People who traveled in the past had to put up with many discomforts which we do not have nowadays, and of course they traveled far more slowly. Roads were bad indeed and you often found you could not get along at all because of the mud. In dry weather many places were thick in dust and when it was stormy, trees might fall across the road and it was nobody’s business to clear them away.
Ordinary people traveled on foot or on horseback, but everyone who could afford it kept a private coach. There were public coaches too. called “stage coaches” because long journeys took several days and were done in stages, with stops over night at inns. Some stage, coaches ran only in the summer months. Others all the year around. They were very slow and crowded and passengers often became in on the way because of the swaying (摇晃).
Break downs were frequent, since many roads were not smooth. So a coach might very easily turn right over. Early in the century coach and wagon builders were encouraged to put very wide wheels on their vehicles. So that these might level the roads a little. But many people complained of this since it slowed travel down a good deal.
Most travelers during the 18th century wrote bitterly about the state of the roads. One visitor to Sussex took six hours to travel nine miles in his coach; another wrote to a friend that on time of his journeys “almost every mile was marked by the overturn of a carriage”.Which of the following mainly prevented people from travelling fast in the past?
| A．Falling trees | B．Thick dust |
| C．Muddy road | D．Many discomforts |
The underlined word “them” in the first paragraph refers to _____.
| A．the discomforts | B．the blocked roads |
| C．the dusty places | D．the fallen trees |
Public coaches were called “stage-coaches” because ______.
| A．the long journey was broken into several parts |
| B．they were slow and crowded |
| C．they stopped for meals at inns |
| D．they served public people only |
The sentence “almost every mile was marked by the overturn of a carriage” suggests that ______.
| A．the coaches were of poor quality |
| B．the writers liked to describe the road bitterly |
| C．the road condition was really poor |
| D．travelling about in the past was extremely slow |
At Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, the lights are controlled by sensors that measure sunlight. They dim immediately when it’s sunny and brighten when a passing cloud blocks the sun.
A wall of windows at a University of Pennsylvania engineering building has built-in blinds (百叶窗) controlled by a computer program that follows the sun’s path. Buildings are getting smarter and the next generation of building materials is expected to do even more.
Windows could catch the sun’s energy to heat water. Sensors that measure the carbon dioxide breathed out by people in a room could determine whether the air conditioning needs to be turned up.
Many new materials and technology have been designed in the last 15 years. They are now being used in a wave of buildings designed to save as much energy as possible. They include old ideas, like “green roofs”, where a belt of plants on a roof helps the building keep heat in winter and stay cool in summer, and new ideas, like special coating for windows that lets light in, but keeps heat out.
As technologies such as sensors become cheaper, their uses spread.
The elevators at Seven World Trade Center, which is under construction in New York, use a system that groups people traveling to nearby floors into the same elevator, thus saving elevator stops. People who work in the building will enter it by swiping (刷) ID cards that will tell the elevators their floor, readouts will then tell them which elevator to use. The building also has windows with a coating that blocks heat while letting in light.
More new building materials and technology are in development. A Philadelphia building firm is now working on “smart wrap” that uses tiny solar collectors to catch the sun’s energy and transmitters (传输器) as wide as a human hair to move it. They are expected to change the face of the construction industry in the next ten years or so.________ will be developed and used in the construction industry.
| A．“Green roofs” that cool or heat buildings |
| B．“Smart wrap” that catches the sun’s energy |
| C．Sunlight-measuring sensors that control lights |
| D．Window coating that lets light in, but keeps heat out |
The elevators at Seven World Trade Center are special because they can ________.
| A．send people to floors with fewer stops |
| B．teach people how to use their ID cards |
| C．make people stay very cool in summer |
| D．help people go traveling in the building |
The underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refers to ________.
| A．a human hair | B．smart wrap | C．the sun’s energy | D．a transmitter |
What might be the most suitable title for the text?
| A．Buildings Are Becoming Smarter |
| B．Buildings Are Getting More Sunlight |
| C．Buildings Are Lacking in Much Energy |
| D．Buildings Are Using Cheaper Materials |
Four out of ten women who diet end up heavier than when they started watching their waistline, a study revealed today. The research also showed that a large percentage of women start noticing the pounds creeping back on just 21 days after reaching their ideal weight.
