Every time an election rolls around，people want to know what each candidate’s stance(立场)is on the issue that are important to them．In deciding which candidate 1 want to vote for, there are two main issues for me：the economy and education．
These issues are important to me because they affect me the most right now．The economy affects everyone，and education is important because t am about to enter college． When I looked at how each candidate views these issues，one man stood out to me，and that is Demoeratic candidate Barack Obama．
I like a11 of Senator Obama’s ideas for improving the economy．He wants to bring the troops home from Iraq，thereby saving the $12 billion we spend there every month．Anotller point that Obama makes is that the United States’current energy policy is hurting the econmny.He believes thal if new energy bills are passed，it will help tile U．S． get out of its currenr economic slump，and I agree．With these ideas and strategies，I slrongly believe that Obama can improve the current state of the economy．
Obama also has a plan to improve education．He believes that we need to start educating children at a young age．He also hopes to close the gap of achievement between students,which means improving schools that need help．He wants to pay teachers more and treat them like professionals，but in exchange he calls for higher responsibility．
Obama also has a plan to make college more affordable．He wants public colleges to be free for students who maintain a”B”average during high school．And he plans to give a $4，000 tax credit for college and university students who complete 100 hours of community service each year·I belleve these ideas to improve education are good enough and will help many students．
Therefore，there is no longer any doubt in my mind who will be receiving my vote：Barack Obama．
66．According to the passage，if a candidate wants to win the election he must
A．care more about the education in the U．S．
B．issue plans trying to satisfy everyone
C．make college more affordable
D．narrow the gap of achievement between students
67．We may learn from the passage that the author is a(n) ．
A．college student B．economist C．senior high student D．candidate
68．What interests the author most in Obama’s stance is ．
A．economy and education B．the military and education
C．foreign affairs and education D．the military and economy
69．Which of the following are among Obama’s promises?
a．to bring troops home from Iraq b．to reduce income tax
c．to start early education d．to develop American economy
e．to offer free college education for all f．to pass new energy bills
A．a，b，c，d，e，f B．a，b，c，d，e C．a，c，d，f D．c，d，e，f
70．What’s the main idea of the passage?
A．American economy should develop quickly
B．Obama’s new life as president
C．How to win an election
D．Why I vote for Obama
I grew up in a neighborhood that many city kids can only dream of: a quiet street that was our adventure park: a street filled with kids whose parents had to drag us inside for dinner, most of the time long after the sun had retired for the night.
Our street was also a zoo. There were cats, dogs, birds, fish, sheep, rabbits, horses, not to mention all the little things we caught and decided to keep as pets. But these farm animals weren't just farm animals. They were our friends.
Everything was great. I loved my life and never wanted anything to change. Then a day arrived that would ruin everything. The day they said, “We're moving.” Dad's job had been relocated, and I would soon be leaving everything I had ever known. I cried. “We are going to live near the beach,” I kept hearing, but it was no comfort. I hated my parents for doing this to me, for putting an end to the series of colorful adventures. I watched as removal trucks were filled with boxes my life had been shoved（挤） into, but I knew that there was one thing that wouldn't fit into a box. My neighborhood and all the fun and adventure it contained.
I forced myself to dislike our new life and insistently(坚持地) referred to our old house as “home”. I would give no one the satisfaction of enjoying our new beachfront lifestyle, not my family, my friends or myself. To admit taking pleasure in the new meant to let go off the old. But once I allowed myself to like the town, I grew to love it and I don't want anything to change. But this time, I know it will. And as scary as that may be, it's okay because exciting adventures can happen anywhere. All I have to do is to let them happen.The best title of the text could be________.
| A．My beautiful memory |
| B．Country life and city life |
| C．My wonderful neighborhood |
| D．Adventures could be everywhere |
In my old neighborhood, children________.
| A．often moved to other places to live |
| B．lived in a zoo with a lot of farm animals |
| C．played together until late in the evening |
| D．were pulled to do homework after school |
At last the writer came to realize that one should________.
| A．keep fun in the past in a box |
| B．accept the change with an open mind |
| C．find ways to enjoy a new life |
| D．start a new life and forget the past |
When I was 12 years old, I was at a very hard stage in life. I was short and fat, which was bad for a girl, so coordination（协调）was not one of my strongest features. On the other hand, my mother was a very talented
softball player who even acted as my coach. Night after night, I would try my best to impress “my coach”.Unfortunately, I just felt like a terrible disappointment to my mother.
