New Annotated Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

Price: ￡28.00

Publication Date: 30/11/2006

Publisher’s description:

Collect Doyle’s fifty-six classic short stories, arranged in the order in which they appeared in late-nineteenth-and-early-twentieth-century book editions, in a set complemented by four novels, editor biographies of Doyle, Holmes, and Watson as well as literary and cultural details about Victorian society.

Breaking Ground by Daniel Libeskind

Price: ￡16.00

Publication Date:11/10/2006

Brief description:

This is a book about the adventure life that can offer each of us if we seize it, and about the powerful forces of tragedy, memory and hope. For Daniel Libeskind, life’s adventure has been through architecture, which he has found has the power to reshape human experience. Although often relating to the past, his buildings are about the future. This biology of one man’s journey brings together history, personal experience, our physical environment and a fresh international vision.

In the Shadow of No Towers by Art Spiegelman

Price: ￡16.00

Publication Date:02/09/2006

Brief description:

On 11^th September 2001, Art Spiegelman raced to the world Trade Center, not knowing if his daughter Nadja was alive or dead. Once she was found safe---in her school at the foot of the burning towers---he returned home, to mediate(反省) on the trauma(创伤), and to work on a comic strip(连环漫画). In the Shadow of No Towers is New Yorker Art Spiegelman’s extraordinary account of “the hijacking(劫机) on 9.11 and the following hijacking of those events” by America.

Light on Snow by Anita Shreve

Price: ￡14.00

Publication Date:07/10/2006

Publisher’s description:

This is the 11^th novel by Anita Shreve, the critically accepted bestseller. A moving story of love and courage and tragedy and of the ways in which the human heart always seeks to heal itself.

Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv

Price: ￡20.99

Publication Date:11/08/2006

Brief description:

Camping in the garden, riding bikes through the woods, climbing trees, picking wildflowers, running through piles of autumn leaves… these are the things childhood memories are made of. But for a whole generation of today’s children the pleasures of a free-range childhood are missing, and their indoor habits contribute to obesity, attention disorder and childhood depression. This book shows how our children have become increasingly distanced from nature, why this matters and how we can make a difference. Richard Louv is chairman of the Children and Nature Network and co-chair of the National Forum on Children and Nature. He is the author of seven other books and has written for newspapers and magazines including the New York Times and the Washington Post.

1.Who is the writer of the latest book published among the four books?

A．Arthur Conan Doyle                     B．Daniel Libeskind

C．Art Spiegelman                         D．Anita Shreve

2.If one wants to know something about Victorian society, he or she may read____.

A．Light on Snow                          B．In the Shadow of No Towers

C．Breaking Ground                        D．New Annotated Sherlock Holmes

3.Which of the following refers to tragedies?

A．Light on Snow　＆　Breaking Ground

B．Light on Snow ＆　In the Shadow of No Towers

C．In the Shadow of No Towers ＆　Breaking Ground

D．New Annotated Sherlock Holmes　＆　In the Shadow of No Towers

4.Which book is based on a real big event?

A．Breaking Ground                        B．In the Shadow of No Towers

C．Light on Snow                          D．Last Child in The Woods

5.Who has also written for newspapers and magazines according to the text?

A．Arthur Conan Doyle.                     B．Daniel Libeskind

C．Art Spiegelman                         D．Richard Louv

阅读理解

　　Americans are always in a hurry, they seem to be under permanent pressure to think that there is something more to do the next moment. This fast pace is reflected in the popularity of fast-food restaurants, one-stop stations and micro-ovens. They hate to waste their time and would frown if their time is wasted by interruptions or by poor service. They appreciate the practice of doing things as quickly as possible, as in their eyes,“patience is the virtue of asses.”

　　In contract, people in Indonesia believe in“rubber time”, to the extent that time can stretch or shrink. In Africa, people who do something in a rush are actually asking for trouble; they'd be suspected of trying to cheat! In their culture, a slow unusual, worth doubt.

　　Here is a contract between the slow pace people (SPP) and the fast pace people(FPP);

　　◇SPP－Consider an appointment as a target to achieve, if possible.

　　　FPP－take a promise seriously and try to keep it by all means.

　　◇SPP－are dedicated to people and human relationship.

　　　FPP－are devoted to work rather than to human relationship.

　　　SPP－change plans easily.

　　　FPP－follow and stick to the plans.

　　◇SPP－decide to be punctual or not based on human relationship.

　　　FPP－stress punctuality.

　　◇SPP－show strong tendency to build lifetime friendship.

　　　FPP-are used to short-term relationship.

(1)Which of the following statements indicates that Americans are leading a fast-pace life?

[　　]

A．Americans have modern kitchen equipment.

B．Fast-food restaurants are popular with Americans.

C．Almost every American family owns a car.

D．There are a lot of railway stations in the United States.

(2)The underlined phrase“one-stop stations”probably means ________.

[　　]

A．A bus stop is not far from one another

B．There are a number of police stations in the United States

C．There are a lot of gas stations here and there, and it is one-stop distance between them.

