Are you too old for fairy tales? If you think so, Copenhagen is sure to change your mind. See the city first from the water. In the harbor sits Denmark’s best-known landmark: the Little Mermaid. Remember her? She left the world of the sea people in search of becoming a human in one of Hans Christian Andersen’s beloved fantasies. From the harbor you can feel “city of green spires （尖顶）”. At dawn or on a cloudy day, the copper-covered spires of old castles and churches give the city a dream-like atmosphere. You’ll think that you’ve stepped into a watercolor painting.

Copenhagen is a city made for people. You don’t have to hurry to walk through the city’s center in less than an hour. Exploring it will take much longer, but that’s easy. Copenhagen is the first city to make a street for walking only. The city has less traffic, noise, and pollution than any other European capital.

Churches and castles are almost all remains of the original city. Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark in 1445. During the late 16th century, trade grew, and so did the city. But fires in 1728 and 1795 destroyed the old wooden buildings. Much of what we see today is from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Look at one of the spires up close — really close — at the 17th-century Church of Our Savior. Brave people may climb the 150 stairs winding outside the spire to its top. If you are afraid of heights, or if it’s a windy day, you can forget about the climb. But then you’ll miss the beautiful view.

To see people having fun, and to have some fun yourself, cross Andersens Boulevard and enter Tivoli Gardens. You won’t be alone. More than five million people a year come here. They come to dance, eat, listen to outdoor and indoor concerts, watch ballets and laugh during comedy shows. One tip: Bring a lot of money. About 20 restaurants are among the city’s most expensive. Even without money, though, you can still enjoy the proud old trees, the coloured night lights and the beautiful gardens. You might feel as if you were in a fairy tale.

1．Why is Copenhagen sure to change your mind — that you are too old for fairy tales? Because ______.

  A．the Little Mermaid is Denmark’s best-known landmark

  B．Copenhagen is a city of green spires and wooden buildings that often appears in fairy tales

  C．Copenhagen is like a dream-like watercolor painting

  D．Copenhagen is a city where you find yourself in a fairy atmosphere

2．What do you think of the city?

  A．A small quiet city which few city travelers visit.

  B．An international trade port which is busy.

  C．A beautiful ancient city with many travelers.

  D．A city where some fairy stories happened.

3．Which of the following statements is NOT true?

  A．Mermaid is a character in one of Hans Christian Andersen’s fantasies.

  B．The 17th-century Church of Our Savior is high.

  C．Mermaid is a heroine in Denmark.

  D．Copenhagen has less traffic, noise and pollution in Europe.

4．Which title is the most suitable for the passage?

     A．The imaginary fairy city — Copenhagen

  B．Not only ancient but modern — Copenhagen

  C．City of green spires — Copenhagen

       D．A fairyland — Copenhagen

The U.S.Department of Labor statistics （统计）show that there is an oversupply of college trained workers and that this oversupply is increasing. Already there have been more than enough teachers, engineers, physicists, aerospace experts, and other specialists. Yet colleges and graduate schools continue every year to turn out highly trained people to compete for jobs that aren’t there. The result is that graduates cannot enter the professions for which they were trained and must take temporary jobs which do not require a college degree.

On the other hand, there is a great need for skilled workers of all sorts: carpenters, electricians, mechanics, plumbers, TV repairmen.

These people have more work than they can deal with, and their annual incomes are often higher than those of college graduates. The old gap that white-collar workers make a better living than blue collar workers no longer holds true. The law of supply and demand now favors the skilled workmen.

The reason for this situation is the traditional myth that college degree is a passport to a prosperous future. A large part of American society matches success in life equally with a college degree. Parents begin indoctrinating （灌输）their children with this myth before they are out of grade school. High school teachers play their part by acting as if high school education were a preparation for college rather than for life. Under this pressure the kids fall in line. Whether they want to go to college or not doesn’t matter. Everybody should go to college, so of course they must go. And every year college enrollments （入学）go up and up, and more and more graduates are overeducated for the kinds of jobs available to them …

One result of this emphasis on a college education is that many people go to college who do not belong there. Of the sixty percent of high school graduates who enter college, half of them do not graduate with their class. Many of them drop out within the first year. Some struggle on for two or three years and then give up.

1．It’s implied but not stated in the passage that __________.

