There are lots of reasons why they do this—mostly it is easy to find work, because all the big companies are in the cities and they need lots of people to work there. When there are lots of people living and working in a city, they need things like restaurants, shops, hospitals and schools. There are more jobs that people need to do. There will be lots of transport in the city to move all the people around. Everything you want will be found in the city: government offices, museums and art galleries, cinemas, big restaurants and parks.
Unfortunately(遗憾地) the city is much busier, more expensive, and more dangerous than the country. The air is not as fresh as in the country because of all the cars and trucks on the roads. There are so many people that are not as friendly—— you cannot get to know everyone as you do in the country, and people may get lonely. You do not have much room in the city——most people live in apartments——not houses, and they do not have gardens or lots of space, and because of all the people there is also a lot of noises.
The country is much cheaper to live and there are less dangerous people than you find in cities. Perhaps the best thing is that you can have a big house with a garden and it will be very quiet, but there are not many jobs or services there. There are also not many shops,
schools or hospitals. It is hard to get around in the country.
Every person is different, but more and more people are choosing to live in cities because there are so many jobs to do there. What do you think about the city?
65. Are our cities getting bigger than before?
66. Why do people move to the city?
67. What is the best thing about the country?
68. What is the problem with the country?
69. What does the writer think about cities?
7.【怀柔】
Have you ever had problems in your life and don?t know how to be happy? If so, you will find Being A Happy Teenager by Australian writer Andrew Matthews is useful.
Andrew Matthews is a writer, cartoonist and speaker. His books have been translated into 20 languages. He has been on over 2000 radios and TV programs.
In his book, Matthews tells us how to have a happy life and answers the questions of teenagers.
There are many topics such as parents and friends, and the book says we should stop being angry and forgive. The book tells us a lot of useful skills, such as how to put what you have learned into pictures of your mind to make your memory better. Many teenagers think that happiness comes from a good exam marks or praise from other people. But you can still be happy when there are no such “good” things. Success comes from a good attitude. If you learn from problems you will have success in the future.
Some school boys have problems, such as being too tall or too short. But Matthews tells us happiness comes from thinking about thing in a positive way.
If you are tall, people notice you and you can get a better view at the movie; If you are short, your clothes and shoes take less room in your bedroom.This is Matthews? most important lesson—you choose to be happy.
61. Is Andrew Matthews a writer?
62. How many languages have his books been translated into? 63. What does Matthews tell the teenagers in his book? 64. According to the writer, what does success come from? 65. What is the passage mainly about?
8.【门头沟】
One morning, a blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held a sign which said, “I am blind. Please help me.”
There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took out a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words on it. He put the sign back so that everyone walked by could see the new words.
Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, “Are you the one who changed my sign in the morning? What did you write?”
The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said, but in a different way.” What he had written was, “Today is a beautiful day, but I can?t see it.”
Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing? Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first simply told people to help by putting some money in the hat. The second sign told people that they were able to enjoy the beauty of the day, but the boy could not enjoy it because he was blind.
The first sign simply said the boy was blind, while the second sign told people they were lucky that they were not blind. There are at least two lessons we can learn from this simple story. The first is: Treasure what you have. Someone else has less. Try your best to help those who need your help. The second is: Be creative. Think differently. There is always a better way. 61. Did the boy need help?
62. What did the man write on the sign?
63. What happened after the man wrote something on the sign? 64. Why did the man come back that afternoon?
65. How did people probably feel when they saw the second sign?
9.【石景山】
Have you ever ridden a Ferris wheel lately? Can you imagine the flying feeling as you are pulled up to the top and then moved down to the bottom quickly again?
Today a Ferris wheel is usually 40 to 60 feet tall. That seems very high when you are on the top looking down. But the first Ferris wheel was 264 feet high – taller than a twenty-story
Ferris wheel building! Can you imagine the view from the top of that?
The first Ferris wheel was built for the 1893 World?s Fair in Chicago. The people who planned the fair were looking for an attraction that would bring people to Chicago. George Ferris handed a drawing of a giant wheel that people could ride on. At first everyone laughed at his strange idea. But Mr. Ferris did not give up, and finally the idea was accepted. The ride opened in June of 1893.
Today?s Ferris wheels have 12 to 16 seats, which each carry 2 or 3 people. But that first one had 36 enclosed cars, each holding 60 passengers. When filled, it carried 2,160 people. During that summer in Chicago, about 1.5 million people rode the Ferris wheel.
