Today, roller skating is easy and fun. But a long time ago, it wasn’t easy at all. Before 1750, the idea of skating didn’t exist. That changed because of a man named Joseph Merlin. Merlin’s work was making musical instruments. In his spare time he liked to play the violin. Joseph Merlin was a man of ideas and dreams. People called him a dreamer.
One day Merlin received an invitation to attend a fancy dress ball. He was very pleased and a little excited. As the day of the party came near, Merlin began to think how to make a grand entrance at the party. He had an idea. He thought he would get a lot of attention if he could skate into the room.
Merlin tried different ways to make himself roll. Finally, he decided to put two wheels under each shoe. These were the first roller skates. Merlin was very proud of his invention and dreamed of arriving at the party on wheels while playing the violin.
On the night of the party Merlin rolled into the room playing his violin. Everyone was greatly surprised to see him. There was just one problem. Merlin had no way to stop his roller skates. He rolled on and on. Suddenly, he ran into a huge mirror that was hanging on the wall. Down fell the mirror, breaking to pieces. Nobody forgot Merlin’s grand entrance for a long time!The text is mainly about __________.
| A．a strange man |
| B．an unusual party |
| C．how roller skating began |
| D．how people enjoyed themselves in the 18th century |
People thought Merlin was a dreamer because he __________.
| A．was full of imagination |
| B．was a gifted musician |
| C．invented the roller skates |
| D．often gave others surprises |
Merlin put wheels under his shoes in order to __________.
| A．show his skill in walking on wheels |
| B．arrive at the party sooner |
| C．test his invention |
| D．impress the party guests |
Students usually have two long holidays a year, but have you heard elephants have holidays?
The Indian elephants from a temple are sent on a north-long holiday with massages(按摩) and baths to relax. The 64 elephants will be fed with a lot of food, enough for them to put on 700~800 pounds.
A temple veterinarian said that those Indian elephants would be treated after spending a month walking on roads, living on leaves and bananas and giving shows during lots of temple festivals. Their daily diet includes special rice and other special food, which are very nutritious and can make them healthy and strong. All of these are made by professional people.
This treatment will also calm them down ahead of a busy work schedule in upcoming events later in the year where they are the main attractions. The special holiday has cost the temple about￡12,500, but extra money is ready for being used to treat the animals.
Indians believe that doing something good to elephants can help them get wisdom and power. Having elephants is a traditional symbol of honor for temples across southern India. All temples, however, never buy their elephants. The elephants were donated by people. The Indian elephants can have a __________ holiday.
| A．day’s | B．week’s | C．month’s | D．year’s |
The elephants can do the following during their holiday EXCEPT_____.
| A．eating delicious food |
| B．giving performances |
| C．taking a shower |
| D．having a massage |
What does the underlined word “nutritious” in Paragraph 3 mean?
| A．大量的 | B．有营养的 | C．昂贵的 | D．美味的 |
People give these elephants a special holiday in order to ______.
| A．save a lot of money |
| B．make friends with them |
| C．make their temples famous |
| D．make them get ready for the coming work. |
Ambassador Hotel
Welcome to the Ambassador Hotel. To make your stay as enjoyable as possible, we hope you will use our facilities to the full.
Dining Room
Breakfast is served in the dining room from 8 a.m. to 9 a. m. Alternatively, the room staff will bring a breakfast tray to your room at any time after 7 a.m. In this case, please fill out a card and hang it outside your door when you go to bed.
Lunch: 12:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Dinner: 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Room Service
This operate 24 hours a day; phone the Reception Desk(接待处), and your message will be passed to the room staff.
Telephones
To make a phone call, dial 0 for Reception and ask to be connected. We apologize for delays in putting calls through when the staff are very busy. There are also pubic telephone booths(电话亭) near the Reception Desk. Early calls should be booked with Reception.
Laundry
We have a laundry in the hotel, and will wash, iron and return your clothes within 24 hours. Ask the room staff to collect them.
Bar
The hotel bar is open from 12 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 1 a.m.
You would most probably see this notice_______.
| A．in a hotel bar |
| B．in a bedroom of a large hotel |
| C．in a hotel dining room. |
| D．at the entrance of a small hotel. |
What should you do if you arrive at the hotel at 2 p.m. and want something to eat?
| A．go to the hotel shop. |
| B．go to the hotel bar. |
| C．hang a message outside your door. |
| D．phone the Reception Desk. |
What should you do if you want to make an important call but the staffs around the Reception Desk are very busy?
| A．wait at the Reception Desk. |
| B．go to your room and phone from there. |
| C．go out and look for a public box. |
| D．use one of the phones in the entrance hall. |
Do you love hamburgers? Do you how they were created?
The first hamburgers in U.S. history were served in New Haven, Connecticut, at Louis’ Lunch sandwich shop in 1895. Louis Lassen, founder of Louis’ Lunch, ran a small lunch wagon selling steak sandwiches to local factory workers. Because he didn’t like to waste the excess beef from his daily lunch rush, he ground it up, grilled it, and served it between two slice of bread—and thus America’s first hamburger was created.
The small Crown Street restaurant is still owned and operated by the third and fourth generations of the Lassen family. Hamburgers are still the specialty of the house, where steak is ground fresh each day and hand molded, slow cooked, broiled vertically, and served between two slices of toast with your choice of only three “acceptable” garnishes: cheese, tomato, and onion.
