Once upon a time there was a precious sword. Now, this sword belonged to a great King, and for as long as anyone could remember, the King spent all his time in his place, enjoying its shows and competitions with other swords. One day a great dispute（争端）arouse between this King and the King of a neighbouring country. It ended with both declaring war.
The sword was greatly excited at the prospect of taking part in its first real battle. It would show everyone how truly brave and special it was, and would become well-known throughout the kingdom. On the way to the front line, the sword imagined itself the winner of many battles. However, when it arrived, the first battle had already broken out, and the sword got to see the results of the war. What it saw had nothing in common with what the sword had imagined. No elegant shining knights, successful, with their weapons shining in the sunlight. Instead, all the sword saw was broken weapons, and a large crowd of hungry and thirsty men. There was hardly any food left. Everything was covered in dirt and disgusting smell. Many were half dead and scattered on the ground, bleeding from multiple wounds.
Seeing this, the sword realized it liked neither wars nor battles. It decided it preferred to live in peace and spend its time taking part in tournaments and competitions. So, on the night before what was going to be the big final battle, the sword tried to find a way to prevent it from taking place. After a while, the sword started to vibrate（颤抖）. First it gave out a low buzz, and then this gradually got louder, until it became an annoying metallic noise. The swords and armour（盔甲）of the soldiers asked the King’s sword what it was doing. It told them, “I don’t want there to be a battle tomorrow. I don’t like war.”
One answered, “No one likes it, but what can we do?”
“Make yourself vibrate, just like what I’m doing,” said the King’s sword. “If we make enough noise, no one will sleep.”
So the weapons started vibrating, and the noise became deafening. It was so loud that it reached the enemy camp, and the weapons there, which were equally sick of war, joined the protest.
The next morning, when the battle should have begun, not a single soldier was ready to fight. No one had managed to get even a wink of sleep, not even the King or the Generals. So they spent the whole day catching up on sleep. During the evening they started to wake up, and decided to put off the battle until the next day.
However, the weapons, led by the King’s sword, spent the night repeating their peace song, and again no soldier could rest. The battle had to be postponed yet again, and this carried on for the next seven days. On the evening of the seventh day, the Kings of the two armies met to see what they could do about the situation. Both were very angry at their previous disputes, but after being together for a while they started to discuss their sleepless nights, the surprise on their soldiers’ faces, the confusion between day and night, and the amusing situations all this had created. It wasn’t long before both were laughing, like friends, at these little stories. Fortunately, they forgot their old disputes and they put an end to the war, each returning to their own land with the double joy. From the first paragraph, we can infer that _________.
| A．the great King was fond of his precious sword |
| B．a disagreement led to a war between Kings |
| C．the two Kings were once good friends before the war |
| D．the precious sword was used to entertain the great King |
What is the best word to describe the mood of the sword when it heard about the war?
| A．Worried | B．Fearful | C．Eager | D．peaceful |
When did the sword change its attitude to war?
| A．When it fought at the first battle |
| B．After it realized that it was not powerful |
| C．When it was on the way to the front line |
| D．After it saw the terrible results of the first battle |
What is the right order of the following events?
a. The noise was loud enough to reach the other side
b. The battle had to be postponed because the soldiers in both armies lacked sleep.
c. It let out continuous low noise
d. It persuaded other swords to join in.
e. All the weapons in both side confused day with night
| A．a, b, c, d, e | B．b, a, c, e, d |
| C．c, d, a, e, b | D．d, b, a, e, c |
According to the passage, how many times was the battle put off?
| A．Seven | B．Eight | C．Nine | D．Ten |
What do the underlined words in the last paragraph refer to?
| A．Both King’s sleepless nights |
| B．The end of war and being friends |
| C．The surprise on the soldiers’ faces |
| D．The confusion of day with night |
Rockwatch—The Best Club on Earth
If you are young and interested in geology(地质学), then Rockwatch is the club for you. When you apply for membership, you'll receive a Rockwatch Rox file each. It has the information and top tips you will need to start enjoying geology. It's designed to serve as your own field notebook as well.
In it you will find your
·membership card
·fullcolour minimap
·thumbsup guide
·fact cards
Rockwatch Magazine
Our lively magazine is mailed to members three times a year. They can read reports and news from around the world, and articles on everything from diamonds to dinosaurs, earthquakes to erosion(侵蚀)．
Rockwatch Events
With each magazine you will receive a Rockwatch events calendar. Rocky activities suitable for families are listed and include road shows and guided walks.
The Rockwatch Rock Artist
Are you an artist, or a photographer? This is your chance to turn Rockwatch Rock Artist of a year and win amazing prizes in our annual competition.
