If you look for a book as a present for a child, you will be spoiled for choice even in a year when there is no new Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling’s wizard is not alone: the past decade has been a harvest for good children’s books, which has set off a large quantity of films and in turn led to increased sales of classics such as The Lord of the Rings.
Yet despite that, reading is increasingly unpopular among children. According to statistics, in 1997 23% said they didn’t like reading at all. In 2003, 35% did. And around 6% of children leave primary school each year unable to read properly.
Maybe the decline is caused by the increasing availability（可利用性）of computer games. Maybe the books boom（繁荣）has affected only the top of the educational pile. Either way, Chancellor Gordon Brown plans to change things for the bottom of the class. In his pre-budget（预算） report, he announced the national project of Reading Recovery to help the children struggling most.
Reading Recovery is aimed at six-year-olds, who receive four months of individual daily half- hour classes with a specially trained teacher. An evaluation earlier this year reported that children on the scheme made 20 months’ progress in just one year, whereas similarly weak readers without special help made just five months’ progress, and so ended the year even further below the level expected for their age.
International research tends to find that when British children leave primary school they read well, but read less – often for fun than those elsewhere. Reading for fun matters because children who are keen on（热衷） reading can expect lifelong pleasure and loving books is an excellent indicator（指示物）of future educational success. According to the OECD, being a regular and enthusiastic reader is of great advantage.Which of the following is true of Paragraph 1?
| A．Many children’s books have been adapted from films. |
| B．Many high-quality children’s books have been published. |
| C．The sales of classics have led to the popularity of films. |
| D．The sales of presents for children have increased. |
Statistics suggested that ___.
| A．the number of top students increased with the use of computers. |
| B．a decreasing number of children showed interest in reading. |
| C．a minority of primary school children read properly. |
| D．a large percentage of children read regularly. |
What do we know about Reading Recovery?
| A．An education of it will be made sometime this year. |
| B．Weak readers on the project were the most hardworking. |
| C．It aims to train special teachers to help children with reading. |
| D．Children on the project showed noticeable progress in reading. |
Reading for fun is important because book-loving children ____.
| A．takes greater advantage of the project. |
| B．shows the potential to enjoy a long life. |
| C．is likely to succeed in their education. |
| D．would make excellent future researchers. |
The aim of this text would probably be ____.
| A．to overcome primary school pupils’ reading difficulty. |
| B．to encourage the publication of more children’s books. |
| C．to remind children of the importance of reading for fun. |
| D．to introduce a way to improve early childhood reading. |
Why are so many people so afraid of failure? Quite simple because no one tells us how to fail so that failure becomes an experience that will lead to growth. We forget that failure is part of the human condition and that every person has the right to fail.
Most parents work hard at either preventing failure or protecting their children from the knowledge that they have failed. One way is to lower standards. A mother describes her child’s hastily made table as “Perfect!” even though it doesn’t stand 
still. Another way is to shift(转移)blame. If John fails science, his teacher is unfair or stupid.
The trouble with failure prevention is that they leave a child unequipped for life in the real world. The young need to learn that no one can be best at everything, no one can win all the time and that it’s possible to enjoy 
a game even when you don’t win. A child who’s not invited to a birthday party, who doesn’t make the honour roll on the baseball team, feels terrible, of course. But parents should not offer a quick comfort, prize or say “It doesn’t matter.” because it does. The young should be allowed to experience disappointment and be helped to master it.
Failure is never pleasurable. It hurts grownups and children alike. But it can make a positive contribution to your life once you learn to use it. Step one is to ask “Why did it fail? Don’t blame someone else. Ask yourself what you did wrong, how you can improve. If someone else can help, don’t be shy about inquiring. Success, which encourages repetition of old behaviour, is not nearly as good a teacher as failure. You can learn from a bad party how to give a good one, from an ill-chosen first house what to look for in a second. Even a failure that seems definitive can cause fresh thinking, a change of direction. After twelve years of studying ballet, a friend of mine applied for a professional company. She asked. That ballet master shook his head. “You will never be a dancer,” he said,” you haven’t the body for it.”
In such cases, the way to use failure is to take stock bravely asking “What have I left? What else can I do?” My friend put away her shoes and moved into dance treatment center, a field where she’s both able and useful. Failure frees one to take risks because there’s less to lose. Often there is recovery of energy — a way to find new possibilities. The first paragraph tells us ______.
| A．failure is very natural for every person |
| B．the reason why we don’t know how to fail |
| C．the reason why so many people are afraid of failure |
| D．one should be ready to face failure at any time |
How many preventions may parents use when a child fails according to the passage?
| A．only two | B．no more than three | C．less than three | D．more than three |
Which statement below does the writer support?
