Attempt a guess at the following question: In the English-speaking world, which country has the least affordable homes? You are wrong if you guessed the US, even with the housing bubble （气泡） and main sadness． Nor is it the UK, where prices have risen because demand is far from supply． According to a recent survey of 227 cities around the globe, you must go south of the equator （赤道） to Australia to find the priciest homes．
The report measured a city’s housing market along the following guidelines． An “affordable” home required three times or less of the average family’s income to purchase． At four times earnings, a home fell into the “unaffordable” category． And a “seriously unaffordable” home needed five times a family’s income． In Australia, homes in the least affordable city cost just about 9．5 times the average income． Sydney, Perth, and Melbourne were only a little under this figure．
Australian officials offered little comment, apart from a general statement on the dismal findings． These prices make the possibility that many Australians will one day own a home largely unbelievable． Land rationing （配给制） and excessive development charges have raised prices, and the problem will only be solved through urgent action by the Rudd government．
Some American c
ities were also included on the least affordable list, four of which were in California． America is still involved in a mortgage（抵押）crisis, though, affecting the affordability of homes． Yet a number of US cities garnered “affordable” status, namely Dallas and Kansas． Australia had no cities listed in the top fifty places with affordable homes．
The survey suggests that you can find affordable homes in most places, just not if you’re Australian and choose to live down under． To buy an affordable house, you should pay _____．
| A．3 times or less of the average family’s income |
| B．4 times or less of the average family’s income |
| C．5 times or less of the average family’s income |
| D．9．5 times or less of the average family’s income |
What caused the prices of houses to increase in Australia?
| A．The rising family’s income． | B．The demand over supply． |
| C．The excessive development charges． | D．The decrease of land． |
The underlined word “dismal” in Paragraph 3 may mean _____．
| A．cheerful | B．satisfactory |
| C．difficult | D．gloomy |
What might be the most suitabl
e title for the passage?
| A．Affordable Houses | B．A House is a Dream First |
| C．Housing Bubble | D．Homes Too Expensive |
We all think that we know what happiness is. We all seem to be making great efforts towards this goal of happiness but what is it really? It is an agreed fact that all the creatures want happiness and are afraid of pain and sadness. The question, however, is “what is real happiness?” What really is called happiness? The desire for happiness has no meaning without understanding the real nature of happiness.
Some thinkers say, “Happiness does not lie in objects of enjoyment; happiness or unhappiness lies in imagination.”
To prove their belief, they give examples like the following one: A man has a two-storey house; on the right is a five-storey building and on the left a cottage. When he sees right, he feels unhappy and when he sees left he feels happy. As such happiness does not lie in possession of sensory objects, but in imagination. They advise people to look towards those who have fewer possessions and be happy. If you look towards people having more wealth and possessions, you will always be unhappy.
It is unreasonable to hold this point of view. It is unkind to regard one happy by imagining that one is better than the poor and the unhappy. “If you want to be happy, look towards the poor”. We know that those poor people cannot satisfy even their basic needs. This attitude satisfies the sense of pride of possessions, but this can never be called happiness.
Unless we really find where happiness lies, we cannot really be happy.
Some ask people to do this and do that and say, “This way your desires would be satisfied. You would get the desired objects and become happy.” People holding these views regard happiness as satisfaction of desires. But it is not possible to satisfy one’s desires because there are countless desires of countless people and the material things are limited. Then new desires arise as soon as the previous ones are satisfied. Therefore, desires, which are changing all the time, can never be satisfied.
