In 1837, the historian Carlyle made the first recorded use of the word "queue" (排队). He spoke of the French and their "habit of standing in a queue". Forty years later Paris was the best place to wait in line.

    However, queuing became popular in Britain too. The Second World War was the golden age of queuing, and people joined any line in the hope that it was a queue for something to buy. This was the source of many Second World War jokes:

Shopkeeper to customer: Excuse me, miss, are you pregnant (怀孕的) ?

Customer:            Well, I wasn't when I joined the queue.

    Today, according to research in America, we (in Britain) can spend up to 5 years of our lives确queuing- as compared to twelve months looking for things we have lost. But things may be changing. Many people no longer have the patience to stand in a queue. The law of the jungle (丛林) has begun to operate at bus stops, with people using their arms to push others out of the way.

    One way to make life easier is to introduce "queue management". Customers at supermarket cheese counters can now take a ticket with a number which appears on a screen when it is their turn. And while they wait for their number, they can do a bit of shopping.

    In some booking offices there is also a system telling customers how long they may have to wait before they are served.

    One of the latest technical progress is the use of an electronic scanner (电子识别器) which can read all the contents of your shopping basket or trolley in just a few seconds. If these become popular, queuing in supermarkets may become a thing of the past.

    But some people just like queuing. One man queued all night for Harrods famous January sale, and then returned home for breakfast at nine o' clock the next morning without going into the shop.

1 The joke in Paragraph 2  implies （暗示）that the young woman ______.

   A. has been waiting in the queue for a long time

   B. doesn't need to stand in the queue

   C. enjoys standing in the queue

   D. has stood in the wrong line

2. According to the passage, which of the following is true?

   A. The British spend more time queuing than looking for lost things.

   B. The Americans criticized the British for their way of queuing.

   C. The British are always patient when they wait in line.

   D. People queue only when they want to buy something.

3. The British try to solve the problem of queuing by all the following EXCEPT _____.

   A. making a law to prevent queuing

   B. telling the customers the waiting time

 C. using numbered tickets to put the customers in order

   D. checking the price of the goods customers buy with a scanner

4. We can infer （推论）from the passage that ______.

   A. queue management doesn’t work well    

B. there is still queuing in England

   C. we don't see much queuing in Paris       

D. the French like queuing more than the British

    In 1837, the historian Carlyle made the first recorded use of the word "queue" (排队). He spoke of the French and their "habit of standing in a queue". Forty years later Paris was the best place to wait in line.

    However, queuing became popular in Britain too. The Second World War was the golden age of queuing, and people joined any line in the hope that it was a queue for something to buy. This was the source of many Second World War jokes:

Shopkeeper to customer: Excuse me, miss, are you pregnant (怀孕的) ?

Customer:            Well, I wasn't when I joined the queue.

    Today, according to research in America, we (in Britain) can spend up to 5 years of our lives确queuing- as compared to twelve months looking for things we have lost. But things may be changing. Many people no longer have the patience to stand in a queue. The law of the jungle (丛林) has begun to operate at bus stops, with people using their arms to push others out of the way.

    One way to make life easier is to introduce "queue management". Customers at supermarket cheese counters can now take a ticket with a number which appears on a screen when it is their turn. And while they wait for their number, they can do a bit of shopping.

    In some booking offices there is also a system telling customers how long they may have to wait before they are served.

    One of the latest technical progress is the use of an electronic scanner (电子识别器) which can read all the contents of your shopping basket or trolley in just a few seconds. If these become popular, queuing in supermarkets may become a thing of the past.

    But some people just like queuing. One man queued all night for Harrods famous January sale, and then returned home for breakfast at nine o' clock the next morning without going into the shop.

1 The joke in Paragraph 2  implies （暗示）that the young woman ______.

   A. has been waiting in the queue for a long time

   B. doesn't need to stand in the queue

   C. enjoys standing in the queue

   D. has stood in the wrong line

2. According to the passage, which of the following is true?

   A. The British spend more time queuing than looking for lost things.

   B. The Americans criticized the British for their way of queuing.

   C. The British are always patient when they wait in line.

   D. People queue only when they want to buy something.

3. The British try to solve the problem of queuing by all the following EXCEPT _____.

   A. making a law to prevent queuing

   B. telling the customers the waiting time

 C. using numbered tickets to put the customers in order

   D. checking the price of the goods customers buy with a scanner

4. We can infer （推论）from the passage that ______.

   A. queue management doesn’t work well    

B. there is still queuing in England

   C. we don't see much queuing in Paris       

D. the French like queuing more than the British

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Language in use
Enjoy free inhouse coffee, tea and beer as well as music and dancing. Practice your Chinese, make friends and have fun.
Time/date: 7 to 9 pm, March 25
Place: Language In Use Club, 2/F, Science Fortune Center, 8 Xueqing Lu, north of Xueyuan Lu, Haidian District

