There is much more to growing up in a bilingual(双语的) family than learning two languages, and the cultural influences from both cultures are just as important.
In July we had a curious incident that shows the slight differences between cultures. My son has already changed a few of his baby teeth and since we lived in Italy we decided to go with the Italian version(版本) of the Tooth Fairy, which is not a fairy(仙女) but a little mo
use. So last year when he lost his first tooth we had a visit from the little mouse who took the tooth away and left a rather good amount of coins --- when he lost the second tooth a few days later, however, the amount was significantly less! That in itself caused quite a few questions, but the real questions started when in July during a visit to the UK another tooth left my son’s mouth in Tooth Fairy land! The grandparents made a real problem out of it --- it was their first grandson’s tooth they got to say Goodbye to, so it was Tooth Fairy and rather generous, too!
The Qs & As
Son: Mum, how is the little mouse going to smell my tooth all this way? (as the story goes the little mouse smells a milk tooth and comes to collect it)
Me: No dear, it won’t! We are in England now so the Tooth Fairy will come.
Son: Oh, is she stronger than the little mouse? (I knew where this was going)
Me: She is very strong, and she is magic.
Son: What does the Tooth Fairy bring? (straight to the point)
Me: I am not sure. We’ll find out maybe a nice message.
Son: So is the little mouse coming too?
Me: No, it won’t make it all the way from Italy.
Son: But why don’t they have little mice in England?
Me: Because here the Tooth Fairy collects all baby teeth and she’s too fast, so the little mouse would always get there late.
Son: Oh!?Italian kids are supposed to believe ________ will come and collect the milk teeth.
| A．a little mouse |
| B．Tooth Fairy |
| C．their parents |
| D．the grandparents |
The author thought Tooth Fairy would be rather generous because ________.
| A．Italian parents often give much money for their kids’ lost baby teeth[ |
| B．she knew Tooth Fairy was more generous than the little mouse |
| C．she knew the grandparents would give her son a big gift |
| D．English people are usually more generous than Italians |
Hearing “Oh, is she stronger than the little mouse?”, the author knew her son was actually worried about ________.
| A．the tooth fairy’s health |
| B．the little mouse’s coming |
| C．the amount of coins he could get |
| D．the story his grandparents know |
By telling this story, the author intends to say it’s important to _________ in a bilingual family.
| A．make kids know the folk stories |
| B．help kids choose one of the cultures |
| C．teach kids two languages |
| D．keep the balance of both cultures |
Years ago, a cigarette commercial asked if you were smoking more, but enjoying it less. That describes the way many of us live today. We are doing more, but enjoying it less. And when that doesn’t work, we compound the problem. In our frantic search for satisfaction, we try stuffing still more into our days, never realizing that we are taking the wrong approach.
The truth is simple; so simple it is hard to believe. Satisfaction lies with less, not with more. Yet, we pursue the myth that this thing, or that activity, will somehow provide the satisfaction we so desperately seek.
Arthur Lindman, in his devastating book, “The Harried Leisure Class,” described the futility of pursuing more. His research focused on what people did with their leisure time. He found that as income rose, people bought more things to occupy their leisure time. But, ironically, the more things they bought, the less they valued any one of them. Carried to an extreme, he predicted massive boredom in the midst of tremendous variety. That was more than twenty years ago, and his prediction seems more accurate every year.
Lindman, of course, is not the first to discover this. The writer of Ecclesiastes expressed the same thought thousands of years ago. It is better, he wrote, to have less, but enjoy it more.
If you would like to enjoy life more, I challenge you to experiment with me. How could you simplify your life? What could you drop? What could you do without? What could you stop pursuing? What few things could you concentrate on?
The more I learn, the more I realize that fullness of life does not depend on things. The more I give up, the more I seem to gain. But words will never convince you. You must try it for yourself.
1．Arthur Lindman predicted twenty years ago that ______.
A. more things brought more value B. the more people had, the less they valued them
C. people didn’t like to pursue more D. massive boredom came from less variety
2．What does the article suggest to make our life happier?
