Flat 4B, Sunrise Court

　　　　　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　　　 68, Orchard Road

　　　　　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　　　 Singapore 1084

　　　　　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　　　 December 10th, 2004

Dear Celine,

　 I’m writing to tell you about my plans for the Christmas holiday. My family is planning to go to Japan for two weeks this winter. First, we’re going to spend a few days in Tokyo. Tokyo is the capital of Japan. Then we’re going skiing in Hokkaido. This is an island to the north of Japan.

　 I’m very excited about the trip. I’ve neither been to Japan nor skiied before, and I have never seen snow! My friend Carol went skiing last year. Unfortunately, she broke her leg. I hope I won’t get hurt! At first, I’m going to ski very slowly because I want to be safe.

　 We’re going to leave Singapore on December 20th. Singapore will be warm then, but the weather in Tokyo will be cold. It will be very cold at night. We’re staying in Tokyo for three days before flying to Hokkaido so I will have enough time to buy a new Discman. Of course, it will be very cold in Hokkaido and there will be lots of snow. When we leave Singapore, we will wear summer clothes. Then a few days later in Japan, we will wear thick jackets and gloves so that we are warm! We’re going to spend Christmas in Hokkaido and the New Year in Tokyo. We’re going to come back to Tokyo on New Year’s Eve. We will leave Japan on January 2nd.

　 I saw a television program about Tokyo recently. I’m looking forward to our trip because it looks like a very interesting city. In fact, it looks a little like Singapore, but the buildings in Tokyo are much taller. It is just as busy and crowded, though!

　 Well, that’s all for now. I’ll send you a postcard from Japan.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　　 Joyce

1. Joyce’s pen pal ______.

　　 A. is going to Singapore for a holiday　　

　　 B. is going skiing this winter holiday

　　 C. lives in Australia　　　　　　　　　　

　　 D. is writing to Joyce from Australia

2. Joyce is excited about her holiday because ______.

　　 A. Japan is her favorite country　

　　 B. she has never been to Japan or skiied before

　　 C. she is going with her family　　　　

　　 D. she will meet her pen pal there

3. Joyce is going to ski slowly because _____.

　　 A. last time she broke her leg　　　　　

　　 B. she doesn’t know how to ski quickly

　　 C. she has a broken leg　　　　　　　

　　 D. she doesn’t want to get hurt

 

The Queen’s English is now sounding less upper-class, a scientific study of the Queen’s Christmas broadcasts has found. Researchers have studied each of her messages to the Commonwealth countries since 1952 to find out the change in her pronunciation from the noble Upper Received to the Standard Received.
Jonathan Harrington, a professor at Germany’s University of Munich, wanted to discover whether accent changes recorded over the past half century would take place within one person. “As far as I know, there just is nobody else for whom there is this sort of broadcast records,” he said.
He said the noble way of pronouncing vowels (元音) had gradually lost ground as the noble upper-class accent over the past years. “Her accent sounds slightly less noble than it did 50 years ago. But these are very, very small and slow changes that we don’t notice from year to year.”
“We may be able to relate it to changes in the social classes,” he told The Daily Telegraph, a British newspaper. “In 1952 she would have been heard saying ‘thet men in the bleck het’. Now it would be ‘that man in the black hat’. Similarly, she would have spoken of ‘the citay’ and ‘dutay’, rather than ‘citee’ and ‘dutee’, and ‘hame’ rather than ‘home’. In the 1950s she would have been ‘lorst’, but by the 1970s ‘lost’.”
The Queen’s broadcast is a personal message to the Commonwealth countries. Each  Christmas, the 10-minute broadcast is put on TV at 3 pm in Britain as many families are recovering from their traditional turkey lunch (传统火鸡午餐).
The results were published (发表) in the Journal of Phonetics.
【小题1】What is the text mainly about?

A．The relationship between accents and social classes.

B．The Queen’s Christmas speeches on TV.

