I really love my job because I enjoy working with small children and like the challenges and awards from the job．I also think my work is important．There was a time when I thought I would never have that sort of career（职业）．
I wasn’t an excellent student because I didn’t do much schoolwork．In my final term I started thinking what I might do and found I didn’t have much to offer．I just accepted that I wasn’t the type to have a career．
I then found myself a job．Looking after two little girls，It wasn’t too bad at first．But the problems began when I agreed to live in，so that I would be there if my boss had to go out for business in the evening．We agreed that if I had to work extra hours one week，she’d give me time off the next．But unfortunately，it didn’t often work out．I was getting extremely tired and fed up，because I had too many late nights and early mornings with the children．
One Sunday，I was in the park with the children，and met Megan who used to go to school with me，I told her about my situation．She suggested that I should do a course and get a qualification（资格证书）if I wanted to work with children．I didn’t think I would be accepted because I didn’t take many exams in school．She persuaded me to phone the local college and they were really helpful．My experience counted for a lot and I got on a part – time course．I had to leave my job with the family，and got work helping out at a kindergarten．
Now I’ve got a full – time job there．I shall always be thankful to Megan．I wish I had known earlier that you could have a career，even if you aren’t top of the class at school．What is the author’s present job？
| A．Working part – time in a college． |
| B．Taking care of children for a family． |
| C．Helping children with their schoolwork． |
| D．Looking after children at a kindergarten． |
When staying with the two girls’family，the author__________．
| A．was paid for extra work |
| B．often worked long hours |
| C．got much help from her boss |
| D．took a day off every other week |
Why did the author leave her first job？
| A．She found a full – time job． |
| B．She was fed up with children． |
| C．She decided to attend a part – time course． |
| D．She needed a rest after working extra hours． |
What has the author learned from her own experiences？
| A．Less successful students can still have a career． |
| B．Qualifications are necessary for a career． |
| C．Hard work makes an excellent student． |
| D．One must choose the job she likes． |
In Asia，there are special competitions where kites have complex designs and are fitted with instruments that make musical sounds as the wind blows through them.Although all kites have a similar structure(结构)，they are widely different in size and shape.Kitefighting competitions are also held，in which competitors use their kites to attack and bring down their opponents’(对手) kites or cut their strings(线)．
For more than 15 years，the Big Wind Kite Factory has been giving kitemaking and kiteflying classes for the children on an island in Hawaii.In its kitemaking lessons，students can make kites in as little as 20 minutes！Children as young as four years old can learn how to fly a kite.Jonathan Socher and his wife Daphne started the kite factory in 1980.Their kites are made of nylon(尼龙)．Their designs are Hawaiian themes created by Daphne.The designs are cut out of the nylon with a hot knife that seals the edges and then fastened directly onto the kite.
The kite that is used to give lessons is a regular diamond kite with a rainbow pattern.The difference between this kite and the ones they make during the lessons is that it is a twostring controllable kite.Big Wind employees fly the kite and for a few minutes show students how pulling on one line and then on the other controls the direction the kite goes in.Then the controls are given to the students.
Jonathan insists that it is not necessary to make a huge impressive kite to have fun making and flying kites.Even the simplest structure can work，and can give hours of fun.Go on，give it a try！
(2012·安徽，D)Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?
| A．A hot knife is used to iron the nylon. |
| B．Children never fly kites on their own in flying lessons. |
| C．Kite strings must not be cut in kitefighting competitions. |
| D．Daphne designs kites for the Big Wind Kite Factory. |
What is different about the kite used for flying lessons?
| A．It has two strings. |
| B．It is simple in design. |
| C．It has a rainbow pattern. |
| D．It is shaped like a diamond. |
According to Jonathan，what do you need to have fun with kites?
| A．A large kite. |
| B．Any type of kite. |
| C．A complex structure. |
| D．A kite that impresses others. |
What is mainly described in the text?
| A．A kite factory. |
| B．Kiteflying lessons. |
| C．Special competitions. |
| D．The kitemaking process. |
Boiler rooms are often dirty and steamy，but this one is clean and cool.Fox Point is a very new 47unit living building in South Bronx，one of the city’s poorest areas.Twothirds of the people living there are formerly (以前) homeless people，whose rent is paid by the government.The rest are lowincome families.The boiler room has special equipment，which produces energy for electricity and heat.It reuses heat that would otherwise be lost to the air，reducing carbon emissions(碳排放)while also cutting costs.
Fox Point is operated by Palladia，a group that specializes in providing housing and services to needy people.Palladia received support from Enterprise Community Partners (ECP)，which helps build affordable housing by providing support to housing developers.
