D
The year is 2094. It has been announced that a comet (彗星) is heading towards the Earth . Most of it will miss our planet , but two pieces will probably hit the southern half of the Earth .
On 17 July , a piece four kilometers wide enters the Earth’s atmosphere (大气层) with a massive explosion . About half of the piece is destroyed , but the remaining part hits the South Atlantic at 200 times the speed of sound . The sea boils and a huge hole is made in the sea bed . Huge waves are created and spread outwards from the hole . The wall of water , a kilometer high , rushes towards southern Africa at 800 kilometers an hour . Cities on the African coast are totally destroyed and millions of people re drowned .
Before the waves reach South America , the second piece of the comet lands in Argentina . Earthquakes and volcanoes are set off in the Andes Mountains . The shock waves move north into California and all around the Pacific Ocean . The cities of Los Angeles , San Francisco and Tokyo are completely destroyed by earthquakes . Millions of people in the southern half of the earth are already dead, but the north won’t escape for long . Because of the explosions , the sun is hidden by clouds of dust , temperatures around the world fall to almost zero .Crops are ruined . The sun won’t be seen again for many years . Wars break out as countries fight for food . A year later , no more than 10 million people remain alive .
Could it really happen ? In fact , it has already happened more than once in the history of the Earth . The dinosaurs were on the Earth for over 160 million years . Then 65 million years ago they suddenly disappeared . Many scientists believe that the Earth was hit by a piece of object in space . The dinosaurs couldn’t live through the cold climate that followed and they died out . Will we meet the same end ?What is mainly described in the passage ?
| A．A historic discovery . | B．An event of imagination |
| C．A research on space . | D．A scientific adventure . |
When the first piece hits the South Atlantic , it causes .
| A．an earthquake | B．damages to cities |
| C．an Earth explosion | D．huge waves |
Why can’t the northern half of the earth escape for long ?
| A．Because the land is covered with water |
| B．Because the light and heat from the sun can not reach the earth . |
| C．Because people there can not live at the temperature of zero . |
| D．Because wars break out among countries . |
It’s school time again! You’re probably feeling excited and maybe a little sad that summer is over. Some kids feel nervous or a little scared（害怕） on the first day of school because of all the new things: new teachers, new friends, and even a new school. Luckily, these “new” worries only stick around for a little while. Let’s find out more about going to a new school.
Most teachers kick off the new school year by introducing themselves and talking about all the stuff you’ll be doing that year. Some teachers give students a chance to tell something about themselves to the rest of the class, too. When teachers do the talking on the first day, they often go over classroom rules and school rules so you’ll know what’s allowed and what’s not. Please pay close attention
You might already know a lot of people in your classes on the first day, but it’s a great day to make a new friend, so try to say hello to kids you know and new ones that you don’t. Make the first move and you’ll be glad you did, and so will your new friend!
Seeing friends you haven’t seen for some time can make the first day a good one. You can make the day feel special by wearing clothes that you really like. Maybe you got a great T-shirt on one of your vacations, or a pair of sneakers（运动鞋）. It also can make you feel good to be prepared and have all the things you need, such as pencils, folders, and whatever else you’ll be needing. But make sure that you pack them the night before in case you don’t have time in the morning. The underlined phrase “kick off” in the second paragraph probably means “_____”.
| A．start | B．study | C．find | D．teach |
The last paragraphs mainly tell us about ________.
| A．what to know about a new school |
| B．how to prepare for a new school |
| C．what to do on your first day of school |
| D．how to spend your first day of school |
According to the passage you usually do everything on the first day of school except _______.
| A．introduce yourself | B．learn about the school rules |
| C．make new friends | D．go over your new lessons |
If you happen to see an old friend on the first day of school, from the passage we know that you will feel ________
| A．nervous | B．lucky | C．happy | D．excited |
Many years ago in a small village, an old man was hired to clear the spring (泉水) up on the mountain. He patrolled (巡逻) the spring every day, and swept away all the leaves and other things that would dirty the fresh flow of water. Soon, beautiful swans (天鹅) came to the clear spring, and the village became a popular attraction for visitors.
Years passed. One evening the town leaders held a meeting. As they looked at the salary list, one of them said, “Why do we keep this old man on year after year? I don’t think we need him or his work.” Later, the old man was asked to leave.
