Sunny countries are often poor. A shame, then, that solar power is still quite expensive. Eight19, a British company by Cambridge University, has, however, invented a novel way to get round this. In return for a deposit of around $10 it is supplying poor Kenyan families with a solar cell able to generate 2.5 watts of electricity, a battery that can deliver a three amp（安培） current to store this electricity, and a lamp whose bulb is a light-emitting diode（二极管）. The firm thinks that this system, once the battery is fully charged, is enough to light two small rooms and to power a mobile-phone charger for seven hours. Then, next day, it can be put outside and charged back up again.
The trick is that, to be able to use the electricity, the system's keeper must buy a scratch card—for as little as a dollar—on which is printed a reference number. The keeper sends this reference, plus the serial number of the household solar unit, by SMS to Eight19. The company's server will respond automatically with an access code to the unit.
Users may consider that they are paying an hourly rate for their electricity. In fact, they are paying off the cost of the unit. After buying around $80 worth of scratch cards—which Eight19 expects would take the average family around 18 months—the user will own it. He will then have the option of continuing to use it for nothing, or of trading it in for a bigger one, perhaps driven by a 10-watt solar cell.
In that case, he would go then through the same process again, paying off the additional cost of the upgraded kit at a slightly higher rate. Users would therefore increase their electricity supply steadily and affordably.
According to Eight19's figures, this looks like a good deal for customers. The firm believes the average energy-starved Kenyan spends around $10 a month on oil—enough to fuel a couple of smoky lamps—plus $2 on charging his mobile phone in the market-place. Regular users of one of Eight19's basic solar units will spend around half that, before owning it completely. Meanwhile, as the cost of solar technology falls, it should get even cheaper. The underlined word “get round” in the first paragraph can be replaced by _______ .
| A．make use of | B．come up with | C．look into | D．deal with |
What should the user do when the electricity in the battery is used up?
| A．Buy a scratch card. | B．Recharge it outside. |
| C．Buy another solar cell. | D．Return it to the company. |
How much would users pay for the cell and scratch cards before they own a 2.5-watt solar cell?
| A．Around $10. | B．Around $80. | C．Around $90. | D．Around $180. |
It can be inferred from the last paragraph that ____________.
| A．Kenyan families would find it difficult to afford the solar cell |
| B．using the solar cell would help Kenyan families save money |
| C．few Kenyan families use mobile phones for lack of electricity |
| D．the company will make a great profit from selling solar cells |
What might be the most suitable title for the passage?
| A．Solar Energy: Starting from Scratch. |
| B．Eight19: a creative British Company. |
| C．Kenyan Families: Using Solar Energy for Free. |
| D．Poor Countries: Beginning to Use Solar Energy. |
How do you address(称呼) people in English when you want to talk to them? The following may be some simple rules the beginners should follow.
1. When talking to strangers there is often no special form of address in English. Usually, if you want to catch the attention of a stranger it is necessary to use such phrases as “Excuse me”.
2. In British English “Sir” and “Madam” are considered to be too formal for most situations. They are used mostly to customers in shops or restaurants. While in American English “Sir” and “Madam” are not so formal and are commonly used between strangers, especially with old people whose names you don’t know.
3. When you talk to some people you know, you can use their names. If you are friends, use their first names; if your relationship is more formal, use “Mr., “Mrs.”, “Ms”, etc, before their family names.
4. There are many other forms of address which can be used between friends and strangers. However, many of these are limited in use. For example, “pal” and “mate” can be used between strangers, but are usually only used by men talking to other men. According to the passage, “Excuse me” is mainly used to _____.
| A．address a person you don’t know | B．apologize to others |
| C．catch the attention of a stranger | D．suggest good manners |
If John Smith is your best friend, according to the passage you should often call him _____.
| A．John | B．Smith | C．Mr. John | D．Mr. Smith |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．“Sir” and “Madam” are used more often in America than in England. |
| B．People often use “Mr.”, “Mrs.” or “Ms.” before the first names of those people who they don’t know very well. |
| C．“Pal” and “mate” are usually only used among men. |
| D．While addressing friends, people just use their first names. |
The passage is mostly likely taken from an English _____.
| A．textbook | B．card | C．storybook | D．grammar book |
I was a freshman in college when I met the Whites. They were completely different from my own family, yet I felt at home with them immediately. Jane White and I became friends at school, and her family welcomed me like a long-lost cousin.
In my family, it was always important to place blame when anything had happened.
“Who did this?” my mother would scream about a dirty kitchen.
“This is your entire fault, Katherine,” my father would insist when the cat got out or the dishwasher broke.
From the time we were little, my sister, brothers and I told to each other. We set a place for blame at the dinner table.
But the Whites didn’t worry about who had done what. They picked up the pieces and moved on with their lives. The beauty of this was driven home to me the summer Jane died.
