After an extra day in space,the crew of Discovery returned to Earth,landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California early on Tuesday morning.The shuttle and its crew spent two weeks in space,most of it aboard the International Space Station.It was the first flight of NASA's space?shuttle fleet since February 2003,when the shuttle Columbia came apart while re?entering Earth's atmosphere.?

NASA officials delayed Discovery's return for one day because of cloudy weather in Florida,where the shuttle was supposed to lanD. On Tuesday morning,mission controllers ?directed? Discovery to a landing site in California,where the skies were clear.The crew members will have to wait until Wednesday to see their families when they all meet together in Houston at the Johnson Space Center.?

Discovery had a very busy mission in space,compared to past missions.The space shuttle docked with the International Space Station most of the journey,delivering badly needed ?supplies? and repairing damaged parts.The crew spent a lot of time testing new repair techniques on their own shuttle,conducting three different spacewalks(where astronauts exit the space shuttle to do work outside).On the third spacewalk,astronaut Steve Robinson went underneath the shuttle to remove material sticking out from between the spacecraft's ?protective? tiles.?

There were concerns in the last remaining days of Discovery's mission that a torn heat blanket—another shield against overheating in the space shuttle—may pose a problem to crew members. NASA officials and technicians worked on ways that the crew could fix the problem, but later decided it was not a risk.?

With the shuttle and its crew safely back on firm ground, NASA is hailing this mission, labeled STS?114,as a huge success. “I hope this shows people that we're coming back,” NASA spaceflight chief Bill Readdy said after Discovery's successful landing. “We've got some more work to do. We know what we need to do and we'll do it.?

Which of the following isn't included in the jobs of the shuttle Discovery?

A. Delivering supplies to the International Space Station.?

B. Conducting different spacewalks.?

C. Testing new repair techniques.?

D. Finding the cause why the shuttle Columbia came apart.?

But for the cloudy weather, the shuttle Discovery would have landed_______.

A. in Florida a day earlier     B. in Florida a day later?

C. in California a day earlier D. in California a day later?

Which is the most probable period of time that Discovery was aboard the International Space Station?

A. Six days.    B. Two weeks.?

C. Nine days.  D. Two weeks and an extra day.?

What's the best title for the passage?

A. Another Huge Success of Discovery

B. Welcome Back, Discovery?

C. Discovery and International Space Station

D. Discovery Survives a Risk

Learning English online is an effective way to improve your English. But with any type of learning you need to be prepared. This passage will give you advice and tips on how to get the most out of your online lessons.

  1.     

This is an obvious point but also the most important one. A computer, a good Internet connection and a headset are what you will need to take classes online. A web camera is also pretty important. Make sure that your computer is turned on, that everything is plugged in correctly and that you have tested the connection. Doing this before the class means that you will be ready when the lesson starts

Take the classes somewhere quiet.

      2.    Trying to listen and participate(参与) in English classes is very difficult when there is noise around you. So find a quiet room and make sure that no one disturbs you while you are taking your lesson.

      3.     

When grammar or anything else is being taught, make sure that you understand it. You won’t need to practice it at this time; just make sure that everything is clear. If you don’t understand what is being taught, ask your teacher to explain it again. Your teacher will be more than happy to deal with whatever puzzles you.

Practice speaking English.

Every class is an opportunity to practice your English speaking with a native and qualified teacher. Try to allow the conversation to flow by listening and talking in a natural way.   4.   The teacher should note the mistakes and correct them at a later time.

Relax.

Come to class feeling relaxed and excited.   5.    Come into the class excited about learning English. You will be able to get more out of the class this way.

A.Review after the lesson

B.Make sure everything is ready.

C.Understand what is being taught.

D.Get away from everything that may be going on in your home

E. Language learning should be enjoyable especially in online classes.

F. You will meet many problems when you are learning English online.

G. This is your chance to speak English without worrying about too many mistakes.

 

BEIJING—Eating at a Beijing restaurant is usually an adventure for foreigners, and particularly when they get the chance to order “chicken without sex life” or “red burned lion head”.

Sometimes excited but mostly confused, embarrassed or even terrified, many foreigners have long complained about mistranslations of Chinese dishes. And their complaints are often valid(有效), but such an experience at Beijing’s restaurants will apparently soon be history.

Foreign visitors will no longer, hopefully, be confused by oddly worded restaurant menus in the capital if the government’s plan to correctly translate 3,000 Chinese dishes is a success and the translations are generally adopted.

