If English is not your first language, it is a good idea to take English language classes to improve your written and spoken communication skills. There are many ways to learn English. You can learn from a book, a DVD, on the Internet or by attending classes. One of the most successful ways to improve your English is to join a course in a country where English is widely spoken. The more you practice, the more you will learn. But why learn the English language? English is an important language for anyone who is planning to travel or become involved in business.
Many people love traveling, but if their English is poor, it can be difficult to understand signs, read directions and make themselves understood. Before traveling, it is important to understand the culture and customs of the places you visit. Learning basic English before you travel will help you to understand these customs and avoid mistakes that could be embarrassing. When you are traveling, you will also enjoy meeting new people. If you can speak English, you will have a better chance of being able to communicate with the people you meet. Many of your new friends will speak English and others will have English as a second language. Without English, your friendships will be limited as you travel around the world.
If you are involved in business, it is important to be able to communicate in English. The Internet, world travel and modern communication systems have made the world seem like a much smaller place. These days business people interact with customers and other business people from all over the world. That makes your English language skills more important than ever. There are many English language courses that major in business communications. Improving your English skills is one of the best things you could ever do to increase your chances of business success.What kind of people is English important to according to the passage?
| A．Travelers. | B．Teachers. | C．Students. | D．Language experts. |
Which of the following is the best way to learn English well?
| A．Traveling around the world with English-speakers. |
| B．Taking a course in an English-speaking country. |
| C．Learning from all kinds of books or DVDs. |
| D．Learning on the Internet by yourselves. |
According to the passage, which of the following is NOT the aim of learning basic English?
| A．To have more opportunities to communicate with others. |
| B．To understand the customs of your destination. |
| C．To avoid embarrassing mistakes on your journey. |
| D．To research the causes of cultural differences. |
What is the main idea of the third paragraph?
| A．The more you practice, the more you will learn. |
| B．Doing business helps to improve your communication skills. |
| C．English is important for anyone who is involved in business. |
| D．The Internet has made the world become smaller and smaller. |
We can infer from the passage that _____.
| A．learning English well will make you achieve goals more easily |
| B．learning English only aims at achieving business success |
| C．without learning English, your friendships will be limited wherever you are |
| D．you needn’t learn English if you don’t want to travel |
A NATIONWIDE BESTSELLER
It’s likely that everything you learned about America’s ancient history is wrong.
The new book, 1491, completely changes our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492.
When Columbus landed there were probably more people in the Ameicas than there were in Europe.
The peoples of North America had such healthy lifestyles that as late as the 19th century they continued to be the tallest people on earth.
Facts have shown that the Americas were populated as long as 33000 years ago.
4000 years ago Mesoamerican farmers developed corn in a feat （技艺）of genetic engineering that still isn’t completely understood.
Comments On 1491
“In the tradition of Jared Diamond& John McPhee, a totally new view of pre-Columbian America.”
------ Richard Rhodes
“Attractively written and really absorbing… Charles C. Mann has produced a book that’s part detective story, part epic（史诗） and part tragedy（悲剧）. He has taken on a vast topic: thousands of years, two huge continents, and cultures.”
------Charles Matthews, San Jase Mercury News
“Powerful and challenging.”
------ Alan Taylor, Washington Post
“A pleasure to read as well as a wonderful education.”
------ Howard Zinn On the whole, 1491 is a book mainly about Amerca’s _______
| A．life-style | B．population | C．history | D．agriculture |
Which of the following is NOT TURE about the comments on the book 1491?
| A．It is interesting and instructive. | B．It is attractive and culturally related. |
| C．It is challenging and revolutionary. | D．It is humorous and persuasive |
From this passage, we can learn _______.
| A．people settled in the Americas a little earlier than 1492 |
| B．North Americans were the tallest in the 18th century in the world |
| C．Mesoamerican farmers knew genetic engineering 5000 years ago |
| D．the population in the Americas was smaller than that in Europe in 1492 |
According to a report by the China News Weekly, Chinese white collars are becoming fully occupied in the office. They pursue many of their activities in the office building, eating, doing exercise, resting, playing games or even dating.