A．Failure is as good an experience as success. |
| B．Failure is the mother of success. |
| C．Failure is far from a good teacher like success. |
| D．Definitive failure gives us nothing but fresh thinking. |
We can learn from the last paragraph that _______.
| A．failure is the recovery of energy |
| B．failure makes one free to do something dangerous |
| C．failure should be forgotten in our life |
| D．failure is likely to do us good in life |
My first most vivid and broad impression of the identity of things seems to me to have been gained on a memorable raw afternoon t
owards evening near my parents’ tomb in the churchyard.
“Hold your noise!” came a terrible voice, as a man started up from among the tombs at the side of the church. “Keep still, you little dev
il(小鬼), or I’ll cut your throat!”
A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. He seized me by the chin(下巴).
“Tell us your name!” said the man. “Quick!”
“Pip, sir.”
“Show us where you live,” said the man. “Point out the place!”
I pointed to where our village lay, on the flat in-shore among the alder-trees and pollards, a mile or more from the church.
The man, after looking at me for a moment, turned me upside down, and emptied my pockets. There was nothing in them but a piece of bread.
“You young dog,” said the man, licking his lips, “what fat cheeks you ha’ got. Darn me if I couldn’t eat em, and if I han’t half a mind to’t!”
I earnestly expressed my hope that he wouldn’t, and held tighter to the tombstone on which he had put me; partly, to keep myself upon it; partly, to keep myself from crying.
“Now then lookee here!” said the man. “Where’s your mother?”
“There, sir!” said I.
He started, made a short run, and stopped and looked over his shoulder.
“There, sir!” I timidly explained, pointed to the tombstone. “That’s my mother.”
“Oh!” said he, coming back. “And is that your father alonger your mother?”
“Yes, sir,” said I; “him too; late of thisparish(教区).” The “voice” in the second paragraph came from______.
| A．the church | B．the man | C．the bank | D．the boy |
The boy probably lived _____.
| A．in the parish | B．in the valley | C．in the city | D．in the country |
We can infer from the passage _____.
| A．the boy was very calm and smart |
| B．the man hit the boy in the face |
| C．the boy would forever remember the raw afternoon |
| D．the man was very kind and considerate |
The passage is most probably adapted from________.
| A．a news report | B．a science fiction | C．a novel | D．a review |
This is the age of being busy．Many of us live in busy pl
aces and have busy lives．Even the roads are busy as we try to get from here to there．Adults are busy going to jobs and taking care of their families．Kids are busy，too，going to school and doing lots of homework after school and on weekends．
Busy isn’t bad，necessarily．If you’re not busy enough you might be bored．But if you’re too busy．you might break down．For instance，if you have a soccer game that runs late on a school night and you haven’t eaten dinner or done your homework．that’s a not—so—fun kind of busy．We wanted to know what kids thought，so we did a KidsPoll about being busy with 882 girls and boys aged 9 to 1 3．
Almost all of them said they felt stressed because they were too busy．About half said they felt this way once in a while or some of the time．But l 7％said they felt this way most of the time and 24％said they felt like this all the time! Oh dear，that’s no fun．
Only 4％of kids said they wanted less free time and l8％said they already had just the right 
am
ount．But，no big surprise，61％of kids wish they had a lot more free time．If they had more time．most would spend it hanging out or playing with friends．
Often，adults plan large parts of a kid’s day，especially during the school year．Kids can’t tell their parents they’ll be skipping school(逃学)today to get more free time!But they can tell their parents they’d like to play a game or read a book during their free time instead of watching TV．．The purpose of the first paragraph is to
A．introduce the  topic |
B．support the main idea |
| C．raise the topic sentence | D．attract the readers’ attention |
．According to the passage，the Kidspoll is done to carry out research on
| A．how kids arrange their free time | B．what kids think of being busy |
| C．how many kids felt stressed | D．what kids do with fheir study |
．According to the KidsPoll，what conclusion can we draw?
