Last Sunday, I waked into the house in the afternoon to find my brother rushing around in a hurry. As soon as I took my coat off, my little brother placed a bunch of papers in my hands and asked me to fold them up so they could fit into an envelope as quickly as possible. He said it needed to get done quickly before it turned dark.
I was a little surprised that something could be so urgent on a Sunday. It wasn’t until I was halfway through that I actually looked at what I was folding. After I read it, it put the biggest smile on my face. It was a lovely letter to all the residents （居民）in my neighborhood. My brother was asking everyone to let him know if anyone needed help. He left his contact information and said that anyone that needed help should get in touch with him and he would figure something out. He also asked people to get in touch if they were able to help out.
London received an unusual amount of snow last week, and the city was completely under- prepared for it. So it was quite difficult to get anywhere. Only the major roads had been cleared, and smaller roads and pavements could be quite treacherous. There are a good number of old people in our little community. So my brother thought that the snow may have posed （造成）some difficulty for some of them, particularly because we live on a hill.
A few elderly people got in touch with him asking for help for things they needed. One of them was especially grateful because his caregiver couldn’t make it. To our surprise, he got more responses from people offering to help. Then he received help from people who wanted to help. Everyone was really touched and wrote to my brother wonderful email. One of our neighbors wrote email saying that although she wasn’t able to help, she was “very proud of having a neighbor like him who puts other people’s interests first.”The author’s brother wrote the letter to _______.
| A．ask for help from his neighbors |
| B．give a hand to those in need of help |
| C．require his neighbors to clear the snow |
| D．raise money for the old people in his community |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．Few people were willing to help out. |
| B．The snow was unexpectedly heavy. |
| C．Most residents in the community are elderly people. |
| D．The community was completely cut off from the outside world. |
The underlined word “treacherous” in Paragraph 3 probably means “_______”.
| A．dirty | B．dangerous | C．safe | D．crowded |
One of their neighbors sent email to the author’s brother to ________.
| A．express thanks | B．lend a hand |
| C．show appreciation | D．ask for help |
EVERYBODY in this world is different from one another. Butdo you know that understanding differences can help you bettermanage your money?
As we grow up, we gradually develop a set of our own values orbeliefs. These are influenced by society, our family, the educationwe receive and so on. Once this value system is set up, it's not easyto change later in life.
Financial experts say that everyone also has their own belief ofhow to manage their finances. This is part of our value system and ithas a great impact on the way we look after our money.
According to our different values, experts put us in three categories. They are:the ant, the cricket and the snail. The ant—works first
Just like ants who work heart and soul in summer in order tostore food for winter, these people don't care about enjoying the moment. They work very hard and save money they earn so that theycan enjoy life when they get old and retired, The ant loves to savebut they could make more out of their money if they were willing toinvest in some funds and stocks with low risk. The cricket——fun first
The cricket wants to enjoy everything now and doesn't think toomuch about the future. They even borrow money when they really wantsomething. Many young people now belong to this group. These peoplehave little savings. When they get old, they might have problems. They should learn to save and buy insurance. The snail—lives under pressure
The snail refers to people who make life difficult for them-selves. They take big long-term loans from the bank in order to buythings such as luxury houses. They are happy to take big loans eventhough they are not sure whether they can afford it. This can causeproblems in the future. They should plan more carefully. People with character of the snail would like to __________.
| A．enjoy life at the moment without thinking much about the future |
| B．put work before everything else |
| C．live a luxury life at all costs |
| D．take the risk of investing a large sum of money |
Our beliefs and values are affected by the following except __________.
| A．society | B．our family |
| C．education | D．money |
This passage mainly talks about __________.
| A．the spending nature of people |
| B．the relation between man and insects |
| C．the insects in nature |
| D．the problems with dealing with money |
Which of the following has the character that the author prefers?
| A．The ant. | B．The cricket. |
| C．The snail. | D．None of the above. |
Chile is a country of southwest South America with a longPacific coastline. Santiago is the capital and the largest city. Thepopulation of the country is about 11，329，736.
A long time ago, Chile belonged to Spain, a European country, because it was colonized by Spain in 1541，Many of Chileans, how-ever, did not want to be ruled by Spain.
Led by Bernardo O'Higgins, some of them formed a smallarmy. They attacked the Spanish soldiers at different times and different places.
This made the King of Spain very angry. He sent more soldiersto Chile to deal with them.
Although there were far more Spanish soldiers than freedomfighters, they refused to surrender and fought bravely.
At last, however, in 1814，they were forced to retreat to thetown of Rancagua near Santiago. There, O'Higgins and his men weresurrounded by the Spanish army and O'Higgins was wounded by anenemy bullet.
