If you watch British television on Friday March 15, you might be surprised to see celebrities wearing funny red noses and joking around. But don’t worry, they’re not mad, it’s all part of a biennial fund-raising event called Red Nose Day.

Organized by the charity Comic Relief, founded in 1985 by two British comedians, the aim of the event is to raise money to fight poverty and injustice in the UK and Africa.

Celebrities and public figures support the event by making appearances on comic TV shows broadcast by the BBC. This year, for example, UK Prime Minister David Cameron appeared in a music video by One Direction, which the band produced for the event.

But Britons don’t just raise money for charitable causes on one day a year, they do it all year round. One way of doing so is by shopping in charity shops.

These small, inconspicuous shops sell clothes, books and household goods just like any other shop. But there’s one big difference—it’s all secondhand.

There are nearly 10,000 charity shops in the UK, according to the Charity Retail Association. Their business model is simple: Anybody who has things they don’t want anymore can donate them to a charity shop, where they are checked for damage, cleaned and priced. Most items go back on sale at a small part of their original price and the money that is made by selling them is used for a charitable cause.

The idea of buying used clothes may sound off-putting, but for shoppers who have less spending money, such as the elderly or those in low-paying jobs, it has been a welcome option for years.

Now, “thrifting”—shopping at charity shops— is also becoming popular with young people looking for alternative fashion.

“I love shopping at thrift stores. You can find very unique clothes for a very cheap price. It doesn’t bother me that other people may have worn them, I simply wash them before I wear them,” said Anne Marie, a 19-year-old Internet user from the US, in a comment on a Yahoo forum.

So next time you spot a charity shop, why not go inside? Who knows, you might find a lovely dress for just a few pounds. Even better, you can enjoy wearing it in the knowledge that your money helped a good cause.

1.What do famous people in Britain do in support of the Red Nose Day event?

A．Appear on comic TV shows.

B．Donate large sums of money.

C．Donate expensive clothes to charity shops.

D．Play in a music video with the Prime Minister.

2.What do we learn from the passage about Comic Relief?

A．It was founded in 1985 by two British comedians in Africa.

B．It organizes the Red Nose Day fund-raising event.

C．It runs nearly 10,000 charity shops in the UK.

D．It is financially supported by the UK government.

3.One reason for the popularity of the thrift shops is that __________.

A．they sell a wide variety of goods

B．their business model is simple

C．their goods are carefully checked, cleaned and priced

D．they provide things, sometimes special, at low prices

4.The passage is written mainly to __________.

A．inspire more people to join in charitable causes in the UK

B．introduce the traditions of the Red Nose Day

C．analyze why charity shops are popular in the UK

D．explain how charity shops work in the UK

完形填空（共20小题；每小题1分，满分20分）

阅读下面短文，从短文后所给的四个选项A、B、C、D中,选出可以填人空白处的最佳答案，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

There are reasons why a middle-aged woman who has been away from the work for her children’s sake decides to go back to work. The  16  reason for me was: years ago my job was that of a bookkeeper(会计)----- it was then that I worked for  17  , and now with my children working, I wanted to do something  18  , something new and exciting.

Money wasn’t too important now, as my husband made a very  19  living for us. But what should I do? What sort of   20  should I look for? I knew I needed to be  21   as to what I became involved with. I am not a "quitter"(容易放弃的人) and so I hoped to  22   becoming responsible to an employer in a job that might turn out to be a mistake for me.

While I made painful efforts thinking over what to do, I was   23  of a past incident where I needed to replace my original engagement ring  24  the gold was wearing thin. My husband and I shopped and shopped for one,   25 we went, even when we were on vacation.  26  this nonstop searching got my poor   27  to ask, "Just what kind of ring do you want, what exactly are we looking for?" My reply was, "I honestly don’t   28, but when I see the correct setting, I will know it." That was the  29  I felt about the new career I wished to start; I didn’t have an exact idea as to what I wanted to do, but knew there was a perfect fit for me, if I would  30  be patient.

Fortunately, that summer while I  31  my twenty-fifth high school class reunion(重聚), I heard a former classmate  32  what she did for a living. She was a travel agent, and she and her husband had just  33 from a trip to Hawaii where they acted as guides for a group of travelers. WOW, that  34   like fun, considerably more fun and exciting than being a  35  : I know what to take up!

