There are some differences between American English and British English. Some differences are quite interesting.
When my friend Lily from London used the word “larder”, I didn’t know what it meant. Realizing I didn’t follow her, she used another word. I finally knew she wanted to find something to keep some food. The next word came up when we were planning a lunch date. She jotted down the date and time in her diary, while I marked my calendar. If she called me on the phone, she would ring me up. But if the line was busy, she would say the line was engaged.
Most times, I can know what Lily means. Last week, she regretted sending her boys to watch an early morning tennis game without their fleeces. I thought that she meant without their jackets or something like that. Other times, we have to ask each other. She recently told me a funny tale about a pissed woman. I wondered what had made the lady angry. It turns out that pissed means drunk.
Here is one more example. My British friend Jane was filling out a ticket at the grocery store recently. She asked the young man to help her if he had a rubber. When she noticed he didn’t follow her, she quickly asked for an eraser, which, in England, is often called a rubber.
In order to communicate well with British people, we Americans should learn some words that the British use differently. And I think people who learn English as a second language should also realize that there are differences between American English and British English. When Lily used the word “larder”, she was probably looking for a ______.
| A．cup | B．ladder |
| C．cupboard | D．cooker |
According to the passage, in British English ______.
| A．the word “pissed” means angry |
| B．the word “jacket” is often used |
| C．the word “engaged” means tired |
| D．the word “rubber” means eraser |
What does the underlined phrase “jotted down” in Pragraph2 mean?
| A．Wrote down | B．Cared about |
| C．Looked for | D．Settled down |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．The British way of using words. |
| B．Some new words the writer’s British friends taught her. |
| C．The reasons why Americans can’t followed the British at times. |
| D．Some words used differently in British English and American English. |
Recently, a professor of philosophy in the United States has written a book called Money and the Meaning of Life. He has discovered that how we deal with money in our day-to-day life has more meaning than we usually think. One of the exercises he asked his students to do is to keep a record of every penny they spend for a week. From the way they spend their money, they often see what they really value in life.
He says our relation with others often becomes clearly defined when money enters the picture. You might have wonderful friendship with somebody and you think that you are very good friends. But you will know him only when you ask him to lend you some money. If he does, it brings something to the relationship that seems stronger than ever before. Or it can suddenly weaken the relationship if he doesn’t. This person may say that he has a certain feeling, but if it is not carried out in the money world, there is something less real about it.
Since money is so important to us, we consider those who possess a lot of it to be very important. The author interviewed some millionaires in researching his book.
Question: What is the most surprising thing you have discovered about being rich, because you are a self-made man?
Answer: The most surprising thing is how people give me so much respect. I am nothing. I don‘t Know much. All I am is rich.
People just have an idea of making more and more money, but what is it for? How much do I need for any given purposes in my life? In his book, the professor uncovered an important need in modern society: to bring back the idea that money is an instrument rather than the end. Money plays an important role in the material world, but expecting money to give happiness may be missing the meaning of life.According to the first paragraph, people have not realized ________.
| A．how important money is in their day-to-day life |
| B．how one spends money shows what is important to him |
| C．that money is more important than their philosophy of life |
| D．that their understanding of life is more important than money |
The author seems to believe that asking your friend to lend you some money ________.
| A．is a good way to test your friendship |
| B．will do harm to your friendship |
| C．will strengthen your friendship |
| D．is a good way to break off your friendship |
What can we learn about the millionaire from his answer in the interview?
| A．He does not feel that he is well educated. |
| B．He does not think that he is a very important person. |
| C．He does not think that being rich deserves so much attention. |
| D．He does not consider himself to be very successful. |
What does the American professor of philosophy want to explain in his book?
| A．Money is an end. | B．Money is a means. |
| C．Money is everything. | D．Money is unimportant. |
Lillian Hanson, a college student, expects to graduate in about two years. What makes Mrs Hanson different from her classmates is her age-----73 years. She has been studying at college, a few courses at a time, for 27 years.
When Lillian Hanson graduated from high school, she went to the bank to borrow money for further education. The banker gave her no encouragement. He didn‘t think that a country girl should borrow money to go to college. He thought she should be at home doing work in the house or around the farm. So Lillian Hanson went home and raised a family of nine children instead of going to college. Mrs Hanson never forgot her dream of getting a higher education. When her children were grown, she tried again.
