Allen : I’ve never been a big fan of the bears , especially the vacation show . On my last trip to Disneyland (1999) we passed it by , because we didn’t want to spend the time on something we didn’t really enjoy. If we’d known it would be closed by our next visit , I’m sure we would have watched it one more time . I was just making the point that it wasn’t until Disney announced the closing that this feeling suddenly sprang (弹跳) up for the Country Bear show at Disneyland .

But I think the idea of keeping some attractions (胜迹) open forever regardless of (不顾及) the number of visitors it gets is a mistake . We all have great memories of the Bears , but clearly very few kids today (or I should say families today ) are making those same memories from this show . That may be a sad fact , but it’s a fact . For whatever reason , the show doesn’t pull in the numbers . Isn’t it right to use the Country Bear space to bring in a more popular attraction so that more kids today can make those magic memories of an attraction THEY like ? Otherwise aren’t we just telling kids today that they “have to” make great memories of the Bears , when it’s obvious that the kids themselves are not enjoying the Bears like we did ?

Roger : I am very disappointed that they have decided to retire the Country Bear Playhouse . I remember going to the show as a child , and still enjoyed it as a teenager ,

and now young adult . It is true that there aren’t a lot of shows left at DL and with this one closing even less . Being at DL does require a lot of walking , and it is nice to have a few attractions that are a place to sit and enjoy a good show . I understand that DL has to develop , but there has to be some history to the Disneyland that Walt Disney first designed . There should be some parts of DL that just never go away , and this is one of them . By the time I have children it looks like there won’t be any attractions that I can say I went to as a child at the rate they are going .

Now the Bears are leaving . What I want to say is: stop trying to compete with everyone ! DL is the best , because of attractions like the Country Bears . If DL insists on destroying all of its magic to make way for the latest , well , then it might as well be just another theme (主题) park .

1.What news might get people talking about the problem of the Country Bears ?

2.Allen spoke mainly to get his point across that           .

3.Which is the best choice to complete Roger’s idea : “The Country Bears have been a part of Disneyland for nearly 30 years ,         .”

4.Which of the following is not in the same group as the other three ?

5.Where can this passage be found ?

Coffee has a history dating back to at least the 9th century and has been a catalyst for social interaction across cultures and eras. Originally discovered in Ethiopia, coffee beans were brought into the Middle East by Arab traders, spreading to Egypt, Yemen, Persia, Turkey, and North Africa by the 15th century. Muslim merchants eventually brought the beans to the thriving port city of Venice, where they sold them to wealthy Italian buyers. Soon, the Dutch began importing and growing coffee in places like Java and Ceylon (largely through slave labor), and the British East India Trading Company was popularizing the beverage in England. Coffee spread across Europe and even reached America.

Where there has been coffee, there has been the coffeehouse. From the 15th century Middle Eastern establishments where men gathered to listen to music, play chess, and hear recitations from works of literature, to Paris' Cafe le Procope where luminaries of the French Enlightenment such as Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot came to enjoy a hot cup of joe, coffeehouses have traditionally served as centers of social interaction, places where people can come to relax, chat, and exchange ideas.

The modern coffee shop is modeled on the espresso and pastry-centered Italian coffeehouses that arose with the establishment of Italian-American immigrant communities in major US cities such as New York City's Little Italy and Greenwich Village, Boston's North End, and San Francisco's North Beach. New York coffee shops were often frequented by the Beats in the 1950's. It wasn't long before Seattle and other parts of the Pacific Northwest were developing coffee shops as part of a thriving counterculture scene. The Seattle-based Starbucks took this model and brought it into mainstream culture.

Although coffeehouses today continue to serve their traditional purpose as lively social hubs in many communities, they have noticeably adapted to the times. Rediscovering their purpose as centers of information exchange and communication, many coffee shops now provide their customers with internet access and newspapers. It has become extremely common to see someone sitting at a Starbucks listening to music or surfing the web on his or her laptop. Coffee stores today also maintain a fairly identifiable, yet unique aesthetic: wooden furniture and plush couches, paintings and murals drawn on walls, and soft-lighting combine to give coffee shops the cozy feeling of a home away from home.

Today, big business retail coffee shops are expanding quickly all over the world. Starbucks alone has stores in over 40 countries and plans to add more. Despite its popularity, Starbucks has been criticized and labeled by many as a blood-sucking corporate machine, driving smaller coffee shops out of business through unfair practices. This has even spawned an anti-corporate coffee counterculture, with those subscribing to this culture boycotting big business coffee chains. Increasingly popular coffee stores such as The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf are also giving Starbucks some stiff competition. In any case, it seems pretty clear that coffee has weaved itself into the fabric of our consumer-oriented culture.

1.

 Which of the following is the correct order of coffee spreading in history?

   ①Egypt    ②America    ③the Middle East    ④Netherlands    ⑤Venice

   A. ①③④②⑤       B. ③①⑤④②              C. ①⑤④③②             D. ③②⑤④①

2.

We can infer from the passage ________.

   A. Starbucks has beaten all the competitors  

B. there are no changes in the development of coffee culture

C. the taste of coffee has changed a lot

D. Starbucks has some effect on the development of coffee culture

3.

The famous coffeehouse “Starbucks” originally come from _______.

   A. Seattle                     B. Ethiopia                          C. Java                                 D. France

4.

Nowadays, if you come to a coffeehouse, you can _______.

