We all love festivals. But since culture develops differently in many places, some festivals are, to us, very strange. Let’s take a look at some unique(独特的)festivals around the world.
Cheese Rolling Festival (England)
The festival started in the 15th century in May. When a round cheese is rolled, competitors run down the hill and try to catch it before it reaches the bottom. As the cheese can reach speeds of up to 112 km/h, it’s rare that someone catches the cheese. First to the bottom wins the cheese. But running down a very steep(陡峭的) hill behind a cheese can be dangerous. Eight people were injured in 1992.
Roswell UFO festival (New Mexico, US)
The Roswell UFO festival celebrates the anniversary(纪念日) of the “Roswell Incident”, when a UFO was said to have crashed(坠毁) nearby. Every year in July, experts, authors, researches and lecturers come to discuss the incident. The celebration also includes an alien parade, an alien costume contest, and an alien hot air balloon ride.
Hemingway Days (Florida, US)
This festival has normal stuff (材料，东西) like short-story readings and exhibits about the author. But the highlight (亮点) of the festival is definitely (一定地) the Hemingway look alike contest.
Imagine walking into a bar and being greeted by 20 middle-aged men who all look alike: stocky with thick white beards. The festival takes place in mid-July every year.

  1. 1.

    Which festival takes place in mid-July every year?

    1. A.
      Cheese Rolling Festival
    2. B.
      Roswell UFO festival
    3. C.
      Hemingway Days
    4. D.
      All of the above
  2. 2.

    Which festival may cause injuries according to the passage?

    1. A.
      Cheese Rolling Festival
    2. B.
      Roswell UFO festival
    3. C.
      Hemingway Days
    4. D.
      None of the above
  3. 3.

    Which of the following is right according to the passage?

    1. A.
      All the three festivals are celebrated in America
    2. B.
      It’s common that someone catches the cheese in Cheese Rolling Festival
    3. C.
      It’s said that a UFO once crashed in New Mexico, US
    4. D.
      In Hemingway Days, you’ll see 20 old or young Hemingways

Blind photography sounds strange．But a striking exhibition of photographs in California argues that it develops as a result of the contemporary art．The show "Sight Unseen", at the California Museum of Photography until Aug．29, includes everything: underwater scenes, landscapes, abstracts and everything else you might expect from a "sighted" photographer．
How do the blind take their photographs? Some rely on assistants to set up and then describe the shots （镜头） , and others just point and shoot in the right place．"Just like any good artists," says McCulloh．"They have their unique ways of operating．" One participating photographer is Pete Eckert, an artist with multiple degrees in design and sculpture who only turned to photography after losing his vision in the mid-1990s．He opens the shutter （快门） on his camera and then uses flashlights, lights, and candles to paint his scene on film．A former fashion photographer in Chicago, Weston, lost his vision due to AIDS in 1996 and focuses on images of destruction and disability．His photos are also a star of the show．
What do gallery-goers say? "I was very impressed by it．The technique and experience was amazingly different," says John Hesketh, a printmaker in Anaheim．"You never have a sense of feeling sorry for these people because they've worked very hard to prove their value．"
Beyond the praise, however, the exhibition also makes a great example for disabled people everywhere．That point was explained in early May during a discussion on the TV show．At the very end of the talk, one attendee expressed his opinion．"This exhibition is extraordinary and revolutionary for many reasons．I think that by being an artist with a disability, you are continuing the work of those people who fought for basic civil rights to gain access and to have a voice．In that way, it's so wonderful that your photographs say it all．"

  1. 1.

    From the passage we know that some blind people take photos by______.

    1. A.
      describing the things to their assistants
    2. B.
      holding the camera and shooting randomly
    3. C.
      opening the shutter with the help of others
    4. D.
      using special equipment designed for them
  2. 2.

    We can learn from the passage that blind photographers ______.

    1. A.
      were not born blind
    2. B.
      do jobs related to art
    3. C.
      focus on different subjects
    4. D.
      like photos of destruction
  3. 3.