She finds that it is the hardest part of going back to school at her age to sit in class for long periods of time. Because she is not as quick as she used to be, Mrs Hanson often gets up and walks around classes to keep from getting stiff(不灵活). At the beginning of a course in using the computer, the other students all stood up to give her a warm welcome when she introduced herself and explained why she was there and what her aims were. Mrs Hanson couldn’t go to college immediately after she graduated from high school because _____.
| A．she hadn‘t got enough money | B．she was a country girl |
| C．the banker ordered her not to borrow any money | |
| D．the banker thought she should raise a family of nine children |
The computer students welcomed Mrs Hanson warmly because ______.
| A．she had got an excellent result in the exam |
| B．she was good at telling funny stories |
| C．they wanted to get her help in their studies |
| D．they were deeply moved by her spirit |
Mrs Hanson is the sort of person who ________.
| A．cares for study very much | B．likes to borrow money from the bank |
| C．never misses a chance to talk | D．tries to save any money for her family |
In which order did Mrs Hanson do the following things?
a. she began her studies at college.
b. She finished high school.
c. She got married and gave birth of nine children.
d. She had her 73 rd birthday.
e. She went to the bank to borrow money.
| A．a c b e d | B．b e c a d | C．b c e d a | D．e d a c b |
PALO ALTO, California------"Switching off the television may help prevent children from getting fatter------ even if they do not change their diet or increase the amount they exercise," US researchers said last week.
A study of 192 third and fourth graders, generally aged eight and nine, found that children who cut the number of hours spent watching television gained nearly two pounds(0.9kg) less over a one-year period than those who did not change their television diet.
"The findings are important because they show that weight loss can only be the result of a reduction in television viewing and not any other activity," said Thomas Robinson, a pediatrician(儿科专家) at Stanford University.
"American children spend an average of more than four hours per day watching television and videos or playing video games, and rates of childhood being very fat have doubled over the past 20 years," Robinson said.
In the study, presented this week to the Pediatric Academic Societies‘ annual meeting in San Francisco, the researchers persuaded about 100 of the students to reduce their television viewing by one-quarter to one-third.
Children watching fewer hours of television showed a significantly smaller increase in waist size and had less body fat than other students who continued their normal television viewing, even though neither group ate a special diet or took part in any extra exercise.
"One explanation for the weight loss could be the children unstuck to the television may simply have been moving around more and burning off calories," Robinson said.
"Another reason might be due to eating fewer meals in front of the television. Some studies have suggested that eating in front of the TV encourages people to eat more," Robinson said.The author tries to tell us in the first two paragraphs that ________.
| A．children will get fatter if they eat too much |
| B．children will get thinner if they eat less |
| C．children will get fatter if they spend less time watching TV |
| D．children will get fatter if they spend more time watching TV |
According to the passage, the time American children usually spend on watching TV_____.
| A．is more than four hours a day | B．is less than four hours a day |
| C．doubled in the last twenty years | D．is more than on any other activities |
The time children spend on TV viewing every day is suggested to be about ________.
| A．six hours | B．eight hours | C．three hours | D．one hour |
Which one of the following is right?
| A．Children usually eat fewer while watching TV. |
| B．Children usually eat more while watching TV. |
| C．Children eat the same amount of meals while watching TV. |
| D．Children usually eat nothing while watching TV. |
Why can watching TV increase kids’ weight according to the passage?
A. They usually eat more while watching TV.
B. They burn off fewer calories.
C. They change their diet while watching TV.
D. Both A and B.
Anger is good for you, as long as you control it, according to new psychology research. A new study from Carnegie Mellon University shows anger may help people reduce the negative impacts of stress and help you become healthier.
“Here getting emotional is not bad for you if you look at the case of anger,” said Jennifer Lerner of Carnegie Mellon. “The more people display anger, the lower their stress responses.”
Lerner studied 92 UCLA students by asking them to count back from 6,200. They must say out loud every thirteenth number. Researchers disturbed them by asking them to count faster or ask them other questions. If they made any mistakes, they had to restart from the very beginning. Many students felt depressed about making so many mistakes or got angry.
