大学英语《英语B级》模拟试卷二

When John and Victoria Falls arrived in New York City for one-year stay, they did not bring very many things with them. They had planned either to live in a furnished apartment or to buy used furniture. But they soon learned about a new system that more and more people are using. The renting of home furnishings （bed, tables, dishes, and so on） has become one of America’s fastest growing businesses. What kinds of people rent their home furnishings instead of buying them? People who are international business or government officials, foreign students, airline workers, young married couples - people whose job or business may force them to move frequently from one city to another. They save a lot of trouble and the cost of moving their furniture each time. They simply rent new furniture when they reach their new homes. Young people with little money do not want to buy cheap furniture that they may soon dislike. They prefer to wait until they have enough money to buy furniture they really like. Meanwhile, they find they can rent better quality furniture than they could afford to buy. One family, who now have a large, beautiful home of their own, liked their rented furniture so much that they decided to keep renting it instead of buying new things. But usually people don’t like to tell others about it. The idea of renting home furnishings is still quite new, and they are not sure what their neighbors might think.

Many people buy suitcases to carry their luggage when they go abroad on holiday and never take the trouble to find out whether they will be __（1）__ to survive the journey. Whatever case you buy - and obviously the more you pay for it, the better it is likely to be - you should be careful __（2）__ too much into it. A lot of passengers __（3）__ and then the locks break. Some people think manufacturers should say how much the case can carry. But the manufacturers say it depends __（4）__ the quality of the case. A cheap case, __（5）__ has been badly made, will obviously not last as long as an expensive one.

A couple of months ago, I went to a department store to buy a few things for the house. I needed a set of curtains for the living room, two table lamps, a rug and several cushions. I asked them to deliver the things as soon as possible, but they said that they were unable to send them out until 20 days later. After about 3 weeks, I received only the curtains and table lamps. I was a little disappointed when I didn't receive all the items I had bought. But nevertheless, I was eager to see what the curtains and lamps looked like. I first opened the package with the curtains. I had bought a lovely light blue, and instead they had sent me a horrible dark purple. Well, you can just imagine how angry I was. Then I opened the boxes with the lamps. They were exactly what I'd ordered. But one of the lamp shapes was damaged. The next I did was to telephone them to complain. They promised to come and pick them up immediately and also to replace them with the correct order. It has been two weeks since my complaint. They have neither picked up the wrong items nor sent me the rest of my order.