Disease, poverty, hate, love—Charles Dickens’ stories opened his readers eyes to the most important themes of his age. Two hundred years on, his stories still speak volumes across the world, proving that Dickens’ legacy(遗产) was far greater than just “great literature”
February 7 marks the 200^th anniversary of the writer’s birthday. To mark this date, BBC writer Alex Hudson listed six things Dickens gave the modern world. Let’s take a look at two of them.
A white Christmas
Dickens is described as “the man who invented Christmas”—not the religious festival, but the cultural aspects that we associate with the festive season today. In the early 19^th century, Christmas was barely worth mentioning, according to critic and writer Leigh Hunt. The committee which ran the Conservative Party even held ordinary business meetings on Christmas Day – unthinkable in the West nowadays, when everyone but the most necessary workers takes at least three days off.
Many people believe that Dickens’ popular descriptions of the festive period became a blueprint for generations to come. In his classic novel, A Christmas Carol, he not only put forward the idea of snow at Christmas, but also painted a picture of glowing warmth –“ home enjoyments, affections and hopes”.
In his biography of Dickens, Peter Ackroyd wrote: “ Dickens can be said to have almost single-handedly created the modern idea of Christmas.”
“Dickensian” poverty
Dickens was one of the first to take an honest look at the underclass and the poor of Victorian (the period during British Queen Victoria’s reign from 1837 to 1901) London.
He helped popularize the term “red tape” to describe situations where people in power use needless amounts of bureaucracy（官僚作风） in a way that particularly hurts the weaker and poorer members of society.
“Dickensian” has now become a powerful word for describing an unacceptable level of poverty. In 2009, when the president of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers in the UK wanted to talk about deprivation in some areas of Britain, she did not use words like “terrible” or “horrific”, but rather described it as “life mirroring the times of Dickens”. 
【小题1】What is the main idea of the article?

Every day Yang Hongwei takes the bus home from work, staring silently at the European-style villas(别墅), luxury cars and twinkling lights from the shopping center that he sees through the window.
Yang works for a software company in Zhongguancun. He dreams of such a life, away from poverty, and that hope has kept him in Beijing for three years since he graduated from university.
Soon Yang squeezes his way off the bus to the reality of his life: his home—a 10-square-metre room that costs 550 yuan(81 US dollars) or about one-fifth of his salary in rent every month. It’s very cold inside the house as it has no central heating system. He has to stand the long and cold winter. Determined to achieve his dream, Yang says he has changed jobs “numerous” times in the past three years and is considering quitting his present job.
Yang’s frustration over his life as a migrant(移民) is shared by many other graduates that have moved into big cities. Together they have come to be called the “ant tribe”, a term created by Chinese sociologists to describe the struggles of young migrants, who, armed with their diplomas, flood to big cities in hopes of a better life only to put up with low-paying jobs and poor living conditions. They share every similarity with ants. They live in colonies in crowded areas. They’re intelligent and hardworking, yet unknown and underpaid. The term, sociologists have said, also reflects their helplessness in a world governed by the law of the concrete jungle—only the strongest survive.
A survey in Ant TribeⅡ found nearly 30 percent of the “ants” are graduates of famous key universities—almost three times the percentage of 2009. Most have degrees in popular majors, such as medicine, engineering, economics and management. In addition, 7.2 percent of the “ants” have at least a master’s degree compared to 1.6 percent in 2009. Most said the economic recovery did not really improve their financial situations, and 66 percent said their incomes fell short of their expectations, the survey also found.
For two years, Lian Si, a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Chinese and Global Affairs of Peking University, who has studied the phenomenon, led a team of more than 100 graduate students to follow the groups in university towns like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Xi’an. Lian evaluates the total population of the “ant community” in major cities at one million across China, with about 100,000 found in Beijing alone. Lian predicts that an increasingly challenging job market will see the ant tribe growing further in number. Another 6.3 million graduates are expected to join migrant workers and other job hunters in what promises to be a fierce labour competition.
The ant tribe’s embarrassing living situations have become a serious social issue, and the government should develop “second-and-third-tier cities” to attract more graduates from big cities. However, “ants” expect more study and training opportunities in big cities, which keeps them in positive mindsets despite their situations. As in the case of Yang, he is optimistic about getting a new job soon, having received eight interview offers in a week after sending out his resume. The prospect of landing a higher-paying job keeps him hopeful of moving out of the slum district(贫民区) soon. The sooner the better.
【小题1】. Yang has worked in Beijing since graduation from university ______.

