1 . Monthly Talks at London Canal Museum

Our monthly talks start at 19:30 on the first Thursday of each month except August. Admission is at normal charges and you don’t need to book. They end around 21:00.

November 7th

The Canal Pioneers, by Chris Lewis. James Brindley is recognized as one of the leading early canal engineers. He was also a major player in training others in the art of canal planning and building. Chris Lewis will explain how Brindley made such a positive contribution to the education of that group of early “civil engineers”.

December 5th

Ice for the Metropolis, by Malcolm Tucker. Well before the arrival of freezers, there was a demand for ice for food preservation and catering, Malcolm will explain the history of importing natural ice and the technology of building ice wells, and how London’s ice trade grew.

February 6th

An Update on the Cotsword Canals, by Liz Payne. The Stroudwater Canal is moving towards reopening. The Thames and Severn Canal will take a little longer. We will have a report on the present state of play.

March 6th

Eyots and Aits-Thames Islands, by Miranda Vickers. The Thames had many islands. Miranda has undertaken a review of all of them. She will tell us about those of greatest interest.

Online bookings:www.canalmuseum.org.uk/book

More into:www.canalmuseum.org.uk/whatson

London Canal Museum

12-13 New Wharf Road, London NI 9RT

www.canalmuseum.org.uk   www.canalmuseum.mobi

Tel:020 77130836

1. When is the talk on James Brindley?

A．February 6th.	B．December 5th.
C．November 7th.	D．March 6th.

2. What is the topic of the talk in February?

A．The Canal Pioneers.	B．An Update on the Cotsword Canals
C．Eyots and Aits-Thames Islands	D．Ice for the Metropolis

3. Who will give the talk on the islands in the Thames.

A．Miranda Vickers	B．Malcolm Tucker
C．Chris Lewis	D．Liz Payne

2 . Choose Your One-Day-Tours!

Tour A - Bath &Stonehenge including entrance fees to the ancient Roman bathrooms and Stonehenge -￡37 until 26 March and ￡39 thereafter. Visit the city with over 2,000 years of history and Bath Abbey, the Royal Crescent and the Costume Museum, Stonehenge is one of the world’s most famous prehistoric monuments dating back over 5,000 years.

Tour B - Oxford & Stratford including entrance fees to the University St Mary’s Church Tower and Anne Hathaway’s -￡32 until 12 March and ￡36 thereafter. Oxford: Includes a guided tour of England’s oldest university city and colleges. Look over the “city of dreaming spires(尖顶）” from St Mary‘s Church Tower. Stratford: Includes a guided tour exploring much of the Shakespeare wonder.

Tour C - Windsor Castle &Hampton Court: including entrance fees to Hampton Court Palace -￡34 until 11 March and ￡37 thereafter. Includes a guided tour of Windsor and Hampton Court, Henry VILL’s favorite palace. Free time to visit Windsor Castle(entrance fees not included).With 500 years of history, Hampton Court was once the home of four Kings and one Queen. Now this former royal palace is open to the public as a major tourist attraction. Visit the palace and its various historic gardens, which include the famous maze(迷宫) where it is easy to get lost!

Tour D –Cambridge including entrance fees to the Tower of Saint Mary the Great -￡33 until 18 March and ￡37 thereafter. Includes a guided tour of Cambridge, the famous university town, and the gardens of the 18th century.

1. Which tour will you choose if you want to see England’s oldest university city?

A．Tour A	B．Tour B
C．Tour C	D．Tour D

2. Which of the following tours charges the lowest fee on 17 March?

A．Windsor Castle & Hampton Court	B．Oxford & Stratford
C．Bath & Stonehenge	D．Cambridge

3. Why is Hampton Court a major tourist attraction?

A．It used to be the home of royal families	B．It used to be a well-known maze
C．It is the oldest palace in Britain	D．It is a world-famous castle

3 . Your house may have an effect on your figure. Experts say the way you design your home could play a role in whether you pack on the pounds or keep them off. You can make your environment work for you instead of against you. Here are some ways to turn your home into part of your diet plan.

Open the curtains and turn up the lights. Dark environments are more likely to encourage overeating, for people are often less self­conscious (难为情) when they’re in poorly lit places—and so more likely to eat lots of food. If your home doesn’t have enough window light, get more lamps and flood the place with brightness.

Mind the colors. Research suggests warm colors fuel our appetites. In one study, people who ate meals in a blue room consumed 33 percent less than those in a yellow or red room. Warm colors like yellow make food appear more appetizing, while cold colors make us feel less hungry. So when it’s time to repaint, go blue.

