Britain Today

     Food

     British people like good food, and more than half of them go to a restaurant every month. Fast food is also very popular— 30% of all adults have a hamburger every three months, but

46% have fish and chips!

     Sports

     British people don't do a lot of sports. Only 17% of people go swimming every week, about 9% go cycling and 8% play golf—and only 6% of people play football( but 32% go to watch it ).

     Cinema and TV

     Films are very popular in Britain, and about 60% of people between 15 and 24 go to the cinema every month. At home, men watch TV for about three hours every day — two quarters more than women.

     Holidays

     British people love going on holiday, and have 56 million holidays every year. Most of these holidays aren't in the UK—27% are in Spain,10% are in the USA, and 9% are in France. Maybe this is because the weather in Britain isn't very good!

1.Which food could be more popular among British adults, a hamburger or fish and chips?

        A. A hamburger.         B. Fish and chips.

        C. Both.               D. Neither.

2.Which of the followings can show the right percentage (百分比) about Sports in Britain?

3.hose who are interested in movies are ____.

A. men                     B. women

C. old people                D. young people

4.How long do British women spend watching TV every day?

A. Three hours.              B. Three hours and a half

C. Two hours                D. Two hours and a half

5. British people's favorite country for a holiday is ____.

       A. Spain    B. France     C. America    D. Australia

When Amy wrote her first novel in secondary school, she never imagined that she would become a writer one day. Like many 16  writers on the Internet, the  17  woman got into this online world accidentally(偶然地).
Three years ago, Amy worked in a medical industry. Her job kept her busy for six months and left her almost  18  to do for the rest of the year. To fill the time, she started writing  19  on the Internet. Her first novel was about her neighbours and their life 20  she is familiar with.
Amy has been interested in writing  21  she was a child. At first, she just wanted to share her novels  22  people she knew. Then one day an editor of a famous website emailed her, asking her 23  she would like to sell the electronic copyright(授權(quán)) of one of her novels. She  24  immediately and the novel was moved to the VIP section of the website. She got $ 1,500 for that.
Now Amy is a full-time  25 . So far her eight novels have come out online, and five of them 26 .
“The Internet made me famous and brought me  27  ,” she said. “I earn much more money now— about $60,000 a year. I am 28 with my career, but there is one problem — that my talent might run out after five years and I’ll have to  29 to work in the medical industry.”
“Before that day comes, I’ll keep  30 for the readers with my light and close-to-everyday-life writing style,” said Amy with a smile.

Adults usually do not remember most of the things that are taught by their teachers at school. But this story is one such    16    that I will never forget. Every time I drift off course, I think of this story.
It was a normal Monday morning, and my teacher was teaching us on  17  things in life and about devoting ourselves to 18  is important to us. This is how the story went:
An old man lived in a certain part of London, and he would wake up every morning and go to the sub-way. He would    19   the train right to Central London, and then sit at the street corner and   20  . He would do this every single day of his life. He sat at 21  street corner and begged for almost 20 years.
His 22   was dirty, and a stench came out and it smelled terrible. The neighbors could not stand the smell any more, so they called for the police officers to clear the place. The officers knocked down the door and cleaned the house. There were small bags of 23   all over the house  24   he had collected over the years.
The police counted the money, and they soon   25 that the old man was a millionaire. They waited outside his house expecting to ___26__ the good news with him. When the old man arrived home that evening, one of the officers told him that there was no need for him to beg any more as he was a   27   man now, a millionaire.
But the old man said  28  ; he went into his house and locked the door. The next morning he woke up  29, went to the subway, sat at the street corner and continued to beg.
Clearly, this old man had no great plans, 30  or anything significant for his life. We learn nothing from this story other than staying focused on the things we enjoy doing.

Now satellites are helping to forecast the weather. They are in space, and they can reach any part of the world. The satellites take pictures of the atmosphere（大氣）, because this is where the weather forms. They send these pictures to the weather stations. So meteorologists（氣象學(xué)家）can see the weather of any part of the world. From the pictures, the scientists can often say how the weather will change.
　　Today, nearly five hundred weather stations in sixty countries receive satellite pictures. When they receive new pictures, the meteorologists compare them with earlier ones. Perhaps they may find that the clouds have changed during the last few hours. This may mean that the weather on the ground may soon change, too. In their next weather forecast, the meteorologists can say this.
So the weather satellites are a great help to the meteorologists. Before satellites were invented, the scientists could forecast the weather for about 24 or 48 hours. Now they can make good forecasts for three or five days. Soon, perhaps, they may be able to forecast the weather for a week or more ahead（提前）.
【小題1】Satellites travel ___________.

“Wanted: Violin. Can’t pay much. Call…”

         That advertisement in the newspaper made me remember my childhood. I, too, had wanted a violin, but we didn’t have the money. Even though times were   16  , I couldn’t wait any longer to ask. “Daddy, may I have a violin of   17  ?” Daddy’s face looked   18  . But a few weeks later, Daddy went home, with a case in his hand,   19  ,“Mary, I found this secondhand violin for seven dollars.”

         The day when I carried my violin to school for my first lesson , no one could know how   20   I was. I practiced, joined the school orchestra(管弦樂隊(duì)), gave performances……Several years seemed to run even quickly and I found myself in the first violin chair. More years   21  , and my violin made every move with me, until one day, I carefully   22   it away.

         Now here   23   this want advertisement, I discovered the case deep in my closet（儲(chǔ)藏室）. I put it on the table. Then I picked up the   24  , walked to the telephone and called by the   25 .

         Later in the day, a man of about 30 knocked at the door. “I’ve been expecting someone would  26  my advertisement. My daughter wants a violin so  27 ,”he said, examining my violin. “How much are you asking?”

         I said, “Seven dollars.” “Are you sure?” he asked,   28   he did not believe his ears. “Seven dollars.” I   29   and then added,” I hope your little girl will enjoy it   30   I did.”

I smiled, but I found my tears(眼淚) rolling down my face.

1.A. easy                             B. hard                                 C. late                                  D. long

2. A. my                               B. mine                                C. myself                             D. me

3.A. angry                           B. happy                              C. sad                                   D. funny

4.A. answering                  B. saying                             C. asking                             D. telling

5.A. surprised                    B. excited                            C. interested             D. embarrassed

6. A. past                   B. was passed                    C. passing                      D. passed

7.A. carried                         B. put                                   C. took                                 D. threw

8.A. about                           B. by                                     C. in                                      D. for

9.A. advertisement          B. violin                                C. case                        D. newspaper

10. A. date                          B. name                               C. number                           D. address

11.A. offer                                    B. answer                                     C. receive                            D. find

12.A. badly                          B. easily                               C. quickly                   D. luckily

13. A. though                     B. when                               C. as if                                  D. until

14. A. repeated                          B. continued                       C. reminded              D. suggested

15.A. which                         B. when                               C. what                                D. as