Five years ago, David Smith wore an expensive suit to work every day. “I was a clothes addict,” he jokes. “I used to carry a fresh suit to work with me so I could change if my clothes got wrinkled.” Today David wears casual clothes-khaki pants and sports shirt-to the office. He hardly ever wears a necktie. “I’m working harder than ever,” David says, “and I need to feel comfortable.”

More and more companies are allowing their office workers to wear casual clothes to work in the United States. The change from formal to casual office wear has been gradual. In the early 1990s, many companies allowed their employees to wear casual clothes on Friday(but only on Friday). This became known as “dress-down Friday” of “casual Friday”. “What started out as an extra one-day-a-week benefit for employees has really become an everyday thing.” said business consultant Maisly Jones.

Why have so many companies started allowing their employees to wear casual clothes? One reason is that it’s easier for a company to attract new employees if it has a casual dress code. “A lot of young people don’t want to dress up for work,” says the owner of a software company, “so it’s hard to hire people if you have a conservative dress code.” Another reason is that people seem happier and more productive when they are wearing comfortable clothes. In a study conducted by Levi Strauss and Company, 85 percent of employers said that they believe that casual dress improves employee morale. Only 4 percent of employers said that casual dress has a negative impact on productivity. Supporters of casual office wear also argue that a casual dress code helps them save money. “Suits are expensive, if you have to wear one every day,” one person said. “For the same amount of money, you can buy a lot more casual clothes.”

1. David Smith refers to himself as having been “a clothes addict,” because _______.

A. he often wore khaki pants and a sports shirt

B. he couldn’t stand a clean appearance

C. he wanted his clothes to look neat all the time

D. he didn’t want to spend much money on clothes

2. David Smith wears casual clothes now, because _______.

A. they make him feel at ease when working

    B. he cannot afford to buy expensive clothes

    C. he looks handsome in casual clothes

    D. he no longer works for any company

3. According to this passage, which of the following statements is false?

    A. Many employees don’t like a conservative dress code.

    B. Comfortable clothes make employees more productive.

    C. A casual clothes code is welcomed by young employees.

    D. All the employers in the U. S. are for casual office wear.

4. According to this passage, which of the following statements is true?

    A. Company workers started to dress down about twenty years ago.

    B. Dress-down has become an everyday phenomenon since the early 1990s.

    C. “Dress-down Friday” was first given as a favor from employers.

    D. Many workers want to wear casual clothes to impress people.

5. In this passage, the following advantages of casual office wear are mentioned in the passage except _______.

    A. saving employees’ money

    B. making employees more attractive

    C. improving employees’ motivation

    D. making employees happier

Large companies need a way to reach the savings of the public at large. The same problem, on a smaller scale(小規(guī)模地), faces practically every company trying to develop new products and create new jobs. There can be little hope of raising the money needed from friends and people we know, and while banks may agree to provide short-term finance(資金), they are generally unwilling to provide money, for long-term projects. So companies turn to the public, inviting people to lend them money, or take a share(股份) in the business in exchange for a share in future interests. This they do by issuing(發(fā)行) stocks(股票) and shares in the business through the Stock Exchange. By doing so they can put into circulation(流通) the savings of single persons and institutions, both at home and abroad.

When the saver(儲蓄者) needs his money back, he does not have to go to the company with whom he originally placed it. Instead he sells his shares through a stockbroker(證券經(jīng)紀(jì)人) to some other saver who is seeking to invest his money.

Many of the services needed both by industry and by each of us are provided by the government or by local organizations. Without hospitals, roads, electricity, telephones and railways, this country could not work. All these require continuous spending on new equipment and new development if they are to serve us properly, requiring more money than it is raised through taxes alone. The government, local organizations and nationalized industries therefore frequently need to borrow money to finance(給…提供資金) major capital spending, and they, too, come to the Stock Exchange.

There is hardly a man or woman in this country whose standard of living does not depend on the ability of his or her employers to raise money to finance new development. In one way or another his new money must come from the savings of the country. The Stock Exchange exists to provide a channel through which these savings can reach those who need finance.

