Many English learners have difficulty deciding what kind of English accent they

题型：不详难度：来源：

Many English learners have difficulty deciding what kind of English accent they want to have. A US accent, perhaps modeled on the way a Hollywood star speaks? Or maybe you want to imitate（模仿） the British accent of a BBC news reader?
Young British people find the US accent attractive while young US people like a British accent. Especially when the person speaking is of the opposite sex! Let’s listen to what they have to say.
Stephen Yang, 17, from London, UK
A US accent is cute, especially when a girl speaks it. Whether it’s Jessia Alba speaking or the girl- next-door, the way US girls speak has a sweet tingle that is really sassy(时髦). A girl from Texas recently moved into our neighborhood. Her Texan twang（鼻音） had all the boys here on their knees within seconds of meeting her.
To me, accents reflect the attitudes, characteristics and lifestyles of the people.
Jennifer Sun, 16, from New Jersey, US
From watching English actors like Daniel Radcliffe, my friends and I have developed a soft spot for British men. Some are attracted to the qualities of English males, while others admire their sense of style.
Everyone, however, agrees that the most appealing aspect of an English man is his accent. For example, many American gir

ls watch Harry Potter movies over and over again just to listen to the actors speak.
The English accent seems almost like art.
小题1:In Stephen Yang’s opinion, accents

just show__________.

A．the beauty of the language	B．how the language is spoken
C．the cultural differences of the speakers	D．the fashion of the day

小题2:The underlined word “cute “probabl

y means__________.

A．strange

B．exciting

C．attractive

D．fashionable

小题3:Many American girls watch Harry Porter again and again in order to __________.

A．learn the acting skills of the these stars

B．learn the magic performed by Harry Potter

C．imitate the actors’ accents

D．know more about B

ritish English

小题4:What is probably the best title for this passage?

A．British English and Am

erican English

B．British Accent or American Accent

C．American English Accent is Most Accepted

D．The difference between British Accent and American Accent.

答案

小题1:C
小题1:C
小题1:C
小题1:B

解析

略

举一反三

In a great many cities, hundreds of people ride bikes to work every day. In New York, some bike riders have even formed a group called Bike for a Better City. They declare that if more people rode bikes to work, there would be fewer automobiles in the downtown part of the city and so less dirty air form car engines.
For several years, this group had been trying to get the city government to help bike riders. For example, they want the city to draw special lanes(车道) for bikes on some of the main streets, because when bike riders must use the same lanes as cars there are accidents. Bike for a Better City feels that if there were special lanes, more people would use bikes.
But no bike lanes have been drawn. Not everyone thinks it is a good idea—they say it will slow traffic. Some store owners on the main streets don’t like the idea—they say that if there is less traffic, they will have less business.
The city government has not yet decided what to do. It wants to keep everyone happy. On weekends, Central Park—the largest place open ground in New York— is closed to cars, and the roads may be used by bikes only.
小题1:In New York, a group of bike riders__________.

A．are keepi

ng practicing for health

B．have no cars of their own

C．are complaining there are not enough buses

D．are trying to settle the problem of air pollution

小题2: The bike riders suggest that __________.

A．bikes should be used instead of cars	B．bike lanes should be drawn
C．fewer buses or cars should be used	D．the number of special lanes should be decreased

小题3:The advantage of the special lanes is that__________.

A．they will make cars and buses run slowly

B．they will make it easier for bike riders to go to parks

C．they will make the city more beautiful

D．they will prevent accidents

题型：不详难度：| 查看答案

Sometimes, the simplest ideas are the best．For example, to absorb heat from the sun to heat water, you need large, flat, black surfaces．One way to do that is to build those surfaces specially, on the roofs of buildings．But why go to all that trouble when cities are full of black surfaces already, in the form of asphalt （柏油） roads?
Ten years ago, this thought came into the mind of Arian de Bondt, a Dutch engineer．He finally persuaded his boss to follow it up．The result is that their building is now heated in winter and cooled in summer by a system that relies on the surface of the road outside．
The heat-collector is a system of connected water pipes．Most of them run from one side of the street to the other, just under the asphalt road．Some, however, dive deep into the ground．
When the street surface gets hot in summer, water pumped through the pipes picks up this heat and takes it underground through one of the diving pipes．At a depth of 100 meters lies a natural aquifer （蓄水层） into which several heat exchangers （交换器） have been built．The hot water from the street runs through these exchangers, warming the ground-water, before returning to the surface through another pipe．The aquifer is thus used as a heat store．
In winter, the working system is changed slightly．Water is pumped through the heat exchangers to pick up the heat stored during summer．This water goes into the building and is used to warm the place up．After performing that task, it is pumped under the asphalt and its remaining heat keeps the road free of snow and ice．
小题1:Which of the following is true according to the first two paragraphs?

