The video rooms have been open since Jan. 2. If successful, the chain hopes to expand the service to other provinces, or even other countries. In addition to the food, customers pay 200 yuan per hour for using the room.

    ''The video rooms have been fully booked in February,'' said Chen Yu, manager of the Wangfujing branch. The Video room in Beijing is about 30 square meters and large enough for six customers.

   ''Many customers prefer to use the room for dinners rather than lunch,'' Chen said, adding the average age of customers who booked the video hotpot(火锅) is about 30.

   ''The whole process is very smooth. The image and the voice transmission(转换) are as good as those of video conferencing at work, ''said one of Chen's colleagues surnamed Luo.

   ''I have a lot of friends in Beijing, whom I haven’t met for a long time because of being busy at work,'' said a woman surnamed Yu who is having dinner with her husband at Haidilao.''The new service gives us a chance to have a dinner together without traveling. I would like to give it a try.''

The video hotpot also helped establish a friendship between waitresses in the two cities.

Zhao Huanhuan, in her 20s, who is specially trained for serving in the video room in Shanghai, developed a friendship with a waitress named Lu Ke in the Beijing branch.

Zhao said excitedly: ''It was too amazing to believe. I'm so interested in using the special room and enjoy serving people there. I also talk about some interesting interactive games with Lu before guests come for dinner''.

Although Lu felt a little bit nervous when she first served in front of the screens, she said the new mode of communication also encouraged her to supply better services for customers.

''It's like a service competition. We saw each other through video and I could learn from Zhao's serving,'' Lu said, adding she will visit Zhao if she goes to Shanghai.

It seems that video hotpot doesn't satisfy everyone's taste, however.

1.From the passage we know that ______.

A. the video room service has been open for a long time

B. the video room service has been open in many provinces in China

C. using the video room, you have to pay extra 200 yuan per hour

D. the Video room in Beijing is only designed for six people to use

2.Haidilao may be the name of ______.

A. a theatre          B. a restaurant                 C. a cinema         D. a hotel

3.Why do many customers choose the video room service?

A. Because the service there is excellent.

B. Because they can have dinner with friends without traveling.

C. Because the food there is delicious.

D. Because the room is large enough for six people.

4.We can learn from the passage that Zhao Huanhuan ______.

A. enjoys communicating with Lu Ke

B. hasn't met Lu Ke for a long time

C. is twenty years old now

D. learned a lot from Lu Ke

5.What do you suppose will be talked about in the paragraph to be followed?

A. Lu's visit to Zhao in Shanghai.

B. Other customers' praise for the service.

C. How to improve the service.

D. Other customers' complaint about the service.

 

Would you eat a ready meal from the fridge rather than cook from scratch? Have you been doing internet shopping rather than going to the stores? What can't you be bothered to do?

       A study into how lazy British people are has found more than half of adults are so lazy they'd catch the lift rather than climb two flights of stairs．

       Just over 2000 people were quizzed by independent researchers at Nuffield Health, Britain's largest health charity．The results were astonishing．

       About one in six people surveyed said if their remote control was broken, they would continue watching the same channel rather than get up．

       More than one third of those questioned said they would not run to catch a bus．Worryingly, of the 654 respondents with children, 64% said they were often too tired to play with them．

       This led the report to conclude that it's no wonder that one in six children in the UK are classified as obese （very fat） before they start school．

       Dr Sarah Dauncey, medical director of Nuffield Health, said: "People need to get fitter, not just for their own sake, but for the sake of their families, friends and evidently their pets too．

       "If we don't start to take control of this problem, a whole generation will become too unfit to perform even the most rudimentary of tasks．"

       And Scotland's largest city, Glasgow, was shamed as the most inactive city in the UK, with 75% surveyed admitting they do not get enough exercise, followed closely by Birmingham and Southampton, both with 67%．

       The results cause serious challenges for the National Health Service, where obesity-related illnesses such as heart disease and cancer have been on a steady increase for the past 40 years and are costing billions of pounds every year．

1.What causes children in the UK to be obese?

       A．Eating ready meal                               B．Watching TV

       C．Doing Internet shopping                       D．Being lazy

2.What can be inferred from the passage?

       A．British people are too lazy to do anything．

       B．Internet shopping will do harm to your health．

       C．Many people would not run to catch a bus in Britain．

       D．People should be more active and take regular exercise to keep fit．

3.Which of the following is Not true according to the passage?

       A．One sixth of British people use remote control when watching TV．

       B．People will benefit not only themselves but their families by getting fit．

       C．Fatness can cause diseases such as heart disease and cancer．

       D．More people get obesity-related illnesses now than 40 years ago．

4.What does the underlined word rudimentary most probably mean?

       A．basic                   B．serious                C．vital                    D．hard

5.All the following are among the most lazy cities in the UK except         ．

       A．Glasgow             B．Birmingham        C．Nuffield              D．Southampton

 

One Sunday a few of us decided to take advantage of the first sunny day we’d have for ages to take a trip down to the coast to visit the penguins again. Last time I went down there was a couple of months ago and it was a dull cold day. Sunday couldn’t have been more different — clear skies and sunshine made it feel like summer, although it was still -25°C.
Six of us drove to the coast. It was the first time we’d been off the base on our own without our field assistant, so it had a slightly different feeling — more like a few friends going to the seaside than an Antarctic field trip! When we reached Windy Creek, we luckily caught sight of quite a few small flying seabirds, which are seldom seen there.
Once on the sea ice we found that some of the more curious penguins had wandered over from the main group to come and check us out. We’d been told that then they were nursing their chicks (刚孵出的幼雏) and they would be more careful and nervous than last time, but that didn’t seem to be the case. We walked across to the main group which were stretched for a couple of miles along the coast. We sat down for some sandwiches and soon found ourselves surrounded by many curious observers. Without any attackers on land, they were very brave and came within a meter of us to pose (摆姿势) for photos.
Before heading back, we spent a few hours on the sea ice watching the penguins and their chicks, which had grown dramatically (明显地) since our last visit. It was such a nice day.
【小题1】
When did the trip most probably happen?

