Owning a personal island is a luxurious treat one can imagine.
New Holland Island
$400 million, 18 acres
Roman Abramovich
Investment Banker
Located in Saint Petersburg Canal in Russia, the island takes its name after its resemblance to areas in Amsterdam. The owner plans to turn it into a cultural center. The new look of this island is expected to be revealed in another six years.
Musha Cay Island
$150 million, 700 acres
David Copperfield
Famous magician
World-famous magician David Copperfield has developed the island located in the southern part of Bahamas into a magical resort (度假胜地) with adventures, treasure hunts, luxurious apartments, and water sports. All these, for $32,250 a night!
Mago Island
$10 million, 5,400 acres
Mel Gibson
Actor
Interestingly, this island is almost the size of a small country! Mel Gibson does not plan on developing it into a resort, thus keeping its natural beauty.
Mosquito Island
$15 million, 120 acres
Richard Branson
Investor
This island is rich in eco-diversity and is also one of the rich rainforest places. Branson plans to make this island the most eco-friendly and develop the biodiversity (生物多样性) of this island.
James Island
$19 million, 780 acres
Craig McCaw
Cell phone pioneer
Craig McCaw plans to develop the island, but not at the cost of losing its natural beauty. Smoking is banned on the island, and only electric bikes or cars are used for transport. All power lines are laid underground. The island also has a golf course designed by the excellent golf champion Jack Nicklaus.
Allan Island
$13.5 million, 292 acres
Paul Allen
Investor
The island is reportedly named after a hero, and Paul Allen plans on building a vacation home here. However, his vacation home was built on another island nearby. So, the Allan Island now has only a caretaker’s small house without electricity. And it is up for sale. Hands anybody?The island which has been developed now belongs to a(n) ____________.
| A．investment banker | B．famous magician |
| C．actor | D．investor |
How many acres does the cheapest island of the six cover?
| A．120. | B．700. |
| C．780. | D．5,400. |
Who will be potential visitors to the James Island?
| A．Those who like adventures and treasure hunts. |
| B．Those who like rich cultural atmosphere. |
| C．Those who long to live in a luxurious apartment. |
| D．Those who agree with the environmentalists’ ideas. |
If you want to buy a personal island, you should pay a visit to _____________.
| A．the Mago Island | B．the Mosquito Island |
| C．the Allan Island | D．the James Island |
B
For several years now, the dollar has fallen lower and lower against other major currencies. Lately, though, the dollar has risen, especially against the Japanese yen and the euro. Some traders think the dollar will continue to rise, but that is not clear.
The dollar moved up this week after comments by American officials in support of a strong dollar policy.
On Monday, before he left for his last trip as president to Europe, George Bush said: "A strong dollar is in our nation's interests. It is in the interests of the global economy." Also Monday, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on CNBC television that he would consider intervention to keep the dollar from sliding further.
The United States has not intervened in currency markets since two thousand. That year the administration of president Bill Clinton bought euros to support the European currency.
But on Tuesday, President Bush said in Slovenia that the "relative value of economies will end up setting the proper valuation of the dollar."
A weaker dollar helps American exporters. But it means Americans have to pay more for imports and for travel to other countries.
Some experts say dollar weakness is the main reason why oil prices have risen so high. Oil is priced in dollars on the world market.
But Treasury Secretary Paulson dismissed any link. He noted that since two thousand two, the dollar has fallen about twenty-four percent. But the price of oil has gone up well over five hundred percent.
Adding to pressure on the dollar, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet suggested that the E.C.B will raise interest rates next month. European officials are increasingly concerned with inflation. But investors can already get higher rates of return on investments in euros than in dollars.
High prices for oil, food and other products have raised inflation concerns worldwide. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the latest increases in energy prices have added to inflation risks.
His comments in recent days have suggested that the central bank could stop cutting rates as it has since September. Its rate for overnight loans between banks is currently at two percent. Some market watchers think the Fed could raise rates as early as this month.
Finance ministers from nations in the Group of Eight will discuss the dollar and other issues at their meeting this weekend in Osaka, Japan.The passage is mainly concerned about ___
| A．the history of American currency |
| B．the inflation in America |
| C．the political cases in America |
| D．the price of the oil in the world |
Why did the dollar move up a little this week according to the passage?
| A．Because of George Bush’s visit to the Europe |
| B．Because of the official’s support of the policy. |
| C．Because of the increasing of the oil price. |
| D．Because of the meeting of the Group of Eight. |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．The dollar will continuously rise, especially against the Japanese yen and the euro. |
| B．Some government officials’ comments made the dollars rising a lot.. |
| C．Many measures have taken to stop dollars from falling further.. |
| D．Few countries in the world are all concerned about the inflation |
We can infer from the passage that____
| A．the dollar is sure to continue to rise |
| B．the dollar is sure to slide further |
| C．investors will get more benefit from dollars |
| D．there is a chance of inflation in the world |
A
Some good news for online holiday shoppers: bargain-hunting binges (狂热行动) will drive prices down as web-based retailers compete to offer bigger discounts, marketing researchers predict.