     A．many other countries are facing the same problem

  B．white-collar workers in the US used to make more money than blue-collar workers

  C．fewer students will prefer to go to college in the future

  D．the law of supply and demand has a strong effect on American higher education

2．Which of the following is NOT a reason why college enrollments go up every year?

     A．Many people believe that the only way to success is a college education.

     B．Many parents want their children to go to college.

     C．High school teachers urge their students to go to college.

     D．Every young man and woman wants to go to college.

3．By saying that “many people go to college who do not belong there,” the author means that __.

     A．many people who are not fit for college education go to college

     B．many people who do not have enough money go to college

     C．many people who go to college drop out within the first year

     D．many people who go to college have their hopes destroyed

4．We can infer from the passage that the author believes that ________.

     A．every young man and woman should go to college

     B．college education is a bad thing

     C．people with a college education should receive higher pay

     D．fewer people should go to college while more should be trained for skilled jobs

My new home was a long way from the centre of London but it was becoming essential to find a job, so finally I spent a whole morning getting to town and putting my name down to be considered by London Transport for a job on the tube. They were looking for guards, not drivers. This suited me. I couldn’t drive a car but thought that I could probably guard a train, and perhaps continue to write my poems between stations. The writers Keats and Chekhov had been doctors. T.S. Eliot had worked in a bank and Wallace Stevens for an insurance company. I would be a tube guard. I could see myself being cheerful, useful, a good man in a crisis. Obviously I would be overqualified but I was willing to forget about that in return for a steady income and travel privileges — those being particularly welcome to someone living a long way from the city centre.

The next day I sat down, with almost a hundred other candidates, for the intelligence test. I must have done all right because after half an hour’s wait I was sent into another room for a psychological test. This time there were only about fifty candidates. The examiner sat at a desk. You were signaled forward to occupy the seat opposite him when the previous occupant had been dismissed, after a greater or shorter time. Obviously the long interviews were the more successful ones. Some of the interviews were as short as five minutes. Mine was the only one that lasted a minute and a half.

I can remember the questions now: “Why did you leave your last job?” “Why did you leave your job before that?” “And the one before that?” I can’t recall my answers, except that they were short at first and grew progressively shorter. His closing statement, I thought, revealed （显露）a lack of sensitivity which helped to explain why as a psychologist, he had risen no higher than the underground railway. “You have failed the psychological test and we are unable to offer you a position.”

Failing to get that job was my low point. Or so I thought, believing that the work was easy. Actually, such jobs — being a postman is another one I still desire — demand exactly the sort of elementary yet responsible awareness that the habitual dreamer is least qualified to give. But I was still far short of full self-understanding. I was also short of cash.

1．The writer applied for the job because __________.

A．he wanted to work in the centre of London

B．he could no longer afford to live without one

C．he was not interested in any other available job

D．he had received suitable training

2．The writer thought he was overqualified for the job because _________.

A．he often traveled underground               B．he had written many poems

C．he could deal with difficult situations     D．he had worked in an insurance company

3．The length of his interview meant that _________.

A．he was too nervous                             B．he had not done well in the intelligence test

C．he did not like the examiner                  D．he had little work experience to talk about

4．What does the writer realize now that he did not realize then?

A．How unpleasant ordinary jobs can be.    B．How difficult it can be to get a job.

C．How unsuitable he was for the job.        D．How badly he did in the interview.

Sometime in the next century, the familiar early-morning newspaper on the front door will disappear. And instead of reading your newspaper, it will read to you. You’ll get up and turn on the computer newspaper just like switching on the TV. An electronic voice will distribute stories about the latest events, guided by a program that selects the type of news you want. You’ll even get to choose the kind of voice you want to hear. Want more information on the brief story? A simple touch makes the entire text appear. Save it in your own personal computer file you like. These are among the predictions from communications experts working on the newspapers of the future. Pictured as part of broader home-based media and entertainment systems, computer newspapers would unite print and broadcast reporting, offering news and analysis with video images of news events.

Most of the technology is available now, but convincing more people that they don’t need paper to read a newspaper is the next step. But resistance to computer newspapers may be stronger from within journalism. “ Since it is such a cultural change, it may be that the present generation of journalists and publishers will have to die off before the next generation realizes that the newspaper industry is no longer a newspaper industry.” Technology is making the end of traditional newspapers unavoidable.

