A rat looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package. What food might it contain? He was alarmed to discover that it was a rat trap (捕鼠夹).
Going back to the farmyard the rat gave a warning: “There is a rat trap in the house, a rat trap in the house!” The chicken raised her head and said: “Excuse me, Mr Rat, I can tell this is a big concern to you, but it is of no business to me. I cannot be bothered with it.”
The rat turned to the pig and told him: “There is a rat trap in the house, a rat trap in the house!”“I am so very sorry, Mr. Rat,” sympathized the pig, “but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. I will make sure that you are in my prayers.”
The rat turned to the cow. She said, “Like wow, Mr. Rat. A rat trap. I am in grave danger. Duh?”
So the rat returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer’s rat trap alone.
That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a rat trap catching its prey (猎物). The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see that it was a poisonous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer’s wife.
The farmer rushed her to the hospital. She returned home with a fever. Now everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet (短柄斧) to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient.
His wife’s sickness continued so that friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them the farmer killed the pig.
The farmer’s wife did not get well. She died, and so many people came for her funeral that the farmer had the cow killed to provide meat for all of them to eat.
So the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that it does not concern you, remember that when there is a rat trap in the house, the whole farmyard is at risk.The underlined word “dejected” in Paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to .
| A．disappointed | B．surprised | C．confused | D．doubtful |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the article?
| A．The chicken showed great concern for the rat. |
| B．The pig helped the rat get rid of the trap. |
| C．The cow didn’t care about what the rat said. |
| D．The snake was killed after being caught in the trap. |
We can conclude from the article that .
| A．the farmer’s wife got good treatment in the hospital |
| B．the farmer regretted setting up the rat trap |
| C．the rat was very wise in avoiding the trap |
| D．none of the other animals felt threatened by the rat trap |
What message does the story intend to convey?
| A．We should mind our own business. | B．Everything is related to something else. |
| C．Helping others is always a virtue. | D．We should treat animals in a friendly way. |
EDGEWOOD-Every morning at Dixie Heights High School, customers pour into a special experiment: the district's first coffee shop run mostly by students with special learning needs.
Well before classes start, students and teachers order Lattes, Cappuccinos and Hot Chocolates. Then, during the first period, teachers call in orders on their room phones, and students make deliveries. By closing time at 9.20 a.m., the shop usually sells 90 drinks.
"Whoever made the chi tea, Ms. Schatzman says it was good," Christy McKinley, a second year student, announced recently, after hanging up with the teacher.
The shop is called the Dixie PIT, which stands for Power in Transition. Although some of the students are not disabled, many are, and the PIT helps them prepare for life after high school.
They learn not only how to run a coffee shop but also how to deal with their affairs. They keep a timecard and receive paychecks, which they keep in check registers.
Special-education teachers Kim Chevalier and Sue Casey introduced the Dixie PIT from a similar program at Kennesaw Mountain High School in Georgia.
Not that it was easy. Chevalier's first problem to overcome was product-related. Should schools be selling coffee? What about sugar content?
Kenton County Food Service Director Ginger Gray helped. She made sure all the drinks, which use non-fat milk, fell within nutrition (营养) guidelines.
The whole school has joined in to help.
Teachers agreed to give up their l ounge (休息室) in the mornings. Art students painted the name of the shop on the wall. Business students designed the paychecks. The basketball team helped pay for cups.What is the text mainly about?
| A．A best-selling coffee. |
| B．A special educational program. |
| C．Government support for schools. |
| D．A new type of teacher-student relationship. |
The Dixie PIT program was introduced in order to _____.
| A．raise money for school affairs |
| B．do some research on nutrition |
| C．develop students' practical skills |
| D．supply teachers with drinks |
How did Christy McKinley know Ms. Schatzman's opinion of the chi tea?
| A．She met her in the shop. |
| B．She heard her telling others. |
| C．She talked to her on the phone. |
| D．She went to her office to deliver the tea. |
We know from the text that Ginger Gray _____.
| A．manages the Dixie P1T program in Kenton County |
| B．sees that the drinks meet health standards |
| C．teaches at Dixie Heights High School |
| D．owns the school's coffee shop |
Where can we usually read this passage？
| A．In a novel. | B．In a newspaper. |
| C．In an instant message. | D．In a school report. |
Why do men die earlier than women? The latest research makes it known that the reason could be that men’s hearts go into rapid decline when they reach middle age.
The largest study of the effects of ageing on the heart has found that women’s longevity may be linked to the fact that their hearts do not lose their pumping power with age.
