With the growth of the European Union and increased globalisation, English is increasingly the lingua franc a(通用語) in European businesses, and those who speak it have become the elite (精英)of the workforce.
In the past, only a few specialists in a company were needed to communicate with foreign businesses.However, in these days of multinational companies, where workers are required to communicate with other employees from several countries, a common language is essential and English has become the logical choice.
Nowadays, even blue-collar workers in many companies are required to speak English.For example, just over three years ago, a Dutch company.United Pan-European Communications (UPC), was contracted to build a TV studio in Amsterdam.The job involved many electricians—more than the company could find in the Netherlands.There were plenty of qualified electricians in nearby France and Belgium, but the American and Dutch executives of UPC wanted everyone on the job to speak and understand the same language.So, the UPC hired British electricians and flew them to Amsterdam every Monday, accommodating them in hotels all over the city, and flying them home on Friday evenings.
Increasingly, workers who can speak English earn salaries 25-35% higher than those who can' t.They are also eligible (有條件被選中的) for a wider range of high-level jobs.
The problem is that, while the ability to speak English is fast becoming essential for getting a good job, there is a shortage of people who can speak it.According to a recent European Commission report, only about 41% of continental Europeans can speak English, and only 29% speak it well enough to carry on a conversation.Many companies are solving this problem by setting up English language schools within the workplace.English language schools all over Europe are expanding at a huge rate, and governments are looking at ways to improve English tuition in schools.
One result of this modem urge to learn English is that a generation gap is appearing. According to a European Union study, 67% of Europeans between 15 and 24 say they can speak English while only 18% of those over 55 say they can.Increasingly, all over Europe, it is the children who are leading the parents.
小題1:In European companies, workers who speak English ________.
A.find it easy to carry on a conversationB.have an advantage over other workers
C.must be white-collar workersD.travel to many different countries
小題2:Why did the UPC hire the British electricians?
A.There were not enough electricians in nearby France and Belgium.
B.British electricians were more qualified than those in the Netherlands.
C.The UPC wanted all the employees to speak English.
D.The UPC meant to show they were rich enough to accommodate and fly them.
小題3:What can you learn from the passage about European people?
A.More young people can speak English well than older people.
B.67% Europeans can speak English very well.
C.18% of the people over 55 can't speak English.
D.Over half the people can speak English.
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科目:高中英語 來源:不詳 題型:閱讀理解

People have strange ideas about food. For example, the tomato is a kind of very delicious vegetable. It is one of useful plants that can be prepared in many ways. It has rich nutrition and vitamin in it. But in the 18th century, Americans never ate tomatoes. They grew them in their gardens because tomato plants are so pretty. But they thought the vegetable was poisonous (有毒的). They called tomatoes “poison apples.”
President Thomas Jefferson, however, knew that tomatoes were good to eat. He was a learned man. He had been to Paris, where he learned to love the taste of tomatoes. He grew many kinds of tomatoes in his garden. The President taught his cook a way for a cream of tomato soup. This beautiful pink soup was served at the President’s party. The guests thought the soup tasted really good. They never thought their president would serve his honored guests poison apples.
Jefferson never spoke to his honored (忠實的) guests about the fact.
小題1:The passage tells us that Jefferson was a President who learned to love the taste of tomatoes       .
A.while he was in ParisB.when he was a little boy
C.because his parents told him soD.from books
小題2: According to the text, _______ made the beautiful pink soup served at the President’s party?
A.the President himselfB.a(chǎn) French cook
C.the President’s cookD.the President’s wife
小題3: From the passage we know all the honored guests invited by Jefferson were       .
A.people from other countriesB.from France
C.people of his own countryD.men only
小題4:According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?
A.All of the guests knew the soup that was served at the President’s party was made of tomatoes.
B.All of the guests thought the soup which was prepared by the President’s cook was nice.
C.All of the guests thought the taste of the beautiful pink soup was nice.
D.None of the guests knew that their president would serve his honored guests poison apples

