Last April, on a visit to the new Mall of America near Minneapolis, I carried with me a small book provided for the reporters by the public relations office. It
included a variety of “fun facts” about the mall, for example, 140,000 hot dogs are sold each week, there are 10,000 full-time jobs, 44 sets of moving stairs and 17 lifts, 12,750 parking places, 13,000 tons of steel and $ 1 million is drawn weekly from 8 ATMs. Opened in the summer of 2005, the mall was built where the former Minneapolis Stadium had been. It was only a five-minute drive from the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport. With 4.2 million square feet of floor space ----- twenty-two times the size of the average American shopping center –the Mall of America was the largest shopping and family recreation center under one roof in the United States.
I know already that the Mall of America had been imagined by its designers, not only as a marketplace, but as a national tourist attaction. Eleven thousand articles, the small book informed me, had been written about the mall. Four hundred trees had been planted in its gardens, $ 625 million had been spent to build it, and 350 stores were already in business. Three thousand bus tours were expected each year along with a half-million Canadian visitors and 200,000 Japanese tourists. Sales are expected to be at $ 650 million for 2008 and at $ I billion for 2009. Pop singers and film stars such as Janet Jackson and Amold Schwarzenegger visited the mall. It was five times larger than Red Square and it included 2.3 miles of hallways and used almost twice as Knott’s Camp Snoopy.
60. We know from the text that the Mall of America is _________.
A.near an old stadium B.close to an airport
C.higher than the Eiffel Tower D.bigger than most American parks
61. Why are the pieces of information provided by the Mall of America referred to as “fun facts”?
A.They are largely imagined. B.They are surprising figures（数字）
C.They give exact descriptions. D.They make people feel uneasy.
62. Why does the author mention popular stars who have been to the mall?
A.To show its power of attraction.
B.To show that few rich people like to shop there.
C.To tell the public about a new movie being made about it.
D.To tell people that they have chances of meeting famous stars there.
63. We can infer from the text that _______.
A.Japanese visitors are most welcome to the mall
B.Canadian visitors would spend $ I billion at the mall
C.Knott’s Camp Snoopy was next to the Mall of America
D.the Mall of America was designed to serve more than one purpose（目的）
I appreciate how biking to work allows me to be outside for at least a small part of my day. I’m a senior program director. If I didn’t bike to work, I’d spend my weekdays almost entirely indoors—underground tunnel. On the bike, I get trees, air and a great way to get to know city neighborhoods. Of course, I also get bad weather and city traffic. But it’s worth the trade-off. The weather’s not often bad, and rain and snow have their charms.
I’ve been cycling to work since the late 1990s. I started when the city was doing some construction in the subways and rerouting passengers, which would have lengthened my trip considerably. I tried riding my sister- in- law’s bike to work one day and liked it, so I bought my own. Even though I hadn’t biked since I was a child, I got back into it right away.
I bike during all four seasons. In summer, I wear shorts and a T- shirt and carry a messenger bag over my shoulder for my lunch and anything else I need. Once at the office, I change into business- casual clothes. In winter, I wear layers and a thin hat under my helmet. A cold winter day can be the best time to be on a bicycle. When the air is clear, free of oppressive summer haze, the city can look beautiful.
Biking to work also comes in handy during the workday itself. I have a rack (网架) on the back of my bike that accommodates panniers that allow me to pick up groceries. During work hours, a colleague will occasionally need to send or retrieve documents by messenger. If I have the time, I volunteer. Pedaling 30 blocks and back is a nice way to take a break from work—and to save the office a few bucks on messenger fees.
I’m sure that some people thinking my mode of transportation might be afraid of Midtown traffic. I’m no hero; I don’t want to get hurt riding to work. It just takes time getting used to it. There’s a risk, but all travel has risks. They’re worth it to me.Which is the reason for the author cycling to work?
| A．To save money | B．To lose weight |
| C．To smell the roses outside | D．To protect the environment |
What made the author began to ride a bike to work?
| A．The author bought his own bike. |
| B．His sister- in- law lent him a bike. |
| C．There were few bikes on the street then. |
| D．The subway construction in the city was under way. |
The underlined phrase “come in handy” most probably means ______ ?
| A．useful | B．available | C．valuable | D．economical |
In the last paragraph, the author implies that _______.
| A．He is not a hero. |
| B．He will go on cycling to work. |
| C．All travel has risks. |
| D．He is afraid of Midtown traffic. |
The cruelty and inhumanity (残暴) of the war is just as cruel an inhumane through the eyes of a horse. Or at least in the eyes of Joey, the star of War Horse (《 战马》). The film has come out in cinemas on February 28, 2012 on the Chinese mainland.
