Unit 1 Festivals around the world-Reading Task WINTER CARNIVAL IN QUEBEC
A group of very cold tourists are sitting in a café in old Quebec, drinking hot coffee to try to warm up. The temperature is 32 degrees below freezing. The windows are covered with steam from the heat inside. Outside, snow covers the streets and is piled up along the sidewalks. The music and lights of the Carnival continue, but after a whole day of watching parades, riding in horse carriages and listening to the music, their feet are freezing and their noses are red. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people come to Quebec to take part in the week-long winter festival, the biggest in the world. Everyone who comes must be prepared to keep moving, as it is too cold to stand and watch for long. Early in the morning, you can watch the snowboarding competitions on the hill overlooking the river. Competitors speed down the track and through the air as though they could fly.
The more brave of heart may try the canoe races. Five or six men paddle each canoe across the partly-frozen St Lawrence River. The fiver is full of big pieces of ice, and if you were to fall in, you would freeze in less than two minutes. One of the favourite events is the dog-sled race, in which teams of about six husky dogs pull long sleds at great speeds along a snowy track. One person runs behind the sled, shouting to the dogs to encourage them. The sound of the dogs barking, the calls of the drivers and the shouts of the crowd make an exciting
Northern experience. The dogs are beautiful strong animals, with long, thick fur and many with blue eyes.
While admiring the ice sculptures everywhere in the city, much like those in Harbin in China, you can stop with other tourists in an igloo (圆顶冰屋 ) for hot tea or coffee. It is amazing how warm these ice houses can be!
Late in the evening, you can go to the snow palace, where Bonhomme the snowman is king, and join the crowd. You can dance outside to the music of a band, who are all dressed in heavy clothes - even some of their instruments are dressed up for winter.
Finally, you will probably want to sit down in a caf6 to warm up and to plan tomorrow. You might join the snowmobile races - or maybe you should just sleep in!
Unit 2 Healthy eating-Reading Task FOR BUILDING A MCDONALD’S
I was excited when I heard that our community was to have its own McDonald's restaurant. I thought about all those young people who would not have to go to the next town to buy their favourite burgers and chips. McDonald's cares about healthy eating too and works with scientists to provide food that is of high quality, safe and healthy. It is also cheap. They often provide salads as well as burgers and chips. You can also choose between cola and milk shakes (奶昔). Of course it also means more work for our area that needs jobs badly.
McDonald's says they are interested in doing what is fight for the community and being a good neighbour. So I think they will be concerned about providing parking for the cars in our main street. Many of our young people will be only too happy to work for the company. McDonald's makes a promise to the people who work for them. They say, \to the company.\restaurant in our town.
AGAINST BUILDINCI A MCDONALD’S I am very worried about McDonald's building a restaurant in our hometown. We are a small community and we enjoy our local dishes. I am not sure if McDonald's food is as healthy as they say in their advertisements. When scientists look at it carefully, they find high levels of fat, sugar and salt. This is very worrying. Too many young people are getting fat through eating too much fatty food. McDonald's is not giving young people a good idea of what a healthy diet should be. Local Chinese food, on the other hand, is full of fresh vegetables and fresh meat and fish. The food at a McDonald's restaurant is always the same, so I wonder if it is made or brought in from elsewhere. Although it is freshly cooked, it must be less healthy than our own locally grown and cooked Chinese food.
I also worry about all those cars bringing people to buy food at
McDonald's. First, there will be petrol fumes (气体), which will make our clean air dirty. Second, there is the problem of all those cars that try to park and prevent other cars from moving quickly through our town.
I am sure many young people will be happy to work for McDonald's but will they be treated fairly? In America, McDonald's does not allow workers' unions to operate in its restaurants and these are people who speak up for the workers. If, as they say, the workers are happy with them, why should they fear some workers joining a union?
So when I consider the food, the cars and the jobs, I think we should not allow McDonald's to build their restaurant in our town. Unit 3 The Million Pound Bank NoteReading and Speaking Task
THE MILLION POUND BANK NOTE
NARRATOR: At the end of the month, Henry was very rich and didn't fear jail. Dressed in the finest clothes, he drove by the brothers' house in Portland Place and, seeing they were back, went to get Portia at her friend's home.
HENRY: My dear, the way you look today, it would be a crime not to ask for a good salary for the lob they'll give to me.
PORTIA: Oh, please remember that if we ask for too much we may get no salary at all; and then what'll happen to us, with no way in the world to earn a living?
(At the brothers' home, the servant lets them in. The two brothers are seated, waiting.)
HENRY: Good morning, gentlemen. ( Roderick seems very surprised to see Portia ) Portia, these are the men who helped me.
PORTIA: So very nice to meet you, kind sirs. (She gives Oliver a wink with one eye.)
HENRY: Gentlemen, I'm ready to report. RODERICK: Er ... Portia, I ...
OLIVER: We're both glad to hear it, for now we can decide the bet which Roderick and I made. If you've won for me, you shall have any job as my gift. Have you got the million pound bank note? HENRY: Here it is, sir.
OLIVER: I've won! Now what do you say, Roderick?
RODERICK: I say that I've lost twenty thousand pounds. I never would have believed it. Why, that is amazing, man! HENRY: Come, let's be going now, Portia.
OLIVER: But wait, wait! The job, you know. I must give you a job, as I promised.
HENRY: Well, thank you very much, but I really don't want one now. PORTIA: Henry, I'm disappointed (失望的) in you. You didn't thank the gentlemen properly. May I do it for you? HENRY: Let me see you try.
(Portia walks over to Roderick and gives him a hug. Then she sits in Oliver's lap, puts her arms around his neck and kisses him on the cheek. Oliver begins laughing.)
PORTIA: Papa, he says he doesn't want anything else from you.