That summer I drank every day, everywhere I went. I had a bottle in my drawer next to me and a bottle next to my bed. I never did another drug, but I drank so much that my family finally asked a priest for help. My father gave me a bottle of medicine for alcoholism that produces unpleasant symptoms when users drink alcohol. I drank while taking it, which made me very sick. And I still drank.
When the priest came, he said, "Jimmy, doctors said that with your diseases and the amount of drinking you’re doing, you’d be lucky to live another six months. So your choice is either to stop drinking and live or to continue drinking and die within six months.”
I said, "I know I can't stop, so guess I'll have to die." The priest told my family what I said. My little brother–who is like my soul mate, looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, "But we don't want you to die." All I could think of was how desperately I had to get out of that room at that moment and have a drink.
But I finally stopped drinking. I was on the care team of my dentist Russell. A lot of people in New York knew him. At the time he was the most famous dentist in the city. He drank heavily and was also with AIDS, so I was selected to be on his care team. Everybody on the team was sober (清醒) but me. He went through dementia (痴呆) and died so quickly before my eyes. I stopped drinking and I’ve been with the disease for 35 years now. Why did the author’s father give him the bottle of medicine?
| A．He wanted him to cure his illness. |
| B．He was trying to keep him dying. |
| C．He thought the medicine could make him sick. |
| D．He believed it could prevent him drinking. |
What did the priest mean by saying to the author “…you’d be lucky to live another six months” in the second paragraph?
| A．The author would die after six weeks. |
| B．The author was too lucky to live for six months. |
| C．The author could hardly live for six months. |
| D．The author’s luck was only six months. |
How did the author stop drinking?
| A．The dentist Russell helped him to stop it. |
| B．He was persuaded by the dentist Russell’s death. |
| C．His care team managed to inspire him. |
| D．His little brother’s soul saved him. |
What can we learn from the above story?
| A．Drinking heavily increases AIDS patients’ illness. |
| B．Priests can cure many AIDS patients’ illnesses. |
| C．Drug taking and heavily drinking can cure AIDS patients. |
| D．Team work and patience can cure AIDS patients. |
The largest earthquake ( magnitude里氏 9.5) of the 20th century happened on May 22, 1960 off the coast of South Central Chile.
It generated(生成) one of the most destructive Pacific-wide tsunamis(海啸). Near the generating area, both the earthquake and the tsunami were very much destructive, particularly in the coastal area from Concepcion to the south end of Isla（岛） Chiloe. The largest tsunami damage occurred at Isla Chiloe---the coastal area closest to the epicenter(震中). Huge tsunami waves measuring as high as 25 meters arrived within 10 to 15 minutes after the earthquake, killing at least two hundred people, sinking all the boats, and flooding half a kilometer inland.
There was large damage and loss of life at Concepcion, Chile's top industrial city. Near the city of Valdivia, the earthquake and following aftershocks generated landslides which killed 18 people. At the port city of Valparaiso, a city of 200,000, many buildings collapsed. A total of 130,000 houses were destroyed --- one in every three in the earthquake zone and nearly 2,000,000 people were left homeless.
Total damage losses, including to agriculture and to industry, were estimated(估计) to be over a half billion dollars . The total number of death related with both the tsunami and the earthquake was never found accurately for the region. Estimates of deaths reached between 490 to 5,7002 with no distinction(差别) as to how many deaths were caused by the earthquake and how many were caused by the tsunami. However, it is believed that most of the deaths in Chile were caused by the tsunami. Where did the largest tsunami damage occurred?
| A．Concepcion | B．Isla Chiloe | C．Valdivia | D．Valparaiso |
What can we learn about the tsunami waves generated by the earthquake?
| A．The tsunami waves as high as 25 meters arrived immediately after the earthquake. |
| B．The tsunami waves killed 200 people and sank all boats. |
| C．The tsunami waves were very destructive. |
| D．The tsunami waves flooded half of the inland. |
What is generally thought the main cause of deaths in Chile?
| A．landslides | B．the tsunami | C．aftershocks | D．the magnitude 9.5 earthquake |
What is the total number of deaths in the earthquake?
| A．2,000,000 | B．between 490 to 57，002 |
| C．200,000 | D．it was hard to know. |
What does the underlined word “collapsed” probably mean ?
| A．was destroyed | B．caught fire | C．was flooded | D．sank |
YANGON -- Myanmar has officially accepted an offer of the United States to send humanitarian aid(人道主义援助) to the country's cyclone(飓风;暴风)victims, state radio reported Friday in a night broadcast Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister U Kyaw Thu gave the assurance Friday, saying that the country is receiving such relief aid from any country without limit at this time according to its policy(政策) of dealing with the disaster, the report said.
