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We've teamed up with two travel agencies to give members of our club the chance to win a holiday to the South of France or one to the Maldives.
The winner and their three guests will enjoy a seven-night getaway (逃离) at the Villa Le Priotlet — a centuries old stone villa (别墅) set on the banks of the Dordogne River. This property has been lovingly restored and furnished, and is ideal for small families to relax surrounded by peaceful views and gentle countryside. The beautiful gardens surrounding the property are full of seasonal treats for you to pick and enjoy, including figs, pears and grapes. The property is also situated just 15 minutes from the UNESCO World Heritage site of Saint-Emilion, which has been producing some of the world's best wine since Roman times.
We'll also give another lucky member a seven-night stay for two people on their island tour to the Maldives. With white sand beaches, coconut trees and blue warm seas, the Maldives is a must-see destination. Accompanied by a local guide, guests have the chance to combine island life with cultural activities, as well as experiencing all those things for which the Maldives are famous: diving and snorkeling (潜水) and relaxation. The guesthouse accommodation is handpicked (精选) to provide a balance of comfort, good service and local atmosphere.
To enter this competition, click on "enter competition" in the information box below.
1.The free holiday in France includes ______.
A. accommodation at an ancient villa
B. fresh fruit, vegetables and meat
C. the best French wine
D. admission to Saint-Emilion
2.What can people do in the Madives if they win the holiday there?
A. They can enjoy countryside views.
B. They can adventure some water sports.
C. They can stay at a guesthouse on the beach.
D. They can visit local families to experience island life.
3.Where can we find the text?
A. In a guidebook. B. In a brochure.
C. On a website. D. In a magazine.
If the hackings (黑客行为) taught us anything in 2014, it's actually nothing.
Password management firm SplashData released its list of the worst passwords of the year and it's just as terrible as you'd think. The most common leaked password in 2014 was "123456," followed by "password" — both topped the list the year before, too.
While numbers were as popular as ever as passwords, sports terms like “baseball" and "football" were used more often. Birthday years were common too (especially 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1992) and names like "Michael", "Jennifer" and "Hunter" are also among the top 100 worst passwords of 2014.
Here's a look at the top 10 worst passwords of the year:
1. 123456 (Unchanged from 2013) 6. 234567890 (Unchanged)
2. password (Unchanged) 7. baseball (New)
3. 12345 (Up 17) 8. dragon (New)
4. 12345678 (Down 1) 9. football (New)
5. qwerty (Down 1) 10. monkey (New)
This year's worst passwords are painfully weak, but what were once considered clever password strategies — using symbols, capitalizations, the number 3 in place of the letter "e" — are old tricks.
It's now recommended to pick a different password for each account you use — you wouldn't use the same key in all of your locks, and the same goes for passwords.
Companies like Facebook, Twitter and Apple are now trying to make hacking more difficult on their services by offering two-factor authentication (认证), which is basically like double locking your door at night. Each time you want to log into (登录) that account, the company will send a code to your phone — it changes after each login attempt, so hackers would have to be in physical possession of your smartphone to know the code.
1.What can we learn from the text?
A. Hackers leaked many more passwords in 2014.
B. Symbols were among the top 10 worst passwords.
C. 123456 was the most common leaked password in both 2013 and 2014.
D. People are getting more experienced in picking their passwords.
2.How many passwords were ranked lower on 2014's top 10 worst password list?
A. One. B. Two. C. Three. D. Four.
3.What is recommended in the text to have safer passwords?
A. Using long and strange passwords.
B. Changing passwords regularly.
C. Replacing "e" by "3" when setting passwords.
D. Choosing different passwords for different accounts.
4.To fight against hacking, some companies ______.
A. don't accept weak passwords
B. double lock their doors at night
C. combine the password with a code to prove one's identity
D. prevent hackers from stealing customers' smartphones
There's a great article in the New York Times this week about the tradition of buying a coffee for a stranger at the same time that you buy your own. They call it caffè sospeso, the name for "suspended (暂留的) coffee" in its birthplace. In some cafes, folks in need may claim a suspended coffee and drink it without cost.
No doubt the free coffee will be welcomed by people who love coffee but for one reason or another don't have the money to buy one. But I also like the opportunity it offers customers to become philanthropists (慈善家). Every time they order a coffee, they can give one to somebody in need.
This is a tradition that began some 100 years ago in Naples, Italy. In Naples, as reported by the Times, people love this kind of giving:
"To me, the philosophy of the suspended coffee is that you are happy today, and you give a coffee to the world, as a present." — Luigi Solito
"It's a simple act of generosity: an act in which donors and recipients (接受者) never meet each other. The donor doesn't show off and the recipient doesn't have to show gratitude." —Laura Cozzolino
"Coffee consumptions started earlier than the unification (统一) of Italy by more than 200 years, so the traditions around it are very ancient. In Naples, coffee is a world in itself, both culturally and socially." — Andrea Illy
The practice of buying suspended coffees has grown in popularity — with websites popping up and hundreds of cafes from Canada to Brazil to Hungary to the US offering the service.
1.Who are suspended coffees intended for?
A. Cafe goers.
B. People who can't afford a coffee.
B. Philanthropists.
D. Coffee lovers who live in Naples.
2.How can someone get a suspended coffee?
A. He can ask for one in any cafe.
B. He can apply for one on websites.
C. He can buy one in a cafe offering the service.
D. He can drink one in a cafe that has prepaid coffees.
3.What does Laura Cozzolino think of buying suspended coffees?
A. She thinks it is a great way of charity.
B. She thinks it is a cheap gift to strangers.
C. She thinks it is an ancient Italian custom.
D. She thinks it is spreading widely in the world.
4.The underlined words in Paragraph 1 are words of ______.
