Happy birthday! Do birthday really make people happy? Of course they do. Birthday celebrate the day when we were born. Besides, that extra candle on the cake suggest another year of growth and maturity—or so we hope. We all like to imagine that we are getting wiser and not just older. Most of us enjoy seeing the wonder of growth in others, as well. For instance, seeing our children develop and learn new things makes us feel proud. For Americans, like people in most cultures, growing up is a wonderful process. But growing old? That is a different story.
Growing old is not exactly for people in youth-oriented(以年轻人为中心) American culture. Most Americans like to look young, act young and feel young. As the old saying goes, “You’re young as you feel.” Older people joke about how many years young they are, rather than how many years old. People in some countries value the aged as a source of experience and wisdom. But Americans seem to favor those that are young, or at least “young at heart”.
Many older Americans find the “golden years” to be anything but golden. Economically, “senior citizens” often struggle just to get by. Retirement at the age of 65 brings a sharp decrease in personal income. Social security benefits usually cannot make up the difference. Older people may suffer from poor nutrition, medical care, and housing. Some even experience age discrimination. American sociologist Pat Moore once dressed up like an older person and wandered city streets. She was often treated rudely—even cheated and robbed. However, dressed as a young person, she received much more respect.
Unfortunately, the elderly population in America is increasing fast. Why? People are living longer. Fewer babies are being born. And middle-aged “baby boomers” are rapidly entering the group of the elderly. America may soon be a place where wrinkles(皱纹) are “in”. Marketing experts are ready noticing this growing group of consumer. Growing up is a wonderful thing because ____________.
| A．people can celebrate their birthday | B．people can receive many presents |
| C．people can become more mature and wiser | D．people will feel younger at heart |
We can infer from the second paragraph that __________.
| A．different countries have different opinions on the old age |
| B．American older people often joke about their old age |
| C．American culture is very young |
| D．young people lack experience and wisdom |
What does the third paragraph mainly tell us?
| A．The golden years can make the old earn lots of money. |
| B．American social security benefits are not good. |
| C．The old in America are leading a hard life. |
| D．The old in America have to retire at the age of 65. |
What does the underlined word “in” in the last paragraph mean?
| A．serious | B．disappearing slowly | C．cool | D．growing fast |
According to the text, which of the following is correct?
| A．The young are often discriminated in America. |
| B．The young are more respected than the old in America. |
C．Growing old makes people fee l proud in America. |
| D．The old are more respected than the young in America. |
You are seeing a film in which two men are having a fight. They hit one another over the heads with chairs. And so it goes on until one of the men crashes through a window and falls thirty feet to the ground below. He is dead!
Of course he isn’t really dead. With any luck he isn’t even hurt. Why? Because the men who fall out of high windows or jump from fast moving trains, who crash cars or even catch fire, are professionals. They do this for a living. These men are called stuntmen. That is to say, they perform tricks.
They actually do most of the things you see on the screen. For example, they fall from a high building. However, they do not fall onto hard ground but onto empty cardboard boxes covered with a mattress. Again, when they hit one another with chairs, the chairs are made of soft wood and when they crash through windows, the glass is made of sugar!
But although their work depends on tricks of this sort, it also requires a high degree of skill and training. Often a stuntman’s success depends on careful timing. For example, when he is “ blown up” in a battle scene, he has to jump out of the way of the explosion just at the right moment.
Naturally stuntmen are well paid for their work, but they lead dangerous lives. They sometimes get seriously injured, and even killed. A Norwegian stuntman, for example, skied over the edge of a cliff a thousand feet high. His parachute (降落伞 ) failed to open and he was killed.
