1、Martin Lewis explained you might be owed tens of thousands, as long as you claim(索赔) before August 2019. He revealed on Good Morning Britain that a new method of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) reclaiming known as the Plevin ruling meant many more people could receive compensation than ever before.
He said, \"News this week reported that banks could have to pay out £18 billion more in PPI, after a judge in Manchester County Court ruled that a couple Mr. and Mrs. Doran, should receive all of the 76 percent commission(提成) they paid on their PPI policy rather than just the amount over 50 percent plus interest.\"
This is all about the newest type of PPI reclaiming called the Plevin. If the lender didn't tell you the commission it was receiving for selling PPI, then the regulator has said if the commission was over 50%, you should get back the amount above that (the typical amount was 66% so many are owed just for this alone). However, he warned you need to act fast to put in a claim, with the period to do so ending in summer next year. “We’re now only a little hit more than a year away from the deadline for PPI reclaiming—the last time to put a claim in is August 2019.\"
He said, \"So anyone who has had a loan, credit or store card, catalogue account, overdraft or car finance ever should check if you were sold the extra insurance and if you were you should look to reclaim it. You don't need to pay anyone to do it because there's free help online. You can use Martin s free PPI reclaiming tool and the regulator has a helpline on 0800 101 8800 if you’re struggling.\" 1.Why is the couple Mr. and Mrs. Doran mentioned in paragraph 2? A.To stress the regulator is right. B.To explain what PPI is about.
C.To give a successful case of the Plevin. D.To introduce a new topic for the discussion.
2.What is the key for a customer to make a PPI claim according to Martin Lewis?
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A.Getting in touch with him. B.Getting free help online. C.Lending money. D.Acting fast.
3.What can we learn from the text?
A.Martin Lewis can make a fortune before August 2019. B.The PPI will be put into effect before August 2019. C.The Plevin ruling is not familiar to many people. D.Compensation is much easier to get than ever before. 4.What can be a suitable title for the text? A.Add a small amount into your saving account B.Avoid losing 55% of your pension C.How to make a PPI rule D.How to save on PPI policy
2、Mobile phone users in China expected a pleasant surprise this month. Starting from October 1, a new policy adopted by the three giant cellphone operators — China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom — has allowed unused data from individual data packages to be carried over to the next month for use.
At the beginning, users of the three telecommunication companies welcomed this policy, since they would have more free data to use in the next month. However, even before Chinese users could enjoy the free extra package, the users found that since the adoption of the policy, the original data limits seem to be far more easily swallowed up, which means there wouldn’t be any unused data left for the next month. One user of China Unicom claimed that it took him only nine days to use up the data package of a month.
Telecoms have become a necessity in modern life like water or power, and raising or lowering costs significantly affects people’s lives and finances. But disagreements between consumers and service providers cover discussion. It is too early to judge how long the disagreement between telecommunication companies and consumers over data packages will last, since, according to media reports, the
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measurement of data usage is difficult to track. Companies are using “user privacy” to avoid giving out any information.
But reading through the companies posted online by cellphone users, we can sense the public’s distrust of Stated-owned enterprises (SOEs). A survey done by the people’s Tribune Research Center in 2012 found that the public’s negative impression of SOEs came from the belief that they only rely on government support and their employees usually do easy jobs but get higher pay, yet their sense of service is far behind private and foreign enterprises.
The current argument over the data package of three State-owned
telecommunication giants reflects the extent of public anger. Among the country’s anti-corruption campaign (反腐败运动) and reforms, it shows the public’s enthusiasm for deepening reforms and making SOEs benefit domestic consumers. 1. The attitude of the users towards the new policy of the three telecommunication companies at the beginning can be best described as ________. A. indifferent
B. opposed
C. positiveD. disappointed
2. What is the result of the new policy adopted by the three telecommunication companies?
A. Chinese phone users are allowed to send their unused data to their friends. B. Chinese phone users are presented with much cheaper individual data packages. C. Chinese phone users have no need to buy individual data packages. D. Chinese phone users consume the data much sooner than expected. 3. Which of the following is NOT the public’s impression of SOEs? A. SOEs are supported by the government to a large extent. B. SOEs have benefited domestic consumers effectively. C. SOEs’ employees don’t deserve the high pay.
D. SOEs’ service is worse than private and foreign enterprises. 4. The last paragraph most probably implies that ________. A. the public are not satisfied with the reforms at present B. the public do not care about the country’s reforms C. the public think highly of anti-corruption campaign
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D. the public are confident about the reform of SOEs
3、Her pink face smiles from everything from tins of pasta to sunglasses and backpacks. And today, 10 years after she hit TV screens, Pep pa Pig is such a phenomenon that it’s hard to imagine a world without her.
