Need to relax after a few stressful months? Perhaps you need to go to a spa.
First of all, what exactly is a spa? Traditionally, spas were places with a natural spring producing warm waters that could be used in hydrotherapy (水疗法) treatments. They were places where you “took the waters” --- meaning you drank some of the water or bathed in it.
But nowadays, a “spa” can mean a variety of things. In general, the term is often used to refer to commercial establishment that provides many services for health, fitness, weight loss, beauty and relaxation. This may include exercise classes, mud baths, body treatment, facials (美容), etc.
In Japan, traditional hot springs have attracted visitors for centuries. And thermal baths (温泉浴) have been found in the ruins of the Cretan Palace of Knossos (2000-1400 B.C.). It was the Romans who made spas popular in Europe. They established a number of towns around thermal waters. These include the English town of Aquae Sulis (which is called Bath today), and the Belgian town of Aquae Spadanae (which is known as Spa these days).
In the 18th century, spas became the fashionable places to go on holiday. Bath and Harrogate in the UK were popular with British rich people. And in Europe Carsbad (now called Larlovy Vary), Marienbad and Franzensbsf were Europe’s most important holiday centers.
A typical day in Carsbad in the 19th century went as follows. Visitors got up at 6:00 a.m. to take the waters and listen to music by a band. Next, came a light breakfast, a bath in the waters, and then lunch. In the afternoon, visitors went sightseeing, walked or attended concerts. After dinner, there were theatrical performances. Guests returned to their hotels at about 9 p.m. to rest until six the following morning. Visitors would stay for as long as a month. Some of the more famous patients at these spas included the composers Beethoven and Chopin, and the Russian writer Turgnev.
Marienbad was the best spa town. It was popular with the inventor Thomas Edison, the writer Johann Goethe, and many famous people and European emperors.
Today, although taking the waters isn’t as common as it used to be, spa treatments are more popular than ever.
1.What can we learn about a spa?
A．It makes profits mainly on facials.
B．It is a center for rich people to relax.
C．It provides more services than before.
D．It is where one can get medical treatment.
2. From Paragraph 4, we can infer that ___________.
A．spas have a history of about 200 years
B．Japan has more spas than any other countries
C．the Romans played a positive part in the popularity of spas
D．ordinary people could enjoy thermal baths in 18th-century UK
3. At the spas in Carlsbad, ____________.
A．many visitors had facials
B．guests often stayed for at least a month
C．Thomas Edison was a regular guest
D．guests had a bath between breakfast and lunch
4. What can we learn from the passage?
A．The former name of Larlovy Vary was Carlsbad.
B．Spa treatments are not so popular as before.
C．Chopin visited Marienbad frequently.
D．Marienbad is located in the UK.
In New Britain, Connecticut, a new official in charge of schools named Kelt Cooper wants to end high truancy (逃学) rates among public school students, and he’s suggesting financial punishments to get job done. A plan to fine students up to $75 for each day they skip school is now being considered by New Britain authorities.
The concept of fining kids for skipping school may come as a shock, but it’s not new. In Ohio, the parents responsible for a student guilty of habitual truancy can be fined up to $500 and/or be required to perform up to 70 hours of community service. Until recently, students in Los Angeles could be hit with a $250 punishment for each count of truancy; in early 2012 the law was changed and the heavy fines were removed, though a $20 punishment may still be handed out if a student truants for the third time.
Fines for truancy are also in effect overseas. In the UK, The Guardian reports, parents can be fined ￡50 (about $80) per skipped school day. The punishment doubles if it’s not paid within 28 days.
The question is: Do fines like this work? The vast majority of authorities in the UK said that, indeed, they do. The fines were believed either “very successful” or “fairly successful” by 79% in reducing truancy, according to a survey.
If the plan is passed in Connecticut, it’s unclear how effective the law might be, how to make parents and students obey the law and what might happen if they refuse to pay. However, local officials seem to be willing to give it a shot. According to the Hartford Courant:
“The mayor agrees that truancy is a real issue in New Britain schools, and what’s been done in the past hasn’t been working to reduce truancy.” said Phil Sherwood, assistant to Mayor Timothy O’ Brien.
