It is hardly surprising that clothing manufacturers（生产商） follow certain uniform standards for various features of clothes．What seems strange, however, is that the standard adopted for women is the opposite of the one for men．Take a look at the way your clothes button．Men’s clothes tend to button from the right, and women’s form the left．Considering most of the word’s population----men and women----are right-handed, the men’s standard would appear to make more sense for women．So why do women’s clothes button from the left?
History really seems to matter here．Buttons first appeared only on the clothes of the rich in the 17th century, when rich women were dressed by servants．For the mostly right-handed servants, having women’s shirts button from the left would be easier．On the other hand, having men’s shirts button form the right made sense, too．Most men dressed themselves, and a sword drawn from the left with the right hand would be less likely to get caught in the shirt．
Today women are seldom dressed by servants, but buttoning form the left is still the standard for them．Is it interesting? Actually, a standard, once set, resists change．At a time when all women’s shirts buttoned form the left, it would have been risky for any single manufacturer to offer women’s shirts that buttoned from the right．After all, women had grown so used to shirts which buttoned from the left and would have to develop new habits and skills to switch．Besides, some women might have found it socially awkward to appear in public wearing shirts that buttoned from the right, since anyone who noticed that would believe they were wearing men’s shirts．What is surprising about the standard of the clothing industry?
| A．It has been followed by the industry for over 400 years． |
| B．It is different for men’s clothing and women’s． |
| C．It woks better with men than with women． |
| D．It fails to consider right-handed people． |
What do we know about the rich men in the 17th century?
| A．They tended to wear clothes without buttons． |
| B．They were interested in the historical matters． |
| C．They were mostly dressed by servants． |
| D．They drew their swords from the left． |
Women’s clothes still button from the left today because ．
| A．adopting men’s style is improper for women |
| B．manufacturers should follow standards |
| C．customs are hard to change |
| D．modern women dress themselves |
The passage is mainly developed by ．
| A．analyzing causes | B．making comparisons |
| C．examining differences | D．following the time order |
Modern inventions have speeded up people’s lives amazingly. Motor-cars cover a hundred miles in little more than an hour, aircraft cross the world inside a day, while computers operate at lightning speed. Indeed, this love of speed seems never-ending. Every year motor-cars are produced which go even faster and each new computer boasts (吹嘘) of saving precious seconds in handling tasks.
All this saves time, but at a price. When we lose or gain half a day in speeding across the world in an air
plane, our bodies tell us so. We get the uncomfortable feeling known as jet-lag; our bodies feel that they have been left behind in another time zone. Again, spending too long at computer results in painful wrists and fingers. Mobile phones also have their dangers, according to some scientists; too much use may transmit harmful radiation into our brains, a consequence we do not like to think about.
However, what do we do with the time we have saved? Certainly not rel
ax, or so it seems. We are so accustomed to constant activity that we find it difficult to sit and d
o nothing, or even just one thing at a time. Perhaps the days are long gone when we might listen quietly to a story on the radio, letting imagination take us into another world.
There was a time when some people’s lives were devoted simply to the cultivation of the land or the care of cattle. No multi-tasking there; their lives went on at a much gentler pace, and in a familiar pattern. There is much that we might envy about a way of life like this. Yet before we do so, we must think of the hard
tasks our ancestors faced: they farmed with bare hands, often lived close to hunger, and had to fashion tools from wood and stone. Modern machinery has freed people from that primitive existence. The new products become more and more time-saving because .
| A．the manufacturers boast a lot | B．time is limited |
| C．the prices are increasingly high | D．our love of speed seems never-ending |
What does “the days” in Paragraph 3 refer to?
| A．Simple life in the past. | B．Imaginary life. |
| C．Times of inventions. | D．Time for constant activity. |
. What is the author’s attitude towards the modern technology?
| A．Critical. | B．Optimistic. | C．Objective. | D．Negative. |
. What does the passage mainly discuss?
| A．The present and past times. | B．Modern technology and its influence. |
| C．Imaginations and inventions. | D．Machinery and human beings. |
It was a village in India. The people were poor. However, they were not unhappy. After all, their forefathers had lived in the same way for centuries.
