We can’t take part in the competition ________ we get our student card.

A.before                B. if                   C. While                D. as

Olympic building projects are at risk because skilled Polish workers are going back home and there are not enough skilled British workers to replace ___ . A quick training plan is being put in place to teach British people basic construction ____ specifically for Olympic projects. As the Polish builders are beginning to go back home, migrant workers from other parts of Eastern Europe are taking their places; ____, they don’t seem to be as well trained or have the same work ethics as the Polish workers. The Olympic Delivery Authority, the London Development Agency (LDA) and other partner organizations are going to spend ￡20 million —23 per cent of      training budget for London 2012 —in increasing the skills of the British workforce to __ the construction needs of the Olympics. They are also training electricians. A total of 1,500 workers nationwide will become fully skilled electricians ___ attending the program. These workers will then work on building the Olympic Village. Iain MacDonald, head of a training program, told TheTimes, "All the way along we have been holding the view    we can’t rely on migrant labour. We have to put in plans for the long term. We can’t rely on migrant labour all the time. Britain has become too dependent on the migrant labour force. It is better to develop the skills of the population."

Attempt a guess at the following question: In the English-speaking world, which country has the least affordable homes? You are wrong if you guessed the US, even with the housing bubble （气泡） and main sadness． Nor is it the UK, where prices have risen because demand is far from supply． According to a recent survey of 227 cities around the globe, you must go south of the equator （赤道） to Australia to find the priciest homes．

The report measured a city’s housing market along the following guidelines． An “affordable” home required three times or less of the average family’s income to purchase． At four times earnings, a home fell into the “unaffordable” category． And a “seriously unaffordable” home needed five times a family’s income． In Australia, homes in the least affordable city cost just about 9．5 times the average income． Sydney, Perth, and Melbourne were only a little under this figure．

Australian officials offered little comment, apart from a general statement on the dismal findings． These prices make the possibility that many Australians will one day own a home largely unbelievable． Land rationing （配给制） and excessive development charges have raised prices, and the problem will only be solved through urgent action by the Rudd government．

Some American cities were also included on the least affordable list, four of which were in California． America is still involved in a mortgage（抵押）crisis, though, affecting the affordability of homes． Yet a number of US cities garnered “affordable” status, namely Dallas and Kansas． Australia had no cities listed in the top fifty places with affordable homes．

The survey suggests that you can find affordable homes in most places, just not if you’re Australian and choose to live down under．

To buy an affordable house, you should pay _____．

   A． 3 times or less of the average family’s income

    B． 4 times or less of the average family’s income

    C． 5 times or less of the average family’s income

    D． 9．5 times or less of the average family’s income

What caused the prices of houses to increase in Australia?

   A． The rising family’s income．       B． The demand over supply．

   C． The excessive development charges． D． The decrease of land．

The underlined word “dismal” in Paragraph 3 may mean _____．

   A． cheerful       B． satisfactory

   C． difficult           D． gloomy 

What might be the most suitable title for the passage?

    A． Affordable Houses   B． A House is a Dream First

    C． Housing Bubble      D． Homes Too Expensive

书面表达（满分25）

    假如你是中美夏令营的一位工作人员李华，收到了美国营员Peter的电子邮件，他在动身来中国参加夏令营之前，想了解一下中方给他安排的寄宿家庭的有关情况，请你根据下列信息回复邮件：

    1．住房宽敞，给Peter预备了自己的房间；

    2．交通便捷，另外寄宿家庭还有私家车，出入方便；

    3．家人都懂英语，乐于交流；

    4．女主人的厨艺非常好；

    5．2009年接待过美国学生。

注意：1．词数100词左右；

    2．可适当增加细节以使行文连贯；

    3．信的开头已为你写好，不计入总词数。

Dear Peter,

    I’m very glad to receive your e-mail asking for information about the host family we have arranged for you to stay．

    ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Hua

Things like eye contact and hand gestures _____ great importance in situations such as job interviews．

    A． take in     B． take off    C． take on     D． take down

—What made her so happy?

—_____ her son passed the driving test．

    A． That    B． Because     C． Since   D． When

Your smile is one of the strongest tools that make ______ possible for you to meet new people.

    A. it   B. them C. this D. /

All the students suggested that they __________ two weeks to prepare for the exam.

A. give          B. should give      C. be given      D. would be given

Never go into a supermarket hungry! This is a good piece of advice. If you go shopping for food before lunchtime, you’ll probably buy more than you plan to. Unfortunately, however, just this advice isn’t enough for consumers these days. Modern shoppers need an education in how and how not to buy things at the store. First, you check the weekly newspaper ads. Find out the items that are on sale and decide if you really need these things. In other words, don’t buy anything just because it’s cheaper than usual! “New and Improved!” or “All Natural” on the front of a package influence you. Instead, read the list of ingredients(contents) on the back. Third, compare prices: that is, you should examine the prices of both different brands and different sizes of the same brand.

Another suggestion for consumers is to buy ordinary items instead of famous brands. Ordinary items in supermarkets come in plain packages. These products are cheaper because producers don’t spend much money on packing or advertising. The quality, however, is usually as good as the quality of well-known name brands. In the same way, in buying clothes, you can often find high quality and low prices in brands that are not famous. Shopping in discount clothing stores can help you save a lot of money. Although these stores aren’t very attractive, and they usually do not have individual dressing rooms, not only are the prices low, but you can often find the same famous brands that you find in high-priced department stores.

Wise consumers read magazine ads and watch TV commercials, but they do this with one advantage: knowledge of the psychology behind the ads. In other words, well-informed consumers watch for information and check for misinformation. They ask themselves questions: Is the advertiser hiding something in small print at the bottom of the page? Is there any real information in the commercial, or is the advertiser simply showing an attractive image? With the answers to these questions, consumers can make a wise choice.

All the following statements are true about the phrase “ordinary items” in Paragraph 2 EXCEPT __________.

A. ordinary items never say “New and Improved” or “All Natural”

B. ordinary products are usually cheaper than famous brands

C. producers spend less money on packaging of ordinary items

D. the quality of ordinary items is usually as good as that of famous brands

What does the writer think about ads? __________

A. They are believable.          B. They are attractive.

C. They are full of misinformation.   D. They are helpful to consumers.

One of the author’s suggestions to consumers is __________.

A. to make use of ads             

B. not to buy items with words like “New and Improved” or “All Natural”

C. to buy high quality items such as famous brands after lunch

D. to buy any ordinary items instead of famous brands

The author implies that __________.

A. going into the supermarket hungry, you may buy more than you plan to

B. the quality of ordinary items is usually high and the prices are relatively low

C. discount clothing stores are good places to go to      

D. ads sometimes don’t tell the truth

I’m certain David’s told you his business trouble. ________, it’s no secret that he owes a lot of money to the bank..

A. However        B. Anyway         C. Therefore       D. Though