Buckingham Palace is where the Queen lives. It is the Queen’s official and main royal London home.Buckingham Palace was originally a splendid house built by the Duke(公爵) of Buckingham for his wife. George IV began changing it into a palace in 1826. It has been the official London home of Britain’s royal family since 1837. Buckingham Palace is also an office and used for the administrative work of the royal family.
When the Queen is at home you can see her royal flag (the Royal Standard) flying from the flag pole on top of Buckingham Palace.
The flag is divided into four equal parts. The first and fourth parts represent England and contain three gold lions waking on a red field; the second part represents Scotland and contains a red lion standing on a gold field; the third part represents Ireland and contains the gold coat of arms of Ireland on a blue field.
In flag protocol (礼仪), the Royal Standard which must only be flown from buildings where the Queen is present is supreme (至高无上的). It flies above the British Union Flag (the Union Jack ), and other British flags. It never flies at half mast.
The guards of the Palace wear red jackets and tall, furry hats. When the first guards come on duty, there is a ceremony called the Changing of the Guard. A familiar sight at Buckingham Palace is the Changing of the Guard ceremony that takes place in the open space in front of it each morning.
The Palace has around 750 rooms, including 19 state rooms, 52 royal and guest bedrooms, 78 bathrooms, 92 offices, a cinema and a swimming pool. It also has its own post office and police station. About 400 people work at the Palace, including servants, chefs, footmen, cleaners, gardeners, electricians, and so on. More than 50,000 people come to the Palace each year as guests to dinners, receptions and Royal Garden Parties. For whom was the original Buckingham Palace built?
| A．The Duke of Buckingham. |
| B．George IV. |
| C．The Duke of Buckingham’s wife. |
| D．George IV’s wife. |
According to the text, the Royal Standard_________.
| A．is flown at Buckingham Palace every morning |
| B．represents the four countries of the UK |
| C．flies at half mast only on a few occasions |
| D．flies higher than the British Union Flag |
When can a visitor see the Changing of the Guard ceremony?
| A．Every morning and evening. |
| B．Every morning. |
| C．When the Queen’s flag is flying. |
| D．When a flag is flying at the Palace. |
What is the last paragraph about?
| A．What you can see inside Buckingham Palace. |
| B．The royal parties at Buckingham Palace. |
| C．The Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. |
| D．People living and working at Buckingham Palace. |
[1]All people have dreams and they obey the rule that if you can dream it, you can achieve it! Here are four goals for people to reach a perfect life in their future.
[2]The first goal common to all of us in health and energy. We all want to be healthy and fit, to have high levels of energy and to live free of pain and illness. Today, with the incredible advances in medical science, the quality of our health and fitness, and our lifespan, is largely determined by design, not by chance. People with excellent health habits are far healthier, have more energy, and live longer and better than people who have poor health habits. Remember that health is not everything, but without health everything is nothing!
[3]The second goal that we all have in common is to enjoy excellent relationships – intimate, personal or social – with the people we like and respect, and who is turn. Fully 85% of your happiness will be determined by the quality of your relationships at each stage, and in each area, of your life. How well you get along with people, and how much they , have more impact on the quality of your life than perhaps any other factor.
The third common goal is to do work that we enjoy, to do it well, and to be well paid for it. You want to be able to get and keep the job you want, to get paid more and promoted (晋升) faster. You want to earn the very most that is possible for you at each stage of your career, whatever you do.
The fourth goal we all have in common is to achieve financial independence. You want to reach the point in life where you have enough money so that you never have any financial worries. You want to be completely free of them. You want to be able to order dinner in a restaurant without referring to the price listing to determine what you want to eat.What does this passage chiefly talk about? (no more than 12 words)
Fill in the blank in Paragraph 3 with proper words. (no more than 6 words)
Complete the following sentence with proper words according to the underlined sentence in Paragraph 4? (no more than 6 words)
Everybody wants to make no matter what job he is engaged in.Why does the author put health ahead of other goals? (no more than 20 words)
What does the underlined word “them” in the last paragraph probably refer to? (no more than 3 words)
Health experts are calling for action to expand cancer care and control in the developing world. A medical research paper says cancer was once thought of as a problem mostly in the developed world. But now cancer is a leading cause of death and disability in poor countries as well. Experts from Harvard University and other organizations urge the international community to fight cancer aggressively, saying it should be fought in the way HIV/AIDS has been fought in Africa.
