Five years ago, David Smith wore an expensive suit to work every day. “I was a clothes addict,” he jokes. “I used to carry a fresh suit to work with me so I could change if my clothes got wrinkled.” Today David wears casual clothes-khaki pants and sports shirt-to the office. He hardly ever wears a necktie. “I’m working harder than ever,” David says, “and I need to feel comfortable.”

More and more companies are allowing their office workers to wear casual clothes to work in the United States. The change from formal to casual office wear has been gradual. In the early 1990s, many companies allowed their employees to wear casual clothes on Friday(but only on Friday). This became known as “dress-down Friday” of “casual Friday”. “What started out as an extra one-day-a-week benefit for employees has really become an everyday thing.” said business consultant Maisly Jones.

Why have so many companies started allowing their employees to wear casual clothes? One reason is that it’s easier for a company to attract new employees if it has a casual dress code. “A lot of young people don’t want to dress up for work,” says the owner of a software company, “so it’s hard to hire people if you have a conservative dress code.” Another reason is that people seem happier and more productive when they are wearing comfortable clothes. In a study conducted by Levi Strauss and Company, 85 percent of employers said that they believe that casual dress improves employee morale. Only 4 percent of employers said that casual dress has a negative impact on productivity. Supporters of casual office wear also argue that a casual dress code helps them save money. “Suits are expensive, if you have to wear one every day,” one person said. “For the same amount of money, you can buy a lot more casual clothes.”

David Smith refers to himself as having been “a clothes addict,” because _______.

A. he often wore khaki pants and a sports shirt

B. he couldn’t stand a clean appearance

C. he wanted his clothes to look neat all the time

D. he didn’t want to spend much money on clothes

David Smith wears casual clothes now, because _______.

A. they make him feel at ease when working

B. he cannot afford to buy expensive clothes

C. he looks handsome in casual clothes

D. he no longer works for any company

According to this passage, which of the following statements is false?

A. Many employees don’t like a conservative dress code.

B. Comfortable clothes make employees more productive.

C. A casual clothes code is welcomed by young employees.

D. All the employers in the U. S. are for casual office wear.

According to this passage, which of the following statements is true?

A. Company workers started to dress down about twenty years ago.

B. Dress-down has become an everyday phenomenon since the early 1990s.

C. “Dress-down Friday” was first given as a favor from employers.

D. Many workers want to wear casual clothes to impress people.

In this passage, the following advantages of casual office wear are mentioned in the passage except _______.

A. saving employees’ money

B. making employees more attractive

C. improving employees’ motivation

D. making employees happier

Thanks to the Web, We’re Alone Together and Loving it
There's a professor, Barry Wellman, at the University of Toronto in Canada who has come up with a term to describe the way a lot of us North Americans interact these days. And now a big research study confirms it.
Barry Wellman's term is "networked individualism." It's not the easiest concept to grasp. In fact, the words seem to contradict each other. How can we be individualistic and networked at the same time? You need other people for networks.
Here's what he means. Until the Internet and e-mail came along, our social networks involved flesh-and-blood relatives, friends, neighbors, and colleagues at work. Some of the interaction was by phone, but it was still voice to voice, person to person, in real time.
But the latest study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project confirms that for a lot of people, electronic interaction through the computer has replaced a great deal of social interchange. A lot of folks Pew talked with say that's a good thing, because of concerns that the Internet was turning us into hermits who shut out other people in favor of a make-believe world on flickering computer screens.
To the contrary, the Pew study discovered the Internet has put us in touch with more real people than we'd have ever imagined. Helpful people, too. We're turning to an ever-growing list of cyber friends for advice on careers, medical crises, child-rearing, and choosing a school or college. About 60 million Americans told the Pew that the Internet plays an important or crucial role in helping them deal with major life decisions.
So we networked individuals are pretty tricky: We're keeping more to ourselves, while at the same time reaching out to more people, all with just the click of a computer mouse!
【小题1】The Pew study was conducted in _____.

