Modern inventions have speeded up people’s lives amazingly. Motor-cars cover a hundred miles in little more than an hour, aircraft cross the world a day, while computers operate at lightning speed. Indeed, this love of speed seems never-ending. Every year motor-cars are produced which go even faster each new computer boasts（吹嘘）of saving precious seconds in handling tasks.
All this saves time, but at a price. When we lose or gain half a day in speeding across the world in an airplane, our bodies tell us so. We get the uncomfortable feeling known as jet-lag; our bodies feel that they have been left behind in another time zone. Again, spending too long at computers results in painful wrists and fingers. Mobile phones also have then danger according to some scientists; too much use may transmit harmful radiation into our brains, a consequence we do not like to think about.
However, what do we do with the time we have saved? Certainly not relax, or so it seems. We are so accustomed to constant activity that we find it difficult to sit and do nothing or even just one thing at a time. Perhaps the days are long gone when we might listen quietly to a story on the radio, letting imaginations take us into another world.
There was a time when some people’s lives were devoted simply to the cultivation of the land or the care of cattle. No multi-tasking there; their lives went on at a much gentler pace, and in a familiar pattern. There is much that we might envy about a way of life like this. Yet before we do so, we must think of the hard tasks our ancestors faced; they farmed with bare hands, often lived close to hunger, and had to fashion tools from wood and stone. Modern machinery has freed people from that primitive existence.The new products become more and more time-saving because ______.
| A．our love on speed seems never-ending |
| B．time is limited |
| C．the prices are increasingly high |
| D．the manufacturers boast a lot |
What is the author’s attitude towards the modern technology?
| A．Critical | B．Objective |
| C．Optimistic | D．Negative |
What does the passage mainly discuss?
| A．The present and past times |
| B．Machinery and human beings |
| C．Imaginations and inventions |
| D．Modern technology and its influence |
Right in front of the Minneapolis Central Library，a row of green bikes sits parked in a special stand．Each bike is designed with the logo “Nice Ride”—the name of the city’s bike-share program.
Nice Ride bikes are a lot like the library books that people come here to borrow．To rent a bike，you simply use your membership card at a Nice Ride bike station．Members can rent one of 1,200 bikes from 138 stations throughout Minnesota's largest city．People use the Nice Ride bikes to go to work，to go out on business，or just to enjoy the city’s many bike paths．
The rise of bike-share programs like Nice Ride is encouraging more people than ever to choose biking over driving．Rising gas prices and concerns about the environment have also gotten people to dust off their bike helmets， pump air into flat tires，and hit the road．
Why ride? Not only is biking good exercise，but switching from a car to a bike also reduces the amount of pollution in the air．Carbon dioxide，a greenhouse gas linked to climate change，is one of the many polluting substances that come out of a car's tallpipe．
Bike-share systems are found around the world in cities like London，Paris，Barcelona，and Melbourne，Australia．The largest program-with 70,000 bikes-is in Wuhan，China.
To make roads friendlier to non-motorists，the U．S．Department of Transportation has invested more than a billion dollars in cycling and pedestrian projects in recent years．The money went toward building thousands of miles of on-street bike lanes and bike-and pedestrian-only passages called green ways．If one wants to use the bike，it's a must to __________．
| A．give away a bicycle |
| B．know Nice Ride well |
| C．pay the cost in advance |
| D．get a membership card |
Which of the following can people do with the bikes?
| A．Earn a living． |
| B．Enjoy bikeways． |
| C．Compete in a race． |
| D．Rent them out to others． |
Paragraph 4 is mainly about _____________．
| A．benefits of biking |
| B．pollution caused by cars |
| C．methods to use the bikes |
| D．ways to reduce pollution |
Which of the following is true of Nice Ride?
| A．It will take the place of taxi companies． |
| B．China has better public bike systems． |
| C．It attracts more people to choose biking． |
| D．The government lacks money to support it. |
The author's purpose in writing this text is to ______________．
| A．spread bike-share programs |
| B．seek advice for Nice Ride |
| C．compare Nice Ride with libraries |
| D．introduce the public bike system |
In this age of Internet chat, video games and reality television, there is no shortage of mindless activities to keep a child occupied. Yet despite the competition, my 8-year-old daughter Rebecca wants to spend her leisure time writing short stories. She wants to enter one of her stories into a writing contest, a competition which she won last year.
As a writer, I know about winning contests – and about losing them. I know what it is like to work hard on a story only to receive a rejection letter from the publisher. I also know the pressure of trying to live up to a reputation created by previous victories. What if she doesn’t win the contest again? That’s the strange thing about being a parent. So many of our own past scars and destroyed hopes can resurface in our children.
A revelation (启示) came last week when I asked her, “Don’t you want to win again?” “No,” she replied, “I just want to tell the story of an angel going to first grade.”
