课外阅读(英语) 12篇

课外阅读

12

篇

Passage 1

French Language in UK

Going back in history, some changes in the English language can be found in 1066. In that

year

the French-speaking

Normans became the rulers and upper

class of England,

but

the

common people still spoke English. Some of the Normans had to learn English, and many of

the

English

had

to

learn

some

French.

After

a

while,

many

French

words

became

so

well

known that the English began to use them when they spoke to other Englishmen. 77 words

True or False Exercise:

1. Some changes in the English language started in 1066. T

2. In 1066 France became a part of England. F

3. Some of the Normans wanted to learn English, because they liked English. F

4.

Many

of

the

English

had

to

learn

some

French,

because

they

were

ruled

by

the

French-speaking Normans. T

5. We can know that some English works came from French T

Passage 2

Hamburger

Everybody knows that hamburger is a very popular

American food. However,

people

in

the

United States learned to make hamburgers from Germans, and the Germans got the idea from

Russia.

In the thirteenth century the Tartar people from Central Asia moved i9nto Russia and parts of

Europe. They fought the Russians and won. They ate something like hamburger meat, but it

was raw. This raw meat was beef, goat meat or horse meat. Soon the Russians started to eat

raw meat too. Germans from Hamburg and other northern cities learned to eat this food from

the Russians. However, they added salt, pepper, a raw egg, and then cooked it.

Between 1830 and 1900 thousands of Germans went to live in the United States> They took

the hamburger with them. People called it hamburger steak.

In 1904 at the World?s Fair in St. Louis (a city on the Mississippi River), a man from Texas sold

hamburger steak in a roll (a kind of bread). Then people could eat it with their hands, like a

sandwich. This was the first real hamburger like the hamburgers we eat today.

Today some people still like to eat raw beef. They call it “steak tartare.” 200 words.

Exercise:

Multiple- choice:

1. The making of the hamburger dates back to _C_.

A. 1830

B. 1904

C. the 13th century

D. the 19th century

2. Who influenced Americans to make hamburger?A

A. Germans.

B. Russians.

C. The tartar people.

D. None of the above

3. The G

ermans? hamburger meat was a little different from the Russians? because __

D__.

A. the Germans? hamburger meat was cooked

B. the Germans? hamburger meat was eaten raw

1

C. salt, pepper and egg were added to the Germans? hamburger meat

D. both A and C

4. Which of the following is most like the food the Tartar people ate?D

A. The sandwich.

B. The hamburger.

C. The hamburger steak.

D. The “steak tartare”.

5. It was in _C__ that people enjoyed the first real hamburger.

A. Germany

B. Russia

C. America

D. Central Asia

Passage 3

Coca- Cola

The

Coca-Cola

company

made

the

first

cola

drinks

more

than

a

hundred

years

ago.

Companies now sell millions of bottles and cans of Coca-Cola, Pepsi- Cola, and other colas

every day. The cola flavor in the drinks comes from the cola or kola nut. These nuts grow on

trees

in

the

hottest

parts

of

the

earth.

Kola

nuts

have

caffeine

in

them.

Coffee,

tea,

and

chocolate have caffeine, too. Caffeine makes some people feel nervous. Now there are also

cola drinks without caffeine.

Cola and other soft drinks have carbon dioxide (CO2) in the water. This gas makes bubbles.

There

is

also

a

lot

of

sugar

in

these

drinks.

Some

soft

drinks

have

no

sugar

but

artificial

sweetener. It is possible that these artificial sweeteners are harmful to the body. 129 ws

Multiple- choice:

1. The Coca-Cola company started to make cola drinks _D__.

A. in the eighteenth century

B. in the twentieth century

C. in the early part of the nineteenth century

D. in the latter part of the nineteenth century

2. The cola flavor in colas comes from the __A_ of a certain plant.

A. fruit

B. flower

C. stem

D. root

3. It is possible that __A__ are harmful to people.

A. caffeine and sweeteners

B. water and caffeine

C. sweeteners, sugar and water

D. carbon dioxide and water

4. Which of the following statements is not true?C

A. Soft drinks are usually sweet.

B. Now Coca- Cola is very popular in the world.

C. Coffee, tea and chocolate are not soft drinks because they have caffeine.

D. Not all cola drinks have caffeine.

5. A sweetener is __B__.

A. nothing but sugar

B. something that gives the sweet taste

C. anything sweet

D. made from sugar

Passage 4

Insurance

2

Insure means to protect against a loss of money. Most people can budget their money so that

their income will cover expected expenses such as food, clothing, housing, and public services.

But, there is no way to know in advance who will suffer a crisis such as a serious illness, fire,

flood,

or

a

car

accident.

Such

crises

usually

result

in

great

expense.

Even

if

people

could

predict crises, it would be hard to save enough money to cover the expenses. Insurance is a

system

by

which

a

company

collects

money

from

many

individuals

and

then

pays

certain

expenses

whenever

one

of

those

insured

individuals

is

faced

with

a

certain

crisis.

An

insurance policy states how much the insurance costs and how much the company will pay

when a policy

（保险单）

holder is faced with a certain crisis. There are many different kinds of

insurance, including hospital, motor- car, and fire. Insurance can be rather expensive but most

people buy insurance of some kind. Insurance is something that people buy and hope they will

never need.

