Like most teenagers in the world, Joso Montanaro a teen artist in Brazil, likes reading and drawing cartoons. But he is special—his drawings get published(出版).
Montanaro is now drawing cartoons for Folha. Folha is Brazil’s largest newspaper and is known for its cartoons. Montanaro has already been working at Folha for two years. Each week he draws two, there or four cartoons and sends them to the paper. From those editors choose one for the next day’s page.
Montanaro draws about the news of the day. Recently he worked on The Wave—a drawing of the tsunami(海啸) that hit Japan. Montanaro also likes to draw cartoons about the fun
ny things that happen in Brazilian politics(政治).
“I like doing political drawings because you can joke about somebody bigger than you.” Montanaro says.
Folha’s art director ,Mario Kanno, says editors saw something new and different in Montanaro’s work.“We brought him in with this idea to show that, yes, young people also read newspapers and can show their ideas on politics,”Kanno says.
Montanaro’s love for cartoons began when be was only 7 or 8 year old. His dad bought him comics. Montanaro says these books gave him the ideas that got him drawing.“I think those great works have really helped me,”he says.“They remind me that I should draw something in my book every day.”What is Montanaro doing for Folha now?
| A．He is publishing story books. | B．He is drawing cartoons. |
| C．He is sending newspapers. | D．He is writing articles. |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Folha is famous for its cartoons. |
| B．Folha is the largest newspaper in Brazil. |
| C．Montanaro draws one cartoon for Folha every week. |
| D．Montanaro began to work for Folha two years ago. |
Why does Montanaro like drawing political cartoons?
| A．Because he can show his ideas on politics. |
| B．Because he is very interested in political jobs. |
| C．Because he thinks it’s easier to draw political cartoons. |
| D．Because he can make fun of some important people. |
What made Montanaro draw and helped him a lot in his drawings?
| A．The comics his dad bought him. | B．His interest in cartoon films. |
| C．The fun of drawing cartoons. | D．His dad’s ideas about cartoons. |
What’s the best title for this passage?
| A．Folha’s art director. | B．Brazil’s largest newspaper. |
| C．Teen artist in Brazil. | D．Montanaro’s great father. |
You know that eating a suitable diet and getting plenty of exercise help make your body healthy and strong. But did you know that there are ways to make your brain healthier and smarter?
Studies show that when the brains is forced to do something new, it creates new neural (神经元) pathways. The more pathways you have, the faster you can think and the better memory you will have. Wonderful steps towards a smarter brain are as follows:
Choose proper TV programs
Watching an average TV show needs very little brain power and brings the same result as giving no care to physical exercise. Your brain will become weak just as your muscles do,if you watch TV, choose something educational and full of information.
Travel
Traveling to a new country forces you to see and do things in a new way, making your brains more active.
Learning a new language
A new language learner usually uses different learning methods. Learning a language sharpens your brain and helps you prevent memory problems in later years.
Master a new subject
Each week, choose an animal, a bird or a fish, and read everything you can about it. Go on learning unitl you become an expert on the subject.
Use your non-dominant hand
If you are right-handed,use your left hand for everyday activities, or use your right hand if you are left-handed. Doing familiar things in a new way will cause your brain to create new neural networks.
Read often
As you read, take the time to look up people or places that aren’t familiar. Reading can enlarge your vocabulary if you search for words and expressions that you don’t know.
Calculate while you shop
As you put things in your shopping bag, total everything in your head. See how close you get to the actual total.
Play video games
Studies have found that some video games force you to use critical decision-making skills and can even improve students’ math grades.
So get into the habit of challenging your brain, and make yourself smarter!The passage can most probably be found in a _____book.
| A．history | B．travel | C．science | D．story |
.The underlined word “it” in the second paragraph refers to _________.
| A．the brain | B．the study |
| C．the neural pathway | D．something new |
.According to the passage,there are _____ ways to make your brain smartr besides traveling and reading often.
| A．five | B．six | C．eight | D．ten |
.While you are reading, you should _______.
| A．read as loudly as possible | B．look up something unfamiliar |
| C．read as quickly as you can | D．read from the beginning to the end |
.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
Playing video games is bad for your study and your health.
Using calculators a lot can make you smarter when you are a child.
Watching something educational on TV needs very little brain power.
Writing with the right hand can make the left-handed smarter.
When people communicate, they need words to express themselves. People living in different countries made different kinds of words.
Today there are about fifteen hundred languages in the world. Each contains many thousands of words. A very large dictionary, for example, contains four or five hundred thousand of words. But we do not need all these. To read short stories you need to know only about two thousand words. Before you leave school, you will learn only one thousand or more.
