Sparrow is a fast-food chain with 200 restaurants. Some years ago, the group to which Sparrow belonged was taken over by another company. Although Sparrow showed no sign of declining, the chain was generally in an unhealthy state. With more and more fast-food concepts reaching the market, the Sparrow menu had to struggle for attention. And to make matters worse, its new owner had no plans to give it the funds it required.

Sparrow failed to grow for another two years. Until a new CEO, Carl Pearson, decided to build up its market share. He did a survey, which showed that consumers who already used Sparrow restaurants were extremely positive about the chain, while customers of other fast-food chains were unwilling to turn away from them. Sparrow had to develop a new promotional campaign.

Pearson faced a battle over the future of the Sparrow brand. The chain’s owner now favored rebranding Sparrow as Marcy’s restaurants. Pearson resisted, arguing for an advertising campaign designed to convince customers that visits to Sparrow restaurants were fun. Such an attempt to establish a positive relationship between a company and the general public was unusual for that time. Pearson strongly believed that numbers were the key to success, rather than customers’ speeding power. Finally, the owner accepted his idea.

The campaign itself changed the traditional advertising style of the fast-food industry. The TV ads of Sparrow focused on entertainment and featured original sons performed by a variety of stars. Instead of showing the superiority of a specific product, the intension was to put Sparrow in the hearts of potential customers.

Pearson also made other decisions which he believed would contribute to the new Sparrow image. For example, he offered to lower the rent of any restaurants which achieved a certain increase in their turnover. (营业额)

These efforts paid off, and Sparrow soon became one of the most successful fast-food chains in the regions where it operated.

1.Which was one of the problems Sparrow faced before Pearson became CEO?

A. The number of its customers was declining

B. It was in need of financial support

C. Its customers found the food unhealthy

D. Most of its restaurants were closed

2.What does the underlined word “them” in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A. Customers of Sparrow restaurants

B. Sparrow restaurants

C. other fast-food chains

D. Customers of other fast-food chains

3.For what purpose did Pearson start the advertising campaign?

A. To stress the unusual tradition of Sparrow

B. To lean about customers; spending power.

C. To meet the challenge from Marcy’s restaurants.

D. To build a good relationship with the public

4.What was Pearson’s achievement as a CEO?

A. He made Sparrow much more competitive

B. He managed to pay off Sparrow’s debts.

C. He helped Sparrow take over a company

D. He improved the welfare of Sparrow employees

 

Americans have taken over from the Indians many things besides their continent! Where did corn, potatoes, tomatoes, chocolate and maple sugar come from? The Indians. Who invented moccasins, snowshoes and hammocks? The Indians!

A list of the tools, plants, materials and designs we owe to the Indians would include hundreds of items. But there is something far more familiar, something that is always at hand. It is used daily by every American: a large vocabulary of Indian words.

Potato, tomato, chocolate, moccasin and hammock came into English from Indian languages. So did cocoa, tobacco, maize (an Indian word for corn) and succotash. Some words have changed on the way. Potato, for example, comes from a word that sounds like “batata”. Cocoa began as “cacahuatl”.

Some meanings have also changed. The long Indian word from which succotash comes means “something broken off in bits”. Indian women often varied their dishes by mixing bits of one food with another. White men who ate an Indian dish of mixed lima beans (青豆) and corn began using the Indian word to mean this particular mixture.

Put on your moccasins and take a walk in the country. If it is a cold day and you wear a mackinaw, your jacket will be as Indian as your shoes. But mackinaw came from “michilimackinac”, the Indian name of a place where a fort (集市) served as a trading post. Bright-colored blankets or jackets bought at the post soon became known as “mackinaws”.

Early white visitors to the continent found Indian words useful for the things new to them. But some Indian sounds, such as the “tl” at the end of many words, were hard to say. That is why “coyotl” became coyote and “tomatle” became tomato.

Some words simply seemed too long. So, “musickwautash” became succotash and “rockahominy” became hominy.

1.The first two paragraphs may serve as a(n)     .

