Today anyone will accept money in exchange for goods and services. People use money to buy food, furniture, books, bicycles and hundreds of other things we need or want. When they work, they usually get paid in money.

Lots of the money today is made of paper. But people used to use all kinds of things as money. One of the first kinds of money was shells. Shells were not the only things used as money.

In China, cloth and knives were used. In the Philippine Islands, rice was used as money for  a long time. Some Africans once used elephant tusks, monkey tails, and salt as money.

The first metal coins were made in China. They were round and had a square hole in the center. Different countries have used different metals and designs for their money. Later, countries began to make coins of gold and silver.

But even gold and silver were inconvenient if you had to buy something expensive. Again the Chinese thought of a way to improve money. They began to use paper money. The first paper money looked more like a note from one person to another than the paper money used today.

Money has had an interesting history, from the days of shell money until today.

1. In the Philippines Islands ______ was once used as money.

A．rice

B．knife

C．cloth

D．wheat

2.What was first used as money? ______.

A．Elephants tusks

B．Cloth

C．Salt

D．Shells

3.The first metal coins looked like ______.

A．square-shaped with some designs on them

B．square-shaped with a round hole in the center

C．round-shaped with a square hole in the middle

D．round-shaped with a round hole in the middle

4.The first paper money ______.

A．was passed from west Asia to China	B．looked like a note used today
C．was first used in Europe	D．looked like a piece of fur

5.We can infer from the passage that ______.

A．paper money isn’t difficult to make

B．money must be suited to carry

C．people need money to exchange goods with each other

D．people prefer metal coins to paper notes

 

Valentine’s Day is named for Saint Valentine an early Christmas churchman who reportedly helped young lovers. Valentine was killed for his Christian beliefs on February 14 more than 1700 years ago, but the day that has his name is even earlier than that.

More than 2,000 years ago, the ancient Romans celebrated a holiday for lovers. As part of the celebration, girls wrote their names on pieces of paper and put them in a large container. Boys reached into the container and pulled one out. The girl whose name was written on the paper became his lover or sweet heart for a year.

Lovers still put their names on pieces of paper and they sent each other Valentine’s Day cards that tell of their love. Sometimes they also sent gifts, like flowers of chocolate candy. Americans usually send these gifts and cards through the mail system. But some used another way to send this message. They have it printed in a newspaper. The cost is usually a few dollars. Some of the messages are simple and short “Jane, I love you very much”. Others say more. This one, for example, “Dan, Roses are red. Violets are blue. I hope you love me as much as I love you. Forever. May.”

Most of the newspapers that print such messages are local, but USA Today is sold throughout the United States, and 90 other countries as well. This means someone can send a Valentine message to lover in a far-away city or town almost anywhere in the world. These messages cost 80 dollars and more. An employee of USA Today says readers can have a small heart or rose printed along with their messages this year. Will this kind of Valentine’s Day message reach the one you love? Well, just make sure he or she reads the newspaper.

1. When was the day named after Valentine?

A. More than 1700 years ago before Valentine’s death  

B. More than 2000 years ago

C. On February 24                              

D. It is not mentioned in the passage.

2. Which is not true about the Roman holiday?

A. Girls put into a container large pieces of paper with their own names on them.

B. Boys and girls became sweet hearts by chance

C. Girls and boys were not lovers for a year.

D. It was celebrated as a holiday for lovers

3. What is the cost of printing a message to show one’s love? It’s _______________.

A. a few dollars                   B. 80 dollars, and more                C. very expensive

D. a few dollars in a local newspaper and 80 dollars in USA Today

4. What can be inferred from the passage?

A. The ancient Roman girls were more open and easy-going than boys

B. Valentine was killed for helping lovers

C. Readers of USA Today can send roses to their lovers along with printed messages

D. Valentine was honored by people for his firm Christian belief and warm heart

5. What is the purpose of the passage?

A. To briefly introduce the origin of Valentine’s Day and the modern style.

B. To advertise for USA Today.

C. To tell you that Americans are open to express their love

D. To sell roses on Valentine’s Day.              

 

To face the music

Like every language, American English is full of special expressions, phrases that come from the day-to-day life of the people and develop in their own way. Our expression today is “to face the music”.

When someone says, “well, I guess I’ll have to face the music,” it does not mean he’s planning to go to the concert. It is something far less pleasant, like being called in by your boss to explain why you did this and did that, and why you didn’t do this or that. Sour music indeed, but it has to be faced. At sometime or another, every one of us has had to face the music, especially as children. We can all remember father’s angry voice, “I want to talk to you.” and only because we did not obey him. What an unpleasant business it was!

