Would you eat a ready meal from the fridge rather than cook by yourself? Have you been doing Internet shopping rather than going to the stores? What can’t you be bothered to do?
A study into how lazy British people are has found more than half of the adults are so idle (懒散的) that they’d catch the lift rather than climb two flights of stairs.
Just over 2,000 people were quizzed by independent researchers at Nuffield Health, Britain’s largest health center. The results were extremely surprising.
About one in six people questioned said if their remote control was broken, they would continue watching the same channel rather than get up.
More than one third of those questioned said they would not run to catch a bus. Worryingly, of the 654 respondents with children, 64% said they were often too tired to play with them.
This led the report to conclude that it’s no wonder that one in six children in the UK are classified as obese (very fat) before they start school.
Dr Sarah Dauncey, medical director of Nuffield Health, said, “People need to get fitter, not just for their own sake, but for the sake of their families, friends and evidently (明显地；显然) their pets too.”
“If we don’t start to take control of this problem, a whole generation will become too unfit to perform even the most fundamental tasks.”
And Scotland’s largest city, Glasgow, was shamed as the most idle city in the UK, with 75% questioned admitting they do not get enough exercise, followed closely by Birmingham and Southampton, both with 67%.
The results bring serious challenges for the National Health Service, where obesity-related illnesses such as heart disease and cancer have been on a steady increase for the past 40 years and are costing billions of pounds every year.How many people questioned don’t play with their children?
| A．1280. | B．More than 333. | C．654. | D．About 420. |
The study leads us to believe that _____________.
| A．the pets in the UK will be in trouble if their owners keep their way of life |
| B．Glasgow people feel ashamed because they don’t get enough exercise |
| C．British people are the laziest around the world |
| D．five sixths of the British children are healthy |
How does the author convince the readers?
| A．By presenting the results of a study. |
| B．By providing answers to questions. |
| C．By interviewing some experts. |
| D．By telling a story. |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．A study of British people’s laziness. |
| B．A study of British people’s lifestyles. |
| C．The health service in the UK. |
| D．The obesity problem in the UK. |
This year some twenty-three hundred teenagers (young people aged from 13-19) from all over the world will spend about ten months in U. S. homes. They will attend U.S. schools, meet U.S. teenagers, and form impressions of the real America. At the same time, about thirteen hundred American teenagers will go to other countries to learn new languages and gain a new understanding of the rest of the world.
Here is a two-way student exchange in action. Fred, nineteen, spent last year in Germany with George’s family. In turn, George’s son Mike spent a year in Fred’s home in America.
Fred, a lively young man, knew little German when he arrived, but after two months’ study, the language began to come to him. School was completely different from what he had expected-much harder. Students rose respectfully when the teacher entered the room. They took fourteen subjects instead of the six that are usual in the United States. There were almost no outside activities.
Family life, too, was different. The father’s word was law, and all activities were around the family rather than the individual(个人). Fred found the food too simple at first. Also, he missed having a car. “Back home, you pick up some friends in a car and go out and have a good time. In Germany, you walk, but you soon learn to like it.”
At the same time, in America, Mike, a friendly German boy, was also forming his idea. “I suppose I should criticize (批评) American schools”, he says. “It is far too easy by our level. But I have to say that I like it very much. In Germany we do nothing but study. Here we take part in many outside activities. I think that maybe you schools are better in training for citizens. There ought to be some middle ground between the two.”This year _____ teenagers will take part in the exchange programme between America and other countries.
| A．over three thousand | B．thirteen hundred |
| C．twenty three hundred | D．less than two thousand |
The whole exchange programme is mainly to _____.
| A．have teen-agers learn new languages |
| B．send students in America to travel in Germany |
| C．help teen-agers in other countries know the real America |
| D．let students learn something about other countries |
Fred and Mike agreed that _____.
| A．American food tasted better than German food |
| B．Americans and Germans were both friendly |
| C．German schools were harder than American schools |
| D．There were more cars on the streets in America |
What is particular in American schools is that _____.
| A．students go outside to enjoy themselves in a car |
| B．there are a lot of after-school activities |
| C．students usually take fourteen subjects in all |
| D．there is some middle ground between the two teaching buildings |
After experiencing the American school life, Mike thought _____.
| A．German schools trained students to be better citizens |
| B．a better education should include something good from both America and Germany |
| C．American schools were not as good as German schools |
| D．the easy life in the American school was more helpful to students |
Reading to oneself is modern activity which was almost unknown to the learned in the early days of the history, while during the fifteenth century the term “reading” undoubtedly meant reading aloud. Only during the nineteenth century did silent reading become popular.
