In England recently three foreign gentlemen came to a bus stop and waited. About five minutes later, the bus they wanted came along. They were just going to get on when suddenly there was a loud noise behind them. People rushed onto the bus and tried to push them out of the way. Someone shouted at them. The bus conductor came rushing down the stairs to see what all the trouble was about. The three foreigners seem all at sea(茫然) and looked embarrassed（尴尬的）. No one had told them about the British custom of lining up for a bus that the first person who arrives at the bus stop is the first person to get on the bus.
Learning the language of a country isn't enough. If you want to have a pleasant visit, find out as much as possible about the manners and customs of your host country. You will probably be surprised just how different they can be from your own. A visitor to India would do well to remember that people there consider it impolite to use the left hand for passing food at table. The left hand is supposed to be used for washing yourself. Also in India, you might see a man shaking his head at another to show that he doesn't agree. But in many parts of India a shake of the head means agreement. Nodding (点头) your head when you are given a drink in Bulgaria will most probably leave you thirsty .
In that country, you shake your head to mean 'yes'— a nod means 'no'. At a meal in countries on the Arabic Peninsula, you will find that your glass is repeated refilled（再斟满） as soon as you drink up. If you think that you have had enough, you should take the cup or glasses in your hand and give it a little shake from side to side or place your hand over the top.
In Europe it is quite usual to cross your legs when you are sitting talking to someone even at an important meeting. Doing this in Thailand, however, could bring about trouble. Also, you should try to avoid touching the head of an adult ——it's just not done in Thailand.The British people tried to push the three gentlemen out of the way, because the gentlemen _________.
| A．were foreigners | B．didn't have tickets |
| C．made a loud noise | D．didn't line up for the bus |
According to the article, if you want to have a pleasant journey in a foreign country, you should _________.
| A．learn the language of the country |
| B．understand the manners and customs of the country |
| C．have enough time and money |
| D．make friends with the people there |
In India it is considered impolite ___________.
| A．to use the right hand for passing food at table. |
| B．to pass food with the left hand. |
| C．to eat food with your hands. |
| D．to help yourself at table. |
To cross one's legs at an important meeting in Europe is _______.
| A．a common habit | B．an important manner |
| C．a serious trouble | D．a bad manner |
The best title for this article is ________.
| A．People's Everyday Life | B．Mind Your Manners |
| C．Shaking and Nodding Head | D．Taking a Bus in England |
When I was a child, I often dreamed of the time when I could leave home and escape to the city. We lived on a farmstead, in the winter especially, we wear quite out off from the outside world. As soon as I left school, I packed my bags and moved to the capital. However, I soon discovered that city life has its problems too.
One big disadvantage is money. It costs so much to go out, not to mention basi
cs like food and housing. Another disadvantage is pollution. I suffer from asthma（哮喘）, and at times the air is so dirty that I am afraid to go outside. Then there is the problem of traveling round. Although I have a car, I seldom use it because of the traffic jams. One choice is to go by bicycle, but that can be quite dangerous.
Of course there are advantages. First, there is so much to do in the city, whatever your tastes in culture or entertainment. Besides, there are wonderful jobs and greater chances of moving to a more important job or position. Finally, if you like shopping, the variety of goods is very surprising - and, what is more, shops are often only a short walk away.
Is life better then, in the city? Perhaps it is, when you are in your teens or twenties. However, as you get older, and especially if you have small children, the peace of the countryside may seem preferable. I certainly hope to move back there soon.What was the writer always thinking about when he was a child?
| A．Staying on the farm. | B．Moving to the countryside. |
| C．Leaving home for the city. | D．Running away from the school. |
Which of the following is true about the writer?
| A．He is very old now. | B．He is in good health. |
| C．He prefers driving a car. | D．He lives in the city now. |
In the passage, the writer tries to _________.
| A．express his opinions about way of life |
| B．describe his life in the countryside |
| C．show an interest in the outside world |
| D．persuade the reader to live in the city |
How is the passage mainly developed?
| A．By inferring. | B．By comparing. |
| C．By listing examples. | D．By giving explanations. |
Burn rate is the speed at which a startup business consumes money. My rate was $ 75,000 a month. Four months after my company was set up, I had only a quarter of the starting capital left in the bank.