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科目:高中英語 來源:不詳 題型:閱讀理解

When a Swedish ship that sank in 1628 was recovered from the port of Stockholm, historians and scientists were overjoyed with the chance to examine the remains of the past. The ship construction showed how ships were built and operated during the seventeenth century. In this way, artifacts, objects made by human beings, provided a picture of daily life almost 400 years ago.
Underwater archaeology __the study of ships, aircraft and human settlements that have sunk under large bodies of water is really a product of the last 50 years. The rapid growth of this new area of study has occurred because of the invention of better diving equipment .Besides the Swedish ship wreck(殘。,underwater archaeologists have made more exciting discoveries such as the  5000-year-old boats in the Mediterranean Sea.
Underwater archaeology can provide facts about the past. In ancient ports all over the world are ships sunken in the past 6,000 years. There are also sunken settlements in seas and lakes telling of people way of life and their systems of trade in ancient times. Underwater archaeologists want to study these objects to add to the world’s knowledge of history, but they have to fight two enemies. One enemy is treasure hunters who dive for ancient artifacts that they can sell to collectors. Once sold, these objects are lost to experts. The second enemy is dredging machines(挖掘機)often used to repair ports. These machines destroy wrecks and artifacts or bury them deeper under sand and mud. By teaching the public about the importance of underwater “museums” of the past, archaeologists are hoping to get support for laws to protect underwater treasures.
小題1:What purpose does Paragraph 1 serve in the passage?
A.To provide background information of the topic
B.To attract readers’ attention to the topic
C.To use an example to support the topic
D.To offer basic knowledge of the topic
小題2:The aim of underwater archaeology is to    .
A.exploit water bodies
B.search for underwater life
C.study underwater artifacts
D.examine underwater environment
小題3:Underwater archaeologists are worried because_____.
A.sea hunters have better diving equipment 
B.their knowledge of world history is limited 
C.dredging machines cause damage to the ports 
D.sold artifacts can hardly be regained for research
小題4:What is the main purpose of the passage?
A.To introduce a young branch of learning. 
B.To discuss the scientists’ problems. 
C.To explain people’s way of life in the past. 
D.To describe the sunken ships.

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科目:高中英語 來源:不詳 題型:閱讀理解


When Scotsman Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, it was a revolution in communication.Over the last two decades a new means of spoken communication has emerged: the mobile phone.
The modern mobile phone is a more complex version of the two-way radio.Traditional two-way radio was a very limited means of communication.As soon as the users moved out of range of each other’s broadcast area, the signal was lost.In the 1940s, researchers began experimenting with the idea of using a number of radio masts (天線桿)located around to pick up signals from two-way radios.A caller would always be within range of one of the masts; when he or she moved too far away from one mast, the next mast would pick up the signal.(Scientists referred to each mast’s reception area as being a separate "cell"; this is why in.many countries mobile phones are called "cell phones".)
The first real mobile telephone call was made in 1973 by Dr Martin Cooper.As soon as his invention was completed,, he tested it by calling another scientist to announce his success.Within a decade, mobile phones became available to the public.They have changed the way we do a lot of things.One powerful feature is the Short Message Service (SMS) or text message.It’s the perfect communication method for the busy modern lifestyle.Going to be late? Send a text message! The text message has changed the way we write in English.The language construction became less strict.Traditional rules of grammar and spelling are much less important when you’re sitting on the bus, hurriedly typing "Will B 15mm late-C U @ the bar.(I will be 15 minutes late to see you at the
bar.) Sorry!".
Over the last few years mobiles have become more and more advanced.We have seen the instruction of cameras, global positioning system and Internet access.
Alexander Graham Bell would be surprised if he could see how far the science of telephone has progressed in less than 150 years.If he were around today, he might say: "That’s gr8(great)! But I’m busy rite now(I am very busy right now).Will call U2nite(I will call you tonight.)."
小題1:The writing style of the passage is a (an)___.
A.narrativeB.descriptionC.essayD.review
小題2:The article is intended to__     _.
A.warn people of the possible risks in using mobile phones
B.inform readers of the history and benefits of mobile phones
C.convince people of the uses of mobile phones
D.predict the applications of mobile phones
小題3:What do you think of the writer according to the last paragraph.
A.Humorous.B.Ironic.C.Kind.D.Worried.

