Almost a decade ago, the federal government dropped $10 million for an Earth-monitoring satellite that never made it into space. Today it sits in a closet in Maryland. Cost to taxpayers for storing it: $1 million a year. And that's just what's hiding in one closet. Who knows what's in the rest of them?
Because we think the government should be held to at least the same standards as a publicly traded company, and because as taxpayers, we're America's shareholders, we performed an audit （财务检查）of sorts of the federal books. We're not economists, but we do have common sense. We tried to get help from Congressional staffers from both parties, as well as various watchdog groups and agencies. In the end, we found that the federal government wastes nearly $1 trillion every year.
That's roughly equal to the amount collected annually by the Internal Revenue Service in personal income taxes. Put another way, it's also equal to about one-third of the country's $2.9 trillion total annual budget. And reclaiming that lost trillion could help wipe out the country's annual budget deficit（赤字）, improve education, and provide health insurance for those who don't have it.
So how do you define "waste"? David Walker of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a federal watchdog agency, calls it "the government's failure to give taxpayers the most for their money." For our part, we used the kind of household test you would use on a piece of meat sitting in your refrigerator: If it smells rotten, it's waste. Our government regularly pays for products and services it never gets, wildly overpays companies to do things it could do more cheaply itself, loses money outright due to lax（不严格的）accounting and oversight, and spends money randomly on unnecessary programs.
How exactly does the federal government waste your hard-earned tax dollars? We've identified what we consider ten of the worst ways.The underlined sentence in Paragraph1 really means .
| A．there are many other closets | B．there are some other satellites |
| C．there is something else in the closets | D．the waste may be quite amazing |
Which of the following can best describe the feeling of the author?
| A．Annoyed. | B．Calm. | C．Surprised. | D．Not concerned. |
Which of the following statements may be right?
| A．The country’s annual budget is usually decided by the public. |
| B．The government failed in launching the satellite. |
| C．The government is only wasting money in space experiments. |
| D．The amount collected annually in personal income taxes is equal to the country’s budget. |
The best title for the passage would be .
| A．Protecting Our Rights! |
| B．Our Country Is In Danger! |
| C．The Government Is Wasting Our Tax Dollars! |
| D．How to Prevent Government from Wasting Money! |
What might be talked about if the passage is continued?
| A．The government’s taking some steps to stop wasting taxes. |
| B．Presenting people’s feelings against the government’s wasting taxes. |
| C．Giving suggestion to help the government solve the financial problem. |
| D．Listing how the government is wasting taxes. |
No one doubts that students should study languages, maths and science in high school, but some may object to the idea that they should study art and music as well. To them, these subjects are useless for students’ future and are not worth the time and effort. In my opinion, however, it is necessary for middle school students to study art and music.
Art and music are a precious culture legacy（遗产）, which bring us pleasure and enjoyment. Have you ever been deeply moved by Beethoven’s famous Fifth Symphony（第五交响曲）? Have you ever been fascinated by the colorful starry night produced by Vincent Van Gogh in his paint? Have you ever longed for the moving love between the Butterfly Lovers when you hear this well-known Chinese melody（曲调）? Art and music are not only images and sounds, but something beyond them. They are the products of passion and human wisdom（智慧）.
Art and music help make students more creative. Artists and musicians are considered the most creative people in the world. It is because art and music sharpen their senses and provide a different perspective (视角) for them to see the world. Many great scientists benefited from art and music. Einstein, the greatest physicist in the 20th century, as well as an excellent violin player, is a good example.
Enjoying art and music is also a good way to relax. Middle school students, who typically carry heavy burdens of study, will definitely（明确地）benefit from it.