Then one day, some visitors from the city arrived. They told the villagers there were some people elsewhere who liked to eat frog’s legs. However, they did not have enough frogs of their own, and so they wanted to buy frogs from other places.
This seemed like money for nothing. There were millions of frogs in the fields around, and they were no use to the villagers. All they had to do was catch them. Agreement was reached, and the children were sent into the fields to catch frogs. Every week a truck arrived to collect the catch and hand over the money. For the first time, the people were able to dream of a better future. But the dream didn’t last long.
The change was hardly noticed at first, but it seemed as if the crops were not doing so well. More worrying was that the children fell ill more often, and, there seemed to be more insects around lately.
The villagers decided that they couldn’t just wait to see the crops failing and the children getting weak. They would have to use the money earned to buy pesticides (杀虫剂）and medicines. Soon there was no money left.
Then the people realized what was happening. It was the frog. They hadn’t been useless. They had been doing an important job — eating insects. Now with so many frogs killed, the insects were increasing more rapidly. They were damaging the crops and spreading diseases.
Now, the people are still poor. But in the evenings they sit in the village square and listen to sounds of insects and frogs. These sounds of the night now have a much deeper meaning..
. From Paragraph 1 we learn that the villagers .
| A．worked very hard for centuries | B．dreamed of having a better life |
| C．were poor but somewhat content | D．lived a different life from their forefathers |
.
Why did the villagers agree to sell frogs?
| A．The frogs were easy money. | B．They needed money  to buy medicine. |
| C．They wanted to please the visitors. | D．The frogs made too much noise. |
.
. What might be the cause of the children’s sickness?
| A．The crops didn’t do well. | B．There were too many insects. |
| C．The visitors brought in diseases. | D．The pesticides were overused. |
.
What can we infer from the last
sentence of the text?
| A．Happiness comes from peaceful life in the country. |
| B．Health is more important than money. |
| C．The harmony between man and nature is important. |
| D．Good old days will never be forgotten. |
The need to feed a growing population is putting much pressure on the world’s supply of water. With 97% of the world’s water too salty to be drunk or used in agriculture, the worldwide supply of water needs careful management, especially in agriculture. Although the idea of a water shortage seems strange to someone fortunate enough to live in a high rainfall country, many of the world’s agricultur
al industries experience constant water shortages.
Although dams can be built to store water for agricultural use in dry areas and dry seasons, the costs of water redistribution (重新分配) are very high. Not only is there the cost of the engineering itself, but there is also an environmental cost to be considered. Where valleys are flooded to create dams, houses are lost and wildlife homes destroyed. Besides, water may flow easily through pipes to fields, but it cannot be transported from one side of the world to the other. Each country must therefore rely on the management of its own water to supply its farming requirements.
This is particularly troubling for countries with agricultural industries in areas dependent on irrigation. In Texas, farmers’ overuse of irrigation water has resulted in a 25% reduction of the water stores. In the Central Valley area of southwestern USA, a huge water engineering project provided water for farming in dry valleys, but much of the water use has been poorly managed.
Saudi Arabia’s attempts to grow wheat in desert areas have seen the pumping of huge quantities of irrigation water from underground reserves. Because there is no rainfall in these areas, such reserves can only decrease, and it is believed that fifty years of pumping will see them run dry..
. From t
he first two paragraphs we learn that __________.
| A．much of the world’s water is available for use |
| B．people in high rainfall countries feel lucky |
| C．water can be easily carried through pipes across the world |
| D．the costs of water redistribution should be considered |
.
. Which of the following is true?
| A．The underground water in Saudi Arabia might run out in 50 years. |
| B．Most industries in the world suffer from water shortages. |
C．The  water stores in Texas have been reduced by 75%. |
| D．Good management of water use resulted from the project in the Central Valley. |
.
The text is mainly about __________.
| A．water supply and increasing population |
| B．water redistribution and wildlife protection |
| C．water use management and agriculture |
| D．water shortages and environmental protection |
.