“We have found that the power of the male heart falls by 20-25 percent between 18 and 70 years of age,” said the head of the study, David Goldspink of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK. “Within the heart there are millions of cells that enable it to beat. Between the age of 20 and 70, one-third of those cells die and are not replaced in men,” said Goldspink. “This is part of the ageing process.”
What surprises scientists is that the female heart sees very little loss of these cells. A healthy 70-year-old woman’s heart could perform almost as well as a 20-year-old one’s.
“This gender difference might just explain why women live longer than men,” said Goldspink. They studied more than 250 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 80, focusing on healthy persons to remove the confusing influence of disease.
“The team has yet to find why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart,” said Goldspink. The good news is that men can improve the health of their heart with regular exercise. Goldspink stressed that women also need regular exercise to prevent their leg muscles becoming smaller and weaker as they age.The underlined word “longevity” in the second paragraph probably refers to “________”.
| A．health | B．long life | C．ageing | D．effect |
The text mainly talks about ________.
| A．men’s heart cells | B．women’s ageing process |
| C．the gender difference | D．hearts and long life |
According to the text, the UK scientists have known that ________.
| A．women have more cells than men when they are born |
| B．women can replace the cells that enable the heart to beat |
| C．the female heart loses few of the cells with age |
| D．women never lose their pumping power with age |
If you want to live longer, you should ________.
| A．enable your heart to beat much faster |
| B．find out the reason for ageing |
| C．exercise regularly to keep your heart healthy |
| D．prevent your cells from being lost |
We can know from the passage that ________.
| A．the rea son why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart has been found out |
| B．scientists are on the way to finding out why the male heart loses more o f the cells |
| C．the team has done something to prevent the male from suffering the greater loss |
| D．women over 70 could lose more heart cells than those at the age of 20 |
I decided to go back to school in the fall of 2008 after not being happy with my current job and financial status. I obtained my Associate’s Degree in May 2002 in Commercial Arts. After graduation, I had trouble obtaining a job in that field. For years, I was going from one job to another feeling unfilled, and I was not satisfied with the instability. I decided to go back to school for either International Business or Psychology. I weighed the pros and cons of both professions and Psychology won. I like helping my friends and family, when they go through hard situations in their life by giving them sound advice and being honest with them. Also, I was interested in “the mind”. I was searching for online schools because my work schedule at my current job would not allow me t o attend a regular class. I was nervous about starting online classes because I heard mixed stories from other friends who were taking online classes. I decided to do it anyway to experience something different. I wanted to find an online school that was affordable and reputable. Through my search, I discovered Walden University, which is specially for working adults who want to obtain a bachelor’s degree or higher. The process of getting accepted was easy, which included writing an essay on why I wanted to attend their school, transferring my previous credits, etc. I am currently enrolled in the Bachelors program for psychology, and I am paying for college via financial-aid loans and grants. This experience has been interesting yet trying as sometimes it was difficult to balance work, school and home life. I learned a lot about psychology and myself. For example, I like writing about current events, relationships and traveling. I thought my English composition was ordinary, but after taking a few classes at Walden University, I improved my English composition and it made me feel confident enough to start writing professionally so I became a freelance (自由撰稿) writer. Currently, I am only three classes away from obtaining my Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology! It was one of the best decisions I made in my life.What did the author study originally when he was in college?
| A．Psychology | B．Commercial Arts |
| C．International Business | D．English Composition |
What do we know about the author from Paragraph 2?
| A．He decided to study International Business at first. |
| B．He wanted to study two majors. |
| C．He liked Psychology better. |
| D．He chose his major with the help of his friends. |
Why was the author nervous about starting online classes?
| A．Because he heard some negative remarks about it. |
| B．Because h e was worried that he didn’t have enough time to study. |
| C．Because he feared he would fail the entrance exam. |
| D．Because he was afraid that he didn’t have enough money. |
Which of the following best describes the author’s learning experience?
| A．Dull and challenging. | B．Interesting and easy. |
| C．Interesting and challenging. | D．Dull and easy |
According to the passage, the author _________.
| A．was not able to find a full-time job |
| B．is most interested in writing |
| C．pays for hi s schooling with the help of his family |
| D．is satisfied with his achievements. |
The City of Christchurch, New Zealand was struck by a 7.1magnitude earthquake on the early morning of Saturday, September 4, 2010.