A recent survey by Shopzilla found that nearly 84 percent of online retailers would offer Cyber Monday discounts, up 12 percent from last year. Cyber Monday, the first Monday after Thanksgiving, is the online response to Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when stores are traditionally flooded with customers, some of whom camp at the entrances overnight to take advantage of discounts.
However, in the current economic climate, online retailers have felt pressure to offer sales and discounts even before Black Friday. But how online retailers decide to offer those big savings isn’t a simple matter of trying to attract the consumers who are watching their wallets, Bohlmann of Sabanci University in Istanbul says. Online stores will also pay attention to the deals their competitors are offering, potentially leading to price wars between certain retailers to attract all those potential bargain-hunting customers.
Online shoppers can be divided into two types, Bohlmann said, ―switchers and ―loyals. Switchers compare prices between retailers and go for the cheapest one, while loyals stick to one brand or store. It almost doesn’t matter what price you charge.
Online retailers will look at the percentage of switchers and loyals they have in order to decide whether to offer discounts. The more switchers they have, the more likely they will offer discounts. But retailers don’t just look at the percentage of their own customers; they also look at the competition.
If one online store has a higher percentage of loyals than the competitor, it can afford to keep prices higher. On the contrary, if it has a higher percentage of switchers than the competitor, it might want to lower prices.According to the text, on Cyber Monday, customers often______
| A．feel tired because of Thanksgiving |
| B．prepare for the coming Black Friday |
| C．spend their holidays in the stores |
| D．wait for online retailers’ discounts |
According to the text, “loyals” should refer to online shoppers who____
| A．care about prices than anything else |
| B．focus on the quality of products |
| C．matter little what price you charge |
| D．hope a higher price of products |
It can be inferred from the text that ____
| A．retailers should know more about customers’ interest |
| B．There will be no shoppers who go out in crowds |
| C．Barnes&Noble’s prices are lower than other companies’ |
| D．Retailers like the switchers more than the loyals |
My favorite English teacher could draw humor out of the driest material. It wasn’t forced on us either. He took Samuel Johnson’s dictionary, Addison’s essays, and many other literary wonders from the eighteenth century and made them hilarious, even at eight o’clock in the morning. The thing that amazed me most was that the first time I read these works on my own some of them seemed dead, but the second time, after his explanation, I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t seen the humor. The stories and poems and plays were suddenly filled with allusions(典故) and irony and hilarious moments. I learned more from him than from any other teacher.
My least favorite English teacher also made people laugh. Some students found him to be wonderfully funny. Many others did not. He assigned journals over a six week period, to be written in every day. At the end of the six weeks I had a notebook full of bits and pieces about my ideas, short stories, reactions to what we had read, and so on. Our teacher announced that we would be grading each other’s journals. Mine was passed to Joe, that class clown, who always behaved in a funny or silly way. He saw it fit to make joke of and said, “This writing isn’t fit to line the bottom of a birdcage.” Our teacher laughed at that funny remark. It hurt me so much that the anger from it has driven my writing and teaching ever since.
So what makes the difference? Humor is one of the most powerful tools teachers or writers have. It can build up students and classes and make them excited about literature and writing, or it can tear them apart. It is true that humor is either productive or counter-productive and self-defeating. The passage mainly discusses _____.
| A．teaching |
| B．literature |
| C．humor |
| D．knowledge |
The underlined word “hilarious” in Paragraph 1 probably means _____.
| A．funny |
| B．tiring |
| C．inspiring |
| D．brilliant |
With his favorite English teacher, the writer found it most amazing that _____.
| A．his teacher was very learned |
| B．his teacher was very humorous |
| C．the works by Johnson and Addison were very humorous |
| D．few were able to find humor in works by Johnson and others |
The English teacher the writer disliked most _____.
| A．was not able to make students laugh |
| B．hurt his students’ feelings |
| C．didn’t let his students do the grading |
| D．had no sense of humor |
阅读下面的短文，并用英语回答问题，请注意问题后的词数要求。
Everyone dreams of being successful. Does anyone think of the mere question as to what elements determine success? Is there a “success personality”--- some winning combination of qualities that leads almost inevitably to achievement? If so, exactly what is that secret success formula, and can anyone develop it? At the Gallop Organization we recently focused on success, inquiring into the opinions of 1,500 distinguished people selected at random from who’s who in America. Our research finds out a number of qualities that occur regularly among top achievers. Here is one of the most important, that is common sense.
