One day I heard that one of my dear friends had lost his mother. This made me sad, for my friend was very close to his mother. He had been by her side as she traveled through her long and hard journey with cancer. At this time, many memories about my loved ones that had passed away came flooding to me. Finally these memories passed, but it was really sad to think that my friend would have to go through the pain.
Three times I tried to write an email to my friend and three times words failed me. I am a person who is not often lost for words and I decided to have a sleep. Upon waking up I could hardly wait for my computer to work, the words I needed were there. I was still left with a heavy heart although I had sent an email.
Everything in this universe is balanced and indeed it is. Three days later, I received his reply letter. I was happy to hear that he’d been admitted to (录取) Cambridge University. It served as a gentle reminder for me that my friend would be okay and that life would go on.
Everything in life is balanced; the lowest feelings change places with the highest feelings. Without the lows, we would never appreciate the highs. No matter how dark the clouds seem to be, the sunshine is always there and just waiting for the opportunity to shine through. When the author learnt her friend had lost his mother, she ______.
| A．gave him some money |
| B．wrote an email to him |
| C．went to visit him |
| D．went for a journey with him |
What good news did the author’s friend receive?
| A．He received the author’s email. |
| B．He was told that life would go on. |
| C．He would go to Cambridge University. |
| D．His life would go back to normal again |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?
| A．The author wrote four emails to her friend. |
| B．The mother of the author’s friend died from cancer. |
| C．The author’s friend is a teacher in Cambridge University. |
| D．The author felt relaxed after sending the email. |
From the text, we can learn that the author is ______.
| A．sincere and warm-hearted |
| B．proud and confident |
| C．serious and friendly |
| D．funny and responsible |
The author aims to tell us that ______.
| A．life is not fair to everybody |
| B．time waits for no man |
| C．everyone has good and bad times in life |
| D．where there is a will, there is a way |
Cheating can happen in a lot of different ways. When people cheat, it’s not fair to other people, like the kids who studied for the test or who were the true winners of a game.
Many people like the action of cheating. It makes difficult things seem easy, like getting all the right answers on the test. But it doesn’t solve the problem of not knowing the material and it won’t help on the next test --- unless the person cheats again.
Some people lose respect for cheaters and think less of them. The cheaters themselves may feel bad because they know they are not really earning that good grade. And, if they get caught cheating, they will be in trouble at school, and maybe at home, too.
Some kids cheat because they’re busy or lazy and they want to get good grades without spending the time studying. Other kids might feel like they can’t pass the test without cheating. Even when there seems to be a “good reason” for cheating, cheating isn’t a good idea.
If you were sick or upset about something the night before and couldn’t study, it would be better to talk with the teacher about this. And if you don’t have enough time to study for a test because of swim practice, you need to talk with your parents about how to balance swimming and school. A kid who thinks cheating is the only way to pass a test needs to talk with the teacher and his or her parents so they can find some solutions together. Talking about these problems and working them out will feel better than cheating.（291 words）Some students like cheating mainly because_________.
| A．the material in the test is very difficult |
| B．they want to do better than the others |
| C．cheating can make hard things seem very easy |
| D．they have little time to study their lessons |
We can learn from the passage______.
| A．cheaters are often thought highly of |
| B．people show no respect for those who cheat |
| C．parents whose kids cheat are often in trouble |
| D．kids cheat in the test because of swim practice |
In the passage those cheaters are advised to_______.
| A．spend more time on school than on sports |
| B．find good solutions instead of cheating |
| C．try hard to be intelligent rather than lazy |
| D．ask their classmates for good methods of study |
If you look up the word “create” in the dictionary , you will find it means “to bring into being, to cause something each of us does daily to exist”．
We are creative whenever we look at or think about something in a new way. First, this includes an awareness of our surroundings．It means using all of our senses to become aware of our world．This may be as simple as being aware of color and texture（质地）, as well as taste, when we plan a meal．Above all, it is the ability to notice things that others might miss．
A second part of creativity is an ability to see relationships among things．There is nothing new under the sun. The creativity is remaking or recombining（重组） the old in new ways. For example, we might do this by finding a more effective way to study or a better way to arrange our furniture, or we might make a new combination of camera lenses and filters to create an unusual photograph．
A third part of creativity is the courage and drive to make use of our new ideas, to ask for them to achieve some new results．To think up a new idea is one thing; to put the idea to work is another．
These three parts of creativity are included in all the great works of geniuses, but they are also included in many of our day-to-day activities．(257 words)Which of the following activities is NOT a creative one according to the passage?
| A．To prepare for a meal． |
| B．To arrange the furniture in a special way． |
| C．To buy some books from a bookstore． |
| D．To “write” a letter with the computer． |
“There is nothing new under the sun” really implies that _________．
| A．a new thing can only be created at the basis of earlier things |
| B．a new thing is only a tale |
| C．we can seldom create new things |
| D．we can hardly see really new things in the world |
What is the relationship between a new thought and its being put into practice?
| A．It’s more difficult to create a new thought than to put it into practice． |
| B．To find a new thought will clearly lead to the production of a new thing． |
| C．A man with an excellent ability of practice can easily become an inventor． |
| D．One may come up with a new thought, but may not put it into practice． |
The best title for this passage is__________．
| A．How to Develop One’s Creativity |
| B．What Is Creativity |
| C．The Importance of Creativity |
| D．Creativity, a Not Faraway Thing |
XI’AN---Seven people died in a fire early on Wednesday morning in Xi’an, capital of Shanxi Province. A restaurant with a karaoke hall in the southern suburbs caught fire around 2 a. m. and seven waitresses who were sleeping on the second floor of the restaurant were killed. The restaurant was completely destroyed and the waitresses, the local police said, were killed by toxic smoke from burning decorations.
