As prices and building costs keep rising, the “do-it-yourself” (DIY) is getting more and more popular in the USA.
“We needed furniture for our living room,” says John Rose,” and we just didn’t have enough money to buy it. So we decided to try making a few tables and chairs.” John got married six months ago, and like many young people these days, they are struggling to make a home at a time when the cost of living is very high. The Roses took a 2-week courses for ＄280 at a night school. Now they build all their furniture and make repairs around the house.
Jim Hatfield has three boys and his wife died. He has much work at home as well as a job in a shoe-making factory. Last month, he received a car repair bill for＄420. “I was deeply unhappy about it. Now I’ve finished a car repair course, I should be able to fix the car by myself.”
John and Jim are not unusual people. Most families in the country are doing everything they can do to save money so they can fight the high cost of living. If you want to become a DIY, you can go to DIY classes. And for those who didn’t have time to take a course, there are books that tell you how you can do things yourself.Many newly married people in the USA ______.
| A．find it hard to pay for what they need |
| B．must take some courses |
| C．have to learn to make their own furniture |
| D．seldom go to a shop to buy things. |
John and his wife went to evening classes to learn how to ______.
| A．make furniture | B．make or repair things |
| C．improve the quality of life | D．save time and money |
Jim Hatfield’s job is to ______.
| A．make shoes at home | B．do housework in a shoe factory |
| C．run a shoe-making factory at home | D．work in a shoe factory |
Jim decided to become a DIY when ______.
| A．he enjoyed doing everything by himself |
| B．he becomes an unusual person |
| C．his car repairs cost very much |
| D．the car repair class wasn’t helpful |
Which of the following statement is right?
| A．If you want to become a DIY, you can only go to DIY classes. |
| B．People who take DIY courses are quite different from the others. |
| C．DIY is becoming more and more popular because of the raising living cost. |
| D．Most families in the country are doing everything because they enjoy the life style. |
Two magazines recently listed the best cities to live in. Here are two of the cities listed as "the world's best."
SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA The city has comfortable weather all year round (15℃ to 26℃). Housing is not very expensive in San Jose. Also, many of the city's older neighborhoods are very beautiful and have small hotels and cafés. Beautiful mountains are around the city. Lots of people go sightseeing there every year. But air pollution is a problem in the city center.
HONG KONG, CHINA This lively city-once a small fishing village-is today an international business center. It is an interesting mix of East and West, old and new. Modern tall buildings are next to small temples (庙宇). Popular nightclubs are close to traditional teahouses. Busy people fill the streets at all hours of the day. But outside the city, there are parks for walking or relaxing. Hong Kong is famous for its wonderful native dishes. There's also food from Europe, North America, and other parts of Asia. However, this small city has a large population of nearly seven million! That's why housing is very expensive. Traffic and air pollution are also a problem.Which of the following is NOT mentioned about San Jose?
| A．The weather. | B．The mountains. |
| C．The air. | D．The traffic. |
What makes Hong Kong the world's best according to this passage?
| A．The lively city and the wonderful dishes. |
| B．The large population and the traffic. |
| C．The expensive housing. |
| D．The beautiful temples. |
The writer thinks housing in Hong Kong is expensive because
| A．it is a small fishing village |
| B．it is a mix of East and West |
| C．it is a beautiful city |
| D．there are too many people in the city |
What do the two cities have in common?
| A．They both have beautiful mountains. |
| B．They both have a large population. |
| C．Air pollution is a problem in both. |
| D．They are both crowded. |
From the passage, we can know that
| A．San Jose and Hong Kong are the only two cities of the world's best |
| B．San Jose has more natural sights than Hong Kong does |
| C．the weather in both cities is fine |
| D．San Jose used to be a small fishing village |
Problem:
I'm bored. We have a day off because of the heavy rain. If you didn't go to school today, what would you do? Why? Linda
Some advice:
If I were you, I would be at home doing something, such as making my bed or helping my mother do some chores. That way, my room would be clean and my parents would be happy. Tina
I would do what I love! Maybe I would help Mom do some cooking. I would learn how to make dumplings. Kathy
I don't have enough time in one day to do all the things I want to. People who get bored usually don't have a good imagination (想象力). There are lots of different books to read, websites to surf, people to visit and things to make. June
Well, if I were you, I would watch a good movie and then take a good nap (小睡). Your brain (脑子) and body will then be relaxed and ready for classes the next day. Lisa
根据材料内容，选择最佳选项。 What's Linda's problem?
