0ur village carpenter(木匠)，John Hill, came one day and made a dining table for my wife. He made it just the right size to fill the space between the two window. When I got home that evening, John was drinking a cup of tea and writing out his bill( 账单) for his job.
My wife said to me quietly, “That’s his ninth cup of tea today. ”But she said in a loud voice, “It’s a beautiful table, dear, isn’t it?” “I’ll decide about that when I see the bill,” I said. John laughed and gave me his bill for the work. I read:
One dining table 10th November, 2011
Cost of wood $ 17:00
Paint $1. 50
Work, 8 hours($1 an hour) $8. 00
Total $36. 50
When I was looking at the bill, John said,” It’s been a fine day, hasn’t it? Quite sunny. ”
“Yes,” I said. “I’m glad it’s only the 10th of November. ”
“Me, too,” said John, “you wait—it will be a lot colder by the end of the month. ”
“Yes, colder—and more expensive! Dining table will be $20 more expensive on November 30th, won’t they, John?”
John looked hard at me for half a minute. Was there a little smile in his two blue eyes? I gave his bill back to him.
“If it’s not too much trouble, John,” I said,“Please add(加) it up again, You can forget the date-------”
I paid him $26. 50 and he was happy to get it. Why did John talk about the weather when the writer was looking at the bill?
| A． Because he didn’t want the writer to check the bill carefully. |
| B． Because he wanted to show that he was really polite. |
| C．Because it’s a good way to communicate with each other. |
| D．Because he wanted to confirm what the weather was like. |
How much would John ask for if he made a dining table on the last day of December according to his bill?
| A．$ 26. 50 | B．$36. 50 | C．$56. 50 | D．$57. 50 |
When John got the money, he was happy because__________________________.
| A． he felt lucky to get the money for his work |
| B． he got paid a lot more than usual for his work |
| C． he got as much money as he had expected |
| D． he didn’t have to add up the costs any more |
Which word can best describe John?
| A． Clever | B． Silly | C． Dishonest | D． Humorous(幽默的) |
What can we learn about John from the passage?
| A． He made a mistake carelessly in the bill |
| B． He tried to get more money for his work. |
| C． He had written the bill before the writer got home |
| D． He had talked about the bill with the writer’s wife. |
When you are learning English, you find it not clever to put an English sentence, word for word, into your own language. Take the sentence “How do you do?” as an example. If you looked up each word in the dictionary, once at a time, what is your translation （翻译）? It must be a wrong sentence in your own language.
Languages do not just have different sounds; they are different in many ways. Its important to master（掌握）the rules for word order in the study of English, too. If the speaker puts words in a wrong order, the listener can’t understand his sentence easily. Sometimes when the order of words in an English sentence is changed, the meaning of the sentence changes. But sometimes the order is changed, but the meaning of the sentence doesn’t change. Let’s see the different between the two parts of sentences.
“She only likes apples.” “Only she likes apples.”
“I have seen the film already.” “I have already seen the film.”
When you are learning English, you must do your best to get the spirit（精神实质） of the language and use it as the English speaker does.From the passage we know that ____when we are learning English.
| A．we shouldn’t put every word into our own language |
| B．we should look up every word in the dictionary |
| C．we need to put every word into our own language |
| D．we must read word by word |
The writer thinks it is ________ in learning English.
| A．difficult to understand different sounds |
| B．possible to remember the word order |
| C．important to master the rules in different ways |
| D．easy to master the rules for word order |
We can learn from the passage that _________ .
| A．the meaning of an English sentence always changes with the order of words |
| B．the order of words can never change the meaning of an English sentence |
| C．sometimes a different order of words has a different meaning |
| D．if the order of words is different, the meaning of the sentence must be different |
“She only likes apples.”____________.
| A．is the same as “Only she likes apples.” |
| B．is different from “Only she likes apples.” |
| C．means “She likes fruit except apples.” |
| D．means “She doesn’t like apples.” |
Which is the best title（题目）for this passage?
| A．Different orders, different meanings. |
| B．How to speak English. |
| C．How to put English into our own language. |
| D．How to learn English. |
We can see walls everywhere in the world .But the Great Wall of China is the biggest of all . The Chinese call it “ The Ten—Thousand—Li Great Wall”. It is in fact more than 6,000 kilometers long. It is 4-5 meters wide. In most places, five horses or ten men can walk side by side.
When you visit the Great Wall, you can’t help wondering how the Chinese people were able to build such a great wall thousands of years ago. Without any modern machines(机器), it was really very difficult to build it. They had to do all the work by hand . It took millions of men hundreds of years to build it.
The Great Wall has a history of over two thousand years. The kings began to build the first parts of it around two thousand seven hundred years ago. Then Qinshihuang had all the walls joined up. He thought that could keep the enemy(敌人) out of the country.
Today the Great Wall has become a place of interest. Not only Chinese people but also people from all over the world come to visit it. It is a Chinese saying, “A man who has never been to the Great Wall is not a real man.”The Great Wall is the biggest wall in _______ _________.
It is more than six thousand _________ ___________.
Without any modern machines, people had to do all the work _______ _______.
Qinshihuang thought the Great Wall could keep the enemy _______ ________ his country.
Today _______ ________ Chinese people but also people all over the world come to visit it.