The story starts on a farm in Devon, southwest England. The Narracott family—Dad, Mum, and their teenage son Albert – rent the farm. When Dad buys a beautiful horse, Albert falls in love with him. He trains him and names him Joey. They become as close as it is possible for a human and an animal to be.
But World War I breaks out. Dad has to sell the horse to an English Army officer to pay the rent. Joey and Albert can no longer be together. Albert promises Joey that they’ll find each other again one day. Then Albert goes on a journey to search for his friend.
But the four years of war are about Joey’s journey. He starts as the mount (坐骑) of the English officer. Then he becomes a German workhorse. He is given to a French teenager and her grandpa. He has to face the tanks on the front line. The story ends in a sunset scene on the battlefield. Albert has become a soldier. The two are reunited.
Battle scenes are part of the story , but the movie’s Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg said that War Horse is not a war movie.
“I consider it to be a love between a horse and a young man… It’s about the connectivity (联系) that an animal can bring to human characters,” Spielberg said.
Roger Moore of the Chicago Tribune said Spielberg manages in the film to “measure a man by how he acts toward animals”.
In one scene, a British soldier and a German soldier join hands to vindicate Joey.
“ Men on opposing (对立的) sides of war find their shared humanity in their love of animals in War Horse, I appreciated this work.” Moore concluded.Why did Albert’s father sell the horse to an English Army officer?
| A．to make money for his son’s school fees. |
| B．to earn the officer’s admiration. |
| C．to pay the rent of the farmland. |
| D．The family could not afford the horse’s cost. |
According to the director’s description, which statement is true?
| A．The movie was just talking about war. |
| B．The movie reflected the love between the human being and animal. |
| C．The movie fully represented human’s cruelty. |
| D．The key role of the movie was only the young man. |
The underlined word “vindicate” refers to ______.
| A．rescue | B．support | C．beat | D．catch |
Judging from the last paragraph, what’s Moore’s attitude towards the movie?
| A．Doubtful. | B．Negative. | C．Neutral. | D．Supportive. |
A German study suggests that people who were too optimistic（乐观）about their future actually faced greater risk of disability or death within 10 years than those pessimists（悲观主义者）who expected their future to be worse.
The paper, published this March in Psychology and Aging, examined health and welfare surveys from roughly 40,000 Germans between ages 18 and 96. The surveys were conducted every year from 1993 to 2003.
Survey respondents (受访者) were asked to estimate their present and future life satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 10, among other questions.
The researchers found that young adults (age 18 to 39) routinely overestimated their future life satisfaction, while middle-aged adults (age 40 to 64) more accurately predicted how they would feel in the future. Adults of 65 and older, however, were far more likely to underestimate their future life satisfaction. Not only did they feel more satisfied than they thought they would, the older pessimists seemed to suffer a lower ratio (比率) of disability and death for the study period.
“We observed that being too optimistic in predicting a better future than actually observed was associated with a greater risk of disability and a greater risk of death within the following decade,” wrote Frieder R. Lang, a professor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.
Lang and his colleagues believed that people who were pessimistic about their future may be more careful about their actions than people who expected a rosy future.
“Seeing a dark future may encourage positive evaluations of the actual self and may contribute to taking improved precautions (预防措施),” the authors wrote.
Surprisingly, compared with those in poor health or who had low incomes, respondents who enjoyed good health or income were associated with expecting a greater decline(下降). Also, the researchers said that higher income was related to a greater risk of disability.
The authors of the study noted that there were limitations to their conclusions. Illness, medical treatment and personal loss could also have driven health outcomes.
However, the researchers said a pattern was clear. “We found that from early to late adulthood, individuals adapt their expectations of future life satisfaction from optimistic, to accurate, to pessimistic,” the authors concluded.According to the study, who made the most accurate prediction of their future life satisfaction?
| A．Optimistic adults. | B．Middle-aged adults. |
| C．Adults in poor health. | D．Adults of lower income. |
Pessimism may be positive in some way because it causes people ______.
| A．to fully enjoy their present life |
| B．to estimate their contribution accurately |
| C．to take measures against potential risks |
| D．to value health more highly than wealth |
How do people of higher income see their future?
| A．They will earn less money. |
| B．They will become pessimistic. |
| C．They will suffer mental illness. |
| D．They will have less time to enjoy life. |
What is the clear conclusion of the study?
| A．Pessimism guarantees chances of survival. |
| B．Good financial condition leads to good health. |
| C．Medical treatment determines health outcomes. |
| D．Expectations of future life satisfaction decline with age. |
An idea that started in Seattle's public library has spread throughout America and beyond. The concept is simple: help to build a sense of community in a city by getting everyone to read the same book at the same time.
