If you want to know how crazy people can be about their pets, you might remember that Helmsley left $12 million to her little Maltese dog when she died last year.
The dog's name is Trouble. And apparently Trouble is still alive. Of course, I would hang on, too, if someone left me $12 million. Look! Top-shelf dog food, soft pillows everywhere, drivers walking me in nice leafy parks. I would live to be 110 in dog years.
The dog's story is still fresh in my mind the other night when I leave a steak house after a superb meal. Then I notice a woman carrying a small bag out of the door behind me.
Once outside, she walks over to where a man is holding a tiny dog and it's a baby. The dog looks like a Maltese, too, barking and annoying, with a cute haircut,
And now I am treated to an absolute astonishing sight. Because now the woman reaches into the bag and begins pulling out little pieces of meat, which she puts on a plastic spoon and feeds to the dog.
This is no cheap steak house. It's actually, way out of my league --I'm there only because it's a special occasion. I can tell you this: if I walked out of the place with any leftover steak, it sure wouldn't go to a dog. Not at those prices.
So now the woman is Spoon-feeding the dog and the man is just standing there, holding this dog and looking as if this is the most normal thing in the world. And the dog is calmly chewing these pieces of steak as if he's a little king. And this dog is in no hurry. He's having a great time.
A few minutes go by, and now the dog finishes all of his steak. At this point, I hear the woman say to the man "Think he's still hungry?" And she glances behind her at the restaurant, as if she might go back in there to get more steak for the dog.
Watching all this, I'm afraid I'm going to shout, "Are you out of your mind? Feeding all that pricey steak to that little dog? Did you see what our American life is like today? We're all going to be eating dog food if this keeps up!"
1.Why would the author live to be 110 in dog years?
A. Because he is always in poor health and falls ill.
B. Because a Maltese dog lives longer than a human being.
C. Because his grandparents left him a large sum of money.
D. Because he thinks the dog is treated extremely well.
2.What is the story mainly about?
A. An American family's happy life.
B. A Maltese dog getting $12 million from its owner.
C. A New Yorker spending $ 8 billion for a few banks.
D. A pet dog being fed with expensive food.
3.The underlined sentence "It's actually way out of my league. " (in Para. 6) means __
A. the restaurant is too expensive for the author
B. the author hates the dog being taken there
C. the superb restaurant is about to be out of service
D. the dog doesn't belong to the author's group
4.Seeing the dog is being treated to expensive steak, the author becomes extremely ____
A. indifferent B. annoyed
C. concerned D. envious
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
Some people like modern art, while others say that is rubbish. But a cleaner who works in the Tate Gallery in London isn’t able to tell the difference. The woman, whose name isn’t known, mistook a work of art by the German painter Gustav Metzger for a bag of rubbish, and threw it out with other bags. The plastic bad, which contained pieces of paper and cardboard, was later recovered outside the gallery, but the artist thought that it was too damaged to be put on show again. 78-year-old Mr Metzger explained that the exhibit, which he said was a copy of a similar work he had created in 1960, was meant to show that all art is temporary and “finite”(有限的).
Embarrassed officials at the museum said that they had had to call a meeting with cleaners to explain which things should not be touched. They would not say whether Mr Metzger would be paid any compensation for the incident. However, to make absolutely sure the same thing would not happen again, they decided to cover Mr Metzger’s work every evening with a colored cloth. In this way the cleaners arriving after the gallery had closed to the general public would realize they should not touch it.
This is not the first time that museum cleaners have had trouble distinguishing exhibits from rubbish. In 2001, in another London gallery, a cleaner threw away a work by the well-known British artist Damien Hirst. It was an arrangement of empty beer bottles, coffee cups, and overflowing ashtrays, which were meant to indicate the chaos in the life of an artist.
However, cleaners don’t always throw things away—sometimes they clean them! This was the case with a dirty asking what the bath was doing in the gallery, the cleaners simply scrubbed it clean.
1.What’s the best title of the passage?
A. Cleaners mistake modern art for rubbish
B. Modern art shouldn’t be cleaned
C. What makes a great work of art
D. Cleaners don’t always throw things away
2.Which of the following is not true?
