John keeps a record of new words and expressions in English. He usually writes them in a note-book. Then, later in the day, he asks his teacher about them. “Mrs. Thomas, these expressions are new to me. ‘She’s blue today.’， ‘You’re yellow’, ‘A little white lie’, ‘She has green fingers’.” After looking at the note-book, Mrs. Thomas says, “In everyday English, John，‘blue’ sometimes means sad. ‘Yellow’ means afraid. A person with ‘green fingers’ grows plants successfully. And ‘a white lie’ is not a bad lie.” “I don’t understand. Please give me an example.” “ For example, I offer you some cake. The truth is that you don’t like my cake. You don’t say that. Instead, you say, ‘No, thanks, I'm not hungry.’ That’s a white lie.” John says, “I see , thanks for the explanation!”“Blue” sometimes means in spoken English “_____”.
| A．angry | B．lucky | C．glad | D．unhappy |
A person with “green fingers” is one who _____ planting.
| A．is a new hand in | B．is good at |
| C．works hard at | D．is interested in |
“You’re yellow to fight.” means “_____.”
| A．You dare not fight | B．You dare to fight |
| C．You're afraid to see a fight | D．You’re able to fight |
If you say “It’s a white lie.”, it means that someone _____.
| A．says something unreal and harmful | B．is unfriendly to talk to others |
| C．refuses to tell the truth in a polite way | D．is telling a big lie |
Educating girls quite possibly gets a higher rate of return than any other deal available in the developing world．Women's education may be unusual field for economists, but increasing women's contribution to development is actually as much an economic as a social project．And economics, with its emphasis on incentives （激励）, provides an explanation for why so many girls lose the chance of education．
Parents in low-income countries don't send their daughters to school because they do not expect them to make an economic contribution to the family: girls grow up only to marry into somebody else's family and bear children．Girls are thus seen as less valuable than boys and are kept at home to do housework while their brothers are sent to school----the prophecy （预言） becomes self-fulfilling, trapping women in a vicious circle （恶性循环）of abandonment．
An educated mother, on the other hand．has greater earning abilities outside the home and faces an entirely different set of choices．She is likely to have fewer but healthier children and can insist on the development of all her children, ensuring that her daughters are given a fair chance．The education of her daughters then makes it much more likely that the next generation of girls, as well as of boys．will be educated and healthy. The vicious circle is thus transformed into a virtuous circle （良性循环）．
Few will argue that educating women has great social benefits．But it has enormous economic advantages as well．Most obviously, there is the direct effect of education on the wages of female workers．Wages rise by 10 to 20 per cent for each additional year of schooling．Such big returns are impressive by the standard of other available deal, but they are just the beginning．Educating women also has a significant impact on health practices， including family planning．The author argues that educating girls in developing countries is _______．
| A．expensive | B．troublesome |
| C．rewarding | D．labor-saving |
What does the author say about women's education?
| A．It has developed the interest of a growing number of economists |
| B．It is in the first place in many developing countries |
| C．It deserves greater attention than other social project |
| D．It will get greater returns than other known deal |
The passage mainly discusses ______．
| A．unequal treatment of boys and girls in developing countries |
| B．the economic and social benefits of educating women |
| C．the major contributions of educated women to society |
| D．the potential earning power of well-educated women |
Children's lives have changed greatly over the last 50 years．But do they have a happier childhood than you or I did?
It's difficult to look back on one's own childhood without some element of nostalgia（怀旧的）．I have four brothers and sisters, and my memories are all about being with them．Playing board games on the living room floor, or spending days in the street with the other neighborhood children, racing up and down on our bikes, or exploring the nearby woods．My parents scarcely appear in these memories, except as providers either of meals or of severe blame after some particularly risky adventure．
These days, in the UK at least, the nature of childhood has changed dramatically．Firstly, families are smaller, and there are far more only children．It is common for both parents to work outside the home and there is the feeling that there just isn't time to bring up a large family, or that no one could possibly afford to have more than one child．As a result, today's boys and girls spend much of their time alone．Another major change is that youngsters today tend to spend a huge amount of their free time at home, inside．More than anything this is due to the fact that parents worry far more than they used to about real or imagined dangers, so they wouldn't dream of letting their children play outside by themselves．
Finally, the kind of toys children have and the way they play is totally different．Computer and video games have replaced the board games and more interesting activities of my childhood．The irony（令人啼笑皆非的事情） is that so many ways of playing games are called "interactive”．The fact that you can play electronic games on your own further increases the sense of loneliness felt by many young people today．
Do these changes mean that children today have a less relaxing childhood than I had? I personally believe that they do, but perhaps every generation feels exactly the same．What is the purpose of the direct question given in the first paragraph?
| A．To show who the passage is written for |
| B．To gather people's opinions on childhood |
| C．To compare the childhood lives of two generations |
| D．To get people's attention and lead in the topic |
Which is NOT a reason for the changes?
| A．Families are smaller today |
| B．Toys can be played by children alone at home |
| C．It's too dangerous to play outside |
| D．Parents worried too much about their children |
What has the writer focused on in the fourth paragraph?
| A．Some games that young people play today aren't really good |
| B．Computer and video games have replaced the board games |
| C．Young people today shouldn't play electronic games |
| D．Board games are much more interesting than computer games |
The writer's attitude towards the childhood changing is _____．
| A．approving | B．objective | C．unconcerned | D．optimistic |
Have you got any wonderful plans for your coming winter vacation? Here are some wonderful films for you to kill time.