   Despite technological advances, it could take decades to replace newsprint with computer screens. It might take 30 to 40 years to complete the changeover because people need to buy computers and because newspapers have established financial interests in the paper industry.

1．The best title for this passage is ______ .

A．Computer Newspapers Are Well Liked

B．Newspapers of the Future Will Likely Be on Computer

C．Newspapers Are out of Fashion

D．New Communications Technology

2．It might take 30 to 40 years for computer newspapers to replace traditional newspapers, because _____.

A．it is technologically impossible now

B．computer newspapers are too expensive

C．there is strong resistance from both the general population and professional journalists

D．You can easily save information for future use

3．Journalists are not eager to accept computer newspapers, because ________.

A．they don’t know how to use computers

B．they think computer newspapers take too much time to read

C．they think the new technology is bad

D．they have been trained to write for traditional newspaper

4．We can infer from the passage that _______.

A．all technological changes are good

B．all technologies will eventually replace old ones

C．new technologies will eventually replace old ones

D．traditional newspapers are here to stay for another century

I’m usually fairly skeptical about any research that concludes that people are either happier or unhappier or more or less certain of themselves than they were 50 years ago. While any of these statements might be true, they are practically impossible to prove scientifically. Still, I was struck by a report which concluded that today’s children are significantly more anxious than children in the 1950s. In fact, the analysis showed, normal children aged 9 to 17 exhibit a higher level of anxiety today than children who were treated for mental illness 50 yeas ago.

Why are America’s kids so stressed? The report cites two main causes: increasing physical isolation （隔离）brought on by high divorce rates and less involvement in community, among other things and a growing perception that the world is a more dangerous place.

Considering that we can’t turn the clock back, adults can still do plenty to help the next generation cope（应付）.

At the top of the list is nurturing（培养）a better appreciation of the limits of individualism. No child is an island. Strengthening social ties help build communities and protect individuals against stress.

To help kids build stronger connections with others, you can pull the plug on TVs and computers. Your family will thank you later. They will have more time for face-to-face relationships, and they will get more sleep.

Limit the amount of virtual violence your children are exposed to. It’s not just from video games and movies; children see a lot of murder and crime on the local news.

Keep your expectations for your children reasonable. Many highly successful people never attended Harvard or Yale.

Make exercise part of your daily routine. It will help you cope with your own anxiety and provide a good model for your kids. Sometimes anxiety is unavoidable. But it doesn’t have to ruin your life.

1．The author thinks that the conclusions of any research about people’s state of mind are _______.

     A．surprising            B．confusing            C．illogical               D．questionable

2．What does the author mean by saying “we can’t turn the clock back” （Para 3）?

  A．It’s impossible to slow down the pace of change.

  B．The social reality children are facing cannot be changed.

  C．Lessons learned from the past should not be forgotten.

  D．It’s impossible to forget the past.

3．According to the analysis, compared with normal children today, children treated as mentally ill 50 years ago ________.

  A．probably suffered less from anxiety       B．were probably less self-centered

  C．were considered isolated physically        D．were considered less individualistic

4．The first and most important thing parents should do to help their children is ________.

  A．to provide them with a safer environment

  B．to lower their expectations for them

  C．to get them more involved socially

  D．to set a good model for them to follow

5月11日是母亲节，你的美国朋友Catharine问你在这一天有何打算。请你根据以下提示，给她写一封回信，谈谈你要做的事情，并简单说明原因。词数不少于100，信的开头与结尾已为你写好，但不计入总词数。

1．帮助母亲做家务；2．送礼物；3．写贺卡。

Dear Catharine,

I’m very glad to receive your letter.

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

Have you got any other ideas? Look forward to your reply.

Best wishes.

Yours truly,

Wang Ping

--- Jane is seriously ill in hospital.

---Oh, sorry to hear that. I _____ to see her at once.

A. am going           B. am to go           C. shall go      D. am about to go

____ he has made an apology to you, you should excuse him for doing so.     

A. Although     B. In case     C. When      D. Now that

---You shouldn’t have taken pictures before the carved stones.

---____ .

A. Pardon me     B. Yes, I will     C. Never mind     D. Don’t mention it.

The thief is considered ____ the store of the jewelry the other day.

A. having robbed     B. to have robbed     C. to rob     D. robbing