1 . Today, roller skating is easy and fun. But a long time ago, it wasn’t easy at all. Before 1750, the idea of skating didn’t exist. That changed because of a man named Joseph Merlin. Merlin was a person who liked playing the violin and was full of ideas and dreams. People called him a dreamer.

One day Merlin received an invitation to a fancy dress ball(化妆舞会). He was very pleased and a little excited. As the day of the party came near, Merlin began to think how to make a grand entrance at the party. He came up with an idea. He thought everyone would be attracted by him if he could skate into the room.

Merlin tried different ways to make himself roll. Finally, he decided to put two, wheels under each shoe. These were the first rolled skates. Merlin was very proud of his invention and dreamed of arriving at the party on wheels while playing the violin.

　　On the night of the party Merlin rolled into the room, playing the violin. Everyone was amazed to see this. There was just one problem. Merlin had no way to stop his roller skates. Suddenly he ran into a huge mirror hanging on the wall. It fell down and broke into pieces. Nobody forgot Merlin’s entrance for a long time.
1. The passage is mainly about_______.

A．a strange man

B．an unusual party

C．how roller skating started

D．how people held parties in the 18th century

2. People thought Merlin was a dreamer because he________.

A．often gave others surprises	B．was a gifted musician
C．invented the roller skates	D．was full of imagination

3. Merlin put wheels under his shoes to_________.

A．impress the party guests	B．arrive at the party sooner
C．test his invention	D．show his skill in walking on wheels

4. What main point the writer is trying to make in the last paragraph?

A．The roller skates needed further improvement.

B．The party guests took Merlin for a fool.

C．Merlin succeeded beyond expectation.

D．Merlin got himself into trouble.

2 . Jobs for abroad students in Shanghai
Ad No.37120
Posted Nov. 23, 2009 10:44 by castellari
We are an Italian company engaged in high leveled Italian coffee and coffee machines. Now, we have a program which requires involving of foreign students in Shanghai.
This is a job about selling our products online in the office to individuals or offices or any place where there’s a need for coffee. You’re required to work only at weekends. We’ll offer you a favorable payment. For those who’re interested, please contact Ava.
Reply to: zhangaihui@live.cn Tel: 61212021
Office assistant needed (Full-time)
Ad No.40994
Posted Nov. 23, 2009 10:55 by roybivExpire
UK Accessories Brand is looking for a new talented person to develop with the company. You must be able to speak a little English and understand emails written in English. Please send your personal information with expected salary to us.
Contact: Josie
Reply to: info@josiechenrange.com Tel: 63573038
Teaching in China
Ad No. 40894
Posted Nov. 23, 2009 09:23 by Sh_ shifter
We have contacted most schools all over China and agreed to introduce many good foreign teachers to the schools. This is one of the best positions because you can work in different cities of China at different times.
Position: Oral English teachers (Full-time)
Salary: 8,000 RMB～10,000 RMB per month
Working load: 20～22 hours per week
Apartment: Free fully furnished single accommodation, equipped with telephone, TV, air conditioner, fridge and so on.
Teacher’s qualification: BA / BS / TESL and having teaching experience is preferred.
Contact: Foreign Affairs Manger, International Department
Address: No. 9 Jiefang road, Wuhan, Hubei
Tel: 86(0)2782300522
Email: teachinglanguage2009@gmail.com
Logistics(后勤) manager needed in Shanghai
Ad No.41055
Posted Nov. 23, 2009 17:01 by jobtrans
We want to find 2 full-time logistics manager for our forwarding company.
Requirements:
(1) Female; (2) Bachelor’s degree or above; (3) 3-year working experience required.
For more information, please visit our website: http://www.jobtrans.cn
Tel: 62875341
1. What do these advertisements have in common (共同)?

A．They all employ only applicants (求职者) with work experience.

B．The employment agencies are all based in Shanghai.

C．They are posted on the same day.

D．They are all for China-based foreign companies.

