Cyril Dick’s house is neither a modern house nor a house of the future. It is 40 years old. There are more houses like that in the south of France. They are called “bubble houses”, and you can see why!
Cyril Dick is a designer and he loves round things. He collects old records and clocks. He also collects round furniture. And now he has a completely round house.
Everything in the “bubble house” is round. The centre of the house is one very big bubble. This is both the living room and dining room. There are round armchairs, a round table, and a big round rug(地毯) in front of a round fireplace. Around the living room are three small bubbles. One bubble is a kitchen with round shelves, another bubble is the garden room, and the third bubble is a music room. Upstairs there are two more bubbles—a bedroom and a bathroom.
The doors and windows are also round, of course. The window are like eyes. There aren’t any curtains(窗帘) in the house, because Cyril likes to see the garden all the time.
Bubble houses are the idea of a Hungarian architect(建筑师), Antti Lovag. “A lot of modern houses are bad for us, especially tall buildings of flats,” says Lovag. “Because round homes are more natural, people feel happy in them.” Cyril agrees with this. “Some people think my house is funny,” he says, “but for me, this is the perfect home.”You can find more “bubble houses” in the south of France.
Cyril Dick is a designer and he loves _____________________________________.
What is the third bubble around the living room?
____________________________________________________________________._____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
French kids can be editors for a day
Can kids make their own newspapers? They do in Paris. Student editors at a French newspaper for kids called Mon Quotidien, do every day.
The ten-year-old newspaper sometimes sells 200,000 copies every day. It gets more than one million dollars every year! This is much more than many other newspapers.
How do they decide what to put in the paper? All the adult editors working on the children’s newspaper agree that the paper should be simple to read. Kids should be able to finish it within 10 minutes. The paper covers(报道) kids’ favorite subjects like school life, animals and science. It also talks about big world problems.
In order to make the paper more popular with kids, adult editors invite students aged 10 to 15 to join them. They have meetings every Wednesday and Sunday. Adult editors, reporters and kids sit together and decide which topics should come out in the paper and on which page. Which topic should come out on the front page, world news or bears in the zoo? Often the kid editors and adult editors disagree. Sometimes, the adult editors have to give up because their little editors won’t give in. Usually the student editors stay in the newspaper office for three hours at each meeting. Any kid in France can call the newspaper if they are interested in being a one-day editor.The French newspaper Mon Quotidien has a history of 10 years.
The newspaper is for the kids to create and practice, not to earn any money.
The editors of the newspaper are all kids.
The children can finish reading the newspaper within 10 minutes because it’s simple.
Many people say that they are working too many hours. They don’t have enough time to relax or to stay with their family.
Work hours are different from one country to another. In France, people spend about 1,646 hours a year at work. In Japan, however, people work about 2,159 hours a year. That means a Japanese worker works 513 more hours a year that a French worker.
Why do people work so many hours? Some people work extra hours because they want to make more money. However, many companies don’t pay overtimes. Their workers don’t get more money for more work. Some people think it’s their duty to work more hours. Some are afraid of losing their jobs if they don’t work more hours.
Many people say that their vacations are too short. In France, people get five weeks of paid vacation a year. In Germany, they get four to six weeks, and in the United States, two weeks. One study shows fewer than half of workers used all their vacation days. In Great Britain, there is a saying, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull (迟钝的) boy.” If that is true, there must be a lot of dull people in the world.A Japanese worker works ________ more hours a year than a French one.
| A．513 | B．1,646 |
| C．2,519 | D．3,805 |
The underlined word “extra” in Paragraph 3 means “___________”.
| A．正常的 | B．额外的 |
| C．有用的 | D．少量的 |
People on _________ get only two weeks of paid vacation a year.
| A．France | B．Germany |
| C．The United States | D．Great Britain |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．No companies offer vacation to their workers. |
| B．Many people say they have enough time to relax. |
| C．Not all companies pay their workers for more work. |
| D．More than half of workers use all their vacation days. |
We each have a memory(记忆力). That’s why we can still remember things after a long time. Some people have very good memories and they can easily learn many things in a short time, but some people can only remember things when they say or do them again and again. Many of the great men of the world have got surprising memories.
A good memory is a great help in learning a language. Everybody learns his mother language when he is a small child. He hears the sounds, remembers them and then he learns to speak. Some children are living with their parents in foreign countries. They can learn two languages as easily as one because they hear, remember and speak two languages every day. In school it is not so easy to learn a foreign language because the students have so little time for it, and they are busy with other subjects, too.
But your memory will become better and better when you do more and more exercises.Some people can easily learn many things in a short time because______.
| A．they always sleep very well | B．they often eat good food |
| C．they read a lot of books | D．they have very good memories |
Everybody learns his mother language _________. .
| A．at the age of six | B．when he is a small child |
| C．after he goes to school | D．when he can read and write |
Before a child can speak, he must _____________. .
| A．read and write | B．make sentences |
| C．hear and remember the sounds | D．think hard |
Why can a Chinese learn English easily if he is in England?
| A．Because he must speak English every day. |
| B．Because he will have a good memory in England, not in China. |
| C．Because his father is an Englishman. |
| D．Because his English teacher is better in England. |
Wearing the wrong type of glasses will do harm to your eyes. Incorrect glasses may not be good for the children under 10. You may see better with glasses that are specially made for you.
Watching too much television may be bad for your eyes. This is not true for everyone. People with easily affected eyes may find they get red and achy (痛) from watching TV for long. Carrots will help you see in the dark. Carrots are rich in beta-carotene (β胡萝卜素). The body can change beta-carotene into vitamin A, and too little beta-carotene can cause night blindness. However, a lot of research shows that night blindness is more likely to be connected with some other vision problems.Night blindness can be caused by _____.
| A．wearing incorrect glasses | B．watching TV for long |
| C．too little beta-carotene | D．too much vitamin A |
Watching TV for a long time may cause _______.
| A．night blindness | B．easily affected eyes |
| C．no eye trouble for some people | D．vision problems for everyone |
The purpose of this passage is to tell people _______ .
| A．to have more carrots | B．how to protect their eyes |
| C．of the importance of their eyes | D．something more about their eyes |
According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
| A．Eating too many carrots can cause night blindness. |
| B．Watching too much TV may do harm to everyone. |
| C．Wearing wrong glasses may do harm to children's eyes. |
| D．The human body is unable to change beta-carotene into vitamin |
The people in needn’t go to work on Fridays.
| A．Canada | B．Scotland |
| C．Japan | D．Egypt |
If it is 8:00 a.m. in western Canada, the time is _______ in eastern Canada.
| A．11:00a.m | B．2:00 p.m. |
| C．12:30 p.m. | D．4:00 a.m. |
While Canadian children are waking up, children in Scotland are ________.
| A．having lessons | B．sleeping |
| C．watching TV | D．playing games |
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