When you see homework covering the kitchen table and toys are piling up around the sofa，you probably wish there was a bit more space．You are not alone．Nearly a third of parents say they feel squeezed into their homes but cannot afford to move to a bigger property，a report reveals today．

Twenty—nine percent say ‘their property is too small to fit the size of their family’—rising to 40 percent for those 34 and under．One in four children is ‘forced to share’ a bedroom，according to the Finda Property，com website．Property analyst Samantha Baden said：“Afford ability remains a key issue for families，with the average cost of a three-bedroom home around ￡193,000．”Very few can afford to buy—or to rent—a property of the size they want and in the area they desire to live in，according to Miss Baden．

A recent report，from investment firm LV，also found that many‘ space—starved parents’ are pushed into a two—bedroom home which was perfect when they were a young couple，but has no space for three or so children．Grown—up children who cannot afford to leave home are also adding to the problem facing families in Britain's ‘big squeeze’．

For a home to be the correct size, which means it is not overcrowded，parents must have their own bedroom．Children under ten can share, as well as same—sex children between ten and 20．Anyone over 21 also needs their own room．

The report comes as official figures，published yesterday by the Land Registry，revealing house prices are falling sharply in every region except London．The worst—hit area is the North East，where, average house prices have fallen to below￡100,000 for the first time in seven years. However，they remain unaffordable for millions．

1.According to Paragraph 1，the report reveals          .

2.What Miss Baden said in Paragraph 2 means            .

3.The report from the investment firm LV shows            .

4.According to the passage，the right size for a home means           .

5.What can we learn from the last paragraph?

Visiting London can be an expensive trip, so establishing a budget and finding bargains when you arrive will help you get around London on the cheap. The following steps can help you find cheaper alternatives for transport for your London trip.
l Familiarize yourself with the city’s boroughs and specifically the area where you will be staying. You can use a street map, or an online map search engine, to establish where in the city you will be staying and the distance you are from the major tourist attractions you want to visit.
l Find a local provider of Transport for London tickets or travel cards, since your first bargain purchase will be an Oyster Card. Traveling around London with an Oyster Card will give you access to the cheapest option of transportation methods and the Oyster Card is accepted citywide on buses, boats and the London Underground, known by the locals as “the tube”.
l Seek out your nearest Tube Station. The Tube is the cheapest and most reliable form of transportation and runs from around 6 a.m. until around 1 a.m. ..., depending on the line or the station.
There are 287 tube stations in London that accept the Oyster Card, with a high concentration in central London. If you are staying anywhere in central London, there will be a tube station less than 10 minutes away.
The Transport for London website offers a tube station search facility to find the nearest subway station to any location in the city. When you find a tube station, you can easily locate the closest bus stop by using the comparison bus-tube maps at the station’s entrance.
l Follow the Transport for London Tube Guide to your destinations and always plan ahead. Making a plan for transport will save you unnecessary expenses, wasted trips on the tube and doubling back on your journey .
【小题1】What’s the author’s purpose in writing the passage?

London has more than nine million visitors every year. They come and visit some of the most famous places in England: Big Ben, the Tower of London and the River Thames.

You can see some of the most interesting places in London by getting on the tour buses. Or you can take a ride on the London Eye. This large wheel slowly takes you 135m above the River Thames.

The River Thames is London’s main waterway. It has shaped the capital’s landscape, history and geography. So one of the best ways of knowing more about the city is to take a trip along the river.

The clock tower of the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, has become one of the main symbols of London. The sound of the bell, which you can hear at the beginning of many television and radio programmes, has become well-known throughout the nation.

No visit to London is complete without a look at the Tower of London, in the eastern part of the city. After Big Ben, the Tower may be London’s most visited tourist spot. Directly south is Tower Bridge, which is more than100 years old.

Along all the palaces in London, Buckingham Palace is the most famous. It has been the main London home of the royal family since Queen Victoria moved there in 1873. You can visit some of the rooms in August and September. And most mornings of the year you can watch the soldiers

outside changing the guard.

About one hour by train out of London is the Tower of Windsor. Here you can visit another of the Queen’s homes-Windsor Castle. There was a fire in 1992 and many of the rooms were badly burned. But now they are full of beautiful pictures, tables and chairs again.

Sightseeing in London is great, but it can get very tiring. So, the best way to start the day is to fill up with an English breakfast.

You can buy an English breakfast in nearly every hotel, and at many restaurants and cafes. An English pub is a good place to stop for lunch and a drink. You can get hot or cold food and try one of England’s many ales(浓啤酒). Fish and chips are also a traditional English meal. So look out for fish and chip shops in cities as well as by the sea.

Or you can sit outside one of the many roadside pubs and cafes in London, and simply watch the busy world go by.

1.We can learn from the text that ____________.

