Sunday is more like Monday than it used to be. Places of business that used to keep daytime “business hours” are now open late into the night. And on the Internet, the hour of the day and the day of the week have become irrelevant. A half century ago in the United states, most people experienced strong and precise dividing lines between days of rest and days of work, school time and summer time. Today the dividing lines are still there, but they seem not clear.
The law in almost all states used to require stores to close on Sunday; in most, it no longer does. It used to keep the schools open in all seasons except summer, in most, it still does. And whether the work week should strengthen its legal（法律的）limits, or whether it should become more changeable, is often debated（争论）. How should we, as a society, organize our time? Should we go even further in relaxing the dividing lines of time until we live in a world in which every minute is much like every other?
These are not easy questions even to ask. Part of the difficulty is that we seldom recognize the “law of time” even when we meet it face to face. We know as children that we have to go to school a certain number of hours, a certain number of days, a certain number of years – but unless we meet the truant officer（学监）, we may well think that we should go to school because of social custom and parents’ requirement rather than to the law. As adults we know “extra pay for overtime working” very well, but less familiar with the fact that what constitutes（构成）“overtime” is a matter of legal thing. When we turn the clock forward to start daylight – saving time, have we ever thought to ourselves: “Here is the law in action”? As we shall see, there is a lot of law that has great influence on how organize and use time: compulsory education law, overtime law, and daylight-saving law – as well as law about Sunday closing, holidays, being late to work, time zones, and so on. Once we begin to look for it, we will have no trouble finding a law of time to examine and assess.What does the underlined word “irrelevant” probably mean?
| A．Impossible. | B．Unacceptable. | C．Unimportant. | D．Disagreeable. |
The writer raises the questions in Paragraph 2 to introduce the fact that people _____.
| A．are unknowing of the law of time |
| B．fail to make full use of their time |
| C．welcome changeable working hours |
| D．enjoy working overtime for more pay |
We can learn from the passage that most children go to school because they_____.
| A．have to follow the law |
| B．need to find social customs |
| C．need to learn more knowledge |
| D．have to follow their parents’ requirement |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Our life is governed by the law of time. |
| B．How to use time is not worth debating. |
| C．New ways of using time change our society. |
| D．Our time table is decided by social customs. |
If you knew a bottle of water had been recycled from urine (尿), would you drink it? Astronauts at the International Space Station (ISS) may soon do so. NASA (美国航空航天局) said it would use a high-tech machine (高科技机器) to recycle wastewater at the ISS. The machine will recycle everything from sweat (汗), the water for washing hands, shower water, water used for brushing teeth, and even urine, to make drinking water.
It will save NASA millions of dollars each year. At present, each ISS astronaut uses about 4.4 liters (升) of water every day. It costs about $24 million a year to transport water up to ISS. NASA says that a liter of water costs about $11,000.
The machine will be sent to the ISS in October 2008. NASA hopes it will recycle about 93% of all water used on the station. Will the water be clean? Scientists say the wastewater will go through a very complicated process (复杂的过程). For example, different chemicals will be put in the wastewater; the water will be heated to 130℃to get rid of bacteria (细菌). The recycled water is thousands of times better than the water from a city tap, scientists say.NASA will use a high-tech machine to recycle wastewater at the ISS to __________.
| A．protect the ISS |
| B．make astronauts at ISS work harder |
| C．provide better water and food for ISS astronauts |
| D．save the cost of transporting water up to the ISS |
At present it costs NASA about ______ dollars to transport water up to an astronaut at the ISS a day.
| A．4.4 thousand | B．11 thousand |
| C．48.4 thousand | D．24 million |
Scientists plan to get rid of bacteria in the wastewater by ______.
| A．freezing | B．heating |
| C．shaking | D．precipitating (沉淀) |
The reading mainly tells us something about ______.
| A．water recycling | B．the International Space Station |
| C．a high-tech machine | D．the cost of NASA |
Which of the following sentences is true, according to the passage?
| A．The recycled water is much better than that from a city tap. |
| B．The high-tech machine will recycle all the water used on the station. |
| C．At present, each ISS astronaut uses more water than the people living on the earth. |
| D．The high-tech machine can only recycle urine to make water at present |
In his lowest days when few people bought his records, Taiwan singer Steve Chou lived alone in Canada and did little. One day, he passed by a local CD store and heard a song that greatly attracted him.
“My heart tells me that music is the thing I truly want to do, not for fame(名誉)or money,” Chou said. That’s how we luckily have such a music genius, who has since then composed(作曲)lots of hits for the pop music charts (排行榜).
“Sometimes we need to get close to nature to look deeply into our souls and see what we really want to follow,” he said.
Recently he has made public his latest work Lovers Genesis. In this album, he explores human relationships in the Internet age. “Technology itself is a good thing, but it depends on how you’re going to use it,” is Chou’s advice to teenagers.
