Britain’s symbolic red phone boxes have become out of date in the age of the mobile, but villages across the country are stepping in to save them, with creative intelligence. Whether as a place to exhibit art, poetry, or even as a tiny library, hundreds of phone boxes have been given a new life by local communities determined to preserve a typical part of British life. In Waterperry, a small village near Oxford, the 120 residents have filled the phone box next to the old house with a pot of flowers, piles of gardening and cooking magazines, and stuck poems on the walls.

They took control of the phone box when telecoms operator BT said it was going to pull it down, an announcement that caused such dissatisfaction that one local woman threatened to chain herself to the box to save it. “I’d have done it, “ insisted Kendall Turner. “It would have been heartbreaking for the village. “ Local councilor Tricia Hallam, who came up with the idea for the phone box’s change, said quite a few people would have joined her, adding, “ We couldn’t let it go because it’s a British symbol.”

Only three feet by three feet wide, and standing 2.51-meter tall, the phone boxes were designed by Giles Gilbert Scott in 1936 for the 25^th anniversary of the reign of King George V. Painted in “Post Office red” to match the post boxes, they were once a typical image of England and the backdrop(背景) to millions of tourist photographs.

Eight years ago there were about 17,000 across Britain, but today, in a country where almost everybody has a mobile phone, 58 percent are no longer profitable and ten percent are only used once a month. “On average, maintaining them costs ￡800 a year per phone box-about ￡44 million annually,” said John Lumb, general manager for BT Payphones.

Some red phone boxes in Britain have been used for ____.

a. selling flowers    b. cooking   c. reading  d. exhibiting art or poetry

A. a, b   B. c, d   C. a,b,c  D. b,c,d

Why do the villagers want to keep the red phone boxes?

A. Because millions of people visit Britain to see the red phone boxes.

B. Because the local people could earn a lot of money from the red phone boxes.

C. Because the red phone boxes have already become a symbol of Britain.

D. Because the red phone boxes may be useful for some people in emergency.

What is the color of the British post boxes according to the passage?

A. Green   B. Red     C. Black    D. Yellow

What is John Lumb’s attitude towards pulling down the red phone boxes?

A. supportive   B. Opposed   C. Neutral    D. Indifferent.

Nine out of 10 people have run up unsecured debt and many fear they will never be able to pay back what they owe, a survey has claimed.

       Around 89% of people aged between l|8 and 35 said they owed money on a credit card, loan or overdraft, the research showed．

         A third of people admitted they did not think- they would ever be debt-free, 54% of whom said they would always need to borrow money in order to fund the lifestyle they wanted．

         One in five of these people also claimed they were not worried about the possibility of their debts being passed on to their next of kin if they died before they were repaid．

         Just over half who owed money said they did not feel in control of their debt, with 8% admitting they had needed to ask for help with repayments from a friend or family member．Eight out of 10 people also told the research for discount website MyVoucherCodes．co．uk that they thought it was too easy to borrow money through their bank or on credit cards．

         Farhad Farhadi, MyVoucherCodes．co．uk’s personal finance expert, said: "The majority of British adults owe money m some way, shape or form, but to see that almost a third think they'll never be free c ^ from debt is quite alarming．

         "When borrowing money from any source, how you are going to repay it should always be in the back of your mind．

         "A lot of people don't-really think about 'die consequences of borrowing money and it can be easy to get complacent, but keeping it all under control should be a priority from the off．Only borrow what you really think you can afford to pay back．"

1.The best title for this passage is_________．

         A．I'll die in debt, say one in three       B．Desperate British

         C．The beginning of the end             D．Borrowing money from any source

2.Which of the following is NOT true?    

         A．Most British adults are in debt in some v/ay．

         B．It is hard for the British to borrow money through their bank．

         C．Lots of people do not take repaying money seriously．

         D．This passage is a warning for the British．

3.What does the underlined phrase mean?  

         A．end with                   B．from the start  

       C．ever since               D．fore ever

4.What does Farhad mean by saying "the majority of British adults owe money in some way, shape or form"? 