Looking for guidance, I went to talk to my friend, Arthur Walworth about my new venture. “Times of great change always bring out the risk-takers,” he said. “And they leave winners and losers. My grandfather invested a lot of money in a project of Thomas Edison’ s that ended up in failure. ”
I was lost in thought at the notion(an idea or belief about something) of a Thomas Edison project ending in failure. Damn. It could happen to anybody! I must continue.
At that time CD-ROM sales had bombed, so investors were fleeing from the field. I didn’t turn away from mine entirely, but instead linked it to the internet.
My plan was to offer consumers descriptions of home-design products by using a special software and let them modify the designs. Then we can enable them to get online professional an
d constructional help to have their houses built, decorated and furnished according to their own choice.
To realize my plan I needed investors, so I continued to meet regularly with venture capitalists. One said I had a great idea. But I needed to test it. Get the money somewhere. To get this money from a venture capitalist is going to cost my wife and my children! He turned down my request.
Wife? Children? I hardly remembered them.
I was working nonstop---struggling to turn the key in the lock, to find the right way ahead. The pressu
re was terrible. It was just at this time that my parents and sisters stepped up. Two hundred thousand dollars. A lot of money to them, invested in this crazy son and brother without a moment’s hesita
tion. Dad and Mom had driven out from Chicago and seen the passion in my little office and the trouble at home.
With their help my company survived and has been prospering ever since.When the author’s company started operation, he had _______ .
| A．$ 450,000 | B．$ 400,000 | C．$ 350,000 | D．$ 300,000 |
Arthur implies that to start a business in times of change, people have to _______ .
A．rely on famous people all be ti me |
B．invest as much money as possible |
| C．face the risks of possible failure | D．think about nothing but success |
The author’s company was engaged in _______
| A．furniture design and production | B．online home-design service |
| C．traditional home designing | D．home decoration business |
Faced with a very unfavorable market situation, the author decided _______ .
| A．to improve his service | B．to start a new business |
| C．to withdraw his money | D．to reduce his investment |
Exploit your parking space
An unused parking space or garage can make money. If you live near a city center o
r an airport, you could make anything up to £200 or £300 a week. Put an advertisement（广告）for free on Letpark or Atmyhousepark.
Rent a room
Spare room? Not only will a lodger（房客）earn you an income, but also, thanks to the government-backed “rent a room” program, you won’t have to pay any tax on the first £4500 you make per year. Try advertising your room on Roomspare or Roommateeasy.
Make money during special events
Won’t want a full-time lodger? Then rent on a short-term basis. If you live in the capital, renting a room out during the Olympics or other big events could bring in money, Grashpadder can advertise your space.
Live on set
Renting your home out as a “film set” could earn you hundreds of pounds a day, depending on the film production company and how long your home is needed. A quick search on the Internet will bring up dozens of online companies that allow you to register your home for free—but you will be charged if your home gets picked.
Use your roof
You need the right kind of roof, but some energy companies pay the cost of fixing solar equipment(around￡14,000), and let you use the energy produced for nothing. In retur
n, they get paid for unused energy fed back into the National Grid. However, you have to sign a 25-year agreement with the supplier, which could prevent you from changing the roof.
If you earn ￡5000 from renting a room in one year, the tax you need to pay will be based on ______.
| A．￡800 | B．￡500 | C．￡4500 | D．5000 |
Where can you put an advertisement to rent out a room during a big event?
| A．On Letpark. | B．On Roomspare. | C．On Grashpadder. | D．On Roommateeasy. |
If you want to use energy free, you have to_____.
| A．sign an agreement with the government |
| B．pay around ￡14,000 for the equipment |
| C．sell the roof to some energy companies |
| D．keep the roof unchanged for within 25 years |
For whom the text most probably written?
| A．Lodgers. | B．Advertisers. | C．House owners. | D．Online companies |
At night, bats fly through the air, catching hundreds of insects and other small animals. But during the day, they hardly move at all. Instead, bats pass the time hanging upside down from a secret spot.
