I was desperately nervous about becoming car-free. But eight months ago our car was hit by a passing vehicle and it was destroyed. No problem, I thought: we’ll buy another. But the insurance payout didn’t even begin to cover the costs of buying a new car—I worked out that, with the loan we’d need plus petrol, insurance, parking permits and tax, we would make a payment as much as ￡600 a month.
And that’s when I had my fancy idea. Why not just give up having a car at all? I live in London. We have a railway station behind our house, a tube station 10 minutes’ walk away, and a bus stop at the end of the street. A new car club had just opened in our area, and one of its shiny little red Peugeots was parked nearby. If any family in Britain could live without a car, I reasoned, then surely we were that family.
But my new car-free idea, sadly, wasn’t shared by my family. My teenage daughters were horrified. What would their friends think about our family being “too poor to afford a car”? (I wasn’t that bothered what they thought, and I suggested the girls should take the same approach.)
My friends, too, were astonished at our plan. What would happen if someone got seriously ill overnight and needed to go to hospital? (an ambulance) How would the children get to and from their many events? (buses and trains) People smiled as though this was another of my mad ideas, before saying they were sure I’d soon realize that a car was a necessity.
Eight months on, I wonder whether we’ll ever own a car again. The idea that you “have to” own a car, especially if you live in a city, is all in the mind. I live—and many other citizens do too—in a place that has never been better served by public transport, and yet car ownership has never been higher. We worry about rising car costs, but we’d be better off asking something much more basic: do I really need a car? Certainly the answer is no, and I’m a lot richer because I dared to ask the question.
1.The author decided to live a car-free life partly because ________.
A. most families chose to go car-free B. the cost of a new car was too much
C. he was hurt in a terrible car accident D. the traffic jam was unbearable for him
2.What is the attitude of the author’s family toward his plan?
A. Disapproving. B. Supportive.
C. Optimistic. D. Unconcerned.
3.What did the author suggest his daughters do about their friends’ opinion?
A. Argue against it. B. Take their advice.
C. Leave it alone. D. Think it over.
4.What conclusion did the author draw after the eight-month car-free life?
A. Life cannot go without a car.
B. Life without a car is a little bit hard.
C. His life gets improved without a car.
D. A car-free life does not suit everyone.
It may help you to know that there is no such thing as a perfect speech. As some point in every speech, every speaker says something that is not understood exactly as he has planned. Fortunately, such moments are usually not obvious to the listeners. Why? Because the listeners do not know what the speaker plans to say. They hear only what the speaker does say. If you lose your place for a moment, wrongly change the order of a couple of sentences, or forget to pause at a certain point, no one will be any the wiser. When such moments occur, don’t worry about them. Just continue as if nothing happened.
Even if you do make an obvious mistake during a speech, that don’t really matter. If you have ever listened to Martin Luther King’s famous speech – “ I have a dream”, you may notice that he stumble（结巴）over his words twice during the speech. Most likely, however, you don’t remember. Why? Because you were fixing your attention on its message rather than on his way of speech-making.
People care a lot about making mistakes in a speech because they regard speech-making as a kind of performance rather than as an act of communication. They feel the listeners are like judges in an ice-skating competition. But, in fact, the listeners are not looking for a perfect performer. They are looking for a well-thought-out speech that expresses the speaker’s ideas clearly and directly. Sometimes a mistake or two can actually increase a speaker’s attractiveness by making him more human.
As you work on your speech, don’t worry about being perfect. Once you free your mind of this, you will find it much easier to give your speech freely.
1.The underlined part in the first paragraph means that no one will ________.
A. be smarter than you
B. know what you are talking about
C. do better than you
D. notice your mistakes
2.You don’t remember obvious mistakes in a speech because ________.
A. you find the way of speech-making more important
B. you don’t fully understand the speech
C. you don’t know what the speaker plans to say
D. your attention is on the content
3.From the last two paragraphs, the author means that ________.
