I was riding my special motorbike this past weekend and stopped at a convenience store. As I was getting my wheelchair off the back, a man watched me from his car and I noticed a wheelchair in his back seat. We spoke for a moment and I asked him about the wheelchair. He answered that it was for his daughter. “Well, do you think she would like to go for a ride on my motorbike with me?” I asked. He seemed shocked that a total stranger would ask him this. He thought about it for a second and said, “OK, as long as I can follow you.”
He introduced me to Amy and he sat her on my back seat. Her father followed me for a few miles and she talked non-stop about what she wanted for Christmas.
As we came back to the convenience store, she said, “This ride is the best Christmas present I could ever receive. I have been in a wheelchair my whole life and didn’t know I could do this.” I told her about some of the other things I do (ski, travel the world by myself, etc.). As her father was taking her off my bike, she turned to him and said, “Oh Daddy, I’m going to be OK. Mr. Bryant does all kinds of things, and I will too.” Her father turned away as a tear of joy rolled down his cheek. He hugged me and said, “I was sitting here praying for a gift for Amy that would encourage her. She often felt that her life was dull compared to other children. God answered my prayer just now. Now I pray that God will bless you for your gift to Amy today.” I believed what he said. Being kind and thoughtful to others, we can be an answer to prayer.How did the father feel at first when the author invited his daughter for a ride?
| A．He felt surprised because he didn’t know the author. |
| B．He was happy because his daughter could gain excitement. |
| C．He was moved because the author was willing to help his daughter. |
| D．He felt nervous because he was worried about his daughter’s safety. |
What can we know about the author?
| A．He was a disabled man. |
| B．He usually drove too fast. |
| C．He worked in a convenience store. |
| D．He often helped people who were in trouble. |
According to the passage, the girl _______.
| A．used to be a completely healthy person |
| B．was not allowed to do some fierce sports |
| C．usually felt sad about life due to her disability |
| D．was unwilling to communicate with a stranger |
What did the author’s gift refer to according to the girl’s father?
| A．The motorbike. | B．The wheelchair. | C．The blessing. | D．The ride. |
Dan Bebber is a senior research fellow at the University of Exeter in Britain. He says research has shown that wild plants and animals are moving toward Earth's North and South poles as the planet warms.
Mr Bebber wanted to know if the same thing was happening with organisms that attack agricultural crops. He examined reports of first sightings of new insects and diseases around the world. The records came from CABI - the Centre for Agricultural Bioscience International. He says the group began collecting information from developing and industrialized countries years ago.
Dan Bebber and his research team studied 612 different organisms - from viruses and bacteria to insects like beetles and butterflies. They found that since 1960, crop pests and diseases have been moving toward the poles at an average rate of about 3 kilometers each year. Mr Bebber says this puts the most productive farmland in the world in danger.
"As new species of pests and diseases evolve and potentially the environment for them becomes more amenable at higher latitudes, the pressure on the breadbaskets of the world is going to increase."
Farmers face other threats. Invasive species passed through trade are also causing problems. Gene Kritsky is an Entomologist at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Ohio. He specialises in the study of insects. He says climate change may improve conditions for some invasive species.
“It means that species in other parts of the world that might do well in warmer temperatures can now do well in the breadbasket of America.”
Another Entomologist Christian Krupke of Purdue University says the effects of these changes will depend very much on the crop, the insect and the disease. But he says the research is a warning sign that people should care about climate change and do something about it.The purpose of Dan Bebber’s research was to find ______.
| A．if farmland could be moved to colder places thanks to global warming |
| B．if diseases and insects harmful to crops were going towards colder areas |
| C．if organisms were moving to the north and south poles |
| D．if the number of crop pests was increasing |
According to Dan Bebber, if crop pests keep moving towards the poles, ______.
| A．it will be hard for farmers to kill them |
| B．the most productive farmland will produce more crops |
| C．the earth will not produce enough food to support the world |
| D．the conditions for some crops may be improved |
Which of the following is not a threat that farmers have to face?
