Ask someone what they have done to help the environment recently and they will almost certainly mention recycling. Recycling in the home is very important of course. However, being forced to recycle often means we already have more material than we need. We are dealing with the results of that over-consumption in the greenest way possible, but it would be far better if we did not need to bring so much material home in the first place. The total amount of packaging increased by 12% between 1999 and 2005. It now makes up a third of a typical household’s waste in the UK. In many supermarkets nowadays food items are packaged twice with plastic and cardboard. Too much packaging is doing serious damage to the environment. The UK, for example, is running out of it for carrying this unnecessary waste. If such packaging is burnt, it gives off greenhouse gases which go on to cause the greenhouse effect. Recycling helps, but the process itself uses energy. The solution is not to produce such items in the first place. Food waste is a serious problem, too. Too many supermarkets encourage customers to buy more than they need. However, a few of them are coming round to the idea that this cannot continue, encouraging customers to reuse their plastic bags, for example. But this is not just about supermarkets. It is about all of us. We have learned to associate packaging with quality. We have learned to think that something unpackaged is of poor quality. This is especially true of food. But is also applies to a wide range of consumer products, which often have far more packaging than necessary.
There are signs of hope. As more of us recycle, we are beginning to realize just how much unnecessary material are collecting. We need to face the wastefulness of our consumer culture, but we have a mountain to climb.What does the underlined phrase “over-consumption” refer to?
| A．Using too much packaging. |
| B．Recycling too many wastes. |
| C．Making more products than necessary. |
| D．Having more material than is needed. |
The author uses figures in Paragraph 2 to show _______.
| A．the tendency of cutting household waste |
| B．the increase of packaging recycling |
| C．the rapid growth of super markets |
| D．the fact of packaging overuse |
According to the text, recycling ______.
| A．helps control the greenhouse effect |
| B．means burning packaging for energy |
| C．is the solution to gas shortage |
| D．leads to a waste of land |
What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?
| A．Unpackaged products are of bad quality. |
| B．Supermarkets care more about packaging. |
| C．It is improper to judge quality by packaging. |
| D．Other products are better packaged than food. |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．Fighting wastefulness is difficult. |
| B．Needless material is mostly recycled. |
| C．People like collecting recyclable waste. |
| D．The author is proud of their consumer culture. |
March, April and May are months full of festivals and events all over the world. Here are some wonderful festivals around the world that happen in spring.
SongKran--Thailand
Dates: 13th-15th, April
In Thailand, it’s time to celebrate the coming monsoon season, which will bring the rain many people have been looking forward to. They celebrate it with a festival called Songkran，when people head out to the streets with water guns to spray(喷，洒）everyone who walks past. If you walk on the streets where the festival is celebrated, prepare to get soaked!
Naghol--Vanuatu
Dates: Every Saturday from April to May
Every year, villagers come together to celebrate the harvest of yams, an important part in the people’s diet in Vanuatu. The festival is most famous for its “land di ving ceremony”. During the ceremony men and boys dive to the ground from high wooden towers with only two thin vines(藤条) attached(附于)to their ankles(脚踝）. The divers’ heads have to lightly touch the ground when they jump---something very dangerous if the vines are not measured（测量）properly.
Cherry Blossom Viewing ---Japan
Dates: The cherry blossom season is different from year to year depending on the weather forecast.
The cherry blossom season has huge importance to the people of Japan, who celebrate the days when the flowers finally blossom. Only a few days later, the petals(花瓣） fall to the ground, like pink snowflakes. This is one of the most beautiful things to see. In Japan, almost everyone has picnics in the parks to view the flowers.
Sinhalese New Year--Sri Lanka
Dates: 13th or 14th, April
Just like in many other countries in South an South East Asia, this is the time when the Sinhalese celebrate the traditional New Year, an ancient celebration which marks the end of the harvest season and is one of two times of the year when the sun is straight above Sri Lanka. There are a lot of delicious foods during the celebration.What does the underlined word “soaked” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?
| A．tired | B．wet | C．crazy | D．interested |
The writer thinks that the “land diving ceremony” can be dangerous for the divers because ___________.
| A．the divers may fall onto the ground if the thin vines break |
| B．the divers may bump into （撞在…上）the wooden tower on the way down |
| C．the divers’ ankles may get injured if the vines are tied too tightly |
| D．the divers may injure their heads if the vines aren’t measured properly |
. We can learn from the passage that__________________.
| A．the Cherry Blossom Celebration usually lasts a long time in Japan |
| B．the Cherry Blossom Celebration is the most important festival in Japan |
| C．the time for the Cherry Blossom Celebration in Japan can be different yearly |
| D．people usually stay at home for celebration during the cherry blossom season |
Harry is eighteen now. He studies in a middle school. His parents like him very much and hope he can become a famous man. So they often tell him to study hard and they do all for him. They call him at six in the morning. After breakfast his father takes him to school in a car and in the afternoon, as soon as the young man comes back, the supper is ready. Of course, he never washes his clothes or goes to buy something in the shops.
