In a certain store where they sell puddings, a number of these delicious things are laid out in a row during the Christmas season. Here you may select the one which is most to your taste, and you are even allowed to sample them before coming to a decision.
I have often wondered whether some people, who had no intention of making a purchase, would take advantage of this privilege. One day I asked this question of the shop girl, and I learned it was indeed the case. “Now there’s one old gentleman, for instance,” she told me, “he comes here almost every week and samples each one of the puddings, though he never buys anything, and I suspect he never will. I remember him from last year and the year before that, too. Well, let him come if he wants it, and welcome to it. And what’s more, I hope there are a lot more stores where he can go and get his share. He looks as if he needed it all right, and I suppose they can afford it.”
She was still speaking when an elderly gentleman limped up to the counter and began looking closely at the row of puddings with great interest. “Why, that’s the very gentleman I’ve been telling you about,” whispered the shop girl. “Just watch him now.” And then turning to him: “Would you like to sample them, sir? Here’s a spoon for you to use. “The elderly gentleman, who was poorly but neatly dressed, accepted the spoon and began eagerly to sample one after another of the puddings, only breaking off occasionally to wipe his red eyes with a large torn handkerchief. “This is quite good”. “This is not bad either, but a little too heavy”. All the time it was quite evident that he sincerely believed that he might eventually buy one of these puddings, and I am positive that he did not for a moment feel that he was in any way cheating the store. Poor old chap! Probably he had come down in the world and this sampling was all that was left him from the time when he could afford to come and select his favorite pudding.
Amidst the crowd of happy, prosperous looking Christmas shoppers, the little black figure of the old man seemed pitiful and out of place, and in a burst of benevolence, I went up to him and said:
“Pardon me, sir, will you do me a favor? Let me purchase you one of these puddings. It would give me such pleasure.”
He jumped back as if he had been stung, and the blood rushed into his wrinkled face.
“Excuse me,” he said, with more dignity than I would have thought possible considering his appearance, “I do not believe I have the pleasure of knowing you. Undoubtedly you have mistaken me for someone else.” And with a quick decision he turned to the shop girl and said in a loud voice, “Kindly pack me up this one here. I will take it with me.” He pointed at one of the largest and most expensive of the puddings.
The girl took down the pudding from its stand and started to make a parcel of it, While he pulled out a worn little black pocketbook and began counting out shillings and pennies on to the counter. To save his “honor”, he had been forced into a purchase which he could not possibly afford. How I longed for the power to unsay my tactless words! It was too late though, and I felt that the kindest thing I could do now would be walk away.
“You pay at the desk,” the shop girl was telling him, but he did not seem to understand and kept trying to put the coins into her hand. And that was the last I saw or heard of the old man. Now he can never go there to sample puddings and more.By saying it was indeed the case. , the author meant that ______.
| A．many shoppers would sample pudding before buying them |
| B．some people just sampled pudding but didn’t buy them |
| C．the Christmas season was the time to promote pudding sales. |
| D．there were various kinds of puddings on sale during the Christmas sale. |
From the girl’s words, we know that she ______
| A．felt pity for the old man |
| B．looked down upon the old man |
| C．thought poorly of sampling pudding |
| D．worked in the shop for a few months |
The old man finally bought a pudding because ______
| A．he had intended to buy the pudding |
| B．the author gave him some money |
| C．he was annoyed by the author’s offer |
| D．the shop girl asked him to purchase one |
Why did the author feel that he should walk away according to the passage ?
| A．He had something urgent to do |
| B．He was quite angry with the old man |
| C．He decided to pay the money for the pudding |
| D．He found himself in a rather awkward way |
What does the passage imply?
| A．Helping others involves respect.. |
| B．Never judge a book by its cover. |
| C．A man can do no more than he can. |
| D．A word spoken cannot be recalled. |
Poorer children would be offered the chance to attend lessons on Saturday to help catch up with their middleclass peers (同龄人), the shadow schools secretary, Michael Gove, said today.The Conservatives would give English state schools the freedom to choose to have longer teaching hours and extra classes at the weekend, he told the Association of Teachers and Lecturers’annual conference.
Gove said the move would help to close the achievement gap with richer children whose parents could afford extras such as tutoring and music lessons.
He told delegates (代表) in Manchester: “For children who come from homes where parents don’t have the resources to provide additional stretch and cultural experiences, there are benefits in having those children in the learning environment, in school, for longer.”
“Parents would love to have schools starting earlier in some circumstances, and certainly going on later in the afternoon, given the reality of their working lives,” he said. He held up the example of Kipp (Knowledge is Power Program) schools in the US, which are often based in the poorest communities and open from 7:30 am to 5pm on weekdays, plus Saturdays.
But it would be up to schools to decide to offer longer hours, Gove added.
Parents said Saturday classes could become a “badge of dishonor”if pupils were forced to go, while teachers raised concerns about their workload.
