Thousands of people living in the Chinese capital will celebrate the start of the Chinese New year by heading for the ski resorts (滑雪场). Never mind that Beijing’s dry weather seldom produces snow. It is cold enough in winter for snow-making machines to make a covering for the hills north to the capital. And the rapid growth of a pleasure-seeking middle class has formed the basis for this new craze(热潮).
Since Beijing’s first ski resort was opened ten years ago, the sport has enjoyed astonishing increase. There are now more than a dozen resorts. Clothes markets in the city have added bright colored ski suits to their winter collections. Mr. Wei, a manager of a newly-opened ski resort in Beijing, sees the growth of an industry that could soon lead Chinese to head for the ski resorts of Europe. In recent years, ski resorts offering natural snow have opened in China. But many are in faraway areas of the country and can’t really match the equipment and services of some ski resorts in Europe.
Beijing’s skiing craze is partly a result of the recent increase in private (私有的) cars. This has led to the growth of a leisure industry in the capital’s suburbs (郊区), which until the late-1990s were unreachable to ordinary people. According to Mr. Wei, about 40% of the visitors to his resort come in their own cars. The rest are bused in by schools, businesses or government offices.
The problem is making money. Starting ski resorts requires quite a lot of money; hiring land from the local government, preparing the hills, buying snow machines, making sure there are enough water and electricity to run them, and buying ski equipment for hiring out to customers.
The ski resort where Mr. Wei works cost nearly $4 million to set up. And as so often in China when someone comes up with a good idea, many others rush in and price wars break out. Beijing now offers some of the cheapest ski training classes in the world, though with most people rather new to the sport, expecting a few more doing the same job.What does this text mainly talk about?
| A．Convenience for skiers brought about by private cars. |
| B．Skiing as a new way of enjoying one's spare time. |
| C．Things to be considered when starting a ski resort. |
| D．A sudden increase of ski training classes in Beijing. |
Why are some Chinese likely to go skiing in Europe?
| A．To visit more ski areas. |
| B．To ski on natural snow. |
| C．For a large collection of ski suits. |
| D．For better services and equipment. |
The underlined words “leisure industry” in Paragraph 3 refer to
| A．transport to ski resorts |
| B．production of family cars |
| C．business of providing spare time enjoyments |
| D．part-time work for people living in the suburbs |
What is the main problem in running a ski resort?
| A．Difficulty in hiring land． |
| B．Lack of business experience． |
| C．Price wars with other ski resorts |
| D．Shortage of water and electricity. |
A friend of mine named Paul received an expensive car from his brother as a Christmas present. Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office，a street urchin(顽童) was walking around the shining car．“Is this your car，Paul？” he asked．
Paul answered，“Yes, my brother gave it to me for Christmas.” The boy was surprised．“You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn’t cost you anything？Boy，I wish…” He hesitated Of course， Paul knew what he was going to wish for．He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what the boy said surprised Paul greatly.
“I wish,” the boy went on，“that I could be a brother like that.” Paul looked at the boy in surprise, then he said again, “Would you like to take a ride in my car？”
“Oh yes，I’d love that.”
After a short ride，the boy turned and with his eyes shining，said，“Paul，would you mind driving in front of my house？”
Paul smiled a little．He thought he knew what the boy wanted．He wanted to show his neighbors that he could ride home in a big car. But Paul was wrong again. “Will you stop where those two steps are？ the boy asked．
He ran up to the steps. Then in a short while Paul heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast. He was carrying his little crippled（残疾） brother. He sat him down on the step and pointed to the car.
“There it is, Buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn’t cost him a cent. And some day I’m going to give you one just like it…then you can see for yourself all the nice things in the Christmas windows that I’ve been trying to tell you about.”
