There used to be a term that was used to describe someone who drove their vehicles down the highway while staring at the scenery. These drivers just drove slowly, taking their own sweet time, as if they had nothing to do and no place in particular to go. Thus, the expression, “Sunday driver”, was born. Consequently, a Sunday driver wasn’t necessarily someone who was driving on a Sunday. A person could be a Sunday driver any day of the week. The expression simply meant that the person was an obstacle to other drivers who were in a hurry.
The expression probably came about because there was a time when people would often decide to go for a relaxing drive on Sunday afternoons. A Sunday drive was a common occurrence years ago and especially on a nice warm sunny day. There were no stores open on Sunday because of the “blue laws”, so you needed to be sure and fill up the gas tank and make any other needed purchases before Sunday arrived.
Some of the states had strict blue laws that even prohibited some activities on Sunday. However, there is still a lot to be said for the slow, gentle life that once existed. It was a time when very few people worked on Sunday except for those professions vital to our well-being such as those in the medical profession. It was a day “set apart” that was used to rest, visit with neighbors and friends, or maybe go to grandma’s house for supper. Today there are many who return to work and children who go back to school overly tired on Monday due to a lack of rest. Perhaps there would be less stress related illnesses if we really kept Sunday as a day of rest. According to the passage, “Sunday driver” refers to the person who ______.
| A．drives his vehicle on Sundays |
| B．drives for fun and relaxation |
| C．enjoys a weekend break |
| D．makes a Sunday purchase |
What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph l mean?
| A．Sunday drivers affected traffic flow |
| B．Sunday drivers drove too slowly |
| C．Sunday drivers increased traffic speed |
| D．Sunday drivers felt hatred for other drivers |
What kind of activity was strictly prohibited on Sunday by the laws?
| A．Visiting with neighbors and friends. |
| B．Going to the hospital to see a doctor. |
| C．Having a family get-together. |
| D．Selling goods or services. |
According to the author, Sunday rest would help people______.
| A．earn a lot more money |
| B．experience less pressure |
| C．keep pace with society |
| D．improve academic performance |
Just like the young character in Hannah Montana, who so often fights with her father over her desire to be more independent, British teenagers also have their troubles.
A recent survey among 2,000 British parents shows that girls and boys experience similar kinds of stress, with some slight differences .
Girls want to grow up fast, demanding greater freedom. They feel pressure from their peers to be thin and sometimes dangerously experiment with alcohol .
Girls over 14 are more concerned with getting a boyfriend, make-up and going out with friends than with their schoolwork. They are more likely to complain about pocket money .
Parents found they have their toughest time with boys over the age of 15. Their sons are battling bad skin, are reluctant(不情愿的) to speak, and just like girls over 14 are little interested in their studies. Seven out of ten parents said their s
ons become frustrated(挫败的) when they are not understood .
Unsurprisingly, it isn’t just British teenagers who have such problems.
In a survey published in the US last month, two out of three high school students said their life was tough. There was a universal worry over body image and ability to fit in socially.
Plenty of the teenagers feel great pressures to get good grades, with nearly half regarding this as their top worry. The next biggest issue is pressure they face to get into good college. According to the survey, 66 percent reported saving their money to pay for all or part of college.
“Today’s American teens have witnessed what their families have endured during recent economic challenges, and they are much more aware of the importance of planning ahead,” said Stuart Rubinstein, managing director with TD Ameritrade, which carried out the survey.What is the article mainly about?
| A．What makes the lives of teenagers so hard? |
| B．How to deal with teen problems? |
| C．Stress faced by UK and US teenagers. |
| D．Peer pressure faced by UK and US teenagers. |
According to the survey, boys over 15 often feel great pressure to ______.
| A．grow up fast | B．experiment with alcohol |
| C．get into a good college | D．be more open and communicative |
The underlined word “universal” in Paragraph 7 is closest in meaning to ______.
| A．global | B．common | C．average | D．reasonable |
How have recent economic challenges affected American teens?
| A．They have become more concerned about their future. |
| B．They are now more worried about the ability to fit in socially. |
| C．They are attempting to learn more about money management. |
| D．They are spending more time developing their practical skills. |
When the great library of Alexandria burned, the story goes, one book was saved. But it was not a valuable book; and so a poor man, who could read a little, bought it for a few coppers（铜钱）.The book wasn’t very interesting, but between its pages there was something very interesting indeed. It was a thin strip（条）of vellum（牛皮纸）on which was written the secret of the “Touchstone”!