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科目:高中英語 來源:不詳 題型:閱讀理解

In ancient Egypt, the pharaoh(法老)treated the poor message runner like a prince when he arrived at the palace, if he brought good news. However, if the exhausted runner had the misfortune to bring the pharaoh unhappy news, his head was cut off.
Shades of that spirit spread over today’s conversations. Once a friend and I packed up some peanut butter and sandwiches for an outing. As we walked light-heartedly out the door, picnic basket in hand, a smiling neighbor looked up at the sky and said, ”O(jiān)h boy, bad day for a picnic. The weatherman says it’s going to rain.”I wanted to strike him on the face with the peanut butter and sandwiches. Not for his stupid weather report, for his while
Several months ago I was racing to catch  a him As I breathlessly put my handful of cash across the Grey hound counter, the sales agent said with a broad smile ,”O(jiān)h that bus left five minutes ago.”Dreams of head-cutting!
It’s not the news that makes someone angry. It’s the unsympathetic attitude with which it’s the unsympathetic attitude with which it’s delivered. Everyone must give bad news from time to time, and winning professionals do it with the proper attitude. A doctor advising a patient that she needs an operation does it in a caring way. A boss informing an employee he didn’t get the job takes on a sympathetic tone. Big winners know, when delivering any bad news, they should share the feeling of the receiver.
Unfortunately, many people are not aware of this. When you’re tired from a long flight, has a hotel clerk cheerfully said that your room isn’t ready yet? When you had your heart set on the toast beef, has your waiter mainly told you that he just served the last piece? It makes you as traveler or diner want to land your fist right on their unsympathetic faces.
Had my neighbor told me of the upcoming rainstorm with sympathy, I would have appreciated his warming .Had the Greyhound salesclerk sympathetically informed me that my bus had already left, I probably would have said, ” Oh, that’s all right I’ll catch the next one.” Big winners, when they bear bad news ,deliver bombs with the emotion the bombarded(被轟炸的)person is sure to have.
小題1:In Paragraph 1,the writer tells the story of the pharaoh to ____.
A.make a comparisonB.introduce a topic
C.describe a sceneD.offer an argument
小題2:In the writer’s opinion, his neighbor was ___.
A.friendlyB.warm-heartedC.not considerateD.not helpful
小題3:From “Dreams of head-cutting!”(Paragraph3),we learn that the writer___.
A.was mad at the sales agent
B.was reminded of the cruel pharaoh
C.wished that the sales agent would have had dreams
D.dreamed of cutting the sales agent’s head that night.
小題4:What is the main idea of the text?
A.Delivering bad news properly is important in communication.
B.Helping others sincerely is the key to business success.
C.Receiving bad news requires great courage.
D.Learning ancient traditions can be useful.

