When families gather for Christmas dinner, some will stick to formal traditions, that is, their tables will be set with the good dishes and silver bowls. But now in many other homes, this china-and-silver elegance (優(yōu)雅)has given way to a stoneware (粗陶) and informality, with dresses in an informal and ordinary look. For hosts and guests, the change means greater simplicity and comfort. For makers of fine china in Britain, it means economic hard times.
Last week Royal Doulton, the largest employer in Stoke-on-Trent, announced that it is removing 1,000 jobs -- one-fifth of its total workforce. That brings to more than 4, 000  the number of positions lost in 18 months in the pottery (陶瓷) field. Wedgwood and other pottery factories made cuts earlier.
Although a strong pound and weak markets in Asia play a role in the downsizing, the layoffs（失業(yè)） in Stoke have their roots in great social changes. A spokesman for Royal Doulton admitted that the company "has been somewhat slow in catching up with the trend(潮流)" toward informal dining. Families eat together less often, he explained, and more people eat alone, either because they are single or because they want to eat in front of television. Even dinner parties, if they happen at all, have gone informal. In a time of long work hours and busy family schedules, busy hosts insist, rightly, that it's better to share a takeout pizza on paper plates in the family room than to wait for the perfect moment or a "real" dinner party. Too often, the perfect moment never comes. Iron a fine-patterned tablecloth? Forget it. Clean the silver bowls ? Who has time?
Yet the loss of formality has its down side. The fine points of etiquette (禮節(jié)) that children might once have learned before at the table by observation or instruction from parents and grandparents (" Chew with your mouth closed." "Keep your elbows off the table. ") must be picked up else-where. Some companies now offer etiquette courses for employees who may be able professionally but inexperienced socially.

  1. 1.

    In many homes nowadays, people tend to ______________________

    1. A.
      stick to formal traditions when they dine
    2. B.
      set their tables with the good dishes and silver bowls
    3. C.
      have dinner informally
    4. D.
      buy many sets of fine china
  2. 2.

    Why do people tend to follow the trend towards informal dining?

    1. A.
      Family members need more time to relax.
    2. B.
      Busy schedules leave people no time for formality.
    3. C.
      People prefer to live a comfortable life.
    4. D.
      Young people won't follow the etiquette of the older generation.
  3. 3.

    It can be learned from the passage that ‘Royal Doulton’ is              .

    1. A.
      a store of steel tableware                
    2. B.
      a store of stoneware
    3. C.
      a store of pottery chain                 
    4. D.
      a producer of fine china
  4. 4.

    The main cause of the layoffs in the pottery industry is              .

    1. A.
      the increased value of the pound         
    2. B.
      the worsening economy in Asia
    3. C.
      the change in people's way of life        
    4. D.
      the fierce competition at home and abroad
  5. 5.

    In the last paragraph, we can find that formal table manners, though less popular than before in present social life,               .

    1. A.
      are still a must on certain occasions      
    2. B.
      are certain to return sooner or later
    3. C.
      are still being taught by parents at home  
    4. D.
      can help improve personal relationships
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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：單選題

— ____ he be at home now ? 

— No . he ____ not . He ____ be in his office . He often goes home from work at almost twelve .


  1. A.
    Can ; can ; must
  2. B.
    Must ; need ; can
  3. C.
    May ; must ; must
  4. D.
    May ; need ; must

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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

A recent study conducted by the Pine Street Foundation showed that a dog’s nose may have the ability to detect cancer. A dog’s nose, which was the “medical device” used as part of the research, is believed to be among the world’s most powerful olfactory(嗅覺的) sensors. The study was conducted with 169 subjects 55 of which had been diagnosed as having lung cancer, 31 have breast cancer and 83 control subjects——people without cancer. During the study, five professionally trained scent dogs were used to distinguish between the breath samples of cancer patients and those who were healthy. With an average of 90% accuracy, the research was deemed a success.
The Pine Street Foundation conducted its research on the belief that cancer cells give off a different type of metabolic(新陳代謝) waste product than normal cells. According to the study, the difference is so great that it can be detected by a dog’s sense of smell, including both early and late stages of the disease.
In the conclusion of the study the Pine Street Foundation said that even ordinary dogs may be trained to identify the presence of cancer with only a breath sample. The organization also said that dogs can recognize the disease with astonishing amount accuracy and, finally, that the dog’s detection was not hindered(妨礙) by the presence of age, smoking or stage of cancer.
The Pine Street Foundation plans to continue their research and is currently seeking funding to launch new studies.