A. People have different opinions on modern art
B. Mr Metzger would be paid much compensation
C. A work of Damien Hirst was thrown away by a cleaner in 2001
D. Some modern work is about artists’ chaos of their life
3.The last paragraph is written to show that____________.
A. cleaners often make exhibits as clean as possible
B. cleaners can’t always differ exhibits from rubbish
C. exhibits are usually difficult to clean
D. exhibits are not always so beautiful
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
The financial crisis is reminding Americans of a lesson they first learned in childhood: Share and share alike. They are sharing or swapping tools and books, cars and handbags, time and talent.
The renewed desire to share shows up in a variety of examples: A car-sharing service has had a 70 percent membership increase since the crisis occurred. Some companies encouraged his employees to take vanpooling. Governments are putting bikes on the street for public use. How-to-swap Web sites are increasing quickly.
The economy reflects the way Americans have cut back, especially on daily items: Department store sales dropped 1.3 percent in June. People are not buying cars, and as a result, auto sales dropped 27.7 percent last month. They are not paying others to do what they can do themselves — Home Depot reports increased attendance at in-store do-it-yourself clinics. And although paint sales are down in general, according to Sherwin-Williams, individual consumers are still buying.
When Tom Burdett needed to cut some tiles at his home outside Annapolis, he refused to buy expensive tools. So he asked his neighbors and friends for help. Sure enough, someone had just what he needed. And when that friend needed help fixing a satellite dish, Burdett volunteered to help.
The sharing mind-set is not new to the American culture, but many Americans give it up when the nation changed from an agricultural society to an industrial one, said Rosemary Hornak, a psychology professor at Meredith College in Raleigh, N.C. They moved farther from their families and did not have time to connect with new neighbors because they worked so much, she said.
Neighborhood conversations tell more of the story as the movement grows organically (持续地) in communities across the Washington region and the nation. On one street in Arlington, for example, neighbors are collecting their separate money for mulch (覆盖料) and dividing it among themselves.
1.What is the text mainly about?
A. Introducing a new way of life.
B. Sharing in the financial crisis.
C. How to reduce the living expense.
D. How to handle the financial crisis.
2.Why do people in modern times give up the sharing mind-set?
A. Because they don’t need it at all.
B. Because they aren’t interested in it.
C. Because they are busy with work.
D. Because they hate being disturbed.
3.The underlined phrase “cut back” in Para. 3 probably means ________.
A. shared B. helped
C. abandoned D. reduced
4.It can be inferred from the passage that _________________________.
A. more and more Americans solve problems in their daily life by helping each other .
B. if the prices of service goes down, individual consumers won’t do something themselves.
C. the sharing-mind set is a strange to many Americans.
D. when the crisis ends, Americans will abandon the sharing-mind set.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Michelle Obama, Kate Moss and Samantha Cameron are three of the most stylish women on the planet but it seems they have their daughters rather than their style know how to thank for that. New research has shown that women with daughters tend to be more stylish than mothers of sons; a fact partly because of the style advice their daughters offer as they get older.
78 percent of women over the age of 50 say they would be more than happy to let their daughters choose a complete outfit for them. However, just five percent of women say they would turn to their sons for style advice, while 28 percent believe that mothers of boys are less fashionable than women with girls.
“Women who don’t have daughters become less interested in style as they grow older but having a daughter may keep alive her interest in looking great,” comments psychologist Honey Langcaster - James. “And, because of their close relationship, they also have a source of support and encouragement when it comes to their style decisions.”
More than a quarter of women believe that Mums who have sons are less fashion - conscious than Mums with daughters. The most common reasons for this are that daughters are more critical (爱挑剔的), offer good advice and inspiration, and add an element of competition to look the best while sons don’t seem to care and aren’t as strict as daughters.
Interestingly, although mothers tend to rely on their daughters’ style tips, their confidence isn’t reciprocated, with 40 percent of women between the ages of 19 and 34 saying they wouldn’t allow their mothers to shop for them as what their mothers would choose for them would not be as good as they expected.