A. explanation    B. introduction    C. comment    D. background

2. Which of the following has been changed for easier pronunciation?

A. Batata        B. Chocolate     C. Tomatle     D. Rockahominy

3. Some words have changed because       .

A.  they are too long

B.  nobody can use them

C.  the things they refer to have disappeared

D.  they are too difficult for people to write

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A.  How Indian traditions affect us.

B.  Why Indian words were changed.

C.   Things we owe to the Indians.

D.  Indian words all around us.

 

 

Americans have taken over from the Indians many things besides their continent! Where did corn, potatoes, tomatoes, chocolate and maple sugar come from? The Indians. Who invented moccasins, snowshoes and hammocks? The Indians!
A list of the tools, plants, materials and designs we owe to the Indians would include hundreds of items. But there is something far more familiar, something that is always at hand. It is used daily by every American: a large vocabulary of Indian words.
Potato, tomato, chocolate, moccasin and hammock came into English from Indian languages. So did cocoa, tobacco, maize (an Indian word for corn) and succotash. Some words have changed on the way. Potato, for example, comes from a word that sounds like “batata”. Cocoa began as “cacahuatl”.
Some meanings have also changed. The long Indian word from which succotash comes means “something broken off in bits”. Indian women often varied their dishes by mixing bits of one food with another. White men who ate an Indian dish of mixed lima beans (青豆) and corn began using the Indian word to mean this particular mixture.
Put on your moccasins and take a walk in the country. If it is a cold day and you wear a mackinaw, your jacket will be as Indian as your shoes. But mackinaw came from “michilimackinac”, the Indian name of a place where a fort (集市) served as a trading post. Bright-colored blankets or jackets bought at the post soon became known as “mackinaws”.
Early white visitors to the continent found Indian words useful for the things new to them. But some Indian sounds, such as the “tl” at the end of many words, were hard to say. That is why “coyotl” became coyote and “tomatle” became tomato.
Some words simply seemed too long. So, “musickwautash” became succotash and “rockahominy” became hominy.
【小题1】The first two paragraphs may serve as a(n)     .

A．explanation

B．introduction

C．comment

D．background

【小题2】 Which of the following has been changed for easier pronunciation?

A．Batata

B．Chocolate

C．Tomatle

D．Rockahominy

【小题3】 Some words have changed because       .

A．they are too long

B．nobody can use them

C．the things they refer to have disappeared

D．they are too difficult for people to write

【小题4】 What is the passage mainly about?

A．How Indian traditions affect us.

B．Why Indian words were changed.

C．Things we owe to the Indians.

D．Indian words all around us.

Mr. Robinson had to travel somewhere on business and as he was in a hurry, he decided to go by air. He liked to sit beside a window when he was flying. So, when he got on to the plane, he looked for a window seat. He found all of them had already been taken except one. There was a soldier sitting in the seat beside this one and Mr. Robinson was happy that he had not taken the one by the window; but, anyhow, he at once went towards it. When he reached it, however, he saw there was a notice on it. It was written in ink and said “This seat is reserved for proper load balance. Thank you.” Mr. Robinson had never seen such a notice in a plane before, but he thought that the plane must be carrying something heavy in its baggage room which made it necessary to have the passengers properly balanced, so he walked on and found another empty seat, not beside a window, to sit in. Then, when the plane was quite full, a very beautiful girl stepped into the plane. The soldier quickly took the notice off the seat beside him and in this way succeeded in having the girl beside him during the whole trip.

1.When he got on the plane he was happy to find that _______.

A. a notice was put in a window seat

B. some of the seats were not occupied

C. there was a seat that he had hoped to have

D. the plane was not very crowded

2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Mr. Robinson was the last passenger to get on board the plane. 

B. Mr. Robinson was surprised to see the notice in the seat.

C. The window seats were all occupied when Mr. Robinson got on hoard the plane.

D. The plane Mr. Robinson took was heavily loaded with luggage.

3.In the end Mr. Robinson found out that _________.

