Every time you go to the supermarket you come away with your purchases packed in plastic bags. But wouldn’t it be kinder to the environment if you asked for paper bags instead?
The answer is not as easy as it might seem. Environmentalists say there are drawbacks to using both plastic bags and paper bags.
80 percent of groceries in the US are packed in plastic bags and the numbers are becoming huge. Consumers use between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic bags per year worldwide.
Some experts believe that all these bags harm the environment. Plastic takes hundreds of years to break down and, as it does so, poisonous materials are released into the water and soil.
Further damage is caused if plastic bags enter the sea. For example, endangered sea turtles cannot tell the bags from jellyfish, their main source of food, and often choke on them.
However, this kind of bag does have its advantages.
Paper bags use more energy and create more waste than plastic bags. Plastic bags require 40 percent less energy to produce and cause 70 percent less air pollution. They also release as much as 94 percent less waste into the water than paper ones do.
But paper bags do break down more quickly than plastic bags. They don’t endanger wildlife, either.
So what should we do? One possible solution would be to use biodegradable plastic bags. “Biodegradable” means that the bags break down naturally just like a piece of banana peel when it is left outside.
But until biodegradable technology improves, it might be easier to pack things you buy in reusable cloth bags.Compared to paper bags, plastic bags ______.
| A．produce 6 percent more waste |
| B．can be made biodegradable more easily |
| C．can be used as a source of food |
| D．save 40 percent of the energy |
By saying “The answer is not as easy as it might seem,” (in paragraph 2) the writer means _____.
A. biodegradable plastic bags can compete with paper
B. paper bags seem to be kind to environment
C. it’s difficult to say whether plastic or paper bags are better for the environmentWhat does the author suggest people use at the present time?
| A．Paper bags | B．Plastic bags |
| C．Biodegradable plastic bags. | D．Cloth bags. |
Many people take it for granted that black is a color 
of bad things while white should always mean something good．This may be because, in their opinion, black is related to darkness and white to purity（纯洁）．
However, that is not always the case．Did you know that the same colour may mean differently in different places of the world?
In the English-speaking world, black is the colour of mourning（哀悼）．People wear black clothes at the funeral．Red is concerned with danger or bloodshed (流血)．Yellow is the word for fear．If you are afraid, you are yellow．Yet none of these sayings is true outside the English-speaking world．In China and Korea white is the colour of mourning．In Russia, China and some other countries, red stands for beauty, life and excellence．In Italy and Germany, you are yellow with anger, not with fear．
Even within the English-speaking area it is not difficult to find colour contradictions (矛盾)．A redcap in the United States is a porter in a railway station．In Britain, however, a redcap is a military policeman．Both names are logical because both men wear red caps．Similarly, the British term for an American white collar worker is sometimes called a black-coated worker．
One does not have to cross an area to find color differences．Would you rather be red-blooded? If we go back to the origin, we find that both terms are logical as both names suggest．The expression “blueblood” comes from Spain, where some noble（贵族）families proudly said that they had “blue blood”．But then why “blue” blood? Because they were fair-skinned, and it is only natural that their blood vessels (血管) stood out appearing blue．Yellow is concerned with anger in ______.
| A．Russia | B．Britain | C．Germany | D．China |
Both Britain and America would probably agree that ______.
| A．black is the color of mourning | B．a black-coated worker is employed in an office |
| C．red stands for beauty and excellence | D．a redcap is a porter in a station |
The best title for this passage is ______.
| A．The Origin of Blue Blood | B．The Development of the Use of Colors |
| C．Colors that Carry Bad Meanings | D．The Meaning Concerned With Certain Colors |
When some Spanish called themselves “blueblood”, they actually meant ______.
| A．they had heart trouble and their faces looked blue | B．they came from a noble family |
| C．they had blue blood in their vessels | D．they were fair-skinned |
Here is a poster on a middle school website. Read the website poster.
Going, Going, Gone!
The Haynes Middle School Parent-Teacher Organization invites you to attend our latest fund-raiser, The Fourth Annual Haynes School Auction (拍卖)!
Saturday, May 10
☆6:00 p.m. ~ 11:00 p.m.
☆In the school hall
☆6:00 p.m.~ 6:30 p.m.: All items for auction are previewed.
☆6:30 p.m.~ 7:00 p.m.: Silent auction begins.
☆7:00 p.m.~ 7:30 p.m.: Highest bidders (出价人) from silent auction are determined.
☆7:30 p.m.~ 11:00 p.m.: Main auction begins.
Items (物品) up for bid in the silent auction vary in value from $ 5.00 to $ 30.00.
Items up for bid in the main auction include the following:
●Airline tickets to a place of your choice
●Weekend getaways at first-class hotels
●Season tickets to the Chicago Bears football game
●$ 50 gift tickets to local gift shops, restaurants, and salons
Don’t miss the boat! Book your tickets today.
Last year, tickets were sold out within four days!
Tickets are sold on a first-come, first-served basis.
$ 15.00 per person
All the money from the auction will be given to the Haynes School computer lab.Which of the following is NOT mentioned as being up for bid at the auction?
| A．A movie pass to the local cinema. | B．A weekend stay at a hotel. |
| C．A ticket to a restaurant. | D．Airline tickets. |
The more items that are given or bought for auction, ________.
| A．the less money that will be charged for the tickets to the auction |
| B．the more money that can be raised to support the computer lab |
| C．the faster the ticket will be sold to the auction |
| D．the higher the value that will be placed on the items in the silent auction |
Which of the following is most likely to happen at the year’s auction?
| A．The airline tickets will receive higher bids than any other item. |
| B．All items up for bid will be sold for at least twice their value. |
| C．More money will be raised this year than in any other year before. |
| D．Tickets for the event will be sold out in less than one week. |
The phrase “first-come, first-served” tells you that ________.
| A．people can buy the tickets on the first day only |
| B．the person who is the first to arrive will receive a ticket at no charge |
| C．food and drinks will be served at the auction |
| D．tickets are sold in the order of who arrives first to buy them |
A “blogger” is a person who writes on an Internet website called a “blog”. The word “blog” is a short way of saying “web log”, or “personal website”. Anyone can start a blog, and they can write about anything they like.
