Hip hop or rap (说唱） music as it is also called, started on the street and in the clubs of the New York City in the 1970s . But today many countries have their own kind of hip hop music . This kind of music comes from reggae, disco and funk music . Rapping means speaking to the rhythm of the music, and it is an important part of the music . People rap to express how they feel about their lives and problems .
Rapping in class.
Would you like to rap in class? Well actually, hip pop music is played in more than 10,000 schools in the USA .Why ? There is a new school program called “ Flocabulary ”in which teachers use texts and hip hop CDs to help teach different school subjects . The words of the songs are just what students are studying . This makes learning easy and fun . Students and teachers are excited about the positive results it has had on exam marks . One teacher said, “ I’ve used hip hop songs in class, and I have never seen my students so crazy about history ! You can't imagine how well they imagine how well they remember what I teach ! We even try to write our own songs . ”
Whose idea was Flocabulary?
Blake Harrison, a high school student, was the first person to come up with the idea of Flocabulary . The word “ Flocabulary ” comes from the word “ flow ” and “ vocabulary ” . “ Flow ” is a rap word for “ style ”,or the way a rapper says the words of a song . “ Vocabulary ” means the words you have to learn in a language . How did he get the idea ? Well, he realized he could remember the words of a hip hop song very easily . So,why not make lessons into songs ? Today together with Alex Rappaport, a song writer, Blake produces hip hop songs for maths, science and literature (文学）. They are now used in schools with great success . Rap music started _____ in New York city .
| A．in the 1970s | B．In a high school |
| C．in the 19 th century . | D．In a music class . |
From the passage, we can learn “ Flocabulary ” is a program to _____ .
| A．Write rap music . | B．Sing a song by talking |
| C．Remember the words of a song . | D．help teach some school subjects. |
The underlined word positive in paragraph 2 most probably means _____
| A．bad | B．good | C．final | D．direct |
Blake Harrison has produced hip hop songs for school subject EXCEPT _____ .
| A．maths | B．science | C．history | D．literature |
D
Do you know what a castle is? A castle is a building special to Europe. Castles were built in the Middle Ages by king and other powerful people who live in. Castles were used by people to protect themselves from their enemies. They are big buildings made form stone and wood.
Today there are still castles all over Europe. Some are in ruins(废墟). But some built later are still in good repair and used even today. One example is Windsor Castle, which is a home to the British queen. It is in the country or Berkshire, not far from London.
Castles have walls around them. In the old days, soldiers would stand on the walls to guard the people in the castle. If enemies came they would shoot arrows(箭) and throw stones at them. Castles also had moats. A moat is a river around the wall that makes it difficult for enemies to get in. It could be either dry or filled with water.
Other people form younger countries love European castles. In the US there are rich people who have brought broken parts of castles to their country and rebuilt them. And some people build “replica” castles---modern copies of Castle.
You probably know the Disneyland Castle in California , US. But did you know it is based on a famous castle in Germany built by King Ludwig Ⅱof Bavaria? Which of the following is TRUE about the castle?
| A．It is a special American building. |
| B．It is made form stone and paper. |
| C．Only king used to live in one. |
| D．People used it to protect themselves. |
We can tell from the story that a moat is __________.
| A．a wall | B．a soldier | C．a river | D．a stone |
According to the passage we can know that______________.
| A．There are castles only in some European countries now. |
| B．In the US, there used to be castles in the Middle Ages. |
| C．In the US, the people rebuilt the old castles or build the modern ones. |
| D．The Disneyland castle is built in Germany. |
What does the passage mainly talk about?
| A．The history of castles. | B．Facts about castles. |
| C．The king and the castles. | D．How to build castles. |
C
“Everything happens for the best.” Whenever I faced disappointment, my mother would say this to me.
After I graduated form college in 1932, I decided to find a job in radio as a sports announcer(广播员). I went to Chicago and knocked at the door of every station. But unluckily, I was refused every time.
At one station, a kind lady told me that big stations wouldn’t hire(雇佣) a person without any experience and suggested that I try my luck at smaller stations. Following her advice, I went back to Dixon, where I had grown up. There were no such jobs in Dixon, and my father said a newly-opened store wanted a local athlete to work for it. I wanted this job, but I was refused again.
“Everything happens for the best,” Mom reminded me. Dad offered me the car to look for a job. I tried WOC Radio in Davenport, Iowa. The program director, Peter MacArthur, told me they had already hired an announcer.
As I left his office, I felt so frustrated. “How can I become a sports announcer if I can’t get a job in a radio station?” I asked aloud.
While I was waiting for the elevator, I heard someone calling. It was MacArthur. “What was that you said about sports? Do you know anything about football?” Then he asked me to have a try. He was pleased with my performance, and he offered me a chance to work there.
On my way home, I thought of my mother’s words: “If you carry on, one day something good will happen. Something wouldn’t have happened if without the failure before.”Why couldn’t the writer find a job at big radio stations?
| A．Because he never graduated from college. |
| B．Because he didn’t work hard in college. |
| C．Because he didn’t have much experience. |
| D．Because he didn’t know about sports. |
Which of the following is the correct order of events?
a. The writer got a job as a sports announcer at a radio station.
b. The writer was refused when he wanted jobs in Chicago.
c. The writer graduated from college.
d. The writer went back to his hometown to look for a job.
| A．cbda | B．cbad | C．bcda | D．bcad |
Which of the following is TRUE?
| A．The writer’s parents didn’t want him to be a sports announcer. |
| B．There were no radio announcer jobs in the writer’s hometown. |
| C．The writer became uninterested in being a sports announcer. |
| D．The writer got a job as a sports announcer in Dixon at last. |
According to the last paragraph, what did the writer’s mom want to tell him?
| A．He shouldn’t be a sports announcer. |
| B．Disappointment leads to failure. |
| C．He should be proud of himself. |
| D．Everything will be OK if he keeps trying. |
B
Sun Liping, 6 , lives in a small village in Yunnan. Her biggest wish is to have running water in her home. All 35 families in Sun’s village have a serious problem--- they don’t have enough water. Every day, the villagers have to walk 20 minutes to get water.