Chou often gets his music ideas from trips. He has traveled to many places around the world and believes that learning a country’s language is the fastest way of experiencing the culture behind it.
Chou has worked hard on learning English to push forward his music career(事业). He has flown to the UK to attend month-long English training schools three times. There he lives with local families and practices daily conversations.
“So I could easily read the English instructions on recording machines and communicate with the local music producers,” said Chou, “The music reviews of the US or British singers that I appreciate could help me learn and grow with them.”. Which of the following about Steve Chou is the correct order?
a. He made public his work Lovers Genesis.
b. He passed by a local CD store and heard a song that greatly attracted him.
c. He composed lots of hits for the pop music charts.
d. Few people bought his records.
| A．abcd | B．dbca | C．acbd | D．dacb |
Why has Chou flown to the UK to learn English?
| A．Because he wants to live in the UK. |
| B．Because his record company asks him to. |
| C．Because he wants to sell his album in the UK. |
| D．Because he thinks it will be helpful for his music career. |
. Which of the following statements is right?
| A．Steve Chou loves music and he sings for fame. |
| B．The human relationships in the Internet age he explores is that Technology itself is a good thing, but it depends on how you’re going to use it. |
| C．Steve Chou lives with local families in Canada and practices daily conversations. |
| D．Steve grows up with some Americans. |
Steve Chou may agree with the following except that.
taking trips gives him some ideas of music
what we really want to follow is the most important.
music is a thing that can bring him fame and money.
in International age,technology itself is not a bad thingWhat is Steve Chou like according to the passage?
| A．Kind and helpful. | B．Proud and confident. |
| C．Active and hard-working | D．Calm and disappointed |
“Cool” is a word with many meanings．Its old meaning is used to express a temperature(温度) that is a little bit cold．As the world has changed，the word has had many different meanings now．
“Cool” can be used to express feelings of interest in almost anything．
When you see a famous car in the street，maybe you will say，“It’s cool．”You may think，“He’s so cool，”when you see your favorite footballer．
We all maximize（扩大） the meaning of “cool”．You can use it instead of many words such as “new” or “surprising”．Here’s an interesting story we can use to show the way the word is used．A teacher asked her students to write about the waterfall（瀑布）they had visited．On one student’s paper was just the one sentence，“It’s so cool’’．Maybe he thought it was the best way to show what he saw and felt．
But the story also shows a scarcity（缺乏）of words．Without “cool”，some people have no words to show the same meaning．So it is quite important to keep some credibility（可信性）．Can you think of many other words that make your life as colorful as the word “cool”？ I can．And I think they are also very cool．We know that the word “cool’’ has had ________.
| A．only one meaning | B．no meanings |
| C．many different meanings | D．the same meaning |
In the passage，the word “express” means “________”.
| A．see | B．show |
| C．know | D．feel |
The writer takes an example to show he is ________ the way the word is used．
| A．pleased with | B．strange to |
| C．worried about | D．careful with |
In the passage，the writer suggests（暗示）that the word “cool”________．
| A．can be used instead of many words |
| B．usually means something interesting |
| C．can make your life colorful |
| D．may not be as cool as it seems |
Do you need friends? I'm sure your answer is "Yes, of course. Everybody does!" You need friends when you play and when you work. If you have friends, you will feel happy. If you have no friends. you will feel lonely (寂寞的).
Do you know how to make friends? There is only one good way — You make friends by being friendly. A friendly person is interested in other people. He is always helpful If you want to make friends with a new classmate, you can talk with him, tell him about the other classmates in your class and try your best to be helpful to him.We need friends __________.
| A．because we must play with them |
| B．because we must work with them |
| C．when we play and when we work |
| D．when we talk with them |
A friendly person is _________ other people.
| A．interested in | B．worried about |
| C．surprised at | D．like them |
If we want to make friends with a new classmate, ___________.
A. we can talk with them
B. we must try to help him
C. we can tell him about the other classmates in our class
D. A、B and C
A young man asked Albert Einstein, the great German scientist, what the secret of success is. The scientist told him that the secret of success is hard work. A few days later the young man asked the same question again. Einstein was very annoyed. He did not say anything, but wrote a few words on a piece of paper. On it was written: A=X+Y+Z.
“What does this mean?” asked the young man.
“A means “success”” explained the old scientist. “X stands for hard work ,Y for good method (方法) and Z means stop talking and get down to work.”The young man _________.
A. wanted to meet Einstein
B. wanted to be a great scientist like Einstein
C. wanted to know the secret of successIn Einstein’s opinion the secret of success was ________.
A. to work with great energy (精力)
B. to study hard day and night
C. to learn from great scientists“Y” stands for _______.
A. hard work
B. great energy
C. good mannerEinstein was a man who ______
A. liked to talk with young people
B. liked to help others
C. liked to work, but didn’t like to talk