Special Offer
Rockwatch members can have specially discounted Wildlife Watch membership. Wildlife Watch is the biggest environmental action club for young people, with 100 groups across the country. You can join both clubs together by filling in the boxes in the membership form.Rockwatch Magazine mailed to its members tells about things related to ________.
| A．geology | B．agriculture |
| C．politics | D．economics |
What activities are specially arranged for Rockwatch members interested in photography?
| A．Guided walks. | B．Rocky activities. |
| C．Yearly competitions. | D．Academic workshops. |
When applying for Wildlife Watch membership, a Rockwatch member can enjoy ________.
| A．free membership | B．a special discount |
| C．a Rock Artist prize | D．guided road shows |
You may join both Rockwatch and Wildlife Watch clubs by ________.
| A．calling the two clubs | B．providing references |
| C．applying separately | D．filling in one form |
If you see a group of people dancing and singing on the street or in the railway station, you don't need to feel surprised. They are a flash mob(暴民). Who are they? Are they mobs? Don't be confused by their name. Actually, a flash mob is a group of people who gather suddenly in a public place, do something unusual for a brief period of time, and then quickly disappear.
They are usually organized with the help of the Internet or other digital communications networks. The messages may be sent to friends, who send to more people. At a predetermined time, they gather and perform some activities such as exchanging books, coming together to look at the sky, waving their hands and yelling something at the top of their voice for 30 seconds. Then, they quickly disappear before the police can arrive. Using mobile phones, the flash mob can change its place if the first one has been cancelled for any reason.
Bill Wasik, senior editor of Harper's Magazine, organized the first flash mob in Manhattan in May 2003 and the first successful flash mob gathered on June 3,2003. Wasik claimed that he created the flash mob as a social experiment designed to laugh at fashion seekers and stress the cultural atmosphere of wanting to be an insider or part of “the next big thing”．
Flash mob gatherings can sometimes shock people. Such an activity might seem amusing and magical, but it also might frighten people who are not aware of what is taking place. Undoubtedly, flash mob can serve as good political tools and have great potential, such as using to advertise a product.
The flash mob is now becoming more and more popular. People use it to do many things. Flash mobs give people from all walks of life an opportunity to come together to create a memory.What is NOT the feature of the flash mob?
| A．It can get together quickly. |
| B．It can change its place freely. |
| C．It can do activities suddenly. |
| D．It can injure people seriously. |
How do flash mobs inform one another?
①By using the Internet.②By writing letters.③By yelling.④By waving hands.⑤By using mobile phones.
⑥By holding a meeting.
| A．③④ | B．①⑤ | C．②⑥ | D．⑤⑥ |
Why did Bill Wasik create the flash mob?
| A．To advertise some products. |
| B．To help people make friends. |
| C．To laugh at fashion seekers. |
| D．To create some memories. |
What can we learn about the flash mob from the passage?
| A．Bill Wasik organized the first successful flash mob in May, 2003. |
| B．People are encouraged to take a more active part in an activity. |
| C．Flash mobs tend to do something illegal for a short time. |
| D．Flash mob gathering can frighten all the people present. |
It's such a happylooking library, painted yellow, decorated with palmtree stickers and sheltered from the Florida sun by its own roof. About the size of a microwave oven, it's pedestrianfriendly, too, waiting for book lovers next to a sidewalk in Palm Beach Country Estates, along the northern boundary of Palm Beach Gardens.
It's a library built with love.
A year ago, shortly after Janey Henriksen saw a Brian Williams report about the Little Free Library organization, a Wisconsinbased nonprofit that aims to promote literacy and build a sense of community in a neighborhood by making books freely available, she announced to her family of four, “That's what we're going to do for our spring break！”
Son Austin, now a 10thgrader, didn't see the point of building a library that resembles a mailbox. But Janey insisted, and husband Peter unwillingly got to work. The 51yearold owner of a ship supply company modified a small wooden house that he'd built years earlier for daughter Abbie's toy horses, and made a door of glass.
After adding the library's final touches(装点), the family hung a signboard on the front, instructing users to “take a book, return a book，” and making the Henriksen library, now one of several hundred like it nationwide and among more than 2,500 in the world, the only Little Free Library in Palm Beach County.
They stocked it with 20 or so books they'd already read, a mix of science fiction, reference titles, novels and kids' favorites. “I told them, keep in mind that you might not see it again，” said Janey, a stayathome mom.
Since then, the collection keeps replenishing(补充) itself, thanks to ongoing donations from borrowers. The library now gets an average of five visits a day.