16. A. possible                   B. obvious             C. believable               D. good

17. A. money                B. fun                   C. children                   D. employers

18. A. valuable              B. reasonable         C. worthy                     D. different

19. A. interesting           B. comfortable              C. successful              D. meaningful

20. A. pleasure                     B. place                 C. job                       D. man

21. A. careful                B. useful            C. joyful                   D. painful

22. A. finish                 B. miss                  C. avoid                       D. forget

23. A. recalled                     B. reminded           C. warned                    D. robbed

24. A. where                 B. while                C. if                 D. as

25. A. nowhere             B. somewhere        C. wherever                  D. everywhere

26. A. Actually              B. However           C. Finally                     D. Once

27. A. children                     B. classmates         C. employer                  D. husband

28. A. care                    B. know                C. understand             D. find

29. A. way                    B. time                  C. style                        D. thought

30. A. really                 B. ever                  C. just                          D. certainly

31. A. joined                 B. left                   C. started                   D. attended

32. A. complaining        B. explaining         C. describing             D. considering

33. A. returned                     B. rested                C. came                        D. stayed

34. A. looked                B. seemed              C. sounded                   D. felt

35. A. travler                B. wife                  C. employer                  D. bookkeeper

I was in my third year of teaching creative writing at a high school in New York, when one of my students, 15-year-old Mikey, gave me a note from his mother. It explained his absence from class the day before.

I had seen Mikey himself writing the note at his desk. Most parental-excuse notes I received were penned by my students. If I were to deal with them, I’d be busy 24 hours a day.

The forged excuse notes made a large pile(堆), with writing that ranged from imaginative to crazy. The writers of those notes didn’t realize that honest excuse notes were usually dull: “Peter was late because the alarm clock didn’t go off.”

Isn’t it remarkable, I thought, how the students complained and said it was hard to put 200 words together on any subject? But when they produced excuse notes, they were brilliant.

So one day I typed out a dozen excuse notes and gave them to my classes. I said, “They’re supposed to be written by parents, but actually they are not. True, Mikey?”  The students looked at me nervously.

“Now, this will be the first class to study the art of the excuse note—the first class, ever, to practice writing them. You’re so lucky to have a teacher like me who has taken your best writing and turned it into a subject worth studying.”

Everyone smiled as I went on, “You used your imaginations. So try more now. Today I’d like you to write ‘An Excuse Note from Adam to God’ or ‘An Excuse Note from Eve to God’. ” Heads went down. Pens raced across paper. For the first time ever I saw students so careful in their writing that they had to be asked to go to lunch by their friends.

The next day everyone had excuse notes. Heated discussions followed. The headmaster entered the classroom and walked up and down, looking at papers, and then said, “I’d like you to see me in my office.”

When I stepped into his office, he came to shake my hand and said, “I just want to tell you that that lesson, that task, whatever the hell you were doing, was great. Those kids were writing on the college level. Thank you.”

1.What did the author do with the students found dishonest?

A. He reported them to the headmaster.

B. He lectured them hard on honesty.

C. He had them take notes before lunch.

D. He helped improve their writing skills.

2. The author had the students practice writing excuse notes so that the students could learn ______.

A. the importance of being honest

B. how to write excuse notes skillfully

C. the pleasure of creative writing

D. how to be creative in writing

3. The underlined word “forged” in the second paragraph means“______”.

A. dull        B. copied                   C. dishonest              D. parental

4. What did the headmaster think of the author’s way of teaching?

A. Excellent.                 B. Difficult.          C. Incorrect.          D. Reasonable.

Some young Cambodians are learning a new sport — skateboarding. The country’s first skateboard park is located on the grounds of a local charity group at the edge of Phnom Penh, the capital.

Sports like Khmer boxing and soccer are wildly popular in Cambodia. But Chea, who has been skating for 6 months, says skating has already become his favorite sport.

The skaters are learning tricks like launching off a jump or half-pipe and flying through the air on their narrow wooden boards.

A non-governmental organization called Skateistan Cambodia organizes weekly programs at the park. Skateistan started its work in Afghanistan years ago. Rory Burke is working with the group which expanded to Cambodia last year.

