The kids at Shute Country Primary School in Devon are surprisingly quiet when it’s time to go home in the afternoon, instead of the usual shouting and running you can hear them asking each other, “ Are the lights all off?”, “Shall we check the taps in case they are dripping （滴水）?”, “How many paper towels did we use today?”
But it’s not unusual here．The kids have declared a war on waste．
“We’ve never made the children do anything,” explains Liz Templar, the school’s head teacher, “they came up with all ideas themselves．They’re doing this because they want to．”
If you take a look around the school you won’t see anything thrown away unnecessarily．Everything is collected and reused, or sent to be recycled．
Shute School started its green_revolution_two years ago．They looked carefully at every party of school life－from the teaching to the cleaning．They looked at the way stationery（文具） was used－especially photocopying, the way cleaning was carried out, and how food was used and wasted!
Even parents were looked at: how many children came in each car? Did they use unleaded petrol? Could they bring more children in fewer cars?
High on the list was the waste of paper．Next came unfriendly cleaning products．Paper towels were replaced with recycled paper．But the hardest thing for the kids was when they found out how much rubbish was created by the chocolate, crisps and other snacks（小吃） eaten at lunch time．Of their own accord（自愿地）, the children gave them up．Now they bring apples and home-made snacks．
The school has its own garden where they grow vegetables and flowers so that they can learn about the environment．They also use this area for their recycling store-large containers to collect aluminum, bottles, plate and fabric（织物）．
Even the school’s play area is made from recycled things．
Since the children started, the school’s heating and lighting bills have fallen obviously and the number of rubbish bags has gone down from seven a week to two or three．
Everywhere in Shute School there are bright posters asking everyone to take their rubbish home, to save energy and paper and to keep the green flag flying．
1．Which of the following best describes the writer’s idea?
A．The pupils at Shute School are fighting against pollution．
B．The pupils at Shute School are learning to save things．
C．The pupils at Shute School have declared a war on waste．
D．The pupils at Shute School have found a way to recycle waste things．
2．We can infer from the text that “green revolution” means _______．
A．beautifying schoolyard B．activity against waste
C．planting green plants D．throwing away waste
3．What do the children think creates the most waste?
A．Paper towels． B．Cleaning products．
C．Snacks． D．Paper．
4．We learn from the text that the children’s behavior ____________．
A．has brought arguments
B．has saved the school’s cost
C．was against by their parents
D．was forced by their head teacher
On a stormy day last August, Tim heard some shouting. Looking out to the sea carefully, he saw a couple of kids in a rowboat w ere being pulled out to sea.
Two 12-year-old boys, Christian and Jack, rowed out a boat to search a football. Once they’d rowed beyond the calm waters, a beach umbrella tied to the boat caught the wind and pulled the boat into open water. The pair panicked and tried to row back to shore. But they were no match for it and the boat was out of control.
Tim knew it would soon be swallowed by the waves.
“Everything went quiet in my head,” Tim recalls（回忆）. “I’m trying to fi gure out how to swim to the boys in a straight line.”
Tim took off his clothes and jumped into the water. Every 500 yards or so, he raised his head to judge his progress. “At one point, I considered turning back,” he says. “I wondered if I was putting my life at risk.” After 30 minutes of struggling, he was close enough to yell to the boys, “Take down the umbrella!”
Christian made much effort to take down the umbrella. Then Tim was able to catch up and climb aboard the boat. He took over rowing, but the waves were almost too strong for him.
“Let’s aim for the pier（码头）,” Jack said. Tim turned the boat toward it. Soon afterward, waves crashed over the boat, and it began to sink. “Can you guys swim?” he cried. “A little bit,” the boys said.Once they were in the water, Tim decided it would be safer and faster for him to pull the boys toward the pier. Christian and Jack were wearing life jackets and floated on their backs. Tim swam toward land as water washed over the boys’ faces.
“Are we almost there?” they asked again and again. “Yes,” Tim told them each time.