Kyaw Thu denied rumors about Myanmar's turning down of such relief materials from Western countries but accept those from nations in good relations with Myanmar, saying that the country has never done so in this case.
Kyaw Thu said that well wishers abroad may make cash donation（捐赠）through Myanmar embassies（使馆）stationed there, while those who like to donate relief goods may present at the Yangon International Airport and seaports.
According to the report, the US relief aid would arrive in Yangon in days.
A foreign ministry's statement said earlier on Friday that at this moment, the international community can best help the victims by donating emergency provisions such as medical supplies, food, cloth, electricity generator, and materials for emergency shelter or with financial assistance," adding that "Myanmar will wholeheartedly welcome such course of action".
The government and the people of Myanmar are grateful to the friendly nations, the United Nations, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, private individuals and others for their sympathy and generosity." it said. Which of the following is true?
| A．The US relief aid was turned down at first and then accepted. |
| B．The US relief aid has been sent to the capital city of Myanmar. |
| C．There are rumors（谣言）that Myanmar has turned down the US relief aid. |
| D．Myanmar will wholeheartedly welcome such course of action but the US relief aid. |
We Chinese may denote money to help the country's cyclone victims（受害者） through_____.
| A．Myanmar embassies in Beijing. |
| B．the Yangon International Airport |
| C．the United Nations |
| D．the Yangon International seaports. |
What can the international community（组织）best help the victims in Myanmar?
| A．medical supplies | B．financial assistance |
| C．electricity generator | D．all of the above. |
What is Myanmar’s policy toward the aids from abroad?
| A．Myanmar prefers cash donation to relief goods. |
| B．Myanmar only receives emergency provisions such as medical supplies, food, cloth, electricity generator, etc. |
| C．Myanmar receives donation relief aid from any country without any limit. |
| D．Myanmar prefers relief goods to cash donation. |
The title that best expresses the idea of the passage is _______.
| A．How to help Myanmar. |
| B．Myanmar accepts US humanitarian aid officially. |
| C．Myanmar is receiving relief aid from any country without limit. |
| D．The government and the people of Myanmar are grateful. |
It seems that politicians around the world are thinking about the health of their countries. While in China, Chen Zhu has announced his plans for a universal（全体的，普遍的）health service and reform across health services. Gordon Brown, the UK Prime Minister, has also announced he is planning to make some changes in our health service.
The crux（关键）of Mr. Brown's proposals are related to giving the NHS (National Health Service) a greater focus on prevention, rather than just curing patients.
He is planning to introduce increased screening for common diseases such as heart disease, strokes（中风）, and cancer, for example, breast cancer. In Britain there are 200,000 deaths a year from heart attacks and strokes, many of which might have been avoided if the condition had been known about.
Initially, the diagnostic (诊断的) tests will be available for those who are vulnerable, or most likely to have the disease. One example is a plan to offer all men over 65 an ultrasound test to check for problems with the main artery (动脉), a condition which kills 3,000 men a year.
The opposition have criticized Mr. Brown's proposals, saying that they are just a trick, and claiming that there is no proper timetable for the changes. They also say that Mr. Brown is reducing the money available for the treatment of certain conditions while putting more money towards testing for them.
The NHS was founded in 1948, and is paid for by taxation. The idea is that the rich pay more towards the health service than the poor. However in recent years there has been a great increase in the use of private healthcare, because it’s much quicker. NHS waiting lists for operations can be very long, so many people who can afford it choose to pay for medical care themselves.The underlined word vulnerable in the fourth paragraph probably means ________.
| A．sick | B．weak | C．wounded | D．old |
All the following statements are true except that _________.
| A．all people should pay for their healthcare at the NHS. |
| B．some people are against the reform of the healthcare. |
| C．the writer is likely to come from Britain. |
| D．more money will be spent on testing people than before. |
Which of the following is the reason for the increasing private healthcare?
| A．People are paying more attention to their own health. |
| B．People are well off enough to pay their healthcare. |
| C．The NHS was not available for most of the people. |
| D．It’s not so convenient for people to go to the NHS for their healthcare. |
According to the passage, the purpose of the health reform plan in the UK is to _______
| A．encourage more private healthcare. |
| B．focus on the prevention rather than on curing the patient. |
| C．deal with the main artery problems. |
| D．fight against the opposition in the UK. |
The author of this passage intends to tell us _________.
| A．the NHS should be reformed right away. |
| B．more and more people are dying from diseases. |
| C．the plan to reform the NHS in the UK. |
| D．the criticism of Mr. Brown's proposals. |
Hunting
The days of the hunter are almost over in India. This is partly because there is practically nothing left to kill, and partly because some steps have been taken, mainly by banning tiger-shooting, to protect those animals which still survive.
