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Walking around the corner and into the hall at three in the morning, lost in thought and dragging a mop bucket, I raised my eyes to the front counter in indifference. A man, looking to be in his mid 40’s, stood in a pink dress. A wide-edged hat stuck out over his massive frame resembling an umbrella that was a little too shabby and worn-out, making him look like a woman. The shock at seeing such a strong proud man in a cheap disgusting dress broke my heart, as well as frightened me.
Dropping my mop on the floor in surprise and picking up my face that had temporarily fallen off, I confidently walked over to the desk.
“I’m sorry,” I began to say but was confused on whether sir or madam was appropriate. “Can I help you?”
“I need a room,” he said in a gruff (粗哑的) powerful voice.
“Sure thing,” I said bringing up the registry. “Can I get your last name?”
“Hurgan,” he said briefly.
“And your first name?”
“Amanda.”
Suddenly I had to direct all of my concentration on holding back a smile. A ten second pause of silence passed while I tried to stay calm.
“Okay,” I said getting back to the job, “can I get your phone number, Amanda?”
All of the information was acquired and stored and Amanda received her room key for the night. All was well as I returned to the neglected mop bucket. Suddenly a low throaty cough drew me out of my temporary mental disorder. Looking over at the desk where Amanda stood touching her thick biceps (二头肌) I once again dropped the mop in shock.
“I’m sorry about that,” I said coming around to the desk. Amanda stared with unease twisting her sleeve with her right index finger.
“I have a cat,” she said in a low voice.
“I’m sorry you what?” I asked leaning in closer. She drew back a bit as if I was some kind of threat.
“I have a cat.”
Looking up into her tall frame, I replied, “That’s fine. We just need to add an extra $10 fee.” She handed me her credit card once again. I swiped it, returned it, and grabbed the printing receipt.
“You just need to sign here,” I said handing over the pen. She hesitantly grabbed it from my hand and signed. As she began to return it, my hand came a bit too close to connecting with hers. Scared and possibly a little disgusted she dropped the pen, causing it to bounce off the counter and onto the floor.
“Sorry,” she said, looking down. “I have to go get my cat.”
While Amanda was getting her cat, an unpleasant thought was circling around my head. Here I was just doing my job and this, this WO-MAN was acting as if I was the monster! He was wearing a pink dress! And I was the monster? Was he even still a man? The sliding doors opened and in came Amanda passing the front desk without even giving me a polite nod.
1. The story most probably happened at a ________.
A. pub B. hotel C. hospital D. shop
2.We can conclude that the author’s attitude towards the man is _______.
A. objective B. indifferent C. critical D. considerate
3. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A. The author was on the edge of smiling when he heard the man’s first name.
B. When the man checked in, he tipped the author $10.
C. After signing, the man grasped the author’s hand and thanked him.
D. The man gave the author a friendly nod while going toward his room.
4. What might be the best title of this passage?
A. A disgusting cat B. A considerate waiter
C. A fierce monster D. A strange-looking WO-MAN
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| Madame Tussauds—London Welcome to Madame Tussauds—a 125-year-old museum loved by visitors for its life-like waxworks of famous folk from the past and present, plus interactive exhibits. The following are three ticket options we'd like to recommend to you. Option 1: All Inclusive Open Dated Ticket Why not treat your friends and family to our All Inclusive Tickets? Ticket is valid for one visit with all of the following fantastic features: ● Valid for one year from date of purchase—perfect for a gift! ● Priority Access admission in true celebrity style ● Your very own hand made of wax(蜡). With your ticket you can enjoy the heroic new experience in three floors of multisensory fun featuring a mix of interactive themed areas, realistic wax figures and an ALL NEW Marvel Super Heroes 4D film adventure. | Online ticket purchase | Adult ￡42.5.0 | Child: ￡38.50 | Option 2: Late Saver 50% off If you book online in advance and arrive at Madame Tussauds later in the day, your tickets can cost as little as £14.00. That's 50% off the standard on-the-day price! The last admission into Madame Tussauds is 5:30 p.m in off-peak periods and 6 p.m in peak periods. This gives you loads of time to fully enjoy the attraction. This ticket is available for online purchase only. Tickets are subject to availability at all times and only a limited amount are available each day, so be quick! | Online ticket purchase | Adult ￡14.00 | Child: ￡14.00 | Option 3: Top 3 London Attractions Combine your visit to Madame Tussauds with a flight on the World famous London Eye and SEA LIFE London Aquarium, and save 25% on your adult and child tickets, or 33% on your family ticket when you book your tickets at least the day in advance! | Online advanced price | Online on the day price | | Adult | £47.50 | £54.00 | | Child | £34.50 | £39.00 | | Save | 25% | 15% | | Family | £146.00 | £164.00 | | Save | 33% | 25% | Please note: Child ages are 4—15. Under 4s are free. A family ticket consists of 2 adults and 2 children, or 1 adult and 3 children. Please note: Your combined ticket only gives priority admission to Madame Tussauds and Sea Life London Aquarium—all others are general queue flights. For more ticket options, please visit our website at: www.madame-tussauds.com |