2. Which place may be London’s most visited tourist spot?

3.If you go to London in December, you will not be able to ___________

4.The underlined word “landscape” (paragraph 3) is closest in meaning to _________.

5.The whole passage mainly introduces the ________________.

A. tourism in London              B. tourists in London

B. history in London               D. sightseeing in London

Standard English is the formal（正式的） English that you need to use when you write in coursework or in the exam. Standard English is the form of English you learn in school. All written English should be standard—that means it should be clear enough for anyone in Britain to understand it. Standard English developed as the main form of printed English in the 15th Century. At the time, every region of Britain used to spell words differently, but printers needed a fixed spelling.  Printers like Caxton chose the East Midlands dialect form which was used in London and the South East. Soon Standard English replaced（取代） all written dialect forms – the other forms of English spoken around the country. It also replaced French and Latin in law and in academic（学术的） work. In the 18th Century, people wrote dictionaries and grammar books which standardized spelling — Dr Johnson’s Dictionary of 1755 fixed many of the spellings we still use today. All written English should be Standard English — any grammar rules you learn are for Standard English and you will definitely need to learn them to avoid making mistakes in your work. The rules of Standard English mean using the correct forms of words with the correct spellings.
Avoid slang words（俚语）—words that your teachers or friends wouldn’t understand. You’ll lose marks if the examiners can’t understand what you say or write. Don’t use dialect words. Every region has words or phrases that are only used there. Don’t use them in your coursework, because you won’t be understood. Make sure you revise grammar and punctuation（标点） you have learned, and learn the list of commonly misspelled words you have made. Clichés are ideas or sayings which have been used so often that they’ve become boring and unoriginal. Phrases like, “As good as it gets” “At the end of the day” “In the fullness of time” are all clichés. So are images like, “as fierce as a lion” “as cunning as a fox”. If you use them you will sound boring and unimaginative— that could mean you lose marks for writing and speaking style. So avoid clichés.
1. What three things do you have to think about when using English? 
a. no slang word or dialect     b. no grammar and spelling mistake.  c. no phrase    
d. no cliché    e. no punctuation
A. abc.                  B. bcd.            C. ade.       D. abd.
2. What is standard English?
A. the English spoken by British people.
B. the English spoken by American people.
C. the English used in London.
D. the English spoken by British people in 15th Century.
3. What is the cliché according to the passage?
A. the English full of slang words. 
B. the boring ideas or sayings because of being used often.
C. the long phrases which are used often.
D. all the English which is used outside of London and the southeast of Britain.
4. Why do we need to use Standard English?
A. Because no one can understand dialect words.
B. Because there are many kinds of English in the world, we need Standard English to make communication easier.
C. Because local dialect belongs to certain region, not every one can understand it.
D. Because standard English has been used for a long time.
5. Which statement is true?
A. Written English should be formal and standard.
B. Standard English means people should use the words from Dr Johnson’s Dictionary.
C. All the spoken English should be Standard English.
D. Standard English replaced all written dialect forms in the 18th century.

London Underground

The world’s first subway was built in London in 1863. At that time, the government was looking for a way to reduce traffic problems in the city of London. The poor areas of the city were so crowded with people that it was almost impossible for horse carriages to get through. The city officials were interested in trying to make it possible for workers to live outside of London and travel easily to work each day. If people had a cheap and convenient way that they could depend on to go to and from work, they would relocate their homes outside of the city. This would help ease the pressure of too many people living in the poor parts of London. From these problems, the idea of the London Underground, the first subway system, was born.

The plans for building the Underground met with several problems and delays, but the fast track was finally opened in January 1863. A steam train pulled the cars along the fast underground track which was 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) long. About 30,000 people got on the subway the first day. Riders were treated to comfortable seats (standing up while the train was moving was not allowed), and pleasant decorations inside each of the cars. However, the smoke from the engine soon filled the air in the tunnels with ash and soot, as well as chemical gases. Fans had to be put in the tunnels later to keep the air clean enough for people to breathe. Even with its problems, riding in the Underground did catch on. It carried 9 million riders in the first year.

1.. What led the British government to build the London Underground?

A. Traffic jams and pollution

B. Population and pollution

C. Overcrowding and traffic jams

D. The poverty and subway problems

2.. The underlined phrase “catch on” most probably means “_____”.

A. be troublesome       B. become popular and fashionable

C. keep up with         D. seize

3. Which of the following is TRUE?

A. To locate the workers’ homes outside London, the government built the subway

B. There were so many problems and delays that in the 18^th century the first subway opened

C. The subway greatly eased the pressure of traffic

D. There were not enough seats for the passengers the first day the subway opened.

4.. It seems that the writer is going to talk about _____.

A. more problems with subways            B. subways around the world later on

C. the history and culture of London         D. the Beijing subway