If you are a fruit grower-or would like to become one-take advantage of Apple Day to see what's around.
It's called Apple Day but in practice it's more like Apple Month. The day itself is on October 21, but sinceit has
caught on, events now spread out over most of October around Britain.
Visiting an apple event is a good chance to see, and often taste, a wide variety of apples. To people who are used to the limited choice of apples such as Golden Delicious and Royal Gala in supermarkets, it can be quite an eye opener to see the range of classical apples still in existence, such as Decio which was grown by the Romans. Although it doesn't taste of anything special, it's still worth a try, as is the knobbly(多疙瘩的) Cat's Head which is more of a curiosity than anything else.
There are also varieties developed to suit specific local conditions. One of the very best varieties for eating quality is Orleans Reinette, but you'll need a warm, sheltered place with perfect soil to grow it, so it's a pipe dreamfor most apple lovers who fall for it.
At the events, you can meet expert growers and discuss which ones will best suit your conditions, and because these are family affairs, children are well catered for with apple-themed fun and games.
Apple Days are being held at all sorts of places with an interest in fruit, including stately gardens and commercial orchards(果园).If you want to have a real orchard experience, try visiting the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale, near Faversham in Kent.
8.What can people do at the apple events?
A. |
Attend experts' lectures. |
B. |
Visit fruit-loving families. |
C. |
Plant fruit trees in an orchard. |
D. |
Taste many kinds of apples. |
9.What can we learn about Decio?
A. |
It is a new variety. |
B. |
It has a strange look. |
C. |
It is rarely seen now. |
D. |
It has a special taste. |
10.What does the underlined phrase "a pipe dream" in Paragraph 3mean?
A. |
A practical idea. |
B. |
A vain hope. |
C. |
A brilliant plan. |
D. |
A selfish desire. |
11.What is the author's purpose in writing the text?
A. |
To show how to grow apples. |
B. |
B .To introduce an apple festival. |
C. |
To help people select apples. |
D. |
To promote apple research. |
TV LISTING FOR WLS-TV IN CHICAGO(May, 7, 2012)
2:30 AM |
Weekend ABC 7 News(Repeat) The top local, regional and national news events are presented by the ABC 7 Weekend News Team, along with weather, sports and travel conditions. |
3:00 AM |
Inside Edition(New, TV-PG) Rumors about mass murderer Charles Manson’s secret son. |
3:30 AM |
America This Morning(New) Live reports from ABC News headquarters in Washington D. C. Early morning news events and the top headlines of the day are examined and reported. |
4:30 AM |
ABC 7 News This Morning(New) The ABC 7 Morning News Team provides a general look at overnight and early morning news events, weather forecasts and traffic updates for early risers. |
5:00 AM |
Mirror Mirror Reporter Rebecca Spera provides the latest developments in the beauty, health and fashion industries and answers commonly-asked beauty questions. |
5:30 AM |
Home with Lisa Quinn Professional designer Lisa Quinn shows how to refurnish, reorganize and redesign the home in order to maximize convenience and style. |
6:00AM |
Everyday Living Quick beauty tips; protect yourself from money problems; the four most commonly parenting mistakes. |
7:00AM |
Windy City Live(Repeat) Tile ABC 7 team of hosts provides the latest on things of interest in Chicago including cultural events, lifestyle topics, fashion trends and celebrity news. |
*TV-PG:programs for children with parents’ guidanceWhich of the following statements is NOT true?
A. ABC News headquarters is in Washington D. C.
B. Lisa Quinn is a professor providing the latest information in fashion.
C. Parenting mistakes are discussed in the morning TV programs.
D. ABC 7 News This Morning will give early risers a general look at traffic updates.Which content should be watched with parents’ guidance?
A.Commonly-asked beauty questions. |
B.Celebrity news. |
C.Rumors about Charles Manson’s secret son. |
D.Lifestyle topics. |
If one would like to deal with money problems, he may refer to __________.
A.Everyday Living | B.Mirror Mirror |
C.Windy City Live | D.Home with Lisa Quinn |
If you want to know the latest weather forecast of the day, you should watch at _________.
A.2:30AM | B.3:30AM |
C.4:30AM | D.7:00AM |
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.
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)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 form 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 test 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. |
Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a longhandled brush. He stopped by the fence in front of the house where he lived with his aunt Polly. He looked at it, and all joy left him. The fence was long and high. He put the brush into the whitewash and moved it along the top of the fence. He repeated the operation. He felt he could not continue and sat down.
He knew that his friends would arrive soon with all kinds of interesting plans for the day. They would walk past him and laugh. They would make jokes about his having to work on a beautiful summer Saturday. The thought burned him like fire.
He put his hand into his pockets and took out all that he owned. Perhaps he could find some ways to pay someone to do the whitewashing for him. But there was nothing of value in his pockets—nothing that could buy even half an hour of freedom. So he put the bits of toys back into his pockets and gave up the idea.
At this dark and hopeless moment, a wonderful idea came to him. It filled his mind with a great, bright light. Calmly he picked up the brush and started again to whitewash.
