What was the man’s first feeling about the price of the sofa?W: Can I help you, sir? M: Yes. How much is that sofa--the brown one? W: I can see you have excellent taste, sir. That sofa is a sample at $250. It’s the best bargain here. M: That price includes these two armchairs, doesn’t it? W: Oh, come on, sir. If we included those two armchairs in the price, we’d be out of business in no time. M: What are you charging for the armchairs then? W: They are also a good bargain. Only $120 each. M: $120 each? But that’s ridiculous! $240 for two armchairs and $250 for a sofa that can seat five people! W: You don’t seem to understand, sir. It’s not a question of how many people can sit on the furniture but how much time, labor and materials go into making it. M: I know all that. But your price is much too high. What’s your best price on the sofa only? W: I can’t offer you any reduction on the sofa. But if you buy the two armchairs as well, I’ll reduce the overall price to $460. M: Only $30 off. That’s impossible. I’ll give you $350 for the lot. W: That is out of the question, sir. My last offer is $450. M: Then I’m not interested. Good-bye. The price $250 might include the two armchairs. The price $250 was too cheap. The price $250 was acceptable.

M: How would you like your two pounds of pork chops sliced? W: Medium thin will be free. Q: Where does the conversation most probably take place? In a butcher shop In a bakery In a restaurant

By whom has Michael Morales been spared the second time in twenty-four hours?It is the second time in twenty-four hours that the condemned man, Michael Morales, has been spared, not by the actions of the courts or by the governor, but by doctors. Morales, convicted of killing a seventeen-year-old girl twenty-five years ago, had been due to be executed by lethal injection on Monday night. By the courts. By the governor. By doctors.

Which company won the auction at last?It only took 10 minutes to auction off the main oil-pumping division of Russia’s largest oil company, Yukos. But in a surprise, a virtually unknown company called the Baikal Finance Group won, paying just over $9 billion. The Baikal Finance Group. A division of Yukos. The large state natural gas company Gazprom.

The daring rescue of those stranded on the mountaintop was truly a ______ deed. Everybody praised this courageous deed. creditable abnormal unbelievable credible

These two areas are similar ______ they both have a high rainfall during this season. to that besides that in that except that

The main road through Littlebury was blocked for three hours today after an accident ______ two lorries. involving including combing containing

You ______ her in her office last Friday, she has been out of town for two weeks. needn’t have seen must have seen can’ have seen might have seen

Ann never dreams of ______ for her to be sent abroad very soon. there to be a chance there being a chance there be a chance being a chance

Beth: Always be honest with your patients. That’s what my advisor told me to do. Ken: ______ I always try to tell my patients the truth. Don’t believe what he said. That’s a good rule to live by. Saying is easier than doing. Yes, I do like to follow, although some patients don’t like it.

Carla: ______ Angie: Well, I lived in a small town in the country once and it was quite boring. Nothing ever seemed to happen. There’s much more going on in the city. It’s more exciting. Carla: ______ Angie: Although the city is more exciting, it’s also much noisier, dirtier and more crowded than the countryside. Sometimes I miss the peace and quiet there. Why are you living in the city?; How would you compare life in the city to that in the country? Why don’t you live in the city now?; How would you compare life in the city to that in the country? Would you like to live in the country?; Why is the city better than the country? Why do you like living in the city?; What are the disadvantages of the country?

You should proofread the passage on the Answer Sheet and correct it in the following way: There are great many reasons for studying what philosophers have said 79. ______ in the past. One is that we cannot separate the history of philosophy from which 80. ______ of science. Philosophy is largely discussion about matters on which few people are 81. ______ quite certain, and those few hold opposite opinions. As knowledge increases, Philosophy buds off the sciences. For an example, in the ancient world and 82. ______ the Middle Ages philosophers discussed motion. Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas taught that a moving body would slow down until a force were 83. ______ constantly applied to it. They were wrong. It goes on moving unless some-thing slows it down. But they had good arguments on their side, and if we study these, and the experiments which proved them right, this will help 84. ______ us to distinguish truth from false in the scientific controversies of today. We 85. ______ also see how different philosopher reflects the social life of his day. 86. ______ Plato and Aristotle, in the slave-owning society of ancient Greece, thought man’s highest state was contemplation rather than activity. In the Middle Ages St. Thomas believed a regular feudal system of nine ranks of 87. ______ Angels. Herbert Spencer, in the time of free competition between capitals, found the key to progress the survival of the fittest. Thus Marxism is seen to fit into its place as the philosophy for the workers, the only class with a future. 88. ______

