As a boy growing up in India, I had longed to travel abroad. I used to listen to the stories my father would tell me about his stay in Canada and tours to Europe in the 1970s, with great interest.
My big moment finally came in the summer of 1998 when I was able to accompany my parents to Europe, where my father was to attend a meeting. We planned to travel to Belgium, Netherlands and West Germany.
I have clear memories even today of going to Mumbai airport at night all excited about finally going abroad. I had heard several great things about Lufthansa till then but now I finally got to experience them first hand, during the flight to Frankfurt. We flew business class and even today I can remember the excellent service by the Lufthansa crew （工作人员）. The flight was really smooth and thoroughly enjoyable, even for someone like me, who is especially afraid of flying.
After spending almost two weeks in Europe, we took the Lufthansa airport express from Dusseldorf to Frankfurt airport, for our return flight. What a journey that was! All along the Rhine (莱茵河), it was simply an unforgettable experience. I had a sombre feeling on the flight back to Mumbai as it marked the end of a wonderful vacation, but the Lufthansa crew members were able to change it into a most enjoyable experience yet again, with the quality of their service.
Being the first airline to take me abroad, Lufthansa will always hold a special place in my heart. Even today，I continue to enjoy flights on Lufthansa and simply cannot dream of choosing any other airline. Flying, in general，for me，has always been a terrible and painful experience．Flying on Lufthansa，however, is something I always have and always will look forward to. Which country does the author live in now? ________.
| A．India. | B．Canada. | C．Belgium. | D．Germany. |
What made the author so interested in traveling abroad? ________.
| A．Growing up in India. |
| B．Once staying in Canada. |
| C．Once traveling to Canada with his father. |
| D．His father's stories about his traveling experiences. |
Which of the following is true about the author's trip to Europe in 1998? _________.
| A．The author traveled with one of his parents. |
| B．Both their going and return were by air. |
| C．They traveled in spring that year. |
| D．They stayed in Europe for nearly two months. |
It can be inferred from the passage that Lufthansa is ________.
| A．a city in India | B．a city in Europe |
| C．an airline company | D．a travel agency |
he underlined word “somber” in the 4th paragraph probably means “________”.
| A．happy | B．sad | C．angry | D．enjoyable |
Some people would go through anything just to achieve their dream. Kasia Siwosz is proof. For the final year student on the university women’s tennis team, the road to Berkeley, University of California was met with poor advice and misinformation from her home country and two unsuccessful stops along the way that fell short of expectations.
Born in Poland, Siwosz began playing tennis at seven years old and developed the skills that helped her earn a top-50 ranking among the ITF Junior division (国际网球联会青少年赛).. Siwosz wanted to do more with her life than just play tennis, which led her to seek chances that would also allow her to obtain a top education. While most who grow up in the U.S. are naturally accustomed to the American tradition of collegiate sports, such a custom is not as familiar in a country like Poland. “There’s no collegiate sports in Poland and no culture of sports and academic study there. You can only do one, not both,” Siwosz said.
Her desire to have a quality education led her to America to follow her dream. While Siwosz was talented enough to begin her collegiate tennis career, she could only attend community college because she missed the deadline to apply to four-year schools, mainly due to misinformation provided in her home country of Poland.
When she had earned all her credits and was able to transfer, Siwosz made the decision to attend Baylor in Texas. Her friends from Poland put in a good word for the university, saying that it was a good fit because there were many international players at Baylor. “I thought it would be a good idea, but it really wasn’t what I thought it would be,” Siwosz said. “I wasn’t happy at Baylor. The level of tennis was high, but the academic standards were no match and I just wanted more.”
After one year at Baylor, Siwosz’s luck finally began to change when she made the decision to transfer to Berkeley, which was due in large part to Lee, a former Berkeley student. Lee, who is a keen tennis player himself, met Siwosz four years ago in Texas. “I knew she was unhappy there,” he said. “I saw the opportunity for her to come here.” Siwosz visited Lee in Berkeley. “I ended up loving this place and this school,” Siwosz said. “I came here a lot over the summer, I gave it a shot and I ended up with a Berkeley education and a spot on one of the best college tennis teams in the country.”