The touchstone was a small pebble（小园石）that could turn any common metal into pure gold. The writing explained that it was lying among thousands and thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was thi
s: The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles are cold.
So the man sold his few belongings, bought some simple supplies, camped on the seashore, and began testing pebbles. He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and threw them down again because they were cold, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way. Pick up a pebble. Cold-throw it into the sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea. 
The days stretched into weeks and the weeks into months. One day, however, about mid-afternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realized what he had done. He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea that when the one he wanted came along, he still threw it away.
So it is with opportunity. Unless we are vigilant（警惕的）, it’s easy to fail to recognize an opportunity when it is in hand and it’s just as easy to throw it away.The book was special to the man because ______.
| A．it was made of vellum |
| B．it was the only book that survived the great fire |
C．it was a story about how to tell th e touchstone from ordinary stones |
| D．it included the secret of the touchstone |
He threw pebbles into the sea ______.
| A．to test how far he could throw |
| B．to practice throwing pebbles |
| C．to avoid picking up the same pebble once again |
| D．to express his disappointment at failing to find the touchstone |
What message does the story want to convey?
| A．Careful habits can lead to success. |
| B．Habits can benefit you but also hold you back. |
| C．Never judge a person or a thing by appearances. |
D．Opportunity only visits the re ady and watchful mind |
A Train Floating On Air
A train that floats on air? It's not magic—it's magnets (磁).And it's close to reality.
In Virginia USA the fall of 2002, a train with no wheels traveled on air and carried college students across their campus.In Japan, a whisper-quiet railway engine hovered and raced at 350 miles per hour using magnets and electricity as the power.And in China, a magnet train line linked Shanghai with nearby Pudong Airport.
These trains use magnetic levitation (悬浮) technology, “maglev” for short. They use the same rules as the magnets you pick up at home or school: opposite poles of magnets attract each other, and like poles repel each other.
How does it work?
Powerful magnets on the bottom of the train repel magnets on the track, which is actually just a magnet-filled guiding way. With a magnetic field of sufficient force, the train will go hovering on air, which seemed impossible to us in the past.
When an electrical current is sent through the track, the train moves. Turn the current backwards and the train slows down.
Maglev doesn't rely on the friction (摩擦力) of wheels on track, so it can climb a much steeper hill than a traditional train. And it can travel easily in snow and ice, something that could bring normal trains to a screaming stop.
60. This passage is about __________.
A. maglev B. magnetsC. levitationD. electricity
61. Which of the following is a repelling action?
A. B. C. D.
62. What can we learn from the text?
A. A magnet-filled guiding way is formed inside a maglev train.
B. Instead of electricity, magnets are used as the power of a maglev.
C. Maglev trains can climb hills with the help of magnetwheels.
D. Electric currents decide
the movements of a maglev train.
63. What is the difference between a maglev train and an ordinary train?
A. A maglev train can climb mountains without power while an ordinary one can’t.
B. A maglev train can travel in college campus while an ordinary train is not allowed.
C. Travelling without a track, a maglev train is safer and smoother than an ordinary one.
D. Floating on a track, a maglev train is faster, quieter than an ordinary railway train.
It’s a goal for millions and millions of families every year——keep the Christmas spending within a certain amount, but can still afford the gifts that your loved ones will enjoy. Never has this concern been greater in recent years than right now. Even so, there are several things that you can do to help.
