Everyone is at it, even my neighbors. I thought I might be the only person left in the world who hadn’t done an eBay deal. So, I decided to try my hand at online auction (网上拍卖).
Buying for beginners: Sign up on www. ebay. co. uk. Most items（e.g. tables, computers, and books）ready for auction will come with a picture and a short description; others may be marked with “ Buy It Now ” and have a fixed price. You can buy these right away.
If the item is being auctioned, you offer the highest price you are prepared to pay and eBay bids（出价）for you. The bid will be increased little by little until it goes beyond your highest bid, then you are emailed and asked if you would like to bid again. Auctions last up to 10 days and when they finish you get an email telling you whether you have won the item.
How to pay: Sellers decide how they would like to be paid and you need to check this before placing a bid as you might not want to post a check or postal orders. The easiest way is through PayPal, an online payment system that takes the money away from your credit card (信用卡).
Selling made simple: If you plan to sell on eBay, it helps to include a picture of the item. I followed my friends’ advice and put up the items I wanted to sell for a 10-day auction, starting on a Thursday. This way buyers had two weekends to bid.
The big things in life: It’s easy to post a small item, but furniture is a big part of eBay and this has to be collected or sent by delivery men. Check the ways of delivery before you bid. What is the passage mainly about?
| A．How to make payment online. |
| B．Ways of using delivery online. |
| C．Advantages of an online-auction system. |
| D．How to use an online-auction system. |
After bidding for an item, a buyer __________.
| A．will get what he wants in ten days |
| B．should make payment immediately |
| C．has chances to make higher bids |
| D．may check its picture and description |
The easiest way of making payment mentioned in the passage is __________.
| A．through an online payment system |
| B．through a local banking system |
| C．by sending the money to the seller |
| D．by paying the deliveryman directly |
One of the most difficult problems a young person faces is deciding what to do. Some people, however, from the time they are six years old “know” that they want to be doctors or teachers or firefighters, but most of us do not get around to making a decision about a job until someone or something forces us to face the problem.
Choosing a job takes time, and there are a lot of things you have to think about as you try to decide what you would like to do. You may find that you will have to take special courses for a particular kind of work, or you may find out that you will need to get enough knowledge for a particular job.
Fortunately, there are a lot of people you can turn to for advice and help in making your decision. At most schools, there are teachers to give you information about jobs. And you can talk over your ideas with family members and friends who are always ready to listen and to offer suggestions.In the third paragraph “turn to” means ______.
| A．turn your face around |
| B．change into |
| C．go to someone for help |
| D．give advice |
The best title of this passage is ______.
| A．Getting a Job |
| B．Kind People to Help You |
| C．Choosing a job |
| D．Difficulties Facing Young People |
The passage tells you that ______ for a particular job.
| A．you should have ideas when you are a child |
| B．it’s impossible for you to get enough knowledge |
| C．you have to face the problem |
| D．you may enter a class to study |
Making a decision about choosing your job ______.
| A．needs friends | B．needs time | C．cost money | D．cost your ability |
The Ice Hotel
Are you going into skiing? Is winter your favorite time of year? If you like snow and ice, maybe you should stay at Ice Hotel in Quebec, Canada. But, you can only check in at this hotel during the winter. Why ? Because this hotel is built every December. It has 32 rooms and 80 people can stay there each night. The hotel even has a movie theatre, art gallery, and church. Of course, all of these parts of the hotel are made of ice. In fact, all the furniture, art, lights, and even plates and drinking glasses are made out of ice.
Because this hotel is so unusual, it is becoming very popular. People from all over the world come to the Ice Hotel to look at the fantastic ice art, drink and eat from designed ice dishes and experience the unique atmosphere (独特的气氛). Some couples have even got married in the hotel's ice church. But all these guests keep their winter coats on! Because of all the ice, the temperature inside the hotel is always between - 2ºC and - 5ºC. Surprisingly, sleeping is not a problem in the freezing cold hotel rooms. Every guest gets a special cold-weather sleeping bag and some fur blankets. These keep the room cozy and warm until morning.
What is the main idea of this reading?
| A．How the Ice Hotel is built |
| B．What makes the Ice Hotel special |
| C．Why the Ice Hotel is made of ice |
| D．The services of the Ice Hotel |
Why is sleeping NOT a problem in the hotel?
| A．the rooms are warm | B．the temperature is -2ºC |
| C．the sleeping bags are warm | D．the furniture is warm |
In which part of the hotel would you probably find "plates"?
| A．the church | B．the restaurant | C．the rooms | D．the art gallery |
Mouse potatoes joined couch potatoes (who spend much time watching TV on the couch), google officially became a verb and drama queens (extremely emotional persons) finally found the attention when they crossed over from popular culture to mainstream English language.
The mouse potato, the himbo (attractive, empty-headed man) and drama queen were among 100 new words added to the 2006 update of America’s best-selling dictionary, the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary《韦氏大词典》. The Internet search engine Google also found its way into the dictionary for the first time as a verb, meaning to find information quickly on the worldwide web.
