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Some time ago, I discovered that one of my chairs had a broken leg. I didn’t think there would be any difficulty in getting it mended, as there are a lot of antique (古董)shops near my home. So I left my home one morning carrying the chair with me. I went into the first shop expecting a friendly reception (接待). I was quite wrong. The man wouldn’t even look at my chair.
The second shop, though slightly more polite, was just the same, and the third and the fourth. So I decided that my approach must be wrong.
I entered the fifth shop with a plan in my mind. I placed the chair on the floor and said to the shopkeeper, "Would you like to buy a chair?" He looked at it over carefully and said, "Yes, not a bad chair. How much do you want for it?" "Twenty pounds." I said. "OK," he said, "I will give you twenty pounds." "It’s got a slightly broken leg," I said. "Yes, I saw that, it is nothing. "the shopkeeper answered.
Everything was going according to my plan and I was getting excited. "What will you do with it?" I asked. "It will be easy to sell once the repair is done." "I will buy it." I said. "What do you mean? You just sold it to me." "Yes, I know, but I have just changed my mind, I am sorry. I will give you twenty - seven pounds for it." "You must be crazy." he said. Suddenly the penny dropped. "I know what you want. You want me to repair your chair." " You are right," I said, "What would you have done if I had walked in and asked you to mend the chair?" "I would not have agreed to do that. We don’t do repairs, not enough money in it, and too much trouble. But! will mend this for you. Will you pay it for five? ". He was a very nice person and was greatly amused (感到有趣)by the whole thing.
1. We can learn from the passage that in the first shop the writer________.
A. was rather impolite
B. was warmly received
C. asked the shopkeeper to buy his chair
D. asked the shopkeeper to repair his chair.
2. The expression" the penny dropped" in the last paragraph means the shopkeeper_________.
A. changed his mind B. accepted the offer
C. saw the writer’s purpose D. decided to help the writer
3.How much did the writer pay for the repair?
A. 5. B. 7. C. 20. D. 27.
4. From the text, we can learn that the writer was___________.
A. honest B. careful C. smart D. funny
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
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It’s a goal for millions and millions of families every year——keep the Christmas spending within a certain amount, but can still afford the gifts that your loved ones will enjoy. Never has this concern been greater in recent years than right now. Even so, there are several things that you can do to help.
Hit the sales.
No one wants to get up at four o’clock in the morning and fight to get the best deal on Black Friday, and it’s surely very tough to pick up the courage and get out there in the cold for a good deal, but sometimes——it can be well worth. Many retailers(零售商) offer specials all through the day——and some even offer online Black Friday specials, so you may still be able to get a great deal on Black Friday.
Pay close attention to advertisements.
Once the Christmas shopping season is coming, retailers hungry for business will do just about whatever to get you in the store. Pay very close attention to weekly advertisements of sales among the major retailers and you may be lucky enough to find different prices for the same thing in different shops.
Shop online.
Some of us don’t like running from store to store in order to get the best price on the perfect gift, and some of us don’t like to go out in the cold at all——thankfully for us, we can do online shopping.
The world of online shopping lets people visit all the major retailers as well as some specialty stores that could only be found on the Internet. Customers can find exactly what they are looking for, at the best possible price without ever having to leave the house. With traditional Christmas shopping consumers are sometimes limited to what’s left in stock if they wait too long to get to a particular store.
1.The first paragraph implies that ______.
A. nowadays not many people can afford expensive gifts
B. recently many people don’t want to spend money on gifts
C. Christmas is a time to make our loved ones enjoy their gifts
D. Christmas is a time to make us feel free to buy our loved ones gifts
2.In the writer’s opinion, it is rewarding on Black Friday _____.
A. if the weather is not very cold B. if we don’t have to fight for the best deals
C. if we don’t have to get up early D. If we get what we want at a good price
3.The underlined word “specials” means_______.
A. some experts in shopping
B. certain things for especially low price
C. some kind of help for a certain customer
D. things that can only be found on Friday
4.We can have more choices _____.
A. on Black Friday B. in a particular store
C. on the Internet D. from retailers
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
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Because of the financial crisis in the US and UK, college students are beginning to struggle to find ways to pay their tuition fees and accommodations.Recently, two major US student loan lenders — Citibank and JPMorgan Chase — announced they were leaving the student loan industry altogether. Because banks currently have a lack of credit, they are reluctant to offer students low-interest loans that need a several-year wait for any return of interest.
