Tea drinking was common in China for nearly one thousand years before anyone in Europe had ever heard about tea．People in Britain were much slower in finding out what tea was like, mainly because tea was very expensive. It could not be bought in shops and even those people who could afford to have it sent from Holland did so only because it was a fashionable curiosity. Some of them were not sure how to use it. They thought it was a vegetable and tried cooking the leaves. Then they served them mixed with butter and salt. They soon discovered their mistake but many people used to spread the used tea leaves on bread and give them to their children as sandwiches.

Tea remained scarce and very expensive in England until the ships of the East Indian Company began to bring it direct from China early in the seventeenth century. During the next few years so much tea came into the country that the price fell and many people could afford to buy it.

At the same time people on the Continent were becoming more and more fond of tea．Until then tea had been drunk without milk in it, but one day a famous French lady named Madame de Sevigne decided to see what tea tasted like when milk was added．She found it so pleasant that she would never again drink it without milk. Because she was such a great lady her friends thought they must copy everything she did, so they also drank their tea with milk in it. Slowly this habit spread until it reached England and today only very few British drink tea without milk.

At first, tea was usually drunk after dinner in the evening. No one ever thought of drinking tea in the afternoon until a duchess (公爵夫人) found that a cup of tea and a piece of cake at three or four o’clock stopped her getting “a sinking feeling” as she called it. She invited her friends to have this new meal with her and so, tea-time was born.

67．Which of the following is true of the introduction of tea into Britain?

A. The British got expensive tea from India. 

B. Tea reached Britain from Holland.

C．The British were the first people in Europe who drank tea.

D．It was not until the 17th century that the British had tea.

68．Tea became a popular drink in Britain_____________.

A．in eighteenth century           B．in sixteenth century

C．in seventeenth century      D．in the late seventeenth century

69．People in Europe began to drink tea with milk because_____________.

A．it tasted like milk               

B．it tasted more pleasant

C．it became a popular drink

D．Madame de Sevigne was such a lady with great social influence that people tried

to copy the way she drank tea

70．We may infer from the passage that the habit of drinking tea in Britain was mostly

due to the influence of　________.

A．a famous French lady             B．the ancient Chinese

C．the upper social class            D．people in Holland

71．What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．The history of tea drinking in Britain     B．How tea became a popular drink in Britain

C．How the British got the habit of drinking tea   D．How tea-time was born

It was a beautiful day at the beach—blue sky, gentle wind, calm sea．I knew these things because a man sitting five feet from me was shouting them into his mobile phone, like a play-by-play announcer （实况解说员）.

“IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY,” he shouted．“THE SKY IS BLUE, AND THERE’S A GENTLE WIND, AND THE WATER IS CALM, AND…”

Behind me, a woman, her mobile phone pressed to her ear was walking back and forth.

“She DIDN’T,” she was saying．“No．She DIDN’T．She DID? Really? Are you SERIOUS? She did NOT．She DID? No she…”

And so on．This woman had two children, who were playing in the sea．I found myself watching them, because the woman surely was not．A huge squid could have caught and snatched the children, and this woman would not have noticed．Or, if she had noticed, she’d have said, “Listen．I have to go, because a huge squid just……No! She didn’t ! She DID? No! She……”

And next to me, the play-by-play man would have said: “…AND A HUGE SQUID JUST ATE TWO CHILDREN, AND I’M GETTING A LITTLE SUNBURNED, AND …”

It used to be that the major trouble at the beach was the fellow who brought a boom box （便携式录音机） and turned it up so loud that the bass notes caused seagulls to explode．But at least you knew where these fellows were; you never know which beachgoers have mobile phones．You’ll settle next to what appears to be a sleeping sunbather, or even （you hope） a corpse , and you’ll lie happily on your towel, and you’ll get all the way to the second sentence of your 467-page book before you fall asleep to the hypnotic surge of the surf （催人入梦的潮声）, and …

BREEP! BREEP! The corpse sits up, feels urgently for its mobile phone, and shouts “Hello! I’m at the beach! Yes! It’s nice! Very peaceful! What? She did? No, she didn’t! She DID? No, she…”

Loud mobile-phoners never seem to get urgent calls．Just once, I’d like to hear one of them say, “Hello? Yes, this is Dr．Johnson．Oh, Dr．Smith．You’ve opened the abdominal cavity （腹腔）? Good! Now the appendix should be right under the … What? No, that’s the liver．Don’t take THAT out, ha ha! Oh, you did? My God! OK, now listen carefully…”

1.From the passage we can know that the writer of the passage _____.