Don’t forget the clock—or the radio. People who eat slowly tend to consume about 70 fewer calories (卡路里) per meal than those who rush through their meals. Begin keeping track of the time, and try to make dinner last at least 30 minutes. And while you’re at it, actually sit down to eat. If you need some help slowing down, turn on relaxing music. It makes you less likely to rush through a meal.

Downsize the dishes. Big serving bowls and plates can easily make us fat. We eat about 22 percent more when using a 12­inch plate instead of a 10­inch plate. When we choose a large spoon over a smaller one, total intake (摄入) jumps by 14 percent. And we’ll pour about 30 percent more liquid into a short, wide glass than a tall, skinny glass.

1. The text is especially helpful for those who care about ____________.

A．their home comforts	B．their body shape
C．house buying	D．healthy diets

2. A home environment in blue can help people ______________.

A．digest food better	B．reduce food intake
C．burn more calories	D．regain their appetites

3. What are people advised to do at mealtimes?

A．Eat quickly.	B．Play fast music.
C．Use smaller spoons.	D．Turn down the lights.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Is Your House Making You Fat?	B．Ways of Serving Dinner
C．Effects of Self­Consciousness	D．Is Your Home Environment Relaxing?

4 . Should we allow modern buildings to be built next to older buildings in a historic area of a city? In order to answer this question, we must first examine whether people really want to preserve the historic feel of an area. Not all historical buildings are attractive. However, there may be other reasons—for example, economic (经济的) reasons—why they should be preserved. So, let us assume that historical buildings are both attractive and important to the majority of people. What should we do then if a new building is needed?

In my view, new architectural styles can exist perfectly well alongside an older style. Indeed, there are many examples in my own home town of Tours where modern designs have been placed very successfully next to old buildings. As long as the building in question is pleasing and does not dominate (影响) its surroundings too much, it often improves the attractiveness of the area.

It is true that there are examples of new buildings which have spoilt (破坏) the area they are in, but the same can be said of some old buildings too. Yet people still speak against new buildings in historic areas. I think this is simply because people are naturally conservative(保守的)and do not like change.

Although we have to respect people’s feelings as fellow users of the buildings, I believe that it is the duty of the architect and planner to move things forward . If we always reproduced what was there before, we would all still be living in caves. Thus, I would argue against copying previous architectural styles and choose something fresh and different , even though that might be the more risky choice.

1. What does the author say about historical buildings in the first paragraph?

A．Some of them are not attractive.

B．Most of them ate too expensive to preserve.

C．They are more pleasing than modern buildings.

D．They have nothing to do with the historic feel of an area.

2. Which of the following is true according to the author ?

A．We should reproduce the same old buildings.

B．Buildings should not dominate their surroundings.

C．Some old buildings have spoilt the area they are in.

D．No one understands why people speak against new buildings.

3. By “move things forward ” in the last paragraph , the author probably means“      ”

A．destroy old buildings

B．put things in a different place

C．respect people’s feelings for historical buildings

D．choose new architectural styles

4. What is the main purpose of the passage?

A．To explain why people dislike change.

B．To argue that modern buildings can be built in historic areas.

C．To warn that we could end up living in caves.

D．To admit how new buildings have ruined their surroundings.

5 . As any homemaker who has tried to keep order at the dinner table knows, there is far more to a family meal than food. Sociologist Michael Lewis has been studying 50 families to find out just how much more.
Lewis and his co-workers carried out their study by videotaping (录像) the families while they ate ordinary meals in their own homes. They found that parents with small families talk actively with each other and their children. But as the number of children gets larger, conversation gives way to the parents’ efforts to control the loud noise they make. That can have an important effect on the children. “In general the more question-asking the parents do, the higher the children’s IQ scores,” Lewis says. “And the more children there are, the less question-asking there is.”
The study also provides an explanation for why middle children often seem to have a harder time in life than their siblings (兄弟姐妹). Lewis found that in families with three or four children, dinner conversation is likely to center on the oldest child, who has the most to talk about, and the youngest, who needs the most attention. “Middle children are invisible,” says Lewis. “When you see someone get up from the table and walk around during dinner, chances are it’s the middle child.” There is, however, one thing that stops all conversation and prevents anyone from having attention: “When the TV is on,” Lewis says, “dinner is a non-event.”
1. The writer’s purpose in writing the text is to _________.

