Although the United States covers so much land and the land produces far more food than the present population needs，its people are by now almost entirely an urban society . Less than a tenth of the people are engaged in agriculture and forestry(林业)，and most of the rest live in or around towns，small and large．Here the traditional picture is changing：every small town may still be very like other small towns，and the typical small town may represent a widely accepted view of the country，but most Americans do not live in small towns any more．Half the population now lives in some thirty metropolitan areas(1arge cities with their suburbs、of more than a million people each—a larger proportion than in Germany or England，let alone France)．The statistics(统计)of urban and rural population should be treated with caution because so many people who live in areas classified as rural travel by car to work in a nearby town each day．As the rush to live out of town continues,rural areas within reach of towns are gradually filled with houses，so that it is hard to say at what moment a piece of country becomes a suburb. But more and more the typical American lives in a metropolitan rather than a small town environment．If now America has 250 million people．how many of them are engaged in agriculture and forestry?
| A．About 25 million． | B．More than 25 million． |
| C．Less than 25 million． | D．Less than 225 million |
Which of the following four countries has the smallest proportion of people living in metropolitan areas?
| A．United States． | B．Germany． | C．France． | D．England． |
What’s the meaning of the word “metropolitan” in the middle of the passage?
| A．Of a large city with its suburbs． | B．Of small and large towns． |
| C．Of urban areas． | D．Of rural areas． |
According to the passage，what can we learn about small towns in the United States?
A Most small towns become gradually crowded
B．Small towns are still similar to each other．
C．As the traditional picture is changing，towns are different．
D .Small towns are turning into large citiesWhy is it hard to say when a piece of country becomes a suburb?
| A．Because they are the same． |
| B．Because the rush takes place too quickly |
| C．Because the process is gradual． |
| D．Because more and more Americans live in metropolitan areas． |
One day, a poor boy who was trying to pay his way through school by sending newspapers door to door, was so hungry that he decided to beg for a meal at the next house.
However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door. Instead of a meal he asked for a drink of water. She thought he looked hungry so she brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it slowly, and then asked, “How much do I owe you?”
“You don’t owe me anything,” she replied. “Then I thank you from the bottom of my heart.” With these words, Howard Kelly left that house.
Years later the woman became badly ill and was finally sent to the hospital in a big city. Dr. Howard Kelly, now famous, was called in. When he heard the name of the town she came from, a strange light filled his eyes. Dressed in his doctor’s clothes, Dr. Kelly went into her room and recognized her at once. From that day on, he gave special attention to her, and decided to do his best to save her life.
At last the woman was saved. Dr. Kelly asked the business office to pass the final bill to him. He looked at it and then wrote something on the side. The bill was sent to the woman’s room. She was afraid to open it because she was sure that it would take the rest of her life to pay for it off. Finally she looked, and the note on the side of the bill caught her attention. She read these words:
“Paid in full with a glass of milk, Dr. Howard Kelly.”
Tear of joy flooded her eyes.The boy sent newspapers door to door in order to ________.
| A．continue his schooling | B．become a famous doctor |
| C．thank the woman for her kindness | D．support his poor family |
Which is true about the boy and the woman?
| A．He was too shy to ask her for some water. |
| B．She thought he was not hungry but thirsty. |
| C．She wanted him to pay for the glass of milk. |
| D．She never thought he would save her life later. |
After Dr. Kelly knew who the woman was, he ________.
| A．began to take good care of her himself |
| B．told her she once gave him a glass of milk |
| C．decided to try his best to save her |
| D．asked for her bill and paid it off at once |
The best title for this passage is ________.
| A．A Warm-hearted Woman | B．A Glass of Milk |
| C．The Final Bill | D．A Famous Doctor |
No one can change the weather. Nobody can control the weather. But if we read correctly the signs around us, we can tell what the more important changes in the weather will be. This way of telling what the weather will be like on the following day or two is called weather forecasting(天气预报).
