In the Netherlands，cycling isn't seen as eccrfriendly exercise; it's part of everyday life, as it's people's top choice to school and work. There are more bicycles than residents in the Netherlands. In cities like Amsterdam and The Hague, up to 70 percent of all journeys are made by bike.
So how did cycling become such a popular means of transportation in the European country?
In the 1970s, the Dutch government began to improve its cycling infrastructure（基础设施）due to both a social movement demanding safer cycling condition for children and the oil crisis in the Middle East, when oil producing countries stopped their exports to Western Europe.
To make cycling safer and more appealing, the Dutch have built the widest cycling net- work in the world. The country has over 40，000 kilometers of bicycle lanes and paths，which are clearly marked. They have smooth surfaces，separate signs and lights for those on two wheels. The lanes are wide enough to allow side-by-side cycling and passing.
In many cities the bike lanes are completely segregated（隔离的）from motorized traffic. And in many traffic situations cyclists are given priority（优先权）over drivers. Sometimes， where space is limited and both must share, you can see signs showing an image of a cyclist with a car behind accompanied by the words "Bike Street：Cars are guests".
As young people aren't allowed to drive alone until they are 18，cycling offers Dutch teen- agers an alternative form of freedom. The government also makes cycling training lessons a compulsory part of the Dutch school curriculum（课程）．
Bike parking facilities are ubiquitous in the country. Cyclists are accommodated in the way motorists are elsewhere. Take Groningen, a city in the northeastern part of the Netherlands，for example. The city's central train station has underground parking for 10，000 bikes.We can conclude that in the Netherlands cycling is____．
| A．regarded as eco-friendly exercise |
| B．thought of as part of people's life |
| C．looked on as a way to lose weight |
| D．considered as a way to entertain |
What can we learn about the Netherlands from the first paragraph?
| A．Most vehicles the Dutch use are buses. |
| B．The native people cycle the best in the world. |
| C．Everyone has one bike on average in the Netherlands. |
| D．The number of bikes is larger than the population there. |
Which of the following made the government improve the cycling infrastructure?
| A．A large number of bikes. |
| B．Hope for healthy life style. |
| C．People's preference to bikes. |
| D．Children's safety demand and lack of oil. |
The underlined word "ubiquitous" in the last paragraph means“＿，，．
| A．high quality | B．unique | C．very common | D．special |
What does the Dutch government do about teenagers cycling?
| A．It makes cycling covered by school education. |
| B．It encourages teenagers to cycle alone. |
| C．It will watch over teenagers who ride bikes. |
| D．It suggests teenagers cycling before driving. |
If you have seen or heard of the British TV series Downton Abbey, you have probably noticed an “upstairs-downstairs” class system in which the noble people are upstairs, worrying what clothes they should wear for dinner and the poor people are downstairs, working hard to make food and tea. So it’s not hard to tell that people are divided into different classes. British society has changed a lot since the days of Downton Abbey, but the division still exists and the funny accents do, too.
Nowadays, what divides Britons is the so-called “North-South divide”. As you make your way north from the south coast of England, the accent begins to change. The posh “How are you” in parts of the South becomes “Ahhdu” (how do you do) in the Midlands, “reeit” (are you all right) in the North West, “eyyup” (what’s up) in Yorkshire, and “hou’s it gaun” (how’s it going) in Scotland. Besides accents, the economy also changes. The rich southern city of London slowly becomes the North where people general have less money.
So where does the “South” stop being the “South” and the “North” start being the “North”? Well, depending on where someone comes from in Britain, you’ll get a different answer.
“Anywhere above London is ‘the North’,” you might hear a Londoner say. Or if you’re in Scotland, you might hear, “Southern softer!”, talking about a person from Lancashire or Yorkshire, who think of themselves as “hard (tough) Northerners”. “Anywhere south of Manchester is not northern,” you might hear a person from Manchester say.
Many stereotypes (成见) have come from the “North-South Divide”, too. Often, southerners are seen as being rude and snobbish (势利眼的) by northerners. And northerners are often seen as uneducated by southerners.