Want ketchup or mustard? Forget it. You will be told “no” in no uncertain terms. This is the home of the greatest hamburger in the world, claim the owners, who are perhaps best known for allowing their customers to have a burger the Lassen way or not at all.Why did Louis Lassen start making hamburgers?
| A．Because he didn’t want to waste excess beef. |
| B．Because he wanted to earn more money. |
| C．Because he would like to make something special. |
| D．Because he was the founder of Louis’ Lunch. |
Which of the following is not available for customers to choose from at Louis Lunch?
| A．Cheese. | B．Tomato. |
| C．Mustard. | D．Onion. |
What does the underlined words “Crown Street restaurant” in the third paragraph refer to?
| A．A restaurant on the Crown Street. |
| B．A restaurant called Crown Street. |
| C．Louis’ Lunch sandwich shop. |
| D．A new chain shop of Louis’ Lunch on Crown Street. |
The best title of this article is________.
| A．The Creation of hamburgers |
| B．Louis’ Lunch |
| C．A king of fast-food----Hamburgers |
| D．Why People Love Hamburgers |
When I first arrived in Taiwan to teach English, I had already taken several courses in university on Mandarin Chinese. I had done well in those courses and enjoyed them very much. I thought I would be able to have a conversation with Chinese speakers and improve my Chinese in the process.
However, as soon as I settled in Taiwan I became afraid to speak. Seeing all of the signs written in Chinese, constantly overhearing long streams of spoken Chinese, and seeing the effortless fluency of some foreigners who had been there for a while, I began to doubt my own ability to speak Chinese. It’s proved that things were different outside of the classroom.
What really happened to me was what happens every day to Chinese language learners. I became afraid and nervous at the foreignness of the language. Something happened a few weeks later. I tried to spend a lot of time in public, and the sound of spoken Chinese was becoming more ordinary to me. Despite the fact that I had not been practicing my Chinese and I had not consulted my vocabulary flashcards. I begin to notice some words that I recognized from my courses in university. At first, I heard only one word. “dianhua”- telephone. After that, I begin hearing other words. Sometimes, I would hear a couple of words in one sentence.
More and more words began to stand out to me. I started studying Chinese characters and began to be able to read small blocks of text in the advertisements. When I really began speaking in Chinese to Chinese people I met, I began to learn Chinese fast and the smiles that I received in return were a fantastic reward for the work that I had done in learning the language. It was a great feeling to order food from a restaurant in Chinese, or to make a comment about the weather to the lady who works at the bank.What can we conclude from the passage?
| A．The author is sharing his Spoken Chinese experience. |
| B．The author is a fearful and cautious man. |
| C．The author didn’t get good grades at university. |
| D．The author couldn’t adjust to the life of Taiwan. |
According to the passage we know that_______.
| A．Chinese dishes and weather attract the author deeply. |
| B．the author thought he could talk with Chinese in mandarin before he arrived in Taiwan. |
| C．the author failed to improve his spoken Chinese. |
| D．the language in reality is just the same as that taught in classroom. |
Why does the author doubt his ability to speak Chinese at first?
| A．Everything in Taiwan is different from that in America. |
| B．People often misunderstand the author on purpose. |
| C．Other foreigners can’t communicate with him. |
| D．He has difficulty understanding the native language. |
What do you know about the author in the passage?
| A．He only enjoys talking with the local people in Chinese. |
| B．He can speak fluent Chinese when ordering meals at last. |
| C．He loves to make a comment on woman. |
| D．He has been rewarded for speaking Chinese. |
Being able to count at least ten people as friends makes us happy，but those with five or fewer are likely to be miserable，researchers say.
Their study of hundreds of men and women also found that people who feel satisfied with their lives always have lots of close friends and regularly make new ones.
While it is not clear whether our friends make us happy or we make friends because we are happy，the researchers say it is clear that we should maintain our friendships. Psychologist Richard Tunney said，“Whatever the reason is，actively working on friendships in the same way as to maintain a marriage is a prerequisite(必备条件) to happiness.”
Dr.Tunney，of Nottingham University，quizzed more than 1,700 people about their satisfaction with their lives and the state of their friendships.Those with five friends or fewer had just a 40 percent chance of being happy. .
In other words they were more likely to be unhappy than happy.Ten was the first number at which people were more likely to be happy than unhappy.The happiest people were those with dozens of friends，according to the study，which was carried out for the National Lottery(彩票)．
For women，this meant having 33 friends；for men，the number was 49. Dr.Tunney said，“People who were extremely satisfied with their lives had twice the number of friends of people who were extremely dissatisfied.” Women tended to have fewer friends than men but formed tighter relationships.
Interestingly，the study found that childhood friends are no more likely to make us happy than people we become close to later in life.Lottery winners，however，have a different opinion on life.They are always happier than others despite spending their time with a small circle of old friends.This could be because they trust people they’ve known for a long time.What’s the best title for this passage?
| A．The Secret to Happiness Is to Make New Friends |
| B．Having at Least 10 Good Friends Makes People Happy |
| C．Why Most People Like to Make Friends Regularly |
| D．Men’s and Women’s Friends Are Different |
Which of the following opinions may Richard Tunney NOT agree with?
| A．People with few friends are sure to be unhappy. |
| B．Our friends can make us happy. |
| C．Happiness may come from a good marriage life. |
| D．We may become happier if we have more friends. |
According to the passage，lottery winners ________.
| A．enjoy making new friends |
| B．make new friends easily |
| C．like staying with old friends |
| D．have no time to make friends |
We can conclude from the passage that ________.
| A．it’s enough for one person to have ten friends |
| B．unhappy people must have few friends |
| C．childhood friends make people happier than adulthood ones |
| D．friendships play a major role in people’s life |
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