   A. play chess with other customers                   

B. enjoy delicious dishes from South America

   C. surf the internet                                                 

D. watch a TV play

Three  21  ago, my family got our first computer.  22  the beginning of this summer, I found it was too old and I wanted to get a  23   one. After my father. and I talked for a long time, he  24  . We went to many shops and read many ads.   25   we bought an HP computer.

During the first week, I noticed  26   our computer had some problems. I spent many hours   27   to fix it, but it   28   work. So I   29   to phone the HP compa­ny and ask them   30   to work out my problem. They told me to wait until the next morning because all their workers were 31 that day.

The next morning two workers came. It took them many hours to mend it, but the computer    32 did not work. My dad had no other way but to return the whole thing.

A few days later, we decided that I should go on the Internet and order some parts to build a new computer by  33  .

It was not an easy job for me to build a new computer. I tried many times, and in the end I was successful. From these setbacks(挫折), I have learned a lot. Now I be­lieve that if the HP computer hadn't had any problems,   34   I would not have learned how to build the new one. Even though I spent lots of time on it, I know it wasn't     35    .

1. A.  days       B.  weeks        C.  months        D.  years

2.A.  At         B. On            C. To             D. For

3.A.  big         B. new          C. cheap           D. small

4. A.  won        B.  paid         C.  agreed         D.  received

5.A.  At first      B. At last         C. At once         D.  At times

6.A.  if           B.  that         C. what            D.  how

7.A.  try          B. tried          C.  to try         D. trying

8.A.  do           B.  did         C.  don't          D.  didn't

9.A.  hoped        B.  have        C. had             D. liked

10.A.  how         B.  what         C.  why          D.  where

11. A. free           B. sad           C.  busy          D. exciting

12.A. already         B. always        C.  still          D.  usually

13.A. themselves      B.  himself      C.  itself         D.  myself

14.A.  or            B.  then         C.  so           D. and

15.A. a waste of time    B. a successful job C.  a good computer   D.  a bad company

Giving Back

Fair Way

The Westborough High School golf team had taken the official photos with the state prize. The other teams, disappointed, were on the bus heading home. And then Westborough instructor Greg Rota noticed something wrong on one of the score cards. A 9 had been recorded as a 7. They were not the state prize winner; Woburn High had won. “No one would have known.” said Woburn’s instructor, Bob Doran. For Rota, it wasn’t a difficult decision: “The prize wasn’t ours to take.”

Coin Stars

“College students are lazy, but they also want to help,” says University of Pennsylvania graduate Dana Hork. So she made it easy, placing cups in rooms where students could leave their spare coins, and handing out cups to first-year students to keep in their rooms. Her “Change for Change” effort has collected $ 40,000 for charities (慈善机构), which were decided upon by students.

Never Forgotten

A school in Massachusetts received a $ 9.5 million check (支票) from Jacques LeBermuth. But it took officials several days of digging to discover his connection to the school. Records showed the LeBermuth came from Belgium and studied in the school in the 1920s. When his family fell on hard times, he was offered free room and board. LeBermuth became a trader, owned shares of AT&T and lived off the earning until he died, at age 89.

1.What did Greg Rota probably do in the end?

A. Took photos of Doran.          B. Had a meeting with Doran.

C. Returned the prize to the organizer.  D. Apologized to Woburn High School.

2.Greg Rota’s decision shows that he was ________.

A. honest B. polite   C. careful D. friendly

3.The underlined word “Change” in the second paragraph means ________.

A. Idea     B. Decision       C. Cups    D. Coins

4.What did the school officials do after receiving the check from Mr LeBermuth?

A. They tried to find out why he gave them the money.

B. They went to Belgium to pay their respects to him.

C. They dug out the records that were buried underground.

D. They decided to offer their students free room and board.

5.Jacques LeBermuth gave the money to the school because ________.

A. the school asked for it         

B. he had no need for that much money

C. the school had helped him in the past        

D. he wanted to be remembered by the students

Today, roller skating is easy and fun. But a long time ago, it wasn’t easy at all. Before 1750, the idea of skating didn’t exist. That changed because of a man named Joseph Merlin. Merlin’s work was making musical instruments. In his spare time he liked to play the violin. Joseph Merlin was a man of ideas and dreams. People called him a dreamer.

One day Merlin received an invitation to attend a fancy dress ball(化装舞会). He was very pleased and a little excited. As the day of party came near, Merlin began to think how to make a grand entrance at the party. He had an idea. He thought he would get a lot of attention if he could skate into the room.

Merlin tried different ways to make himself roll. Finally, he decided to put two wheels under each shoe. These were the first roller skates. Merlin was very proud of his invention and dreamed of arriving at the party on wheels while playing the violin.

On the night of the party Merlin rolled into the room playing his violin. Everyone was astonished to see him. There was just one problem. Merlin had no way to stop his roller skates. He rolled on and on. Suddenly, he ran into a huge mirror that was hanging on the wall. Down fell the mirror, breaking to pieces. Nobody forgot Merlin’s grand entrance for a long time!

49. The text is mainly about _________.

A. a strange man              

B. an unusual party

C. how roller skating began     

D. how people enjoyed themselves in the 18^th century

50. People thought Merlin was a dreamer because he _________.

A. often gave others surprise     B. was a gifted musician

C. invented the roller skates      D. was full of imagination

51. Merlin put wheels under his shoes in order to _________.

A. impress the party guests       B. arrive at the party sooner

C. test his invention             D. show his skill in walking on wheels

52. What is the main point the writer is trying to make in the last paragraph?

A. The roller skates needed further improvement

B. The party guests took Merlin for a fool

C. Merlin succeeded in beyond expectation.

D. Roller skating is easy and fun.