What does the word “home” mean to you? How do you say the word in French? In Spanish? In your language? Although people usually know what the word means, it often has no exact translation. It’s not surprising really, because the idea of home differs from country to country, and from person to person. A home is more than a roof and four walls. It’s the cooking, eating, talking, playing and family living that go on inside, which are important as well. And at home you usually feel safe and relaxed.
But it’s not just that homes look different in different countries, they also contain different things and reveal（显示） different attitudes and needs. For example, in cold northern Europe, there’s a fire in the living room or kitchen and all the chairs face it. In the south, where the sun shines a lot and it’s more important to keep the heat out, there are small windows, cool stone floors and often no carpets. We asked some people about their homes.
How often do people move house in your country?
“In my country many people don’t stay in one place for a very long time. They often move every ten years or so.”
Cheryl, Boston, USA
What are typical features of homes in your country?
“In Britain, even in town there’s always a garden and sometimes a cellar（地下室）. We have separate bedrooms and living rooms. But we don’t often have balconies (阳台). The weather isn’t warm enough!”
— Pat, Exeter, EnglandWhich one is true according to the passage?
| A．People in Britain seldom have balconies because it’s so hot outside. |
| B．“Home” is a place where you feel safe and relaxed. |
| C．Although homes look different in different countries, they have the same needs. |
| D．Houses in northern Europe always have big windows and cool stone floors. |
The word “home” has no exact translation because ______.
| A．people can’t find this word in the dictionary |
| B．no one knows what it is |
| C．it has different meanings in different countries |
| D．people can’t understand each other very well |
You can ______ at home according to the passage.
| A．eat, play, and teach students | B．cook, talk, and play games |
| C．swim, eat, and make friends | D．do nothing |
Why is it important to keep the heat out of the houses in southern Europe?
| A．Because they want to breathe fresh air outside. |
| B．Because there’s a fire in the living room. |
| C．Because they wear heavy clothing all day long. |
| D．Because the sun there shines a lot. |
Every day we go to school and listen to the teacher, and the teacher will ask us some questions. Sometimes, the classmates will ask for your opinions of the work of the class. When you are telling others in the class what you have found out about these topics, remember that they must be able to hear what you are saying. You are not taking part in a family conversation or having a chat with friends—you are in a slightly unnatural situation where a large group of people will remain silent, waiting to hear what you have to say. You must speak so that they can hear you—loudly enough and clearly enough but without trying to shout or appearing to force yourself.
Remember, too, that it is the same if you are called to an interview whether it is with a professor of your school or a government official who might meet you. The person you are seeing will try to put you at your ease (not worried) but the situation is somewhat different from that of an ordinary conversation. You must take special care that you can be heard.When you speak to the class, you should speak __________.
| A．as slowly as possible |
| B．in a low voice |
| C．loudly |
| D．forcefully |
Usually, when you speak to the class, the class is __________.
| A．noisy |
| B．quiet |
| C．having a rest |
| D．serious |
The situation in the class is __________ that in your house.
| A．not very different from |
| B．sometimes the same as |
| C．sometimes not the same as |
| D．not the same as |
The main idea of this passage is __________.
| A．that we should talk in different ways in different situations |
| B．that we must speak loudly |
| C．that we must keep silent at any time |
| D．that we must talk with the class |
My husband had just bought a new washing machine for me. I decided to use it the other day and I washed a lot of things. Everything worked well, but I found one of my husband's socks missing. I looked everywhere for it, but I couldn't find it anywhere.
The next morning, I got ready for school as usual. When the bell rang, the students came in, I greeted them and told them what we were going to do that day. When I turned around to the blackboard, the class broke out a roar. They laughed and laughed. They laughed so much, in fact, that I was afraid the headmaster would be in and to see this. I asked the class to stop, but the more I talked, the more they laughed. I decided to pay no attention to them and continued to write on the blackboard. When I did this, they roared even more. Finally, the teacher who was in the next room came in to see what all the laughter was about. When he came in, he started laughing, too!
"Good heavens," I said. "Will someone please tell me what is so funny?"
"Oh, God, "said the teacher. "You have a brown sock stuck to the back of the skirt!"
So that's how I found my husband's missing sock.
"Oh, well," I said to the class, "Let's just say you have had an unforgettable lesson on static electricity (静电学). "From the passage we know that the writer cannot be __________.
| A．a physics teacher |
| B．a good wife |
| C．a cleaner |
| D．a clever woman |
What happened when the writer turned around to write on the blackboard?
| A．The class didn't pay attention to what the teacher said. |
| B．The class began to laugh loudly. |
| C．Another boy made faces in the classroom. |
| D．Another teacher came in. |
The reason why the writer couldn't find one of her husband's socks was that __________.
| A．it was torn to pieces while being washed |
| B．her husband himself had taken it away |
| C．she had left it in the washing machine |
| D．it was stuck to the back of her own skirt |
How did the writer react (反应) when she got to know why her students laughed?
| A．She gave an explanation for the matter in a clever way. |
| B．She wanted to punish those students who laughed at her. |
| C．She tried to persuade the class to study physics well. |
| D．She regretted not having taught her students physics well. |
When I was in junior high school, I was really a bad boy. My history teacher—Mr. Oven criticized me a lot because I was naughty in his class. By the end of the first semester, I'd had enough of his words and had decided that I would get my revenge on him.
The opportunity arose one morning when Mr. Oven was called to the office for a certain reason. While Mr. Oven left, my company Billy and I grabbed Mr. Oven's lunch bag from under his desk. I opened his sandwich and placed a bug in between the two slices of bread. We put it back and closed it. To keep it in memory, Billy took photos of the whole process. We laughed for weeks over this.