    What is people's reaction to the blind photography show?

    1. A.
      They admire the blind photographers' hard work．
    2. B.
      They feel really sorry for those blind photographers．
    3. C.
      They think some have good techniques while others not．
    4. D.
      They can understand the real meaning of each photograph．
  4. 4.

    The significance of the exhibition lies in the fact that ______．

    1. A.
      the California Museum of Photography receives praises for holding the show
    2. B.
      the public have a chance to know what the blind people are concerned about
    3. C.
      the blind photographers have a good place to show their works
    4. D.
      the exhibition can be very inspiring to the blind in the world

I’m not so sure I like my friends any more. I used to like them-to be honest. We’d have lunch, talk on the phone or exchange emails, and they all seemed normal enough. But then came Face Book, and I was introduced to a sad fact: many of my friends have dark sides that they had kept from me.
Today my friends show off the more unpleasant aspects of their personalities via FaceBook. No longer hidden, they’re thrown in my face like TV commercials -unavoidable and endless advertisements for the worst of their personalities.
Take Fred. If you were to have lunch with him, you’d find him warm, and self-effacing（谦逊的）.Read his FaceBook and you’ll realize he’s an unbearable, food-obsessed boring man. He’d pause to have a cup of coffee on his way to save a drowning man-and then write about it.
Take Andy. You won’t find a smarter CEO anywhere, but now he’s a CEO without a company to run. So he plays Mafia Wars on FaceBook. He’s doing well-level 731. Thanks to FaceBook, I know he’s playing about 18 hours a day. Andy, you’ve run four companies-and this is how you spend your downtime? What happned to golf?What happened to getting another job?
Take Liz. She is positive that the flu vaccine will kill us all and that we should avoid it. And then comes Chris who likes to post at least 20 times a day on every website he can find, so I get to read his thoughts twice, once on FaceBook and once on Twitter.
In real life, I don’t see these sides of people. Face to face, my friends show me their best. They’re nice, smart people. But face to FaceBook, my friends is like a blind date which goes horribly wrong.
I’m left with a dilemma. Who is my real friend?Is it the Liz I have lunch with or the anti-vaccine madman on FaceBook? Is it the Fred I can grab a sandwich with or the Fred who weeps if he’s at a party and the wine isn’t up to his standard?

  1. 1.

    Who is opposed to the flu vaccine in the text?

    1. A.
      Fred
    2. B.
      Andy
    3. C.
      Liz
    4. D.
      Chris
  2. 2.

    What’s Andy probably busy in doing now?

    1. A.
      He’s running his company
    2. B.
      He’s playing golf all day
    3. C.
      He’s looking for another job
    4. D.
      He’s playing computer games
  3. 3.

    According to the text, FaceBook tends to _______

    1. A.
      present another side of people
    2. B.
      offer some foods for free
    3. C.
      show endless advertisements
    4. D.
      get you to more parties
  4. 4.

    The text is developed mainly by _____

    1. A.
      giving examples
    2. B.
      following the time order
    3. C.
      listing figures
    4. D.
      raising questions

When I asked my daughter which item she would keep; the phone, the car, the cooker, the computer, the TV, or her boyfriend, she said “the phone”. Personally, I could do without the phone entirely, which makes me unusual. Because the telephone is changing our lives more than any other piece of technology.
Point 1 The telephone creates the need to communicate, in the same way that more roads create more traffic. My daughter comes home from school at 4:00 pm and then spends an hour on the phone talking to the very people she has been at school with all day. If the phone did not exist, would she have anything to talk about?
Point 2 The mobile phone means that we are never alone. “The mobile saved my life,” says Crystal Johnstone. She had an accident in her Volvo on the A45 between Otley and Skipton. Trapped inside, she managed to make the call that brought the ambulance(救护车) to her rescue.
Point 3 The mobile removes our secret. It allows marketing manager of Haba Deutsch, Carl Nicolaisen, to ring his sales staff all round the world at any time of day to ask where they are , where they are going, and how their last meeting went.
Point 4 The telephone separates us. Antonella Bramante in Rome says, “We worked in separate offices but I could see him through the window. It was easy to get his number. We were so near——but we didn’t meet for the first two weeks!”
Point 5 The telephone allows us to reach out beyond our own lives. Today we can talk to several complete strangers simultaneously ( 同时地) on chat lines (at least my daughter does. I wouldn’t know what to talk about). We can talk across the world. We can even talk to astronauts (if you know any) while they’re space-walking. And, with the phone line hooked up to the computer, we can access(存取) the Internet, the biggest library on Earth

  1. 1.