Once Harry’s father was sent to London on business. He would stay there for half a year. Before leaving, he told his wife to take good care of their son. The woman had to get up earlier and did all that her husband did before. And two months later she was so tired that she was ill in bed. Now the young man got into trouble. He couldn’t do any housework. He had to do as his mother told him. Even he didn’t know where to get on the bus!
Yesterday Harry’s mother found his shoes were worn out and told him to buy a new pair in the shop. But he didn’t know how to choose. The woman had a sigh(叹息) and gave him a shoe pattern(鞋样) and told him to buy a pair of shoes himself. It’s Saturday today and Harry doesn’t go to school. With a policeman’s help, he found a shop. The shopkeeper was friendly to him. The man brought a lot of shoes and asked him to choose. When he was trying on a pair, suddenly he remembered something and took them off. The man was surprised and asked, “What’s the matter, young man?”
“I’m sorry. I’ve left the shoe pattern at home!” _______ always does some housework in the morning.
| A．Harry’s father | B．Harry’s mother | C．Harry | D．Nobody |
Harry’s parents do all instead of him because _______.
| A．he’s too young | B．he has poor health |
| C．he’s busy with his studies | D．they hope he spends all time on studies |
When the man was in London, _______.
| A．Harry had to stay at home | B．Harry couldn’t find the bus stop |
| C．Harry fell behind in his class | D．Harry wouldn’t go to school |
We can infer from the passage that _______.
| A．Harry wanted his mother to buy shoes for him |
| B．Harry didn’t believe himself |
| C．Harry wouldn’t listen to his mother |
| D． Harry was strong enough to buy shoes for himself |
School education is very important and useful. Yet no one can learn everything from school. A teacher, no matter how much he knows, can not teach his students everything they want to know. The teacher’s job is to show his students how to learn. He teaches them how to read and how to think. So much more is to be learned outside school by the students themselves.
It is always more important to know how to study by oneself than to learn some facts or a formula by heart. It is actually quiet easy to learn a certain fact in history or a formula(公式) in mathematics. But it is very difficult to use a formula in working out a maths problem. Great scientist, such as Einstein, Newton and Galileo, didn’t get everything from school. But they were all so successful and invented so many things for men. They worked hard all their lives, wasting not a single moment. They would ask many questions as they read and they did thousands of experiments.According to the passage, a good teacher should be one who is to_________.
| A．help his students to gain a good memory. |
| B．train his students’ ability to learn |
| C．teach his students everything he knows |
| D．have his students studying long hours |
If a student want to learn better, the most important thing for him to do is_______.
| A．to learn all the useful facts and formula by heart |
| B．to do everything as his teacher have said in class |
| C．to absorb (吸收) as much knowledge from his teacher as possible |
| D．to think more while he is studying |
The main reason for the success of the great scientists is that________.
| A．the teachers who had taught them were all experienced. |
| B．they used to work and study without a moment’s rest. |
| C．they had received more schooling than other people |
| D．they know how to study and worked hard |
What’s the good advice the writer gives us?
| A．We can learn better without teachers |
| B．We should do more asking and thinking while studying |
| C．We should pay enough attention to classroom |
| D．Book knowledge is of little use |
When I lived inSpain, some Spanish friends of mine decided to visitEnglandby car. Before they left, they asked me for advice about how to find accommodation (住所). I suggested that they should stay at“bed and breakfast”houses, because this kind of accommodation gives a foreign visitor a good chance to speak English with the family. My friends listened to my advice, but they came back with some funny stories.
“We didn’t stay at bed and breakfast houses,” they said, “because we found that most families were away on holiday.”
