In the 13th century, the famous Italian traveler, Marco Polo, traveled a long way to China. During his stay in China, he saw many wonderful things. One of the things he discovered was that the Chinese used paper money. In western countries, people didn’t use the paper money until 15th century. However, people in China began to use paper money in the 7th century.
A Chinese man called Cai Lun invented paper almost 2,000 years ago. He took the wood from trees and made it into paper. He then put these pieces of paper together and made them into a book.
Now paper still comes from trees. We use a lot of paper every day. If we keep on wasting so much paper, there will not be any trees left on the earth. If there are no trees, there will be no paper. Every day, people throw away about 2,800 tons of paper in our city. It takes 17 trees to make one ton of paper. This means that we are cutting nearly 48,000 trees every day. Since it takes more than 10 years for a tree to grow, we must start using less paper now.
So how can we save paper? We can use both sides of every piece of paper, especially when we are making notes. We can use cotton handkerchiefs and not paper ones. When we go shopping, we can use fewer paper bags. If the shop assistant gives us a paper bag, we can save it and reuse it later.
Everyone can help to save paper. If we all think carefully, we can help protect trees. But we should do it now, before it is too late. When he was in China, Marco Polo ____________.
| A．discovered Cai Lun invented paper | B．learned to make paper |
C．saw many wonderf ul things |
D．read a lot of books |
Which of the following is not a way of saving paper?
| A．To use both sides of every piece of paper |
| B．To use fewer paper bags when shopping |
| C．To use cotton handkerchiefs instead of paper ones |
| D．To grow more trees |
Which of the following is not true?
| A．If we keep on wasting paper, we will have no paper to use one day. |
| B．The Chinese used paper money much earlier than people in western countries. |
| C．About 48,000 trees can be used to make 2,800 tons of paper. |
| D．It is never too late to plant trees for paper. |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．Saving Paper | B．The History of Paper |
| C．Cotton Handkerchiefs Back Again | D．Cai Lun, the Inventor |
Obama Still Smokes in Secret
US President Barack Obama has just made life more difficult for cigarette makers. He has just signed a law that will set tough new rules for the tobacco industry. The new law gives the US Food and Drug Administration the power to strictly limit the making and marketing of tobacco products.
At a White House signing ceremony Monday, Obama said that he was among the nearly 90% of smokers who took up the habit before their 18th birthday.
Obama, who has publicly struggled to give up smoking, said he still hasn’t completely kicked the habit. Every now and then he still smokes in secret.
“As a former smoker I struggle with it all the time. Do I still smoke sometimes? Yes. Am I a daily smoker, a constant smoker? No.” Obama said at a news conference.
“I don’t do it in front of my kids. I don’t do it in front of my family. I would say that I am 95% cured, but there are times when I mess up,” he said.
“Once you go down this path, it’s something you continually struggle with, which is exactly why the law is so important. The new law is not about me, it’s about the next generation of kids coming up. What we don’t want is kids going down that path.” he said.
Nearly 20% of Americans smoke and tobacco use kills about 440,000 people a year in the United States due to cancer, heart disease, and other serious diseases.The new law makes life difficult for ________.
| A．Obama | B．tobacco industry |
| C．White House | D．US Food and Drug Administration |
What do we know about Obama?
| A．He no longer smokes. |
| B．He still smokes as usual. |
| C．He began to smoke at eighteen. |
| D．He is trying hard to give up smoking. |
According to the passage, Obama is most concerned about ________.
| A．children | B．officials |
| C．his family | D．businessmen |
Last week, I bought an alarm system for about $ 450. It consisted of a control unit with three small units. I put the control unit in the sitting-room and fastened the other units by the front door, back door and living-room windows. The instructions told us to choose three numbers, so we chose 491, the last three numbers of our telephone number.
Now I will explain how the alarm works:
1. There is a power siren in the control unit. It makes a very loud noise.
2. Each of the small units sends out beams or rays in different directions. If anything moves, it breaks a beam. This sends signal to the control unit. The siren makes a noise which you can hear 50 meters away.
3. When we go to bed, I press the three buttons numbered 4, 9 and 1. Then we have 30 seconds to get out of the room before the alarm starts to work. That night I slept soundly because I was sure that no burglar could get into our house. However, at about 2:10 a. m. , I woke up and heard the siren.