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科目:高中英語 來源:不詳 題型:閱讀理解

“The Lord of the Rings”, one of the best sellers in the new millennium(千年), was made up of three parts—“The Fellow Ship of the Ring”, “Two Towers”, and “The Return of the King”. Millions upon millions of people have read it in over 25 different languages, but fewer know about the author and the history of the composition of the creative masterwork.
John Ronald Refuel Tolkien was born in South Africa in 1892. His parents died when he was a child. Living in England with his aunt, Tolkien and his cousins made up play languages, a hobby that led to Tolkien’s becoming skilled in Welsh, Greek, Gothic, Old Norse and Anglo—Saxon.
After graduating from Oxford, Tolkien served in World War I. In 1917, while recovering from trench fever he began composing the mythology for The Rings. As a professor of Anglo-Saxon in the 1930s at Oxford, Tolkien was part of an informal discussion group called the Inklings, which included several writers. The group was soon 1istening to chapters of Tolkien’s imaginative work “The Hobbit”.
Hobbit was a name Tolkien created for people that could best be described as half-sized members of the English rural(鄉(xiāng)村的)class. Hobbits live in hillside holes. One of them,Bilbo Baggins, looks for treasures with a group of dwarves(侏儒). On the way, he meets the twisted, pitiful creature Gollum, from whom he sees a golden ring that makes the holder invisible.
One of Tolkien’s students persuaded her employer, publisher Allen & Unwind, to look at a draft (草稿). The chairman of the firm, Stanley Unwind, thought that the best judge for a Children’s book would be his ten-year-old son. The boy earned a shilling for reporting back that the adventure was exciting, and “The Hobbit” was published in 1937.
It sold so well that Unwind asked for a continuation. Over a dozen years later, in 1954, Tolkien produced “The Lord of the Rings”, a series of books so creative that they hold readers both new and old -- after their publication.
小題1:What can we learn from the text?
A.“The Lord of the Rings” didn't sell well in the last millennium.
B.People know better about Tolkien himself than about his works.
C.Tolkien was quite familiar with Old English.
D.Tolkien knew very well about different kinds of local languages in Africa.
小題2:What can we learn about "Hobbit" that Tolkien created in his works?
A.Hobbit was a race living in English downtown areas.
B.Hobbit was a local people who were very tall and strong.
C.Hobbit was a social group of people who lived in old castles.
D.Hobbit was a group of people who were mostly dwarves.
小題3: Which of the following helped most in making “The Hobbit” published?
A.One of Tolkien's students. B.Stanley Unwind's son.
C.Allen & Unwind. D.Bilbo Baggins.
小題4:What is mainly discussed in the text?
A.“The Lord of the Rings” and its writer.
B.A completely new masterwork in the new millennium.
C.A famous professor at Oxford University.
D.The power of the magic ring.
小題5: Which of the following shows the right order of Mr. Tolkien's life experience?
a. He had his “The Hobbit” published.
b. He became a member of the Inklings.
c. He served in World War I.
d. He became an undergraduate at Oxford.
e. His work “The Lord of the Rings” came to the world.
f. He moved to England to live with his aunt.
A.f-d-b-c-a-e B.f-d-c-b-a-e
C.f-c-d-b-e-a D.d-f-c-a-b-e

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科目:高中英語 來源:不詳 題型:閱讀理解

Lacrosse(長曲棍球)is a popular sport in Canada. It is one of the oldest organized sports in America. The Indians in northern New York State and southern Ontario, Canada, invented it. They used it to train for war. They invented this game before Columbus arrived in the New World.
People play lacrosse outdoors. The lacrosse field is seven metres long. At each end of the field there is a net. There are ten players on each team. Each player has a stick called “crosse”. The players hit a ball that is 21 centimetres around and weighs 140 grams. They try to hit the ball into the net as many times as possible. Lacrosse is a very fast game because the players can catch and pass the ball at a high speed with their sticks.
At one time lacrosse was the national summer sport in Canada. It is also popular in Britain and Australia.
小題1:
________ invented the popular sport — Lacrosse.
A.The BritishB.The SpanishC.The Indians D.The Australians
小題2:
Lacrosse was invented because it was used to ________.
A.honour God B.have fun C.lose weight D.train for war
小題3:
The seven-metre-long lacrosse field has _________.
A.only one net B.one net at each end
C.two nets at each end D.four nets at each end
小題4:
Who will be the winner in the lacrosse game? ________.
A.The team who hit the ball into the net more times
B.The team who catch and pass the ball faster
C.The team who have many more stronger players
D.The team who use sticks to hit the ball farther