I thought this was strange. Finally I understood what had happened. My friends spoke little English, and they thought “VACANCIES” meant “holidays”, because the Spanish word for ‘holidays” is “vacaciones”. So they did not go to house where the sign(标牌) outside said ‘VACANCLES’, which in English means there are free rooms. Then my friends went to house where the sign said ‘NO VACANCLES’, because they thought this meant the people who owned the house were not away on holiday. But they found that these houses were all full. As a result, they stayed at hotels!
We laughed about this and about mistakes my friends made in reading other signs. In Spanish, the word ‘DIVERSION’ means fun. In English, it means that workmen are repairing the road, and that you must take a different road. When my friends saw the word ‘DIVERSION’ on a road sign, they thought they were going to have fun. Instead, the road ended in a large hole（洞）.
English people have problems too when they learn foreign languages. Once inParis when someone offered me some more coffee, I said ‘Thank you’ in French. I meant that I would like some more. However, to my surprise, the coffee pot was taken away! Later I found out that ‘Thank you’ in French means ‘No, thank you.’My Spanish friends wanted advice about ______.
| A．learning English |
| B．finding places to stay inEngland |
| C．driving their car on English roads |
| D．going toEnglandby car |
I suggested that they stay at bed and breakfast houses because ______.
| A．they would be able to practise their English |
| B．it would be much cheaper than staying in hotels |
| C．it would be convenient for them to have dinner |
| D．there would be no problem about finding accommodation there |
“NO VACANCIES” in English means ______.
| A．no free rooms | B．free rooms | C．not away on holiday | D．Holidays |
If you see a road sign that says ‘Diversion’, you will ______.
| A．fall into a hole |
| B．have a lot of fun and enjoy yourself |
| C．find that the road is blocked by crowds of people |
| D．have to take a different road |
When someone offered me more coffee and I said ‘Thank you’ in French, I ______.
A didn’t really want any more coffee
B. wanted them to take the coffee pot away
C. really wanted some more coffee
D. wanted to express my politeness
Alice's Adventures in Wonderlandis one of the most loved children's books of all time, and many adultsenjoy it as well. It tells the story of a young girl named Alice, who follows a rabbit entering a magical world called Wonderland: she has many experiences which seem to change the rules of reasoning or commonsense. The popularity of the book comes from its imagination, interesting story, and art work.
The writer of the book is Lewis Carroll. In fact, Lewis Carroll was not the writer's real name. His realname was Charles Dodgson. One day, he took a boat ride down the Thames River to have a picnic withthree little girls who were friends of the family. To keep them entertained on the ride, he told them a story in which Alice, the middle child, was the main character. They enjoyed the story very much.
Charles later wrote the story down under the nameAlice's Adventures under Groundand gave it to Alice as a Christmas present. Later, he gave a copy to his friend George MacDonald. George read it to his childrenand they loved it. George suggested to Charles that he make a book from his story. Charles then wrote moreparts to the story until it was around 35,000 words. It was first printed in 1866, with art work by JohnTenniel, under the nameAlice's Adventures in Wonderland. The book was an immediate success.
One of its first fans was Queen Victoria. She immediately requested a collection of all of Lewis Carroll's works. She was surprised to find that they included many works on math. In fact, Charles Dodgson was a highly respected mathematician. This can be seen in many puzzles and plays on reasoning that appear in hisbooks and poems.
Since the story was first printed, it has kept selling up to the present day. It has been translated into over fifty languages and has had several movies based on it. The story is even mentioned in the popular 1999 film The Matrixby the character Morpheus.The passage is mainly about _____.
| A．Charles' family life |
| B．a girl's adventurous experience |
| C．a magical world called wonderland |
| D．the birth of a book and its lasting influences |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The writer published his works under his real name. |
| B．The character Alice was based on from George's child. |
| C．John contributed partly to the popularity of the book. |
| D．Charles offered a copy to George as a present. |
We can learn from the passage that _____.
| A．Queen Victoria asked for a few of Charles' writings |
| B．Charles was good at reasoning and writing |
| C．Charles had his works translated into fifty languages |
| D．The Matrix was based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland |
Which of the following is the right order of the passage?
a. Charles gave his story to Alice as a Christmas present.
b. Charles had a picnic with three little girls on the Thames.
c. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was first printed in l866.
d. More parts were added to the story by Charles.
e. The book won a large number of fans.
| A．c-b-a-d-e | B．c-a-b-e-d | C．b-a-d-c-e | D．b-a-c-e-d |