For £12 you can equip an entire classroom in Burkina Faso, for £31 you can equip a school football team in Sierra Leone and for £68 you can support the whole education of a Haitian schoolgirl.
The educational presents are the latest way on the trend of charitable（慈善的）giving for Christmas. Plan UK, an international children's charity, has made its gift list focusing on helping the world's poorest countries to improve their education conditions.
"Every year we rack our brains for the perfect present and too often end up with yet another pair of socks or a useless ornament," said Marie Staunton, Plan UK's chief executive.
"This year we are offering people in the UK the chance to give twice. Buying an alternative gift for a loved one could likely save the life of some of the world's poorest children."
Plan UK is working on projects in specific countries, such as Burkina Faso, which is one of the poorest countries in the world and has a primary school enrolment rate（入学率）of just 36%. A present of £12 will help equip a classroom in Burkina Faso with chairs, desks, books and pencils.
The educational presents are the latest addition to a list of other charitable presents, including vaccinations（接种）and clean water systems.
Football strips for schoolchildren in Sierra Leone are designed to help the children have fun while continuing with the psychological healing process following the country's civil war. The £31 gift will supply the team strip, a football and a whistle to a school in Sierra Leone.
Oxfam offers similar gifts. Its Back to School kits for five pupils is a bestseller in a catalogue（目录）which includes the £24 Christmas goat, the £30 lavatory and £12 for school dinners for up to 200 children.
The first paragraph is written to tell us________.
| A．the great differences between the rich and the poor. |
| B．the general conditions of education in poor countries. |
| C．the difficulty in getting good education in poor countries. |
| D．the great meaning of a little money to children in poor countries. |
The underlined phrase “rack our brains” means _____in the third paragraph.
| A．cause physical or mental hurt |
| B．think very hard |
| C．improve our intelligence |
| D．make full use of |
Which of the following is Right according to the passage?
| A．Plan UK is working on educational projects all over the world. |
| B．The sufferings brought by war still have side effects on the children in Sierra Leone. |
| C．The educational Christmas presents have been given to the children for many years. |
| D．Its Back to School kits for five pupils is a bestselling book. |
The title for the passage would probably be ______.
| A．A new way of Christmas shopping |
| B．Give a helping hand to poor children |
| C．Buy a child an education this Christmas |
| D．Plan UK, an international children's charity |
In old times, man considered lightning to be one of the great mysteries(神秘事物)of nature. In fact a single flash of lightning 1. 6 kilometers long has enough electricity to light one million lamps.
The American scientist, Benjamin Franklin, was the first to suggest that lightning is in fact electricity formed between the earth and clouds high above. It happened in 1752. In the same year, he also built the first lightning rod(避雷针)to protect buildings from being struck by lightnings.
Modern science has discovered that lightning is very strong and powerful. A lightning between a cloud and the earth may be as long as 13 kilometers, and travels at a speed of 30 million meters per second. Scientists have the opinion that there are about 2, 000 million flashes of lightning per year. In the United States alone, it kills almost one person per day. The safest place to be in during an electrical storm is a closed car. Outside, one should go close to low ground for cover and not stop under a tree. Also one should stay out of water and away from metal fences. Inside a house people should keep away from open doorways and windows and not touch wires or metal things. From this passage we know lightning is_______ .
| A．one of the great mysteries of nature |
| B．electricity high above the earth |
| C．a kind of light |
| D．the sound from the clouds |
In the US _______.
| A．every person can see lightning every day |
| B．at least one person is killed by lightning every day |
| C．there are about 6 million flashes of lightning per year |
| D．about one person per day dies from lightning |
During a lightning storm, it would be best if you _______.
| A．stand under a tree | B．go outside | C．stay in a closed car | D．stop near windows |
A lightning rod can _______.
| A．prevent accidents caused by lightning |
| B．stop lightning |
| C．protect buildings from being washed away |
| D．delay the coming of lightning |
Elizabeth Blackwell was born in England in 1821, and moved to New York City when she was ten years old. One day she decided that she wanted to become a doctor. That was nearly impossible for a woman in the middle of the nineteenth century. After writing many letters asking for admission(录取) to medical schools, she was finally accepted by a doctor in Philadelphia. She was so determined that she taught school and gave music lessons to get money for the cost of schooling.
