Would you like to be a king or queen? To have people waiting on you hand and foot? Many Americans experience this royal treatment every day. How? By being customers. The American idea of customer service is to make each customer the center of attention. Need proof? Just listen to the commercials. Most of them sound like the McDonald’s ad: “We do it all for you.” Actually, not all stores in America roll out the red carpet for their customers. But wherever you go, good customer service means making customers feel special.
People going shopping in America can expect to be treated with respect from the very beginning. Most places don’t have a “furniture street” or a “computer road” which allow you to compare prices easily. Instead, people often “let their fingers do the walking” through the store hot lines. From the first “hello”, customers receive a satisfying response to their questions. This initial contact can help them decide where to shop.
When customers get to the store, they are treated as honored guests. Customers don’t usually find store clerks sitting around watching TV or playing cards. Instead, the clerks greet them warmly and offer to help them find what they want. In most stores, the clear signs that label each department make shopping a breeze. Customers usually don’t have to ask how much items cost, since prices are clearly marked. And unless they’re at a flea market or a yard sale, they don’t bother trying to bargain.
When customers are ready to check out, they find the nearest and shortest checkout lane. But as Murphy’s Law would have it, whichever lane they get in, all the other lanes will move faster. Good stores open new checkout lanes when the lanes get too long. Some even offer express lanes for customers with 10 items or less. After they pay for their purchases, customers receive a smile and a warm “thank you” from the clerk. Many stores even allow customers to take their shopping carts out to the parking lot. That way, they don’t have to carry heavy bags out to the car.
【小题1】 By quoting (引用) the McDonald’s ad: “We do it all for you”, the author intends to_______.

A．suggest that customers believe what commercials say deeply

B．show readers the American idea on good customer service

C．express all the stores pay much attention to the customers

D．persuade readers to choose the stores with ads correctly

【小题2】In the USA, what may you do at first if you want to do some shopping?

A．To visit a professional street with lots of similar stores.

B．To compare prices in many shops in the same street.

C．To make phone calls and get better shopping choices.

D．To receive other customers’ answers to the questions.

【小题3】The underlined words “a breeze” in Para.3 most probably means _________.

A．an easy job

B．a trouble

C．a funny thing

D．a boring task

【小题4】Which of the followings shows American stores offer convenience to customers in this passage?

A．The store clerks don’t usually sit around watching TV or playing cards.

B．Some stores offer price bargain to the customers like a yard sale.

C．The clerks give customers a smile and a warm “thank you” after paying.

D．Some stores open new checkout lanes when the lanes are crowded.

【小题5】Which of the following can be the best title of this passage?

A．Customer Service in America	B．Excellent Stores in America
C．Shopping Rules in America	D．Being King or Queen in America

Work your brain!

   Between 2 and 3 pounds of wonder, it controls everything we say, do or think, who we are and what we care about. The way we walk or laugh or figure out things. What we like and the talents we possess. How we see and talk and run and jump and process our food.

    The brain uses 20 percent of our body’s oxygen and 20 percent of its blood. Somewhere within its protein, fat, 100,000 miles of blood vessels and 100 billion nerve cells, it helps us remember where we put our gym shoes. Change our temperature so we don’t die because of the heat or cold. Speed us up or slow us down. Help us choose between orange juice or orange­flavored drinks.

    Its complexity are stunning, far beyond anything most of us can imagine. To keep this work of art as polished as possible we need to eat right, exercise and keep mentally stimulated. Good nutrition helps brain cells communicate with each other. Exercise stimulates a hormone in our brain that improves memory. Mental stimulation keeps you sharp even as you age.

“It’s very important that we tell people to be physically active and mentally active,” said neurologist Malcolm Stewart.“People cannot stop aging, but you’re able to reduce the damage; you’re able to keep the function up.”

Following are Dr. Stewart’s advice for improving brain health：

Nutrition	Avoid fast food. Follow the old adage(格言): For breakfast, eat like a king; for lunch, like a queen; for supper, like a beggar.
Exercise	Do a combination of stretching aerobic and muscle strengthening every day.
Mental games	Try to have a sense of hope about the future. Do puzzles. Listen to music. Reach out to others to make their lives better.

1.The purpose of the author in writing this passage is to ______.

A. inform us how the brain works

B. give us advice on how to keep the brain healthy

C. tell us that the brain plays an important role in our lives

D. show how special the brain is to us

2.The underlined word “stunning” means ______.

A. interesting 　               B. strange                          C. significant　                  D. amazing

3.According to the text，more exercise ______.

A. keeps our mind sharp             

B. helps improve our memory

C. gives our brain a rest 　           

D. is good for brain cells communicating with each other

4.In order to keep brain healthy，we should avoid ______.

