I love charity(慈善) shops and so do lots of other people in Britain because you find quite a few of them on every high street. The charity shop is a British institution, selling everything from clothes to electric goods, all at very good prices. You can get things you won’t find in the shops anymore. The thing I like best about them is that your money is going to a good cause and not into the pockets of profit-driven companies, and you are not damaging the planet, but finding a new home for unwanted goods.
The first charity shop was opened in 1947 by Oxfam. The famous charity’s appeal to aid postwar Greece had been so successful it had been flooded with donations(捐赠物). They decided to set up a shop to sell some of these donations to raise money for that appeal. Now there are over 7,000 charity shops in the UK. My favourite charity shop in my hometown is the Red Cross shop, where I always find children’s books, all 10 or 20 pence each.
Most of the people working in the charity shops are volunteers, although there is often a manager who gets paid. Over 90% of the goods in the charity shops are donated by the public. Every morning you see bags of unwanted items outside the front of shops, although they don’t encourage this, rather ask people to bring things in when the shop is open.
The shops have very low running costs: all profits go to charity work. Charity shops raise more than ￡110 million a year, funding(资助)medical research, overseas aid, supporting sick and poor children, homeless and disabled people, and much more. What better place to spend your money? You get something special for a very good price and a good moral sense. You provide funds to a good cause and tread lightly on the environment.
1. The author loves the charity shop mainly because of _______.
A. its convenient location B. its great variety of goods
C. its spirit of goodwill D. its nice shopping environment
2. The first charity shop in the UK was set up to_______.
A. sell cheap products B. deal with unwanted things
C. raise money for patients D. help a foreign country
3. Which of the following is TRUE about charity shops?
A. The operating costs are very low.
B. The staff are usually well paid.
C. 90% of the donations are second-hand.
D. They are open twenty-four hours a day.
4. Which of the following may be the best title for the passage?
A. What to Buy at Charity Shops
B. Charity Shop: Its Origin & Development
C. Charity Shop: Where You Buy to Donate
D. The Public’s Concern about Charity Shops
One morning a few years ago, Harvard President Neil Rudenstine overslept.For this busy man, it was a sort of alarm: after years of non-stop hard work, he might wear himself out and die an early death.
Only after a week’s leave—during which he read novels, listened to music and walked with his wife on a beach—was Rudenstine able to return to work.
In our modern life, we have lost the rhythm between action and rest.Amazingly, within this world there is a universal but silly saying: “I am so busy.”
We say this to one another as if our tireless efforts were a talent by nature and an ability to successfully deal with stress.The busier we are, the more important we seem to ourselves and, we imagine, to others.To be unavailable to our friends and family, and to be unable to find time to relax—this has become the model of a successful life.
Because we do not rest, we lose our way.We miss the guide telling us where to go, the food providing us with strength, the quiet giving us wisdom.
How have we allowed this to happen? I believe it is this: we have forgotten the Sabbath, the day of the week—for followers of some religions—for rest and praying.It is a day when we are not supposed to work, a time when we devote ourselves to enjoying and celebrating what is beautiful.It is a good time to bless our children and loved ones, give thanks, share meals, walk and sleep.It is a time for us to take a rest, to put our work aside, trusting that there are larger forces at work taking care of the world.
Rest is a spiritual and biological need; however, in our strong ambition to be successful and care for our many responsibilities, we may feel terribly guilty when we take time to rest.The Sabbath gives us permission to stop work.In fact, “Remember the Sabbath” is more than simply permission to rest; it is a rule to obey and a principle to follow.
5.The “alarm” in the first paragraph refers to “_______”.
A.a signal of stress B.a warning of danger
C.a sign of age D.a spread of disease
6.According to Paragraph 4, a successful person is one who is believed to _______.
A.be able to work without stress B.be more talented than other people
C.be more important than anyone else D.be busy working without time to rest
7.Some people feel guilty when taking time to rest because they _______.
A.think that taking a rest means lacking ambitions
B.fail to realize that rest is an essential part of life
C.fail to realize that religions force them to rest
D.think that taking a rest means being lazy
8.What is the main idea of this passage?
A.We should balance work with rest.
B.The Sabbath gives us permission to rest.
C.It is silly for anyone to say “I am so busy”.
D.We should be available to our family and friends.
If your boss asks you to work in Moscow this year, he’d better offer you more money to do so—or even double that depending on where you live now. That’s because Moscow has just been found to be the world’s most expensive city for the second year in a row by Mercer Human Resources Consulting.
Using the cost of living in New York as a base, Mercer determined Moscow is 34.4 percent more expensive including the cost of housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment(娱乐).
A two-bedroom flat in Moscow now costs $4,000 a month; a CD $24.83, and an international newspaper $6.30, according to Mercer. By comparison, a fast food meal with a hamburger(汉堡包) is a steal at $4.80.
London takes the No.2 place, up from No.5 a year ago, thanks to higher cost of housing and a stronger British pound relative to the dollar. Mercer estimates(估算) London is 26 percent more expensive than New York these days. Following London closely are Seoul and Tokyo, both of which are 22 percent more expensive than New York, while No.5 Hong Kong is 19 percent more costly.
Among North American cities, New York and Los Angeles are the most expensive and are the only two listed in the top 50 of the world’s most expensive cities. But both have fallen since last year’s study—New York came in15th, down from 10th place, while Los Angeles fell to 42nd from 29th place a year ago. San Francisco came in a distant third at No. 54, down 20 places from a year earlier.
Toronto, meanwhile, is Canada’s most expensive city but fell 35 places to take 82nd place worldwide. In Australia, Sydney is the priciest place to live in and No. 21 worldwide.
9. What do the underlined words “a steal” in Paragraph 3 mean?
A. An act of stealing. B. Something delicious.
C. Something very cheap. D. An act of buying.
10. London has become the second most expensive city because of ______.
A. the high cost of clothing B. the stronger pound against the dollar
C. its expensive transportation D. the high prices of fast food meals
11. Which city is the third most expensive on the list?
A. Tokyo. B. Hong Kong. C. Moscow. D. Sydney.
12. Which city has dropped most on the list in North America?
A. New York. B. Los Angeles. C. San Francisco. D. Toronto.
答案
1-4 C .D .A .C
5-8 B .D .B .A
9-12 C .B .A .D