One day, four lawyers were riding their horses along a country road. There had been a rain. Water was dripping(滴) from the trees, and the grass was wet. They rode slowly, talking and laughing. Suddenly they heard some noises from the tree above them. “What is the matter?” asked the first lawyer. “Oh, it’s only some old birds!” said the second lawyer. “The storm made one of the babies fall out of the nest. It is too young to fly, and the mother bird is very worried.” “What a pity! It’ll die down there in the grass,” said the third lawyer. “It doesn’t matter. It’s only a bird,” said the second lawyer. Then they rode on, talking and laughing as before. But the fourth lawyer, whose name was Abraham Lincoln, stopped. He got down from his horse and took the little one in his big warm hands.
“Never mind, my little fellow,” said Mr. Lincoln. “I will put you back in your little nest.” He climbed up the tree and put the bird softly into their warm little home. A few minutes later, Mr. Lincoln joined them again. His shoes were covered with mud and he was wet. Then the other three laughed at him. They thought it was foolish for a strong man to do so much just for a young bird. “Gentlemen,” said Mr. Lincoln, “I could not sleep tonight if I had left the helpless bird in the grass.” Later Abraham Lincoln became very famous as a lawyer. He also became the president of America. He was one of the greatest American presidents.
61. The reason why the mother bird was worried was that ______.
A. there was a rain B. the lawyers were under its tree
C. one of its babies fell out of the nest D. it could not fly
62. We can learn about the other three lawyers from the passage that ______.
A. the second lawyer was kind B. they were all cold-hearted
C. they did something to save the baby bird D. the third lawyer put the bird into its nest
63. The underlined phrase “little fellow” in paragraph 2 means ______.
A. the mother bird B. Lincoln’s little friends
C. the other three lawyers D. the baby bird
64. The other three lawyers laughed at Lincoln because ______.
A. he climbed the tree B. he was wet
C. his shoes were covered with mud D. they thought it foolish for him to do so
65. From the passage we know Lincoln ______.
A. liked riding horses B. was very kind and loved birds and animals
C. liked being laughed at D. wanted to be the president of America then
English teenagers are to receive compulsory (必修的) cooking lessons in schools. The idea is to encourage healthy eating to fight the country’s increasing obesity (肥胖 )rate. It’s feared that basic cooking and food preparation skills are being lost as parents turn to pre-prepared convenience foods.
Cooking was once regarded as an important part of education in England---even if it was mainly aimed at girls. In recent decades cooking has progressively become a minor activity in schools. In many cases the schools themselves have given up cooking meals in kitchens in the schools. But the rising level of obesity has led to a rethink about the food that children are given and the skills they should be taught.
“What I want is to teach young people how to do basic, simple recipes like a tomato sauce, a bolognaise, a simple curry, a stir-fry---which they can use now at home and then in their later life”, said Ed Balls, the minister responsible for schools.
The new lessons are due to start in September, but some schools without kitchens will be given longer to adapt. There is also likely to be a shortage of teachers with the right skills, since the trend has been to teach food technology rather than practical cooking. Also the compulsory lessons for hands on cooking will only be one hour a week for one term. But the well-known cookery writer, Pru Leith, believes it will be worth it.
“If we’d done this thirty years ago we might not have the crisis we’ve got now about obesity and lack of knowledge about food and so on. Every child should know how to cook, not just so that they’ll be healthy, but because it’s a life skill which is a real pleasure”.
The renewed interest in cooking is primarily a response to the level of obesity in Britain which is among the highest in Europe, and according to government figures half of all Britons will be obese in 25 years if current trends are not stopped.The passage mainly talks about.
| A．the reason for obesity | B．the lost cooking skills |
| C．the healthy eating | D．the compulsory cooking classes |
Which of the following is NOT the purpose for English teenagers to receive cooking lessons?
| A．To encourage teenagers to eat healthy food. |
| B．To reduce the country’s increasing obesity rate. |
| C．To stop parents from turning to pre-prepared convenience foods. |
| D．To prevent basic cooking and food preparation skills from being lost. |
In what way will cooking lessons benefit the students?
| A．They will be healthy and enjoy the pleasure of such a life skill as well. |
| B．They will be able to do some basic, simple recipes like a tomato sauce. |
| C．They will be able to make food experiments with the knowledge and skills. |
| D．They will be able to control the level of obesity in the whole country. |
The well-known cookery writer, Pru Leith, thinks it to offer compulsory cooking lessons in schools.
| A．difficult | B．necessary | C．funny | D．timely |
It can be inferred from the passage that.
| A．cooking has always been an important part of school education in England |
| B．the obesity rate in Britain has been rapidly growing in recent decades |
| C．English teenagers will have their cooking lessons twice a week for one year |
| D．the students will pay a lot of money to the school for the |
Two Christmas traditions have come under attack in recent years from environmentalists: Christmas cards and Christmas trees.