    How do you understand Point 1 —The telephone creates the need to communicate ？

    1. A.
      People don’t communicate without telephone
    2. B.
      People communicate because of the creating of the telephone
    3. C.
      People communicate more since telephone has been created
    4. D.
      People communicate more because of more traffic
  2. 2.

    Which of the following best shows people’s attitude towards mobile phones?

    1. A.
      Mobile phones help people deal with the emergency
    2. B.
      Mobile phones bring convenience as well as little secret to people
    3. C.
      Mobile phones are so important and should be encouraged
    4. D.
      Mobile phones are part of people’s life
  3. 3.

    Which points do you think support the idea that phones improve people’s life?
    a. Point 1. b. Point2. c. Point3. d. Point 4. e. Point 5

    1. A.
      c, d
    2. B.
      a, e
    3. C.
      a, c
    4. D.
      b, e
  4. 4.

    It is possible to talk to several complete strangers simultaneously through        

    1. A.
      the TV screen
    2. B.
      a fax machine
    3. C.
      the phone line hooked up to the computer
    4. D.
      a microphone
  5. 5.

    The best heading for the passage is             

    1. A.
      Phone Power
    2. B.
      Kinds of Phone
    3. C.
      How to Use Phones
    4. D.
      Advantage of Phones

"He who can have patience can have what he wants," said Benjamin Franklin. They say patience is a virtue (美德) seldom found in women and never in men. This may or may not be true, but it's fair to say that there is nobody on the earth who couldn't benefit from more patience.
Patience is necessary for success.
It is said that "all good things come to those who wait". Many of the great scientists have remarked that their scientific discoveries came only through patient perseverance (坚持). Edison said, "Genius was 99% perspiration and only 1% inspiration." Patience teaches us to value the effort and not just the success. It is a mistake to think that happiness can only be obtained through achievements.
Patience brings peace of mind.
When we desire certain outcomes (结果), we'll have no peace of mind. Even if one desire is filled, the nature of desire is that more will appear in its place. There is no end to human desires. Patience means we will work with an attitude of detachment (超然).
Patience can transform suffering into joy.
Throughout life we suffer injustice; the best healer is patience. Through being patient and accepting our situation, it's quite possible for our suffering to be transformed.
Sri Chinmoy said, "If failure has the strength to turn your life into bitterness itself, then patience has the strength to turn your life into the sweetest joy."

  1. 1.

    Whose saying supports the idea that patience makes a person joyful?

    1. A.
      Franklin's
    2. B.
      Edison's
    3. C.
      Chinmoy's
    4. D.
      Einstein's
  2. 2.

    In the writer's opinion, _____

    1. A.
      human desires will easily be filled
    2. B.
      patience is a virtue seldom found in a person
    3. C.
      happiness can only be obtained through success
    4. D.
      patience is the best medicine of suffering
  3. 3.

    How is the whole passage organized?

    1. A.
      General-detail-general
    2. B.
      General-detail
    3. C.
      Detail-general-detail
    4. D.
      Detail-general
  4. 4.

    Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

    1. A.
      We All Need Patience
    2. B.
      Patience Means Success
    3. C.
      Benefits of Patience
    4. D.
      We Should Not Be patient

Bicycles are very popular in China. In our country you can see bicycles almost everywhere. When you walk on the road, you will find a lot of people riding bicycles to schools, shops and anywhere else. Therefore,   China is known as “the kingdom of bicycles”. In China, many families have one or two bicycles.
Compared with cars, bicycles have many advantages. First, they are much cheaper than cars. Most Chinese can’t afford cars, but they can afford bicycles. Second, bicycles are small enough to park anywhere, while cars need a larger piece of land to park. What’s more, with lower speed, bicycles are safer than cars.
However, bicycles also bring some problems. Some riders don’t obey the traffic rules and some riders don’t think about others safety. So they ride too fast. During the rush hour, too many bicycles may cause traffic accidents. We still have a long way to solve the problem

  1. 1.

    Where can you see bicycles in China?

    1. A.
      In the big city
    2. B.
      In the town
    3. C.
      Almost everywhere
    4. D.
      In the countryside
  2. 2.

    “The kingdom of bicycles” here is saying______.

    1. A.
      China has plenty of bicycles
    2. B.
      China makes bicycles
    3. C.
      Only China has bicycles
    4. D.
      All the Chinese have bicycles
  3. 3.

    Which of the following is NOT an advantage of bicycles ?

    1. A.
      Bicycles are much cheaper than cars
    2. B.
      Bicycles are more beautiful than cars
    3. C.
      Bicycles are easy to park
    4. D.
      Bicycles are safer than cars
  4. 4.

    What does the last sentence mean?

    1. A.
      We should drive cars instead of riding bicycles
    2. B.
      It’s too far to ride bicycles
    3. C.
      We still need to do much to solve the problem
    4. D.
      we should walk farther to solve the problem

Cutting global warming pollution would not only make the planet healthier, it would make people healthier too, new research suggests.
Cutting carbon dioxide emissions could save millions of lives, mostly by reducing preventable deaths from heart and lung diseases, according to studies released Wednesday and published in a special issue of The Lancet British medical journal.
“Relying on fossil fuels leads to unhealthy lifestyles, increasing our chances for getting sick and in some cases takes years from our lives,” US Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a telecast (电视广播) briefing from her home state of Kansas. “As greenhouse gas emissions go down, so do deaths from cardiovascular (心血管的) and respiratory diseases (呼吸疾病). This is not a small effect.”
Instead of looking at the health ills caused by future global warming, as past studies have done, this research looks at the immediate benefits of doing something about the problem, said Linda Birnbaum, director of the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Some possible benefits seemed highly speculative (投机的，推测的), the researchers conceded (承认，给予), based on people driving less and walking and cycling more. Other proposals studied were more concrete and achievable, such as reducing cook stoves that burn dung (粪便), charcoal and other polluting fuels in the developing world.
And cutting carbon dioxide emissions also makes the air cleaner, reducing lung damage for millions of people, doctors said.
“Here are ways you can attack major health problems at the same time as dealing with climate change," said lead author Dr. Paul Wilkinson, an environmental epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Wilkinson said the individual studies came up with numbers of premature deaths prevented or extra years of life added for certain places.
For example, switching to low-polluting cars in London and Delhi, India, would save 160 lost years of life in London and nearly 1,700 in Delhi for every million residents, one study found. But if people also drove less and walked or biked more, those extra saved years would soar (高耸，高涨) to more than 7,300 years in London and 12,500 years in Delhi because of less heart disease

  1. 1.

    What does the passage mainly about?

    1. A.
      How can people live longer
    2. B.
      Cutting carbon dioxide emissions saves life
    3. C.
      Global warming threatens people’s lives
    4. D.
      People should stop relying on fossil fuels
  2. 2.

    The new research differs from past studies in that ______.

    1. A.
      it focuses on the immediate benefits of cutting carbon dioxide emissions
    2. B.
      it studies the bad effects arising from future global warming
    3. C.
      it is believed by most people
    4. D.
      it mainly targets at developing countries
  3. 3.

    According to Kathleen Sebelius ______.

    1. A.
      sometimes it takes years to see the bad effects caused by consuming fossil fuels
    2. B.
      without greenhouse gas emissions, people would not die of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases
    3. C.
      the main reason why people get sick is that they rely on fossil fuels
    4. D.
      death from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases are closely related to greenhouse gas emissions
  4. 4.

