Everyone’s at it, even my neighbors. I thought I might be the only person left in the world who hadn’t done an eBay deal. So I decided to try my hand at online auction（网上拍卖）。
Buying for beginners: Sign up on WWW.eBay.com < > Most items（e.g. tables, computers, and books） ready for auction will come with a picture and a short description; others may be marked with “Buy It Now” and have a fixed price. You can buy these right away.
If the item is being auctioned, you offer the highest price you are prepared to pay and eBay bids （出价） for you. The bid will be increased little by little until it goes beyond your highest bid, then you are emailed and asked if you would like to bid again. Auctions last up to 10 days and when they finish you get an email telling you whether you have won the item.
How to pay: Sellers decide how they would like to be paid and you need to check this before placing a bid as you might not want to post a cheque or postal orders. The easiest way is through PayPal, an online payment system that takes the money away from your credit card.
Selling made simple: If you plan to sell on eBay, it helps to include a picture of the item. I followed my friends’ advice and put up the items I wanted to sell for a 10- day auction, starting on a Thursday. This way buyers had two weekends to bid.
The big things in life: It’s easy to post a small item, but furniture is a big part of eBay and this has to be collected or sent by deliverymen. Check the ways of delivery before you bid.What is the passage mainly about ?
| A．How to make payment online. | B．Ways of making delivery online. |
| C．Advantages of an online-auction system. | D．How to use an online-auction system. |
After bidding for an item, a buyer _______ .
| A．can’t buy other items any more | B．should make payment immediately |
| C．has chances to make higher bids | D．must give your credit card to the seller |
You should _______if the item is being auctioned.
| A．make loud noises | B．get the others not to bid |
| C．ask the other people’s price | D．offer the highest price you are ready to pay |
The easiest way of making payment mentioned in the passage is _______.
| A．through an online payment system | B．through a local bank system |
| C．by sending the money to the seller | D．by paying the delivery man directly |
The U.S. government’s push to decrease the nation’s output of greenhouse gases by increasing the fuel efficiency of the cars Americans drive is arousing again an emotional argument Does driving a small, fuel-efficient car make you more likely to die on the road?
Engineers and statistical analysts can point to data that suggest more-efficient cars don’t necessarily put motorists at greater overall risk. But most of us care less about the “overall” risk than we do about ourselves. Driving a big Chevrolet Tahoe SUV makes many of us believe we are safer than we would be in a smaller car — even if statistical measures across a large population of vehicles and all kinds of car accidents suggest the advantage of safety isn’t quite as wide as SUV owners believe.
The Obama government has put the fuel-efficiency and safety question back on the front burner by calling for new-vehicle fuel economy to rise to an average of 35 miles per gallon （加仑） by 2020 from about 25 mpg today. That goal could move higher if the government decides to adopt California’s requirement to cut vehicle greenhouse-gas giving off, which would result in stricter mileage standards.
Those moves, and the effects of last summer’s gas-price shock, are driving auto makers to offer cars such as the Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit and Daimler AG’s Smart For Two — which get the kind of mileage today that law says should be the average in a decade. Beyond that, auto makers will launch a wide range of new compact （紧凑的） vehicles, and decrease production of large, body-on-frame SUVs.
That’s leading to new concerns about “green safety”, a term for managing the balance between reducing vehicle size for efficiency and adding safety and protection features that tend to make vehicles heavier and less efficient. Undoubtedly, further work has to be done before Americans make the choice.The U.S. government requires to improve the fuel efficiency in order to ________.
| A．push Americans to drive smaller cars |
| B．reduce the output of greenhouse gases |
| C．drive auto makers to produce fewer SUVs |
| D．cause Americans to make an argument |
According to Paragraph 2, engineers and analysts’ idea ________.
| A．fails to relieve people of their worry about safety |
| B．persuades people to purchase smaller cars instead of SUVs |
| C．is based on research and therefore persuasive enough |
| D．makes people think of their safety as well as others’ |
About the Obama government’s new moves, the auto makers are ________ and average Americans are ________.
| A．uncertain; positive | B．doubtful; uncertain |
| C．supportive; positive | D．positive; uncertain |
The best title for the text should be ________.
| A．New Law Reduces Greenhouse Gases Output |
| B．Can Small Cars Overcome Accident Fears? |
| C．New Compact Cars Gets Popular in the U.S. |
| D．Do We Have to Follow the Government? |
On warm summer days with little or no wind, the air temperature in cities can be up to ten degrees higher than that of the surrounding countryside. This is a phenomenon commonly referred to as the “urban heat island” effect.
