Workplaces all over the UK are preparing for Christmas and all the traditions and customs that come with it. But will Christmas be a cause for happiness and celebration or embarrassment and disappointment?
One way that colleagues in Britain show their appreciation of each other at this time of year is by doing "Secret Santa" present giving. At that time, people who work together buy each other gifts without saying whom they are from.
Co-workers all write their names on a piece of paper and then organize a lottery in which each workmate takes another colleague's name at random(任意地). Each person then has to buy a present for the colleague whose name they have picked, usually with an agreed price set at a small amount of money such as five or ten pounds.
As the gifts are given without knowing the names of the gift givers, the quality of the presents can be very different; gifts that people received are from tickets to the opera to an air-freshener for a car.
Another common seasonal workplace tradition is the office Christmas party, when workmates put on their most attractive clothes and enjoy lots of free wine.
Although most parties are held without a hitch, sometimes the effects of alcohol(酒精) cause party goers to regret their drunken antics(古怪行为).
The BBC invited people to share their most embarrassing(令人尴尬的) Christmas office party stories, and received hundreds of funny stories, such as the man who split his trousers back to front with his strange dance moves or the drunken lady who spent the entire night with back of her dress tucked into her pants and saw the photos that proved it later at work.
But the worst story must surely come from Stuart Vaines, who got so drunk that he put his boss's head into the toilet. Unsurprisingly, he lost his job the very next day.
1.By saying this Christmas will cause embarrassment, the author actually refers to_________.
A. the workmate who receives a ticket to the opera
B. the man who receives an air-freshener
C. the lady who tucked the back of her dress in her pants
D. the man who put his boss's head into the toilet
2.The underlined phrase "without a hitch" in Para.6 most probably means_________.
A. without trouble B. without an end
C. without free drinks D. with less people
3.It is implied in the passage that _________.
A. The gift givers do not know whom they will give gifts to
B. some workmates are not generous enough to buy expensive gifts
C. the BBC is interested in people's funny stories
D. some party-goers will wish they haven't drunk so much
4.Which of the following might be the best title for the text?
A. Office Parties at Christmas
B. Happiness from Office Parties
C. Celebrations in Workplaces at Christmas
D. Funny Stories from Office Parties
The kids in a village in Ethiopia wear dirty, ragged clothes. They sleep beside cows and sheep in huts made of sticks and mud. They have no school. Yet they all can chant the English alphabet, and some can make words.
The key to their success: 20 tablet computers(平板电脑) dropped off in their Ethiopian village in February by a U.S. group called One Laptop Per Child.
The goal is to find out whether kids using today’s new technology can teach themselves to read in places where there are no schools or teachers. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers analyzing the project data say they’re already amazed. “What I think has already happened is that the kids have already learned more than they would have in one year of kindergarten,” said Matt Keller, who runs the Ethiopia program.
The fastest learner—and the first to turn on one of the tablets—is 8-year-old Kelbesa Negusse. The device’s camera was disabled to save memory, yet within weeks Kelbesa had figured out its workings and made the camera work. He called himself a lion, a marker of accomplishment in Ethiopia.
With his tablet, Kelbasa rearranged the letters HSROE into one of the many English animal names he knows. Then he spelled words on his own. “Seven months ago he didn’t know any English. That’s unbelievable,” said Keller.
The project aims to get kids to a stage called “deep reading,” where they can read to learn. It won’t be in Amharic, Ethiopia’s first language, but in English, which is widely seen as the ticket to higher paying jobs.
1.How does the Ethiopia program benefit the kids in the village?
A. It trains teachers for them.
B. It helps their self-study.
C. It raises their living standards.
D. It provides funds for building schools.
2.What can we infer from Keller's words in Paragraph 3?
A. They need more time to analyze data.
B. More children are needed for the research.
C. He is confident about the future of the project.
D. The research should be carried out in kindergartens.
3.What is the aim of the project?
