People in the United States honor their parents with two special days:Mother’s Day, on the second Sunday in May, and Father’s Day, on the third Sunday in June. These days are set aside to show love and respect for parents. They raise their children and educate them to be responsible citizens. They give love and care. These two days make us think about the changing roles of mothers and fathers. More mothers now work outside the home. More fathers must help with child care.
These two special days are celebrated in many different ways. On Mother’s Day people wear carnations. A red one symbolizes a living mother. A white one shows that the mother is dead. Many people attend religious services to honor parents. It is also a day when people whose parents are dead visit the cemetery(墓地).On these days families get together at home, as well as in restaurants. They often have outdoor barbecues for Father’s Day. These are days of fun and good feelings and memories.
Another tradition is to give cards and gifts. Children make them in school. Many people make their own presents. These are valued more than the ones bought in stores. It is not the value of the gift that is important, but it is “the thought that counts”. Greeting card stores, florists, candy makers, bakeries, telephone companies, and other stores do a lot of business during these holidays.
68. Which of the following is NOT a reason for children to show love and respect for parents?
A. Parents bring up children. B. Parents give love and care to children.
C. Parents educate children to be good persons. D. Parents pass away before children grow up.
69. Which do you think is right about “carnation”?
A. It has only two kinds of colors.
B. It refers to the special clothes people wear on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.
C. It’s a kind of flower showing love and best wishes.
D. People can wear carnations only on the second Sunday in May.
70. What do you know from the passage?
A. Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are both in May. B. Fewer women worked outside the home in the past.
C. Not all the children respect their parents D. Fathers are not as important as mothers at home.
71. On Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, _______.
A. people usually have family parties B. everyone goes to visit the cemetery
C. children always go to parents’ home D. hand-made cards are the most valuable gifts
Danielle Steel, America's sweetheart, is one of the hardest working woman in the book business. Unlike other productive authors who write one book at a time, she can work on up to five. Her research before writing takes at least three years. Once she has fully studied her subjects, ready to divided into a book, she can spend twenty hours nonstop at her desk.
Danielle Steel comes from New York and was sent to France for her education. After graduation, she worked in the public relations and advertising industries. Later she started a job as a writer which she was best fit for. Her achievements are unbelievable: 390 million copies of books in print, nearly fifty New York Times bestselling novels, and a series of “Max and Martha” picture books for children to help them deal with the reallife problem of death, new babies and new schools. Her 1998 book about the death of her was shot to the top of the New York Times bestselling list as soon as it came out. Twentyeight of her books have been made into films. She is listed in the Guinness Books of World Records for one of her books being the Times bestseller for 381 weeks straight.
Not content with a big house, a loving family, and a view of the Golden Gate Bridge, Danielle Steel considers her readers to be the most important resource and has kept in touch with them by email. While she is often compared to the heroines of her own invention. Her life is undoubtedly much quieter. But if she does have anything in common with them, it is her strength of will and her inimitable style. There is only one Danielle Steel.Children who have read “Max and Martha” picture books may know ________.
A.how to deal with affairs at school |
B.what to do if Max and Martha die |
C.what to do when new babies are born into their families |
D.how to solve the difficult problems in their writing classes |
One of Danielle Steel' a achievements is that ________.
A.some TV plays were based on her books |
B.her picture books attracted a lot of young men |
C.one of her books became a bestseller in 1998 |
D.she wrote the Guinness Book of World Records |
We can learn from the passage that Danielle Steel ________.
A.lives an exciting life |
B.values her readers a lot |
C.writes about quiet women |
D.is pleased with her achievements |
Exploit your parking space
An unused parking space or garage can make money. If you live near a city center or an airport, you could make anything up to £200 or £300 a week. Put an advertisement for free on Letpark or Atmyhousepark.
Rent(出租)a room
Spare room Not only will a lodger(房客)earn you an income, but also, thanks to the government-backed “rent a room” program, you won’t have to pay any tax on the first £4500 you make per year. Try advertising your room on Roomspare or Roommateeasy.
Make money during special events
Don’t want a full-time lodger? Then rent on a short-term basis. If you live in the capital, renting a room out during the Olympics or other big events could bring in money. Grashpadder can advertise your space.
Live on set
Renting your home out as a “film set” could earn you hundreds of pounds a day, depending on the film production company and how long your home is needed. A quick search on the Internet will bring up dozens of online companies that allow you to register your home for free—but you will be charged if your home gets picked.
Use your roof
You need the right kind of roof, but some energy companies pay the cost of fixing solar equipment (around £14,000), and let you use the energy produced for nothing. In return, they get paid for unused energy fed back into the National Grid. However, you have to sign a 25-year agreement with the supplier, which could prevent you from changing the roof.If you earn £5000 from renting a room in one year, the tax you need to pay will be based on ______.
A.£800 | B.£500 | C.£4500 | D.£5000 |
Where can you put an advertisement to rent out a room during a big event?
A.On Letpark. | B.On Roomspare. |
C.On Grashpadder. | D.On Roommateeasy. |
If you want to use energy free, you have to_____.
A.sign an agreement with the government |
B.pay around £14,000 for the equipment |
C.sell the roof to some energy companies |
D.keep the roof unchanged for within 25 years |
For whom the text most probably written?
A.Lodgers. | B.Advertisers. |
C.House owners. | D.Online companies |
Plants are flowering faster than scientists predicted (预测) in reaction to climate change, which could have long damaging effects on food chains (链条) and ecosystems.(生态系统)
Global warming is having a great effect on hundreds of plant and animal species around the world, changing some living patterns, scientists say.
Increased carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air from burning coal and oil can have an effect on how plants produce oxygen (氧气), while higher temperatures and changeable rainfall patterns can change their patterns of growth.