Hit the sales.
No one wants to get up at four o’clock in the morning and fight to get the best deal on Black Friday, and it’s surely very tough to pick up the courage and get out there in the cold for a good deal, but sometimes——it can be well worth. Many retailers(零售商) offer specials all through the day——and some even offer online Black Friday specials, so you may still be able to get a great deal on Black Friday.
Pay close attention to advertisements.
Once the Christmas shopping season is coming, retailers hungry for business will do just about whatever to get you in the store. Pay very close attention to weekly advertisements of sales among the major retailers and you may be lucky enough to find different prices for the same thing in different shops.
Shop online.
Some of us don’t like running from store to store in order to get the best price on the perfect gift, and some of us don’t like to go out in the cold at all——thankfully for us, we can do online shopping.
The world of online shopping lets people visit all the major retailers as well as some specialty stores that could only be found on the Internet. Customers can find exactly what they are looking for, at the best possible price without ever having to leave the house. With traditional Christmas shopping consumers are sometimes limited to what’s left in stock if they wait too long to get to a particular store.The first paragraph implies that ______.
| A．nowadays not many people can afford expensive gifts |
| B．recently many people don’t want to spend money on gifts |
| C．Christmas is a time to make our loved ones enjoy their gifts |
D．Christmas is a time to  make us feel free to buy our loved ones gifts |
In the writer’s opinion, it is rewarding on Black Friday _____.
| A．if the weather is not very cold | B．if we don’t have to fight for the best deals |
| C．if we don’t have to get up early | D．If we get what we want at a good price |
The underlined word “specials” means_______.
| A．some experts in shopping |
| B．certain things for especially low price |
| C．some kind of help for a certain customer |
| D．things that can only be found on Friday |
We can have more choices _____.
| A．on Black Friday | B．in a particular store |
| C．on the Internet | D．from retailers |
Children are our future, and it’s up to us to arm them with the tools to succeed. Sadly, today’s children are being armed with more dangerous tools like weapons （武器）, drugs and gangs. Once a relatively peaceful environment, many schoolyards of today are becoming unsafe for both students and teachers.
Home schools are available to give you choices. Home schooling provides top-quality education, flexibility, and freedom to create your own schedule. At Heritage Home School we believe the choice should be yours. Thanks in part to modern technology, home schooling information is becoming readily available across our nation. A recent study by the ITBS （Iowa Tests of Basic Skills） and TAP （Tests of Achievement and Proficiency） shows us that students of home schools do particularly well when compared with the nationwide average. In every subject at every grade level, students of home schooling scored obviously higher than those in public and private schools.
If you’re new to home schooling, you may be asking yourself, “Will home schools really work for my children?”
Fact: A nationwide study using a random（任意）selection of 1,516 families found students of home schooling to be scoring, on average, at or above the 80th percentile in all areas on standardized achievement test.
Note: The national average on standardized achievement tests is the 50th percentile. Collectively, the staff at Heritage Home School brings 65 years of experience in home schooling curriculum. We’ve placed students in the top 2 % of the nation in math and many are successfully moving on to college.
One study found that of the home schooled adults, 0% were unemployed, 0% were on welfare and 94% said home education prepared them to be independent persons. For more home schooling information, call us today toll free at（877）532-7665.We can learn from the first paragraph that ________.
| A．many schools armed their students with weapons |
| B．violence and crime exist in many schoolyards |
| C．students use weapons to defend their schoolyards |
| D．weapons are more dangerous than drugs |
All of the following are true of home schools EXCEPT that ________.
| A．students are free to choose their courses |
| B．students do well in important national tests |
| C．they help students find jobs |
| D．they help students to be independent |
What is the purpose of the text?
| A．To give information about different schools. |
| B．To compare home schools with other schools. |
| C．To suggest a new method of school education. |
| D．To persuade people to choose home schools. |
The advertisement is mainly aimed at ________.
| A．students | B．parents | C．teachers | D．adults |