There is a kind of shopping that is called compulsive（强迫性的） shopping. Compulsive shopping is usually described as out of control and not reasonable.

How can we know whether we are one of compulsive shoppers? Compulsive shoppers go out and buy things much more often than other people do.They often buy things they do not need.Many times they will spend over their budget limits and get into deep financial trouble.While someone else will think many times if they can afford this or that thing，compulsive shoppers will have no awareness of the boundaries of a budget.They also often hide the things they have bought in order not to be blamed by other family members.They often refuse to admit their problem and cover up their debts with cheat.

Compulsive shopping usually occurs when a person feels sad，lonely or angry. Shopping will not guarantee more love，or cure the hurts，regrets，stress，and the problems of everyday life. Just the opposite, it eventually may make these feelings worse because of the increased financial problems the person has got from this addiction. Some families even lead to a divorce as compulsive shoppers spend a lot of time away from home.

Treating a shopping addiction requires various approaches.The best thing to start with is to recognize the problem by compulsive shoppers themselves. First of all，don’t use their credit cards，and instead， start paying by cash. It might be useful to make a shopping list in order to buy strictly what is needed.And if there is a chance to get attracted, it might help to have just some small money and leave the wallet at home.It is also good to ask family and friends for support. And if after all these people still feel out of control，then it is recommended to seek professional advice or a self­help group to deal with this problem.

I had once helped a friend of mine run a watermelon stall. I noticed something interesting. Almost every buyer would lift the melon up to their ear，smartly tap it, apparently trying to listen to something. I wondered what they expected to hear.

Finally I could no longer hold back my curiosity and made bold to ask a customer—an elderly gentleman—about this. Hearing my question，he roared with laughter. Then he replied in a self­mocking(自嘲)tone.“Young lady，I have been doing this for more than fifty years. All I know is that everybody would stare at you as if you were a fool if you just pick up the melon and leave！”

Not long after that，my watermelon stall friend unexpectedly sent me an invitation for her wedding，which really surprised me. I asked her, “How come you are seized by a sudden desire to get married? I don't remember ever hearing you mention that yon've got a boyfriend.” She answered while counting money，“Everyone has to get married anyway，so it is better to get married sooner than later.”

I could think of no word to refute(反驳)her. It seems that everybody is living for everybody else and has forgotten the need of their own heart. It may be safe and save a lot of worries by following others' suit in doing things. The use of We or Us will give one a steady and sure sense of pride. But using the pronoun “I” would often give one a guilty conscience.

I find all these things somewhat funny. We have got used to taking cue from(模仿) others and follow their suit. In turn，we also take it for granted that we should judge the right and wrong of others by our own standard. As a matter of fact，this massive practice is still wrong though we all follow others' suit like this, but we feel at ease and, justified simply because this is the way of us, and so we can have an easy conscience because this has been practiced by so many people.

1.The writer probably feels that it is ________.

A．necessary for the buyer to tap the watermelon

B．foolish of the buyers to buy watermelon without tapping it

C．funny that the buyers will tap the watermelons when buying them

D．wise of the elderly gentleman to tap watermelons before buy them

2.The writer uses the example of her friend's decision of getting married to show that ________.

A．her friend took no account of others's feeling

B．her friend decided to marry just to follow the crowd

C．her friend was a person who has strong personality

D．everybody in the world should marry for  others

3.Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A．It may be safe to follow others' suit in doing things.

B．I was surprised to receive my friend's invitation for her wedding.

C．My experience of helping my friend run a watermelon stall was interesting.

D．The use of We or I will give speakers themselves quite different senses.

4.Which word can replace the underlined word“justified”in the last paragraph?

A．Reasonable.       B．Embarrassed.     C．Ashamed.        D．Nervous.

5.In which section of a magazine can you read the passage?

A．Art and Life          B．Sport and Health

C．Culture and Society    D．Science and Technology

Planning a visit to the UK? Here we help with ways to cut your costs.

