As you are students of English, it's very possible that you'll be interested in England. That's where the language was first spoken. But England is often called by other names. This often confuses people and I wonder if you know what these names mean. So, now I would like to tell you about this matter of names. I believe that you have heard people use the names--England, Britain or Great Britain. Let's see what each of these names means. If you look at a map of Europe, you'll see a group of islands--one larger island off the northwest coast, one smaller and many tiny ones. These make up what is called the British Isles. The largest island of the British Isles is Britain. It is also called Great Britain. The smaller island is Ireland. Britain is divided into three parts: Scotland, Wales and England. But sometimes the word "England" is used instead of "Britain". Why so? In ancient times, what is Britain now used to be three different countries. People in these different countries spoke different languages. Over many years the three countries became one. England is the largest and richest of the three and it has the most people. So the English people take it for granted that their own name stands for the whole island. There's another thing that confuses people: sometimes you may hear people say "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". That is the official name of the country. Northern Ireland is only one sixth of the island of Ireland. The rest of the island is an independent state, called the Republic of Ireland. So we have the names of "England", "Britain", "Great Britain", and "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". Now do you know what each of them means? English was first spoken in _ . A) Britain B) England C) Great Britain D) Ireland
B
(Question)
While Nick was on the bus, reading his newspaper, the man sitting next to him suddenly pushed a large envelope into his hands. "Here, take this!" the man said, stood up and got off the bus before Nick could say a word. Nick sat there, holding the envelope. It felt heavy. There were papers inside, or money perhaps. "I'd better hand it over to the police," he thought. There was a police station close to his office. But, as he got off the bus, a man came to him. He seemed to be waiting for something. "He wants the envelope," Nick thought. Nick began to walk quickly, and the man hurried after him. Nick started to run, and the man began to run, too. But then, just before he got to the police station, Nick managed to lose the man in the crowds. When he entered the police station, the man was no longer in sight. Inside the police station, Nick handed over the envelope to a policeman in charge. The man opened it. The envelope was full of money, false money. "Clearly the man made a mistake," the policeman said. "He thought you were one of the gang !" Nick felt like a hero. He could already see his name in all the papers. He could imagine an interview on television. "However," the policeman went on, "I'm afraid I must ask you to keep quiet about all this. We're trying to catch some very clever thieves, and we don't want them to know that we have some of the money. So you mustn't say a word to anyone -- not even your boss!" What is the main idea of the passage? A) Nick had an unusual experience. B) Nick became a hero. C) A gang of thieves were caught. D) A gang of thieves made a mistake.
(Answer)
A
Ques: They sit by the door waiting for me. And while I may speak more about the narrowness of my very limited life than their real worth, just the fact that they're sitting there, waiting for me, makes me happy. I speak, of course, of my wonderful, brilliant, intelligently designed, calf-high rubber boots. They are a piece of industrial genius . They are real and vibrant , and make my life more worth living. My rubber boots are real and they do not fail me. I slip them on over my socks at a moment's notice. They go on easily. My feet feel joyful like the wagging tail of a dog waiting for its walk. My feet know they are safe. I step outside the house and nothing can stop me--the late season snowstorm, the pool of standing water at the bottom of my doorsteps that will never give off, the mud and dirt this season brings. My feet are warm and dry and happy. And so am I. My boots are modest. They make no promise they can't keep. I found them at one-third the price of the long boots I looked at longingly for years. Mine are American-made and inexpensive and unattractive and brown and solid. They are now three years old and still look new. I know I will have them forever. I will die with them on. They are homely and they are wonderful. My rubber boots make me braver and kinder and more generous. Yes, I will get the mail. Yes, I will get the newspaper. Yes, I will walk the dog. Yes to the garbage. Yes. Yes. Yes. I have rubber boots, good strong rubber boots--and I am not afraid. We can infer from the passage that _ . A) the writer has a small life circle B) it must be very cold in winter where the writer lives C) the writer enjoys the dog wagging its tail D) the boots are designed by an industrial talent
Ans: B
Ques: You're walking down the street, minding your own business, when you see a snowball. No big deal, right? Except that the snowball is as tall as you are and weighs about a ton. Did we mention that it's June? That's the experience thousands of Londoners had when they crossed paths with "Snowballs in Summer", the brainchild of artist Andy Goldsworthy. Goldsworthy makes sculpture from all sorts of things he finds outside-leaves, earth, and rocks, as well as ice and snow. He wanted to find out how busy city people would react to an unexpected snowball melting in their midst. During the winter of 2005, he rolled 13 giant snowballs near his home in prefix = st1 /Scotland. He filled each one with a surprise in the center-such as pebbles, berries, feathers, or sheep's wool which would emerge as the snow melted. The finished snowballs were stored in a deep freeze until summer, then transported toLondonin refrigerated trucks. At midnight on June 21, 2006, while the city slept, Goldsworthy and his co-conspirators rolled their snowballs into place. People walking to work or school must have thought the sky was falling when they stumbled across snowballs of the size of baby elephants. Some of them had never even seen snow in real life, and they couldn't resist poking the snowballs or even breaking off a chunk . As the snow started to melt, things got even more interesting. The perfectly round snowballs took on different shapes as the stuff inside began to poke through. Two days later, most of Goldsworthy's snowballs were gone, and their fillings scattered. But Londoners were left with a really good story about that odd summer day when the snowballs came. What is really special about the snowballs is that_. A) they lie in the street B) they are in the shape of baby elephants C) they have pebbles, berries, feathers in them D) they appear in June
Ans:
D