题目内容
Getting It in Writing
Writing is a system of communication relating to sight that is made up of symbols recorded on a surface. The symbols used in writing stand for words, sounds, or ideas. Writing is a relatively new idea in human history. It is only about 5.500 years old. The earliest writing systems were developed by the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Phoenicians.
The earliest known writing system appeared sometime between 3500 and 3000 B.C. in Sumer, a region in what is now known as the Middle East. Sumerian writing used pictographs( 
), or pictures, that stood for words or ideas. The Sumerians wrote with a pointed stick on wet and flat earth that later dried and hardened.
Around 3000 B.C. the Egyptians, who were very creative, invented a kind of writing known as
hieroglyphics( 
). Most hieroglyphs drew whole words, but some of them stood for sounds in words. The Egyptians cut their hieroglyphs into the surface of stone, painted them on pottery, and wrote them on papyrus, a type of paper made from a plant fiber(纤维).
The Phoenicians were traders traveling regularly on the sea, and lived along the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea. They were the first to develop a different kind of writing system, around 1000 B.C. Instead of pictographs, Phoenician writing was made up entirely of letters. Their 22 letters stood for consonant（辅音）sounds in words, but vowel（元音）sounds were not stood for.Later the Greeks and Romans used the Phoenician system（ 
）as the basis for their alphabets（字母表）, adding letters for vowel sounds.
1．How was the Phoenician alphabet different from the Greek and Roman alphabets?
A．It had no letters for consonant sounds.
B．It has no letters for vowel sounds.
C．It was made up of pictographs.
D．It had more letters.
2．Which of the following presents the right order of the writing system in the article?
3．What is the purpose of this article?
A．To inform readers about how writing system developed
B．To tell readers how the modern alphabet was invented.
C．To persuade readers to study earliest writing systems.
D．To describe symbols from ancient writing systems.
1．B 2．D 3．A
Some time ago , I discovered that one of my chairs had a broken leg ．I didn’t think there would be any difficulty in getting it mended , as there were a whole lot of antique shops near my home ．So I left home one morning carrying the chair with me ．I went into the first shop expecting a friendly reception ．I was quite wrong ．The man wouldn’t even look at my chair ．
The second shop , though slightly more polite , was just the same , and the third, and the fourth—so I decided that my approach must be wrong ．
I went into the fifth shop with a plan in my mind ．I placed the chair on the floor and said to the shopkeeper , “ Would you like to buy a chair ?” He looked it over carefully and said, “Yes , not a bad chair ．How much do you want for it , sir ?” “Twenty pounds ,” I said ．“OK ,” he said , “I’ll give you twenty pounds ．” “It’s got a slightly broken leg ,”I said ．“Yes I saw that , it’s nothing ．”
Everything was going according to plan and I was getting excited ．“What will you do with it ?” I asked ．“Oh , it will be easy to sell once the repair is done ．” “I’ll buy it ,” I said ．“ What do you mean ? You’ve just sold it to me ,” he said ． “Yes , I know but I’ve changed my mind ．I’m sorry , I’ll give you twenty-seven pounds for it ．” “You must be crazy ,” he said．Then suddenly the penny dropped ．“ I know what you want ．You want me to repair your chair．” “ You’re right ,” I said ．“ And what would you have done if I had walked in and said , ‘ Would you mend this chair for me’ ?” “I wouldn’t have agreed to do it ,” he said ．“We don’t do repairs , not enough money in it and too much trouble ．But I’ll mend this for you , shall we say for a five?” He was a very nice man and was greatly amused （感到有趣） by the whole thing ．
【小题1】We can learn from the text that in the first shop the writer ．
| A．was rather impolite |
| B．was warmly received |
| C．asked the shopkeeper to buy his chair |
| D．asked the shopkeeper to repair his chair |
| A．changed his mind | B．accepted the offer |
| C．saw the writer’s purpose | D．decided to help the writer |
| A．£5． | B．£7 | C．£20． | D．£27． |
| A．honest | B．careful | C．smart | D．funny |
The New York Times announced Wednesday that it intended to charge frequent readers for access to its website, a step being debated across the industry that nearly every major newspaper has so far feared to take.