A. To offer Ethiopians higher paying jobs.
B. To make Amharic widely used in the world.
C. To assist Ethiopians in learning their first language.
D. To help Ethiopian kids read to learn in English.
This is a true story that happened in Japan. In order to repair the house, a Japanese tore open the walls. Japanese houses normally have an empty space between the wooden walls. When pulling down the walls, he found that there was a lizard(蜥蜴) staying there because a nail(钉子) from outside was hammered into one of its feet. He saw this, feeling pity and curious. When he checked the nail, he found it was nailed 10 years ago when the house was first built.
What happened? The lizard had survived in such a position for 10 years! It has been in a dark wall partition(夹层) for 10 years without moving! Then he wondered how this lizard survived for 10 years without moving a single step—since its foot was nailed! So he stopped his work and observed the lizard: What has it been doing? What and how has it been eating? Later, he didn't know from where another lizard appeared, with food in its mouth. Ah! He was astonished and touched deeply. The free lizard had been feeding it for the past 10 years.
Such love, a beautiful love! Such love happened with this tiny creature… What can love do? It can do wonders! Just think about it: one lizard had been feeding the other for 10 long years, without giving up hope on its partner. If a small creature like a lizard can love like this, just imagine how we can love if we try.
1.How did the Japanese feel when seeing the lizard there?
A. Frightened B. Enjoyable
C. Confused D. Usual
2.Why did the Japanese stop his work?
A. To watch how long the lizard can still live here.
B. To take out the nail and set the lizard free.
C. To have a rest by watching the lizard.
D. To find out why the lizard had survived there for 10 years.
3.What can we learn from the free lizard?
A. It teaches us never to give up our loved ones.
B. It teaches us to give more help to our loved ones.
C. It tells us to take pity on the stuck lizard.
D. It encourages us to live even longer.
阅读下面短文，根据其内容写一篇60词左右的内容概要。
In a small village, the parents of a little boy were very depressed due to his bad temper(脾气). The boy used to get angry very easily and hurt others with his words. While he forgot what he spoke in anger, his friends and neighbours avoided him.
His mother and father tried many ways to make him give up his anger and develop kindness. Unfortunately, all their attempts failed. Finally, the boy’s father came up with an idea.
One day, his father gave him a huge bag of nails, asking him to hammer one nail to the fence every time he lost his temper. The little boy found it funny and accepted what his father had said.
His anger drove him to hammer 30 nails into the fence on the first day! Over the next few days, the little boy found it very difficult to hammer the nails into the fence and decided to control his temper.
Gradually, the number of nails hammered into the fence was reduced and the day arrived when he hammered none!
Now, his father told him to remove the nails every day as he had controlled his anger. Several days passed and the boy was able to pull out most of the nails from the fence.
The father appreciated him and asked him, pointing to one of the holes, “What do you see there?”
The boy replied, “A hole in the fence?”
He told the boy, “The nails were your bad temper and they were hammered into people. You can remove the nails but still see the holes in the fence. The fence never looks the same! It has scars all over! Your bad temper and anger were like that! Use words for good. Use them to show your heart!”
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应用文写作
假设一个来自英国的学生代表团在你校举办艺术节（Art Festival）期间来访，并受邀观看英语歌曲大赛。请根据以下要点写一篇欢迎辞。
1. 表示对客人的欢迎。
2. 介绍歌曲大赛（如活动时间、地点、目的、内容等）。
3. 表达对客人的祝愿。
注意：
1. 字数80左右（开头和结尾已给出，但不计入总字数）；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear British guests,
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Thank you.
阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。
Two men are under arrest for stealing clothes from a warehouse in Bristol. The two men 1. (break) into the warehouse late yesterday evening, attacked the guard, tied 2. up, and then stole a collection of expensive designer outfits 3. was worth over £40,000. 4. passer-by saw lights on the warehouse and rang the police, but the two men managed 5. (escape) through a back door and then drove off with the 6. (steal) clothes. However, one of the men was later caught and arrested at his home, and the police caught the second man just hours later 7. (hide) at a friend’s house. Both men have now been charged 8. robbery and will appear before a judge in court on Monday. 9. they are found guilty, the two men will go to prison for a number of years. The guard who 10. (attack) has now been released from hospital.
