I fell in love with the minister's son the winter I turned fourteen. He was not Chinese. For Christmas I prayed for the boy, Robert. When I found out that my parents had invited the minister's family over for Christmas Eve dinner, I cried in panic. What would Robert think of our shabby Chinese Christmas? What would he think of our noisy Chinese relatives who lacked proper American manners?
On Christmas Eve, my mother created abundant Chinese food. And then they arrived—the minister's family and all my relatives. Robert greeted hello, and I pretended he was not worthy of existence.
Dinner threw me deeper into disappointment. My relatives licked (舔) the ends of their chopsticks and reached across the table. Robert and his family waited patiently for a large plate to be passed to them. My relatives murmured with pleasure when my mother brought out the whole steamed fish. Robert made a face. Then my father reached his chopsticks just below the fish eye and picked out the soft meat. “Amy, your favorite，” he said, offering me the tender fish cheek. I wanted to disappear.
At the end of the meal, my father leaned back and burped (打嗝) loudly, thanking my mother for her fine cooking. “It's a polite Chinese custom to show you are satisfied，” explained my father to our astonished guests. Robert was looking down at his plate with a reddish face. The minister managed to bring up a quiet burp. I was shocked into silence for the rest of the night.
After everyone had gone, my mother said to me, “You want to be the same as American girls on the outside.” She handed me an early gift. It was a miniskirt. “But inside you must always be Chinese. You must be proud that you are different. Your only shame is to have shame.”
It was not until years later that I was able to fully appreciate her lesson and the purpose behind her particular menu. For Christmas Eve that year, she had chosen excellent Chinese food.When the writer found out the minister's family would come for Christmas Eve dinner, she cried mainly because ________.
| A．she worried about their shabby Chinese Christmas |
| B．she worried about their Chinese relatives lacking American manners |
| C．she worried about being laughed at |
| D．she worried about meeting the minister's family |
What does “he was not worthy of existence” probably mean? It means ________.
| A．he should not exist |
| B．he was worthless |
| C．the writer was not interested in his existence |
| D．the writer expected his coming |
The dinner threw the writer deeper into disappointment mainly because ________.
| A．she childishly expected all of them to act in the same way as Americans did at table |
| B．her father reached his chopsticks to pick fish for her |
| C．her father leaned back and burped loudly |
| D．her relatives licked the ends of their chopsticks |
We can infer from the passage that ________.
| A．the writer appreciated her mother's lesson years later |
| B．the mother prepared to show Chinese different food culture |
| C．the writer must be proud that she is different |
| D．the minister's family really enjoyed the food |
Last year, a report by a committee of education experts said that a lot of American students cannot write well. The report noted the concerns of business leaders and teachers. The experts said that more students should have to pass a writing test before they can finish high school. They pointed out that major college entrance tests are changing now to include a writing part.
Educators know that teaching students to write well is not easy. One problem is the amount of time needed to read through large amounts of work. So some companies have developed computer programs. These can grade student writing much more quickly than a person can. Writing tests can also cost less to carry out by computer than paper-and-pencil. These computer systems are known as e-readers. They use artificial (人工的) intelligence to think in a way like teachers. In the state of Indiana, computer grading of a statewide writing test began with a test of the system itself. For two years, both a computer and humans graded the student writing. Officials say there was almost no difference between the computer grades and those given by the human readers.
The entrance test commonly used by business schools, the GMAT, already uses e-readers. The GRE and TOEFL tests might start; officials are deciding. The GRE is the Graduate Record Examination. TOEFL is the Test of English as a Foreign Language.
Systems are also being used to grade writing in college classes. The computers read a few hundred examples of student writing already graded by humans. Then the systems compare new writings against those already examined.
How do teachers feel all about this? Many say machines can never do the job as well as people can. A computer can find spelling and grammar mistakes. But these teachers say it can never really understand what a writer is trying to say. Critics say a program cannot follow a thought or judge humor or understand a beautifully expressed idea.
But inventors of the programs say computer grading guarantees that each piece of writing is graded in the same way. They also say the systems are meant to judge knowledge more than creativity.What do the teachers think of the computer system?
| A．They think highly of the computer systems. |
| B．They think that computers cannot grade writing as well as people. |
| C．They believe that computers can understand a writer’s idea well |
| D．They are glad computers will spare their effort to correct students’ school work. |
From the first paragraph we can conclude that _________.
| A．American students’ writing ability is being improved |
| B．American students’ writing ability is not satisfactory |
| C．business leaders and teachers are not worried about students’ writing |
| D．all college entrance tests will include a writing part |
Which of the following is NOT the advantage of e-readers?
| A．Saving much of teachers’ time. | B．Saving a lot of money. |
C．Being fair and objective. | D．Appreciating humor and beauty |
The best title of this passage might be _________.
| A．Computer-graded Writing | B．Human-graded Writing |
| C．How to Improve Students’ Writing | D．Advantages of E-readers |
More than three years after moving from Australia to this remote part of England, we are still learning how things are done here.
