A bargain is something offered at a low and advantageous price. A more recent definition is: a bargain is a dirty trick to force money out of the pockets of silly and innocent people.

The cost of producing a new - for example - toothpaste would make 80p the proper price for it, so we will market it at £1.20. It is not a bad toothpaste, and as people like to try new things it will sell well to start with; but the attraction of novelty soon fades, so sales will fall. When that happens we will reduce the price to £1.15. And we will turn it into a bargain by printing 5p OFF all over it.

Sometimes it is not 5p OFF but 1p OFF. What breathtaking rudeness to advertise 1p OFF your soap or washing powder or whatever! Even the poorest old-age pensioner ought to regard this as an insult(侮辱), but he doesn’t. A bargain must not be missed. People say one has to have washing powder (or whatever) and one might as well buy it a penny cheaper.

The real danger starts when unnecessary things become ‘bargains’. Many people just cannot resist bargains. Provided they think they are getting a bargain they will buy clothes they will never wear or furniture they have no space for. Once I heard of a man who bought an electric saw as a bargain and cut off two of his fingers the next day. But he had no regrets: the saw had been truly cheap.

Quite a few people actually believe that they make money on such bargains. A lady once told me: “I’ve had a lucky day today. I bought a dress for £120, reduced from £400; and I bought a beautiful Persian carpet for £600, reduced from £900.” It will never occur to her that she has actually wasted £720. She feels as though she had made £580. She also feels, I am sure, that if she had more time for shopping, she could make a living out of it.

Some people buy in large quantities because it is cheaper. Once a couple bought enough sugar for their lifetime and the lifetime of their children and grandchildren. They thought it a bargain not to be missed. When the sugar arrived they didn’t know where to store it – until they realized that their toilet was a very spacious one. So that was where they piled up their sugar. Not only did their guests feel rather strange whenever they were offered sugar to put into their coffee, but the toilet became extremely sticky.

To offer bargains is a commercial trick to make the poor poorer. When greedy fools fall for this trick, it serves them right.

1.Which word best describes the language style of the passage?

A. Polite. B. Foolish. C. Humorous. D. Serious.

2.What does the underlined word “novelty” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A. Good quality. B. Low price.

C. Newness. D. Curiosity.

3.How does the author feel about 1p OFF a product?

A. It’s a gift for poor people.

B. It’s an offense to shoppers.

C. It’s a bargain worth trying.

D. It’s a real reduction in price.

4.Which statement will the author probably agree with?

A. Bargains are things people don’t really need.

B. Bargains are often real cheap products.

C. Bargains help people make a living.

D. Bargains play tricks on people.

French lessons in France

Whatever your level is, choosing to take French lessons in France is the best way to learn French. Place yourself in the local culture and practice your newly found skills in your free time.

You will be taught by native (本地的) French speakers who have a love for teaching and use excellent teaching techniques. Lessons are interesting and you will speak French on the first day both inside and outside the classroom.

Learners

● Suitable for all levels from beginners to advanced (高级的)

● Over 18 years old

Class Schedule (课表)

● Classes start on Mondays and run throughout the summer.

● Please arrive at the school by 8:15 am on your first day for a short level test. It will help to place you in the right class.

● Classes run from Monday to Friday each week.

● Classes start at 8:45 am each day depending on your level.

● You will have 3 classes per day lasting 55 minutes each.

● You will have a short break between classes.

Free Time and Tours

● The school offers a lot of cultural activities throughout the week. These activities can include cooking lessons, wine and cheese tasting, visits to Paris, cycling, movies and much more.

● You will have plenty of free time to explore (探索) the local area and practice your newly found language skills or just relax on this learning holiday with a difference.

Other Information

● You should bring a small dictionary, pens and paper with you.

Get more from your holiday, have fun, meet new people and take home a new language skill that will stay with you forever.

1.What is special about the French courses?

A. They are taught in small groups.

B. The teachers are young French speakers.

C. People learn French in and out of class.

D. They will offer a wine tasting license.(执照)

2.On the first day, the students should ______.

A. take a language test B. pay for their study

C. do a survey D. introduce themselves to the class

3.How many lessons are there in a week?

A. 21. B. 30. C. 15. D. 12.

4.We can learn from the text that the course ______.

A. is not suitable for teenagers

B. offers cooking classes as well

C. provides dictionaries for students

D. has a short game between classes

Reading for pleasure is declining among primary-age pupils, and increasing numbers of "time poor" parents are dropping the practice of sharing bedtime stories with their children once they start school.

Research presented to a conference last week found that, while parents read to preschoolers , this later tails off, and by the final year of primary school only around 2% read to their children every day. Once children can read skillfully, parents tend to step back, and this usually happens at the age of seven or eight. The report also found that 820-/o of teachers blame the government's " target-. driven" education policies for the fact that fewer children are reading for pleasure.