While Tom was working, Ben Rogers appeared. Ben was eating an apple as he walked along the street. As he walked along it, he was making noises like the sound of a riverboat. First he shouted loudly, like a boat captain. Then he said “Ding-Dong-Dong”, “Ding-Dong-Dong” again and again, like the bell of a riverboat. And he made other strange noises. When he came close to Tom, he stopped.
Tom went on whitewashing. He did not look at Ben. Ben stared a moment and then said: “Hello! I'm going swimming, but you can't go, can you?”
No answer. Tom moved his brush carefully along the fence and looked at the result with the eye of an artist. Ben came nearer. Tom's mouth watered for the apple, but he kept on working.
Ben said, “Hello, old fellow, you've got to work, hey?”
Tom turned suddenly and said, “Why, it's you, Ben! I wasn't noticing.”
“Say—I'm going swimming. Don't you wish you could? But of course you'd rather work—wouldn't you? Of course you would.”
Tom looked at the boy a bit, and said, “What do you call work?”
“Why, isn't that work?”
Tom went back to his whitewashing, and answered carelessly. “Well, maybe it is, and maybe it isn't. All I know is, it suits Tom Sawyer.”
“Oh come, now, you don't mean to say that you like it?”
The brush continued to move.
“Like it? Well, I don't see why I shouldn't like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?”
Ben stopped eating his apple. Tom moved his brush back and forth, stepped back to look at the result, added a touch here and there, and stepped back again. Ben watched every move and got more and more interested. Soon he said,“Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little.”
Tom thought for a moment, and was about to agree, but he changed his mind.
“No—no—it won't do, Ben. You see, Aunt Polly wants this fence to be perfect. It has got to be done very carefully. I don't think there is one boy in a thousand, maybe two thousand, that can do it well enough.”
“No—is that so? Oh come, now—let me just try. Only just a little.”
“Ben, I'd like to, but if it isn't done right, I'm afraid Aunt Polly … ”
“Oh, I'll be careful. Now let me try. Say—I'll give you the core of my apple.”
“Well, here—No, Ben, now don't. I'm afraid …”
“I'll give you all of it.”
Tom gave up the brush with unwillingness on his face, but joy in his heart. And while Ben worked at the fence in the hot sun, Tom sat under a tree, eating the apple, and planning how to get more help. There were enough boys. Each one came to laugh, but remained to whitewash. By the time Ben was tired, Tom sold the next chance to Billy for a kite; and when Billy was tired, Johnny bought it for a dead rat—and so on, hour after hour. And when the middle of the afternoon came, Tom had won many treasures.
And he had not worked. He had had a nice idle time all the time, with plenty of company, and the fence had been whitewashed three times. If he hadn't run out of whitewash, Tom would have owned everything belonging to his friends.
He had discovered a great law of human action, namely, that in order to make a man or a boy want a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to get.How many characters are mentioned in this story?
A.4. | B.5. | C.6. | D.7 |
Why did Tom take all his bits of toys out of his pockets?
A.Because he wanted to know if he could buy help with his toys. |
B.Because he wanted to throw his toys away. |
C.Because he wanted to give his toys to his friends. |
D.Because he was tired and wanted to play with his toys. |
Tom was about to agree to let Ben whitewash when he changed his mind because ________.
A.Tom planned to make Ben give up his apple first |
B.Tom wanted to do the whitewashing by himself |
C.Tom was unwilling to let Ben do the whitewashing |
D.Tom was afraid Ben would do the whitewashing better |
We can learn from the passage that ________.
A.Tom was interested in whitewashing the fence |
B.Tom had a lot of friends who are ready to help others |
C.Tom was unwilling to whitewash the fence, but he managed to let other boys do it for him |
D.Tom was good at whitewashing the fence, so he looked at the result of his work with the eye of an artist |
What made Ben Rogers eagerly give up his apple and offer to brush the fence for Tom?
A.His curiosity about Tom's brushing job. |
B.His warm heart and kindness to friends. |
C.Tom's threat. |
D.Aunt Polly's idea. |
Which of the following is the most suitable title for this passage?
A.The Happy Whitewasher |
B.Tom And His Fellows |
C.Whitewashing A Fence |
D.How To Make The Things Difficult To Get. |
When you were young, ginger ale(姜味汽水)may have been a popular choice for reducing the unpleasant feelings caused by your upset stomach on the road to get to school. For years, ginger has been used to reduce the effects of nausea(作呕). But do you know it’s now also being looked at to fight cancer?
Scientists have discovered that ginger can kill cancerous cells in two different ways. On the one hand, ginger causes the cancer cells to “commit suicide” by destroying themselves while leaving the surrounding healthy cells untouched. Ginger can prevent the growth of diseased cells by destroying the environment they grow in. On the other hand, ginger tricks the diseased cells and causes them to fight among themselves. Researchers are now looking into one of the toughest cancers to fight. However, scientists find repeated treatment of disease by drugs can actually lose its effectiveness over time as the cancer builds up resistance(抵抗力)to the same treatment. This raises researchers’ confidence that ginger would help stop resistance from the cancer.