In large cities such as Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing, where economy is developing at a fast speed, office workers face an increasing work pressure day by day and many of them have begun to make office their home.
As the young generation in society, most of them are aged between 25 and 45. In the eyes of outsiders, they enjoy a comfortable life: they lead the fashion trend in the city and earn a high salary; they enjoy a flexible working schedule and a very good working environment; having a good education background, they don’t have to worry that one day they will lose their jobs.
However, only the white collars themselves know what others see as a good life is in fact a boring life. They often work extra hours, suffer from loss of creative ability and have little time to make friends. When they go off from work late at night, somethimes they might think of asking for a leave the next day and having a holiday somewhere. However, when a new day begins, they find everything back to normal and themselves pushed by new tasks.
In fact, even if they don’t work extra hours in the office, they have no place to go. Many of the young people are fresh from college, or have come to work in large cities from their hometowns. As newcomers, they haven’t established （建立）a social network. They have few friends to go dating. Meanwhile, many of them face a great pressure for earning money to buy a house or a car. If they cannot afford to buy these, they still have to work to pay for high apartment rents and communication fares.The underlined sentence probably means _______
| A．Chinese white collars are not allowed to get out of the office |
| B．The office is crowded with Chinese white collars |
| C．Chinese white collars make the office filled with odds and ends |
| D．Chinese white collars spend most of their time in the office |
The followings are all reasons why white collars want to have a rest EXCEPT that _______
| A．They have to continue to stay at office after work |
| B．They feel more and more difficult to think up a good idea |
| C．They have no interest in anything |
| D．They have little time to make friends |
The main idea of the third paragraph is that_______
| A．white collars are admired by other people |
| B．white collars needn’t worry about losing jobs |
| C．white collars can earn high salary and work freely |
| D．white collars are in the lead in the way of behaving |
From the passage , we can infer that _______
| A．white collars are all workaholics who regard the office as home |
| B．white collars suffer from material and mental pressure in life |
| C．white collars are the models of young people in society |
| D．people have a good understanding of what white collars’ life is |
The painter Georgia O’keeffe was born in Wisconsin in 1887 and grew up on her family’s farm. At seventeen she decided she wanted to be an artist and left the farm for schools in Chicago and New York, but she never lost her bond with the land. Like most painters, O’Keeffe painted the things that were most important to her, and nearly all her works are simplified portrayals of nature.
O’Keeffe became famous when her paintings were discovered and exhibited in New York by the photographer Levered Stieglitz, whom she married in 1924. During a visit to New York in 1929, O’Keeffe was so moved by the bleak（荒凉的） landscape and broad skies of the Western desert that she began to paint its images. Cows’ skulls and other bleached（变白的） bones found in the desert figured prominently（突出的） in her paintings. When her husband died in 1946, she moved to New Mexico permanently and used the horizon lines of the desert, colorful flowers, rocks, barren(贫瘠的) hills, and the sky as subjects for her paintings. Although O’Keeffe painted her best known works in the 1920’s, 1930’s and 1940’s, she continued to produce tributes（贡品、颂词） to the Western desert until her death in 1986.
O’Keeffe is widely considered to have been a pioneering American modernist painter. While most early modern American artists were strongly influenced by European art, O’Keeffe’s position was more independent. She established her own vision and preferred to view her painting as a private endeavor. Almost from the beginning, her work was more indentifiably American than that of her contemporaries in its simplified and idealized treatment of color, light, space, and natural forms. Which of the following best tells what this passage is about ?
| A．O’Keeffe was a distinctive modern American painter. |
| B．O’Keeffe was the best painter of her generation. |
| C．O’Keeffe liked to paint only what was familiar to her. |
| D．O’Keeffe used colors and shapes that are too reduced and simple. |
Which of the following is NOT mentioned as an influence on O’Keeffe’s paintings ?
| A．Her rural upbringing | B．Her life in the West |
| C．The works of European artists | D．The appearance of the natural landscape |
Which of the following is most similar to O’Keeffe’s relationship with nature?