A．show the relationship between parents and children

B．teach parents ways to keep order at the dinner table

C．report on the findings of a study

D．give information about family problems

2. Parents with large families ask fewer questions at dinner because _________.

A．they are busy serving food to their children

B．they are busy keeping order at the dinner table

C．they have to pay more attention to younger children

D．they are tired out having prepared food for the whole family

3. By saying “Middle children are invisible” in paragraph 3, Lewis means that middle children _________.

A．have to help their parents to serve dinner

B．get the least attention from the family

C．are often kept away from the dinner table

D．find it hard to keep up with other children

4. Which of the following statements would the writer agree to?

A．It is important to have the right food for children.

B．It is a good idea to have the TV on during dinner.

C．Parents should talk to each of their children frequently.

D．Elder children should help the younger ones at dinner.

6 . When women sit together to watch a movie on TV, they usually talk simultaneously（同时的）about a variety of subjects, including children, men, careers and what' s happening in their lives. When groups of men and women watch a movie together, the men usually end up telling the women to shut up. Men can either talk or watch the screen -- they can' t do both -- and they don' t understand that women can. Besides, women consider that the point of all getting together is to have a good time and develop relationships -- not just to sit there like couch potatoes staring at the screen.
During the ad breaks, a man often asks a woman to explain the plot and tell him where the relationship between the characters is going. He is unable, unlike women, to read the subtle body language signals that reveal how the characters are feeling emotionally. Since women originally spent their days with the other women and children in the group, they developed the ability to communicate successfully in order to maintain relationships. For a woman, speech continues to have such a clear purpose: to build relationships and make friends. For men, to talk is to relate the facts.
Men see the telephone as a communication tool for sending facts and information to other people, but a woman sees it as a means of bonding. A woman can spend two weeks on vacation with her girlfriend and, when she returns home, telephone the same girlfriend and talk for another two hours.
There is no convincing evidence that social conditioning, the fact that girls' mothers talked them more, is the reason why girls talk more than boys. Psychiatrist Dr Michael Lewis, author of Social Behaviour and Language Acquisition, conducted experiments that found mothers talked   to and looked at, baby girls more often than baby boys. Scientific evidence shows parents respond to the brain bias of their children. Since a girl’s brain is better organized to send and receive speech，we therefore talk to them more. Consequently, mothers who try to talk to their sons are usually pointed to receive only short grunts in reply.
1. While watching TV with others, women Usually talk a lot because they

A．are afraid of awkward silence with their families and friends

B．can both talk and watch the screen at the Same time

C．think they can have a good time and develop relationships

D．have to explain the plot and body language to their husbands

2. After a vacation with her girlfriend, a woman would talk to her again on the phone for hours in order to              .

A．experience the happy time again	B．keep a close tie with her
C．recommend her a new scenic spot	D．remind her of something forgotten

3. What does the author want to tell us most?

A．Women' s brains are better organized for language and communication

B．Women love to talk because they are more sociable than men.

C．Men do not like talking because they rely more on facts.

D．Social conditioning is not the reason why women love talking.

4. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A．Women Are Socially Trained to Talk	B．Talking Maintains Relationships
C．Women Love to Talk	D．Men Talk Differently from Women

7 . What will people die of 100 years from now? If you think that is a simple question，you have not been paying attention to the revolution that is taking place in bio-­technology（生物技术）. With the help of new medicine，the human body will last a very long time. Death will come mainly from accidents，murder and war. Today’s leading killers，such as heart disease，cancer，and aging itself，will become distant memories.
In discussion of technological changes，the Internet gets most of the attention these days. But the change in medicine can be the real technological event of our times. How long can humans live? Human brains were known to decide the final death. Cells（细胞） are the basic units of all living things，and until recently，scientists were sure that the life of cells could not go much beyond 120 years because the basic materials of cells，such as those of brain cells，would not last forever. But the upper limits will be broken by new medicine. Sometime between 2050 and 2100，medicine will have advanced to the point at which every 10 years or so，people will be able to take medicine to repair their organs（器官）. The medicine，made up of the basic building materials of life，will build new brain cells，heart cells，and so on－in much the same way our bodies make new skin cells to take the place of old ones.
It is exciting to imagine that the advance in technology may be changing the most basic condition of human existence，but many technical problems still must be cleared up on the way to this wonderful future.
1. According to the passage，human death is now mainly caused by ________.

