George Stephenson was born in 1781 in a poor family. He had to start work when he was only eight．When George was fourteen, he became his father's helper．He spent a lot of time learning about engines（发动机）．And on holidays he often made one engine to pieces and studied each piece carefully．Soon he became a very good worker though he could not read or write．He began to learn English letters when he was seventeen years old．Every day after he did twelve hours of hard work, he walked a long way to have lessons from a young school teacher. On his eighteenth birthday，he wrote his own name for the first time in his life．George invented（发明） many things in his life．The train was the greatest one among them．Today when we take trains from one place to another，we'll think of this great man---George Stephenson． In which year did George Stephenson start to help his father？________．
| A．In 1781 | B．In 1789 | C．In 1795 | D．In 1798 |
He learned about the engine ________．
| A．through reading and writing |
| B．by making it to pieces and studying each piece carefully |
| C．at lessons from a young teacher |
| D．by asking a lot of questions |
He spent a lot of time learning about engines and soon he became ________．
| A．a great man | B．a good maker | C．a good worker | D．a good student |
George Stephenson invented the ________.
| A．the train | B．the telephone | C．the car | D．the computer |
From the passage we know George Stephenson was one of the greatest ____ in the world．
| A．workers | B．writers | C．learners | D．inventors |
How do you feel when you get up in the morning? Happy and active or tired and weak?
Do you often wake up with a headache(头痛)? Well, if the answer is yes, take Dr. Talbot’s advice and start feeling better.
☆ Get up and move. If you hate feeling tired and unhappy, you should start exercising, Try running, swimming or cycling. When we exercise, our body produces special chemicals (化学药品) that give us energy and make us feel happier. If you can’t stand exercising, listen to your favorite music and dance to it. That’s exercise, too.
☆ Eat healthily. You should eat three balanced (平衡的) meals every day and you shouldn’t eat too much fast food. If you need some extra (额外的) energy the whole day, make an energy drink. Mix (混和) together fresh fruit juice and low-fat milk. It tastes great!
☆ Go out and enjoy nature. The smell of flowers will make you feel happy. Even the smell of your favorite food can change the way you feel!
☆ Wake your body up. When you have a shower, change the temperature of the water----from hot to cold and back to hot again. You’ll feel the difference.
☆ Laugh! You should laugh for, at least, three minutes, three times a day. It will make you feel great!
| Problem: You feel tired and |
| Dr. Talbot’s 1. Start exercising, your body will produce special chemicals to make you 2. Listening to your favourite 3. Don’t 4. Drink the mixed fresh fruit juice to get some extra 5. Go out and 6. Changing the 7. Try to |
A young man once went into town and bought himself a pair of trousers. When he got home, he went upstairs to his bedroom and put them on. He found that they were about two inches (英尺) longer.
He went downstairs to the kitchen. His mother and two sisters were washing up the tea-things there. “The new trousers are too long,” he said. “They need shortening（缩短）by about two inches.
Could one of you do it for me, please?” His mother and sisters were busy and none of them said anything. But when his mother finished washing up, she went quietly upstairs to her son’s bedroom and shortened the trousers by two inches. She came downstairs without saying anything to her daughters.
Later on, after supper, the elder sister remembered her brother’ s trousers. She was a kind girl,so she went quietly upstairs withoutsaying anything to anyone, and shortened the trousers by two inches. The younger sister went to the cinema, but when she came home she,too, remembered her brothers trousers. So she ran upstairs and did as her mother and sister had done. You can imagine（想象）the look on the young man’s face when he put the trousers on the next morning. .What were the young man’s new trousers like at first?
| A．They were a bit too long. |
| B．They were just suitable. |
| C．They were too short for him. |
| D．There were about two inches shorter. |
Why didn’t the young man’s mother and sisters answer him in the kitchen?
| A．Because they were very busy. |
| B．Because they didn’t hear him. |
| C．Because they didn’t like him. |
| D．Because they couldn’t do that. |
When did his elder sister shortened the trousers?
| A．In the evening. |
| B．Before she finished the washing. |
| C．After lunch. |
| D．After she came back from the cinema. |
What did the young man find about the trousers the next morning?
He found that the trousers were ______ inches too short for him.
| A．two | B．four | C．six | D．eight |
How did the young man feel when he put the trousers on the next morning?
| A．Pleasant. | B．Thankful. | C．Surprised. | D．Bored. |
Once there was a little girl in a village. She spent summers on her grandfather’s farm. The year she was four, she knew some ducks. The ducks were white with orange feet. They lived in a little wooden house near the road. The little girl liked these ducks very much. Every day they walked down the road to the pond（池塘）. Then the ducks went into the water and the little girl sat on the bank（岸） and saw them swimming in the pond. The little girl talked to the ducks and they quacked（嘎嘎叫）back. Then one day the ducks were gone. No one would say anything about them. The little girl was afraid to ask where they were. One night everyone sat down for dinner. The food looked a little like chicken. The girl didn’t want to eat. Can you guess why?
