Trees are useful to man in three important ways: They provide him with wood and other products; they provide him shade;. and they help to prevent droughts（早灾）and floods.
Unfortunately, in many parts of the world, man has not realized that the third of these services is the most important．In his eagerness to make money from trees, he has cut them down in large numbers, only to find that without them he has lost the best friends he had. And besides, he is usually too careless to plant and look after new trees. So the forests slowly disappear.
This does not only mean that man will have fewer trees. The results are even more serious: for where there are trees, their roots break up soil allowing the rain to sink in and also bind（固定）the soil, thus preventing it from being washed away easily；but where there are no trees, the rain falls on hard ground and flows away, causing floods and carrying away the rich top-soil. When the top-soil is gone, nothing remains but worthless desert.
Two thousand years ago，a rich and powerful country cut down its trees to build warships, with which to gain itself an empire(帝国）．It set up the empire, but, without its trees, its soil became poor and grew weak. When the empire fell to pieces, the home country found itself faced by floods and starvation（饥荒）．The most important service of trees to man is that___________．
| A．they give them wood and other products | B．they give them shade |
| C．they help him prevent droughts and floods | D．they help him made money |
In many parts of the world, forests slowly disappear because___________．
| A．many trees have been cut down by man | B．man has not paid enough attention to planting trees |
| C．new trees are not looked after properly | D．all the above |
Land becomes desert after all trees are cut down because____________．
| A．roots of trees break up the soil | B．there are too many rainfalls |
| C．there are no larger trees to keep rain and protect the top-soil | D．strong winds bring a lot of sand |
The country mentioned in the passage suffered from floods and starvation because________.
| A．it set up an empire | B．the empire fell to pieces |
| C．it built too many warships | D．it lost its trees |
Which title best fits the passage?
| A．Trees and Man | B．How Trees Prevent Droughts and Floods |
| C．How an Empire Fell | D．A Story about Trees. |
How can Omar’s class help?
Omar’s class at school learned about taking care of our planet. Children in his class worked hard at collecting newspapers, cans, and bottles. Their teacher took what they collected to a company where the things would be recycled（回收）and used again. Omar hoped that doing his would make progress toward cleaning up our Earth. Omar wished that they could do more. Then Omar’s teacher gave the class this form.
| YOU can make a difference! |
||
| Help Clean Up Our Texas Beaches |
||
| Who? |
Children from all the schools in our city |
|
| When? |
Saturday, November 16 Buses will leave from the parking lot at City Park at 8:00 A.M. They will return at 3:00 P.M. |
|
| Where? |
Padre Island on the Texas coast |
|
| What should you bring? |
Lunch and something to drink; Work gloves (We will have gloves to give to children who do not have a pair.) |
|
| What should teachers bring? |
Empty bags and small shovels（铲子） |
|
| When to sign up? |
By Wednesday, November 13 |
|
| Where to sign up? |
Have a parent sign at the back of this form to show that your family will permit you to go. Return this form to your teacher. |
|
| Teachers and students will use small shovels and gloves to gather trash on the beach. Papers, cans, and bottles will each be put in different bags. Be sure to sort（分类）trash and put it in the proper bag. At the end of the day, each child will receive a T-shirt that says “I made a difference.” Children will also be treated to a pizza party at the Pizza Palace on the way back to City Park. Each school will receive a small oak tree to plant on the school’s grounds. Keeping our beaches clean is important. Please sign up. Parents who want to go should call 555-9753 and talk to Mr. Smith. |
1. After the cleanup, the children will ________.
A. report to Mr. SmithB. go to the Pizza Palace
C. join the Clean Earth Club D. buy an oak tree
2 “I made a difference” in the passage probably means “ ________”.