    It can be inferred from the passage that ______.

    1. A.
      London and Delhi have already benefited from reducing greenhouse gas emissions
    2. B.
      switching to low-polluting cars would save 160 lives in London every year
    3. C.
      walking and biking instead of driving will reduce the chance of heart disease
    4. D.
      attacking health problems and dealing with climate change are contradictory

What do butterfly wings have to do with computer screens? What do birds have to do with high speed trains?
These may sound like strange things to put together. But scientists, inventors, and designers are doing just that. They are learning from nature to create new technology.
The word biomimicry (仿生学) combines two words: biology and mimicry. So people using biomimicry try to use examples in nature to design new technology.
Biomimicry is not a new idea. People have been studying nature for hundreds of years. Leonardo DaVinci used birds as models to invent his flying machine. And when the Wright Brothers made the first successful airplane, they also studied birds. In 998, Janine Benyus, a natural science writer and teacher, wrote a book about biomimicry. To develop her interest in the subject, Janine Benyus started the Biomimicry Institute.
The Biomimicry Institute is a non-profit organization. It brings together scientists, designers, inventors and many other people. It offers classes to teach people biomimicry. It provides money for people to research and test new technologies. And it wants all people, from children to adults, to think about new ways to learn from nature.
People involved with the Biomimicry Institute believe that biomimicry can help solve many of the world’s problems. Often, new technologies can harm nature, but this is not true for biomimicry. Let’s look at some examples.
Butterflies have colorful wings because light shines off them in a special way. Scientists want to copy these same ways to make light shine off computers. They hope this will make for more colorful screens.
Another example of biomimicry is the bullet train. It travels at speeds of over 250 kilometers per hour! But it had a problem: it made too much noise!
Through the observation of birds, scientists thought about a kind of bird, the kingfisher(翠鸟). The kingfisher can dive into water without making any noise because of the shape of its beak(喙). Researchers thought that if they could design the front of the train like this beak, the train would be quieter. Well, it worked!

  1. 1.

    The first paragraph is written to_____

    1. A.
      start a discussion
    2. B.
      make a brief summary
    3. C.
      introduce the topic of the text
    4. D.
      test readers' knowledge on science
  2. 2.

    Why did Janine Benyus set up the Biomimicry Institute?

    1. A.
      To honor the Wright Brothers
    2. B.
      To show her recent inventions
    3. C.
      To gather talented people for her research
    4. D.
      To explore the link between nature and technologies
  3. 3.

    We know from the text that the Biomimicry Institute _____

    1. A.
      earns a lot by giving classes on biomimicry
    2. B.
      tells people about their technologies
    3. C.
      gives free support to scientists
    4. D.
      teaches children about birds
  4. 4.

    The author gives the two examples at the end of the text to show _______

    1. A.
      biomimcry works harmoniously with nature
    2. B.
      the fast development of modern technology
    3. C.
      how biomimcry changes our life
    4. D.
      how nature inspires scientists
  5. 5.

    What’s the main idea of the text?

    1. A.
      Biomimicry is widely used in the world
    2. B.
      People copy nature to create new technologies
    3. C.
      The Biomimicry Institute was set up for science
    4. D.
      Birds play an important part in new technologies

An Ofsted (英国教育标准办公室）study reports that teachers are discouraging students who want to leave school and work as apprentices (学徒）in beauty salons (美容中心）or hair dressers.
　　Inspectors questioned 105 young people for a report on apprenticeships published on Wednesday. They found several examples of young people who felt they had been laughed at by their teachers for wanting to progress to work-based learning, particularly in care or hairdressing, rather than stay on at school.
　　Right or wrong, is it any surprise that this is happening? From 2014，the government will measure schools according to the rate of their pupils who go to university. Brian Lightman , general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, says the government has already put teachers under “very great pressure to focus on academic subjects”
　　On the other hand, the Education Act 2011，which came into force in November, places schools under a duty to give fair career advice to pupils. This advice must include information on all post-16 education and training choices, including apprenticeships. This doesn’t appear to be happening in several schools, according to Ofsted9S report. Many of the young people the inspectors talked to said the advice they had received on apprenticeships was “unsatisfactory”.
　　Schools were also blamed for lack of work experience courses, which are particularly important for teenagers considering an apprenticeship. They help students decide whether they enjoy a line of work and enable employers to see whether those on work experience have the potential to be hired as apprentices in future years.
　　But there is a good reason why they can’t do this: they’d be unable to adapt to GCSE (英国齊通中等教育证书）exams if they did. Sometimes, it seems, schools just can’t win