And what do the students think? In the New Britain Herald, one 17-year-old entering her senior year called the plan “ridiculous” and predicted that the punishments will bring about negative effects on the court system. Besides, “I don’t see the point,” she said. “Kids will just try harder not to get caught.”
1. The passage mainly discusses whether __________.
A．schools have the right to punish students
B．authorities should consider protecting kids
C．students should be fined for skipping school
D．parents are responsible for children’s truancy
2. If a British kid skips two school days and fails to pay fines in a month, the punishment will be __________.
A．two hundred pounds B．fifty pounds
C．eighty pounds D．a hundred pounds
3. We can learn from the passage that ___________.
A．truancy is a serious problem in New Britain
B．Cooper’s plan has been passed in Connecticut
C．fining kids for truancy is a new idea in America
D．little has been done to reduce truancy in New Britain
4. The underlined part “give it a shot” most probably means _____________.
A．get used to it B．help improve it
C．try to carry it out D．fight against it
Medalists of the 1948 London Olympic Games look back on their summer of victory.
SAMMY Lee, 91, U.S.
GOLD AND BRONZE, DIVING
I first had my Olympic dream at 12, when they held the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles. My father and I were at a grocery store, and I asked, “What are all the flags doing here?” He said, “We are having the Olympic Games. That’s where they honor the greatest athletes in the world.” I said, “Papa, someday I’m going to be an Olympic champ.”
Walking up the 10-meter platform, I thought to myself, “I’ve waited 16 years for this moment. Am I going to win?” So I prayed to God that I was most deserving of winning the Games.
DAVID BOND, 90, BRITAIN
GOLD, SAILING
During the war, I spent six years in Royal Air Force. I think in general, the 1948 Olympics meant very little to most people. We were too busy after the war to be worried about sport very much anyway.
Our team had about six weeks before the Olympics down at Torquay and we went out sailing every day.
Winning gold was quite something. It was nice to stand on the platform with lots of people cheering. We celebrated by going to a big dance.
MICHAEL LAPAGE, 88, BRITAIN
SILVER, ROWING
I started rowing when I was 14. I joined the navy in 1942. In 1945 the war came to an end and I started rowing again.
In 1948 we were still on rations (配给供应): 4 oz. of red meat a week. But the United States had all the meat they wanted. They were the favorites to win.
On the day of the final, we led the Americans at the start, but their stronger staying power took them through to win. There were no ribbons on the medals, so we just showed them round the family.
THOMAS GODWIN, 91, BRITAIN
BRONZE, CYCLING
At 14 I left school and got a job delivering groceries on a bicycle, which excited my interest in cycling. When the war broke out, I volunteered but was held back, so I continued riding.
After my team won our bronze medals, we went home just round the corner and had a sit-down and a chat and a laugh. It was a different world. Money was never, never thought about.
1. According to the passage, Sammy Lee ___________.
A．was 28 when he attended the 1948 Olympics
B．never thought he could win medals in diving
C．found that he has a talent for sports at age 12
D．prepared for the 1948 Olympics for 16 years
2. Michael Lapage blamed his team’s loss of the gold medal on their ___________.
A．weak will B．poor skill
C．poor nutrition D．hurried preparation
3. What did David Bond and Thomas Godwin have in common?
A．They both took part in a team event.
B．A lot of money was awarded to them.
C．The 1948 Olympics meant little to them.
D．They both served in the army during World War II.
4.What would be the best title for the passage?
A．Long-lived medalists B．The 1948 Olympics
C．Famous athletes D．Great in 1948
Albert Szent-Gyorgyi was born in Budapest on September 16, 1893. In 1911 he entered his uncle’s laboratory where he studied until the outbreak of World War One, when he joined the army. He served on the Italian and Russian fronts, and he was permitted to leave the army in 1917 after being wounded in action. He completed his studies in Budapest before he went to Hamburg for a two-year course in physical chemistry. In 1920 he became an assistant at a university in Leiden, the Netherlands and from 1922 to 1926 he worked with H. J. Hamburger at the Physiology Institute, Groningen, the Netherlands.
