Britain’s symbolic red phone boxes have become out of date in the age of the mobile, but villages across the country are stepping in to save them, with creative intelligence. Whether as a place to exhibit art, poetry, or even as a tiny library, hundreds of phone boxes have been given a new life by local communities determined to preserve a typical part of British life. In Waterperry, a small village near Oxford, the 120 residents have filled the phone box next to the old house with a pot of flowers, piles of gardening and cooking magazines, and stuck poems on the walls.
They took control of the phone box when telecoms operator BT said it was going to pull it down, an announcement that caused such dissatisfaction that one local woman threatened to chain herself to the box to save it. “I’d have done it, “ insisted Kendall Turner. “It would have been heartbreaking for the village. “ Local councilor Tricia Hallam, who came up with the idea for the phone box’s change, said quite a few people would have joined her, adding, “ We couldn’t let it go because it’s a British symbol.”
Only three feet by three feet wide, and standing 2.51-meter tall, the phone boxes were designed by Giles Gilbert Scott in 1936 for the 25th anniversary of the reign of King George V. Painted in “Post Office red” to match the post boxes, they were once a typical image of England and the backdrop(背景) to millions of tourist photographs.
Eight years ago there were about 17,000 across Britain, but today, in a country where almost everybody has a mobile phone, 58 percent are no longer profitable and ten percent are only used once a month. “On average, maintaining them costs ￡800 a year per phone box-about ￡44 million annually,” said John Lumb, general manager for BT Payphones.
1.Some red phone boxes in Britain have been used for ____.
a. selling flowers b. cooking c. reading d. exhibiting art or poetry
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A．a, b |
B．c, d |
C．a,b,c |
D．b,c,d |
2.Why do the villagers want to keep the red phone boxes?
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A．Because millions of people visit Britain to see the red phone boxes. |
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B．Because the local people could earn a lot of money from the red phone boxes. |
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C．Because the red phone boxes have already become a symbol of Britain. |
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D．Because the red phone boxes may be useful for some people in emergency. |
3.What is the color of the British post boxes according to the passage?
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A．Green |
B．Red |
C．Black |
D．Yellow |
4.What is John Lumb’s attitude towards pulling down the red phone boxes?
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A．supportive |
B．Opposed |
C．Neutral |
D．Indifferent. |
Watercolour is the oldest paints known. It dates back to the early cave men who discovered they could add lifelike qualities to drawings of animals and other figures on the walls of caves by mixing the natural colours found in the earth with water.
Fresco (壁画), one of the greatest of all art forms, is done with watercolour. It is created by mixing paints and water and applying these to wet plaster (灰泥). Of the thousands of people who stand under Michelangelo’s heroic ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, very few know that they are looking at perhaps the greatest watercolour painting in the world.
The invention of oil painting by the Flemish masters in the fifteenth century made fresco painting go down-hill, and for the next several centuries watercolour was used mainly for doing sketches (草图) or as a tool for study. It was not until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that English painters put back watercolour as a serious art form. The English have a widely-known love for outdoors and also small private pictures. The softness of watercolour had a remarkably strong attraction for them.
The popularity of watercolour continued to grow until the twentieth century. The United States passed England as the center for watercolour, producing such well-known watercolour artists as Thomas Eakins and Andrew Wyeth.
1. The purpose of the passage is to introduce _____.
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A．the gradual weakness of fresco painting |
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B．oils’ power or influence over watercolour |
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C．the discovery of watercolour in England |
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D．the start and development of watercolour |
2. In the 16th and 17th centuries the artists thought _____.
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A．watercolour was softer, and thus better |
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B．oil painting lasted longer, and was better |
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C．watercolour wasn’t fit for finished works |
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D．watercolour was too hard to use in any works |
3.According to the passage, watercolour painting was put back in England because ____
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A．it was easy to use outdoors |
B．it was a strong medium |
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C．it was extremely bright in colour |
D．it was suited to popular tastes |
4.What would the next paragraph most probably deal with?
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A．The works of famous US watercolour artists |
B．Modern American oil painters |
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C．The weakness of oils as popular paints |
D．Techniques of producing watercolour |
There are many American expressions about insects--- like bees, for example. Bees are known as very hard workers. They appear to be busy, moving around their homes, or hives (蜂窝). So you might say you were as busy as a bee if you spent your weekend cleaning your house. In fact, you might say your house was a beehive of activity if your whole family was helping you clean. You also might say you made a beeline for something if you went there right away. When we go to see a movie, my friend always makes a beeline for the place where they sell popcorn (爆米花) .
Here is an expression about bees that is not used much any more, but we like it anyway. We think it was first used in the 1920s. If something was the best of its kind, you might say it was the bee’s knees. Now, we admit that we do not know how this expression developed. In fact, we do not even know if bees have knees!
If your friend cannot stop talking about something because she thinks it is important, you might say she has a bee in her bonnet (女帽). If someone asks you a personal question, you might say “that is none of your beeswax”. This means none of your business.
Speaking of personal questions, there is an expression when their children ask, “Where do babies come from?” Parents who discuss sex and reproduction (生殖) say this is talking about the birds and bees.