One summer afternoon, my mother told us we were going to visit Uncle David. Since we lived in an apartment, going to the country was quite a treat. My uncle David always had a way of making me feel special.
When we arrived, my uncle and cousin Jeff were throwing metal rings at two holes in the ground. I was curious about what they were doing so I went over to watch. Noticing that I was standing there, my uncle asked if I had ever played washers.
Being a “city girl”, my reply was that the only “washers” I knew were the ones that cleaned clothes. To my embarrassment, Uncle David, chuckling(咯咯笑)，explained that the metal rings were called washers. I was shocked to hear my uncle saying he wanted me to take his place. He then gave me the washers and gave tips on how to throw better.
Unwillingly, I joined Jeff. Gradually, I found myself not only enjoying but also wanting to win this game. The washer went into the air and began to fall. Then a cloud of dust appeared as the washer sank into the hole. My first try! I had actually thrown the washer into the hole!
Although 23 summers have gone by since that day, this small success in washer playing helped me get back self confidence lost when I struggled with the game of softball.Why did the author live a hard life at the age of twelve?
| A．Because her body has many health problems. |
| B．Because coordination was her strongest feature. |
| C．Because she was forced to learn to play softball. |
| D．Because her efforts at softball were disappointing. |
When she was told that she could visit Uncle David, the author felt ________.
| A．surprised | B．pleased |
| C．disappointed | D．nervous |
It can NOT be learned from the passage that __________.
| A．the author must be more confident now |
| B．the author’s mother was good at softball |
| C．the author had never met Uncle David before the visit |
| D．the author had never played washers before the visit |
Which is the RIGHT time order of the changes in the author’s feelings when she was at her uncle’s?
| A．Curious—Embarrassed—Shocked—Pleased |
| B．Shocked—Curious—Embarrassed—pleased |
| C．Pleased—Embarrassed—Curious—Shocked |
| D．Curious—Shocked—Pleased—Embarrassed |
Not many years ago, a wealthy and rather strange old man named Johnson lived alone in a village in the south of England. He had made a lot of money in trading with foreign countries. When he was seventy—five, he gave £ 12,000 to the village school to buy land and equipment （设备） for a children’s playground.
As a result of his kindness, many people came to visit him. Among them was a newspaperman. During their talk, Johnson remarked that he was seventy-five and expected to live to be a hundred. The newspaperman asked him how he managed to be healthy at seventy—five. Johnson had a sense of humour（幽默）. He liked whisky（威士忌酒）and drank some each day. “I have an injection（注射）in my neck each evening.” he told the newspaperman, thinking of his evening glass of whisky.
The newspaperman did not understand what Johnson meant. In his newspaper he reported that Johnson was seventy—five and had a daily injection in his neck. Within a week Johnson received thousands of letters from all over Britain, asking him for the secret of his daily injection.Johnson became a rich man through
| A．doing business. | B．making whisky. |
| C．cheating. | D．buying and selling land. |
The gift of money to the school suggests that Johnson
| A．had no children. |
| B．was a strange man. |
| C．was very fond of children. |
| D．wanted people to know how rich he was. |
Many people wrote to Johnson to find out
| A．what kind of whisky he had. |
| B．how to live happily.. |
| C．how to become wealthy. |
| D．the secret of his daily injection. |
When Johnson said he had an injection in his neck each evening, he really meant that:
| A．he liked drinking a glass of whisky in the evening. |
| B．he needed an injection in the neck. |
| C．a daily injection in the evening would make him sleep well. |
| D．there was something wrong with his neck. |
If you are looking for a creative solution to a piece of work or a school assignment，don’t lock yourself up in a quiet room.
A new study suggests that moderate background noise is a better spur(动力) to creative thinking than the sound of silence，Time magazine reported.
A paper published in the Journal of Consumer Research says that the perfect working environment should buzz(嗡嗡作响)with a little noise.
Researchers found that test subjects were at their most creative when background noise was measured at 70 decibels，the level one might find in a busy coffee shop.