No tsunami alert was reported. The country's army troops were on standby to assist victims and disaster recovery operation. New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key, flew to the affected area to inspect and assess the situation of the damaged city. The Prime Minister said that the full assessment of the damages would possibly take months to know the severity of damages. Based from his assessment on what he saw in the area, it could cost at least 2 billion New Zealand dollars or US$1.4 billion for reconstruction.
“An absolute miracle that no one died，” Prime Minister John Key said. Two were seriously injured from this quake and thousands of local residents were awakened after being shaken at 4：35 a.m. of that Saturday.
There were people trapped inside the damaged buildings but fortunately none were reported dead from the rubble of the damaged buildings.
“We're all feeling scared—we've just had some significant aftershocks，” a survivor told TV One News. “Tonight we're just people in the face of a massive natural disaster, trying to help each other and we're grateful we haven't lost a life.”
GNS Science reported 29 aftershocks within the 14 hours after the quake, with strength from magnitude 3.7 to 5.4.
New_Zealand_is_no_stranger_to_earthquakes. The country experiences more than 14，000 earthquakes a year—but only about 150 are felt by people.
“Many buildings here were built with earthquake protection measure. However, in most cities in developing countries, people build how they want to and there're no building controls to force them to build to a higher standard that's safe，” Andrew Charleson, an architecture professor at Victoria University of Wellington told CNN.How many people were killed in the New Zealand earthquake on September 4, 2010?
| A．250，000. | B．29. | C．2. | D．0. |
After the earthquake, all of the following occurred EXCEPT that________．
| A．a number of aftershocks broke out |
| B．army troops were there to help |
| C．no people were injured or killed |
| D．the full assessment of the damages can't take in a short time |
What does the writer want to say by quoting Professor Andrew Charleson's words in the last paragraph?
| A．Earthquakes are much more terrible and bigger in developing countries. |
| B．Lacking of money, developing countries can't build safe buildings. |
| C．Building controls are the guarantee of safe buildings. |
| D．In developing countries, people have more freedom to design their buildings the way they like. |
What does the underlined sentence mean?
| A．Earthquakes break out frequently in New Zealand. |
| B．The earthquakes breaking out in New Zealand are very strange. |
| C．The earthquakes breaking out in New Zealand are unusual. |
| D．Earthquakes rarely hit New Zealand. |
What's the main idea of the passage?
| A．A massive earthquake struck the city of Christchurch of New Zealand. |
| B．No one was ever killed in earthquakes in New Zealand. |
| C．New Zealand has strict laws to guarantee the buildings' safety. |
| D．A miracle happened in the terrible earthquake. |
Scientists have learned a lot about the kinds of food people need. They say that there are several kinds of food that people should eat every day. They are: (1) green and yellow vegetables of all kinds. (2) citrus(柑桔) fruits and tomatoes; (3) potatoes and other fruits and vegetables; (4) meat of all kinds, fish and eggs; (5) milk and foods made from milk; (6) bread or cereal(谷类), rice is also in this kind of food; (7) butter, or something like butter.
Paragraph 2
People in different countries and different places of the world eat different kinds of things. Foods are cooked and eaten in many different kinds of ways. People in different countries eat at different times of the day. In some places people eat once or twice a day; in other countries people eat three or four times a day. Scientists say that none of the differences is really important. It doesn’t matter whether foods are eaten raw(生的) or cooked, canned or frozen. It doesn’t matter if a person eats dinner at 4 o’clock in the afternoon or at eleven o’clock at night. The important thing is what you eat every day.
Paragraph 3
There are two problems, then, in feeding the large number of people on earth. The first is to find some ways to feed the world’s population so that no one is hungry.
The second is to make sure that people everywhere have the right kinds of food to make them grow to be strong and healthy.According to the scientists, which of the following groups of food is the healthiest for your lunch?
| A．chicken, apples, cereal, cabbages |
| B．potatoes, carrots, rice, bread |
| C．oranges, bananas, fish, tomatoes |
| D．beef, pork, fish, milk |
It is important for people to eat _______.
| A．three times a day |
| B．dinner at twelve o’clock |
| C．cooked food all the day |
| D．something from each of the seven kinds of food every day |
People in different countries and different places of the world _______.
| A．has the right kinds of food to eat |
| B．cooks their food in the same way |
| C．has their meals at the same time |
| D．eat food in different ways |
If there is Paragraph 4, what do you think is going to be talked about?
| A．When people eat their lunch |
| B．What to do with the two problems |
| C．How to cook food in different ways |
| D．Why people eat different kinds of food |