A．The United States	B．Canada
C．The U.S. and Canada	D．Europe

【小题2】Which of the following has happened since the invention of the Internet and email?

A．People are talking on the phone more than ever.

B．Interaction through the computer has replaced a lot of person to person interaction.

C．Americans are turning into hermits.

D．Sixty million Americans have bought computers.

【小题3】Which of the following was NOT one of the discoveries of the Pew study?

A．The Internet has put us in touch with more people than expected.

B．People use the Internet to get advice on careers, medical problems, and other questions.

C．For many Americans, the Internet plays an important role in helping them make important decisions.

D．“Internet addiction” is a growing problem among people who use computers.

【小题4】What does the bolded words “reach out” in the last paragraph mean?

A．Connect with.

B．Play a trick.

C．Make a decision.

D．Stay alone.

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side.

Most people know this joke. But recently, some people have been much more worried about how the grizzly bear and mountain lion can cross the road.

“Millions of animals die each year on U.S. roads,” the Federal Highway Administration reports. In fact, only about 80 ocelots, an endangered wild cat, exist in the U.S. today. The main reason? Roadkill.

“Eco-passages” may help animals cross the road without being hit by cars. They are paths both over and under roads. “These eco-passages can be extremely useful, so that wildlife can avoid road accidents,” said Jodi Hilty of the Wildlife Protection Society.

But do animals actually use the eco-passages?  The answer is yes. Paul Beier of Northern Arizona University found foot marks left by mountain lions on an eco-passage that went under a highway.  This showed that the lions used the passage.

Builders of eco-passages try to make them look like a natural part of an area by planting trees on and around them. Animals seem to be catching on. Animals as different as salamanders（火蜥蜴）and grizzly bears are using the bridges and underpasses.

The next time you visit a park or drive through an area with a lot of wildlife, look around.  You might see an animal overpass!

1. The writer uses the example of “ocelots” to show that __________.

A．wild animals have become more dangerous

B．the driving condition has improved greatly

C．an increasing number of animals are killed in road accidents

D．the measure for protecting wildlife fails to work

2.From the story, we know an eco-passage is __________.

A．an underground path for cars

B．a fence built for the safety of the area

C．a bridge for animals to get over a river

D．a path for animals to cross the road

3. When the writer says that “animals seem to be catching on” (Para. 6), he means __________.

A．animals begin to realize the dangers on the road

B．animals are crossing the road in groups

C．animals are increasing in number

D．animals begin to learn to use eco-passages

4. The writer asks visitors and drivers to look around when traveling because __________.

A．wild animals may attack cars	B．they may see wild animals on eco-passages
C．they may see wild animals in the park	D．wild animals may jam the road

5. The best title for the passage is __________.

A．Special bridges help animals cross the road

B．Endangered animals increase because of roadkill

C．Animals fail to cross the road

D．Take steps to protect animals in danger

 

The Elysee Palace in France enjoys equal popularity in the world with the Buckingham Palace in the United Kingdom, the Kremlin in Russia as well as the White House in the U. S. It is the residence of the president of the French Republic and the symbol of the supreme authority in France.

The Elysee palace, with an area of 11,000 square metres, is at the eastern end of the Champs Elysee in the city of Paris proper and backed by a large and peaceful garden of more than twenty thousand square metres. Its main building, quite handsome and graceful, is a two-story classical stone architecture of European style, and beside it are two side buildings facing each other and with an extensive rectangular courtyard in the middle. There are altogether 369 halls and rooms of different sizes.

