The saying “a penny for your thoughts” is an English idiom simply asking people to volunteer their opinions on an issue being discussed. In modern usage, it is often stated as an indirect way of asking what someone is thinking about.
This phrase is basically a proposal (提议), and the speaker is offering to pay to hear the listener’s thoughts. It is an idiom, of course, and not meant literally (字面上的) so no real payment generally takes place.
When the saying originated, a penny was worth a lot more than it is in the 21st century. Therefore, “a penny for your thoughts” likely indicated the thoughts were more valuable to those asking the listener for them than they are by today’s standards. This loss of value can be used ironically(讽刺地), however, through tone(语气) of voice; it can be used to indicate that someone’s idea is bad or worth a penny in modern value.
The phrase is generally credited to a man by the name of John Heywood, who was born sometime just before the 16th century. During his life, he was a writer who penned many plays and a book in 1546, later known as The Proverbs of John Heywood. It is likely Heywood did not actually come up with the phrase “a penny for your thoughts”. Rather, he was simply the first person to have set the phrase down in written form. The actual origins of the term are unknown, and since his book was simply a collection of common idioms and expressions, it was probably familiar to people in the mid 1500s.
Another phrase similar to “a penny for your thoughts” is offering “your two cents” after making a statement. Someone might give his or her opinion and then say, “that’s my two cents,” to indicate the value of his or her idea. While, much like a penny, “two cents” is relatively low in value now, it would have been more valuable at one time and the expression is used in much the same way.
1.When someone says “a penny for your thoughts”, he or she ___________.
A. wants to ask you for advice
B. considers your thoughts unique
C. is curious about what’s on your mind
D. will pay for what you’re thinking about
2. The modern meaning of “a penny for your thoughts” ____________.
A. is more closely connected to the value of the penny
B. can differ greatly according to a speaker’s manner
C. can confuse the listener easily
D. is more popularly accepted
3. In what way is Heywood related to the phrase “a penny for your thoughts”?
A. He came up with it while he was writing.
B. He helps to explain the origins of it.
C. He contributed to the wide use of it.
D. He was the first person to use it.
4.What do we know about the phrase “your two cents”?
A. It is usually used at the end of a statement.
B. It comes from “a penny for your thoughts”.
C. It has witnessed some changes since the 16th century.
D. It is more familiar to people than “a penny for your thoughts”.
A cafe owner has defended her decision to pen a Facebook post (an Internet message to be discussed) stating “No, we are not child-friendly,” saying it breaks her heart when children damage her possessions.
On Monday, the Little French Cafe in Newcastle, Australia, posted an announcement on their Facebook page: “Are we child-friendly? If you are looking for a cafe with a children’ s menu, a play area, lounges for your children to jump on, vast space for your baby carriages, an area for your children to run around, and annoy other customers, while you are unaware of them—then the short answer is ‘No, we are not child-friendly.’ However, if you would like to bring your children here and they are happy to sit at a table with you and behave properly, please come in. Otherwise, there are plenty of places that are specifically designed to entertain your children.” The post has since been deleted.
Some Facebook users called the post “arrogant (傲慢的)” and an “attack on parents,” The Newcastle Herald reports. The cafe owner responded with this statement: “I built the cafe myself. It has my blood, sweat and plenty of tears in it.”
The post came about after the cafe owner was asked by a customer, who had left a one-star review on the cafe’s business page, about whether the cafe was child-friendly. Ms Kotz told news.com.au she wrote the bad review because she felt staff reacted negatively towards children at the cafe.
The cafe owner said it broke a piece of her heart every time when she was watching children emptying salt and pepper shakers into her fireplaces, parents changing nappies (尿布) on her lounges, or kids throwing their own food onto her carpet.
Although the cafe’s policy has attracted a lot of criticism, most people who commented on the Little French Cafe’s Facebook page stood by the owner. One woman named Lesley wrote, “I don’t think there was anything wrong with what you said by any means. If parents want to take their children to your cafe, they need to be responsible for their behavior.”
1.What is the text mainly about?
A. An Australian cafe’s policy on children.
B. A Facebook post about parents’ manners.
C. The protection of the customers’ basic rights
D. The relationship between staff and customers.
2.Which of the following is permitted according to the cafe owner’s post?
A. Parents demanding a children’s menu.
B. Children entertaining themselves in the cafe.
C. Children running around their own carriages.
D. Parents taking well-behaved kids to the cafe.
3.The cafe owner wrote the post _____.