| A．91％of the kids think being busy is no fun． |
| B．22％of the kids don’t need more free time． |
| C．61％of the kids spend free time playing． |
| D．24％of the kids like the busy way． |
．From the passage，we can infer that the writer agrees kids can
A．spend their free time hanging or playing ou t |
| B．get a lot more free time from their parents |
| C．have a right amount of free time with permission |
| D．get more free time from school work sometimes |
William H. Gates is chairperson and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation．
the worldwide leader in software services and internet technologies for personal and business computing．
Bill Gates was born on October 28．1 955 in a family having rich business，political and community service background．His great—grandfather was a state legislator(立法者)and a mayor，his grandfather was vice president of national bank and his father was a lawyer．
Bill strongly believes in hard work. He believes that if you are intelligent and know how to apply your intelligence，you can achieve anything．From childhood Bill was ambitious, intelligent and competitive．These qualities helped him to attain top position in the profession he chose．1n school，he had an excellent record in mathematics and science．Bill’s parents came to know their son’s intelligence and decided to send him to a private school，known for its good academic environment．It was a very important decision in Bill Gates’ life where he was first introduced to a computer．Bill Gates and his friends were very much interested in computer and formed “programmer’s Group” in late l968．
Later，Bill Gates and his close friend Allen started a new company of their own，Traf-O-Data．They developed a small computer to measure traffic flow．From this project they earned around$20，000．In 1973．he left home for Harvard University．He did well over there，but he couldn’t find it interesting．He spent many long nights in front of the school’s computer and the next day asleep in class．
Within a year．Bill Gates dropped out from Harvard．Then he formed Microsoft．Microsoft’s vision is“ A computer on every desk and Microsoft software on every computer”．His belief in high intelligence and hard work has put him where he is today．He does not believe in mere(纯粹的)luck，but just hard work and competitiveness．
Bill Gates is not a greedy person．In fact，he is quite a giving person when it comes to computers，internet and any kind of funding．Several years ago, he visited Chicago’s Einstein Elementary School and announced grants benefiting Chicago’s schools and museums where he donated(捐款)a total of $1 1 0，000，a bunch of computers，and provided internet connectivity to a number of schools．Secondly，Bill Gates donated 38 million dollars for the building of a computer institute at Stanford University．Gates has decided to give away 95％of all his earnings when he retires．．How old was Bill Gates when he retired f
rom Microsoft in late 
June of 2008?
| A．52． | B．55． | C．60． | D．62． |
．What does Bill Gates believe are most important in achieving success?
| A．Intelligence and luck． | B．Hard work and intelligence． |
| C．Money and interest． | D．Good education and ambition． |
．What is the most important turning point in Bill Gates’ life?
| A．He left home for Harvard University． |
| B．He dropped out from Harvard University． |
C．He and his friend Allen started a new co mpany． |
| D．He was sent to a private school where he first studied computer． |
．What kind of person can we say about Bill Gates?
| A．Wealthy，greedy and successful． |
B．Ambitious，Intelligent and se lfish． |
| C．Intelligent．successful and generous． |
| D．Lazy，intelligent and competitive． |
The 9．2一magnitude(震级)earthquake which caused the tsunami in
the Indian Ocean on Boxing Day last year occurred at 7:58 a.m.，95 miles off the west coast of Aceh, Indonesia．
Eighteen minutes later．10-metre high waves crashed the ashore along a 500——mile-long stretch of Aceh．
Two hours later the tsunami hit Thailand and Malaysia and then Burma, Bangladesh, India，the Maldives，Sri Lanka，Kenya and Somalia．The final death toll is thought to be about 280，000，with tens of thousands more listed as missing．More than l.8 million people lost their homes．
●What Is Tsunami?
A tsunami is a chain of fast moving waves caused by a sudden strong quake in the ocean．They can be caused by earthquakes，volcanic eruptions(爆发)，or even the collision of meteorites(陨星)．Tsunamis are also incorrectly known as tidal waves，but unlike tidal waves they are not caused by changes in the tides．
They are also most common around the edge of the Pacific，where more than half of the world’s volcanoes are found．These fast moving waves can attack coastlines，often with little or no warning．Rocks weighing as much as 20 metric tonnes have been pulled from sea walls and carried l 80m inland．
●Wave Power
Atsunami can have a wavelength in excess of(超过)1 00km and there may be an hour between them．They travel at great speeds across an ocean with hardly any energy losses and are barely noticeable out at sea．
Over the deep Pacific Ocean，a tsunami travels at about 800kph．If an earthquake happened in Los Angeles．a tsunami could hit Tokyo quicker than you could fly between the cities by jet．
●Strange Animal Behaviors
Ten days before giant waves slammed into Sri Lanka and India coastlines，wild and domestic(家养的) animals seemed to know what was about to happen and fled(逃跑)to safety．
Elephants screamed and ran for higher ground．
Dogs refused to go outdoors．
Zoo animals rushed into their shelters and could not be enticed(引诱)to come back out．.．What does the first part of the passage mainly tell us?
| A．The great speed of a tsunami． |
| B．The number of deaths caused by a tsunami． |
| C．The countries which were struck by a tsunami． |
| D．The serious destruction caused by the great power of a tsunaml． |
.．All the following can cause a tsunami except
| A．changes of the tides | B．volcanic eruptions |
| C．collision of meteorites | D．earthquakes |
.．Which of the following is a characteristic of a tsunami?
| A．Having a lot of small waves linked together． |
| B．The waves of a tsunami travel extremely fast． |
| C．The waves of a tsunami can be found in the distance． |
| D．The power of the waves becomes stronger and stronger as a tsunami travels． |