MANILA---Four people were killed yesterday in the central Philippine island of Tacloban when a bomb they had dug up exploded, local police were quoted as saying. The four people were digging to set up a septic（poisonous）tank in their house when they dug up the bomb. It went off, killing all four people, local police were quoted by radio station DZBB as saying. The police did not say where the bomb came from. Unexploded bombs from World War II are still discovered around the Philippines once in a while.
TEL AVIV---An Israeli couple kissed for 30 hours and 45 minutes which, a spokeswoman said yesterday, was a world record. The couple, both in their twenties, started kissing on Monday at 8:30 p.m. along with 250 other couples in a contest. “For nearly 31 hours they didn’t eat, drink, talk or even go to the bathroom. And the whole time, they were standing up”, said Arielle Goldman, who handled public relations for the event. She said a representative of the Guinness Book of World Records was on hang to witness the event, recorded on video. The previous record was 29 hour and 37 minutes, Goldman said. The winning couple received two round-the-world plane tickets and $2,500. (277 words)Which of the following statements is right?
| A．The news report didn’t mention the loss caused by the fire. |
| B．After reading the report we know how the fire broke out. |
| C．The reporter tended to think the bomb had something to do with World War II |
| D．The police refused to admit the bomb had anything to do with World War II. |
The underlined word “toxic” means _____.
| A．poisonous | B．dangerous | C．hot | D．thick |
The Israeli couple kissed for nearly 31 hours_____.
| A．to test their endurance | B．to set a new world record |
| C．to show their special love | D．to prove they are very healthy |
Why did so many couples take part in the contest?
| A．Because it was a good chance to enjoy themselves. |
| B．Because they were poor and wanted to gain the 2,500 dollars. |
| C．Because they wanted to attract people’s attention. |
| D．Because they aimed at the honor and prize. |
I travel a lot, and I find out different “styles” of directions every time I ask “How can I get to the post office?”
Foreign tourists are often confused in Japan because most streets there don’t have names. In Japan, people use landmarks(地标) in their directions instead of street names. For example, the Japanese will say to travelers, “Go straight down to the corner. Turn left at the big hotel and go past a fruit market. The post office is across from the bus stop.”
In the countryside of the American Midwest, there are not usually many landmarks. There are no mountains, so the land is very flat; in many places there are no towns or buildings within miles. Instead of landmarks, people will tell you directions and distances. In Kansas or Iowa, for example, people will say, “Go north two miles. Turn east, and then go another mile.”
People in Los Angeles, California, have no idea of distance on the map. They measure distance in time, not miles. “How far away is the post office?” you ask. “Oh,” they answer, “it’s about five minutes from here.” You say, “Yes, but how many miles away is it?” They don’t know.
It’s true that a person doesn’t know the answer to your question sometimes. What happens in such a situation? A New Yorker might say, “Sorry, I have no idea.” But in Yucatan, Mexico, no one answers “I don’t know.” People in Yucatan believe that “I don’t know” is impolite. They usually give an answer, often a wrong one. A tourist can easily get lost in Yucatan! (268 words)When a tourist asks the Japanese the way to a certain place, they usually ______.
| A．describe the place carefully | B．show him a map of the place |
| C．tell him the names of the streets | D．refer to recognizable buildings and places |
What is the place where people measure distance in time?
| A．New York. | B．Los Angeles. | C．Kansas. | D．Iowa. |
People in Yucatan may give a tourist a wrong answer ______.
| A．in order to save time | B．to show the right way |
| C．so as to be polite | D．for fun |
What can we infer from the text?
| A．It’s important for travelers to understand cultural differences. |
| B．It’s useful for travelers to know how to ask the way properly. |
| C．People have similar understandings of politeness. |
| D．New Yorkers are generally friendly to visitors. |
To wash yourself, you take a bath(洗澡) or a shower. Animals need to keep clean, too. How do animals clean themselves?
Cats lick（舔）themselves to keep their fur clean. Have you ever watched a pet cat clean itself?
Elephants take baths much as you do. But instead of jumping into the tub（浴缸）, they walk into a river or lake.
Pigs also like to roll around in water. This keeps them clean and cool. If there is no clean water, they will roll in mud（泥）on a hot day. They do this to cool off. Pigs do not really like mud. They are happier in a nice, clean pond(水池).
Bats have a funny way to keep clean. They lick their thumbs to clean their ears!
Guess how polar bears clean themselves. They use snow, of course!
Some animals take baths in dust instead of water! The wombat(毛鼻袋熊) is an Australian animal with lots of fur. To get clean, it lies down. Then it covers itself with sand!
Birds clean themselves in many ways. Sometimes they wash in water. That’s why some people put birdbaths in their yard. At other times birds take dust baths, just like wombats. Birds also use their beaks（喙）to keep their feathers clean. They use their beaks the way you use a comb.
Sometimes a bird has itchy bugs（发痒的虫子）in its feathers. Birds may use ants to help them clean off the bugs. A bird will lie down on an ant nest. Then the ants will crawl on the bird. The ants make a kind of bug spray（喷雾）on the feathers;. Then the itchy bugs die!
Birds take baths in something else besides dust and ants! Some birds take “smoke baths” They sit on chimneys. They wave their wings in the smoke!This passage mainly tells us .
| A．why some people put birdbaths in their yard | B．why birds allow ants to crawl on their body |
| C．how animals cool off on hot days | D．how some animals keep clean |
What is a pig’s favorite way to get clean?
| A．Licking itself. | B．Lying down on ants. |
| C．Rolling in nice, thick mud. | D．Taking a bath in clean water. |
Which of the following animals use dust to clean themselves?
| A．Cats. | B．Bats. | C．Wombats. | D．Ants. |