I had just spent weeks correcting her stories as she spontaneously (自发地) told them. Telling myself that I was merely an experienced writer guiding the young writer across the hall, I offered suggestions for characters, conflicts and endings for her tales. The story about a fearful angel starting first grade was quickly “guided” by me into the tale of a little girl with a wild imagination taking her first music lesson. I had turned her contest into my contest without even realizing it.
Staying back and giving kids space to grow is not as easy as it looks. Because I know very little about farm animals who use tools or angels who go to first grade, I had to accept that I was co-opting my daughter’s experience.
While stepping back was difficult for me, it was certainly a good first step that I will quickly follow with more steps, putting myself far enough away to give her room but close enough to help if asked. All the while I will be reminding myself that children need room to experiment, grow and find their own voices.What do we learn from the first paragraph?
| A．Now many amusements compete for children’s time. |
| B．Children have lots of fun doing mindless activities. |
| C．Rebecca is much too busy to enjoy her leisure time. |
| D．Rebecca often go online for her writing materials. |
What did the author say about her own writing experience?
| A．She was constantly under pressure of writing more. |
| B．Most of her stories had been rejected by publishers. |
| C．She didn’t quite live up to her reputation as a writer. |
| D．Her road to success was full of pain and frustrations. |
The underlined word “resurface” in Paragraph 2 probably means “______”.
| A．recycle | B．reappear | C．reconsider | D．reunite |
Why did Rebecca want to enter this year’s writing contest?
| A．She was confident about her talent in writing. |
| B．She was sure of winning with her mother’s help. |
| C．She wanted to share her stories with readers. |
| D．She had won a prize in the previous contest. |
The author took great pains to improve her daughter’s stories because _______.
| A．she wanted to help Rebecca realize her dreams of becoming a writer |
| B．she was afraid Rebecca’s imagination might run wild while writing |
| C．she did not want to disappoint Rebecca who needed her help so much |
| D．she believed she had the knowledge and experience to offer guidance |
What’s the author’s advice for parents?
| A．Children should be given every chance to voice their opinions. |
| B．Parents should keep an eye on the activities their kids engage in. |
| C．Children should be allowed freedom to grow through experience. |
| D．A writing career, though attractive, is not for every child to pursue. |
A euphemism (from the Greek words eu--well and pheme--speak) is a word or expression that is used when people want to find a polite or less direct way of talking about difficult or embarrassing topics like death or the bodily functions. Most people, for example, would find it very difficult to say in plain language that they have arranged for their sick old dog to be killed. They would soften the pain by saying：We had Ruby put down or We had Ruby put to sleep. Many people prefer to call someone plain than ugly, or cuddly rather than fat.
Euphemisms are an important part of every language, but it seems that English has an ever-growing number of them. The non-native speaker not only has to make sense of the euphemisms he hears, he also has to learn which euphemisms are appropriate in any particular situation. He might be aware that his American friend needs to use the toilet when she asks where the bathroom (or restroom, or comfort station) is, but he is less likely to guess that his English friend has the same need when he says he has to see a man about a dog. He might have learned, for example, that in the family way is a euphemism for pregnant. If, however, he says to his boss," Congratulations! I hear your wife is in the family way," he would be using an expression that is too familiar for the circumstances.
Schools are full of euphemisms. At Frankfurt International School, for example, the special lessons given to students who are having difficulties in their school subjects are called Study Center (in the middle school) and Academic Workshop (in the high school). Teachers rightly do not want to upset students or parents by being too frank or straight-forward, and usually choose a softer word or expression to convey the same message.According to the passage, people use euphemisms in order to.
| A．make themselves understood |
| B．attract attention |
| C．to sound straightforward |
| D．avoid embarrassment |
A person who is described as plain and cuddly is in fact.
| A．tall and handsome | B．ugly and fat |
| C．ugly but tall | D．pretty and slim |
When an English lady says she has to see a man about a dog, she might want to.
| A．go to the toilet |
| B．see an ugly friend |
| C．have her old dog killed |
| D．see a pregnant woman |
The main purpose of Paragraph 2 is to.
| A．stress that euphemisms are an important part of every language |
| B．inform readers that English has an ever-growing number of euphemisms |
| C．warn English learners to be careful about the meaning and use of euphemisms |
| D．suggest non-native speakers use euphemisms as often as possible |
At Frankfurt International School, the students who receive lessons in Study Center.
| A．work hard at their lessons |
| B．do well in school |
| C．have poor grades in the subjects |
| D．prefer to learn more |
“I will never marry，” the future Elizabeth I declared at the age of eight, and, to the terror of her people, the Great Queen kept her word.
For four centuries, historians have guessed why Elizabeth never married. In her own day, her decision to remain single was considered absurd and dangerous. A queen needed a husband to make political decisions for her and to organize and lead her military campaigns. More important, she needed male heirs to avoid a civil war after her death.
