People with simple names enjoy quicker c...

Although an earthquake has just happened, people here still ______ their lives as usual.

A.go about B.go through

C.get about D.get through

    Most shoplifters (商店扒手) agree that the January sales offer wonderful opportunities for the hard-working thief.

_____ the shops so crowded and the staff so busy, it does not require any extraordinary talent to help you to take one or two little things and escape________. It is known, in the business, as “hoisting”.

But the hoisting game is not________it used to be. Even at the height of the sales, shoplifters today never know___________ they are being watched by one of those evil little balls that hang from the ceilings of so many department stores above the most desirable goods.

As if that was not trouble enough for them, they can now be filmed______and obliged to attend a showing of their performance in court.

Selfridges was the first big London store to install closed-circuit videotape equipment to watch its sales floors. In October last year the store won its first court______for shoplifting using an evidence of a videotape clearly showing a couple______ dresses. It was an important test case which______ other stores to install similar equipment.

When the balls, called sputniks, first make a(n)______ in shops, it was widely believed that their only function was to______shoplifters. Their______ridiculous appearances, the curious holes and red lights going on and off, certainly make the theory believable.

It did not take long, _______, for serious shoplifters to start showing suitable______.Soon after the equipment was ______ at Selfridges, store detective Brian Chadwick was sitting in the control room watching a woman _____ putting bottles of perfume into her bag.

“As she turned to go,” Chadwick______, “she suddenly looked up at the ‘sputnik’ and stopped. She could not______have seen that the camera was trained on her because it is completely hidden, but she ______ have had a feeling that I was looking at her.”

“For a moment she paused, but then she ______to the counter and started putting everything ______ . When she had finished, she opened her bag towards the camera to show it was empty and hurried out of the store.”

1.A.As B.With C.For D.Since

2.A.noticed B.noticing C.unnoticed D.unnoticing

3.A.how B.that C.which D.what

4.A.if B.that C.how D.why

5.A.at rest B.at attention C.at work D.at shock

6.A.case B.theft C.discussion D.conversation

7.A.trying B.wearing C.stealing D.packaging

8.A.stopped B.kept C.encouraged D.called

9.A.difference B.influence C.appearance D.function

10.A.attack B.calm C.excite D.frighten

11.A.somehow B.somewhat C.anyhow D.somewhere

12.A.however B.thus C.therefore D.anyway

13.A.respect B.interest C.fright D.courage

14.A.in operation B.in case C.in trouble D.in advance

15.A.publicly B.bravely C.quickly D.secretly

16.A.replied B.repeated C.recalled D.requested

17.A.possibly B.politely C.pleasantly D.patiently

18.A.could B.would C.should D.must

19.A.came B.left C.returned D.rushed

20.A.off B.in C.up D.back

    There are many things we remember from our childhood—the games we played, the music we listened to...but what about earning pocket money? This was our first ever wage for completing tasks such as tidying our bedroom or sorting the laundry. Our reward was a handful of coins that we safely stored. 1.

There was a time when cash was the main currency for financial transactions (交易). These days, though, using credit cards, or making cashless payments, are the most convenient ways of paying. 2. Research has found that 84% of British parents currently give notes and coins to their children—usually 7 pounds a week as an allowance.

But banks predict that by 2028 only one in ten transactions will be with cash, and that is something today’s children will have to deal with. One issue is that children may not understand the value of cash because they never see it. 3. They either should find a new way to hand out pocket money, or needn’t bother to pay it at all.

Still, solutions are available. Giving children lessons at school about finance is important. 4. The trick is to go and get some coins so that children have the opportunity to interact with them. Besides, bank accounts for older children can be opened to give them cash cards to use. Whatever method a parent chooses to adopt, their children will get some idea of the value of pocket money. 5.

A. Parents face a dilemma too.

B. This, in turn, makes the buying much easier.

C. They have completely taken the place of cash.

D. So how do parents hand out pocket money at present?

E. But parents need to teach their kids that money doesn’t grow on trees!

F. But now, it seems that parents’ attitude to handing out cash is changing.

G. And parents are advised to get children started with money as young as possible.

    Can you be too beautiful? It is hardly a problem that most of us have to bother—as much as we might like to dream that it were the case.

Yet the blessings and curses of beauty have been a long-standing interest in psychology. Do those blessed with shiny faces and an attractive body live in a cloud of appreciation—or does it sometimes pay to be ordinary?

Combing through decades of findings, social psychologists Lisa Slattery Walker and Tonya Frevert at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte have reviewed all the evidence to date and their conclusions are not what you might expect.

At the most basic level, beauty might be thought to carry a kind of halo(光环) around it; we see that someone has one good quality, and by association, our deep mind may assume that they have other good ones too.