ECP has created national standards for healthy，environmentally (环境方面) clever and affordable homes which are called the Green Communities Standards.These standards include water keeping，energy saving and the use of environmentally friendly building materials.Meeting the standards increases housing construction costs by 2%，which is rapidly paid back by lower running costs.Even the positioning of a window to get most daylight can help save energy.
Michael Bloomberg，New York’s mayor，plans to create 165,000 affordable housing units for 500,000 New Yorkers.Almost 80% of New York City’s greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings，and 40% of those are caused by housing.So he recently announced that the city’s Department of Housing and Preservation and Development (DHPD)，whose duty is to develop and keep the city’s supply of affordable housing，will require all its new projects to follow ECP’s green standards.
Similar measures have been taken by other cities，such as Cleveland and Denver，but New York’s DHPD is the largest city developer of affordable housing in the country.(2010·四川，B)What is the purpose of describing the boiler rooms in the first paragraph?
| A．To explain the measures the city takes to care for poor people. |
| B．To suggest that affordable housing is possible in all areas. |
| C．To show how the environmentfriendly building works. |
| D．To compare old and new boiler rooms. |
What is an advantage of the buildings meeting the Green Communities Standards?
| A．Lower running costs. |
| B．Costing less in construction. |
| C．Less air to be lost in hot days. |
| D．Better prices for homeless people. |
It can be learned from the text that________.
| A．New York City is seriously polluted |
| B．people’s daily life causes many carbon emissions in New York City |
| C．a great number of people in New York City don’t have houses to live in |
| D．some other cities have developed more affordable housing than New York City |
What is the main purpose of this text?
| A．To call on people to pay more attention to housing problems. |
| B．To prove that some standards are needed for affordable housing. |
| C．To ask society to help homeless people and lowincome families. |
| D．To introduce healthy，environmentally clever and affordable housing. |
A woman from Japan was telling a friend about her trip to the United States.The woman had visited major businesses and investment companies in New York City and Chicago.
“I studied English before I left home，”she said.“But I still was not sure that people were speaking English.”
Her problem is easy to understand.Americans in business are like people who are in business anywhere.They have a language of their own.Some of the words and expressions deal with the special areas of their work.Other expressions are borrowed from different kinds of work such as the theater and movie industry.
One such saying is “get your act together”．
When things go wrong in a business，an employer may get angry.He may shout，“Stop making mistakes.Get your act together.”
Or，if the employer is calmer，he may say，“Let us get our act together.”
Either way，the meaning is the same.Getting your act together is getting organized.In business，it usually means to develop a calm and orderly plan of action.
It is difficult to tell exactly where the saying began.But，it is probable that it was in the theater or movie industry.Perhaps one of the actors was nervous and made a lot of mistakes.The director may have said，“Calm down，now.Get your act together.”
Word expert James Rogers says the expression was common by the late 1970s.Mister Rogers says the Manchester Guardian newspaper used it in 1978.The newspaper said a reform policy required that the British government get its act together.
Now，this expression is heard often when officials of a company meet.One company even called its yearly report，“Getting Our Act Together.”
The Japanese visitor was confused by another expression used by American business people.It is cut to the chase.
She heard that expression when she attended an important meeting of one company.One official was giving a very long report.It was not very interesting.In fact，some people at the meeting were falling asleep.
Finally，the president of the company said，“Cut to the chase.”
Cut to the chase means to stop spending so much time on details or unimportant material.Hurry and get to the good part.
Naturally，this saying was started by people who make movies.Hollywood movie producers believe that most Americans want to see action movies.Many of their movies show scenes in which the actors chase each other in cars，or in airplanes or on foot.
Cut is the director’s word for stop.The director means to stop filming，leave out some material，and get to the chase scene now.
So，if your employer tells you to cut to the chase，be sure to get to the main point of your story quickly.After the woman visited the United States she might feel that ________.
| A．her English was poor |
| B．it’s easy to master English |
| C．it’s difficult to make money |
| D．people there weren’t very friendly |
In which situation could the words “get your act together” be used?
| A．A task is completed successfully. |
| B．Players perform badly in a match. |
| C．Audience is satisfied with the actor’s performance in a movie. |
| D．Visitors make a tiresome and unpleasant trip to someplace. |
According to the text，the expression “get one’s act together” ________.
| A．was first used by a Japanese businesswoman |
| B．was forbidden to be used in the government policy |
| C．originally came from a yearly report of a company |
| D．was commonly read by readers in a newspaper in 1978 |
What do the sayings “get your act together” and “cut to the chase” have in common?
| A．Their use. | B．Their meaning. |
| C．Their origin. | D．Their popularity. |
The library is one of the most popular places at a western university.Students turn to it for research，conversations about class，and many other services.