There was no shortage of suitors for the Queen, both English courtiers (朝臣) and foreign princes, and it was confidently expected for the best part of 30 years that Elizabeth would eventually marry one of them. Indeed , although she insisted that she preferred the single state, she kept these suitors in a state of permanent expectation. This was a deliberate policy on the Queen's part, since by keeping foreign princes in hope, sometimes for a decade, she kept them friendly when they might otherwise have made war on her kingdom.
There were, indeed, good political reasons for her avoiding marriage. The disastrous union of her sister Mary I to Philip II of Spain had had an unwelcome foreign influence upon English politics. The English were generally prejudiced against the Queen taking a foreign husband, particularly a Catholic one. Yet if she married an English, jealousy might lead to the separation of the court.
There were other, deeper reasons for Elizabeth's unwillingness to marry, chief of which, I believe, was her fear of losing her autonomy as Queen. In the 16th century, a queen was regarded as holding supreme dominion(统治权)over the state, while a husband was thought to hold supreme dominion over his wife. Elizabeth knew that marriage and motherhood would bring some harm to her power.
She once pointed out that marriage seemed too uncertain a state for her. She had seen several unions in her immediate family break down, including that of her own parents.
Some writers, based on very fragile evidence, have argued that Elizabeth was frightened or incapable of the sex act, but it is more likely that she feared childbirth. Two of her stepmothers, her grandmother and several acquaintances had died in child bed.
Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII, had had her mother, Anne Boleyn, killed; her stepmother Catherine Howard later suffered the same fate. When Elizabeth was 14 she was all but attracted by Admiral Thomas Seymour, who also went to the prison within a year. Witnessing these terrible events at an early age, it has been argued, may have put Elizabeth off marriage.
Elizabeth had to decide her priorities. Marriage or being single? Elizabeth was far too intelligent.The choice she made was courageous and revolutionary, and, in the long run, the right one for England.To the suitors including English courtiers and foreign princes，Elizabeth ________.
| A．held back the truth |
| B．gave a definite answer “no” |
| C．kept them expecting deliberately |
| D．said she preferred the single state |
If Elizabeth had married a foreign prince, there might have been ________.
| A．prejudice against her |
| B．separation of the court |
| C．jealousy among English courtiers |
| D．a negative impact on English politics |
Which of the following implications is right according to the passage?
| A．Queen Elizabeth was not a Catholic. |
| B．Some foreign princes made war on Britain. |
| C．Catherine Howard was killed by Anne Boleyn. |
| D．Admiral Thomas Seymour was killed by Henry VIII. |
What is the attitude of the author towards Queen Elizabeth never marrying in her life?
| A．Pitiful. | B．Approving. | C．Negative. | D．Neutral. |
You may not pay much attention to your daily elevator ride.Many of us use a lift several times during the day without really thinking about it .But Lee Gray,PhD,of the University of North Carolina,US,has made it his business to examine this overlooked form of public transport.He is known as the “Elevator Guy”.
“The lift becomes this interesting social space where etiquette(礼仪)is sort of odd(奇怪的),”Gray told the BBC.“They [elevators] are socially very interesting but often very awkward places”.
We walk in and usually turn around to face the door. If someone else comes in,we may have to move.And here ,according to Gray, liftusers unthinkingly go through a set pattern of movements . He told the BBC what he had observed.
He explained that when you are the only one inside a lift, you can do whatever you want – it’s your own little box.
If there are two of you, you go into different corners, standing diagonally (对角线地) across from each other to create distance.
When a third person enters, you will unconsciously form a triangle. And when there is a fourth person it becomes a square, with someone in every corner. A fifth person is probably going to have to stand in the middle.
New entrants to the lift will need to size up the situation when the doors slide open and then act decisively. Once in, for most people the rule is simple – look down, or look at your phone.
Why are we so awkward in lifts?
“You don’t have enough space,” Professor Babette Renneberg, a clinical psychologist at the Free University of Berlin, told the BBC. “Usually when we meet other people we have about an arm’s length of distance between us. And that’s not possible in most elevators.”
In such a small, enclosed space it becomes very important to act in a way that cannot be construed (理解) as threatening or odd. “The easiest way to do this is to avoid eye contact,” she said.The main purpose of the article is to _____.
| A．remind us to enjoy ourselves in the elevator |
| B．tell us some unwritten rules of elevator etiquette |
| C．share an interesting but awkward elevator ride |
| D．analyze what makes people feel awkward in an elevator |
According to Gray, when people enter an elevator, they usually _____.
| A．turn around and greet one another |
| B．look around or examine their phone |
| C．make eye contact with those in the elevator |
| D．try to keep a distance from other people |
Which of the following describes how people usually stand when there are at least two people in an elevator?
The underlined phrase “size up” in Paragraph 7 is closest in meaning to _____.
| A．judge | B．ignore | C．put up with | D．make the best of |
According to the article, people feel awkward in lifts because of _____.
| A．someone’s odd behaviors |
| B．the lack of space |
| C．their unfamiliarity with one another |
| D．their eye contact with one another |