Christmas is long gone. and Valentine’s Day is a distant memory. That means it's a slow time for jewelers, and a good time for you to make a purchase. Whether you’re out shopping for gold, or silver, here fife a few things you need to know:

What determines price?

The purity of the metal is one of the elements that determines the price. Gold purity is indicated with a stamp of 10K, 14K, 18K, or 24K. And different countries have their own standards. For example, for a piece to be considered gold in the US, it must be at least 10K. In Britain and Canada: 9K. In Italy and France: l 8K. Anything over l 8K is really too soft for everyday wear. That’s why jewelry stores in the US sell mostly 14K.

How much can you expect to pay?

That depends on the weight of the metal and the gemstone(宝石). So keep that in mind, especially when buying online. To keep yourself from getting ripped off, ask yourself the following:

●How long has the company been around?

●What is its return policy?

● Is the jewelry featured on the website visible from all directions?

● Is the company transparent with the gram weights and the size of the gemstones?

Yellow gold? White? Rose?

Yes, it's confusing, and while this is largely a personal decision, there fife a few things to keep in mind. For starters. white or rose gold costs about l 0% more than yellow gold. If you want the “look for less”, consider gold. plated jewelry. “Gold plated” and “gold overlay” mean the same thing and guarantee a thicker layer of finish than “vermeil” which is a flash finish that is thinner and less consistent, but more affordable. Buy vermeil finished pieces you want for a season or two just to follow the fashion. For pieces you want to wear for a lifetime, solid gold is best.

What about sterling silver(标准纯银)?

Sterling silver has been。an alternative for white gold during the difficult economy, and while it used to be more popular with just the younger these days it has much more mass appeal. So much so that retailers are now offering fine gemstones with silver--something you used to see only with gold.

Keep in mind that in the US. the sterling silver standard is 92.5% real silver. Don’t buy it if there isn’t a “925” stamp on it. And keep in mind that the lower price you’re paying for silver means more maintenance. To keep silver jewelry from becoming less shiny, consider keeping a piece of chalk in your jewelry box.

1.According to the passage, the underlined phrase “getting ripped off” in Paragraph 3 probably means “_______”.

A．being charged      B．being cheated      C．being affected      D．being attracted

2.Which of the following is relatively good for only wearing a short time?

A．A 14K necklace.                        B．A gold-plated ring.

C．A vermeil ear ring.                       D．A gemstone necklace.

3.We call infer from the last paragraph that silver jewelry should be kept ________

A．in a dry place      B．in a cold place      C．in a wet place      D．in a hot place

4.The author writes the passage mainly to ________.

A．encourage young people to buy fashionable jewelry

B．tell people the best time to purchase gold and silver

C．introduce the real value and popularity of gold and silver

D．inform people of the factors to consider in buying jewelry

对话填空（每小题1分，满分10分）

阅读下面对话，掌握其大意，并根据所给首字母的提示，在标有题号的右边横线上写出一个英语单词的完整、正确形式，使对话通顺。

A：Hello. How are you today？ I h    you weren't yourself last week.

B：I'm much b now, Thank you.                                      

A：What was the m ？ Nothing serious, I hope.

B：Oh, no ,I had a bad cold and had to stay in bed for two days.

A：I hope it was the last cold of w   and not the first cold of spring. What about your friend, Ann？I heard she was ill, too

B：She was ill, but now she's all right. I think she carried my cold.

A：Everybody seems to have one now ,I guess it's b   of the sudden change of weather, One day hot and the next day cold.

B：And very windy, too. That's why I'm w   a sweater today. What do you think of it？

A：It certainly looks wonderful. It must have cost a lot. W did you buy it？

B：Oh ,I got it at a sale ,It was quite cheap.

A：Really! Well, Mary, I must say it suits you very well, What a p that I can't get o

for my wife.

B：Why not？ Maybe I can help you find one for your wife some day.

A：Thanks a lot ,I'm really thinking of s   her a present on her birthday.

The most frightening words in the English language are, “Our computer is down.” You hear it more and more when you are on business. The other day I was at the airport waiting for a ticket to Washington and the girl in the ticket office said, “I’m sorry, I can’t sell you a ticket. Our computer is down.”

“If your computer is down, just write me out a ticket.”

“I can’t write you out a ticket. The computer is the only one allowed to do so.”

I looked down on the computer and every passenger was just standing there drinking coffee and staring at the black screen. Then I asked her, “What do all you people do?”

“We give the computer the information about your trip, and then it tells us whether you can fly with us or not.”

So when it goes down, you go down with it.”

“That’s good, sir.”

“How long will the computer be down?” I wanted to know.

“I have no idea. Sometimes it’s down for 10 minutes, sometimes for two hours. There’s no way we can find out without asking the computer, and since it’s down it won’t answer us.”

After the girl told me they had no backup(备用) computer, I said. “Let’s forget the computer. What about your planes? They’re still flying, aren’t they?”

“I couldn’t tell without asking the computer.”

“Maybe I could just go to the gate and ask the pilot if he’s flying to Washington, ” I suggested.

“I wouldn’t know what gate to send you to. Even if the pilot was going to Washington, he couldn’t take you if you didn’t have a ticket.”

“Is there any other airline flying to Washington within the next few hours?”

“I wouldn’t know, ” she said, pointing at the dark screen. “Only ‘IT’ knows. ‘It’ can’t tell me.”

By this time there were quite a few people standing in lines. The word soon spread to other travelers that the computer was down. Some people went white, some people started to cry and still others kicked their luggage.