For many centuries and in all countries, people have studied the weather and tried to make weather forecasting. Rings around the sun are a sign of coming rain. That many people feel their joints(关节) hurt is a sign of wet weather. Some birds fly high if fine weather is coming, but they fly near the ground if rainy or stormy weather is on the way. If you see a rainbow during rainy weather, this is a sign that the weather will become clear and fine. Such rainbows come in the evening. If the stars twinkle clearly at night, then fine weather will continue. If a fog appears in the morning just above a river, then the day will be warm. If the sunset is mostly red in colour, then the following day will be fine. If a rainbow appears in the morning, rainy weather will probably come.
Most of the above sayings have been made by the people who have used their eyes and brains to make weather forecasting.Which of the following can be used here to replace(取代) the underlined phrase “on the way”?
| A．away. | B．gone. | C．disappearing. | D．coming. |
When you see the stars twinkle clearly at night, the weather will be _______.
| A．warm | B．rainy | C．clear and fine | D．cold |
Which of the following signs can tell the weather will probably be rainy?
| A．A rainbow appears in the morning. |
| B．Some birds fly high. |
| C．The stars twinkle clearly at night. |
| D．Fogs appear in the morning just above a river. |
What does it mean to say that we live in a world of persuasion? It means that we live among competing interests. Your roommate’s need to study for an exam may take priority（优先）over pizza. Your instructor may have good reasons not to change your grade. And the object of your romantic interest may have other choices.
In such a world, persuasion is the art of getting others to give fair and favorable consideration to our point of view. When we persuade, we want to influence how others believe and behave. We may not always prevail— other points of view may be more persuasive, depending on the listener, the situation, and the merits of the case. But when we practice the art of persuasion, we try to ensure that our position receives the attention it deserves.
Some people, however, object to the very idea of persuasion. They may regard it as an unwelcome interruption into their lives. Just the opposite, we believe that persuasion is unavoidable — to live is to persuade. Persuasion may be ethical（合乎道义的）or unethical, selfless or selfish, inspiring or degrading. Persuaders may enlighten our minds or catch our vulnerability(弱点). Ethical persuasion, however, calls on sound reasoning and is sensitive to the feelings and needs of listeners. Such persuasion can help us apply the wisdom of the past to the decisions we now must make. Therefore, the most basic part of education is learning to resist the one kind of persuasion and to encourage and practice the other.
Beyond its personal importance to us, persuasion is necessary to society. The right to persuade and be persuaded is the bedrock of the American political system, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution（美国宪法）.According to the passage, persuasion means ________.
| A．changing others’ point of view |
| B．exercising power over other people |
| C．getting other people to consider your point of view |
| D．getting people to agree with you and do what you want |
The underlined word in the second paragraph “prevail” means“________”.
| A．win | B．fail | C．speak | D．listen |
The passage states that some people object to persuasion because they think it is ________.
| A．a danger to society | B．difficult to do well |
| C．unwelcome behavior | D．never successful |
The passage mainly discusses ________.
| A．people’s different opinions towards persuasion |
| B．the reasons why people persuade |
| C．that persuasion is both good and bad |
| D．that persuasion is important and it is all around us |
Every pet owner loves his pet. There is no argument here.
But when we asked our readers whether they would clone （克隆， 复制）their beloved animals, the responses（反应） were split almost down the middle. Of the 228 readers who answered it, 108 would clone, 111 would not and nine weighed each side without offering an opinion.
Clearly, from readers’ response, this is an issue that reaches deeply into both the joy and final sadness of owning a pet. It speaks, as well, to people’s widely differing expectations over the developing scientific procedure.
Most of the respondents who favored the idea strongly believed it would produce at least a close copy of the original; many felt the process would actually return an exact copy. Those on the other side, however, held little hope a clone could never truly recreate a pet, many simply didn’t wish to go against the natural law of life and death.
Both sides expressed equal love for their animals. More than a few respondents owned “the best dog/cat in the world”. They thought of their pets as their “best friend”, “a member of the family,”“the light of my life.” They told moving stories of pets’ heroism, intelligence and selfless devotion.