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科目:高中英語 來源:不詳 題型:閱讀理解

Coffee has a history dating back to at least the 9th century and has been a catalyst for social interaction across cultures and eras. Originally discovered in Ethiopia, coffee beans were brought into the Middle East by Arab traders, spreading to Egypt, Yemen, Persia, Turkey, and North Africa by the 15th century. Muslim merchants eventually brought the beans to the thriving port city of Venice, where they sold them to wealthy Italian buyers. Soon, the Dutch began importing and growing coffee in places like Java and Ceylon (largely through slave labor), and the British East India Trading Company was popularizing the beverage in England. Coffee spread across Europe and even reached America.
Where there has been coffee, there has been the coffeehouse. From the 15th century Middle Eastern establishments where men gathered to listen to music, play chess, and hear recitations from works of literature, to Paris' Cafe le Procope where luminaries of the French Enlightenment such as Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot came to enjoy a hot cup of joe, coffeehouses have traditionally served as centers of social interaction, places where people can come to relax, chat, and exchange ideas.
The modern coffee shop is modeled on the espresso and pastry-centered Italian coffeehouses that arose with the establishment of Italian-American immigrant communities in major US cities such as New York City's Little Italy and Greenwich Village, Boston's North End, and San Francisco's North Beach. New York coffee shops were often frequented by the Beats in the 1950's. It wasn't long before Seattle and other parts of the Pacific Northwest were developing coffee shops as part of a thriving counterculture scene. The Seattle-based Starbucks took this model and brought it into mainstream culture.
Although coffeehouses today continue to serve their traditional purpose as lively social hubs in many communities, they have noticeably adapted to the times. Rediscovering their purpose as centers of information exchange and communication, many coffee shops now provide their customers with internet access and newspapers. It has become extremely common to see someone sitting at a Starbucks listening to music or surfing the web on his or her laptop. Coffee stores today also maintain a fairly identifiable, yet unique aesthetic: wooden furniture and plush couches, paintings and murals drawn on walls, and soft-lighting combine to give coffee shops the cozy feeling of a home away from home.
Today, big business retail coffee shops are expanding quickly all over the world. Starbucks alone has stores in over 40 countries and plans to add more. Despite its popularity, Starbucks has been criticized and labeled by many as a blood-sucking corporate machine, driving smaller coffee shops out of business through unfair practices. This has even spawned an anti-corporate coffee counterculture, with those subscribing to this culture boycotting big business coffee chains. Increasingly popular coffee stores such as The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf are also giving Starbucks some stiff competition. In any case, it seems pretty clear that coffee has weaved itself into the fabric of our consumer-oriented culture.
小題1: Which of the following is the correct order of coffee spreading in history?
①Egypt         ②America   ③the Middle East   ④Netherlands   ⑤Venice
A.①③④②⑤B.③①⑤④②C.①⑤④③②D.③②⑤④①
小題2:We can infer from the passage ________.
A.Starbucks has beaten all the competitors
B.there are no changes in the development of coffee culture
C.the taste of coffee has changed a lot
D.Starbucks has some effect on the development of coffee culture
小題3:The famous coffeehouse “Starbucks” originally come from _______.
A.SeattleB.EthiopiaC.JavaD.France
小題4: Nowadays, if you come to a coffeehouse, you can _______.
A.play chess with other customers
B.enjoy delicious dishes from South America
C.surf the internet
D.watch a TV play

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科目:高中英語 來源:不詳 題型:閱讀理解

The Chinese invented paper in 105 A. D. They mixed the bark of a tree and rags (破布) with water, put a screen into the mixture, and lifted out a thin piece of wet paper. They dried the paper in the sun.
The Chinese kept their secret of how to make paper until a war with Muslims in the ninth century. The art of papermaking soon spread throughout the Muslim world.
The Mayan Indians in Central America and Pacific Islanders also discovered how to make paper, but their knowledge never spread to the rest of the world.
For centuries, all paper was made by hand. Rags were the main material. Then a French scientist discovered that people could make paper from wood, too. Finally, in the eighteenth century. a Frenchman invented a machine to make paper from wood.
小題1:Who discovered how to make paper?
A.The Chinese.B.The Pacific Islanders.
C.The Mayan Indians.D.All of the above.
小題2: When did the Chinese invent paper according to the passage?
A.About 1 ,800 years ago.B.About 1, 900 years ago.
C.About 2, 000 years ago.D.About 2, 100 years ago.
小題3: How was papermaking introduced into the rest of the world from China?
A.Through wars.B.Through the Muslims.
C.Through the Mayan Indians.D.Through the Pacific Islanders.
小題4:Which of the following is the best title for this passage?
A.The Invention of Paper.B.The History of Papermaking.
C.Different Ways of Making Paper.D.The Invention of a Papermaking Machine.

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