They are among the 250, 000 people under the age of 25 who are out of work in the Netherlands, a group that makes up 40 percent of
the nation’s unemployed．A storm of anger boils up at the government-sponsored （政府资助的） youth center, even among those who ar
e continuing their studies．
“We study for jobs that don’t exist,” Nicollets Steggerda, 23, said．
After thirty years of prosperity, unemployment among 10 member nations of the European Community has reached as much as 11 percent, affecting a total of 12．3 million people, and the number is climbing．
The bitter disappointment long expressed by British youths is spreading across the Continent．The title of a rock song “No Future” can now be seen written on the brick walls of closed factories in Belgium and France．
One form of protest（抗议） tends to put the responsibility for a country’s economic troubles on the large numbers of “guest workers” from Third World nations, people welcomed in Western Europe in the years of prosperity．
Young Europeans, brought up in an extended period of economic success and general stability, seem to be similar to Americans more than they do their own parents．Material enjoyment has given them a sense of expectation, even the right to a standard of living that they see around them．
“And so we pass the days at the discos, or meet people at the café, and sit and stare,” said Isabella Cault．"There is usually not much conversation．You look for happiness．Sometimes you even find it．”Unemployment in the Netherlands has affected _______
| A．one million people | B．250,000 people |
| C．1ess than half of the population | D．about 0.6 million people |
What Nicollete Steggerda said （Para．2） means that ________．
| A．the students cannot get work after graduation |
| B．what the students learn is more than necessary |
| C．the students’ aim in study is not clear |
| D．school education is not sufficient |
The underlined word ‘‘it” in the last paragraph most probably refers to ________．
| A．material enjoyment | B．a sense of expectation |
| C．happiness | D．a job |
More than three years after moving from Australia to this remote part of England, we are still learning how things are done here.
Not too long after we arrived and unpacked, we were invited for “a drink on Sunday morning” by a retired couple nearby. We got there about noon, to find the living-room crowded — lots of chat and discussions, and in all a very jolly occasion.
Trouble was, there was no food — no self-respecting Australian would regard a tray of crisps as food. In Sydney, when you are invited for a drink any time after midday on a Sunday, you know you will be fed as well as watered and you plan accordingly. Meaning the hardworked little woman makes no plans to cook lunch because you are eating out.
By one-fifteen my stomach was sending up “please explain” to me. Even the crisps had gone. There was nothing we could do except wait, and wonder if the hostess was going to perform some magic and feed us fashionably late. Then, as quickly as if word had spread that there was free beer at the local pub, the room emptied. By one-forty-five there were only a few guests left, so we decided to go home. Tinned soup for lunch that day because the little woman was not really interested in real cooking for us.
A few weeks ago we were invited out for “supper” and the hostess suggested 8:15. Ah, we thought greedily, “this is going to be the real thing.”
We dressed with some care — I putting on a dark suit — and arrived on time. My wife looked pretty good, I thought, a little black dress and so on. But when we walked in I had a terrible feeling we had got the night wrong because the hostess was dressed in a daytime kind of way and the husband was in jeans and an open-neck shirt. But no, we were greeted and shown into the sitting-room.
After a drink I looked around and saw that this was indeed a superior cottage because it had a (more or less) separate dining-room. But there were no signs of a table-setting. Not again! I thought. Were we meant to eat before we came? I decided that in future my wife and I would always carry a chocolate bar. About 9:28 our hostess went out of the room, saying something about food. Ten minutes later she returned and asked us to follow. We were led out to the kitchen. There on the table were country style plates and a huge bowl of soup, rough bread and all the makings of a simple meal. And that is what it was. In other words we had not read the signals right when we were invited for “supper”. If they want you to come to dinner, they say so, and you know that means dark suits and so on. If they mean supper, they say it, and you get fed in the kitchen.When the author and his wife were invited out for “a drink on Sunday morning”, they thought _______.
| A．they would be the only people there |
| B．they would be given lunch as well |
| C．they would be taken to a restaurant for lunch |
| D．they would be asked to take some food with them |
The “party” had been going on for about an hour and three quarters when _________.
| A．the hostess decided to feed her guests | B．everyone had tinned soup for lunch |
| C．most of the guests went to lunch at the pub | D．the author realized he would go home hungry |
When invited out for “supper” a few weeks later, the writer _________.
| A．expected to be served a proper dinner |
| B．arrived on the wrong evening |
| C．interpreted the invitation correctly this time |
| D．realized there was no dining-room in the cottage |
As the evening went on, the writer became aware that _________.
| A．no one used their dining-rooms in the countryside | |
| B．he should have had a meal before going out | |
| C．“supper” meant a simple, informal meal |
D．he should, in future, eat only chocolate in the evening |
The first people who gave names to hurricanes were those who knew them best — the people of Puerto Rico. The small island of Puerto Rico is in the West Indies, off the coast of Florida. This is where all the hurricanes begin that strike the east coast of the United States. Often they pass near Puerto Rico or cross it on their way north. The people of Puerto Rico expect some of these unwelcome visitors every year. Each one is named after the Saint’s Day on which it arrives. Two of the most destructive storms were the Santo Ana in 1840 and the San Ciriaco in 1899.
