talking about footwear! He had no idea their word for "boot" was "trunk". In the end we went to a garage and just solved the problem.

Mary - From Britain

21.David went out to find a phone box to ________.

A．phone the police for help B．phone his friend for help

C．tell his friends he couldn't go to visit her D．apologize for his being late

22.When Tom asked for the "restroom", the people around him thought ______.

A．he wanted to have a rest. B．he wanted the toilet

C．he wanted a chair D．He wanted to go to a department store

23.Which of the following words is from British English？

A．Pants. B．Ground floor. C．Restroom. D．Trunk.

　　When people were building houses, they used to consider not only the climate of the areas but also the building materials and the fashions for their houses. However, since electricity became more and more expensive, people began to pay much more attention to the energy they could get for their houses and the new ways they could find to protect their houses from both cold and heat.

　　Now, houses of an old yet new type have been widely built. In some parts of the world, people share their houses with their livestock (家畜). During cold weather, they gather their cows, goats, or other animals and keep them on the first floor of their houses. The reasons are that the animals can be protected from the cold and that they can help to heat the houses as well. The body heat given off by the animals rises to the second floor of the houses, where people live. By sharing their houses with their livestock, people gain a source of heat.

　　People who live in or near cities do not usually keep livestock. However, home builders use the fact that heat rises. This natural law can be used in building houses in these areas. Instead of keeping livestock on the first floor, builders fill it with large rocks. As they are open to the sun's rays during cold weather, these rocks take in heat. They also give off the heat, and, of course, the warm air rises into the living areas of the houses. So these houses are energy-saving.

　　House-building becomes a great challenge to building designers and energy engineers. They try to meet this challenge by learning from old traditions and by using modern technology. And someday in the future, people will be able to live in more energy-saving houses.

24. What did people begin to consider as electricity was no longer cheap?

　A. The climate of their areas. B. The fashions for their houses.

　C. The energy for their houses. D. The building materials for their houses.

25. People in some areas gain a source of heat by ________.

　A. living on the second floor with their livestock

　B. protecting their livestock from the cold

　C. sharing their houses only with their cows

　D. keeping their livestock downstairs

26. The underlined words "natural law" in the third paragraph refer to the fact that ____.

A. heat goes in the upward direction

B. heat raises the temperature in the houses