One morning, Charley, a little green frog, was sitting in a pond by the side of the road.
Wanda, the neighborhood witch(女巫), was walking along the road. She was a good witch and dreamt to become a fairy godmother who can save people from trouble with magic powers. Wanda had been learning fairy godmother magic for 103 years. That morning, she decided to try the magic she had learned and bring happiness to others.
Seeing Wanda, Charley cried, “Hi, Wanda.”
“Hi, Charley,” replied Wanda, “I have a surprise for you.”
Then, Wanda waved her wand(魔杖), said a magic word, and Charley turned into a prince!
When Charley-turned-prince looked at himself in the water, he cried, “Hey! You turned me into a prince! It’s a surprise all right, but I don’t want to be a prince! Change me back right now!”
“Oh, dear,” Wanda said. “You shouted so loud that I forgot the way to change you back. But who wouldn’t rather be a prince?”
“I wouldn’t!” cried Charley. “I want to be a frog!” He stuck out his tongue, missing a bug (虫子)flying by the end of his nose. “Look at that, Wanda! I was a good fly catcher. But now, this tongue is too short! Please change me back!”
“I can’t, Charley. But you’ll learn to be happy as a prince.” She waved her wand, and suddenly a castle appeared. Out of the castle dozens of musicians were playing various instruments. “Charley! You’ll have servants, eat delicious foods, and you can sing and dance and snap fingers(弹响指).”
“No!” Charley interrupted, “I don’t want all these! I want bugs!” Charley cried. “I don’t want to sing and dance! And why would I do something as silly as snapping my fingers?”
“Snapping fingers!” cried out Wanda. “That’s what I forgot!” She snapped her fingers, cried “Upsi-doodle!” and the castle and musicians disappeared and the prince became a little green frog.”
Charley looked at himself in the water. “ You did it, Wanda. Oh, happy day! I’m a frog.”
“I must apologize, Charley,” Wanda said, “You are a happy frog. I should know this a moment ago.”Wanda turned Charley from a frog into a prince .
| A．of her own will | B．to play a joke on him |
| C．at the request of charley | D．to teach Charley a lesson |
After the little green frog became a prince, he . .
| A．was grateful to Wanda | B．wanted a great palace |
| C．couldn’t recognize Wanda | D．became angry with Wanda |
At the end of the story, Wanda probably felt . .
| A．satisfied | B．ashamed | C．worried | D．excited |
According to the passage, which of the following conclusions can we get?
| A．Just be yourself | B．Do nothing by halves |
| C．Helping others is a virtue | D．Where there is a will, there is a way |
The interview has been going on for about 20 minutes and everything seems to be going well. Then, suddenly, the interviewer asks an unexpected question, “Which is more important, law or love?”
Job applicants in the West increasingly find themselves asked strange questions like this. And the signs are that this is beginning to happen in China.
Employers want people who are skilled, enthusiastic and devoted. So these are the qualities that any reasonably intelligent job applicant will try to show no matter what his or her actual feelings are. In response, employers are increasingly using the questions which try and show the applicant’s true personality.
The question in the first paragraph comes from a test called the Kersey Temperament Sorter. It is an attempt to discover how people solve problems, rather than what they know. This is often called aptitude（天资）test.
According to Mark Baldwin of Alliance, many job applicants in China are finding this type of questions difficult. “When a Chinese fills out an aptitude test, he or she will think there is a right answer but they may fail because they try to guess what the examiner wants to see.”
This is sometimes called the prisoner’s dilemma. Applicants are trying to act cleverly in their own interest, but they fail because they don’t understand what the interviewer is looking for. Remember that in an aptitude test, the correct answer is the honest answer. What is the purpose of the passage?
| A．To give a piece of advice for job interviewees. |
| B．To tell you how to deal with job interviews. |
| C．To advise you how to find a good job. |
| D．To describe an aptitude test. |
Now employers want to hire workers_______.
| A．who know much more than others |
| B．who will work harder than others |
| C．who are able to solve the problems |
| D．who are better educated than others |
According to the writer, in an aptitude test, Chinese
job applicants should_______.