  1. 1.

    If we want to add several different detecting examples to the passage, we should write them_________.

    1. A.
      between paragraph 1 and paragraph 2
    2. B.
      between paragraph 2 and paragraph 3
    3. C.
      between paragraph 3 and paragraph 4
    4. D.
      before paragraph 1 or after paragraph 4
  2. 2.

    The best title for this passage might be ______.

    1. A.
      Dogs may smell cancer
    2. B.
      Why dogs can smell cancer
    3. C.
      A Study on dogs’ special ability
    4. D.
      A study on breast cancer
  3. 3.

    Dogs can smell cancer because ____________.

    1. A.
      they can detect faster than man
    2. B.
      their sense of smell is very sensitive
    3. C.
      dogs metabolize the food slowly
    4. D.
      patients give off bad smell
  4. 4.

    People can know from the passage _________.

    1. A.
      all dogs can be used to smell cancer
    2. B.
      it’s not easy to find out cancer in the early stage
    3. C.
      most of the research experiments are successful
    4. D.
      dogs detect cancer by breathing and feeling

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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

Homestay provides English language students with the opportunity to speak English outside the classroom and the experience of being part of a British home.
What to Expect
The host will provide accommodation and meals. Rooms will be cleaned and bedcovers changed at least once a week. You will be given the house key and the host is there to offer help and advice as well as to take an interest in your physical and mental health.
Accommodation Zones
Homestays are located in London mainly in Zones2,3 and 4 of the transport system. Most hosts do not live in the town center as much of central London is commercial and not residential（居住的）.Zones3 and 4often offer larger accommodation in a less crowed area. It is very convenient to travel in London by Underground.
Meal Plans Available
?Continental Breakfast
?Breakfast and Dinner
?Breakfast, Packed Lunch and Dinner
It’s important to note that few English families still provide a traditional cooked breakfast.Your accommodation includes Continental Breakfast which normally consists of fruit juice, cereal (谷物類食品), bread and tea or coffee. Cheese, fruit and cold meat are not normally part of a Continental Breakfast in England. Dinners usually consist of meat or fish with vegetables followed by desert, fruit and coffee.
Friends
If you wish to invite a friend over to visit, you must first ask your host’s permission. You have no right to entertain friends in a family home as some families feel it is an invasion of their privacy.
Self-Catering Accommodation in Private Homes
Accommodation on a room-only basis includes shared kitchen and bathroom facilities and often a main living room. This kind of accommodation offers an independent lifestyle and is more suitable for the long-stay student. However, it does not provide the same family atmosphere as an ordinary homestay and may not benefit those who need to practice English at home quite as much.

  1. 1.

    What can be inferred from Paragraph3?

    1. A.
      Zone 4 is more crowded than Zone 2.
    2. B.
      Hosts dislike travelling to the city centre.
    3. C.
      The business centre of London is in Zone1.
    4. D.
      Accommodation in the city center is not provided.
  2. 2.

    According to the passage, what does Continental Breakfast include?

    1. A.
      Dessert and coffee.
    2. B.
      Bread and fruit juice.
    3. C.
      Fruit and vegetables.
    4. D.
      Centre and cold meat.
  3. 3.

    Why do some people choose self-catering accommodation?

    1. A.
      To experience a warmer family atmosphere.
    2. B.
      To enrich their knowledge of English.
    3. C.
      To enjoy much more freedom.
    4. D.
      To entertain friends as they like.

