BRITAIN is a popular tourist place. But tours
of the country have pros and cons.
GOOD NEWS
Free museums. No charge for outstanding collections of art and antiquities.
Pop music. Britain is the only country to rival(与…匹敌)the US on this score.
Black cabs. London taxi drivers know where they ar
e going even if there are never enough of them
at weekends or night.
Choice of food. Visitors can find everything from Ethiopian to Swedish restaurants.
Fashion. Not only do fashion junkies love deeply and respect highly brand names such as Vivienne
Westwood, Alexander McQueen; street styles are justly loved, too.
BAD NEWS
Poor service. "It"s part of the image of the place. People can dine out on the rudeness they have
experienced," says Professor Tony Seaton, of Luton University"s International Tourism Research Center.
Poor public transport. Trains and buses are promised to defeat the keenest tourists, although the
over crowded London tube is inexplicably(难以理解的) popular.
Lack of languages. Speaking slowly and clearly may not get many foreign visito
rs very far, even in
the tourist traps(圈套).
Rain. Still in the number one complaint.
No air-conditioning. So that even splendidly hot summers become as unbearable as the downpours.
Overpriced hotels. The only European country with a higher rate of tax on hotel rooms is Denmark.
Licensing hours. Alcohol(酒) is in short supply after 11 pm even in "24-hour cities".
1. What do tourists complain most?
A. Poor service.
B. Poor public transport.
C. Rain.
D. Overpriced hotels.
2. What do we learn about pop music in Britain and the US through this passage?
A. Pop music in Britain is better than that in the US.
B. Pop music in Britain is as good as that in the US.
C. Pop music in Britain is worse than that in the US.
D. Pop music in Britain is quite different from that in the US.
3. When is alcohol not able to get?
A. At 9: 00 pm
B. At 10: 00 pm
C. At 11: 00 pm
D. At 12: 00 pm
4. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. You have to pay to visit the museums.
B. It"s very cheap to travel by taxi there.
C. You cannot find Chinese food there.
D. The public transport is poor there.
time and money! Best of all, it is free!
It"s "no".
What do you ask? We"ll say it again: "No".
Sweet and simple "no".
Say "no" at your office and see how quickly that pile of work on your desk disappears.
"Saying "no" to others means you are saying "yes" to yourself, " said Leslie Charles, a professional
speaker from East Lansing, Michigan.
"Time is precious. People are spending money buying ti
me. And yet we are willing to give up our time because we can"t say "no"."
Susie Watson, a famous writer, said people who always say "yes" need to say "no" without guilt(内
疚)or fear of punis
hment. "I would rather have someone give me a loving "no" than an obligated(强制的)"yes", " she said.
Susie Watson says she feels "no" obligation to give an explanation when she says "no" either socially
or professionally. Does she feel guilty about it? "Not at all," said Watson, who is director of advertising
and public relations at Timex Corp in Middlebury, Conneticut. "Most people are afraid of saying "no"…
My advice is to say "yes" only if you don"t mean "no"."
Watson said "no" is the most effective weapon against wasting time. "Every year there are more
demands on your time… Other people are happy to use up your time. " Watson said. Time saving
appears to be "no"s" greatest friend.
"No" can be your new friend, a powerful tool to take back your life. "No" may even tak
e you further in the business world than "yes".
"No" is power and strength. "No" now seems completely correct. "Saying "no" isn"t easy. But finally
it"s greatly liberating," Charles said. But, he adde
d, a "no" project needs to be worked on every day because it is hard to change long-term habit.
But, he also warns: "Don"t go to extremes. Don"t find yourself saying "no" to everything. In return you
should learn to hear "no"."
1. The sentence "Saying "yes" to yourself" means _______.
A. you can have more time to play with other
sB. you needn"t care about other"s feeling if you are
happyC. you are selfish and treat others rudely
D. you can deal with your business as you have planned
2. When you say "no" to others you should say it in a _______.
A. secret way
B. polite way
C. proud way
D. guilty way
3. In Watson"s opinion, peoplecan save much time on condition that _______.
A. they say "no" at a suitable time
B. they say "no" as much as possible
C. they are afraid of saying "no"
D. they make others angry at them
4. If a person says "no" to everything, the result he or she receives may be that he or she______.
A. enjoys a wo
nderful life B. makes a lot of money
C. faces difficulty in life
D. forgets to say "yes" in the end
not a nation of walled gardens and closed gates. Their yards normally run into one another without fences,
they often visit one another"s homes without being invited or telephoning first, they leave their office doors
open while they work.
Their lack of desire for privacy probable results from their history as a nation. America is a big
country. There have never been walled cities in the United States, nor was there the need for Americans
to protect themselves from neighboring states. During the early years, America had so few settlers that
neighbors were very important, they were not to be shut out by doors and fences. Neighbors offered
protection and helped in the hard work of settling the la
nd. They depended upon each other. From the nation"s early history has come the desire for openness rather than privacy. Visitors will
notice this desire in a number of small ways, there may be rooms in American homes that do not have
doors or that have glass walls. If you notice that people forget to close your door when they leave your
room, do not think that this is rude, help them to learn that you would like it to be closed, or else become
used to new ways. In either case, be patient with the differences.