In spite of all the risks, this is no longer a profession for men only. Men no longer dress up as women to perform some dangerous actions. For nowadays there are stunt girls , too.What can be inferred from the author’s example of the Norwegian stuntman?
| A．Sometimes an accident can happen to a stuntman. |
| B．The percentage of serious accidents is high. |
| C．Parachutes must be of good quality. |
| D．The cliff was too high. |
Stuntmen are those who __________________.
| A．often dress up as actors. |
| B．like to lead dangerous lives. |
| C．often perform seemingly dangerous actions. |
| D．often fight each other for their lives. |
When a stuntman falls from a high building, ______________
| A．he needs little protection. | B．he will be covered with a mattress. |
| C．his life is in danger. | D．his safety is generally all right. |
Which of the following is the main factor of a successful performance?
| A．Strength | B．Speed | C．Exactness | D．Carefulness |
Waste can be seen everywhere in the school. Some students ask for more food than they can eat and others often forget to turn off the lights when they leave the classroom. They say they can afford these things. But I don't agree with them.
Waste can bring a lot of problems. Although China is rich in some resources , we are short of others, for example, fresh water(淡水). It is reported that we will have no coal or oil to use in 100 years. So if we go on wasting our resources, what can we use in the future and where can we move? Think about it. I think we should say no to the students who waste things every day. Everybody should stop wasting as soon as possible.
In our everyday life, we can do many things to prevent waste from happening, for example, turn off the water taps when we finish washing, turn off the lights when we leave the classroom, try not to order more food than we need, and so on. Little by little, everything will be changed. Waste can be stopped one day, if we do our best. From the passage we know that some students often ________ in the school.
| A．waste things | B．don't work hard |
| C．eat too much | D．throw rubbish everywhere |
Which is not mentioned in this passage?
| A．Forest. | B．Fresh water. | C．Oil. | D．Coal. |
What may happen in 100 years?
| A．We may still have enough oil. |
| B．We may still have enough coal. |
| C．We may have a little oil. |
| D．We may have no coal or oil to use. |
Which is the best title of this passage?
| A．School life | B．Stop Wasting |
| C．Waste in the School | D．Rich Resources in China |
Happiness is for everyone. You don' t need to care about those people who have beautiful houses with large gardens and swimming pools or those who have nice cars and a lot of money and so on. Why? Because those who have big houses may often feel lonely and those who have cars may want to walk on the country roads at their free time.
In fact, happiness is always around you if you put your heart into it. When you are in trouble at school, your friends will help you; when you study hard at your lessons, your parents are always taking good care of your life and your health; when you get success, your friends will say congratulations to you; when you do something wrong, people around you will help you to correct it. And when you do something good to others, you will feel happy, too. All these are your happiness. If you notice a bit of them, you can see that happiness is always around you.
Happiness is not the same as money. It is a feeling of your heart. When you are poor, you can also say you are very happy, because you have something else that can' t be bought with money. When you meet with difficulties, you can say loudly you are very happy, because you have more chances to challenge yourself. So you cannot always say you are poor and you have bad luck. As the saying goes, life is like a revolving(旋转的)door. When it closes, it also opens. If you take every chance you get, you can be a happy and lucky person.When you fall down in a PE class, both your teacher and your classmates will ______.
| A．laugh at you | B．play jokes on you |
| C．quarrel with you | D．help you up |
What will your friends say to you when you make great progress?
| A．Congratulations. | B．Oh, so do I. |
| C．Good luck. | D．It' s just so-so. |
Which idea is NOT RIGHT according to the passage?
| A．Happiness is always around you though difficulties come towards you. |
| B．You can get help from others when you make mistakes. |
| C．You can still be a happy person even if you have little money. |
| D．People who have cars would never like to walk in the open air. |
Which of the following is this passage about?
| A．Bad luck | B．Good luck | C．Happiness | D．Life. |
Debra Veal is a very brave woman. She took part in a race to row across the Atlantic，a journey for about 3, 360 kilometers. She was in one of the 36 small rowing boats that set off on October 7th, 2001 from Tenerife. Each small boat was the same with food for the journey. She arrived in Barbados on January 26th , 2002 after rowing across the Atlantic for three-and-a-half months.
Debra began the journey with her husband in a small boat called Troika Transatlantic. But after 14 days he became very afraid, so he was taken off the small rowing boat. This did not make Debra give up. For the next hundred days, she rowed her small boat against the waves and the wind.
