There seems to be a general assumption that brilliant people cannot stand routine ; that they need a varied , exciting life in order to do their best . It is also assumed that dull people are particularly suited for dull work . We are told that the reason the present-day young complain so loudly about the dullness of jobs is that they are better educated and brighter than the young of the past .
Actually , there is no evidence that people who achieve a lot desire , let alone live , colorful lives . The opposite is nearer the truth . Einstein worked out his theory of relativity while serving as a clerk in a Swiss patent office . Immanuel Kant’s（康德）daily life was a dull routine . The housewives of Konigsberg set their clocks when they saw him pass , on his way to the university . He took the same walk each morning , rain or shine . The greatest distance Kant ever traveled was sixty miles from Konigsberg .
It may be true that work on the assembly line（流水线）dulls the abilities and empties the mind , and the cure is only fewer hours of work at higher pay . But during fifty years as a workingman , I have found dull routine coexisting with an active mind . While doing dull , repetitive work by the water , I could talk with my partners and compose sentences in my mind , all at the same time . Chances are that had my work been too interesting I could not have done any thinking and composing at work or even on my own time after returning from work .
People who find dull jobs unbearable are often dull people who do not know what to do with themselves at leisure . Children and mature people will get used to dull routine , while the adolescent , who has lost the child’s ability for concentration and is without the inner resources of the mature , needs excitement and novelty to get rid of boredom . It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that __________ .
| A．great minds hate to live colorful lives |
| B．Einstein worked out his theory in a university |
| C．Kant only took the same walk on rainy and sunny days |
| D．Kant might pass Konigsberg every day at the same time |
How does the author feel about his repetitive work by the water ?
| A．It made his mind empty . |
| B．It was well-paid but too demanding . |
| C．It worked well with his active mind . |
| D．It was too interesting to think of anything else . |
The reasons why youngsters dislike dull work include the following EXCEPT that they __________ .
| A．are not mature enough |
| B．think themselves smart |
| C．often complain about others |
| D．don’t know how to spend spare time |
What is the purpose of the passage ?
| A．To argue for the benefits of dull work . |
| B．To present some facts about dull work . |
| C．To share his own dull working experience . |
| D．To persuade young people to live a dull life . |
Department stores sell ready- to-wear clothing, which is also called ready-made clothing. Such clothing is made in fixed sizes. Those people who find that ready-made clothing fits them well can save money by buying it. Most often, people do not fit exactly into a producer’s size. Their clothing must be altered to make it fit better. However, most alterations are not very expensive. The small cost of most alterations means that ready-made clothing can meet the needs of most customers.
Those who can afford it often get someone to design and make their clothing. Such clothing is called custom-made. The person who makes it measures the customer, and then sews it so that it fits perfectly. Alterations are not needed. Custom-made clothing is largely sewn by hand, has better quality, better material, and is of the style you have chosen. Of course, it costs much more than ready-to-wear clothing. You need to pay the difference for the special fitting and better skill that you are receiving. This often means that you spend double or more than you would for a ready-made garment.
Custom-made clothing is not always that much better than ready-made clothing. It costs more partly because only one garment has been made, just for you. Companies that produce ready-made products make thousands of garments at a time. This means they can buy large quantities of material. Workers cut each size by the hundreds. Companies work out ways to make the garments quickly by machine and pay workers according to their skill. Thus they can sell the finished products at a low price while still making money. Most of the clothing sold in the United States is made in this way. Customers gain from the lower prices which are made possible by mass production. It may or may not give them high quality. According to the passage, people who buy ready-made clothing ______.
| A．wish to make alternations | B．will spend less money |
| C．want to make it better | D．can fit into the sizes |
We can learn from the passage that custom-made clothing is_______.
| A．specially made | B．fashionably designed |
| C．chosen by few people | D．made with difficulties |
Which of the following is true about ready-made clothing?
| A．It is of poor quality. | B．It suits all people. |
| C．It is labor-saving to make it. | D．It takes more time to make it |
The purpose of the writer is _______.
| A．to explain why custom-made clothing costs more |
| B．to show the advantages of mass production |
| C．to tell readers how to make money from ready-made clothing |
| D．to provide information about different kinds of clothing |
Intellectual property (IP) is a product of the mind that has commercial value. The concept dates back to 1623, when the first patent law to protect IP rights was passed. IP rights protect an artist from having his/her creative ideas copied by another. For example, if somebody generated an idea for a novel, that idea is protected by IP rights. If someone else wishes to represent the idea or develop it further, he/she must consult the original artists, who will normally be rewarded financially for its use. Back in the 17th century, IP rights were primarily carried out to protect newly developed manufacturing processes against stealing, but today intellectual property rights are also enjoyed by those who create music, art and literature.
