“Life is speeding up. Everyone is getting unwell.”
This may sound like something someone would say today. But in fact, an unknown person who lived in Rome in AD（公元） 53 wrote it.
We all love new inventions. They are exciting, amazing and can even change our lives. But have all these developments really improved the quality of our lives?
Picture this. You’re rushing to finish your homework on the computer. Your mobile phone rings, a QQ message from your friend appears on the screen, the noise from the television is getting louder and louder. Suddenly the computer goes blank and you lose all your work. Now you have to stay up all night to get it done. How happy do you feel?
Inventions have speeded up our lives so much that they often leave up feeling stressed and tired. Why do you think people who live far away from noisy cities, who have no telephones, no cars, not even any electricity（电） often seem to be happier? Perhaps because they live simpler lives.
One family in the UK went “back in time” to see what life was like without all the inventions we have today. The grandparents, with their daughter, and grandsons Benjamin, 10 and Thomas, 7, spent nine weeks in a 1940s house. They had no washing machine, microwave（微波炉）, computer or mobile phones.
The grandmother, Lyn, said, “The more things you have, the more difficult life becomes.” The boys said they fought less. Probably, they said, because there was less to fight over, such as their computer. Benjamin also noticed that his grandmother had changed from being a “trendy（赶时髦的）, beer-drinking granny”, to one who cooked things.The writer uses the quote（引号） at the beginning of the story to ________.
| A．tell us a truth about our lives |
| B．tell us what life was like long time ago |
| C．point out what causes such a thing to happen |
| D．point out some problems we will meet in the life |
In the passage the writer describes a picture to show that new inventions _______.
| A．have speeded up our lives | B．have improved the quality of our lives |
| C．may make people feel very happy | D．may bring people some trouble |
The family chose to spend some time in a 1940s house because _______.
| A．they loved to live simple lives |
| B．they wanted to know how people lived without modern inventions |
| C．they were troubled by modern inventions |
| D．living in a different time would be a lot of fun for them |
According to the passage, which id NOT right?
| A．People who live far away from noisy cities often seem to be happier. |
| B．An unknown Roman was sure that the quality of life would get better. |
| C．The family had some changes when they lived in a 1940s house. |
| D．With the improvement of our lives, we often feel stressed and tired. |
The passage is mainly about ________.
| A．problems with technology |
| B．improvements of our lives with technology |
| C．changes happening to technology |
| D．the importance of technology |
An artist（画家）went to a beautiful place of the country for a holiday, and stayed with a farmer. Every day he went out and painted from morning to evening. When it got back, he came back to the farm and had a good dinner before he went to bed.
At the end of his holiday he wanted to pay the farmer, but the farmer said, “No, I don’t want money but give me one of your pictures. What is money? In a week it will all be finished, but your painting will be here.”
The artist was very pleased and thanked the farmer for saying such kind words. The farmer smiled and said, “I have a son in London. He wants to become an artist. What he comes here next month, I will show him your picture, and then he will not want to be an artist any more, I believe.”The artist liked to ________ near a nice place.
| A．sing songs | B．dance |
| C．paint pictures | D．write something |
He liked painting ________.
| A．in a house |
| B．because he would do well in painting |
| C．in the open air |
| D．with the most important artist |
The famer thought that the artist ________.
| A．was not good at painting |
| B．was really a great man |
| C．did well in painting |
| D．was the most important artist |
The farmer’s son wanted to ________ some day.
| A．be an artist | B．become a popular singer |
| C．write twenty novels | D．dance around the world |
The farmer _________.
| A．was a foolish man |
| B．didn’t want his son to be a painter |
| C．liked the artist’s picture very much |
| D．couldn’t pay for his son about his paintings |
Whenever the sun dropped and the blue sky came up, my father and I used to climb the mountain near my house. Walking together, my father and I used to have a lot of conversations through which I learned lessons from his experiences. He always told me, “You should have goals like climbing the mountain.” Without the mountain-climbing that we both enjoyed, we couldn’t have enough time to spend together because my father was very busy. I really got a lot from the mountain-climbing. It gave me time to talk with my father and to be in deep thought as well as develop my patience.
Once we climbed a very high mountain. It was so challenging for me because I was only ten years old. During the first few hours of climbing, I enjoyed the flowers and trees, and the birds’ singing. But as time passed, I got a pain in both of my legs. I wanted to quit（放弃） climbing, but my father said to me, “You can always see a beautiful sky at the top of the mountain, but you can’t see it before you reach the top. Only there can you see all of the nice things, which is just like your life.”
