Watercress is positively packed with healthy vitamins and minerals. The writings of both the Romans and the Ancient Greeks record the consumption of watercress by all classes. Hippocrates, “the father of medicine”, was so convinced that watercress was a great healer that he built his first hospital next to a stream so that he could grow a plentiful supply of the shiny green leaves for his patients. The Romans chewed watercress in large quantities, believing that it would cure baldness. They, too, looked with favor on watercress as a salad.
Watercress sandwiches were traditionally a breakfast item in nineteenth-century Europe. The most basic type of watercress sandwich has two pieces of white bread with a mixture of butter and watercress greens . A nickname(绰号)for the vegetable, in fact, was “poor man’s bread”, because watercress was often eaten on its own for breakfast by families that could not afford the bread to go with it.
Watercress is a member of the mustard(芥菜) family. It contains vitamins C(66mg per 100g), K and A, and is also a valuable source of minerals such as iron, potassium, copper and calcium. The mustard oils in its silky leaves and stems(茎)contain an ingredient known as PEITC. Recent research has proved that PEITC can prevent the growth of cancer cells and, in some cases, actually destroy them.
The best watercress has silky green leaves without any marks and has undamaged stems, The older the plant, the darker are its leaves and the thicker its stems. This means a higher concentration of oils and vitamins. Young watercress, on the other hand, may be harvested after only twenty-eight days growth and has a milder taste. It is best to eat watercress fresh and raw , to keep more of its valuable nutrients, but it can be lightly cooked and used as an alternative to spinach—another dark green vegetable—in various recipes. From soups to salads, watercress is now considered around the world as a natural and healthy super food.From paragraph 1, we can learn that________.
| A．watercress is usually grown in wet areas |
| B．the ancient Greeks only used watercress for medicine |
| C．watercress is the most ancient vegetable known to man |
| D．the Romans rubbed watercress on their heads to cure baldness |
The underlined word “it” in paragraph 2 refers to “_________”.
| A．butter | B．watercress | C．breakfast | D．bread |
Which of the following is TRUE about watercress?
A.It belongs to the same family as spinach.
B.It contains mustard oils only in leaves.
C.It can help guard against cancer.
D.It is rich in vitamins C and B.Compared with older watercress, young watercress .
| A．has lighter green leaves |
| B．contains more minerals |
| C．is better for medical use |
| D．is more suitable for eating raw |
What would be the best title for the text?
| A．The history of watercress | B．watrcress, a medicinal plant |
| C．Watercress, the amazing food | D．New findings about watercress |
Trees are useful to man in three important ways: they give him wood and other useful things, they give him cool places, and they help to stop drought and flood.
Unluckily, in many parts of the world, man has not found that the third of these points is the most important. Man wants to make money from trees, so he has cut them down in large numbers, only to find that without them he has lost the best friends he had. And also, he is usually too careless to plant and look after new trees. So the forests slowly disappear.
This does not only mean that man will have fewer trees. The results are even worse: for where there are trees, their roots break up soil-make the rain in-and also bind the soil, thus stopping it from being washed away easily; but where there are no trees, the rain falls on hard ground and flows away, causing floods and carrying away the rich top-soil. When all the top-soil is gone, nothing is left but useless desert.
1.The most important points of trees to man is ________.
A. they help him to make money B. they give him cool
C. they give him wood and other things D. they help him to stop drought and floods
2.In many places forests slowly disappear because ________ .
A. many trees have been cut down by man
B. new trees are not well looked after
C. man has not paid enough attention to planting trees
D. all the above
3.Land becomes desert after all trees are cut down because ________ .
A. roots of trees break up the soil
B. there are too many rainfalls
C. strong winds bring a lot of sand
D. there are no longer trees to keep the rain and protect the top-soil.
4.Which title best fits the passage?
A. Trees and Man B. The Function of Tree Wood
C. How do People do with Trees? D. The Usage of Tree Roots
第二部分阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
“How can I learn English well?” This is a question many students ask. In my opinion, the most effective way is to learn lessons by heart. If you can recite the text and write it out, you’ve learned it fairly well. And if you can tell, in your own words, what the lesson says you’re a very successful learner indeed. Your English will be quite perfect.
This is a difficult task. However, if you try to learn by heart only part of each lesson, you’ll find it not half so hard as you might have thought.
Learning this way, you will make rapid progress. Of course, writing is also necessary. It helps you a lot on our way to success in English.
Equally important is to feel the language. You should be able to laugh at jokes and be shocked at bad news. When using English, try to forget your mother tongue. Instead of helping you, your own language gets in your way. So, never try to see English through translation.
1.In the writer’s opinion, the most effective way in learning English is ____.
A. to practise speaking, writing and feeling it
B. to forget your own native language
C. to translate everything into his own language
D. to memorize the English words and grammatical rules
2. “Instead of helping you, your own language gets in your way.”This sentence means that memorizing your own language can ________.
A. help you to study English well B. stop you mastering English
C. make English easy to learn D. help you notice mistakes
3.Equally important is to feel the language. “to feel the language” here means_____.
A. to get a knowledge of English by touching
B. to be able to read and write English
C. to translate English into your own by imagining
D. to be able to experience the rich sensation of the language
B
One of the main challenges facing many countries is how to maintain their identity in the face of globalization and the growing multi-language trend. “One of the main reasons for economic failure in many African countries is the fact that, with a few important exceptions, mother-tongue education is not practiced in any of the independent African states.” said Neville Alexander, Director of the Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa at the University of Cape Town.
