A  

For thousands of years, the most important two buildings in any British village have been the church and the pub. Traditionally, the church and the pub are at the heart of any village or town, where the people gather together to socialize and exchange news.

As a result, British pubs are often old and well preserved. Many of them have become historic sites. The most famous example is the pub in the city of Nottingham called “The Old Trip to Jerusalem”, which dates back to the year 1189 AD and is probably the oldest pub in England.

However, British pubs are not just for kings and queens; they welcome people from all classes and parts of society. On a cold night, the pub’s landlord or landlady can always find a warm place for you by the fire. There is always honest and hearty food and plenty of drink available at an affordable price.

That’s how things used to be. Things are beginning to change. It is said that the credit crunch(信贷紧缩) is causing 39 British pubs a week to go out of business. People do not have enough spare money to spend on beer. Recently, the UK government banned smoking in all pubs, and that may also have affected the number of customers going to pubs.

This decline is happening despite the fact that in 2005 the UK government started to allow pubs to stay open after 1l pm. Previously, with 1l pm as closing time, customers would have to drink quite quickly, meaning they sometimes got more drunk than they would if allowed to drink slowly. The British habit of drinking a lot very quickly is known as “binge drinking”, and it causes long-term health problems for people and problems with violent crime for communities.

In order to save their businesses, pubs are trying to change with the market. British pubs now offer something for everyone. A lot of pubs used to be “Working Men's Clubs”, meaning that women could not usually enter. Today, however, women can freely enter 99% of pubs without experiencing any problems. Perhaps things are changing for the better after all.

56. The passage mainly tells us something about ______.

A. the past and present of British pubs           

B. the decline of British pubs

C. the long history of British pubs        

D. the importance of British pubs

57. Which may not be the cause of the decline of British pubs?

A. The credit crunch.                           B. The present closing time.

C. The ban of smoking.                              D. Having no spare money.

58. We can infer from the passage that ______.      

A. British people used to like drinking slowly

B. closing the pubs early will reduce social problems

C. binge drinking means drinking less beer

D. British government aims to discourage people from binge drinking

59. We can see from the last paragraph that the author _______.

  A. is against the admission of too many women to the pubs

  B. holds an optimistic attitude towards the British pubs

  C. thinks that women in the pubs will cause less social problems

  D. thinks that British pubs should offer everything you need

A new enemy is threatening Japanese traditions: leisure（闲暇）. As part of its attempt to increase imports, the government is trying to get people to work less and spend more. The workers are disgusted.

The figures support the western prejudice（偏见） that the Japanese are all work and no play. Trying to force workers away from their desks and machines, the government said last April that the country should cut down from its 2,100 hours average work year to 1,899 hours and a five-day week by 1992. Beginning in February, banks and stock markets will be closed on Saturdays, staff of civil service will be forced out of their offices two Saturdays a month. The government hopes that others will follow that practice.

But some persuasion will be needed. Small companies are very angry about it and they fear competitors may not cut hours. The unions are no happier: they have even advertised in newspapers arguing their case against the foreign pressure that is forcing leisure upon them. They say that shorter hours are a disguised（隐性的） pay cut. The industrialists, who have no objection to the government’s plans, admit that shorter hours will help them cut costs. Younger Japanese who are supposed to be acting against their hard-working parents, show no sign of wanting time off, either. But unlike older workers, they do spend money in their spare time. Not content with watching television, they dance, dress up, sit in cafes, go to pop concerts and generally drive the leisure-industry boom. Now that they know how to consume, maybe the West can teach them to relax and enjoy themselves, too.

The purpose of getting the Japanese to have more spare time is that           .

    A．the government wants to show more concern for the health of the people

    B．the government needs to get more goods from abroad

    C．the Japanese have been working too hard

    D．the Japanese hope to change the western prejudice

The group of people who welcome the shorter-hour system in Japan is           .

    A．the small companies          B．the industrialists

    C．the unions                   D．the younger generation

The unions think that           .

    A．the shorter hours they work, the higher pay the can get

    B．the more they work, the less leisure they can enjoy

    C．the shorter hours they work, the less pay they can have

    D．the greater pressure the government is forcing on them, the less happy they can be

The best title for this passage can be           .

    A．Oh no! Not Saturday Again!   B．Leisure: the Greatest Threat!

    C．Enjoy While You are Young!   D．Less Work and More Play!

A new research shows that in Britain more and more people are returning to the old tradition that the whole family have a meal at table. Worrying about the obesity and breakdown of a family, people change their eating habits so greatly, according to analysis. They find the number of the family having a meal together increases by 5% from 2002 to 2004, and most people who have meals with their family come from the rich social class.

       The new discovery makes doctors and the people struggling against obesity extremely excited. Giving up the tradition that the whole family have a meal together is exactly one of the reasons for a series of problems including children’s overweight. If a child has a meal in front of the television or the computer alone, he will often eat some fast food.