Giving girls’ names to hurricanes is a fairly new idea. It all began with a story called “Storm”, written by George Stewart in 1941. In it a weatherman amused himself by naming storms after girls he knew. He named one Maria. The story describes how she Maria grew and developed, and how she changed the lives of people when she struck the United States.
Weathermen of the U.S. Army and Navy used the same system during World WarⅡ. They were studying weather conditions over the Pacific Ocean. One of their duties was to warn American ships and planes when a storm was coming. Whenever they spotted one, they gave it a girl’s name. The first one of the year was given a name beginning with [A]. The second one got a name beginning with [B]. They used all the letters from A to W, and still the storms kept coming. They had to use three lists from A to W to have enough names to go around. This was the first list of hurricane names that followed the alphabet. It served as a model for the system the Weather Bureau (局) introduced in 1942.
Before 1950 the Weather Bureau had no special system for naming hurricanes. When a hurricane was born down in the West Indies, the Weather Bureau simply collected information about it. It reported how fast the storm was moving and where it would go next. Weather reports warned people in the path of the hurricane, so that they could do whatever was necessary to protect themselves.
This system worked out fine as long as weather reports talked about only one hurricane at a time. But one week in September 1950 there were three hurricanes at the same time. The things began to get confused. Some people got the hurricanes mixed up and didn’t know which was which. This convinced the Weather Bureau that it needed a code for naming the storms in order to avoid confusion in the future.Hurricanes were first named after the _________.
| A．date on which they occurred | B．place where they began |
C．amount of destruction they did | D．particular feature they have |
The practice of giving girls’ names to hurricanes was started by _________.
| A．a radio operator | B．an author | C．a sailor | D．local people |
The purpose for which weathermen of the army and navy began using girls’ names for hurricanes was ________.
| A．to keep information from the enemy | B．to follow the standard method of the United States |
C．not given in the article | D．to remember a certain girl |
The Weather Bureau began naming hurricanes because it would help them _________.
| A．collect information more rapidly | B．warn people more efficiently |
C．make use of military (军事的) records | D．remember them |
HOUSTON (Reuters) — Houston tops a U.S. magazine’s annual fattest cities list for the fourth time in five years, with four other Texas cities in the top 25.
Fast food restaurants — Houston has twice the national average number — are partly to blame for the dishonor, Men’s Fitness editor-in-chief Neal Boulton said.
“Americans work long hours, don’t take vacations, and when they’re faced with the worst food choices, they indulge (沉溺于) in those,” he said.
High humidity, poor air quality and some of the nation’s longest commute (每天去上班的路程) times also helped Texas’ most populous city unseat Detroit, the 2003 heavy weight champion, the magazine said.
Houston Mayor Bill White, who has worked with a major food company to develop healthy food products and the city’s public schools to improve lunch menus, called the report “mostly ungrounded and nonsense.”
“On the other hand, it calls attention to real issues the mayor is trying to deal with,” his spokesman, Frank Michel, said.
The magazine said it looked at factors such as the number and types of restaurants, park space, air quality, weather and the number of health clubs.
Philadelphia, Detroit, Memphis, Tennessee, and Chicago followed Houston on the seventh edition of the fat list. Texas cities Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth and El Paso were in the top 14, which Boulton said was no surprise.
“It’s pure big indulgence, just living big, and that’s part of the culture,” said Boulton.
Seattle ranked as the fittest city. Austin and Arlington, a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb, were the only Texas cities on the fit list. Austin was 19th and Arlington 22nd out of 25.What decides the magazine’s annual fattest list?
| A．The size of fat population. | B．The number of fast food restaurants. |
| C．The economic growth rate of the state. | D．Things related to unhealthy ways of life. |
Which city topped 2003 fattest cities list?
| A．Houston. | B．Dallas. | C．Detroit. | D．Philadelphia. |
By saying “living big” (in Paragraph 9), Boulton means people _________.
| A．are growing fatter | B．are living wastefully |
C．eat too many fatty foods | D．are spending too much time working |
Which of the following is best supported by the text?
| A．Texas has the most fat cities in the U.S. |
| B．Bill White is happy with the newspaper report. |
| C．People in Texas are the most hardworking in the U.S. |
| D．Most school children in Houston have weight problems. |
Wu You, a 14–year–old Chinese Australian, used her diary to record what she had experienced in Guangzhou during this year’s Spring Festival travel period.
