The price of milk may be going up. There was not enough rain in some parts of the country last year and the bad weather may mean that a gallon (加侖) of milk will cost 41 cents more after October 1st.
California already has high milk prices and the California court does not want the price to go any higher. High milk prices will be very hard for some people. Families with many children will have to spend more money to buy milk. The poor and older people without much money will also be hurt by higher prices.
The court said that more milk from other states should be sold in California as the price of milk from other states is not as high. Some states got enough rain so their costs did not go up. People will then be able to buy the cheaper milk, meaning that unless milk producers bring their milk prices down, their milk will not sell.
The drought (干旱) around the country has meant market forces are likely to push milk prices up by as much as 41-cent a gallon by October 1st. Experts said this decision by the Californian court could reduce (減少) the effect of the price rise here.
The 41-cent increase would add to California’s already high milk prices so California must allow more milk producers from outside the state to sell their products there. This would then lead to increased supplies (供應(yīng)), which would, as a result, stop milk prices from increasing.
【小題1】Who will be hurt by high milk prices?

A．Young people.	B．Milk producers from outside California.
C．Rich people.	D．Families with lots of children.

【小題2】What caused milk prices in California to increase?

A．Short supplies from other states.	B．Being short of rain.
C．The California court.	D．Children’s need for milk.

【小題3】What will California do to keep milk prices down?

A．Force milk producers to lower their price.

B．Encourage people to drink less milk.

C．Get men to produce more rain.

D．Increase the supply of milk in the state.

You’re standing in the dairy section at the grocery store, searching for your favorite brand. Suddenly, you catch a smell of chocolate cookies. You forget about dairy and head for the bakery (烘烤食品) section. Guess what? You just walked into an odor (氣味) trap (陷阱)! The odor was cooked up by scientists in a lab.
For years, scientists have been studying the special powers of smell. They found that more than our other senses, smell changes our mood and helps us remember things.
So companies have begun spending thousands of dollars to scent (使充滿香味) entire stores. Artificial (人造的) scents are being used to lead customers by the nose. These smells help to get people inside and put them in the mood to buy. They even make customers remember the store later, so they’ll come back for more. Also, many companies have smartly made use of product smells. A company added lemon fragrance to its dish cleaner. They wanted people to think the soap contained “natural” cleaners. It worked!
New uses for smells are being created every day. One bank, for example, gives customers coupons (優(yōu)惠券) advertising car loans (貸款). To get people to take out a loan, bank officials hope to coat these coupons with the fresh leather smell of a new car. In Australia, telephone offices are putting sweat odor on unpaid bills. Since some people sweat when they’re scared, this smell might remind them of when they were frightened. And they’ll pay the bills right away!
What lies ahead for our noses? Smell scientists are working on some pretty far-out ideas. Would you believe TV sets that produce smells? Or how about scent diets? Certain food smells will fool your stomach into thinking it’s full. Alarm clocks will scent your bedroom with a strong pleasant smell designed to wake you up. Scientists are even working on ways to keep garbage from smelling. Researchers expect scents to help students make more sense of what they’re learning.
And just think. Someday soon, even your homework may smell nice!
【小題1】How do sales methods affect customers in the stores?

A．They change customers’ preferences.

B．They persuade customers to use credit cards.

C．They make customers avoid bad and unsafe products.

D．They influence customers to make unplanned purchases.

【小題2】Why do telephone offices put sweat odor on unpaid bills?

A．Because the sweat odor is a reminder of terrifying experience.

B．Because the sweat odor can change people’s attitude.

C．Because most people don’t think much of sweating.

D．Because many people dislike paying bills.

【小題3】What does the author mean by saying “Someday soon, even your homework may smell nice!”?

A．Students would benefit more from smell research.

B．Students would be more willing to do homework.

C．Smell research would develop beyond our imagination.

D．Smell research would make great differences to our life.

【小題4】 Why does the author write this passage?

A．To encourage the store owners to use smells.

B．To expose wrong practices by smell scientists.

C．To inform the readers of an interesting subject.

D．To blame the advertisers that use smells to sell.

