1 . A Heroic Driver
Larry works with Transport Drivers, Inc. One morning in 2009, Larry was
The man who had his bright lights on
Once fire and emergency people arrived, Larry and the other man
One thing is
A.walking | B.touring | C.traveling | D.rushing |
A.passengers | B.colleagues | C.employers | D.customers |
A.Since | B.Although | C.As | D.If |
A.each | B.another | C.that | D.his |
A.flames | B.smoke | C.water | D.steam |
A.used | B.disabled | C.removed | D.abandoned |
A.got hold of | B.prepared | C.took charge of | D.controlled |
A.came down | B.came through | C.came in | D.came over |
A.returned | B.received | C.made | D.confirmed |
A.then | B.again | C.finally | D.even |
A.Starting | B.Parking | C.Passing | D.Approaching |
A.quiet | B.still | C.away | D.calm |
A.for | B.so | C.and | D.but |
A.explode | B.slip away | C.fall apart | D.crash |
A.as if | B.unless | C.in case | D.after |
A.stepped forward | B.backed off | C.moved on | D.set out |
A.woman | B.police | C.man | D.driver |
A.forbidden | B.ready | C.asked | D.free |
A.for certain | B.for consideration | C.reported | D.checked |
A.patience | B.skills | C.efforts | D.promise |
The crime begins with a telephone message to the owner of a stolen car: if you want the car back, pay up then, the car owner is directed to a park, told where to find a bird cage and how to attach money to the neck of the pigeon inside. Carrying the money in a tiny bag, the pigeon flies off.
There have been at least four such pigeon pick-ups in Changwa. What at first seemed like the work of a clever stay-at-home car thief, however, may in fact be the work of an even lazier and more inventive criminal mind—one that avoid not only collecting money but going out to steal the car in the first place . Police officer Chen says that the criminal probably has pulled a double trick: he gets money for things he cannot possibly return. Instead of stealing cars, he lets someone else do it and then waits for the car-owner to place an ad in the newspaper asking for help.
The theory is supported by the fact that, so far, none of the stolen cars have been returned. Also, the amount of money demanded-under 3,000 Taiwanese dollars –seems too little for a car worth many times more.
Demands for pigeon-delivered money stopped as soon as the press reported the story. And even if they start again, Chen holds little hope of catching the criminal. “We have more important things to do,” he said.
1. After the car owner received a phone call. He ______.
A.went to a certain pigeon and put some money in the bag it carried |
B.gave the money to the thief and had his car back in a park |
C.sent some money to the thief by mail |
D.told the press about it |
A.the car thief who stays at home |
B.one of those who put the ads in the paper |
C.one of the policemen in Changwa |
D.the owner of the pigeons |
A.how easily people get fooled by criminals |
B.what Chen thinks might be correct |
C.the thief is extremely clever |
D.the money paid is too little |
A.criminals | B.pigeons |
C.the stolen cars | D.demands for money |
A.he reads the ads in the newspaper |
B.he lives in the same neighborhood |
C.he has seen the car owners in the park |
D.he has trained the pigeons to follow them |
The younger generation (一代人), according to a new survey, can hardly remember the last time of climbing trees or flying kites, as they are kept indoors and short of outdoor experiences.
The survey of 1,000 people found that the current (现在的) generation of 15- to 34-year-olds have fewer memories (记忆) of 12 key countryside activities such as swimming in rivers or going fishing.
The research found that three quarters of the older generation remembered playing games or climbing trees, compared with two thirds of younger adults.
The 55+ generation also had more memories of collecting stones, visiting a farm or pond dipping. Altogether, two thirds of older people had more memories of playing outdoors compared to just over half of the younger generation.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) carried out the study at the start of the school term to stress the growing worry that children are not getting outdoors enough.
The study has found that 82 per cent of people think that schools should provide more outdoor education and most believe nature is still important to children today.
