Dear Laura,
Hi! I am Veronica, your new pen friend from Singapore. I got your name and address from the Making Pen Pals' Column in Buddies magazine and thought I'd write to you. Well, let me start by telling you something about myself. I am 13 years old and I am studying in secondary one at Westdove School. I have just finished my exams. I live with my parents and younger sister in a five room apartment. I like swimming, playing tennis and reading novels. I love the outdoors, especially the sea and I have been on several trekking (long and hard) tours abroad. I enjoy listening to both pop and classical music. My favorite food is pizza and I love making it myself because I like to make it with lots of cheese and pepper. To sum it up, I am a talkative, caring and patient person.
I guess life in London must be wonderful with all the interesting places and good food to enjoy. I'd love to see the famous Big Ben. I hope to visit London during one of my school holidays. Laura, I would really like to learn more about your culture and lifestyle. I hope you will write back. I have enclosed(附有) my address and telephone number. Please feel free to call me if you make a trip to Singapore. I think you should because it is a wonderful place to shop. Till then, good-bye!
Yours faithfully
Veronica
60. Veronica writes the letter to Laura because she wants to ______.
A. tell her something about herself B. know something about her
C. invite her to her country D. make friends with her
61. Veronica says she loves making pizza because ______.
A. pizza bought in Singapore is not good B. people can not buy fresh pizza in Singapore
C. she can make pizza to her own taste D. she thinks it is cheap to make pizza
62. From the letter we know that ______.
A. Veronica is not interested in traveling
B. Veronica has traveled a lot
C. Veronica has been to London before
D. Veronica thinks Singapore is the best place for travelers
63. Veronica thinks that Laura should come to Singapore some day because ______.
A. she can do a lot of shopping in Singapore B. Singapore is a city of flowers
C. Singapore is a good place to visit D. Singapore is her native country
It is true that people with better education are usually able to get better paying jobs. In other words, they have more chances to choose a good job while people with little or no education don’t. It seems that the purpose of education is to make people get jobs. But this isn’t accepted by all people.
Some people may think that a person should spend the best years of his life to get education only for a way of living. This was probably one of the earliest reasons of education. In fact, if education is just a way of making a living, people don’t need to spend so much time in school. People can get education for a living in a short time. Subjects like history and geography need not be taught to everyone. Even language and mathematics need not be taught in detail(详细地), either. Here it is clear that education is much more than teaching a man to get a way of living.
Education is well-rounded and it is mainly for improving a man. It is not only to teach him to speak, read and write, but also to develop his creative thinking and other abilities. After that, it is to make him a wise man and thankfully enjoy the achievements of human. Education is to make a man lead a better life. Educated people are expected to be able to listen to good music, read good books, watch plays and most of them take an interest in the world.
I would agree that making a good living is an important reason for education, but certainly not the most important or the main reason.People with little education usually ____.
| A．spend a long time in school |
| B．have a good chance to get a job |
| C．spend the best years to choose jobs |
| D．have fewer chances to get a good job |
The earliest education was probably to ______.
| A．make a man lead a better life |
| B．teach a man to write and think |
| C．make people get a way of living |
| D．teach people to read good books |
It is expected that educated people will be able to _____.
| A．accept education as a way of living |
| B．take an interest in the whole world |
| C．develop their abilities to make plays |
| D．learn subjects like language and math |
Once there was a huge apple tree. A little boy loved to come and play around it every day. He loved the tree and the tree loved to play with him.
Time went by --- the little boy had grown up and he no longer played around the tree every day. One day, the boy came back to the tree and he looked sad. “Come and play with me,” the tree asked the boy. “I’m no longer a kid. I wouldn’t play around the tree any more.” the boy replied. “I want toys. I need money to buy them.” “Sorry, I don’t have money. But you can pick all my apples and sell them. So, you will have money.” The boy picked all the apples on the tree and left happily. The boy never came back after he picked the apples.
One day, the boy returned and the tree was so excited, “Come and play with me,” the tree said. “I don’t have time to play. I have to work for my family. We need a house for shelter. Can you help?” “Sorry, I don’t have a house. But you can cut off my branches to build your house.” So the boy cut all the branches off the tree and left happily. The tree was glad to see him happy but the boy never came back since then. The tree was again lonely and sad.
One hot summer day, the boy returned and the tree was pleased. “Come and play with me!” the tree said. “I am sad and getting old. I want to go sailing to relax myself. Can you give me a boat?” “Use my trunk to build your boat. You can sail far away and be happy.” So the boy cut the tree trunk to make a boat. He went sailing and never showed up for a long time.
Finally, the boy returned after he left for so many years. “Sorry, my boy. But I don’t have anything for you any more. The only thing left is my dying root,” the tree said with tears.