Paper cards are seen as wasteful and, for some people, going card-free is another way of going green. They also argue that in a world of e-mail, Skype, Facebook and Twitter, people are in touch all the time anyway; they no longer need the yearly card that connects them with long lost friends. If you want to send Christmas greetings, there are free e-cards, which get the job done with no postage or wasted paper.
However, especially for people who didn’t grow up with e-mail, there is something missing from a Christmas e-mail. The first Christmas cards appeared in London in 1843 and were designed by the same man who had introduced the world’s first postage stamp three years earlier. His name was Sir Henry Cole.
They rose in popularity throughout the 20th century. Many people sent cards that were sold for charity. The most famous of these are the ones sold for UNICEF. In the UK this year, in the three weeks before Christmas, the post office expects to handle 100 million cards every day. Environmental awareness also means that nowadays many people recycle their cards; this helps raise money to plant more trees, as well as recreating more paper.
When we think of trees at Christmas, there is one that immediately springs(跃入)mind---the evergreen tree that people decorate with ornaments and place their presents under. The custom dates back almost a thousand years to Germany. Nowadays 33 to 36 million Christmas trees are produced in America and 50 to 60 million in Europe each year. Some trees are sold live with roots and soil so people can plant them later and reuse them next year.
Some people prefer artificial trees as they are reusable and much cheaper than their natural alternative. However, environmentalists point out that they are made from petroleum (石油) products and so have many pollution issues.What is the main idea of the article?
| A．To introduce the history of two typical Christmas traditions. |
| B．To explain the debate about some Christmas traditions. |
| C．To analyze how two Christmas traditions grew in popularity. |
| D．To point out the problems caused by celebrating Christmas. |
What does the underlined word “They” in the fourth paragraph probably mean?
| A．Many people | B．Christmas e-mails | C．Postage stamps | D．Christmas cards |
Some people suggest getting rid of paper cards because.
a. they cannot be recycledb. they are not environmentally friendly
c. they are mostly sold for charity d. the e-cards have many advantages over them
e. they are not as necessary as they used to be for people
| A．a, b, d | B．a, c, d | C．b, d, e | D．b, c, e |
What can we conclude from the article?
| A．The first Christmas cards were designed earlier than the world’s first stamps. |
| B．This year has seen a dramatic drop in Christmas card sales. |
| C．Environmentalists advise people to buy cards that are sold for charity. |
| D．Growing environmental awareness is encouraging people to recycle their cards. |
Which of the following statements in TRUE according to the article?
| A．There is always a wider Christmas tree market in America than in Europe. |
| B．The custom of decorating Christmas trees first appeared in Britain. |
| C．Some people prefer to buy live trees that can be reused next year. |
| D．Artificial trees are better than natural ones in all aspects. |
Greg Woodburn, a student at the University of Southern California, spends a lot of time cleaning sneakers he collected. But soon the shoes will be sent to poor children in the United States and 20 other countries, thanks to Woodburn’s Share our soles (S.O.S) charity.
A high school track star in the town of Ventura, California, Woodburn was treated in hospital for months with foot injuries.
“I started thinking about the health benefits, the friendship and the confidence I got from running,” he says, “And I realized there are children who don’t even have shoes”.
Woodburn gathered up his old sneakers, and then asked his friends to donate. His goal was to have 100 pairs by Christmas 2006. When he collected more than 500 pairs, he decided to turn the shoe drive into a year-round effort.
Back then, the sneakers came from donation boxes and the local sporting goods store and from door-to-door pickups. Woodburn has now set up collection boxes at two high schools, city gym and recreation center. So far, S.O.S has collected and donated more than 3,000 pairs.
Woodburn has cleaned all the shoes. After sorting the shoes by size, Woodburn selects the good shoes for the washing machine and the worn-out ones for recycling.
For many recipients, the shoes represent opportunity. Two young boys in Southern California attended school every other day because they shared a pair of shoes. They were too big for one boy and too small for the other. Thanks to S.O.S, each brother received his own pair of shoes. The boys now attend school daily and enjoy their learning. When they graduate, they say, they will help a stranger, just as Woodburn helped them.The text is mainly about.
| A．the attempts to collect sneakers | B．the school track star, Woodburn |
| C．Woodburn and his Share Our Soles | D．the recycling of the worn sneakers |
What caused Greg Woodburn to donate old shoes for poor children?
| A．News about some poor children. | B．The benefits from playing sports. |
| C．His memory of school life. | D．The medical treatment he received. |
When collecting more sneakers than expected. Woodburn decided to .
| A．collect shoes throughout the year | B．set up branches in different cities |
| C．put out a call to his friends | D．make his effort in the whole city |
From the fifth paragraph we can learn that.
| A．Woodburn has changed his business |
| B．Few students are interested in his suggestion |
| C．Few people supported his career |
| D．Woodburn succeeded in this charity |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．The two brothers would like to share a pair of shoes. |
| B．The shoes will protect poor children from injuries. |
| C．Woodburn gets tired of cleaning the old sneakers. |
| D．The shoes from S.O.S make a big difference to the two brothers. |
My father never wanted his children to know what he did for a living. Dad worked in Plant C. Lying beside Lake Erie, it saw him in at sunrise and out at nightfall. Sometimes my mother would take my siblings (兄弟姐妹) and me to the public beach in our hometown of Ashtabula. She’d gather us round and point to the smokestacks, coughing clouds into the sky.
