Just how far does the euro(欧元) have to fall before Europe actually becomes reasonable?
Anyone traveling to the old continent from the U.S. in recent years has learned the hard way how expensive it is. The situation has improved in the last couple of months, thanks to the Greek financial crisis. But it still has a way to go.
Alarm about Greece—and other financially unstable countries in Europe—has dragged down the euro sharply. In November, before the crisis struck, you needed about $1.49 to buy one euro. Today you need only about $1.36. That's a 9% cut.
What does that mean for you, the would-be traveler? It's a big sale.
As recently as November, when the euro was flying high, the OECD estimated that countries like France, Italy and Germany were about a third more expensive than the U.S. Not all European countries were quite as expensive for the American visitor: Greece only cost about 17% more than the US, while the Czech Republic (which is not part of the eurozone) was actually about 15% cheaper than back home.
Fast-forward two months, and the situation looks somewhat better.
At current exchange rates, places like France will still cost you about 23% more than the U.S., but cheaper countries such as Spain and Greece are now only about 6% more expensive. The Czech Republic's a fifth cheaper than the U.S.
European prices will only break even(持平) with the U.S. if the euro falls to about $1.10, says the OECD. But is it going to get there?
Greece's financial crisis may or may not be over. Members of a labor union just occupied part of the finance ministry to protest against the planned austerity(紧缩) measures. No, it doesn't inspire confidence!
Julian Jessop, chief international economist at the Capital Economics consultancy in London, sees the euro falling to $1.25 by year-end. “We still think the euro should be a lot lower,” he says. “We think the outlook for the European economy is a lot worse than for the U.S. And Greece is only a symptom of a wider problem: Does the eurozone make sense as a currency union?” If he's right, you may want to wait to change your money or book a trip.
67. In the passage the writer offers some suggestions to the travellers from______.
A．USA B．Europe C．Greece D．China
68. The underlined word “it” in the passage refers to ______.
A.the planned austerity measures
B.Greece’s financial crisis
C.the protest from a labor union
D.the decline of the euro in value
69. Julian Jessop has a negative attitude toward the euro because he thinks ______.
A.Greece’s financial crisis may not be over
B.the euro will drop to $ 1.25 by the end of the year
C.the European economy is a lot worse than the US’
D.the other European countries have a similar problem like Greece
70. The purpose of the author writing the passage is to tell the readers that ______.
A.the euro shall be further reasonably lowered
B.travelers to Europe will save less in the future
C.the economic situation in Europe is worsening
D.the Greek financial crisis influences the whole Europe
There are many kinds of friends. Some are always 1 you, but don't understand you. Some say only a few words to you, but understand you. Many people will step in your life, but only 2 friends leave footprints (脚印).
I shall always recall (回忆) the autumn and the girl with the 3 . She will always bring back the friendship between us. I know she will always be my best friend.
It was the golden season. I could see the yellow leaves 4 on the cool 5 . In such a season, I liked walking alone in the leaves, 6 to the sound of them.
Autumn is a 7 season and life is uninteresting. The free days always get me 8 . But one day, the sound of a violin 9 into my ears like a stream (小溪) flowing in the mountains. I was so surprised that I jumped to see what it was. A young girl, standing in the wind, was 10 in playing her violin.
I had 11 seen her before. The music was so nice that I listened quietly. Lost in the music,① I didn't know that I had been 12 there for so long but my existence (存在) did not seem to disturb her.
Leaves were still falling. Every day she played the violin in the corner of the building 13 I went downstairs to watch her performance. I was the only listener. The autumn seemed no longer lonely and life became 14 . 15 we didn't know each other, I thought we were already good friends. I believe she also loved me.
Autumn was nearly over. One day, when I was listening carefully, the sound suddenly 16 . To my astonishment (惊讶), the girl came over to me.
“You must like violin.” she said.
“Yes. And you play very well. Why did you stop?” I asked.
Suddenly, a 17 expression appeared on her face and I could feel something unusual.
“I came here to see my grandmother, but now I must leave. I once played very badly. It was your listening every day that 18 me.” she said.
“In fact, it was your playing 19 gave me a meaningful autumn,②” I answered, “Let's be friends.”
The girl smiled, and so did I.
I never heard her play again in my life. I no longer went downstairs to listen like before. Only thick leaves were left behind. But I will always remember the fine figure (身影) of the girl. She is like a 20 —so short, so bright, like a shooting star giving off so much light③ that it makes the autumn beautiful.
