On October 19, 1959, the first Special English program was broadcast on the Voice of America. It was an experiment. The goal was to communicate by radio in clear and simple English with people whose native language is not English. Experts said the goal was admirable, but the method would not work. They were proved wrong. The Special English programs quickly became some of the most popular on VOA. And they still are.
Forty years later, Special English continues to communicate with people who are not fluent in English. But during the years its role has expanded. It also helps people learn American English. And it provides listeners, even those who are native English speakers, with information they cannot find elsewhere.
Today, Special English broadcasts around the world seven days a week, five times a day. Each half-hour broadcast begins with ten minutes of the latest news followed by 20 minutes of feature programming. There is a different short feature every weekday about science, development, agriculture and environment, and on the weekend, about news events and American idioms.
Three elements make Special English unique. It has a limited vocabulary of 1500 words. Most are simple words that describe objects, actions or emotions. Some are more difficult. They are used for reporting world events and describing discoveries in medicine and science. Special English is written in short, simple sentences that contain only one idea. No idioms are used. And Special English is spoken at a slower pace, about two-thirds the speed of Standard English. This helps people learning English hear each word clearly. It also helps people who are English speakers understand complex subjects.
Through the years, Special English has become a very popular tool for teaching English, even though it was not designed as teaching program. It succeeds in helping people learn English in a non-traditional way. Individuals record the programs and play them over and over to practice their listening skills. In countries around the world, English teachers assign Special English to their students. They praise it for improving their students' ability to understand American English and for the content of the programs. Universities and private companies in many countries produce packages of Special English materials for student use.
At the beginning, Special English program was .
| A．well received |
| B．rejected by native people |
| C．doubted by some professionals |
| D．intended for teaching English |
What kind of English is spoken on Special English?
| A．British English. |
| B．American English. |
| C．Both British and American English. |
| D．Not certain. |
Which of the following are the elements that make Special English unique?
a. limited vocabulary
b. short simple sentences
c. good communication method
d. slow speed
e. interesting feature programming
| A．a, b, c | B．a, c, d |
| C．a, b, d | D．b, d, e |
From the last paragraph we can infer that .
| A．listening to Special English can be a student’s homework |
| B．listening to Special English can improve the content of the program |
| C．some student record the Special English material for sale |
| D．learning English from VOA is a traditional way for English learner. |
Where Are We Going, Dad? presents a new generation of men, in a break from Chinese tradition, now take an active role in their children's lives.
Five star fathers and their children travel around China, riding camels through the western deserts, fishing off the east coast, and selling vegetables for their bus fare(费用) home in remote(偏远的) southwestern Yunnan province. One dad doesn’t know how to do his daughter’s hair, but give him a couple of days — he’ll figure it out. Another one must survive with his son for three days in the desert, where, because neither can cook, the two only eat instant noodles.
These story lines are part of Where Are We Going, Dad? which, since its first show in October, has become one of China’s most popular television shows, covering more than 600 million viewers each week. And searches for Where Are We Going, Dad? turn up over 40 million hits on Sina Weibo--China’s Twitter.
“In traditional Chinese culture, the common conception of parenthood is that the father is strict and the mother is kind. But on the show, we see fathers who are much gentler on their kids and more concerned with their upbringing,” said Li Minyi, an associate professor of early childhood education at the leading Beijing Normal University. “An important question arises in this show for modern Chinese society — what is the role of fathers in today’s China?”
“As they raise their children, parents are growing up at the same time,” said Wang Renping, a popular education expert, in an interview with the Qianjiang Evening News. “They cannot use parenting styles from 20 years ago to guide the development of children born 20 years later.”
The attraction of Where Are We Going, Dad? lies in the chance to have a close look at the lives of popular Chinese stars and their children. Audiences fancy watching the failed attempts of star dads making dinner, braiding hair(编头发), and disciplining children — tasks often left to mothers in a society still influenced by the opinion that “men rule outside and women rule inside.”In Where Are We Going, Dad, we can probably learn about .
| A．how the fathers do housework at home |
| B．how the children study in their spare time |
| C．how the fathers look after and guide their children |
| D．how the children help their father with their travel around China |
Which of the following is RIGHT according to the passage?
| A．In modern society, men should not care too much about their kids. |
| B．Where Are We Going, Dad has the most number of viewers in China. |
| C．In Chinese tradition, fathers always play an active part in their children’s lives. |
| D．While they bring up their children, parents are improving their parenting styles. |
The reason why Where Are We Going, Dad is so popular in China may include the following EXCEPT that .