This phenomenon happens when pavement, buildings, and other infrastructure （基础设施） replace natural land cover. Large amounts of paved and dark colored surfaces—such as roofs, roads, and parking lots—absorb, rather than reflect, the sun’s heat, causing surface temperatures and overall ambient （周围的） air temperature to rise.Unlike soil, paved areas contribute to runoff, which means that as paved areas increase, the amount of water available for evaporation （蒸发） decreases. Moreover, urban areas have fewer trees and less natural vegetation which help to control the heat by providing shade and blocking solar radiation. The surfaces of leaves also provide water for evaporation which cools the air, further worsening the heat island effect.
In particular, during summer, more energy is required to cool the insides of building and for refrigeration, thereby creating additional heat output. This in turn leads to higher ambient air temperatures, which can also significantly increase the formation of urban smog in an area, degrading local air quality. Such a situation may directly affect public health with individuals more likely to suffer from heat exhaustion and the effects of asthma （哮喘）.The underlined part in Paragraph 2 means ________.
| A．Due to dark colored roads, urban areas are becoming hotter each year |
| B．Dark colored surfaces reflect the sun’s heat, causing air temperatures to rise |
| C．Because urban surfaces absorb heat, air and surface temperatures increase |
| D．Rising ambient air temperatures lead to urban surfaces absorbing more heat |
Which of the following is not a cause of the urban heat island effect?
| A．The lack of trees |
| B．The demand for refrigeration |
| C．The blocking of solar radiation |
| D．The construction of infrastructure. |
The underlined word “degrading” most probably means ________.
| A．ignoring | B．improving |
| C．highlighting | D．worsening |
The passage is mainly developed by ________.
| A．giving typical examples |
| B．following the time order |
| C．presenting the effect and analyzing the cause |
| D．analyzing a problem and seeking the solution |
More and more pupils are giving teachers presents, but the practice only creates insecurity in parents and staff.
I’ve certainly noticed some pupils being feverishly overgenerous of late. Last year, I received not one bottle of wine but four for helping a disaffected pupil through his GCSEs. By and large, my colleagues report the gifts differing along gender lines. Gentlemen get ties, mugs, booze and, if they’re really lucky, tickets to football matches. The ladies are often presented with flowers, jewels, chocolates and so on.
When my son was at private school, I noticed there was a real competitiveness between the students about giving presents to teachers, with expensive baskets from fancy stores and huge bouquets being handed out on the last days of term. Since my wife and I only let my son give thank-you cards, it was clear we were not “classy”. Now he is at an inner-city primary, we’ve noticed that this kind of nonsense seems to have more or less disappeared．For one thing, there isn’t that kind of money floating around – but there isn’t that kind of competitive culture either.
Personally, I think gifts to teachers should be banned beyond the thank-you card they cause many more problems than they solve, creating insecurity in both parents and staff. Perhaps the recession and the lack of money in people’s pockets might be a good excuse for the government to issue some guidelines to schools that gifts shouldn’t be accepted by teachers.
The gifts that I really value are the cards which say a genuine thank you. I still keep them in a file at home.What can the author most probably be?
| A．A teacher. | B．A school nurse. |
| C．A researcher. | D．A gift shop owner. |
The underlined word “nonsense” in Paragraph 3 refers to the fact that ________.
| A．the son only gives thank-you cards to teachers |
| B．the author and his wife are not classy |
| C．the son goes to an inner-city primary |
| D．the students give gifts to teachers |
To solve the problem, the author thinks it’s a good way to ________.
| A．forbid the students to give any gifts to teachers |
| B．create insecurity by giving thank-you cards |
| C．make people have less money in pockets |
| D．issue some guidelines by the government |
Which of the following can be the best title?
| A．Don’t Forget to Give Gifts to Your Teachers |
| B．Presents Won’t Make Pupils Teachers’ Pets |
| C．Learn the Competitive Culture of Gifts |
| D．Refuse Presents from Your Students |
Last summer, as part of my high school graduation project, I volunteered at Saunders House nursing home.
