There are some stories behind English words.
You've spent a lot of time studying how to use English in a proper way. But have you ever wondered why English speakers say some of the things they say? For example, why do they say "an easy task" is "a piece of cake"? Why do the two letters "OK" means "all right"?
Many English words and phrases have stories behind them. Sometimes these stories can help us look back into old western history. Let's take a look at a few of the original * common English words and phrases: OK
"OK" was an American who lived in the 19th century. His name was "Old Kinderhook". In one year he was trying to take the place of the leader of his town. His supporters went around the town shouting " OK \ OK \" The supporters thought their future leader was " all right". The expression caught on, and now if something is "all right" , people like to say "OK|"
Boss*
Is your boss nice to you? If not, just be glad you weren't living in the old times. Back to that time, bosses could do anything bad to their men and could even beat* them! That explains why the word "boss" comes from an old German word meaning "to beat".
A piece of cake
A famous American writer named Ogden Nash lived in the 1930s. Many readers enjoyed his poems and wrote them down in their notebooks. In one of his poems, Nash wrote, " Her picture's in the papers now, and life's a piece of cake. " His readers found these words interesting and quickly wrote them down. They thought that if one picture in a newspaper could make you famous, wouldn't life be easy?
For nearly 70 years, "a piece of cake" has meant any task or activity that is easy.
Some of English words can tell us stories about_________.
| A．how people learned English |
| B．how English speakers create the words |
| C．how people spoke English |
| D．how people taught others to speak English |
The word "boss" in old German means "_________".
| A．to work | B．to help |
| C．to beat | D．to kill |
"OK" comes from "_________".
| A．Old King | B．Old Kindman |
| C．Old Kinderhook | D．Old Mcdonald |
In this passage "a piece of cake" means "_________".
| A．an easy task or activity |
| B．a difficult task or activity |
| C．a simple newspaper to read |
| D．a famous picture in a newspaper |
Happiness is for everyone. You don’t need to care about those people who have beautiful houses with large gardens and swimming pools or those who have nice cars and a lot of money and so on. Why? Because those who have cars may want to walk on the country roads in their free time.
In fact, happiness is always around you if you put your heart into it. When you are in trouble at school, your friends will help you; when you study hard at your lessons, your parents are always taking good care of your life and your health; when you get success, your friends will say congratulations to you; when you do something wrong , people around you will help you to correct it. And when you do something good to others, you will feel happy, too. All these are your happiness. If you notice a bit of them, you can see that happiness is always around you.
Happiness is not the same as money. It is a feeling of your heart. When you are poor, you can also say you are very happy, because you have something else that can’t be bought with money. When you meet with difficulties, you can say loudly you are very happy, because you have more chances to challenge yourself. So you cannot always say you are poor and you have bad luck. As the saying goes, life is like a revolving (旋转的) door. When it closes, it also opens. If you take every chance you get, you can be a happy and lucky person.Those who have big houses may often feel _____.
| A．lonely | B．happy | C．excited | D．free |
When you fall down in a PE class, both your teacher and your classmates will _____.
| A．play jokes on you | B．help you up |
| C．quarrel with you | D．laugh at you |
What will your friends say to you when you make great progress?
| A．Good luck | B．Oh, so do I |
| C．Congratulations | D．It’s just so-so |
Which idea is not right according to the passage?
| A．People who have cars would never like to walk in the open air. |
| B．Happiness is always around you though difficulties come towards you. |
| C．You can get help from others when you make mistakes. |
| D．You can still be a happy person even if you have little money. |
Which of the following is this passage about?
| A．Bad luck. | B．Life | C．Good luck | D．Happiness |
At present, too much carbon dioxide(二氧化碳) makes the earth warmer and warmer and causes terrible effect to human beings. To save our planet, to save ourselves, a new lifestyle called low-carbon life(低碳生活) becomes popular. Low carbon means low energy and no waste. It is necessary for everybody to learn to live a low-carbon life.
To live a low-carbon life, we’d better save energy as possible. Turn off the lights and TV whenever they are not needed. If possible, use cold water to wash clothes or dishes. Take a short shower and try to take a cold one when the weather gets warm. Don’t do the cooking with electricity.
To live a low-carbon life, we should eat less meat. Everybody knows eating too much meat makes people fat and easy to have heart disease, but maybe you don’t know keeping animals for food produces even more carbon dioxide than all the cars in the world, and being a vegetarian can help reduce one and a half tons of carbon dioxide a year. Maybe it is a little difficult, but it’s really necessary.
To live a low-carbon life, we are supposed to do less shopping. When we go shopping, we may drive a car or take other transportations. On the one hand, these machines pollute the air and waste energy. On the other hand, most of us always buy some useless things because of some advertisements. It is not only a waste of money but also causes trouble to the earth, because as you know, making everything will produce carbon dioxide more or less.
There are many other ways to live low-carbon life, such as recycling things, planting trees and reusing textbooks. If we can keep it a habit in our daily life, the earth will become a safer planet for us to live on.
根据短文内容，选择正确答案。_____ makes the weather on the earth get warmer.
| A．Little rubbish | B．A waste of money |
| C．Too much carbon dioxide | D．A waste of water |
We can _____ to save energy in our daily life.
| A．use less electricity |
| B．go to sleep with lights on |
| C．wash clothes with hot water |
| D．drive car to work |
he underlined word “it” in the third paragraph means _____.
| A．eating less meat | B．having heart disease |
| C．keeping animals for food | D．eating less vegetables |
We should do less shopping because _____.
| A．wasting money causes trouble to people |
| B．the advertisements are sometimes misleading |
| C．the less you shop, the less carbon dioxide will be produced |
| D．some of the things you bought are useless |
If everybody lives a low-carbon life, _____.
| A．we will waste more energy |
| B．there will be less carbon dioxide |
| C．the earth will become a dangerous place to live on |
| D．there will be more carbon dioxide |
What do people do with their old, out of date but still useful computers? Most people don’t know how to deal with them. Many old computers are put away. Many more are simply thrown away as rubbish.