2. Miss Green wants to find a part-time job, which telephone number should she dial?

A．63573038

B．61212021

C．86(0)27782300522

D．62875341

3. Li Ming has just finished high school, which position might suit him?

A．Salesman in the Italian company.

B．A logistics manager.

C．An oral English teacher.

D．Office assistant in UK Accessories Brand.

4. Your American friend Mr. Smith wants to find a job in China which offers a flexible (易弯曲的，可适应的) workplace, you may recommend him to _____________.

A．write to teachinglanguage2009@gmail.com

B．visit http://www.jobtrans.cn

C．write to zhangaihui@live.cn

D．write to info@josiechenrange.com

3 . A study involving 8,500 teenagers from all social backgrounds found that most of them are ignorant when it comes to money. The findings, the first in a series of reports from NatWest that has started a five-year researeh project into teenagers and money, are particularly worrying as this generation of young people is likely to be burdened with greater debts man any before.
University tuition fees (学费) are currently capped at £3,000 annually, but this will be reviewed next year and the Government is under enormous pressure to raise the ceiling.
In the researeh, the teenagers were presented with die terms of four different loans but 76 per cent failed to identify the cheapest. The young people also predicted that they would be earning on average £ 31.000 by the age of 25, although the average salary for those aged 22 to 29 is just £ 17,815. The teenagers expected to be in debt when they finished university or training, although half said that they assumed the debts would be less than £ 10.000. Average debts for graduates are £ 12，363.
Stephen Moir, head of community investment at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group which owns NatWest, said. "The more exposed young people are to financial issues, and the younger they become aware of them, the more likely they are to become responsible, forward-planning adults who manage their finances confidently and effectively."
Ministers are deeply concerned about the financial pressures on teenagers and young people because of student loans and rising housing costs. They have just introduced new lessons in how to manage debts. Nikki Fairweathcr. aged 15. from St Helens, said that she had benefited from lessons on personal finance, but admitted that she still had a lot to learn about money.
1. Which of the following can be found from the five-year researeh project?

A．Students understand personal finances differently.

B．University tuition fees in England have been rising.

C．Teenagers tend to overestimate their future earnings.

D．The students' payback ability has become a major issue.

2. The phrase "to raise the ceiling" in paragraph 2 probably means "______".

A．to raise the student loans	B．to improve the school facilities
C．to increase the upper limit of the tuition	D．to lift the school building roofs

3. According to Stephen Moir, students_______.

A．are too young 10 be exposed 10 financial issues

B．should learn 10 manage their finances wellC- should maintain a positive attitude when facing loans

C．benefit a lot from lessons on personal finance

4. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Many British teenagers do not know money matters well

B．Teenagers in Britain are heavily burdened with debts.

C．Financial planning is a required course at college.

D．Young people should become responsible adults.

4 . We supply the bike, panniers, all the support gear, easy to follow maps, cycle routes and either the accommodation or several accommodation suggestions depending on the tour.
All you need to do is bring your cycle gear. Book your accommodation off the detailed list   if required, and you are all set for a cheap, environmentally friendly holiday in New Zealand.
We do all the hard work of sorting routes and where to stay — you just relax and enjoy the riding! Too easy.
There are more tours to come so if you don’t see a tour that suits your needs let us know!

Tour	Grade	Cost from	Options
2 Day Self Guided Road Tour Banks Peninsula	2	$182		View Map
2 days of self guided cycling on Banks Peninsula roads. Includes bike hire, trip notes, panniers and lots great riding around lyttelton Harbour.
3 Day Self Guided Road Tour Canterbury and the Southern Alps	2	$215		View Map
An easy three day introduction to cycle touring to the inexperienced cyclist. From the high alpine passes of Arthur Pass cross the fertile Canterbury plains to the endless sandy east coast beaches.
5 Day Self Guided Road Tour Christchurch to Queenstown	4	$480		View Map
The wonderful and wild West Coast in a flash! For the fit and keen cyclist
6 Day Self Guided Road Tour Christchurch to Queenstown	2	$365		View Map
A tour that gets you from Christchurch to Queenstown a different way with far less hills! Cycling through the center of the South Island where great feast of fresh Salmon and breath taking views of Mt Cook await.
8 Day Self Guided Road Tour Christchurch to Queenstown	3	$390		View Map
From Christchurch to Queenstown in eight days down the West coast. The Transalpine does the hard work for you across Arthurs Pass and drops you in Greymouth for the start of your tour.