Butterflies are beautiful insects, but you would not want to have butterflies in your stomach. That means to be nervous about having to do something, like speaking in front of a crowd. You would also not want to have ants in your trousers. That is, to be unable to sit still.
1. If you make a beeline for something, you _____ .
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A．are as busy as a bee |
B．go quickly and directly towards it |
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C．always go to the same place |
D．buy something at a certain place |
2. The underlined expression “ it is the bee’s knees” ______ .
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A．is not used at all now |
B．was first used in the 1820s |
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C．reminds us that bees have knees |
D．means “it is very good” |
3. If you ask your American friend Jack “How old is your wife?” he may say “_____.”
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A．It is none of your beeswax |
B．You have a bee in your bonnet |
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C．It is the bee’s knees |
D．You are talking about the birds and bees |
4. When you have butterflies in your stomach, you _____ .
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A．are too sick to sit still |
B．have ants in your trousers |
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C．are nervous about something |
D．have a stomachache |
Friends and Buddies
This program is planned for teenagers who have special needs with the goal of meeting within a community with other peers(同龄人). The purpose of the program is that it will lead to a better understanding of friendships. Gym, Swim, Surprise Guest, and Pizza are included. Ages 12-18, numbers of members are limited. Contact: Gloria Bass. This program is held 2 Fridays per month. Fees: $65/$85
Club Saturday Swim
This program is available to anyone aged 5-14 who is challenged by mental, physical, or emotional trouble. The program will be held each Saturday afternoon, 12:00-12:30 pm or 12:30-1:00 pm. Fees: $136/$260
Sibshops (Ages 10-13)
Sibshops is a program for siblings(兄弟姊妹) of children with challenges. It includes group activities and talk treatment ways with the focus on improving sibling relationships and whole family happiness. Location: Hope Church, Wilton CT. Wednesday: 4:00-5:00 pm. Fees: $50/$65
Banana Splits
Banana Splits is an educational support group for children in family trouble. Children aged 9-13 will have the opportunity to meet other children whose parents have separated or divorced, learn to recognize feelings, think of healthy coping skills and have a place to share their struggles through verbal(语言的), physical, and artistic experiences. Location: Hope Church, Wilton CT. Tuesday:4:30-5:30 pm. Fees: $50/$65
1. If you have free time only on Saturday, you can go to _____.
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A．Friends and Buddies |
B．Club Saturday Swim |
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C．Sibshops (Ages 10-13) |
D．Banana Splits |
2.Activities on how to lead to a better understanding of friendships are held _____.
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A．2 Fridays per month |
B．12:00-12:30 or 12:30-1:00, Saturday afternoon |
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C．4:00-5:00 pm, Wednesday |
D．4:30-5:30 pm, Tuesday |
3.If you go to Sibshops (Ages 10-13) , you can _____.
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A．meet with other peers |
B．solve your mental problem |
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C．improve sibling relationships |
D．think of healthy coping skills |
4. Which of the following is TRUE according to the four passages?
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A．They are all in the same place. |
B．They are all free of charge. |
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C．They all hold activities each week. |
D．They are all intended for children. |
Popeye the Sailor first became a popular cartoon in the 1930s.The sailor in that cartoon ate lots of spinach to make him strong. People watched him, and they began to buy and eat a lot more spinach. Popeye helped sell 33 percent more spinach than before! Spinach became a necessary part of many people’s diets. Even some children who hated the taste began to eat the vegetable.
Many people thought that the iron in spinach made Popeye strong, but this is not true. Spinach does not have any more iron than any other green vegetable.
People only thought spinach had a lot of iron because the people who studied the food made a mistake. In the 1890s, a group of people studied what was inside vegetables. This group said that spinach had ten times more iron than it did. The group wrote the number wrong, and everyone accepted it.
Today, we know that the little iron there is in spinach cannot make a difference in how strong a person is. However, spinach does have something else which the body needs—folic acid.
It is interesting to point out that folic acid can help make a person strong. Maybe it was really the folic acid that made Popeye strong all along.
1. Why did many people eat spinach after they saw Popeye the Sailor?
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A．They thought spinach made them strong. |
B．They thought Popeye was funny. |
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C．Spinach had a lot of iron. |
D．People liked folic acid. |
2. A research group told people that spinach____.
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A．made Popeye strong |
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B．was a green vegetable |
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C．had less iron than other green vegetables |
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D．had more iron than other green vegetables |
3.The reading passage says that perhaps Popeye got his strength from____.
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A．iron |
B．folic acid |
C．spinach |
D．exercise |
4.Folic acid is ____.
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A．something in food |
B．a vegetable |
C．dangerous |
D．a certain kind of spinach |
短文改错（共10小题；每小题1.5分，满分15分）
My classmate LiuXin became crazily about a popular 1.___________
star last year. She now listens his songs, buys his pictures 2.____________
and goes to his concerts wherever they are.She seems 3.___________
to have lost interest on her studies.All that shw wants 4._______
is to know about his latest news.As the result, she has fallen 5.__________
behind others.We are all very worried about her and wanted 6._________
to help her,but she doesn’t follow our advices.Our teacher 7.___________
Mr Chen has told her parents about this.They are surprising 8.________
and sad.I don’t think Liu Xin is the only girl who are crazy 9._________
about popular stars.What can we do it to help them out? 10._________