Today, the career you have and the person you marry don’t depend on where you were born or what class you are from. But as London is getting richer and people are moving to the South for work, the North-South divide is getting bigger. Yet for all that divides us, the truth is, we couldn’t live without each other!The first paragraph serves to _________.
| A．compare the lives of upstairs with those of downstairs |
| B．explain how the class system worked in the past |
| C．attack the unfair class division |
| D．introduce the topic of the passage |
People from North West greet each other by saying _________.
| A．“hou’s it gaun” | B．“reeit” |
| C．“eyyup” | D．“ahhdu” |
From Paragraph 4 we get to know _________.
| A．Scotlanders think Londoners are not strong enough |
| B．Manchester people think Scotland belongs to the South |
| C．Manchester people regard themselves as Northerners |
| D．there is no such thing as “North-South Divide” |
What is the passage mainly talking about?
| A．British accents are different from North to South. |
| B．Class division is getting smaller at present. |
| C．It is about the “North-South Division” and its influence. |
| D．Northerners and Southerners dislike each other in Britain. |
For most South Africans, Nelson Mandela is the father of their nation – many even called him "Tata", a local word for father. It was sometimes forgotten that he was also a real father of six, grandfather of 18, great-grandfather of eight, and husband to three women.
He earned a place in history just like another father of a nation, Mahatma Gandhi. But there was a fundamental difference between these beloved men. While Gandhi was thought to be a depressed family man, Mandela was a strong and loving family man. Even so, Mandela and his family paid dearly for his devotion to his country's freedom.
Mandela himself offered a glimpse into his personal war. "To be the father of a nation is a great honor, but to be the father of a family is a greater joy. But it was a joy I had far too little of." he said in April 1992, announcing his separation from Winnie.
In 1944, Nelson Mandela married Evelyn. "I could not give up my life in the struggle," Mandela explained in his autobiography(自传), Long Walk to Freedom, "and she (Evelyn) could not live with my devotion to something other than herself and her family... I never lost my admiration for her, but in the end we could not make our marriage work." They divorced in 1958.
When Evelyn died in 2004, Mandela stood at her graveside with his third wife, Graca. Winnie also attended the funeral.
Mandela married Winnie in 1958. But Winnie bore the hardship of life as Mandela, enduring her husband's 27-year imprisonment. From prison, Mandela wrote some of the greatest love letters to Winnie. "I dust it (your photo) carefully every morning – I even touch your nose with mine to regain the electric current that used to run through my blood whenever I did so."
For many South Africans, it was the end of a fairytale love story when their separation was made public in 1992. "Tensions" had arisen and they had agreed on a separation. The hurt in his words was clear: "Perhaps I was blinded to certain things because of the pain I felt for not being able to play my role as a husband to my wife and a father to my children."
“Unstable(不稳定的) personal lives seemed freedom fighters' destiny(命运),” he said. "When your life is the struggle, as mine was, there is little room left for family. That has always been my greatest regret, and the most painful aspect of the choice I made." The couple divorced in 1996.The author mentioned Mahatma Gandhi in the second paragraph in order to _________.
| A．show the character of Gandhi |
| B．prove Mandela is the great leader |
| C．draw attention to Mandela’s personal life |
| D．honour these two great fathers |
The underlined sentence in the third paragraph shows_________.
| A．Mandela felt regretful about his family life |
| B．Mandela got no joy from his family |
| C．Mandela was not satisfied with his wife Winne |
| D．Mandela preferred to be the father of the nation |
The first wife of Nelson Mandela is _________.
| A．Winnie | B．Evelyn |
| C．Graca | D．not mentioned |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．Mandela: not just the father of the nation. |
| B．Mandela: a devoted leader of the nation. |
| C．Mandela: a freedom fighter with deep love. |
| D．Mandela: success and failure. |
The timing of school holidays has always had a lot to do with when a family goes on vacation. For many kids, summer holidays mean spending time outdoors and heading toward water- the local swimming pool, a lake, or the beach.
What people wear to go swimming or sunbathing has changed a great deal since the early 1990s. Do you know what early swimsuits(游泳衣） looked like and what they were made of? The earliest swimsuits covered most of the body and were called “bathing clothes”. They were often made of wool, which made them scratchy（扎人的） and very heavy when they got wet. Newer materials made it possible to make lighter swimsuits. Over time, swimsuits covered less and less of the body. In 1946, the bikini became popular among women.
Summer holidays don’t just mean going to the water. They can also mean going for a bike ride, or a picnic. It all depends how you want to spend your summer days.
If you live or spend your holiday near the water, then fishing, diving and boating are all good possibilities. In summertime, lots of people enjoy playing, picnicking, and just going out with friends on a long summer day until the sun goes down.
