When looking at Western Europe，we don’t usually think about poverty—but in fact，some people in modern—day Britain are so hard up that they can’t afford to buy food．
Back in 2008,the financial crisis caused a lot of unemployment．Then there were the cuts to the welfare system in 2013 which added to the problem—and many British people fell into debt．It’s estimated that 500，000 people in the UK have turned to food banks，just to get by．
Steph Hagen，who works in a Nottingham food bank，says, “People do not go to a food bank because it's an open door．It’s a case where they go to it because they need to．With our food bank—we are an independent one．and we have limited stocks—everyone who comes through our door has no income．”
There are checks to make sure nobody is abusing the system．If a doctor or a social worker thinks someone needs to use a food bank—even for a short time—they can give them vouchers(凭证)．Then the people in need take them along to the food bank and they get handouts for three days．
Churches and individual donors provide most of the food in the banks．But some businesses might help out too．
And what sort of food is offered in food banks? Hagen says, “Basically，we’ve got porridge．We do occasionally get fresh produce but it’s very rare，especially in the winter months．It’s like tinned fruit，tinned ready meals．We have to give out ‘no-cooking’ food parcels because people can’t afford the gas and electricity”．
Community spirit has a lot to do with food banks．Volunteers say they are a great meeting place for people who are lonely and depressed．And when facing a crisis，some beneficiaries might need to feed not only their belly—but also their soul．According to the text，the food bank is a place_____．
| A．which is funded by the government |
| B．where people can get food randomly |
| C．which helps poor people live through crisis |
| D．where there is enough food supplies |
What does the underlined word “them” in Paragraph 4 refer to?
| A．Systems． | B．Doctors． |
| C．Social workers． | D．Vouchers． |
Why do food banks mainly offer “no-cooking ” food?
| A．Poor people have no money for gas and electricity． |
| B．The volunteers hate to supply cooked food． |
| C．Food banks can’t afford cooked food． |
| D．This kind of food is easy to store． |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．Community spirit can cure those who are depressed． |
| B．Food banks benefit poor people mind and body． |
| C．People can have great fun in food banks． |
| D．Volunteers tend to feel lonely and depressed in food banks． |
In Britain arrangements for inviting and entertaining guests at a wedding are usually the responsibility of the bride's family．In most cases it is mainly friends and relations of both families who are invited but when bride's father is a businessman of some kind, the wedding reception may provide a useful occasion for establishing social connections with clients or customers and other people whose goodwill may be of advantage to him．it is, however, the bride's mother who has the job of sending out the formal printed invitation cards．
In the case of a church wedding, the vicar of each parish(教区) in which the bride and bridegroom live is normally informed about a month in advance of the ceremony so that an announcement of the coming wedding can be made in church on each of three Sundays before it takes place．Anyone who may know of an existing marriage of either partner is ordered to give information, though this means of avoiding bigamy must have been more effective in the days when people attend the religious service and the bride usually wears the traditional long white dress and veil, while her bridesmaids, who are children, wear long dresses in attractive colors．This may also happen in the case of a civil wedding in a register office but is probably less usual．
The reception which follows may be held in a restaurant, a local hall or, when there are few guests, in the bride’s own home．Refreshments are provided, a special iced wedding-cake is cut(usually to the accompaniment of speeches)and distributed to the guests, toasts are drunk and dancing may follow．At some point in the celebrations, the bride goes off to change into everyday clothes and then leaves the party with her husband to go on their honeymoon, the journey they will make together, often in romantic surrounding abroad．It is the bride's parents who normally have to________．
| A．make all the arrangements for the wedding |
| B．provide hospitality for the people attending |
| C．decide who shall be invited |
| D．pay all expenses involved |
What possible difference is suggested between a church and a civil wedding?
