Thousands of people living in the Chinese capital will celebrate the start of the Chinese  New year by heading for the ski resorts (滑雪场). Never mind that Beijing's dry weather seldom produces snow. It is cold enough in winter for snow-making machines to make a covering for the hills north to the capital. And the rapid growth of a pleasure-seeking middle class has formed the basis for this new craze(热潮)     

Since Beijing's first ski resort was opened ten years ago, the sport has enjoyed astonishing increase. There are now more than a dozen resorts. Clothes markets in the city have added bright colored ski suits to their winter collections. Mr. Wei, a manager of a newly-opened ski resort in Beijing, sees the growth of an industry that could soon lead Chinese to head for the ski resorts of Europe, In recent years ski resorts offering natural snow have opened in China. But many are in faraway areas of the country and can't really match the equipment and services of some ski resorts in Europe.

Beijing's skiing craze is partly a result of the recent increase in private (私有的) cars. This has led to the growth of a leisure industry in the capital's suburbs (郊区), which until the late-1990s were unreachable to ordinary people, According to Mr. Wei, about 40% of the visitors to his resort come in their own cars. The rest are bused in by schools, businesses or government offices.  

The problem is making money. Starting ski resorts requires quite a lot of money; hiring land from the local government, preparing the hills, buying snow machines, making sure there are enough water and electricity to run them, and buying ski equipment for hiring out to customers.

   The ski resort where Mr. Wei works cost nearly $4 million to set up. And. as so often in China when someone comes up with a good idea, many others rush in and price wars break out. Beijing now offers some of the cheapest ski training classes in the world, though with most people rather new to the sport, expecting a few more doing the same job.

What does this text mainly talk about?

A. Convenience for skiers brought about by private cars.

B. Skiing as a new way of enjoying one's spare time.

C. Things to be considered when starting a ski resort.

D. A sudden increase of ski training classes in Beijing.

Why are some Chinese likely to go skiing in Europe?

 A. To visit more ski areas.              B. To ski on natural snow.

 C. For a large collection of ski suits.      D. For better services and equipment.

The underlined words "leisure industry" in Paragraph 3 refer to ----

 A. transport to ski resorts                    B. production of family cars

 C. business of providing spare time enjoyments  D part-time work for people living in the suburbs

What is the main problem in running a ski resort?

A. Difficulty in hiring land.            B. Lack of business experience.

C. Price wars with other ski resorts,      D. Shortage of water and electricity,

Brownie and Spotty were neighbor dogs who met every day to play together. Like pairs of dogs you can find in any neighborhood, these two loved each other and played together so often that they had worn a path through the grass of the field between their houses.

One evening, Brownie’s family noticed that Brownie hadn’t returned home. They went looking for him with no success. Brownie didn’t show up the next day, and, although they made their efforts to find him, by the next week he was still missing, Curiously, Spotty showed up at Brownie’s house alone, barking and jumping. Busy with their own lives, they paid no attention to the nervous little neighbor dog.

Finally, one morning Spotty refused to take “no” for an answer. Ted, Brownie’s owner, was continuously disturbed by the angry, determined little dog. Spotty followed Ted about, barking all the time, then rushing toward a nearby empty lot and back, as if to say, “Follow me! It’s urgent!”

Eventually, Ted followed Spotty across the empty lot as Spotty stopped to race back and barked encouragingly. The little dog led the man to a deserted spot a half mile from the house. There Ted found his beloved Brownie alive, one of his legs crushed in a steel trap (圈套). Frightened, Ted now wished he had taken Spotty’s earlier appeals seriously.

Then Ted noticed something. Spotty had done something else besides leading Brownie’s human owner to his trapped friend. In a circle around the injured dog, Ted found some food remains of every meal. Brownie had been fed that week! Spotty had been visiting Brownie regularly, in the hope of keeping his friend alive. Spotty had actually stayed with Brownie to protect him from hunger and other dangers, and keep his spirits up.

Brownie’s leg was carefully treated and he soon got well again. For many years thereafter the two families watched the faithful friends chasing each other down that well-worn path between their houses.

1.At the very beginning, Ted paid little attention to Spotty because __________.

A.he was not free at the moment

B.he was sure Brownie would be OK

C.he didn’t like Spotty at all

D.his missing dog made him sad

2.After Ted was brought where Brownie was trapped, he ___________.

A.managed to free his dog at once

B.was very thankful to Spotty

C.regretted not following Spotty earlier

D.was angry with the trap-maker

3.The BEST title for this passage might be____________?

A.Dogs in Love

B.A Friend in Need

C.Human and dogs

D.Dogs Are Communicative

4.We can infer from the passage that ___________.