A. giving a speech is like giving a performance
B. the listeners should pay more attention to how a speech is made
C. one to two mistakes in a speech may not be bad
D. the more mistakes a speaker makes, the more attractive he will be
4.What would be the best title of the passage?
A. How to Be a Perfect Speaker
B. Don’t Expect a Perfect Speech
C. Don’t Expect Mistakes in a Speech
D. How to Make a Perfect Speech
A lady and her husband stepped off the train in Boston. They walked without an appointment into the outer office of Harvard’s president. But they were stopped by his secretary and kept waiting. For hours, the secretary took no notice of them, hoping that the couple would finally become disappointed and go away. But they didn’t. The secretary finally decided to disturb the president, though unwillingly.
A few minutes later, the president walked towards the couple with a cold face. The lady told him, “We had a son that attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. My husband and I would like to set up a memorial (纪念物) to him, somewhere on campus.”
The president wasn’t moved. Instead, he was shocked. “Madam,” he said, “we can’t put up a statue for every person who studied at Harvard and died. If we did, this people would look like a cemetery (墓地).” “Oh, no,” the lady explained quickly, “We don’t want to put up a statue. We would like to give a building to Harvard. “The president rolled his eyes and glanced at the couple and then exclaimed, “A building! Do you have any idea how much a building costs? We have spent over $ 7,500,000 on the campus building at Harvard.” For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased, because he could get rid of them now. Then the lady turned to her husband and said quietly. “Is that all it costs to start a university? Why don’t we just start our own?” Her husband nodded. Since their offer was turned down. Mr, and Mrs Stanford traveled to California where they founded the University that bears their name, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.
1.According to the first paragraph, we know that ______.
A. the headmaster knew the couple would come to his office
B. the couple saw the president very smoothly
C. the secretary was willing to help the couple
D. the couple didn’t become disappointed
2.What was the purpose of the couple when they came to see the president?
A. They wanted to tell their son’s story.
B. They loved the school.
C. They wanted to do something to honor his son.
D. They were invited three.
3.After the couple were refused, what did they do?
A. They were very angry. B. They said nothing.
C. They built a university. D. They donated over $7,500,000 to the school.
假定你是李华，你的留学生朋友Peter发邮件说，他正在学汉语，但感觉很吃力，请求你给予帮助。请给他回封邮件，内容包括：
1．举例说明汉语学习的特点；
2．提供一些可行的建议。
注意：1．词数100左右；
2．可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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。
The person who touched me most is an unknown lady. I study in a city school but lives in a village 15 kilometers away. One afternoon, I receive a call from my family saying my mom was serious ill. I hurried to the bus station, only find the last bus had left. Feel anxious, I decided to walk home. On the way a car stopped and the driver asked me that I needed help. Worried about being cheated, I said anything. But she was such sincere that I finally accepted her offer. When we reached my village, it was dark. Seeing her car out of the sight. I was in tear. Whenever I think of her, I always feel grateful.
It was a short flight from Shanghai to Xi’an. Xi’an is one of the four great ancient capitals of China1.over 3,100 years of history. Its ancient walls date from the Ming Dynasty and are the best2.(preserve) in the world. There are bicycles for people to hire. It is 3.(amaze) to ride along the walls to survey this fascinating city.
The tang Dynasty Music and Dance show is not to be missed, but my favorite is an art gallery, 4.we can enjoy some beautiful artwork and learn how to write Chinese characters.
Most tourists make5.way to Xi’an to see the life-size terracotta warriors(兵马俑) and we were no 6. (difference). The collection, which shows the armies of the first Emperor of China, 7.(remain) hidden until 1974 when they were discovered by a farmer sinking a well. Walking among the statues is forbidden unless you are a VIP—but there are plenty of souvenir8.(shop) in which tourists can buy the replicas(复制品) of them.
All too soon if was time9.(leave). I really enjoyed my stay in Xi’an. It is indeed a place of interest worth 10. second visit.
