When I was seven my father gave me a Timex, my first watch. I loved it, wore it for years, and haven’t had another one since it stopped ticking a decade ago. Why? Because I don’t need one. I have a mobile phone and I’m always near someone with an iPod or something like that. All these devices（装置）tell the time—which is why, if you look around, you’ll see lots of empty wrists; sales of watches to young adults have been going down since 2007. 
But while the wise have realized that they don’t need them, others—apparently including some distinguished men of our time—are spending total fortunes on them. Brands such as Rolex, Patek Philippe and Breitling command shocking prices, up to £250.000 for a piece.
This is ridiculous. Expensive cars go faster than cheap cars. Expensive clothes hang better than cheap clothes. But these days all watches tell the time as well as all other watches. Expensive watches come with extra functions—but who needs them? How often do you dive to 300 metres into the sea or need to find your direction in the area around the South Pole? So why pay that much of five years’ school fees for watches that allow you to do these things?
If justice were done, the Swiss watch industry should have closed down when the Japanese discovered how to make accurate watches for a five-pound note. Instead the Swiss reinvented the watch, with the aid of millions of pounds’ worth of advertising, as a message about the man wearing it. Rolexes are for those who spend their weekends climbing icy mountains; a Patek Philippe is for one from a rich or noble family; a Breitling suggests you like to pilot planes across the world. 
Watches are now classified as“investments”(投资). A 1994 Philippe recently sold for nearly £350, 000, while the 1960s Rolexes have gone from £15, 000 to £30, 000 plus in a year. But a watch is not an investment. It's a toy for self-satisfaction, a matter of fashion. Prices may keep going up—they’ve been rising for 15 years. But when fashion moves on, the owner of that £350, 000 beauty will suddenly find his pride and joy is no more a good investment than my childhood Timex.
【小题1】It seems ridiculous to the writer that_______________.

A．people dive 300 meters into the sea

B．expensive clothes sell better than cheap ones

C．cheap cars don’t run as fast as expensive ones

D．expensive watches with unnecessary functions still sell

【小题2】What can be learned about Swiss watch industry from the passage?

A．It’s hard for the industry to beat its competitors.

B．It targets rich people as its potential customers.

C．It wastes a huge amount of money in advertising.

D．It’s easy for the industry to reinvent cheap watches.

【小题3】Which would be the best title for the passage?

A．Watches? Not for Me!	B．My Childhood Timex
C．Timex or Rolex?	D．Watches—a Valuable Collection

Time is very important in our lives. It organizes our everyday moments. However, time never had any importance in my life until I received a watch from my father.

I received this gift on a cloudy day. I had to go to the airport at 9:00 a.m. to meet my uncle and take him to my father’s house. However, I was late because I was staying with my friends. Later on that day, around 11:00 a.m., I remembered my uncle, but I was very late for him. He had left the airport and taken a taxi to my father’s house.

I got to my father’s house at 2:00 p.m. and felt ashamed of myself at that moment. After I said “hello” to my angry father and tired uncle, my father asked me to sit next to him and gave me this watch. Then he said, “Essa, did you have fun with your friends today?”

“Yes, Dad, and I’m sorry about not meeting my uncle at the airport.”

“I hope today you learned something important, and this watch will be a reminder (提醒物) for you.” He told me to take this watch and use it as an organizer of my life.

I learned a very important lesson from my father: To respect time and never be late to do something. This watch is important to me, not because of its price, but because of the lesson that I learned from it.

49. The writer’s uncle came to visit them ______.

A. by car B. by air  C. by boat      D. by taxi

50. Why did Essa’s father get angry when Essa got to his house?

A. Essa often spent a lot of time with friends.

B. Essa cared little about other people.

C. Essa wasted too much time.  

D. Essa forgot an important thing.

51. Why did the father give Essa a watch?

A. To punish Essa.  B. To comfort Essa.

C. To teach Essa.           D. To praise Essa.

52. What did Essa think of the watch?

A. It was a priceless gift.       B. It was an useless gift.

C. It was a common gift.       D. It was a strange gift.

 

I know what you’re thinking : pizza? For breakfast? But the truth is that you can have last night’s leftovers in the a. m. if you want to.

 I know lots of women who skip breakfast , and they have a ton of different excuses for doing it . Some say they don’t have time. others think they’re “saving” calories, still others just don’t like breakfast food . 

But the bottom line is that eating in the morning is very important when you’re trying to lose weight. “Eating just about anything from 300 to 400 calories would be better than nothing at all,” says Katherine Brooking , R , D , who developed the super-easy eating plan for this year’s “SELF CHALLENGE”. And even pizza can be healthy if it’s loaded with vegetables, and you stick to one small piece. 

Breakfast is one meal I never miss, and the same goes for most weight loss success stories. Research shows that eating breakfast keeps you from overeating later in the day. Researchers at the University of Southem California found that breakfast skippers have a bigger chance of gaining weight than those who regularly have a morning meal. 

So eat something in the morning, anything. I know plenty of friends who end up having no breakfast altogether, and have just coffee or orange juice. I say, try heating up last night’s leftovers-it may sound crazy, but if it works for you, do it! I find if I tell myself, “You can always eat it tomorrow,” I put away the leftovers instead of eating more that night. Try it…you may save yourself some pre-bedtime calories. And watch your body gain the fat-burning effects. 