       Jason Collins is one of the persons returning to the old tradition. Collins is a manager of a bake(烘面包) house. He finds after he gets used to having a meal at home with his child, the child becomes much more obedient(听话的). Dr. Jin is a child psychologist, and she expresses welcome to this result of the study.  She says it can make parents have a very good chance to chat with the child when the whole family have a meal together.

What makes people change their eating habit back to the old tradition in Britain?

A. Worrying about their children.        B. Worrying about some social problems.

C. Worrying about the living expense.  D. Worrying about health and family problems.

We can infer from the passage that _______.

A.people’s eating habit has much effect on their family

B. most rich people have meals with their family

C. most children have the problem of overweight

D. most children don’t like having dinner with the parents

How do the people who hope to lose weight feel about the new discovery?

A. They feel glad.                       B. They feel surprised.     

C. They feel sorry.                   D. They feel disappointed.

Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A. The child having dinner with his parents doesn’t like watching TV.

B. Children become overweight all because of having dinner alone.

C. The family having dinner together is more united and friendly.

D. The reason a child has dinner alone is that he likes fast food.      

A story from the Bible tells of old Babylon, where the men decided to build a tower that would touch the sky．But God was unhappy, and he made them speak different languages．They couldn’t understand each other, so their dream never came true．

Yet the dream remains alive: if all men speak the same language, they can do anything．L．L．Zamenhof from Poland was among the men who pursue this dream．He developed Esperanto（世界语）between 1877 and 1885．

As the most successful man-made world language, it is spoken by over two million people around the world．Last month, the World Esperanto Congress（大会）, dealing with language rights, ended in Sweden．The 2004 conference will be held in Beijing．Most Esperanto speakers are in Central and Eastern Europe and in East Asia, particularly Chinese mainland．

Esperanto has two advantages．First, it’s easy．Each letter has exactly one sound and there are just 16 basic grammar rules．The second advantage is that it belongs to no one country．But Esperanto has only reached a small number of people compared with natural languages widely used around the world-such as English or Chinese．While these languages are deeply connected with their nations and cultures, Esperanto doesn’t have this background．

Will Esperanto really become a global language? It remains a question．

The writer tells us a story at the beginning to          ．

           A．explain why men have been making the effort to create a language shared by all

              B．explain why men now speak different languages

              C．show the relationship between man and God

              D．prove that language is very important

What does the underlined word “pursue” in the second paragraph mean?

              A．“Realize”．     B．“Work for”．   C．“Be against”． D．“Follow”．

What is the basic difference between Esperanto and English?

              A．More people speak English than Esperanto．

              B．Esperanto words are easier to spell．

              C．Esperanto has fewer grammar rules．

              D．Esperanto is not supported by any country or culture．

What does the story mainly talk about?

              A．Advantages and disadvantages of Esperanto．

              B．Men’s dream of sharing the same language．

              C．The most successful planned language-Esperanto．

              D．Comparison of Esperanto and other languages like English and Chinese．

B

More than 10 years ago, it was difficult to buy a tasty pineapple. The fruits that made it to the UK were green on the outside and, more often than not, hard with an unpleasant taste within. Then in 1996, the Del Monte Gold pineapple produced in Hawaii first hit our shelves.

       The new type of pineapple looked more yellowy-gold than green. It was slightly softer on the outside and had a lot of juice inside. But the most important thing about this new type of pineapple was that it was twice as sweet as the hit-and-miss pineapples we had known. In no time, the Del Monte Gold took the market by storm, rapidly becoming the world’s best-selling pineapple variety, and delivering natural levels of sweetness in the mouth, up until then only found in tinned pineapple.

       In nutrition(营养) it was all good news too. This nice-tasting pineapple contained four times more vitamin C(维生素C) than the old green variety. Nutritionists said that it was not only full of vitamins, but also good against some diseases. People were understandably eager to be able to buy this wonderful fruit. The new type of pineapple was selling fast, and the Del Monte Gold pineapple rapidly became a fixture in the shopping basket of the healthy eater.

       Seeing the growing market for its winning pineapple, Del Monte tried to keep the market to itself. But other fruit companies developed similar pineapples. Del Monte turned to law for help, but failed. Those companies argued successfully that Del Monte’s attempts to keep the golden pineapple for itself were just a way to knock them out of the market.

We learn from the text that the new type of pineapple is ______.

   A. green outside and sweet inside         B. good-looking outside and soft inside

   C. yellowy-gold outside and hard inside    D. a little soft outside and sweet inside

Why was the new type of pineapple selling well?

   A. It was rich in nutrition and tasted nice.    B. It was less sweet and good for health.

   C. It was developed by Del Monte.         D. It was used as medicine.

The underlined word “fixture” in Paragraph 3 probably refers to something ______.

   A. that people enjoy eating             B. that is always present

   CV. that is difficult to get                     D. that people use as a gift

We learn from the last paragraph that Del Monte ______.

   A. allowed other companies to develop pineapples

 B. succeeded in keeping the pineapple for itself

   C. tried hard to control the pineapple market

   D. planned to help the other companies