La Nuit Francaise
Again on the 2nd Thursday of the month La Nuit Francaise will be held at Le Rendezvous. The monthly event is an opportunity for all French people and everyone interested in France or speaking French to gather together.
The evening features three glasses of wine and canapes for participants and a special exhibition.
Time/date: 7 to 10 pm, April 14
Place: Le Rendez?vous, 3 Gongti Beilu, accross from the Pacific Century Plaza, Chaoyang District Tel: 6462?9110

A．Marco V is a newlyestablished band

B．La Nuit Francaise may be French words

C．the "worst" party will attract a lot of college students

D．you will enjoy free drink at April fool’s party

Herta Müller, the Romanian-born German writer, has won the 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature. Ms. Müller, 56, immigrated to Germany from Romania in 1987. She is the first German writer to win the Nobel in literature since Günter Grass in 1999 and the 13th winner writing in German since the prize was first given in 1901. She is the 12th woman to gain the literature prize. But unlike previous winners like Doris Lessing and V. S. Naipaul, Ms. Müller is unknown inside of literary circles in Germany.

“I am very surprised and still cannot believe it,” Ms. Muller said in a statement released by her publisher in Germany. “I can’t say anything more at the moment.”

 She has written some 20 books, but just 5 have been translated into English, including the novels “The Land of Green Plums” and “The Appointment.”

At a news conference on Thursday at the German Publishers & Booksellers Association in Berlin, where she lives, Ms. Müller, wearing all black, appeared overwhelmed(不知所措) by all the cameras in her face.

When asked what it meant that her name would now be mentioned in the same breath as German greats like Thomas Mann and Heinrich B??ll, Ms. Müller remained philosophical(达观的). “I am now nothing better and I’m nothing worse,” she said, adding: “My inner thing is writing. That’s what I can hold on to.”

Earlier in the day, at a news conference in Stockholm, Peter Englund, secretary of the Swedish Academy, said Ms. Müller was honored for her “very, very distinct special language” and because “she has really a story to tell about…and growing up as a stranger in your own family.

we can learn from the passage that Ms. Muller is_______.

  A. the 1st writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature since 1999

  B. the 12th winner for the Nobel Prize in Literature since 1901

  C. the 13th woman writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature

  D. a German citizen since she moved to German in 1987

 Ms. Müller was surprised at the news about her winning the award because ____.

A. she was born a Romanian person      

B. she had failed many times in winning it

C. she had never wanted to win the prize   

D. she  was only an unknown writer

 The underlined expression “in the same breath” is the nearest in meaning to ____.

A. instead of    B. at the same moment   

C. in a breath    D. under the same roof

We can infer according to the passage that ____.

A. her  honored works are based on her own experience

B. most of Ms. Müller’s novels are unsuccessful works 

C. Ms. Müller is feeling much better after she becomes the award winner

D. Ms. Müller was honored because she’s described the Germans’ life vividly

The United States is one of the few countries in the world that has an official day on which fathers are honored by their children. On the third Sunday in June, fathers all across the United States are given presents, treated to dinner or otherwise made to feel special.

However, the idea for creating a day for children to honor their fathers began in Spokane, Washington. A woman by the name of Sonora Smart Dodd thought of the idea for Father’s Day while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon① in 1909. Having been raised by her father, Henry Jackson Smart, after her mother died, Sonora wanted her father to know how special he was to her. It was her father that made all the parental sacrifices② and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a selfless and loving man. Sonora’s father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father’s Day celebration in Spikane, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910.

In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge declared the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day. Roses are the Father’s Day flowers: red to be worn for a living father and white if the father has died.

When children can’t visit their fathers or take them out to dinner, they send a greeting card. Traditionally, fathers prefer greeting cards that are not too sentimental③. Most greeting cards are too special so fathers laugh when they open them. Some give heartfelt thanks for being there whenever the child needed Dad.

Notes:

① sermon  v.  布道

② sacrifices  n.  牺牲

③ sentimental  adj.  感伤的

1. The United States is special in Father’s Day because ______.

  A. many people celebrate the day                B. only America celebrates the day

  C. America makes it an official day              D. all men are honored in America

2. At first, Father’s Day was fixed on June 19th because ______.

  A. Sonora honored her father on her father’s birthday

  B. Sonora’s birthday was June 19

  C. it was decided by the president at that time

  D. her mother died on June 19

3. How many years has passed before Father’s Day became an official day since the father’s day was celebrated?

  A. 4     B. 10      C. 14     D. 24

4. According to the passage, on Father’s Day,  ______.

  A. people will wear the same flowers to honor their fathers

  B. only daughters wear red flowers to honor their fathers

  C. children must go home to honor their fathers

  D. fathers are often honored in different ways

5. According to the passage, we can infer that Henry Jackson Smart ______.

  A. was very kind to anyone

  B. did a lot for his daughter

  C. was the first father honored in 1924

  D. always help others by giving money