It’s really true what people say about English politeness: it’s everywhere. When squeezing (擠過去) past someone in a narrow passage, people say “sorry”. When getting off a bus, English passengers say “thank you” rather than the driver. In Germany, people would never dream of doing these things. After all, squeezing past others is sometimes unavoidable, and the bus driver is only doing his job. I used to think the same way, without questioning it, until I started traveling to the British Isles, and here are some more polite ways of interacting (交往) with people in UK.
People thank each other everywhere in England, all the time. When people buy something in a shop, customer and shop assistant in most cases thank each other twice or more. In Germany, it would be exceptional to hear more than one thank you in such a conversation. British students thank their lecturers when leaving the room. English employers thank their employees for doing their jobs, as opposite to Germans, who would normally think that paying their workers money is already enough.
Another thing I observed during my stay was that English people rarely criticize (批評) others. Even when I was working and mistakes were pointed out to me, my employers emphasized several times but none of their explanations were intended as criticism. It has been my impression that by avoiding criticism, English people are making an effort to make others feel comfortable. This also is showed in other ways. British men still open doors for women, and British men are more likely to treat women to a meal than German men. However, I do need to point out here that this applies to English men a bit more than it would to Scottish men! Yes, the latter are a bit tightfisted.
【小題1】What is the author’s attitude towards English politeness?

A．He thinks it is unnecessary.	B．He thinks little of it.
C．He appreciates it very much.	D．He thinks it goes too far.

【小題2】What can be inferred from the passage?

A．German men never treat a woman to dinner.

B．The author think it’s unnecessary to say “thank you” to the bus driver.

C．In Germany, employers often say “thank you” to employees for their job.

D．Germans think it is unnecessary to thank workers because payment is enough.

【小題3】We can learn from the last paragraph that Scottish men ______.

A．like to fight with each other

B．treat women in a polite way

C．a(chǎn)re as generous as English men

D．a(chǎn)re unwilling to spend money for women

【小題4】The author develops the text through the method of ______.

A．making comparisons	B．telling stories
C．giving reasons	D．giving examples

Whether they’re project documents, trade journals, blogs, business books or ebooks, most of us read regularly as part of our jobs, and to develop our skills and knowledge.
But do you ever read what should be a useful document, yet fail to gain any helpful information from it? Or, re-read something several times to get a full understanding of the content? If so, look at the following strategies (策略) that will help you read more effectively.
●Think About What You Want to Know
Before you start reading anything, ask yourself why you’re reading it. Are you reading with a purpose, or just for pleasure? What do you want to know after you’ve read it? Once you know your purpose, you can examine the resource (資源) to see whether it’s going to help you.
Ask yourself whether the resource meets your needs, and try to work out if it will give you the right amount of knowledge. If you think that the resource isn’t consummate, don’t waste time reading it.
●Know How Deeply to Study the Material
Where you only need the shallowest knowledge of a subject, you can skim material. Here you read only chapter headings, introductions, and summaries.
If you need a moderate (中等的) level of information on a subject, then you can scan the text. This is when you read the chapter introductions and summaries in detail. You can then speed read the contents of the chapters, picking out and understanding key words and concepts.
Only when you need full knowledge of a subject is it worth studying the text in detail (細(xì)節(jié)). Here it’s best to skim the material first to get an overview of the subject. This gives you an understanding of its structure, into which you can then fit the detail gained from a full reading of the material.
【小題1】Why should we know our purpose before reading?

A．Because we can develop our skills and knowledge.

B．Because we can get a full understanding of the content.

C．Because we can avoid re-reading something several times.

D．Because we can check it out whether the material will be helpful.

【小題2】What does the underlined word “consummate” in the 5^th paragraph mean?

A．Legal.

B．Natural.

C．Perfect.

D．Formal.

【小題3】 According to the depth to study the material, how many reading strategies are mentioned?

A．2.

B．3.

C．4.

D．5.

【小題4】The best title for this passage should be ______.