Paul got out and lifted the boy to the front seat of his car. The shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them began an unforgettable holiday ride.The street urchin was very surprised when ________．
| A．Paul received an expensive car | B．Paul told him about the car |
| C．he saw the shining car | D．he was walking around the car |
From the story we can see the urchin ________．
| A．wished to give his brother a car |
| B．wanted Paul’s brother to give him a car |
| C．wished he could have a brother like Paul’s |
| D．wished Paul could be a brother like that |
The urchin asked Paul to stop his car in front of his house ________．
| A．to show his neighbors the big car | B．to show he had a rich friend |
| C．to let his brother ride in the car | D．to tell his brother about his wish |
We can infer（推断）from the story that ________．
| A．Paul couldn’t understand the urchin |
| B．the urchin had a deep love for his brother |
| C．the urchin wished to have a rich brother |
| D．the urchin’s wish came true in the end |
The best name of the story is _________．
| A．A Christmas Present | B．A Street Urchin |
| C．A Brother Like That | D．An Unforgettable Holiday Ride |
Jim was a farmer. He lived in a village far away from the town. One day he was very ill , and everyone thought he would die . But his family wouldn’t give up. They decided to sent for a doctor in town . The doctor arrived the village two days later and looked over the man. The doctor wanted a pen and some paper , But there was no pen or paper in the village , because nobody could read or write .
The doctor looked around and picked up a piece of burnt wood. Using the wood, he wrote the name of the medicine on the door of the house.“ Get the medicine for him right away, ” he said, “and he will soon get well.’ family and friends did not know what to do . They could not read the writing . Then the village baker had an idea . He took off the door of the house and took the door to the nearest town . He bought the medicine, and Jim was saved. After that Jim would not let anyone wash the magic words off the door . People in the village thought James would die because ________ .
| A．he was seriously ill | B．the doctor could do nothing for him |
| C．the doctor didn’t come | D．they couldn’t find any doctor |
The doctor got to the village two days later because ________ .
| A．he walked to the village |
| B．the will age was far from the town |
| C．there was something wrong with his car |
| D．they couldn’t find any doctor |
When the doctor got to the village, he______.
| A．found another doctor there |
| B．gave some medicine to Jim |
| C．looked over Jim carefully |
| D．had no idea and could do nothing for Jim |
The doctor wrote down the name of the medicine with_____ on_____.
| A．a pen; a piece of paper |
| B．a piece of burnt wood; some paper |
| C．a piece of burnt wood; the door of the house |
| D．a pen; a piece of wood |
What do you think of the people in the village?
| A．They were rich and clever. |
| B．They were lazy. |
| C．They could read and write well. |
| D．They were poor and fell behind the times. |
To what degree can a computer achieve intelligence？The answer to this question may lie in a newly-developed US computer program called Smarter Child and the Internet.
If you ran into Smarter Child online, you would be surprised at this kid’s huge memory. It can recite many facts. For example, Smarter Child knows every baseball player in every team this season.
He knows every word in the dictionary and the weather in every major city areas across the US. However, if you ask Smarter Child other questions, you get strange answers. A question about Smarter Child’s age returns. “One year, 11 days, 16 hours, 7 minutes, and 47 seconds!” Asking where he lives gets, “In a clean room in a high-tech building in California.”
Smarter Child uses the vast information on the World Wide Web as his memory bank. To answer questions about spelling, for instance, Smarter Child goes to American Heritage Dictionary online. For the weather, he visits www.intellicast.com.
Some scientists believe that by joining the many systems of the Internet, an artificial being with the combined knowledge of, say, Albert Einstein, Richard Nixon and Britney Spears could be born. However, if Smarter Child wants to think and learn on his own like the boy-computer David in the movie A. I. Artificial Intelligence, he must overcome two problems.
The first is that computers find it difficult to read web pages because the files are labeled in different ways. That’s why programmers need to tell Smarter Child where to look for the weather. It would be a much more difficult task to let him find it himself.
Another problem is that while Smarter Child can process information more exactly and faster than any human, he lacks common sense—a basic grounding of knowledge that is obvious to any young child.From the text we can infer that www.intellicast.com is a website
| A．where we people can find Smarter Child |
| B．which is specially designed to help Smarter Child |
| C．where weather forecasts are made |
| D．which is about artificial intelligence |
It is probably most difficult for Smarter Child to .
| A．learn the ability to tell right behaviors from wrong ones. |
| B．tell us how to spell a difficult word |
| C．provide us with a famous poem by Shakespeare |
| D．tell us how the American government is run |
The underlined “it ” in Paragraph 6 refers to ________.
| A．where to look for the weather | B．Smarter Child. |
| C．a much more difficult task | D．to read web pages |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．A New Web Child | B．Intelligence Development |
| C．Smarter Child | D．The Future of Internet |
Andy rode slowly on his way to school, day-dreaming about the fishing trip that his father had promised him. He was so busy dreaming about all the fish he would catch that he was unaware of everything else around him.
