Chuck，unlike other frogs，didn't like catching flies himself. But he did love eating them.
Some frogs thought Chuck was lazy. Some believed he must think he was too good for them. Some thought Chuck was the strangest frog ever.
That didn't matter to Chuck. Each morning，Chuck jumped over and sat under the spider's web. Then when Lady Eightlegs went off to dip (浸) her feet in the pond，Chuck ate flies from her web.
One morning while Chuck was enjoying his fly breakfast，Lady Eightlegs returned and caught him.
“You're the one who keeps eating my flies！”she cried.
Chuck jumped away and into the pond. Now there was an idea！Why not spin (结) his own web?
He collected some vines (葡萄藤) from a nearby farm. Then he began to spin his web. He worked on his web for hours，until very late at night. And then he fell asleep.
When he woke up the next morning，he found that he got caught by the vines.
“Help！”he shouted.
Lady Eightlegs looked up from the edge of the pond. She hurried up to help Chuck out of the vine web.
“No matter how hard I try，I can't spin a spider's web，”Chuck said.
“Of course not，”Lady Eightlegs said. “You're a frog. Frogs can't spin spider's webs any better than spiders can swim，I guess.”
“But I always see you in the water，”Chuck said.
“I only wade in (蹚水) up to my knees，”Lady Eightlegs sighed. “How wonderful it would be to swim in the middle of the pond and float (漂浮) peacefully under the sun.”
Chuck smiled，“I have an idea.”
From that day forward，Chuck carried Lady Eightlegs out to the middle of the pond，where they floated and played together. When they returned to land，they shared a breakfast of flies from her spider's web.
It wasn't exactly an ordinary friendship. But Chuck was not an ordinary frog.The second paragraph is written to show that Chuck ______.
| A．was different from other frogs | B．didn't get along well with other frogs |
| C．led a lonely life | D．was a proud frog |
What do we know about Chuck's web?
| A．Lady Eightlegs helped Chuck spin it. | B．It was successfully spun by Chuck. |
| C．It was spun far from the pond. | D．Chuck failed to spin it himself. |
It can be inferred from the text that ______.
| A．Chuck had tried to catch Lady Eightlegs | B．Chuck had difficulty collecting vines |
| C．Lady Eightlegs was very wise | D．Lady Eightlegs swam well |
What was Lady Eightlegs' attitude towards Chuck in the end?
| A．Worried. | B．Friendly. | C．Doubtful. | D．Cold. |
America is becoming a nation of book lovers— notebooks, netbooks and smartbooks; that is, if you believe the computer manufactures.
Notebooks
Notebooks, the senior citizens of mobile computing, are slimmed-down laptops. A notebook is an extremely lightweight PC, typically weighing less than 6 pounds and often compact enough to fit easily into a briefcase(公文包）. Aside from portability (轻便）and size, the biggest difference between a notebook computer and a desktop PC is the display screen. In terms of computing power, modern notebook computers are nearly equal to PCs.
Netbooks
The weight of a notebook can cause a lot of wear and tear on the shoulders, which is one reason why mobile workers joined the netbooks land rush. Also called mini notebooks, ultra portables or sub- notebooks, these small, light and inexpensive lap-top computers are used for general computing and for access to web-based applications.
When first introduced, netbooks featured smaller screens and keyboards, often had reduced specification and computing power, and lacked key features, such as optical drives (光驱）. They've since grown in size and features, often confusing the distinction between a netbook and notebook computer.
A netbook's display typically ranges from 7 to 10 inches. It weighs less than 3 pounds, and sup-ports a keyboard that is reduced in size. Netbooks have built-in WiFi, Ethernet, USB ports and slots (扁口）for flash memory cards. To keep them small and compact, netbooks do not have a CD or
DVD drive, and many use solid-state flash drives in-stead of hard drives for storage. Flash drives have no moving parts so they're less likely to break, and are smaller than regular hard drives, which saves space and weight.
Smartbooks
Smartbooks are the newest book on the block. Smartbooks combine the features of both a smart- phone and a netbook computer in a device that's mobile like a phone, yet comes in a laptop-style body with a screen that's 5 to 10 inches in size. Other features include long battery life，3G connectivity and GPS capability. And it has long battery life，8 to 12 hours.
Smartbooks are for the group who like multimedia and social networking, and have real-time information flow. What do we know about a notebook?
| A．It can serve as a briefcase. |
| B．It may cause pain in your shoulders. |
| C．It has as big a display screen as PCs. |
| D．It can deal with calculation as well as PCs. |
A netbook does NOT have __________
| A．a hard drive |
| B．a USB slot |
| C．a flash drive |
| D．a keyboard |
Which of the following is a smart book?
