认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入最恰当的单词。注意：每空格只填一个单词。
Ticket tax fuels Indian cinema strike
Cinemas in Mumbai, Bollywood’s homeland are striking against high taxes on ticket sales.
Owners of Mumbai’s single-screen theatres will keep their shutters (百叶窗) down until Friday to protest about taxes, which they say are driving them out of business.
More than a third of single-screen cinemas in the state of Maharashtra have closed down in the last five years. According to the Cinema and Exhibitors Association of India, just 700 are still in operation. The association blames the closing down on Maharashtra’s high rate of entertainment tax. Its president, R V Vidhani, says that cinemas must pay a tax for every ticket sold, which is 45%, and this makes it hard to break even. It’s the highest of all states across India. The majority of the states in India pay zero entertainment tax. Mr Vidhani says his members had decided to go ahead with a one-week closure after getting no response from the state government on the matter.
It is not just a high tax rate contributing to the shrinking（收缩）number of traditional cinemas, however. Large costs and declining box office takings also make times tougher.
Mr Vidhani has run the New Excelsior Theatre in South Mumbai since 1974. Last week a screening of Bollywood movie Tanu Weds Manu sold just 71 tickets despite a capacity of more than 1,000. Whether it’s a full house or an empty screening, running costs are more or less the same. “Air conditioning, regular business — every expenditure (支出) is the same, but the income has stopped.”
The cricket (板球) World Cup is not helping matters, according to Mr Vidhani. “The World Cup is creating the biggest problem,” he says. “These people are crazy so far as the cricket is concerned. When India is playing, occupancy in the theatre is just 15%.”
Mumbai’s city centre is dotted with empty cinemas.
So after remaining empty for six years, the Novelty theatre is perhaps more fortunate than its neighbours: it is to be reborn as a four-screen multiplex cinema.
Over the last decade the number of multiplexes in India has risen sharply. Despite higher ticket prices, with more choice on offer and typically newer facilities they pose fierce competition to the traditional single-screen theatres.
“Competition from the multiplexes is really tough,” Mr Vidhani says. “Then there is competition from the movie window being narrow. Movies are being released much quicker on television than they used to be so people can pretty much watch movies for free at home.
“With rising incomes, everyone’s going out and buying DVD players or VCD players. Content is available for the asking whether it is official or pirated(盗版).”
Unless single-screen theatres can become special destinations in their own right, while also offering up-to-date facilities, Jehil Thakkar thinks the decline is a trend that will continue, especially as multiplex cinemas spread to smaller towns.
“They are large corporate chains,” he says. “They have the ability to spend money on branding and advertising, so to a large extent the small cinema guys are fighting a losing battle.”
Ticket tax fuels Indian cinema strike

Can you understand the beginning of this essay?

“My smmr hols wr CWOTT. B4, we usd 2go2 NY 2C my bro, his GF & 3 kds FTF.”

The Scottish teacher who received it in class had no idea what the girl who wrote it meant. The essay was written in a form of English used in cell phone text messages. Text messages (also called SMS2) through cell phones became very popular in the late 1990s. At first, mobile phone companies thought that text messaging would be a good way to send messages to customers, but customers quickly began to use the text messaging service to send messages to each other. Teenagers in particular enjoyed using text messaging, and they began to create a new language for messages called texting.

A text message is limited to 160 characters, including letters, spaces, and numbers, so messages must be kept short. In addition, typing on the small keypad of a cell phone is difficult, so it’s common to make words shorter. In texting, a single letter or number can represent a word, like “r” for “are,” “u” for “you,” and “2” for “to.” Several letters can also represent a phrase, like “lol” for “laughing out loud.” Another characteristic of texting is the leaving out of letters in a word, like spelling “please” as “pls.”

Some parents and teachers worry that texting will make children bad spellers and bad writers. The student who wrote the essay at the top of this page said writing that way was more comfortable for her. (The essay said, “My summer holidays were a complete waste of time. Before, we used to go to New York to see my brother, his girlfriend, and their three kids face to face.”)

Not everyone agrees that texting is a bad thing. Some experts say languages always evolve, and this is just another way for English to change. Other people believe texting will disappear soon. New technology for voice messages may soon make text messages a thing of the past.

1.What is the writer’s opinion of text messaging?

A. It is fun and easy to do.

B. It is not bad for children.

C. It will make children bad writers.

D. The writer does not give an opinion.

2.Which characteristic of texting is NOT described in the passage?

A. Using phrases to represent essays

B. Using numbers to represent words

C. Using letters to represent phrases

D. Using letters to represent words

3.Which of the following was most probably the title of the student’s essay?

A. My Gr8 Tchr          B. CU in LA          C. My GF        D. My Smmr Hols

4.  Why do some people think that texting is bad?

    A. It costs too much.                           B. It’s too difficult to type.

    C. Children won’t learn to write correctly.          D. It’s not comfortable.

5.Why aren’t some people worried about the effect of texting?

