People in the United States love their dogs and treat them well. They take their dogs for walks, let them play outside and give them good food and medical care. However, dogs without owners to care for lead a different kind of life. The expression, to lead a dog’s life, describes a person who has an unhappy existence.
Some people say we live in a dog-eat-dog world. That means many people are competing for the same things, like good jobs. They say that to be successful, a person has to work like a dog. This means they have to work very, very hard. Such hard work can make people dog-tired. And, the situation would be even worse if they became sick as a dog.
Still, people say every dog has its day. This means that every person enjoys a successful period during his or her life. To be successful, people often have to learn new skills. Yet, some people say that you can never teach an old dog new tricks. They believe that older people do not like to learn new things and will not change the way they do things.
Some people are compared to dogs in bad ways. People who are unkind or uncaring can be described meaner than a junkyard dog. Junkyard dogs live in places where people throw away things they do not want. Mean dogs are often used to guard this property. They bark or attack people who try to enter the property. However, sometimes a person who appears to be mean and threatening is really not so bad. We say his bark is worse than his bite.
Husbands and wives use this doghouse term when they are angry at each other. For example, a woman might get angry at her husband for coming home late or forgetting their wedding anniversary. She might tell him that he is in the doghouse. She may not treat him nicely until he apologizes. However, the husband may decide that it is best to leave things alone and not create more problems. He might decide to let sleeping dogs lie.
Dog expressions also are used to describe the weather. The dog days of summer are the hottest days of the year. A rainstorm may cool the weather. But we do not want it to rain too hard. We do not want it to rain cats and dogs.
【小题1】To achieve success, you must ______.

A．feel dog-tired

B．work like a dog

C．become sick as a dog

D．be meaner than a junkyard dog

【小题2】 To everyone’s surprise, Jack has been employed by a big company, about which we can say, “_______”.

A．Every dog has its day

B．Jack works like a dog

C．His bark is worse than his bite

D．Jack really lives in a dog-eat-dog world

【小题3】What kind of people live a difficult life?

A．Those who are in the doghouse.

B．Those who have the dog days.

C．Those who lead a dog’s life.

D．Those whose bark is worse than his bite.

【小题4】What does the article mainly talk about?

A．Dogs’ life in America.

B．How to treat dogs well.

C．Why Americans love dogs.

D．Expressions with the word “dog”.

A Japanese student called Mami told me about her own experiences in Britain. She spent 10 months in the UK last year, studying English at a language school. She really enjoyed her first two weeks in the UK. But soon she started to miss things of her own country. She found it hard to make friends，and got annoyed(恼火的) about local people's behaviour.  Mami said，“After a few weeks I started to cry a lot. I felt homesick.I thought the weather was dark and too changeable，and that affected my mood as well.”
To comfort herself Mami began to spend many hours on the Internet chatting with her friends back home. She spent a couple of weeks in the countryside in Kent. She went to a social club for British people who were interested in Japan and started to make some friends there. In addition,  she took a short course in calligraphy(书法)to get an opportunity of mixing with local people. A few months later，Mami's impression of the UK had greatly changed .She found that most of the British were friendly, witty and fun.
However，once Mami was back in Japan，she experienced “culture shock”again. She said，“I missed the friends I had made in England. My way of thinking had changed. Sometimes I was annoyed by the views of people in my country—for example，about the value of money and time. I thought people around me lived in such a small world.” Mami noticed some changes in her behaviour：“I kept the habit of always carrying an umbrella with me, even on a fine day—my friends thought I was crazy！”
【小题1】The second paragraph tells us ________．

A．how Mami overcame culture shock in Britain

B．how Mami felt as soon as she arrived in Britain

C．what Mami learned in her language school

D．what Mami liked and disliked about Britain

【小题2】The reason why Mami had the habit of carrying an umbrella was that ________．

A．she liked umbrellas very much

B．the umbrella reminded her of her life in the UK

C．she had got used to the changeable weather in Britain

D．it often rained in Japan those days

【小题3】Why did Mami experience culture shock in Japan?

A．She didn't like Japanese culture any more.

B．The Japanese behaviour had changed a lot.

C．The world in Japan was too small for her.

D．She had got used to British culture and life.