  1. 1.

    Why do teachers oppose the students’ leaving school and working as apprentices?

    1. A.
      The government urges teachers to concentrate on academic subjects
    2. B.
      The students are only wasting time working as apprentices
    3. C.
      Employers are under great pressure of taking GCSE exams
    4. D.
      Employers don’t give students chances to work as apprentices
  2. 2.

    Pressure for schools to provide pupils with career advice comes from ______

    1. A.
      Association of School and College Leaders
    2. B.
      Education Act 2011
    3. C.
      GCSE exams
    4. D.
      OFSTED
  3. 3.

    The underlined word “They” in Paragraph 5 refers to _____

    1. A.
      schools
    2. B.
      employers
    3. C.
      work experience courses
    4. D.
      teenagers considering an apprenticeship
  4. 4.

    What does the author think of teachers’ discouraging students working as apprentices?

    1. A.
      Surprising
    2. B.
      Understandable
    3. C.
      Wrong
    4. D.
      Right

What’s in name? Well, apparently, our general happiness. Psychologists say that what we are called has a direct connection with our happiness.
Those called Judy and Joshua are the happiest, while Lynn or Ben is likely to be the unhappiest, according to research. Psychologist Dr David Holmes found that this can cause the association(联想) that others make with the name. Hearing the name Judy may make them think of actress Judi Dench or TV presenter Judy Finnigan, and people who are considered good-natured and happy. On the other hand, people think Paulines are unhappy because of the character Pauline Fowler from the TV programme East Enders. The research claims that this association influences the person with the name and so their personality is shaped to fit in. Dr David Holmes said, “This also has some relation with the original meaning of the name, for example, the original meaning of Judy is ‘praised’.”
Certain names also work well in certain aspects of life. In the workplace Richard and Judy are the happiest, while those called Ruth and Carly are the happiest in relationships. At the other end of the scale the unhappiest workers are Stuart and Liz, with the unhappiest in relationships being Frank and Harriet.
Dr Holmes said, “The relation we have with certain names, particularly important namesakes (同名者), also shapes how we see ourselves and so may have an effect on our confidence. Names are like product brands in having a powerful effect on attitudes and should therefore be chosen with care.”
“Other names are connected with being brave, outgoing or serious. Therefore, many celebrities change their names to ones which reflect these characteristic. This, in turn, influences parents when they choose names for their babies,” said Dr Holmes, “while names connected with ordinary people are rarely chosen for their babies.”

  1. 1.

    What’s the main idea of this passage?

    1. A.
      How to choose a good name for babies
    2. B.
      The relation between names and happiness
    3. C.
      How to have a name connected with celebrities
    4. D.
      The relation between names and success
  2. 2.

    According to the passage, which of the following names are better?

    1. A.
      Joshua and Ben
    2. B.
      Pauline and Frank
    3. C.
      Richard and Stuart
    4. D.
      Ruth and Joshua
  3. 3.

    The author may continue the passage with ______.

    1. A.
      names and product brands
    2. B.
      famous people’s names
    3. C.
      names and personality
    4. D.
      parents’ choices of baby names
  4. 4.

    Which of the following is connected with names according to the passage?

    1. A.
      Personality and self-confidence
    2. B.
      Self-confidence and position
    3. C.
      Position and characteristic
    4. D.
      Personality and appearance
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