In recent years, IP rights have been the focus of a great deal of discussion because of a technology which looks set to weaken them altogether: the Internet. Many years ago, if you wanted a recoding of a song, you would have to purchase it from a music store; if a novel, from a book store. In those days, IP rights were easily protected since it was very difficult to obtain intellectual property without paying for it. However, a lot of IP, including songs, films, books and artwork, can be downloaded today free of charge using the internet. This practice has now taken the world by storm, dramatically affecting the way in which we view IP rights.According to the writer, in the beginning, IP rights were mainly of use to _______.
| A．those creating music, art and literature |
| B．novelists |
| C．those not receiving financial reward for their work |
| D．engineers and inventors |
What do we know about the Internet according to the passage?
| A．It does not affect the way we understand IP rights. |
| B．It sells songs and films. |
| C．It makes IP rights harder to protect. |
| D．It prevents the production of artwork. |
According to paragraph 2, what has “taken the world by storm”?
| A．Intellectual property rights. | B．Free downloading. |
| C．The Internet. | D．The large number of songs, films and books. |
A possible title for this passage could be _______.
| A．IP Rights and Our Attitudes | B．Ways to Protect Your IP Rights |
| C．The Present and the Future of IP rights | D．A History of IP Rights |
Every culture in the world has marriage and wedding ceremonies . Usually marriages are between one woman(the bride) and one man ( the groom). However, in other parts of the world a man may have several wives, or, as in some areas of India, a wife may have more than one husband..
There are also many different kinds of wedding ceremonies practiced around the world. These ceremonies can be very short and simple, or very long and complicated.
One of the largest and most expensive wedding ceremonies in recent times was held in Dubai in 1981. The couple tying the knot at this wedding were the son of Sheik ( a male Arab ruler) Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum and Princess Salama. The wedding ceremony took seven days and cost $44 million. It was held in a large building which was specially built for the ceremony and looked like a stadium. The bride and groom needed a large place for their wedding because more than 20,000 guests were invited.
The reasons why a man and woman get married also vary. Sometimes they marry because they are in love, sometimes they marry because someone they meet through a matchmaker, and sometimes they marry because their parents tell them that they must marry.
One unusual example of an arranged marrige took place in Bangladesh in 1986. The groom was an eleven-month-old boy and the bride was a three-month-old girl. They were the youngest married couple ever.
The parents of the bride and groom arranged the marriage as a way of ending a fight between the two families who had been arguing over a farm for twenty years. Both families thought they owned the farm, but no one knew exactly . The fight ended for good when the young boy married the young girl. By arranging this marriage, neither famlily was forced to lose face. The two families agreed to give the farm to the young people.What is the best title for this passage?
| A．An Unusual Wedding Tradition | B．A Short History of Marriage |
| C．Common Western Wedding Trations. | D．Interesting Wedding Around the World |
Who got married in the large Wedding Ceremony described in the passage?
A. a farmer and a neighbor B. the son of a sheik and a princess
B. a king and a queen D. two babies.Why was the wedding ceremony in Dubai held in a building like a stadium?
A. The ceremony was very long
B. The groom loved to play sports.
C, Many people came to the wedding.
D. People in Dubai usually get married in stadium.Why did the families in Bangladesh make their children get married?
| A．The children were in love |
| B．The families wanted to end the fight |
| C．The families wanted to buy a farm. |
| D．The bride’s family wanted to sell their farm. |
What was strange about the wedding in Bangladesh ?
| A．The bride and groom were young. | B．The wedding was on a farm |
| C． It was an arranged marriage. | D．More than 20,000 guests came to the wedding |
The first Starbucks coffee shop opened in 1971 in downtown Seattle, Washington, in the United States. It was a small coffee shop that roasted its own coffee beans. The coffee shop’s business did well, and by 1981 there were three more Starbucks stores in Seattle.