. What is most likely to be discussed in the paragraph that follows?
| A．Approaches to handling the pressure on water supply. |
| B．Ways to reduce the costs of building dams. |
| C．Measures to deal with worldwide water shortages. |
| D．Steps to improving water use management. |
Goldie’s Secret
She turned up at the doorstep of my house in Co
rnwall. No way could I have sent her away. No way, not me anyway. Maybe someone had kicked her out of their car the night before. “We’re moving house.” “No space for her any more with the baby coming.” “We never really wanted her, but what could we have done? She was a present.” People find all sorts of excuses for abandoning an animal. And she was one of the most beautiful dogs I had ever seen.
I called her Goldie. If I had known what was going to happen I would have given her a mo
re creative name. She was so unsettled during those first few days. She hardly ate anything and had such an air of sadness about her. There was nothing I could do to make her happy, it seemed. Heaven knows what had happened to her at her previous owner’s. But eventually at the end of the first week she calmed down. Always by my side, whether we were out on one of our long walks or sitting by the fire.
That’s why it was such a shock when she pulled away from me one day when we were out for a walk. We were a long way from home, when she started barking and getting very restless. Eventually I couldn’t hold her any longer and she raced off down the road towards a farmhouse in the distance as fast as she could.
By the time I reached the farm I was very tired and upset with Goldie. But when I saw her licking (舔) the four puppies (幼犬) I started to feel sympathy towards them. “We didn’t know what had happened to her,” said the woman at the door. “I took her for a walk one day, soon after the puppies were born, and she just disappeared.” “She must have tried to come back to them and got lost,” added a boy from behind her.
I must admit I do miss Goldie, but I’ve got Nugget now, and she looks just like her mother. And I’ve learnt a good lesson: not to judge people..
How did the author feel about Goldie when Goldie came to the house?
| A．Shocked. | B．Annoyed. | C．Sympathetic. | D．Upset. |
.
. In her first few days at the author’s house, Goldie .
| A．sat by the fire | B．was angry |
| C．ate a little | D．felt worried |
.
Goldie rushed off to a farmhouse one day because she .
| A．found her way to her old home | B．heard familiar barkings |
| C．wanted to leave the author | D．saw her puppies |
.
The passage is organized in order of .
| A．effectiveness | B．time | C．importance | D．complexity |
America
n cities are similar to other cities around the world. In every country, cities reflect the values of the culture. American cities are changig, just as American society is changing.
After World War Ⅱ, the population of most large American cities decreased; however, the population in many Sun Belt cities increased. Los Angles and Houston are cities where population shifts (转移) to and from the city reflect the changing values of American society. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, city residents became wealthier. They had more children so they needed more space. They moved out of their apartments in the city to buy their own homes. They bought houses in the suburbs.
Now things are changing. The children of the peop
le who left the cities in the 1950s are now adults. Many, unlike their parents, want to live in the cities. They continue to move to Sun Belt cities and older ones of the Northeast and Midwest. Many young professionals are moving back into the city. They prefer the city to the suburbs because their jobs are there; or they just enjoy the excitement and possibilities that the city offers.
This population shift is bringing problems as well as benefits. Countless poor people must leave their apartments in the city because the owners want to sell the buildings or make apartments for sale instead of for rent. In the 1950s, many poor people did not have enough money to move to the suburbs; now many of these same people do not have enough money to stay in the cities.
Only a few years ago, people thought that the older American cities were dying. Some city residents now see a bright, new future. Others see only problems and conflicts. One thing is sure: many dying cities are alive again..
What does the author think of cities all over the world?
| A．They are similar. | B．They are hopeless. |
| C．They are alive. | D．They are different. |
.
Why did American city residents want to live in the suburbs after World War Ⅱ?
| A．Because older American cities were dying. |
| B．Because they were richer and needed more space. |
| C．Because they could hardly afford to live in the city. |
| D．Because cities contained the worst parts of society. |
.
According to the 4th paragraph, a great many poor people in American cities __________
.
| A．are forced to move to the suburbs | B．are faced with housing problems |
| C．want to sell their buildings | D．need more money for daily expenses |
.
We can conclude from the text that __________.
| A．American cities are changing for the worse | |
| B．the population is decreasing in older American cities | C．many people are now moving from American cities |
| D．people have different views on American cities |
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