| A．A photoghrapher’s relationship with a model. |
| B．A writer’s relationship with a publisher. |
| C．A student’s relationship with a teacher |
| D．A carpenter’s relationship with a hammer. |
Why is O’Keeffe considered an artistic pioneer ?
| A．Her work became influential in Europe. |
| B．She painted the American Southwest. |
| C．Her paintings had a definite American style. |
| D．She painted things that were familiar to her. |
任务型阅读（阅读下面短文，完成下面表格，每格一词，共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分）
Third-generation mobile phones, known as 3G, are the next big step for the telecom industry. Data speed in 3G networks is much quicker than that in present technology. This means users can have high-speed Internet access and enjoy video and CD-quality music on their phones.
“Mobile data is not a dream; it’s not an option but a requirement,” said Len Lauer, head of a US communications company, Sprint PCS, at a 3G conference in Bangkok earlier this month.
With 3G, you can forget about text messages telling you yesterday’s news; a 3G phone can receive video news programs, updated four times a day. Internet access will also be much quicker, making it easier to surf the Web on your phone than on your computer at home.
Face-to-face video calls
Don’t worry about getting lost. 3G phones offer map services so you can find a new restaurant just by pressing a few keys on your handset.
However, the most impressive part of 3G technology is video calling. With live two-way video communication, you can have face-to-face talks with friends and family on your mobile phone.
Many European countries have already launched the service. In May 2000 the US Government issued five license to run 3G wireless services, while the first 3G phones arrived in Italy in March this year.
International telecom companies can’t wait to sell 3G in China, the world’s largest mobile telecommunications market. But they will have to be patient. At the moment, China is busy testing its 3G-based technologies, networks and services. This will be followed by a trial period before the phones can finally hit the shops.
“We need to create a pool of 3G customers before the large-scale commercial launch of the service,” said Fan Yunjun, marketing manager for Beijing Mobile. “We expect that the 3G licenses will be seen late next year.”
| Third-generation mobile phones (3G mobile phones) |
|
| A．Data speed: B．Video and C．Video news programs: D．Internet access: quicker and |
|
| Impressive functions |
A．Offer B．Provide two-way video |
| 3G phones in China |
A．China is busy B．3G phones should go through a C．3G phones are expected to be seen |
Children lie on couches or sit on floors, nearly hypnotized(迷住) by all kinds of messages coming from the television. This scene has become all too familiar. Increasingly, young children are adopting a watching-TV lifestyle, at s stage in life when activity is important to their growth. Furthermore, family time is being destroyed by too much TV time. Here are some facts you need to know:
*Research shows that children spend between five and six hours per day watching TV, and they go to bed before having any communication with other family members.
*Time spent in front of a screen is reducing the amount of time children spend sleeping.
*The more time a youth spends in front of a screen, the more likely he or she is to be overweight.
Experts(专家) offer the following advice to parents on how to stop their children from becoming addicted to television:
*Do not put a TV in a child’s bedroom.
*Make meal time, family time -----turn off the TV during a family meal time. Better yet, remove the TV from the eating area.
*Make TV time active time by doing simple exercise during advertisement breaks.
*Help your kids be clever TV watchers by teaching them to recognize a sales trick in advertisements(广告).
*Create family memories by planning fun activities instead of always watching TV with your family.
*_______. Limit your own TV watching to less than two hours per day. The best way to learn is to follow; this is especially true for children.Which fact is not mentioned(提到) as a result of watching TV in this passage?
| A．Family time has been destroyed. |
| B．Children who watch too much TV are often overweight. |
| C．Children spend less time sleeping because of watching TV. |
| D．Children’s study can be badly influenced if they watch too much TV. |
Which of the following is one piece of advice given in this passage?
| A．Parents should teach children to judge TV advertisements. |
| B．TV should be removed from homes that have children. |
| C．The family should watch TV together while eating. |
| D．Parents should not allow children to watch TV. |
The sentence in the blank in the last advice should be “_______”.
| A．Be a good role model | B．Limit children’s TV time |
| C．TV time should not be over 2 hours. | D．Watching too much TV is bad for children |
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