The purpose of writing this passage is to __________
| A．prove how Americans love books now |
| B．advertise several new kinds of books |
| C．introduce some mobile computing devices |
| D．explain the development of computers |
Some young Cambodians are learning a new sport—skateboarding. The country's first skateboard park is located on the grounds of a local charity group at the edge of Phnom Penh, the capital.
Sports like Khmer boxing and soccer are wildly popular in Cambodia. But Chea, who has been skating for 6 months, says skateboarding has already become his favorite sport.
The skateboarders are learning tricks like launching a jump or flying through the air on their narrow wooden boards.
A non-governmental organization called Skateistan Cambodia organizes weekly programs at the park. Skateistan started its work in Afghanistan years ago. Rory Burke is working with the group which expanded to Cambodia last year.
Rory Burke points out, "Yeah, it's definitely not a typical Cambodian pastime(休闲活动). And I think the idea of* why skateboarding'exists because it's not been done before here. We want to use skateboarding as something saying, ‘Hey, this is something new and different.' And that kind of itself becomes a little bit of hook. People see it and they think and they say, 'Wow, what is that?' and they want to get involved. "
Skateistan partners with local groups work with young people. The park is on the grounds of the group known as PSE, where children attend school and learn a trade. There are almost one hundred and twenty participants. They all come from troubled lives.
Seventeen-year-old Sang Rotha is a student at PSE. "Sometimes I don’t do well in subjects like math, "he sayst" I feel bad when I find it hard to keep up with my lessons. So that is why I skateboard to improve my bad feelings. "
He says he began skateboarding more than a year ago. Before he started training, it seemed very easy. But it was very difficult to learn tricks, and he got hurt a lot from falling off.
Rory Burke says learning to deal with the difficulties is part of the lesson for these young skateboarders. According to the passage, PSE is a group ________ .
| A．that works with Cambodian students |
| B．for young Cambodians to learn a trade |
| C．for young Cambodians in troubled lives |
| D．for young Cambodians taking skateboarding |
What is said about skateboarding in the passage?
| A．It is easy for young Cambodians to learn. |
| B．It is a good sport to help regain good feelings. |
| C．It originated in Afghanistan years ago. |
| D．It is as popular as Khmer boxing in Cambodia. |
The underlined part" a little bit of hook" in Paragraph 5 probably means ________ .
| A．something strange | B．something new |
| C．something different | D．something attractive |
It can be inferred from the passage that skateboarding is becoming ________ .
| A．a sport liked by most young Cambodians |
| B．an increasingly popular sport in Cambodia |
| C．a sport used to better young Cambodians’ life |
| D．a good way to train young Cambodians' learning skills |
Australia is famous for its beautiful beaches. And Australian people love swimming and going to the beach. But it wasn't always that way.
Different Climate, Different Habits
When Europeans first invaded (侵略）Australia, the only people here who were good at swimming were the Aboriginal people. The Europeans came from climates where it was too cold to swim. However the warm climate of Australia soon changed their attitude to swimming. At first, only men swam. They swam without any clothes on— there were no women to see them.
Cover up!
By the 1880s and 1890s visiting the beach was very fashionable. People wore everyday street clothes—much more than people wear at the beach today.
In those days people believed they should cover their most body so it would not be seen by the opposite sex. Special bathing costumes (服装） were designed for women. This costumes used a lot of cloth and were very heavy when wet, making it difficult to swim.
Laws Made and Laws Changed
The government decided to stop men swimming naked. It passed a law which forbade bathing between 6 am and 7 am. But in 1903，the laws changed; people could swim in the daytime, but they had to wear neck-to-knee costumes.
The Shrinking Costume
As time passed, swimming costumes became smaller and more convenient.
At first men and women were covered from neck to knee. Then arms became bare. Then more of the legs were uncovered. Each new change was regarded by many as shocking and rude and people wrote letters to the newspapers complaining about the new costume. Nowadays some people go to special "nude beaches" to swim naked.
However, most people cover their bodies more than they did ten years ago—not because they think bare skin is shocking—but to protect their skin from the harmful rays of the sun. Which of the following statements about the climate of Australia is TRUE?
| A．It made European settlers think differently about swimming. |
| B．It changed European settlers' swimming costume. |
| C．It made European settlers feel much hotter. |
| D．It made European settlers have to swim naked. |
What should swimmers do during the late 19th century?
| A．They should hide when they meet a person of the opposite sex. |
| B．They should cover their body to avoid being seen by the opposite sex. |
| C．They should wear many heavy clothes on beaches. |
| D．They should wear special wet costumes designed for them. |
What does the underlined sentence mean?
| A．People were surprised by each new change and criticized it. |
| B．People were amazed by each new change and praised it. |
| C．Only newspapers were in favor of each new change. |
| D．Only newspapers thought poorly of each new change. |
What can we conclude from the last paragraph?
| A．People worry about getting skin cancer from too much sun. |
| B．People protected their swimming costumes from too much sun. |
| C．People are greatly shocked by the nude beaches. |
| D．People think it rude to swim with the smaller costumes. |
Beijing had its coldest morning in almost 40 years and its biggest snowfall since 1951. Britain is suffering through its longest cold snap (寒潮）since 1981. And freezing weather is hitting the US south.