When she at last arrived at the end of her journey, she was reluctant ( 不情愿的 ) to leave her boat though her husband and family were there to welcome her. The boat had carried her safely to the end of the journey. She said, "I just want to toast(给……敬酒)this lady, this very special lady. I am full of sadness that I will have to leave her. She has protected me through many storms. "Debra Veal's husband gave up because_________.
| A．he had to look after their child | B．it was a dangerous journey |
| C．there was no food for the journey | D．he was fed up with the journey |
"this lady" refers to_________.
| A．her mother | B．her boat | C．herself | D．the journey |
Which of the following is right?
| A．The journey lasted 100 days. |
| B．Each boat was different. |
| C．Debra Veal wanted to leave her boat as soon as the race ended. |
| D．It was hard to get to the end of the journey. |
Cultural Center Adds Classes for Young Adults
The Allendale Cultural Center has expanded its arts program to include classes for young adults. Director Leah Martin announced Monday that beginning in September, three new classes will be offered to the Allendale community. The course titles will be Yoga for Teenagers; Hip Hop Dance: Learning the Latest Moves; and Creative Journaling for Teens: Discovering the Writer Within. The latter course will not be held at the Allendale Cultural Center but instead will meet at the Allendale Public Library.
Staff member Tricia Cousins will teach the yoga and hip hop classes. Ms. Cousins is an accomplished choreographer (舞蹈教师) as well as an experienced dance educator. She has an MA in dance education from Teachers College, Columbia University, where she wrote a thesis on the pedagogical (教学法的) effectiveness of dance education. The journaling class will be taught by Betsy Milford. Ms. Milford is the head librarian at the Allendale Public Library as well as a columnist for the professional journal Library Focus.
The courses are part of the Allendale Cultural Center’s Project Teen, which was initiated by Leah Martin, Director of the Cultural Center. According to Martin, this project is a direct result of her efforts to make the center a more essential part of the Allendale community. Over the last several years, the number of people who have visited the cultural center for classes or events has steadily declined. Project Teen is primarily funded by a generous grant from The McGee Arts Foundation, an organization devoted to bringing arts programs to young adults. Martin oversees the Project Teen board, which consists of five board members. Two board members are students at Allendale’s Brookdale High School; the other three are adults with backgrounds in education and the arts.
The creative journaling class will be cosponsored by Brookdale High School, and students who complete the class will be given the opportunity to publish one of their journal entries in Pulse, Brookdale’s student literary magazine. Students who complete the hip hop class will be eligible to participate in the Allendale Review, an annual concert sponsored by the cultural center that features local actors, musicians, and dancers. All classes are scheduled to begin immediately following school dismissal, and transportation will be available from Brookdale High School to the Allendale Cultural Center and the Allendale Public Library. For more information about Project Teen, contact the cultural center’s programming office at 988-0099 or drop by the office after June 1 to pick up a fall course catalog. The office is located on the third floor of the Allendale Town Hall.Which of the following statements is correct?
| A．Tricia Cousins will teach two of the new classes. |
| B．The new classes will begin on June 1. |
| C．People who want a complete fall catalogue should stop by the Allendale Public Library. |
| D．The cultural center’s annual concert is called Pulse. |
According to Leah Martin, what was the direct cause of Project Teen?
| A．Tricia Cousins was available to teach courses in the fall. |
| B．Community organizations were ignoring local teenagers. |
| C．The McGee Arts Foundation wanted to be more involved in Allendale’s arts programming. |
| D．She wanted to make the cultural center a more important part of the Allendale community. |
Which of the following factors is implied as another reason for Project Teen?
| A．The number of people visiting the cultural center has declined over the last several years. |
| B．The cultural center wanted a grant from The McGee Arts Foundation. |
| C．The young people of Allendale have complained about the cultural center’s offerings. |
| D．Leah Martin thinks classes for teenagers are more important than classes for adults. |
This article is organized in which of the following ways?
| A．In time order, from the past to the future. |
| B．Most important information first, followed by background and details. |
| C．Background first, followed by the most important information and details. |
| D．As sensational news, with the most controversial topic first. |