Not too long after we arrived and unpacked, we were invited for “a drink on Sunday morning” by a retired couple nearby. We got there about noon, to find the living-room crowded — lots of chat and discussions, and in all a very jolly occasion.
Trouble was, there was no food — no self-respecting Australian would regard a tray of crisps as food. In Sydney, when you are invited for a drink any time after midday on a Sunday, you know you will be fed as well as watered and you plan accordingly. Meaning the hardworked little woman makes no plans to cook lunch because you are eating out.
By one-fifteen my stomach was sending up “please explain” to me. Even the crisps had gone. There was nothing we could do except wait, and wonder if the hostess was going to perform some magic and feed us fashionably late. Then, as quickly as if word had spread that there was free beer at the local pub, the room emptied. By one-forty-five there were only a few guests left, so we decided to go home. Tinned soup for lunch that day because the little woman was not really interested in real cooking for us.
A few weeks ago we were invited out for “supper” and the hostess suggested 8:15. Ah, we thought greedily, “this is going to be the real thing.”
We dressed with some care — I putting on a dark suit — and arrived on time. My wife looked pretty good, I thought, a little black dress and so on. But when we walked in I had a terrible feeling we had got the night wrong because the hostess was dressed in a daytime kind of way and the husband was in jeans and an open-neck shirt. But no, we were greeted and shown into the sitting-room.
After a drink I looked around and saw that this was indeed a superior cottage because it had a (more or less) separate dining-room. But there were no signs of a table-setting. Not again! I thought. Were we meant to eat before we came? I decided that in future my wife and I would always carry a chocolate bar. About 9:28 our hostess went out of the room, saying something about food. Ten minutes later she returned and asked us to follow. We were led out to the kitchen. There on the table were country style plates and a huge bowl of soup, rough bread and all the makings of a simple meal. And that is what it was. In other words we had not read the signals right when we were invited for “supper”. If they want you to come to dinner, they say so, and you know that means dark suits and so on. If they mean supper, they say it, and you get fed in the kitchen.When the author and his wife were invited out for “a drink on Sunday morning”, they thought _______.
| A．they would be the only people there |
| B．they would be given lunch as well |
| C．they would be taken to a restaurant for lunch |
| D．they would be asked to take some food with them |
The “party” had been going on for about an hour and three quarters when _________.
| A．the hostess decided to feed her guests | B．everyone had tinned soup for lunch |
| C．most of the guests went to lunch at the pub | D．the author realized he would go home hungry |
When invited out for “supper” a few weeks later, the writer _________.
| A．expected to be served a proper dinner |
| B．arrived on the wrong evening |
| C．interpreted the invitation correctly this time |
| D．realized there was no dining-room in the cottage |
As the evening went on, the writer became aware that _________.
| A．no one used their dining-rooms in the countryside | |
| B．he should have had a meal before going out | |
| C．“supper” meant a simple, informal meal |
D．he should, in future, eat only chocolate in the evening |
The first people who gave names to hurricanes were those who knew them best — the people of Puerto Rico. The small island of Puerto Rico is in the West Indies, off the coast of Florida. This is where all the hurricanes begin that strike the east coast of the United States. Often they pass near Puerto Rico or cross it on their way north. The people of Puerto Rico expect some of these unwelcome visitors every year. Each one is named after the Saint’s Day on which it arrives. Two of the most destructive storms were the Santo Ana in 1840 and the San Ciriaco in 1899.
Giving girls’ names to hurricanes is a fairly new idea. It all began with a story called “Storm”, written by George Stewart in 1941. In it a weatherman amused himself by naming storms after girls he knew. He named one Maria. The story describes how she Maria grew and developed, and how she changed the lives of people when she struck the United States.
Weathermen of the U.S. Army and Navy used the same system during World WarⅡ. They were studying weather conditions over the Pacific Ocean. One of their duties was to warn American ships and planes when a storm was coming. Whenever they spotted one, they gave it a girl’s name. The first one of the year was given a name beginning with [A]. The second one got a name beginning with [B]. They used all the letters from A to W, and still the storms kept coming. They had to use three lists from A to W to have enough names to go around. This was the first list of hurricane names that followed the alphabet. It served as a model for the system the Weather Bureau (局) introduced in 1942.
Before 1950 the Weather Bureau had no special system for naming hurricanes. When a hurricane was born down in the West Indies, the Weather Bureau simply collected information about it. It reported how fast the storm was moving and where it would go next. Weather reports warned people in the path of the hurricane, so that they could do whatever was necessary to protect themselves.