A. I was different from others
B. I became more interested than before
C. I did something for a friend
D. I made something better than it was
3. If you help in the cleanup, at the end of the day you will receive a ________.
A. pair of gloves B. breakfast C. small shovel D. T-shirt
4. What is the main idea of this passage?
A. Schools organized a general cleaning. B. Children can help clean up our Earth.
C. More bottles are thrown away than cans. D. Recycling costs a lot of money.
The greatest cartoon-maker in cinema history was Walt Disney, who has often been quoted as saying, “…… it was all started by a mouse.” It was, and Mickey Mouse has gone on to become an international cartoon superstar. Without him, Disney could not have made his own dreams come true.
Mickey was created in 1928. It’s not clear if it was Disney or his business and animation（动画片制作）partner Ub Iwerks who designed the original mouse. But many credit(相信是) Iwerks, who animated all of the earliest cartoons.
The mouse’s original name was Mortimer but was changed to Mickey on the advice of Walt Disney’s wife Lillian. The first and second Mickey Mouse Cartoons were not a success with the public. It was only with the third cartoon, titled Steamboat Willy, that Mickey began to achieve wide recognition(认可). Since then, Mickey’s appearance and personality have changed. His body was changed a few times until they found the best shape for his head, body and ears. Until 1946, Walt Disney provided Mickey’s voice himself.
Mickey has starred in more than a hundred cartoons. He’s often joined by four other famous Disney characters, Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse, Goofy and Pluto, who have also become children’s favourite cartoon characters all over the world
1.According to the passage, Disney’s early dream may probably be ________.
A. to create Mickey Mouse B. to marry his wife Lillian
C. to become a cartoon maker D. to become a superstar
2.Which of the following about Mickey Mouse is true?
A. Mickey became famous in his first cartoon.
B. The original mouse was designed by Disney’s wife.
C. Cartoons starred by Mickey are always very successful.
D. There have been some changes in Mickey’s name and body.
3.From the passage we know that ________.
A. Walt Disney was known as a great cartoon maker
B. less than 100 cartoons have been starred by Mickey
C. there are four Disney characters in Disney’s cartoons
D. Mickey’s voice has been provided by Walt Disney since 1946
4.The best title for this passage is ________.
A. Mickey Mouse — A Cartoon Hero B. Walt Disney — A Famous Cartoon Maker
C. Walt Disney and His Wife D. How Mickey Mouse Got His Name
It was reported today that in China, 56% of people who write blogs(博客) do so as a personal diary and 83% use their blogs for sending messages to friends. It was also found that there is a strong East- West difference. In places like the US, blogs that offer information on news attract more readers but in China, blogs are more likely to be about sharing personal feelings.
It seems that bloggers can be divided into three types: IT(信息技术) bloggers, bloggers who record their ordinary feelings and media（媒体） bloggers.
When blogging first started, the IT people had the technological advantage and they took the chance to put their thoughts on the web. Some of these IT people now have had over a million people read their blogs.
The next wave of bloggers did not have any training as writers or in IT and wrote about normal daily life. Media bloggers, however, are trained writers, such as journalists and editors. When the many media bloggers showed up, the everyday bloggers lost most of their readers. Media bloggers have the advantage of knowing how to communicate well through the written words.
However, the normal bloggers are still out there and increasing in number. It seems that blogging is the new way to express your feelings. People feel like the world is listening to, or rather reading, their problems, even if they are not.
1. From the passage we know that________.
A.56% of the Chinese write blogs
B. people in US like to read blogs for news
C. the Chinese share feelings with each other mainly through blogs
D. the way that Chinese use blogs is not different from the West
2. ________wrote more blogs at the very beginning and now have more readers than others.
A.IT bloggers B. Media bloggers C. Normal bloggers D. US bloggers
3. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. There will be more and more normal bloggers.
B. Only bloggers express their feelings through the Internet.
C. All people in the world are listening to the bloggers’ voice.
D. Media bloggers have more readers because of their popularity.
4.The underlined expression in the passage can be best replaced by “________”.
A. increased. B. appeared . C. arrived. D. grew.
第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从A、B、C和D四个选项中，选出最佳选项.
About a year ago, I went to stay at a Detroit hotel. I didn’t want to carry too much money with me, so I asked the desk clerk（服务员） to put a hundred-dollar bill in the safe(保险箱) for me.