A. the notice was put on the seat by the soldier.

B. the solider was waiting for his girl friend

C. the girl was the last passenger who got on the plane.

D. the seat by the window was kept for the last passenger.

4.This short passage may be taken from a _____.

A. novel        B. news report       C. science fiction      D. magazine.

 

Living in South Africa, I had always taken the wildlife pretty much for granted. Not to say that we were surrounded by it, but the accessibility of game parks and wildlife sanctuaries（避难所，庇护所） always made it seem like a natural part of the environment. For this reason, I suppose that the way my European friends used to talk to me, wasn’t so strange after all. They would ask me what I thought at the time were really silly questions which got on my nerves. They’d say things like ‘Do you have a pet baboon?’ or ‘Do you travel to school by elephant?’.

When Amanda, a friend of mine who was visiting from England, invited me to join her and a group of friends on a wildlife expedition, I was not filled with enthusiasm. However, from the moment we entered the gates of the Zaluzi game reserve, I knew that this was not going to be anything like I had expected. We had been traveling along the National Road when, suddenly, we turned onto a dirt track which seemed to be hidden in the middle of nowhere. Amazingly, the scenery changed dramatically. The civilized environment took on a wild, chaotic（混沌的；一片混乱的） aspect and continued to do so as we walked deeper into the bush.

After having a good night’s sleep at one of the reserve’s bungalows, we were woken at the crack of dawn. After a quick breakfast we piled into a jeep and set off. Our guide assured us that the early start was necessary in order to have the best chance of seeing what was really worthwhile. Armed with just a thermos of coffee, we set out towards the shore of a small lake where it was expected that we could see that animals that used it as their morning watering hole.

On the way to our destination, we topped a hill and there, against the emerging morning light, were a group of animals.  It was a stunning sight. As we moved closer, the animals did not appear to be alarmed by our presence. Pet baboons aside, I had never before come within such close range of a pride of lions. It did cross my mind, however, that we might be in a certain amount of danger. When I asked Timothy, our game ranger, if we were actually in any danger, he replied straightforwardly that one is never entirely safe in the bush, but his knowledge and experience allowed him to anticipate any danger with reasonable accuracy.

However, the following day there was some cause for alarm. Not having started out so early, we missed the sightings of the day before. We decided to drive around for a while, hoping to come across something of interest. Suddenly our tracker perched up on the back of our vehicle, signaled to the driver to halt and at the same moment I realized that this time we had stumbled right into a pride of lions. The driver promptly turned off the engine and in a low voice warned us to remain seated and not to make any abrupt movements. The lions were picking at what looked like the remains of a zebra. Timothy, later told us how much to our advantage this was. Had their bellies not been full, their reaction to us would surely have been otherwise. As the nearest lion was less than three meters away from the jeep, I considered that we had been very lucky indeed.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip. Our near miss with the lions was without a doubt the highlight, but what it taught me yet again was how easy it is to be indifferent to our surroundings and not to have a full appreciation of the beauty around us.

1.How did the writer feel about the questions her European friends asked?

A. ridiculous      B. annoyed       C. strange     D. embarrassed

2.When did the writer’s attitude change about the expedition?

A. When she was traveling along the dirt track.

B. When she received her invitation.

C. When she arrived at the game reserve.

D. When her friend arrived from England.

3.What does the underlined word ‘It’ (in the fourth paragraph) refer to?

A. the pride of lions     B. the destination

C. the top of the hill     D. the morning light

4.Timothy’s experience as a game ranger was valuable because he ______________

A. could supply a straightforward answer to any question.

B. knew how to frighten the animals.

C. knew the game reserve well.

D. could identify trouble in advance.

5.What does the writer mean by the underlined sentence ‘we had been very lucky indeed’ in the fifth paragraph?

A. They had seen the lions up close.    B. They hadn’t been attacked.

C. They had a good guide with them.   D. They had gone on a trip.

6.What conclusion does the writer of the text come to?

A. We often do not realize how attractive our environment really is.

B. It is not clever to unnecessarily put ourselves in dangerous situations.

C. We don’t respect wild animals enough.

D. We should protect our surroundings.