TheNewYorkTimesisnowbetterthan-优题课

When Webster was young ,he was a teacher .But he quickly became tired of the books he used in class .They were all about the English people and places .Since he wanted books that would be interesting to the American children ,he wrote three books with many American examples .
Webster worked hard to change the spellings of American English .He wanted words to be spelled in the same way they were pronounced .For example ,he thought the word laugh should be spelled laf.And he tried many ways to ask people to help him to do this .
One day he walked into a print shop and gave the boy there a piece of paper .Young man ,he said ,when you print any book in the future ,please don’t spell the words like the English people do .For example ,when you see these words :theatre ,centre ,colour ,and labour ,please always print them as theater ,center ,color ,and labor .The boy studied it and answered ,OK,but I must ask my boss first.
With the money he made from his books ,Webster could start his great work ,which took him more than twenty years to finish .In 1828 ,the first American English dictionary was born .And today, Webster’s dictionary is thought to be most important American English dictionary in the whole world .
1．Webster didn’t like the books used in American schools because________.
A．he was born in America
B．there were too many mistakes in them
C．American children were not interested in them
D．they were too difficult for American children to understand
2．In Webster’s opinion ,the word“colour”should be spelled as “color”according to its________.
A．meaning B．use C．pronunciation D．wording
3．What’s the printer’s attitude（态度）towards Webster’s advice？
A．He was for it. B．He was against it .
C．He had no idea about it . D．He thought it impossible
4. The best tittle foe this passage should be_______
A. webster
B. webster and His Dictionary
C. The first English Dictionary
D. The Differences between American English and British English

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. The lead story in tonight’s news concerns the fire which destroyed the major part of Columbia College at 4 a.m. this morning. In only five minutes, more than six hundred girls came out of their dorms to watch their college burn to the ground in the freezing December weather. Fortunately, there were no injuries resulting from the fire. According to the college president, plans are already made to raise more than three million dollars to rebuild the college.
Here is the news from Washington. President Clinton says he is troubled by a scientist’s desire to clone a human and is urging Congress to pass a ban (禁令) on such experiments for at least five years. In his weekly radio address, Clinton noted Chicago-area physicist Richard Seed’s announcement that he is ready to set up a clinic to clone human babies. President Clinton said that the need for passing laws that would ban human cloning for at least five years is more urgent than ever.
A brief look at the weather for the weekend tells us to expect light showers on Saturday and Sunday. The high Saturday will be in the lower 40’s. On Sunday, we can expect the high to be about 65. That’s this evening’s news. Good night from Channel 9 news. Your better news station, and from Alan King, your reporter.
1. When did the fire at Columbia College take place?
A. In December. B. In March.
C. In November. D. In April.
2. What does President Clinton hope Congress do?
A. To pass a ban on doing experiment in labs.
B. To ban cloning humans forever.
C. To pass laws to support cloning babies.
D. To pass a ban on human cloning quickly.
3. What will the weather be like on weekend?
A. There will be a strong wind. B. The weather will be fine.
C. It will be freezing cold. D. It will be rainy.

For many years, no one could communicate with people who had been born without hearing. These deaf people were not able to use a spoken language.
But, beginning in the 1700s, the deaf were taught a special language. Using this language, they could share thoughts and ideas with others. The language they used was a language without sound. It was a sign language.
How did this sign language work? The deaf were taught to make certain movements using their hands, faces, and bodies. These movements stood for things and ideas. People might move their forefingers across their lips. This meant, “You are not telling the truth.” They might tap their chins with three fingers. This meant “my uncle.”
The deaf were also taught to use a finger alphabet (字母). They used their fingers to make the letters of the alphabet. In this way, they spelled out words. Some deaf people could spell out words at a speed of 130 words per minute.
Sign language and finger spelling are not used as much as they once were. Today, the deaf are taught to understand others by watching their lips. They are also taught how to speak.
1. The deaf “talked” to other people __________.
A. by moving their hands, faces and bodies
B. by shouting and singing
C. without using any letters
D. without using any language
2. The deaf could spell out words __________.
A. by reading them aloud
B. by going here and there
C. by expressing the letters with their fingers
D. by watching others
3. Now, the deaf are trained to __________.
A. write sentences quickly
B. understand others by lip-reading
C. be good at mind-reading
D. keep alone happily
4. The story as a whole is about __________.
A. learning to spell B. teaching the deaf to speak
C. how the deaf communicate D. understanding Indian sign language