Happiness is a characteristic of a good life, that is, a life in which a person fulfills (履行) human nature in an excellent way. People have a set of purposes which are typically human: these belong to our nature. Happiness is also a condition that must be prepared for, cultivated (培养), and defended privately by each person. People who learn to control inner experience will be able to determine the quality of their lives and come to being happy. Happiness lies in the distribution of easiness among others. Happiness stands for forgiveness and justice. Happiness is the name of struggle and courage. Happiness may be founded in seeking of true knowledge and rule of wisdom. Happiness may be shared in service and duty. This life is combination of joys and sorrows, and honest efforts should be done to make this life journey full of happiness, love, peace and harmony. What is the purpose of the passage?
| A．To show how to achieve happiness. |
| B．To encourage people to achieve happiness. |
| C．To explain the features of happiness. |
| D．To argue how to understand happiness. |
According to the passage, people who think happiness lies in imagination will try to achieve happiness by .
| A．looking towards those with fewer possessions |
| B．looking towards people having more wealth |
| C．imagining how rich you will be in the future |
| D．imagining that you have a five-storey building |
The writer doesn’t think that happiness lies in the satisfaction of desires because .
| A．no desires of a person can be satisfied at all |
| B．ever-changing desires can never be satisfied |
| C．there isn’t enough money to meet people’s needs |
| D．the desires of a person are limited |
In the writer’s opinion, happiness .
| A．can be achieved easily by earning money |
| B．must belong to those with rich knowledge |
| C．can be gained by setting small goals |
| D．can be gained by controlling inner experience |
According to the last paragraph, who can have real happiness?
| A．Jack who often struggles with others. |
| B．Tom who has life of a high quality. |
| C．Mike who always forgives others’ mistakes. |
| D．Tim whose requirements are always met. |
Film 1 — The environmental problems in South Africa
This film will take you on a wonderful trip deep into the South African forests and across four decades of research to experience the changes in the environment in South Africa. With no roads or airstrips nearby, the waterways are the only choice for reaching the great forests. This unbelievable journey invites you to be among the few humans who have dared to go to the South African forests to examine the different disappearing creatures and plants of South Africa.
Place: Cheerful Theatre
Admission Fees: Front Stalls $30, Stalls $38 (Standard)
Front Stalls $15, Stalls $19 (Concession) (减价)
Note: 1. Concessions are applicable to senior citizens aged 60 or above.
2. Children under 3 years old will not be admitted.
Duration: 50 minutes
Show Dates: April1 – May 31
Discount: With the cash coupons (优惠券) offered by K&S Ltd., you can now enjoy a 50% discount on the $38 ticket and pay only $19 per head.
Film 2 — The climatic changes in India
This film will take you to the mysterious land of India. This film features a scientist, Nina, who set out alone on a five-year journey across the country. Along the way, Nina experiences the harshness (坎坷) of India’s land, which contains every type of natural environment on Earth — from the freezing temperatures of the Himalayas to the extremely hot deserts, and to dense tropical rainforests. The film shows how she survives the tough journey in India.
Place: Glorious Theatre
Admission Fees: Front Stalls $50, Stalls $70 (Standard)
Note: Children under 3 years old will not be admitted.
Duration: 120 minutes
Show Dates: May 15 – May 31, only one show every day from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Not on show at weekends.
Special Feature: Good news for those who are interested in India! With the purchase of any two tickets at $70 each, you can join our prize-winning competition to win 2 round-trip tickets to India!
Film 3 — The power of nature
This film features inspiring and frightening atmospheric and geological (地质学的) events. It shows how we can help increase our chances of surviving these events. The great earthquakes, exploding mountains, the sky turning black and violent — natural forces that helped create life on our green planet but can also imperil it. Experience our planet’s strongest powers as this film delivers the amazing sights of earthquakes, volcanoes and hurricanes. From volcanic eruptions and trembling fault lines in Turkey to the hurricanes striking America, modern-day disasters are witnessed in eye-popping enormity (巨大) on the giant screen.
Place: Spectacular Theatre
Admission Fees: Front Stalls $34, Stalls $42 (Standard)
Front Stalls $17, Stalls $21 (Concession)
Notes: 1. Concessions are applicable to full-time students, people with disabilities and senior citizens aged 60 or above.
2. Children under 6 years old will not be admitted.
Duration: 150 minutes
Show Dates: May 5 – June 30, only at weekends.