After 30 minutes, they reached the pier.Why did the two boys go to the sea?
| A．To go boat rowing. |
| B．To get back their football. |
| C．To swim in the open water. |
| D．To test the umbrella as a sail. |
Why did Tim raise his head regularly?
| A．To take in enough fresh air. |
| B．To consider turning back or not. |
| C．To check his distance from the boys. |
| D．To ask the boys to take down the umbrella. |
How can the two boys finally reach the pier?
| A．They were dragged to the pier by Tim. |
| B．They swam to the pier all by themselves. |
| C．They were washed to the pier by the waves. |
| D．They were carried to the pier by Tim on his back. |
Winners Club
You choose to be a winner！
The Winners Club is a bank account specially designed for teenagers. It has been made to help you better manage your money. The Winners Club is a transaction account（交易账户）where you receive a key-card so you can get to your money 24/7—that’s 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!
It’s a club with impressive features for teenagers：
No account keeping fees！
You’re no millionaire so we don’t expect you to pay large fees. In fact, there are no account keeping or transacting fees!
Excellent interest rates!
You want your money to grow. The Winners Club has a good rate of interest which gets even better if you make at least two deposits（储蓄）without talking them out in a month.
Convenient
Teenagers are busy—we get that. You may never need to come to a bank at all. With the Winners Club you can choose to use handy tellers and to bank from home using the phone and the Internet. You can have money directly deposited into your Winners Club account. This could be your pocket money or your pay from your part-time job!
Mega magazine included
Along with your regular report, you will receive a FREE magazine full of good ideas to make even more of your money. There are also fantastic offers and competitions only for Winners Club members.
The Winners Club is a great choice for teenagers. And it is so easy to join. Simply fill in an application form. You will have to get permission from your parent or guardian (so we can organize that cool key-card) but it is easy. We can’t wait to hear from you. It’s the best way to choose to be a winner! The Winners Club is a bank account intended for _________.
| A．parents | B．teenagers | C．winners | D．adults |
The Winners Club provides magazines which ________.
| A．encourage spending |
| B．are free to all teenagers |
| C．are full of adventure stories |
| D．help to make more of your money |
If you want to be a member of the Club, you must _________.
| A．be an Internet user | B．be permitted by your parent |
| C．has a big sum of money | D．be in your twenties |
What is the purpose of this text?
| A．To set up a club. | B．To provide part-time jobs. |
| C．To organize key-cards. | D．To introduce a new banking service. |
In early autumn I applied for admission to college. I wanted to go nowhere but to Cornell University, but my mother fought strongly against it. When she saw me studying a photograph of my father on the sports ground of Cornell, she tore it up.
“You can’t say it’s not a great university, just because Papa went there.”
“That’s not it at all. And it is a top university.” She was still holding the pieces in her hand. “But we can’t afford to send you to college.”
“I wouldn’t dream of asking you for money. Do you want m e to get a job to help support you and Papa? Things aren’t that bad, are they?”
“No,” she said. “I don’t expect you to help support us.”
Father borrowed money form his rich cousins to start a small jewellery shop, His chief customers were his old college friends. To get new customers, my mother had to help. She picked up a long-forgotten membership in the local league of women, so that she could get to know more people. Whether those people would turn into customers was another question. I knew that my Parents had to wait for quite a long time before their small investment (投资) could show returns. What’s more ,they had not wanted enough to be rich and successful ；otherwise they could not possibly have managed their lives so badly.
I was torn between the desire to help them and change their lives, and the determination not to repeat their mistakes. I had a strong belief in my power to go what I wanted. After months of hard study I won a full college scholarship.(奖学金)My father could hardly contain his pride in me, and my mother eventually gave in before my success.The author was not allowed to go to Cornell University mainly because .
| A．his father graduated from the university |
| B．his mother did not think it a great university |
| C．his parents needed him to help support the family |
| D．his parents did not have enough money for him |
The father started his small shop with the money from.
| A．a local league | B．his university | C．his relatives | D．his college friends |
Why did the mother renew her membership in the league?
| A．To help with her husband’s business |
| B．To raise money for her sonaris. |
| C．To meet her long-forgotten friends |
| D．To better manage her life |
According to the text, what was the author determined to do in that autumn?
| A．To get a well-paid job for himself |
| B．To improve relations with his mother |
| C．To go to his dream university |
| D．To carry on with his father,s business. |
Most people know that Marie Curie was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize, and the first person to win it twice. However, few people know that she was also the mother of a Nobel Prize winner.
Born in September, 1897, Irene Curie was the first of the Curies’ two daughters. Along with nine other children whose parents were also famous scholars, Irene studied in their own school, and her mother was one of the teachers. She finished her high school education at the College of Sévigné in Paris.