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I was bleeding now. My ears were red, my nose was broken, and the pain of failure was beginning. I had lost. It was over. The match was stopped. The world seemed to stand still for a moment as I looked at who had beaten me. “I’ve lost,” I said in m mind. “The last chance to win and I had lost.” It was the final round of wrestling. It was my last year at camp and I wanted to have an undefeated season. But now, I had lost in the tournament（锦标赛）.
My coach came over to help me up. He saw that my nose was broken and realized that the match had to be stopped. He helped me up and I got small applause from my teammates. People on the other team just stared. Coach walked me over to the locker room to work on my nose.
“I’ll stop the bleeding,” Coach Matt said. His voice was cold and empty. He had expected me to win—he knew I could have won—but now he saw it was over. I had lost.
“Hey, Steve. You did good, man, He, well, he just…” my friend Paul couldn’t find what to say.
“Forget it, man.” I said, my nose still bleeding.
“Don’t talk or it won’t stop bleeding. Just relax and breath through your mouth.” Coach Matt’s voice was still cold, but warming slowly. He was like a father to me. He had been there through all my years of wrestling, all my wins and losess , all my hopes and dreams—and now he was there, fixing my smashed nose.
“This must have happened during that last throw. You fell too much on your face. You should’ve turned and tried to escape. You gotta think more.” Coach Matt began, his voice now warm like an old friend trying to give good advice.
“I wanted this so badly.” I said.
“Maybe we can get another contest because of the nose. You can still go undefeated! You can still do it…” Paul continued.
No, I lost. Nothing was left for me to do this year. This was supposed to be the year—no loses.” I said, cutting him off before he finished.
“Steve, you did your best. Come on. Let’s go and get your medal,” Coach said. He looked at me right in the eyes. “You gave it your all. You deserved that trophy(战利品), not the silver medal. You deserve it, but he is getting it. You really won and the whole team is proud.”
I walked up to get my medal, my head held high. I shook the hands of the judges and my opponent, took m medal and saw that, in the eyes of everyone, I had really won. No matter what trophy or medal my opponent took home, no matter what. He may have had my trophy, but he could never have my will.
1. The word “applause” in the second paragraph means _____.
A. cheers and hand—clapping B. shouts and crying
C. screaming and laughing D. noises and whistling
2. “You gave it your all.” means that _____.
A. you tried to win but you failed B. you have done your best to do it
C. you never gave up doing it D. you succeeded in everything
3. The hero lost his match. Both his coach and friends thought that _____.
A. he really showed his strength in it
B. he shouldn’t be encouraged and thought highly of
C. he could not match his opponent
D. he had lost heart at the end of the competition
4. According to the hero, at the end of the passage, we can suppose that____.
A. he had made up his mind to win all the matches the next season
B. he looked down upon his opponent and though nothing of it
C. he had strong will to become the best wrestler in the world
D. he wanted to end his career as a professional wrestler
Beauty has always been regarded as something praiseworthy. Almost everyone thinks attractive people are happier and healthier, have better marriages and have more respectable jobs. Personal advisors give them better advice for finding jobs. Even judges are softer on attractive defendants. But in the executive circle, beauty can become a liability.
While attractiveness is a positive factor for a man on his way up the executive ladder, it is harmful to a woman.
Handsome male executives were considered as having more honesty than plainer men; effort and ability were thought to lead to their success.
Attractive female executives were considered to have less honesty than unattractive ones; their success was connected not with ability but with factors such as luck.
All unattractive women executives were thought to have more honesty and to be more capable than the attractive female executives. Interestingly, though, the rise of the unattractive overnight successes was connected more to personal relationships and less to ability than that of the attractive overnight successes.
Why are attractive women not thought to be able? An attractive woman is considered to be more feminine and an attractive man more manly than the less attractive ones. Thus, an attractive woman has an advantage in traditionally' female jobs, but an attractive woman in a traditionally manly position appears to lack the "manly" qualities required.
This is true even in politics. "When the only clue is how he or she looks, people treat men and women differently," says Anne Bowman, who recently published a study on the effects of attractiveness on political candidates. She asked 125 undergraduate students to rank two groups of photographs, one of men and one of
women, ir o_nler of attractiveness. The students were told the photographs were of candidates for political offices. They were asked to rank them again, in the order they would vote for them.
The results showed that attractive males completely defeated unattractive men, but the women who had ranked most attractive unchangeably received the fewest votes.