AVOID BIG EVNENTS big sporting events, concerts and exhibitions can increase the cost of accommodation and make it harder to find a room. A standard double room at the Thistle Brighton on the final Friday of the Brighton Comedy Festival(19 Oct.) cost ￡118.15.

If you can be flexible and want to know dates to avoid—or you're looking for a big event to pass your time­check out sites such as Whatsonwhen.com, which allow you to search for events in the UK by city, date and category.

STAY AWAY FROM THE STATION If traveling to your destination by train, you may want to find a good base close to the station, but you could end up paying more for the sake of convenience at the start of your holiday.

Don't be too choosy about the part of town you stay in. Booking two months in advance, the cheapest room at Travelodge's Central Euston hotel in London for Saturday 22 September was ￡95.95. A room just a tube journey away at its covent Garden hotel was ￡75.75. And at Farringdon, a double room cost just ￡62.95.

LOOK AFTER YOURSELF Really central hotels in cities such as London, Edinburgh and Cardiff can cost a fortune, especially at weekends and during big events. As an alternative consider checking into a self­catering flat with its own kitchen. Often these flats are hidden away on the top floors of city centre buildings. A great example is the historic O'Neill Flat on Edinburgh's Royal Mile, available for ￡420 for five days in late September, with room for four adults.

GET ON A BIKE London's ‘Boris bikes’ have attracted the most attention, but other cities also have similar programmes that let you rent a bicycle and explore at your own pace, saving you on public transport or car parking costs.

Among the smaller cities with their own programmes are Newcastle (casual members pay around ￡1.50 for two hours) and Cardiff (free for up to 30 minutes, or ￡5 per day)．

56．The Brighton Comedy Festival is mentioned mainly to show big events may________．

A．help travelers pass time

B．attract lots of travelers to the UK

C．allow travelers to make flexible plans

D．cause travelers to pay more for accommodation

57．“Farringdon” in Paragraph 5 is most probably ________．

A．a hotel away from the train station

B．the tube line to Covent Garden

C．an ideal holiday desinationo

D．the name of a travel agency

58．The passage shows that the O'Neill Flat ________．

A．lies on the ground floor

B．is located in central London

C．provides cooking facilities for tourists

D．costs over ￡100 on average per day in late September

59．Cardiff's program allows a free bike for a maximum period of ________．

A．half an hour　　　　　　　 B．one hour

C．one hour and a half  D．tow  hours

60．The main purpose of the passage is ________．

A．to tell visitors how to book in advance

B．to supply visitors with hotel information

C．to show visitors the importance of self­help

D．to offer visitors some money­saving tips

 (江西省景德镇市2009届高三第三次模拟考试)

Each of us fails from time to time. If we are wise， we accept these failures as a 　36　 part of the learning process. But all too often as parents and teachers we disallow this 　37　 right to our children.

When I see a child 　38　 to this kind of pressure， I think of Donnie.

Donnie was my youngest third grader. His 　39　 of failure kept him from classroom games that other children enjoyed. He 　40　 answered questions—he might be wrong.

I tried my best to build his 　41　. But nothing changed until midterm， when Mary Anne， a student teacher， was assigned(安排) to our classroom.

She was young and pretty， and she loved children. My pupils， Donnie included， 　42　 her.

One morning， we were working math problems at the chalkboard. Donnie had 　43　 the problems with painstaking neatness. Pleased with his progress， I 　44　 the children with Mary Anne and went for art materials. When I returned， Donnie was in 　45　. He'd missed the third problem.

My student teacher looked at me in despair. Suddenly her face 　46　. From the desk we shared， she got a container filled with pencils.

“Look， Donnie，” she said， kneeling beside him and gently 　47　 the tear­stained face from his arms. “I've got something to 　48　 you.” She removed the pencils， one at a time， and placed them on his desk.