Some people say that Man is naturally a hunter. I disagree with this view. Surely out earliest forefathers, who at first possessed no weapons, spent their time digging for roots, and were no doubt themselves often hunted by meat-eating animals.
I believe the main reason why the modern hunter kills is that he thinks people will admire his courage in overpowering dangerous animals. Of course, there are some who truly believe that the killing is not really the important thing, and that the chief pleasure lies in the joy of the hunt and the beauties of the wild countryside. There are also those for whom hunting in fact offers a chance to prove themselves and risk death by design; these men go out after dangerous animals like tigers, even if they say they only do it to rid the countryside of a threat. I can respect reasons like these, but they are clearly different from the need to strengthen your high opinion of yourself.
The greatest big-game hunters expressed in their writings something of these finer motives(动机).One of them wrote.
“You must properly respect what you are after and shoot it cleanly and on the animal’s own territory(领地)。You must fix forever in your mind all the wonders of that particular day. This is better than letting him grow a few years older to be attacked and wounded by his own son and eventually eaten, half alive, by other animals, Hunting is not a cruel and senseless killing – not if you respect the thing you kill, not if you kill to enrich your memories, not if you kill to feed your people.”
I can understand such beliefs, and can compare these hunters with those who hunted lions with spears(矛) and bravely caught them by the tail. But this is very different from many tiger—shoots I have seen, in which modern weapons were used.The so—called hunters fired from tall trees or from the backs of trained elephants. Such methods made tigers seem no more dangerous than rabbits. There is no more hunting in India now partly because___.
| A．it is dangerous to hunt there |
| B．hunting is already out of date |
| C．hunters want to protect animals |
| D．there are few animals left to hunt |
The author thinks modern hunters kill mainly____.
| A．to make the countryside safe |
| B．to earn people’s admiration |
| C．to gain power and influence |
| D．to improve their health |
What do we learn about the big-game hunters?
| A．They hunt old animals |
| B．They mistreat animals |
| C．They hunt for food |
| D．They hunt for money |
What is the author’s view on the tiger-shoots he has seen?
| A．Modern hunters lack the courage to hunt face-to-face |
| B．Modern hunters should use more advanced weapons |
| C．Modern hunters like to hunt rabbits instead of tigers |
| D．Modern hunters should put their safety first |
The Best of Friends
The evidence for harmony may not be obvious in some families. But it seems that four out of five young people now get on with their parents, which is the opposite of the popularly held image(印象)of unhappy teenagers locked in their room after endless family quarrels.
An important new study into teenage attitudes surprisingly shows that their family life is more harmonious than it has ever been in the past.” We were surprised by just how positive today’s young people seen to be about their families,” said one member of the research team.” They’re expected to be rebellious(叛逆的) and selfish but actually they have other things on their minds; they want a car and material goods, and they worry about whether school is serving them well. There’s more negotiation(商议) and discussion between parents and children, and children expect to take part in the family decision-making process. They don’t want to rock the boat.”
So it seems that this generation of parents is much more likely than parents of 30 years ago to treat their children as friends.” My parents are happy to discuss things with me and willing to listen to me,” says 17-years-old Daniel Lazall.” I always tell them when I’m going out clubbing. As long as they know what I’m doing, they’re fine with it.”Susan Crome, who is now 21, agrees.”Looking back on the last 10 years, there was a lot of what you could call negotiation. For example, as long as I’d done all my homework ,I could go out on a Saturday night. But I think my grandparents were a lot stricter with my parents than that.”
Maybe this positive view of family life should not be unexpected. It is possible that the idea of teenagers’ rebellion is not rooted in real facts. A researcher comments,” Our surprise that teenagers say they get along well with their parents comes because of a brief period in out social history when teenagers were regarded as different beings. But that idea of rebelling and breaking away from their parents really only happened during that one time in the 1960s when everyone rebelled. The normal situation throughout history has been a smooth change from helping out with the family business to taking it over.” What is the popular images of teenagers today?
| A．They worry about school | B．They dislike living with their parents |
| C．They have to be locked in to avoid troubles | D．They quarrel a lot with other family members |
The study shows that teenagers don’t want to ___
| A．share family responsibility | B．cause trouble in their families |
| C．go boating with their family | D．make family decisions |
Compared with parents of 30 years age, today’s parents___.
| A．go to clubs more often with their children | B．are much stricter with their children |
| C．care less about their children’s life | D．give their children more freedom |
According to the author, teenage rebellion____.
| A．may be a false belief | B．is common nowadays |
| C．existed only in the 1960s | D．resulted from changes in families |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Negotiation in family | B．Education in family |
| C．Harmony in family | D．Teenage trouble in family |