51. The word "liability" most probably means
A. disadvantage B. advantage C. misfortune D. trouble
52. In traditionally female jobs, attractiveness
A. makes women look more honest and capable
B. strengthens the feminine qualifies required
C. is of no importance to women
D. often enables women to succeed quickly
53. Bowman's experiment shows that when it comes to polities, attractiveness
A. turns out to be a disadvantage to men
B. is more of a disadvantage than an advantage to women
C. affects men and women alike
D. has as little effect on men as on women
54. It can be inferred from the passage that people's views on beauty are often
A. practical B. supportive C. old-fashioned D. one-sided
55. The author writes this passage to
A. give advice to job-seekers who are attractive
B. discuss the disadvantages of being attractive
C. demand equal rights for women
D. state the importance of appearance
During the twentieth-century there has been a great change in the lives of women. A woman marrying at the end of the nineteenth century would probably have been in her middle twenties, and would be likely to have seven or eight children, of whom four or five lived till they were five years old. By the time the youngest was fifteen, the mother would have been in her early fifties and would expect to live a further twenty years, during which chance and health made it unusual for her to get paid work. Today women marry younger and have fewer children. Usually a woman's youngest child will be fifteen when she is forty-five and can be expected to live another thirty-five years and is likely to take paid work until sixty.
This important change in women's life has only recently begun to have its full effect on women's economic position. Even a few years ago most girls left school and took a full-time job. However, when they married, they usually left work at once and never returned to it. Today the school-leaving age is sixteen, many girls stay at school after that age, and though women marry younger, more married women stay at work at least until shortly before their first child is born. Very many more afterwards return to full or part-time work. Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage, with the husband accepting a greater share of the duties and satisfactions of family life.
46. We are told that in a family in about 1900 .
A. few children died before they were five
B. seven or eight children lived to be more than five
C. the youngest child would be fifteen
D. four or five children died when they were five
47.One reason why the woman of today may take a job is that she .
A. is younger when her children are old enough to look after themselves
B. does not like children herself
C. needn't worry about food for her children
D. can be free from family duties when she reaches sixty
48. According to the passage, it is now quite usual for women to .
A. stay at home after leaving school
B. marry men younger than themselves
C. start working again later in life
D. marry while still at school
49.Many girls are now likely to .
A. give up their jobs for good after they are married
B. leave school as soon as they can
C. marry so that they can get a job
D. continue working until they are going to have a baby
50. Now a husband probably .
A. plays a greater part in looking after the children
B. helps his wife by doing more of the housework
C. feels dissatisfied with his part in the family
D. takes a part-time job so that he can help in the home
Almost every family buys at least one copy of a newspaper every day. Some people subscribe to as many as two or three different newspapers. But why do people read newspapers?
Five hundred years ago, news of important happenings--battles lost and won, kings or rulers overthrown or killed--took months and even years to travel from one country to another. The news passed by word of mouth and was never accurate. Today we can read in our newspapers of important events that occur in faraway countries on the same day they happen.
Apart from supplying news from all over the world, newspapers give us a lot of other useful information. There are weather repets, radio, television and film guides, book reviews, stones, anra ox course, auwmments. There are a sorts of advertisements. The bigger ones are put in by large companies to bring attention to their products. They pay the newspapers thousands of dollars for the advertising space, but it is worth the money for news of their products goes into almost every home in the country. For those who produce newspapers, advertisements are also very important. Money earned from advertisements makes it possible for them to sell their newspapers at a low price and still make a profit.
Newspapers often have information on gardening, cookery and fashion, as well as a small but very popular section on jokes and cartoons.
41. The habit of reading newspapers is
A. widespread B. found among a few families
C. not popular D. uncommon
42. In the past, news was
A. sent by telegraph B. sent by letter
C. sent by telephone D. passed from one person to another
43. The money spent on advertisements is
A. wasted B. not much
C. worthwhile D. of no use to anyone
44. Which of the following statements is not tree?
A. Five hundred years ago news didn't take a long time to reach other countries.
B. Large companies put big advertisements in the newspapers because they want to draw people's attention to their products.
C. The news that we need in our newspapers in up-to-date.
D. Though the newspapers are sold at a low price, people still gain profit.
45. Some people subscribe to as many as two or three different newspapers. Here the phrase "subscribe to"means .
A. contribute to B. write to
C. agree to buy for a specified time D. appreciate
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