四、阅读理解：（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）
A
Steve and Yaser first met in their chemistry class at an American university. Yaser was an international student from Jordan. He was excited to get to know an American. He wanted to learn more about American culture. Yaser hoped that he and Steve would become good friends.
At first, Steve seemed very friendly. He always greeted Yaser warmly before class. Sometimes he offered to study with Yaser. He even invited Yaser to have lunch with him. But after the term was over, Steve seemed more distant. The two former(以前的) classmates didn’t see each other very much at school. One day Yaser decided to call Steve. steve didn’t seem very interested in talking to him. Yaser was hurt by Steve’s change of attitude. “Steve said we were friends,” Yaser complained. “And I thought friends were friends forever.”
Yaser is a little confused. He is an outsider(局外人) to American culture. He doesn’t understand the way Americans view friendship. americans use the word “friend” in a very general way. They may call both casual acquaintaneces(熟人) and close companions(伙伴) “friends”. americans have school friends, work friends, sports friends and neighborhood friends. These friendships are based on common interests.
Studies show that one out of five American families moves every year. American frienships develop quckly, and they may change just as quickly.
People from the United States may at first seem friendly. Americans often chat easily with strangers. They exchange information about their families, hobbies and work. They may smile warmly and say, “Have a nice day.” or “see you later.” schoolmates may say, “Let’s get together sometime.” But American friendliness is not always an offer of true friendship.
41. Why didn’t Yaser understand Steve was more was more distant with him when they were no longer in the same class?
A. Because Steve no longer likes Yaser.
B. Because they couldn’t see each other.
C. Because Yaser didn’t know american culture about friendship.
D. Because Yaer was a foreigner.
42. From the text we can find that American friendships ________.
A. develop quickly but change slowly           B. develop slowly and change slowly
C. develop slowly but change quickly           D. develop and change quickly
43. From the text we may know that Americans are ________.
A. kind               B. rude              C. sad               D. impolite
44. If you no longer work with an american, what should you do with your friendship?
A. Try your best to keep it.                    B. Avoid meeting your workmates.
C. Let it be.                                D. worry about it.

Disease, poverty, hate, love－Charles Dickens’ stories opened his readers eyes to the most important themes of his age. Two hundred years on, his stories still speak volumes across the world, proving that Dickens’ legacy（遗产） was far greater that just “great-literature”. February 7 marks the 200th anniversary of the writer’s birthday. To mark this date, BBC writer Alex Hudson listed six things Dickens gave the modern world. Let’s take a look at two of them.
A White Christmas
Dickens is described as “the man who invented Christmas” － not the religious festival, but the cultural aspects that we associate with the festive season today. In the early 19th century, Christmas was barely worth mentioning, according to critic and writer Leigh Hunt. The committee which ran the Conservative Party even held ordinary business meetings on Christmas Day－unthinkable in the West nowadays, when everyone but the most necessary workers takes at least three days off. Many people believe that Dickens’ popular descriptions of the festive period became a blueprint for generations to come. In his classic novel, A Christmas Carol, he not only put forward the idea of snow at Christmas, but also painted a picture of glowing warmth－“home enjoyments, affections and hopes”. In his biography of Dickens, Peter Ackroyd wrote: “Dickens can be said to have almost single-handedly created the modern idea of Christmas.”
“Dickens” poverty
Dickens was one of the first to take an honest look at the underclass and the poor of Victorian London. He helped popularize the term “red tape” to describe situations where people in power use needless amounts of bureaucracy(官僚作风) in a way that particularly hurts the weaker and poorer members of society.
“Dickensian” has now become a powerful word for describing an unacceptable level of poverty. In 2009, when the president of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers in the UK wanted to talk about poverty in some areas of Britain, she did not use words like “terrible” or “horrific”, but rather described it as “life mirroring the times of Dickens”.
【小题1】The article is mainly about          .

任务型阅读 (共10小题; 每小题1分，满分10分)

请认真阅读下列短文，并根据短文的内容要点完成文章后的表格列单。

注意：补全填空应符合语法和搭配要求，每格只填一个单词。

Even British People Can’t Speak English Properly

There are different regional accents across the UK, and a number of regions have several different dialects, that is, they have their own unique vocabulary and grammatical phrases. There were at least six different accents born to London the last time I counted.

Worse than that, it is not just where a person is born in the UK that decides their accent. For example, a language and its accents often vary across class or level of education. Another example is how language can differ among age groups in the UK. The words and pronunciations used by young people in the UK can be radically different compared with those used by adults.

Yoof culture

The word ‘yoof’ is a slang spelling of ‘youth’. Some people consider ‘yoof’ to be a negative term, since its pronunciation is easier and lazier than ‘youth’. Other people see the term as positive, because it describes how young people are creating their own language, concepts and identity. When people find it difficult to understand their children, the children can say more things than without censorship(审查，检查) of their parents. In this way, young people are starting to find freedom, independence and self-expression. They are creating a ‘yoof culture’.

It is not possible to come up with a complete list of words used by yoof. By the time the list was completed, it would be out of date. New words come and go like fashions. However, a few features of the yoof style of language are as follows:

◆instead of saying something like ‘That’s good!’ or ‘I understand’, yoof will use a single adjective like ‘Safe!’, ‘Sorted!’, ‘Sound!’, ‘Cool!’ or ‘Wicked!’.

◆instead of ‘He then said no!’, yoof will say ‘She was like: no!’

◆Instead of ‘She’s attractive!’, yoof will say ‘She’s fine!’ or ‘She’s fit!’

◆Instead of ‘I don’t care!’, a yoof will say ‘Whatever!’.

New social and political language

Certain groups of society feel threatened by ‘yoof culture’ or by the British working classes having more social freedom. As a result, a negative term now commonly used in the UK is ‘chav’. It is insult and is meant to describe someone who is uneducated and anti-social (e.g. ‘He’s a chav!’). A young person who wears a jacket with a hood(风帽，头巾) (after all, it rains a lot in the UK) is sometimes called a ‘hoodie’. It is a negative term and suggests that the young person is interested in committing crime.

Where does that leave us?

Learners of English often feel that the best test of their English is how well they can talk to a native speaker. Yet learners should not worry about communicating with native speakers so much. Research conducted by the British Council shows that 94 per cent of the English spoken in the world today is spoken between non-native speakers of the language. In fact, when we think about ‘international English’, there is no such thing as native or non-native speakers. The UK no longer owns the English language.