July 16th was a bad day for Arthur Johnson. In the morning, he set off from his home in Santa Barbara, California. It was the start of his summer holidays, and he decided to visit his friends at Las Vegas. Then he hoped to go fishing at Lake Mead.
Johnson’s troubles started while he was driving happily across the Mojave Desert. His car broke down and he tried to repair it, but he failed. He telephoned a workshop to ask it to send a tow truck (拖车) to pull the car away and repair it.
When waiting for the tow truck, he fell asleep. While he was sleeping, a tow truck arrived from San Pedro (the nearest town) and pulled his car away. Later on, Johnson woke up and thought that somebody had stolen his car. Unwillingly, he started to walk back towards San Pedro, but a police car stopped him to find out why he was walking in the desert.
Johnson looked like a man wanted in California for robbery, so the police kept him at San Pedro for the night. The next day, Johnson’s friends came from California. They proved that Johnson was a harmless salesman, so they let him go.
| Title: A |
|
| Johnson’s |
1. To visit his friends at Las Vegas 2. To go |
| Johnson’s troubles |
1. His car didn’t 2. As he was sleeping, a tow truck arrived from San Pedro and 3. Unluckily, he had to walk back towards San Pedro, but a police car 4. Johnson looked like a man wanted in California for |
| In the end |
Johnson’s friends |
Like many lovers of books, Mary and her husband, Richard Goldman, seldom walked past a bookstore without stopping to look inside. They often talked of opening their own store one day.
When Mary was in hospital with heart trouble in 1989, they decided it was time to get serious. Richard, who worked for a business company, expected to work for himself, and Mary needed to slow down from her job.
They started by talking to bookstore owners and researching the industry(产业). “We knew it had to be a specialty(专业) store because we couldn’t afford enough money,” says Mary. One idea came to her: She’d read somewhere that about 20 percent of books sold were mysteries, and many buyers spent more $300 a year on books. She and Richard were themselves mystery readers.
On Halloween 1992, they opened the Mystery Lovers Bookshop and Café near their home. With three children in college, the couple could not spend all the family’s money to start a shop. To pay the $100,000 cost, they drew some of their savings, borrowed from friends and from an bank.
The store only broke even in its first year, with only $120,000 in sales. But Mary was always coming up with new ways to attract(吸引) buyers. The shop had a coffee bar and it offered gifts to mystery lovers and provided dinners for book clubs that met in the store. She also invited some writers to discuss their stories.
Today Mystery Lovers makes sales of about $420,000 a year. After paying taxes, business costs and the six part-time sales workers, Richard and Mary together earn about $34,000.
“The job you love may not go hand in hand with a million-dollar income(收入)” says Richard. “This has always been about a pleasant life for ourselves, not about making a lot of money.”When Mary was in hospital, the couple realized that ____.
| A．they had to put their plan into practice |
| B．health was more important than money |
| C．heart trouble was a serious illness |
| D．they both needed to stop working |
After Mary got well from her illness they began _____.
| A．to study how to open a bookstore |
| B．to buy and read more mystery books |
| C．to do market research on book business |
| D．to work harder to save money for the bookstore |
How did their bookstore do in the first year?
| A．They had to borrow money to keep it going. |
| B．They made just enough to pay all the costs. |
| C．They succeeded in making a lot of money. |
| D．They failed though they worked hard. |
According to Richard, the main purpose of opening the bookstore is _____.
| A．to pay for their children’s education |
| B．to get to know more writers |
| C．to set up more bookstores |
| D．to do what they like to do |
The engineer Camillo Oliver was 40 years old when he started the company in 1908. At his factory in Ivrea, he designed and produced the first Italian typewriter(打字机). Today the company's head office is still in Ivrea, near Turin, but the company is much larger than it was in those days and there are offices all around the world.
By 1930 the company had 700 workers and it turned out 13,000 machines a year. Some went to offices and homes in Italy, but more typewriters were sold to other countries.
Camillo's son, Adriano, started working for the company in 1924 and later he became the boss. The production(生产) line was improved a lot and some top engineers in technology and design fields worked for him. The company developed new and better typewriters. More and more people became interested in their products. In 1959 it produced the ELEA computer system. This was the first mainframe(主机) computer designed and made in Italy.
After Adriano died in 1960, the company had a period of financial(财政) problems. Other companies, especially the Japanese, made faster progress in electronic technology than the Italian company.
In 1978, Carlo de Benedetti became the new boss. Olivetti increased its marketing and service networks and made agreements with other companies to design and produce better office equipment(设备). Soon it became one of the world's leading companies in information technology and communications. There are now five companies in the Olivetti group---one for personal computers, one for other office equipment, one for systems and services, and two for telecommunications.What fact does the passage provide?
| A．By 1930 Olivetti produced over 1,000 typewriters each month. |
| B．Olivetti made more money in the 1960s than in the 1950s. |
| C．Some of Olivetti's 700 workers often visited users in Italy. |
| D．Olivetti set up offices in other countries from the very beginning. |
From the text we know that Olivetti
| A．produced the best typewriter in the world. |
| B．designed the world's first mainframe computer. |
| C．sold more typewriters abroad than other companies. |
| D．has five companies with its head office in Ivrea. |
Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
| A．Camilla Olivetti’s Career |
| B．The Success of Olivetti |
| C．The History of Olivetti |
| D．The Production of Olivetti |
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