Five-minute cartoons of Peppa plus family and friends are shown in more than 170 nations, and yesterday we were told how her earnings are set to top one billion dollars.
It's an incredible British success story that almost never happened because Peppa's creators —three mates who met at Middlesex Polytechnic in the 80s and now are all millionaires —struggled to get more people interested.
The idea was born in 2000 when out-of-work animators Neville Astley and Mark Baker joined forces with producer pal Phil Davies to create a children's character. But worst of all, they were on the edge of putting Peppa aside as their marketing budget was not enough.
The year 2000 was hard for them. They had to spend a lot to make Peppa accepted as a new cartoon character and Neville, 57, only earned £400 in 12 months. It got to the stage where they almost had to separate and go to earn money. Phil also thought that was pretty tough. He had to watch the pennies and what they bought in the supermarket.
Thankfully for millions of parents around the world who got five minutes of peace when Peppa came on screen, they were saved at the last minute. They got a commercial that kept them going and then Peppa got commissioned.
In May 2004, it began building lots of followers. And the team recognized at once the importance of selling goods. The fact is that Peppa branded products could decorate the British children s bedrooms— and the kids in Britain themselves helped it become a way of life rather than just a TV cartoon. But parents should guide.their kids correctly.
Now more than 200 episodes have been made along with more than 12,000 branded products. Entertainment One, who owns the licensing rights, estimates earnings will break the $ 1 billion barrier by the end of this year.
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1.What was the biggest difficulty Peppa's creators met in 2000? A.The cartoon market was out of order.
B.None of producers was interested in Peppa Pig. C.They decided to separate because of disagreement. D.They lacked money to make Peppa Fig known to people. 2.What does the underlined part in paragraph 7 mean? A.Kids didn't want to lead a life like Peppa Pig. B.Peppa Pig helped kids get over much difficulty.
C.TV finally helped Peppa branded products achieve great success in 2004. D.Peppa branded products affect British kids' housing, food, clothing, etc. 3.What do we know about Peppa Pig? A.It brings peace for the world. B.It is banned by most countries.
C.Its success is largely owed to the creators' hard work. D.It has a bad influence on all parents and children's life. 4.What's the main idea of the text?
A.What the world will be like without Peppa Pig. B.How Peppa Pig was created and became a top industry.
C.Why Peppa Pig is very popular in so many countries in the world. D.Where Peppa Pig's special appearance was created by its three creators.
4、Some Popular Restaurants
Parsley & Thyme Restaurant
Daryl Cheong is a young chef who has recently taken over the running of Parsley Thyme Restaurant. Since his graduation from At-Sunrice Global-Chef Academy, Daryl has worked in a couple of lead-ing European restaurants before taking over Parsley & Thyme Restaurant. Daryl serves popular dishes such as French Onion Soup, Braised Beef Cheek and 100% Grass-Fed New Zealand Tenderloin. Liquids Cafe Pte Ltd
Having a decade of experience, we let our customers experience an explosion of American and Italian cuisine in a cafe atmosphere with affordable prices. Having
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both indoor and outdoor dining area, we are known for our welcoming atmosphere of romance. Customers simply bathe themselves in a range of magazines over a cup of caffeine. Our kitchen offers pastas,baked rice and main courses. The Rotisserie
Sitting in the center of the downtown, the Rotisserie brings you a casual and affordable dining experience that is simply satisfying. We offer numbers of specialties on the menu that have been perfected to arouse your taste desires. From the award-winning coffee to our signature roasted chicken and mouth watering salads, we are committed to bringing you the best ingredients for a truly memorable affair. The Mind Cafe
There can be no good fun without good food. The cafe aims to provide our customers with a pleasant session with something to fill their appetite. Light snacks, a warm coffee or hot chocolate serve the customers' needs just well. With over 2,000 games on shelf across our outlets, the cafe caters to people from all walks of life. You will never get bored from a lack of choice. It is suitable for a family outing, company gathering, or simple friends' get-together. We provide the games suitable for at most all ages to play together. 1.What is special about Liquids Cafe Pte Ltd? A.The prices of its food are affordable. B.The food in it is only suitable for Italians. C.It offers many magazines for customers to read D.It offers customers coffee to spend their spare time. 2.In which place can customers enjoy roasted chicken? A.The Rotisserie. B.The Mind Cafe. C.Liquids Cafe Pte Ltd. D.Parsley & Thyme Restaurant.
3.What can customers do at the Mind cafe? A.Have dinner outside. B.Have fun with children.
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C.Make chocolate with friends. D.Hold a graduation ceremony.
5、The city of San Francisco is home to some of the nation's largest technology companies, including Twitter and Uber. At the same time, it has one of the largest homeless populations in the country. Homeles^sness and unemployment for local people continue to rise. But one program is helping connect the two worlds for these poor job seekers. Del Seymour created the program. He was once homeless himself. Seymour spent years in a neighborhood known as the Tenderloin, an area with an extremely high rate of homelessness and unemployment. However, in recent years, large companies like Twitter and Uber have moved in or near the Tenderloin area. They started importing people from other regions and countries to work in the neighborhood.