A．diseases and aging	B．accidents and war
C．accidents and aging	D．heart disease and war

2. In the author’s opinion，today’s most important advance in technology lies in（在于） ________.

A．the Internet	B．medicine
C．brain cells	D．human organs

3. Humans may live longer in the future because ________.

A．heart disease will be far away from us

B．human brains can decide the final death

C．the basic materials of cells will last forever

D．human organs can be repaired by new medicine

4. How long can humans live in the future according to the passage?

A．Over 100 years.

B．More than 120 years.

C．About 150 years.

D．The passage doesn’t tell us.

8 . Life can be so wonderful, full of adventure and joy. It can also be full of challenges, setbacks and heartbreaks. Whatever our circumstances, we generally still have dreams, hopes and desires—that little something more we want for ourselves and our loved ones. Yet knowing we can have more can also create a problem, because when we go to change the way we do things, up come the old patterns and pitfalls that stopped us from seeking what we wanted in the first place.
This tension between what we feel we can have and "what were seemingly able to have is the niggling   suffering, the anxiety we feel. This is where we usually think it's easier to just give up. But we're never meant to let go of the part of us that knows we can have more. The intelligence behind that knowing is us—the real us. It's the part that believes in life and its possibilities. If you drop that, you begin to feel a little "dead" inside because you're dropping "you".
So, if we have this capability but somehow life seems to keep us stuck, how do we break these patterns?
Decide on a new course and make one decision at a time. This is good advice for a new adventure or just getting through today's challenges.
While, deep down, we know we can do it, our mind—or the minds of those close to us—usually says we can't.
That isn't a reason to stop, it's just the mind, that little man or woman on your shoulder, trying to talk you out of something again. It has done it many times before. It's all about starting simple and doing it now.
Decide and act before overthinking. When you do this you may feel a little, or large, release from the jail of your mind and you'll be on your way.
1. It can be inferred from the first two paragraphs that we should     .

A．slow down and live a simple life

B．be careful when we choose to change

C．stick to our dreams under any circumstances

D．be content with what we already have

2. What is the key to breaking the old patterns?

A．To focus on every detail.

B．To decide and take immediate action.

C．To listen to those close to us.

D．To think twice before we act.

3. Which of the following best explains the underlined part in the last paragraph?

A．Escape from your punishment

B．Realization of your dreams.

C．Freedom from your tension.

D．Reduction of your expectations.

4. What does the author intend to tell us?

A．It's easier than we think to get what we want.

B．It's important to learn to accept sufferings in life.

C．It's impractical to change our way of thinking.

D．It's harder than we expect to follow a new course.

9 . Let us suppose it is now about A.D. 2060. Let’s make believe (假设；虚构) it is about sixty years from now. Of course, things have changed and life is very different.

Voyages to the moon are being made every day. It is as easy to take a holiday on the moon today as it was for the people in 1960 to take a holiday in Europe. At a number of scenic spots on the moon, many hotels have been built. The hotels are air-conditioned, naturally. In order that everyone can enjoy the beautiful scenery on the moon, every room has at least one picture window. Everything imaginable is provided for entertainment (娱乐) of young and old.

What are people eating now? People are still eating food. They haven’t yet started to take on heir (继承) supply of energy directly as electrical current or as nuclear power. They may some day. But many foods now come in pill form, and the food that goes into the pill continues to come mainly from green plants.

Since there are several times as many people in the world today as there were a hundred years ago, most of our planet’s surface has to be filled. The deserts are irrigated with water and crops are no longer destroyed by pests. The harvest is always good.

Farming, of course, is very highly developed. Very few people have to work on the farm. It is possible to run the farm by just pushing a few buttons now and then.

People are now largely vegetarians (素食者). You see, as the number of people increases, the number of animals decreases. Therefore, the people have to be vegetarians and we are healthier both in our bodies and in our minds, and we know the causes and cure of disease and pain, and it is possible to get rid of diseases. No one has to be ill any more.

Such would be our life in 2060.

1. According to the passage, what will be on the moon in about A.D. 2060?

A．Many tourists.	B．Many other animals.
C．Many plants.	D．A sea.

2. What will people eat then according to the passage?

A．Biscuits in pill form.	B．Foods in pill form.
C．Foods in water form.	D．Foods in gas form.

3. The passage tells us that in 2060, ________ on the earth than now.

A．there are fewer population	B．there are more pests
C．there is less water	D．the crops are getting better

4. Why are people largely vegetarians in 2060?

A．Because they don’t eat meat.

B．Because doctors advise them not to eat meat.

C．Because the number of animals decreases.

D．Because all the animals have died of diseases.