Dr. Mike Clarke, head of the RSPB, said children who are usually kept indoors are easier to get "
"To many people, it would seem clear and unquestionable that an important part of childhood is exploring the world around you. Unfortunately, this is far from the fact and the children are having less time and fewer chances to get close to nature," he said.
"The RSPB has more than a 40-year history in getting children outdoors and is still continuing to play our role. We now need the government and the schools to realize that they should play the most important role in making it possible for all the children to experience, enjoy and benefit (受益) from the outdoor environment."
1. Compared with the current generation, the older generation had ________.
A.more homework and exercises when they were children |
B.more memories of wonderful life in the countryside |
C.fewer memories of taking part in outdoor activities |
D.fewer chances of going on a visit to the big cities |
A.spend more time with their kids |
B.care more about the kids' growth |
C.let their kids get more outdoor activities |
D.order the schools to provide outdoor education |
A.children who often stay indoors |
B.children who often go outdoors |
C.all the younger generation |
D.all the older generation |
A.all the children can’t get close to nature and aren’t healthy any longer |
B.outdoor activities are the most important for the current generation |
C.the RSPB is more important than the government and schools in getting kids outdoors |
D.the RSPB plays an important role in getting kids outdoors all the time |
When the accident was happened, I was standing near a bus stop. There I saw an old lady waiting a bus with her umbrella. The bus soon arrived. There were too many passengers hurried to get on it that the old lady couldn’t get on. A driver closed the door without looking careful and drove away. Unluckily, the old lady’s umbrella was caught by the door. He shouted to the driver but he didn’t hear. The bus pulled her along the road. Finally, she fall to the ground. Several minutes late, the ambulance came and took her to hospital. I thought it was the driver should be responsible for the accident.
5 . Grandparents Answer a Call
As a third-generation native of Brownsville, Texas, Mildred Garza never planned to move away.Even when her daughter and son asked her to move to San Antonio to help with their children, she politely refused.Only after a year of friendly discussion did Ms.Garza finally say yes.That was four years ago.Today all three generations regard the move as a success, giving them a closer relationship than they would have had in separate cities.
No statistics show the number of grandparents like Garza who are moving closer to adult children and grandchildren. Yet there is evidence suggesting that the trend is growing.Even President Obama’s mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, has agreed to leave Chicago and move into the White House to help care for her granddaughters. According to a study by grandparents.com, 83 percent of the people said Mrs.Robinson's decision will influence grandparents in the American family.Two-thirds believe more families will follow the example of Obama’s family.
“In the 1960s we were all a little wild and couldn't get away from home far enough or fast enough to prove we could do it on our own,”says Christine Crosby, publisher of Grand, a magazine for grandparents. “We now realize how important family is and how important it is to be near them, especially when you’re raising children.”
Moving is not for everyone. Almost every grandparent wants to be with his or her grandchildren and is willing to make sacrifices, but sometimes it is wiser to say no and visit frequently instead.Having your grandchildren far away is hard, especially knowing your adult child is struggling, but giving up the life you know may be harder.
1. Why was Garza’s move a success?A.It strengthened her family ties. |
B.It improved her living conditions. |
C.It enabled her to make more friends. |
D.It helped her know more new places. |
A.17% expressed their support for it. |
B.Few people responded sympathetically. |
C.83% believed it had a bad influence. |
D.The majority thought it was a trend. |
A.They were unsure of themselves. |
B.They were eager to raise more children. |
C.They wanted to live away from their parents. |
D.They had little respect for their grandparents. |
A.Make decisions in the best interests of their own. |
B.Ask their children to pay more visits to them. |
C.Sacrifice for their struggling children. |
D.Get to know themselves better. |
6 . Plastic surgery (整形手术) is not only popular in the US, but is also spreading across Asia. It is reported that South Korea is now the world’s largest market for plastic surgery.
In order to change their looks, 20 percent of women aged between 19 and 49 in Seoul said they had gone under the knife. The growth of South Korea’s pop music industry increases the popularity. Many patients visit clinics with photos of singers, asking doctors to copy their noses or eyes.