Irene entered the University of Paris in 1914 to prepare for a degree in mathematics and physics. When World War I began, Irene went to help her mother, who was using X-ray facilities（设备） to help save the lives of wounded soldiers. Irene continued the work by developing X-ray facilities in military hospitals in France and Belgrum. Her services were recognised in the form of a Military’s Medal by the French government. In 1918, Irene became her mother’s assistant at the Curie Institute. In December 1924, Frederic Joliot joined the Institute, and Irene taugh him the techniques required for his work. They soon fell in love and were married in 1926. Their daughter Helene was born in 1927 and their son Pierre five years later.
Like her mother, Irene combined family and career. Like her mother, Irene was awarded a Nobel Prize, along with her husband, in 1935. Unfortunately, also like her mother, she developed leukemia because of her work with radioactivity（辐射能）. Irene Joliot-Curie died from leukemia on March 17, 1956.Why was Irene Curie awarded a Military Medal?
| A．Because she received a degree in mathematics. |
| B．Because she contributed to saving the wounded. |
| C．Because she won the Nobel Prize with Frederic. |
| D．Because she worked as a helper to her mother. |
Where did Ire ne Curie meet her husband Frederio joliot ?
| A．At the Curie Institute. | B．At the university of Paris |
| C．At a military hospital. | D．At the College of Sevigne. |
When was the second child of Irene Curie and Frederic Joliot born?
| A．In 1932. | B．In 1927. | C．In 1897. | D．In 1926. |
In which of the following aspects was Irene Cuire different from her mother?
| A．Irene worked with radioactivity. | B．Irene combined family and career. |
| C．Irene won the Nobel Prize once . | D．Irene died from leukemia. |
Thirteen vehicles lined up last March to race across the Mojave Desert, seeking a million in prize money. To win, they had to finish the 142-mile race in less than 10 hours. Teams and watchers knew there might be no winner at all, because these vehicles were missing a key part—drivers.
DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, organized the race as part of a push to develop robotic vehicles for future battlefields. But the Grand Challenge, as it was called, just proved how difficult it is to get a car to speed across an unfamiliar desert without human guidance. One had its brake lock up in the starting area, Another began by throwing itself onto a wall. Another got tied up by bushes near the road after 1.9 miles.
One turned upside down. One took off in entirely the wrong direction and had to be disabled by remote (远距离的) consol. One went a little more than a mile and rushed into a fence; another managed to go for six miles but stuck on a rock. The “winner,”if there was any, reached 7.8 miles before it ran into a long, narrow hole, and the front wheels caught on fire.
“You get a lot of respect for natural abilities of the living things,” says Reinhold Behringer, who helped design two of the ear-size vehicles for a company called Sci-Autonics, “Even ants (蚂蚁) can do all these tasks effortlessly. It’s very hard for us to put these abilities into our machines.”
The robotic vehicles, though with necessary modern equipment such as advanced computers and GPS guidance, had trouble figuring out fast enough the blocks ahead that a two-year-old human recognizes immediately. Sure, that very young child, who has just only learned to walk, may not think to wipe apple juice off her face, but she already knows that when there’s a cookie in the kitchen she has to climb up the table, and that when she gets to the cookie it will taste good. She is more advanced, even months old, than any machine humans have designed.DARPA organized the race in order to ______.
| A．raise money for producing more robotic vehicles |
| B．push the development of vehicle industry |
| C．train more people to drive in the desert |
| D．improve the vehicles for future wars |
From the passage we know “robotic vehicles” are a kind of machines that ______.
| A．can do effortlessly whatever tasks living things can |
| B．can take part in a race across 142 miles with a time limit |
| C．can show off their ability to turn themselves upside down |
| D．can move from place to p1ace without being driven by human beings |
In the race, the greatest distance one robotic vehicle covered was_____ .
| A．about eight miles | B．six miles | C．almost two miles | D．about one mile |
In the last paragraph, the writer implies that there is a long way to go____ .
| A．for a robotic vehicle to finish a 142-mile race without any difficulties |
| B．for a little child who has just learned to walk to reach the cookie on the table |
| C．for a robotic vehicle to deal with a simple problem that a little child can solve |
| D．for a little child to understand the importance of wiping apple juice off its face |