| A．She doesn't have a job. |
| B．She feels bored. |
| C．She hates rainy days. |
| D．She feels awful at school. |
Who would watch a movie if she had a day off?
| A．June. | B．Kathy. |
| C．Lisa. | D．Tina. |
What would Kathy probably like to do on her day off?
| A．She would like to cook. |
| B．She would like to sleep. |
| C．She would like to read. |
| D．She would like to watch TV. |
June would do all of the following EXCEPT
| A．visit friends | B．surf the Internet |
| C．read books | D．lie in bed |
What do we know from the reading?
| A．Tina doesn't like to do any housework. |
| B．Kathy likes to do the same things as Tina. |
| C．Lisa thinks it would be helpful to Linda to get relaxed. |
| D．June used to be busy, but now she has enough time to relax. |
Moreno, Stanley, and 23 other students from Westfield State College were on vacation in Acapulco, Mexico. This was the last night in the hotel. It was 4 am, Moreno and Stanley came back from a party.
Just as Stanley went to sleep, he heard loud noise outside. From the balcony (阳台) of their fourth-floor room, Moreno and Stanley saw black smoke out of one window and heard people shouting.
Moreno ran out into the corridor and began knocking on doors and shouting, "Fire!" After that, he went upstairs in a hurry to tell other people. At the same time, Stanley was downstairs helping people get through the smoke-filled room. There he joined forces with Nalewanski, a 21-year-old boy who had a room on the second floor.
"Let's go," Nalewanski said. He and Stanley wet their shirts in the bathroom and put them around their mouths and noses so they could breathe. Then they ran up the stairs. On the fourth floor they found Moreno feeling terrible (Moreno had made it up to the eighth floor before turning back). But after making sure he could get back down on his own, they continued upstairs, knocking on the doors on every floor.
In the end, no one was seriously hurt. Moreno said, "There were hundreds of people in the hotel. It was our duty to help them." students from Westfield State College were on vacation in Acapulco, Mexico.
| A．Twenty-three | B．Twenty-four |
| C．Twenty-five | D．Twenty-six |
Which floor does Stanley live on?
| A．The second floor. | B．The fourth floor. |
| C．The seventh floor. | D．The eighth floor. |
Nalewanski and Stanley put their wet shirts around their mouths and noses in order to .
| A．make them cool |
| B．stop the smoke from going into lungs (肺) |
| C．let people find them |
| D．play a joke with other people |
What is the correct order?
a. Moreno told other people.
b. No one was seriously hurt.
c. Nalewanski joined them to save people.
d. Stanley and Moreno saw the smoke.
| A．d-b-c- a | B．d-a-c-b |
| C．a-d-c-b | D．c-d-b-a |
From the fourth paragraph, we can know
| A．the three boys are brave |
| B．Moreno died in the fire |
| C．the reason of the fire |
| D．Nalewanski called the police for help |
A small boy lived with his mother and grandmother in a big house. His father had died.
A bucket（桶）of water fell on the small boy’s left foot, and it began hurting a hot. His mother said, “I’m going to put something very hot on your foot tonight. That’s always very good. Tomorrow your foot won’t hurt any longer.”
In the evening, the small boy’s mother came to his bedroom. She had a hot poultice（膏药）in a bowl. The small boy looked at it and said, “I don’t want that. I had one a month ago. Poultices hurt.”
His mother sat down on his bed and said, “You’re going to have this poultice on.” She pulled his sheets（床单）and blankets（毯子）away, and put the poultice near his foot, but the boy pulled it away quickly, and poultice fell on the bed.
