London congestion charging

The charge was introduced on Monday 17 February 2003 to encourage people to leave their cars behind and use public transport when travelling in central London. It was introduced due to the high pollution levels and traffic congestion（擁擠）.

The Inner Ring Road forms the congestion zone boundary and includes roads such as Marylebone Road, Euston Road, Park Lane and Edgware Road. Drivers can travel along these roads without paying the charge. Maps of this zone are published in the national press and are available from a range of outlets as well as online.

People who travel regularly between work and home have to pay ??5 for each day they wish to travel through or within the charge zone between the hours of 7.00 am and 6.30 pm, Monday to Friday. They have a choice about how they pay the ??5. They can pay online, via the Internet, phoning, texting on their mobile phones and over the counter at petrol stations and convenience stores. They also have a choice about how often they pay. They can pay daily, weekly, monthly or annually.

Not everyone has to pay the ??5. Among these are residents, emergency services, registered-disabled drivers, taxis and those using alternative energy vehicles. These people/organizations have to apply for exemption (免交), which can be done online.

The London Congestion Charge works by using around 900 cameras at the boundary and within the zone. The cameras read the registration plates and send the information to a computer, which checks whether the owner has paid the charge and, if not, whether the owner has claimed exemption. If drivers have not paid the charge by 10 pm that day (and are not exempt) a penalty notice is sent to his/her home address. The longer that the penalty is not paid, the larger the fine. Persistent offenders have their vehicles removed.

For more information, call 0845 900 1234 or visit Transport for London’s congestion charge website at http://www.cclondon.com/.

1. This text is aimed at _______.

A. businesses             B. students                C. London residents      D. everyone

2. This text offers readers information about _______.

A. the weather forecasts of London

B. the days and times for people to pay the charge

C. the number of drivers who fail to pay the charge each day

D. the names of shops where you can get Congestion Charge maps

3. What can we learn from the text?

A. All people in London have to pay the charge.

B. London residents can pay the charge in different ways.

C. Registered-disabled drivers have to go to an agency to apply for exemption.

D. 900 cameras are used to judge whether the driver has gone through the red light.

第II卷 (兩部分, 共35分)

第四部分：任務(wù)型閱讀（共10小題，每小題1分，滿分10分）

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US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will visit China's largest lake next week on a trip that will highlight global environmental challenges.

Paulson will hold talks in Beijing with President Hu Jintao that will focus on the Strategic（戰(zhàn)略）Economic Dialogue, high-level discussions launched last year in an effort to deal with economic tensions between the US and China.

"This trip is part of an ongoing process to strengthen our strategic economic relationship to address long-term issues such as working with China to rebalance its growth and increase the flexibility(彈性) of its currency(貨幣) and also to deal with short-term issues as they arise." Paulson said Tuesday in announcing the trip.

Paulson will begin the trip with a visit July 30 to Qinghai Lake, the largest lake in the country and an example of some of the environmental challenges facing China as it struggles to deal with pollution.

"The only way to make progress on climate change is to engage all the large economies, developed and developing, to work toward embracing cleaner technology and reducing giving off gas." Paulson said. "What's happening with the environment in the middle of China not only affects the local climate and economy but also the global climate and economy."

Paulson will meet on July 31 in Beijing with Hu and Vice Premier Wu Yi, who is leading the Chinese side in the strategic dialogue talks.

The administration is coming under pressure from Congress to show results from these discussions, particularly in the area of currency values. American manufacturers think that the yuan is undervalued by as much as 40 percent, which makes Chinese products cheaper for US consumers but makes it more difficult for US products to be sold in China.

The first strategic dialogue session was held in Beijing last December with a follow-up meeting in Washington in May. The two countries have promised to meet twice a year with the next session to take place in China later this year. An exact date has not yet been announced.

The Treasury Department said in a statement announcing the trip that Paulson in his meetings with Chinese leaders would raise issues of concern to Congress as well as follow up on issues that were regarded as most important items at the May meeting of the strategic dialogue.

 ----In recent years, _____problem of global warming has become very serious.

   ----That’s right. People are facing _____diversity of natural disasters now.

   A. /, a       B. a, the      C. the, a     D. a, a

 Netizens called the fashionable homeless man the “beggar prince”, or, ____________, “Brother Sharp”.

A. in addition      B. even worse              C. more often           D. what’s more

 ---- Housing prices are likely to stop rising because the governments at all levels ______a combination blow(組合拳) to the real-hot property markets.

   ---- Really good news!

A. gave                        B. gives                 C. have been giving                     D. are giving

. --- How about the food I ordered? I __________ for 20 minutes.

   --- Sorry, sir. I will be back with your order in a minute.

A. have waited     B. have been waiting    C. will have waited      D. was waiting

English differs from Spanish in ______ it is not pronounced as it is written.

A. what               B. that                 C. this              D. which

. Cathy can’t accept the doctor’s suggestion that she _______ another day in hospital.

       A. will spend         B. spent                               C. spends                      D. spend

 It was reported that the ship sank three miles _____ the French coast.

    A. on       B. by        C. across         D. off

He was no scholar, and his classmates teased him．Rather than reading, the kid really preferred running around with an 8mm camera, shooting homemade movies of wrecks of his Lionel train set(which he showed to friends for a small fee)

In his second year of high school he dropped out．But when his parents persuaded him to return, he was mistakenly placed in a learning-disabled class, he lasted one month．Only when his family moved to another town did he land in a more suitable high school where he graduated eventually.

    After being denied entrance into a traditional filmmaking school, Steven Spielberg enrolled  in English at California State University at Long Beach .Then in 1965 he recalls ,in one of those casual moments, his life took a complete turn．Visiting Universal Studios ,  he met Chuck Silvers, an executive in the editorial department．Silvers liked the kid who made 8mm films and invited him back sometime to visit.

    He appeared the next day．Without a job or a security clearance ,   Spielberg(dressed in a dark suit and tie, carrying his father’s briefcase with nothing inside but “a sandwich and candy bars’’)walked confidently up to the guard at the gate of Universal Studios and gave him a casual wave．The guard waved back．He was in.

     “For the entire summer,” Spielberg remembers,” I dressed in my suit and hung out with the directors and writes including Silvers, who knew the kid was not a studio employee, but winked at the deception) I even found an office that was not being used ,and became a squatter．I bought some plastic tiles and put my name in the building directory: Steven  Spielberg, Room 23C〞

     It paid off for everyone．Ten years later the 28-year-old Spielberg directed Jaws, which took in $470 million, then the highest-grossing movie of all time．Dozens of films and awards have followed because Steven Spielberg knew what his teachers didn’t---talent is in the eyes of the filmmaker.

1．What is the text mainly about?

       A．Dream is more important than knowledge

       B．How Spielberg made his first famous film Jaws

       C．Spielberg has a gift for filming

       D．How Spielberg became a famous director

2．From the 4th and 5th paragraph we can know ___

       A．he was confident and this won others’ admiration

       B．he worked hard and got his own office

       C．usually people can not come into Universal Studios freely

       D．he had been accepted as a member of the company

3．What does the underlined word〝 winked〞mean?

       A．shown great concern               B．became angry

       C．had to be silent            D．pretended not to notice

4．Silvers helped Spielberg probably because__________

       A．he was Spielberg’s father’s friend

       B．Spielberg’s talent and passion for filming moved him

       C．he hoped to find a good employee for Universal Studios

       D．he was sure Spielberg would become a great director