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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

Thirteen vehicles lined up last March to race across the Mojave Desert, seeking a million in prize money. To win, they had to finish the 142-mile race in less than 10 hours. Teams and watchers knew there might be no winner at all, because these vehicles were missing a key part -drivers.
DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, organized the race as part of a push to develop robotic vehicles for future battlefields. But the Grand Challenge, as it was called, just proved how difficult it is to get a car to speed across an unfamiliar desert without human guidance. One had its brake lock up in the starting area. Another began by throwing itself onto a wall. Another got tied up by bushes near the road after 1.9 miles.
One turned upside down. One took off in entirely the wrong direction and had to be disabled by remote (遠(yuǎn)距離的) control. One went a little more than a mile and rushed into a fence; another managed to go for six miles but stuck on a rock. The “winner,” if there was any, reached 7.8 miles before it ran into a long, narrow hole, and the front wheels caught on fire.
“You get a lot of respect for natural abilities of the living things,” says Reinhold Behringer, who helped design two of the car-size vehicles for a company called Sci-Autonics. “Even ants (螞蟻) can do all these tasks effortlessly . It’s very hard for us to put these abilities into our machines.”
The robotic vehicles, though with necessary modern equipment such as advanced computers and GPS guidance, had trouble figuring out fast enough the blocks ahead that a two-year-old human recognizes immediately, Sure, that very young child, who has just only learned to walk, may not think to wipe apple juice off her face, but she already knows that when there’s a cookie in the kitchen she has to climb up the table, and that when she gets to the cookie it will taste good. She is more advanced, even months old, than any machine humans have designed.

  1. 1.

    Watchers doubted if any of the vehicles could finish the race because        .

    1. A.
      they did not have any human guidance
    2. B.
      the road was not familiar to the drivers
    3. C.
      the distance was too long for the vehicles
    4. D.
      the prize money was unattractive to the drivers
  2. 2.

    DARPA organized the race in order to         .

    1. A.
      raise money for producing more robotic vehicles
    2. B.
      push the development of vehicle industry
    3. C.
      train more people to drive in the desert
    4. D.
      improve the vehicles for future wars
  3. 3.

    From the passage we know “robotic vehicles” are a kind of machines that         .

    1. A.
      can do effortlessly whatever tasks living thing can
    2. B.
      can take part in a race across 142 miles with a time limit
    3. C.
      can show off their ability to turn themselves upside down
    4. D.
      can move from place to place without being driven by human beings
  4. 4.

    In the race, the greatest distance one robotic vehicle covered was          .

    1. A.
      about eight miles
    2. B.
      six miles
    3. C.
      almost two miles
    4. D.
      about one mile
  5. 5.

    In the last paragraph, the writer implies that there is a long way to go         .

    1. A.
      for a robotic vehicle to finish a 142-mile race without any difficulties
    2. B.
      for a little child who has just learned to walk to reach the cookie on the table
    3. C.
      for a robotic vehicle to deal with a simple problem that a little child can solve
    4. D.
      for a little child to understand the importance of wiping apple juice off its face

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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

Sorry to say, our brains naturally start slowing down at the Cruelty young age of 30. It used to be thought that this couldn't be helped, but new studies show that people of any age can train their brains to work faster. "Your brain is a learning machine," says University of California scientist Dr. Michael Merzenich. Given the right tools, we can train our brains to act like they did when we were younger. All that's required is the practice designed just for the purpose: a few exercises for the mind.
Merzenich has developed a computer-based training method to speed up the process(過程)  in which the brain deals with information (positscience.com). Since much of the data we receive comes through speech, the Brain Fitness Program works with language and hearing to better speed and accuracy (準(zhǔn)確性).
Over the course of training, the program starts asking you to distinguish (辨別) sounds (between "dog" and "bog", for example) at an increasingly faster speed. It's a bit like tennis instructor, says Merzenich, hitting balls at you ~faster and faster to keep you challenged(受到挑戰(zhàn)). You may start out slow, but before long you're pretty quick.
The biggest finding in brain research in the last ten years is that the brain at any age is highly plastic. If you ask your brain to learn, it will learn. And it may even speed up while in the process.
To keep your brain young and plastic you can do one of a million new activities that challenge and excite you: playing table tennis or bridge, doing crossword puzzles, learning a language.... "When it comes to preventing ageing, you really do 'use it or lose it' ," says Barbara Sahakian, professor at Cambridge University.