【小题4】The best title for the passage would be “________ ”．

A．Why not make friends with the British

B．Cultural differences between Britain and Japan

C．Culture shock experienced by a Japanese student

D．How to prepare for culture shock

You know Australia is a big country, but you may not know how easy it is to get around. The untouched beaches that go for miles and deserts that touch the horizon are just there, waiting to be reached and explored. The following are the different ways you can explore our vast country.
Getting around Australia:
Air
Flying is the best way to cover a long distance in a short time. Moreover, competition among airlines makes great flying fees available for you.
Drive
Australia has a vast network of well-maintained roads and some of the most beautiful touring routes in the world. It’s easy for you to find car rental companies at major airports, central city locations, suburbs and attractions.
Bus
Bus travel in Australia is comfortable, easy and economical. Buses generally have air conditioning, reading lights, adjustable seats and videos. Services are frequent, affordable and efficient.
Rail
Train travel is the cheapest and gives you an insight into Australia’s size and variety. Scheduled services are a great way to get quickly between our cities and regional centers.
Ferry
The Spirit of Tasmania runs a passenger and vehicle ferry service between Melbourne and Tasmania nightly. Extra services are running during summer rush hours. Ferries connect suburbs in our capital cities.
Walk
With easy on the feet pedestrian streets, walking is a great way to get around our cities.
Besides all the above, you can also experience some of the longest tracks and trails in the world in central Australia—impressive journeys of a thousand kilometers or more that can take several weeks to complete.
【小题1】The underlined word “untouched” in the 1st paragraph means __________.

A．unmoved

B．special

C．natural

D．unconnected

【小题2】Which of the following is TRUE about travelling in Australia?

A．More travelers make the flying fees among airlines higher than before.

B．You can easily rent a car to explore its most beautiful touring routes.

C．Taking a bus tour is the most comfortable, economical and efficient way.

D．Train services can offer you more comfort than any other means of transport.

【小题3】Ferry service between Melbourne and Tasmania usually runs __________.

A．only at night hours	B．only during rush hours
C．several times a day	D．between different cities

【小题4】Where does the article come from?

A．Scientific journal

B．Magazine

C．Travel Guide

D．Text Book

【小题5】If you have only 5 days and want to visit Australia’s famous attractions that are far away from each other, which way of travelling best suits you?

A．By air.

B．By car.

C．By bus.

D．On foot.

People in the United States honor their parents with two special days: Mother’s Day, on the second Sunday in May, and Father’s Day, on the third Sunday in June.
Mother’s Day was proclaimed（宣告）a day for national observance by President Woodrow Wilson in 1915. Ann Jarvis from Grafton, West Virginia, had started the idea to have a day to honor mothers. She was the one who chose the second Sunday in May and also began the custom of wearing a carnation（康乃馨）.
In 1909, Mrs. Dodd from Spokane, Washington, thought of the idea of a day to honor fathers. She wanted to honor her own father, William Smart. After her mother died, he had the responsibility of raising a family of five sons and a daughter. In 1910, the first Father’s Day was observed（庆祝）in Spokane. Senator Margaret Chase Smith helped to establish Father’s Day as a national commemorative day, in 1972.
These days are set aside to show love to parents. They raise their children and educate them to be responsible citizens. They give love and care.
These two special days are celebrated in many different ways. On Mother’s Day people wear carnations. A red one symbolizes a living mother. A white one shows that the mother is dead. Many people attend religious services to honor parents. It is also a day when people whose parents are dead visit the cemetery（墓地）. On these days families get together at home, as well as in restaurants. They often have outdoor barbecues for Father’s Day. These are days of fun and good feelings and memories.
【小题1】According to the passage, which of the following about the second Sunday in May is not true?

A．It is a day to show love to mothers.

B．It is a day to wear carnations.

C．It is a day for people to visit the cemetery.

D．It is a day for many people to attend religious services.

【小题2】Choose the right time order of the following events.
a. The first Father’s Day was observed.
b. Mother’s Day was proclaimed a day for national observance.
c. Father’s Day became a day for national observance.
d. The idea of honoring fathers was put forward.

A．a b c d

B．d a b c

C．b a c d

D．d a c b

【小题3】Who plays the most important role in Father’s Day becoming a national commemorative day?

A．Margaret Chase Smith	B．Mrs. Dodd
C．Ann Jarvis	D．Woodrow Wilson

【小题4】From the passage, we know in the U.S. __________.

A．one should wear a red carnation if one’s mother passed away

B．on Mother’s Day, families often go out to have barbecues

C．on Father’s Day, people often stay at home to celebrate the special day

D．the purpose to have these two special days is to show love to parents

【小题5】The author’s purpose of writing this passage is to __________.