A. not tell the truth
B. offer a complete answer
C. learn to tell what they really think
find out what the examiner wants to know From the passage we know that_______.
| A．job applicants are always asked such questions |
| B．applicants should not act as cleverly as possible |
| C．more Chinese applicants fail to find a job |
| D．aptitude test is becoming worldwide popular |
Host family accommodation, or living with host families, remains popular among language travel students for its advantages. These days, host families are trying to offer more in terms of quality, for they still have something to worry about.
Host family accommodation is often seen as the number-one choice for its advantages in language study, cultural communication and cost of living. Staying alongside host families enables students to get enough practice for the short time of their studying so that their language acquisition is likely to become faster. Living in host families also has the advantage for students of being able to spend a lot of time communicating with their “host parents”, and get to know the local way of life, people and culture. Another advantage is that host family accommodation can sometimes be the least expensive. It attracts students for it ensures them a family type of living at a low cost.
The advantages, however, have not prevented host families form worrying. On one hand, some host families are losing their unique selling point. The problem is that the majority of hosts in big cites, now generally single and young, have less times available for students but the selling point for host family accommodation is communication practice. One the other hand, students’ expectations have risen. They are becoming more demanding and asking for more than ever from their accommodation, as they come mainly from high socio-economic groups in their own countries.
To get out of the difficult situation, host families are now making efforts to improve the quality of service. They are trying to making living conditions better, including broadband Internet service, private bathroom, and access to plenty of hot water for long showers. They are also providing students with structured family activities.
It is believed that host family accommodation will keep the popularity vote with language travel students.
Host family accommodation
| Theme |
Host families are improving the accommodation |
|
| 【小2题】 __________ |
Language study |
Possibly becoming |
| Cultural communication |
Communicating with Knowing the local way of life, people and culture |
|
| Cost of |
Being least expensive sometimes |
|
| Loss of selling point |
Hosts’ having less time for students |
|
| Rise in |
Students’becoming more demanding |
|
| Service quality improvement |
||
| Organizing structured family activities |
||
| Host family accommodation will keep the popularity vote with students. |
The year is 2094. It has been announced that a comet （彗星）is heading towards the earth. Most of it will miss our planet, but two pieces will probably hit the southern half of the earth.
On 17 July, a piece of 4 kilometers wide comet enters the Earth’s atmosphere with a massive explosion（爆炸）. About half of the piece is destroyed, but the remaining part hits the South Atlantic at 200 times the speed of sound. The sea boils and a huge hole is made in the seabed. Huge waves are created and spread outwards form the hole. The wall of water, a kilometer high, rushes towards southern Africa at 800 kilometers an hour. Cities on the African coast are totally destroyed and millions of people are drowned（淹死）.
Before the waves reach South America, the second piece of the comet lands in Argentina. Earthquakes and volcanoes ash set off in the Andes Mountains. The shock waves move north into California and all around the Pacific Ocean. The cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Tokyo are completely destroyed by earthquakes. Millions of people in the southern half of the earth are already dead, but the north won’t escape for long. Because of the explosions, the sun is hidden by clouds of dust, temperatures around the world fall to almost zero. Crops are ruined. The sun won’t be seen again for many years. Wars break out as countries fight for food. A year later, no more than 10 million people remain alive.
Could it really happen? In fact, it has already happened more than once in the history of the earth. The dinosaurs were on the Earth for over 160 million years. Then 65 million years ago they suddenly disappeared. Many scientists believe that the Earth was hit by a piece of object in space. The dinosaurs couldn’t live through the cold climate that followed and they died out. Will we meet the same end? What is mainly described in the passage?
| A．A historic discovery. |
| B．An event in imagination. |
| C．A research on space. |
| D．A scientific adventure. |
When the first piece hits the South Atlantic, it causes________.
| A．an earthquake |
| B．hunger |
| C．an Earth explosion |
| D．huge waves |
Why can’t the northern half of the earth escape for long?
| A．Because the land is covered with water. |
| B．Because the light and heat form the sun cannot reach the earth. |
| C．Because people there cannot live at the temperature of zero. |
| D．Because wars break out among countries. |
By giving the example of dinosaurs, the author tries to prove_________.
| A．animals could not live in the cold climate |
| B．what happened 65 million years ago was an invented story |
| C．the human beings will die out in 2094 |
| D．the Earth could be hit by other objects in space |
It's time to be water efficient!
As populations increase across Australia and the rest of the world, demand for water will also increase. If we don’t reduce each individual’s demand for water (both directly and through embodied water) the water situation will become dire.