1. The money which enables these companies to go ahead with their projects is _______.

A. exchanged for part ownership in the Stock Exchange

B. raised by the selling of shares in the companies

C. repaid to its original owners as soon as possible

D. invested in different companies in the Stock Exchange

2. All the basic services on which we depend are _______.

A. unable to provide for the needs of the population

B. financed wholly by rates and taxes

C. in constant need of financial support

D. run by the government or local organizations

3. The Stock Exchange makes it possible for the government, local organizations and nationalized industries _______.

A. to make certain everybody saves money

B. to borrow as much money as they wish

C. to make certain everybody lends money to them

D. to raise money to finance new development

4. The underlined word invest probably means _______.

A. give more money with            B. provide less money with

C. borrow less money with           D. make more money with

    To get cash out in the 21st century, you won’t need a bank card, a PIN(個人識別編號) or even have to move a finger. You will simply have to look the cash machine straight in the eye, declares National Cash Registers, a multinational company that makes automated teller machines, or ATMs. NCR has shown its first example machine that is believed to be the future of banking. Instead of asking you for your PIN on a screen, the Super Teller-Stella for short, asks you orally through a loudspeaker to look straight ahead while an infrared camera turns to your head, then your eye, and finally takes an infrared photograph of your iris(虹膜). For identification(識別) purposes, an iris picture is better than a fingerprint, with around 256 noticeable characteristics compared with 40 for fingerprints. This means that the chances of someone else being recognized in your place is about 1 in 1020. Once you’ve been identified, Stella greets you by name and says: “Would you like cash or a statement?” An infrared port allows the machine to send a bank statement straight to your pocket computer.

1. What does this passage mainly talk about?

A. A new medical instrument

B. A new type of talking machine.

C. A new type of cash machine.

D. National Cash Register

2. What is this new machine called?

    A. Stella                      B. ATM               C. PIN                 D. NCR

3. When you want to get cash out in the 21st century, you will _______.

   A. need a bank card                              B. have to put in your PIN

   C. move your finger                          D. just look directly at the teller machine

Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seat belts. The plane  ________.

A. takes off       B. is taking off     C. has taken off   D. took off

It is already home to whales, seals and polar bears, but soon the Arctic (北極) must find __1__ for some Chinese visitors.

A team of nine scientists will __2__ to the Arctic this month to mark the opening of China's __3__ Arctic scientific research station, SOA (the State Oceanic Administration (國家海洋局) has __4__.

Construction of the station finished a while __5__, but operations were held __6__ during the polar night, __7__ normally runs from late October to the end of February. __8__this period, the sun never __9__ over the Arctic. And from mid-July to the end of August, the sun never sets, a time__10__ as polar day (極晝).

With territories (版圖) __11__ far up into the northern half of the globe, China __12__Arctic studies to learn __13__ about its climatic and environmental changes. Many of these, __14__ sand storms and heavy droughts, are believed to have __15__ to do with the Arctic.

Research teams __16__ the area in 1999 and 2003, but the new station will allow scientists to study the Arctic in __17__ depth.

The station is a two-storey building and __18__ a laboratory, office, reading room, bedroom and storeroom. It can hold 20 to 25 researchers.

"It will be __19__ great support to the scientists' research there," said Xia Limin, an officer in SOA.

This year the SOA also plans to upgrade (提升) two existing scientific bases in the Antarctic (南極洲). They are "Great Wall", which was set up in 1985, and "Zhongshan", __20__ five years later.

1. A. house                  B. hotel                      C. palace                     D. room

2. A. journey               B. travel                             C. trip                         D. tour

3. A. first                     B. second                     C. third                      D. fourth

4. A. told                     B. spoke                          C. announced                      D. published

5. A. before                 B. later                        C. after                        D. ago

6. A. forward                      B. toward                    C. back                        D. ahead

7. A. which                  B. through which          C. that                         D. where

8. A. During               B. While                      C. When                          D. As

9. A. raises                   B. rises                        C. lifts                         D. carries

10. A. knows               B. to know                   C. known                     D. knowing

11. A. spreading           B. spreads                    C. to spread                 D. spread

12. A. works out           B. picks out                 C. keeps out                 D. carries out

13. A. less                    B. more                      C. few                         D. much

14. A. for example      B. such as                    C. for instance              D. such that

15. A. something          B. anything                  C. everything                      D. nothing

16. A. showed              B. went                      C. visited                     D. got

17. A. great                  B. greeting                   C. greater                    D. greatest

18. A. includes             B. contains                   C. including                 D. containing

19. A. to                          B. for                          C. at                            D. of

20. A. establishing               B. to establish              C. established               D. establish

He ___ at the meeting this morning.He was in hospital at the time.

