Do you like shopping? Or does the thought of wandering around the shops fill you with terror? For some of us, shopping is an enjoyable way of spending our spare time and our money. For me, it’s something I would rather avoid. Thank goodness for the Internet! It’s more convenient to buy CDs, electrical items, even food from the comfort of your sofa. But that’s not the only reason: price is an important factor. We can buy goods and services cheaper online. But sometimes the problem is knowing what to buy. This has led to a type of shopping called “showrooming”.
Showrooming is something I’ve done. I will go to a shop to see, touch and try out products but then go home and buy them online at a knock-down price. I’m not alone in doing this. Research by a company called Foolproof, found 24% of people showroomed while Christmas shopping in 2013.
Amy Cashman, head of Technology at TNS UK, says the reasons for this new shopping habit are that “people are lacking time, lacking money and they want security about the products they are buying”. She explains that consumers are not only shopping online at home but they are using the Internet in store or on their smartphones to shop around.
But does this mean technology will kill shops? Certainly shops will change. They will have to offer more competitive prices or encourage people to buy more by giving in-store discounts or free gifts.
We mustn’t forget that buying in a shop means you can get expert advice from the sales assistant and you can get good aftercare. It’s good to speak to a real human rather than look at a faceless computer screen, but at least by showrooming, you get the best of both worlds!
1.The two questions in Paragraph 1 are raised to ________.
A. introduce the topic
B. give two examples
C. compare different opinions
D. get answers from readers
2.According to Amy Cashman, which is not the reason for showrooming?
A. The lack of time.
B. The comfort of the sofa.
C. The shortness of money.
D. The security of the product.
3.The author’s attitude towards showrooming is ________.
A. critical B. neutral C. casual D. supportive
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
There is a very instructive incident involving the life of Alexander the Great, King of Greek. Alexander, after conquering many kingdoms, was returning home. On the way, he fell ill and it took him to his death bed. With death staring him in his face, Alexander realized his conquests, his great army, his sharp sword and all his wealth were of no consequence. So, he lay helplessly waiting to breathe his last. He called his generals and said, “I will depart from this world soon, and I have three wishes. Please carry them out without fail.”
“My first desire is that,” said Alexander, “My physicians alone must carry my coffin.” After a pause, he continued, “Secondly, I desire that when my coffin is being carried to the grave, the path leading to the graveyard be spread with gold, silver and precious stones which I have collected.” The king continued, “My third and last wish is that both my hands should be kept hanging out of my coffin.” Alexander’s favourite general kissed his hand and pressed it to his heart. “Oh, King, we assure you that your wishes will all be fulfilled. But tell us why do you make such strange wishes?”
Alexander took a deep breath and said, “I would like the world to know of the three lessons I have just learnt. I want my physicians to carry my coffin because people should realize that no doctor can really cure any bodies. They are powerless and cannot save a person from the clutches of death. So let people not take life for granted.”
“The second wish of spreading gold, silver and other riches on the way to the graveyard is to tell people that not even a bit of gold will come with me. I spent all my life earning riches but cannot take anything with me. Let people realize that it is just a waste of time to chase wealth.”
“And about my third wish of having my hands hanging out of the coffin, I wish people to know that I came empty-handed into this world and empty-handed out of this world.” With these words, the King closed his eyes. Soon he let death conquer him and breathed his last.
1.The first paragraph suggests that Alexander ________.
A. wanted to leave the world as he came empty-handed
B. realized that what he got in his life was nothing to him at all
C. was spending a lot time conquering many kingdoms and had earned a great amount of wealth
D. regarded his conquests, his great army, his sharp sword and all his wealth as the most important things
2.The underlined word “clutches” in Paragraph 3 means “________”.
A. sentence B. attention C. control D. shadow
3.The author intends to ________.
A. tell us the story of Alexander
B. stress the power of Alexander the Great
C. persuade people to realized what Alexander said
D. introduce readers to the instructive lessons of Alexander
4.What would be the best title of the passage?
A. The Death of Alexander
B. The Greed of Alexander
C. Three wishes of Alexander
D. The Life of Alexander
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
The name sounds funny but the idea is no joke: it’s a personal toilet called the pee-pool, Anders Wilhelmson, a Swedish architect, is the inventor of the pee-pool.
He became interested in the idea of sanitation after taking part in a research project on the social and political development of cities. One of the most common problems he found in developing countries was the lack of toilets. He wanted to do something to help, so working with others, he started the project in 2005, and the next year started a company called Peepoolple.
The toilet is a single-use bag made of environmentally friendly plastics. The inside is treated with urea(尿素), a chemical commonly used as fertilizer. The hotter the weather, the more quickly the waste turns into what is needed by plants. The sanitation process can be as soon as a couple of hours or as long as two to four weeks, you can just bury it in a pot and grow whatever you like.