Cancer kills more than 7.5 million people a year worldwide. Almost two-thirds are in low-income and middle-income countries.
They discover cancer dills more people in developing countries than AIDS, tuberculosis (肺结核) and malaria (疟疾) combined. But the world spends only 5% of its cancer resources in those countries.
Felicia Knaul from Harvard Medical School was one of the authors of the paper. She was in Mexico when she was found to have breast cancer. She received treatment there and her experience showed her the sharp difference between the rich and the poor in treating breast cancer.
Felicia Knaul says, “And we are seeing how this is attacking young women. It’s the number two cause of death in Mexico for women thirty to fifty-four. All over the developing world, it’s the number one cancer-related death among young women. I think we have to again say that there is much more we could do about it than we are doing about it.”
Professor Knalul met community health workers during her work in developing countries. They were an important part of efforts to reduce deaths from the cancer. They were able to persuade people to get tested to prevent the illness. The experts say cancer care does not have to be costly. For example, patients can be treated with lower-cost drugs.What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Cancer – a leading cause of death in poor countries |
| B．What should we do in preventing and treating cancer? |
| C．What makes the first killer in developing countries? |
| D．Experts urge more efforts to fight cancer in poor countries. |
Felicia Knaul’s experience in Mexico shows that .
| A．many Mexican women suffer from breast cancer |
| B．there is not enough medicine for cancer there |
| C．many Mexican women can’t afford medical care |
| D．patients with breast cancer are treated differently |
From what Felicia Knaul says, we can draw the conclusion that .
| A．breast cancer is a great threat to young women |
| B．people don’t pay enough attention to breast cancer |
| C．breast cancer is the second killer among women in Mexico |
| D．effective treatment for breast cancer is available in developing countries |
Who plays an important part in preventing the cancer in developing countries?
| A．The cancer patients. |
| B．The health experts. |
| C．Community health workers. |
| D．Young women. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The number of cancer cases is decreasing. |
| B．HIV/AIDS is not being taken seriously in Africa. |
| C．Over 7.5 million people die of cancer every year. |
| D．It is very expensive to treat cancer. |
It takes years of school to develop math skills, but learning about numbers starts earlier than you might think. Now according to a new study, at three months, babies have already started acquiring a concept (概念) of “how much”.
Previous research had suggested that very young babies can tell when the number of objects (物体) in a group has changed. But the babies in these studies were simply reacting generally to the fact that something had changed, they suspected.
Researchers of Harvard University studied 36 babies, all three months old. During the tests, each baby wore a hat with sensors (传感器). The babies watched a series of images on a computer screen. They showed the same object, such as a cartoon character. For a while, the number of the objects in the pictures didn’t change. Then the images began to display a different object, or a different number of one of the objects the babies had previously looked at. As soon as something changed, the babies’ brains responded with a specific pattern of electrical signals, which would be recorded by sensors.
By analyzing these signals, the researchers discovered that one part of the brain (near the top on the left side) responded when the object in the image changed. A different part of the brain (lower and on the right side) responded when the number of objects in the image changed. This was not the area of the brain that is involved in attention. That suggests that the babies’ brains are doing more than just reacting to a change in what they’re seeing – they actually seem to be able to tell number changes from other types of changes.
Numbers and amounts are important concepts in our lives. Even though babies are years away from adding, subtracting (减), multiplying, and dividing, their brains seem to be preparing for a time when they finally will.Why were hats with sensors used in the study?
| A．To record the images on the computer screen. |
| B．To remind babies of the changes of numbers. |
| C．To record the electrical activity of each baby’s brain. |
| D．To help babies concentrate on the computer screen. |
What does the underlined word “They” in the third paragraph refer to?
| A．Babies involved in the study. |
| B．Sensors worn by the babies. |
| C．Numbers marked on the objects. |
| D．Images shown on the computer screen. |
Which part of the brain is responsible for responding to the changes of numbers?
| A．The top. |
| B．The left side. |
| C．The lower and the right side. |
| D．The upper and the left side. |
The last paragraph mainly implies that .
| A．babies are in fact cleverer than they are thought |
| B．it is impossible to understand human brain completely |
| C．numbers play the most important part in people’s lives |
| D．the ability of babies remain a mystery to scientists |
The purpose of the study is to prove that .
| A．math skills should be developed as early as possible |
| B．numbers are easier for babies to judge than images |
| C．babies really do have some sense of numbers |
| D．babies can react differently to what they see |
Vincent Willem van Gogh (30 March, 1853---29 July, 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist artist. He is considered one of the greatest artists with great influence on the greatest artists with great influence on the 20th-century art.