In 1849, after graduation from medical school. she decided to further her education in Paris. She wanted to be a surgeon(外科医师) , but a serious eye problem forced her to give up the idea.
Upon returning to the United States, she found it difficult to start her own practice because she was a woman. By 1857 Elizabeth and her sister, also a doctor, along with another woman doctor, managed to open a new hospital, the first for women and children Besides being the first woman physician and founding her own hospital , she also set up the first medical school for women.Why couldn’t Elizabeth Blackwell realize her dream of becoming a surgeon?
| A．She couldn’t get admitted to medical school |
| B．She decided to further her education in Paris |
| C．A serious eye problem stopped her |
| D．It was difficult for her to start a practice in the United States |
What main obstacle(障碍) almost destroyed Elizabeth’s chances for becoming for a doctor?
| A．She was a woman. |
| B．She wrote too many letters. |
| C．She couldn’t graduate from medical school. |
| D．She couldn’t set up her hospital. |
How many years passed between her graduation from medical school and the opening of her hospital?
| A．Eight years | B．Ten years | C．Nineteen years | D．Thirty-six years |
According to the passage, all of the following are “firsts” in the life of Elizabeth Blacekwell, except that she ______.
| A．became the first woman physician |
| B．was the first woman doctor |
| C．and several other women founded the first hospital for women and children |
| D．set up the first medical school for women |
As kids, my friends and I spent a lot of time out in the woods． “The woods” was our part-time address, destination, purpose, and excuse． If I went to a friends house and found him not at home, his mother might say, “Oh, he’s out in the woods, ” with a tone（语气） of airy acceptance． It is similar to the tone people sometimes use nowadays to tell me that someone I’m looking for is on the golf course or at the gym, or even “away from his desk．” For us ten-year-olds, “being out in the woods” was just an excuse to do whatever we feel like for a while．
We sometimes told ourselves that what we were doing in the woods was exploring（探索）． Exploring was a more popular idea back then than it is today． History seemed to be mostly about explorers． Our explorations, though, seemed to have less system than the historic kind: something usually came up along the way． Say we stayed in the woods, throwing rocks, shooting frogs, picking blackberries, digging in what we were briefly persuaded was an Indian burial mound．
Often we got “lost” and had to climb a tree to find out where we were． If you read a story in which someone does that successfully, be skeptical: the topmost branches are usually too skinny to hold weight, and we could never climb high enough to see anything except other trees． There were four or five trees that we visited regularly—tall beeches, easy to climb and comfortable to sit in．
It was in a tree, too, that our days of fooling around in the woods came to an end． By then some of us had reached seventh grade and had begun the rough ride of adolescence（青春期）． In March, the month when we usually took to the woods again after winter, two friends and I set out to go exploring． We climbed a tree, and all of a sudden it occurred to all three of us at the same time that we really were rather big to be up in a tree． Soon there would be the spring dances on Friday evenings in the high school cafeteria．The author and his friends were often out in the woods to _______．
| A．spend their free time |
| B．play golf and other sports |
| C．avoid doing their schoolwork |
| D．keep away from their parents |
What can we infer from Paragraph 2 ?
| A．The activities in the woods were well planned． |
| B．Human history is not the result of exploration． |
| C．Exploration should be a systematic activity． |
| D．The author explored in the woods aimlessly． |
The underlined word “skeptical” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ______．
| A．calm | B．doubtfu | C．serious | D．optimistic |
How does the author feel about his childhood?
| A．Happy but short． | B．Lonely but memorable． |
| C．Boring and meaningless | D．Long and unforgettable． |
For many of us, printed books are satisfying in ways beyond the words they contain． Billions of printed books have been published, read and saved in the 600 years since movable type was invented, so why mess with a good things?