The company expects to start selling the bags in August in Kenya and Bangladesh, but it is just beginning production and sales in Nairobi now. Full production could reach about half a million bags a day and people may be able to buy the pee-pool in countries Vietnam, Bangladesh, etc.
The United Nations says more than two and a half billion people around the world do not have good sanitation. Many have no choice but to use the outdoors, which is not only bad for the environment, but also harmful to people’s health. Each year, poor sanitation leads to three fifths of those people getting an infectious disease which on average causes one out of 1,000 patients to die.
Jack Smith, the founder of the World Toilet Organization, says “This is quite an unacceptable situation given the fact that we are living in the modern world, and strangely, many of them own televisions, phones but have no toilet.”
1.What was the original purpose of Anders Wilhelmson in starting the company?
A. To protect the local environment.
B. To earn a lot of money from the project.
C. To do research on the social development.
D. To help solve the problem of lack of toilets in developing countries.
2.What can be learned about the pee-pool from the passage?
A. It can be used over again.
B. Its sanitation process doesn’t last long.
C. It works better in summer than in winter.
D. It should be buried in a pot after being used.
3.In which place can people buy the Pee-pool now?
A. Nairobi. B. Kenya. C. Sweden. D. Bangladesh.
4.The fifth paragraph is written mainly to tell us that ________.
A. poor sanitation may cause many problems
B. many people don’t care for the environment
C. many people get ill from using the outdoors
D. quite a number of people die from poor sanitation
5.The underlined word “This” in the last paragraph probably refers to ________.
A. the outdoors being damaged
B. many places being short of toilets
C. many people having TVs and phones
D. many people getting an infectious disease
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
“Selfie” may have been named Oxford Dictionary’s word of 2013. In effect，so widely known has the selfie become that in the past 12 months，its frequency in the English language has increased by 17000 percent，said Oxford dictionaries. However，its popularity has just earned it another honour-being voted the most annoying and overused term of the past 12 months. But I’d like to offer that maybe it isn’t so bad.
According to the Oxford online dictionary, selfie is a photo that one takes of oneself， often from a smart phone，and send them to a social media website. Women and men alike decorate their Facebook and Twitter accounts with these pictures，sometimes with exaggerated facial expressions，such as large smiles or puckered lips(噘嘴).
Let’s think about it. Someone takes about 10 selfies each time they do，and they only end up posting one or two of those. They pick the one that they feel makes them look the best. Isn’t that beautiful? In that one picture，somebody has given himself or herself confidence. Self-image is vital. In today’s society，we are so crazy about being perfect. But perhaps，with that one selfie，we feel as if we fit that need. We feel handsome，beautiful，confident，smart，happy，and content. For that moment，everything bad or terrible that has ever happened to us seemed to have been erased，for that smile or that pucker is what gives us the determination to love ourselves.
A spoken-word poem I saw lately set me thinking：If I ask you what you love，the answers will most likely roll of your tongue. You love to read. You love to write. You love birds，music…your mom，your brother，your sister，your daughter，your best friend，your dog. How long do you think you could go on and on before you said，“I love myself.”?
The poem hit me like a ton of bricks. I’ve struggled with confidence all of my life. And I still do. And in no way am I saying that taking a selfie is a gateway to that confidence. However，the selfie does deserve some credit for allowing individuals to express themselves. Just as Pamela Rutledge put it，“There are many more photographs available now of real people than models.”
1.According to the writer, we live in a society where ________.
A. selfie leads to success
B. a good image decides one’s status
C. one’s poor performance can be erased
D. being perfect is highly valued
2.The spoken-word poem mentioned in the 4th paragraph implies ________.
A. our pleasure to enjoy beauty
B. our need to love people around us
C. our tendency to ignore ourselves
D. our real love to share with others
3.What does the underlined word “credit” in the last paragraph mean?
A. praise B. grade C. trust D. fame
4.In the writer’s opinion, selfie ________.
A. brings about people’s sense of confidence
B. is merely popular among teenagers
C. tells the true meaning of life
D. is an annoying phenomenon on the Internet
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
The traditional American school year begins in late August or early September.It ends in May or June, followed by summer vacation. 1.___ Because long ago, young people had to help their families harvest summer crops. At least this is what people today may think.
2.__ A recent report from an education policy center at Indiana University explored the historical roots of the traditional school calendar.
In the early days of the United States, children were not required to attend school School calendars depended on local needs. 3.__ They worked on family farms during the other months. City schools were often open much longer, some for eleven months of the year.