For several weeks, nothing changed. By early autumn, the leaves began to fall off the trees, and the spring was covered with leaves. A few days later, the water was much darker. Only a few months after the old man left, all the swans left, as did the tourists. Disease reached deeply into the village.
Quickly, the leaders held a special meeting. Realizing their mistake, they rehired the old man. Then within a few weeks, the spring began to clear up. Soon new life returned to the village.
So, my friends, do you see? No matter how small your work or your life seems to be, never overlook it. Anything we can do will make a difference.The leaders decided to ask the old man to leave because they thought ______.
| A．his work was unnecessary | B．he did his work carelessly |
| C．he was too old to do the job | D．he could do other better jobs |
How did the leaders feel a few months after the old man left?
| A．Regretful. | B．Moved. | C．Excited. | D．Calm. |
What does the underlined word “overlook” mean in the last paragraph?
| A．Believe. | B．Ignore(忽略). | C．Praise. | D．Punish. |
With this story, the writer wants to tell us that ______.
| A．even a small job can be important | B．work can bring old people happiness |
| C．everyone should always respect others | D．everyone can be his own master |
One day an old woman was traveling alone in the mountains. Suddenly she saw something shining（发光） in the stream. When she came close, she found it was a precious（宝贵） stone. She put the stone into her bag and went on with her trip.
The next day the old woman met a young man, who was also a traveler in the mountains. The young man looked very hungry, so the old woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked carefully, “The stone is beautiful. Would you like to give it to me?”
“Sure. Why not?” the woman said, and handed the stone to him.
The young man left happily with the stone. He knew it was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the woman.
“I’ve been thinking,” he said. “I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back and hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within your bag.”
The woman opened her bag. It was almost empty. She looked at the young man and smiled, “I have nothing special in my bag, but I do have something precious — the joy of giving!”
The young man felt ashamed（羞愧） and left silently.How did the young man find the precious stone?
| A．He found it in his food. | B．He dug it out in a valley. |
| C．He saw it in the woman’s bag. | D．He noticed it shining in the stream. |
What does the underlined word “security” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?
| A．Money. | B．Worry. | C．Health. | D．Trouble. |
The man returned the stone to the woman because ______.
| A．he found the stone was not precious |
| B．he understood the real meaning of joy |
| C．he felt embarrassed at taking away the stone |
| D．he wanted to get something even more precious |
Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?
| A．A special stone | B．The joy of giving |
| C．A woman and a young man | D．An experience in the mountains |
English teenagers are to receive compulsory(必修的)cooking lessons in schools. The idea is to encourage healthy eating to fight the country’s increasing obesity(肥胖)rate. It’s feared that basic cooking and food preparation skills are being lost as parents turn to pre-pre-pared convenience foods.
Cooking was once regarded as an important part of education in England-even if it was mainly aimed at girls. In recent decades cooking has progressively become a minor activity in schools. In many cases the schools themselves have given up cooking meals in kitchens in the schools .But the rising level of obesity has led to a rethink about the food that children are given and the skills they should be taught.
“What I want is to teach young people how to do basic, simple recipes like a tomato sauce, a bolognaise, a simple curry, a stir-fry-which they can use now at home and then in their later life”, said Ed Balls, the minister responsible for schools.
The new lessons are due to start in September, but some schools without kitchens will be given longer to adapt. There is also likely to be a shortage of teachers with the right skills, since the trend has been to teach food technology rather than practical cooking. Also the compulsory lessons for hands on cooking will only be one hour a week for one term. But the well-known cookery writer, Pru Leith, believes it will be worth it .
“If we’d done this thirty years ago we might not have the crisis we’ve got now about obesity and lack of knowledge about food and so on. Every child should know how to cook, not just so that they’ll be healthy, but because it’s a life skill which is a real pleasure”.