| A．audiences enjoy laughing at others’ failure in life |
| B．it can make people laugh and think at the same time |
| C．people love watching the stars and their children’s lives closely |
| D．it presents a new generation of men’s role in their children’s lives |
What does the underlined word “arises” probably mean here?
| A．appears | B．escapes |
| C．settles | D．persuades |
When I walk through the streets, I pass strange rooms where people are doing strange things. Some are biking madly. Others are holding metal bars to keep them from dropping down. Still others are jumping around while someone is shouting at them. It looks like something out of Dante’s Inferno (但丁《神曲》中的《地狱篇》). But what is the most amazing is that people pay for these sufferings!
The strange rooms are gyms(健身房). It is reported that some 41 million Americans are gym members. 12% of the memberships are born in January, as they are determined to lose the holiday fat. Maybe it is good to exercise in the gym. However, should they know they can keep in good shape, spending little money, would they still agree with its necessity(必要性)?
At the age of 23, I joined a gym. I lifted weights twice a week in Muscle’s Gym. I paid as little as $200 per year. You can’t find such gyms in every city any more. Too often, the gym is fancy (花哨的) with lots of equipment. If you ask how much it costs to join it, the person at the front desk often won’t tell you straight. Instead, he’ll let you meet with a fitness consultant (健身顾问), who will provide you with a great number of reasons and suggestions, such as losing weight and getting healthier, just in order to put pressure on you to spend much money joining the gym and becoming a member there.
Working out(锻炼) with the help of equipment at home has problems, too. In the early 2000’s, I bought a spinning bike (动感单车) at a cost of $700 for home use. I tried a few times only to find that it brought me a neck problem.
Now I’m back to my old way. I do Yoga (瑜伽) every morning and evening. Total cost: $60 for an exercise mat(垫子) . I’m enjoying fitness.The strange rooms are places where people _________.
| A．do strange things |
| B．suffer from great pains |
| C．play Dante’s Inferno |
| D．take physical(身体的) exercise |
In the author’s opinion, joining a gym nowadays is __________.
| A．exciting | B．inexpensive |
| C．unnecessary | D．helpful |
The author wrote something about Muscle’s Gym to __________.
| A．tell us he was fat when he was young |
| B．suggest a new way of losing weight |
| C．provide us with an example of gyms |
| D．compare it with the gyms of today |
From the text we can infer that _________.
| A．many Americans put on weight after Christmas and New Year’s Day |
| B．the author and his family had spent a lot of money exercising in gyms |
| C．12% of the American people are members of gyms |
| D．spinning bikes are good equipment for exercise |
At just six years old, Joey Kilpatrick is Australia’s unofficial hide-and-seek(捉迷藏)champion after he hid in a bedroom cupboard for eight hours while playing his favorite game，causing a big rescue operation.
The determined little boy’s disappearing act led to a careful search, including nice police officers, five State Emergency Service volunteers, tracker dogs and almost all of the people of the town of Goombungee.
His mother, Chris, says she called the police when Joey disappeared one afternoon after telling his older brother, Lachlan, 14, that he was off to play hide-and-seek.
“I called the two boys for dinner,” Chris says. “After about 20 minutes I started to worry, I was shouting to Joey, ‘OK, we can’t find you, time to come out!’”
But there was no sign of her little boy. Within minutes of Chris calling the police, the policemen started one of the biggest ground searches in the town’s history.
“I was really frightened. I rang my husband, Kris, who works out of town, and he immediately hit the road, calling me every 10 minutes.” Chris recalls．“They searched the house from top to bottom; everyone was out looking for him. When a neighbor asked if I’d checked the water tank, that’s when reality hit. I was afraid.”
After hours of searching the town, confused police decided to search the house one more time.
“I just sat there waiting,” Chris says, “Then a strange feeling came over me, and I rushed into the bedroom and put my hand on a pile of blankets in the cupboard. As I pulled then out，there he was---asleep and completely not realizing what was going on! I’ve never held him in my arms so hard.”
Senior officer, Chris Brameld，from Goombungee police，says he is glad that Joey’s game had a happy ending: “When we realized he was safe, we agreed that it didn’t get much better than that!”