D．It is a long way from a gas station to the next one

(3)In which country people who do something in a rush are suspected of trying to cheat?

[　　]

A．Venezuela　　　　　　B．Italy

C．Vietnam　　　　　　　D．Zambia

(4)If a person cares more for human relationship than his job, he must belong to ________.

[　　]

A．the fast pace people

B．the slow pace people

C．the lazy people

D．the clever people

C
　　The curtain on the 2008 US presidential election finally rose last month as Requblican Senator(参议员) John McCain and Democratic Senator Barack Obama were formally selected as candidates of the two major parties.This may be one of the hardest decisions voters have to make between two appealing candidates.The big question for voters,as they face both an economic downturn and international threats,is :who will they elect? A young first - term senator promising change and new ideas,or a longtime senator with strong military experience and a reputation as a maverick(特立独行的人)？
　　American voters have never seen a candidate quite like Obama.He has a white mother from the US and a black fater from Kenya who left the family when Obama was very young.He spent part of his youth in Indonesia.
　　However,McCain has a very different life story.
　　He grew up in a Navy family and was a daring pilot during the Vietnam War in the 1960s. When Obama was in kindergarten in Indonesia,McCain's plane was shot down over Ietenam and he became a prisoner of war.McCain could have been set free if he disowned America but he refused and so was held for five years.
　　"We need a president who is very,very old,"McCain joked at his age as many others do.If elected,he would be 72 when he takes office and the oldest man to step in.
　　So in the end,the election may depend on several factors that are hard to judge:Will Obama's race matter to a significant number of voters ? Will workingclass whites who tended to support his primary (党内初选) oponent,Hillary Clinton,vote for Obama? And perhaps most important of all,will uncertain voters be more attracted to Obama's vision or to McCain's experience?
　　Whatever happens,one thing is clear,however:Whoever walks into the White House on January 20,2009,will find huge challenges waiting for him in the Oval Office,both at home and abroad.
　　64.______makes the result of the election hard to predict.
　　　A.Whether working class whites care about Obama's inexperience
　　　B.The economic trouble the country now faces
　　　C.Who uncertain voters will finally decide to vote for
　　　D.McCain being too old to govern the country
　　65.The appeal in Obama as a presidential candidate lies in _________
　　　A.his multi - cultural background
　　　B.his belife in tradition
　　　C.his inexperience in politics
　　　D.his fantastic promises
　　66.The word "disown" in Paragraph 6 means closest to ______.
　　　A.flee from
　　　B.turn his back on
　　　C.not keep it private
　　　D.expose secrets about
　　67.The challenges that will face the new preident______.
　　　A.are not mentioned in the text
　　　B.include buklding a strong party and a friendly image
　　　C.refer to the problems of immigrants and economy
　　　D.refer to the problems of economy amd international relations

Look at the trouble I am in. If only I _____ your advice.

A．followed　        B．would follow       C．had followed　     D．should follow

Department stores sell ready- to-wear clothing, which is also called ready-made clothing. Such clothing is made in fixed sizes. Those people who find that ready-made clothing fits them well can save money by buying it. Most often, people do not fit exactly into a producer’s size. Their clothing must be altered to make it fit better. However, most alterations are not very expensive. The small cost of most alterations means that ready-made clothing can meet the needs of most customers.

Those who can afford it often get someone to design and make their clothing. Such clothing is called custom-made. The person who makes it measures the customer, and then sews it so that it fits perfectly. Alterations are not needed. Custom-made clothing is largely sewn by hand, has better quality, better material, and is of the style you have chosen. Of course, it costs much more than ready-to-wear clothing. You need to pay the difference for the special fitting and better skill that you are receiving. This often means that you spend double or more than you would for a ready-made garment.

Custom-made clothing is not always that much better than ready-made clothing. It costs more partly because only one garment has been made, just for you. Companies that produce ready-made products make thousands of garments at a time. This means they can buy large quantities of material. Workers cut each size by the hundreds. Companies work out ways to make the garments quickly by machine and pay workers according to their skill. Thus they can sell the finished products at a low price while still making money. Most of the clothing sold in the United States is made in this way. Customers gain from the lower prices which are made possible by mass production. It may or may not give them high quality.

1. According to the passage, people who buy ready-made clothing ______.

　　A. wish to make alternations        B. will spend less money

　　C. want to make it better           D. can fit into the sizes

2.We can learn from the passage that custom-made clothing is_______.

　　A. specially made　　             B. fashionably designed

　　C. chosen by few people　　        D. made with difficulties

3.Which of the following is true about ready-made clothing?

　　A. It is of poor quality.　　         B. It suits all people.

　　C. It is labor-saving to make it.　　  D. It takes more time to make it

4.The purpose of the writer is _______.

　　A. to explain why custom-made clothing costs more

　　B. to show the advantages of mass production

　　C. to tell readers how to make money from ready-made clothing

　　D. to provide information about different kinds of clothing