In addition to encouraging reading as a pursuit (追求) to be enjoyed by all, the program allows strangers to communicate by discussing the book on the bus, as well as promoting reading as an experience to be shared in families and schools. The idea came from Seattle librarian Nancy Pearl who launched (发起）the "If All of Seattle Read the Same Book " project in 1998. Her original program used author visits, study guides and book discussion groups to bring people together with a book, but the idea has since expanded to many other American cities, and even to Hong Kong.
In Chicago, the mayor(市长）appeared on television to announce the choice of To Kill a Mockingbird as the first book in the "One Book, One Chicago" program. As a result, reading clubs and neighbourhood groups sprang up around the city. Across the US, stories emerged of parents and children reading to each other at night and strangers chatting away on the bus about plot and character.
The only problem arose in New York, where local readers could not decide on one book to represent the huge and diverse population. This may show that the idea works best in medium-sized cities or large towns, where a greater sense of unity(一致）can be achieved .Or it may show that New Yorkers rather missed the point, putting all their energy and passion into the choice of the book rather than discussion about a book itself.
Ultimately, as Nancy points out, the level of success is not measured by how many people read a book, but by how many people are enriched by the process, or have enjoyed speaking to someone with whom they would not otherwise have shared a word.What is the purpose of the project launched by Nancy?
| A．To invite authors to guide readers. |
| B．To encourage people to read and share. |
| C．To involve people in community service. |
| D．To promote the friendship between cities. |
Why was it difficult for New Yorkers to carry out the project?
| A．They had little interest in reading. |
| B．They were too busy to read a book. |
| C．They came from many different backgrounds |
| D．They lacked support from the local government |
The underlined words “shared a word” in Paragraph 5 probably mean
| A．exchanged ideas with each other |
| B．discussed the meaning of a word |
| C．gained life experience |
| D．used the same language |
According to Nancy, the degree of success of the project is judged by
| A．the careful selection of a proper book |
| B．the growing popularity of the writers |
| C．the number of people who benefit from reading. |
| D．the number of books that each person reads. |
Argentina in the late nineteenth century was an exciting place. Around 1870,it was experiencing an economic boom(繁荣), and the capital, Buenos Aires, attracted many people. Farmers, as well as a flood of foreigners from Spain and Italy, came to Buenos Aires seeking jobs. These jobs didn′t pay well, and the people felt lonely and disappointed with their new life in the city. As the unhappy newcomers mixed together in the poor parts of the city, the dance known as the tango(探戈舞)came into being
At the beginning the tango was a dance of the lower classes. It was danced in the bars and streets. At that time there were many fewer women than men, so if a man didn′t want to be left out, his only choice was to dance with another man so that he could attract the attention of the few available women. Gradually, the dance spread into the upper classes of Argentinean society and became more respectable.
In Europe at this time, strong interest in dance from around the world was beginning. This interest in international dance was especially evident in Paris. Every kind of dance from ballet(芭蕾舞)to belly dancing could be found on the stages of the Paris theaters. After tango dances from Argentina arrived in Europe, they began to draw the interest of the public as they performed their exiting dance in cafes. Though not everyone approved of the new dance, saying it was a little too shocking, the dance did find enough supporters to make it popular.
The popularity（流行）of the tango continued to grow in many other parts of the world. Soldiers who returned to the United States from World War I brought the tango to North America. It reached Japan in 1926, and in 2003 the Argentinean embassy in Seoul hired a local tango dancer to act as a kind of dance ambassador, and promoted tango dancing throughout South Korea.The origin of the tango is associated with _____________.
| A．Belly dancers | B．American soldiers |
| C．Spanish city | D．the capital of Argentina |
Which of the following is true about the tango?
| A．It was created by foreigners from Spain and Italy. |
| B．People of the upper classes loved the tango most |
| C．It was often danced by two males in the beginning |
| D．A dancer in Seoul became the Argentinean ambassador. |
Before World War I, the tango spread to __________.
| A．America | B．Japan | C．France | D．South Korea |
What can be the best title for the text?
| A．How to Dance the Tango | B．The History of the Tango |
| C．How to Promote the Tango | D．The Modern Tango Boom |
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