1.The word “leftovers” in Paragraph 1 probably means__________.

A.     things left undone                      B. food remaining after a meal

C. meals made of vegetables         D. pizza topped with fruit

2.What can we infer from the text?

A. Working women usually have breakfast in a hurry. 

B. There are some easy ways of cooking a meal. 

C. Many people have wrong ideas about breakfast.

D. Eating vegetables helps save energy. 

3.According to the last paragraph, it is important to____________. 

A. eat something for breakfast   B. put away the leftovers instead of eating more.

C. heat up leftovers for breakfast  D. eat calorie-controlled food

4.The text is written mainly for those_____________. 

A. who go to work early                             B. who stay up late

C. who want to lose weight                D. who eat before sleep

 

B

SYDNEY: As they sat sharing sweets beside a swimming pool in 1999. Shane Gould and Jessicah Schipper were simply getting along well, chatting about sport, life and anything else that came up.

Yet in Sydney next month, they will meet again by the pool, and for a short time the friends will race against each other in the 50 – meter butterfly in the Australian championships at Homebu Bay.

Gould, now a 47 – year – old mother of four, has announced she will be making a return to elite competition (顶级赛事) to swim the one event, having set a qualifying (合格的)time of 30. 32 seconds in winning gold at last year’s United States Masters championships. Her comeback comes 32 years after she won three golds at the Munich Olympics.

Schipper, now a 17 – year – old girl from Brisbane with a bright future of going to Athens for her first Olympics, yesterday recalled (回忆) her time with Gould five years ago.

“I was at a national youth camp on the Gold Coast and Shane had come along to talk to us and watch us train.” Schipper explained. “It seemed as if we had long been good friends. I don’t know why. We just started talking and it went from there.”

“She had a lot to share with all of us at that camp. She old us stories about what it was like at big meets like Olympics and what it was like to be on an Australian team. It was really interesting.”

Next time, things will be more serious: “I will still be swimming in the 50 m butterfly at the nationals, so there is a chance that I could actually be competing against Shane Gould.” said Schipper, who burst onto the scene at last year’s national championships with second places in the 100 m and 200 butterfly.

46．What is the passage mainly about?

A．Stories happening in swimming competitions.

B．Two women swimmers winning Olympic golds.

C．Lessons learned from international swimming championships.

D．Friendship and competition between two swimmers.

47．Gould and Schipper are going to____________.

A．talk about sport and life          B．go back to elite competition

C．set a qualifying time and win gold  D．take part in the same sports event

48．Gould won her three Olympic golds when she was____________.

A．15     B．17     C．22     D．30

49．The underlined word “it” in the fifth paragraph probably refers to         .

A．the Olympics          B．the youth camp

C．the friendship          D．the Australian team

50．What Schipper said showed that she___________.

A．was no longer Gould’s friend         B．had learned a lot from Gould

C．was not interested in Gould’s stories      D．would not like to compete against Gould

 

When I was seven my father gave me a Timex, my first watch. I loved it, wore it for years, and haven’t had another one since it stopped ticking a decade ago. Why? Because I don’t need one. I have a mobile phone and I’m always near someone with an iPod or something like that. All these devices（装置）tell the time—which is why, if you look around, you’ll see lots of empty wrists; sales of watches to young adults have been going down since 2007. 

But while the wise have realized that they don’t need them, others—apparently including some distinguished men of our time—are spending total fortunes on them. Brands such as Rolex, Patek Philippe and Breitling command shocking prices, up to £250.000 for a piece.

This is ridiculous. Expensive cars go faster than cheap cars. Expensive clothes hang better than cheap clothes. But these days all watches tell the time as well as all other watches. Expensive watches come with extra functions—but who needs them? How often do you dive to 300 metres into the sea or need to find your direction in the area around the South Pole? So why pay that much of five years’ school fees for watches that allow you to do these things?

If justice were done, the Swiss watch industry should have closed down when the Japanese discovered how to make accurate watches for a five-pound note. Instead the Swiss reinvented the watch, with the aid of millions of pounds’ worth of advertising, as a message about the man wearing it. Rolexes are for those who spend their weekends climbing icy mountains; a Patek Philippe is for one from a rich or noble family; a Breitling suggests you like to pilot planes across the world. 

Watches are now classified as“investments”(投资). A 1994 Philippe recently sold for nearly £350, 000, while 1960s Rolexes have gone from £15, 000 to £30, 000 plus in a year. But a watch is not an investment. It's a toy for self-satisfaction, a matter of fashion. Prices may keep going up—they’ve been rising for 15 years. But when fashion moves on, the owner of that £350, 000 beauty will suddenly find his pride and joy is no more a good investment than my childhood Timex. 

1.It seems ridiculous to the writer that_______________. 

A．people dive 300 metres into the sea

B．expensive clothes sell better than cheap ones

C．cheap cars don’t run as fast as expensive ones

D．expensive watches with unnecessary functions still sell

2.What can be learnt about Swiss watch industry from the passage?

A．It’s hard for the industry to beat its competitors.

B．It targets rich people as its potential customers.

C．It wastes a huge amount of money in advertising.

D．It’s easy for the industry to reinvent cheap watches.

3.Which would be the best title for the passage?

A．Watches? Not for Me!

B．My Childhood Timex

C．Timex or Rolex?

D．Watches—a Valuable Collection