Long ago, in days of the Roman Empire, people used to believe a god of farmings called “Saturn”. They believed that Saturn could make the weather good or bad, and that he had the power to control how much rain would fall.
Before a Roman farmer would plant his fields, he would try to get Saturn to give him good weather. He believed that if he killed an animal for Saturn, that would make Saturn happy. Then Saturn would make sure that the weather was good.
Not only did the people name a planet after Saturn but they also name a day of the week after him. They called this day “Saturni dies”, Latin words which mean “day of Saturn”. In English those words became Saturday.
6. What was Saturn believed to be in charge of?
A. Rainfall. B. The power of nature. C. Farming. D. Days in a week.
7. Why did a Roman farmer kill an animal before planting his fields?
Because .
A. killing an animal would bring him good luck
B. Saturn enjoyed eating animals
C. Saturn was happy to see animals being killed
D. he wanted to please Saturn so that Saturn would make the weather good for his planting
8. Which of the following is NOT TRUE?
A. Saturn is also the name of planet.
B. The Roman people used to believe Saturn to be their god.
C. Saturn was named for the last day of the week.
D. Saturn had three meanings.
9. What’s the aim of the author in writing this passage?
A. How the Romans worshipped (崇拜) Saturn.
B. Why the Romans believed in Saturn.
C. The different meanings of the word Saturn.
D. How Saturday got its name.
In 1826, a French man named Niepce needed pictures for his business. But he was not a good artist. He invented a very simple camera. He put it in a window of his house and took a picture of his garden. That was the first photo.
The next important date in the history of photography was in 1837. That year, Daguerre, another Frenchman, took a picture of his reading room. He used a new kind of camera in a different way. In his picture you could see everything very clearly, even the smallest thing. This kind of photo was called a Daguerreotype.
Soon, other people began to use Daguerre's way. Travelers brought back wonderful photos from all around the world. People took pictures of famous buildings, cities and mountains.
In about 1840, photography was developed. Then photographers could take pictures of people and moving things. That was not simple. The photographers had to carry a lot of films and other machines. But this did not stop them, for example, some in the United States worked so hard.
Mathew Brady was a famous American photographer. He took many pictures of great people. The pictures were unusual because they were very lifelike.
Photography also became one kind of art by the end of the 19th century. Some photos were not just copies of the real world. They showed our feelings, like other kinds of art.The first photo was a picture of Niepce's _______.
| A．business | B．house |
| C．garden | D．window |
The Daguerreotype was _______.
| A．a Frenchman | B．a kind of picture |
| C．a kind of camera | D．a photographer |
This passage tells us_______.
| A．how photography was developed |
| B．how to show you ideas and feelings in pictures |
| C．how to take pictures in the world |
| D．how to use different cameras |
What is an Oyster card?
Oyster is the easiest way to pay for journeys on the bus ，Tube ，tram，Docklands light Railway (DLR)，London Overground and National Rail journeys in London You can store your travel cards, Bus & Tram Pass，season tickets and credit to pay for journeys as you go.
Where to get an Oyster card?
There are a number of ways for you to get an Oyster card ：
• At over 3,900 Oyster Ticket stops
• At Tube and London Overground station ticket offices
• At some National Rail stations
• At London Travel information Centres
• Online at tfl. gov. uk/oyster
How to use an Oyster card?
To pay the correct fare on the Tube ，DLR，London Overground and National Rail services，you must always touch in on the yellow Oyster card reader at the start of your journey，and touch out at the end. if you don’t, a maximum cash Oyster fare will be changed When using the bus or tram, you must only touch in at the start, but not at the end of your journey.
What happens if I don’t visit London very often?
Don’t worry. Any pay as you go credit on your card will not expire (过期)，so you can keep it for your next visit or lend it to a friend.
Fares
Traveling by Tube from Central London (Zone l)to Heathrow (Zone 6)
Adult Oyster single fare
£ 4. 20 Monday to Friday 06:30 - 09:30 and 16:00一19:00
£ 2. 70 at all other times including public holidays
Adult single cash fare £ 5.00
For further information，visit tfL.gov. uk /fares.
You can get an Oyster card at the following places EXCEPT_____
| A．at a post office | B．at an Oyster Ticket stop |
| C．on the website | D．at a Tube station |
If a person with an Oyster card takes the 7 o’clock Tube from Central London to Heathrow for a week (no public holiday in between)，he should pay_____.
| A．£ 18.90 | B．£ 29.40 | C．£ 26.40 | D．£ 21.90 |
The passage is probably taken from a_______
| A．journal | B．travel brochure | C．textbook | D．novel |
Alibaba started taking the lead in China by connecting big Chinese manufacturers(制造商) with big buyers across the world. Its business-to-business site, Alibaba.com allowed business to buy almost everything. Alibaba’s advantage wasn’t hard to judge: size. Alibaba is just big, even by Chinese standards. Its market attracts 231 million active buyers, 8 million sellers, 11.3 billion orders a year — and Alibaba is just the middleman. It encourages people to use its markets — not charging small sellers a percentage of the sale.
If you want a quick look into the influence of Alibaba on daily Chinese life, take my experience. I moved to Beijing a year ago and quickly got tired of visiting small stores across the crowded, polluted city of 20 million people in search of new electronics, bathroom furnishings, and anything else my wife wanted. “You’re looking for what exactly? Why not try it? ” my Chinese teacher asked me one day. With that, my wonderful new relationship with Alibaba began.
Alibaba’s original business-to-business model now is second to consumer buying. Chinese retail(零售) buying makes up 80% of Alibaba’s profit, and leading that group is Taobao, with 800 million items for sale and the most unbelievable selection of things you’ll ever find. TMall.com is Alibaba’s other big site, where you can find brand name goods from Nike and Unilever near the lowest prices.