1. If you learned how to ride bike only a week ago, you should choose _______.

A．2 Day Self Guided Road Tour	B．3 Day Self Guided Road Tour
C．5 Day Self Guided Road Tour	D．8 Day Self Guided Road Tour

2. Where can we mostly see the passage?

A．Newspaper

B．TV

C．Internet

D．Magazine

3. What do you have to do when you want to enjoy your cycle tour?

A．Bring your cycle gear.

B．Bring your support gear and book your accommodation.

C．Book your accommodation.

D．Bring your bike gear and do some hard work.

5 . Tourism probably started in Roman times.Rich Romans visited friends and family who were working in another part of the Roman empire.But when the empire broke down,this kind of tourism stopped.

In the early 17th century,the idea of the “Grand Tour” was born.Rich young English people sailed across the English Channel(英吉利海峡).They visited the most beautiful and important European cities of the time,including Paris in France,and Rome and Venice(威尼斯)in Italy.Their tours lasted for two to four years,and the tourists stayed a few weeks or months in each city.The “Grand Tour” was an important part of young people’s education—but only for the rich.

In the 18th century,tourism began to change.For example,people in the UK started to visit some towns,such as Bath to “take the waters”.They believed that the water there was good for their health.So large and expensive hotels were built in these towns.

In the 19th century,travel became much more popular and faster.When the first railways were built in the 1820s,it was easier for people to travel between towns,so they started to go for holidays by train.And some started to have holidays in the countryside as cities became larger,noisier and dirtier.

Travelling by sea also became faster and safer when the first steamships were built.People began to travel more to far away countries.

The 20th century saw cars become more and more popular among ordinary people.Planes were made larger,so ticket prices dropped and more people used them.

Thus tourism grew.In 1949,Russian journalist Vladimir Raitz started a company called Horizon Holidays.The company organises everything—plane tickets,hotel rooms,even food—and tourists pay for it all before they leave home.The package tour and modern tourist industry was born.

The first travel agency in China was set up as early as 1949.But tourism did not take off until 1978.In 2002,the industry was worth 500 billion yuan and became an important part of China’s social development.

1. In the early times,the travellers 　　　.

A．all came from Roman

B．were very young and strong

C．had lots of money

D．travelled by boat

2. 　　　 played the most important role in the tourism development.

A．Education	B．Money
C．Transportation	D．People’s ideas

3. Modern tourism was born 　　　.

A．in 1949	B．in Roman times
C．in the early 17th century	D．in the 19th century

4. The underlined phrase “take off” means “　　　”.

A．a plane rising into the air

B．develop very fast

C．remove hats and clothes

D．bring down the prices

6 . Ask someone what they have done to help the environment recently and they will almost certainly mention recycling．Recycling in the home is very important of course．However, being forced to recycle often means we already have more material than we need．We are dealing with the results of ___________in the greenest way possible, but it would be far better if we did not need to bring so much material home in the first place．
The total amount of packaging has increased by 12% between 1999 and 2005．It now makes up a third of a typical household’s waste in the UK．In many supermarkets nowadays food items are packaged twice with plastic and cardboard．
Too much packaging is doing serious damage to the environment．The UK, for example, is running out of it for burying this unnecessary waste．If such packaging is burnt, it gives off greenhouse gases which go on to cause the greenhouse effect．Recycling helps, but the process itself uses energy．The solution is not to produce such items in the first place．Food waste is a serious problem, too．Too many supermarkets encourage customers to buy more than they need．However, few of them are coming round to the idea that this cannot continue, encouraging customers to reuse their plastic bags, for example．
But this is not just about supermarkets．It is about all of us．We have learned to associate packaging with quality．We have learned to think that something unpackaged is of poor quality．This is especially true of food．But it is also applied to a wide range of consumer products, which often have far more packaging than necessary．
There are signs of hope．As more of us recycle, we are beginning to realize just how much unnecessary materials are collected．We need to face the wastefulness of our consumer culture, but we have a mountain to climb．
1. What does the underlined phrase “that over-consumption” refer to?

