Smile!
It’s the easiest way to let someone know that you’re nice！
Be fun!
Listen!
Good conversations are important when you want to make a new friend，and sometimes you just have to be quiet and listen.When you do get chatting，pay attention to what they’re saying.
Ask people who take classes with you questions about what they study today.
| A．Change! |
| B．Ask a question! |
| C．Classwork is a great icebreaker. |
| D．Say “hello” and see what happens. |
| E．And don’t just talk about yourself all the time. |
| F．Even the shyest person can manage a little smile. |
| G．We all prefer spending time with people who make us feel happy. |
Fat and shy, Ben Saunders was the last kid in his class picked for any sports team. “Football, tennis, cricket--- anything with a round ball, I was useless,” he says now with a laugh. But back then he was the one always made fun of in school gym classes in Devonshire, England.
It was a mountain bike he received for his 15th birthday that changed him. At first he went biking alone in a nearby forest. Then he began to ride the bike along with a runner friend. Gradually, Saunders set up his mind on building up his body, increasing his speed and strength. At the age of 18, he ran his first marathon.
The following year he met John Ridgway and was hired as an instructor at Ridgways school of adventure in Scotland, where he learnt about Ridgway’s cold-water exploits. Greatly interested, Saunders read all he could about North Pole explorers and adventures, the decided that this would be his future.
In 2001, after becoming a skillful skier, Saunders started his first long-distance expedition towards the North Pole. It took unbelievable energy. He suffered frostbite, ran into a polar bear and pushed his body to the limit, pulling his supply-loaded sled up and over rocky rice.
Saunders has since become the youngest person to ski alone to the North Pole, and he’s skied more of the North Pole by himself than any other British man. His old playmates would not believe the change.
Next October, Saunders, 27, heads south from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and back, a 2900-kilometer journey that has never been completed on skis.
1. What change happened to Saunders after he was 15 years old?
| A．He became good at most sports. |
| B．He began to build up his body. |
| C．He joined a sports team |
| D．He made friends with a runner. |
| A．journeys | B．researches |
| C．adventures | D．operations. W |
| A．He is a success in sports. |
| B．He is the best British skier. |
| C．He is Ridgway’s best student. |
| D．He is a good instructor at school. |
The British isles refer to the main islands and several thousand small ones as well, which you can see on the map. Great Britain, or Britain, refers to the larger of the two main islands. But the word “Britain” is often used as a short form for the United Kingdom or you call it the UK .
Now as for England, it refers simply to the largest of the three countries on the island of Great Britain. The United Kingdom is the name of the state and the official name of the country, which many people popularly refer to England.
Finally, the Britain commonwealth is the usual name for what is left of the British Empire. This change shows the weakening of British Empire and the rising of the national liberation movements throughout the world today.
1. According to the passage, we know that ____ .
| A．Great Britain has the same meaning as Britain |
| B．the United Kingdom has the same meaning as Britain or England |
| C．all the names in the first paragraph have the same meaning |
| D．all the names refer to England |
| A．Britain, England and the UK. |
| B．the two main islands and thousands of small ones |
| C．three countries and several islands |
| D．Great Britain or the United Kingdom |
| A．B>BI>E | B．BI>E>B | C．E>B>BI | D．BI>B>E |
| A．Edinburgh, England |
| B．Edinburgh, Great Britain |
| C．Scotland, Edinburgh, England |
| D．Great Britain, Scotland, Edinburgh |
4 . London Underground
The world's first subway was built in London in 1863. At the time, the government was looking for a way to reduce traffic problems in the city of London. The poor areas of the city were so crowded with people that it was almost impossible for horse carriages to get through. The city officials were interested in trying to make it possible for workers to live outside of London and travel easily to work each day. If people had a cheap and convenient way that they could depend on to go to and from work, they would relocate their homes outside of the city. This would help ease(减轻) the pressure of too many people living in the poor parts of London. From these problems, the idea of the London Underground, the first subway system, was born.
The plans for building the Underground met with several problems and delays, but the fast track was finally opened in January 1863. A steam train pulled the cars along the fast underground track which was 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) long. About 30,000 people got on the subway the first day. Riders were treated to comfortable seats (standing up while the train was moving was not allowed), and pleasant decorations inside each of the cars. However, the smoke from the engine soon filled the air in the tunnels with ash and soot(煤灰), as well as chemical gases. Fans had to be put in the tunnels later to keep the air clean enough for people to breathe. Even with its problems, riding in the Underground did catch on. It carried 9 million riders in its first year.
1. What led the British government to build the London Underground?| A．Traffic jams and pollution. |
| B．Population and pollution. |
| C．Overcrowding and traffic jams. |
| D．The poverty and subway problems. |
| A．It made the tunnels larger. |
| B．It put fans in the tunnels. |
| C．It cleaned the chemical gases in the tunnels. |
| D．It reduced the number of passengers riding in the train. |
| A．be troublesome |
| B．become popular and fashionable |
| C．keep up with |
| D．seize |
| A．To relocate the workers’ homes outside London, the government built the subway. |
| B．There were so many problems and delays that in 18th century the first subway opened. |
| C．The subway greatly eased the pressure of traffic. |
| D．There were not enough seats for the passengers the first day the subway opened. |