2.According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?

3.The underlined word“ corpse”in this passage has the closest meaning to________.

4.In the past the fellow who brought a boom box_________.

5.We can infer from the passage that _______.

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.

1.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

2.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.

3.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

4.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

When building houses, people used to think about not only the climate of the areas but also the building materials and the fashions for their houses. However, since electricity became more and more expensive , people began to pay much more attention to the energy they could get for their houses and the new ways they could find to protect their houses from both cold and heat.

Now, houses of an old yet new type have been widely built. In some parts of the world, people share their houses with their livestock. During cold weather, they gather their cows, goats, or other animals and keep them on the first floor of their houses. The reasons are that the animals can be protected from the cold and that they can help to heat the houses as well. The body heat given off by the animals rises to the second floor of the houses, where people live. By sharing their houses with their livestock, people gain a source of heat.

People who live in or near cities do not usually keep livestock. However, home builders use the fact that heat rises. This natural law can be used in building houses in these areas, instead of keeping livestock on the first floor builders fill it with large rocks. As they are open to the sun’s rays during cold weather, these rocks take in heat. They also give off the heat, and, of course, the warm air rises into the living areas of the houses. So these houses are energy saving.

House building becomes a great challenge to building designers and energy engineer. They try to meet this challenge by learning from old traditions and by using modern technology. And someday in the future, people will be able to live in more energy saving houses.

1.What did people begin to consider as electricity was no longer cheap?

A．The climate of their areas.                 B．The energy for their houses.

C．The fashions for their houses.              D．The building materials for their houses.

2.People in some areas gain a source of heat by _________.

A．keeping their livestock downstairs

B．protecting their livestock from the cold

C．sharing their houses only with their cows

D．living on the second floor with their livestock

3.The underlined words “natural law ” in the third paragraph refer to the fact that ________.

A．heat raises the temperature in the houses

B．heat goes in the upward direction

C．heat goes up if temperature is raised

D．heat increases the temperature of rocks

4.From the passage, we can conclude that _______ .

A．people will no longer consider building materials in the future

B．energy saving buildings will become more popular in the future

C．almost all people will move into the houses heated by large rocks

D．energy engineers will devote themselves only to modern technology

5.What is the meaning of the underlined word “livestock” ? _______ .

A．animals raised especially for economical benefits   B．furniture

C．plants kept in the house                  D．general appearance of the whole family

When you take a walk in any city, you often see a lot of people walking dogs. It is still true that a dog is the most useful and faithful animal in the world, but the reason why people keep a dog has changed. In the old days people used to train dogs to protect(保护) themselves against attacks by other beasts. Later they came to realize that a dog was not only useful for protection but willing to obey his master. For example, when people used dogs for hunting, the dogs would not eat what was caught without permission.

These days people in the city need not protect themselves against attacks from animals. Why do they keep dogs, then? Some people keep dogs to protect themselves from robbery（抢劫）. But the most important reason is for companionship. For a child, a dog is a best friend when there are no friends to play with. For young couples, a dog is their child when they have no children. For old couples, a dog is also their child when their natural children have grown up. So the main reason why people keep dogs has changed from protection to friendship.

67. According to the passage, in the old days people trained dogs ______ .

for protection against robbery

just for fun

for companionship

for protection against other animals

68. The word "companionship" may mean ______ .

A. native     B. advice     C. friendly relationship（关系） D. usage

69. The dogs were used for hunting because ______ .

A. they were good hunters

B. they obeyed their masters

C. they were useful for protection

D. they did not eat other animals

70. The most important reason for people to keep dogs now is they ______ .

A. need companion

B. like children

C. enjoy hunting

D .want to protect themselves

71. We can infer from the passage that ______ .

A. dogs can be helpful to those who need company

B. city people always feel lonely

C. dogs can be boring （厌烦的）

D. the city can be a very dangerous place