Historians say Harriet Tubman was born in the year 1820.Nobody really knows. But we do know that Harriet Tubman was one of the bravest women ever born in the United States.
From a very early age，Harriet knew how slaves suffered. At six years old，she was sent to the fields. Working outside not only made her body strong but also made her learn about the Underground Railroad，on which she helped hundreds of people escape from slavery later. She also learned many things from the other slaves，which one day would help her lead her people to freedom. She became more of a rebel (反叛者)．
In 1844，at about age 24，she married a free black man named John Tubman. By now，Harriet was sure she wanted to try to escape. Suddenly，the time came. Her owner died. Though opposed by her husband，she decided to escape. With the help of the Underground Railroad，and through a variety of suffering she finally crossed the border into Pennsylvania，where slavery was banned.
Now that Harriet was free，she did not forget the hundreds of other slaves back in Maryland. Harriet traveled back and forth eighteen times，helping about 300 slaves escape into free territory. She became an expert at hiding from slave hunters. The people she helped called her Moses. At one time，anyone finding Harriet was promised $40,000 for catching her－dead or alive.
During the Civil War，Harriet Tubman went into enemy territory to spy for the North. She also served as a nurse. After four years of bloody fighting，the North won the war.
After the fighting ended，Harriet Tubman returned to Auburn，New York. She kept working. She traveled and gave speeches to raise money for better education for black children. She also worked for women’s rights and housing. Harriet Tubman died in 1913.She was about 93 years old. By that time，she was recognized as an American hero. The United States government gave a funeral with military honors for the woman known as Moses.Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
| A．A History of American Black Slaves |
| B．Cruel American Civil War |
| C．Information on the Underground Railroad |
| D．A Brief Introduction to Harriet Tubman |
Which of the following is true of the Underground Railroad?
| A．It was a system that helped slaves escape from the South to North. |
| B．It was a special train，on which slaves couldn’t be found easily. |
| C．It was a special place where slaves could hide themselves. |
| D．It was a group of people who would like to help the blacks. |
The sentence “Later，she told a friend，‘I felt like I was in heaven.’” can be placed at the back of Paragragh ________.
| A．2 | B．3 |
| C．4 | D．5 |
According to the text，we know that ________.
| A．slavery was banned in all the states in America before the Civil War |
| B．Harriet Tubman raised money for better education for white children |
| C．the government gave her a funeral because she was Moses |
| D．Harriet Tubman still worked for black people after the Civil War |
It’s never a real problem for us when the weather gets cold. We can put on more clothes, stay next to a fireplace, turn on the air conditioner or simply travel to a warmer city to spend the winter – people have many different ways of dealing with the cold.
But things are not as easy for plants. Unlike humans, plants can’t move to escape the cold or generate heat ( 发热) to keep themselves warm. So how do they manage to survive the freezing winter?
It turns out that plants have their own strategies （策略） too, said a study published on Dec 22 in the journal Nature.
According to researcher Amy Zanne of George Washington University, US, the cold is a big challenge for plants. Their living tissues （活组织） can be damaged when they freeze. “It’s like a plant’s equivalent to frostbite ( 相当于冻疮),” Zanne told Science Daily. Also, the process of freezing and thawing (解冻) can cause air bubbles （气泡） to form in the plant’s water transport system. “If enough of these air bubbles come together as water thaws they can block the flow of water from the roots to the leaves and kill the plant,” she explained.
To live through cold weather, plants have developed three traits （特性） , according to the study. Some plants, such as oak trees（橡树）, avoid freezing damage by dropping their leaves before the winter chill sets in – effectively shutting off the flow of water between roots and leaves – and growing new leaves and water transport cells when the warm spring returns.
Other plants, pine trees（松树） for example, protect themselves by narrowing their water transport cells, which makes it easier for cells to travel among air bubbles.
The third strategy is also the most extreme – some plants die on the ground in winter and start growing as new plants from seeds when conditions get warmer.
However, the study also found that these smart strategies were developed very slowly – over millions
of years of evolution （ 进化）. This leads scientists to worry that plants may not be able to deal with human-caused climate change, which has only started occurring over the past few decades.
Scientists are hoping that this study can help people find possible ways to save plants from the threat
of climate change.What is the article mainly about?
| A．Why plants are not afraid of the winter chill. |
| B．The ways that plants survive cold weather. |
| C．Changes in plants’ water transport system in winter. |
| D．How plants evolve to keep up with climate change. |
According to the article, if a plant freezes in the winter, ______.
| A．it produces more living tissues to stay alive |
| B．its leaves quickly fall out and its roots begin to die |
| C．lots of air bubbles form in its water transport system |
| D．its water transport system could be blocked in the spring |
What are scientists worried about when it comes to plants according to the article?
| A．Plants may not be able to adapt to the increasingly cold climate. |
| B．Human activities might have a great impact on the pace of plants’ evolution. |
| C．Plants may not be able to evolve fast enough to adapt to human-caused climate change. |
| D．The strategies plants develop are not good enough to protect them against cold. |
The old man walked with a cane (拐杖) slowly into the restaurant. His poor jacket, patched (打补丁的) trousers, and worn-out shoes made him stand out from the usual Saturday morning breakfast crowd.