A. eating chickenB. sitting by the pond
C. living on a farm D. ducks and a little girl The ducks were __________.
| A．yellow and orange | B．yellow and white |
| C．white with orange feet | D．white and black |
When the little girl ________ , the ducks quacked back.
| A．saw them swimming | B．sat on the bank |
| C．walked to the pond | D．talked to them |
At the end of the story, the ducks were probably _______.
| A．under the water | B．on the plate (盘子) |
| C．in the wooden house | D．swimming in the pond |
The little girl didn’t eat because _____________.
| A．she wanted nice cakes | B．the food was ducks |
| C．the food was too hot | D．the plate was empty |
请认真阅读下面短文，并根据短文内容回答问题。
On December 23, 2008, Niu Niu held a piano concert at the national Grand Theater (国家大剧院). As an eleven-year-old boy, he became the youngest pianist ever to perform a concert at the theater.
Never too young to learn
Niu Niu was born into a musical family in Xiamen. His father Zhang was a piano teacher. Niu Niu grew up listening to his father’s students playing the piano. At just three years old, Niu Niu asked his father to teach him to play, too.
“I gave Niu Niu some sheet music and helped him find the eight notes when he first played the piano. To my surprise, he played nearly 80 percent correct,” said the father. He used to think that three years old is too young an age to learn piano, but Niu Niu changed his mind. He continued to allow Niu Niu to watch his teaching of other students and gave him more sheet music to play.
Playing for fun
Zhang started teaching Niu Niu standard piano lessons when he was four. Unlike many other piano teachers, Zhang didn’t insist that Niu Niu play strictly with the correct finger positioning (位置). He said that the strict finger positioning would rob some kids of fun of playing. So Niu Niu could play in his own way. He could play the tone successfully. But Niu Niu was required to play the music without looking at the sheet music. Now he can remember about 80 pages.
Rising to fame
In 2003, at the age of 6, Niu Niu successfully held a sole concert in his hometown Xiamen. At the age of 8, he gave a performance at the International Piano Festival in France. At the age of 10, Niu Niu played in London and his performance was praised by Prince Charles. Last year, this young pianist published his first album “Niu Niu Plays Mozart” and over 10,000 copies have been sold in the world.
We are very glad to see a young Chinese pianist rising in the music world.How old was Niu Niu when he performed a concert at the National Grand Theater?
What was Niu Niu’s father?
What did Niu Niu’s father feel when Niu Niu played nearly 80 percent of the sheet music correct?
What did Niu Niu’s father say about the strict finger positioning?
What do you think of Zhang’s way of teaching his son Niu Niu? （请自拟一句话作答）
Hu Yaohui, a schoolgirl in Zhejiang province, didn’t want to speak or eat for a week. She kept worrying about her scores on the exam. “I can’t stop thinking about my place in the class,” she said. “I feel stressed out.”
Hu is not the only one who faces stress. According to a recent survey conducted by Wuhan University of Hubei province, 70 percent of the 2,000 students who are going to take the college and high school entrance exams feel under pressure (压力).
Stress is a normal physical response (反应) to things that make people feel worried or break their balance of life in some way.
Stress isn’t always bad. Sometimes, people’s stress is important during emergency situations, such as when a driver has to stop his car to avoid an accident. Sometimes, stress can help people do their best — like while getting ready before a big competition or exam.
However, too much or long-term stress gives people a stress overload (负荷过多). People with stress overloads may have problems remembering or concentrating on things. They are quick to get angry or lose patience. They may even have other problems, such as sleeping problems, headaches and often getting colds.
The most helpful way to deal with stress overloads is to learn how to manage the stress. For example, you might manage it by getting a good night’s sleep, or by exercising every day.
Another good way to deal with stress is to ask parents or friends for help. Everyone has stress. For many people, stress is so common that it has become a way of life. Don’t be too shy to tell others that you are having a hard time. They may comfort you or give you some useful advice. Sometimes just sharing your problems with someone else can make you feel better.Hu Yaohui felt stressed out about __________.
| A．her marks on the exams |
| B．which seat to take during exams |
| C．not being able to sit in the front |
| D．not being allowed to eat in class |
According to the survey in Paragraph 2, __________ of the 2,000 students who will take entrance exams feel stressed.
| A．nearly half | B．about 1,400 |
| C．almost seven hundred | D．about one seventh |
Which of the following is TRUE?
| A．Stress is a kind of serious heart disease. |
| B．Stress is always bad for people. |
| C．Stress is always useless for an exam. |
| D．Stress is greatly needed sometimes. |
The best title of this passage is “__________”.
| A．Many students face stress now. |
| B．People’s stress is sometimes important. |
| C．How to get less stress |
| D．How to get good results with the help of stress. |