “weblog”, is a public Internet journal written by one person or a group of people. It is a website in which a person or a group can place news, personal thoughts, text, photos, video or audio files, or links upon which visitors can comment. A blog lets you post on the Internet without having to know web design or be technical. You are given an environment to make dated entries on the topic of your choice which are “published”, so other people can read them.
Authoring a blog, maintaining a blog or adding an article to an existing blog is called “blogging”. Blogging has revolutionized Internet publishing in the last several years because it gives everyone with Internet access the opportunity to become an online writer. Objects, such as “text and photos” in a blog can be called “blog posts”, “posts”, or “entries”. The person who posts these entries is called a “blogger”.
Now, somewhere around the world, a blog is created almost every 6 seconds. Because it’s great potential, Bill Gates views it as important as e-mail, BBS, and MSN. He’s trying to make blogs the important tools for future business communications.A blog is .
| A．a comment | B．an Internet journal | C．a design | D．a link |
A person can do the following things in a blog EXCEPT _______.
| A．talk to others | B．give comments | C．read articles | D．enjoy photos |
Who is a blogger?
| A．A person who posts letters. |
| B．A person who writes articles. |
| C．A person who posts text or photos in a blog. |
| D．A person who is an online publisher. |
From the passage we know that .
| A．Bill Gates will invent some tools for blogs |
| B．blogs will be an important business communication tool in the future |
| C．so far, only a few persons have created blogs |
| D．blogs will replace e-mail, BBS and MSN in the future |
According to the passage, the reason why blogs are so popular is that they ____.
| A．give everyone the chance to be an online writer |
| B．can be created by people without much knowledge of computer technology |
| C．enable a blogger to place news, personal thoughts, text and photos and give comments |
| D．all of the above |
To find how the name Canada came about we must go back to the 16th century. At that time, the French dreamed of disclosing and controlling more land, of expanding(扩展)trade beyond(超出) their borders and of spreading their faith(信仰) across the world .In 1535, Francois I ,King of France, ordered a navigator (航海家) named Jacques Cartier to explore(探险) the New World and search for a passage to India.
Cartier first arrived at the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, which he wanted to explore. He did not know what to expect but he hoped that this Gulf was just an arm of the ocean between two islands. If it was, he would soon be on his way to the Far East. So he sailed upstream along the St. Lawrence River. However, insteadorreaching Asia he arrived at QuebecorStadacona, as the Indians called it. It was at this point that the term “ Canada” entered the country’s history. Apparently the word “Canada” came from an Indian work “Kanata”, which means communityorvillage. Cartier first used it when he referred to StadaconaorQuebec. What a huge “ village” Canada is!In the early sixteenth century , the King of France ordered Cartier to ______
| A． find the new world |
| B． build an entirely new country |
| C． go and visit the American Indians |
| D． get more information about America and find a way to Asia |
Having reached the Gulf of St. Lawrence Cartier thought _____
| A． he had already got to India |
| B． it was a water way to the New World |
| C． it was a water passage to the East |
| D． he had sailed into the Atlantic |
In the early sixteenth century , Quebec was only ____.
| A． an Indian village |
| B． a little town in southern Canada |
| C． a village at the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence |
| D． the place which we call Canada now |
Pick out the right statements from the following _____
| A． Quebec was a village and Stadacona was another |
| B． Cartier mistook Quebec for Stadacona |
| C． Stadacona was a village in Quebec |
| D． Stadacona was what the Indians called Quebec then |
“Canada” was first used to refer to _____
| A． a small town in Stadacona |
| B． the place called Quebec |
| C． a long water passage |
| D． a huge village including Quebec and Stadacona |