They believe that a straitjacket (束缚) of strictly organized schooling is containing young people's ability to read more widely. Two-thirds of teachers surveyed said they lacked time in the school day to introduce a variety of books and that this was a " major obstacle to being able to develop a level of reading". Teachers also cited as main factors the reduction in the number of school librarians, who could put interesting books before children, and the rise in "screen time", switching children from reading to playing games.

The majority of teachers said the curriculum's (课程) " emphasis on reading as a skill to be mastered" was increasing the pressure. This was compounded by parents who saw reading just as a focus of learning, a skill critical to career advancement in a competitive world.

Reading habits and the digital revolution in publishing were key topics of debate at the conference. The theme of the lack of British culture was supported by children's writer Frank Cottrell Boyce, who wrote the scripts(手稿 ) for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics.

“We discovered the whole nation had forgotten that they did the industrial revolution," he said.

"Books are so central to it; books can be written by anyone. A lot of the pleasure of a book is listening to somebody read it to you. "

"We found a real love of reading al110ng teachers, and a strong desire ,to encourage more children to read for pleasure ,”said Rob Cheney," However ,the teachers also had an overpowering sense of frustration with their situation." "Touch-screen phone and tablets are naturally attractive to children," the survey said, and predicted a period of awkwardness as everyone else adapts. By 2018, children's television will have adopted the presence of this second screen ,and it "will be strange not to have children ,at home drawing along on tablets and then having these appearing live in the show ".

The hope is “that user-friendly screens could, if material is adapted and downloaded easily, present an opportunity for more ambitious publishing - for example, books children can either read or choose to have read to them; or digital books with moving pictures instead of photos to clarify factual and scientific points. Parental controls that are easy to use would be key, the conference was told, such as "a warning for when devices use the Wi-Fi, especially after bedtimes", to allow parents to shut off access to children in the home.

1.What leads to parents' dropping the practice of sharing bedtime stories with their children?

A. Children have less time to spend with their parents after they start school.

B. Parents chink it unnecessary to do so when children can read themselves.

C. The government’s education policies have placed much burden on children.

D. Children don't like parents reading stories to them when they are seven or eight.

2.Which of the following is not teachers' point of view?

A. Children are prevented from reading widely enough in school.

B. Schools pay attention to reading skills instead of reading for fun.

C. Playing video games reduces children's time spent on reading.

D. School libraries can't provide good books for lack of money.

3.The word "compounded" (Paragraph 4) most probably means ______.

A. worsened B. preserved C. reduced D. improved

4.It can be inferred from the article that _____

A. children don't like reading because books are not attractive

B. British people enjoyed reading books very much in the past

C. teachers forbid their students co read more books for fun

D. children should enjoy more freedom to use the Wi-Fi at home

5.What is the passage mainly about?

A. Parents should set a limit to their children's using electric devices at hoI11e.

B. Children are encouraged to read as l11any interesting books as they can.

C. Children miss out on pleasures of reading a good book in modern life.

D. Experts appeals to the government to reduce the heavy burden on children.

In the fall of 1985, I was a bright-eyed girl heading off to Howard University, aiming at a

legal career and dreaming of sitting on a Supreme Court bench somewhere. Twenty-one years later I am still a bright-eyed dreamer and one with quite a different tale to tell.

My grandma, an amazing woman, graduated from college at the age of 65. She was the first

in our family to reach that goal. But one year after I started college, she developed cancer. I made

the choice to withdraw from college to care for her. It meant that school and my personal dream

would have to wait.

Then I got married with another dream: building my family with a combination of adopted

and biological children. In 1999, we adopted our first son. To lay eyes on him was fantastic---and very emotional. A year later came our second adopted boy. Then followed son No. 3. In 2003, I

gave birth to another boy.

You can imagine how fully occupied I became, raising four boys under the age of 8! Our

home was a complete zoo — a joyous zoo. Not surprising, I never did make it back to college

full-time. But I never gave up on the dream either. I had only one choice: to find a way. That

meant taking as few as one class each semester.

The hardest part was feeling guilty about the time I spent away from the boys. They often

wanted me to stay home with them. There certainly were times I wanted to quit, but I knew I

should set an example for them to follow through the rest of their lives.

In 2007, I graduated from the University of North Carolina. It took me over 21 years to get

my college degree!

I am not special, just single-minded. It always struck me that when you’re looking at a big

challenge from the outside it looks huge, but when you’re in the midst of it, it just seems normal. Everything you want won’t arrive in your life on one day. It’s a process. Remember: little steps

add up to big dreams.

1.When the author went to Howard University, her dream was to be_________.

A. a writer B. a doctor

C. a judge D. a journalist

2.Why did the author quit school in her second year of college?

A. Her grandma asked her to withdraw from college.

B. She fell in love and got married.

C. She had so many children to support that she was too busy to continue her college.

D. She decided to look after her grandma.

3.What does the author mostly want to tell us in the last paragraph?

A. Failure is the mother of success.

B. Little by little, one goes far.

C. Every coin has two sides.

D. Well begun, half done.

4.Which of the following can best describe the author?

A. Caring and determined.

B. Honest and responsible.

C. Ambitious and sensitive.

D. Innocent and single-minded.

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