Common sense is the most obvious quality possessed by our participants. Seventy-nine percent award themselves a top score in this quality. And sixty-one percent say that common sense greatly contributes to their success.
To most, common sense means the ability to present sound, practical judgments on everyday affairs. To do this, one has to sweep aside extra ideas and get right to the key of what matters. A Texas oil and gas businessman put it in this way: “The key ability for success is simplifying. In conduction of meeting and dealing with industry, reducing a complex problem to the simplest term is highly important.”
Besides common sense, there are many other factors that influence success. You need to believe in yourself that you can achieve it, you need to have faith in your goals and your path to that success. However, nothing move until you do something. Belief alone is not going to achieve anything for you. It must be followed up with concrete action. Your plan for career success is nothing unless you act upon it whole-heartedly.What does “success personality” refer to? (no more than 6 words)
Who were chosen to give their opinions about the secret to success? (no more than 3 words)
What does “common sense” mean to most participants? (no more than 8 words)
What is a businessman’s idea of the key ability for success? (no more than 5 words)
What are many other factors that influence success besides common sense? (no more than 6 words)
E
How we look and how we appear to others probably worries us more when we are in our teens or early twenties than at any other time in our life. Few of us are content to accept ourselves as we are, and few are brave enough to ignore the trends of fashion.
Most fashion magazines or TV advertisements try to persuade us that we should dress in a certain way or behave in a certain manner. If we do, they tell us, we will be able to meet new people with confidence and deal with every situation confidently and without embarrassment. Changing fashion, of course, does not apply just to dress. A barber today does not cut a boy’s hair in the same way as he used to, and girls do not make up in the same way as their mothers and grandmothers did. The advertisers show us the latest fashionable styles and we are constantly under pressure to follow the fashion in case our friends think we are odd or dull.
What causes fashions to change? Sometimes convenience or practical necessity or just the fancy of an influential person can establish a fashion. Take hats for example. In cold climates, early buildings were cold inside, so people wore hats indoors as well as outside. In recent times, the late President Kennedy caused a depression in the American hat industry by not wearing hats, and more American men followed his example.
There is also a cyclical(周期性的) pattern in fashion. In the 1920s in Europe and America, short skirts became fashionable. After World War II, they dropped to ankle length. Then they got shorter and shorter until the miniskirt was in fashion. After a few more years, skirts became longer again.
Today, society is much freer and easier than it used to be. It is no longer necessary to dress like everyone else. Within reason, you can dress as you like or do your hair the way you like instead of the way you should because it is the fashion. The popularity of jeans and the “untidy” look seems to be a reaction against the increasingly expensive fashion of the top fashion houses.
At the same time, appearance is still important in certain circumstances and then we must choose our clothes carefully. It would be foolish to go to an interview for a job in a law firm wearing jeans and a sweater, and it would be discourteous(失礼的) to visit some distinguished scholar looking as if we were going to the beach or a night club. However, you need never feel depressed if you don’t look like the latest fashion photo. Look around you and you’ll see that no one else does either!According to the passage, we care about our appearance most in the age period of_____.
| A．10-20 | B．10-25 | C．20-25 | D．20-30 |
The reason why we are constantly under pressure to follow the fashion is mainly that_____.
| A．Fashion magazines or TV advertisements show us the latest fashionable styles. |
| B．We can’t meet new people and deal with every situation confidently. |
| C．Our friends may think we are strange or out of date. |
| D．We are not content to accept ourselves as we are. |
Which of the following is True according to the passage?
| A．President Kennedy once caused a disaster in the American hat industry |
| B．Before the second World War , skirts had dropped shorter to ankle length. |
| C．You can’t dress however you like or do your hair the way you like today. |
| D．The “untidy” jeans are a reaction against the increasingly expensive fashion. |
We can conclude from the last paragraph that_____.
| A．We do need to dress ourselves properly on some occasions. |
| B．We do need to follow the fashion all the time. |
| C．We may feel depressed if we don’t look like the latest fashion photo. |
| D．People around are always following the latest fashion. |
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