Starting in early 2011, visitors to NYTimes.com will get a certain number of articles free every month before being asked to pay a standard and fixed fee for unlimited access. Subscribers to the newspaper’s print edition will receive full access to the site.
But executives of The New York Times Company said they could not yet answer fundamental questions about the plan, like how much it would cost or what the limit would be on free reading. They stressed that the amount of free access could change with time, in response to economic conditions and reader demand. Still, publishers fear that money from digital subscriptions would not make up for the resulting loss of audience and advertising income.
NYTimes.com is by far the most popular newspaper site in the country, with more than 17 million readers a month in the United States, according to Nielsen Online, and analysts say it is the leader in advertising income, as well. That may make it better positioned than other general-interest papers to charge—and also gives The Times more to lose if the move produces an opposed result.
The Times Company has been studying the matter for almost a year, searching for common ground between pro-and-anti pay campaigns—a debate mirrored in dozens of media-watching blogs-- and the system will not go into effect until January 2011. Executives said they were not bothered by the possibility of absorbing barbs(挖苦) for moving cautiously.
“There’s no prize for getting it quick,” said Janet L. Robinson, the company’s president and chief executive. “There’s more of a prize for getting it right.”
【小题1】 What’s the function of the first paragraph?
| A．It servers as a comment. |
| B．It serves as a background |
| C．It serves as a lead-in |
| D．It serves as a conclusion. |
| A．Non-paying subscribers will get no access to NYTimes.com. |
| B．Readers will be charged more to read articles on NYTimes.com. |
| C．Readers will get more free online articles to log on NYTimes. com more often. |
| D．Subscribers to the paper’s print edition will also enjoy full access to the site. |
| A．Unwilling. |
| B．Serious. |
| C．Hasty |
| D．Doubtful |
| A．The Times to offer free access to its web site. |
| B．The Times to increase audience to its web site. |
| C．The Times to attract advertisement to its web site |
| D．The Times to charge for frequent access to its web site. |
Riding was the favourite activity of Thomas Jefferson, who was the third President of the United States. He usually rode good horses.
One day, he was riding outside Washington, when a jockey (赛马师) came near. He did not know the President, but his professional eye was attracted by Mr. Jefferson’s horse. He stopped and said that he wanted to buy the horse, but Mr. Jefferson politely refused his offer.
The jockey offered more money for the horse, because the closer he looked at the horse, the more he liked it. All of his offers were refused, which made him angry. He then became rude, but his rudeness left as little an impression as his money, for Jefferson had a very good temper. At last, he hit Mr. Jefferson’s horse with his whip, getting it to run suddenly. This would have thrown a less skillful rider to the ground, but Jefferson stayed on his seat, and controlled his horse well.
The jockey then gave up. He rode with Mr. Jefferson side by side and began to talk with him about politics. Jefferson joined in the conversation. When they got into the city and came close to the gate of the presidential mansion (总统府), Mr. Jefferson stopped, and politely invited the man to enter.
The jockey was surprised and asked, “Why? Do you live here?”
“Yes” was the simple reply.
“Why, stranger, what’s your name?”
“My name is Thomas Jefferson.”
Embarrassed, the man quickly left, while the President looked at him with a smile and then rode through the gate.
【小题1】Which is the best title for the passage?
| A．Jefferson and the Jockey | B．Jefferson’s Interest |
| C．Be Polite to Everyone | D．No Pain, No Gain |
| A．Professional. | B．Skillful. | C．Impatient. | D．Impolite. |
| A．worried | B．pleased | C．hurried | D．ashamed |
| A．the jockey had once bought a horse from another stranger |
| B．Mr. Jefferson was very good at riding a horse |
| C．Mr. Jefferson would invite the jockey to his own house later |
| D．the jockey would not talk about this experience to others |
| A．The President of the US is fond of riding. |
| B．The jockey managed to buy the horse from Mr. Jefferson. |
| C．Mr. Jefferson, the third President of the United States, was a man of good manners. |
| D．All the presidents of the US have expensive horses. |