A. To enjoy more things. B. To buy more things.
C. To sell things we do not need. D. To get rid of useless things.
3．The passage is probably written to ___________.
A. introduce Arthur Lindman and his book B. tell the readers what is satisfaction
C. introduce how to simplify people’s life D. persuade people to simplify their life
三、阅读理解（共20小题，满分40分）
第一节：阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A, B, C, 和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题纸上将该选项标号涂黑。
As one approaches some crossroads, one comes to a sign which says that drivers have to stop when they come to the main road ahead. At other crossroads, drivers have to go slow, but they do not actually have to stop (unless, of course, there is something coming along the main road); and at still others, they do not have either to stop or to go slow, because they are themselves on the main road.
Mr. Williams, who was always a very careful driver, was driving home from work one evening when he came to a crossroads. It had a “Slow” sign, so he slowed down when he came to the main road, looked both ways to see that nothing was coming, and then drove across without stopping completely.
At once he heard a police whistle, so he pulled in to the side of the road and stopped. A policeman walked over to him with a notebook and pencil in his hand and said, “You didn’t stop at the crossing.” “But the sign there doesn’t say “Stop”,” answered Mr. Williams. “It just says “Slow”, and I did go slow.” The policeman looked around him, and a look of surprise came over his face. Then he put his notebook and pencil away, scratched his head and said, “Well, I’ll be blowed. I am in the wrong street!”
1. Which of the following statements is correct?
A. Stop signs can be found at every crossroads.
B. At crossroads with a “Slow” sign, drivers never have to stop.
C. At crossroads with a “Slow” sign, drivers have to stop and then go slow.
D. At some crossroads, drivers needn’t stop or go slow.
2. What do you think the policeman would do in the end?
A. Fine Mr. Williams. B. Take him to the police station.
C. Apologize to Mr. Williams. D. Give Mr. Williams his notebook and pencil.
3. Which might be the best title for this passage?
A. Signs at the crossroads B. A careful driver
C. A policeman and a driver D. Policeman in the wrong street
Great Britain is traditionally made up of three parts: England in the south, Scotland in north and Wales in the southwest.
England is the largest and most developed of all the three. Its area, about 130,000 square kilometers, takes up nearly 60% of the whole island. Its population is mere than 46 million which makes up 85% of the country's whole population. The importance of England is so great in Britain that some foreigners just say “England” when they mean Britain. The same is true of the custom of speaking of the British people as the English who are the majority in the United Kingdom.
Scotland is the second largest both in area and population. It has an area of about 78,760 square kilometers, less than 30 % of the whole is land, with a population of 5 million, less than one-tenth of the total population.
Wales is the smallest of the three both in area and population. Its area, 20,700 square kilometers, makes up less than 9 % while its population, 2.7 million, does not exceed 5 % of the whole.
1. Which of the following maps shows the right position of England, Scotland and Wales? (E=" England" S=" Scotland" W = Wales)
2. If figure （图形） one below shows the area(面积) of Scotland, which picture in Figure two represents the area of Great Britain?
( Figure 1 
) Figure2:
3. If Figure one below shows the population of the island, which picture in Figure two shows the population of Wales? 
Most of us use the telephone several times a day to talk with friends or make social arrangements. These calls are usually quite easy and require little planning.
Using the telephone for business purpose is different. In any organization the person on the telephone represents the company and gives an impression of the firm to the outside world.
If you want to ensure good public relations, you need to master effective telephone techniques.
You should try to give an impression of an efficient, friendly, progressive company eager to give good service.
Before calling
Choose the right time. Consider the cost, urgency and convenience. When calling overseas you need to consider the time difference.
Check the number. A great deal of money is wasted each year on dialing wrong numbers.
Plan your call. Make a list of points and questions to be raised.
Be prepared. Gather any files, papers or information that may be needed during the call. It is unprofessional to have to say “Hold on while I look for that.”
If you have to ask a caller to hold on, keep going back and assuring him/ her that you will be as quick as possible.