Discount: A 3rd ticket is given free for every 2 tickets bought at whatever price.What does Film 1 show?
| A．How Nina died towards the end of the journey. |
| B．What effects earthquakes and volcanoes have on the earth. |
| C．India is a country that has a long history and rich culture. |
| D．There is only one way to reach the forests in South Africa. |
The underlined word “imperil” in Film 3 means .
| A．improve | B．remove |
| C．give ... up | D．put ... in danger |
How many tickets will a group of 6 friends have to pay for if they want to watch Film 3 ?
| A．3. | B．4. | C．5. | D．6. |
What do the three films have in common?
| A．They have an age limit. |
| B．They last longer than 120 minutes. |
| C．They are only on show at weekends. |
| D．They offer a discount. |
Teachers and parents usually call attention to the pictures when they read storybooks to preschool children. But a new study suggests that calling attention to the words and letters on the page may lead to better readers.
The two-year study compared children who were read to this way in class with children who were not. Those whose teachers most often discussed the print showed clearly higher skills in reading, spelling and understanding. These results were found one year and even two years later.
Shayne Piasta, an assistant professor of teaching and learning at Ohio State University, was an author of the study. She says most preschool teachers would find this method manageable and would need only a small change in the way they teach. They already read storybooks in class. The only difference would be increased attention to the printed text.
Ms. Piasta says if you get children to pay attention to letters and words, it makes sense that they will do better at word recognition and spelling. But she says research suggests that very few parents and teachers do this in a systematic way.
The report appears in the journal Child Development.
More than three hundred children aged four and five were observed in classrooms in Ohio and Virginia. The children came from poor families and were below average in their language skills. This put them at risk of reading problems later.
For thirty weeks, the children took part in a program called Project STAR, for Sit Together And Read. The project is based in Ohio State. It tests the short-term and long-term results of reading regularly to preschool children in their classrooms.
Laura Justice in Ohio State was an investigator for the study. She heads the Preschool Language and Literacy Laboratory. She says one of the areas that interests researchers is known as the “locus of learning.” “Where is it that a child learns something? Where is that space? We think we have identified it pretty well in terms of fostering (助长) some children’s knowledge about print.” says Laura Justice. She also says this knowledge can be gained by having focused discussions when reading a book to a child. Laura Justice says, “We think we understand how information about print is transmitted from the adult to the child. And we think we have centered on this intervention that really helps adults center on the things that children need and want to learn.”
There are different ways that teachers and parents can talk to children about print. They can point to a letter and discuss it, and even trace the shape with a finger. They can point out a word, “This is ‘dog’.” They can discuss the meaning of the print or how the words tell the story. And they can talk about the organization of the print — for instance, showing how words are written left to right in English. When reading storybooks to their children, parents usually ____________.
| A．attract attention to the pictures |
| B．discuss the stories with each other |
| C．tell some background information first |
| D．ask some questions about the stories |
Shayne Piasta suggests that preschool teachers should _______________.
| A．read storybooks regularly in class |
| B．learn to manage their class well |
| C．often discuss the printed words and letters |
| D．search for a better method of reading |
The children who joined in Project STAR were _____________________.
| A．mostly cleverer than others |
| B．very poor in their reading |
| C．especially good at language skills |
| D．worried about reading problems |
The underlined word “locus” in Paragraph 8 can be replaced by ________________.
| A．difficulty | B．importance |
| C．best way | D．exact place |
The last paragraph mainly tells us _____________________.
| A．why we should discuss the meaning of the print |
| B．how we can teach children about print |
| C．the shape of the letter is the focus of teaching |
| D．English words are usually written from left to right |
NEW YORK— The band Atomic Tom has scored an Internet hit with its self-created video to the song Take Me Out. In the video, the band members ride a New York City subway while performing entirely on iPhones, with applications linked with broadcasters(播送设备) for each instrument.
Singer Luck White says the production was a top-secret operation. “We didn’t tell anyone about this. It was completely top-secret from our family, from our friends, from management, from everybody. So the first time that people saw this video was last Friday when we put it on YouTube,”explained White.