1. If you buy an All Inclusive Open Dated Ticket, you can use it anytime within _________.
A. one year B. half a year C. four months D. two months
2. With an All Inclusive ticket, you can do all of the following EXCEPT that_______.
A. you will have priority access to Madame Tussauds
B. you will have a chance of having your hand made in wax
C. you can visit Madame Tussauds as many times as you like
D. you can see a 4D film in the cinema of Madame Tussauds
3. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson want to join in the Top 3 Attractions trip with their children, one is 15 and the other 3. How much should they pay if they book the tickets in advance online?
A. £ 129.5. B. £ 146. C. £ 164. D. £ 97.82.
4.If you book a ticket for Top 3 London Attractions, _________.
A. you can always enjoy a price 33% off
B. a visit to the World famous London Eye will be free
C. you will be given priority to enter at least three attractions
D. Madame Tussauds will be included in priority admission
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Would you like to be a king or queen? To have people waiting on you hand and foot? Many Americans experience this royal treatment every day. How? By being customers. The American idea of customer service is to make each customer the center of attention. Need proof? Just listen to the commercials. Most of them sound like the McDonald’s ad: “We do it all for you.” Actually, not all stores in America roll out the red carpet for their customers. But wherever you go, good customer service means making customers feel special.
People going shopping in America can expect to be treated with respect from the very beginning. Most places don’t have a “furniture street” or a “computer road” which allow you to compare prices easily. Instead, people often “let their fingers do the walking” through the store hot lines. From the first “hello”, customers receive a satisfying response to their questions. This initial contact can help them decide where to shop.
When customers get to the store, they are treated as honored guests. Customers don’t usually find store clerks sitting around watching TV or playing cards. Instead, the clerks greet them warmly and offer to help them find what they want. In most stores, the clear signs that label each department make shopping a breeze. Customers usually don’t have to ask how much items cost, since prices are clearly marked. And unless they’re at a flea market or a yard sale, they don’t bother trying to bargain.
When customers are ready to check out, they find the nearest and shortest checkout lane. But as Murphy’s Law would have it, whichever lane they get in, all the other lanes will move faster. Good stores open new checkout lanes when the lanes get too long. Some even offer express lanes for customers with 10 items or less. After they pay for their purchases, customers receive a smile and a warm “thank you” from the clerk. Many stores even allow customers to take their shopping carts out to the parking lot. That way, they don’t have to carry heavy bags out to the car.
1. By quoting (引用) the McDonald’s ad: “We do it all for you”, the author intends to_______.
A. suggest that customers believe what commercials say deeply
B. show readers the American idea on good customer service
C. express all the stores pay much attention to the customers
D. persuade readers to choose the stores with ads correctly
2. In the USA, what may you do at first if you want to do some shopping?
A. To visit a professional street with lots of similar stores.
B. To compare prices in many shops in the same street.
C. To make phone calls and get better shopping choices.
D. To receive other customers’ answers to the questions.
3. The Underlined words “a breeze” in Para.3 most probably means _________.
A. an easy job B. a trouble C. a funny thing D. a boring task
4. Which of the followings shows American stores offer convenience to customers in this passage?
A. The store clerks don’t usually sit around watching TV or playing cards.
B. Some stores offer price bargain to the customers like a yard sale.
C. The clerks give customers a smile and a warm “thank you” after paying.
D. Some stores open new checkout lanes when the lanes are crowded.
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The strong fear of high school math is lost here among the blue light of computer screens and the sounds of typing keyboard．
A fanfare （喇叭声） plays from a speaker as a student passes a chapter test．Nearby another student is watching a video lecture．Another works out a math problem in her notebook before clicking on a multiple-choice answer on her screen．
Their teacher at Agoura High School, US, Russell Stephans, sits at the back of the room, watching as scores pop up in real time on his computer grade sheet．One student has passed a level, the data shows; another is retaking a quiz．
"Whoever thought this up makes life so much easier," Stephans says．
This textbook-free classroom is by no means the norm（常态）, but it may be someday．Slowly, but in increasing numbers, schools across the US are replacing the heavy and expensive textbook with its lighter and cheaper cousin: the digital textbook．
A digital textbook can be downloaded, projected and printed, and can range from simple text to a course filled with multimedia and links to Internet content．Some versions （版本） must be purchased; others are "open source" —free and available online to anyone．
Some praise the technology as a way to save schools' money, replace outdated books and better engage students．Others say most schools don't have the resources to join in, or they question the quality of open-source content．
Paper books still hold the highest percentage of the US textbook market, with digital textbooks making up less than 5 percent, according to analyst Kathy Mickey of Simba Information, a market research group．
But that is changing, as grade schools follow the lead of US universities and schools in other countries, including South Korea and Turkey．
California made the largest embrace （拥抱） of digital textbooks this summer when it approved 10 free high school math and science titles developed by college professors．The state left the choice to use them up to individual schools．
"The textbooks are outdated, as far as I'm concerned, and there's no reason why our schools should have our students pull around these old-fashioned and heavy and expensive books," Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said this summer．
But some disagree with the idea that digital textbooks will improve education quality．
"Keep in mind that with open-source materials, you have to ask: 'Where are they coming from?'" said Jay Diskey, executive director of the Association of American Publishers' school division．"Is it a trusted source? Is it based on real research?"