A. eating a good lunch                                     B. doing puzzles

C. eating a large supper                                  D. taking aerobic exercise

 

LONDON — Britain awoke on Easter Monday to a period of mourning for the Queen Mother, who died over the weekend after a life spanning a century of noisy and evident change. The 101-year-old royal matriarch died in her sleep last Saturday with Queen Elizabeth, her elder and only surviving daughter, at her bedside. For a woman who was one of the best-known figures in Britain for more than 80 years — from the era of tinted portraits on tin biscuit boxes and cigarette cards to the age of the Internet, the Queen Mother remained an enigmatic(不可思议的) and elusive(躲避的) figure.

She achieved such a respect through aeons(永世, 亿万年) of, first, fawning and, later, intrusive media fascination, by remaining almost entirely silent. Her private thoughts were never paraded(炫耀) in public. What the public saw was a charming and benign elderly lady, adept at winning the admiration of press photographers, whom she always favoured with a particular smile.

CHINA’s third unmanned spacecraft, Shenzhou Ⅲ, landed safely in central Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, after orbiting the earth 108 times in slightly less than a week. The craft, which lifted off from Jiuquan in Gansu Province last Monday night, landed after successfully conducting a chain of flight and scientific experiments over a period of 162 hours.

A powerful earthquake jolted Taiwan, killing five construction workers, authorities(官方) said. Over 200 injuries ware reported across the island, mostly minor, as a result of Sunday’s 7.5-magnitude quake. The quake was centred off Hualien, 180 kilometres east of Taipei. It struck at 2:53 pm and lasted for nearly a minute.

1. Which of the following statements is true according to the news?

　　A. The Queen Mother died on Easter Monday alone.

　　B. The Queen Mother was an attractive person in her political life.

　　C. The British people felt sorry for the death of the Queen Mother.

　　D. The Queen Mother was suffering a lot when she was dying.

　　2. It can be inferred that _______.

　　A. the craft landed in central Inner Mongolia unexpectedly

　　B. it took the craft at least 2 hours to orbit the earth once

　　C. the Chinese scientists did a lot of experiments in space

　　D. China was successful in sending an unmanned spacecraft into space

3. The third news mainly talks about the _______ in Taiwan.

    A. political matters                         B. social problems

　　C. unexpected damage                     D. construction workers

I was cleaning out an old box when an old card caught my eye：Queen City Casket Company．“What is it?” I wondered．I 　36　 it over．There，in faded ink, was a hand-scrawled(手写的) 　37　. Immediately my mind traveled  38   many years．

   I was nine years old, walking down the cold，wet streets of Springfield，with a bag of magazines on my shoulder．On my   39  that day．I came to that Company finally, whose owner, Mr. Rader，had always taken me there to ask his workers  40  they wanted any magazines．

    Shaking off the  41  like a wet dog．I entered Mr. Rader's office．After a quick glance ,he  42  me over to the fire-place．Noticing the  43   in the top of my  44   ，he said，“Come with me!”，pulling me into his pickup  45  ．we pulled to a stop before a shoe store．Inside，a salesman  46   me with the finest pair of Oxfords I had  47  seen．I  48  about 10 feet tall when I got up  49  them．“We’d like a pair of new socks too．” Mr Rader said．

    Back in his office, Mr Rader took out a  50   ，wrote something on it, and handed it to me．With   51  eyes，I read，“Do to others as you would have them do to you．” He said affectionately(深情地)，“Jimmy，I want you to　52　　I  love  you”．

    I said good-bye, and for the first time I  53    a flicker of hope that somehow things would be  54  ．With people like Mr Rader in the world，there was hope，kindness and love，and that would always make a   55  ．

A．read          B．thought        C．turned       D．passed

A．address       B．1ist            C．message     D．information

A．forward       B．so             C．ahead       D．back

A．return         B．rounds         C．trip         D．arrival

A．if only        B．how           C．whether      D．why

A．dust          B．sweat          C．tail          D．rain

A．led           B．followed        C．watched     D．carried

A．hole          B．mud           C．water        D．cover

A．magazine      B．shoe           C．sock         D．bag

A．truck         B．factory         C．home        D．store

A．dressed        B．fitted          C．showed      D．comforted

A．ever          B．already         C．never        D．hardly

A．appeared      B．seemed         C．looked 　    D．felt

A．for           B．with            C．on　 　     D．in

A．pen          B．paper           C．card　　     D．notebook

A．tearful        B．unbelievable     C．curious.　    D．puzzled

A．admit         B．know           C．consider 　  D．express

A．sensed        B．received         C．lost　       D．gained

A．mistaken      B．fight            C．all right 　   D．possible

A．deal          B．fortune          C．choice　　   D．difference