一个联合国代表团将观察这次选举，以保证它能公正地进行。

Each symbol in this table has a value. The total of these values in each row and column is written at the end of the corresponding row or column. Can you find the value of each symbol? [*] Triangle = -4.2, Square = 11.5, Diamond = -1.8, Circle = 6.6 Triangle = -3.2, Square = 10.5, Diamond = -0.8, Circle = 5.6 Triangle = -5.2, Square = 12.5, Diamond = -2.8, Circle = 7.6 Triangle = -6.2, Square = 12.5, Diamond = -3.8, Circle = 8.6

Very few people can get college degree before 11, but Michael was an【21】. He started high school when he was 5, finishing in just nine months. He became the【22】youngest college graduates when he was 10 years and 4 months old, earning an【23】degree. Now at 11 Michael’s working on a master’s degree in【24】intelligence. But Michael’s【25】hasn’t always come easy.【26】his intelligence, he still lacks important life【27】. In one class, he had to struggle to understand【28】novels, because, he says, “I’m 11. I’ve never been love in before.“ Another challenge was his sized. High school【29】education was difficult, because all of the equipment was too big for the then five year-old student. He likes computers so much that in graduate school he’s studying how to make them think like people. He wants to make robots do all the heavy tasks. Michael is【30】but he is like every other kid.Very few people can get college degree before 11, but Michael was an (21) exception. He started high school when he was 5, finishing in just nine months. He became the (22) world’s youngest college graduates when he was 10 years and 4 months old, earning an (23) architecture degree. Now at 11 Michael’s working on a master’s degree in (24) artificial intelligence. But Michael’s (25) success hasn’t always come easy. (26) Despite his intelligence, he still lacks important life (27) experiences. In one class, he had to struggle to understand (28) romantic novels, because, he says, “I’m 11. I’ve never been in love before. “ Another challenge was his size. High school (29) physical education was difficult, because all of the equipment was too big for the then five year-old student. He likes computers so much that in graduate school he’s studying how to make them think like people. He wants to make robots do all the heavy tasks. Michael is (30) smart, but he is like every other kid.

They talked in such an uneasy manner as if something terrible ______ soon. had happened happened would happen has happened

Bruce: Good morning. Welcome to Supervacation Travel Agency. Can I help you? Mandy: Yes, I hope so. I’m interested in a short holiday soon. I’d like some information. Bruce: Yes, certainly. ______ Mandy: Somewhere with some sunshine. Bruce: Here’s a Supervacation brochure. It gives information about lots of holidays. Mandy: Thanks for the information. I expect I’ll see you soon. What about New York? Will you be traveling alone? What sort of holiday interests you? How are things going with you?

Frank: You’ll never believe what I saw on the train today! Peter: What? Frank: Some guy got on with a monkey on his shoulder! Peter: You’re kidding! ______ Frank: He had it on a chain, but yeah, I think it is. I don’t think so. That will be expensive. It must be plastic. I don’t agree with you.