"There must be a burglar in the house?" Mary said, "What shall we do?"
"I'll go and see who's there," I said, "Stay here. Don't make a noise. "
I went down stairs quietly. When I reached the living-room, I switched on my torch and looked round the room. Then I turned the light on. I switched the siren off and searched the rooms downstairs. There was nothing wrong except that the back door was unlocked. I locked it, re-set the alarm and went back to bed.
About an hour later, the alarm started again. I jumped out of bed, fell over a chair in the dark and bumped into the bedroom door. Mary woke up and started hitting me with a torch. "Hey! Wait a minute!" I whispered, "It's only me. I'm going downstairs to see what's wrong."
I went down into the living-room and listened for a moment. The only sound I could hear was the siren. I tamed on the light and switched the siren off. As I did so, I glanced across at the curtains in front of the windows. I saw a house lizard (a kind of small animals)(壁虎) disappear behind the curtains.
"Oh!" I said to myself. "That's our burglar.”
When the lizard moved, it started the siren. I guessed the alarm had been made in Europe, where there are no house lizards.
Well, I won't finish this story but if you want an alarm system free of charge, let me know. I'll send you ours. We bought a dog this morning. It knows the difference between a lizard and a burglar(强盗).The writer bought an alarm system to_________.
| A．make sure that he got up early every day |
| B．warn him when there were lizards in his house |
| C．frighten burglars and tell him that somebody had got into the house |
| D．make Mary feel safe to live in the large room |
The writer used numbers 4, 9 and 1 to________.
| A．set the alarm system |
| B．make a telephone call |
| C．give numbers to each of the three units in the downstairs rooms |
| D．name his alarm system |
The purpose of the three units was to_________.
| A．sound their own siren when the control unit told them to |
| B．send a message to the control unit and start the siren |
| C．check that the control unit worked properly all the time |
| D．give them enough light |
If the writer set the alarm and remained in the room for more than half a minute,__________.
| A．nothing would happen |
| B．the control unit would not work |
| C．the siren would make a noise |
| D．the dog would bark |
The purpose of the writer in writing the passage is to__________.
| A．tell us that the alarm system doesn't work |
| B．make it clear that he wants to give away his alarm system |
| C．show us how the alarm system works |
| D．tell us an interesting experience |
I found out one time that doing a favor for someone could get you into a lot of trouble. I was in the eighth grade at the time, and we were having a final test. During the test, the girl sitting next to me whispered something, but I didn’t understand. So I leaned over her way and found out that she was trying to ask me if I had an extra pen. She showed me that hers was out of ink and would not write. I happened to have an extra one, so I took it out of my pocket and put it on her desk.
Later, after the test papers had been turned in, the teacher asked me to stay in the room when all the other students were dismissed（解散）. As soon as we were alone she began to talk to me about what it meant to grow up; she talked about how important it was to stand on your own two feet and be responsible for your own acts. For a long time, she talked about honesty and emphasized（强调） the fact that when people do something dishonest, they are really cheating（欺骗） themselves. She made me promise that I would think seriously（认真地） about all the things she had said, and then she told me I could leave. I walked out of the room wondering why she had chosen to talk to me about all those things.
Later on, I found out that she thought I had cheated on the test. When she saw me lean over to talk to the girl next to me, it looked as if I was copying answers from the girl’s test paper. I tried to explain about the pen, but all she could say was it seemed very strange to her that I hadn’t talked of anything about the pen the day she talked to me right after the test. Even if I tried to explain that I was just doing the girl a favor by letting her use my pen, I am sure she continued（继续） to believe that I had cheated on the test.The story took place（发生） exactly ____ .
| A．in the teacher’s office | B．in an exam room |
| C．in the school | D．in the language lab |
The girl wanted to borrow a pen, because ____ .
| A．she had not brought a pen with her |
| B．she had lost her own on her way to school |
| C．there was something wrong with her own |
| D．her own had been taken away by someone |
The teacher saw all this, so she asked the boy ____ .
| A．to go on writing his paper |
| B．to stop whispering |
| C．to leave the room immediately |
| D．to stay behind after the exam |
The thing(s) emphasized in her talk was(were) ____ .
| A．honesty | B．sense of duty |
| C．seriousness | D．all of the above |
The boy knew everything ____ .
| A．the moment he was asked to stay behind |
| B．when the teacher started talking about honesty |
| C．when he was walking out of the room |
| D．only some time later |
At 18, many American young people go off on their own. They go away to college or find full-time jobs, and they often rent their own apartments. Some get married and start families. This independence(独立性) is learned from childhood.