To sum up, art and music should absolutely be included in the middle school courses, for they can bring students pleasure and relaxation.According to the author, people who think art and music are useless for middle school students __________.
| A．don’t understand the value of art and music |
| B．don’t know the history of art and music at all |
| C．never benefit from artists and musicians |
| D．know little about the trend of future education |
In paragraph 2, the author tries to argue that __________.
| A．Beethoven is one of the greatest musicians |
| B．art and music help express people’s emotions |
| C．art and music are precious pictures and sounds |
| D．art and music bring people joy and quality life |
The example of Einstein is used to __________.
| A．show the importance of creativity |
| B．prove that scientists are creative |
| C．encourage students to study art and music |
| D．provide students with a new way to see the world |
Which of the following is an effective way for middle school students to study?
| A． Relaxing themselves regularly while studying. |
| B． Attending concerts during holidays or after school. |
| C． Avoiding too much homework by studying art and music. |
| D． Listening to music while studying language, maths or other subjects. |
Which of the following is used to support the writer’s opinion?
| A．Art and music help people become scientists. |
| B．Art and music provide people with more opportunities. |
| C．Art and music are beneficial to students in other subjects. |
| D．Art and music are helpful to make students creative learners. |
Now some women are spending a weekend at Mother’s Camp（营地）. There, husbands and children are not allowed. Why would a woman want to take a vacation without her family? Some women say they need time to be alone.
At Mother’s Camp a woman has room to herself. She can sleep, read or watch TV, and no one will bother her. No children will ask,“Mom, what’s for dinner?” No husband will say, “Oh, dear, I can’t find any clean socks.”In fact almost 50% of women in the United States work outside the home. Many of them work full-time and then come home to a second job-taking care of their homes and families. These working women say one of their biggest problems is housework.
In the United States, working wives do about 75% of the housework. Many of their husbands say they want to help. But then they burn the rice or they can’t find the pans. They ask so many questions that their wives decide it is easier to do the job themselves.
Some women go to Mother’s Camp just to get a break from housework. For two days they don’t cook, they don’t clean, they don’t look after their children and husbands. What do they do? They enjoy warm, sunny weather, walking, swimming or boating in a clear blue lake and sing songs around the campfire. They relax away from home. They have a really wonderful vacation at Mother’s Camp.From this passage we can see in the United States.
| A．women want to work outside the home |
| B．working wives do most of the housework |
| C．husbands do as much housework as their wives |
| D．women do not like to stay at home with their families |
At Mother’s Camp, women can’t .
| A．watch TV | B．read newspapers |
| C．swim in the lake | D．bring their husbands and children |
Why would some mothers like to be alone? Because .
| A．they don’t like their husbands and children | B．they have to work full-time |
| C．they are too busy to relax themselves | D．they want a new life |
______________ is one of the biggest troubles for working wives in the United States.
| A．Housework | B．Working outside the home |
| C．When to take a vacation | D．Looking after their children |
What’s the best title（标题）for this passage?
| A．Busy Working Mothers | B．The US family |
| C．Mothers Relax Away from Home | D．Mothers in the US |
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项。
A
“I sometimes get up at three or four in the morning and I surf the net.”
“I often check my e-mail forty times a day.”
“I often spend more than three hours during one time on the net.”
“I spend more time in chat rooms(聊天室) than with my ‘real-1ife’ friends.”
Do you know any people like these? They are part of a new addiction(瘾) called Internet addiction. Internet addicts spend at least thirty to forty hours online every week. The use of the Internet can be an addiction like drug(毒品) use. People lose control(控制)of the time they spend on the Internet
For example, one college student was missing for several days. His friends were worried, and they called the police. The police found the student in the computer lab: he was surfing the net for several days straight.
Studies show that about 6 to 10% of Internet users become addicted. And people worry about the teens because the Internet is changing the playing field for some of them.They spend more time in cyberspace than in the real world of friends and family.
Is “surfing the net” a hobby or an addiction for you? You may have a problem if
you have these symptoms(症状):
●You do not go to important family activities or you do not do school work because you like to spend hours on the Internet.
●You can’t wait for your next online time.
●You plan to spend a short time online, but then you spend several hours.
●You go out with your friends less and less.
