C

With a VISA card in your hand, the world opens up to you. With more than 24 million places across the world accepting VISA, you can use your VISA card instead of cash to pay for your everyday purchases—whether you are shopping at the grocery store, dining at a restaurant, filling your car with petrol or buying the perfect gift on your travels. You can even use it to get cash from more than one million ATMs around the world.

To avoid even that inconvenience, you can take the following basic precautions:When you get your card:

Sign the signature panel immediately;4BIf you have been given a PIN(personal identification number) to use at a cash machine or in shops, memorize it—never write it down;

If you choose your own PIN, or change the one you were given, avoid obvious choices such as your date of birth or telephone number;

Do not tell anyone your PIN;

At home

Keep your sales and cash machine receipts and check them against your card or bank statement;

If any amount is incorrect or you spot a transaction you did not make, call the bank or other organizations that issued your card immediately;

Keep a list of your card numbers, along with the telephone numbers you should call if they are lost or stolen.

In the shop

Check the sales slip to ensure the amount is correct and the total has been filled in before you sign;

Make sure the retailer gives the card back to you, along with your copy of the voucher(收据）；

Keep your card close to you—be ware of pickpockets(扒手);

Do not leave your card in your car’s glove compartment.

Telephone and mail order shopping:

When you place an order over the telephone or by mail, give your card number only if you are confident about the company’s reputation;

You might be asked for your VISA card security code—the three digits at the end of the card number printed on the signature panel. Give the seller that code but never give your PIN.

43.If you were asked for your VISA card security code, what would you do?

A.Never tell the card number to anybody

B.Check the card number and never give your PIN

C.Give your card number only if you are confident about the company

D.Call the bank or other organizations for help

44.What’s a VISA card?

A.It’s a card that you can use to pay for something.

B.It’s a card which includes a PIN, without that it is penniless.

C.It’s another form of money, which can buy anything around the world.

D.It’s something that you can place an order over the telephone or by mail.

45.What’s the title of the passage?

A.VISA Card Is Important            B.ATM’s Replacement—VISA Card

C.Inconvenient, Safe But Cheap       D.VISA Card—Another World Opens to You

46.Which of the following statements is right?

A.We can buy anything in the world with a VISA.

B.If your VISA card is stolen, you should tell the bank your card number.

C.In case of forgetting your PIN, you can tell your mother your PIN.

D.You can put your VISA card in your car if there’s nobody around you.

                               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 has uncovered that culture is a determining factor when interpreting facial emotions （情感）．The study reveals that in cultures where emotional control is the standard, such as Japan, focus is placed on the eyes to interpret emotions．Whereas in cultures where emotion is  openly expressed, such as the United States, the focus is on the mouth to interpret emotion．

       "These findings go against the popular theory that the facial expressions of basic emotions can be universally recognized," said University of Alberta researcher Dr．Takahiko Masuda．"A person's culture plays a very strong role in determining how they will read emotions and needs to be considered when interpreting facial expression．"

       These cultural differences are even noticeable in computer emoticons （情感符号）, which are used to convey a writer's emotions over email and text messaging．The Japanese emoticons for happiness and sadness vary in terms of how the eyes are drawn, while American emoticons vary with the direction of the mouth．In the United States the emoticons :） and :-） show a happy face, whereas the emoticons  : （ or : -（  show a sad face．However, Japanese tend to use the symbol （ ' ' ） to indicate a happy face, and （ ;_; ）to indicate a sad face．

       "We think it is quite interesting and appropriate that a culture tends to mask its emotions．The Japanese would focus on a person's eyes when determining emotion, as eyes tend to be quite subtle （微妙的）," said Masuda．"In the United States, where open emotion is quite common, it makes sense to focus on the mouth, which is the most expressive feature on a person's face．"

The text mainly tells us that __________．

       A．cultural differences are expressed in emotions

       B．culture is the key to interpreting facial emotions

       C．different emoticons are preferred in different cultures

       D．people from different cultures express emotions differently

Which emoticon is used by Americans to show a happy face?

       A．（;_;）            B．:-）         C．:-（                D．: （

If a Japanese wants to detect whether a smile is true or false, he will probably_______．

       A．read the whole face  B．focus on the mouth

       C．look into the eyes    D．judge by the voice

People used to believe that _______．

       A．some facial expressions of emotions were too complex to be recognized

       B．people in the world interpreted basic emotions in different ways

       C．people could only recognize the facial expressions of basic emotions

       D．people all over the world understood basic emotions in the same way

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．