David Beckham had a dream: to be the first English player to appear in four World Cups．But now it appears that dream is over after a serious injury to his Achilles tendon （跟腱）

 

 

which means he could be out of action for around six months．With this year's World Cup in South Africa only three months away, sadly Beckham looks set to miss out．The injury happened while Beckham was playing for AC Milan against AC Chievo in the Italian league．After attempting to kick the ball he fell to the ground and hobbled off the pitch before being stretchered （被担架抬走）away．

It is not yet known whether he has completely severed （切断）his Achilles tendon or only torn it．The player has now flown to Finland for assessment and treatment by a knee specialist．

       England manager Fabio Capello fears the worst for Beckham's World Cup chances．

       "We have to wait for the results of the scan but it looks like he is out of the World Cup," he said in a statement．"I spoke with him after the game on Sunday night to offer my support．

       "David is a great professional and has worked very hard to be ready for the World Cup, so missing it will be a big blow．"

       Beckham's former manager at American club LA Galaxy, Alexei Lalas, echoed （共鸣 ）Capello's words of support:

       "It is a horrible situation for Beckham．I know how much it meant to him to be in the World Cup and how important he was to the England team．

       David Beckham is now 34 and some are asking whether this serious injury could mean his whole career is over．

       Whatever happens, as one of football's best-known and popular players, Beckham will have no shortage of encouragement from fans around the world．

       Some will remember Beckham's miraculous recovery from an Achilles injury in 2006, when he was back on the pitch after only eight weeks．

       If he could repeat the same feat in time for the World Cup it really would be the stuff of fairytales．

       So, perhaps all is not lost．Optimists will take heart from Alexei Lalas' words:

       "You never want to write off （排除） David Beckham as he has shown us his ability to bounce back （恢复原状）．"

1.What is the best title of the passage ?

     A．Beckham had a dream ?

     B．Beckham--- a great football player !

     C．The end for Beckham ?

     D．World Cup in South Africa !

2.What does the author mean by saying “missing it will be a big blow”?

     A．Missing the world cup will be a big success．

     B．Missing Beckham means a great failure ．

     C．Missing Beckham means an important opportunity for the American club LA Galaxy．

     D．Missing the world cup means a big disappointment for Beckham ．

3.We may infer from the passage that ________ ．

     A．Beckham will definitely not be able to play football again

     B．Beckham was cured by a great knee specialist he found

     C．Beckham has his ability to bounce back

     D．Beckham is likely to miss the world Cup

4.What does the underlined words “take heart” probably mean ?

     A．get disappointed 

       B．get help 

       C．get encouraged  

       D．get hurt

 

I am a writer. I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language—the way it can evoke（唤起） an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth. Language is the tool of my trade. And I use them all—all the Englishes I grew up with.

Born into a Chinese family that had recently arrived in California, I’ve been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks. Like others, I have described it to people as “broken” English. But feel embarrassed to say that. It has always bothered me that I can think of no way to describe it other than “broken”, as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness. I’ve heard other terms used, “limited English,” for example. But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people’s perceptions（认识）of the limited English speaker.

I know this for a fact, because when I was growing up, my mother’s “limited” English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say. That is ,because she expressed them imperfectly her thoughts were imperfect. And I had plenty of evidence to support me: the fact that people in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her.

I started writing fiction in 1985. And for reasons I won’t get into today, I began to write stories using all the Englishes I grew up with: the English she used with me, which for lack of a better term might be described as “broken”, and what I imagine to be her translation of her Chinese, her internal（内在的） language, and for that I sought to preserve the essence（本质）, but neither an English nor a Chinese structure: I wanted to catch what language ability tests can never show; her intention, her feelings, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of her thoughts.

1.By saying “Language is the tool of my trade”, the author means that ______.

A. she uses English in foreign trade             B. she is fascinated by languages

C. she is a writer by profession                   D. she works as a translator

2. The author used to think of her mother’s English as ______.

A. impolite           B. amusing           C. imperfect          D. practical

3.Which of the following is TRUE according to Paragraph 3?

A. Americans do not understand broken English.

B. The author’s mother was not respected sometimes.

C. The author’ mother had positive influence on her.

D. Broken English always reflects imperfect thoughts.

4.What is the passage mainly about?

A. The limitation of the author’s perception of her mother.

B. The changes of the author’s attitude to her mother’s English.

C. The author’s misunderstanding of “limited” English.

 

For a small but increasing  number of young women in modern-day China, true love is all about the numbers. A potential suitor may have a good sense of humor and reasonable good looks, but what they say really matters is if he owns an apartment and how many square feet it is. A sizable bank account is also a must, and, some say, so is a luxury car。

At least, that’s the way things look if you watch Chinese television these days. The latest reality-TV scandal to shock the nation involves Ma Nuo, a 22-year-old model from Beijing who appeared on China's most popular dating show, If You Are the One. She rejected an offer from a male contestant to take a ride on his bike. "I'd rather cry in a BMW (宝马) car than laugh on the backseat of a bicycle," Ma told her suitor with a giggle.

The televised words swept the Internet and made an instant celebrity of Ma, who becomes one of the most talked-about women in the country. The reaction  among young Chinese was especially severe, reflecting growing anxieties over the widening gap between rich and poor, shifting societal values and public attention on the difficulties of finding a mate in a country where men are expected to outnumber women by 24 million in a decade.

As disgusted as they have been by some of the contestants, viewers continue to watch religiously. Why are people still tuning in? "Audiences like programs because they are honest. They show the current reality of Chinese society," says Yan Mu, one of the founders of Baihe.com. Young people are so focused on making money and building their careers these days, they have little time to devote to dating, he says. "Many people feel pressure from their parents and peers," Yan adds. " It can be a struggle to find a partner." Money may not buy you love. But on China's reality shows, it can at least get you a date.