Well, it all went south during Thanksgiving break. Billy's mother found the pictures in his room, and demanded that he should tell her where these pictures were from. Billy told his mother the whole story, and Mr. Oven was informed. Not only was I punished from school for two weeks, but also I was kicked off the football and basketball team. Before I could return to school, I had to turn in a 1000-word essay on what I did and why I did that. I really felt embarrassed every time I saw Mr. Oven in the hallway for the rest of the school year. I felt a little regret that Mr. Oven left our school the next year.Mr. Oven criticized me a lot because __________.
| A．I disobeyed his rules in class |
| B．I didn't go to his class |
| C．I didn't answer his questions |
| D．I was naughty in my homework |
How can you imagine Mr. Oven when he had his lunch?
| A．He would be glad to eat his delicious sandwich with the bug. |
| B．He would eat it as usual when he had his sandwich. |
| C．He would cry because he was afraid of the bug in his sandwich. |
| D．He would be very angry when he found the bug in his sandwich. |
The underlined sentence "Well, it all went south during Thanksgiving break. " in Paragraph 3 probably means " __________ ".
| A．It was until Thanksgiving break that the secret was let out. |
| B．All the students left on Thanksgiving break. |
| C．All __________ the students went south on Thanksgiving break. |
| D．Billy and I went south during Thanksgiving break. |
Which one was NOT true according to the article?
| A．He had to be punished to leave school for two weeks. |
| B．He was kicked off the football and basketball team. |
| C．He had to eat the sandwich he had made for Mr. Oven. |
| D．He had to write a 1000-word essay to acknowledge his mistake. |
(2014 河北开滦月考) I came to study in the United States a year ago. Yet I did not know the real American society until I was injured in a car accident because after the accident I had to see a doctor and go to court.
After the accident, my roommate called a doctor for me. I was very grateful and determined to repay him one day. But the next day, he asked me to pay him $200 for what he had done. I was astonished. He had good reason to charge me, he said. And if I wanted to collect money from the person who was responsible for my injury, I'd have to have a good lawyer. And only a good doctor can help me get a good lawyer. Now that he had helped me find a good doctor, it was only fair that I should pay him.
But every day I went to see the doctor, I had to wait about 50 minutes. He would see two or three patients at the same time, and often stop treating one so as to see another. Yet he charged me $115 each time. The final examination report consisted of ten lines, and it cost me $215.
My lawyer was all smiles the first time we met. But after that he avoided seeing me at all. He knew very well the other party was responsible for the accident, yet he hardly did anything. He simply waited to collect his money. He was so irresponsible that I decided to dismiss him. And he made me pay him $770.
Now I had to act as my own lawyer. Due to my inexperience, I told the insurance company the date I was leaving America. Knowing that, they played for time... and I left without getting a cent.The author's roommate offered to help him because __________.
| A．he felt sorry for the author |
| B．he thought it was a chance to make some money |
| C．he knew the doctor was a very good one |
| D．he wanted the author to have a good lawyer |
A good doctor is essential (必要) for the author to __________.
| A．be properly treated |
| B．talk with the person responsible for the accident |
| C．recover before he leaves America |
| D．eventually get the responsible party to pay for his injury |
The word "charge" in the second paragraph means __________.
| A．be responsible | B．accuse |
| C．ask as a price | D．claim |
Both the doctor and the lawyer in this passage are very __________.
| A．selfish | B．friendly | C．professional | D．busy |
What conclusion (结论) can you draw from the story?
| A．Going to court is something very common in America. |
| B．One must be very careful while driving a car. |
| C．There are more bad sides in America than good sides. |
| D．Money is more important than other things in the US. |
A small town in southwest Britain is banning plastic bags in an attempt to help the environment and cut waste—a step that environmentalists believe is a first for Europe.
Shopkeepers in Modbury, population 1, 5000, agreed to stop handing out disposable plastic bags to customers on Saturday. They said paper sacks and cloth carrier bags would be offered instead.
Last month, San Francisco became the first U. S. city to ban plastic grocery bags. Internationally, laws to discourage the use of plastic bags have been passed in parts of South Africa and Ireland, where governments tax shoppers who use them or fine companies that hand them out. Bangladesh already bans them, and so do at least 30 remote Alaskan villages.
Modbury, about 225 miles southwest of London， has also declared a bag amnesty (宽限期), allowing local people to hand in plastic bags that have piled up at home. They will be sent for a recycling.
The Modbury ban was the idea of Rebecca Hosking, who saw the effect of bags on wildlife while working in the Pacific as a wildlife camerawoman. She said response in the town so far had been "really positive".
"Modbury is quite an old-fashioned town and a lot of people have wicker (柳条)baskets to go out shopping anyway," Hosking told Sky News Television.
The Worldwatch Institute, an environmental research agency， states that 100 billion plastic bags are thrown away each year in the United States alone. More than 500 billion are used yearly around the world. What was Rebecca Hosking?
| A．A lawyer. | B．An environmentalist. |
| C．A sailor. | D．A photographer. |
The underlined word "disposable" in Paragraph 2 probably means ______.
| A．acceptable | B．valuable |
| C．throw-away | D．long-lasting |
It can be inferred from the passage that ______ .
| A．most of the people in Modbury continue to use plastic bags |
| B．fewer and fewer plastic bags will be used in the world |
| C．San Francisco is the first city to ban plastic bags in the world |
| D．most countries in the world have passed laws to ban plastic bags |
Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?
| A．Environment |
| B．Cutting Waste |
| C．Effect of Plastic Bags |
| D．A British Town Banning Plastic Bags |
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