He rode along until a strange sound drew him to the present. He came to a stop and looked curiously up to the heavens. What he saw shocked and terrified him. A huge swarm(群) of bees filled the sky like a black cloud and seemed to be heading angrily towards him.
With no time to waste, Andy sped off in the opposite direction, without knowing how to escape the swarm. With a rapidly beating heart, he sped down the rough road. As the bees came closer, his panic increased. Andy knew that he was allergic to bee stings(蜇). The last sting had landed him in hospital —and that was only one bee sting! He had been forced to stay in bed for two whole days. Suddenly, his father’s words came to him. “When you are in a tight situation, don’t panic. Use your brain and think your way out of it.”
On a nearby hill, he could see smoke waving slowly skywards from the chimney of the Nelson family home. “Bees don’t like smoke,” he thought. “They couldn’t get into the house.” Andy raced towards the Nelson house, but he knew he could not reach the house in time. The bees would catch up with him soon.
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted a small dam used by Mr. Nelson to water his vegetable garden. He got off his bike and into the cool water, disappearing below the surface. After holding his breath for as long as he could, Andy came up for air and noticed the bees had gone. Dragging himself out of the dam, he struggled up the hilly slope(坡) and rang the doorbell. Mrs. Nelson took him inside and rang his mother.
“You’ll really need that fishing break to help you recover,” laughed his mother with relief. “Thank goodness you didn’t panic!” But Andy did not hear her. He was dreaming once again of the fish he would catch tomorrow. Why did Andy fail to notice the swarm of bees earlier?
| A．He was riding to school. |
| B．He was listening to a strange sound. |
| C．He was going fishing with his father. |
| D．He was lost in the thought of the fishing trip. |
How did Andy avoid the bees in the end?
| A．He asked Mr. Nelson for help. | B．He hid himself under the water. |
| C．He rushed into the Nelson house. | D．He rode off in the opposite direction. |
Which of the following is NOT mentioned about the swarm of bees in the passage?
| A．They crowded like a black cloud. | B．They shocked and terrified Andy. |
| C．They made Andy stay in hospital. | D．They were coming towards Andy. |
Which of the following can best describe Andy’s escape from the bees?
| A．No pains, no gains. | B．Once bitten, twice shy. |
| C．Where there is a will, there is a way. | D．One’s mind works faster in an emergency. |
Sports can help you keep fit and get in touch with nature. However, whether you are on the mountains, in the waves, or on the grassland, you should be aware that your sport of choice might have great influence on the environment.
Some sports are resource-hungry. Golf, as you may know, eats up not only large areas of countryside, but also tons of water. Besides, all sorts of chemicals and huge amounts of energy are used to keep its courses（球场） in good condition. This causes major environmental effects. For example, in the dry regions of Portugal and Spain, golf is often held responsible for serious water shortage in some local areas.
There are many environment-friendly sports. Power walking is one of them that you could take up today. You don’t need any special equipment except a good pair of shoes; and you don’t have to worry about resources and your purse. Simple and free, power walking can also keep you fit. If you walk regularly, it will be good for your heart and bones. Experts say that 20 minutes of power walking daily can make you feel less anxious, sleep well and have better weight control.
Whatever sport you take up, you can make it greener by using environment-friendly equipment and buying products made from recycled materials. But the final goal should be “green gyms”. They are better replacements for traditional health clubs and modern sports centers. Members of green gyms play sports outdoors, in the countryside or other open spaces. There is no special requirement for you to start your membership. And best of all, it’s free.Which of the following is the author most probably in favor of?
| A．Cycling around a lake. | B．Motor racing in the desert. |
| C．Playing basketball in a gym. | D．Swimming in a sports center. |
What do we know about golf from the passage?
| A．It is popular in Portugal and Spain. |
| B．It causes water shortages in some areas. |
| C．It pollutes the earth with chemicals and wastes. |
| D．It needs water and electricity to keep its courses green. |
The author writes the passage to_______.
| A．show us the function of major sports |
| B．introduce different types of environment-friendly sports |
| C．discuss the major influence of popular sports |
| D．encourage us to go in for green sports |