There are a couple of reasons why bats rest this way. First of all, it puts them in a position for takeoff. Unlike birds, bats can’t fly into the air from the ground. Their wings don’t produce enough lift to take off from a dead stop, and their hind legs are so small and underdeveloped that they can’t run to build up the necessary takeoff speed. Instead, they use their front claws to climb to a high spot, and then fall into flight.
During the hours when most enemies are active, bats gather where few animals would think to look and most can’t reach. This allows
them to disappear from the world until night comes again. There’s also little competition for these resting spots, as other flying animals don’t have the ability to hang upside down.
Bats have a unique physiological adaptation that lets them hang around this way without using a
ny energy. For you to hold your fist around an object tight, you contract（紧缩）several muscles in your arm, which are connected to your fingers by ten
dons（腱）；as one muscle contracts, it pulls a tendon, which pulls one of your fingers closed. A bat’s talons（爪）close in the same way, except that their tendons are connected only to the upper body, not to a muscle. To hang upside down, a bat pulls its claws open with other muscles. To get the talons to take hold of the surface, the bat simply lets its body relax. The weight of the upper body pulls down on the tendons connected to the talons, causing them to hold tight. Therefore, the bat doesn’t have to do anything to hang upside down.Bats hang upside down because________．
| A．they haven’t developed a pair of strong claws | B．they can’t start to fly from the ground directly |
| C．they have no hind legs to support their body | D．they can’t find quiet places to stay during the day |
The third paragraph tells us that bats’ hanging upside down_______.
| A．is to save their energy for night movement | B．is a way to fight against flying animals |
C．is a great way to hide from danger |
D．is a skill to compete for the flying places |
Why can bats hang upside down easily?
| A．Because their upper body is light. |
| B．Because they have strong muscles. |
| C．Because their talons are linked to muscles tightly. |
| D．Because their tendons are linked to their upper body. |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．The living habits of bats. | B．How and why bats  hang upside down. |
| C．The importance of bats’ hanging upside down. | D．How bats use their energy at night. |
What time is it？Most people are pretty accurate in their answer. And if you don’t know for sure, it’s very likely tha
t you can find out. There may be a watch on your wrist; there may be a clock on the wall, desk, or computer screen; or maybe you’re riding in a car that has a clock in the dashboard .
Even if you don’t have a timepiece of some sort nearby, your body keeps its own beat. Humans have an internal clock that regulates (调节) the beating of our heart, the peace of our breathing, the discharge (排出) of chemicals within our bloodstream, and many other bodily functions.
Time is something from which we can’t escape. Even if we ignore it, it’s still going by, ticking away, second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour. So the main issue in using your time well is, “who’s in charge？” We can allow time to slip by and let it be our enemy. Or we can take control of it and make it our ally.
By taking control of how you spend your time, you’ll increase your chances of becoming a more successful student. Perhaps more importantly, the better you are at managing the time you devote to your studies, the more time you will have to spend on your outside interests.
The aim of time management is not to schedule every moment so we become slaves of a timetable that governs every waking moment of the day. Instead, the aim is to permit us to make informed choices as to how we use our time. Rather than letting the day go by, largely without our awareness, what we are going to discuss next can make us better able to control time for our own purposes.The underlined word “ally” in Para.3 most likely means somebody or something that is____________.
| A．your slave and serves you | B．your supporter an helps you |
C．un der your control and obeys you |
D．under your influence and follows you |
The author intends to tell us that time __________.
| A．could be regulated by a timepiece such as a clock or a watch |
| B．could be managed by the internal clock by human bodies |
| C．should be well managed for our own interest |
| D．should be saved for outside interests |
In the next part, the author would most probably discuss with you ________.
| A．how to keep up with the times | B．how to make up for lost ti me |
| C．how to have a good time | D．how to make good use of time |
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