| A．Climate change helps crop pests to adapt to new environment. |
| B．Foreign species are brought in by trade. |
| C．Invasive species doing well in warmer places might do well in America. |
| D．The impacts of the climate and species changes on crops are not easy to determine. |
The underlined word “amenable” in the fourth paragraph most probably means ______.
| A．agreeable | B．terrible | C．unfriendly | D．changeable |
Sam, an unemployed piano tuner, said it was only the second thing he had ever won in his life. The first thing was an Afghan blanket at a church raffle when he was 25 years old. But this was much bigger: it was $120,000! He had won the Big Cube, a state lottery game. To win, a contestant must first guess which number a spinning cube will stop on. The cube has six numbers on it: 1X, 10X, 50X, 100X, 500X, and 1000X. If he is correct, the contestant must then guess which of two selected variables is going to be greater. So, just guessing which number appears on the cube does not guarantee that you will win any money. Sam correctly guessed 1000X, but he still had to choose between two variables. One variable was the number of cars that would run the stop sign at Hill Street and Lake Avenue in six hours. The other variable was the number of times that a teenage boy would change TV channels in a three-hour period. This was a tough decision.
Finally, Sam flipped a coin. It came up heads, so Sam picked the teenager. He picked right. The stop sign was run only 76 times, but the teen clicked 120 times. Sixty-year-old Sam jumped for joy, for he had just won 1000 times 120, or $120,000. Sam dreamily left the lottery studio. Talking excitedly on his cell phone while crossing the street, he got hit by a little sports car.
Sam is slowly getting better. He was in the hospital for a month. His hospital bill was $110,000. And the insurance company for the little sports car's owner sued Sam for $9,000 worth of repairs. Also, Sam still has to pay federal taxes on his winnings. Sam doesn't play the state lottery any more. He says it's better to be unlucky. When Sam won the second thing that he’d won in his life, he was ______.
| A．25 years old |
| B．six years old |
| C．76 years old |
| D．sixty years old |
To win the game, the contestants had to make ______ guesses.
| A．three | B．two | C．six | D．four |
Sam won the lottery because ______.
| A．he was lucky | B．he was good at math |
| C．he was smart | D．he was tough |
Sam’s experience shows that ______
| A．everything has its time and that time must be watched. |
| B．he who risks nothing, gains nothing. |
| C．everything comes to him who waits. |
| D．he who laughs on Friday will weep on Sunday. |
In July 1994 Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, was struck by 21 pieces of a comet（彗星）. When the fragment（碎片）landed in the southern part of the giant planet, the explosions were watched by scientists here on earth. But what if our own planet was hit by a comet?
The year is 2094. It has been announced that a comet is heading towards the Earth. Most of it will miss our plant, but two fragments will probably hit the southern part of the Earth. The news has caused panic.
On 17 July, a fragment four kilometers wide enters the Earth’s atmosphere with a huge explosion. About half of the fragment is destroyed. But the major part survives and hits the South Atlantic at 200 times the speed of sound. The sea boils and an enormous wave is created and spreads. The wall of water rushes towards southern Africa at 800 kilometers an hour. Cities on the African coast are totally destroyed and millions of people are drowned. The wave moves into the Indian Ocean and heads towards Asia.
Millions of people are already dead in the southern part of the Earth, but the north won’t escape for long. Tons of broken pieces are thrown into the atmosphere by the explosions. As the sun is hidden by clouds of dust, temperatures around the world fall to almost zero. Crops are ruined. Wars break out as countries fight for food. A year later civilization has collapsed. No more than 10 million people have survived.
