What do you want to be when you grow up? A teacher? A doctor? How about an ice-cream taster?
Yes, there really is a job where you can get paid to taste ice cream. Just ask John Harrison, an “Official Taste Tester” for the past 21 years. Testing helps manufacturers(制造商) to be sure of a product’s quality. During his career Harrison has been responsible for approving large quantities of the sweet ice cream— as well as for developing over 75 flavors .
Some people think that it would be easy to do this job; after all, you just have to like ice cream, right? No— there’s more to the job than that, says Harrison, who has a degree in chemistry. He points out that a dairy or food science degree would be very useful to someone wanting a career in this “cool” field.
In a typical morning on the job, Harrison tastes and assesses 60 ice-cream samples. He lets the ice cream warm up about 12℉. Harrison explains, “You get more flavor from warmer ice cream, which is why some kids like to stir it, creating ice-cream soup.”
While the ice cream warms up, Harrison looks over the samples and grades each one on its appearance. “Tasting begins with the eyes,” he explains. He checks to see if the ice cream is attractive and asks himself, “Does the product have the color expected from that flavor?” Next it’s time to taste!
Continuing to think up new ideas, try out new flavors and test samples from so many kinds of ice cream each day keeps Harrison busy but happy— working at one cool job.
1. According to John Harrison, to be qualified in the “cool field”, it is helpful to __________.
A. keep a diary of work
B. have a degree in related subjects
C. have new ideas every day
D. find out new flavors each day
2. What does Harrison do first when tasting ice cream?
A. He stirs the ice cream.                                B. He examines the color of the ice cream.
C. He tastes the flavor of the ice cream.            D. He lets the ice cream warm up.
3. Which of the following is probably the best title of the passage?
A. Tasting with Eyes              B. Flavors of Ice Cream
C. John Harrison’s Life          D. One Cool Job

What do you do if you don't get into your first choice of university? That's the question      faces thousands of students in Britain every year.

Many students turn to Clearing, an education agency that helps      (find) university places for students at the last moment.       students don't have enough marks to get into their first choice of universities, Clearing tells them about places available at other universities, though they might have to study another subject.

But this year has seen a record number of students      want to study in universities. This means that there's been a fiecer competition for university places than usual. Education officials say six students competed for one place. It’s said almost 190,000 students still don't have a place in a university. That's a rise of over 46,000 students from last year.

       (face) with these numbers, some students are going to be disappointed, others might be thinking of an interesting choice: studying abroad. The University of Nottingham, for example, is offering places in Ningbo, near Shanghai.

                 the problems with university entrance, the UK's Higher Education Minister, David Willetts, encourages students to study at home or to learn one kind of skills, such as cooking, hairdressing and so on .      some people say that rising university costs, less hope to find jobs in the future, and a drop in graduate recruitment（大学招生）mean it's      (bad) time to be a university student in the UK.

Britain’s parents have admitted school is harder today than it was when they were kids．A poll（民意测验）of 1，500 parents shows that those with children who have recently sat（参加）A-level or GCSE exams believe today’s exams are harder than the ones they sat at school．One in four thought A-levels were getting harder-compared to just twelve percent who thought they were easier．The figures for GCSEs were more evenly split with 26 percent thinking they were harder and 21 percent believing they were easier．This is the first survey（调查）of the opinion of parents whose youngsters have just sat exams．They told pollsters they believed the higher pass rates in examinations today were due to the youngsters concerned working harder．"But another reason given was that they believed today’s youngsters felt there was little chance of success in life without qualification（资格）．Parents are seeing standards rise and their children working harder and being smarter than their generation." says Dr Christina Townsend，president of the Ed excel exam board，which commissioned（委托） the survey．The poll，carried out by Opinion Research Business for the exam board，also showed parents supported government plans to allow students to see their marked papers after they had completed their exams．The move（行动）is designed to help them decide whether they should doubt their standard．
59. What do you know about Britain’s school education from the text？
A. Students are burdened with too much homework after school．
B. Students are tired of learning at school．
C. Most students can’t pass the A-level or GCSE exams．
D. Exams are more difficult today and pupils are working harder．
60. The writer’s purpose in writing this text is ____．
A. to show the result of a poll of 1，5000 parents
B. to tell parents that their youngsters are working hard
C. to prove that youngsters are smarter than their parents
D. to request that exams be easier
61. We can infer from the text that ____．
A. the government will take steps to lower the standards of exams．
B. Students were once not allowed to see their marked papers．
C. Parents didn’t work hard when they were at school
D. More parents think A-levels are getting harder and GCSEs are getting easier