What does “two unsuccessful stops” (Paragraph 1) refer to?
| A．Poland and the U.S. |
| B．Baylor and Berkeley. |
| C．The ITF Junior division and the Berkeley tennis team. |
| D．The community college and Baylor. |
Why did Siwosz want to leave her homeland for America?
| A．Poland had no culture of sports. |
| B．Berkeley had always been her dream university. |
| C．She wanted to play tennis and have a good education. |
| D．She wanted to improve her tennis skills and get a higher ranking. |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．How Siwosz realized her dream. |
| B．How Siwosz left Poland. |
| C．How Siwosz became a top tennis player. |
| D．How Siwosz transferred from Baylor to Berkeley. |
Here are some of the world’s most impressive subways．
| The Tokyo Metro and Toei Lines |
Features: The Tokyo Metro and Toei lines that compose Tokyo’s massive subway system carry almost 8 million people each day, making it the busiest system in the world. The system is famous for its oshiya--- literally, “pusher”--- who shove passengers into crowded subway cars so the doors can close. And you think your commute is hell． |
| The Moscow Metro |
Features: The Moscow Metro has some of the most beautiful stations in the world. The best of them were built during the Stalinist era and feature chandeliers, marble moldings and elaborate murals. With more than 7 million riders a day, keeping all that marble clean has got to be a burden. |
| The Hong Kong Metro |
Features: The Hong Kong MTR has the distinction of being one of the few subway systems in the world that actually turns a profit. It’s privately owned and uses real estate development along its tracks to increase income and ridership. It also introduced “Octopus cards” that allow people to not only pay their fares electronically, but buy stuff at convenience stores, supermarkets, restaurants and even parking meters. It’s estimated that 95 % of all adults in Hong Kong own an Octopus card. |
| Shanghai Metro |
Features: Shanghai is the third city in China to build a metro system, and it has become the country’s largest in the 12 years since it opened. Shanghai Metro has 142 miles of track and plans to add another 180 miles within five years. By that point, it would be three times larger than Chicago “L”. The system carries about 2.18 million people a day. |
| The London Metro |
Features: Londoners call their subway the Underground, even though 55 percent of it lies above ground．No matter when you’ve got the oldest mass-transit system in the world, you can call it anything you like. Trains started in1863 and they’ve been running ever since. Some 3 million people ride each day, every one of them remembering to “Mind the gap”. |
Which one can provide the riders some wonderful decorations at the stations?
| A．The Tokyo Metro and Toei Lines | B．The Moscow Metro |
| C．The London Metro | D．The Hong Kong MTR |
We can learn from the passage that Shanghai Metro ________．
| A．carries the most people each day |
| B．is the world’s largest |
| C．may be larger than the Chicago “L” in the future |
| D．is the busiest in the world |
How many subways carry more than 5 million people per day?
| A．2 | B．3 | C．4 | D．5 |
An environmental group called the Food Commission is unhappy and disappointed because of the sales of bottled water from Japan. The water, it angrily argues in public, has traveled 10,000 “food miles” before it reached Western customers. Transporting water halfway across the world is surely the extremely stupid use of fuel when there is plenty of water in the UK. It is also worrying that we were wasting our fuel by buying prawns from Indonesia (7,000 food miles ) and carrots from South Africa (5,900 food miles).
Counting the number of miles traveled done by a product is a strange way of trying to tell the true situation of the environmental damage due to industry. Most food is transported around the world on container ships that are extremely energy efficient. It should be noticed that a ton of butter transported 25 miles in a truck to a farmers’ market doesn’t necessarily use less fuel on its journey than a similar product transported hundreds of miles by sea. Besides, the idea of “food miles” ignores the amount of fuel used in the production. It is possible to cut down your food miles by buying tomatoes grown in Britain rather than those grown in Ghana. The difference is that the British ones will have been raised in heated greenhouse and the Ghanaian ones in the open sun.
What is the idea of “food miles” does provide, however, is the chance to cut out Third World countries from First World food markets. The number of miles traveled by our food should, as I see it, be regarded as a sign of the success of the global trade system, not a sign of damage to the environment.The Food Commission is angry because it thinks that ________.
| A．UK wastes a lot of money importing food products |
| B．some imported goods causes environmental damage |
| C．growing certain vegetables causes environmental damage |
| D．people wasted energy buying food from other countries |
The phrase “food miles” in the passage refers to the distance ________.
| A．that a food product travels to a market |
| B．that a food product travels from one market to another |
| C．between UK and other food producing countries |
| D．between a Third World country and a First World food market |
By comparing tomatoes raised in Britain and in Ghana, the author tries to explain that ________.
| A．British tomatoes are healthier than Ghanaian ones |
| B．Ghanaian tomatoes taste better than tomatoes ones |
| C．cutting down food miles may not necessarily save fuel |
| D．protecting the environment may cost a lot of money |
From the passage we know that the author is most probably ________.
| A．a supporter of free global trade |
| B．a member of a Food Commission |
| C．a supporter of First World food markets |
| D．a member of an energy development group |
You choose to be a winner!
