Nothing says love like a dozen long – stemmed roses on Valentine’s Day. More than a million roses will be sold during this festival for lovers, the biggest day of the year for the nation’s rose industry. It’s going to remain the most popular flower because love never goes out of style.

Yes, a rose is a rose is a rose. But selling them is no longer a beautiful experience for traditional flower shops. Supermarkets now offer convenience to the busy and discount rose shops help those hopelessly in love save money. Roses only is a good example of a discount rose retailer that was transformed from a traditional shop to answer the challenge in the’ 90s.

Inside this store on Sixth Avenue near 40 th Street, contemporary white furniture and wall – to – wall mirrors give it an expensive look. Customers move about freely among the counters, looking eagerly at the roses in more than 50 colors from shelf to shelf. Some customers say it’s the high quality of the roses that attracts them there. “I spent $ 20 but the flowers looked like I paid 60 or 70 dollars,” says one customer.

Studies show more people are buying roses in ones, two and threes these days. In fact, more than half of all roses are sold in bunches of fewer than a dozen. But Roses Only's low prices encourage people to spend. Even on Valentine's Day, when the price of a dozen roses and delivery can soar as high as $150, 12 of Roses Only's most expensive flowers sell for just $35. The company's key to success is to hold prices down by controlling every link in the rose chain. It grows its own roses in the sunshine of the Andes Mountains. In addition, the company also sells other items such as ballons and stuffed animals.    

       While discount rose retailers are witnessing their business bloom, U.S. rose growers aren’t able to compete with the fierce foreign competition. More than 57% of roses sold in the USA are grown in other countries. The biggest foreign producers are Colombia and Ecuador, which accounted for almost 90% of the total imported last year. The trend has hurt domestic rose growers such as Johnson Flowers of California, considered to be this country's leading producer.

Now, instead of fighting overseas rivals, the Johnsons are trying to work with them. "We have a few big fighting overseas rivals, the Johnsons are trying to work with them. “We may also widen our business to include the service area and be a representative for overseas flower producers.”

       As a result of severe competition, those in the rose business long for the good old days, whereas ordinary people benefit from the low price.

60.What is the central theme of this text?

A.The US rose business is going from bad to worse in spite of the efforts made.

B.The rose will remain the most popular flower as love never goes out of date.

C.The rose business is trying to meet the challenges in the market to succeed.

D.The rose industry plays an important role in American economy.

61.How does Roses Only obtain success in the discount rose retailing field?

       A.By setting up more chain stores across the country.

B.By selling roses in supermarkets.

C.By selling high quality roses at a low price.

D.By selling roses by the dozen.

In the modern world more and more people meet the problem of identity.The most interesting example is that of a so – called “banana”, which refers to an American who has an Asian face but holds Western values.
In Shanghai, there now live a group of people from abroad.They look no different from the locals and speak fluent Chinese or even Shanghai dialect, but when it comes to writing Chinese characters, they are almost illiterate(文盲).Jack is such an example.He never learned to read or write Chinese characters, which he finds mysterious and difficult.From time to time, he files to the US as he does not feel Shanghai is where he comes from.“But when I am in the States, I feel that’s not my home either,” he said.
At De Gaulle Airport in France, there is a Swiss man who has been living in the waiting – room for a long time because he lost h is passport during his travels.He was refused entry into several countries.But when he was eventually allowed to return to Swizerland, he refused to leave the airport.His reason was very simple—“I am sure who I am.I need no acknowledgement from others,” he said during an interview.For th is reason  he was honored by the Western media as “the Hero of identity.”
As the Internet becomes more and more popular, the problem of identity becomes more serious.In a virtual world, people can have different addresses registered with different names.In the Internet chat room, even one’s gender(性别) is hard to determine.It seems that in the glohal village, people are saying hello every day to each other without knowing whom they are talking to.
What will be the next crisis(危机) of identity? With the development of cloning technology, it might be: who is the real “I”?
【小题1】What does the passage mainly talk about?

A.The importance of identity.
B.The crisis of identity.
C.Differences between Eastern and Western cultures.
D.Difficulty in living in foreign counties.
【小题2】The Swiss man had to live in De Gaulle Airport in France because      
A.he needed to board a plane at any time
B.he couldn’t afford to live in a hotel
C.he needed others acknowledgement
D.he couldn’t prove who he was
65.A “banana” in the passage is in fact an     
A.American traveling to Asia   B.American keeping Eastern culture
C.American born in Asia    D.America – born Asian
【小题3】We can infer from the passage that the author believes      
A.there will be more problems relating to identity in the future
B.Internet technology helps solve problems of identity
C.only people traveling abroad have problems of identity
D.people don’t need to worry about identity

 

I am trying to muster(鼓起)the courage to toss away my mobile phone to enjoy a more peaceful and ring –free life.

Can you imagine not having your mobile phone? In our high-tech, in-a-hurry age, a cell-free life is a hard concept to swallow. Our mobile phones can now access the Internet, and many people feel the need to express their every thought on their blog pages. If I gave up my cellphone, people would think I was mad.

I wish I had the strength to toss away my technology . I have an office phone, a home phone, e-mail and if people want to contact me. they can. If I’m out, people can leave a message. Do they really need to find me 24/7 ? However, I’m a bit like Frodo in the movie Lord of the Rings. The power of the ring is too strong and I can’t let it go.