Could it really happen? In fact, it has already happened more than once in the history of the Earth. The dinosaurs（恐龙）were on the Earth for over 160 million years. Then 65 million years ago they suddenly disappeared. Many scientists believe that the Earth was hit by a space fragment. The dinosaurs couldn’t survive in the cold climate that followed and they became extinct. Will we meet the same end?Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the author’s description of the disaster in 2094?
| A．The whole world becomes extremely cold. |
| B．All the coastal cities in African are destroyed. |
| C．The whole mankind becomes extinct. |
| D．The visit of the comet results in wars. |
Why does the author mention dinosaurs at the end of the passage?
| A．Because they could only live in the warm climate. |
| B．Because they once ruled the Earth. |
| C．Because their extinction shows future disasters. |
| D．Because dinosaurs and humans never live in the same age. |
In writing the passage, the author intends to_________.
| A．give an accurate description of the possible disaster in the future |
| B．prove that humans will sooner or later be destroyed |
| C．tell the historical development of the Earth |
| D．warn of a possible disaster in the future |
It can be concluded that the passage is most probably part of a(n)________.
| A．terror story | B．news report |
| C．research paper | D．article of popular science |
One evening after dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Tisich called a family meeting. “We’ve had to make a difficult decision,” Mr. Tisich announced. “You see, your mother has been offered a post as co-director of a television station in Chicago. Unfortunately, the station is not here. After thinking long and hard about it, we’ve concluded that the right decision is to move to Chicago.” Marc looked shocked, while his sister Rachel breathlessly started asking when they’d be moving. “It’s surprising, but exciting!” she said. Marc simply said, “We can’t go—I can’t leave all my friends. I’d rather stay here and live with Tommy Lyons!”
The Tisichs hoped that by the time they moved in August, Marc would grow more used to the idea of leaving. However, he showed no signs of accepting the news, refusing to pack his belongings. When the morning of the move arrived, Marc was nowhere to be found. His parents called Tommy Lyon’s house, but Mrs. Lyons said she hadn’t seen Marc. Mrs. Tisich became increasingly concerned, while her husband felt angry with their son for behaving so irresponsibly.
What they didn’t know was that Marc had started walking over to Tommy’s house, with a faint idea of hiding in Lyons’s attic(阁楼) for a few days. But something happened on the way as Marc walked past all the familiar landscape of the neighborhood: the fence that he and his mother painted, the tree that he and his sister used to climb, the park where he and his father often took evening walks together. How much would these mean without his family, who make them special in the first place? Marc didn’t take the time to answer that question but instead hurried back to his house, wondering if there were any moving cartons(纸板箱)the right size to hold his record collection.The conflict(冲突) in this story was caused by_________.
| A．Marc and Rachel’s different attitudes |
| B．a quarrel between Tommy Lyons and Marc |
| C．Marc’s disagreement with his parents about their move |
| D．Mr. And Mrs. Tisich’s comment of Marc’s irresponsibility |
Marc and Rachel’s reactions to the move were similar in the way that both were________.
| A．surprised | B．angry and upset |
| C．anxious for more details | D．worried about pacing |
The reason for Marc’s going home was that_________.
| A．he did not want to be left behind |
| B．he realized his family was important to him |
| C．he hoped to reach an agreement with his parents |
| D．he wished to be a more responsible person |
What would most likely happen next?
| A．Marc would bring his records over to the Lyons’s house. |
| B．Mr. and Mrs. Tisich would call the police. |
| C．Marc would join his family for house moving. |
| D．Mr. and Mrs. Tisich would start searching for Marc. |
(You may read the questions first)
In advertisement 2, the Traveler enables us to learn__________.
| A．the road conditions from London to Oxfords |
| B．all the garages along the chosen route |
| C．the time and speed of the journey in Britain |
| D．the directions from London to Paris. |
In advertisement 3, the Quizmaster_________.
| A．contains nothing but 5400 questions |
| B．can only answer challenging questions |
| C．can be bought in many shops |
| D．can be used by people of all |
All these advertisements are aimed at those_________.
| A．who like to order goods at home |
| B．who are going to travel abroad |
| C．who do market researches |
| D．who are interested in intelligence tests |