1.The best title for the article is _______.

A．When the Computer Is Down

B．The Most Frightening Words

C．The Computer of the Airport

D．Asking the Computer

2.What could the girl in the ticket office do for the passengers without asking the computer?

A．She could sell a ticket.

B．She could write out a ticket.

C．She could answer the passengers’ questions.

D．She could do nothing.

3.Why do you think they had not a backup computer?

A．Because it was easy down

B．Because it was very expensive.

C．Because it was not advanced enough.

D．Because it was not as big as the main computer.

4.The last paragraph suggests that _______.

A．a modern computer won’t be down.

B．computers can take the place of humans

C．sometimes a computer may bring suffering to people

D．there will be great changes in computers

Bertie knew there was something in the wind. His mother had been sad in recent days, not sick, just strangely sad. The lion had just lain down beside him, his head warm on Bertie's feet when Father cleared his throat and began," You'll soon be eight, Bertie. A boy needs a proper education. We've found the right place for you, a school near Salisbury in England."

His heart filled with a terrible fear, all Bertie could think of was his white lion. "But the lion," he cried, "What about the lion?"

"I'm afraid there's something else I have to tell you," his father said. Looking across at Bertie's mother, he took a deep breath. Then he told Bertie he had met a circus(马戏团) owner from France, who was over in Africa looking for lions to buy. He would come to their farm in a few days.

"No! You can't send him to a circus!" said Bertie. "People will come to see him. He'll be shut up behind bars. I promised him he never would be. And they will laugh at him. He'd rather die. Any animal would! " But as he looked across the table at them, he knew their minds were quite made up.

Bertie felt completely betrayed. He waited until he heard his father's deep breathing next door. With his white lion at his heels, he crept downstairs in his pyjamas, took down his father's rifle from the rack and stepped out into the night. He ran and ran till his legs could run no more. As the sun came up over the grassland, he climbed to the top of a hill and sat down, his arms round the lion's neck. The time had come.

"Be wild now," he whispered. "You've got to be wild. Don't ever come home. All my life I'll think of you. I promise I will." He buried his head in the lion's neck. Then, Bertie clambered down the hill and walked away.

When he looked back, the lion was still sitting there watching him; but then he stood up, yawned, stretched, and sprang down after him. Bertie shouted at him, but he kept coming. He threw sticks. He threw stones. Nothing worked.

There was only one thing left to do. With tears filling his eyes and his mouth, he lifted the rifle to his shoulder and fired over the lion's head.

1.Bertie's mother was sad probably because she ______.

A．had been seriously ill recently

B．had decided to send Bertie to school

C．knew selling the lion would upset Bertie

D．knew Bertie would hate to go to England

2.The underlined word "they" in Para.4 probably refers to ______.

A．some audience     B．other animals       C．Bertie's parents     D．circus owners

3.In the last paragraph, the boy lifted the rifle to ______．

A．kill the lion out of fear

B．threaten the lion back to the wild

C．protect himself from the lion

D．show his anger towards his father

4.The passage intends to show that ______.

A．animal-hunting is popular in Africa

B．parents are sometimes cruel to their children

C．animals usually lead a miserable life in circuses

D．people and animals can be faithful to each other

The most frightening words in the English language are, “Our computer is down.” You hear it more and more when you are on business. The other day I was at the airport waiting for a ticket to Washington and the girl in the ticket office said, “I’m sorry, I can’t sell you a ticket. Our computer is down.”

“If your computer is down, just write me out a ticket.”

“I can’t write you out a ticket. The computer is the only one allowed to do so.”

I looked down on the computer and every passenger was just standing there drinking coffee and staring at the black screen. Then I asked her, “What do all you people do?”

“We give the computer the information about your trip, and then it tells us whether you can fly with us or not.”

“So when it goes down, you go down with it.”

“That’s good, sir.”

“How long will the computer be down?” I wanted to know.

“I have no idea. Sometimes it’s down for 10 minutes, sometimes for two hours. There’s no way we can find out without asking the computer, and since it’s down it won’t answer us.”

After the girl told me they had no backup(备用) computer, I said. “Let’s forget the computer. What about your planes? They’re still flying, aren’t they?”

“I couldn’t tell without asking the computer.”

“Maybe I could just go to the gate and ask the pilot if he’s flying to Washington, ” I suggested.

“I wouldn’t know what gate to send you to. Even if the pilot was going to Washington, he couldn’t take you if you didn’t have a ticket.”

“Is there any other airline flying to Washington within the next few hours?”

“I wouldn’t know, ” she said, pointing at the dark screen. “Only ‘IT’ knows. ‘It’ can’t tell me.”

By this time there were quite a few people standing in lines. The word soon spread to other travelers that the computer was down. Some people went white, some people started to cry and still others kicked their luggage.

The best title for the article is _______.

A. When the Computer Is Down   B. The Most Frightening Words

C. The Computer of the Airport    D. Asking the Computer

What could the girl in the ticket office do for the passengers without asking the computer?

A. She could sell a ticket.

B. She could write out a ticket.

C. She could answer the passengers’ questions.

D. She could do nothing.

Why do you think they had not a backup computer?

A. Because it was easy down

B. Because it was very expensive.

C. Because it was not advanced enough.

D. Because it was not as big as the main computer.

The last paragraph suggests that _______.

A. a modern computer won’t be down.

B. computers can take the place of humans

C. sometimes a computer may bring suffering to people

D. there will be great changes in computers