A story from the Bible tells of old Babylon, where the men decided to build a tower that would touch the sky．But God was unhappy, and he made them speak different languages．They couldn’t understand each other, so their dream never came true．
Yet the dream remains alive: if all men speak the same language, they can do anything．L．L．Zamenhof from Poland was among the men who pursue this dream．He developed Esperanto（世界语）between 1877 and 1885．
As the most successful man-made world language, it is spoken by over two million people around the world．Last month, the World Esperanto Congress（大会）, dealing with language rights, ended in Sweden．The 2004 conference will be held in Beijing．Most Esperanto speakers are in Central and Eastern Europe and in East Asia, particularly Chinese mainland．
Esperanto has two advantages．First, it’s easy．Each letter has exactly one sound and there are just 16 basic grammar rules．The second advantage is that it belongs to no one country．But Esperanto has only reached a small number of people compared with natural languages widely used around the world-such as English or Chinese．While these languages are deeply connected with their nations and cultures, Esperanto doesn’t have this background．
Will Esperanto really become a global language? It remains a question．
1.The writer tells us a story at the beginning to ．
A．explain why men have been making the effort to create a language shared by all
B．explain why men now speak different languages
C．show the relationship between man and God
D．prove that language is very important
2.What does the underlined word “pursue” in the second paragraph mean?
A．“Realize”． B．“Work for”． C．“Be against”． D．“Follow”．
3.What is the basic difference between Esperanto and English?
A．More people speak English than Esperanto．
B．Esperanto words are easier to spell．
C．Esperanto has fewer grammar rules．
D．Esperanto is not supported by any country or culture．
4.What does the story mainly talk about?
A．Advantages and disadvantages of Esperanto．
B．Men’s dream of sharing the same language．
C．The most successful planned language-Esperanto．
D．Comparison of Esperanto and other languages like English and Chinese．
When I asked my daughter which item she would keep; the phone, the car, the cooker, the computer, the TV, or her boyfriend, she said “the phone”．Personally, I could do without the phone entirely, which makes me unusual, because the telephone is changing our lives more than any other piece of technology．
Point 1 The telephone creates the need to communicate, in the same way that more roads create more traffic．My daughter comes home from school at 4:00 pm and then spends an hour on the phone talking to the very people she has been at school with all day．If the phone did not exist, would she have anything to talk about?
Point 2 The mobile phone means that we are never alone．“The mobile saved my life,” says Crystal Johnstone．She had an accident in her Volvo on the A45 between Otley and Skipton．Trapped inside, she managed to make the call that brought the ambulance（救护车）to her rescue．
Point 3 The mobile removes our secret．It allows marketing manager of Haba Deutsch, Carl Nicolaisen, to ring his sales staff all round the world at any time of day to ask where they are, where they are going, and how their last meeting went．
Point 4 The telephone separates us．Antonella Bramante in Rome says, “We worked in separate offices but I could see him through the window．It was easy to get his number．We were so near—but we didn’t meet for the first two weeks!”
Point 5 The telephone allows us to reach out beyond our own lives．Today we can talk to several complete strangers simultaneously（同时地）on chat lines（at least my daughter does．I wouldn’t know what to talk about）．We can talk across the world．We can even talk to astronauts（if you know any）while they’re space-walking．And, with the phone line hooked up to the computer, we can access the Internet, the biggest library on Earth．
1.How do you understand ‘Point 1 —The telephone creates the need to communicate,…’？
A．People don’t communicate without telephone．
B．People communicate because of the creating of the telephone．
C．People communicate more since telephone has been created．
D．People communicate more because of more traffic．
2.Which points do you think support the idea that phones improve people’s life?
