To American visitors, Iceland is a very interesting country, partly because it is different in so many ways from what he or she is used to seeing at home. There are quite a few things that are not done, or that do not exist on the island - quite a few "No's".
There is no pollution, for instance. No dogs are permitted in Reykjavik, the capital. There is no television on Thursdays or during the entire month of July, and only three hours of black-and-white TV the rest of the time. There is no hard liquor on Wednesdays and no beer at any time. There are no handguns; only one jail of thirty-five cells（牢房） in the entire land – an admirable figure, even for a small country of 313,376 people.
There is no army, air force or navy. There is no tipping for anything. There are no large stores open on Saturdays or Sundays. Since Iceland is situated just under the Arctic Circle, there is no darkness in summer and do daylight in winter. But thanks to Gulf Stream, the climate is rather mild, with temperatures ranging from 34 degrees Fahrenheit to 52 degrees in July.
The rules on television, liquor, and guns are the result of governmental decision. But the absence of pollution is due in great part to the fact that Iceland gets its power from the enormous geyser（间歇泉）and the thousands of hot springs that come out of the ground. They provide all the energy needed by the country. In fact, Iceland uses only 3 percent of all its available power.
Iceland has been described as a democratic (民主的) independent country where more fish are caught and more books published per person than anywhere else in the world. The Icelanders have always felt a particular love for literature. They composed their first works in the ninth and tenth centuries AD. These works were poems and tales about the kings, heroes, and heroines of Iceland and Norway. At first the stories were memorized and passed from generation to generation. The Icelanders have never stopped writing ever since. “Rather shoeless than bookless," they proudly say. American visitors enjoy visiting Iceland probably because .
| A．no dogs are permitted in the capital |
| B．the police do not carry handguns |
| C．it is very different from America |
| D．the climate is rather mild. |
The following statements are true EXCEPT .
| A．there are no soldiers in Iceland |
| B．the Icelanders don't drink beer |
| C．there is no service fee of any kind |
| D．there are no crimes in Iceland |
There is no pollution in Iceland mainly because .
| A．Iceland uses only 3 percent of all its available power |
| B．the Icelanders use hot water from the ground below as their energy |
| C．it is located just under the Arctic Circle |
| D．it is a democratic independent country |
"Rather shoeless than bookless" means .
| A．they regard books more important than shoes. |
| B．they would rather have shoes on than write books |
| C．they prefer traveling to reading |
| D．they prefer not to have shoes or books |
Beijing had its biggest snowfall since 1951. Britain is suffering through its longest cold snap (寒潮) since 1981. And freezing weather is hitting the Deep South, including Florida’s orange groves and beaches.
Whatever happened to global warming?
Such weather doesn’t seem to fit with warnings from scientists that the Earth is warming because of greenhouse gases. But experts say the cold snap doesn’t contradict global warming at all—it’s just a temporary phenomenon in the long-term heating trend. “It’s part of natural variability,” said Gerald Meehl, a senior scientist. With global warming, he said, “we’ll still have record cold temperatures. We’ll just have fewer of them.”
Scientists say man-made climate change does have the potential to cause more frequent and more severe weather extremes. But experts did not connect the current cold snap to climate change.
So what is going on?
“We basically have seen just a big outbreak of Arctic air over populated areas of the Northern Hemisphere”, Arndt said.
In the atmosphere, large rivers of air travel roughly west to east around the globe between the Arctic and the tropics. This air flow acts like a fence to keep Arctic air restricted. But recently, this air flow has become bent into a zigzag (之字形) pattern, wandering north and south. If you live in a place where it brings air up from the south, you get warm weather. In fact, record highs were reported this week in Washington state and Alaska.
But in the eastern United States, like 
some other unlucky parts of the globe, Arctic air is coming from the north. And that’s how you get a temperature of 3 degrees in Beijing, a reading of minus-42 in mainland Norway, and 18 inches of snow in parts of Britain. The zigzag pattern arises naturally from time to time, but it is not clear why it’s so strong right now.What is the best title of the text?
| A．Freezing weather is hitting the Deep South. |
| B．We’ll still have record cold temperatures. |
| C．The air flow has become a zigzag pattern. |
| D．Cold snap doesn’t contradict global warming. |
With global warming, we will ______.
| A．also meet with severe cold snap |
| B．have more hot temperatures forever |
| C．never experience cold temperatures |
| D．have more cold temperatures |
According to experts, the current cold snap ______.
| A．suggests that the climate has changed greatly |
| B．is not related to the climate change |
| C．shows that the climate will turn cold |
| D．is affected by global warming |
Beijing had its biggest snowfall since 1951 because of ______.
| A．a fence from the Arctic | B．a cooling trend in climate |
| C．a big outbreak of Arctic air | D．its large population |
We can conclude that ______.