Diskey said traditional textbooks offer a comprehensive course, while some open-source texts provide only bits and pieces．"There can be quite a difference of content and accuracy," he said．"In many cases, you get what you pay for．"
1.The writer's purpose in writing the passage is to____ .
A．explain how to use digital textbooks
B．predict the future of paper textbooks
C．describe the current use of digital textbooks and present arguments about it
D．explain the difference between paper textbooks and digital ones
2.What is Schwarzenegger's opinion of traditional textbooks?
A．He is against getting rid of them．
B．He wants to have them replaced with digital ones．
C．Soon they will no longer be used．
D．He believes that they are to blame for the poor quality of education in California
3.Diskey holds the view that________.
A．the government shouldn't strengthen the use of open-source digital texts
B．digital textbooks make up for the shortcomings of traditional textbooks．
C．paper textbooks and digital ones both have advantages
D．traditional textbooks have more reliable content
4.According to the text, which of the following is TRUE?
A．Math is easier with the use of computers．
B．It is believed that digital books will replace traditional ones．
C．Textbook-free classes are the main form of teaching in the US schools．
D．Not all people are in favor of replacing paper textbooks with digital ones．
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A Charlotte, N.C., man was charged with first-degree murder of a 79-year-old woman whom police said he scared to death. In an attempt to evade policemen after a bank robbery, the Associated Press reports that 20-year-old Larry Whitfield broke into the home of Mary Parnell. Police say he didn’t touch Parnell but that she died after suffering a heart attack that was caused by terror. Can the guy be held responsible for the woman’s death? Prosecutors(公诉人) said that he can under the state’s murder rule, which allows someone to be charged with murder if he or she causes another person’s death while committing or fleeing from a severe crime like robbery—even if he or she doesn’t kill someone on purpose.
But, medically speaking, can someone actually be frightened to death? We asked Martin Samuels, chairman of the neurology department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Absolutely, no question about it.
The body has a natural protective method called the fight-or-flight response(战或逃反应), which was originally described by Walter Cannon，the chairman of Harvard University’s physiology department from 1906 to 1942. If, in the wild, an animal is faced with a life-threatening situation, the autonomic nervous system responds by increasing heart rate, increasing blood flow to the muscles, and slowing digestion, among other things. All of this increases the chances of succeeding in a fight or running away from an aggressive beast. This process certainly would be of help to primitive humans. However, in the modern world there is obvious decline of the fight-or-flight response.
The autonomic nervous system uses the chemical messenger to send signals to various parts of the body to activate the fight-or-flight response. This chemical is toxic in large amounts; it damages the organs such as the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. It is believed that almost all sudden deaths are caused by damage to the heart. There is almost no other organ that would fail so fast as to cause sudden death. Kidney failure, liver failure, those things don’t kill you suddenly.
By the way, any strong positive or negative emotions such as happiness or sadness can cause the same result. There are people who have died in intercourse or in religious passion. There was a case of a golfer who hit a hole in one, turned to his partner and said, “I can die now”, and then he dropped dead. For about seven days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon there was an increase of sudden cardiac death among New Yorkers.
1. Why the Charlotte, N.C., man was charged?
A. Because he threatened the policemen to kill an old woman.
B. Because he caused an old woman’s terror and she died.
C. Because he beat an old woman and caused her heart attack
D. Because he murdered an old woman while robbing a bank.
2. Which of the following about the fight-or-flight response is true?
A. The fight-or-flight response was raised and proved by Martin A. Samuels.
B. It is a natural protective method that can’t be found in all creatures but humans.
C. The ancient humans had a superior fight-or-flight response than modern ones.
D. The fight-or-flight response is beneficial to both our actions and organs.
3.What activity can we infer is less likely to damage the organs?
A. Winning a big lottery. B. Missing a dead family.
C. Watching a horror movie. D. Listening to a sweet song.
4. The purpose of the passage is_________.
A. to explain why people will die of a heart attack
B. to offer some advice on protecting us from heart failure
C. to compare different kinds of feelings to cause a death
D. to show strong emotions can cause a sudden death
completely free then, so I’ll to say “yes”. I’ll arrive in Bristol at around 8 p.m. in Friday evening
completely free then, so I’ll to say “yes”. I’ll arrive in Bristol at around 8 p.m. 