1 . Linda was a sixteen-year-old girl in Britain. She was feeling bad for several days. Her mother took her to a hospital and the doctors found out that she had cancer.
Linda’s life changed. She began to go to the hospital often for treatment (治疗), and she also became depressed.
The hospitals and the doctors were good, but Linda did not have hope herself. Linda’s mother called a flower shop close to the hospital. “I want some beautiful flowers for my daughter. She is a teen girl with cancer. ” She told the shop owner. Later, the flowers arrived. Then Linda saw something unusual. It was a card. It read:
Linda,
I own (拥有) this flower shop. I had cancer when I was fifteen years old. I am 24 years old now. Good luck. My heart goes out to you.
Yours,
Alice.
Linda smiled. She finally felt some real hope. She found the will (意志) to live.
Little things make a big difference. All of us can give little things like kindness, encouragement and hope to others.
1. What does the underline word “depressed” mean in Paragraph 2?| A．safe. | B．serious. | C．sad. | D．excited. |
| A．Her mother. | B．A doctor. | C．A shop owner. | D．Her friend. |
| A．She became hopeful about life. |
| B．She wanted to work with Alice. |
| C．She thanked her mother a lot. |
| D．She liked the card very much. |
| A．Be kind to yourself. |
| B．Little things make a big difference. |
| C．Try something different. |
| D．Be kind to others. |
SHEFFIELD LINCOLN COLLEGE OF ENGLISH Classes for foreign students at all levels 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and one year course Open all year Small class (maximum (最大限度) 12 students) Library, language laboratory and listening center Accommodation (膳食供应) with selected families 25 minutes from London Course fees (费用) for English for one year are ￡1, 380 with reduction for shorter periods of study. |
| A．is at the centre of London |
| B．lies far away from London |
| C．accepts foreign students at all levels |
| D．takes in students only at the beginning of the year |
| A．the school where you study |
| B．the family you have chosen |
| C．your classmates |
| D．your own parents |
| A．￡1, 380 | B．over ￡1, 380 |
| C．less than ￡1, 380 | D．nothing |
3 . The name England comes from the words “Angle land”. The Angles were people who came from northern Germany in the 5th and 6th centuries, after the Romans had left. The French name for England is Angleterre, which also means “Angle land”. There were also invasions (侵略) of southern England by Saxons and Jutes (people from another part of northern Germany). English people are sometimes called Anglo－Saxons. The Celts who used to live in this area were forced to move back into Scotland, Ireland, Cornwall and into Western France (the area known as Brittany).
England at first became a series of kingdoms, the strongest of which was Wessex (the name comes from West－Saxon). The names of many of the areas in England come from this period—for example, the name Sussex comes from South－Saxon, Essex from East－Saxon, and East Anglia from East－Angle. The Vikings then came from Denmark, and later the Normans invaded from France. Eventually England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland were united, forming the United Kingdom.
The English language is the main language spoken throughout England, although there are many different accents. It can be difficult to know how to spell or to pronounce some English words, because the language has been influenced by Latin and Greek (languages used at the time of the Romans, and used in religion and education until recent times), German (the language of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes), French(the language of the Normans), Gaelic/Scots (Celtic languages) and Danish (the language of the Vikings).
There are now many people throughout the United Kingdom who speak a foreign language either as their first or second language, mainly due to immigration (移民) from Europe or the Commonwealth (countries which used to be part of the British Empire).
1. What's the first paragraph mainly about?| A．The origin of the name England. |
| B．The Celts used to live in England but left for some reason. |
| C．Southern England once was attacked by Saxons and Jutes. |
| D．Angles and Saxons came from different parts of northern Germany. |
| A．Sussex | B．Wessex |
| C．Essex | D．East Anglia |
| A．English words are hard to spell and to pronounce. |
| B．England had been invaded by most of the countries of Europe. |
| C．The English language was influenced by several foreign languages. |
| D．It's hard for people who have different English accents to communicate. |
| A．Because they are required to learn a foreign language at school. |
| B．Because they plan to live outside the UK in the future. |
| C．Because they have moved from other countries. |
| D．Because they have worked in other countries. |
4 . Dancing until you drop is a wellknown saying, but would you really be able to dance until you dropped dead? In 1374, in some European towns, people did exactly that. They were struck by a dancing plague (瘟疫) that forced them to dance.
This phenomenon (现象) was reported to have happened throughout parts of Western Europe, affecting people from the 14th to the 17th century. Hardly stopping to eat or even sleep, they would dance, sometimes for days on end, making this one of the strangest sicknesses in Western history.
Over the next century, there were only a few outbreaks. However, in the summer of 1518, it reappeared in the city of Strasbourg, France. It all began with a woman called Mrs. Troffea, who started to dance crazily in the street.
She was soon joined by 34 people within a week; by the end of the month, the crowd had increased to 400, most of whom were women. Again, people were dancing until they could no longer continue, with some finally dying from heart attacks or exhaustion. One report shows that the plague was killing around 15 people per day.
As the plague worsened, concerned nobles (贵族) turned to the advice of local doctors, who said that the plague was a “natural disease” caused by “hot blood”. So the nobles encouraged more dancing.
The reason behind their actions was they believed the dancers could only recover if they danced continuously night and day. The nobles even paid for musicians to keep the moving.
Then, as before, it disappeared almost as suddenly as it had come.
While these events may sound highly unbelievable, there is clear written evidence that it did happen.
Now, historians and scientists are still trying to find out the true cause of this phenomenon.
1. What do we know about the plague?| A．It cost some people's lives. |
| B．It took place twice in history. |
| C．It affected people of all ages. |
| D．It stopped in the 16th century. |
| A．To see the hot blood. |
| B．To kill the dancing people. |
| C．To free people of the plague. |
| D．To prove the doctors' words. |
| A．For no reason. |
| B．With local doctors' help. |
| C．With Mrs. Troffea's help. |
| D．Because of some natural power. |
| A．To show the history of dancing. |
| B．To introduce a wellknown English saying. |
| C．To provide information on the dancing plague. |
| D．To explain the reason behind the dancing plague. |