Yesterday, Dr Ian Campbell of the Jenny Craig weight management program said, ‘In the UK 61.4 percent of adults are overweight or obese. Successful weight management requires a long-term commitment in order to lose weight successfully and for good. Dieting can be a real challenge so setting realistic goals and remaining focused on them is important. Otherwise as this research shows, women could end up heavier than when they started.’
The “Food, Body, Mind” report was publicized by Jenny Craig who quizzed 2000 women aged between 18 and 65 who diet regularly on their attitudes, beliefs and behaviors around weight loss. Six in ten said they were currently on a diet and one in five women said they were on a continuous diet.
It found the most common triggers to start dieting was seeing their reflection in the mirror, preparing for a summer holiday or unflattering photos posted on social networking sites. Other popular reasons include comments by friends or relatives or their other half.
However, the study showed that one in ten give up within one day, while almost a fifth manage to make it to a week or more. The average is ten days. Many blamed pressure they put on themselves to lose weight too quickly for the weight gain, which leaves them with a bigger appetite than normal. Others blamed colleagues, who tuck into fatty lunches and snacks unaware of the effect it has on the dieter, while mothers’ polishing off（吃光）their children's leftovers was another common cause of weight gain. Which of the following might be the best title for this article?
| A．Diet: a tricky path to weight loss |
| B．Important things for successful diet |
| C．Four in ten women gain weight on diets |
| D．Obesity: problem for 61.4% adults in UK |
In the UK, women who go on a diet ________.
| A．are all overweight or obese |
| B．all fail because they are not persistent enough |
| C．are likely to gain weight again after reaching their ideal weight |
| D．end up heavier than when they start to diet |
The underlined word “triggers” in Paragraph 4 probably means ________.
| A．effects | B．causes | C．examples | D．imagination |
Which of the following is NOT the reason why many people stop dieting very soon?
| A．The pressure they put on themselves to lose weight quickly. |
| B．Colleagues who give them fatty lunches and snacks. |
| C．Leftovers of children’s taken by their mothers. |
| D．Reflections they see in the mirror. |
Washington, November 1, 2012 (CNN) -- After years of planning and months of campaigning（竞选）, the most expensive presidential race in history comes down to a final five-day whirlwind of speeches and television ads in the eight states still up for grabs.
President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney plan to hold virtually nonstop events between now and the Tuesday election considered too close to call.
The focus is on battleground states worth 95 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win. Both sides are trying to close the deal with a decreasing number of uncommitted(未表态的) voters, while making sure supporters actually cast ballots.
That means a game of campaign chess that started Thursday, with appearances by the candidates (候选人)and their assistants as well as advertising dollars allocated to the places considered most vital to success.
Concluding a race expected to cost more than $6 billion overall, Obama and Romney and their running mates will hit all the battleground states -- Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, New Hampshire, Nevada, Virginia and Wisconsin. The campaigns also are unloading a blast of television ads and mailings that threaten to overwhelm voters already saturated with politicking. Perhaps no one said it better than 4-year-old Abigael Evans of Fort Collins, Colorado, who -- according to NPR -- cried after listening to more election coverage on the radio and told her mother, ‘I'm tired of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.’The underlined phrase “too close to call” probably means .
| A．a game that one side is clearly winning. |
| B．a tie in which neither side seems likely to win |
| C．so close that you need not use a telephone |
| D．a visit close to one’s home state |
What is the focus of the last-5 -day campaigns for both presidential candidates?
| A．To make sure that their supporters understand their policies. |
| B．To collect enough money for campaign ads. |
| C．To paint their rival as black as possible. |
| D．To win over the voters who have not decide which candidate to vote for. |
The public generally feel ________ about these last-days election efforts.
| A．excited | B．disappointed | C．annoyed | D．relieved |
I was 9 years old when I found out my father was ill. It was 1994, but I can remember my mother's words as if it were yesterday: “Kerrel, I don't want you to take food from your father, because he has AIDS. Be very careful when you are around him.”