Margaret Morrissey, of Parents Outloud, said: “I think the suggestion the government made about one-to-one teaching for these kids would be a more preferable way of improving these children’s performance. I’m just not sure whether taking away a child at weekends is actually going to make them cleverer in the week.”
The ATL’s general secretary, Mary Bousted, said: “If we want Saturday schools, then we need more teachers doing the extra hours, not the same teachers working longer.”
66. The program is intended for children____________.
A. who are from middle-class families
B. whose parents can’t afford extra help
C. who perform poorly academically
D. whose weekends are mostly unoccupied
67. “Additional stretch” in Paragraph 4 probably refers to_________.
A. music lessons
B. physical relaxation
C. entertainment activities
D. out-of-school improvement
68. Why did Gove mention Kipp schools in the US?
A. To make a comparison.
B. To introduce a new program.
C. To seek supportive evidence.
D. To prove his program is better.
69. What is Margaret Morrissey’s opinion about the new program?
A. Favourable. B. Doubtful. C. Optimistic. D. Acceptable.
70. Which of the following is true?
A. Teachers may not like the program.
B. Schools are trying to make profits.
C. The program is already under way.
D. The program is popular with children.
Across the United States, there are several places where two independent towns grew together to become one city — but kept both their names. 
WinstonSalem is one of them. It’s a midsized city in what’s called the plateau（high land）, between the Atlantic Coast and the inland mountains in the state of North Carolina. The Winston part is a relatively new place, founded early this century. It’s home to the nation’s biggest openair tobacco market.
The giant R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company’s headquarters is in WinstonSalem, and Winston is the name of one of Reynolds’bestknown cigarette brands. Fastgrowing Winston soon surrounded the much older town of Salem, so in 1913, people in the area voted to combine them into a single place.
From a historical and tourist point of view, Salem, or Old Salem, as it’s called today, is the interesting and unusual part of town.
Salem was founded in the 1700s by the Moravians. They spoke German, and their community was religiously based, with single men and single women living apart in separate dormitories. The Moravians greatly valued women’s work and brainpower. In fact, one of the nation’s oldest boarding schools for young women— the Moravians’Salem Academy founded in 1772 — is still in operation.
Over the years, Salem lost its Moravian character. That all changed, though, when a nonprofit group began to rehabilitate the historic area. These days Old Salem is what’s called a living history museum, with exhibits, music, and tours of 18th-century houses, taverns and Moravian dormitory buildings just seven blocks from the tallest skyscraper in Winston-Salem.
The historic community is booming again. Just as R. J. Reynolds is taking in millions of dollars making cigarettes across town, Old Salem is generating about S| 15 million a year in tourism revenue and donations.
61. From the passage we can know that____________.
A. Winston-Salem is the name of a city
B. Salem is home to the tobacco market
C. the city Winston-alem has two names
D. Old Salem is the name of a tobacco brand
62. It can be inferred from Paragraph 3 that__________.
A. the two cities benefited each other
B. Salem developed faster than Winston
C. R.J. Reynolds Company has moved into Salem
D. the combination meets the wishes of the people
63. The city Salem is special for its__________.
A. boarding school B. lifestyle and tradition
C. respect for brainpower D. religious belief
64. The underlined word “rehabilitate” in Paragraph 6 is closest in meaning to “_________”.A. reconstruct B. evaluate C. enlarge D. decorate
65. What will probably be talked about in the following part?
A. Some other attractions in Winston-Salem.
B. How Winston makes profits from tourism.
C. Other examples of cities combined by two parts.
D. Something about the boarding school for women.
In their book Time to Eat the Dog: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living, Robert and Brenda Vale say keeping a mediumsized dog has the same ecological impact as driving 10,000 km a year in a 4.6 liter Land Cruiser.
“We’re not actually saying it is time to eat the dog. We’ re just saying that we need to think about and know the ecological impact of some of the things we do and that we take for granted.”
Constructing and driving the jeep for a year requires 0.41 hectares of land, while growing and manufacturing a dog’s food takes about 0.84 hectares — or 1.1 hectares in the case of a large dog such as a German shepherd.
Convincing flesheating cats and dogs to go vegetarian for the sake of the planet is a nonstarter, the Vales say. Instead they recommend keeping “greener”, smaller, and more sustainable pets, such as goldfish, chickens or rabbits.
The book’s playful title, and serious suggestion that pet animals may be usefully “recycled”, by being eaten by their owners or turned into pet food when they die, may not appeal to animal fans.
Annoying as the idea may be, the question is valid given the planet’s growing population and limited resources, Robert Vale said.
“Issues about sustainability are increasingly becoming things that are going to require us to make choices which are as difficult as eating your dog. It’s not just about changing your light bulbs or taking a cloth bag to the supermarket,” he said.
“It’s about much more challenging and difficult issues,” he added. “Once you see where cats and dogs fit in your overall balance of things, you might decide to have the cat but not also to have the two cars and the three bathrooms and be a meat eater yourself.”