Van Gogh spent his early adult life working for a firm of art dealers. After a brief period as a teacher, he became a missionary (传教士) in a very poor mining region. He did not begin his career as an artist until 1880; however, during the last ten years of his life, he produced more than 2,000 pieces, including around 900 paintings and 1,100 drawing and sketches (素描). He worked only with somber colours until he met Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism in Paris. Van Gogh used their bright colours and style of painting in a uniquely recognizable style. Most of his best-known works were produced during his final two years, when he was suffering from serious mental illness.
In 1890, at the age of 37, van Gogh shot himself in the chest. He died two days later, with Theo, his brother and his best friend, at his side, who reported his last words as “The sadness will last forever”. It would not take long before his fame grew higher and higher.
Van Gogh’s mother threw away quite a number of his paintings. The only painting he sold during his lifetime, The Red Vineyard, was created in 1888. It is now on display in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, Russia. Several paintings by van Gogh rank among the most expensive paintings in the world. On March 30, 1987 van Gogh’s painting Irises was sold for a record of $53.9 million at Southby’s, New York. On May 15, 1990 his Portrait of Doctor Gachet was sold for $83.5 million at Christie’s, thus setting a new price record.When did van Gogh begin his career as an artist?
| A．At the age of 17. |
| B．At the age of 27. |
| C．In his early adult adult life. |
| D．In his early childhood. |
The underlined word “somber” in Para. 2 means .
| A．colourful | B．different | C．dark | D．bright |
What’s the right order of van Gogh’s life experience?
a. worked as a teacher
b. took up drawing
c. worked in an art firm
d. worked as a missionary
| A．c, a, b, d | B．c, a, d, b | C．b, c, a, d | D．b, a, c, d |
Which of the following can best describe van Gogh’s final two years?
| A．Sand and boring. | B．Normal and peaceful. |
| C．Happy but fruitless. | D．Painful but productive. |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．Van Gogh didn’t become famous until he dies. |
| B．Van Gogh sold many paintings in his life. |
| C．Van Gogh had become famous as an artist when he was alive. |
| D．Irises was the most expensive among van Gogh’s paintings. |
There was a wonder-filled little girl who was hurt so badly that when she entered adult life, she thought she was so bad that others just couldn’t be nice to her.
But she had a lot of curiosity, which kept her going. She sought many wise people to help her understand why she was so bad that her mother hurt her and why she was unable to be better so that men wouldn’t hurt her.
She was on a journey that she thought was to help her be “better”. She carried a big bag with her everywhere she went. Inside it were all the hurts she had experienced. Because she was so eager to please those who offered their wisdom, she willingly agreed with what they said about forgiving. But she held that bag of hurts tightly.
After 50 years of carrying that bag around and showing it to all she met as if it were proof that she was a good person, she decided to open it up and just see what happened.
When she looked inside it was filled with bits of paper. At one time they had words on them, detailing the hurts. But time had faded (使褪色) the words and all that was left was some useless paper. She had been struggling to carry this bag that held nothing but the image of something that once was.
She saw the absurdity of carrying that bag around. It made her laugh. By letting go of the paper and having pity for those that hurt her, this little girl was able to become a woman with beautiful hair. The woman looked in the mirror and said, “I am lovable.”
Although it took many years, she was finally open to bringing love and respect into her life.When she grew up, the little girl wondered .
| A．where she should go |
| B．why she couldn’t be loved |
| C．how she could be a sweet girl |
| D．why she was hurt so deeply |
What advice did girl get from wise people?
| A．To please those who hurt her. |
| B．To keep carrying the bag of hurts. |
| C．To record the hurts she suffered. |
| D．To forgive those who hurt her. |
The woman laughed in the end because .
| A．she had beautiful hair |
| B．she became lovable |
| C．she realized her silliness |
| D．she became a wise woman |
According to the passage, which of the following can be used to describe the woman?
| A．Curious. | B．Kind-hearted. | C．Easy-going. | D．Devoted. |
What lesson can we learn from the story?
| A．You will walk fast without carrying a load. |
| B．You will get peace after forgiving others. |
| C．You will become young if you forget your hurts. |
| D．You will be loved after changing your image. |
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