Whatever happened to global warming?
Such weather doesn't seem to fit with warnings from scientists that the earth is warming because of greenhouse gases. But experts say the coldness doesn't deny global warming at all—it's just a blip in the long-term heating trend.
"It's part of natural variability(变化性），" said Gerald Meehl, a senior scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. With global warming, he said，"We'll still have record cold temperatures. We'll just have fewer of them. ”
Scientists say man-made climate change does have the potential to cause more frequent and more severe weather extremes, such as heat waves, storms, floods, droughts and even coldness. But experts did not connect the current cold weather to climate change.
So what is going on?
"We basically have seen just a big outbreak of Arctic air over populated areas of the Northern Hemisphere，"Arndt said. In the atmosphere, large rivers of air travel roughly west to east around the globe between the Arctic and the tropics. But recently, this air flow has become bent into a pronounced (明显的）“z” pattern, moving from north and south. If you live in a place where it brings air up from the south, you will get warm weather. In fact, record highs were reported this week in Washington state and Alaska.
But in some other unlucky parts of the globe, Arctic air is moving down from the north. And that's how you get the low temperature in Beijing, and 18 inches of snow in parts of Britain, where a member of Parliament who said the snow "clearly indicates a cooling trend " was laughed at by colleagues.
The “z” pattern arises naturally from time to time, but it is not clear why it's so strong right now, said Michelle Heureux, a meteorologist at the Climate Prediction Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The center says the pattern should begin to weaken in a week or two. Many areas are suffering low temperature except __________.
| A．Beijing |
| B．Washington state and Alaska |
| C．the US south |
| D．Britain |
The underlined word “blip” in Paragraph 3 means __________.
| A．temporary phenomenon |
| B．abnormal phenomenon |
| C．common phenomenon |
| D．rare phenomenon |
From the text, it can be learned that __________.
| A．global warming trend has proved wrong |
| B．there will be less coldness in the future |
| C．the “ z ” pattern Arctic air flow seldom happens |
| D．scientists haven't found out the reason of coldness |
The present coldness is probably caused by __________.
| A．climate change |
| B．Arctic air traveling west to east |
| C．the “z” pattern Arctic air flow |
| D．the cooling trend |
At first, the earth's surface layer (层）was made up of huge blocks of hard, solid rocks. Then slowly, the rocks broke up into smaller and smaller pieces. Finally stones, pebbles(砾石）and grains of sand were formed. Many sorts of plants and animals lived and died on the surface of the earth. Their remains mixed up with the stones, pebbles and formed soil. The outmost layer of the earth is soil.
There are many ways in which large pieces of rock break up into smaller ones. Wind, water, heat and cold help to break up rocks. When winds blow grains of sand against a large rock for a long time, the softer layers of the rock are slowly worn away. These leave holes and cracks (裂缝）in the rock, which become bigger and finally the rock breaks up into smaller pieces.
The moving water of streams and rivers also helps to break up rocks. As the water moves along, it carries with small pieces of rock. These rub the larger ones. Thus, the larger rocks are worn down to smaller pieces.
The heat of the sun is also helpful in breaking up rocks. When the sun shines, the rocks become very hot. If these rocks are suddenly cooled, they may crack. Ice also plays a part in making soil. Water in the cracks can turn into ice in cold weather. As this happens, it becomes bigger and the cracks become wider, and finally break up into smaller pieces. According to the passage, soil __________.
| A．forms very slowly |
| B．is a mixture only of stones, pebbles and sand |
| C．makes up the layers of the earth |
| D．is becoming smaller and smaller |
Which of the following speeds up the breaks of rocks most?
| A．Hot weather. |
| B．Cold water. |
| C．Sharp changes in temperature. |
| D．More dead plants in the cracks. |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．The remains of many plants and animals can form soil. |
| B．If a large rock never moves, it will never break up. |
| C．Even if a large rock never moves, it will break up. |
| D．Ice in the cracks helps to break up rocks. |
The best title for this passage should be __________
| A．Soil from rock |
| B．Ways to break up rocks |
| C．Soil on the earth |
| D．Soil, outmost layer of the earth |