| A．not all the parts of the Northern Hemisphere are cold in face of the cold snap |
| B．the zigzag pattern arises naturally accidentally |
| C．Beijing will get cold weather next year |
| D．Washington state and Alaska will not face cold weather next year |
Rarely have I experienced a reaction like that which came about following the idea of banning private education. One of those who contacted me to disagree with the idea was 17 year old Anirudh Mandagere. He got 10 A*s at GCSE and is currently studying English, French, Math and History at a private school in Manchester. Here is his response:
For me, the idea that all private schools should be banned is not only ridiculous and unrealistic, but goes against the idea of liberty. We must have the freedom to choose between state-funded and privately educated schools. If parents pay taxes, surely they should be able to choose whether they send their children to a state-funded or a privately-funded school.
The economic impacts of abolishing private education are vast. Banning private schools would obviously contribute to a great transfer to state schools. Many state schools are already overburdened; do they really need more pupils? Abolishing private education would lead to higher taxes for taxpayers since more money would be needed to educate the 7% who were previously private educated. In the times of economic crisis, should the taxpayer need to fork out more money to pay for their education? There would also be a great rise in unemployment of the staff who works at private schools.
It is noted that, in general, private schools have better grades at GCSE and A level than state schools. Yet, why do people view this as a bad thing? The higher private school grades eventually force the government to endlessly improve state education so that the middle-classes do not totally abandon state education for private education. This competition creates reform and progress within state schools and eventually promote them! If the private schools did not exist, where would be the impetus for state school improvement?
Government should not simply ban a system which produces results. It should learn from it and use the private education model as a basis for the state education model. Abolishing a successful system will not help anybody, learning from a successful syste
m will.In the eye of Anirudh Mandagere, parents have the right to ______.
| A．criticize state-funded schools |
B．pay taxes for the promotion of private schools |
| C．choose the way their children receive education |
| D．advocate the competition between state schools and private ones |
According to the passage, banning private education will ______.
| A．obviously contribute to lower taxes |
| B．not cause the state schools to be overburdened |
| C．force the government to boost state education |
| D．lead to many people losing their jobs |
The underlined word “impetus” in the fourth paragraph probably means ______.
| A．motivation | B．prevention | C．participation | D．assessment |
Compared with state schools, private ones ______.
| A．educate a little fewer students | B．conduct better than all state ones |
| C．are better received by the public | D．are more competitive on the whole |
Which of the following statements will Anirudh Mandagere agree with?
| A．His wonderful performance results from the education his private school offers. |
| B．Without the existence of private schools, state ones wouldn’t get improved much. |
| C．Private education is a good system to make students successful in life. |
| D．Private schools are supposed to be sponsored more than state ones. |
Sleeping in on Saturday after a few 
weeks of too little shuteye may feel refreshing, but it can give a false sense of security.
New research shows long-term sleep loss cannot be cured that easily. Scientists researched the effects of short- and long-term sleep loss and found that those who suffer long-term sleep loss may function normally soon after waking up, but experience steadily slow
er reaction times as the day goes by, even if they had tried to catch up the previous night.
The research has important safety significances in an increasingly busy society, not just for shift-workers but for the roughly one in six Americans who regularly get six hours or less of sleep a night.
“We know that staying awake 24 hours without sleep will affect your performance to do all sorts of things, and this effect equals to drinking too much when driving,” said lead researcher Dr. Daniel Cohen of Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital. But when those who suffer long-term sleep loss become all-nighters, “the harm is increased ten times,” Cohen said.
The National Institutes of Health says adults need seven hours to nine hours of sleep for good health. Regularly getting too little sleep increases the risk of health problems, including memory impairment and a weakened immune system. More immediately, too little sleep affects reaction times; sleepiness is to blame for car crashes and other accidents.
It has critically important complicated and unexpected results for anyone who works “crazy hours” and thinks they are performing fine with a few hours of w
eeknight sleep, said Harris, director at New York’s Montefiore Medical Center. “Don’t think you can just bank up your sleep on the weekend, because it doesn’t work that way,” he warned.The text mainly advises people ______.
| A．to sleep more time | B．to sleep in on Saturday |
| C．to sleep scientifically | D．to sleep little on weekend |
People with long-term sleep loss ______.
| A．are quicker in thinking | B．may feel refreshed soon after waking up |
| C．are surely energetic | D．can have a strong sense of security |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．Most of the Americans get six hours or less of sleep a night. |
| B．Staying up is worse for those who suffer long-term sleep loss. |
| C．Traffic accidents have little to do with sleepiness. |
| D．One in six Americans are all-nighters. |
Which of the following is the immediate effect of long-term sleep loss?
| A．Health problems | B．Immune system |
| C．Reaction times | D．Memory impairment |
The underlined phrase “bank up” in the last paragraph most probably means ____.
| A．pile up | B．pick up | C．add up | D．build up |
I made a promise to myself on the way down to the vacation beach cottage. For two weeks I would try to be a loving husband and father. Totally loving. No ifs, ands or buts.