It is obvious that we cannot increase demands for water much more without detrimental(有害的) effects to the environment, society and the economy.
It’s all too easy to blame someone else for the water situation –“if 70% of water is used for agriculture then that’s what we should target” – but it’s not that easy. We all depend on the food and resources that agriculture provides, and while there are definitely opportunities to increase water efficiency on the farm, the solution will take more than that.
We each share responsibility for the sustainable management of our water resources, which means using less water at home, in the workplace, at school, on holidays, on the farm, … everyone, everywhere, every time.
It's time to become water efficient! This involves reassessing our relationship with water, and learning to use it more sparingly. On the most basic level, it requires a behavioural（行动的） change, and assigning a value to water that truly reflects its worth.
We can also unlock economic benefits of being water efficient. There are many real world examples given in the case studies on this site.
Everybody has a responsibility to save water, if future generations are to enjoy a similar standard of living to the one we enjoy now. In fact, many of the impacts associated with water use are likely to have an effect on our own lives!
www.savewater.com.au has been designed to help you respond to the challenge to become water efficient. It acts as a central repository for relevant information and further advice, so that you can actually achieve significant savings. It also showcases those companies with products that will assist you in your goal.Can you infer where this passage is from?
| A．newspaper |
| B．TV programme |
| C．Radio broadcast |
| D．Internet |
What can we do to save water?
| A．find more water resources |
| B．use less water everywhere, every time |
| C．realize the importance of saving water |
| D．unlock economic benefits of being water efficient |
What is not the reason to save water?
| A．There are more and more people in the world. |
| B．The water resources are limited. |
| C．Agriculture needs more water. |
| D．The water is very important for us. |
What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．Water is very important for the human. |
| B．Everybody has a responsibility to save water. |
| C．It's time to be water efficient. |
| D．Let’s save water for our future generations. |
The garden city was largely the invention of Ebenezer Howard (1850—1928). After immigrating from England to the USA, and an unsuccessful attempt to make a living as a farmer, he moved to Chicago, where he saw the reconstruction of the city after the disastrous fire of 1871. In those days, it was nicknamed “the Garden City ”, almost certainly the source of Howard's name for his later building plan of towns. Returning to London, Howard developed his design in the 1880s and 1890s, drawing on ideas that were popular at the time, but creating a unique combination of designs.
The nineteenth－century poor city was in many ways a terrible place, dirty and crowded; but it offered economic and social opportunities. At the same time, the British countryside was in fact equally unattractive: though it promised fresh air and nature, it suffered from agricultural depression(萧条) and it offered neither enough work and wages, nor much social life. Howard's idea was to combine the best of town and country in a new kind of settlement, the garden city. Howard's idea was that a group of people should set up a company, borrowing money to establish a garden city in the depressed countryside, far enough from existing cities to make sure that the land was bought at the bottom price.
Garden cities would provide a central public open space, radial avenues and connecting industries. They would be surrounded by a much larger area of green belt, also owned by the company, containing not merely farms but also some industrial institutions. As more and more people moved in, the garden city would reach its planned limit—Howard suggested 32, 000 people; then, another would be started a short distance away. Thus, over time, there would develop a vast planned house collection, extending almost without limit; within it, each garden city would offer a wide range of jobs and services, but each would also be connected to the others by a rapid transportation system, thus giving all the economic and social opportunities of a big city. How did Howard get the name for his building plan of garden cities?
| A．Through his observation of the country life. |
| B．Through the combination of different ideas. |
| C．By taking other people's advice. |
| D．By using the nickname of the reconstructed Chicago. |
The underlined phrase “drawing on” in Paragraph 1 probably means .
| A．making use of |
| B．making comments on |
| C．giving an explanation of |
| D．giving a description of |
According to Howard, garden cities should be built .
| A．as far as possible from existing cities |
| B．in the countryside where the land was cheap |
| C．in the countryside where agriculture was developed |
| D．near cities where employment opportunities already existed |
What can we learn about garden cities from the last paragraph?
| A．Their number would continue to rise. |
| B．Each one would continue to become larger. |
| C．People would live and work in the same place. |
| D．Each one would contain a certain type of business. |
What could be the best title for the passage?
| A．City and Countryside |
| B．The Invention of the Garden City |
| C．A New City in Chicago |
| D．A Famous Garden City in England |
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