Seymour started making phone calls to technology companies. He thought it was unfair for the companies to ignore local people,including homeless ones. “ You’re not going to come in my neighborhood and ignore my people, ” he said. “You’re going to include us in your business.,’
To everyone's surprise, the companies started answering. As a result, Seymour started Code Tenderloin, a non-profit organization that is giving the homeless and other needy people a path to employment, including jobs in technology companies. It offers classes in coding for computer languages. It also gives six-week training classes in job readiness. The class teaches students public speaking, resume building, interviewing and other skills. Code Tenderloin's students visit technology companies to meet people, ask questions and learn from employees. Although only a small number of students have found full-time technology jobs, a number of others have got internships (实习)through the program. And many others have found other full-time jobs.
1.What has happened to the Tenderloin in recent years? A.The rate of homelessness is decreasing. B.People are hired by large companies. C.Twitter sent employees to work for it.
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D.Large companies located their offices there.
2.What is Seymour s attitude toward the actions of Twitter and Uber at first? A.Supportive. B.Indifferent. C.Critical. D.Objective.
3.Why did Seymour set up Code Tenderloin? A.To help people find jobs.
B.To create jobs for himself and local people. C.To help technology companies find suitable workers. D.To teach coding for computer languages.
4.What does the underlined word “It” in Paragraph 4 refer to? A.A technology company. B.An organization. C.A learning path. D.A job.
6、China has the largest rail network in the world. The most amazing thing is that this became a reality within a decade and a half. Even though China was interested in a high-speed rail system in the country as early as 1978, the actual establishment was delayed to some extent. At that time,discussions took place about priority over rapid economic development. Since the maximum speed of the conventional train at that time was only 80 kilometers per hour, the necessity of establishing a high-speed rail system was discussed. While some who were for the proposal argued that such a system would be a necessary part of an economic development program, those who opposed felt it was too costly.
In 2008, Chinas first high-speed railway at a speed of 350 km/h was opened, traveling between Beijing and Tianjin. The Harbin—Dalian high-speed railway, the first of its kind to travel on snow, opened in 2012. The Shanghai maglev(磁悬浮列车),which runs at a speed of 431 kilometers an hour,has earned a place iri the
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book Guinnees World Records. Over the past 10 years, China has been able to accelerate progress and now possesses the largest rail network in the world. By mid-2018, the Chinese rail network has spread over an area of more than 27,000 kilometers. A total of 7. 54 billion passengers have used the railway between 2007 and 2017, and the income earned by the Ministry of Railways has reached 7.54 billion. Sponsorship of a rail line between Tanzania and Zambia in 1970 marked the first time China carried out railway construction in another country. Having experienced rapid progress in this field i China began to construct high-speed rail systems in many other countries. The first time China carried out the construction of a high-speed rail system on foreign soil was in 2014, with the second phase of the Ankara-Istanbul railway. In certain countries construction work has already been completed.
1.What may people in the world find the most unbelievable according to the text? A.China has devoted to building a high-speed rail system since 1978. B.China has built the largest rail network in the world within 15 years. C.The economy of China developed fast within a decade and a half. D.China has the largest rail network in the world.
2.Why was the high-speed rail system's establishment delayed at first? A.1978 was a time full of discussions. B.Economic development was rapid in 1978.
C.The maximum speed at that time was only 80 kilometers per hour. D.Some argued that such an expensive project shouldn't be done first. 3.What can we infer from the text?
A.The Harbin—Dalian high-speed rail is faster than the Beijing-Tianjin one. B.The speed of the Shanghai maglev can never be caught up with. C.China now possesses the shortest rail network in the world.
D.China's great achievements in railway development make a difference. 4.What does the last paragraph mainly talk about? A.Railway construction of the world. B.Railway development of other countries.
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C.China’s contributions to other countries’ rail systems. D.Rapid progress of rail systems in foreign countries.