AIDS wasn't something we talked about in my country when I was growing up. From then on, I knew that this would be a family secret. My parents were not together anymore, and my dad lived alone. For a while, he could take care of himself. But when I was 12, his condition worsened. My father's other children lived far away, so it fell to me to look after him.
We couldn't afford all the necessary medication for him, and because Dad was unable to work, I had no money for school supplies and often couldn't even buy food for dinner. I would sit in class feeling completely lost, the teacher's words muffled as I tried to figure out how I was going to manage.
I did not share my burden (负担) with anyone. I had seen how people reacted to AIDS. Kids laughed at classmates who had parents with the disease. And even adults could be cold. When my father was moved to the hospital, the nurses would leave his food on the bedside table even though he was too weak to feed himself.
I had known that he was going to die, but after so many years of keeping his condition a secret, I was completely unprepared when he reached his final days. Sad and hopeless, I called a woman at the nonprofit National AIDS Support. That day, she kept me on the phone for hours. I was so lucky to find someone who cared. She saved my life.
I was 15 when my father died. He took his secret away with him, having never spoken about AIDS to anyone, even me. He didn't want to call attention to AIDS. I do.Which of the following statements about Kerrel’s father is true?
| A．He had stayed in the hospital since he fell ill. |
| B．He depended on the nurses in his final days. |
| C．He told no one about his disease. |
| D．He worked hard to pay for his medication. |
What can we learn from the underlined sentence?
| A．Kerrel couldn't understand her teacher. |
| B．Kerrel had special difficulty in hearing. |
| C．Kerrel was too troubled to focus on the lesson. |
| D．Kerrel was too tired to hear her teacher's words. |
Why did Kerrel keep her father's disease a secret?
| A．She was afraid of being looked down upon. |
| B．She thought it was shameful to have AIDS. |
| C．She found no one willing to listen to her. |
| D．She wanted to obey her mother. |
The purpose of the passage is ________.
| A．To tell people about the sufferings of her father. |
| B．To show how little people knew about AIDS. |
| C．To remember her father. |
| D．To draw people's attention to AIDS. |
Eleven-year-olds are to learn Shakespeare using the approaches taken by actors, and English teachers will be encouraged to let pupils walk around the classroom rather than read the plays while pupils are sitting at their desks.
Within the English curriculum(课程) you tend to look at a play text as a piece of literature rather than performance. But you can’t possibly understand Shakespeare’s language if you’re just reading it in your head. Shakespeare is difficult; it’s not a 21stcentury text. You have to use different ways to understand it.
The new teaching way focuses on how actors come to understand Shakespeare’s language. In fact actors have the same nervousness about Shakespeare’s language as young people in schools do. But in six to eight weeks they get to a place of complete confidence about the play. Pupils can do as well.
Exercises devised are to let children aged 11 to 14 imitate the methods of professional actors. Written and oral assessments developed alongside the lessons will show how well students have understood the texts.
In one task pupils will work on creating four key physical figures of king, warrior(勇士), lover and joker, finding which lines of their chosen character go with those features first and then acting them out. Through this they can examine how a character such as Macbeth can switch dramatically within one scene from soldier to kingly figure to trick planner. It’s really creative but you’re still getting a really wonderful model of understanding. It’s miles away from a “chalk and talk” method.
Educators think Shakespeare should be a central part of every young person’s education. Developing a love of Shakespeare at a young age often leads to a lifelong passion for literature and helps to improve a child’s reading and writing.How will young people learn Shakespeare?
| A．Reading them aloud. | B．Reciting them. |
| C．Cooperating with actors. | D．Acting them out. |
You cannot understand Shakespeare’s words easily because________.
| A．they are pieces of literature | B．their expressions are different |
| C．ordinary people cannot understand them | D．they are performances |
The underlined sentence “It’s miles away from a ‘chalk and talk’ method.” In Paragraph 5 means_____.
| A．Chalk and talk are far away from each other |
| B．It is much better than the traditional way |
| C．Chalk and talk are quite different |
| D．By chalk and talk we can understand Shakespeare |
What’s the best title of the reading passage?
| A．The New Approach to Shakespeare |
| B．The Introduction to Shakespeare |
| C．How to act Shakespeare’s plays |
| D．Shakespeare’s works in the English curriculum |
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