In July, the Whites sisters and I decided to take a car trip from their home in Florida to New York. The two older sisters, Sarah and Jane, were college students, and the youngest, Amy, had recently turned sixteen. Proud of having a new drivers license, Amy was excited about practicing her driving on the trip. She showed off her license to everyone she met.
The big sisters shared the driving of Sarah’s new car during the first part of the trip, but when they reached less crowded areas, they let Amy take over. Somewhere in South Carolina, we pulled off the highway to eat. After lunch, Amy got behind the wheel. She came to a crossroads with a stop sign. Whether she was nervous or just didn’t see the sign no one would ever know, but Amy continued into the crossroads without stopping. The driver of a large truck, unable to stop in time, ran into our car.
Jane was killed immediately.
I was slightly injured. The most difficult thing that I had ever done was to call the Whites to tell them about the accident and that Jane had died. Painful as it was for me to lose a good friend, I knew that it was far worse for them to lose a child.
When Mr. and Mrs. White arrived at the hospital, they found their two daughters sharing a room. Sarah had a few cuts on the head; Amy’s leg was broken. They hugged us all and cried tears of sadness and of joy at seeing their daughters. They wiped away the girl’s tears and made a few jokes at Amy as she learned to use her crutches(拐杖).
To both of their daughters, and especially to Amy, over and over they simply said, “We are so glad that you are alive.”
I was astonished. No blame. No accusations.
Later, I asked the Whites why they never talked about the fact that Amy was driving and had run a stop sign.
Mrs. White said, “Jane is gone, and we miss her terribly. Nothing we say or do will bring her back. But Amy has her whole life ahead of her. How can she lead a full and happy life if she feels we blame her for her sister’s death?”
They were right. Amy graduated from the University of California and got married several years ago. She works as a teacher of learning-disabled students. She’s also a mother of two little girls of her own, the oldest named Jane. How did the author’s parents differ from the Whites?
| A．The author’s parents were less caring. | B．The author’s parents were less loving. |
| C．The author’s parents were less friendly | D．The author’s parents were less understanding |
How did the accident happen?
| A．Amy didn’t stop at a crossroad and a truck hit their car. |
| B．Amy didn’t know what to do when she saw the stop sign. |
| C．Amy didn’t slow down so their car ran into a truck. |
| D．Amy didn’t get off the highway at a crossroad. |
The accident took place in _____.
| A．Florida | B．California | C．South Carolina | D．New York |
The Whites did not blame Amy for Jane’s death because _____.
| A．they didn’t want Amy to feel ashamed and sorry for the rest of her life |
| B．Amy was badly injured herself and they didn’t want to add to her pain |
| C．They didn’t want to blame their children in front of others |
| D．Amy was their youngest daughter and they loved her best |
From the passage we can learn that _____.
| A．Amy has never recovered from the shock | B．Amy changed her job after the accident |
| C．Amy lost her memory after the accident | D．Amy has lived quite a normal life |
Children have their own rules in playing games. They seldom need a referee(裁判) and rarely trouble to keep scores. They don’t care much about who wins or loses, and it doesn’t seem to worry them if the game is not finished. Yet, they like games that depend a lot on luck, so that their personal abilities cannot be directly compare. They also enjoyed games that move in stages, in which each stage, the choosing of leaders, the picking-up of sides, or the determining of which side shall start, is almost a game in itself.
Grown-ups can hardly find children’s game exciting, and they often feel puzzled at why their kids play such simple game again and again. However, it is found that a child plays games for very important reasons. He can be a good player without having to think whether he is a popular person, and he can find himself being a useful partner to someone of whom he is ordinary afraid. He becomes a leader when it comes to his turn. He can be confident, too, in particular games, that it is his place to give orders, to pretend to be dead, to throw a ball actually at someone, or to kiss someone he has caught.
It appears to us that when children play a game they imagine a situation under their control. Everyone knows the rules, and more importantly, everyone plays according to the rules. Those rules may be childish, but they make sure that every child has a chance to win.What is true about children when they play games?
| A．They can stop playing any time they like. | B．They can test their personal abilities. |
| C．They want to pick a better team. | D．They don’t need rules. |
To become a leader in a game the child has to _____.
| A．play | B．wait for his turn |
| C．be confident in himself | D．be popular among his playmates |
What do we know about grown-ups?
| A．They are not interested in games |
| B．They find children’s games too easy |
| C．They don’t need a reason to play games |
| D．They don’t understand children’s games |
Why does a child like playing games?
| A．Because he can be someone other than himself. |
| B．Because he can become popular among friends. |
| C．Because he finds he is always lucky in games. |
| D．Because he likes the place where he plays a game. |
The writer believes that _____.
| A．children should make better rules for their games |
| B．children should invite grown-ups to play with them |
| C．children’s games can do them a lot of good |
| D．children play games without reasons |
Short and shy, Ben Saunders was the last kid in his class picked for any sports team. “Football, tennis Cricket—anything with a round ball, I was useless, “he says now with a laugh. But back then he was the object of jokes in school gym classes in England’s rural Devonshire.
