聽力原文：F: What I can't make out you is why you are so keen on the Layer-de-la-Haye house. Why on earth should we choose, actually choose, to live out in a village, even if it is a popular village. You know that I would love to live in town and...

M: ...and be boxed in by a thousand other houses I suppose~ Surrounded by a thousand faceless neighbors. No, let' s go for the village. After all I'm the one who has to do all the traveling. Back and forth to London every day. And I would rather add a 15 minutes bus ride to the train ride than be--How does it go?--cabin' d, cribb' d confi' d.

F: That' s all very well...all very well to take that romantic attitude. You know... you think you can get out of everything...wriggle out of any argument...by quoting Shakespeare. What about my preferences? You are being selfish you know.

M: Selfish? Me?

F: Yes. Think of the children. Its seems to me that you are so carried away with the idea that your personal likes and dislikes are making you anything but practical.

What's the relations between the speakers?

A．Friends.

B．Colleagues.

C．Husband and wife.

D．Landlord and tenant.

With the rapid spread of the internet everywhere in the world, and the【C1】______ number of users, one of the most exciting developments on the internet is E-commerce-【C2】______ commerce. E-commerce has tow forms,【C3】______ business to-business, or B-to-B, and business-to-consumer, or B-to-C.

B-to-C was the first of these developments. It grew 【C4】______ from the first days when people started to buy things from their homes without going to a shop. First came "catalogue shopping"【C5】______ you choose what you want from a catalogue【C6】______ pictures and other details of everything that is【C7】______ sale. You then send an order with a check by post and the things you have chosen【C8】______ to your home. Then 【C9】______ "television shopping," where【C10】______ a catalogue, the items for sale are shown or【C11】______ on television.【C12】______ , the customer sends a check and the item is delivered to his or her home. B-to-C is the【C13】______ development, where the "catalogue" is【C14】______ on the internet, combining the advantages of both the book catalogue and the television and indeed adding more【C15】______ . the customer【C16】______ his choice but rather than sending an order and【C17】______ through the post, he places the order and pays for it using his credit card, all using【C18】______ Many people worry about giving details of their credit card over the internet and the danger that it may be fraudulently used.【C19】______ , the general view is that with modern systems of secure encryption the dangers of the misuse of credit cards is【C20】______ greater in a shop, garage or restaurant than in using it for shopping on the internet.

【C1】

A．increase

B．spreading

C．decreasing

D．raising

Next time you gaze outside 【C1】______ a cold winter day and think how dead everything appears, take a closer look.

Nature may not be at its 【C2】______ in January and February, but it may be the best time to observe amazing adaptations and appreciate the diversity of life even when the temperature falls 【C3】______ freezing.

Skunks, chipmunks, and black bears are among the few animals to semi-hibernate during the winter.

The woodchuck is a true hibernator. Many animals 【C4】______ to escape the cold. Reptiles may migrate several inches down into leaf litter or the mud at the bottom of a pond, 【C5】______ fish may swim and feed below the ice. Other animals stay active throughout the winter months.

Animal tracks and signs are an excellent 【C6】______ to learn about wildlife in winter. Gnawed bark, active lodges, stray feathers, diggings in the ground, urine or scat, or holes in the ice give clues to activity, whether it's foraging, hunting for prey, finding shelter, or looking for a mate. Tracks are 【C7】______ by their size and shape, the number of toes, the stride, and the mode of locomotion (walking, bounding, galloping, or wadding).

Blowing leaves, cones, or seeds along with falling or rolling snow can also 【C8】______ interesting tracks and trails on the snow.

Tracking conditions 【C9】______ with the type and amount of snow; it's best to look along the edge of a habitat, such as 【C10】______ a forest meets a field, or near water's edge. Unmelted and undrifted snow provides the clearest tracks. Watch for bird tracks, too, including wing marks: when tracks stop abruptly, the bird probably took 【C11】______ .

Evidence of insects is also plentiful during the winter. Many insects, with their variety of adaptations, over winter in one of their developmental (sub-adult) stages as either eggs or pupae and emerge in the spring, Insects also have their own version of hibernation in 【C12】______ weather, a resting stage called diapause. For some insects, the ratio of light to dark may signal them to migrate to stable environments beneath the ground, below the water's surface, or into deep water.

Other animals seek protection under the insulating blanket of winter snow. Snow hides prey from 【C13】______ and 【C14】______ dormant plants, insects, and small mammals. Deeper snow requires more energy to move through, but makes it easier for smaller animals to reach buds on tree branches.

