“Slow City” — a recently launched project focused on preserving the traditional quality of life enjoyed in some of Italy’s smaller cities and towns. The project was born from the idea of the “Slow Food” movement — started in Italy in the 1980s — which promotes leisurely eating and the growing of local, healthy products to fight against the American fast-food style.

“The American urban model has invaded our cities, making Italian towns look the same. We want to stop this kind of globalization,” says Paolo Saturnini, an Italian mayor.

The “Slow City” project plans to emphasize the rich, cultural, culinary(厨房的) and artistic local traditions of each community.

Walking areas will be enlarged and squares and parks will be made greener with more plants. Car alarms and other noise that disturbs the peace will be banned, and ugly TV aerials(天线), advertising posters, and signs will be taken down.

City councils will also insist on the use of recycling and renewable energy sources, and will also introduce ecological transport systems. Parking will be made stress-free by creating more public parking areas, and easily accessible walkways and bike lanes will cross the city. But in the “Slow City” way, all improvements will probably come about slowly.

Thirty-two Italian city councils, which joined the “Slow City” program, have decided to take further steps in this direction by increasing the numbers of traditional family-style eating establishments, reducing noise pollution, and concentrating on making their towns friendlier for people to live in.

Organic local produce will be promoted in all restaurants and genetically modified foods(转基因食品) will be banned. “We can’t stop large, fast-food chains from coming here, but we hope that people who come to our towns will not want to eat exactly the same hamburger they can eat in Melbourne, London or Paris, but want something genuine and different,” said Saturnini.

1.According to the passage, the “Slow City” project aims at _____.

A．preventing Italy from being affected by America

B．beautifying the environment of small Italian cities and towns

C．calling on Italians to enjoy stress-free life

D．protecting the traditional Italian lifestyle

2.From Paragraphs 4-5, we can infer that ______.

A．cars in “Slow City” will have to go slowly

B．people can park their cars free of charge in “Slow City”

C．“Slow City” will take on an environmentally friendly look

D．advertising in “Slow City” will be banned

3.Further measures will be included in the “Slow City” program EXCEPT _____.

A．cutting down noise pollution

B．stop genetically modified foods

C．getting more towns involved in the project

D．building more family-style restaurants

4.In Saturnini’s opinion, when traveling in “Slow Cities”, visitors_____.

A．aren’t provided with fast food

B．will see few fast-food chains

C．can enjoy themselves like in London

D．can enjoy real Italian-style healthy food

DU Lala is the hottest career coach in the country. The fictional character in the acclaimed novel Du La La’s Promotion shows others how to take the high road to success in a multinational company. But does her story describe a real or distorted picture of work life? The answer is as complicated as office life itself.

Over one million copies of the book have been sold since its release in 2007. Go Lala Go!, a movie adaptation of the novel set to hit cinemas next weekend, has stirred up even more interest in the story. The film stars Xu Jinglei and Stanley Huang, but fans seem to be more excited about seeing the story unfold on the big screen.

According to a recent sina.com survey, 45 percent of the 6,810 netizens polled said they have drawn career pointers from the novel. Other office novels, such as In and Out of the Loop, Win and Lose and Drowning and Floating, seem to have been received with similar interest.

“These books show me the life of white collars, and they teach me career rules and jargon that are not offered in class,” said Zhang Shanshan, a 22-year-old senior at Beijing Forestry University. Zhang says the competition, humor and office gossip in the book intrigued her. “I can’t wait to embark on my own career,” she said.

The popularity of office novels does not surprise Chen Ning, a senior career consultant at Zhaopin.com. “Novels about office fights and struggles satisfy the psychological demands of an ordinary office worker,” Chen said. “The leading characters face great pressure, fierce competition and an uncertain future. This is what really happens in many readers’ daily life.”

Li Ke, the author of Du Lala’s Promotion, has been stressing the significance of her fiction. “I want to provide real and useful common sense, knowledge and experience to office workers,” Li told the Qianjiang Evening News last year.

Recent graduates say they have found the basic work principles highlighted in the novel to be instructive. “If these books had been published five years earlier, I might have avoided some problems,” said Xu Jun, an HR manager at Guangqi Honda Automobile Company. “They often discuss basic office principles, which are relevant for staff working under the middle management level. They also help readers to see the importance of basic problem solving and organizational skills.”

But some veteran employees warn that the novels are not always realistic. They say this is especially true of the characters. “The protagonists appear to be unbeatable,” said Hou Zhendong, an HR manager at General Electric. “Du Lala’s team leader quit in an irresponsible way; her boss is inept; and the staff around her is either stupid or overly-sophisticated. Du stands out in emergencies and makes all the right decisions. The truth is, real-life colleagues are not that polarized（截然对立）,” Hou said. “You seldom get to negotiate your salary with a big boss. And, most of the time, you make wrong decisions far more than you make correct ones.”

The career principles in the books are also of limited use. “Most of the stories happen in Fortune 500 companies with a long history. Their cultures are well-established, and their rules are scientific,” Hou said. “But if you work for a small foreign company, or a local enterprise, some principles are useless.”

Liu Rui, a project manager at IBM, suggests fans of these books focus on the little bits of wisdom they provide. “The novels give rookies（新手） some inspiration,” he said. “They emphasize the importance of observation, practice and self-examination. These tips are precious and universally true.”

1.Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

2.What can be inferred from the passage?