A. after a kid damaged her possessions
B. in response to a customer’s question
C. in order to improve the efficiency of the cafe
D. after the cafe was criticized by some Facebook users
4. What did Lesley think of the cafe owner’s action?
A. It was slightly unfair.
B. It was very misleading.
C. It was highly controversial.
D. It was quite understandable.
Odland remembers like it was yesterday working in an expensive French restaurant in Denver. The ice cream he was serving fell onto the white dress of a rich and important woman.
Thirty years have passed, but Odland can not get the memory out of his mind, nor the woman’s kind reaction. She was shocked, regained calmness and, in a kind voice, told the young Odland. “It is OK. It wasn’t your fault.” When she left the restaurant, she also left the future Fortune 500 CEO with a life lesson: You can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she treats the waiter.
Odland isn’t the only CEO to have made this discovery. Instead, it seems to be one of those few laws of the land that every CEO learns on the way up. It’s hard to get a dozen CEOs to agree about anything, but most agree with the Waiter Rule. They say how others treat the CEO says nothing. But how others treat the waiter is like a window into the soul.
Watch out for anyone who pulls out the power card to say something like, “I could buy this place and fire you,” or “I know the owner and I could have you fired.” Those who say such things have shown more about their character than about their wealth and power.
The CEO who came up with it, or at least first wrote it down, is Raytheon CEO Bill Swanson. He wrote a best-selling book called Swanson’s Unwritten Rules of Management. “A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, or to others, is not a nice person,”Swanson says. “I will never offer a job to the person who is sweet to the boss but turns rude to someone cleaning the tables.”
1.What happened after Odland dropped the ice cream onto the woman’s dress?
A. He was fired.
B. He was blamed.
C. The woman comforted him.
D. The woman left the restaurant at once.
2. Odland learned one of his life lessons from _____.
A. his experience as a waiter
B. the advice given by the CEOs
C. an article in Fortune
D. an interesting best-selling book
3.According to the text, most CEOs have the same opinion about _____.
A. Fortune 500 companies
B. the Management Rules
C. Swanson’s book
D. the Waiter Rule
假设你是星光中学的李耀祖，每年的9月22日是“世界无车日”，请撰写一份主题为 “Let’s Ride Bicycles”的演讲稿，主要内容包括：
1. 目前汽车带来的空气污染和交通堵塞等问题；
2. 骑自行车的益处，如节能环保、有利健康等。
参考词汇：低碳生活（low-carbon life）；节能（energy saving）
注意：1.词数：100词左右；
2.演讲稿开头和结尾已给出，该部分不计入总词数。
3.对所给提示，不要简单翻译，可适当增加细节，使行文连贯。
Good morning, everyone,
I’m Li Yaozu from Xingguang Middle School. The topic of my speech is “Let’s Ride Bicycles”.
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
That’s all! Thank you!
短文改错（共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分）
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下短文。
短文中共有10处错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏词符号∧，并在此符号下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线＼划掉。
修改：在错词下面划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1、每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2、只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Dear Abbly,
How are you? Today I’ve got a wonderful news to tell you. I have offered a scholarship at a university in Australia for my further education. One hundred and twenty students take exams for it, but only a few was chosen and I was one of them. Therefore, my parents are not happy about it. They are strong against me. They say it is too far away that they will not see me for a whole year and they are afraid that I will feel lonely. They can’t imagine a girl so young living alone. They advise me to studying in the capital instead. Then I’ll be able to continue living with him. How can I persuade them to accept the fact what I have grown up?
Best wishes,
Jane
A: Good morning, can I help you?
B: I’d like to make __1.____ complaint about my holiday in Hawaii last week.
A: I’m sorry to hear that. What __2.__ (exact) was the problem?
B: First of all, the bus _3.___ (take) us to the hotel broke down and we had to wait for over two hours in the terrible heat before a replacement arrived. Then when we got to the hotel we found our room __4.___ (tidy).
A: Oh dear, did you complain to the hotel?
B: Of course, __5.__ we were told all the waitresses were off duty. That’s not all. The people in the room above sounded like they were having all-night parties, every night. I demanded _6.___ room, but to my disappointment, the receptionist told me the hotel was full.
A: Oh, I see.
B. And __7.__ (bad) of all, all the food in the hotel restaurant was awful. It was so bad __8.__ we had to eat out all the time despite the fact that meals 9.__ (include) in the price of our holiday.
A: I do apologize on behalf of our travel agency. I’d like to offer you a 20% discount(折扣) as a gesture of goodwill, that is , you can get 400 dollars __10._.