A．Reading Strategies

B．Think About What You Want to Know

C．Know How Deeply to Study the Material

D．How to Develop our Skills and Knowledge

Three Boys and a Dad
Brad closed the door slowly as Sue left home to visit her mother. Expecting a whole day to relax, he was thinking whether to read the newspaper or watch his favourite TV talk show on his first day off in months. “This will be like a walk in the park,” he’d told his wife. “I’ll look after the kids, and you can go visit your mom.”
Things started well, but just after eight o’clock, his three little “good kids”—Mike, Randy, and Alex—came down the stairs in their night clothes and shouted “breakfast, daddy.” When food had not appeared within thirty seconds, Randy began using his spoon on Alex’s head as if it were a drum. Alex started to shout loudly in time to the beat（節(jié)拍）. Mike chanted “Where’s my toast, where’s my toast” in the background. Brad realized his newspaper would have to wait for a few seconds.
Life became worse after breakfast. Mike wore Randy’s underwear on his head. Randy locked himself in the bathroom, while Alex shouted again because he was going to wet his pants. Nobody could find clean socks, although they were before their very eyes. Someone named “Not Me” had spilled a whole glass of orange juice into the basket of clean clothes. Brad knew the talk show had already started.
By ten o’clock, things were out of control. Alex was wondering why the fish in the jar refused his bread and butter. Mike was trying to show off his talent by decorating the kitchen wall with his colour pencils. Randy, thankfully, appeared to be reading quietly in the family room，but closer examination showed that he was eating apple jam straight from the bottle with his hands. Brad Realized that the talk show was over and reading would be impossible.
At exactly 11:17, Brad called the daycare centre (日托所）.“I suddenly have to go into work and my wife’s away. Can I bring the boys over in a few minutes?” The answer was obviously “yes” because Brad was smiling.
【小題1】When his wife left home, Brad expected to ______            .

A．go out for a walk in the park.	B．watch TV talk show with his children.
C．enjoy his first day off work.	D．read the newspaper to his children.

【小題2】Which of the following did Randy do?

A．Drawing on the wall.	B．Eating apple jam.
C．Feeding the fish.	D．Reading in a room.

【小題3】Why did Brad ask the daycare centre for help?

A．Because he wanted to clean up his house.

B．Because he suddenly had to go to his office.

C．Because he found it hard to manage his boys home.

D．Because he had to take his wife back.

【小題4】This text is developed______       

A．by space.

B．by comparison.

C．by process.

D．by time.

When the Japanese attacked America’s ships at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, they did it secretly. The makers of the movie Pearl Harbor have behaved differently.
The noise about Pearl Harbor, made by Disney，has reached its highest point with its premiere （首次公演） before the movie opens in cinemas across the US at the start of the Memorial Day holiday weekend, a time to recall national heroes who sacrificed their lives on the battlefield.
As Ben Affleck is the main star, the movie seems sure to become a success in the United States at least.
At almost three hours in length, it promises to be a good old Hollywood movie. There is a love story. Affleck and his co－star, Josh Hartnett, both fall in love with the navy nurse, Kate Beckinsale and, of course, there is much human courage and love of country.
It’s certain that Disney will be accused of “changing” history. The showing of actual events in a movie always causes arguments.
Bits of the story are deliberately not mentioned in the movie. It does not address the theory held by some historians that President Franklin Roosevelt knew about Japan’s intention to attack the ships in Pearl Harbor．It is said he did nothing, as he was aware that such a blow would allow him to take America into the Second World War.
Japan remains sensitive about being accused of wartime atrocities （暴行）. And Disney is sensitive about its business in Japan, where it has a theme park.
Not all the reviews of the movie have been full of praise. A reviewer for Newsweek, who was given an early preview, acknowledged that the 40－minute sequence （連續(xù)鏡頭） showing the attack itself was powerful. The attack comes quite late in the movie, however, and the reviewer was less impressed with the characters and the love story.
“Almost every line of the dialogue sounds like it comes from an old movie, ” the reviewer wrote.
【小題1】From the passage we can infer that the Memorial Day refers to           

A．the day the United States was founded

B．the day people remember their ancestors

C．a(chǎn) day people celebrate the victories of World War Ⅱ

D．a(chǎn) day people remember those who died in wars

【小題2】From the passage we know that Ben Affleck             .