Last year, the worst drought since the 1950s hit Yunnan, making more than 2 million people short of drinking water. This year, the drought is even worse.
Not only Yunnan, but many other provinces in China are short of water as well, such as Gansu and Qinghai.
According to a report on February 17, each Chinese person has about 28% of the world’s average（平均的） person’s amount of available(可用的) water. Two thirds of China’s cities are short of water and nearly 300 million people in rural areas don’t have safe water for drinking.
Every drop of water is important. Waste a drop of water a day and you lose a bucket(桶) a year. How can we use water in a smart way? Here are some tips for you to save water in your daily life:
1. Put plastic bottles of water in your toilet to cut down the water waste when you flush (冲洗) your toilet.
2. Don’t keep the water running while you’re brushing your teeth or washing your face and hands.
3. Use low-flow(低流量) shower heads .
4. Use a bucket to collect shower water while you wait for it to warm up.
5. Make your shower time shorter.
6. Set up a rain bucket to collect rainwater for watering plants or flowers. What is the problem in Sun’s village?
| A．They don’t have enough food. |
| B．They don’t have enough water. |
| C．They have to walk far away to go to school. |
| D．There are fewer and fewer villagers. |
What does the underlined word drought mean in the second paragraph?
| A．饥饿 | B．干旱 | C．水灾 | D．贫穷 |
According to the report, __________________________________.
A. China has just 28 percent of the world’s available water.
Each Chinese person can use more water than the world’s average person.
There is not enough water in two thirds of China’s cities.
D. There are about 300 million people in China’s cities who don’t have enough water. Which of the following would lead to a waste of water?
| A．Using low-flow shower heads. |
| B．Collecting shower water while waiting for it to warm up. |
| C．Taking a quick shower. |
| D．Keeping the water running while brushing one’s teeth. |
阅读理解。（每小题2分，共30分）
阅读下列材料，从 A、B、C、D 四个选项中选出最佳答案，并把答题卡上对应题目的答案标号涂黑。
A
People say that George Washington, the first president of the United States, never told a lie. But it seems that the president was not without faults.
A New York library recently found that Washington borrowed two books from the library in 1789. He didn’t return them.
If he were still alive, he would have to pay the library ＄300,000 for being 220 years late.
On October 5, 1789, when the first president borrowed the books form the New York Society Library, he didn’t sign his name in the borrower’s book. He just wrote “president” to show who had taken them out.
The two books should have been brought back a month later but were never returned. Workers at the library realized the books were missing.
The New York Society Library doesn’t expect anyone to pay the fine. But it hopes that someone will return the books. Gorge Washington is__________.
| A．the president of the US now |
| B．the first president of the US |
| C．the first black president of the US |
| D．the president who always borrowed the books without returning them back |
Gorge Washington borrowed a book from ________.
| A．the Washington Public Library |
| B．the New York Society Library |
| C．the Paris Society Library |
| D．the Chinese Public Library |
The library hopes _________.
| A．Gorge Washington will return the book. |
| B．Gorge Washington will pay the fine |
| C．someone will find the book and return it |
| D．someone will pay the fine for the president |
Have you ever wondered?
1.Why do airplanes take longer to fly west than east?
It can take five hours to go west-east from New York (NY) to London but seven hours to travel east-west from London to NY. The reason for the difference is an atmospheric phenomenon (大气现象) known as the jet stream (气流). The jet stream is a very high altitude (=" above" sea level) wind which always blows from the west to the east across the Atlantic. So the planes moving at a constant air speed go faster from the west to the east when they are moving with the wind than in the opposite.
2.What would happen if the gravity on Earth was suddenly turned off?
Supposing we could magically turn off gravity. Would buildings and other structures（建筑物）float away? What happened would depend on (依靠) how strongly the things were attached (吸附) to the earth. The earth is moving at quite a speed, moving at over a thousand miles per hour. If you turn something around your head on a string, it goes around in a circle until you let go of the string. Then it flies off in a straight line. ‘Turning off’ gravity would be like letting go of the string. Things not attached to the earth would fly off in a straight line. People in buildings would suddenly shoot upwards at a great speed until they hit the ceiling (=" top" surface of a room). Most things outside would fly off into space.What information can we get from the first passage?
| A．It is the jet stream that affects how fast airplanes fly. |
| B．Planes go slower when they are moving with the wind. |
| C．It takes more time to fly from NY to London than from London to NY. |
| D．The jet stream always blows from the east to the west across the Atlantic. |
The underlined word “shoot” in the 2nd paragraph means “_________”.
| A．send for | B．move quickly | C．come out | D．grow quickly |
It can be known that without gravity _________.
| A．buildings and other structures would float away |
| B．trees and buildings would not so easily fly off |
| C．something around your head would not float away |
| D．everything outside buildings would fly off into space |
Where can we read this passage?
| A．In a research paper. | B．In a short story. |
| C．In a travel magazine. | D．In a student’s book |