In response to the spread of English and the increased multi-language trends arising from immigration, many countries have introduced language laws in the last decade. In some, the use of languages other than the national language is banned in public spaces such as advertising posters. One of the first such legal provisions was the 1994 “Toubon law” in France, and the idea has been copied in many countries since then. Such efforts to govern language use are often considered as futile by language experts, who are well aware of the difficulty in controlling fashions in speech and know from research that language switching among bilinguals is a natural process.
It is especially difficult for native speakers of English to understand the desire to maintain the “purity” of a language by law. Since the time of Shakespeare, English has continually absorbed foreign words into its own language. English is one of the most mixed and rapidly changing languages in the world. But that has not been a barrier to acquiring superiority and power. Another reason for the failure of many native English speakers to understand the role of state regulation is that it has never been the Anglo-Saxon way of doing things. English has never had a state-controlled authority for the language, similar, for example, to the Academic Francaise in France.
The need to protect national languages is, for most western Europeans, a recent phenomenon- especially the need to ensure that English does not unnecessarily take over too many fields. Public communication, education and new ways of communication promoted by technology, may be key fields to defend.
1. Neville Alexander believes that lack of mother-tongue education can lead to .
A. the independence of African states B. economic failure
C. globalization D. multi-language trends
2. The underlined word “futile” in paragraph 2 most probably means .
A. useless B. practical C. workable D. unnecessary
3. Why do many English-speaking countries not support the language protection efforts?
A. They think language protection laws are ineffective.
B. They want their language to spread to other countries.
C. They have a long history of taking words from other languages.
D. It reduces economic development of the countries in Europe.
4. The best title for the passage is “ ”.
A. Fighting against the rule of English
B. Globalization and multi-language trends
C. Protecting local languages and identities
D. Ensuring the change of language by law
Stopping teens from smoking is a big challenge many communities face today. Many communities can only watch without being able to act while local businesses continue to sell tobacco products to children, even under the risk of punishment by law.
Recent studies show that a large percentage of teens today are getting their cigarettes from stores, mostly gas stations or convenience stores. As teens continue to be able to buy their own cigarettes, more and more communities begin to punish those who sell cigarettes to the teens.
One community has experienced success in their attempts to stop the sale of tobacco products to children. Woodridge, Illinois, started a program seven years ago which forbade and strictly punished the sale of tobacco products to children. The entire program includes local licensing of vendors (小贩), repeated undercover inspections to see if the sale to children has stopped, and education programs in schools. Woodridge has become a model community as other communities are moving to stop teen tobacco use.
A recent national study showed that 36.5% of females, and 40.8% of males buy their cigarettes from stores, whether it is a gas station or a supermarket. Hopefully, as more and more sellers see the trouble they face if caught selling to children, they will stop selling.
True, tightening down on stores that sell tobacco to children isn’t going to completely stop the problem of teen tobacco use. Teens continue to get them from other sources. But it definitely does prevent their efforts. With more education in schools, and perhaps stronger punishments for teens caught with tobacco, more and more teens will see the problems with the tobacco usage, and will stop the habit.
1. To stop teens from smoking, more and more communities are ________.
A. punishing those who sell cigarettes to teens more severely
B. punishing teens caught with tobacco more severely
C. educating those who sell cigarettes about the danger of teen smoking
D. stopping the sale of tobacco products in stores
2. Which of the following is NOT a way Woodridge uses to stop tobacco sale to children?
A. Local licensing to tobacco sale. B. Repeated undercover inspections.
C. Education programs in schools. D. Stronger punishment of teens caught smoking.
3. It can be inferred from the passage that _____________.
A. teens can only buy cigarettes from gas stations and convenience stores
B. more communities have succeeded in stopping teen tobacco use
C. More males than females have the habit of smoking in America
D. Punishment alone cannot solve the problem of teen tobacco use
4. What attitude does the writer have towards stopping teen tobacco abuse?
A. Negative B. Optimistic C. Uncertain D. Uncaring
Music died here last spring, or rather, it was killed by members of the school committee who ignored the importance of music and drama as part of the high-school curriculum.
The committee decided that teaching students how to take a standardized test is more important than a curriculum in which students can explore their interests in the arts as well as academics. Because the school system is running out of funding, it needs to make sure that students pass the mastery test or even more money will be lost. If students fail the state standardized test, it is not the fault of drama and music classes – they are failing because the academic classes are not sufficient (足够).
It is painful to think of how many students will be discouraged from singing, acting, and playing instruments because school programs are no longer offered. Many families cannot afford private music lessons, and many potential musicians and artists may not find their calling if they are not exposed to it in school. The fact that the school committee thinks the arts are not worth the investment will certainly make some students believe the arts are not worth their time or support and the cycle will continue.
Teaching for a test does not shape students into complete, well- rounded people. It blocks the natural sense to create and express feelings through art – there is more to life than the analytical thinking that math and English provide. What happens after a test? Sure, a student might graduate, but they will have limited knowledge – certainly not a good preparation for the real world.
1. Music and drama are ignored by ________.
A. students B. the school committee C. teachers D. parents
2. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Students can get high marks in the standardized test only by attending classes
B. The school committee completely influences students’ attitude towards the arts
C. Students can be musicians and artists only if they can afford private music lessons
D. Quite a few students are discouraged from music and art in today’ s school system
3. We can learn that music and art can ______.
A. provide students with analytical thinking
B. make students round-shaped people in future
C. motivate students in creativity and expression
D. prevent students graduating from high school
4. The best title of the passage can be ______.
A. Who Killed Music and Drama? B. Can Curriculum Go Without Arts?
C. Why is Music So Important? D. How to Prepare For the Real World?