In its early history, Chicago had floods frequently, especially in the spring, making the streets so muddy that people, horses, and carts got stuck. An old joke that was popular at the time went something like this: A man is stuck up to his waist in a muddy Chicago street. Asked if he needs help, he replies,“No, thanks. I’ve got a good horse under me.”
The city planners decided to build an underground drainage(排水) system, but there simply wasn’t enough difference between the height of the ground level and the water level. The only two options were to lower the Chicago River or raise the city.
An engineer named Ellis Chesbrough convinced the city that it had no choice but to build the pipes above ground and then cover them with dirt. This raised the level of the city’s streets by as much as 12 feet.
This of course created a new problem: dirt practically buried the first floors of every building in Chicago. Building owners were faced with a choice: either change the first floors of their buildings into basements, and the second stories into main floors, or hoist the entire bulidings to meet the new street level. Small wood-frame buildings could be lifted fairly easily. But what about large, heavy structures like the Tremont Hotel, which was a six-story brick building?
That’s where George Pullman came in. He had developed some house-moving skills successfully. To lift a big structure like Tremont Hotel, Pullman would place thousands of jackscrews(螺旋千斤顶) beneath the building’s foundation. One man was assigned to operate each section of roughly 10 jackscrews. At Pullman’s signal each man turned his jackscrew the same amount at the same time, thereby raising the building slowly and evenly. Astonishingly, the Tremont Hotel stayed open during the entire operation, and many of its guests didn’t even notice anything was happening.
Some people like to say that every problem has a solution. But in Chicago’s early history, every engineering solution seemed to create a new problem. Now that Chicago’s waste water was draining efficiently into the Chicago River, the city’s next step was to clean the polluted river.
1.The author mentions the joke to show_________.
A. horses were fairly useful in Chicago
B. Chicago’ streets were extremely muddy
C. Chicago was very dangerous in the spring
D. the Chicago people were particularly humorous
2.The city planners were convinced by Elllis Chesbrough to__________.
A. get rid of the street dirt
B. lower the Chicago River
C. fight against heavy floods
D. build the pipes above ground
3.The underlined word”hoist”in Paragraph 4 means ___________
A. change B. lift C. repair D. decorate
4.What can we conclude about the moving operation of the Tremont Hotel?
A. It went on smoothly as intended.
B. It interrupted the business of the hotel.
C. It involved Pullman turning ten jackscrews.
D. It separated the bulding from its foundation.
5.The passage is mainly about early Chicago’s _________
A. popular life styles and their influences
B. environmental disasters and their causes
C. engineering problems and their solutions
D. successful businessmen and their achievements
It was once common to regard Britain as a society with class distinction. Each class had unique characteristics.
In recent years, many writers have begun to speak of the ‘decline of class ’ and ‘classless society ’ in Britain. And in modern day consumer society everyone is considered to be middle class.
But pronouncing the death of class is too early. A recent wide-ranging study of pubic opinion found 90 percent of people still placing themselves in a particular class; 73 percent agreeed that class was still a vital part of British society.; and 52 percent thought there were still sharp class differences. Thus, class may not be culturally and politically obvious, yet it remains an imprtant part of British society. Britain seems to have a love of stratification.
One unchanging aspect of a British person’s class position is accent. The words a person speaks tell her or his class. A study of British accents during the 1970s found that a voice sounding like a BBC newsreader was viewed as the most attractive voice. Most people said this accent sounds ‘educated ’ and ‘soft ’. The accents placed at the bottom in this study, on the other hand, were regional(地区的) city accents. These accents were seen as ‘common ’ and ‘ugly ’. However, a similar study of British accents in the US turned these results upside down and placed some regional accents as the most attractive and BBC English as the least. This suggests that British attitudes towards accent have deep roots and are based on class prejudice.
In recent years, however, young upper midder-class people in London, have begun to adopt some regional accents, in order to hide their class origins. This is an indication of class becoming unnoticed. However, the 1995 pop song ‘ Common People ’ puts forward the view that though a middle-class person may ‘ want to live like common people ’ they can never appreciate the reality of a working class life.
1.A recent study of pubic opinion shows that in modern Britain_________.
A. it is time to end class distinction
B. most people belong to middle class
C. it is easy to recognize a person’s class
D. people regard themselves socially different
2.The word stratification in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to_________.
A. variety B. division
C. authority D. qualification
3.The study in the US showed that BBC English was regarded as _________.
A. regional B. educated
C. prejudiced D. unattractive
4.British attitudes towards accent_________.
A. have a long tradition
B. are based on regional status
C. are shared by the Americans
D. have changed in recent years
5.What is the main idea of the passage?
A. The middle class is expanding.
B. A person’s accent reflects his class.
C. Class is a key part of British society.
D. Each class has unique characteristics.
One day when I was 12, my mother gave me an order: I was to walk to the public library, and borrow at least one book for the summer. This was one more weapon for her to defeat my strange problem—inability to read.