Avoid interruptions. Call at a time when you are unlikely to be distracted.
During the call
Be courteous, polite. Make time for suitable greetings like “How are you today, Jim?” and “Did you enjoy your holiday?”
Put a smile in your voice. Remember, your caller can’t see you, so use intonation to good effect and try to sound confident, decisive, helpful and interested.
Check your notes. Look back at your notes to ensure that you have covered everything and quote figures and other data correctly.
Obtain feedback. Make sure that caller understands the message correctly, especially where deadlines and actions that are involved.
Be courteous. Finish by thanking the caller for his or her time and trouble.
After the call
Make notes. Let it become a habit to make notes of the call and place them in an appropriate file.
Take actions. If you need to send a letter of confirmation or inform someone in your organization about any details of the call, do some immediately so that you do not forget important points.
1. What’s the main idea of this passage?
A. Using a telephone for business has strict rules.
B. While making a business phone call, you should be efficient first.
C. It’s necessary to learn how to use your phone for work.
D. The phone is playing a very important role in our daily life, especially in business.
2. Before calling, you have to ____.
A. stay at your company only. B. learn important data and figures by heart
C. get things ready for the communication D. choose the right time and place
3. What’s the meaning of the word “feedback”?
A. information B. present C. greeting D. reply
Turning on the TV, a wonderful scene comes to your eyes—a group of men, tall, strong and handsome, and women, young, beautiful and attractive, too. Together they eat in the finest restaurants, traveling everywhere around the world by luxurious planes and pleasure ships. They are models.
Do you envy them? What sort of life are models leading? Is it a wonderful life for a young lady or a young man?
A few models are well-known actors or actresses who can make a lot of money only by showing themselves off in commercials. But the majority of them are just curious to see what it is like. They’d like to be models just because they are attracted by what they imagine—models earn a lot of money and lead a glorious life. This is true for those who are very successful. However, most models find it difficult to get work. Very few can earn enough to live on, and for all models their expenses are high. Their agents claim about 20% of the earnings, and no model will get very far without a clever agent. Besides, they have to buy good clothing. They also have to pay to travel to interviews and reach the places where the work is to be done.
Interviews for a model job are known as cattle-markets in the modeling world, and not without a good reason. A top model can choose his or her work, demand and receive high fees and has his or her expenses paid. But for most models, the situation is quite different. And agent or employer inspects each model much as a farmer inspects cattle at a market. Intelligence, qualifications and personal characteristics count for little against good looks and tight figures. For all except the very few lucky ones, the life of a model is a continual search for work, trying to sell himself or herself in the face of fierce competition and, sometimes, not particularly moral standards on the part of some employers.
Immigration officials at airport look suspiciously at a girl whose passport shows her occupation as “Model”, and these are men and women of considerable experience of the world. It comes no surprise to find that some models prefer to put “Secretary” or “Businessman” as their jobs in their passports.
Modeling is a changeable world with great rewards for a tiny minority but not for the majority.
1. For models, their good looks and tight figures are ____, compared with their intelligence and qualifications.
A. more important B. less needed C. less essential D. more looked down upon
2. Which of the following can lead you to believe according to the passage?
A. A model’s traveling expenses are usually paid by his employer.
B. To be a model, good looks are the most important qualification.
C. Most models have a fairly easy way of life with high pay.
D. A model can hardly be successful without a good agent.
3. Models often put “Secretary” or “Businessman” instead of “Model” in their passports because ____.
A. they want to avoid being stopped to sign their names by fans
B. a person with the occupation of a model is easily attacked by black societies
C. models are sometimes looked down upon
D. secretaries and businessmen are free of custom duty
4. What may be the author’s attitude towards modeling?
A. It is a worthwhile life for a young lady or a young man.
B. He is in favour of young people to try modeling.
C. Before being crazy about a model job, young people should be aware of the difficulties.
D. It is a field in which everyone has a great chance to succeed.
5. The underlined word “suspiciously” can most probably be replaced by ____.
A. doubtfully B. excitedly C. proudly D. sadly
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