A.humans and animals depend on each other for comfort

B.It’s not right to hunt for animals in any neighborhood

C.Ted has to take better care of his beloved dog later on

D.Brownie would have died without Spotty’s timely help

 

 My wife and I had just finished the 150-mile trip home from our daughter’s college. It was the first time in our life that we would __36__ for any length of time. We wondered how other people had __37__ it.

Later in bed, I __38__ the time I started college. My father had driven me, too. My mother had to stay home to keep the __39__ from getting into the crops. I, the fourth in a line of brothers, was the first to __40__ college.

The truck was slow, and I was glad. I didn’t want to get to the city __41__. I shook hands with my father in the truck and he didn’t say a word. But I knew he was going to make a little __42__. He finally said, “I never went to college and __43__ of your brothers did. I can’t say don’t do this or that, because everything is __44__ and I don’t know what is going to come up, but I think things will __45__. When you get a job, be sure to be honest and work hard.” I knew that soon I would be __46__ in the big town and I would be __47__ the life home.

Then my father __48__ the Bible that he had read so often. I knew that he would miss it but I must __49__ it. He just said, “This can help you __50__ you will let it.”

When I finished school I took the Bible __51__ to my father. But he said he wanted me to __52__ it.

Now, too often, I remember. It would have been so __53__ to give it to my daughter when she got out of the car. But I didn’t. My father could give me only a Bible, but now I don’t really believe that I gave her half as __54__ as my father gave me. So the next morning I __55__ up the book and sent it to her. I wrote a note “This can help you.” I said, “if you will let it.”

1. A. worry         B. separate         C. stay             D. travel

2. A. left              B. stood                C. enjoyed          D. tried

3. A. wasted            B. spent                C. remembered       D. killed

4. A. policemen     B. workers          C. cattle               D. birds

5. A. graduate from B. go away to           C. set out              D. set up

6. A. very late     B. far away         C. too soon         D. once again

7. A. speech            B. living               C. promise          D. progress

8. A. some          B. one              C. none             D. all

9.A. impossible     B. different            C. difficult            D. favorite

10. A. work out     B. die out              C. hold out         D. break out

11. A. happy            B. alone                C. free             D. lost

12. A. losing           B. spending         C. missing          D. living

13. A. brought about    B. brought out          C. brought up           D. brought down

14. A. refuse           B. mark             C. follow               D. take

15. A. if               B. unless               C. but              D. though

16. A. down         B. up               C. back             D. away

17. A. keep         B. return               C. post             D. sell

18. A. popular          B. strange          C. ready                D. nice

19. A. much         B. many             C. far              D. good

20. A. set              B. turned               C. gave             D. wrapped

 

When milk arrived on the doorstep

When I was a boy growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, we had a milkman delivering milk to our doorstep. His name was Mr. Basille. He wore a white cap and drove a white truck. As a 5-year-old boy, I couldn’t take my eyes off the coin changer fixed to his belt. He noticed this one day during a delivery and gave me a quarter out of his coin changer.

Of course, he delivered more than milk. There was cheese, eggs and so on. If we needed to change our order, my mother would pen a note—“Please add a bottle of buttermilk next delivery”—and place it in the box along with the empty bottles. And then, the buttermilk would magically(魔术般)appear.

All of this was about more than convenience. There existed a close relationship between families and their milkmen. Mr. Basille even had a key to our house, for those times when it was so cold outside that we put the box indoors, so that the milk wouldn't freeze. And I remember Mr. Basille from time to time taking a break at our kitchen table, having a cup of tea and telling stories about his delivery.

There is sadly no home milk delivery today. Big companies allowed the production of cheaper milk thus making it difficult for milkmen to compete (竞争). Besides, milk is for sale everywhere, and it may just not have been practiced to have a delivery service.

Recently, an old milk box in the countryside I saw brought back my childhood memories. 1 took it home and planted it on the back porch (门廊). Every so often my son's friends will ask what it is. So I start telling stories of my boyhood, and of the milkman who brought us friendship along with his milk.

1.Mr. Basille gave the boy a quarter out of his coin changer      .

A.to show his magical power      B.to pay for the delivery

C. to satisfy his curiosity          D.to please his mother

2.What can be inferred from the fact that the milkman had the key to the boy's house?

A.He wanted to have tea there.   

B.He was a respectable person. 

C.He was treated as a family member.

D.He was fully trusted by the family.

3. Why does home milk delivery no longer exist?

A.Nobody wants to be a milkman now.  

B.It has been driven out of the market.  

C.Its service is getting poor.             

D.It is forbidden by law.

4.Why did the author bring back home an old milk box?

A.He missed the good old days.         

B.He wanted to tell interesting stories.  

C.He needed it for his milk bottles.      

D.He planted flowers in it.

 

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