New words and phrases from the fields of science, technology, pop culture and industry are chosen each year by Merriam-Webster’s team of editors after months of looking through books, magazines and even food labels. “They are not tracking spoken language. They are looking for evidence that words have been used in the written English language,” said Arthur Bicknell, senior editor of Merriam-Webster.
Other words first coming into the dictionary this year were soul patch (a small growth of beard under a man’s lower lip), unibrow (two eyebrows joining together) and supersize － the fast food industry phrase for extra large meals.
The technology world contributed ringtones (changeable incoming cellphone call signals) and spyware (software installed in a computer to track a user’s activities) while biodiesel (生物柴油) and avian influenza(禽流感) came from the world of science.
America’s first dictionary － Noah Webster’s A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language － was published 200 years ago and also introduced some fresh words that have now become familiar. Those “new” words in 1806 included slang, surf, psychology, naturally and Americanize. The mouse potato refers to ____________.
| A．a mouse that lives by potatoes |
| B．a person who spends much time on the computer |
| C．a mouse that is shown on the screen of the computer |
| D．a person who likes to eat mice and potatoes |
Which group of words and phrases is NOT the fresh words for the dictionary of this year?
| A．mouse potatoes, google, supersize， drama queen. |
| B．himbo, soul patch, unibrow, supersize. |
| C．ringtones, spyware, biodiesel, avian influenza. |
| D．couch potatoes, surf, psychology, Americanize. |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the text?
| A．New words and phrases were introduced into the dictionary have close relationship with the time. |
| B．New words and phrases chosen by the editors of the dictionary have been used in written English somewhere. |
| C．Some words that are now familiar to us used to be fresh words collected in the dictionary. |
| D．The Merriam-webster Collegiate Dictionary becomes the best-seller because 100 new words are added to it. |
It’s easy to see how to help others, but what about those whose needs aren’t so obvious? This story may have happened a while back, but it was a lesson which has stayed with me and helped me ever since.
It was Thanksgiving and I was volunteering with my parents at a shelter for the poor. We stood behind the counter dishing out hot food to whoever came in. most of our dinners looked like they had been having hard times, their clothes old, worn and dry. In short, they looked poor!
Then, a man came in, who looked anything but poor. He was well dressed, wearing an expensive suit. I wondered what he was doing there and my jaw dropped in amazement when he joined the line for food. The closer he came to my service station, the more I muttered. What was this man doing? I wanted to know. Surely he wasn’t gong to take food.
Then my mother quietly took me to one side. She said, “You have assumed that the needs of the people who come here must be purely physical: hunger, inadequate shelter and needs are emotional? What if he needs comfort, friends, or just to be among other human beings?” her words hit me like a ton of bricks! I felt like I should apologize to the man, but I didn’t.
About a week later the shelter received a large donation from an anonymous source. I can’t help but wonder if it came from that man.
Now, whether I meet others, I remember my mother’s words and try to send kindness and blessings to them, regardless of how they look.
Needs aren’t always visible. But kindness always makes a difference.The task of the author at the shelter was to_______.
| A．decide whether dinners looked poor | B．learn life experience there |
| C．serve hot food to the poor | D．help parents order dishes |
When the man waited in line, how did the author feel?
| A．Surprised | B．Pitiful | C．Excited | D．Angry |
The author felt he should apologize to the man, because he_______.
| A．was asked to do so by his mother |
| B．gave the man food much less than others |
| C．realized something was wrong with the man |
| D．knew later that the man went there to donate |
What can we infer from the last paragraph?
| A．We should show others kindness whatever their needs are |
| B．Some needs can’t be known clearly at times |
| C．Needs can always be met by kindness |
| D．We should find out others’ needs |
Bill and his family has been living in the six－family building for years. All the neighbors got along fairly well with each other until recently.
An old man and his wife used to live on the second floor. Bill’s mother and the old lady were good friends. Unfortunately the lady died last month. Her husband could not live alone, so he had his grandson move over and live with him.
The grandson has become a problem to all the neighbors, especially to Bill’s family. The walls of the building are thin and he is noisy. Bill is used to peace and quiet but the young man likes to listen to the radio late at night. Sometimes friends of his visit and they make a lot of noise. That is too much for Bill’s family.
Bill’s mother once asked the old man politely if he was able to sleep well at night, but obviously the man didn’t understand what she meant. If he did and spoke to his grandson, the young man obviously didn’t listen, since things haven’t changed any. Everyone in Bill’s family agrees that something must be done though they don’t want to hurt the kind old man.Bill’s family got angry because ________.
| A．the old lady had died |
| B．a young man moved in |
| C．the old man could not live alone |
| D．the grandson made a lot of noise |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．The old man could not live without his wife’s help. |
| B．The old man and his wife were sometimes making trouble too. |
| C．Bill’s mother was kind to her neighbors. |
| D．Bill’s mother was the only one who likes the young man. |
The grandson makes a lot of noise as ________.
| A．he never thinks other people might not be happy with so much noise around |
| B．the walls of the building are thin |
| C．he likes to listen to the radio at night |
| D．friends of his visit |
It seems that ________to solve the problem.
| A．anyone is able | B．only the grandfather is going |
| C．Bill’s mother is able | D．nobody is likely |
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