1. Accor
ding to the passage, visitors to America sometimes have difficulty understanding ___.A. Americans" openness
B. American"s lack of desire for privacy
C. Americans" way of home
D. American"s style of life
2. During the early years, people were never shut out by doors because ___ .
A. they were neighbors
B. they were friends
C. they depended on each other
D. they got used to that
3. Visitors will notice American"s desire for openness in a way ___
A. they walled their houses with glass
B. they leave the office doors open while working
C. they never have fence
D. they depended upon each other
4. Which
of the following is the best title for the passage? A. No Walled Cities.
B. The Early Settlers
C. Americans" Lack of Desire for Privacy
D. be Patient with Differences
dreamed something that came true later? Maybe you have ESP(超感觉的知觉).
ESP stands for Extrasensory Perception. It may be called a sixth sense. It seems to let people know
about events before they happen, or events that are happening some distance away.
Here"s an example. A woman was ironing clothes. Suddenly she screamed, "My father is dead! I
saw him sitting in the chair!" Just then, a telegram came.
The woman"s father died of a heart attack. He died sitting in a chair.
There are thousands of stories like this one on record. Scientists are studying them t
o find outwhat"s behind these strange mental messages. Here"s another
example-one of hundreds of dreams that have come true.
A man dreamed he was walking along a road when a horse and a carriage came by. The driver
said, "There"s room for one more." The man felt the driver seemed dead, so he ran away. The next day,
when the man was getting on a crowded bus, the bus driver said, "There"s room for one more."
Then the man saw that the driver"s face was the same face he had seen in the dream. He wouldn"t
get on the bus. As the bus drove off, it crashed and burst into flames. Everyone was killed!
Some people say stories like this are coincidences. Others, including some scientists, say that ESP
is real. From studies of ESP, we may someday learn more about the human mind.
1. According to the passage, the author believes that the sixth sense is ______.
A. in existence
B. imaginative
C. not real
D. impossible
2. What does ESP let people know?
A. About events before they happen.
B. About events after they happen.
C. About events that are happening some distance away.
D. Both A and C.
3. By studying ESP, scientists may get to ______.
A. learn how people tell lies
B. know more about human dreams
C. know more about human mind
D. learn how strange things happen
4. In the last paragraph, the underlined word "coincidences" probably means ______.
A. things that may not happen
B. things that happen in a dream
C. things that must happen
D. things that happen by accident
5. This passage is mainly about
______.A. the human dream
B. the sixth sense
C. the human mind
D. a crowded bus
What is your favourite colour? Do you like yellow, orange, red? ___1___ . Do you prefer greys and
blues? Then you are probably quiet, shy, and you would rather follow than lead. You tend to be pessimist. At least, this is what psychologists tell us, and they should know, because they have been seriously
studying the meaning of colour preference, as well as the effect that colours have on human beings.
___2___ . If you happen to love brown, you did so, as soon as you opened your eyes, or at least as soon as you could see clearly.
___3___ . A yellow room makes most people feel more cheerful and more relaxed than a dark green
one; and a red dress brings warmth and cheer to the saddest winter day. ___4___ . A black bridge over
the Thames River, near London, used to be the scene of more suicides(自***) than any other bridge in the area---until it was repainted green. The number of suicide attempts immediately fell sharply. Perhaps it
would have fallen even more if the bridge had been done in pink or baby blue.
___5___ . It is an established fact that factory workers work better, harder, and have fewer accidents when their machines are painted orange rather than black or grey.
B. They tell us, among other facts, that we do not choose our favourite colour as we grow up --- we are
born with our preference.
C. The rooms are painted in different colours as you like.
D. If you do, you must be an optimist, a leader, an active person who enjoys life, people and excitement.
E. Light and bright colours make people not only happier but more active.
F. Life is like a picture or a poem, full of different colours.
G. Colours do influence our moods---there is no doubt about it
later. My dream was to become a country singer.
After years of hard work, a record company was showing interest in me. One day during a trip to
Nashcille, a friend offered me a bit of meth (一种兴奋剂).I didn"t know then that meth is the easiest,
cheapest drug to get, and also one of the most addictive. So I smoked it and that was all I thought about
for the next year and a half .I couldn"t live without it.
When the police arrested me, I looked like death. The first seven days in prison, I just slept. when I
woke up on the eighth day, I had never known such shame and guilt. I walked down the hall to the pay
phone. My mum is the sweetest person on the planet, and I knew this was going to break her heart. When
I heard her voice on the phone, I told her where I was . She just said : "son, don"t you know you can"t do
anything to make me not love you?"
Her words gave me the strength to face my trouble. And I also realized this was my chance to start a
new life.
When people know my story, I hope they will not make the same mistake as I have, but I do know that
you can overcome almost anything, especially drug abuse. That"s why I share my story here.
B. Classical music
C. Jazz music
D. Country music
B. About one year
C. One and a half years
D. Two years
B. took drugs
C. stopped working with a record company
D. refused to pay off all his debts
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