At that time, I was too young to understand his words. But later after that, I got to know the meaning of hope in life. I found myself standing at the top of the mountain, and the sky was as clear as crystal.The passage tells us that mountain-climbing was ______ for the father and the son.
| A．hard | B．enjoyable |
| C．painful | D．comfortable |
The underlined word “crystal” in the passage means _______.
| A．岩石 | B．火焰 |
| C．水晶 | D．寒冰 |
Which of the following is the closest in meaning to the father’s words in the second paragraph?
| A．You will get all you need at the top of the mountain. |
| B．The sky is always as clear as crystal. |
| C．You can find life is full of nice things. |
| D．Never give up half-way. |
108 Wensan Road London, 85 A 100 England
March 1st, 2013
Dear Lin Tao,
I am writing to you in English. I hope you can understand(懂) it.
I love studying in London and I have many new friends. Most of them are my classmates. From Monday to Friday, we have English, math, physics and P. E. in the morning. I like English and physics, because they’re interesting. I don’t like math. It’s too boring. At noon, I have to have lunch at school because my home is far from（远离）my school. We usually have two classes in the afternoon—art and politics. We finish our classes at 3:30 p. m. After school, my friends and I always play football on the playground. And then we go home by bus.
On weekends, we have no classes. We often go to the park and sometimes we go to the movies in the evening. We see movies twice a month. I like some famous(著名的) actors like Jackie Chan.
Oh, I have no time to write more. Please write back soon.
Best wishes,
Wang Gang
根据短文内容，选择正确答案。Where is Wang Gang studying?
| A．In America. | B．In China. |
| C．In England. | D．In Canada. |
How many classes does Wang Gang have on weekends?
| A．Six. | B．Four. |
| C．Two. | D．No classes. |
Wang Gang doesn’t like _____ at all, because it’s too boring.
| A．Chinese | B．art |
| C．movie | D．math |
How does Wang Gang go home every day?
| A．On foot. | B．By bike. |
| C．By bus. | D．By car. |
Wang Gang and his friends go to the movies _____.
| A．once a week | B．once a month |
| C．twice a week | D．twice a month |
| Movie Night Place: School Hall Day: Friday Time: 8:00 p. m. -10:00 p. m. Movie: The Four（《四大名捕》） Stars(主演): Deng Chao, Liu Yifei |
School Art Festival（艺术节） Do you want to watch different kinds of programs(节 目)？Come to the Art Festival in the school hall. You can come with your parents and friends. From 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. every Saturday. |
| School Library Do you have old books, newspapers or magazines(杂志)？Just bring them to the library. Office time: 8:30 a. m. -5:00 p. m. every weekday. |
Basketball Game Attention, please! There is a bas- ketball game between our school and No. 3 High School in the gym at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow. Please come and watch it. |
根据以上四则海报，选择正确答案。We can _______ on Friday night.
| A．see a movie |
| B．watch a basketball game |
| C．give books to the library |
| D．come to the Art Festival |
If we want to watch different programs, we may go to the school hall ______.
| A．on Friday | B．on Saturday |
| C．tomorrow afternoon | D．on weekdays |
There is a basketball game between______and ______at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow.
| A．our school; No. 1 High school |
| B．No. 1 High school; No. 3 High school |
| C．our school; No. 3 High school |
| D．our school; No. 3 Middle school |
We can give old books to the library ________.
| A．at nine a.m. on Sunday | B．at six p.m. on Monday |
| C．at 10:00 p.m. on Friday | D．at 11:00 a.m. on Friday |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．The basketball game is between our school and No. 2 High School. |
| B．We can go to the movies at 7:30 p. m. on Friday. |
| C．Our friends can come to the Art Festival with us. |
| D．On Monday, we can give old newspapers and magazines to the library. |
Mrs. Black is sixty-nine years old. She only has a daughter named Sandra. Mr. Black died twelve years ago. Mrs. Black was very sad and lived in her house alone. Two years ago her daughter had a baby. The young woman was busy all the time and had no time to look after her son James. She asked her mother to live with them. The old woman had to sell her house and moved there. ___. And the family liked her.
Last autumn Mrs. Black went to do some shopping. A car hit her and her leg was hurt. She had to be in hospital for three months. _____ At first her daughter was kind to her, but soon she began to be tired of(讨厌) her. The old woman wanted to leave, but she had no money to buy a house and nobody could take care of her. __
__
One morning Mrs. Black broke a plate. It made her daughter angry. She told James to buy a wooden(木制的) plate for his grandma. That afternoon James came back with two wooden plates. She was surprised and asked, “Why did you buy two plates, son?”
“One is for grandma,” answered the boy, “the other is for you! You will also have to use a wooden plate when you’re old, I think.”_____. She cried for long. Now she is kind to her mother as she was before .
What does the passage mainly talk about?
| A．Mrs. Black liked this family very much. |
| B．Mrs. Black’s family. |
| C．More care should be given to the old. |
| D．Mrs. Black was sad about what her daughter did. |