And although they might not appreciate the fashion advice, the research, which was conducted by online retailer Gray & Osbourn, showed that daughters do still need their mothers with 71 percent saying they chat to their female parent every day.
“Overall, the research shows just how important relationships are between mothers and daughters,” added Langcaster - James, “and just how much women appreciate an honest and trustworthy opinion.”
1. The opening paragraph is mainly to show ________.
A. girls influence their mothers’ style decisions
B. women with children are often less stylish
C. mothers like to follow their children’s advice
D. boys are actually better advisors than girls
2.It can be inferred from the passage that girls ________.
A. show more interest in science than boys
B. care more about what their mothers wear
C. can help a lot to solve family problems
D. are good at encouraging other people
3.By saying “their confidence isn’t reciprocated”, the author means that ______.
A. some women would not like to follow their mother’s style advice
B. some women aren’t sure what to wear when attending a party
C. some women don’t like to choose clothes for their mothers
D. some women often show no confidence in themselves
4.What does the author mainly tell us in the passage?
A. It confuses many parents how to talk with their kids.
B. Daughters prefer to talk with their mums instead of dads.
C. It is important for parents to respect their children’s choice.
D. Mothers of girls are more fashionable than those of boys.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
When it comes to the benefit of volunteering, a lot of people think it’s all about the warm feeling after helping someone.__ 1.____ As is known, Charity work requires a wide variety of people to do a wide variety of things for everything to work. It means that there are some surprising benefits for volunteers. For example, volunteering:
★ Teaches you new skills
From helping making websites to teaching immigrant kids your native language, or to arranging events for charity, volunteering can really be almost anything. It means that when you get involved in charity work, a lot of the time you will face challenges.__ 2.____
★Can teach you what truly matters
It’s a great way to find new perspectives(视角）on life. When you've been at it for a while， you just might find yourself re-evaluating your advantages. _3.__ One of my friends went from wanting to be a lawyer to discovering a true passion for teaching.
★ ___4.___
Maybe it’s not so surprising, but what might surprise you is how genuine these friends are. Some of my long term friends are people I’ve met through volunteering. I’m not the kind of guy that makes friends purely for connections, but sometimes it’s very convenient to have a broad network.
Summed up in one line: Volunteering helps you grow. 5.____ You meet a very wide variety of people you don’t have a lot in common with. You learn to get along with people involved in many different walks in life. You learn to know what you are to do. So if you’ve ever considered volunteering, what are you waiting for?
A. Helps you make new friends.
B. Can help improve social skills
C. You might even decide on a completely new path to take in life.
D. As it turns out, that’s far from the only benefit.
E. Volunteering helps you look outside yourself and your problems.
F. Through overcoming the challenges, you learn completely new skills.
G. Not only as a person, but it helps you develop your skill set as well.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
According to legend, a young man while roaming the desert came _____a spring of delicious crystal-clear water. The water was so ____, he filled his leather canteen（水壶） so he could bring some back to a tribal elder who had been his ____.
After a four-day journey he ____ the water to the old man who took a deep drink and _____his student lavishly(大量地) for the water he offered. The young man returned to his village with a _____heart.
Later, the teacher let another student taste the water. He spat it out, saying it was awful. It _____ had become stale because of the old leather______
The student ______ his teacher: "Master, the water was foul(腐臭的). Why did you pretend to like it?"
The teacher replied, "You only tasted the water. I tasted the _____. The water was simply the container for a (n) _____of loving-kindness and nothing could be sweeter."
I think we understand this lesson best when young children give _____innocent gifts of love. ____it's a tray or a bracelet, the natural and proper _____ is appreciation and expressed _____thankfulness because we love the ____within the gift.
__ __doesn't always come naturally, _____ most children and many adults _____only the thing given rather than the feeling in it. We should remind ourselves and teach our children about the____and purity of feelings and expressions of gratitude. After all, gifts from the heart are really gifts of the heart.