Sony Electronics is doing just that, betting that readers will be won over by the convenience of readability of its new electronic book devices． Sony's reader, the PRS-505, can hold 160 books in its fixed memory, enough to line the shelves on a good-sized wall in the average American home． The $299 device is about the size of a paperback book, but a half-inch thick and weighs less than a pound．
The Sony book reader is revolutionary not only in its storage capacity． The font（字体） is highly readable and adjustable by size． Unlike laptop computers, you can put the Sony in your purse, read it in direct sunlight and even bookmark the pages． And you can connect it to your PC to download books．
Surprisingly, though the reader has liberated the book from paper, electronic books aren't always a bargain． For example, David Baldacci's "Stone Cold" download retails（零售） for $15．19 at the Sony site, while Amazon（卓越网） will deliver a hard copy to your mailbox for $16．19．
The Sony reader also lets you store and play or display music． So what's not to like about the Sony? Well, for many bibliophiles, a lot． Book lovers like to have, hold and keep their volumes, which don't need charging． You can write notes in the margins, and enjoy the ambience they provide on your book shelves．The need for electronic reading devices is likely to grow as more people worried about the billions of tons of paper used for printed material． Many believe the time will come when devices like the Sony reader are as common as printed newspapers and magazines today．
According to the passage, the Sony book reader _________．
| A．is as light as a laptop computer |
| B．can hold more than 200 books |
| C．is convenient to carry around |
| D．cannot be connected to a PC |
What is the author’s point when he mentions “Stone Cold”?
| A．Amazon’s printed books are very cheap |
| B．“Stone Cold” can be got from the Sony site and Amazon |
| C．The Sony book reader is not very cheap to use |
| D．The Sony book reader can benefit its buyers a lot |
The underlined word “bibliophiles” in Paragraph 5 refers to “__________”．
| A．music lovers | B．book lovers |
| C．electronic reading devices | D．Sony readers |
According to the author, what’s the future for the electronic reading devices?
| A．They’ll replace printed newspapers and magazines |
| B．They’ll still be more expensive than printed newspapers |
| C．They’ll become a must in people’s daily life |
| D．They’ll become more popular as time goes on |
BUKHANNON, West Virginia—Two rescue teams slowly moved along a two-mile path on Monday night to the site of a coal mine explosion that trapped 13 miners, who had not been heard from since the early morning accident． Meanwhile, at a nearby church, more than 250 family members and friends gathered, waiting for updates（最新报道）on the rescuers’ progress．
The miners were trapped at about 6:30 and many families weren’t informed of the accident until about 10 a．m---more than three hours after it happened．“It’s very upsetting, but you’ve got to be patient, I guess,” said John Helms, whose brother, Terry, was trapped in the mine． The trapped miners were about 260 feet underground and about 10,000 feet from the Sago Mine’s entrance, said Roger Nicholson, general counsel from International Coal Group．
At a late night news conference, Nicholson said one team had advanced about 4, 800 feet in the four hours since entering the mine just before 6 p．m．Another team entered the mine about 30 minutes later．
He said the crew was very experienced, with some members having worked underground for
30 to 35 years．The miners were equipped with about one hour of breathable oxygen each．The company has not released the names of the miners．
The teams test the air about every 500 feet, and have to disconnect （remove） the power to the phones they use to communicate with the surface before doing that．“ We don’t want to be energizing anything if it’s in an atmosphere with burnable gases,” Kips said．The cause of the explosion was not immediately known．High levels of carbon monoxide were discovered shortly after the explosion, which delayed rescue efforts, but those levels have since subsided（减退）, authorities said．According to the passage, we can infer that ________．
| A．all the miners who were trapped underground were still alive |
| B．communication with the trapped miners was cut off |
| C．the two rescue teams entered the mine at the same time |
| D．the rescue started as soon as the accident happened |
If the first team advanced at an average speed, they could dig about _______ per hour．
| A．1,000 feet | B．2,400 feet | C．1,200feet | D．4,800feet |
Where can the passage be seen?
| A．In a magazine． | B．In a newspaper． |
| C．In a science book．． | D．On an advertisement． |
Which of the following shows the position where the miners wd?