What I have a hard time explaining to friends and family back in the U.S. is how China has gone beyond traditional shopping — big-box retailers especially —in favor of online purchases on Taobao and a few other sites. In smaller towns than Beijing, where big retailers have not yet traveled, shopping online is shopping, and shopping is Taobao.
I have a list of some of my recent purchases on Taobao for a sense of how wide the marketplace is. Almost everything arrived a day or two after ordering with free shipping. I’m not even a big buyer, because I need friends to help me search the Chinese-language site. When I was searching my purchase history on my Chinese teacher’s iPad, which helps me buy goods, I looked through with great difficulty about 10 of her purchases for every one of mine.
Alibaba’s advantage mainly lies in .
| A．its low price |
| B．its big size |
| C．its not charging small sellers |
| D．its business-to-business service |
We know from the passage that Alibaba .
| A．will continue to develop. |
| B．charges all the sellers on its site a percentage of the sale. |
| C．acts as a bridge between the buyers and sellers. |
| D．is of middle size among all the online sites. |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．Alibaba’s business-to-business service earns more money than retail. |
| B．TMall.com provides more profit than Taobao. |
| C．Taobao has no obvious advantage over other similar online sites. |
| D．The author’s Chinese teacher is also an online purchase lover. |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Shopping online in China is TaoBao. |
| B．How the author purchases online in China. |
| C．Shopping online goes beyond traditional shopping. |
| D．Alibaba influences people’s daily purchase in China. |
A supermarket checkout operator was praised for striking a blow for modern manners and a return to the age of politeness after refusing to serve a shopper who was talking on her mobile phone.
The supermarket manager was forced to apologize to the customer who complained she was told her goods would not be scanned unless she hung up her phone. Jo Clark, 46, said, “I don't know what she was playing at. I couldn’t believe how rude she was. When did she have the right to give me a lecture on checkout manners? I won’t be shopping there again!”
But users of social media sites and Internet forums(论坛) were very angry that store gave in and the public appeared to be supporting the angry checkout worker. “Perhaps this is a turning point for mobile phone users everywhere. When chatting, keep your eyes on people around you. That includes people trying to serve you, other road users and especially people behind you in the stairs,” said a typical post.
“It’s time checkout staff fought back against these people constantly chatting on their phones. They can drive anyone crazy. It’s rude and annoying. I often want to grab someone’s phone and throw it as far as I can, even though I am not a checkout girl, just a passer-by,” said another.
Siobhan Freegard, founder of parenting site www. Netmums.com said, “While this checkout operator doesn’t have the authority to order customers to switch off their phones, you can see clearly how frustrated and angry she felt. No matter how busy you are, life is nicer when you and those around you have good manners.”According to Jo Clark, the checkout operator_____________.
| A．lacked the knowledge of checkout manners |
| B．played with a mobile phone while at work |
| C．had no right to forbid her from using her mobile phone |
| D．deserved praise for her modern manners |
The third and fourth paragraphs imply that the public_________.
| A．are used to chatting on their mobile phones |
| B．are driven crazy by constant mobile calls |
| C．ignore the existence of mobile phone users |
| D．seem to support the checkout operator |
The attitude of Siobhan Freegard towards the checkout operator was________.
| A．disapproving | B．supportive |
| C．neutral(中立的) | D．indifferent |
The passage is mainly about _________.
| A．whether we should talk on our phones while being served |
| B．why we can talk on mobile phones while shopping |
| C．what good manners checkout operators should have |
| D．how we can develop good manners for mobile phone users |
When I was a boy my father told me that he could do anything he wanted to．Dad said that he wanted to be the first to develop color prints in our city．and so he did．
When I was 16，dad looked closely at the violin I played and said that he wanted to make one．He read about violinmaking，and then became a violinmaker at the age of 43．He bought the tools and materials，opened a small store and set Mom up as the shopkeeper，while he worked at a local company．He retired from the company 17 years later and continued to make violins and other instruments．
Dad often guessed why the Stradivarius violins sounded so beautiful．Some experts told him that it was the special varnish(油漆)that gave the instruments their beautiful sound．Dad argued that chemists could analyze the varnish—if that was the answer．
One of Dad’s friends asked him which kind of wood was used to make violins．When dad explained that the top was made of spruce(云杉)，his friend said that he had all old piece of spruce which dad might be interested in．
He worked for the next 12 months making a violin from the wood that his friend had given him．It proved to be an excellent violin and it would become Dad’s masterpiece．He believed that the secret of the Stradivarius sound was in the wood itself．
Later, the instrument was stolen． Dad’s spirit was broken and he stopped making instruments. But he kept the music shop until he was 80 years old，selling guitars and violins．
The violin has been missing for more than 25 years．Somewhere a musician is playing a late-20th-century violin with an excellent tone．The owner today may never understand why this Ordinary-looking violin sounds so much like Stradivarius．
In Paragraph l，the writer mentioned his father's developing color prints to ．
| A．let others know that he believed his father |
| B．show that his father would like to make violins |
| C．prove that his father could do anything he wanted to |
| D．give an example showing that his father was an inventor |
What did the writer's father think about Stradivarius violins?
| A．They were made by experts． |
| B．The wood of the violins was special． |
| C．The way of making them was unusual． |
| D．The varnish was different from the others． |
From the underlined sentence，we learn that the writer's father ．
| A．found another new job |
| B．wanted to become famous |
| C．lost interest in instruments |
| D．liked the violin very much |
What could be the best title of the passage?
| A．My Experienced Father |
| B．My Father and His Violin |
| C．The Secret of Making Violins |
| D．The New Owner of the Violin |
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