And young Joey promises that next time he won’t be so intent(专注于) on finding the best hiding place. “I want to say sorry to the policemen and to Mummy for scaring them,” he says, “I promise next time I’ll hide where they can find me and I won’t fall asleep!”Why did the boy hide in a bedroom cupboard?
| A．He thought it was a good place to sleep |
| B．He wanted to start a big rescue operation |
| C．He didn’t think he could be easily found there |
| D．He is Australia’s unofficial hide-and-seek champion. |
What did the boy’s mother do when she couldn’t find her son?
| A．She checked the water tank. |
| B．She called the police and her husband. |
| C．She turned to her neighbor for help. |
| D．She searched the town from top to bottom. |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．The boy felt very cold when he was found. |
| B．The boy knew clearly what was going on. |
| C．The mother usually hugged her boy very hard. |
| D．The mother was very grateful to find her boy. |
How did the boy feel after he found out what had happened?
| A．Pitiful. | B．Funny. |
| C．Frightened. | D．Sorry. |
I ran into quite a few language problems while vacationing (度假) with my family last summer. The most embarrassing was when my Mom apologized to the people we were staying with because her “pants were dirty”. They looked at her in amazement, not knowing how to react. You see, Mom had fallen over and gotten mud on her jeans. But in Britain, “pants” means underpants or knickers( 内裤), not trousers as it does back home.
Katie — From America
I went to stay with a friend on the west coast last summer. Her flat was on the first floor of a high-rise building so I got the lift up. Then I wandered round for ages looking for her flat but couldn’t find it. Fed up and tired, I finally had to go out to find a phone box. She explained that her flat was on the first floor, which for me meant the ground floor.
David — From Britain
When I asked for the “restroom” in a big department store, people kept directing(指引) me to a room with seats where I could sit and “rest”. It took me years to get through to (使...明白)someone that I only wanted the toilet!
Tom — From America
Last summer we went on a two-week family touring holiday, so Dad hired a car over the Internet. This was an old vehicle and there turned out to be lots of things wrong with it. When he phoned the hire company and tried to explain that the lock on the boot was broken, they thought he was talking about footwear! He had no idea their word for “boot” was “trunk”. In the end we went to a garage and just solved the problem.
Mary — From BritainHearing Katie’s mother’s words, Katie’s friends were in amazement because _______.
| A．Katie’s mother got mud on her jeans |
| B．Katie’s mother’s underpants were dirty |
| C．they mistook “pants” in American for underpants |
| D．they didn’t know English |
Which of the following words is from British English？
| A．Pants. | B．Ground floor. |
| C．Restroom. | D．Trunk. |
When Tom asked for the “restroom”, the people around him thought ________.
| A．he wanted to have a rest |
| B．he wanted the toilet |
| C．he wanted a chair |
| D．He wanted to go to a department store |
The underlined word “garage” is probably ________.
| A．a parking place | B．a car |
| C．a gas station | D．a place to repair cars |
Can you imagine that several hundred years ago, tomatoes were seen as toxic food in Europe?
What made Europeans believe this was John Gerard’s publication of Herbal in 1597. Gerard wrote: “The leaves and stalks of the tomato plant are toxic.” Undoubtedly, Gerard’s opinion was based on a misunderstanding of tomatoes. But his opinion was widely spread in Britain and North America for over two hundred years.
In the late 1700s, a lot of Europeans held more fears for tomatoes. A nick name for the fruit was “poison apple” because it was believed that aristocrats(贵族) got sick and died after eating them. But the actual reason was the pewter plates they used. Since tomatoes are high in acidity, when placed on the plates, the lead(铅) in the plates would dissolve(溶解). This caused many deaths. Unluckily, no one knew this at that time. So the innocent tomatoes were picked as the killer.
Today, more than one and a half billion tons of tomatoes are produced every year around the world. Tomatoes are cooked in various ways. This healthy and tasty food finally wins its innocence(清白) back.Which of the following can be the best title for this passage?
| A．Europeans’ fears for tomatoes |
| B．History of tomato planting |
| C．Why do people eat so many tomatoes |
| D．How did the tomato prove its value |
What does the underlined word “toxic” in paragraph 1 mean?
| A．delicious | B．nutritious(有营养的) |
| C．poisonous | D．safe |
When did people begin to eat tomatoes according to the text?
| A．About 100 years ago. | B．About 200 years ago. |
| C．About 300 years ago. | D．About 400 years ago. |
What’s the key point for the death of the aristocrats mentioned in the passage?
| A．Tomatoes. | B．The pewter plate. |
| C．Serious illness. | D．Chemical reaction. |
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