“Wave to daddy!” she’d shout. Four little hands would shoot into the air. I never knew what Dad did in Plant C, but during 34 years of hard work, he had surgery (手术) on his shoulder and hand. At 48, he had his first heart attack. He retired in 1993, right after the last kid graduated from college. But the damage was done. A few years later, the next heart attack killed him.
I saw my dad in plant C only once, when I took dinner to him. That night, I looked at my father, covered in sweat and coal, and for the first time I knew why he was so often angry for no reason.
Recently my father’s friend, Toby Workman, walked me there. I knew my father never wanted me to see it. At every station, he described the job and the danger. It was like listening to a foreign language. I walked past many DANGER signs. Toby put his hand on my shoulder. “Look”, he said, “you need to understand something. Your dad was a maintenance mechanic. He worked the most dangerous job. If something broke, he fixed it. ”
A few days later, my daughter graduated from college. I gave her the hard hat Toby handed to me as I left, and this note: “Whenever you feel something difficult, put this on, look in the mirror, and remember your roots.”What is the purpose of the passage?
| A．In memory of the author’s mother | B．to know about what the father did. |
| C．In memory of the author’s father. | D．to remind the family to live well. |
Which of the following is TRUE of the facts about the author’s father?
| A．He didn’t suffer a heart attack until he retired. |
| B．He always faced danger while working. |
| C．He was satisfied with his job. |
| D．He worked in Plant C for 48 years in all. |
When the author saw her father in Plant C, ___.
| A．her father was fixing a broken machine. |
| B．she didn’t recognize her father. |
| C．she understood him about his bad temper. |
| D．her father was angry about her coming. |
When Toby Workman described the author’s father’s job, the author ____.
| A．felt familiar with the job | B．decided to do the same work. |
| C．wanted to learn a foreign language | D．felt much puzzled |
The author gave her daughter the hat to hope that her daughter could _______ .
| A．get encouraged by her grandfather | B．overcome all difficulties by wearing it |
| C．remember her grandfather | D．follow her grandfather’s work |
Do you find getting up in the morning so difficult that it’s painful? This might be called laziness, but Dr. Kleitman has a new explanation. He has proved that everyone has a daily energy cycle.
During the hours when you labor through your work you may say that you’re "hot". That's true. The time of day when you feel most energetic is when your cycle of body temperature is at its peak. For some people the peak comes during the morning. For others it comes in the afternoon or evening. No one has discovered why this is so, but it leads to such familiar monologues as “Get up, John! You’ll be late for work again!” The possible explanation to the trouble is that John is at his temperature-and-energy-peak in the evening. Much family quarrelling ends when husbands and wives realize what these energy cycles each member of the family has.
You can’t change your energy cycle, but you can learn to make your life fit it better. Habit can help, Dr. Kleitman believes. Maybe you’re sleepy in the evening but you must stay up late anyway. Counteract your cycle to some extent by habitually staying up later than you want to. If your energy is low in the morning but you have an important job to do early in the day, rise before your usual hour. This won't change your cycle, but you'll get up steam and work better at your low point.
Get off to a slow start which saves your energy. Get up with a leisurely yawn and stretch. Sit on the edge of the bed a minute before putting your feet on the floor. Avoid the trouble of searching for clean clothes by laying them out the night before. When ever possible, do routine work in the afternoon and save tasks requiring more energy or concentration for your sharp hours.What is the best title of the passage?
| A．Change Your Habits | B．Save Your Energy |
| C．Daily Energy Cycle | D．Temperature-and-energy Peak |
If a person finds getting up early a problem, most probably_______.
| A．he is a lazy person |
| B．he refuses to follow his own energy cycle |
| C．lie is not sure when his energy is low |
| D．he is at his peak in the afternoon or evening |
Which of the following may lead to family quarrels according to the passage?
| A．Unawareness of energy cycles |
| B．Familiar monologues. |
| C．A change in a family member's energy cycle. |
| D．Attempts to control the energy cycle of other family members. |
If one wants to work more efficiently at his low point in the morning, he should____________.
| A．change his energy cycle | B．overcome his laziness |
| C．get up earlier than usual | D．go to bed earlier |