The Elysee Palace, built in 1718, has a ling history of close to300 years to date. This house was at first a private residence of a count named d’Evreau, so it was called Hotel d’Evreau. It had later gone through many changes and its owners had been changed for many times, but all the residents in it were distinguished persons and high officials. The house was renamed Bonaparte Mansion when it was owned by Louis X V and Louis X VI successively when they acted as emperors. Napoleon I signed his act of abdication here when he had suffered defeat in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Nopoleon III moved in the   Mansion in 1848 when he was elected president, and the house became a Royal Palace when he declared himself as emperor. The Third French Republic issued a decree in 1873, appointing officially the Elysee Palace as the residence president of the French Republic. Over the hundred years since then, almost all the president of the French Republic worked and lived there. Starting from 1989, the Elysee Palace is open to the public every year in September on the French Castles Day.

1.The number of the buildings of the Elysee Palace is ______.

A．3

B．4

C．5

D．6

2. Why does the writer mention the Buckingham Palace?

A．To tell us it’s very famous in the world

B．To tell us the Elysee Palace is as large as it.

C．To show that the Elysee Palace is also a symbolic building.

D．To show that it is also the living place of the president.

3.What’s the purpose of the passage?

A．To tell us the long history of the Elyseee Palace.

B．To make an introduction of the Elysee Palace.

C．To show the political importance of the Elysee Palace.

D．To explain how the Elysee Palace became the residence of presidents.

4. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A．The time when the Elyusee Palace is open to the public.

B．The reason why Napoleon I signed his act of abdication.

C．The time when the Elysee Palace became the residence of president of the French Republic.

D．The reason why there’s the French Castles Day.

 

Online shoppers would rather receive an offer for a product or service than make their own offer ₃ according to a study led by a Michigan State University scholar that has implications for the fast-growing e-commerce industry. The findings may come as a surprise given that shopping online is an anonymous(匿名的）process that seemingly can give consumers more confidence to drive a hard bargain_,said Don Conlon ，Professor of Management in MSU’s Broad College of Business.
But the study found that participants who made their own offers were less successful in sealing the deal and ，when they were successful_? worried they overpaid Many shoppers found the process of researching an offer to be a hassle. “ Americans are very busy，and it’s less time-consuming to be the one receiving the offer rather than the one proposing the offer  ” Conlon said. ^u People tend to be happier when they’re in the receiver role. ”
Online spending in the United States is expected to jump 45 percent in the next four years， from $ 226 billion this year to $ 327 billion in 2017，according to Forrester Research Inc. Nevertheless, researches into this prosperous market remain largely focused on the strategies of companies, rather than those o£ shoppers. Conlon^’s study is ，obviously, a rare exception.
Conlon got the idea for the study after considering the difference between two popular sites for hotels and airline flights, priceline.com, which takes bids, and hotwire.com ，which provides offers. Using these two models ，Conlon and his fellow researchers conducted a series of experiments with more than 850 people who were charged with booking a fictional hotel room and acquiring a fictional antique car. Not only did participants prefer to receive bids, Conlon said ，but they also secured more deals in that receiver role. Further ，when they had to make the bids ，they were left more mentally taxed and regretful.
From an industry perspective，putting customers in the receiver role may help fill more hotel rooms and airplane seats. “If you’re a business with a lot of products₃ ” Conlon said，“you may want to be the one making the offers. ” However, when selling single items, such as an antique car， accepting bids may be a better option since that typically drives up the price, he said.
【小题1】What can we learn from Para. 1?

A．The result of the study gives customers more confidence.

B．Scholars aren’t surprised at the findings of the study.

C．Online shoppers don’t bargain as much as expected.

D．E-commerce industry drives more hard bargains.

【小题2】It can be concluded from Conlon’s experiments that______.

A．online shopping is time-consuming

B．given prices help promote online sales

C．online businesses provide a lot of products

D．receiving offers makes online shoppers regretful

【小题3】The underlined word “taxed” in Para. 4 probably means______.

A．burdened

B．numbed

C．relieved

D．challenged

【小题4】The passage is mainly about______.

A．the big advantages of online shopping

B．the rapid development of online shopping

C．online shoppers’ preference for taking offers

D．online companies strategies to improve service