One should be careful, however, of supposing that silent reading came about simply because reading aloud is distraction（分散注意力）to others. Examination of reasons connected with the historical development of silent reading shows that it became the usual mode of reading for most adult reading tasks mainly because the tasks themselves changed in character.
The last century saw a gradual increase in literacy（读写能力）and thus in the number of readers. As readers increased, so the number of listeners dropped, and thus there was some reduction in the need to read aloud. As reading for the benefit of listeners grew less common, so came the popularity of reading as a private activity in such public places as libraries, trains and offices, where reading aloud would disturb other readers in a way.
Towards the end of the century there was still heated argument over whether books should be used for information or treated respectfully, and over whether the reading of material such as newspapers was in some way mentally weakening. Indeed this argument remains with us still in education. However, whatever its advantages, the old shared literacy culture had gone and was replaced by the printed mass media on the one hand and by books and magazines for a specialized readership on the other.
By the end of the century students were being advised to have some new ideas of books and to use skill in reading them which were not proper, if not impossible, for the oral reader. The social, cultural, and technological developments in the century had greatly changed what the term “reading” referred to.Why was reading aloud common before the nineteenth century?
| A．Because silent reading had not been discovered. |
| B．Because few people could read for themselves. |
| C．Because there were few places for private reading. |
| D．Because people depended on reading for enjoyment. |
The development of silent reading during the nineteenth century showed .
| A．a change in the nature of reading | B．a change in the position of literate people |
| C．an increase in the number of books | D．an increase in the average age of readers |
Educations are still arguing about .
| A．the amount of information provided by books and newspapers |
| B．the importance of silent reading |
| C．the value of different types of reading material |
| D．the effects of reading on health |
What is the writer of this passage attempting to do?
| A．To show how reading methods have improved. | B．To encourage the growth of reading. |
| C．To change people’s way to read. | D．To explain how present-day reading habits developed. |
My father had returned from his business visit to London when I came in, rather late, to supper. I could tell at once that he and my mother had been discussing something. In that half-playful, half-serious way I knew so well, he said, "How would you like to go to Eton?"
"You bet," I cried quickly catching the joke. Everyone knew it was the most expensive, the most famous of schools. You had to be entered at birth, if not before. Besides, even at 12 or 13, I understood my father. He disliked any form of showing off. He always knew his proper station in life, which was in the middle of the middle class, our house was medium-sized; he had avoided joining Royal Liverpool Golf Club and went to a smaller one instead; though once he had got a second-hand Rolls-Royce at a remarkably low price, he felt embarrassed driving it, and quickly changed it for an Austin 1100.
This could only be his delightful way of telling me that the whole boarding school idea was to be dropped. Alas! I should also have remembered that he had a liking for being different from everyone else, if it did not conflict(冲突) with his fear of drawing attention to himself.
It seemed that he had happened to be talking to Graham Brown of the London office, a very nice fellow, and Graham had a friend who had just entered his boy at the school, and while he was in that part of the world he thought he might just as well phone them. I remember my eyes stinging(刺痛) and my hands shaking with the puzzlement of my feelings. There was excitement, at the heart of great sadness.