| Away We Go With a baby on his way, a young couple, Burt and Verona, look at their lives and are puzzled about what they really want. So they hit the road and seek a place to call home. On their journey, they visit a handful of characters and learned a lot. It’s about taking the scenic route in life, preparing for the hope and excitement and fear of new beginnings, while never forgetting to look out of the window. |
Orphan Either, a bright and well-behaved child, however, is not as innocent as she appears. Soon after being taken home, the peace of her adoptive family is completely changed You want a good horror film about a child from hell? Then you got one! Do not, in any cases, take children to see it. |
| 500 Days of Summer Tom is in love with Summer from the moment he sees her. Can he accept that she simply likes him for now, not for forever? The movie is about Tom wrestling with that reality. Tom remembers his love, Summer, as a series of joys and bafflements. But Summer is just herself and he cannot have her. Here is a rare movie that begins by telling us how it will end and is about how the hero has no idea why. |
2012 The director Roland Emmerich successfully dresses a corny story with an old Mayan prediction, which is believed by many to happen in the coming 2012 and as a result, attracts millions of people into the cinema. It’s just an entertaining Hollywood blockbuster （大片）with plenty of jokes, instead of a description of what the end of the world is really like. Don’t take it too seriously! |
This passage aims to .
| A．make comments on films for a cinema |
| B．introduce films for a film corporation |
| C．recommend several films for fun |
| D．advertise several films for a website |
If you bring your seven-year-old sister to the cinema, which of the following film should you avoid?
| A．Away We Go. | B．Orphan |
| C．500 Days of Summer. | D．2012 |
Among all the characters mentioned in the passage, who directed films in Hollywood?
| A．Roland Emmerich. | B．Tom and Summer. |
| C．Burt and Verona. | D．Esther. |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Orphan is a comedy about Esther adopted by a kind family. |
| B．500 Days of Summer is a romance with a happy ending. |
| C．Away We Go shows beautiful scenery on the young couple’s journey. |
| D．The ancient Mayan prediction is going to happen in 2012. |
when Frida Kahlo's painting were on show in London, a poet described her paintings as " a ribbon（丝带） around a bomb". Such comments seem to suggest Kahlo had a big influence on the art world of her time. Sadly, she is actually a much bigger name today than she was during her time.
Born in 1907 in a village near Mexico City, Kahlo suffered from polio(小儿麻癖) at the age of seven. Her spine（脊柱） became bent as she grew older . Then, in 1925, her back was broken in several places in a school-bus accident. Throughout the rest of her life, the artist had many operations, but nothing was able to cure the terrible pain in her back. However, the accident had an unexpected side effect. While lying in her bed recovering, Kahlo taught herself to paint.
In 1929, she got married to Diego Rivera, another famous Mexico artist. Rivera's strong influence on Kahlo's style can be seen in her early works, but her later works from the 1940s, known today as her best works, show less influence from her husband.
Unfortunately, her works did not attract much attention in the 1930s and 1940s, even in her home country. Her first one-woman show in Mexico was not held until 1953. For more than a decade after her death in 1954, Kahlo's works remained largely unnoticed by the world, but in the 1970s her works began to gain international fame at last.What does the phrase “ a much bigger name” in Paragraph 1 most nearly mean?
| A．a far better artist | B．a far more gifted artist |
| C．a much stronger person | D．a much more famous person |
The terrible pain Kahlo suffered was caused by .
| A．polio | B．her bent spine |
| C．back injuries | D．the operations she had |
Kahlo’s style had become increasingly independent since the .
| A．1930s | B．1940s | C．1950s | D．1970s |
What is the author’s attitude toward Kahlo?
| A．devotion. | B．sympathy | C．worry. | D．encouragement. |
Surtsey Was born in 1963. Scientists saw the birth of this island. It began at 7.30 a.m. on 14th November. A fishing boat was near Iceland. The boat moved under the captain's (船长) feet.He noticed a strange smell. He saw some black smoke. A volcano was breaking out. Red-hot rocks, fire and smoke were rushing up from the bottom of the sea. The island grew quickly. It was 10 meters high the next day and 60 meters high on 18th November. Scientists flew there to watch it. It was exciting. Smoke and fire were still rushing up. Pieces of red-hot rock were flying into the air and falling into the sea. The sea was boiling and there was a strange light in the sky. Surtsey grew and grew. Then it stopped in June 1967. It was 175 metres high and 2 kilometres long. And life was already coming to Surtsey. Plants grew. Birds came Some scientists built a house. They want to learn about this young island. A new island is like a new world. Surtsey is_______.
| A．an island not far from Iceland | B．a new volcano |
| C．a fishing boat | D．a place in Iceland |
Scientists flew there_________.
| A．to stop the birth of the island | B．to save the fishing boat |
| C．to learn about the island | D．to build a house |
When did scientists fly to Surtsey?
| A．Before the volcano broke out |
| B．As soon as the volcano broke out. |
| C．About four days after the volcano broke out |
| D．After the volcano stopped rushing up. |
The best title of this article probably is______.
| A．A New Island | B．The Birth of an Island |
| C．A New World | D．Scientists Discovered Surtsey |
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