She, like tens of thousands of passengers stranded (滞留) at the Guangzhou Railway Station, had a Spring Festival she could never forget. But different from most people, she put down what she saw and heard in her diary, which was published in Australia.
Born in Sydney, Australia, Wu You’s grandfather and parents are professional painters, and she started to write diaries with pictures when she was only ten years old. She never expected to become famous because of her diary describing her life in Guangzhou.
“We originally planned to stay for half a month in Guangzhou when we arrived in January,” said Huang Qin, Wu’s mother. But the snowstorm caused the breakdown of traffic and kept the family there. “This is her first Spring Festival in China and probably the most special one,” said Huang. “We watched TV news programs every day and prayed for the snowstorm to be over soon so that stranded passengers could go home as soon as possible.”
Then Wu You started writing diaries about the snowstorm and the stranded passengers, along with the traditional customs in Guangzhou as well as local attractions such as the flower fair.
“In her diary she just wrote down what she heard and saw every day, and with her pencil she added some illustration to every diary. When we went back to Australia, people saw the diaries and asked to publish them on a local newspaper,” said Huang, “because they thought the diaries are very heart – warming.” All of Wu You’s diaries were written in English, and translated into Chinese by her mother. Through her diary, the girl shows her care to the Chinese people. In one diary, she wrote, “I really hope the warmth from people’s love can melt the cold snow and ice.”
72. Wu You wrote diaries during her stay in Guangzhou because she _______ .
A. has the habit of keeping a diary B. wished to make her name known
C. needed a means to kill time D. experienced so many interesting things
73. We can infer from the story that Wu You _____ during the Spring Festival.
A. did nothing besides watching TV and writing diaries
B. helped clear away the snow and ice
C. helped other stranded passengers in difficulty
D. had activities to get a taste of the local culture
74. The underlined word “illustration” in the last paragraph refers to _______.
A. photos B. drawings C. translations D. tips
75. Her diary is believed worth publishing mainly because it tells about the ______.
A. wonderful places in Guangzhou covered in ice and snow
B. interesting ways of locals observing the Spring Festival
C. severe disaster caused by the snowstorm
D. moving stories of the passengers being helped
It was Monday. Mrs. Smith's dog was hungry, but there was not any meat in the house.
Considering that there was no better way. Mrs. Smith took a piece of paper, and wrote the following words on it: “Give my dog half a pound of meat.” Then she gave the paper to her dog and said gently: “Take this to the butcher (*person whose job is selling meat). and he's going to give you your lunch today.”
Holding the piece of paper in its mouth, the dog ran to the butcher's. It gave the paper to the butcher. The butcher read it carefully, recognized that it was really the lady's handwriting and soon did it as he was asked to. The dog was very happy, and ate the meat up at once.
At noon, the dog came to the shop again. It gave the butcher a piece of paper again. After reading it，he gave it half a pound of meat once more.
The next day, the dog came again exactly at noon. And as usual, it brought a piece of paper in the mouth. This time, the butcher did not take a look at paper, and gave the dog its meat, for he had regarded the dog as one of his customers (*people who buy sth. from a shop).
But, the dog came again at four o'clock. And the same thing happened once again. To the butcher's more surprise, it came for the third time at six o'clock, and brought with it a third piece of paper. The butcher felt a bit puzzled. He said to himself, “This is a small dog. Why does Mrs. Smith give it so much meat to eat today?”
Looking at the piece of paper, he found that there were not any words on it!
68.Mrs Smith treated her little dog quite_________.
A. cruelly B. fairly C. kindly D. friendly
69.It seemed that the dog knew well that the paper Mrs Smith gave it_______.
A. might do it much harm B. could do it much good
C. would help the butcher D. was worth many pounds
70.The butcher did not give any meat to the dog __________.
A. before he felt sure that the words were really written by Mrs. Smith
B. when he found that the words on the paper were not clear
C. because he had sold out all the meat in his shop
D. until he was paid enough by Mrs. Smith
71.From its experience, the dog found that ________.
A. only the paper with Mrs. Smith's words in it could bring it meat
B. the butcher would give the meat to it whenever he saw it
C. Mrs Smith would pay for the meat it got from the butcher
D. a piece of paper could bring it half a pound of meat
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