A．regarded Josh Hartnett as an enemy

B．may be a very popular movie star

C．experienced the Pearl Harbor Incident

D．was in love with the actress Kate Beckinsale

【小題3】Which of the following statements is TRUE about Pearl Harbor?

A．The movie will cause a lot of arguments.

B．The movie has made the Japanese angry.

C．The movie truly describes the Pearl Harbor Incident.

D．The movie shows that President Roosevelt knew about Japan’s intention.

【小題4】According to the passage, what does the reviewer for Newsweek think of the movie?

A．The scenes of the attack leave no impression.

B．The dialogue in the movie is original and creative.

C．The attack scenes occupy too much time of the movie.

D．The characters and the love story are less attractive.

【小題5】Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A．Ben Affleck in Pearl Harbor.

B．The True Fact of Pearl Harbor.

C．Reviewer：Pearl Harbor is a success.

D．Attention！Pearl Harbor is arriving.

For many parents, raising a teenager is like fighting a long war, but years go by without any clear winner. Like a border conflict between neighboring countries, the parent-teen war is about boundaries: Where is the line between what I control and what you do?
Both sides want peace, but neither feels it has any power to stop the conflict. In part, this is because neither is willing to admit any responsibility for starting it. From the parents’ point of view, the only cause of their fight is their adolescents’ complete unreasonableness. And of course, the teens see it in exactly the same way, except oppositely. Both feel trapped.
In this article. I’ll describe three no-win situations that commonly arise between teens and parents and then suggest some ways out of the trap. The first no-win situation is quarrels over unimportant things. Examples include the color of the teen’s hair, the cleanliness of the bedroom, the preferred style of clothing, the child’s failure to eat a good breakfast before school, or his tendency to sleep until noon on the weekends. Second,  blaming. The goal of a blaming battle is to make the other admit that his bad attitude is the reason why everything goes wrong. Third, needing to be right, It doesn’t matter what the topic is –politics. The taws of physics, or the proper way to break an egg –the point of these arguments is to prove that you are right and the other person is wrong. for both wish to be considered an authority—someone who actually knows something — and therefore to command respect. Unfortunately, as long as long as parents and teens continue to assume that they know more than the other, they’ll continue to fight these battles forever and never make any real progress.
【小題1】Why does the author compare the parent-teen war to a border conflict?

A．Both can continue for generations.

B．Both are about where to draw the line

C．Neither has any clear winner

D．Neither can be put to an end

【小題2】What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．The teens blame their parents for starting the conflict.

B．The teens agree with their parents on the cause of the conflict

C．The teens cause their parents of misleading them

D．The teens tend to have a full understanding of their parents

【小題3】Parents and teens want to be right because they want to ________.

A．give orders to the other

B．know more than the other

C．gain respect from the other

D．get the other to behave properly

【小題4】What will the author most probably discuss in the paragraph that follows?

A．Causes for the parent –teen conflicts

B．Examples of the parent –teen war.

C．Solutions for the parent –teen problems

D．Future of the parent-teen relationship

In the next few years, battery technology is going to grow rapidly.
No more charging your smart phone every day...
No more “range anxiety” for electric cars, as new lithium batteries （鋰電池）allow them to drive hundreds of miles on a single charge, just like a tank of gas.
And a tiny Chinese company is to be the leader of it all.
It already counts Motorola, Nokia, and Samsung as customers for its advanced batteries.
But the real money is going to come when it starts selling electric cars.
Right now, the stock is trading at an extreme discount, offering in-the-know investors a chance to get in and make a killing.
You need to know all the details about this opportunity today — and not a day later.
To do that, and to gain access to all the information you'll need to invest confidently, simply sign up for the free e-Letter from Energy & Capital by entering your email address below...
Once you do, we'll rush you our latest report, China's $2.00 Lithium Linchpin.
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【小題1】What does the underlined part “make a killing” in Paragraph 7 mean?

A．Beat all other businesses.

B．Make a lot of money in a short time.

C．Force other batteries to withdraw from market.

D．Be the business leader in battery making.

【小題2】What is the possible problem with online subscribing?

A．The giving-away of privacy.

B．Getting lots of junk emails.

C．Becoming a member of some organization unwillingly.