A．Arian de Bondt got his idea from his boss．

B．Large, flat, black surfaces need to be built in cities．

C．The Dutch engineer"s system has been widely used．

D．Heat can also be collected from asphalt roads．

小题2:For what purpose are the diving pipes used?

A．To absorb heat from the sun．	B．To store heat for future use．
C．To turn solar energy into heat energy．	D．To carry heat down below the surface．

小题3:From the last paragraph we can learn that ________．

A．some pipes have to be re-arranged in winter

B．the system can do more than warming up the building

C．the exchangers will pick up heat from the street surface

D．less heat may be collected in winter than in summer

小题4:What is most likely to be discussed in the paragraph that follows?

A．What we shall do if the system goes wrong．

B．What we shall do if there are no asphalt roads．

C．How the system cools the building in summer．

D．How the system collects heat in spring and autumn．

题型：不详难度：| 查看答案

What can help you make a fortune in the future? Graduating from a top university might not be enough. A new study from the University of Essex in Britain has shown that the more friends you have in school, the more money you’ll earn later.
The idea that popularity could have a serious impact on one’s earning potential shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. The researchers noted that if you want to get ahead in life, social skills and networking are easily as powerful as talent and hard work.
“If a person has lots of friends, it means that he or she has the ability to get along with others in all kinds of different situations,” said Xu Yanchun, 17, from Nantou High School in Shenzhen, who totally agreed with the recent finding. “Also, friends always help each other. They not only create wider social circles for you but lift your mood when you occasionally feel depressed,” said Xu. She believed that all this helps you “earn a higher salary”.
Maybe that’s why some people think the younger generations are in the age of Friendalholism(交友狂症). A woman even complained that the networking website Facebook’s 5,000-friend limit was too low for her large reserve of social contacts.
But what does a friend mean? Should friends be regarded as a form of currency?
“Call me uncool, but I think of a friend as an actual person with whom I have an actual history and whom I enjoy actually seeing. It seems, however, that this is no longer the definition of ‘friend’,” said Meghan Daum, who works with the Los Angeles Times in the US.
小题1:The new study from the University of Essex in Britain shows that _______.

A．if you have more friends you will not live happily

B．the more friends you have in school, the more money you’ll earn in your late life

C．the less friends you have, the poor lives you will live

D．friends can make more money for you

小题2:According to Xu Yanchun, when you have lots of friends, it means________.

A．you have the ability to earn more money

B．you will not feel lonely

C．you are quite content with your life

D．you have the ability to get along with others in various situations

小题3:What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．The passage mainly tells us something about the friendship.

B．Friendship plays a more important part in our daily life than anything else.

C．Friends are currency.

D．Friends give you success.

小题4:We can learn from the passage that _______.

A．if you have more friends, you can make a fortune in the future

B．graduating from college means that you can make a fortune in the future

C．friends mean a form of currency

D．friends can make you wider social circle and make you feel better when you feel depressed

题型：不详难度：| 查看答案

NASA’s twin Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have been exploring the Red Planet since 2004. But a little more than a year ago, NASA lost contact with Spirit. The space agency has tried several ways to make contact with the rover, but Spirit has not sent back any signals.
Spirit landed on Mars on January 4, 2004. Three weeks later, Opportunity arrived. Soon after, the rovers went to the opposite side of Mars. Spirit’s original mission was only designed to last for three months, but Spirit has worked for more than five years doing additional missions. Both rovers have made important discoveries about ancient Mars. They have taken thousands of images and found evidence in the rocks of a water, warmer past in Mars’ history.
Spirit is solar-powered. It got stuck in a sand trap in April 2009, trapped deep into the soil and with its wheels turning around and around but not able to move forwards or backwards. Spirit had to agree that there is nothing that can be done to change the situation—it’s never going to move again. However, even if it is a not moving station, it can still study the planet’s atmosphere and deep interior.
NASA has been concentrating on trying to position its solar panels to get as much energy from the sun as

possible, or to get the rover leaning in a manner that will allow the most amount of sunlight falling on its solar panels, in order to keep it alive during the coming winter months. Engineers have planned to rock the vehicle back and forth to acquire a more favorable position. However, no matter how many efforts have been made, Spirit still could not get out of the soft soil and could not lean itself toward the sun as the Martian winter approached. Without enough

energy reaching its solar panels and with so little energy in its batteries, it went into hibernation, just like a polar bear, and has not communicated with Earth since March 22, 2010.
Whatever the future holds for Spirit, its mission has been an outstanding success. When it landed on the Red Planet in January 2004, no one was really sure how long it would continue working in the cold and dusty environment. As a matter of fact, three months was its original goal.
After so many fruitless efforts, NASA scientists are losing hope of ever reconnecting with Spirit, but they will give it one more try. Ground controllers are contacting Spirit over a range of frequencies and at different times during the day in case its internal clock stopped working and it lost track of time. They