In the library, I found my way into the “Children’s Room.” I sat down on the floor and pulled a few books off the shelf at random. The cover of a book caught my eye. It presented a picture of a beagle. I had recently had a beagle, the first and only animal companion I ever had as a child. He was my secret sharer, but one morning, he was gone, given away to someone who had the space and the money to care for him. I never forgot my beagle.
There on the book’s cover was a beagle which looked identical(相同的) to my dog. I ran my fingers over the picture of the dog on the cover. My eyes ran across the title, Amos, the Beagle with a Plan. Unknowingly, I had read the title. Without opening the book, I borrowed it from the library for the summer.
Under the shade of a bush, I started to read about Amos. I read very, very slowly with difficulty. Though pages were turned slowly, I got the main idea of the story about a dog who, like mine, had been separated from his family and who finally found his way back home. That dog was my dog, and I was the little boy in the book. At the end of the story, my mind continued the final scene of reunion, on and on, until my own lost dog and I were, in my mind, running together.
My mother’s call returned me to the real world. I suddenly realized something: I had read a book, and I had loved reading that book. Everyone knew I could not read. But I had read it. Books could be incredibly wonderful and I was going to read them.
I never told my mother about my “miraculous(奇迹般的) ” experience that summer, but she saw a slow but ramarkable improvement in my classroom performance during the next year. And years later, she was proud that her son had read thousands of books, was awarded a PhD in the literature, and authored his own books, articles, poetry and fiction. The power of the words has held.
1.The author’s mother told him to borrow a book in order to ___________.
A. encourage him to do more walking
B. let him spend a meaningful summer
C. help cure him of his reading problem
D. make him learn more about weapons
2.The book caught the author’s eye because________.
A. it contained pretty pictures of animals
B. it reminded him of his own dog
C. he found its title easy to understand
D. he liked children’s stories very much
3.Why could the author manage to read the book through?
A. He was forced by his mother to read it.
B. He identified with the story in the book.
C. The book told the story of his pet dog.
D. The happy ending of the story attracted him.
4.What can be inferred from the last paragrah?
A. The author has become a successful writer.
B. The author’s mother read the same book.
C. The author’s mother rewarded him with books.
D. The author has had happy summer ever since.
5.Which one can be the best title of the passage?
A. The Charm of a Book
B. Mum’s Strict Order
C. Reunion with My Beagle
D. My Passion for Reading
书面表达
假如你是李华，升入高中已经一学期了。请你根据下面提纲提供的信息，给老朋友王明写一封信，介绍一下你的学习和生活情况。
注意：
1．信的开头已为你写好，不计入总词数。
2．词数不少于100。
School | ·big playground, beautiful buildings |
Teachers | ·patient, helpful ·make lessons interesting |
Classmates | ·help each other ·make friends, share interests and ideas |
Favorite subject | ·… |
Dear Wang Ming,
How long flies! It’s more than half a year since we entered high school.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
How about you? Looking forward to your reply.
Yours,
Li Hua
短文改错
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线( \ )划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，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。
Good morning, everyone. It is real a good chance to have met all of you here. We have spent several precious weekend together in the English. Club. Although we have been members for a short period of time, but we have made great progresses. That is because we are both very active and the activities are not only enjoyable and also helpful. Besides, the foreign teachers here work hard and try his best to make the activities lively and interested. I am very pleased to say that all of us greatly improved our spoken English so far. I am looking forward to see all of you again in the near future!
Thank you
语法填空
阅读下面短文，按照句子结构的语法性和上下文连贯的要求，在空格处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或使用括号中词语的正确形式填空。
Rose: Dave, I’m going to pick up food and drink for Saturday’s picnic. Any 1. (suggest)?
Dave: Well, everyone has been talking about 2. (have) a barbecue(烧烤), so3. not pick up some hamburger meat and hot dogs?
Rose: Okay, but do you know how 4. hamburger meat we are going to need? And hot dogs too?
Dave: Uh, how about three pounds of hamburger and a couple of packages of hot dogs?
Rose: Oh, that's not going to be enough. Do you remember the last picnic we went on? Jim, your roommate, ate about ten hamburgers by 5. (him)!
Dave: Yeah, I remember that. Then seven packages of hot dogs should b enough. And you can pick up some chicken for those who don’t like hamburgers 6. hot dogs.
Rose: Okay. How about five or six bags of potato chips?
Dave: Hmm. It might be 7. (well) to make that eight.
Rose: Okay. Uh, we will need some soft drinks. How about ten of those 2-liter bottles?
Dave: 8. (sound) fine, but be sure to buy a variety of drinks.
Rose: Okay. And what about dessert(甜点)?
Dave: Well, maybe we could ask Kathy 9. (make) a few cherry pies like she did last time.
Rose: Great! I’ll give her 10. call right now.