1.A. through B. out C. across D. around
2.A. valuable B. rare C. cool D. sweet
3.A. father B. teacher C. neighbor D. leader
4.A. presented B. bought C. showed D. introduced
5.A. paid B. blamed C. thanked D. apologized
6.A. regretted B. firm C. unpleasant D. happy
7.A. obviously B. accordingly C. hardly D. simply
8.A. container B. case C. belt D. package
9.A. stared B. challenged C. informed D. respected
10.A. student B. surprise C. truth D. gift
11.A. act B. matter C. purpose D. hope
12.A. back B. away C. off D. out
13.A. Though B. Neither C. Whether D. No matter
14.A. reward B. return C. response D. treatment
15.A. ever-lasting B. good-willed C. honey-mouthed D. heart-felt
16.A. idea B. dream C. expectation D. memory
17.A. Faith B. Confidence C. Gratitude D. kindness
18.A. however B. therefore C. otherwise D. because
19.A. value B. choose C. receive D. prefer
20.A. beauty B. freedom C. optimism D. generosity
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
语篇填空（共10小题；每小题1.5分，满分15分）
阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（不多于3个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。
Number the Stars", by American author Lois Lowry, is about_1._______ escape of a Jewish family from Copenhagen during World War II. The story centers_2._______ ten-year-old Annemarie, who lives with her family in Copenhagen in 1943. __3.________ with her family, she is involved in an event to help local __4._______ to reach Sweden to avoid __5._______(send) to Concentration Camps. She risks her life to help her best friend, Ellen, by pretending that Ellen is Annemarie's older sister Lise. In this process, Annemarie 6._________ (begin) to realize that the world they live in is a place __7.______ the right thing is often hard, and sometimes dangerous. _8._______ she has to take a deep breath, take her responsibility, and make a decision. The following __9.______ (content) are right there waiting for you to read, to explore and to comprehend. _10.________(hope), you will enjoy and benefit a great deal from the novel.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
教材单词检测 （共10小题；每题1分，满分10分）
1.The only ______ to getting Ellen out of danger is to send her to Norway, a country free from the war. (方法)
2.Food supplies in Copenhagen was ______ ______ (下滑)，not to mention tea or bee.
3.Living in ______ with the Jews in Denmark has long been a tradition, so when the war broke out, many managed to help them. (和谐相处)
4. Beijing, the capital city of China, ______ ______ ______ lots of historical relics as well as places of interest. (有幸享有)
5.Due to the lack of food, ______ (starve) has been a common phenomenon in the war.
6.It is indeed ______ of Annemarie's parents to take Ellen to Uncle Henrik's, where Ellen would be shipped away. (考虑周全的)
7. ______ ______ is one of the basic requirements for students. (守时)
8.Kirsti, an ______ girl and aged so young, suffered a lot from the war ------ no cupcakes or real leathered shoes.(天真无邪的)
9.The truth that the Jews would be taken away by the German soldiers finally ______, so Ellen had to be sent away immediately, together with her parents. (出现)
10.The English ______ of the novel, instead of the Chinese, is what you students should be devoted to.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
短文改错（共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分）
Mr. Turner turned over in bed from time to time in last night, for he was very excited that he could not fall asleep. Yesterday morning, he went to a big gardening company, knowing as Green Fingers, for the interview. Mr. Turner, that liked to help his grandfather grow flowers in the garden, looking forward to the job offered by the company. When he got to the company, he found there were many people waiting there and he had no ideas whether he could get the job. While waited, he helped the workers there to remove the fallen trees and clear the road. Unluckily, he was the only one who finally got the job, so the manager decided to give the job to whoever he believed was helpful.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
4月12日，星期天上午，你们班同学骑车到学校附近的公园组织了一次环保活动。请根据下表内容，写一篇日记，发表你对此次活动的看法。
| 1组 | 扫除：清理废纸、烟蒂、塑料袋等废弃物 |
| 2组 | 宣传：树立标牌，告诉游客要爱护花木 |
| 3组 | 演讲：向游客宣传“白色污染”的害处以及保护环境的重要性 |
| 你的看法 | …… |
注意：
1．日记必须包括表内所有的内容，可以适当增加细节，使内容连贯；
2．日记格式及首句已给出，不列入总词数；
3．词数：100词左右。 4．参考词汇：烟蒂cigarette end 标牌 board
难度: 中等查看答案及解析