In a study, the cancer clearly stopped growing in the body of the mice that had been given ginger. The bad news is that such encouraging research has only been conducted on mice. The good news, however, is that it seems humans might be able to get the same benefit just by eating products with ginger and ginger root in them.
Cancer prevention and fighting abilities aren’t the only potential benefits you may get from adding a bit more ginger to your diet.
Drinking ginger ale when your stomach was upset as a child wasn’t just a placebo(安慰剂).Numerous studies and research, including the Mayo Clinic’s strict grading system, agree that ginger has some sort of anti-nausea characteristics.
Some believe that ginger works well against nausea after operations, while others use it to reduce motion sickness such as seasickness and car sickness. The Mayo Clinic, however, advises the use of ginger only to reduce nausea during pregnancy. While more research needs to be done, early studies are very promising, especially in that small amounts of ginger don’t seem to do any harm to the mother or baby.
Other health benefits from ginger exist as well. Since ginger is often considered to be useful in warming bodies, it can improve the condition of people’s joints including knees and ankle joints. Some suggest that ginger can help cure a cough associated with the common cold. Another benefit of ginger is that it seems to have no real side effects, which is one of the main reasons it appears to be safe during pregnancy.
But for safety, you should always consult a doctor for instructions on daily use before starting, even with something like ginger that seems to have little to no side effects.Why do scientists think ginger can be used to fight against cancer?
A.Ginger can destroy diseased cells in two different ways. |
B.Ginger is commonly considered as a kind of pain killer. |
C.Ginger warms people’s bodies and helps them recover from operations. |
D.Ginger has no harmful side effects according to a large amount of medical research. |
We can learn from the third paragraph that___________.
A.ginger works well only for warm-blooded animals |
B.ginger and its root have the same effect on humans as mice |
C.people are likely to gain great benefit by having ginger |
D.the research on ginger is promised to be carried out only on mice |
What is the text mainly about?
A.Ginger’s medicinal effects. |
B.The benefits of ginger ale. |
C.A new discovery about ginger. |
D.Detailed research on ginger. |
What will most probably be talked about following the text?
A.How to use ginger in daily life. |
B.Products made from ginger. |
C.Ginger’s growing environment. |
D.Why ginger can warm bodies. |
Planning a visit to the UK? Here we help with ways to cut your costs.
AVOID BIG EVENTS Big sporting events, concerts and exhibitions can increase the cost of accommodation and make it harder to find a room. A standard double room at the Thistle Brighton on the final Friday of the Brighton Comedy Festival(19 Oct.) cost £169. 15 at Booking.com. A week later, the same room cost£ 118.15
If you can be flexible and want to know dates to avoid—or you’re looking for a big event to pass your time—check out sites such as Whatsonwhen.com, which allow you to search for events in the UK by city, date and category.
STAYAWAY FROM THE STATIONIf traveling to your destination by train, you may want to find a good base close to the station, but you could end up paying more for the sake of convenience at the start of your holiday.
Don’t be too choosy about the part of town you stay in. Booking two months in advance, the cheapest room at Travelodge’s Central Euston hotel inLondonfor Saturday 22 September was £95.95. A room just a tube journey away at itsCovent Gardenhotel was £75.75. And at Farringdon, a double room cost just £62.95.
LOOK AFTER YOURSELFReally central hotels in cities such asLondon,EdinburghandCardiffcan cost a fortune, especially at weekends and during big events. As an alternative consider checking into a self-catering flat with its own kitchen. Often these flats are hidden away on the top floors of city centre buildings. A great example is the historic O’Neill Flat onEdinburgh’s Royal Mile, available for £420 for five days in late September, with room for four adults.
GET ON A BIKELondon’s ‘Boris bikes’ have attracted the most attention, but other cities also have similar programmes that let you rent a bicycle and explore at your own pace, saving you on public transport or car parking costs.
Among the smaller cities with their own programmes areNewcastle(casual members pay around £1.50 for two hours) andCardiff(free for up to 30 minutes, or £5 per day).TheBrightonComedy Festival is mentioned mainly to show big events may __________.
A.help travelers pass time |
B.attract lots of travelers to theUK |
C.allow travelers to make flexible plans |
D.cause travelers to pay more for accommodation |
“Farringdon” in Paragraph 5 is most probably __________.
A.an ideal holiday destination |
B.the tube line toCovent Garden |
C.a hotel away from the train station |
D.the name of a travel agency |
The passage shows that the O’Neill Flat __________.
A.lies on the ground floor |
B.is located in centralLondon |
C.provides cooking facilities for tourists |
D.costs over £100 on average per day in late September |
Cardiff’s program allows a free bike for a maximum period of __________.
A.half an hour | B.one hour |
C.one hour and a half | D.two hours |
The main purpose of the passage is __________.
A.to tell visitors how to book in advance |
B.to supply visitors with hotel information |
C.to offer visitors some money-saving tips |
D.to show visitors the importance of self-help |