also are commanding the rover to turn on its backup radio transmitter in case the main one is dead.
If this final effort to connect isn’t successful, NASA will shift the focus to its twin robot, Opportunity, which is in a different part of Mars. Opportunity is still on the move and continues to travel freely to this day. It has traveled 16.6 miles so far, and is currently rolling towards another crater it has yet to explore.
NASA has spent more than $900 million on the project but shows no sign of giving up on these determined and hard-working robots. The rovers are, though, experiencing gradual wear and tear, the expected damage to something caused by using it repeatedly over a period of time. Even before Spirit got trapped, one of its wheels had failed. And NASA says it’s just a matter of time before both robots break down completely.
小题1:According to the passage, what can we know about Spirit?

A．It had explored Mars several times.

B．Its original mission was

to work for five years.

C．It landed on Mars three weeks later than Opportunity.

D．

It discovered that Mars was once a warm and wetter place.

小题2:According to the passage, which of the following is NOT what NASA did?

A．Try to lean Spirit to make it get as much sunlight as possible.

B．Rock Spirit back and forth to make it acquire a more favorable position.

C．Make efforts to help Spirit get out of the soft soil where it is stuck.

D．Contact and order Spirit to turn on its backup radio transmitter.

小题3:The reason why Spirit failed to communicate with the Earth is that ________.

A．it didn’t have enough energy	B．it had finished its task
C．something was wrong with its wheels	D．it met an unidentified creature

小题4:By saying “NASA will shift the focus” in Paragraph 7, the author means that ______.

A．NASA will move the center of Spirit out of the sand

B．NASA will depend on Opportunity to do the exploration

C．NASA will do nothing but wait for some opportunity

D．NASA will make opportunity help Spirit

小题5:The last paragraph mainly informs us that _______.

A．NASA has planned to spend more money on Spirit

B．Spirit will be brought back to Earth

C．Spirit will stop operating totally in the future

D．Spirit will cause damage to Mars

小题6: What’s the text mainly about?

A．NASA makes the last effort to contact Spirit.

B．Spirit has made many important discoveries on Mars.

C．How Spirit got stuck and couldn’t move on Mars.

D．Why NASA tried many ways to contact Spirit.

题型：不详难度：| 查看答案

In our life, we have rarely expressed our gratitude to the one who’d lived those years with us.In fact, we don’t have to wait for anniversaries to thank the ones close to us—the ones so easily overlooked. If I have learned anything about giving thanks, it is this: give it now！While your feeling of appreciation is alive and sincere, act on it. Saying thanks is such an easy way to add to the world’s happiness.
Saying thanks not only brightens someone else’s world, but it also brightens yours. If you’re feeling left out, unloved or unappreciated, try reaching out to others. It may be just the medicine you need.
Of course, there are times when you can’t express gratitude immediately. In that case don’t let embarrassment sink you into silence—speak up the first time you have the chance.
Once a young minister, Mark Brian, was sent to a remote parish of Kwakiutl Indians in British Columbia. He had been told that the Indians did not have a word for thank you. But Brian soon found that these people had exceptional generosity. Instead of saying thanks, it is their custom to return every favor with a favor of their own, and every kindness with an equal or superior kindness. They do their thanks.
I wonder if we had no words in our vocabulary for thank you, would we do a better job of communicating our gratitude? Would we be more responsive, more sensitive and more caring?
Thankfulness sets in motion a chain of reaction that transforms people all around us—including ourselves, for no one ever misunderstands the melody of a grateful heart.
小题1:In the first paragraph the writer mainly encourages us .

A．to express our sincere thanks timely to those around us

B．never to overlook our close friends in daily life

C．to wait for a proper occasion to show our gratitude

D．to increase the world’s happiness by saying thanks

小题2:When we say something for what others do for us, it ______.

A．is good for both us and people who help us

B．benefits the people who do something for us

C．wastes our and our friends’ time at the same time

D．does harm to both us and people who help us

小题3:According to the writer, could be the best way to prevent ourselves from being left out.

A．seeing a doctor to find the right medicine we need

B．expressing our gratitude in an easy way

C．speaking up the moment we have the chance

D．showing others actively we are willing to help them

小题4:Mark Brain’s story is mentioned in the passage in order to show the fact that .

A．the Indians didn’t have any words for appreciation

B．the Indians were particularly generous to others

C．some people may express their gratitude through different approaches

D．Mark Brain set the Indians an example to show saying thanks is very important

题型：不详难度：| 查看答案