A. French B. Old English
C. Italian D. American English
假设你是李津，为响应国家厉行节约的号召，请你以“为资源、为环保，厉行节约”为主题，向某英语报社编辑写一封信，表达你对此主题的看法，提出你的建议。
内容主要包括：
1．节约与资源的关系——节省资源造福子孙等；
2．节约与环保的关系——减少浪费改善环境等；
3．举例说明中学生该如何厉行节约；
4．倡导社会保持节约的优良传统。
注意：
1．词数不少于100；
2．开头和结尾已经写出，不计入总词数；
3．可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Editor,
I’m writing to share my opinions about trying to save both for natural resources and the environment.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Best wishes!
Yours sincerely,
Li Jin
The high school grades of Tom Monaghan, who was born in 1937, were so low that he graduated at the bottom of his class. The local university turned down his application, but he managed to enter the University of Michigan. A few weeks later, he dropped out because he lacked money for school fees. In 1960, Monaghan agreed to buy a pizza store with his brother, who gave up a year later.
For the first year, Monaghan worked all the time but hardly made any money. He soon found himself deep in debt. He began making the business simpler, selling only three sizes of pizza, instead of five. This change helped Monaghan make a profit, which allowed him to expand his three stores under a new name, Domino’s.
However, during the following years Monaghan experienced a series of setbacks. In 1967, a fire destroyed his store in Ypsilanti, Michigan, which served as the company’s offices. Most of the damage was not covered by insurance. In an effort to recover his losses, Monaghan continued to expand his franchise, but was unable to keep up with the growth. Without Monaghan’s guidance, many of the new stores closed down. By 1970, Monaghan was $1.5 million in debt and facing lawsuits from nearly 150 debtors. In the following financial settlement, Monaghan lost 51 percent of his company to the bank.
But Monaghan concentrated on building the 49 percent of the business he still owned. Slowly, he began to work his way out of his financial difficulties. He defended himself in court since he could not afford a lawyer. He sold his furniture and his car. In about a year, he managed to pay off all his debts.
These hard times taught him a valuable lesson in how to run a business. By 1978, two hundred Domino’s stores had opened. Five years later, the number of stores was over a thousand; by 1989, the chain had more than five thousand stores. The company had more than six thousand pizza delivery stores when Monaghan sold it for $1 billion in 1998.
1.What seemed to be the reason why the local university turned down Monaghan’s application? (No more than 10 words)
____________________________________________________________________________
2.How did Monaghan expand his three stores under a new name, Domino’s according to the second paragraph? (No more than 15 words)
____________________________________________________________________________
3.What does the underlined word “setbacks” mean in the third paragraph? (Only one word)
____________________________________________________________________________
4.How did Monaghan finally succeed after he lost 51 percent of his company?
(No more than 15 words)
____________________________________________________________________________
5.What do you think of Monaghan? Give your reasons. (No more than 20 words)
____________________________________________________________________________
I’ve just got to talk about this problem I’m having with my postman. It all began a year ago, after the birth of his first child. Not wanting to appear rude, I asked him about the baby. The next week, not wanting him to think I had asked out of mere politeness the week before, I asked all about the baby again. Now I can’t break the habit. I freeze whenever I see him coming. The words “How’s the baby?” come out on their own. It holds me up. It holds him up. So why can’t I stop it? The answer is that I want him to like me. Come to think of it, I want everyone to like me.
My sister had the same problem with the caretaker of her block of flats: “All he ever does is complain; he talks at me rather than to me, never listens to a word I say, and yet for some reason I’m always really nice to him. I’m worried in case I have a difficulty one day, and he won’t lift a finger to help.”
What about at work? Richard Lawton, a management trainer, warns: “Those managers who are actually liked by most of their staff are always those to whom being liked is not the primary goal. The qualities that make managers popular are being honest with staff, treating them as human beings and observing common politeness like saying hello in the morning.” To explain the point, Richard mentions the story of the company chairman who desperately wanted to be liked and who, after making one of his managers fired, said with moist (湿润的) eyes that he was so, so sorry the man was leaving. The employee replied: “If you were that sorry, I wouldn’t be leaving.” The lesson being, therefore, that if you try too hard to be liked, people won’t like you.
The experts say it all starts in childhood. “If children feel they can only get love from their parents by being good,” says Zelda West-Meads, a marriage guidance consultant, “they develop low self-confidence and become compulsive givers.” But is there anything wrong in being a giver, the world not being exactly short of takers? Anne Cousins believes there is. “There is a point at which giving becomes unhealthy,” she says. “It comes when you do things for others but feel bad about it.”
I am now trying hard to say to people “I feel uncomfortable about saying this, but…” and tell myself “Refusal of a request does not mean rejection of a person” and I find I can say almost anything to almost anyone.
1.Why does the author ask the postman about his baby?
A．He is interested in the baby.
B．He wants to create a good impression.
C．He wants to be always polite to him.
D．It’s a way to start a chat with great politeness.
2.What could we find out about the author’s sister and the caretaker?
A．She doesn’t want to risk displeasing him.
B．She doesn’t pay attention to him.
C．He often refuses to help her.
D．He is impatient of her overreaction.
3.Managers are more likely to be popular if they ______.
A．help the staff with their problems
B．make sure the staff do not lose their jobs
C．encourage the staff to be polite to each other
D．do not make too much effort to be liked
4.The underlined words, “compulsive givers”, in the fourth paragraph refer to the people who ______.
A．are willing to help others
B．couldn’t bear to turn down requests
C．are unconfident of denying demands
D．are less selfish than takers
5.What is the author’s intention of writing this passage?
A．To show how to let others like you more.
B．To prove how to create a harmonious atmosphere.
C．To encourage people to have more self-confidence.
D．To suggest ways of dealing with difficult people.
