When I was seven my father gave me a Timex, my first watch. I loved it, wore it for years, and haven’t had another one since it stopped ticking a decade ago. Why? Because I don’t need one. I have a mobile phone and I’m always near someone with an iPod or something like that. All these devices（装置）tell the time—which is why, if you look around, you’ll see lots of empty wrists; sales of watches to young adults have been going down since 2007. 
But while the wise have realized that they don’t need them, others—apparently including some distinguished men of our time—are spending total fortunes on them. Brands such as Rolex, Patek Philippe and Breitling command shocking prices, up to £250.000 for a piece.
This is ridiculous. Expensive cars go faster than cheap cars. Expensive clothes hang better than cheap clothes. But these days all watches tell the time as well as all other watches. Expensive watches come with extra functions—but who needs them? How often do you dive to 300 metres into the sea or need to find your direction in the area around the South Pole? So why pay that much of five years’ school fees for watches that allow you to do these things?
If justice were done, the Swiss watch industry should have closed down when the Japanese discovered how to make accurate watches for a five-pound note. Instead the Swiss reinvented the watch, with the aid of millions of pounds’ worth of advertising, as a message about the man wearing it. Rolexes are for those who spend their weekends climbing icy mountains; a Patek Philippe is for one from a rich or noble family; a Breitling suggests you like to pilot planes across the world. 
Watches are now classified as“investments”(投资). A 1994 Philippe recently sold for nearly £350, 000, while 1960s Rolexes have gone from £15, 000 to £30, 000 plus in a year. But a watch is not an investment. It's a toy for self-satisfaction, a matter of fashion. Prices may keep going up—they’ve been rising for 15 years. But when fashion moves on, the owner of that £350, 000 beauty will suddenly find his pride and joy is no more a good investment than my childhood Timex. 
【小题1】It seems ridiculous to the writer that_______________. 

It is hardly surprising that clothing manufacturers （生产商）follow certain uniform standards for various features（特征）of clothes. What seems strange, however, is that the standard adopted for women is the opposite of the one for men. Take a look at the way your clothes button. Men’s clothes tend to button from the right, and women’s from the left. Considering most of the world’s population---men and women---are right-handed, the men’s standard would appear to make more sense for women. So why do women’s clothes button from the left?

    History really seems to matter here. Button first appeared only on the clothes of the rich in the 17th century, when rich women were dressed by servants. For the mostly right-handed servants, having women’s shirts button from the left would be easier. On the other hand, having men’s shirts button from the right made sense, too. Most men dressed themselves, and a sword drawn from the left with the right hand would be less likely to get caught in the shirt.

    Today women are seldom dressed by servants, but buttoning from the left is still the standard for them. Is it interesting? Actually, a standard, once set, resists change. At a time when all women’s shirts buttoned from the left, it would have been risky for any single manufacture to offer women’s shirts that buttoned the right. After all, women had grown so used to shirts which buttoned from the left and would have to develop new habits and skills to switch. It would be weird for them to button from the right, since anyone who noticed that would believe they were wearing men’s shirts.

1.What is surprising about the standard of the clothing industry?

A. It has been followed by the industry  for over 400 years.

B. It is different for men’s clothing and women’s.

C. It works better with men than with women.

D. It fails to consider right-handed people.

2.What do we know about the rich men in the 17th century?

A. They tended to wear clothes without buttons.

B. They were interested in the historical matters.

C. They were mostly dressed by servants.

D. They drew their swords from the left.

3. Women’s clothes still button from the left today because        .

   A. adopting men’s style is improper for women

   B. manufacturers should follow standards

   C. modern women dress themselves

D. customs are hard to change

4. The passage is mainly developed by        .

A. analyzing cause

   B. making comparisons

   C. examining differences

D. following the time order

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1.How long does it take the battery to charge up an iPhone?                   

2.What is special about the battery?                                      

3.Who mentions the transporting of the battery?                            

A. P.S.            B. B.L.           C. M.C.     D. T.K.     

4.The customer comments on the battery are mainly about its _______.         

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More perhaps than any other European nation, the Swiss are accustomed to looking after foreign travelers. As early as the 18th century, wealthy French, Germans and Italians were treating the country as a amusement center. _____1_____. Today, it attracts visitors from all over the world.

The Swiss are clear about the importance of tourism to their economy, which contributes about eight percent of Gross National Product, and helps the industry greatly. _____2_____ , and a generally high standard can be expected from the great majority of the country's hotels, most of which are small and pride themselves on a personalized service. _____3_____.  Both the Swiss Federal railways and the private railways are fully electrified, and the total network is made up of about 5000 kilometers of track.

Under the Fly Baggage system passengers can check luggage in at 116 railway stations and have it automatically carried to their flight. The national highway system is equally well planned, and the mountain roads offer views of some of the country's most breathtaking scenery. Also serving the mountains is an effective system of railways and cable ways, while more than 160 passenger cars cross the lakes and rivers to and fro. _____4_____.  For those who want to view the country from a height without having to climb the mountain themselves, it is always possible to take in the view from a balloon.

_____5_____ . For lovers of ancient remains, the Bernese Mitelland offers magnificently preserved buildings of the Middle Ages, while the Bernese Oberland has some of the wrold's most attractive mountain scenery.

A．Modern means of transportations are under construction.

B．Public transport is the best in Europe.

C．In cultural terms, the Swiss capital in many respects is Montreux, on the shores of Lake Geneva.

D．Hiking in the mountains is equally popular with Swiss nationals and foreign visitors.

E. For travellers of different kinds, Switzerland has different capitals.

F. Managers of hotels the world over go to Switzerland to learn how to do the job

G. However, in the 19^th century, it became the major holiday playground for the British nobles.

American farmers are raising five percent more goats for meat these days．

  Goat meat is high in protein(蛋白质)and lower in unhealthy fat than many other meats．Even so，the industry is small compared to chicken，beef and pork. But immigration has brought more of a taste for goat to America from all over the world.

  Experts from the University of Illinois offer some questions for people to consider if they are thinking about raising goats．

  First of all，do you understand that there always has to be someone to care for the goats?

  ◆How much land do you have available? And how good is it? Poor ground may support two to four goats on half a hectare．Better grassland can support six to eight. If goats and cattle share the land，two goats can be added for each cow. The goats will eat weeds and other plants that cattle do not like．

  ◆Do you have buildings for the number of female goats you plan to keep during winter? An open，cold，dry barn is better than a closed，warm barn where the air is wet．

  ◆Do you have the equipment to clean barns（畜棚） and to harvest hay（草料） to feed your goats? Or will you get someone else to do it，or buy the hay?

  The experts say a profitable business in goat meat may take three to five years to establish．And, of course, there are no guarantees .

On which section of a newspaper will this passage appear?

A．International Affairs           B．Entertainment

C．Agriculture          D．Culture

Which of the following is NOT a factor in making goat meat more popular?

A．Goat meat is healthy food.

B．Immigrants bring different tastes.

C．The industry still leaves room for profit.

D．Raising goats is challenging.

If someone has two hectares of good grass land, what is the maximum number of cows and goats he can raise?

A．32 cows and 64 goats．        B．32 cows and 32 goats．

C．16 cows and 32 goats．       D．8 cows and 16 goats．

What is the experts’ opinion about the goat-raising business?

A．You can make sure money．

B．You had better be cautious and patient．

C．Goats are hardly possible to raise．

D．Goat meat still needs to be recognized．