He walked toward a table by the window. A young waitress watched him and ran over to him, saying, “Here, Sir. Let me give you a hand with that chair.”
Without a word, he smiled and nodded a thank you. She pulled the chair away from the table. Supporting him with one arm, she helped him move in front of the chair, and get comfortably seated. Then she pushed the table up close to him, and leaned his cane against the table where he could reach it.
In a soft, clear voice he said, “Thank you, Miss.”
“You’re welcome, Sir.” She replied. “My name is Mary. I’ll be back in a moment. If you need anything, just wave at me.”
After he had finished a hearty meal of pancakes, bacon, and hot lemon tea, Mary brought him the change, helping him up from his chair and out from behind the table. She handed him his cane, and walked with him to the front door. Holding the door open for him, she said, “Come back and see us, Sir!”
He nodded a thank you and said softly with a smile, “You are very kind!”
When Mary went to clean his table, she was shocked. Under his plate she found a business card and a note written on the napkin, under which was a $ 100 bill.
The note on the napkin read, “Dear Mary, I respect you very much, and you respect yourself, too. It shows by the way you treat others. You have found the secret of happiness. Your kind gestures will shine through those who meet you.”
The man she had served was the owner of the restaurant. This was the first time that she, or any of his employees, had seen him in person.Mary ran over to the old man because _____.
| A．the old man was the boss of the restaurant |
| B．she was worried that the old man might cause trouble to the restaurant |
| C．she saw the old man had some difficulty moving and taking a seat |
| D．the old man had asked her to wait on him |
The man came to the restaurant ______.
| A．to have breakfast |
| B．to see his employees |
| C．to find out how his restaurant was working |
| D．to see how Mary served customers |
The words the man left on the napkin suggested that _____.
| A．respecting others means respecting oneself |
| B．serving others is a respectable job |
| C．Mary would get a rise as a result of her kindness |
| D．Mary’s kind service would bring in more money for her |
Which of the following titles goes best with the story?
| A．A kind- hearted Girl |
| B．Shining Kindness |
| C．Kindness Means Opportunities |
| D．A Special Customer |
We each have a unique genetic (基因的，遗传的) make-up. Every cell of your body has the same set of about 100,000 separate genes made of DNA. These are the instructions for producing a person. Genes decide everything from the colour of your skin to the way your brain works. You have one of several billion binations of DNA which e from the random(随机的，任意的) mixing of your parents’ genes. Except for identical twins (同卵双胞胎), no one has the same bination as another person. You are unique! You are unique in another way too: in the way you are raised and all the experiences you have from before birth to adult life. These experiences influence you, your behaviour and attitudes, and the choices you make.
But are genes or life experiences more important in shaping your appearance and personality? Scientists are studying twins to find out. One set of twins occurs every 70 births---some are identical and others are non-identical twins. Identical twins are special because they share exactly the same genes and often the same environment. Non-identical twins are more like ordinary brothers and sisters.
Some identical twins have been adopted and brought up in different homes. With identical genes but a different home environment, scientists can study twins to see how much a particular feature depends on the genes we inherit. For example, we know that eye problems, like short-sightedness, are mostly genetic. But resistance to pain is largely dependent on experiences. Genes also influence our eating habits. Identical twins brought up apart often like to eat at the same time of day and feel full after eating the same amount. Non-identical twins in similar circumstances have more varied eating habits. Identical twins are also more likely to follow the same patterns for marriage and divorce than non-identical twins.
Scientists are trying to identify the different genes that influence our behaviour. Some people are thrill-seekers and get into risk-taking and adventurous activities. They take up extreme sports like bungee jumping and possibly take drugs. Scientists have discovered a gene which affects this.