“Predicting species’ reaction to climate change is a major challenge in ecology,” said the researches of several U.S. universities. They said plants had been the key object of study because their reaction to climate change could have an effect on food chains and ecosystem services.
The study, published on the Nature website, uses the findings from plant life cycle studies and experiments across four continents and 1,634 species. It found that some experiments had underestimated (低估) the speed of flowering by 8.5 times and leafing(长出叶子) by 4 times.
“Across all species, the experiments under-predicted the speed of the advance —for both leafing and flowering —that results from temperature increases,” the study said.
The design of future experiments may need to be improved to better predict how plants will react to climate change, it said.
Plants are necessary for life on the Earth. They are the base of the food chain, using photosynthesis (光合作用) to produce sugar from carbon dioxide and water. They let out oxygen which is needed by nearly every organism on the planet.
Scientists believe the world’s average temperature has risen by about 0.8℃ since 1900, and nearly 0.2℃ every ten years since 1979.
So far, efforts to cut emissions (排放) of planet-warming greenhouse gases are not seen as enough to prevent the Earth heating up beyond(超出) 2℃ this century —a point scientists say will bring the danger of a changeable climate in which weather extremes are common, leading to drought, floods, crop failures and rising sea levels.What is the key information the author wants to give in Paragraph 1?
A.Plants’ reaction to weather could have damaging effects on ecosystems. |
B.The increasing speed of flowering is beyond scientists’ expectation. |
C.Climate change leads to the change of food production patterns. |
D.Food chains have been seriously damaged because of weather. |
We can learn from the study published on the Nature website that __________.
A.plants’ flowering is 8.5 times faster than leafing |
B.there are 1,634 plant species on the four continents |
C.scientists should improve the design of the experiments |
D.the experiments failed to predict how plants react to climate change |
Scientists pay special attention to the study of plants because __________.
A.they can prove the climate change clearly |
B.they are very important in the food chainsA |
C.they play a leading role in reducing global warming |
D.they are growing and flowering much faster than before |
What can be inferred from the last two paragraphs about the world’s temperature?
A.It has risen nearly 0.2℃ since 1979. |
B.Its change will lead to weather extremes. |
C.It is 0.8℃ higher in 1979 than that of 1900. |
D.It needs to be controlled within 2℃ in this century. |
Making friends is a skill like most skills. It improves with practice. If you want to meet people and make friends, you must be willing to take some action. You must first go where there are people. You won’t make friends staying home alone.
Joining a club or a group, talking with those who like the same things as you do is much easier. Or join someone in some activity.
Many people are nervous when talking to new people. After all meeting strangers means facing the unknown. And it’s human nature to feel a bit uncomfortable about unknown. Most of our fears about dealing with new people comes from doubts about ourselves. We imagine other people are judging us, finding us too tall or too short, too this or too that. But don’t forget that they must be feeling the same way. Try to accept yourself as you are, and try to put the other person at ease. You’ll both feel more comfortable.
Try to act self-confident even if you don’t feel that way. When you enter a room full of strangers, such as a new classroom, walk tall and straight, look directly at other people and smile.
If you see someone you’d like to speak to, say something. Don’t wait for the other person to start a conversation.
Just meeting someone new does not mean that you will make friends with that person—friendship is based on mutual liking and “give and take”. It takes time and effort to develop. The best topic of the passage may be ________.
A.Friendship | B.Making friends |
C.Meeting New People | D.Facing the Unknown |
Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?
A.Making friends needs practicing. |
B.Making friends needs to be more active in getting in touch with people. |
C.When meeting someone, make him feel nice and easy. |
D.Before making friends with someone, judge him if he’s too this or too that. |
The development of friendship needs ________.
A.a lot of money | B.lots of conversation |
C.time and effort | D.carefully judging |
A Koala Isn’t a Bear
Koalas remind people of teddy bears.They have thick fur and large ears.Their broad, flat nose makes them look cute, similar to teddy bears.In fact koalas aren’t cute.They have sharp teeth and very sharp claws! Koalas are marsupials.This means the mother carries her baby in a pocket while it develops, similar to a kangaroo.The baby koala lives in its mother’s pocket for the first six months of its life.
The name “koala” comes from a native Australian word that means “no drink”. The koalas get almost all their water from the eucalyptus(桉树) leaves they eat.That’s where they get their food too.Koalas eat only eucalyptus leaves, and only the leaves of certain eucalyptus trees.The eucalyptus trees are where the koalas live.It’s also where they sleep.Koalas sleep about nineteen hours a day!
Why do they sleep so much? Some people think it’s because they’re lazy.But koalas aren’t lazy.They sleep so much because there isn’t much nutrition in eucalyptus leaves.Koalas store hardly any fat, so they must save their energy.One way to do this is to move slowly and sleep a lot.
After a day of sleeping they like to move around and eat just after sunset.They live alone most of the time.Koalas are very protective of their trees.If a koala sees another koala eating in its favorite tree, it might tell the other koala to leave by “barking” at it.Koalas do “talk” to each other.Besides barks, the males make a deep grunting sound.The mothers and babies talk in soft clicking sounds.If they get scared they may scream like a baby.According to the article, how are koalas and kangaroos alike?
A.They both have thick fur. |
B.They both have sharp teeth. |
C.They both eat eucalyptus leaves. |
D. They both carry their young in a pocket. |
The word “koala”comes from a word that means _______.
A.no drink | B.moving slowly |
C.large ears | D.barking loudly |
Why do koalas sleep a lot?
A.Their babies need to get much rest. |
B.They get tired from playing so much. |
C.Their food does not give them much energy. |
D.They do not like to be awake when it is warm. |
If an adult koala screams like a baby, he may get ________.
A.worried | B.scared | C.hungry | D.sleepy |