C．The changes in a person’s accent.

D．The recent development of the English language.

【小题2】The Queen’s broadcasts were chosen for the study mainly because ______.

A．she has been Queen for many years

B．she has a less upper-class accent now

C．her speeches are familiar to many people

D．her speeches have been recorded for 50 years

【小题3】Which of the following is an example of a less noble accent in English?

A．“dutay”

B．“citee”

C．“hame”

D．“lorst”

【小题4】We may infer from the text that the Journal of Phonetics is a magazine on ______.

A．speech sounds	B．Christmas customs
C．TV broadcasting	D．personal messages

B

Have you ever been to the beautiful country of Holland and its capital Amsterdam? Anyone who has traveled to Amsterdam would probably agree on one thing: Amsterdam’s story is a tale of two cities—one during the day and a completely different one at night.

　　During the day, the largest city in Holland sits quietly on the Amstel River. You can rent a bicycle, visit the Van Gogh or Anne Frank museum, or take a water taxi. But when the sun goes down, the partying begins. In the big clubs and in coffee shops, tourists gather to hang out, talk politics and smoke.

　　Several areas of the city clearly show the two worlds that rule Amsterdam. And they’re all within a short taxi ride of each other. For example, Dam Square attracts daytime sightseers to its festivals, open markets, concerts and other events. Several beautiful and very popular hotels can be found there. And there’s the Royal Palace and the Magna Plaza shopping mall.

But at night party-seekers come to the square. Hip hop or funk music is heard there. So if you come, be ready to dance. The clubs don’t close down until 4 am.

And while you’re there, check out the various inexpensive ways to tour the city. Don’t worry about getting lost. Although Dutch is the official language, most people in Amsterdam speak English and are happy to help you with directions. And you’ll notice that half the people in the streets are on bicycles they rent.

　　Amsterdam also has a well-planned canal system. For about 10 dollars, you can use the canal bus or a water taxi to cruise (巡游) the "Venice of the North".

　The city has a historic past. One impressive place to visit is the Anne Frank House on Nine Streets. It was there that the young Jewish girl wrote her famous diary during World War II. Visitors can view Anne’s original diary and climb behind the bookcase to the room where she and her family hid from the Nazis for two years.

59. The following means of transport are available to visitors in Amsterdam EXCEPT __________.

A. a carriage.                B. a bicycle.                 C. a canal bus.                     D. a water taxi.

60. When getting lost, a visitor can ask natives for directions in           .

A. only Dutch             B. Dutch or English              C. only English          D. Spanish and English

61. What can you learn about by visiting the Anne Frank House?

A. The happy experience of a girl survivor.     B. The glorious past of Amsterdam.

C. The hard life of the Jewish in World WarⅡ.    D. The hobbies of the Dutch.

62. The passage is intended to           .

A. call up people’s memories of World WarⅡ    

B. tell readers what A Tale of Two Cities is about

C. instruct visitors what to do and see in Holland

D. offer readers some information about Amsterdam

 

　　Sociologists（社会学家）, working in western countries, have found that a large number of women wished they had been born men. The number is said to be as high as 60％ in Germany.

　　"Women often wish they had the same chances as men have, and think it is still men's world. " said Dr. James Helen, one of the sociologists who did the study.

　　Many men say that they have more duties than women. A man has to make money to support his family and to make the important decision, so it is right for men to be paid more. Some are even against their wives working at all. When wives go out to work, they say, the home and children cannot be taken good care of. If women take full-time jobs, they won't be able to do what they are best at doing: making a nice home and bringing up the children.

　　Some women disagree. They say they want to get out of their homes and to have freedom to choose between work and home life. Women have the right of equal pay and equal chances.

　　Anne Harper has a very good job. She also believes in "Women's Liberation", "I don't wish I were a man," she says, "and I don't think many women do. But I do wish people would stop treating us like second-class people. At work, for example, we usually do the work that men do but get paid less. There are still a lot of jobs only to men—usually they are the best ones. If you are a man, you have a much better chance of living a wonderful life. How many women scientists are there…or engineers?"