This system worked out fine as long as weather reports talked about only one hurricane at a time. But one week in September 1950 there were three hurricanes at the same time. The things began to get confused. Some people got the hurricanes mixed up and didn’t know which was which. This convinced the Weather Bureau that it needed a code for naming the storms in order to avoid confusion in the future.Hurricanes were first named after the _________.
| A．date on which they occurred | B．place where they began |
C．amount of destruction they did | D．particular feature they have |
The practice of giving girls’ names to hurricanes was started by _________.
| A．a radio operator | B．an author | C．a sailor | D．local people |
The purpose for which weathermen of the army and navy began using girls’ names for hurricanes was ________.
| A．to keep information from the enemy | B．to follow the standard method of the United States |
C．not given in the article | D．to remember a certain girl |
The Weather Bureau began naming hurricanes because it would help them _________.
| A．collect information more rapidly | B．warn people more efficiently |
C．make use of military (军事的) records | D．remember them |
HOUSTON (Reuters) — Houston tops a U.S. magazine’s annual fattest cities list for the fourth time in five years, with four other Texas cities in the top 25.
Fast food restaurants — Houston has twice the national average number — are partly to blame for the dishonor, Men’s Fitness editor-in-chief Neal Boulton said.
“Americans work long hours, don’t take vacations, and when they’re faced with the worst food choices, they indulge (沉溺于) in those,” he said.
High humidity, poor air quality and some of the nation’s longest commute (每天去上班的路程) times also helped Texas’ most populous city unseat Detroit, the 2003 heavy weight champion, the magazine said.
Houston Mayor Bill White, who has worked with a major food company to develop healthy food products and the city’s public schools to improve lunch menus, called the report “mostly ungrounded and nonsense.”
“On the other hand, it calls attention to real issues the mayor is trying to deal with,” his spokesman, Frank Michel, said.
The magazine said it looked at factors such as the number and types of restaurants, park space, air quality, weather and the number of health clubs.
Philadelphia, Detroit, Memphis, Tennessee, and Chicago followed Houston on the seventh edition of the fat list. Texas cities Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth and El Paso were in the top 14, which Boulton said was no surprise.
“It’s pure big indulgence, just living big, and that’s part of the culture,” said Boulton.
Seattle ranked as the fittest city. Austin and Arlington, a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb, were the only Texas cities on the fit list. Austin was 19th and Arlington 22nd out of 25.What decides the magazine’s annual fattest list?
| A．The size of fat population. | B．The number of fast food restaurants. |
| C．The economic growth rate of the state. | D．Things related to unhealthy ways of life. |
Which city topped 2003 fattest cities list?
| A．Houston. | B．Dallas. | C．Detroit. | D．Philadelphia. |
By saying “living big” (in Paragraph 9), Boulton means people _________.
| A．are growing fatter | B．are living wastefully |
C．eat too many fatty foods | D．are spending too much time working |
Which of the following is best supported by the text?
| A．Texas has the most fat cities in the U.S. |
| B．Bill White is happy with the newspaper report. |
| C．People in Texas are the most hardworking in the U.S. |
| D．Most school children in Houston have weight problems. |
Wu You, a 14–year–old Chinese Australian, used her diary to record what she had experienced in Guangzhou during this year’s Spring Festival travel period.
She, like tens of thousands of passengers stranded (滞留) at the Guangzhou Railway Station, had a Spring Festival she could never forget. But different from most people, she put down what she saw and heard in her diary, which was published in Australia.
Born in Sydney, Australia, Wu You’s grandfather and parents are professional painters, and she started to write diaries with pictures when she was only ten years old. She never expected to become famous because of her diary describing her life in Guangzhou.
“We originally planned to stay for half a month in Guangzhou when we arrived in January,” said Huang Qin, Wu’s mother. But the snowstorm caused the breakdown of traffic and kept the family there. “This is her first Spring Festival in China and probably the most special one,” said Huang. “We watched TV news programs every day and prayed for the snowstorm to be over soon so that stranded passengers could go home as soon as possible.”
Then Wu You started writing diaries about the snowstorm and the stranded passengers, along with the traditional customs in Guangzhou as well as local attractions such as the flower fair.
“In her diary she just wrote down what she heard and saw every day, and with her pencil she added some illustration to every diary. When we went back to Australia, people saw the diaries and asked to publish them on a local newspaper,” said Huang, “because they thought the diaries are very heart – warming.” All of Wu You’s diaries were written in English, and translated into Chinese by her mother. Through her diary, the girl shows her care to the Chinese people. In one diary, she wrote, “I really hope the warmth from people’s love can melt the cold snow and ice.”
72. Wu You wrote diaries during her stay in Guangzhou because she _______ .
A. has the habit of keeping a diary B. wished to make her name known
C. needed a means to kill time D. experienced so many interesting things
73. We can infer from the story that Wu You _____ during the Spring Festival.
A. did nothing besides watching TV and writing diaries
B. helped clear away the snow and ice
C. helped other stranded passengers in difficulty
D. had activities to get a taste of the local culture
74. The underlined word “illustration” in the last paragraph refers to _______.
A. photos B. drawings C. translations D. tips
75. Her diary is believed worth publishing mainly because it tells about the ______.
A. wonderful places in Guangzhou covered in ice and snow
B. interesting ways of locals observing the Spring Festival
C. severe disaster caused by the snowstorm
D. moving stories of the passengers being helped