Mobile phones have become necessary tools in our busy life. For most people , they hold all contacts and many of us don't write up address books any more. The latest phones carry our music, pictures, movies and everything else. We feel lost without this device and when we do misplace it , we feel cut off from our fellow,

“Where have you been?” said a friend, who saw me a week after I lost my cell, “I tried calling you , but you disappeared. You disappeared off the face of the Earth。” See, when you don’t have a mobile phone, you don’t exist.

I’m not really going to toss my mobile phone away, in fact. We humans are such social animals and mobile phones serve us well. So in 2009, I’ve dicided not to serve my mobile phone. Like all machine, I can always turn it off.

1.What does the underslined phrase“toss away”mean?

A.give away      B.get away     C.break away      D.throw away

2.The writer mentions Frodo to        

A.show it is difficult to get rid of the mobile phone

B.show how much he likes Frodo

C.suggest a cell-free life is what he wants

D.introduce a film character to us

3.What do we know about mobile phones in the 4 th paragraph?

A.Mobile phones can do anything for us .

B.Mobile phones have become very important in our life

C.We could not live without mobile phones

D.We would be cut off by our fellow without mobile phones

4.What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A.The writer is not really going to toss his mobile phone away.

B.When you don't have a mobile phone, you don’t exist.

C.The writer decides not to serve his mobile phone

D.We humans can control ourselves and machines will.

 

 

第二节:阅读表达(共5小题,每小题2分,满分10分)

Would you spend more time playing outside, reading, or studying? Well, now it’s our chance to turn off your TV and find out! TV-Turnoff Week is here.

The goal of TV-Turnoff Week is to let people leave their TV sets off and participate in activities from drawing to biking. The event was founded by TV-Turnoff Network, a non-profit organization which started the event in 1995. In the beginning, only a few thousand people took part. Last year more that 7.6 million people participated, including people in every state in America and in more than 12 other countries! This is the 11 th year in which organizers are asking people to “turn off the TV and turn on life.”

According to the TV-Turnoff Network, the average kids in the US spend more time in front of the TV (about 1, 023 hours per year)than they do in school (about 900 hours per year). Too much TV watching has made many kids      .In fact, in 2001’s TV-Turn-off week, US Surgeon General David Satcher said, “We are raising the most overweight generation of youngsters in American history. This week is about saving lives.”

Over the years, studies have shown that watching a lot of TV leads to poor eating habits, too little exercise, and violence. Frank Vespe of the TV-Turnoff Network said that turning off the TV “ is , or should be ,part of a healthy lifestyle.”

“One of the great lessons of participating in TV-Turnoff Week is the realization that every time I turn on the TV, I’m deciding not to do something else,” Vespe said.

TV-Turnoff Week seems to be making a difference. Recent US Census (人口普查)data shows that about 72 percent of kids under 12 have a limit on their TV time. That’s up from about 63 percent ten years ago.

81.What’s the best title of the passage? (Please answer within 10 words)

_______________________________________________________________________________

82.Which sentence in the passage can be replaced by the following one?

According to many studies, spending too much time in front of TV has many bad results.

_______________________________________________________________________________

83.Please fill in the blank in the third paragraph with proper words or phrases to complete the sentence. (Please answer within 10 words)

_______________________________________________________________________________

84.Can you think of other bad results of watching too much TV? (Please answer within 30 words)

_______________________________________________________________________________

85.Translate the underlined sentence into Chinese.

_______________________________________________________________________________

 

In the modern world more and more people meet the problem of identity.The most interesting example is that of a so – called “banana”, which refers to an American who has an Asian face but holds Western values.

In Shanghai, there now live a group of people from abroad.They look no different from the locals and speak fluent Chinese or even Shanghai dialect, but when it comes to writing Chinese characters, they are almost illiterate(文盲).Jack is such an example.He never learned to read or write Chinese characters, which he finds mysterious and difficult.From time to time, he files to the US as he does not feel Shanghai is where he comes from.“But when I am in the States, I feel that’s not my home either,” he said.

At De Gaulle Airport in France, there is a Swiss man who has been living in the waiting – room for a long time because he lost h is passport during his travels.He was refused entry into several countries.But when he was eventually allowed to return to Swizerland, he refused to leave the airport.His reason was very simple—“I am sure who I am.I need no acknowledgement from others,” he said during an interview.For th is reason  he was honored by the Western media as “the Hero of identity.”

As the Internet becomes more and more popular, the problem of identity becomes more serious.In a virtual world, people can have different addresses registered with different names.In the Internet chat room, even one’s gender(性别) is hard to determine.It seems that in the glohal village, people are saying hello every day to each other without knowing whom they are talking to.

What will be the next crisis(危机) of identity? With the development of cloning technology, it might be: who is the real “I”?

1.What does the passage mainly talk about?

   A.The importance of identity.

   B.The crisis of identity.

   C.Differences between Eastern and Western cultures.

   D.Difficulty in living in foreign counties.

2.The Swiss man had to live in De Gaulle Airport in France because      

   A.he needed to board a plane at any time

   B.he couldn’t afford to live in a hotel

   C.he needed others acknowledgement

   D.he couldn’t prove who he was

65.A “banana” in the passage is in fact an     

   A.American traveling to Asia                                          B.American keeping Eastern culture

   C.American born in Asia                                               D.America – born Asian

3.We can infer from the passage that the author believes      

   A.there will be more problems relating to identity in the future

   B.Internet technology helps solve problems of identity

   C.only people traveling abroad have problems of identity

   D.people don’t need to worry about identity

 

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