3.Which of the following is the best title of the passage?

Nobody likes home economics (家政学). But restoring the program could help us in the fight against obesity and chronic (慢性的) diseases today.

The home economics movement was founded on the belief that housework and food preparation were important subjects that should be studied scientifically. The first classes occurred in the agricultural and technical colleges that were built in the 1860s. When most departments of universities rejected women, home economics was a back door into higher education.

Indeed, in the early 20th century, home economics was a serious subject When few people understood germ (微生物) theory and almost no one had heard of vitamins, home economics classes offered vital information about washing hands regularly, eating fruits and vegetables and not feeding coffee to babies.

However, today we remember only the fixed ideas about home economics, forgetting the movement’s most important lessons on healthy eating and cooking. Too many Americans simply don’t know how to cook. Our diets, consisting of highly processed foods made cheaply outside the home, have contributed to many serious health problems. In the last decade, many cities and states have tried to tax junk food heavily or to ban the use of food stamps (食品券) to buy soda. Clearly, many people are doubtful about any governmental steps to promote healthy eating. But what if the government put the tools of obesity prevention in the hands of children themselves by teaching them how to cook?

My first experience with home economics happened two decades ago when I was a seventh grader in a North Carolina public school. A year later, my father’s job took our family to Wales, where I attended a large school for a few months. It was the first time I had ever really cooked anything. I remember that it was fun, and with an instructor standing by, it wasn’t hard. Those lessons stuck with me when I first started cooking for my husband and myself after college and they still do. Teaching cooking in public schools can help solve some problems facing Americans today. The history of home economics shows it’s possible.

1.Home economics______.

A. is a subject becoming more and more popular with Americans

B. is often used to help fight against obesity and chronic diseases

C. once offered women a. special approach to university education

D. was first taught in the agricultural and technical colleges in the early 1900s

2.The third paragraph mainly tells us______ .

A. the importance of regular hand washing

B. the health benefits of fruits and vegetables

C. the contents of home economics classes in the early 20th century

D. the significance of teaching home economics in the early 20th century

3. In the opinion of the author, how should we fight against childhood obesity?

A. Children should be taught how to cook.

B. A heavy tax should be put on junk food

C. Healthy eating should be promoted at school

D. Using food stamps to buy soda should be banned

4.What does the author imply in the last paragraph?

A. Her family moved frequently in her childhood.

B. Cooking classes have a far-reaching influence on her later life.

C. To receive a better education, she went to a large school in Wales.

D. Teaching cooking is the key to solving Americans’ health problems.

阅读下列材料，从所给的六个选项(A、B、C、D、E和F)中，选出符合各小题要求的最佳选项，并把答案写在答题卡对应的位置上。选项中有一项为多余选项。
以下是6条有关颜色偏好和性格关系的描述。
A

The British are being encouraged to holiday at home as a major tourism drive offering Olympic themed discounts is launched next week.

    A new campaign offering 20. 12% discounted bills at participating venues (场所) will be announced publicly for the first time by Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt on Wednesday to encourage "staycations".

    The scheme includes hotel accommodation, meals, guided tours and entry to attractions, with discounts funded by the industry. Government officials said more than three million hotel rooms were already lined up under the project, which is being backed by a range of companies, including Butlins. Attractions, such as the London Eye and Alton Towers, are also taking part. Reduced prices will also be offered on stays on the Royal yacht Britannia, now harboring in Leith, Edinburgh, and visits to Chatsworth, the historic house in Derbyshire.

    Tourists will be able to take advantage of the discount by using a dedicated website before the end of the Paralympics on September 9 to make bookings for this year and 2013.

    Mr. Hunt said, "With the Diamond Jubilee and the 2012 Olympic Games, this year is the perfect opportunity for more of us to holiday in the UK "

    Mr. Hunt has travelled the UK, urging companies to take part in the scheme, telling them, "It's now or never for London tourism. We will never have a year like 2012 to show the world that this is, quite simply, the most exciting, vibrant, cosmopolitan city on the planet. The unavoidable complaints in the run up to an Olympics must not cloud the scale of the opportunity —including our biggest ever tourism marketing campaign to make sure we get a lasting benefit from being in the global spotlight. "

The scheme will be promoted by a ￡3 million television advertising campaign — the first of its kind in the UK.

    The government hopes the " Holidays at Home are Great" campaign — launched by Visit England — will create 12, 000 jobs, create 5.3 million extra short overnight breaks, and generate ￡480 million in extra spending over three years.

1.What Mr. Hunt said indicates that         .

A. he has no interest in the scheme        

B. he supports the idea of staycation

C. he doubts the benefit of the scheme     

D. he cares most about London tourism

2.What does the underlined sentence (in Para. 6) mean?

    A. London tourism will never have a precious opportunity.

    B. It is too golden an opportunity for London tourism to lose.

    C. It is now too late for London tourism to take this opportunity.

    D. London has ever had a valuable opportunity like the one in 2012.

3.How will the "Holidays at Home are Great" campaign probably benefit London?

    A. It will offer 20. 12% discount to travelers' expenses.

    B. It will attract more international travelers to visit London.

    C. It will create more job opportunities and bring in more money.

    D. It will prove London the most exciting, vibrant, cosmopolitan city on earth.

4.In which section of a newspaper will this article be presented?

    A. Entertainment.   B. Politics.     C. Finance.     D. News.