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TV Shows and Long Bus Trips

Long bus rides are like televisions shows.They have a beginning,a middle,and an end——with commercials thrown in every three or four minutes.The commercials are unavoidable.They happen whether you want them or not.Every couple of minutes a billboard glides by outside the bus window.“Buy Super Clean Toothpaste.” “Drink Good'n Wet Root Beer.” “Fill up with Pacific Gas.” Only if you sleep,which is equal to turning the television set off,are you spared the unending cry of “You Need It！ Buy It Now！”

The beginning of the ride is comfortable and somewhat exciting,even if you've traveled that way before.Usually some things have changed——new houses,new buildings,sometimes even a new road.The bus driver has a style of driving and it's fun to try to figure it out the first hour or so.If the driver is particularly reckless or daring,the ride can be as thrilling as a suspense story.Will the driver pass the truck in time? Will the driver move into the right or the left-hand lane? After a while,of course,the excitement dies down.Sleeping for a while helps pass the middle hours of the ride.Food always makes bus rides more interesting.But you've got to be careful of what kind of food you eat.Too much salty food can make you very thirsty between stops.

The end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning.You know it will soon be over and there's a kind of expectation and excitement in that.The seat of course,has become harder as the hours have passed.By now you've sat with your legs crossed,with your hands in your lap,with your hands on the arm rests——even with your hands crossed behind your head.The end comes just at no more ways to sit.

1.According to the passage,what do the passengers usually see when they are on a long bus trip?

A） Buses on the road.

B） Films on television.

C） Advertisements on the board.

D） Gas stations.

2.What is the purpose of this passage?

A） To give the writer's opinion about long bus trips.

B） To persuade you to take a long bus trip.

C） To explain how bus trips and television shows differ.

D） To describe the billboards along the road.

3.the writer of this passage would probably favor

A） bus drivers who weren't reckless

B） driving alone.

C） a television set on the bus.

D） no billboards along the road.

4.The writer feels long bus rides are like TV shows because

A） the commercials both on TV shows and on billboards along the road are fun.

B） they both have a beginning,a middle,and an end,with commercials in between.

C） the drivers are always reckless on TV shows just as they are on buses.

D） both traveling and watching TV are not exciting.

5.The writer thinks that the end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning because both are

A） exciting.

B） comfortable.

C） tiring.

D） boring

KEY： CADBA

New Foods and the New World

In the last 500 years,nothing about people——not their clothes,ideas,or languages——has changed as much as what they eat.The original chocolate drink was made form the seeds of the cocoa tree by South American Indians.The Spanish introduced it to the rest of the world during the 1500‘s.And although it was very expensive,it quickly became fashionable.In London shops where chocolate drinks were served became important meeting places.Some still exist today.

The potato is also from the New World.Around 1600,the Spanish brought it from Peru to Europe,where it soon was widely grown.Ireland became so dependent on it that thousands of Irish people starved when the crop failed during the “Potato Famine” of 1845-6,and thousands more were forced to emigrate to America.

There are many other foods that have traveled from south America to the Old World.But some others went in the opposite direction.Brazil is now the world‘s largest grower of coffee,and coffee is an important crop in Colombia and other South American countries.But it is native to Ethiopia.It was first made into a drink by Arabs during the 1400’s.

According to an Arabic legend,coffee was discovered when a goatherd named Kaldi noticed that his goats were attracted to the red berries on a coffee bush.He tried one and experienced the “wide-awake” feeling that one-third of the world‘s population now starts the day with.

1.According to the passage,which of the following has changed the most in the last 500 years?

A） Food.

B） Chocolate.

C） Potato.

D） Coffee

2.“Some” in “Some still exist today” means

A） some cocoa trees.

B） some chocolate drinks.

C） some shops.

D） some South American Indians.

3.Thousands of Irish people starved during the “Potato Famine” because

A） they were so dependent on the potato that they refused to eat anything else.

B） they were forced to emigrate to America.

C） the weather conditions in Ireland were not suitable for growing the potato.

D） the potato harvest was bad.

4.Coffee originally came from

A） Brazil.

B） Colombia.

C） Ethiopia.

D） Arabia.

5.The Arabic legend is used to prove that

A） coffee was first discovered by Kaldi.

B） coffee was first discovered by Kaldi‘s goats.

C） coffee was first discovered in south American countries.

D） coffee drinks were first made by Arabs.

KEY： ACDCD