A．On a dull Sunday.	B．On a warm Sunday.
C．On a summer Sunday.	D．On a winter Sunday.

【小题2】
It can be inferred from the second paragraph that the six people _____.

A．felt a little nervous

B．felt a little excited

C．were left all by themselves on their Antarctic base

D．got bored with staying with their field assistant

【小题3】
What does the writer mean by saying “but that didn’t seem to be the case”?

A．They were told a lie.

B．A wrong decision was made.

C．The truth was the opposite.

D．They didn’t believe what they were told.

【小题4】
The six people did the following during the trip EXCEPT _____.

A．feed the penguins

B．take pictures of the penguins

C．enjoy watching flying seabirds

D．watch the young penguins

 Would you eat a ready meal from the fridge rather than cook? Have you been doing internet shopping rather than going to the stores? What can’t you be bothered to do?

    A study into how lazy British people are has found more than half of adults are so idle（闲散的）they’d catch the lift rather than climb two flights of stairs.

    Just over 2,000 people were quizzed by independent researchers at Nuffield Health, Britain’s largest health charity. The results were shocking. About one in six people surveyed said if their remote control (遥控器)was broken, they would continue watching the same channel rather than get up.  More than one third of those questioned said they would not run to catch a bus. Worryingly, of the 654 questioned people with children, 64% said they were often too tired to play with them.  This led the report to conclude that it’s no wonder that one in six children in the UK are classifted as obese（肥胖）before they start school.

Dr Sarah Dauncey, medical director of Nuffield Health, said: “People need to get fitter, not just for their own sake, but for the sake of their families， too. If we don’t start to take control of this problem, a whole generation will become too unfit to perform even the simplest tasks.”

    And Scotland’s largest city, Glasgow, was shamed as the laziest city in the UK, with 75% surveyed admitting they do not get enough exercise, followed closely by Birmingham and Southampton, both with 67%.

The results pose serious challenges for the National Health Service, where obesity-related illnesses such as heart disease and cancer have been on a steady increase for the past 40 years and are costing billions of pounds every year.

1. According to the researchers at Nuffield Health, about ________ people who were surveyed would not run to catch a bus.

A. 10            B. 150             C. 330              D. 660

2. One in six children in the UK are classified as obese before they start school because ________.

A. they stay too long a time with their pets  

B. they spend too much time watching TV

C. their parents don’t play with them much  

D. they suffer from obesity-related illnesses

3. ________ is the second laziest city in the UK.

    A. Scotland       B. Glasgow         C. Birmingham       D. Nuffield

4. What’s the writer trying to tell us?

    A. Parents have much to do with their children’s obesity-related illnesses.

    B. British people are getting lazier, which can cause serious social problems.

    C. The National Health Service has to face a lot of serious challenges every year.

    D. A study into how lazy British people are has been carried out at Nuffield Health.

阅读下面短文，从短文后各题的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出适合填入对应空白处的最佳选项。并在答题卡上将该选项涂黑。

September 4 was my first day at Phillips Academy, my new school. It was also my 18^th birthday.

I received a warm   26     from my host family--- the Steins. Gena was my host mum, and her daughter Lily would also be a new   27   at Phillips. They took me to the school and       28   me around the campus.

On our way to my dorm (学生宿舍), we saw a truck delivering a student’s  29   to her room. Many students at the school were very rich, and they would fill their dorms with decorations（装饰物）. But I was   30   not to because I thought it was a   31   of time and money.

I had a single room, which was about the   32   of a Chinese college dorm --- the ones which usually hold six people.   33   she helped carry my bags, Lily asked me, “What’s your favorite  34  ，Teresa?” I thought for a moment before answering, “Orange.” I didn’t know why she had asked the question.

We   35  an introduction meeting after dinner.  36   of the students were native English speakers, so I felt a little   37  .  I returned to my room after the   38  , tired and wanted to go to bed after a (n)   39   day.

When I opened my door, I found a big    40  .The bed was perfectly made with blankets and an orange sunflower pillow. On the    41    was a sunflower-pattern mat（地垫，垫子）while a colorful lamp    42  beside the bed.

I opened my mouth,   43   .  How beautiful!

There was also a   44   card. I touched the little pillow on the bed as I read the card. A warm current (暖流) rushed through my   45   .

A. heart                  B. card                  C. service                     D. welcome

A. student          B. teacher             C. citizen               D. visitor

A. walked           B. introduced         C. showed             D. invited

A. bag             B. newspaper         C. letters               D. money

A. warned          B. forced                    C. determined        D. supposed

A. matter            B. waste                C. show                 D. use

A. design            B. size                   C. pattern                     D. example

A. As                 B. Though             C. Because             D. While

A. fruit            B. weather             C. food                 D. color

A. organized      B. planned             C. attended            D. opened

A. All            B. Most                 C. Some                D. Few

A. pleased         B. nervous           C. angry                D. afraid

A. dinner           B. class               C. meeting             D. party

A. exciting        B. surprising        C. tired               D. interested

A. secret           B. joke                  C. warmth           D. surprise

A. wall             B. desk                  C. floor               D. ground

A. stood            B. lay                 C. appeared         D. hanged

A. frightened     B. moved                     C. satisfied           D. understood

A. post              B. birthday            C. name              D. festival

A. mind            B. head               C. face                 D. body