A. Not many people use texting.

B. Spelling in English is too difficult.

C. Children quickly become bored with texting.

D. Texting will disappear because of new technology.

Shopping in the United States changes a lot．About ninety years ago most people shopped in small stores that were owned by one person or a family．Women went from the bakery to the butcher’s to the grocer and on to the fruit and vegetable seller in order to get their food for the week．Then, about sixty years ago, supermarkets were born．In a supermarket, people could get all the different kinds of food they needed without going to different stores．

    The next big change in shopping in the United States was the shopping mall．A shopping mall is a group of stores under one roof．Because malls allowed people to shop without worrying about the weather, they soon became very popular．The mall became a place for people to socialize in addition to shopping．If you walk through a mall, you will see older people sitting, chatting and drinking coffee．Malls are places for teenagers to hang out．Many teens will often just “go to the mall” and spend time with their friends．

    The recent change in American shopping was the superstore．Large chain stores such as Wal-Mart, Office Depot and Toys“R”Us have been built all across the United States．Because they are so large, they can buy goods at a great discount and sell them much cheaper than smaller stores．Sometimes, when they are built near small towns, many of the small town stores have to close．They just cannot compete with their giant neighbors．

    And now, online shopping is becoming more and more popular all over the States．People are too busy to go to the physical stores, so they go shopping over the Internet．Online shopping has lots of advantages．For instance, online stores are usually available 24 hours a day．Searching or browsing online shops can be faster than browsing the physical stores．While, online shopping also has its disadvantages．People are at higher risk of being cheated on the part of the merchant than in a physical store．And privacy of personal information may be let out．

1.Which of the following shows the right order of shopping development in the United States?

    ①small stores          ②superstores    ③shopping malls

    ④shopping online      ⑤supermarkets

    A．①②③④⑤                       B． ①⑤②③④   

   C．②③④①⑤                       D． ①⑤③②④

2.Which is the place for people to spend time with others according to the passage?

    A． Small stores．                  B． Shopping malls．

    C． Supermarkets．                  D． Superstores．

3.Why can the superstores sell products at much lower prices?

    A． Because they can buy goods at a reduction in price．

    B． Because they are across the United States．

    C． Because they sell all kinds of products people need．

    D． Because they are built near small towns．

4.What’s the disadvantage of online shopping according to the passage?

A． Wasting time．   

B． Fixed prices．

C． Leaking personal information．

D． No chance to do physical activities．

Can you understand the beginning of this essay（短文）?

“My smmr hols wr CWOT. B4, we usd 2go2 NY 2C my bro, his GF & 3 kds FTF.”

The Scottish teacher who received it in class had no idea what the girl who wrote it meant. The essay was written in a form of English used in cell phone text messages（短信）. Text messages (also called SMS) through cell phones became very popular in the late 1990s. At first, mobile phone companies thought that text messaging would be a good way to send messages to customers, but customers quickly began to use the text messaging service to send messages to each other. Teenagers in particular enjoyed using text messaging, and they began to create a new language for messages called “texting.”

A text message is limited to 160 characters, including letters, spaces, and numbers, so messages must be kept short. In addition, typing on the small keypad of a cell phone is difficult, so it's common to make words shorter. In texting, a single letter or number can represent（代表） a word, like “r” for “are,” “u” for “you,” and “2” for “to.” Several letters can also represent a phrase, like “lol” for “laughing out loud.” Another characteristic（特征） of  texting is the leaving out of letters in a word, like spelling “please” as “pls.”

Some parents and teachers worry that texting will make children bad spellers and bad writers. The student who wrote the essay at the top of this page said writing that way was more comfortable for her. (The essay said, “My summer holidays were a complete waste of time. Before, we used to go to New York to see my brother, his girlfriend, and their three kids face to face.”)

Not everyone agrees that texting is a bad thing. Some experts say languages always develop, and this is just another way in which English is changing. Other people believe texting will disappear soon. New technology for voice messages may soon make text messages a thing of the past.

1. What is the writer's opinion of text messaging?

A. The writer does not give his opinions.     

B. It is not bad for children.

C. It will make children bad writers. 

D. It is fun and easy to do.

2. Which characteristic of texting is NOT described in the passage? 

A. Using letters to represent words. 

B. Using phrases to represent essays.

C. Using letters to represent phrases. 

D. Using numbers to represent words.

3. Which of the following was most probably the title of the student's essay?

A. My Smmr Hols              B. CU in LA                 C. My GF           D. My Gr8 Tchr

4. Why do some people think that texting is bad?

A. It costs too much.                                             B. It's too difficult to type.

C. Teenagers won't learn to write correctly.  D. It's not comfortable.

5. Why aren't some people worried about the effect of texting?

A. Not many people use texting.        

B. Spelling in English is too difficult.

C. Teenagers quickly become bored with texting.      

D. Texting will disappear because of new technology.

Shopping in the United States changes a lot．About ninety years ago most people shopped in small stores that were owned by one person or a family．Women went from the bakery to the butcher's to the grocer and on to the fruit and vegetable seller in order to get their food for the week．
Then about sixty years ago, supermarkets were born．In a supermarket, people could get all the different kinds of food they needed without going to different stores．
The next big change in shopping in the United States was the shopping mall．A shopping mall is a group of stores under one roof．Because malls allowed people to shop without worrying about the weather, they soon became very popular．The mall became a place for people to socialize in addition to shopping．If you walk through a mall, you will see older people sitting, chatting and drinking coffee．Malls are places for teenagers to hang out．Many teens will often just "go to the mall" and spend time with their friends．
The recent change in American shopping was the superstore．Large chain stores such as Wal-Mart, Office Depot and Toys "R" Us have been built all across the United States．Because they are so large, they can buy goods at a great discount and sell them much cheaper than smaller stores．
Sometimes, when they are built near small towns, many of the small town stores have to close．They just cannot compete with their giant neighbors．
And now, online shopping is becoming more and more popular all over the States．People are too busy to go to the physical stores, so they go shopping over the Internet．Online shopping has lots of advantages．For instance, online stores are usually available 24 hours a day．Searching or browsing online shops can be faster than browsing the physical stores．While, online shopping also has its disadvantages．People are at higher risk of being cheated on the part of the merchant than in a physical store．And privacy of personal information may be let out．
【小题1】Which of the following shows the right order of shopping development in the United States?
①small stores ②superstores ③shopping malls  ④shopping online
⑤supermarkets