After the fair the ride was moved to a nearby amusement park built especially to show off the wheel. In 1904, it was moved again – to St. Louis for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. After the fair there, the wheel stood unused. In 1906 it was finally sold to a company for scrap metal (废铁). Luckily a Chicago bridge builder, W.E. Sullivan, figured out how to make a smaller Ferris wheel that could easily be taken apart and put together. In 1906 he started the company that still makes many of the Ferris wheels used today.
But, whenever you ride one, remember that it all began with George Ferris?s strange idea!
61. How tall is a Ferris wheel today? 62. What was the first Ferris wheel built for? 63. What did people think of Ferris?s idea at first?
64. How many people rode the first Ferris wheel during the summer in 1893? 65. Compared with today?s Ferris wheels, what was the first Ferris wheel like?
10.【东城】
I love travelling so you can imagine my disappointment when I knew that my local train
station would be closed for five months. Unfortunately I do not have a car but I realized that I could start carpooling.
Carpooling is the sharing of car journeys so that more than one person travels in a car. As a result, carpooling can be a cheaper choice than public transport because everyone in the car shares the cost of petrol（汽油）. I recently did carpooling for the first time and it was very easy to find a driver. I used a website which lists drivers? descriptions and found someone who was going to the same place as me. The descriptions provided a lot of information such as the driver?s first name, age and gender as well as reviews from previous（以前的）passengers. I decided to travel with a lady who had very good reviews. I paid for my share of the petrol through the website and planned to meet her in the town center.
It may seem quite dangerous to travel with a stranger but there are some safety actions. Firstly, the driver cannot receive your money until you text him or her a code（密码）at the end of your journey. This means that if you are unsatisfied with your trip, the driver will not be paid. Secondly, it is important to read quite a number of the drivers? descriptions and reviews when you choose a driver. Lastly, I would suggest travelling with a friend so that you will feel safer and less lonely.
I had a very good experience carpooling. Not only was the trip very cheap, but the driver and the other passengers were really friendly. They were all French so I had the chance to practice speaking some French. As train and petrol prices are rising, both drivers and passengers can benefit from this cheaper form of travel. More importantly, carpooling provides a fantastic opportunity to meet interesting people on your travels.
61. How did the writer usually travel before starting carpooling?
62. Who pays for the petrol when people do carpooling?
63. When can the driver receive the money from a passenger?
64. To keep safe, what does a passenger need to do when choosing a driver?
65. In the writer?s opinion, what are the advantages of carpooling?
11.【西城】
Our views towards life change over the time. When I was around five years old, I was in a car accident. At that time, I did not realize the seriousness of it and
how lucky I was to still be alive. As I look back to think what happened on that night, I now realize how lucky my family members and I were to not have gotten serious injuries.
The day of the accident started out great. My brother, Troy, and I had spent
the night before at JoAnn’s house, with Heather, and JoAnn’s husband Gary. The next day we spent playing inside the house, because it was cold, windy and rainy outside. At night, JoAnn told us we were going out and that where we were going was a surprise. The five of us climbed into an old car, and we set off for our surprise. It was still cold, windy, and raining cats and dogs outside when we left. Troy, Heather and I sat in the backseat together happily. The next thing I knew was that everything was chaos (混乱)! The road was so slick (滑的) that the car lost control. Glass was flying everywhere, and it sounded like there was noise all around us. Then it was totally quiet, except for the sound of the rain and wind. Troy, Heather and I were all lying on top of one another. The three of us were crying, not knowing what had happened. JoAnn and Gary were trying to calm (使平静) us down and kept asking us if we were all right. Luckily, none of us was injured, just a few cuts. After that I only remember sitting there in the cold, dark night waiting for Gary to get back with people to help us. We never got to the surprise that night. But at least we were able to go home in one piece.
After my brother and I got home that night, I remember my parents let us
stay up as long as we wanted to. I guess my parents were realizing just how close they came to losing us that night. As I think of the tragedy (悲剧) that could have happened on that night, I realize how precious (宝贵) life is. I treasure my family and friends, and hope that we will share a loving, caring, and rewarding lifetime together. Things seldom go the way I plan them to, but I take a deep breath, try to laugh, and make the best of it. 61. Did the accident happen at night?
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