Finally, some companies are thinking of ways to bring down the number of old computers. Sony has agreed to help recycle old Sony products(产品). Dell, Hewlett Packard and other companies now also take back some old computers of their own brands.
In some countries, laws have been passed, too. Computer companies have to pay for collecting and recycling their used products. And 70% of the computer waste must be recycled. The idea behind the laws is that computer companies themselves should pay for the cost. That will encourage them to make computers which are easier and cheaper to repair and upgrade(升级).
Yet many people are throwing away good computers, while others cannot afford them at all. Hundreds of organizations are working on this problem. They collect and repair old computers. Some also teach others how to repair computers. These repaired computers then go to schools, charities(慈善团体) or people who need them. Giving a used computer to one of these organizations can turn one person’s rubbish into someone else’s useful things and cut down waste, too.
根据短文内容，选择正确答案。What do many people do with old computers?
| A．They repair them. |
| B．They sell them. |
| C．They send them to others. |
| D．They stop using them. |
How many computer companies are mentioned in the second paragraph？
| A．One. | B．Two. | C．Three. | D．Four. |
According to the laws in some countries, computer companies must _____.
| A．recycle most of their products |
| B．collect all their used products |
| C．repair and upgrade old computers |
| D．make more cheaper computers |
What do the organizations do to solve the problem of old computers?
| A．Help the computer companies to collect them. |
| B．Repair and send them to those who need them. |
| C．Help people to learn to use them. |
| D．Turn rubbish into useful things. |
What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．Repairing old computers. |
| B．Encouraging to make cheap computers. |
| C．Recycling old computers. |
| D．Helping those who need computers. |
A kind of little cars may take the place of today’s big ones many years later. If everyone drives such cars in the future, there will be less pollution in the air. There will also be more space for parking in cities, and the streets will be less crowded.
The little cars of the future will cost less. Driving will be safer, too, since these little cars can go only 65 kilometers an hour. The cars of the future will be fine for going around a city, but they will not be useful for a long way. Little cars will go 450 kilometers before they need to stop for more gasoline (汽油). If big cars are still used with the small ones, two kinds of roads will be needed in the future. Some roads will be needed for the big, faster cars and other roads will be needed for the small, slower ones.
根据短文内容，选择正确答案。There is much pollution in the air today because _____.
| A．people drive big cars |
| B．people drive little cars |
| C．small cars will go 450 kilometers before they need to stop for more gasoline |
| D．the usual size of cars today is too small |
The usual size of cars today is _____.
| A．much smaller than the future one |
| B．as big as the future ones |
| C．as small as the future ones |
| D．bigger than the future ones |
Which of the following statements (陈述) is NOT true?
| A．Big cars cost more. |
| B．Big cars are not useful for a long way. |
| C．The cars of the future will be smaller than today’s cars. |
| D．Small cars are slower than big ones. |
The streets will be less crowded because _____.
| A．there will be fewer cars in the future |
| B．there will be fewer people in the streets |
| C．three kinds of roads will be built |
| D．future cars will be smaller |
Two kinds of roads will be needed in the future because _____.
| A．there will be too many cars in the future |
| B．more and more people will go to cities |
| C．big cars run faster and little cars run slower |
| D．it looks more beautiful to have two kinds of roads |
Want to know what we can do to help make our city a better place to live in? Why not take part in “Clean & Green weekend”? Join us, and you can make new friends and help protect the environment at the same time.
Park Life
Do you like hanging out in the park with your friends? If so，why not take the chance to come with us and tidy up the park as you go？To add some fun, there is a gift for the person who collects the most rubbish! Meet us at the south entrance to Taohe Park at 9 a.m. next Saturday if you want to join in.
The Air You Breathe
A great way to make the air we breathe cleaner is by planting lots of trees！It is a fact that trees slowly filter（过滤）a lot of pollutants from the air. So come and help us plant some new ones in Fenhe Park at 2 p.m. next Sunday.
War on Graffiti（涂鸦）
Some people think graffiti is cool. Well, it is not! The best way to stop buildings from becoming totally covered in ugly graffiti is to get rid of it as soon as possible. And that is exactly what we are going to do. We are repainting the school walls from 1 p.m. on Saturday. You don’t have to bring any tools, just remember to wear some old clothes！
根据上面三个倡议的内容，选择正确答案。
The main purpose of “Clean & Green Weekend” is to .
| A．make our city more beautiful |
| B．offer the chance to have fun |
| C．help students meet old friends |
| D．have a nice weekend |
The students who want to join in the rubbish collecting activity must meet .
| A．at 1 p.m. on Saturday |
| B．at 2 p.m. next Sunday |
| C．at 9 a.m. next Saturday |
| D．at 3 a.m. on Sunday |
If we’re going to repaint the school walls, we need to .
| A．draw pictures well |
| B．wear some old clothes |
| C．bring some tools with us |
| D．wear some new clothes |
According to the passage, we know .
| A．graffiti can make the buildings look cool |
| B．the person who collects rubbish can get a gift |
| C．we can plant trees to improve the environment |
| D．we can draw pictures on the wall |
We might read the above passage .
| A．in a fashion magazine |
| B．on a school notice board |
| C．in a newspaper advertisement |
| D．on a hospital notice board |
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