A．Using too much packaging．

B．Recycling too many wastes．

C．Making more products than necessary．

D．Having more material than is needed．

2. The author uses figures in Paragraph 2 to show ___________．

A．the tendency of cutting household waste

B．the increase of packaging recycling

C．the rapid growth of supermarkets

D．the fact of packaging overuse

3. According to the text, recycling ___________．

A．helps control the greenhouse effect

B．means burning packaging for energy

C．is the solution to gas shortage

D．leads to a waste of land

4. What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?

A．Unpackaged products are of bad quality．

B．Supermarkets care more about packaging．

C．It is improper to judge quality by packaging．

D．Other products are better packaged than food．

5. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A．Fighting wastefulness is difficult．

B．Needless material is mostly recycled．

C．People like collecting recyclable wastes．

D．The author is proud of their consumer culture．

7 . Celebrity(名人) has become one of the most important representatives of popular culture. Fans used to be crazy about a specific film, but now the public tends to base its consumption(消费) on the interest of celebrity attached to any given product. Besides, fashion magazines have almost abandoned the practice of putting models on the cover because they don’t sell nearly as well as famous faces. As a result, celebrities have realized their unbelievably powerful market potential, moving from advertising for others’ products to developing their own.
Celebrity clothing lines aren’t a completely new phenomenon, but in the past they were typically aimed at the ordinary consumers, and limited to a few TV actresses. Today they’re started by first-class stars whose products enjoy equal fame with some world top brands. The most successful start-ups have been those by celebrities with specific personal style. As celebrities become more and more experienced at the market, they expand their production scale rapidly, covering almost all the products of daily life.
However, for every success story, there’s a related warning tale of a celebrity who overvalued his consumer appeal. No matter how famous the product’s origin is, if it fails to impress consumers with its own qualities it begins to resemble an exercise in self-promotional marketing. And once the initial(最初的) attention dies down, consumer interest might fade, loyalty(忠诚) returning to tried-and-true labels.
Today, celebrities face even more severe embarrassment. The pop-cultural circle might be bigger than ever, but its rate of turnover has speeded up as well. Each misstep threatens to reduce a celebrity’s shelf life, and the same newspaper or magazine that once brought him fame has no problem picking him to pieces when the opportunity appears. Still, the ego’s(自我的) potential for expansion is limitless. Having already achieved great wealth and public recognition, many celebrities see fashion as the next frontier to be conquered. As the saying goes, success and failure always go hand in hand. Their success as designers might last only a short time, but fashion—like celebrity—has always been temporary.
1. Fashion magazines today        .

A．seldom put models on the cover

B．no longer put models on the cover

C．need not worry about celebrities’ market potential

D．judge the market potential of every celebrity correctly

2. A change in the consumer market can be found today that        .

A．price rather than brand name is more concerned

B．producers prefer models to celebrities for advertisements

C．producers prefer TV actresses to film stars for advertisements

D．quality rather than the outside of products is more concerned

3. The underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 indicates that any wrong step will possibly        .

A．decrease the popularity of a celebrity and the sales of his products

B．damage the image of a celebrity in the eyes of the general public

C．cut short the artistic career of a celebrity in show business

D．influence the price of a celebrity’s products

4. The passage is mainly about        .

A．celebrity and personal style	B．celebrity and market potential
C．celebrity and fashion design	D．celebrity and clothing industry

8 .

