DIY, which means Do It Yourself, is quite popular in UK. Lots of stores and supermarkets sell DIY things. TV proprammes show people how to DIY.

English people like DIY. There is a saying in UK – “An Englishman’s home is his castle”. Huge numbers of people spend their holidays making their homes beautiful “castles”. If there is anything that needs fixing around their houses, such as painting the walls or putting in a new shower, they will do the jobs themselves. They share DIY experiences with their friends. More and more people have discovered the joy of DIY. Sometimes people also DIY for saving money. With the economic downturn at present, many people can not afford to buy a bigger house. They are looking at how they can make their house better without spending a lot of money. It is not surprising that DIY is so popular.

  DIY can be difficult. There is a huge market for DIY furniture which people need to put together themselves with a few basic tools. However, people often find it not easy to build a piece of furniture because they can’t understand the instructions. Sometimes the instructions are simple and clear, but the furniture itself is difficult to build. One thing is for sure, though most DIY projects are started with the best intentions, many of them may not get finished. DIY can also be dangerous. For example, anything electrical should be done by a professional worker. Unluckily, many people don’t care about this warning and put themselves in danger. It is reported that in just one year over 230,000 people were hurt while doing DIY in UK, including 41,000 who fell off ladders.

  Therefore, DIY can bring us fun and help us save money, but it is not always as easy as it is thought to be if we bite off more than we can chew. Maybe factories should make products that are easier and safer for us to DIY.

1.How do many English people spend their holidays according to the passage?

A.     Making their homes beautiful.   B. Visiting their friends.

B.     Travelling all over the world.   D. Making a lot of money.

2. Why do English people like DIY?

A.     Many stores sell DIY things.   B. DIY can bring them fun.

C. TV programmes teach them to DIY   D. All DIY projects are easy.

3.What can we learn from the passage?

A.     DIY is a waste of money.   B. It is always difficult to DIY.

B.     We should be careful while doing DIY.   D. It’s very safe for us to DIY

4.In the passage, “we bite off more than we can chew” probably means ___________.

A. we can eat everything we like   B. we should do something difficult

C. we do something that is too difficult   D. we eat too much food that is not safe

The rising costs of health care have become a problem for many countries in the world. To deal with this problem, it is reported that a big part of the government’s health budge（预算）has been used for health education and disease prevention instead of treatment. Actually, many kinds of diseases are preventable in many ways and preventing a disease is usually much cheaper than treating it. For example, people could avoid catching a cold if they dressed warmly when the weather starts getting cold. But many people get sick because they fail to do so, and have to spend money seeing a doctor.
Daily habits like eating more healthy food would have kept millions of families from becoming bankrupt（破产）if the patients had taken ways for early prevention. For example, keeping a balanced diet（均衡饮食）, such as not consuming too much animal fat and trying to have enough vegetables and fruits, seems to be quite important.
One very effective and costless way of prevention is regular（定期的）exercise, which is necessary for a healthy mind and body. Regular exercise, such as running, walking, and playing sports is a good way to make people feel better.
In addition, health education plays a key role in improving people’s health. By giving people more information about health, countries could help people understand the importance of disease prevention and ways to achieve it. For example, knowing one’s family medical history is an effective way to help keep healthy. Information about health problems among close relatives will make them aware of what they should do to prevent certain diseases through lifestyle changes, which will work before it is too late.
However, paying more attention to disease prevention does not mean medical treatment is unimportant. After all, prevention and treatment are just two different means toward the same effect. In conclusion, we could save money on health care and treat patients more successfully if our country spends more money on health prevention and education.
【小题1】 What’s the meaning of the underlined word “consuming” in Paragraph 2?

1 

DIY, which means Do It Yourself, is quite popular in UK. Lots of stores and supermarkets sell DIY things. TV programmes show people how to DIY.

English people like DIY. There is a saying in UK----“As Englishman’s home is his castle”. Huge number of people spend their holidays making their homes beautiful “castles”. If there is anything that needs fixing around their homes, such as painting the walls or putting in a new shower, they will do the jobs themselves. They share DIY experience with their friends. More and more people have discovered the joy of DIY. Sometimes people also DIY for saving money. With the economic downturn at present, many people can not afford a big house. They are looking at how they can make their house better without spending a lot of money. It is not surprising that DIY is so popular.

DIY can be difficult. There is a huge market for DIY furniture which people need to get together themselves with a few basic tools. However, people often find it not easy to build a piece of furniture because they can’t understand the instructions. Sometimes the instructions are simple and clear, but the furniture itself is difficult to build. One thing is for sure, though most DIY projects are started with the best intentions. Many of them may not get finished. DIY can also be dangerous. For example, anything electrical should be done by a professional worker. Unluckily, many people don’t care about this warning and put themselves in danger. It is reported that in just one year over 230,000 people were hurt while doing DIY in UK, including 41,000 who fell off ladders.

Therefore , DIY can bring us fun and help us save money, but it is not always as easy as it is thought to be if we bite off more than we can chew. Maybe factories should make products that are easier and safer for us to DIY.

1.How do many English people spend their hoildays to the passage?

A. Making their homes beautiful.

B. Visiting their friends.

C. Travelling all over the world

D. Making a lot of money

2.Why do English people like DIY?

A. Many stores sell DIY things.

B. DIY can bring them fun.

C. TV programmes teach them to DIY

D. All DIY projects are easy.

3.What can we learn from the passage?

A. DIY is a waste of money.

B. it is always difficult to DIY.

C. We should be careful while doing DIY.

D. It is very safe for us to DIY.

4.In the passage, “we bite off more than we can chew” probably means      .

A. We can eat everything we like.

B. We should do something difficult.

C. We do something that is too difficult.

D. We eat too much food that is not safe.