56. The authors gave their book the playful title to________.
A. make it amusing B. create a vivid image
C. show writing skills D. arouse people’ s concern
57. In Paragraph 3 the writer mainly wants to tell us________.
A. the amount of consumed land
B. the neglected ecological impact
C. some familiar examples
D. some actual figures
58. What does “sustainability” mean according to the passage?
A. Going vegetarian.
B. Raising cats and dogs.
C. Using a cloth bag.
D. Keeping a greener life.
59. Who may not like the idea of “recycling” pet animals?
A. Manufacturers.B. Drivers.
C. Animal fans. D. The authorities.
60. What do the authors think of living a sustainable life?
A. Challenging. B. Inspiring. C. Inviting. D. Touching.
When you are little, it’s not hard to believe you can changed the world. I remember my enthusiasm when, at the age of 12, I addressed the people at the Rio Earth Summit. “I am only a child,” I told them. "Yet I know that if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this would be. In school you teach us not to fight with others, to work things out, to respect others, to clean up our mess, not to hurt other creatures, to share, not be greedy. Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do? You grownups say you love us, but I challenge you, please, to make your actions reflect your words."
I spoke for six minutes and received a standing ovation. Some of the delegates even cried. I thought that maybe I had reached some of them, that my speech might actually spur（刺激） action. Now, a decade from Rio, after I've sat through many more conferences, I'm not sure what has been accomplished. My confidence in the people in power and in the power of an individual's voice to reach them has been deeply shaken.
When I was little, the world was simple. But as a young adult, I'm learning that as we have to make choices--education, career, lifestyle--life gets more and more complicated. We are beginning to feel pressure to produce and be successful. We are learning a shortsighted way of looking at the future, focusing on four-year government terms and quarterly business reports. We are taught that economic growth is progress, but we aren't taught how to pursue a happy, healthy or sustainable way of living. And we are learning that what we wanted for our future when we were 12 was idealistic and naïve（天真）.
Today I'm no longer a child, but I'm worried about what kind of environment my children will grow up in. I know change is possible, because I am changing, still figuring out what I think. I am still deciding how to live my life. The challenges are great, but if we accept individual responsibility and make choices, we will rise to the challenges, and we will become part of the positive tide of the change. I hope this goal will be met through our common efforts. Thank you all.
57．The purpose of what the speaker said at the age of 12 was to .
A．end poverty and make school beautiful
B．find environmental answers and show off
C．focus people’s attention on some social problems
D．find a wonderful place and clean it up
58．What does the underlined word “ovation” in the second paragraph refer to?
A．A long period of laughing.
B．A cold and unfriendly welcome.
C．An expression used for greeting.
D．Great applause or cheering.
59．The information in the text is presented mainly through .
A．question and answer B．a personal lecture[来
C．cause and effect D．listing steps in a process
60．Which of the following best describes the speaker?
A．He is an experienced educator. B．He is an impolite man.
C．He is a man of great worries. D．He is a man of social responsibility.
Frederick Law Olmsted （1822 - 1903）, a Connecticut farm boy, saw his first public park in Liverpool, England, as he accompanied his brother on a walking tour. He was impressed by the park’s winding paths, open fields, lakes and bridges. Perhaps the most wonderful things of all was that the park was open to everyone.
A moment beginning in 1840 to set aside park land on New York City’s Manhattan Island has successful result in 1856 with the purchase of 840 acres of rocky and swampy （沼泽） land, bought with about $ 5 million in state funds. Olmsted’s chance meeting with a project organizer led to his applying for the job of park manager. In 1857 Olmsted was appointed manager of the proposed park, and the clearing of the site began.
Calvert Vaux, a British architect, asked Olmsted to collaborate with him on a park design, and Olmsted agreed. Vaux saw the park as a work of art, while Olmsted saw the park as a place for people to escape the noise of the city. Together they invented a plan that would give the persons and animals living in the city a quiet, green park and would also preserve and increase the good qualities of the natural features of the land. The commissioners voted in favor of Vaux and Olmsted’s plan, and in 1858, the two became the official designers of New York City’s Central Park.
It took millions of cartloads of topsoil to build Central park’s gentle slopes, shady glens, and steep, rocky ravines. Five million trees were planted, a water – supply system was laid, and bridges, arches, roads and paths were constructed. The park officially opened in 1876, and today, well over a century later, people still escape the noise of the city in Olmsted and Vaux’s great work of art.
53．What is the text mainly about?
A．A history of the planning of Central park.
B．An engineering plan for Central Park.
C．A biography of Frederick Law Olmsted.
D．A guided walking tour of Central park.
54．Olmsted became manager of Central Park because of .
A．his friendship with Calvert Vaux
B．his hard work in clearing the land
C．his winning a design competition
D．a chance meeting with one of the park’s organizers
55．The underlined word “collaborate” in the third paragraph means .
A．disagree B．comment C．vote D．work together
56．Which of the following is true about Central Park?
A．It is out of date nowadays.
B．The designers came from the same country.
C．It is an old park in America.
D．It is only for people who can well afford it.