The phrase “to face the music” is familiar to every American, young and old. It is at least 100 years old. And where did this expression come from? The first explanation comes from the American novelist, James Fenimore Looper. He said, in 1851, that the expression was first used by actors while waiting in the wings to go on the stage. When they got their cue to go on, they often said, “Well, it’s time to face the music.” And that was exactly what they did — facing the orchestra which was just below them. And an actor might be frightened or nervous as he moved on to the stage in front of an audience that might be friendly or perhaps hostile, especially if he forgot his lines. But he had to go out. If he did not, there would be no play. So the expression “to face the music” come to mean “having to go through something, no matter how unpleasant the experience might be, because you knew you had no choice.”

Other explanations about the expression go back to the army. When the men faced an inspection by their leader, the soldiers would be worried about how well they looked. Was their equipment clean, shinny enough to pass the inspection? Still the men had to go out and face the music of the band as well as the inspection. What else could they do? 

Another army explanation is more closely related to the idea of facing the results and accepting the responsibility for something that should not have been done. As, for example when a man is forced out of the army because he did something terrible, he is dishonored. The band does not play. Only the drums tap a sad, slow beat. The soldier is forced to leave, facing such music as it is and facing the back of his horse.

How many ways does the phrase “to face the music” comes from?

A. 1        B. 2        C. 3       D. 4

What’s the meaning of “to face the music?”

A. To face something far less pleasant.

B. To face the stage.

C. To face the back of one’s horse.

D. To face one’s leader.

Which of the following is a situation of facing the music?

A. When we are playing basketball.  

B. When we are making a speech.

C. When we are having a party.

D. When we are talking with somebody. 

The underlined word “hostile” means _______. 

A. unfriendly               B. dislike        C. unkind                     D. unnecessary

The world itself is becoming much smaller by using modern traffic and modern communication means. Life today is much easier than it was hundreds of years ago; but it has brought new problems. One of the biggest is pollution. To pollute mean to make things dirty. Pollution comes in many ways. We see it, smell it, drink it and even hear it.

Man has been polluting the earth. The more people, the more pollution. Many years ago, the problem was not so serious because there were not so many people. When the land was used up or the river was dirty in a place, men moved to another place. But this is no longer true. Man is now slowly polluting the whole world.

Air pollution is still the most serious. It’s bad to all living things in the world, but it is not only one kind of pollution. Water pollution kills our fish and pollutes our drinking water. Noise pollution makes us become angry more easily.

Many countries are making rules to fight pollution. They stop the people from burning coal in houses and factories in the city, and from blowing dirty smoke into the air.

The pollution of SO₂ is now the most dangerous problem of air pollution. It is caused by heavy traffic. It is sure that if there are fewer people driving, there will be less air pollution.

The earth is our home. We must take care of it. That means keeping the land, water and air clean. And we must keep careful of the rise in pollution at the same time.

1.Our world is becoming much smaller ___________.

A．because the earth is being polluted day and night.

B．thanks to science developing.

C．because of the rise in pollution

D．because the earth is blown away by the wind every year.

2.Pollution comes in many ways. We can even hear it. Here “it” means ___________.

A．water pollution

B．a(chǎn)ir pollution

C．noise pollution

D．rubbish

3. Air pollution is the most serious kind of pollution because __________.

A．it’s bad to all living things in the world.

B．it makes us become angry more easily.

C．it has made our rivers and lakes dirty.

D．it makes much noise.

4.Which of the following is not true?

A．The problem of pollution is not so serious because there are not so many people.

B．From now on, maybe people try to go to work by bus or bike instead of car or motorbike. It is helpful to fight against the pollution of SO2.

C．The pollution of the earth grows as fast as the world’s pollution does.

D．Many countries are making rules to fight pollution.

 

下面短文中有10處語(yǔ)言錯(cuò)誤。請(qǐng)?jiān)谟绣e(cuò)誤的地方增加、刪除或修改某個(gè)單詞。

增加：在缺詞處加一個(gè)漏字符號(hào)（∧），并在其下面寫(xiě)上該加的詞。

刪除：把多余的詞用斜線（＼）劃掉。

修改：在錯(cuò)的詞下劃一橫線，并在該詞下面寫(xiě)上修改后的詞。

注意：1. 每處錯(cuò)誤及其修改均僅限一詞； 2. 只允許修改10處, 多者(從第11處起)不計(jì)分。

Today is Sunday. The sky is full of sunshine; so does my life. At about 9:00 a.m., I go to the bookstore with my friends. There was a lot of new books. I didn’t know which one to buy, because these books were all useful to me. At last, I chose two. At 10:00, we went to the cinema. The film calling Titanic was very popular. It took us about 3hours to see. Having seen a film, everyone was deeply moved. Some friends even burst into tear. From the story, I understand that love is noble but valuable. That’s a real wonderful film. It is well worth seeing again.

What a happy day! I hope tomorrow I will be even happy!