A．call on people to love and respect their parents

B．introduce Mother’s Day and Father’s Day

C．tell the difference between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day

D．show how important fathers and mothers are

There are many differences between British English and American English.I used to teach a course about the differences between the two.We speak English on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean but we have many differences in our common language.We have examples of the same words having very d ifferent meanings，differing spellings of the same words as well as completely different words for the same things.Here are some examples.
A cookie in the US is called a biscuit in the UK.A biscuit in the US is a small cake in the UK.Crisps in the UK，are known as chips，but we British people eat a plate of chips that you call fries in the US.In the UK，a pie can be made from either meat or fruit，while in the US pies are normally made from fruit；pot pies are made from meat.Most things are measured in grams and kilograms in the US，not pounds and ounces.
One very obvious(明显的)difference is the side of the road we each choose to drive on.Petrol in the UK is gas in the US.The place where we fill up our cars，in the UK，is a garage；while in the US，it’s a gas station.The term garage is also used as a place to store your car next to or close by your house.In the UK we call a lorry what is known as a truck in the US.
An elevator in the US is called a lift here，and the first floor in the US，is calle d the ground floor here，so many visitors get off on the wrong floor in British hotels.
I could continue with this. There are countless examples of differences within our one shared language.With so many differences，no wonder it’s hard to understand each other well.
【小题1】The passage is mainly about the differences between British English and American English in________.

A．vocabulary

B．grammar

C．sound

D．spelling

【小题2】It’s implied in the passage that the author may be________.

A．a driver from the US

B．a cook from the US

C．a teacher from the UK

D．a gas station worker from the UK

【小题3】In the author’s opinion，________.

A．language differences don’t affect understanding

B．the same words in the two different types of English may have different spellings

C．there will be fewer differences between American and British English in the future

D．it is impossible that some Americans get off on the wrong floor in British hotels

【小题4】What can we learn from the passage?

A．“Elevator”is commonly used in the UK.

B．Pies mean the same thing in the UK and the US.

C．In the UK，things are measured in pounds and ounces.

D．British and American people drive on the same side of the road.

Mark Twain has been called the inventor of the American novel. And he surely deserves additional praise: the man who popularized the clever literary attack on racism.
I say clever because anti-slavery fiction had been the important part of the literature in the years before the Civil War. H. B. Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is only the most famous example. These early stories dealt directly with slavery. With minor exceptions, Twain planted his attacks on slavery and prejudice into tales that were on the surface about something else entirely. He drew his readers into the argument by drawing them into the story.
Again and again, in the postwar years, Twain seemed forced to deal with the challenge of race. Consider the most controversial, at least today, of Twain’s novels, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Only a few books have been kicked off the shelves as often as Huckleberry Finn, Twain’s most widely read tale. Once upon a time, people hated the book because it struck the mass rude. Twain himself wrote that those who banned the book considered the novel “trash and suitable only for the slums”. More recently the book has been attacked because of the character Jim, the escaped slave, and many occurrences of the word nigger. (The term Nigger Jim, for which the novel is often severely criticized, never appears in it.)
But the attacks were and are silly—and miss the point. The novel is strongly anti-slavery. Jim’s search through the slave states for the family from whom he has been forcibly parted is heroic. As J. Chadwick has pointed out, the character of Jim was a first in American fiction — a recognition that the slave had two personalities, “the voice of survival within a white slave culture and the voice of the individual: Jim, the father and the man.”
There is much more. Twain’s mystery novel Pudd’nhead Wilson stood as a challenge to the racial beliefs of even many of the liberals of his day. Written at a time when the accepted wisdom held Negroes to be inferior to whites, especially in intelligence, Twain’s tale centered in part around two babies switched at birth. A slave gave birth to her master’s baby and, for fear that the child should be sold south, switched him for the master’s baby by his wife. The slave’s light-skinned child was taken to be white and grew up with both the attitudes and the education of the slave-holding class. The master’s wife’s baby was taken for black and grew up with the attitudes and intonations of the slave.
The point was difficult to miss: nurture, not nature, was the key to social status. The features of the black man that provided the stuff of prejudice—manner of speech, for example—were, to Twain, indicative of nothing other than the conditioning that slavery forced on its victims.
Twain’s racial was not perfect . One is left uneasy, for example, by the lengthy passage in his autobiography about how much he loved what were called “nigger shows” in his youth--mostly with white men performing in black-face---and his delight in getting his mother to laugh at them. Yet there is no reason to think Twain saw the shows as representing reality. His frequent attacks on slavery and prejudice suggest his keen awareness that they did not.
Was Twain a racist? Asking the questioning the 21st century is as wise as asking the same of Lincoln. If we read the words and attitudes of the past through the “wisdom” of the considered moral judgments of the present, we will find nothing but error. Lincoln, who believed the black man the inferior of the white, fought and won a war to free him. And Twain, raised in a slave state, briefly a soldier, and inventor of Jim, may have done more to anger the nation over racial injustice and awaken its collective conscience than any other novelist in the past century.
【小题1】How do Twain’s novels on slavery differ from Stowes?