A girl with blue eyes is a blue-eyed girl. A man with long legs is a long-legged man. A woman with white hair is a white-haired woman. Children who have good looks are good-looking children. What do you do when you want to buy clothes? You go to a shop. If you can find clothes that are the right size for you, and if they are ready to wear, you will probably buy them. They are called ready-made clothes. If you can not find clothes that are the right size, you will go to a tailor’s shop. A tailor is a man who makes clothes. He will measure you carefully and will then make clothes for you. Such clothes are called tailor-made clothes.
What do we call a man who is dressed badly? We call him a badly-dressed man. A woman who is dressed well is called a well-dressed woman.
What do you wear when it rains heavily? You wear a coat that will keep the rain out. Such a coat is called a raincoat. It is made of waterproof cloth—cloth that does not let water pass through. We have a lot of rain in England. If you come to England, bring a raincoat and an umbrella. You will find them useful.
If the floor, walls and ceiling of a room are made so that sound cannot pass through the wall, we say that the room is sound-proof. There are sound-proof rooms in all broadcasting stations.
1. The clothes which you buy from the supermarket are called________clothes.
A. tailor-made      B. ready-made
C. hand-made      D. mass production
2. If you come to England, bring both a raincoat and an umbrella because________.
A. there is a lot of rain in England
B. there are few umbrellas in the country
C. gentlemen usually carry umbrellas with them in England
D. walking with an umbrella in hand is popular in England
3. On back of a watch we can often see the word “water-proof”. The word means________.
A. water won’t get into the watch
B. you can put water into the watch
C. not putting the watch into water
D. you can see the watch clearly in water
4. What do you think is the best title for the article?
A. The Forms of Compound Words.
B. Compound Words in Everyday Life
C. How to Use Compound Words.
D. Water-proof Cloth in the Best.

Christmas Eve was tomorrow. I hoped one of the packages that held a camera had already been placed under the Christmas tree. It was the only thing I wanted. I had been dropping hints to my parents. I love taking photos. My bedroom walls are covered with photos I had taken with my mom’s old camera. I’m always trying to capture (捕捉) those perfect moments in which you can hear the laughter or touch the beautiful scene, but my camera has always seemed to fall short.
I knew Mom had put a few presents under the tree this morning, so I went on a hunt in my mom’s room. I opened the door and found my Christmas present was lying unwrapped on the floor — a big pink cat. I felt so disappointed.
Mom seemed to notice that, and she tried to cheer me up. “Stacy, I got your present today. I am so excited to surprise you!” “I can’t wait,” I said.
The next day I couldn’t wait any longer. I needed to tell her.
“Mom, may I talk to you for a second?”
“Sure, dear. What do you need to talk about?” she asked.
And so it came — how upset I was that I was getting a cat.
“Stacy, that cat is for your sister Julia!” she said with a smile.
“Then what am I getting?” I asked.
She just smiled. “You’ll have to wait and see.”
Next morning, I happily got into the living room and sat next to the tree. I pulled out the box with my name on it and opened the wrapping paper to find ...
My camera! “Thank you!” I said to both Dad and Mom.
Dad picked up the camera and took a picture of Julia, Mom and me. It has become one of my favorite pictures. Just on that Christmas morning, I took lots of photos with my camera — my little sister making a face, my parents giving me a soft smile — and all of these photos have come to mean one thing to me: love.
【小题1】The underlined phrase “dropping hints” in Para-graph 1 means _____.