答案
1、1.C; 2.D; 3.C; 4.D 解析：
1.推理判断题。第2段提及Doran夫妇,主要是用来说明the Plevin的成功案例。 2.根据文章第四段“However,he warned you need to act fast to put in a claim, with the period to do so ending in summer next year\"可知, 付保护保险索赔的关键点在于客户需要在有效期内立刻采取行动。
3.推理判断题。根据第一段“a new method of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) reclaiming known as the Plevin ruling”可知,这项新的支付保护保险政策还不被大多数人所熟悉。
4.主旨大意题。本文主要介绍了利用支付保护保险节省钱的方法。 2、1.C; 2.D; 3.B; 4.A 解析：
1.细节理解题。根据第二段中第一句At the beginning, users of the three
telecommunication companies welcomed this policy, since they would have more free data to use in the next month.可知,用户对这三家电信公司的新政策在开始时的态度可以说是积极的。故选C。
2.推理判断题。根据第二段中However, even before Chinese users could enjoy the free extra package, the users found that since the adoption of the policy, the original data limits seem to be far more easily swallowed up, which means there wouldn’t be any unused data left for the next month.可知,这三家电信公司采取的新政策的结果是“中国手机用户使用这些数据的速度远远快于预期。”故选D。
3.推理判断题。根据第四段中Research Center in 2012 found that the public’s negative impression of SOEs came from the belief that they only rely on government support and their employees usually do easy jobs but get higher pay, yet their sense of service is far behind private and foreign enterprises.可知,A/C/D项是公众对国企的印象,B项文中未提及。故选B。
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4.推理判断题。根据最后一段中The current argument over the data package of three State-owned telecommunication giants reflects the extent of public anger. ---it shows the public’s enthusiasm for deepening reforms and making SOEs benefit domestic consumers.“目前围绕三大国有电信巨头数据包的争论反映了公众的愤怒程度。在中国的反腐运动和改革中,它显示了公众对深化改革、让国有企业惠及国内消费者的热情。”可知,最后一段很可能暗示公众对目前的改革不满意。故选A。 3、1.D; 2.D; 3.C; 4.B 解析：
1.细节理解题。根据第四段最后一句 “But worst of all,they were on the edge of putting Peppa aside as their marketing budget was not enough”和第五段可知,在2000年,小猪佩奇的三位创造者因为营销预算不足,差点无法让更多人认识小猪佩奇。
2.细节理解题。根据第一段第一句“Her pink face smiles from everything from tins of pasta to sunglasses and backpacks”和第七段第三句 “The fact is that Peppa branded products could decorate the British children's bedrooms—and the kids in Britain themselves helped it become a way of life rather than just a TV cartoon”可知,小猪佩奇的品牌产品影响了英国孩子的衣食住行等方面,所以说小猪佩奇已经成为一种生活方式。
3.推理判断题。根据第四段第一句“The idea was born in 2000 when out-of-work animators Neville Astley and Mark Baker joined forces with producer pal Phil Davies to create a children’s character”和第五段可知,小猪佩奇获得成功很大程度上要归功于它的创造者的努力。
4.主旨大意题。本文主要讲述了小猪佩奇是如何被创造出来,并且成为一个年入10亿美元的顶级产业的故事。 4、1.C; 2.A; 3.B 解析：
1.细节理解题。根据第二段中的“Customers simply bathe themselves in a range of magazines over a cup of caffeine” 可知,Liquids Cafe Pte Ltd与其他几个餐厅不同的地方在于它给顾客们提供了很多杂志,以便他们阅读。
2.细节理解题。根据第三段“From the award-winning coffee to our signature roasted chicken and mouth-watering salads”可知,在The Rotisserie餐厅可以吃到烧鸡。
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3.细节理解题。根据最后一段“We provide the games suitable for almost all ages”可知,在The Mind Cafe餐厅,顾客们可以与孩子玩游戏,一起享受快乐时光。 5、1.D; 2.C; 3.A; 4.B 解析：
1.细节理解题。根据第一段中的\"However, in recent years, large companies like Twitter and Uber have moved in or near the Tenderloin area. 可知,D项正确。
2.推理判断题。根据文章第三段中的\"Seymour started making phone calls to technology companies. He thought it was unfair for the companies to ignore local people, including homeless ones.\"可知,西摩认为这些公司的做法不公平,由此推知,他对子推特和优步的态度是批判的。故选C项。
3.细节理解题。根据文章第四段中的“…Seymour started Code Tenderloin, a non-profit organization that is giving the homeless and other newly people a path to employment, including jobs in technology companies.\"可知,西摩创建这个组织的目的是为无家可归的人和其他贫困的人提供就业机会。故选A项。
4.词义猜测题。根据文章第四段中的“As a result, Seymour started Code Tenderloin, a non-profit organization... lt offers classes in coding... 可知,It指代的是前一句中的a non-profit organization。故选B项。 6、1.B; 2.D; 3.D; 4.C
解析： 1.细节理解题。由第段中的“China has the largest mil network in the world. The most amazing thing is that this became a reality within a decade and a half.\"可知,最让人难以置信的是,中国在15年内就建成了世界上最大的铁路网。故选B项。 2.细节理解题。由第一段中的discussions took place about priority over rapid economic development 和 those who opposed felt it was too costly 司知,那些持反对意见的人认为此工程耗资巨大,因此不支持优先发展铁路,所以延误了高铁系统的建设。故选D项。
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