  1. 1.

    Dr. Merzenich’s training method mainly depends on ________.

    1. A.
      speech training
    2. B.
      computer languages
    3. C.
      the activities one joins in
    4. D.
      the information being dealt with
  2. 2.

    By saying "the brain at any age is highly plastic ", the writer probably means the brain can be______.

    1. A.
      used
    2. B.
      mastered
    3. C.
      developed
    4. D.
      researched
  3. 3.

    What can we learn from the text?

    1. A.
      Practice makes a quick mind.
    2. B.
      Brain research started ten yeas ago.
    3. C.
      Dr. Merzenich is a scientist in computer,
    4. D.
      People believed nothing could stop the brain slowing down.
  4. 4.

    Which of the following agrees with the writer's idea?

    1. A.
      The training methods work better for the old.
    2. B.
      People should use the brain to stop it from ageing.
    3. C.
      The training of the brain should start at an early age.
    4. D.
      It's necessary to take part in as many activities as possible.

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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

It was the first day of school. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a little old lady smiling at me. She said, “Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I’m eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?”
I laughed and said, “Of course!” And she gave me a big hug. “Why are you in college at such an age?” I asked.
She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have kids and then retire and travel.”
“No seriously.”
“I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!”
We became friends at once. Over the course of the year, Rose easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she was happy with the attention given to her from the other students. At the end of the term we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet（宴會）. I’ll never forget what she taught us in her speech.
“We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don’t even know it! There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one useful thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything, I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity to do productive things. Have no regrets（遺憾；后悔）. The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but we regret for things we did not do.”
At the year’s end Rose finished the college degree. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral to honor the wonderful woman!

  1. 1.

    While meeting Rose at the college for the first time, the author was curious about _______.

    1. A.
      her age
    2. B.
      her life
    3. C.
      her purpose
    4. D.
      her dream
  2. 2.

    By saying “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have kids and then retire and travel”, Rose was trying to be ___________.

    1. A.
      humorous
    2. B.
      amazing
    3. C.
      confident
    4. D.
      smart
  3. 3.

    What else did Rose most probably say at the football banquet?

    1. A.
      “It seems that my young days are over.”
    2. B.
      “Don’t do much in order to stay young.”
    3. C.
      “The people who fear death are those with regrets.”
    4. D.
      “When we are old, we can do nothing.”
  4. 4.

    The story of Rose in the text shows that ___________.

    1. A.
      it is good to make friends with old people
    2. B.
      it is necessary to have a college education for old people
    3. C.
      it is important to have a healthy body when people are getting old
    4. D.
      it is never too late to be what you can possibly be

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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

Shopping is not as simple as you may think! There are all sorts of tricks at play each time we reach out for that particular brand(品牌) of product on the shelf.
Colouring, for example, varies according to what the producers are trying to sell. Health foods are packaged(包裝) in greens, yellows or browns because we think of these as healthy colours. Ice cream packets are often blue and expensive goods, like chocolates, are gold or silver.
When some kind of pain killer was brought out recently, researchers found that the colours turned the customers off because they made the product look weak and ineffective. Eventually, it came on the market in a dark blue and white package—blue because we think of it as safe, and white as calm.
The size of a product can attract a shopper. But quite often a bottle doesn’t contain as much as it appears to.
It is believed that the better-known companies spend, on average, 70 percent of the total cost of the product itself on packaging!
The most successful producers know that it’s not enough to have a good product. The founder of Pears soap, who for 25 years has used pretty little girls to promote (推銷) their goods, came to the conclusion: “Any fool can make soap, but it takes a genius(天才) to sell it.”

  1. 1.

    Which of the following may trick a shopper into buying a product according to the text?