Our bodies use different amounts of calories(卡路里). The more exercise we take, the more calories we burn. If we eat food which contains more calories than we use up, then it is possible that we would increase in weight. In order to avoid becoming overweight, it is advisable (明智的) to eat a balanced (平衡的) diet and not eat too many foods that have a high calorie rating. The table below gives you some ideas of the number of calories in food.
MeatsFruits
slice of bacon 50apple 70
hamburger 300 orange 60
slice of beef 100 pear 80
sausage 180 banana 80
meat pie 500 plum 20
sausage roll 350 tomato 20
Sweets and Pastries Vegetable
small chocolate bar 190 60g beans 15
large chocolate bar 225 60g carrots 18
slice apple pie 300 60g potato 60
doughnut 200 60g onions 25
scoop of ice cream 85 60g cucumber 10
bag of potato crisps 145 60g cabbage 15
1. To keep the calorie intake (摄入) down , it is better to eat _______ .
A. chocolate B.meat pie C.fruit D.apple pie
2. How many slices of bacon equal (等于) the same number of calories as in a sausage roll?
A. 5. B. 6 C. 7 D. 8
3. Which of the following contains the most calories?
A. Cabbage B. Potato. C. Beans. D. Cucumber
4. Which word in the passage means “heavier than normal（正常）”?
A. balanced. B. advisable. C. overweight D. measurement.

四、阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
阅读下面短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Is there anything more important than health? I don’t think so. “Health is the greatest wealth,” wise people say. You can’t be good at your studies or work well when you are ill.
If you have a headache, toothache, backache, earache or bad pain in the stomach, if you complain of a bad cough, if you run a high temperature and have a bad cold ,or if you suffer from high or low blood pressure, I think you should go to the doctor.
The doctor will examine your throat, feel your pulse, test your blood pressure, take your temperature, sound your heart and lungs, test your eyes, check your teeth or have your chest X-rayed. After that he will advise some treatment, or some medicine. The only thing you have to do is to follow his advice.
Speaking about doctor’s advice, I can’t help telling you a funny story.
An old gentleman came to see the doctor. The man was very ill. He told the doctor about his weakness, memory loss and serious problems with his heart and lungs. The doctor examined him and said there was no medicine for his disease.
He told his patient to go to a quiet place for a month and have a good rest. He also advised him to eat a lot of meat, drink two glasses of red wine every day and take long walks. In other words, the doctor advised him to follow the rule: “Eat at pleasure, drink with measure and enjoy life as it is.” The doctor also said that if the man wanted t be well again, he shouldn’t smoke more than one cigarette a day.
A month later the gentleman came into the doctor’s office. He looked cheerful and happy. He thanked the doctor and said that he had never felt a healthier man.
“But you know, doctor,” he said, “ it’s not easy to begin smoking at my age.”
1 The writer thinks that _______
A. health is more important than wealth
B. work is as important as studies
C. medicine is more important than pleasure
D. nothing is more important than money
2. The underlined part “he had never felt a healthier man ” means ______
A. he was feeling better than ever B. he wasn’t a healthy man
C. he was feeling worse than before D. he will be well again
3. From the last sentence of the passage, we learn the man ____ before the doctor told him not to smoke more than one cigarette a day.
A. was a heavy smoker B. didn’t smoke so much
C. didn’t smoke D. began to learn to smoke
4. Which of the following is NOT true?
A. The doctor usually tests his/her blood pressure when a person is ill.
B. The man told the doctor he couldn’t remember things.
C. The man thanked the doctor.
D. The man didn’t follow the doctor’s advice.
5.The author’s purpose to write the passage is to
A. tell people how to keep fit
B. tell people what a doctor will do if you are ill
C.tell a funny story about doctor
D.tell people that the doctor cured the old gentleman’s disease