The municipal(市政) office of foreign affairs has published a book to recommend English translations of Chinese dishes, which aims to help restaurants avoid bizarre translations. “It provides the names of main dishes of famous Chinese cuisines in plain English,” an official with the city’s Foreign Affairs office said. “Restaurants are encouraged to use the proposed translations, but it will not be compulsory.” It’s the city’s latest effort to bridge the culture gap for foreign travelers in China.

Coming up with precise translations is a daunting task, as some Chinese culinary(烹饪) techniques are untranslatable and many Chinese dishes have no English-language equivalent. The translators, after conducting a study of Chinese restaurants in English-speaking countries, divided the dish names into four categories: ingredients, cooking method, taste and name of a person or a place. For some traditional dishes, pinyin, the Chinese phonetic system, is used, such as mapo tofu(previously often literally translated as “beancurd made by woman with freckles”), baozi(steamed stuffed bun) and jiaozi(dumplings) to “reflect the Chinese cuisine culture,” according to the book.

“The book is a blessing to tourist guides like me. Having it, I don’t have to rack my brains trying to explain Chinese dishes to foreign travellers,” said Zheng Xiaodong, a 31-year-old employee with a Beijing-based travel agency.

“I will buy the book as I major in English literature and I’d like to introduce Chinese cuisine culture to more foreign friends,” said Han Yang, a postgraduate student at the University of International Business and Economics.

It is not clear if the book will be introduced to other parts of China. But on Tuesday, this was the most discussed topic on weibo.com, China’s most popular microblogging site.

1.What’s the best title of the passage?

A.An adventure for foreigners who eat in Beijing.

B.Confusing mistranslations of Chinese dishes.

C.Chinese dishes to have “official” English names.

D.The effort to bridge the culture gap.

2. “chicken without sex life” or “red burned lion head” are mentioned in the beginning of the passage to show              .

A.some Chinese dishes are not well received

B.some Chinese dishes are hard to translate

C.some Chinese dishes are mistranslated

D.some Chinese dishes are not acceptable

3.What measure has the municipal office taken?

A.Recommending a book on Chinese dishes.

B.Advocating(提倡) using precise translation for Chinese dishes.

C.Publishing a book on China’s dietary habits.

D.Providing the names of main Chinese dishes.

4.What’s the meaning of daunting in paragraph 5?

A.confusing         B.disappointing       C.discouraging       D.Worthwhile

 

You’re out to dinner. The food is delicious and the service is fine. You decide to leave a big fat tip. Why? The answer may not be as simple as you think.

Tipping, psychologists have found, is not just about service. Instead, studies have shown that tipping can be affected by psychological reactions to a series of different factors from the waiter’s choice of words to how they carry themselves while taking orders to the bill’s total.

“Studies before have shown that mimicry (模仿) brings into positive feelings for the mimicker,” wrote Rick van Baaren, a social psychology professor. “These studies show that people who are being mimicked become more generous toward the person who mimics them.”

So Rick van Baren divided 59 waiters into two groups. He requested that half serve with a phrase such as, “Coming up!” Those in the other half were instructed to repeat the orders and preferences back to the customers. Rick van Baaren then compared their take-home(实得收入). The results were clear---it pays to mimic your customer. The copycat waiters earned almost double the amount of tips to the other group.

Leonard Green and Joel Myerson, psychologists at Washington University in St. Louis, found the generosity of a tipper may be limited by his bill. After research on the 1,000 tips left for waiters, cab drivers, hair stylists, they found tip percentages in these three areas dropped as customers’ bills went up.

“That’s also a point of tipping,” Green says. “You have to give a little extra to the cab driver for being there to pick you up and something to the waiter for being there to serve you. If they weren’t there you’d never get any service. So part of the idea of a tip is for just being there.”

1.According to the passage, a customer gives the cab driver a tip for ____.

A. driver’s politeness   B. being there    C. driver’s attitudes   D. driver’s mimicry

2.According to the passage, which of the following will be likely to show the right change of the tip percentages for the three areas researched?

3.According to the passage, we know the writer seems to _________.

A. oppose Mr. Green’s idea about tipping

B. support the opinions of Mr. Green and Rick van Baaren about tipping

C. give his generous tip to the waiters very often

D. think part of Mr. Green’s explanation is reasonable

 

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