In the US, many undergraduates top up their financial needs with a private loan, although the majority can get government-funded loans. In the 2005-2006 academic year, $17 billion in private student loans was used to finance higher education. The shortfall in private funding has yet to be covered and will hit many US students hard.
Across the Atlantic, UK students have been less troubled by the crisis. Most undergraduates in the UK cover their university expenses with government-funded loans and grants (助学金). Their biggest concern is a sudden steep increase in student rent.
Most young professionals now rent houses, since 80 percent of UK mortgage schemes (住房抵押贷款计划) have disappeared — a direct result of the credit crisis. This has boosted the house rent market.
In large cities, UK students are paying almost 6.5 percent more in rent than the previous year. Figures from the UK organization Accommodation for Student show students in big cities such as London paying an average weekly rent of ￡103. Yet, despite students’ suffering, the number of this year’s university applications is expected to grow. During economic slumps (经济萧条时期), people regard further education as a way to survive tough job markets.
1.According to the passage, banks are unwilling to offer students loans because ________.
A．the students are poor and sometimes they can’t pay off the debt
B．banks prefer lending the money to the young professionals
C．banks don’t have enough money left at the present time
D．they think college students are not studying hard
2.The underlined phrase “top up” in Paragraph 3 probably means ________.
A．put up B．make up C．fill up D．pick up
3.Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A．UK college students have to pay more if they want to rent houses.
B．More UK students want to further their study in college.
C．It is not so easy for US students to loan money now.
D．College students’ tuition fees have risen greatly.
4.It can be inferred that ________.
A．there are no private student loan lenders in the UK
B．loans for US college students will be increased next year
C．private funding falls a little because of higher-interest loans in the US
D．private loans play a very important role in financing US students’ education
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
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Beauty has always been regarded as something praiseworthy. Almost everyone thinks attractive people are happier and healthier, have better marriages and have more respectable jobs. Personal advisors give them better advice for finding jobs. Even judges are softer on attractive defendants (被告). But in the executive (行政的；管理的) circle, beauty can become a liability.
While attractiveness is a positive factor for a man on his way up the executive ladder, it is harmful to a woman.
Handsome male executives were considered as having more honesty than plainer men; effort and ability were thought to lead to their success.
Attractive female executives were considered to have less honesty than unattractive ones; their success was connected not with ability but with factors such as luck.
All unattractive women executives were thought to have more honesty and to be more capable than the attractive female executives. Interestingly, though, the rise of the unattractive overnight successes was connected more to personal relationships and less to ability than that of the attractive overnight successes.
Why are attractive women not thought to be able? An attractive woman is considered to be more feminine and an attractive man more manly than the less attractive ones. Thus, an attractive woman has an advantage in traditionally female jobs, but an attractive woman in a traditionally manly position appears to lack the "manly" qualities required.
This is true even in politics. "When the only clue is how he or she looks, people treat men and women differently," says Anne Bowman, who recently published a study on the effects of attractiveness on political candidates. She asked 125 undergraduate students to rank two groups of photographs, one of men and one of women, of attractiveness. The students were told the photographs were of candidates for political offices. They were asked to rank them again, in the order they would vote for them.
The results showed that attractive males completely defeated unattractive men, but the women who had ranked most attractive unchangeably received the fewest votes.
1. In traditionally female jobs, attractiveness ______________.
A. makes women look more honest and capable
B. strengthens the qualifies required
C. is of no importance to women
D. often enables women to succeed quickly
2. Bowman's experiment shows that when it comes to politics, attractiveness ____________.
A. turns out to be a disadvantage to men
B. is more of a disadvantage than an advantage to women
C. affects men and women alike
D. has as little effect on men as on women
3.It can be inferred from the passage that people's views on beauty are often ______________.
A. practical B. supportive C. old-fashioned D. one-sided
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
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短文改错（共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分）
文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧）,并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2．只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Should students make the friends online? Some people say yes. The Internet helps make many friends. Chatted online, students can express their feelings and opinions more free, and even get help with their foreign language studies.
Others, however, think students should not. They say make friends online is waste of time, which should be spending more meaningfully on study. Moreover, some students get cheat when they try to meet the friend they made online.
It is my opinion which students should place their study, health and safe before other things. As for friendship, we can readily find them in our classmates and other people around us.
难度: 简单查看答案及解析