A famous song called Summertime from the opera Porgy and Bess describes life’s more relaxed pace in this season, “Summertime...and the living is easy. Fish are jumping...” Ask your parents and older relatives about their summertime memories.What does the first paragraph mainly talk about?
| A．Being near water is great in summer for kids. |
| B．It is great for kids to spend holidays with their family. |
| C．when you should prepare for summer holidays. |
| D．Where you can find water on summer holidays. |
From the passage we can know that_________.
| A．People with “bathing clothes” could swim easily |
| B．The earlier swimsuits were very comfortable to wear |
| C．There are other ways to enjoy summer holidays |
| D．It is easy for a family to arrange summer holidays |
What is summertime like according to the passage?
| A．It is busy | B．It is interesting |
| C．It is simple | D．It is hard |
If the crust （外壳） of the earth were not pretty solid （坚固的），it would be shaking about and moving up and down frequently. However，there are places in the rocks of the earth’s crust where it isn’t strongly held together—where faults exist. Along the faults，one rock might push against another with great force. The energy is changed to vibration in the rocks，so they begin to shake and we have an earthquake!
The most famous one in North America was the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Seven hundred people died and property（财产）damage amounted to about ＄425，000，000.The greatest destruction came from the fires that followed the quake.
One of the most famous earthquakes in Europe took place in Lisbon，Portugal，in 1755.The city was destroyed and at least thirty thousand people were killed. In 1908，in Calabria and Sicily，a quake killed about seventy-five thousand people. In 1915，in central Italy，hundreds of towns and villages were damaged and thirty thousand people were killed.
Two great earthquakes that caused great damage in Asia took place in Tokyo，Japan，and in Gansu Province in China. The Tokyo quake of 1923 killed more than one hundred thousand people and destroyed the city and the city of Yokohama，too. The Chinese quake in 1920 covered more than three hundred square miles and killed about two hundred thousand people.The first paragraph mainly tells us.
| A．where earthquakes happen |
| B．how earthquakes happen |
| C．the damage caused by earthquakes |
| D．famous earthquakes in the world |
Which of the following is the correct order of the years when the earthquakes happened?
①the San Francisco earthquake
②the earthquake in Lisbon，Portugal
③the earthquake in Calabria and Sicily
④the earthquake in central Italy
⑤the earthquake in Gansu Province
⑥the Tokyo quake
| A．③④⑤⑥②① | B．⑤⑥②①③④ |
| C．②①③④⑤⑥ | D．①③④②⑤⑥ |
According to the passage，the earthquake that killed the most people happened in.
| A．Portugal | B．Italy | C．Japan | D．China |
Mark was walking home from school one day when he noticed the boy ahead of him had tripped and dropped all of the books he was carrying，along with two sweaters, a baseball bat, a glove and a small tape recorder. Mark knelt down and helped the boy pick up the scattered（零散的） articles.
Since they were going the same way, he helped to carry part of the burden. As they walked Mark discovered the boy’s name was Bill, that he loved video games, baseball and history, and that he was having lots of trouble with his other subjects and that he had just broken up with his girlfriend.
They arrived at Bill's home first and Mark was invited in for a Coke and to watch some television. The afternoon passed pleasantly with a few laughs and some shared small talks, then Mark went home. They continued to see each other around school, had lunch together once or twice, then both graduated from junior high school. They ended up in the same high school where they had brief contacts over the years. Finally the long awaited senior year came and three weeks before graduation, Bill asked Mark if they could talk.
Bill reminded him of the day years ago when they had first met. “Do you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things home that day?” asked Bill. “You see, I cleaned out my locker because I didn’t want to leave a mess for anyone else. I had stored away some of my mother’s sleeping pills and I was going home to commit suicide(自杀). But after we spent some time together talking and laughing, I realized that if I had killed myself, I would have missed that time and so many others that might follow. So you see, Mark, when you picked up my books that day, you did a lot more. You saved my life.”How did Bill and Mark get to know each other?
| A．They were attending the same junior high school. |
| B．They were living in the same neighborhood. |
| C．Mark was once invited to Bill’s home to play video games together. |
| D．Mark once lent Bill a hand when he dropped all things the was carrying. |
The underlined word “tripped” in Paragraph One probably means.
| A．stopped | B．scattered |
| C．trapped himself | D．caught his foot on something |
According to the passage, we learn that ________
| A．Bill would have gone to another school if Mark hadn’t met him that day. |
| B．Mark would have been informed of Bill’s death shortly after |
| C．Bill would have killed himself |
| D．Bill’s mother would find out his secret |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The boy took so many books with him because he was about to graduate soon. |
| B．In fact Mark knew from the beginning that he had saved his friend’s life. |
| C．Bill actually wanted to have a good sleep because he was too tired. |
| D．After they entered Bill’s house they had a drink together. |