The idea had come to me as I listened to a talk on my car radio. The speaker was quoting a Biblical passage about husbands and their wives. Then he went on to say, “Love is an act of will. A person can choose to love.” To myself, I had to admit that I had been a selfish husband. Well, for two weeks that would change.
And it did. Right from the moment I kissed Evelyn at the door and said, “That new yellow sweater looks great on you.” “Oh, Tom, you noticed”, sh
e said, surprised and pleased. Maybe a little puzzled. After the long drive, I wanted to sit and read. Evelyn suggested a walk on the beach. I started to refuse, but then I thought, “Evelyn’s been alone here with the kids all week and now she wants to be alone with me.” We walked on the beach while the children flew their kites.
So it went. Two weeks of not calling the Wall Street firm where I am a director; a visit to the shell museum though I usually hate museums. Relaxed and happy, that’s how the whole vacation passed. I made a new promise to keep on remembering to choose love.
There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment, however. Evelyn and I still laugh about it today. On the last night at our cottage, preparing for bed, Evelyn stared at me with the saddest expression.
“What’s the matter?” I asked her.
“Tom,” she said in a voice filled with distress, “ I don’t?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well…that checkup I had several weeks ago…our doctor…did he tell you something about me? Tom, you’ve been so good to me…am I dying?”
It took a moment for it all to be understood. Then I burst out laughing.
“No, honey,” I said, wrapping her in my arms. “You’re not dying; I’m just starting to live.”In the first paragraph, “No ifs, ands or buts” probably means ______.
| A．Unintentionally | B．Independently |
| C．Impressively | D．Unconditionally |
From the story we may infer that Tom drove to the beach cottage ______.
| A．with his family | B．with Evelyn |
| C．alone | D．with his children |
During the two weeks on the beach, Tom showed more love to his wife because ______.
| A．he was determined to be a good husband |
| B．he had made a lot of money in his Wall Street firm |
| C．she looked lovely in her new clothes |
| D．the doctor said his wife was seriously ill |
The author says, “There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment.” What does “one thing” refer to?
| A．He praised her sweater, which puzzled her. |
| B．She insisted on visiting a museum, which he hated. |
| C．He knew something about her illness but didn’t tell her. |
| D．He was so good to her that she thought she must be dying. |
By saying “I’m just starting to live,” Tom means that ______.
| A．he is just beginning to understand the real meaning of life |
| B．he is just beginning to enjoy life as a loving husband |
| C．he lived an unhappy life before and is now starting to change |
| D．he is beginning to feel regret for what he did to his wife before |
One day newly wedded Nancy lost her ring while helping to plant potatoes. Friends were called and the field was searched long but in vain. Later, when the pottoes were harvested, Everyone looked out for the ring but it remained lost. Another year came round and all the farmers working in the field kept their eyes open. The following year was the same. And year after year, whoever had business in the field aways had Nancy’s ring in his mind.
Then the farm changed hands but it went no farther than to cousins. So the memory of the lost ring remained alive until thirty-eight years had passed. Then came a spring day when a man was ploughing the field behind a pair of horses. Even after thirty-eight years he still looked out for the ring, and knew just which part of the field Nancy had lost it in. At this time, when he came there, he found it .He picked it up, put it carefully into his pocket, left his horse, and ran all the way down to the village and placed it into Nancy’s hand.
76.How did Nancy come to lose her ring?
A.She lost it while helping to harvest tomatoes in the field
B.She lost it while watering the plants in the field.
C.She lost it while working in the field.
D.She lost it while helping to plant potatoes in the field.
77.What was done so that the lost ring could be found?
A.Friends were asked to join in the search.
B.The field was searched for a long time.
C.Ｄogs were called to look for it.
D.Both A and B
78.Why did people keep looking for the ring even after the farm changed hands?
A.It was a very expensive ring
B.They all wanted to solve the mystery.
C.They all loved Nancy.
D.Everybody wanted to have this ring.
79.What did the ploughman do after finding the ring?
A.He picked it up and put it in his pocket.
B.He ran back to tell everybody in the village.
C.He placed it in a secret spot.
D.He returned it to the owner.
80.What can you infer from the story?
A.The ring was invaluable.
B.People on the farm were honest and helpful.
C.The ring’s mysterious disappearance was the work of supernatural power.
D.Nancy no longer expected that her ring would be found again.