    1. A.
      The cost of its package
    2. B.
      The price of the product
    3. C.
      The colour of its package
    4. D.
      The brand name of the product
  2. 2.

    The underlined part “the colours turned the customers off” (in Para.3) means that the colours _________

    1. A.
      attracted the customers strongly
    2. B.
      caused the customers to lose interest
    3. C.
      tricked the customers into shopping
    4. D.
      had weak effects on the customers
  3. 3.

    Which of the following is the key to the success in product sales?

    1. A.
      The way to promote goods
    2. B.
      The discovery of a genius
    3. C.
      The team to produce a good product
    4. D.
      The brand name used by successful producers
  4. 4.

    According to the passage, we know that _________

    1. A.
      making soap is so easy that any fool in the world can make it
    2. B.
      greens, yellows or silver are considered to be healthy colours
    3. C.
      25 years ago, the founder of Pears soap was a pretty girl herself
    4. D.
      the size of a product can have an effect on the shoppers
  5. 5.

    Which of the following would be the best title for this text?

    1. A.
      Choice of Good Products
    2. B.
      Disadvantages of Products
    3. C.
      Effect of Packaging on Shopping
    4. D.
      Brand Names and Shopping Tricks

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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

But I wonder about my Momma sometimes, and all the other Negro (blacks) mothers who got up at 6 a.m. to go to the white man’s house with sacks (鞋套) over their shoes because it was so wet and cold. I wonder how they managed it. They worked very hard for the man, they made his breakfast and they scrubbed his floors and they took care of his babies. They didn’t have too much time for us.
I wonder about my Momma, who walked out of a white woman’s clean house at midnight and came back to her own where the lights had been out for three months, and the hot-water pipes were frozen and the wind came in through the holes in the wall. She’d have to deal with the mice: leave some food out for them so they wouldn’t bite the doors or the babies. The roaches（蟑螂）？Oh, they were just like part of the family!
I wonder how she felt telling those white kids she took care of to brush their teeth after they ate, to wash their hands after they finished bathroom. She could never tell her own kids because there wasn’t soap or water back home.
I wonder how my Momma felt when we came home from school with a list of vitamins and pills the school nurse said we had to have. Momma would cry all night , and then go out and spend most of the rent (房租) money for pills. A week later, the white man would come for his eighteen dollars’ rent and Momma would beg him to wait until tomorrow. She had to lie to him that she had lost her wallet, or make up some other excuses. Tomorrow I’d be hiding in the closet (櫥柜) because there should be only two kids in the flat, and I could hear the rent man shout at my Momma and call her a cheat. And when he finally went away, Momma put the sacks on her shoes and went off to the rich white man’s house to dress the rich white kids so their mother could take them to a special baby doctor.

  1. 1.

    Mother got up at 6 a.m. every day, because _________.

    1. A.
      she had to cook breakfast for her children      
    2. B.
      she had to catch the first bus to the factory
    3. C.
      she had to work in the white man’s house       
    4. D.
      she had to go to see a special baby doctor
  2. 2.

    What does the underlined word “scrubbed” mean in the text?

    1. A.
      mopped       
    2. B.
      cleared              
    3. C.
      painted        
    4. D.
      built
  3. 3.

    Mother never told us to brush our teeth or to wash our hands because ___________ .

    1. A.
      she thought we didn’t need to         
    2. B.
      we didn’t like washing hands
    3. C.
      we had done everything very well      
    4. D.
      there was no soap or water in our home
  4. 4.

    Why did the writer hide in the closet when the owner of the flat came for rent?

    1. A.
      The closet could only hold two kids.              
    2. B.
      Only two kids were allowed to live in the house.
    3. C.
      They should pay more rent for two kids.           
    4. D.
      There was only one bedroom for the two kids.
  5. 5.

    What does the writer mainly tell us?

    1. A.
      Black people lead a hard life.                       
    2. B.
      Black people don’t have enough rent money.
    3. C.
      White people lead an expensive life.          
    4. D.
      White people have special baby doctors.

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