The next morning, however, the clerk said he knew nothing about my money. I didn’t have any proof that I had given the man the money. There was nothing I could do but go to the nearest lawyer.
The lawyer advised me to return to the hotel with him and give another hundred-dollar bill to the clerk. This I did. An hour later, I went back to the desk and asked for my money. Since I had the lawyer as an eyewitness（证人） to the second hundred-dollar bill, the clerk could not say he knew nothing about it.
Another hour later, I put the second part of the lawyer’s plan into action. This time both the lawyer and I went to the hotel. I asked for the hundred-dollar bill once again, and when the clerk insisted he had already given it to me, I didn’t admit it. The lawyer said to him, “I saw this gentleman give you a hundred dollars. If you don’t hand it over immediately, I’ll be forced to call the police.”
The clerk realized he had been tricked, so he gave me back the first hundred-dollar bill.
“I don’t know how to thank you enough for getting my money back,” I said to the lawyer. And what do you suppose he answered?
He said, “Oh, don’t thank me. That will be a hundred dollars, please.”
1. The writer went to a Detroit hotel one day in order to_______.
A. get his money back B. stay for the night
C. ask the lawyer for help D. put a hundred-dollar bill in the safe
2. The hotel clerk at last returned the first hundred-dollar bill to the writer because _______.
A. he was afraid of the writer very much
B. he found the lawyer tricking him
C. he didn’t want to get into trouble with the police
D. he wanted to give the writer a surprise
3. It is clear that the hotel clerk was________.
A. dishonest B. helpful
C. careless D. foolish
4. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. The writer didn’t get his 200 dollars back..
B. The lawyer asked for 100 dollars as his pay.
C. The writer was so grateful as to offer the lawyer some money.
D. The lawyer was disappointed that the writer got both his bills back.
We are all interested in equality, but while some people try to protect the school and examination system in the name of equality, others, still in the name of equality, want only to destroy it.
Any society which is interested in equality of opportunity and standards of achievement must regularly test its pupils. The standards may be changed—no examination is perfect—but to have to tests or examinations would mean the end of equality and of standards. There are groups of people who oppose this view and who do not believe either in examinations or in any controls in school or on teachers. This would mean that everything would depend on luck since every pupil would depend on the efficiency, the values and the purpose of each teacher.
Without examinations, employers will look for employees from the highly respected schools and from families known to them—a form of favourtism will replace equality. At the moment, the bright child from an ill-respected school can show certificates to prove he or she is suitable for a job, while the lack of certificate indicates the unsuitability of a dull child attending a well-respected school. This defend of excellence and opportunity would disappear if examinations were taken away, and the bright child form a poor family would be a prisoner of his or her school’s reputation, unable to compete for employment with the child from the favoured school.
The opponents of the examination system suggest that examinations are an evil force because they show differences between pupils. According to these people, there must be no special, different, academic class. They have even suggested that there should be no form of difference in sport or any other area: all jobs or posts should be filled by unsystematic selection. The selection would be made by people who themselves are probably selected by some computer.
1. The word “favouritism” in paragraph 3 is used to describe the phenomenon that________.
A. bright children also need certificates go get satisfying jobs.
B. children from well-respected schools tend to have good jobs
C. poor children with certificates are favoured in job markets
D. children attending ordinary schools achieve great success
2. What would happen if examinations were taken away according to the author?
A. Schools for bright children would lose their reputation.
B. There would be more opportunities and excellence.
C. Children from poor families would be able to change their schools.
D. Children’s job opportunity would be affected by their school reputation.
3. The opponents of the examination system will agree that _________.
A. jobs should not be assigned by systematic selection
B. computers should be selected to take over many jobs
C. special classed are necessary to keep the school standards
D. schools with academic subjects should be done away with
4. The passage mainly focuses on ___________.
A. schools and certificates B. examination and equality
C. opportunity and employmentD. standards and reputation