Visit Mineral City!

Mineral City is an interesting place to visit. It is a beautiful little town with many old buildings.

Take a walk through the center of the town on Main Street. Look first at the Mineral City Hotel. It is on the corner of Main Street and Glenn Avenue. It is about 150 years old and people still stay there. There is an interesting old building across the street from the hotel. This is the old post office. Now it is a store for books and videos. There are many places to eat on Main Street. You can get lunch or dinner in one of these places. There is a park between Main Street and Oak Street. You can sit on a bench(长凳) in the park. It’s nice and quiet, and you can enjoy the trees and flowers.

You can also take a walk down Glenn Avenue. Look at the old buildings and interesting little stores on this street.

51. How old is the Mineral City Hotel?

　 A. About 50 years old.　　　 　 B. About 100 years old.

　 C. About 150 years old.　　 　D. About 200 years old.

52. What’s the old building across the street from the hotel?

　 A. A post office.　　　　 B. A park.　　　 C. A bank.　　　　　 D. A school.

53. What can you do in the park?

　 A. Get lunch or dinner.　　　　　 　　　　 B. Buy some books and videos.　

C. Enjoy the movies.　　　　　　　 　　　　　 D. Sit on a bench.

Shopping habits in the United States have changed greatly in the last quarter of the twentieth century. Early in the 1900s, most American towns and cities had a Main Street. Main Street was always in the heart of a town. This street was lined on both sides with many businesses. Here, shoppers walked into stores to look at all kinds of merchandise（商品）：clothing, furniture, hardware（五金）, groceries（杂货）. In addition, some shops offered services. These shops included drugstores, restaurants, shoe-repair stores, and barber or hairdressing shops. But in the 1950s, a change began to take place. Too many cars and trucks had crowded into Main Street. There were few parking places. Because the streets were crowded, merchants（商人） began to look with interest at the open spaces outside the city limits. Open space is what their car-driving customers needed．And open space is what they got when the first shopping center was built. Shopping centers, or malls, started as collection of small new stores built away from crowded city centers. Attracted by hundreds of free parking spaces, customers were drawn away from downtown areas to the outlying malls.

By the late 1970s, many shopping malls had almost developed into small cities themselves. In addition to providing the convenience of one-stop shopping, malls were changed into landscaped parks, with beautiful flowers, fountains, and outdoor entertainment. For example, one of the shopping malls is The Galleria in Houston, Texas. Inside the Galleria, more than ten of shops face balconies and there is an indoor ice skating rink（溜冰场）. Some of Houston’s best restaurants are also here. Atop（在……顶上） the whole mammoth（巨大的） structure is a new hotel. The Galleria, and other imaginative shopping centers throughout the United States, have led a magazine to title its recent leading article “The Malling of America”.

1. Which of the following is not correct?

A．During the 1950s, many parking places were available（可用的，有效的） to shoppers who drove to any Main Street.

B．Before the 1950s, a Main Street was a shopping center in most American towns.

C．Main Street was usually in the heart of a town.

D．At the beginning of the 20th century, all kinds of stores were located along Main Street.

2. The Galleria in Houston, Texas is ____________.

  A．a huge and modern restaurant.         B．a beautiful guest house.

  C．a soaring new hotel.                D．a wonderful shopping mall.

3. The best title for this passage would be ____________.

A．The changes of American Shopping Centers.

B．The Malling of America.

C．The Convenience of One-stop Shopping.

D．The Past and Present of the American People

My Town the Best Place to Be!
My town is a great place to live in . It’s the best place to enjoy your free time. There are three movie theaters in the town. They are all good, but the one nearest my house is the best. Shopping is also easy, There are many shops and most of them are trendy. They sell very fashionable clothes. The prices are also cheaper than in other cities, so students love to shop here. There are also a lot of video and music stores. These are very popular with students. I go to the music store every week to buy a new CD. The most crowded place for students to hang out is the park . Everyone goes there ,so it’s really interesting.
Sometimes there are even street performers. Some students think they are boring ,but I think they are the most creative people. I want to be a street performer, too

1. 1.

   The writer’s town is the best place of _______

   1. A.
      food
   2. B.
      having fun
   3. C.
      playing games
   4. D.
      swimming
2. 2.

   The cinemas in town are ________

   1. A.
      all awful
   2. B.
      all relaxing
   3. C.
      all bad
   4. D.
      all good
3. 3.

   The cinema nearest the writer’s house is ________

   1. A.
      the best
   2. B.
      the worst
   3. C.
      the most crowded
   4. D.
      the smallest
4. 4.

   Most of the shops are ________

   1. A.
      expensive
   2. B.
      interesting
   3. C.
      fashionable
   4. D.
      unfashionable
5. 5.

   The writer thinks street performers are ________

   1. A.
      creative
   2. B.
      boring
   3. C.
      positive
   4. D.
      trendy