From an early age, American children learn responsibility（责任感）. Children as young as 2 begin to put away their toys and dress themselves. At 3, many children do simple chores like setting the table.
Using money wisely is also taught early. As soon as a child understands the value of money, he or she receives a weekly allowance. This is used for things the child wants, like toys or treats. The child can spend or save it, usually with little guidance（指导） from parents. If the child wants money besides his or her allowance, it must be made by doing extra chores.
Children are taught early in life to think for themselves. They are allowed to make some decisions—and make mistakes. Failure（失败）often teaches more than success.Many American young people begin to live on themselves __________.
| A．at eighteen years old | B．from childhood |
| C．after they get married | D．from an early age |
An American child learns to __________ at the age of 2.
| A．find a full-time job |
| B．rent an apartment |
| C．put on his or her own clothes |
| D．do lots of chores |
The word “allowance”（in paragraph 3）means __________ in Chinese.
| A．零花钱 | B．奖品 | C．财产 | D．礼物 |
A child can get some more money by __________.
| A．understanding the value of money |
| B．helping the rich |
| C．reading many books |
| D．doing extra chores |
The passage is mainly about __________.
| A．the guidance from parents |
| B．the value of money |
| C．the independence of American children |
| D．failure and success of American children |
Kept inside on a rainy day? Take the kids to your closest children’s museum, where they can learn about their world while having a fantastic time.
| Please Touch Museum It can make your children’s life rich and colorful by offering play and hands-on（亲身实践）programs… Address ² 4231 Avenue of the Republic, Philadelphia Hours & Admission  ² Tuesday—Sunday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.² CLOSED: Mondays ² Under the age of 2: FREE ² Children and adults: $15 each For more information, visit www.pleasetouchmuseum.org |
Madison Children’s Museum In this green museum, kids can get hands-on learning about nature… Address ² 100 N. Hamilton Street, Madison, WI 53703 Hours & Admission  ² Tuesday—Sunday: 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.² CLOSED: Mondays ² Under the age of 1: FREE ² Children and adults: $12 each For more information, visit www.madisonchmuseum.org |
| National Museum of Play It is an exciting, hands-on place to play, learn, dream, wonder, and… Address ² Manhattan Square, Rochester, New York Hours & Admission ² Monday—Thursday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. ² Friday & Saturday: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. ² Sunday: Noon to 5 p.m. ² Under the age of 2: FREE ² Children and adults: $15 each  For more information, visit www.childrensmuseums.org |
Children’s Museum of Phoenix It is a fantastic place of imagination, creativity and fun with over 300 hands-on activities and many kinds of classes and programs… Address ² 215 N. 7th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85034 Hours & Admission ² Tuesday—Sunday: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.  ² CLOSED: Mondays² Under the age of 1: FREE ² Children and adults: $18 each For more information, visit www.childmusephx.org |
Which museum opens on Monday afternoon?
| A．Please Touch Museum. |
| B．Madison Children’s Museum. |
| C．National Museum of Play. |
| D．Children’s Museum of Phoenix. |
If Mr. Moor takes his one-year-old son to Please Touch Museum, they will pay .
| A．$12 | B．$15 | C．$18 | D．$30 |
If Adam would like his children to learn more about nature, he can go to for more information.
| A．www.childrensmuseums.org |
| B．www.childmusephx.org |
| C．www.pleasetouchmuseum.org |
| D．www.madisonchmuseum.org |
Which of the following about the four museums is TRUE?
| A．They all offer children hands-on activities. |
| B．They are all open on weekdays. |
| C．They are all closed after 5 in the afternoon. |
| D．They are all in the city of Phoenix. |
Where does the text probably come from?
| A．A science textbook. | B．A news report. |
| C．A museum guide. | D．A tourist map. |