Even in the courts, a pleasing appearance can work its magic. Attractive criminals are likely to get less strict sentences, or to escape punishment entirely; attractive plaintiffs, meanwhile, are more likely to win their case and get bigger financial settlements. “It’s an effect seen everywhere,” says Walker.

But if beauty pays in most circumstances, there are still situations where it can have opposite results. While attractive men may be considered better leaders, for instance, hidden sexist prejudices can work against attractive women, making them less likely to be hired for high-level jobs that require power. And as you might expect, good-looking people of both sexes run into envy—one study found that if you are interviewed by someone of the same sex, they may be less likely to employ you if they judge that you are more attractive than they are.

More worryingly, being beautiful or handsome could harm your medical care. We tend to link good looks to health, meaning that illnesses are often taken less seriously when they affect the good-looking. When treating people for pain, for instance, doctors tend to take less care over the more attractive people.

And the bubble of beauty can be a somewhat lonely place. One study in 1975, for instance, found that people tend to move further away from a beautiful woman on the pathway — perhaps as a mark of respect, but still making interaction more distant. “Attractiveness can convey more power over visible space—but that in turn can make others feel they can’t approach that person,” says Frevert. Interestingly, the online dating website OKCupid recently reported that people with the most beautiful pictures are less likely to find dates than those with less perfect pictures.

Ultimately, Frevert points out that focusing too much on your appearance can itself be harmful if it creates stress and anxiety — even for those already blessed with good looks. “If you are crazy about attractiveness, it may affect your experience and interactions,” she says. It’s an outdated saying, but no amount of beauty can make up for a bad personality. As the writer Dorothy Parker put it so elegantly: “Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone.”

1.From paragraph 1, we can learn that _______.

A.some may be bothered by their unattractive appearance

B.most people are not afraid of being too beautiful

C.we might always dream about being bothered by others

D.being too beautiful can be a problem bothering everyone

2.Which is the benefit for beautiful people?

A.Good-looking people are often regarded as having many good qualities.

B.Beautiful criminals are more likely to persuade the judge and win the case.

C.An attractive plaintiff has more chances to get away with punishment.

D.Women with pleasing appearance will always be considered as better leaders.

3.The writer mentioned the underlined sentence in the last paragraph to _______.

A.persuade us to pay more attention to our looks from now on

B.suggest that beauty can help make a better personality

C.encourage us to focus more on improving our personality

D.ask ugly people to have more confidence in their personality

4.What might be the best title for the passage?

A.Real Beauty B.Sexist Prejudice

C.Blessed with Beauty D.Beauty, a Blessing?

    Throughout history, music spread among people of different cultures. In today’s technological advanced society, however, people spread music online, sometimes without an artist’s permission. This can lead to many problems, and music companies are now cracking down on this practice. Sharing music online without permission is theft.

Sharing music online prevents recording companies from making money from their efforts. They say that sharing music online has resulted in a huge drop in profits and sales over the past 10 years. People who find music for free online are not paying for CDs or every MP3 downloaded. To truly understand the influence of music piracy (盗版行为) on creators, one must understand how many people are involved in the recording process. For the sale of each album, profits must be shared between musicians, sound engineers, music producers, managers, advertisers, and the company selling the product. Many people believe sharing music only affects the recording artist, but the reality is that sharing hurts business for all companies involved.

There are many people who don’t see the harm in sharing music online and even think they have the right to do it. One online blogger states that he originally paid for an entire CD and that he should be able to do with the material whatever he wants. While he may have legally paid for the music, he does not have the right to provide permission, which means people like the blogger are thieves.

Although we don’t spread today’s music the same way we did before, there’s no doubt that people around the world love to share music. However, internet piracy would prevent musicians from continuing producing albums for fear of theft. Therefore, if people want to continue listening to their favorite artists, they need to buy their music so that artists will make enough profit to continue their music careers.

1.The underlined phrase “cracking down on” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ___________.

A.bringing up carefully B.speaking highly of

C.dealing seriously with D.destroying completely

2.What can we infer from the text?

A.Artists are taking action to protect their right.

B.Sharing music files online affects a lot of people.

C.Online music sharing increases sales of music CD.

D.A person who bought a CD has the right to share it online.

3.How is the text organized?

A.Topic—Argument—Explanation.

B.Opinion—Discussion—Description.

C.Main idea—Comparison—Supporting statements.

D.Introduction—Supporting statements—Conclusion.

4.What is the main idea of the text?

A.Music piracy is kind of theft. B.Sharing music is Acceptable.

C.Downloading music should be punished. D.Music piracy is good for music lovers.