Rory Burke points out, “Yeah, it’s definitely not a typical Cambodian pastime (消遣). And I think the idea of ‘why skateboarding’ is that it’s not been done before here. We want to use skateboarding as something saying, ‘Hey, this is new, this is something different.And that kind of itself becomes a little bit of hook. People see it and they think and they say, ‘Wow, what is that?’ and they want to get involved. ”

Skateistan partners with local groups that work with young people. The park is on the grounds of the group known as PSE, where children attend school and learn a trade. There are almost one hundred twenty participants. They all come from troubled lives.

Seventeen-year-old Sang Rotha is a student at PSE. “Sometimes I don’t do well in subjects like math,” he says, “I feel bad when I find it hard to keep up with my lessons. So that is why I skateboard ---to improve my bad feelings. ’，

He says he began skateboarding more than a year ago. Before he started training, it seemed very easy. But it was very difficult to learn tricks, and he got hurt a lot from falling off.

Rory Burke says learning to deal with the difficulties is part of the lesson for these young skateboarders.

1. According to the passage, PSE is a group ______.

A．that works with Cambodian students

B．for young Cambodians to learn a trade

C．for young Cambodians in troubled lives

D．for young Cambodians taking skateboarding

2. What is said about skateboarding in the passage?

A．It was born in Afghanistan years ago.

B．It is easy for young Cambodians to learn.

C．It is as popular as Khmer boxing in Cambodia.

D．It is a good sport to help get good feeling again.

3.The underlined part alittle bit of hook probably means ______.

A．something strange

B．something quite new

C．something different

D．something attractive

4. It can be inferred from the passage that skateboarding is becoming ______.

A．a sport liked by most young Cambodians

B．an increasingly popular sport in Cambodia

C．a sport used to better young Cambodians’ life

D．a good way to train young Cambodians’ learning skills

Everyone knows about straight-A students. We see them frequently in TV situation comedies and in movies like Revenge(报复)of the Nerds. They get high grades, all right, but only by becoming dull laborers, their noses always stuck in a book. They are not good at social communication and look clumsy(笨拙的) while doing sports.

How, then, do we account for Domenica Roman or Paul Melendres?

Roman is on the tennis team at Fairmont Senior High School. She also sings in the choral group, serves on the student council and is a member of the mathematics society. For two years she has maintained A’s in every subject. Melendres, a freshman at the University of New Mexico, was student-body president at Valley High School in Albuquerque. He played soccer and basketball well, exhibited at the science fair, and meanwhile worked as a reporter on a local television station. Being a speech giver at the graduation ceremony, he achieved straight A’s in his regular classes, plus bonus points for A’s in two college-level courses.

How do super-achievers like Roman and Melendres do it? Brains aren’t the only answer. “Top grades don’t always go to the brightest students,” declares Herbert Walberg, a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who has conducted major studies on super-achieving students. “Knowing how to make the most of your innate(天生的)abilities counts for more. Much more.”

In fact, Walberg says, students with high IQ sometimes don’t do as well as classmates with lower IQ. For them, learning comes too easily and they never find out how to get down.

Hard work isn’t the whole story, either. “It’s not how long you sit there with the books open,” said one of the many-A students we interviewed. “It’s what you do while you’re sitting.” Indeed, some of these students actually put in fewer hours of homework time than their lower-scoring classmates.

The kids at the top of the class get there by mastering a few basic techniques that others can readily learn.

1.The underlined word “nerds” can probably be________ .

A．dull bookworms lacking sports and social skills

B．successful top students popular with their peers

C．students with certain learning difficulties

D．born leaders crazy about social activities

2.What can we conclude from the first paragraph?

A．Most TV programs and films are about straight-A students.

B．People have unfavorable impression on straight-A students.

C．Everyone knows about straight-A students from TV or films.

D．Straight-A students are well admired by people in the society.

3.Some students become super-achievers mainly because_________ .

A．they are born cleverer than others

B．they work longer hours at study

C．they make full use of their abilities

D．they know the shortcut to success

4.What will be talked about after the last paragraph?

A．The interviews with more students.

B．The role IQ plays in learning well.

C．The techniques to be better learners.

D．The achievements top students make.

5.What can we infer from the passage?

A．IQ is more important than hard work in study.

B．The brightest students can never get low grades.

C．Top students certainly achieve all-around developments.

D．Students with average IQ can become super-achievers.