Compared with Chinese libraries，college libraries in the US and UK tend to offer more resources.A postgraduate at Yale University can borrow as many as 225 books at a time.
In addition to borrowing books，there are online and electronic resources.These include a database search of popular and academic material，such as LexisNexis Academic，which offers items from newspapers and magazines.
Although books and articles are the items that students ask for most frequently，some libraries provide audio and video recordings，maps and sheet music(活页乐谱)．At some schools，teachers and tutors put electronic copies of their teaching PPTs on the library web to give easier access for students.
Another useful service in western college libraries is the Interlibrary Loan.This allows a student at one school to borrow books from another school.The loan request is made through the student’s college library，which gets the book，gives it to the user，and arranges for its return.
Technology has brought more services to students and has made libraries attractive.Some universities have services for students to send messages through the computer or mobile texts to ask the library staff for information.
Earlier this year，Harvard University introduced a new Scan and Deliver service，allowing students to make requests for parts of books and articles.Requests made through the system are handled by library staff.The student receives an email with an Internet link to the scanned pages.The service is free and all material comes within four days.
It used to be that libraries didn’t allow food or drinks.But that rule is changing and many of them now contain a café so students can spend as much time as they want in the library.
Actually，some US university libraries are now allnight affairs，or have at least one study room open all night.In western college libraries a postgraduate can ________.
| A．have a free drink or a meal |
| B．borrow as many books as they want |
| C．ask questions and get answers from their tutors |
| D．access not only books but other study resources |
LexisNexis Academic is the name of a ________.
| A．guide | B．library |
| C．database | D．university |
Which of the following are mostly needed by students in western libraries?
| A．Books and articles. |
| B．Audio and video recordings. |
| C．Maps and sheet music. |
| D．Tutors’ teaching PPTs. |
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．Chinese library services are better than western ones. |
| B．Library staff play an important role in college library service. |
| C．Postgraduates can post their own PPTs on the library website. |
| D．24hour services are adopted in all western libraries nowadays. |
The Firegathering
18－20 May
The Firegathering festival returns to an unidentified place somewhere in the Sussex countryside this May.The ticket price is a very agreeable ￡40，an amount that the organisers promise covers only the costs of staging the event.As well as the nightclub singers and dancers and circus performers，you can expect live performances from local stars.If this looks like it might be right for you，you’d be well advised to book your ticket soon；the event has sold out every year since its beginning four years ago.
Sheep Music
20－22 July
Sheep Music started life as a garden party and has developed into a fullscale(全面的) community event.Even though the advertising has always been limited to word of mouth，the huge number of people in 2005 left organizers worried that the large crowds could ruin the festival’s family feel.Luckily July sees the return of this brilliant party.The climax(高潮) comes in the shape of Saturday night’s fullscale parade(游行) and fancy dress ball that you just would not expect to happen in the other sleepy Welsh borders.
The Big Chill
3－5 August
Ten years on and The Big Chill could very well be close to becoming a big pop festival like Glastonbury.That said，the many thousands in attendance are still able to relax in the beautiful Eastnor deer park and listen to plenty of music that would otherwise pass them by.Families have always been given a warm welcome and it’s fair to say that The Big Chill is probably the most childfriendly of all the mediumsized festivals.If you’ve never been，you should certainly go.
Summer Sundae
10－12 August
Although only a year old this summer，Summer Sundae has quickly inspired the imaginations of Leicesteks music lovers.Last year’s event was a success，noted by more than a few mentions at the UK Festival Awards.It is set in the impressive grounds of De Montfort Hall.Although the performers are still to be confirmed，the cabins are sure to be there.These small buildings are made from wood and carpets，storage space，and can fit a family for the night.What can we learn about The Firegathering?
| A．The festival will take place in a park. |
| B．No profits will be made from the festival. |
| C．The audience will be bigger than expected. |
| D．A lot of national stars will perform at the festival. |
How did Sheep Music advertise itself?
| A．By holding a parade. |
| B．By advertising orally. |
| C．By giving performances. |
| D．By holding a family party. |
Which festival will provide accommodation for the audience?
| A．The Firegathering. | B．Sheep Music. |
| C．The Big Chill. | D．Summer Sundae. |
What is the similarity of these festivals?
| A．All of them entertain attendants with music. |
| B．All of them have a long history. |
| C．All of them need advance booking. |
| D．All of them can be compared with Glastonbury. |