His mother was angry. She went down stairs and came back with his grandmother and a stick. She said to her son, “Your grandmother’s going to put the poultice on your foot, and I’m going to hold this stick. Now don’t be a stupid boy.”
She held the stick over the boy, and the grandmother took his foot and put the poultice near it. The boy said. “Stop, you…” but his mother brought the stick nearer, and he did not say anything else.
The grandmother brought the poultice near the foot again, and the boy stopped her again, but his mother was angry now and said, “I’m going to hit you.” The boy did not finish his words, and his grandmother put the poultice on his foot. He let it there for a few minutes and then took it off again.
The boy’s mother and grandmother put the sheets and blankets over him again and he said, “My left foot hurts, but you put the poultice on my right foot. I stopped you twice, but you didn’t listen to me.” The small boy’s foot hurt because ____.
| A．he fell off the bike |
| B．a bucket of water fell on his foot |
| C．he fell and hurt his foot |
| D．he was ill |
In the evening ___ first came to the small boy’s room.
| A．his mother | B．his father | C．his grandmother | D．his grandfather |
The small boy ____ his mother.
| A．agreed with | B．didn’t stop | C．thanked | D．didn’t agree with |
The small boy took the poultice off because ____.
| A．his foot didn’t hurt |
| B．he hated his mother and grandmother |
| C．his left foot hurt |
| D．his right foot hurt |
The best title for this passage is ____.
| A．Left or Right | B．A Small Boy | C．The Poultice | D．A Small Boy’s Mother |
Take a look at the label(标签) on almost any bottle of milk and you may see the word PASTEURIZED. What does that mean? Let’s find out by meeting Louis Pasteur.
Louis Pasteur was born in 1822 in a little town in France. As he grew up, he loved to paint. He loved to look at the world around him. When he went to college in Paris, he showed interest in looking through a microscope. A microscope makes things look a lot bigger; it lets you see things you can’t see just with your eyes. Looking through a microscope, Pasteur found a living world in a drop of water. He saw and drew pictures of the small living things -- he called them “microbes” or “germs”-- that crowded in a drop of water.
One day a winemaker came into the lab, hoping that someone could help him with his problem. “Sometimes my wine tastes delicious, but sometimes terrible,” he said to Pasteur. “Can you help me find out why?”
Pasteur put some drops of the wine under the microscope. He noticed that the terrible wine had some unusual germs. If he killed these germs, maybe he could keep the wine from turning terrible. He tried with different ways to kill the germs. In the end he found heating (加热) the wine seemed to work best. The winemaker tried it, and every bottle of wine tasted good.
Pasteur’s idea worked for other people, too. When farmers heated milk, it didn’t turn bad so quickly. When breweries heated beer, it tasted better. People called it “pasteurization” ---heating a liquid to kill bad germs. Aren’t you glad that the milk you drink has been pasteurized? The Chinese meaning for the word “microbes” is____.
| A．病毒 | B．真菌 | C．支原体 | D．微生物 |
Which is the right order in Pasteur’s life story?
(1). He received college education in Paris.
(2) He helped to find some unusual germs in some drops of wine.
(3) A new way of killing bad germs--pasteurization was found out.
(4)He was born in 1822 in a little town in France.
(5) Microbes were found by Louis Pasteur with the help of a microscope.
| A．2; 1; 3; 5; 4 | B．4; 1; 5; 2; 3 | C．4; 1; 3; 5; 2 | D．3; 1; 2; 5; 4 |
What do you think Louis Pasteur was like from the passage?
| A．Clever, helpful and hard-working. |
| B．Quiet, helpful and kind-hearted. |
| C．Brave, careful and hard-working. |
| D．Clever, serious and kind-hearted. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Germs only live in something that is bad. |
| B．Louis found the way to kill the unusual germs in the wine by chance (偶然). |
| C．Everybody knows what the word PASTEURIZED means. |
| D．Pasteurization is used to kill bad germs in the milk we drink. |
What does the passage mainly tell us?
| A．What life Louis Pasteur lived. |
| B．How to make milk clean. |
| C．How pasteurization was invented. |
| D．What to do with wine. |