Joo Kwon, who founded one of the largest clinics in Seoul, recently opened a hotel to better serve customers. People will spend about $ 17,675 in a single visit. An increasing number of customers are non-Koreans, from China, Japan, the Middle East and even Africa. Leaders in South Korea say that this will help the Korean economy.
However, Mr. Kwon warned that young people should be careful when taking such operations. “I think South Korea doesn’t understand the word ‘beauty’, because everyone looks pretty much the same. It is also related to low self-confidence. I think the situation will somewhat become better in the future as the society becomes more different. But it will take quite a bit of time until we get there,” he told reporters.
Last year, a booklet (小册子) was given out to Korean high school students by the government. There was a story that a local woman who was crazy about plastic surgery ended up with an ugly face.
1. What is the main cause of the increase in plastic surgery in South Korea?A.The increasing understanding of beauty. | B.The increasing number of clinics. |
C.The rise of the pop music industry. | D.The rise of the Korean economy. |
A.He feels it is worth a try. | B.He is strongly against it. |
C.He is not interested in it. | D.He is objective about it. |
A.plastic surgery is supported by the government |
B.high school students are encouraged to have plastic surgery |
C.high school students in South Korea are fond of plastic surgery |
D.plastic surgery is bad for people’s health |
A.How to have plastic surgery. |
B.Why women have plastic surgery. |
C.The famous singers in South Korea. |
D.Rapid growth of plastic surgery in South Korea. |
Mr. Johnson’s car had finished up in a ditch (沟渠) at Romney Marsin, Kent after skidding on ice and hitting a bank. “Fortunately, the water began to come in only slowly,” Mr. Johnson said, “I couldn’t force the doors because they were jammed against the walls of the ditch and dared not open the windows because I knew water would come flooding in.”
Mr. Johnson, a sweet salesman of Sitting Home, Kent, first tried to attract the attention of other motorists by sounding the horn and hammering on the roof and boot (汽车行李箱). Then he began his struggle to escape.
Later he said, “It was really a half penny that saved my life. It was the only coin I had in my pocket and I used it to unscrew(拧开…的螺丝) the back seat to get into the boot. I hammered desperately with a hammer trying to make someone hear, but no help came.”
It took ten minutes to unscrew the seat, and a further five minutes to clear the sweet samples from the boot. Then Mr. Johnson found a wrench(扳钳) and began to work on the boot lock. Fifteen minutes passed by. “It was the only chance I had.
His hands and arms were cut and bruised (擦伤). Mr. Johnson got to Beckett Farm nearby, where he was looked after by the farmer’s wife, Mrs. Lucy Bates. Huddled in a blanket, he said, “The thirty minutes seemed like hours.” Only the tips of the car wheels were visible(can be seen), police said last night. The vehicle had sunk into two feet of mud at the bottom of the ditch.
1. What is the best title for this newspaper article?
A.The Story of Mr. Johnson, A Sweet Salesman |
B.Car Boot Serve As The Best Escape Route |
C.Driver Escaped Through Car Boot |
D.The Driver Survived A Terrible Car Accident |
A.The hammer. | B.The coin. |
C.The screw. | D.The horn. |
A.luckily the door was torn away in the end |
B.at last the wrench went broken |
C.the lock came open after all his efforts |
D.the chance was lost at the last minute |
A.the ditch was along a quiet country road |
B.the accident happened on a rainy cold day |
C.Mr. Johnson’s car stood on its boot as it fell down |
D.the police helped Mr. Johnson get out of the ditch |
Technological change is everywhere and affects every aspect of life, mostly for the better. However, social changes are brought about by new technology are often mistaken for a change in attitudes.
An example at hand is the involvement of parents in the lives of their children who are attending college. Surveys (调查) on this topic suggests that parents today continue to be “very” or “somewhat” overly-protective even after their children move into college dormitories. The same surveys also indicate that the rate of parental involvement is greater today than it was a generation ago. This is usually interpreted as a sign that today’s parents are trying to manage their children’s lives past the point where this behavior is appropriate.