Our culture has caused most Americans to assume not only that our language is universal but that the gestures we use are understood by everyone. We do not realize that waving good-bye is the way to summon a person from the Philippines to one’s side, or that in Italy and some Latin-American countries, curling the finger to oneself is a sign of farewell. Those private citizens who sent packages to our troops occupying Germany after World War Ⅱ and marked them GIFT to escape duty payments did not bother to find out that “gift“ means poison in German. Moreover, we like to think of ourselves as friendly, yet we prefer to be at least 3 feet or an arm’s length away from others. Latins and Middle Easterners like to come closer and touch, which makes Americans uncomfortable. Our linguistic and cultural blindness and the casualness with which we take notice of the developed tastes, gestures, customs and languages of other countries, are losing us friends, business and respect in the world. Even here in the United States, we make few concessions to the needs of foreign visitors. There are no information signs in four languages on our public buildings or monuments; we do not have multilingual guided tour. Very few restaurant menus have translations, and multilingual waiters, bank clerks and policemen are rare. Our transportation systems have maps in English only and often we ourselves have difficulty understanding them. When we go abroad, we tend to cluster in hotels and restaurants where English is spoken. The attitudes and information we pick up are conditioned by those natives--usually the richer--who speak English. Our business dealings, as well as the nation’s diplomacy, are conducted through interpreters. For many years, America and Americans could get by with cultural blindness and linguistic ignorance. After all, American was the most powerful country of the free world, the distributor of needed funds and goods. But all that is past. American dollars no longer buy all good things, and we are slowly beginning to realize that our proper role in the world is changing. A 1979 Harris poll reported that 55 percent of Americans want this country to play a more significant role in world affairs; we want to have a hand in the important decisions of the next century, even though it may not always be the upper land.

Jazz is the art of surprise, producing always the sudden and unexpected. But the blues is something else. Jazz has been developed into one of those intellectual art forms that scares people away. The blues can be faked. It is faked more today than ever before. But it is an emotional song and even the finest of blues singers cannot always possess true emotions, the real grief which is at the heart, in the soul. Of course, I had heard the blues all my life. I had heard it all as a teenage jazz fan in America, traveling long distances to sit, perfectly still, listening with religious reverence to the great progressive jazzmen of the day. But I was never moved by the blues until I was a young soldier, marching along one long, desperately hot afternoon under a south Texas sun. We were marching four abreast, rifles slung, singing as we swung along. An officer marched at the head of us. He did not sing. God knows how we hated them, the officers. We all hated them. The officer was only there for show. Like a fancy motor car radiator cap. Suddenly on our left there appeared this ghostly vision. All in white. Pure white. It was men. A prison work-gang. All black men dressed in white. They sang as they worked. They were not in chains, but men on horseback watched over them. The prison gang were singing some work-song. We all, all of us felt it; knew the feeling of the song for we were prisoners too and knew something at least of the longing that went into that song. Without ever stopping their work the black convict gang saw us. The scene, the beauty of their singing, of these black men who were the grandsons of kidnapped African men and women, the descendants of slaves, burned our eyes. The blues, sung like this, in the condition of penal servitude which was its true roots, and set against this dusty lonesome Southern backdrop, was the real thing. All the concerts, jazz sessions and recordings I had listened to again and again--none of them was like this.

Scientists say there has been a severe decrease in the amount of water in Lake Chad in northern Africa in the last thirty years. They reported that nature and humans share equal blame for this loss. In 1963, the fresh-water lake covered 25,000 square kilometers. Now the lake is only about five percent of that size. It measures only about 1,300 square kilometers in the dry season. Four nations surround Lake Chad. People in Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Cameroon use it for water, fish and plant life. Michael Coe and Jonathan Foley, water experts at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, reported on Lake Chad in a science journal. They say the area has suffered from a lack of heavy rain for more than thirty years. This has forced people to build systems to carry water to dry land. These irrigation systems further decrease the amount of lake water. Mr. Coe says Lake Chad will be only a small body of water in the future. He says people still can get water from the lake to drink and for crops. But he says the lake will no longer provide a healthy environment for fish and plant life. The researchers used a computer to study what caused the water loss. Their computer study estimated the climate and amount of water in the area. The estimate started with written records from the early 1960s. Then the researchers compared the estimates with the area’s recorded climate and water supply for the same period. The computer study showed results similar to the recorded ones for the first twenty years. But there was a big change in the 1980s. At the time, the lake got smaller much faster than the computer research had estimated. The researchers say that major irrigation systems were built in the 1980s. The systems took water from two rivers that flow into Lake Chad. The Chari and Logone rivers carry most of the water that enters the lake. Climate changes also were responsible for the reduction. The flow of the two rivers was reduced by almost seventy-five percent. Scientists say the problem is expected to worsen in the coming years as the population and demand for water continued to increase.

What was the man’s reaction to the prices of the sofa and the armchairs offered by the woman?

Which of the following did the woman NOT mention about the production of the armchairs?

What’s the difference between the woman’s last offer for the goods and the man’s last bid for them?