In 1926, Szent-Gyorgyi was ready to end his own life after an embarrassing problem in his career. The scientist, thirty-two, had written a paper and handed it to his boss for approval to publish. His boss threw it in the dustbin. Concluding his life was a failure, the young researcher quit. Unable to support his wife and child, he sent them home to her parents. His final wish was to attend one last scientific meeting, to be among scientists, to have one last good time. So he went to the 1926 International Physiological Society Congress in Sweden.
Sitting in the audience, lost in self-pity, Szent-Gyorgyi listened to the president of the society, Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins, refer to the fine work of a researcher: Szent-Gyorgyi! After the speech, collecting his courage, he introduced himself to Hopkins. The great man invited the young scientist to Cambridge to do further work.
Szent-Gyorgyi’s life changed. He discovered the oxidation-preventing (防氧化的) action of vitamin C. He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937. He accounted for his success by saying that discovery is seeing what everyone else has seen but thinking what nobody else has thought.
1.Which of the following is the correct order of the events relevant to Szent-Gyorgyi?
a. finished his studies in Budapest
b. served during World War One
c. worked with Hopkins
d. studied in Hamburg
A．b, c, a, d B．b, a, d, c C．a, c, d, b D．a, b, d, c
2. Why did Szent-Gyorgyi want to end his own life in 1926?
A．His pride was hurt by his boss.
B．He was not satisfied with his paper.
C．He couldn’t support his family.
D．His boss stopped him attending a conference.
3. The passage is organized in the pattern of _____________.
A．cause and effect
B．comparison and contrast
C．time and events
D．definition and classification
完形填空（共20小题；每小题1分，满分20分）
请认真阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Most people think of birds as feathered animals that fly. Scientists, 36 , do not define (给…下定义) birds as animals that fly, because some birds do not. Of the 10,000 or so species of birds, 46 cannot 37 . Flight plays a key role in 38 for most birds. It allows them to find food over a 39 area and to get away from enemies. Ancestors of flightless birds may have 40 their ability to fly because they had no regular predators (捕食者) or did not need to fly to find food. Rather than fly, some of these birds developed other 41 to catch food and avoid enemies. Two examples of 42 birds are penguins and ostriches.
43 birds that fly, penguins do not have wide wings or large feathers. In order to catch the fish they feed on, penguins use their powerful wings to swim 44 . And when they swim, they look as if they are flying through the water. The 45 of penguins’ bodies makes it possible for them to dive deep underwater, 46 their thick feathers protect them from the cold.
Ostriches are known for their long legs, long necks, and large size. To 47 themselves, they stay in groups and use their excellent sight and hearing to 48 enemies. As soon as 49 approaches, they can run at a speed of more than 65 kilometers per hour to 50 . In addition to using their strong legs to run, they can kick powerfully.
Not all flightless birds have been 51 in protecting themselves. Flightless birds on some islands had no enemies until people 52 . These birds were hunted and easily caught by people and the animals 53 by people. Human land development has 54 the habitats of some birds. A number of flightless birds 55 because they were unable to adapt to new conditions and new enemies.
1. A．thus B．however C．therefore D．otherwise
2. A．stand B．fly C．hear D．sing
3. A．growth B．communication C．health D．survival
4. A．wide B．familiar C．crowded D．special
5. A．developed B．improved C．lost D．proved
6. A．parts B．habits C．ways D．tools
7. A．wild B．interesting C．rare D．flightless
8. A．Instead of B．Because of C．Besides D．Unlike
9. A．quickly B．carefully C．differently D．gradually
10. A．shape B．color C．bone D．skin
11. A．if B．and C．but D．so
12. A．help B．feed C．protect D．hide
13. A．kill B．notice C．confuse D．frighten
14. A．dawn B．darkness C．danger D．food
15. A．look B．escape C．move D．fight
16. A．successful B．natural C．unusual D．positive
17. A．realized B．acted C．stopped D．arrived
18. A．brought B．found C．bought D．hunted
19. A．provided B．formed C．destroyed D．controlled
20. A．flew away B．watched out C．gave away D．died out
– Shall we invite Jim and his sister to our party?
– ______. They’ll have fun with us, I think.
A．No way! B．Why not?
C．Good for you! D．What for?