After the Civil War, more and more people saw the need for a system of required education.__ 4.______Many city schools wanted a shorter year and a longer summer break. The schools were often crowded. There was no modern air conditioning. Hot days would make it difficult to learn. Many rural educators, however, pushed for a longer school year. They thought it would keep children safe from industrial dangers when there were few child-labor laws.
So the traditional school calendar was a compromise (折中). The average school year used to be one hundred and seventy days. Times have not changed much. 5.___ But some experts think the traditional school calendar needs to change because the needs of the nation have changed. This thinking has led some schools to keep students in class longer.
A. Why such a long break?
B. Today the common average is one hundred and eighty days.
C. Americans think highly of their traditional school calendar.
D. Most schools had similar school calendars.
E. But the reason has more to it.
F. Students in rural areas went to school for no more than six months of the year.
G. But they had different ideas for the calendar.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
The other evening we had a knock at the door. It was a ________ neighbor who introduced himself and his boys to us. He also invited us to a block party as a way to know the people in the ________ as well as well as celebrate the first anniversary of his two ________ sons coming to live with him.
We've lived here for almost six years and no one has ever come to ________ themselves. I suppose we should have ________ it on to introduce ourselves to people moving in but we haven't. In my opinion it took the initiative (首创)of a young ________ and his adopted sons to show me how I could ________ better attention to my own community. We have many local friends but I have to ________ that I haven't usually been the one to develop the ________ in my own neighborhood.
This ________ reminded me of one of my favorite quotes, "When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was ________ to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn't change the nation, I began to ________ my town. I couldn't change the town and as a(n) ________ man, I tried to change my ________. Now, as an old man, I ________ the only thing I can change is myself and ________ I realize that if long ago I had change myself, I could have made an impact on my family and ________ on our town. The impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the ________."
For those of us who want to make a(n) ________ in the world, it's important we remember what Bucky Fuller said, ”Think globally, but act ________.”For me, I’m going to make it point to meet more of my neighbors—starting now.
1.A. familiar B. friendly C. new D. old
2.A. town B. neighborhood C. company D. city
3.A. accepted B. adopted C. adapted D. appointed
4.A. help B. treat C. introduce D. enjoy
5.A. put B. focused C. turned D. taken
6.A. man B. student C. woman D. mother
7.A. draw B. fix C. offer D. pay
8.A. forgive B. admit C .agree D. consider
9.A. habit B. concern C. friendship D. business
10.A. accident B. activity C. thought D. experience
11.A. convenient B. possible C. interesting D. difficult
12.A. make out B. concentrate on C. get into D. refer to
13.A. older B. younger C. smarter D. wiser
14.A. student B. family C. friend D. mind
15.A. realize B. forget C. recognize D. regret
16.A. suddenly B. happily C. actually D. luckily
17.A. ever B. even C. only D. still
18.A. environment B. world C. village D. lifestyle
19.A. decision B. adjustment C. difference D. discovery
20.A. carefully B. selflessly C. immediately D. locally
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
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。
The dating world is cruel. No matter how much we stress the importance of "inner beauty", looks are undoubtedly 1. advantage in the dating game. That the 2. (excellence) woman he admires will realize her error in judgment after having been rejected by a handsome fellow and notice him 3. (be) the dream of every average-looking guy. Well, such a dream is highly unlikely, according to newly 4. (publish) research.
The study, 5. focused on the responses of 126 female undergraduates after romantic rejection, 6. (lead) by psychologist Geoff MacDonald. Researchers found women’s distancing 7. an unattractive man — even when that unattractive man offered acceptance — was also a 8. (consequent) of rejection by an attractive man. In other words, after being refused by a handsome fellow, women were found to be more likely to reject a less attractive man, thus 9. (make) the pain caused by the initial rejection even worse. The indication here is obvious: Looks are 10. (close) associated with status, at least in the dating world.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
短文改错
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中
共有10 处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅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()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。
One Monday afternoon, we were playing the basketball on the playground while I suddenly slipped and fell over. On seeing that, all my classmates rushed to me. Under the help of several other students, Li Xiang, one of my best friend put me on his back and head for the clinic immediately. It turned out that my right ankle got injured but I had to be sent to hospital. He did not leave until an ambulance was arrived. The following day, he came to see me. To my greatly relief, he brought textbooks to them and helped me with my lessons. It was a great pleasure have such a devoting friend.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
在班级活动中，当你的想法与大多数同学不一致时，你是坚持自己的观点并说服别人，还是尊重大多数同学的意见？请你以“When I Have a Different Opinion”为题，用英语写一篇100-120个词的短文。要求如下：
1. 从以上两种做法中选择一种；
2. 以具体事例阐述你选择的理由。
When I Have a Different Opinion
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难度: 中等查看答案及解析