A．Twain was more willing to deal with racism.

B．Twain’s attack on racism was much less open.

C．Twain’s themes seemed to agree with plots.

D．Twain was openly concerned with racism.

【小题2】The story of two babies switched mainly indicates that    .

A．slaves were forced to give up their babies to their masters

B．slaves babies could pickup slave holders’ way of speaking

C．blacks’ social position was shaped by how they were brought up

D．blacks were born with certain features of prejudice

【小题3】 What does the under lined word “they” in Paragraph 7 refer to?

A．The attacks.

B．Slavery and prejudice.

C．White men.

D．The shows.

【小题4】 What does the author mainly argue for?

A．Twain had done more than his contemporary writers to attack racism.

B．Twain was an admirable figure comparable to Abraham Lincoln.

C．Twain’s works had been banned on unreasonable grounds.

D．Twain s works should be read from a historical point of view.

New technology links the world as never before. Our planet has shrunk. It’s now a “global village” where countries are only seconds away by fax or phone or satellite link. And, of course, our ability to benefit from this high-tech communications equipment is greatly increased by foreign language skills.
Deeply involved with this new technology is a kind of modern businesspeople who have a growing respect for the economic value of doing business abroad. In modern markets, success overseas often helps support domestic business efforts.
Overseas assignments are becoming increasingly important to advancement within executive ranks. The executive stationed in another country no longer need fear being “out of sight and out of mind.” He or she can be sure that the overseas effort is central to the company’s plan for success, and that promotions often follow or accompany an assignment abroad. If an employee can succeed in a difficult assignment overseas, superiors will have greater confidence in his or her ability to manage back in the United States where cross-cultural considerations and foreign language issues are becoming more and more common.
Thanks to a variety of relatively inexpensive communications devices with business applications, even small businesses in the United States are able to get into international markets.
English is still the international language of business. But there is an ever-growing need for people who can speak another language. A second language isn’t generally required to get a job in business, but having language skills gives a candidate the edge when other qualifications appear to be equal.
The employee posted abroad who speaks the country’s language has an opportunity to fast-forward certain negotiations, and can have the cultural insight to know when it is better to move more slowly. The employee at the home office who can communicate well with foreign customers over the telephone or by fax machine is an obvious asset to the firm.
【小题1】With the increased use of high-tech communications equipment, businesspeople ________.

A．are eager to work overseas

B．have to get familiar with modern technology

C．are gaining more economic benefits from domestic operations

D．are attaching more importance to their overseas business

【小题2】In this passage, “out of sight and out of mind” (Line 3, Para. 3) probably means ________.

A．leaving all care and worry behind

B．being unable to think properly for lack of insight

C．being totally out of touch with business at home

D．missing opportunities for promotion when abroad

【小题3】According to the passage, what is an important consideration of international corporations in employing people today?

A．Ability to speak the customer’s language.

B．Connections with businesses overseas.

C．Technical know-how.

D．Business experience.

【小题4】The advantage of employees having foreign language skills is that they can ________.

A．fast-forward their proposals to headquarters

B．better control the whole negotiation process

C．easily make friends with businesspeople abroad

D．easily find new approaches to meet market needs

More than half of the world’s population live in cities. Traffic and pollution are becoming big problems in big cities all over the world. In cities like Mexico City, Shanghai or Cairo the quality of air is getting worse every day. In the United States, people spend more time sitting in traffic jams.
Some of the world’s cities have already found the answer to the problem. In Bogota, the capital of Columbia, the government has taken measures to improve the quality of life for the city’s 8 million people. They created over a thousand new parks, a new public transport system, and built hundreds of cycling and walking paths. People who live in the city also joined in making their city one of the most livable (适合居住的) places in South America.
Today city planners around the world are looking for ways to provide more room for living and less room for cars. In America, public transport has increased over 2 % since the mid 1990s — not much but a start. More and more people leave their cars at home and get on buses, trains or even ride a bike to work. Some cities are far better at planning than others. In Amsterdam, for example, only 40 % of the population use their cars to get to work, 35 % ride bikes while 25% use public transport. In Paris, about half of the city’s workers drive their cars to work.
For cities in developing countries, the problems have just started. Traffic is getting worse as more and more people can afford to buy a car.
【小题1】The writer listed Mexico City, Shanghai and Cairo as examples of cities of ______.

A．heavy traffic	B．air pollution
C．rapid development	D．large population

【小题2】What did Bogota do to improve the quality of life for its people?