The renewed interest in cooking is primarily a response to the level of obesity in Britain which is among the highest in Europe, and according to government figures half of all Britains will be obese in 25 years if current trends are not stopped.The passage mainly talks about.
| A．the compulsory cooking classes | B．the lost cooking skills |
| C．the healthy eating | D．the reason for obesity |
Which of the following is NOT the purpose for English teenagers to receive cooking lessons?
| A．To encourage teenagers to eat healthy food. |
| B．To reduce the country’s increasing obesity rate. |
| C．To prevent basic cooking and food preparation skills from being lost. |
| D．To stop parents from turning to pre-prepared convenience foods. |
In what way will cooking lessons benefit the students?
| A．They will be able to do some basic, simple recipes like a tomato sauce. |
| B．They will be healthy and enjoy the pleasure of such a life skill as well. |
| C．They will be able to make food experiments with the knowledge and skills. |
| D．They will be able to control the level of obesity in the whole country. |
The well-known cookery writer, Pru Leith, thinks it to offer compulsory cooking lessons in schools.
| A．difficult | B．necessary | C．funny | D．timely |
It can be inferred from the passage that.
| A．cooking has always been an important part of school education in England |
| B．English teenagers will have their cooking lessons twice a week for one year |
| C．the obesity rate in Britain has been rapidly growing in recent decades |
| D．the students will pay a lot of money to the school for their cooking lessons |
“Long time no see” is a very interesting sentence. When I first read this sentence from an American friend’s email, I laughed. I thought it was a perfect example of Chinglish.
Obviously, it is a word-by-word literal translation of the Chinese greetings with a ruled English grammar and structure! Later on, my friend told me that it is a standard American greeting. I was too thrilled to believe her. Her words could not convince me at all. So I did a research on google.com. To my surprise, there are over 60 thousand web pages containing “Long time no see.” This sentence has been widely used in emails, letters, newspapers, movies, books, or any other possible places. Though it is sort of informal, it is part of the language that Americans use daily. Ironically, if you type this phrase in Microsoft Word, the software will tell you that the grammar needs to be corrected.
Nobody knows the origin of this Chinglish sentence. Some people believe that it came from Charlie Chan’s movies. In the 1930s, Hollywood moviemakers successfully created a world wide famous Chinese detective named “Charlie Chan” on wide screens. Detective Chan likes to teach Americans some Chinese wisdom by quoting Confucius. “Long time no see” was his trademark. Soon after Charlie Chan, “Long time no see” became a popular phrase in the real world with thanks to the popularity of these movies.
Some scholars refer to America as a huge pot of stew. All kinds of culture are mixed in the stew together, and they change the color and taste of each other. American Chinese, though a minority ethnic(少数民族的成员) group in the United States, is also contributing some changes to the stew! Language is usually the first thing to be influenced in the mixed stew.
You can have some other examples than adoptions from Chinese, such as pizza from Italian, susi from Japanese, and déjà vu from French etc. There is a long list! Americans do not just simply borrow something from others. They will modify it and make it their own, so you would not be surprised to find a tofu and peanut butter hamburger in a restaurant, or to buy a bottle of iced Chinese green tea with honey in a grocery store. Since Americans appreciate Chinese culture more and more nowadays, I believe more Chinese words will become American English in the future. In this way the American stew keeps adding richness and flavor.The writer himself felt surprised at ______.
| A．the Chinglish expression “Long time no see” |
| B．“Long time no see” used as standard American English |
| C．so many literal translation of the expressions used in America |
| D．finding out Americans use the expression every day |
The word “stew” in the 4th paragraph probably means ______.
| A．mixture literature | B．Confucius’ words |
| C．a kind of cooked dish | D．American changing cultures |
According to the passage, it can be inferred that ______.
| A．detectives translate the phrase “Long time no see” |
| B．Hollywood made “Long time no see” popular |
| C．the huge pot of stew greatly affects all kinds of languages |
| D．cultures can be changed in the huge pot of stew |
The main idea of the passage is that ______.
| A．some Chinese expressions are introduced into English |
| B．you’ll not be surprised at a tofu in a restaurant in America |
| C．some American expressions can be used in China |
| D．American English keep being enriched from different cultures |
According to the passage, which of the following statements is not true?
| A．Informal language sometimes doesn’t go with grammar and structure. |
| B．Languages are always ruled by grammar and structure. |
| C．Long time no see” has been used in at least four media mentioned in the passage. |
| D．There are four languages mentioned to be adopted in the American stew. |