Plants also 【C15】______ to cold weather with a wide variety of survival techniques. Winter weeds that look dead and dry may have live roots underground. Some disperse their seeds on winter winds or produce burs full of seeds that get caught on the fur of passing animals.

【C1】

A．in

B．on

C．for

D．by

Most cities and/or states in the U. S. collect a sales tax on almost everything you buy. You must ask when you move into a new community how much the local sales tax is, and what items are and are not taxable. Both taxable items and the amount of tax vary considerably from place to place, from one or two percent in some places up to eight or ten in others. The New York City sales tax, for example, is currently 8%, so if you buy a pair of $40 shoes you will actually have to pay $43.20. This makes paying and getting correct change much more difficult (not to mention making everything more expensive) .

Another thing that makes money changes more complicated is tipping. The Chinese people have happily put an end to tipping, but Westerners are still plagued(遭受折磨) with this indignity. Waiters and waitresses, cab drivers, hotel bellboys, barbers and hairdressers and all sorts of other people must be tipped. Their employers give them low wages because it is expected that you, the customer, will make up the difference. If you don't, the service person can't earn a living. Tipping also varies from place to place, generally in the area of 15% of your bill ( before taxes) , but again you should ask local residents whom to tip and how much.

There is another kind of tipping as well. You are generally expected to give something ( either cash or a bottle of whisky) to the mailman at Christmas time. You should discuss this also with neighbors and friends.

The main idea of this passage is______.

A．shopping and tipping

B．sales and shopping

C．sales taxes and tipping

D．sales taxes and people

[1] In 1945, a 12-year-old boy saw something in a shop window that set his heart racing. But the price－five dollars－was far beyond Reuben Earle's means.

[2] Reuben couldn't ask his father for the money. Everything Mark Earle made through fishing in Bay Roberts，Newfoundland，Canada．Reuben's mother，Dora，stretched like elastic to feed and clothe their five children.

[3] Nevertheless， he opened the shop's weathered door and went inside．Standing proud and straight in his flour-sack shirt and washed-out trousers，he told the shopkeeper what he wanted，adding，“But I don't have the money right now．① Can you please hold it for me for some time?”

[4] “I'll try”，the shopkeeper smiled．“Folks around here don't usually have that kind of money to spend on things. It should keep for a while. ”

[5] Reuben respectfully touched his worn cap and walked out into the sunlight with the bay rippling in a freshening wind. There was purpose in his loping stride. He would raise the five dollars and not tell anybody.

[6] Hearing the sound of hammering from a side street, Reuben had an idea.

[7] He ran towards the sound and stopped at a construction site. People built their own homes in Bay Roberts，using nails purchased in Hessian sacks from a local factory. Sometimes the sacks were discarded in the flurry of building, and Reuben knew he could sell them back to the factory for five cents a piece. ②

[8] That day he found two sacks, which he took to the rambling wooden factory and sold to the man in charge of packing nails.

[9] The boy's hand tightly clutched the five-cent pieces as he ran the two kilometers home.

[10] Near his house stood the ancient barn that housed the family's goats and chickens. Reuben found a rusty soda tin and dropped his coins inside. Then he climbed into the loft of the barn and hid the tin beneath a pile of sweet smelling hay.

[11] It was dinner time when Reuben got home. His father sat at the big kitchen table, working on a fishing net. Dora was at the kitchen stove, ready to serve dinner as Reuben took his place at the table.

[12] He looked at his mother and smiled. Sunlight from the window gilded her shoulder-length blonde hair. Slim and beautiful, she was the center of the home, the glue that held it together.

[13] Her chores were never-ending. Sewing clothes for her family on the old Singer treadle machine，cooking meals and baking bread, planting and tending a vegetable garden, milking the goats and scrubbing soiled clothes on a washboard. But she was happy. Her family and their well-being were her highest priority.

[14] Every day after chores and school, Reuben scoured the town, collecting the hessian nail bags. All summer long, despite chores at home weeding and watering the garden, cutting wood and fetching water-Reuben kept to his secret task. ③

[15] Often he was cold, tired and hungry, but the thought of the object in the shop window sustained him．Sometimes his mother would ask:“Reuben, where were you? We were waiting for you to have dinner．”

[16] “Playing, Mum. Sorry. ”

[17] Dora would look at his face and shake her head. Boys.

[18] Finally spring burst into glorious green and Reuben's spirits erupted. The time had come!

閱讀以上文章，回答 82～86 題

第 82 題 We can conclude from the passage that __________．

[A] the life of Reuben's family depended on Mark Earle

[B] Reuben's mother worked part-time

[C] Reuben had five brothers and sisters

[D] Dora was fed up with her life