A．It shut down some factories in the city.

B．It introduced a foreign public transport system.

C．It encouraged people to plant trees in the city.

D．It built new parks and a new public transport system.

【小题3】From the third paragraph, we can learn that ______.

A．35% of the population in Paris ride bikes to work

B．half of the people in Amsterdam drive their cars to work

C．a quarter of the people in Amsterdam use public transport

D．American public transport has increased much since the 1990s

【小题4】What would be the best title of the text?

A．Ways to solve traffic jams

B．New changes in transport systems

C．People’s new choice in big cities

D．Parks instead of cars for cities

When you visit America, you will see the word Motel on signs and notice boards. It is made up of “motor” and “hotel” and it is really a hotel for people who arrive by car (how-ever, you don’t need a car to stay at one). You have to pay when you arrive for your room, which usually has a bath. Meals are not provided, but there will certainly be a cafeteria (自助餐馆). Americans eat a lot of salads and sandwiches. Along the main roads there are a lot of motels. Each tries to offer more than next. Some provide television in every bedroom; others have swimming pools; and so on. Motels are especially useful when you are in the country, far from a town or city. You will also find them in the big National Parks.
In these great National Parks, you may meet guests you don’t expect to see. An American friend told me a little story. In the middle of a moonless night she heard strange noises outside her motel window in the Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Thinking it might be a thief, she jumped out of bed, opened the door and crept towards a dark shadow. As she got close, she saw the thief. She was dreadfully frightened: it wasn’t a human thief — it was a big black bear. The bear was turning over some empty tins with its paw, looking for tasty bits of food. My friend decided to leave that particular thief alone!
There are also, of course, places called “rooming houses”,  where they receive lodgers (房客). You will see such signs as Tourists or Rooms Rent, and you could try one of these. A word of warning — looking for a room in New York during the tourist season is like looking for gold on the moon!　
【小题1】Which of the following is TRUE about motels?

A．You can only find motels in the big National Parks.

B．They are free for people who arrive by car.

C．If you want to stay at a motel, you must have a car.

D．The word “motel” is formed by two words.

【小题2】 Which of the following is NOT provided by motels?

A．Baths.

B．Swimming pools.

C．TV.

D．Meals.

【小题3】 The underlined word “crept” in the second paragraph probably means “_____”.

A．moved slowly

B．rushed out

C．threw away

D．ran fast

【小题4】 From the last paragraph we can learn that in New York during the tourist season _.

A．tourists can find gold there

B．tourists can have a sweet dream there

C．it is difficult to find a room there

D．there is warning for tourists to New York

Do you have any skiing equipment you no longer need? A ski school in the far north of India could put it to good use.
In March we published a photo story about the extraordinary Zsnskar region in northern India，which is cut off from the outside world for more than seven months of the year，and only accessible (可通行的)via a frozen river．We also included information about the limited use of skiing in the region and the recent creation of the Zanskar Ski School:
“Despite the difficulties of travelling through the region when the snow comes，skiing hasn’t traditionally been used as a means of transport by the locals，largely because trees don't grow here, so there is little in the way of raw materials from which to make skis．In 1995, a group of British scientists in the region noticed the lack of skis and one of them returned to set up the Zanskar Ski School in Padam．The school provides lessons for a small fee and rents skis to the local people. Among the benefits that the school hopes to bring are improved education—children often find it difficult to get to school through the deep snow—and the possibility of offering ski tours to tourists in the future．So far，more than 300 local people have received training，and local doctors and policemen regularly borrow skis.”
But what we weren't able to include in the article is that the ski school is always on the look out for old skiing equipment—particularly of a size suitable for children—and, I thought. Now the European ski season is drawing to a close，there might be a few of you out there who have some old equipment you'd like to see go to a good home．If that's the ease you can get in touch with the school via their website www.zanskarski school.org.  
【小题1】What's the purpose in writing the text?

A．To raise money to develop this area

B．To attract more tourists to the area

C．To appeal to more locals to attend the school

D．To ask people to give away their skis to the school

【小题2】The local people don't use skiing to go about because             .

A．it is against the local custom

B．they don't have the wood to make skis

C．trees are in the way of the skiing route

D．it is dangerous to go skiing in this region

【小题3】Who would be the most helpful to the school now?

A．People having old skiing equipment．

B．Students in the Zanskar Ski School．

C．Locals in Zanskar region．

D．Tavellers enjoying skiing．

【小题4】 What can be the best title for the text?

A．An extraordinary region in India	B．A home for old skis
C．A good means of transport	D．A popular sport—skiing