a．Point 1． b．Point2． c．Point3． d．Point 4． e．Point 5．
A．c, d B．a, e C．a, c D．b, e
3.It is possible to talk to several complete strangers simultaneously through ．
A．the TV screen
B．a fax machine
C．the phone line hooked up to the computer
D．a microphone
4.The best heading for the passage is ．
A．Phone Power B．Kinds of Phone
C．How to Use Phones D．Advantage of Phones
According to a report by the China News Weekly, Chinese white collars are becoming fully occupied in the office．They pursue many of their activities in the office building, eating, doing exercise, resting, playing games or even dating．
In large cities such as Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing, where economy is developing at a fast speed, office workers face an increasing work pressure day by day and many of them have begun to make office their home．
As the young generation in society, most of them are aged between 25 and 45．In the eyes of outsiders, they enjoy a comfortable life: they lead the fashion trend in the city and earn a high salary; they enjoy a flexible working schedule and a very good working environment; having a good education background, they don’t have to worry that one day they will lose their jobs．
However, only the white collars themselves know what others see as a good life is in fact a boring life．They often work for extra hours, suffer from loss of creative ability and have little time to make friends．When they go off from work late at night, sometimes they might think of asking for a leave the next day and having a holiday somewhere．However, when a new day begins, they find everything back to normal and themselves pushed by new tasks．
In fact, even if they don’t work for extra hours in the office, they have no place to go．Many of the young people are fresh from college, or have come to work in large cities from their hometowns．As newcomers, they haven’t established（建立）a social network．They have few friends to go dating．Meanwhile, many of them face a great pressure for earning money to buy a house or a car．If they cannot afford to buy these, they still have to work to pay for high apartment rents and communication fares．
1.The underlined sentence（in paragraph 1）probably means _____．
A．Chinese white collars are not allowed to get out of the office．
B．The office is crowded with Chinese white collars．
C．Chinese white collars make the office filled with odds and ends．
D．Chinese white collars spend most of their time in the office．
2.The following are all reasons why white collars want to have a rest Except that_____．
A．they have to continue to stay at office after work
B．they feel more and more difficult to think up a good idea
C．they have no interest in anything
D．they have little time to make friends
3.The main idea of the third paragraph is that _____．
A．white collars are admired by other people
B．white collars needn’t worry about losing jobs
C．white collars can earn high salary and work freely
D．white collars are in the lead in the way of behaving
4.From the passage, we can infer that _____．
A．white collars are all workaholics who regard the office as home
B．white collars suffer from material and mental pressure in life
C．white collars are the models of young people in society
D．people have a good understanding of what white collars’ life is
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1.All the following are the advantages of a Route master EXCEPT ____．
A．being newly produced B．a fully trained driver
C．a PA system D．carrying up to 70 guests
2.If you are having a birthday party with 71 guests, what kind of vehicle will you hire?
A．A Route master． B．A Double Decker bus．
C．A Single Decker bus． D．A horse-tram．
3.We can learn from the passage that ____．
A．the buses can only be hired through the Internet
B．London United Bus ways has a history of more than 200 years
C．all the passengers on the Private Hire vehicles should be seated
D．London United Bus ways provides matches and concerts throughout the year
4.Where is the text most likely to be found?
A．In a local newspaper． B．In a traffic handbook
C．In a magazine． D．On a website．
阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从各题所给的四个选项（A，B，C和D）中，
选出最佳选项。
Jame’s New Bicycle
James shook his money box again．Nothing! He carefully __1__ the coins that lay on the bed．
＄24．52 was all that he had．The bicycle he wanted was at least ＄90!_2____ on earth was he going to get the ___3___ of the money?
He knew that his friends all had bicycle．It was __4___ to hang around with people when you were the only one without wheels．He thought about what he could do．There was no ___5__ asking his parents, for he knew they had no money to _6____．
There was only one way to get money, and that was to __7_ it ．He would have to find a job ．__8____ who would hire him and what could he do? He decided to ask Mr．Clay for advice who usually had__9_ on most things．
“Well, you can start right here,”said Mr．Clay．“My windows need cleaning and my car needs washing．”
That was the __10__ of James’s odd-job（零工）business．For three months he worked every day after finishing his homework．He took dogs and babies for walks, cleared out cupboards and mended books．He lost count of the _11____ of jobs that people found for him to do．He took dogs and babies for walks, cleared out cupboards, and mended books．He lost count of the 12of cars he washed and windows he cleaned, but the __13___ increased and he knew that he would soon have __14____ for the bicycle he longed for．
The day __15_ came when James counted his money and found ＄ 94．32．He _16___ no time and went down to the shop to pick up the bicycle he wanted．He rode __17__ home, looking forward to showing his new bicycle to his friends．It had been hard _18__ for the money, but James knew that he valued his bicycle far more _19__ he had bought it with his own money．He had _20__ what he thought was impossible, and that was worth even than the bicycle．
1.A．cleaned B．covered C．counted D．checked
2.A．How B．Why C．Who D．What
3.A．amount B．part C．sum D．rest
4.A．brave B．hard C．smart D．unfair
5.A．point B．reason C．result D．right
6.A．split B．spend C．spare D．save
7.A．borrow B．earn C．raise D．collect
8.A．Or B．So C．For D．But
9.A．decisions B．experience C．opinions D．knowledge
10.A．beginning B．introduction C．requirement D．opening
11.A．similarity B．quality C．suitability D．variety
12.A．brand B．number C．size D．type
13.A．effort B．pressure C．money D．trouble
14.A．all B．enough C．much D．some
15.A．finally B．instantly C．normally D．regularly
16.A．gave B．left C．took D．wasted
17.A．patiently B．proudly C．silently D．tiredly
18.A．applying B．asking C．looking D．working
19.A．since B．if C．than D．though
20.A．deserved B．benefited C．achieved D．learned
Last week, only two people came to look at the house, _______ wanted to buy it．
A．none of them B．both of them C．none of whom D．neither of whom