◆根据以上短文内容，然后从每题所给的四个选项中选择最佳选项。What does the beginning of the passage tell us?
| A．How to become an Internet addict. |
| B．What an Internet addict usually does. |
| C．Where to find an Internet addict. |
| D．Why to write this passage. |
How does the writer describe the addicts’ use of Internet?
| A．It is something like keeping drugs. |
| B．It is a way of producing drugs. |
| C．It is like taking drugs. |
| D．It is terrible to imagine. |
Why do people worry about the teens?
| A．The teens are wasting too much money. |
| B．They used to work on the Internet. |
| C．The playing field of the teens will disappear. |
| D．More and more of the teens wil1 become addicted to the Internet. |
The example in the passage shows that _______.
| A．Internet problems are more serious among college students |
| B．Internet addicts usually stay in the computer lab without sleep |
| C．Some of the Internet users have already been seriously addicted |
| D．The police often help to find those Internet addicts. |
What is the writer trying to tell us at the end of the passage?
| A．Don’t be addicted to the Internet. |
| B．Go to family activities more often. |
| C．Do things as you have planned |
| D．Stay with your parents as often as possible. |
The day started out bad. She overslept and was late for work. Then everything __16__ happened at the office made her unhappy, too. By the time she reached the bus stop for her bus to go home, she had a bad stomachache.
As usual, the bus was late, and full of people. There was no free seat for her and she had to stand in the bus. As the bus drove, it pulled her __17__ all directions, and she felt even __18__(bad).
Then she heard a voice from up front, "Beautiful day, isn’t it?" Because of the crowd, she could not see the man, __19__ she heard him as he continued to comment on the beautiful spring scenery, __20__ (call) attention to every building and thing that people could see as the bus passed by. Soon, all of the passengers __21__ (look) out of the windows. The man’s words were so powerful that she found __22__ smiling for the first time that day.
The bus reached her stop, and as she moved toward the door, she got a look at their "guide": an old gentleman __23__ a beard, wearing dark glasses and carrying a thin white cane(木杖). He was blind.
Sometimes it is not that there is no __24___(beautiful) in __25___ world, it is just that there is no eye that can see that . Open your eyes and say, "Beautiful day, isn’t it?"
People with disabilities make up a large part of the population. It is estimated（估计） that over 35 million Americans have physical, mental, or other disabilities. About half of these disabilities are “developmental", i.e., they occur before the individual's twenty-second birthday, often from genetic conditions, and are severe enough to affect three or more areas of development, such as mobility, communication, employment, etc. Most other disabilities are considered “adventitious", i.e., accidental or caused by outside forces.
Prior to the 20th century, only a small percentage of people with disabilities survived for long. Medical treatment for these disabilities was unavailable. Advancements in medicine and social services have created a climate in which people with disabilities can expect to have such basic needs as food, shelter, and medical treatment. Unfortunately, these basics are often not available. Civil liberties such as the right to vote, marry, get an education, and gain employment have historically been denied on the basis of disability.
In recent decades, the disability rights movement has been organized to fight against these infringements（违反, 侵犯）of civil rights. Congress responded by passing major legislation recognizing people with disabilities as a protected class under civil rights statutes.
Still today, people with disabilities must fight to live their lives independently. It is estimated that more than half of qualified Americans with disabilities are unemployed, and a majority of those who do work are underemployed. About two-thirds live at or below the official poverty level.
Significant barriers, especially in transportation and public awareness, prevent disabled people from taking part in society. For example, while no longer prohibited by law from marrying, a person with no access to transportation is effectively excluded from community and social activities which might lead to the development of long-term relationships.
Only when public attitudes advance as far as laws have will disabled people be fully able to take their rightful place in society.A “developmental" disability ______.
| A．develops very slowly over time | B．occurs in youth and affects development |
| C．is caused by forces | D．is getting more and more severe |
Most disabled people used to die early because ______.
| A．disabilities destroyed major bodily functions |
| B．medical techniques were not available |
| C．they were not very well looked after |
| D．they were too poor to get proper treatment |
In the author's opinion, to enable the disabled people to take their rightful place in society, ____.
| A．more laws should be passed | B．more public facilities should be set up |
| C．government should provide more aids | D．public attitudes should be changed |
Which of the following cannot be inferred from the passage?
| A．Many disabled people may remain single for their whole life. |
| B．Discriminatory（带歧视性的）laws prevent the disabled from mixing with others. |
| C．The public tends to look down upon the disabled people. |
| D．The disabled people feel inferior to（低于）those surrounding them. |
The best title for this passage might be ______.
| A．Handicaps（障碍）of People with Disabilities |
| B．The physical difficulties of the Disabled |
| C．The Causes for Disabilities |
| D．Medical Treatments for Disabilities |