It was a mountain bike he received for his 15th birthday that changed him. At first the teen went biking alone in a nearby forest. Then he began to cycle along with a runner friend. Gradually, Saunders set his mind building up his body, increasing his speed, strength and endurance. At age 18, he ran his first marathon.
The following year, he met John Ridgway, who became famous in the 1960s for rowing an open boat across the Atlantic Ocean. Saunders was hired as an instructor at Ridgway’s school of Adventure in Scotland, where he learned about the older man’s cold-water exploits(成就).Intrigued, Saunders read all he could about Arctic explorers and North Pole expeditions, then decided that this would be his future.
Journeys to the Pole aren’t the usual holidays for British country boys, and many peiole dismissed his dream as fantasy. “John Ridgway was one of the few who didn’t say, ‘You are completely crazy, ’”Saunders says.
In 2001, after becoming a skilled skier, Saunders started his first long-distance expedition toward the North Pole. He suffered frostbite, had a closer encounter(遭遇) with a polar bear and pushed his body to the limit.
Saunders has since become the youngest person to ski alone to the North Pole, and he’s skied more of the Arctic by himself than any other Briton. His old playmates would not believe the transformation.
This October, Saunders, 27, heads south to explore from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and back, an 1800-mile journey that has never been completed on skis.The turning point in Saunders’life came when _____
| A．he started to play ball games |
| B．he got a mountain bike at age 15 |
| C．he ran his first marathon at age 18 |
| D．he started to receive Ridgway’s training |
We can learn from the text that Ridgway _______.
| A．dismissed Saunders’ dream as fantasy |
| B．built up his body together with Saunders |
| C．hired Saunders for his cold-water experience |
| D．won his fame for his voyage across the Atlantic |
What do we know about Saunders?
| A．He once worked at a school in Scotland. |
| B．He followed Ridgway to explore the North Pole. |
| C．He was chosen for the school sports team as a kid. |
| D．He was the first Briton to ski alone to the North Pole. |
The underlined word “Intrigued” in the third paragraph probably means_____.
| A．Excited | B．Convinced | C．Delighted | D．Fascinated |
It can be inferred tat Saunders’ journey to the North Pole ______.
| A．was accompanied by his old playmates |
| B．set a record in the North Pole expedition |
| C．was supported by other Arctic explorers |
| D．made him well-known in the 1960s |
The heart of Mexico is a high, oval valley surrounded by mountains. Once, forests covered the mountainsides, and broad, shining lakes covered nearly all the valley floor. Now, the mountains are bare and scarred with erosion（侵蚀）, and much of the valley floor is dry and dusty.
Cortez and his Spanish soldiers were the first Europeans to enter this valley. They saw the thriving Aztec city of Tenochtitlan rising from an island in one of the lakes. Surrounding it were green floating gardens. The Spaniards said it was as beautiful as a dream. Then the conquest began.
By 1521, when the Spaniards had conquered the fierce Aztecs, the island city was in ruins. Cortez decided to rebuild it after the pattern of European cities. Using the conquered Aztecs as slave laborers, Cortez built the new city, now Mexico City, in just four years.
“But a generation had scarcely passed after the conquest before a sad change came over these scenes so beautiful,” writes one historian. The broad, shining lakes began to dry up.
Modern historians believe that Cortez began the destruction of the valley’s lakes when be ordered the city rebuilt. A great deal of charcoal was needed to burn the limestone (石灰石) from which cement (水泥) and mortar were made. Wood was needed to finish the interiors of the buildings.
The mountainside forests were destroyed to provide the charcoal and wood. Once the sloped were bare, rainfall o longer seeped (渗漏) slowly into the earth to feed the springs that filled the valley’s lakes. Instead, rainfall poured off the mountainsides the city from floods, later rulers made a cut through the mountains so that the water drained away into another valley. Mexico City, once an island, had become a city of a dry plain. The underlined word “thriving” in the second paragraph means _______.
| A．developing successfully | B．increasing |
| C．failing | D．growing little |
Which statement does this article lead you to believe?
Keeping nature’s balance is not important any more.
Men thought nature’s resources would last forever.
New forests always automatically replace old ones.
The Aztecs didn’t begin to flourish until Cortez came. Why did later rulers cut through the mountains ?
They wanted to fill the city with rainwater.
They wanted the valleys to flood regularly.
They wanted to plant more trees.
They wanted to protect the city from floods. One the whole, the article tells about ______.
Mexico as it looked when it was a European city
Modern historians who write about Mexico City
Mexico city before and after the Spaniards came
The beautiful scenery in Mexico What is the author’s purpose of writing this article?
| A．To tell the beauty and ugliness of Mexico City |
| B．To introduce the terrible change of Mexico City |
| C．To explain how Mexico City changed |
| D．To make people aware of the importance of nature balance |