Things really began to change for the company in 1981. That year, Howard Schultz met the three men who ran Starbucks. Schultz worked in New York for a company that made kitchen equipment. He noticed that Starbucks ordered a large number of special coffee makers, and he was curious about the company. Schultz went to Seattle to see what Starbucks did , and he liked what he saw. He wanted to become part of the company. In 1982, the original Starbucks owners hired Schultz as the company’s head of marketing.
In 1983, Schultz traveled to Italy. The unique atmosphere of the espresso(浓咖啡) bars there caught his eye. To Schultz it seemed that Italians spent their daily lives in three places: home, work , and coffee bars . His experience in Italy gave Schultz a new idea for Starbucks back in Seattle.
Schultz created an atmosphere for Starbucks coffee shops that was comfortable and casual, and customers everywhere seemed to like it. Between 1987 and 1992, Starbucks opened 150 new stores---and that was only the beginning. As a matter of fact, by the year 2000, three new Starbucks stores opened somewhere around the world every day!
Today, Starbucks has thousands of stores, including stores in twenty-six countries. One thing that helps make Starbucks succeed in cities outside the United Stateds is the way Starbucks works with local stores and restaurants. By working together with a store already in the city, Starbucks gains an understanding of customers in the city. This understanding helps Starbucks open stores in the right locations for their customers.What is the main topic of the reading?
| A．how Starbucks has grown | B．Starbucks’ customers |
| C．what Starbucks makes | D．how Starbucks makes its coffee |
Which is true about Starbucks’ first ten years of business?
| A．It grew very quickly | B．It was run by Howard Schultz |
| C．It was a small company | D．It made special coffee makers |
Who is Howard Schultz?
| A．a coffee seller from New York | B．the man who changed the company |
| C．an Italian coffee maker | D．one of the original owners of the company |
About how many new Starbucks opened in 1999?
| A．3 | B．150 | C．300 | D．more than 1000 |
What helps Starbucks succeed in places outside the United States?
| A．opening restaurants in just a few locations each year. |
| B．only selling locally produced coffee beans |
| C．working with other major coffee-making companies |
| D．learning about local customers. |
Popular breakfast foods in the United States, as in many other countries around the world, include coffee, milk , juice, eggs, and bread. Some other breakfast items served in the United States are thought by many to be traditionally American. However, they actually come from other cultures.
A very popular breakfast food in America is the pancake--- a thin , flat cake made out of flour and often served with maple syrup. The idea of the pancake is very old. In fact, pancakes were made long ago in ancient China.
Bagels, a round thick bread with a hole in the middle , are also popular for breakfast in America. Polish people in the late 1600s came up with the idea for the first bagels and this new kind of bread soon took off across Eastern Europe.
In the late 1800s, thousands of Jews from Eastern Europe travelled to the United States and brought the recipe for bagels with them. Today, New York bagels are said to be the best in the world. Many people have them with cream for breakfast on the go.
Doughnuts (usually spelled “donut” in the United States) came from France. They were served to American soldiers in France in the World War Ⅰ. After the war, American soldiers asked cooks in the United States to make doughnuts for them. Now , served with coffee, they are a very popular breakfast food across the United States.This reading is mainly about ________
| A．famous places to eat breakfast. |
| B．why people in the United States eat breakfast |
| C．the most popular types of pancakes in the United States |
| D．the history of popular breakfast foods in the United States. |
The oldest breakfast food in the passage is ______
| A．the pancake | B．the bagel | C．the doughnut | D．The passage doesn’t say. |
Which sentence is true for both bagels and donuts?
| A．They both came from Europe | B．They are both easy to make |
| C．They are both sweet | D．people in New York make them best |
Who brought bagels to America?
| A．Polish people | B．Jewish People | C．Chinese People | D．American soldiers |
Who served donuts to American soldiers during World War Ⅰ?
| A．French people | B．Jewish people |
| C．other American soldiers | D．cooks from the United States. |