We could ask, “Are our lives determined by our genes or our upbringing?” Scientists are learning more all the time, but it is certainly true that both are important in making us who we are.What is the main idea of the first paragraph?
| A．We cannot easily change our physical appearance. |
| B．How we turn out depends on our parents’ genes. |
| C．Everyone has a physical double somewhere in the world. |
| D．Both our genes and our experiences make us who we are. |
Why are scientists studying twins?
| A．To find out how many twins are born every year. |
| B．To discover what shapes us as individuals. |
| C．To pare differences between twins. |
| D．To study brother-and-sister relationships. |
According to the passage, __________.
| A．one in 70 twins are genetically identical |
| B．non-identical twins are usually not of the same sex |
| C．twins separated at birth behave exactly the same |
| D．identical twins are genetically the same |
Which of the following is most affected by experience according the passage?
| A．Eating habits. | B．Eye-sight. |
| C．Pain resistance. | D．Marriage patterns. |
What does the underlined “this” in Paragraph 4 refer to?
| A．Our love of sport. |
| B．Our attitude to risk-taking. |
| C．Our skill at bungee jumping. |
| D．Our ability to take drugs. |
Why can’t some people even get an inch of what they dream of being? Blame it on pure dreaming and lack of surrounding goals for achieving their dreams.
Setting goals is very significant part of accomplishing and positive actions. It is like scaling(攀爬) a 200 feet construction and marking in the early hours on what feet you would like to reach at this specific period.
People who set goals literally generate a map of their goal settings in life, marking where they should start, where to pause, where to study a bit, and where and when to end. Once this map comes into being, it allows the map drawer to check where he is in the scheme(安排) of things and whether or not he is making some planning that will take him closer to his goals.
By surrounding goals, people will know how they are doing and what they should be doing to get their goals or dreams in life. They will know if they can relax or if they have to double their efforts when they are falling short of what is expected of them.
Goal surroundings means a person is proactive in dealing with challenges that may affect his plans. Being proactive means one is able to outline possible difficulties that may occur as well as the solutions to these difficulties. By doing this, a person is not easily scared or defeated when challenges occur because he has already prepared for them. He knows they can happen and he has prepared a solution or strategy when that time comes.
Setting goals will enable people to track their progress in whatever hard work they set out to do. It will help people bee more confident in themselves and more motivated to get their plans.The purpose of this passage is to _______________.
| A．explain the difference between the two goals. |
| B．show the importance of surrounding goals. |
| C．tell us how to set and achieve one’s goals. |
| D．tell us setting goals makes one confident. |
The underlined word “proactive” in paragraph 5 may have the closest meaning to “________”.
| A．positive | B．careful |
| C．brave | D．prepared |
According to the author, one had better ___________ in making a goal in life.
| A．take an active attitude |
| B．create a scheme as a whole |
| C．consider the possible troubles |
| D．check where he is frequently |
From the passage, we can reach the conclusion that___________________.
| A．achievements come to those who are well prepared |
| B．everyone faces the situation which is scaring or threatening |
| C．the higher one sets his goal, the more achievements he will have |
| D．success never es to people who always blame |
The average American child spends three to five hours a day watching TV. In 1961, the average child began to watch television at age three; however, today it is nine months. Yet, most parents think that television has a bad influence on their children. For example, in the early 1970s, my parents believed that my bad eyesight was the result of sitting too close to the screen, and they therefore made my stay at least six feet from it. Today, most people have no such worry, but many new ridiculous (荒谬的) sayings have appeared:
*TV makes kids stupid. Many children watch more educational programs when they are pre-schoolers. When they grow up, they can read more books and have much better ideas to solve difficult problems than other children.
*TV makes kids violent. The real story is not so simple. Hundreds of studies show that watching violence on TV makes children more aggressive (好斗的). But a study of over 5,000 children also finds that some positive programs make children kinder. The problem is that kids are increasingly watching shows with violence instead of those suitable for their age.
*Sitting around watching TV makes kids overweight. An experiment finds that when children watch less television, they do lose extra weight; however, reducing their television time does not make them more active. The real problem lies in snacking (吃零食), a widespread habit for kids, and junk-food advertisements.
*TV helps kids get to sleep. The opposite is true. The more television children watch, the more likely they are to have irregular sleep and nap(小睡) patterns. Allowing kids to watch television is part of the problem, not the solution.Which one is the advantage of educational TV programs?
| A．They will make children solve difficult problems better than others. |
| B．They will improve children’s ability to get along with others. |
| C．They are likely to make children more aggressive. |
| D．They will make sure of children’s success in the future. |
Why are children spending much time watching TV likely to be fat?
| A．Watching TV makes children lazy and inactive. |
| B．Children are attracted by the food advertisement on TV. |
| C．Watching TV doesn’t burn up as much fat as doing sports. |
| D．Children like to snack while watching TV. |
What influence does watching TV have on a child’s sleep?
| A．Children are likely to sleep deeper after watching TV. |
| B．Children’s sleep time will be greatly reduced. |
| C．It will make children form a bad habit of sleeping. |
| D．It will make children sleep easier. |
What is the purpose of this text?
| A．To increase people’s knowledge of watching TV. |
| B．To warn parents of the disadvantages of watching TV. |
| C．To explain the bad influences that watching TV has on children. |
| D．To correct parents’ wrong ideas of television’s effect on children. |