| A．Civil weddings are less commonly followed by a reception． |
| B．It is less usual for guests to attend the civil wedding formalities． |
| C．Guests at civil weddings are less formally dressed． |
| D．There could be less attention paid at the latter to convention and picturesque effect． |
The reception normally takes place in the bride’s home if________．
| A．this is a large one． |
| B．there is enough room to entertain the people invited． |
| C．the parents cannot afford to hire a hall． |
| D．there is to be no party afterwards． |
The couple leave for their honeymoon________．
| A．after the church or register office ceremony |
| B．immediately after the cake has been cut and the speeches made |
| C．at the end of the reception |
| D．as soon as the bride is ready |
All plant cells are able to take up water. Even dead ones do to a certain degree. Absorption of water by dead cell walls makes wood swell(肿胀). In common land plants, the living cells of roots take up most of the water. Land plants without roots do exist, however. Those greenish-yellow lichens(苔藓)you see on tree trunks and on rocks in the high mountains have no roots. Half a billion years ago, when water plant started to invade the land, the first primitive land plants did not have roots; they were marsh (沼泽) plants.
Even among the flowering plants, one finds rootless forms. These flowering plants are the so-called higher plants because they evolved more recently and are thus considered higher on the evolutionary scale. In the Peruvian desert, there grows one of these rootless higher plants, a bromeliad. It is a relative of the pineapple. Even if this plant had roots, they would be of no use, because where the plant grows, it never rains. The plant gets its water exclusively from the dew it collects at night, when its leaves cool off. Such rootless plants, of course, can be moved with ease, but they will only grow when they are placed out in the open. If they are placed too near a house, the radiation from the heat of the house prevents the leaves from cooling and so prevents dew from forming, and the plant dies. In the southern United States and in Puerto Rico, one sees bromeliads growing high above the streets on the insulation of electric wires. These plants get their water from rain, and the only soil they ever come in contact with is the dust that may blow on their leaves.Wood swells because of _______.
| A．the dead cell walls | B．tiny drops of water entering the dead cell |
| C．the growth of the cell | D．the death of the cell |
From the passage we know that the evolutionary scale is arranged according to ______.
| A．evolutionary cycles | B．heights and depths |
| C．time | D．kinds |
The bromeliad is a plant that _______.
| A．has useless roots | B．is a pineapple |
| C．can grow anywhere | D．takes up water through its leaves |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．Water plants existed before land plants. |
| B．Only living plant cells take up water. |
| C．The greenish-yellow lichens are uncommon land plants. |
| D．The living cells of roots absorb more water than the rest of the plant. |
The most suitable title for this passage is ______.
| A．water intake by cells | B．rootless plants | C．plant in the desert | D．higher plants |
When you buy a T-shirt, or a fur coat in a store , it often carries a label(标签) telling who made it or from what store it was bought. Indeed, some labels show the dress is famous and it is very expensive, so buyers who deal with the cheapest products would be pleased to do away with labels entirely.
However, there is another label more important than the one showing from which store the dress was bought. When a person buys a fur coat, or a jacket , from a store , a label telling what the product is made of should be carried to it.
This label is required by law. Besides telling what the product on show is made of , the label should be in clear English and be where one can find it easily. The information on the label must be the truth.
The reason for this label is that most buyers today aren’t expert enough to know exactly what kind of fur or material they are buying. The buyer must believe in the store that sells the products or in what the labels say.The author doesn’t agree that_______.
| A．some clothes may carry more than one label |
| B．some clothing stores sell cheap dresses |
| C．shops can sell products with or without labels |
| D．buyers will believe what the label says |
This article mainly refers to__________.
| A．making furs and clothes | B．protecting buyers with law |
| C．keeping the buyers informed | D．businessmen and sellers |
Which of the following is true?