It seemed as if their fight for freedom were over. But O'Higginsrefused to surrender. Even though he was wounded, he ordered hismen to collect as many mules, cows, sheep and dogs as possible. Shouting at the top of his voice, he rode into the animals. Frightened, they began to run. They ran straight at the Spanishsoldiers. Now it was the Spaniards' turn to be frightened. Theyturned and run away from the animals as fast as they could, allowingO'Higgins and his men to escape to the mountains.
There he built up his army, and in 1818 he defeated the Spanish and the country declared its independence. He then became thefirst president of the new, free nation in the same year. The first paragraph is written mainly to __________.
| A．show the location of Chile |
| B．offer supporting details |
| C．stress the importance of capital |
| D．give a general introduction and lead to the topic |
According to the passage, Spanish governed Chile for about __________ years.
| A．1541 | B．273 |
| C．277 | D．400 |
Which description about Chile is NOT right?
| A．Spain ruled Chile at one time. |
| B．Chile borders on the Pacific. |
| C．Chile lies in the southwest of South America. |
| D．Chile is one colony which belongs to Spain. |
We can infer from the passage that __________.
| A．Bernardo O'Higgins became the first president of the new Chile |
| B．Bernardo O'Higgins was not only brave but also intelligent |
| C．Bernardo O'Higgins was good at raising animals |
| D．Rancagua is far from Santiago |
What doesn't happened in 1818?
| A．O'Higgins broke through the enemy by using terrible animals. |
| B．Eventually, O'Higgins defeated the Spanish army, |
| C．Chile broke away from the rule of the King of Spain. |
| D．O'Higgins turned the first president of the free country. |
More than three billion people are at risk from indoor air pollution because of the heating or cooking fuels they use. Most live inAfrica, India and China. They use wood, crop waste, animal waste orcoal. These solid fuels may be the least costly fuels available. Butthey are also a major cause of health problems and death.
The Aprovecho Research Center has been designing cookingstoves for the developing world. People having less money use woodor biomass for cooking; the richer people use oil and gas. It's estimated that wood is running out more quickly than oil and gas.
The group has made stoves using mud, bricks, sheet metal, clay, ceramics and old oil drums. Most of the stoves look like large, deep cooking pots. They have an opening at the bottom for the fireand a place on top to put a pot.
In the late 1970s, Aprovecho produced a popular stove calledthe Lorena. The Lorena was good at reducing smoke and warminghomes. But new tests years later found that it was not efficient. Theused twice as much wood as an open fire, and took muchlonger to heat food. Since then, they have experimented with count-less other designs.
Their goal is to make an inexpensive stove—let's say fivedollars— that makes little smoke, and it's safe for health and reducesglobal warming and deforestation(采伐森林).
Aprovecho has now partnered with a stove manufacturer inChina. The company is making Aprovecho's first mass producedstoves. They are said to use 40% - 50% less wood than an openfire, and produce 50% -70% less smoke. A company called Stove-Tec is selling them through its Web site for less than ten dollars. Dean Still says that more than one hundred thousand have been soldso far. The underlined word " biomass " ，in Paragraph 2 refers to __________
| A．oil and gas | B．wood |
| C．coal | D．crop waste or animal waste |
The following sentence is taken from the passage, it is probablyplaced at the end of __________.
A World Health Organization estimate that over 1,500,000 people a year die from breathing smoke from solid fuels.
| A．Paragraph 1 | B．Paragraph 2 |
| C．Paragraph 3 | D．Paragraph 4 |
Which information about the Lorena mentioned in Paragraph 4is WRONG?
| A．It was a popular stove which began to produce in 1970. |
| B．It was able to be used to bring down smoke. |
| C．It was good at heating houses. |
| D．It turned to consume more fuel later. |
Stoves the Aprovecho Research Center has been designingshould have the following characteristics ：__________.
（1）enormous （2）costly （3）efficient (4)low-carbon (5)cleaner
| A．1. 2. 4 | B．3. 4. 5. |
| C．2. 3. 5. | D．1. 3. 4. |
You can probably read the passage in a magazine about __________
A climate change
B. financial crisis
C. an environmentally-friendly life
D. commercial advertisement
Greg Woodburn, a student at the University of Southern California, spends much time cleaning sneakers. Some once belonged tohim; some were his friends. But soon they will have new owners; underprivilegedchildren in the US and 20 other countries, thanks toWoodburn's Share Our Shoes (S. 0. S.) charity.
He was once a football star in high school. " I started thinkingabout all the things I got from running—the health benefits, thefriendships, the confidence, " he says. “And I realized there arechildren who don't even have shoes.”
Woodburn gathered up his own slightly worn sneakers, thenput out a call to teammates and the town. His goal was to have 100pairs by Christmas 2007. Surprisingly the count climbed to 500pairs. Back then, the sneakers came from donation boxes at the localsporting goods store and from door-to-door pickups. Woodburn hasnow set up collection boxes at two high schools. To date, S. 0. S. hascollected and donated over 3，000 pairs.