[1] Look at the center circles of Diagram A and Diagram B. Which of the centre circles looks larger?

[2] Take a first look and you probably think that the centre circle in Diagram A is smaller than that in Diagram B. In fact, they are exactly the same size.

[3]Then look at the picture on the right.What do you see? A vase? Or two faces? Does the picture change quickly from one to the other again and again? Maybe or maybe not, but you can see them at the same time.

[4]“What’s happening? Is something wrong with my eyes?” You may wonder at what you see. Don’t worry. Here is how it goes:

[5]When we look at things, our eyes send messages to our brains and then our brains interpret (解释) the information. However, sometimes our brains interpret the received information in a wrong way. It seems that our eyes are playing a joke on us. This often happens and we call it “Visual illusion(幻觉)”.

[6] Movie makers often make use of illusions. They make the objects around actors much smaller or bigger than usual. This makes us believe that the actors are much larger or smaller than they usually are. The movies Jurassic Park and Honey J shrunk the kids just make use of illusions.

1. In which column of a magazine can you read the above text?

A．Culture.

B．Science.

C．Humour.

D．Education.

2. The centre circle in Diagram A looks smaller than that in Diagram B, That’s because____.

A．something is wrong with our eyes

B．the two circles are not of the same size

C．our brains interpret the information wrongly

D．pictures change quickly from one to the other

3. In the picture on the right, it seems that Line AB is shorter than Line CD, but in fact Line AB is as long as Line CD. Which paragraph can explain what has happened to our eyes?

A．The second one.	B．The third one.
C．The fifth one.	D．The sixth one.

4. What’s the right order according to the text?
a. We look at things with our eyes.
b. Our brains interpret the messages.
c. Our brains tell us what we have seen.
d. Our eyes send messages to our brains.

A．a-d-b-c

B．c-a-b-d

C．a-c-d-b

D．b-e-a-d

5. Movie makers make use of visual illusions to .

A．help the actors look better	B．make the actors much braver
C．help the actors become stronger	D．make the actors seem different in size

9 . Singapore’s public transport system is one of the best in the world, so you should have no problem finding your way around like a local. There are three main forms of public transport that you would find in any other major city ---trains, buses and taxis

TRAINS

Trains run from 6:00 am to midnight. Single trip tickets start at 80 cents. If you buy an EZ-Link card for $15, you can ride the trains and buses as you like.

If you need more information, just call Transit Link on 1800 767 4333.

BUESE

There are several bus services in Singapore and fares start at 80 cents. Be sure always ask the driver the cost of your ticket as he can not give change.

If you need help, just call Transit Link on 1800 767 4333.

TAXIS

There are three main taxi companies –City Cab(6552 2222), Comfort(6552 1111) and Tibs (6552 8888). Booking can also be easily by calling the numbers listed above.

TENTAL CARS

Driving in Singapore is a pleasure and if you liked to travel at your own pace, renting a car is a good choice. Renting takes away the hassle of getting to places around Singapore. Just sit back and enjoy the city. It also means you’ll get to see a lot more that a trains or a bus won’t let you see.

For car rental, call Avis on + 65 6737 1668.

1. By an EZ-Link card, you can take_______.

A．both buses and trains	B．only trains
C．both buses and taxis	D．only rental cars

2. When you take a bus there, always remember to________.

A．take your own license with you	B．ask the driver how much your ticket is
C．buy the bus map of Singapore	D．book your ticket ahead of time

3. What does the word “hassle” mean in Chinese?

A．麻烦

B．乐趣

C．景点

D．费用

4. What do you know about traveling in Singapore from the passage?

A．A local has no trouble finding his way around.

B．It’s much cheaper to go around by bus than by train.

C．You can see a lot more in Singapore only by renting a car.

D．It’s very convenient for visitors to travel in Singapore.