| A．Not all buyers know the materials they are buying. |
| B．A fur coat with a high price often carries a false label. |
| C．A label only says what material the product is made of . |
| D．A T-shirt seldom carries a label. |
| We were disappointed to learn about Chrysler Dodge’s new car, the Viper. It must be the most ungreen car of recent years. It can carry only two people but it is extremely powerful, with a top speed of 165 mph. It will go from 0-60 mph in just four seconds. From our point of view, the worst feature is the petrol consumption: just 15miles per gallon. This is a car from the past, a gas-guzzler for people who want to show off and who don’t care about polluting the air. |
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| ASTON MARTIN DB2/4(1975) This car is a fine example of the power and elegance of the Aston Martin sports cars of the 1950s. It was developed from the earlier DB2, but this model was intended to give more room: if you look in the back window, you will see two small seats. But the main attraction of Aston Martins was their power: almost 200kph. 765 of these cars were manufactured between 1953 and 1959. This model was donated to the museum in 1986. |
| In the future, lorry drivers could be free to doze or read a newspaper as their vehicles travel along the motorways of the world, according to Mercedes-Benz. They say that lorries could travel on special lorry-only lanes, and that electronic safety systems would ‘read’ the road ahead, keep a safe distance between vehicles and set the speed. The driver would only take over when the lorry left the motorway and returned to normal roads. This vision of the future was explained at he Hanover Commercial Vehicle Show recently, at which Mercedes showed their EXT-92 experimental lorry of the future. Among the many features, the lorry would include a luxurious living area for the driver, complete with bunk bed, microwave cooker, television, telephone and fax machine. |
The writer of passage 1 criticizes (批评) the Viper because______.
| A．he/she dislikes the colour | B．it is too small for most families |
| C．it uses too much petrol and pollutes the air. | |
| D．it is very fast and will break the speed limit |
The main purpose of Passage 2 is to______.
| A．try to sell a second-hand car | B．explain why this car has four seats |
| C． give interesting information | D．describe a new car planned for the future |
In Passage 3, the writer’s main purpose is to ______.
| A．warn readers about a dangerous development | |
| B．try to sell a new commercial vehicle | |
| C．inform readers about future transport ideas | D．tell a silly story |
Which of the following would be the best title for Passage 3?
| A．The Dangers of Tired Drivers | B．Lorries which won’t need Drivers |
| C．Lorries which can Fly | D．The Lorry of the Future |
Queen Victoria was monarch of Great Britain from 1837 until her death in 1901. This period is often called the Victorian Age.
Queen Victoria was a stern and serious woman. One reason she was so serious was that she had suffered a great loss. When she was twenty years old, she married a German prince named Albert. Victoria and Albert were deeply in love, and their marriage was extremely happy. In 1861, after they had been married for twenty-one years, Albert died, leaving Queen Victoria heartbroken. For the rest of her life, the lonely Victoria mourned his loss. It was customary in those days for a widow to dress in black for a short time after the death of her husband. But Queen Victoria dressed in black for forty years. And for forty years, as another sigh of her grief, she wrote her letters white paper edged in black.
Even before Prince Albert died, Queen Victoria was known as a very serious woman. She had a strong sense of duty and worked very hard at all her tasks. In her diary she wrote, “I love to be employed; I hate to be idle.” She never forgot that she was Britain’s queen and always acted with great dignity. Victoria had high ideals and moral standards that sometimes made her seem stuffy. She was also very sure of herself. She always thought that she was right, and she expected everyone to agree with her.Which of the following statements about Queen Victoria is NOT true?
| A．She had great confidence in herself. |
| B．She ruled Great Britain for sixty-four years. |
| C．She enjoyed her marriage to a German prince. |
| D．She became a serious woman after her beloved husband died. |
Queen Victoria wrote her letters on white paper edged in black because______
| A．she was a very serious woman. |
| B．black was her favorite color. |
| C．that was one way to show her feeling of sadness. |
| D．it was a custom among monarchs of Great Britain. |
All of the following characteristics except ______ can be used to properly describe Queen Victoria.
| A．moral | B．lonely | C．workaholic( 工作狂) | D．compromising (妥协) |