1.The underlined words“numbers”in the first paragraph include the following except_______

A．the age and degree

B．the size of the house

C．the sum of the deposit

D．the price of the belonging

2.What does Ma Nuo mean by saying“I’d rather cry in a BMW car than laugh on the backseat of a bicycle.”in the second paragraph?

A．When she is in a BMW car, she will cry	B．When she is on a bike, she will laugh
C．She prefers money to true love	D．She prefers true love to money

3.Why do many young men take part in TV dating shows?

A．because they think they may get true love from them

B．because they think China’s reality shows can at least give them a chance to date

C．because their parents and peers force them to do so

D．because viewers like dating shows

4.Which one of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．some contestants have been disgusted because they are dishonest

B．young people are too busy to take part in dating shows

C．some people are worried that societal value are changing

D．Ma Nuo rejected the bike offered by the contestant

5.What is the best title of the passage?

A．China’s TV Dating Show	B．Date for Love or money
C．Date Makes You a Celebrity	D．Popular TV Dating Show

 

As in the field of space travel, new technologies continue to appear in undersea exploration. They share a number of similarities with each other — as well as some important differences.

Manned submersibles (潜水器), like spaceships, must maintain living conditions in an unnatural environment. While a spaceship must simply be sealed against the vacuum space, a submersible must be able to bear extreme pressure if it is not to break up in deep water.

In exploring space, unmanned vehicles were employed before astronauts. In undersea exploration, on the other hand, men paved the way, and only recently have unmanned remote-operated vehicles (ROVs) been put to use.

One reason for this is that communicating with vehicles in orbit is much easier than talking to those underwater. A vacuum is an ideal medium for radio communications, but underwater communications are limited to much slower sound waves. Thus, most undersea vehicles — particularly ROVs — operate at the end of long ropes.(电缆终端)

For a similar reason, knowing where you are undersea is much more difficult than in space. A spaceship’s position can be located by following its radio signal, or by using telescopes and radar. For an undersea vehicle, however, a special network of sonar （声纳系统）devices must be laid out in advance on the ocean floor in the area of a dive to locate the vehicle’s position.

Though undersea exploration is more challenging than outer space in a number of respects, it has a distinct advantage: going to the ocean depths doesn’t require the power necessary to escape Earth’s gravity. Thus, it remains far less expensive.

1.The purpose of the passage is ______.

A．to persuade you to explore the depths of the ocean

B．to stress the importance of the undersea exploration

C．to make you believe that the undersea exploration is better

D．to tell some differences between two kinds of explorations

2. By saying “men paved the way” in Paragraph 2 the author means that in undersea exploration ______.

A．unmanned vehicles were used in the beginning

B．men covered the ocean floor with stones and bricks

C．manned vehicles were employed before unmanned ones

D．men invented unmanned remote-operated vehicles in the past

3.The sonar devices must be placed ______.

A．from time to time

B．after the undersea vehicles dive

C．before the undersea vehicles dive

D．when the undersea vehicles are diving

4.What can we infer from the passage?

A．Submersibles usually break up in deep water.

B．Undersea vehicles can receive signals immediately.

C．Going to space needs power to escape the gravity.

D．Radio communications are quite difficult in a vacuum.

 

Dr. Sylvia Earle wants you to stop eating fish. It’s not because fish are endangered, though wild fish stocks in many oceans are very low. It’s not because they’re bad for you, though fish in many areas are exposed to poisonous substances in the water. It’s because they’re smart.

“Fish are sensitive, they have personalities,” says the marine biologist. For Earle, eating a fish would be like eating a dog or a cat. “I would never eat anyone I know personally.”

There’s a lot more to fish than meets the eye: they talk to each other, they like to be touched, and they engage in behavior that can seem very human. They can remember things and learn from experience. Earle and a growing number of animal rights activists see these as strong arguments against eating fish altogether.

The activists also point out that fish feel pain and fish suffer horribly on their way from the sea to the supermarket. “While it may seem obvious that fish are able to feel pain, like every other animal, some people think of fish as swimming vegetables,” says Dr. Lynne Sneddon. “Really, it’s kind of a moral question. Is the enjoyment you get from fishing (or eating fish) more important than the pain of the fish?”

Fishermen and (fried) fish lovers are doubtful. “I’ve never seen a smart fish,” says Marie Swaringen as she finishes off a plate of fish at a Seattle seafood restaurant. “If they were very smart, they wouldn’t get caught.”

“For years, everyone’s been telling us to eat fish because it’s so good for us,” says another diner. “Now I’ve got to feel guilty while I’m eating my fish? What are they going to think of next? Don’t eat salad because cucumbers have feelings?”

1. Dr. Sylvia Earle discourage people from eating fish because _____________.

A．there are not that many wild fish in the ocean

B．fish actually are sensitive and have personalities

C．some ocean fish contain poisonous substances

D．fish are like dogs or cats that people know personally

2.We can infer from the passage that _____________.

A．all people don’t agree with the idea to stop eating fish

B．people will be persuaded not to eat fish in the future

C．stopping eating fish will lead to people’s not eating vegetables

D．we shouldn’t care too much about the feeling of fish

3. By saying “There’s a lot more to fish than meets the eye,” the writer means ____________.

A．there are far more fish than other animals in the world

B．there are more fish in the world than people can see

C．people can see more fish if they pay more attention

D．fish are not that simple as they appear to people’s eyes