There are millions of blogs on the Internet today. They provide news, information and ideas to the people who read them. They contain links to other websites. And they provide a place for people to write their ideas and react to the ideas of others.
A research company called Perseus has studied more than 3,000 web logs. It says that blogs are most popular with teenage girls. They use them to let their friends know what is happening in their lives. The study also says that more than 100,000 bloggers stopped taking part in the activity after a year.
However, some people develop serious blogs to present political and other ideas. For example, the Republican and Democratic parties in the southern state of Kentucky recently started their own blogs. And American companies are beginning to use blogs to advertise their products.
At the same time, some long-standing blogs have ended. Last week, blogging leader Dave Winer closed his free blog service “weblogs.com”. He said the site became too costly to continue. He started the blog four years ago, and thousands of people had written on it. They are now upset because they did not know that the site was closed
One blog that is still going strong is called Rebecca’s Pocket. Rebecca Blood created the website in 1999. She wrote about the history of blogs on the site. That article led to a book called The Weblog Handbook. It has been translated into four languages so far.
Miss Blood says Rebecca’s Pocket get about thirty thousand visitors a month. She writes about anything and everything — politics, culture and movies. She recently provided medical advice. And she wrote about how to prevent being stolen from online bank accounts.The text is mainly written to _______.
| A．introduce an Internet website called “blog” | B．introduce a short way of saying “web log” |
| C．tell readers about blogs | D．tell readers how to write blogs |
From the text we can learn that blogs cover almost everything except _______.
| A．different ideas | B．medical advice | C．advertisements | D．account p ass words |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the text?
| A．Politicians don’t use blogs at all. | B．A lot of bloggers no longer write or read blogs. |
| C．Those who like to use blogs are mostly teenage girls. | |
| D．Dave Winer closed his “weblogs.com” because of the money shortage. |
The reason why Rebecca’s Pocket is still going strong is that _______.
| A．it was created by a woman | B．it is about the history of blogs |
| C．it provides useful information and advice | |
| D．it has editions in at least four different languages |
What do you do if you are hit in the mouth and one of your teeth is knocked out? A dentist(牙医)may be able to put the tooth back in for you, but you have to get to the dentist first．In the meantime, you have to store the tooth so that it will stay healthy．
The simplest thing to do is put the tooth back into your mouth, or you could put it in milk．Frank Courts, a dentist at the University of Florida, worked with other researchers to find the safest way of keeping knocked-out teeth．He tried putting teeth into milk, into water, and into cell-culture medium(细胞培养液)．He also tried, just drying the teeth in the open air．He used teeth that had to be removed from people’s mouths for various reasons．The teeth were put into one of the solutions(溶液)or stored in the air for one hour．Then cells from the root of the teeth were scraped-off the teeth．Dr．Courts and the others then studied how healthy these cells were．
The cell-culture medium worked best to keep a knocked-out tooth healthy outside the mouth．However, few people keep cell-culture medium handy at home or in school．
The next best thing was milk．But Dr．Courts said that the best thing of all was to wash the tooth and put it right back into its socket(牙槽)in the mouth．For some people, though, this is just too painful or upsetting．So milk will do, until you get your tooth (and your mouth)to a dentist．This passage is mainly about．
| A．how a dentist can save a knocked-out tooth |
| B．how to keep a knocked-out tooth healthy |
| C．how Dr．Courts and other researchers made their experiments |
| D．how to put a knocked-out tooth back into its socket |
The best way to keep a knocked-out tooth healthy outside the mouth is to store it .
| A．in cell-culture medium | B．in milk | C．in water | D．in the open air |
Milk can be used instead of cell-culture medium to put a knocked-out tooth in because．
| A．milk works better to keep the tooth healthy | B．milk causes less pain |
| C．cell-culture medium is not usually handy | D．cell-culture medium is more expensive |
“Dr．Courts said that the best of al1 was to wash the tooth and put it right back into its socket in the mouth．”In the sentence, the word “best” means .
| A．cheapest and healthiest | B．least painful and cheapest |
| C．quickest and least painful | D．easiest and healthiest |
The best way of learning a language is using it. The best way of learning English is talking in English as much as possible. Sometimes you’ll get your words mixed up(混合)and people will not understand you. Sometimes people will say things too quickly and you can’t understand them. But if you keep your sense of humor(幽默感),you can always have a good laugh at the mistakes you make. Don’t be unhappy if people seem to be laughing at your mistakes. It’s better for people to laugh at your mistakes than to be angry with you, because they don’t understand what you are saying.The most important thing for learning English is:“Don’t be afraid of making mistakes because everyone makes mistakes.”What should you do in learning English?
| A．Be careful not to make any mistake. | B．Write as quickly as you can. |
| C．Speak English as much as you can. | D．Laugh all the way. |
When people laugh at your mistakes, you should______.
| A．not care | B．be happy | C．feel worried | D．be unhappy |
When you make a mistake, you should______.
| A．keep quiet | B．get angry | C．be kind | D．keep your sense of humor |
The story tells us: “________”
| A．Only foolish people make mistakes | B．Few people make mistakes |
| C．People never make mistakes | D．There is no one who doesn’t make mistakes |