Lerner used a hidden video camera and recorded all their facial expressions during the test. The researchers describe their reactions as fear, anger and disgust.
Other researchers recorded the students’ blood pressure, pulse and production of a high-stress hormone（荷尔蒙）called cortisol. People whose faces showed more fear during the experiment had higher blood pressure and higher levels of the hormone. Both can have lasting effects such as diabetes（糖尿病）, heart disease, depression and extra weight gain.
When people feel fear, negative impacts increase, but when they get angry, those negatives go down, according to the study.
“Having that sense of anger leads people to actually feel some power in what otherwise is a maddening（令人发狂的）situation,” Lerner said.
Lerner previously studied Americans’ emotional response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks two months after the incident. She found people who reacted with anger were more optimistic. These people are healthier compared with those who were frightened during the event. So in maddening situations, anger is not a bad thing to have. It’s a healthier response than fear. What is the story mainly about?
| A．The findings of new psychology research. |
| B．What you can do with anger in certain cases. |
| C．Different effects produced by anger and fear. |
| D．Healthier responses in maddening situations. |
Which statement will Jennifer Lerner agree with?
| A．It’s better to be angry than to be frightened. |
| B．Different reactions reflect different outlooks on life. |
| C．Don’t control your anger and it makes you powerful. |
| D．Pessimistic people are generally healthier than optimistic people. |
What does the underlined word “both” refer to according to the passage?
| A．Fear and anger. | B．Blood pressure and pulse. |
| C．Blood pressure and cortiso1. | |
| D．Higher blood pressure and higher levels of the hormone. |
In what ways can anger be beneficial to people?
| A．By showing their optimistic side. | B．By reducing their stress. |
| C．By reducing high blood pressure. | D．By taking the place of fear. |
The researchers irritated（激怒）the students by __________.
| A．recording their performance secretly |
| B．asking them to count to 6, 200 again and again |
| C．disturbing them and making them start all over again |
| D．criticizing them when they made mistakes |
Everybody has one of those days when everything goes wrong. This is what happened to Harry.
He got up one morning very late because he had forgotten to wind up his alarm clock（闹钟）. He tried to shave（刮脸）quickly and cut himself. When he got dressed he got blood all over his clean shirt, so he had to find another one. The only other shirt that was clean needed ironing（熨）, so he ironed it. While he was ironing it, there was a knock at the door. It was the man to read the electricity meter（表）. He showed him where the meter was, said good-bye and found that the iron had burnt a hole in his shirt. So he had to wear the one with the blood on it after all. By this time it was very late, so he decided he couldn’t go to work by bus. He telephoned for a taxi to take him to work. The taxi arrived and Harry got in and began to read the newspaper.
In another part of the town, a man had killed a woman with a knife and was seen to run away in a taxi. When Harry’s taxi stopped outside his office, a policeman happened to be standing there. He saw the blood on Harry’s shirt, and took him to the police station. He was kept till 3 o’clock in the afternoon before the police were sure that he was not the man they wanted. When he finally arrived at the office at about four, his boss took a look at him and told him to go away and find another job.Harry had __________.
| A．a lucky day | B．an unlucky day | C．a busy day | D．a good day |
Put the following sentences into correct order according to the passage.
a. The man who read the electricity meter came.
b. Harry ironed his shirt.
c. Harry got blood all over his clean shirt.
d. There was a knock at the door.
e. Harry wore the shirt with blood on it.
| A．a, b, c, d, e | B．b, a, d, c, e | C．b, a, c, d, e | D．c, b, d, a, e |
Why did Harry wear the shirt with blood on it?
| A．The iron had burnt a hole in his clean shirt. |
| B．The only other needed ironing. |
| C．He had only one shirt. |
| D．He cut himself and got blood all over his shirt. |
Harry was taken to the police station because __________.
| A．his taxi stopped outside his office and a policeman happened to be there |
| B．there was blood on his shirt and he was in a taxi |
| C．a man killed a woman with a knife |
| D．the murderer（杀人犯）was seen to run a away in a taxi |
His boss told him to go away and find another job because __________.
| A．he had been kept by the police | B．there was blood on his shirt |
| C．he was late for work | D．he had killed a woman |
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