174 words

Exercise:

Multiple- choice:

1. Which of the following statements is not true?

A. Insurance is protections against a loss of money

B. Insurance can pay the costs caused by certain crises.

C. Insurance is a way to prevent things like floods and fires.

D. Most people can budget their money to cover expected expenses.

2. Insurance _____ .

A. will prevent people suffering from crises

B. can?t be expensive

C. is something people hope they will not need

D. is used each day by most people

3. Which of the following is the main idea of the passage?

A. There are many different kinds of insurance.

B. Although insurance can cost a lot, most people today have some kind of insurance.

C. An insured person will be paid whenever he is faced with a certain crisis.

D. Insurance is protection against a loss of money resulting from certain crises.

4. The best title for the passage is _____ .

A. Crisis Prevention

B. The Value of Insurance

C. Life Crises

D. How to Insure

(Correct answer: 1.C 2.C 3.D 4.B)

Passage 5

Football in Britain

Football is the most popular game in England. One of the most interesting things about football

there to a stranger is the great knowledge of the game which even the smallest boy seems to

have. He can tell you the names of the players in most of the important teams. He has photos

of them and knows the results of large numbers of matches. He will tell you who he expects

will win such and such a match, and his opinion is usually as valuable as that of men three

times his age.

3

Most schools is England take football seriously

－－

much more seriously than other European

schools,

where

lessons

are

most

important,

and

games

are

unimportant,

In

England,

it

is

believed that education is not only a mater of filling a boy?s mind with facts in the classroom;

education also means character training; and one of the best ways of training character is by

means

of

games,

especially

team

games,

where

the

boy

learns

to

work

with

others

for

his

team instead of working selfishly for himself alone.

the passage we know that football ____.

(A)is the main subject in English schools (B)was invented in England

(C)is a favourite game in England (D)is played everywhere in Europe

England schools ____ is filled into the education of boys.

(A)team work (B)character training

(C)nothing but football (D)selfishness

underlined part character training should mean ____ .

(A)to build one?s mind and spirit (B)to train your

self in every way

(C)to train a person?s body only (D)to train a person in all ways

is because of ____ that even a small boy has a good knowledge of football in England.

(A)the special education (B)the football stars

(C)his cleverness (D)his young age

of the following is true to the passage?

(A)In England a man knows three times more about football than a boy.

(B)It is clear that an English girl knows little about football

(C)Every English boy has a photo of football players in his pocket.

(D)Compared with Englanders, other Europeans are less interested in football.

Correct answer: 1?5 CBAAD

Passage 6

Savings and Loan

A savings and loan association is a company that makes money by loaning money. People

who save money at a savings and loan association are the holders of shares and stocks. The

shareholders elect a board of directors to run the savings and loan association. Savings and

loan associations loan money for

home building and repair and for

other

purposes. But the

directors will loan money only if the borrower has something that can be used as security

（抵

押品）

. Savings and loan associations pay a certain percentage of interest to the shareholders

who save money with the savings and loan association. Savings and loan associations must

charge a higher interest rate to borrowers than they can pay to the shareholders for the same

amount of money. The extra interest money is necessary to pay salaries and other expense

needed

to

run

the

savings

and

loan

association.

Savings

and

loan

associations

must

obey

many government regulations.

154 words

Exercise:

Multiple- choice:

1. A savings and loan association _____.

A. charges low interest to borrowers and pays high interest to savers

B. is owned by people who borrow money

4

C. is a kind of company

D. has nothing to do with the government

2. Which of the following statements is not true?

A. A savings and loan association belongs to the people who save their money with it.

B. Savings and loan associations are regulated by the government.

C. The more money the shareholders save

with the

association, the lower interest rate the

association charges to the borrowers.

D. A savings and loan association must obey many government regulations.

3. Which of the following statements is the main idea of the passage?

A. Savings and loan associations pay interest to their shareholders.

B. A savings and loan association is a company that makes money by loaning money

C. Directors loan money only if the borrower has something that can be used as security.

D. Savings and loan associations loan money for home building and repair and for some other

purposes.

4. The best title for the passage is _____.

A. Making Money by Loaning

B. The Job of a Shareholder

C. Losing Money with Interest

D. Obeying Government Regulations

(Correct answer: 1.C 2.C 3.B 4.A)

Passage 7

Every human being gives off body heat no matter what he is doing. The usual problem is how

to get rid of it. But the designers of the Johnstown campus of the University of Pittsburgh set

themselves the opposite problem---how to collect body heat. They have designed a collection

system which uses not only body heat, but the heat given off by such objects as light bulbs and

refrigerators as well. The system works so well that no conventional(

常用的

) fuel is needed to

make the campus?s six buildings comfortable.

Some parts of most modern buildings --- theatres and offices as well as classrooms?are more

than sufficiently heated by people and lights and sometimes must be air-conditioned even in

winter. The technique of saving heat and redistributing(

重新分配

) it is called “heat recovery”(

热

力回收

). A few modern buildings recover heat, but the University?s system is the first to recover

heat from some buildings and reuse it in others.

Along the way, Pitt has learned a great deal about some of its heat producers. The harder a

student studies, the more heat his body gives off. Male students emit(

释放

) more heat than

female students, and the larger a student is, the more heat he produces. It is interesting to

conclude

that

the

hottest

person

for

the

Johnstown

campus

would

be

a

hard-working,

overweight male student.

1. Which of the following is true of the heating system of the Johnstown campus?

A) The heat is supplied by human bodies.

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