The project's best payoff, says Peter, are the thankyou notes left behind. “We had no idea in the beginning that it would be so popular.”In what way is the library “pedestrianfriendly”？
| A．It owns a yellow roof. |
| B．It stands near a sidewalk. |
| C．It protects book lovers from the sun. |
| D．It uses palmtree stickers as decorations. |
Janey got the idea to build a library from ________.
| A．a visit to Brian Williams |
| B．a spring break with her family |
| C．a book sent by one of her neighbors |
| D．a report on a Wisconsinbased organization |
The library was built ________.
| A．by a ship supply company |
| B．on the basis of toy horses |
| C．like a mailbox |
| D．with glass |
What can we infer from the signboard?
| A．It was made by a user of the library. |
| B．It marked a final touch to the library. |
| C．It aimed at making the library last long. |
| D．It indicated the library was a family property. |
The passage tells us that the users ________.
| A．donate books to the library |
| B．get paid to collect books for the library |
| C．receive thankyou notes for using the library |
| D．visit the library over 5 times on average daily |
Jobs and work do much more than most of us realize to provide happiness and contentment.We're all used to thinking that work provides the material things of life—the goods and services that make our modern civilization possible.But we are much less conscious of the degree to which work provides the more important psychological wellbeing that can make the difference between a full and an empty life.
Historically，work has been associated with slavery and sin (罪恶)and punishment.And in our own day we are used to bearing traditional complaints.Against this background，it may well come as a surprise to learn that not only psychologists but other behavioral scientists have come to accept the positive contribution of work to the individual's happiness and sense of personal achievement.Work is more than a necessity for most human beings；it is the focus of their lives，the source of their identity and creativity.
Rather than a punishment of a burden，work is the opportunity to realize one's potential.And the opposite is true，too.For large numbers of people，the absence of work is harmful to their health.Retirement often brings many problems surrounding the “What do I do with myself？”question，even though there may be no financial cares.Large numbers of people regularly get headaches and other illnesses on weekends when they don't have their jobs to go to，and must take care of themselves.It has been observed that unemployment，quite apart from financial pressures，brings enormous psychological troubles and that many individuals'conditions become worse rapidly when jobless.
But why？Why should work be such a significant source of human satisfaction？A good share of the answer rests in the kind of pride that is stimulated by the job，by the activity of accomplishing.Which of the following statements can NOT be learned from the passage?
| A．People feel happier and more content than they realize when working. |
| B．Work is likely to provide you with the chance of achieving your potential. |
| C．Happiness can only be gained through working. |
| D．A lot of people will suffer physically and psychologically without work. |
Traditionally，people are used to believing ________.
| A．work is related to negative aspects |
| B．happiness has nothing to do with work |
| C．identity and creativity depend on work |
| D．work is not only a necessity for humans but the focus of their lives |
What would the author probably discuss in the following paragraph?
| A．What the proper way to balance work and life is. |
| B．How work brings people pride in accomplishment. |
| C．Which is more important：the material things of life or psychological wellbeing. |
| D．How people overcome the problems arising from retirement. |
Which best describes the author's attitude towards work in the passage?
| A．Doubtful. | B．Concerned. |
| C．Approving. | D．Neutral. |
When 19yearold Sophia Giorgi said she was thinking of volunteering to help the MakeAWish Foundation(基金会), nobody understood what she was talking about. But Sophia knew just how important MakeAWish could be because this special organization had helped to make a dream come true for one of her best friends. We were interested in finding out more, so we went along to meet Sophia and listen to what she had to say.
Sophia told us that MakeAWish is a worldwide organization that started in the United States in 1980. “It's a charity(慈善机构) that helps children who have got very serious illnesses. MakeAWish helps children feel happy even though they are sick, by making their wishes and dreams come true，” Sophia explained.
We asked Sophia how MakeAWish had first started. She said it had all begun with a very sick young boy called Chris, who had been dreaming for a long time of becoming a policeman. Sophia said lots of people had wanted to find a way to make Chris's dream come true—so, with everybody's help, Chris, only seven years old at the time, had been a “policeman” for a day. “When people saw how delighted Chris was when his dream came true, they decided to try and help other sick children too, and that was the beginning of MakeAWish，” explained Sophia.
Sophia also told us the Foundation tries to give children and their families a special, happy time. A MakeAWish volunteer visits the families and asks the children what they would wish for if they could have anything in the world. Sophia said the volunteers were important because they were the ones who helped to make the wishes come true. They do this either by providing things that are necessary, or by raising money or helping out in whatever way they can.Sophia found out about MakeAWish because her best friend had ________.
| A．benefited from it | B．volunteered to help it |
| C．dreamed about it | D．told the author about it |
According to Sophia, MakeAWish ________.
| A．is an international charity |
| B．was understood by nobody at first |
| C．raises money for very poor families |
| D．started by drawing the interest of the public |
What is said about Chris in Paragraph 3?
| A．He has been a policeman since he was seven. |
| B．He gave people the idea of starting MakeAWish. |
| C．He wanted people to help make his dream come true. |
| D．He was the first child MakeAWish helped after it had been set up. |
Which of the following is true about MakeAWish volunteers?
| A．They are important for making wishes come true. |
| B．They try to help children get over their illnesses. |
| C．They visit sick children to make them feel special. |
| D．They provide what is necessary to make MakeAWish popular. |