It has been watched by more than 2 million on YouTube since debuting(首次露面) last week. “All I’ve wanted to do for the past few days is just stare at the YouTube page and keep refreshing(刷新) it to see how far it will go,” said Espiritu, the lead guitarist of the band.
“The Internet changed everything,” Espiritu said. “ It's kind of an exciting time because it forces everyone to be creative and find new ways to get your name out there.”
The idea for the video came from Espiritu’s 24-year-old brother Benjamin, who’s hoping to go to film school. “I've seen a lot of these music applications, and they’re fascinating to me,” Benjamin Espiritu said, “I thought: What would happen if iPhones took over the world? If there could actually be a band that played straight through with iPhones, what would that look like?” So they shot(拍摄) the video —with iPhones also serving as video cameras. The band also tried Union Square but were stopped during playing because they didn't have a permit.
“The YouTube views are translating into album(唱片) sales.” Espiritu said, “We’ve seen the jump.” Their album has been in the top 10 albums on iTunes.
Will their fans start cheering for iPhone-only performances? “We’ve gotten the most exposure(曝光)and the most fans that we’ve ever gotten through this, so I wouldn’t be surprised if fans are going to want to see that.” Espritu said.Who first saw the band’s video to the song Take Me Out?
| A．Their friends | B．Their family |
| C．The people online | D．Their management. |
What did Espiritu mean by saying “The YouTube views are translating into album sales”?
| A．The YouTube views make the album sales increase. |
| B．The band has translated the video on the YouTube. |
| C．People need to pay for the video if they view it on the YouTube. |
| D．People who have viewed the video on the YouTube should buy an album. |
What would be the best title for this text?
| A．Atomic Tom’s iPhone Subway Performance |
| B．Take Me Out—Atomic Tom’s New Song |
| C．A Band’s Performance through YouTube |
| D．A Band’s iPhone Song Take Me Out Hits Big |
The Cuban iguana(大蜥蜴) is a species of lizard（蜥蜴）of the iguana family. It is the largest of the West Indian rock iguanas, one of the most endangered groups of lizards. This species with red eyes and a thick tail is one of the largest lizards in the Caribbean．
The Cuban iguana is mainly herbivorous: 95% of its diet consists of the leaves, flowers and fruits from as many as 30 plant species, including the seaside rock bush and various grasses. However, Cuban iguanas occasionally eat animal matter, and individuals have been watched eating the dead flesh of birds, fish and crabs. The researchers wrote that quite a few people on Isla Magueyes could have caused this incident．
The Cuban iguana is living throughout the rocky southern coastal areas of mainland Cuba and its surrounding islands with a wild population growing rapidly on Isla Magueyes, Puerto Rico. It is also found on the Cayman Islands of Little Cayman and Cayman Brac, where a separate subspecies occurs. Females guard their nest sites and often nest in sites half destroyed by Cuban crocodiles. To avoid the attack from them, the Cuban iguana often makes its home within or near prickly-pear cacti(仙人掌)．
In general the species is decreasing, more quickly on the mainland than on the outlying islands. One of the reasons for their decrease is habitat destruction caused by the over consuming of farm animals, housing development, and the building of tourist resorts(度假胜地) on the beaches where the animals prefer to build their nests. Although the wild population is decreasing, the numbers of iguanas have been sharply increased as a result of captive-breeding(圈养)and other protection programs． The underlined word “herbivorous”（Paragraph 2） probably means ．
| A．dangerous | B．gentle |
| C．flesh-eating | D．plant-eating |
How many reasons are mentioned for the habitat destruction?
| A．Two． | B．Five． | C．Four． | D．Three． |
What’s the writer’s purpose of writing the text?
| A．To give us a brief introduction to the Cuban iguana． |
| B．To show he is concerned about the Cuban iguana． |
| C．To explain reasons for the Cuban iguana’s decrease． |
| D．To draw people’s attention to an endangered animal |
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