A nearly silent environment(50 decibels)was too quiet. Turning up the volume to 85 decibels (a jackhammer tearing up the pavement outside your building) was counterproductive-the noise became a distraction.
The researchers asked 65 students at the University of British Columbia，Canada，to perform various creative tasks while noises recorded at a roadside restaurant were played in the background.
In one experiment，scientists asked participants to brainstorm ideas for a new type of mattress(气垫). Test subjects had the most successful discussions when the noise in the background was noticeable but not too loud.
While a quiet environment may make it easier to read a book. the authors of the study say that moderate background noise creates just enough of a distraction to force people to think more imaginatively, without breaking their focus so completely that they can’t think at all.
Should we all head for Starbucks to get creative? Not necessarily.
Researchers found limited work time surrounded by the low-level noise of a coffeehouse is what really stimulates creativity.
Equally, working in a care environment isn’t good for everybody. The productivity boost was most obvious among those who were naturally creative to begin with.The recommended level of background noise is__________.
| A．50 decibels | B．65 decibels |
| C．70 decibels | D．85 decibels |
Why is moderate background noise good for creativity?
| A．It relaxes people and stops them from getting bored. |
| B．It can help people to focus on a subject. |
| C．It can absorb sudden noises that cause distraction. |
| D．It pushes people to use their imagination but doesn’t reach a level that disturbs them. |
According to the last three paragraphs，___________.
| A．the low—level noise of a coffeehouse may be too loud for some people to work with |
| B．if a person is not a creative type, then background noise may not be of so much help to them |
| C．a person’s own creative ability is as important as the environment they are in |
| D．working in a coffeehouse is effective for most people |
Which best describes the writer’s tone in the passage?
| A．Negative. | B．Objective. |
| C．Enthusiastic. | D．Doubtful. |
This is not a typical summer camp. Michelle Pawlaw and eight other teenage girls are participating in the three—day camp offered by the Arlington County Fire Department located just outside Washington. Firefighter Clare Burley is in charge of the program，who said the purpose is to try to get young women interested in considering the fire service as a career.
The free-of-charge，overnight camp is designed to let the girls experience what firefighters do to protect the community. That includes some rigorous activities such as moving a fire victim. “I dindn’t think I could pull that 170 pound body with a friend, but I was actually able to do it.” she said.
They take classes and learn how to climb the ladder on a fire truck, operate emergency tools and rescue an injured person. They also do their share of cleaning the firehouse and the equipment.
“Every week without fail on a Saturday，the job is to wash all the equipment. And we wanted the girls to see this is what we do. This is a typical day in a firehouse，”she said.
Firefighting is still a male-dominated service，but Burley says with 22 women on its force of 320 the Arlington County Fire Department is above the national average of 4.5 percent. She joined the department seven years ago.
“We do everything that the guys do to the same standard. We are tested to the same standard. We are expected to operate at the same standard，”she said.
Most of the girls say they had never thought about becoming a firefighter. but the camp was a great learning experience. ”I think it is definitely not a job that only men can do. Women can do it just as well as men can，”said Michelle Pawlaw.What’s the purpose of the summer camp?
| A．To tell the girls how to put firefighting knowledge into practice. |
| B．To teach the girls what to do when caught in fire. |
| C．To provide the girls with a typical summer camp. |
| D．To attract more girls to take firefighting as a career. |
What can we infer from Paragraph 5？
| A．Arlington County Fire Department is in the lead in employing women firefighters. |
| B．Arlington County Fire Department is the first to employ women firefighters. |
| C．More and more women are ready to join the fire department. |
| D．No women ever want to perform the firefighting service. |
What can we infer from Michelle’s words in the last paragraph?
| A．She has determined to join the firefighters in the future. |
| B．She will persuade her fellow students to join in the camp. |
| C．She realizes that women can also be good firefighters. |
| D．She decides that she’ll join in the camp again later. |
What can we learn about the summer camp according to the passage?
| A．American fire departments often hold such events. |
| B．It is sponsored by Arlington County Fire Department. |
| C．The girls spent their night in the summer camp，which lasted 3 days. |
| D．It is very popular among American girl students. |