A. couldn’t have spoken  B.mustn’t have spoken  C. shouldn't have spoken

D. needn’t have spoken

The dam is 3800 ___. It is a 980 ___ dam at the base.

metres long, metres wide B.metres-long, metres wide  C.metres long, metre-wide

D. metre—long, metres wide

A characteristic of American culture that has become almost a tradition is to respect the self made man—the man who has risen to the top through his own efforts,usually beginning by working with his hands.While the leader in business or industry or the college professor occupies a higher social position and commands greater respect in the community than the common labourer or even the skilled factory worker,he may take pains to point out that his father started life in America as a farmer or labourer of some sort.

This attitude toward manual(體力的) labour is now still seen in many aspects of American life.One is invited to dinner at a home that is not only comfortably but even luxuriously(豪華地)furnished and in which there is every evidence of the fact that the family has been able to afford foreign travel,expensive hobbies,and college education for the children;yet the hostess probably will cook the dinner herself,will serve it herself and will wash dishes afterward,furthermore the dinner will not consist merely of something quickly and easily assembled from contents of various cans and a cake or a pie bought at the nearby bakery.On the contrary,the hostess usually takes pride in careful preparation of special dishes.A professional man may talk about washing the car,digging in his flowerbeds,painting the house.His wife may even help with these things,just as he often helps her with the dishwashing.The son who is away at college may wait on table and wash dishes for his living,or during the summer he may work with a construction gang on a highway in order to pay for his education.

1.From paragraph 1,we can know that in America_________.

A.people tend to have a high opinion of the self?made man        

B.people can always rise to the top through their own efforts        

C.college professors win great respect from common workers        

D.people feel painful to mention their fathers as labourers        

According to the passage,the hostess cooks dinner herself mainly because_________.

A.servants in America are hard to get

B.she takes pride in what she can do herself        

C.she can hardly afford servants

D.it is easy to prepare a meal with canned food        

3.The expression“wait on table” in the second paragraph means“_________”.

A.work in a furniture shop

B.keep accounts for a bar

C.wait to lay the table

D.serve customers in a restaurant

4.Which of the following may serve as the best title of the passage?        

A.A Respectable Self made Family          B.American Attitude toward Manual Labour

C.Characteristics of American Culture    D.The Development of Manual Labour

Some time ago I discovered that one of my chairs had a broken leg. I didn't think there would be any difficulty in getting it mended, as there are a whole lot of antique(古董) shops near my home. So I left home one morning carrying the chair with me. I went into the first shop expecting a friendly reception(接待). I was quite wrong. The man wouldn't even look at my chair.

The second shop, though slightly more polite, was just the same, and the third and the fourth—so I decided that my approach must be wrong.

  I entered the fifth shop with a plan in my mind. I placed the chair on the floor and said to the shopkeeper, “Would you like to buy a chair?” He looked it over carefully and said, “Yes, not a bad chair. How much do you want for it, sir?”“Twenty pounds,”I said. “OK,”he said. “I'll give you twenty pounds.”“It's got a slightly broken leg,” I said. “Yes, I saw that, it's nothing.”

Everything was going according to plan and I was getting excited. “What will you do with it?” I asked. “Oh, it will be easy to sell once the repair is done.”“I'll buy it,” I said. “What do you mean?” “You've just sold it to me,” he said. “Yes, I know but I've changed my mind. I am sorry. I'll give you twenty?seven pounds for it.” “You must be crazy,”he said. Then, suddenly the penny dropped. “I know what you want. You want me to repair your chair.” “You're right,”I said. “And what would you have done if I had walked in and said,‘Would you mend this chair for me?’”“I wouldn't have agreed to do it,”he said. “We don't do repairs, not enough money in it and too much trouble. But I'll mend this for you, shall we say for a fiver?” He was a very nice man and was greatly amused(感到有趣) by the whole thing.

1.We can learn from the text that in the first shop the writer_________.

A. was rather impolite

B. was warmly received

C. asked the shopkeeper to buy his chair

D. asked the shopkeeper to repair his chair 

2.The underlined word “approach” in the second paragraph means _________.

A. plan for dealing with things

B. decision to sell things

C. idea of repairing things

D. way of doing things 

3.The expression “the penny dropped” in the last paragraph means the shopkeeper _________.

A. changed his mind

B. accepted the offer

C. saw the writer's purpose

D. decided to help the writer 

4. How much did the writer pay?

A. ￡5.            B. ￡7.              C. ￡20.              D. ￡27.

5. From the text, we can learn that the writer was _________.

A. honest          B. careful           C. smart              D. funny 

“Did you scold him for his carelessness? ” “Yes, but ___ it.”

A. I’d rather not to  B. I’d rather not have done   C. I shouldn't do  D. I’d better not to