However, greater parental involvement does not necessarily indicate that parents are failing to let go of their “adult” children.
In the context (背景) of this discussion, it seems valuable to first find out the cause of change in the case of parents’ involvement with their grown children. If parents of earlier generations had wanted to be in touch with their college-age children frequently, would this have been possible? Probably not. On the other hand, does the possibility of frequent communication today mean that the urge to do so wasn’t present a generation ago? Many studies show that older parents — today’s grandparents — would have called their children more often if the means and cost of doing so had not been a barrier.
Furthermore, studies show that finances are the most frequent subject of communication between parents and their college children. The fact that college students are financially dependent on their parents is nothing new; nor are requests for more money to be sent from home. This phenomenon is neither good nor bad; it is a fact of college life, today and in the past.
Thanks to the advanced technology, we live in an age of bettered communication. This has many implications well beyondthe role that parents seem to play in the lives of their children who have left for college. But it is useful to bear in mind that all such changes come from the technology and not some imagined desire by parents to keep their children under their wings.
1. The surveys inform us of ______.A.the development of technology |
B.the changes of adult children’s behavior |
C.the parents’ over-protection of their college children |
D.the means and expenses of students’ communication |
A.parents today are more protective than those in the past |
B.the disadvantages of new technology outweigh its advantages |
C.technology explains greater parental involvement with their children |
D.parents’ changed attitudes lead to college children’s delayed independence |
A.Technology or Attitude |
B.Dependence or Independence |
C.Family Influence or Social Changes |
D.College Management or Communication Advancement |
I:Introduction
P:Point
Sp:Sub-point
C:Conclusion
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9 . More students than ever before are taking a gap year (间隔年) before going to university. It used to be called the “year off” between school and university. The gap-year phenomenon originated (起源) with the months left over to Oxbridge applicants between entrance exams in November and the start of the next academic year.
This year, 25,310 students who have accepted places in higher education institutions have put off their entry until next year, according to statistics on university entrance provided by the University and College Admissions Service (UCAS).
That is a record 14.7% increase in the number of students taking a gap year. Tony Higgins from UCAS said that the statistics are good news for everyone in higher education. “Students who take a well-planned year out are more likely to be satisfied with, and complete, their chosen course. Students who take a gap year are often more mature and responsible.” he said.
But not everyone is happy. Owain James, the president of the National Union of Students (NUS), argued that the increase is evidence of student hardship—young people are being forced into earning money before finishing their education. “New students are now aware that they are likely to leave university up to £ 15,000 in debt. It is not surprising that more and more students are taking a gap year to earn money to support their study for the degree. NUS statistics show that over 40% of students are forced to work during term time and the figure increases to 90% during vacation periods,” he said.
1. What do we learn about the gap year from the text?A.It is flexible in length. | B.It is a time for relaxation. |
C.It is increasingly popular. | D.It is required by universities. |
A.are better prepared for college studies |
B.know a lot more about their future jobs |
C.are more likely to leave university in debt |
D.have a better chance to enter top universities |
A.He’s puzzled. | B.He’s worried. |
C.He’s surprised. | D.He’s annoyed. |
A.Attend additional courses. | B.Make plans for the new term. |
C.Earn money for their education. | D.Prepare for their graduate studies. |
10 . The jobs of the future have not yet been invented.
Your children need to be deeply curious.
True creativity is the ability to take something existing and create something new from it.
Understanding how others feel can be a challenge for kids. We know what’s going on inside our own head, but what about others? Being able to read people helps kids from misreading a situation and jumping to false conclusions.
A.Encourage kids to cook with you. |
B.And we can’t forget science education. |
C.We can give kids chances to think about materials in new ways. |
D.So how can we help our kids prepare for jobs that don’t yet exist? |
E.Gardening is another great activity for helping kids develop this skill. |
F.We can do this in real life or ask questions about characters in stories. |
G.Being able to communicate ideas in a meaningful way is a valuable skill. |