Woodburn has cleaned almost all of them. “People think of itas dirty work, “He says.”But I like doing it. As I work, I imaginewho will get each pair. “It takes three to five minutes to clean onepair, and he'll do up to 100 pairs at a time.
To ship the footwear, Woodburn teamed with Sports Gift, anonprofit organization that provides soccer and baseball equipmentto children around the world, whose founder and president saidGreg's running shoes were a nice addition. For many recipients, theshoes represent opportunity. Two boys in Southern California attended school on alternate(间隔的）days because they shared a pair of shoes. They were too big for one boy and too small the other. Thanksto S. 0. S. ，each brother received his own pair of shoes. The boysnow attend school daily. When they graduate, they say, they willhelp a stranger, just as Woodburn helped them. The underlined word “underprivileged" in Paragraph I mostprobably means __________.
| A．modest | B．poor |
| C．naughty | D．aggressive |
According to the passage, which of the following statement isfalse of Greg Woodburn?
| A．Greg Woodburn was a football star when he was a senior student. |
| B．Greg Woodburn is the founder of Share Our Shoes (S. 0. S.). |
| C．Greg Woodburn has donated more than 100 shoes so far. |
| D．Greg Woodburn spends a lot of time cleaning almost all theshoes. |
We can infer from Paragraph 3 that __________.
| A．many people support Woodburn's Share Our Shoes (S. 0. S.)charity |
| B．Greg Woodburn collects shoes only by setting up collection boxes |
| C．high school students don't value their sneakers |
| D．Greg Woodburn collected 3，000 shoes by Christmas 2007 |
In the last paragraph the author mainly wants to tell us __________
| A．Sports Gift is a department of Woodburn's S. 0. S. |
| B．there are so many poor families in Southern California. |
| C．the shoes from S. 0. S. are too big for some children. |
| D．the shoes from S. 0. S. play an important part in somechildren's life. |
According to the passage, which of the following words can bestdescribe Greg Woodburn?
| A．Do-nothing. | B．Hot-headed. |
| C．Warm-hearted. | D．Self-serving. |
We lived in a quiet neighborhood. One evening I heard a loudcrash. Earlier my wife had asked me to the store for soft drinks. Myteenage daughter Holly practiced her driving, so I sent her to thestore in my truck.
At dinner my son talked about how much he liked my truck. Ienjoyed having it, but I said ： “My heart is not set on that truck. Ilike it but it is just metal and won't last forever. Never set your hearton anything that won't last. "
After hearing the loud noise, the whole family ran outside. Myson shouted, ‘ Holly crashed your truck. ’
The accident had occurred in my own driveway. Holly hadcrashed my truck into our other vehicle, the family van. In her inexperience, she had confused the brake and the gas pedal. Holly wasunhurt physically, but she was crying, “Dad, I'm sorry. I know howmuch you love this truck. ，" I held her in my arms as she cried.
Later a friend asked what had happened to my truck. I told herthe whole story. She said, “That happened to me when I was a girl. I borrowed my dad's car and ran into a log that had fallen across theroad. I ruined the car. When I got home my dad knocked me to theground and began to kick me. “Over40 years later, she still felt thepain of that night. It was a deep wound on her soul.
I remembered how sad Holly was the night she crashed ourtruck, and how I comforted her. When Holly thinks back on herlife, I want her to know that I love her a thousand times more thanany piece of property.
I repaired the van, but the dent in my truck is still there to-day. Every day it reminds me of what really matters in my life. The reason why the author sent Holly to the store was that ____
| A．Holly liked soft drinks |
| B．he wanted to teach her a lesson |
| C．he was busy preparing the meal |
| D．it would be a good time to let her practice driving |
We can infer from the passage that __________.
| A．the truck is the only vehicle in the author's family |
| B．the author's son don't like driving the truck at all |
| C．we shouldn't blame someone after an accident |
| D．the friend admired the author's love to Holly |
From Paragraph 4 we can learn that __________ caused the crash.
| A．the lack of Holly's driving experience |
| B．something wrong with the brake |
| C．a log falling across the road |
| D．a van parking on the driveway |
Which of the following statements is right?
| A．When the author saw the crash, he was sorry for the damageto the truck. |
| B．The author shows love is more important than possessions bycomforting his daughter. |
| C．Holly suffered physical pain for a long time and lost courageto drive. |
| D．The friend's father kicked her out of the house. |
The best title for the passage is __________.
| A．Don't Let a Teenager Drive |
| B．An Accident in a Quiet Neighborhood |
| C．A Friend's Painful Stories |
| D．What Really Matters |