D．Not being able to unsubscribe.

【小題3】Where is this material probably from?

A．A magazine.

B．A newspaper.

C．A website.

D．A booklet.

【小題4】This passage is mainly to ______.

A．a(chǎn)dvertise new batteries	B．find potential investors
C．promote Energy & Capital	D．sell new technology

In an age dominated （控制的） by new media and the Internet, there are so many alternative ways of learning．Gone are the days when, if we couldn't make it into a classroom, the only real option was to pick up a book, or when audio materials consisted of bad quality cassettes or sporadic（時有時無的） radio and TV programmes．With the appearance of broadband access to the web, we have a whole new learning domain （統(tǒng)領(lǐng)） at our fingertips．Sophisticated learning materials in the form of text or high-quality audio are now available at the touch of a button, and tests and assignments can be submitted （進行） and marked online．Questions and learning, studying away from the classroom has never seemed easier．Yet many teachers would argue that face-to-face contact between teachers and students is an essential part of the language learning experience．Enter the concept of blended （融合的） learning, an approach to education which seeks to combine the best of new technology and actual human contact．
Advocates of blended learning argue that an approach to study which combines the benefits of new technology with the best aspects of face-to-face （often abbreviated to F2F） teaching, will achieve better results．For example, there are some aspects of study, like practical sessions, dealing with more subjective questions, or meeting the needs of an individual student, which require face-to-face human interaction, whereas the more mechanical aspects of learning, such as answers to clear-cut questions, can be managed simply and effectively in a remote environment using new technology．
Blended learning approaches have proven especially appropriate in language learning．For example, in an ELT （English Language Teaching ） environment, a simple scenario （劇情概要） might be a classroom session where a teacher asks a group of students to use a wiki to create a text． Students then go away and compose and edit the text remotely．During the next F2F session, the teacher express his opinion about their work．
【小題1】What is the main idea of this passage?

A．Blended learning is an effective learning approach．

B．More and more people will use Internet-based learning materials,

C．There are so many different ways of learning for people to choose in today's world．

D．Blended learning methods have proven to be effective except in language learning．

【小題2】Which of the following aspects of study doesn't require face-to-face interaction between teachers and students?

A．Practical sessions．

B．Tackling the needs of an individual student．

C．Dealing with more subjective questions．

D．Providing answers to clear-cut questions．

【小題3】It can be inferred from the passage that ______．

A．the radio and TV in the past were of poor quality

B．people do not get audio materials through cassettes nowadays

C．it was not convenient for people to leam outside a classroom in the past

D．it was difficult to find a classroom with good learning conditions in the old days

【小題4】Which of the following can be best describe the writer's attitude towards blended learning?

A．Critical．	B．Objective （客觀的） ．
C．Supportive．	D．Neutral （中立的） ．

Will it matter if you don’t take your breakfast?
Recently a test was given in the United States. Those tested included people of different ages, from 12 to 83. During the experiment, these people were given all kinds of breakfasts, and sometimes they got no breakfast at all. Special tests were set up to see how well their bodies worked when they had eaten a certain kind of breakfast. The results show that if a person eats a proper breakfast, he or she will work with better effect than if he or she has no breakfast.
This fact appears to be especially true if a person works with his brains, if a student eats fruit, eggs, bread and milk before going to school, he will learn more quickly and listen with more attention in class. Opposite to what many people believe, if you don’t eat breakfast, you will not lose weight. This is because people become so hungry at noon that they eat too much for lunch, and end up gaining weight instead of losing. You will probably lose more weight if you reduce your other meals.
【小題1】The results of the test show that ______

A．breakfast has great effect on work and studies.

B．breakfast has much to do with people’s health.

C．a(chǎn) person will work better if he has simple breakfast

D．breakfast only affects those who work with their brains .

【小題2】According to the passage, many people think that if you don’t eat breakfast, you will____.

A．do your work badly	B．eat too much for lunch
C．gain weight	D．lose weight

【小題3】We can infer from the passage that _____

A．one can work better with breakfast.

B．morning diet will do good to your health.

C．reducing lunch and supper will help lose weight.

D．breakfast is more important than lunch and supper.