"Oh, he doesn't want to go away," said my mother, "You shouldn't go on like this.” “It's up to him," said my father. "He can make up his own mind."The house the writer's family lived in was ________.
| A．the best they could afford | B．right for their social position |
| C．for showing off | D．rather small |
His father sold his Roils-Royce because ________.
| A．it made him feel uneasy | B．it was too old to work well |
| C．it was too expensive to possess | D．it was too cheap |
The writer's father enjoyed being different as long as ________.
| A．it drew attention to him | B．it didn't bring him in arguments |
| C．it was understood as a joke | D．there was no danger of his showing off |
What was the writer's reaction to the idea of going to Eton?
| A．He was very unhappy. | B．He didn't believe it. |
| C．He was delighted. | D．He had mixed feelings. |
We can know from the passage that ________.
| A．Children who can go to Eton are very famous |
| B．Children can go to Eton if they will |
| C．It is very difficult for a child to get admitted by Eton |
| D．Children don't have the right to decide whether they will go to Eton |
Mr. Briggs got a job with an insurance company(保险公司) after he left school and went around visiting people in their homes to sell them life insurance. One day, after he had been working for the company for about a year, the insurance manager sent for him and said, “Mr. Briggs, I have been looking at your record as a salesman with our company, and there is one thing that surprises me about it. Why have you been selling insurance only to people over 95 years old, and why have you been giving them such generous（宽厚的）conditions? You’ll ruin our company if you go on like that.”
“Oh, no, sir,” answered Mr. Briggs at once, “Before I started work, I looked at the figures(数字) for deaths in this country during the past ten years, and I can tell you that few people die at the age of 95.”Before he worked in an insurance company, what was Mr.
Briggs?
| A．He was a worker. | B．He was an official. |
| C．He was a student. | D．He was a businessman. |
The word “ruin” in the first paragraph means .
| A．lose | B．break | C．leave | D．destroy |
As a salesman with the company, Mr. Brigs .
| A．visited people to ask them to work with him |
| B．called on people to make them join the company |
| C．saw old people in order to help them |
| D．visited many people so as to offer insurance |
What was it that surprised the manager?
| A．Mr. Briggs sold life insurance only to 95 people. |
| B．Mr. Briggs sold insurance only to people of more than 95. |
| C．Mr. Briggs had ruined the insurance company. |
| D．Mr. Briggs gave people generous conditions. |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．Mr. Briggs had studied the figures for deaths for several years. |
| B．Mr. Briggs began to look at the figures after he started work. |
| C．A great number of very old people die every year. |
| D．The number of the very old people who died every year is |
small.
Dog owners now have a little help understanding their furry friends . A new device called Bow-Lingual “translates” dog barks into English , Korea or Japanese.
Bow-Lingual’s Japanese inventors spent much time and money analyzing dog barks . They found that dog noises can be broken down into six different emotions : happiness , sadness , frustration , anger , assertion and desire .
Part of the Bow-Lingual device hangs on the dog’s collar . The other part is a handle-held unit for the owner . When the dogs barks , the unit displays translated phrases .
Some people have scoffed at Bow-Lingual. “Who would pay US$ 120 to read a dog’s mind?” they ask .
But those who have purchased Bow-Lingual praise the device . Pet owner Keiko Egawa , of Japan , says it helps her empathize with her dog , Harry . “Before we go to the park , he always says he wants to play,” says Egawa , “and after a walk , he always says he is hungry.”
Bow –Lingual is not yet available in Chinese . So you’d better keep studying Studio Classroom , or soon your dog may know more English than you do !This passage is mainly talking about .
| A．Bow-Lingual’s inventors | B．dog barks and their different emotions |
| C．talking dogs | D．a little help for dog owners |
Which of the following sentences is TRUE according to the passage ?
| A．Dog owners now can understand their dogs better . |
| B．Bow-Lingual is a new device that enables dogs to talk in English , Korean or Japanese . |
| C．More and more Chinese dog owners would keep studying Studio Classroom in order to know more English than their dogs . |
| D．People who have used the Bow-Lingual say it helps them better understand their dogs . |
What does “scoffed at” mean in the 3rd paragraph ?
| A．shouted at | B．questioned at | C．laughed at | D．doubted about |
How do you understand the sentence “Bow-Lingual is not yet available in Chinese” in the last paragraph ?
| A．Bow-Lingual has not yet appeared in Chinese market . |
| B．Bow-Lingual can not yet recognized Chinese dogs’ barks . |
| C．Chinese dog owners do not know yet how to use Bow-Lingual . |
| D．Dog barks can not yet be translated into Chinese phrases with Bow-Lingual . |
The writer of this passage is most likely to be .
| A．a dog owner | B．a reporter | C．an advertiser | D．an expert on dog barks |
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