I choose this experience because it was something that I had never done before and I wanted to lend a helping hand．When I first came up with the idea of volunteering at a nursing home, I wanted to help out with activities and meet with some of the residents （住客）.
At first it was challenging because I was extremely shy; however after getting to know the residents a little better, I started to feel more comfortable around them. My goal in volunteering was to bring a smile to the residents by doing different activities from word games to playing chess. I feel as if I had accomplished that goal.
At the nursing home, I did a lot of different activities with the residents ranging from Jeopardy, to Wheel of Fortune. One of my favorites was a word game where I would write a ten letter word on the board and the residents would try to come up with as many smaller words as possible. I could tell that it was one of their favorite games because they always seemed to be so enthusiastic when they played．I also transported residents to and from their rooms when they needed help; and whenever it was a nice day out, I would take them outside to get some fresh air and relax. On Saturday mornings, I would deliver the newspaper to the residents and on Sundays, I assisted with morning church services.
The most unforgettable part of this experience was when I had one on one conversations with the residents; it was incredible how many great stories they had to tell. One of the first residents was Mr. Charles Bowman who is one hundred and three years old!The author volunteered at the nursing home because ________.
| A．she was willing to help |
| B．the residents needed her |
| C．she was good with the old |
| D．the old people challenged her |
What helped the author get over the challenge?
| A．The determination to do the voluntary work. |
| B．Communicating with the residents. |
| C．The residents’ smiling faces. |
| D．The sense of achievements. |
The author felt it ________ to do the activities with the residents.
| A．enjoyable | B．upset |
| C．uncomfortable | D．challenging |
The author wrote the passage in order to ________.
| A．persuade readers to care more about the old |
| B．encourage readers to do voluntary work |
| C．describe a social problem |
| D．share an experience |
A good deal of fascinating research has been done about the reading patterns of young people，and it is surprising to discover at what an early age children start expressing preferences for particular kind of books. A recent report，which examined in detail the reading habits of primary-school children．showed that even seven-year-old boys and girls have clear views about what they want to read. Girls，in general，read more，and far more girls than boys preferred reading stories. Boys were showing a taste for the more instant appeal of picture stories，or else books about their hobbies．
These tastes continue unchanged until the children are teenagers. Apparently girls read more in general，but more fiction in particular .You could say that there are more opportunities for girls to read fiction：magazines encourage the fiction habit in girls in their early teens，and by their late teens they have probably moved on to the adult women’s magazines．Teenage boys tend to buy magazines about their hobbies：motorcycles，heavy transport and to on．
Adult reading tastes are also the subject of research．Again the number of women who read for pleasure is considerably higher than the number of men. It seems that the majority of women still want love stories．There has also been some analysis of what men actually read Apparently only 38 percent of men read anything，but 50 percent of what they read is fiction in the form of action-packed(内容丰富有趣的)stories of space or gunmen What has the recent research into children’s reading show?
| A．Children begin to read very fast at an early age |
| B．Children examine in detail what they read at school |
| C．Children can read clearly in primary schoo1． |
| D．Children form their reading tastes by the time they are seven |
If we have a close look at the reading habits of boys and girls we’ll find that_______
| A．girls are more interested in fiction than boys |
| B．girls are more interested in action-packed stories than boys |
| C．boys read much more than girls |
| D．boys have no interest in fiction |
It can be inferred from the passage that_________．
| A．boys change their reading tastes more often than girls |
| B．people usually do not change their reading tastes when they grow up |
| C．boys and girls form their reading habits by reading magazines |
| D．people have no definite(确切的)reading tastes |
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