         A．It is natural to owe money m Britain so there in no need to worry．

         B．It is natural to owe money in Britain as long as you are in control．

     C．It does not matter to owe money in Britain if you are rich enough．

         D．It seems that the British enjoy owing money in some way．

第一节、根据汉语或首字母提示结合句意写出正确的单词（共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分）
76.  ________(不知怎么地) it didn’t seem very important to her.
77.  A f_____ teller would say that he can tell everything about a person from looking at the palm of his hand.
78.    He can’t _______(抵抗...的诱惑) ice cream.
79.    His suggestion was accepted by all present at the conference as it sounded___________(合理的).
80.    The police made an  ___________( 逮捕) in our neighbourhood last night. 
81.    He has got a train ticket v_______ for three months, so he can decide to go out at any time.
82.    If you think you can drink so much without damaging your health, then you’re m__________.
83.    In the word “knife”, the letter “k” is not p___________.
84.    They were ________(打断) by a knock at the door
85.    If you have any questions, please don’t h__________ to ask me.

V Reading

Ellas’ story

My name is Ellas .I am a poor black worker in South Africa .The time when I first met Nelson Mandela was a very difficult period of my life .I was twelve years old . It was in 1952 and he had opened a black law firm to advise black poor people on their problems .

I began school at six . The school where I studied only two years was three kilometers away. I had to leave, because my family could not continue to pay the school fees and the bus fare .I could not read or write. After trying hard ,I got a job in a gold mine, This was a time when one had got to have a passbook to live in Johannesburg. Sadly I did not have this passbook because I was not born there and I was worried about whether I would be out of work.

The day when Nelson Mandela told me what to do and helped me was one of the happiest days of my life .He told me how to get the correct papers so I could stay in Johannesburg .I never forgot how kind he was and when he organized the ANC Youth League ,I joined it as soon as I could .He said:

“The last thirty years have seen the greatest number of laws stopping our rights and progress, until today we have reached a stage where we have almost no rights at all.”

It was the truth .Black people has no vote and could not choose who ruled them .The parts of town where they lived were places decided by white people .They could not get jobs they wanted .The places there they were sent to live were the poorest areas in South Africa .No one could grow food there .In fact as  Nelson Mandela said:

“…we were put in a position in which we had either to accept we were less important ,or fight the Government .We chose to attack the law .We first broke the law in a way which was peaceful ;when this was not allowed… only then did we decide to answer violence with violence.”

As a matter of fact, I do not like violence… but in 1963 I helped him blow up some government buildings .It was very dangerous because if I was caught I could be put in prison for years .But I was happy to help because I knew it was to realize our dream of making black and white people equal.

1 Read the text and answer the following questions.

1) When and where was the writer born?

2) What difficulty did he meet when he worked in a gold mine in Johannesburg?      

3 )why did Mandela organize the ANC Youth League?      

4 )What position were the black in and what did they do

Nine out of 10 people have run up unsecured debt and many fear they will never be able to pay back what they owe, a survey has claimed.
Around 89% of people aged between l|8 and 35 said they owed money on a credit card, loan or overdraft, the research showed．
A third of people admitted they did not think- they would ever be debt-free, 54% of whom said they would always need to borrow money in order to fund the lifestyle they wanted．
One in five of these people also claimed they were not worried about the possibility of their debts being passed on to their next of kin if they died before they were repaid．
Just over half who owed money said they did not feel in control of their debt, with 8% admitting they had needed to ask for help with repayments from a friend or family member．Eight out of 10 people also told the research for discount website MyVoucherCodes．co．uk that they thought it was too easy to borrow money through their bank or on credit cards．
Farhad Farhadi, MyVoucherCodes．co．uk’s personal finance expert, said: "The majority of British adults owe money m some way, shape or form, but to see that almost a third think they’ll never be free c ^ from debt is quite alarming．
"When borrowing money from any source, how you are going to repay it should always be in the back of your mind．
"A lot of people don’t-really think about ’die consequences of borrowing money and it can be easy to get complacent, but keeping it all under control should be a priority from the off．Only borrow what you really think you can afford to pay back．"
【小题1】The best title for this passage is_________．