The Winners Club is a bank account specially designed for teenagers. It has been made to help you better manage your money. The Winners Club is a transaction account (交易账户)where you receive a keycard so you can get to your money 24/7—that’s 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!
It’s a club with impressive features for teenagers：
● No account keeping fees!
You’re no millionaire so we don’t expect you to pay large fees. In fact, there are no account keeping or transaction fees!
● Excellent interest rates!
You want your money to grow. The Winners Club has a good rate of interest which gets even better if you make at least two deposits (存款) without taking them out in a month.
● Convenient
Teenagers are busy — we get that. You may never need to come to a bank at all. With the Winners Club you can choose to use handy tellers and to bank from home using the phone and the Internet...You can have money directly deposited into your Winners Club account. This could be your pocket money or your pay from your part-time job!
● Mega magazine included
Along with your regular report, you will receive a FREE magazine full of good ideas to make even more of your money. There are also fantastic offers and competitions only for Winners Club members.
The Winners Club is a great choice for teenagers. And it is so easy to join. Simply fill in an application form. You will have to get permission from your parent or guardian (so we can organize that cool keycard) but it is easy. We can’t wait to hear from you. It’s the best way to choose to be a winner!
The Winners Club is a bank account aimed for ________.
| A．parents | B．teenagers | C．winners | D．adults |
The Winners Club provides magazines which ________.
| A．encourage spending |
| B．are free to all teenagers |
| C．are full of adventure stories |
| D．help to make more of your money |
If you want to be a member of the Club, you must ________.
| A．be an Internet user |
| B．be permitted by your parent |
| C．have a big sum of money |
| D．be in your twenties |
What is the purpose of this text?
| A．To set up a club. |
| B．To provide part-time jobs. |
| C．To organize keycards. |
| D．To introduce a new banking service. |
Television has turned 88 years old on September 7, 2015, and it has never looked better. In its youth, television was a piece of furniture with a tiny, round screen showing unclear pictures of low-budget programs. In spite of its shortcomings, it became popular. Between 1950 and 1963, the number of American families with a television jumped from 9% to 92% of the population.
As the audience got larger, the technology got better. Television sets became more reliable through the 1960s. The reception (接收效果) improved. The picture improved. The major networks started broadcasting programs in color.
Even greater improvements were coming according to Sanford Brown, who wrote an article for the Post in 1967. Surprisingly, just about every prediction he made in the article became a reality. For example: All sets in the not-distant future will be color instruments. He also predicted that TV sets would become smaller, simpler, more reliable and less expensive and may forever put the TV repairman out of work. Smaller sets do not, of course, mean smaller screens. TV engineers expect screens to get much bigger. However, today’s 3-D TV is even farther away, if it’s coming at all. There is some doubt whether the public would be eager to pay for it, in view of people’s cold reception given to 3-D movies.
But the technology with the greatest potential, according to Brown, was cable television (有线电视), which was still in its early stages then. As he predicted, the future of cable television was highly interactive (互动的). It wasn’t cable television that gave Americans their electronic connection to the world, however. It was the Internet. He even foresaw the future office: using picture phones, big-screen televisions for conferences, and computers providing information at the touch of a button.
Brown ever said, “The future of television is no longer a question of what we can invent. It’s a question of what we want.” What can we infer about television sets in the 1960s?
| A．They were very popular with Americans. |
| B．The reception showed no improvement. |
| C．They showed black-and-white pictures. |
| D．They were out of order now and then. |
Which of the followings did Sanford Brown fail to predict?
| A．Television’s good quality. |
| B．The invention of 3-D TV. |
| C．The future office’s model. |
| D．The potential of cable TV. |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．The shortcomings of television. |
| B．The bright future of television. |
| C．The development of television. |
| D．The invention of television. |
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