“See these 　49　， Donnie，” she continued. “They belong to Mrs Lindstrom and me. See how the erasers are 　50　？ That's because we make mistakes too. But we erase the mistakes and try again. That's what you 　51　 learn to do， too.”

She kissed him and stood up. “Here，” she said， “I'll leave one of these pencils on 　52　 desk so you'll remember that everybody makes mistakes， 　53　 teachers.” Donnie looked up with love in his eyes and a smile.

The pencil became Donnie's 　54　 possession. That， together with Mary Anne's frequent encouragement， gradually 　55　 him that it's all right to make mistakes—as long as you erase them and try again.

36.A.small                    B. basic                        C. necessary                 D. large

37.A.correct                 B. same                        C. important                 D. natural

38.A.suffering               B. object                       C. fall                           D. subject

39.A.fear                      B. lesson                      C. chance                            D. sense

40.A.always                  B. often                        C. never                       D. seldom

41.A.self­protection       B. self­improvement      C. self­confidence         D. self­learning

42.A.respected                     B. disliked                     C. avoided                    D. mined

43.A.worked out           B. copied                      C. gone over                 D. leaned

44.A.left                       B. offered                     C. missed                            D. parted

45.A.surprise                B. astonishment             C. anger                       D. tears

46.A.darkened               B. brightened                C. pulled                       D. loosened

47.A.lifting                   B. picking                     C. holding                     D. pushing

48.A.help                      B. show                       C. reward                            D. promise

49.A.pencils                  B. mistakes                   C. marks                      D. containers

50.A.used                     B. built                         C. worn                       D. damaged

51.A.may                            B. must                        C. will                          D. can

52.A.my                       B. someone's                C. the teacher's             D. your

53.A.still                       B. also                          C. even                        D. not

54.A.prized                   B. own                         C. kept                         D. expected

55.A.warned                 B. informed                  C. persuaded                 D. reminded

German researchers said older people tend to be portrayed negatively in society. Although they are often described as wise, they are also shown as being slow and forgetful.

“Living in a youth centered culture, they may appreciate a boost in self­esteem.That's why they prefer the negative stories about younger people, who are seen as having a higher status in our society，” said Dr Silvia Knobloch­Westerwick，of Ohio State University.

Knobloch­Westerwick and her co­author Matthias Hastall, of Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen, Germany, studied 276 German adults, including 178 aged 18 to 30 and 98 between 55 and 60. Their findings are published in the journal Communication.

All the adults in the study were shown what they were led to believe was a test version of a new online news magazine.They were also given limited time to look over either a negative or a positive version of 10 pre­selected articles.

Each story was also paired with a photograph depicting(描绘) someone of either the younger or the older age group.

The researchers found that older people were more likely to choose to read negative articles about those younger than themselves. They also tended to show less interest in articles about older people, whether negative or positive.

But younger people preferred to read positive articles about other young people.

According to Knobloch­Westerwick, older people's preference for negative news about their younger counterparts can be explained by their place in society.

“Everybody likes a self­esteem boost. For young people, though, it's almost automatic. Youth is considered important in society，” she said.

After reading the articles, the participants completed a questionnaire designed to measure levels of self­esteem. Unlike their younger counterparts, the self­esteem of older people rose after they read a negative article about younger people.

Although the study was done in Germany, Knobloch­Westerwick believes nationality and the national characteristics are not important.

20．What do older people think of themselves, according to the text?

A．They are behind the times.

B．They are always forgetful.

C．Their self­esteem is challenged in a youth centered culture.

D．They should have a higher status than the young in society.

21．What can be learned from the study?

A．The old enjoy reading negative stories about the young.

B．The old are interested in negative articles about other old people.

C．The old are likely to read positive articles about other old people.

D．The young like reading negative articles about other young people.

22．According to Knobloch­Westerwick, if a similar study were done in other countries, ________．

A．the result would be unreasonable

B．the result would be quite different

C．the findings would be completely the same

D．much the same result would be found