Then the loss is so disturbing---and the cloning so attractive. “People become very close to their animals, and the loss can be just as hard to bear as when a friend or family member dies,” says Gary Kowalski, author of Goodbye, Friend: Healing Wisdom for Anyone Who Has Ever Lost a Pet. “For me, cloning feels like an attempt to turn death away…It’s understandable. Death is always painful. It’s difficult to deal with. It’s hard to accept.”
But would cloning reduce the blow? This question seemed to be at the heart of this problem.So far as the cloning of pets is concerned, a recent survey shows that, of all pet owners, ____.
| A．a lot more of them are for it |
| B．a lot more of them are against it |
| C．very few of them are willing to tell their opinions |
| D．about half of them are for it and the other half against it |
While talking about the respondents from the readers, the expression “final sadness of owning a pet” refers to ____.
| A．the death of one’s pet |
| B．the high cost of owning a pet |
| C．the troubles one has to deal with in keeping a pet |
| D．the dangers about the cloning of a pet |
From what Gary Kowalski says, we can know that he ____.
| A．has never thought about the problem of cloning |
| B．is going to write another book on pets |
| C．is in favor of the idea of cloning pets |
| D．is all against the cloning of pets |
What is the key question at the heart of the problem of cloning pets?
| A．Can cloning make the pain one suffers less when a pet dies? |
| B．Can pet owners afford the cost of cloning? |
| C．Does cloning go against the law of nature? |
| D．How reliably does cloning produce an exact copy of one’s pet? |
When I was an official of a school in Palo Alto, California, Polly Tyner, the president of our board, wrote a letter that was printed in the Palo Alto Times. Polly’s son, Jim, had great difficulty in school. He was classified as the educationally handicapped and required a great deal of patience on the part of his parents and teachers. But Jim was a happy kid with a great smile that lit up the room. His parents knew his difficulties, but they always tried to help him see his strengths so that he could walk with pride. Shortly after Jim finished high school, he was killed in a motorcycle accident. After his death, his mother submitted this letter to the newspaper.
“Today we buried our 20-year-old son. He was killed in a motorcycle accident on Friday night. How I wish I had known that the last time I had talked to him would be the last time. If I had only known that, I would have said to him, ‘Jim, I love you and I’m always so proud of you.’ I would have taken the time to count the many blessings he had brought to the lives of the people who loved him. I would have taken the time to appreciate his beautiful smile, his laughter, and his genuine love to other people.
“When I put all the good things on the scale and try to balance them with all the irritating (恼人的) things such as the radio that was always too loud, the haircut that wasn’t to our liking, the dirty socks under the bed, etc., I find that the irritations really don’t amount to much.
“I won’t get another chance to tell my son all that I would have wanted him to hear, but, other parents, do have a chance. Tell your young people what you would want them to hear as if it may be your last conversation. The last time I talked to Jim was the morning of the day when he died. He called me to say, ‘Hi, Mom! I just called to say I love you. You have to go to work now. Bye.’ That day, he gave me something to treasure forever. ”
If there is any purpose at all for Jim’s death, maybe it is to make others appreciate life more and to tell people, especially family members, that they should take the time to let each other know just how much they care. You may never have another chance. Do it today! Who was Jim?
| A．The child of the Tyners’. | B．The writer’s relative. |
| C．The president of a school board. | D．An official of a school. |
What’s the meaning of the underlined phrase “the educationally handicapped”?
| A．The learning difficulty. | B．The physical problems. |
| C．The psychological problems. | D．The communication difficulty. |
According to the writer, which of the following about Jim is TRUE？
| A．He was always sad about his school marks. |
| B．His parents always scolded him about his bad school marks. |
| C．His study needed more attention from his parents and teachers. |
| D．He was killed in a car accident. |
The purpose of Polly’s letter is to .
| A．memorize her son |
| B．teach parents to appreciate their children |
| C．teach children how to be good boys |
| D．give some advice on how to deal with children’s problems |