Many men think ______.

　　　　A. women can't do what men can

　　　　B. men have to work much harder than women

　　　　C. men can make money more easily than women

　　　　D. women's duty is mainly to do housework at home

　Some women have different ideas. They say that ______.

　　　　A. women need chances to go out of the home more often

　　　　B. women want more freedom in deciding the kind of life they want

　　　　C. if women are given equal pay, they can do everything instead of men

　　　　D. women are no longer interested in taking care of their homes

　　　Anne Harper thought that ______.

　　　　A. women should live a better life than men

　　　　B. women should be really liberated

　　　　C. women should be given better jobs than men

　　　　D. women should live a more wonderful life than men

阅读理解

　　Language is a way to communicate with each other. We started to learn language when we were born. However, people are used to speaking their native languages, so immigrants(移民)are having many problems between the first generation and the second generation because they don't have the same native language. Also, the second generation is losing their identity. Especially in America, there are many immigrants that came from different countries to succeed in the States. Because they suffer in lots of areas such as getting a job and trying to speak English, they want their children to speak English, not only at school, but also at home in order to be more successful. Because of this situation, their children are losing their ethnic(民族的)identity and, even more, they are ignoring their parents whose English is not very good.

　　For example, my aunt, who has been living in Chicago for fifteen years, has three children and they were all born in the States. The eighteen-year-old daughter speaks English as a native language and she speaks Korean very well too. She has no problems talking with her parents, but she still doesn't under stand Korean jokes, and there are sometimes misunderstandings. The second daughter is fourteen years old, and she doesn't want to speak Korean. My aunt often gets upset with her because she is very Americanized and they cannot understand each other. Even when my aunt punishes her, this daughter does not understand what my aunt is talking about. I felt sympathy(同情)for my aunt whenever my fourteen-year-old cousin said,“Mom, what is your problem?”The third child is a twelve-year-old son.

　　He speaks English to his parents and my aunt speaks Korean to him as she does to the second daughter.

　　He also has a problem communicating with his parents. My aunt is trying to teach him to speak both languages very well, but it is very hard for him because he speaks English all day and does not understand why he should learn to speak Korean.

　　I think most immigrants are trying to preserve(保持)their native language in their new country, but this doesn't help very much in getting a good job. My aunt didn't teach Korean to her children in order to help them succeed in the US; she did so, hopefully, to help them establish a Korean identity. Though the second generation is born in the new country, they often get confused about their identity because they look different from others, and also, if they visit their parents' country, they will probably feel different from other people there too. They could even feel it just strolling around the street because they wore different clothes and walked differently.

　　We must realize that languages is important and valuable for many reasons. Immigrants should make an effort not to be ignored by their children and to make their children understand their heritages(文化遗产) by teaching them the parents' native language. This is very important, not only for the harmony of the family, but also in helping the second generation establish their identity.

1．This passage is mainly about _____.

[　　]

A．how to learn a second language

B．how to become American citizens

C．language and its effect on the identity of immigrants

D．schools attended by immigrants to the US

2．Which of these statements is NOT true according to the first paragraph?

[　　]

A．Second generation immigrants are usually eager to learn their parents' native language.

B．It is often hard for first and second generation family members to communicate with each other.

C．Foreigners in America want their children to speak English so that they can achieve great success.

D．Sometimes second generation immigrant children ignore their parents because of language differences.

3．Which is NOT a reason that the 14-year-old daughter has problems with her mother?

[　　]

A．She doesn't want to speak Korean.

B．she doesn't love her mother.

C．She is very Americanized.

D．She does not understand her mother when she gets punished.

4．The author's aunt tries to teach her children to speak Korean to help them _____.

[　　]

A．succeed in the US

B．find a good job

C．establish a Korean identity

D．improve their Korean language skills