“Good! Old tree root is the best place to lean on and rest. Come and sit down with me and rest.” The boy sat down and the tree was glad and smiled with tears.Why did the boy pick all the apples on the tree?
| A．he wanted to eat them |
| B．he needed money to buy toys |
| C．he liked the tree without apples |
| D．he wanted to share them with friends |
When did the boy come back to the apple tree?
| A．whenever he was happy |
| B．if he missed the apple tree |
| C．when he was in times of difficulty |
| D．as soon as he was free |
What did the boy want at last?
| A．to have a house to live in |
| B．nothing except a place to rest |
| C．the root of the apple tree |
| D．anything that the apple tree had |
What can we learn from the story?
| A．plant more apple trees | B．learn from the boy |
| C．always stay at home | D．be thankful to our parents |
“Homestay is a form of study abroad program. It allows the visitor to rent a room from a local(当地的) family to better understand the local lifestyle. It also helps to improve the visitor’s language ability,” said a teacher during a school meeting last term. “Students who wish to learn more about foreign cultures or to get foreign experience should join this kind of holiday. I am sure you won’t be disappointed.”
After this special meeting, I always thought about this kind of holiday. Last month, I had a chance at last to go on such a holiday with some of my schoolmates and we went to London, a place where I had wanted to go since years ago.
As we were still young, we had a group leader who planned things for us and looked after us. After we got to London, we went to stay with different families. I was lucky that my host family(寄宿家庭) was a white couple who had a daughter about my age. They treated me as a daughter of their family during my stay there. They were interested in me and I learnt a lot of things from them, too.
The holiday was filled with activities every day. After breakfast, a local teacher would come to take us in his car. Then we would have classes or go on a sight-seeing trip to different places of interest like the Big Ben, the London Bridge, and the Buckingham Palace. We would go back to our own homes after the activities.
The holiday was a valuable experience for me. I enjoyed every minute of it. Yet, time really flew fast. Three weeks later, we had to leave “home” for Hong Kong.In the “homestay” program, a visitor can _____.
| A．learn more about holidays | B．understand his culture better |
| C．improve the language ability | D．take part in foreign meetings |
The writer had wanted to visit London since _______.
| A．last month | B．a long time ago |
| C．the special meeting | D．her stay abroad |
The writer’s host family ______.
| A．was very kind to her | B．went sight-seeing with her |
| C．had two white daughters | D．was interested in her activities |
From the passage, we know that the writer ______ in London.
| A．wished to stay a little longer |
| B．had a wonderful time |
| C．had classes in many interesting places |
| D．helped the teacher take the students in a car |
(正面) 
(背面)Where can you find such a card?
| A．a bus station | B．a park | C．a bank | D．a hotel |
How many buses can reach the hotel?
| A．Two | B．Three | C．Four | D．One |
What can a guest do if he gets lost?
| A．He can take Bus 507 to the hotel |
| B．He can wait until the light is green. |
| C．He can call the hotel at the phone number on the card. |
| D．He can visit the website. |
Which of the following is true?
| A．The card can be used to open the door. |
| B．Open the door when the red light is on. |
| C．A guest can keep the card when he checks out. |
| D．If the card is lost, a guest will have to pay for it. |
Empathy(同情心) lets us feel another person’s pain and drives us to help. Do any other animals feel empathy? Scientists recently found that rats(老鼠) do, too.
Most people don’t like rats. In many people’s eyes, rats are only bad. But Jean Decety and his partners at the University of Chicago did an experiment. It showed that rats are kind, warm-hearted animals. They can feel each other’s pain.
Scientists placed pairs of rats in plastic cages(笼子) for two weeks. During this time they got to know each other. Then they put one of the rats from each pair into a small container(容器) in the cages. The small container had a door. It was so designed as to fall to the side when the free rat touched it. Many of the trapped(困住的) rats squeaked(吱吱叫) to show their discomfort. The other rats of the pairs could see their suffering(受苦的) friends clearly.
In most pairs, the free rats would become very worried about their friends. They kept trying to save their friends again and again throughout the month. Scientists put the rats’ favorite chocolate in the cages, but the rats didn’t eat it until they had saved their friends successfully. Scientists also found that female rats seemed to act more empathetic than male rats.
“The results are the first to show that rats take action in response to another’s trouble,” Decety said. “Monkeys and chimpanzees have similar behavior. But unlike those animals, rats can be ready used in laboratory studies. They will help us to learn which parts of the brain lead to empathy and helping behavior and whether empathy is natural.” A person with empathy is often _____.
| A．kind-hearted | B．clever | C．active | D．strong |
Why didn’t the free rats eat the chocolate at first?
| A．Because they were not hungry at that time. |
| B．Because chocolate was not their favorite food. |
| C．Because they wanted to save the trapped rats first. |
| D．Because they were afraid that the chocolate was bad. |
Which of the following animals were NOT mentioned in the passage?
| A．Monkeys. | B．Chimpanzees. | C．Rats. | D．Cats. |
What does the passage mainly tell us?
| A．Rats can feel other animals’ pain. |
| B．Chocolate is rats’ favorite food. |
| C．Rats are empathetic and can feel each other’s pain. |
| D．Female rats are more empathetic than male rats. |