Vocabulary means a lot of words. The words you know are called your vocabulary. You should try to make your own vocabulary bigger. Read as many books as you can. There are a lot of books written in easy English for you to read. You will enjoy them. When you meet a new word, find it in your dictionary. Your dictionary is your most useful book.The number of different languages spoken is about _______.
| A．150 | B．15,000 | C．500 | D．1,500 |
Before you leave your school, you’ll learn _______.
| A．only two thousand words | B．five hundred thousand words |
| C．more than one thousand words | D．three or four thousand words |
To make your vocabulary bigger, you must _______.
| A．get as many dictionaries as you can |
| B．read as many books as you can |
| C．buy a lot of books |
| D．have a very large English dictionary |
You will enjoy_______.
| A．the books written in easy English |
| B．your dictionary |
| C．your new words |
| D．finding new words in a dictionary |
What is your most useful book?
| A．Books written in easy English. | B．Books written in English. |
| C．Your dictionary. | D．Short stories. |
A farmer had a cow. He took very good care of this cow and one day when it was ill, he was very worried. He telephoned the vet. “What’s the problem?” The vet asked him when he arrived. “My cow’s ill,” the farmer said. “I don’t know what’s the matter with her. She’s lying down and won’t eat. She’s making a strange noise.” The vet looked over the cow. “She’s certainly ill,” he said, “and she needs to take some very strong medicine.”
He took a bottle out of his box, put two pills into his hand and said, “Give her these. The pills should make her better.” “How should I give them to her?” the farmer asked.
The vet gave him a tube (管子)and said, “Put this tube in her mouth, then put the pills in the tube and blow. That’ll make it.”
The next day the vet came to the farm again. The farmer was sitting outside his house and looked more worried.
“How’s your cow?” the vet asked.
“No change,” the farmer said, “and I’m feeling very strange myself.”
“Oh?” the vet said, “Why?”
“I did what you said,” the farmer answered. “I put the tube in the cow’s mouth and then put two pills down it.”
“And?” the vet asked.
“The cow blew first,” the farmer said. In the story, the vet must be _________.
| A．the farmer’s friend | B．a milk factory |
| C．a hospital for cows | D．a doctor for animals |
The farmer asked the vet for help when his cow _______
| A．couldn’t lie down | B．didn’t eat the pills |
| C．couldn’t make any noise | D．was ill |
What medicine did the vet give the farmer?
| A．Bottle of pills. | B．A long tube. |
| C．Two pills. | D．A small box. |
The vet taught the farmer how _________.
| A．to blow the tube | B．to make the cow take the pills |
| C．to take the medicine | D．to put the tube in his mouth |
Which of the following is true?
| A．The farmer ate the pills himself. |
| B．The cow got better after taking the medicine. |
| C．The vet came to help farmer change the cow the next day. |
| D．The farmer waited for the vet outside his house the next day. |
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（资源）, we are short of（缺乏） others, for example, fresh water（淡水）. It is reported that we will have no coal（煤） 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（水龙头） 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．eat too much | B．don’t work hard |
| C．waste things | D．throw rubbish everywhere |
Which is not mentioned in this passage？
| A．Fresh water | B．Forest. |
| 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 of the following is right？
| A．Waste brings problems. | B．Waste can bring no problem. |
| C．China is rich in fresh water. | D．Students never waste things. |
Which is the best title of this passage？
| A．Stop Wasting | B．School life |
| C．Waste in the School | D．Rich Resources in China |
A blind boy sat there with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said, “I am blind, please help.”
There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took out a few coins and dropped them into the hat .He then turned the sign around and wrote something on it. He put the sign back and walked away.
Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and ask, “Are you the one who changed my sign in the morning? What did you do?”
The man said, “I only wrote the truth in a different way.”
What he had written was, “Today is a beautiful day, but I can’t see it.”
Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply told people to help by putting some money in the hat. The second one told people that they were able to enjoy the beauty of the day, but the boy could not enjoy it because he was blind.
The first sign simply said the boy was blind, while the second one told people they were so lucky that they were not blind.
There are at least two lessons we can learn from this simple story.
Treasure (珍惜) what you have. Someone else has less. Try your best to help those who need your help.
Be creative. Think differently. There is always a better way.From the passage we know that________.
| A．the boy is the man’s son. |
| B．the man is one of the boy’s neighbors. |
| C．the boy is blind and needs help. |
| D．the boy works for the man. |
On the sign what the man wrote was, “________”
| A．Treasure what we have already had. |
| B．Today is a beautiful day, but I can’t see it. |
| C．We are so lucky that we are not blind. |
| D．Try your best to help those who need your help. |
According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
| A．The hat began to fill up after the man wrote some words on the sign. |
| B．The man took away all the few coins from the hat. |
| C．The boy wanted to get enough money to go to school. |
| D．Nobody wanted to give any coins to the blind boy. |
The word “recognized” here in Chinese means________.
| A．承认 | B．接受 |
| C．表扬 | D．辨认出 |
The best title for this story is _________.
| A．Giving makes receiving! | B．Be kind and creative! |
| C．Be kind to the blind! | D．Do not always get, but offer! |