If cars had wings, they could fly and that just might happen, beginning in 2011.The company Terrafugia, based in Woburn, Massachusetts, says it plans to make such a car-plane called “Transition”, to customers(顾客) by the end of 2012. “It’s the next ‘wow’ vehicle,”said Terrafugia vice president Richard Gersh. “Anybody can buy a Ferrari, but as we say, Ferraris don’t fly.”
The car-plane has wings that unfold for flying—a process the company says takes one minute-and fold back up for driving. A runway is still needed to take off and land.
The Transition is being marketed more as a plane that drives than a car that flies, although it is both. The company has been working with FAA to meet aircraft regulations, and with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to meet vehicle safety regulations.
The company is aiming to sell the Transition to private pilots as an easier and cheaper way to fly.They say it saves you the trouble from trying to find another mode of transportation to get to and from airports: You drive the car to the airport and then you’re good to go.When you land, you fold up the wings and hit the road. There are no expensive parking fees because you don’t have to store it at an airport—you leave it in the car park at home.
The car-plane is designed to fly under 10,000 feet. It has a maximum take-off weight of 1,430 pounds, including fuel and passengers.
The Transition’s price tag: $194,000, But there may be something else you need to pay, like a radio, transponder or GPS and so on.
So far, the company has more than 70 orders. “We’re working very closely with them, but there are still some remaining steps,” Brown said.We can learn from the first paragraph that _________.
| A．car-planes will be popular in 2012 |
| B．people might drive a car-plane in 2012 |
| C．both Transition and Ferrari can take off and land |
| D．Richard Gersh is the vice president of Massachusetts |
According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?
| A．The car-plane needs a runway to take off and land. |
| B．A car-plane with radio and GPS will cost $194,000 |
| C．The car-plane may fly at 8,000 feet |
| D．People can park the car-plane in the car park at their home. |
Which of the following has the closest meaning to the underlined word “unfold” on this passage?
| A．start | B．spread | C．cover | D．travel |
What’s the best title for the passage?
| A．Cars With Wings May come true soon |
| B．A Ferrari or a Car Plane |
| C．A Easier and Cheaper Way to Fly |
| D．Cars With Wings Can Fly as Fast as Planes |
Helping your children to read and write at home will improve their skills and confidence—it will also make them get ready for learning in the classroom environment.
are needed by every child in every subject in every year of their life in or outside school. Students who improve their reading and writing skills will increase their vocabulary and their ability（能力）to use the English language correctly. As parents, you can play an important role in improving your children’s literacy（读写能力）. You can make a difference by listening, asking questions, giving information, and reading with your children outside school hours.
Here are 8 tips on how to help your children to read and write:
having everyday conversations with your children
trying to ask more “wh-” questions instead of easy “yes” or “no” questions
encouraging your children to talk about events you don’t know
reading to your children each night
listening to your children read
teaching your children how to use dictionaries
talking about your children’s writings
practicing filling in forms, writing letters, sending cards or emails
You can also encourage your children to join the Reading Challenge Club and discuss the books they are reading together. In the club, children must read 15 books from the Challenge book list and 5 more books chosen by themselves. There are over 1,000 books on the list. The reading must be done in one year. What’s more, it is a wonderful way to help your children to write. For example, you can encourage them to write diaries or book reviews. Remember to make positive comments as much as possible. This passage is mainly written for __________.
| A．children | B．teachers | C．parents | D．doctors |
__________ is the best for the missing part in Paragraph 2.
| A．“Listening and speaking skills” | B．“Reading and writing skills” |
| C．“Listening and writing skills” | D．“Reading and listening skills” |
__________ is NOT mentioned in the 8 tips above.
| A．“Listening to the radio every day ” | B．“Listening to your children read” |
| C．“Reading to your children each night” | D．“Talking about your children’s writings” |
In the Reading Challenge Club, children have to read __________ in one year.
| A．5 books | B．10 books | C．15 books | D．20 books |
Parents can help children to write by encouraging them to__________.
| A．draw pictures or take photos | B．listen to pop music |
| C．write diaries or book reviews | D．play computer games |
We can see this ad _________.
| A．at a cafe | B．at a library | C．at school | D．at home |
We can go for lunch at _________on Monday.
| A．10:30 | B．11:45 | C．12:30 | D．14:30 |
Mrs. Zhou will spend _________ if she goes for dinner on Friday.
| A．$ 6 | B．$ 7 | C．$ 11 | D．$ 12 |
Mr. Brown and his 8-year-old son had to pay _________ for dinner last Sunday.
| A．$ 7 | B．$ 11 | C．$ 12 | D．$ 17 |
You can _________ according to the ad.
| A．take away the food in one box for $ 8 | B．enjoy all you can eat and barbecue |
| C．get a free bottle of wine with your friend | D．call the Chinese Cafe at 9651 4655 |
Play is the basic business of childhood, and in recent years research has shown the great importance of play in the development of a human being. From earliest infancy（婴儿）, every child needs opportunity and right materials for play, and the main tools of play are toys. The main function of toys is to suggest, encourage and play. To succeed in this, they must be good toys, which children will play with often, and will come back again and again. Therefore, it is important to choose suitable toys for different stages of a child’s development.
In recent years, research on baby development has shown that the standard a child is likely to reach, within the range of his inherited（遗传的）abilities, is largely determined in the first three years of his life. So a baby’s ability to benefit from the right play materials should not be underestimated. A baby who is encouraged, talked to and shown things and played with, has the best chance of growing up successfully.
In the next stage, from three to five years old, curiosity knows no bounds. Every type of suitable toys should be made available to the child, for trying out, experimenting and learning, for discovering his own particular ability: Bricks and jigsaws（七巧板）and construction toys; painting, scribbling（涂鸦）and making things; sand and water play; toys for imaginative and pretending play—the first social games for learning to play and get on with others.
But at the third stage of play development—from five to seven or eight years old— the child is at school. But for a few more years play is still the best way of learning, at home or at school．It is easier to see which type of toys the child most enjoys.
Until the age of seven or eight, play and work mean much the same to a child．But once reading has been mastered, then books become the main source of learning. Toys are still interesting and valuable, which lead up to new hobbies, but their significance has changed to a child of nine or ten years old, toys and games mean, as to adults, relaxation and fun. What does the writer want to tell us in the first paragraph?
Children should choose toys by themselves.
Children like playing, but they don’t need any toys.
Children should be given different toys as they grow up.
Children should be given the same toys as they grow up.
58．According to the passage, we can give the child every kind of toys ________．
| A．when he is two | B．when he is around four |
| C．when he is six | D．when he is eight |
When a child is seven years old, what is the main source of learning?
| A．Toys. | B．Books. | C．Jigsaws. | D．Paintings. |
What is the article mainly about?
| A．The importance of schooling. |
| B．The choice of toys for children. |
| C．The importance of pre-school education. |
| D．The role of play in a child’s development. |
Each spring brings a new blossom of wildflowers in the ditches along the highway I travel daily to work.
There are some particular blue flowers that have always caught my eye. I’ve noticed that they bloom only in the morning hours and the afternoon sun is too warm for them. Every day for about two weeks, I see those beautiful flowers.
This spring, I started a wildflower garden in our yard. I can look out of the kitchen window while doing the dishes and see the flowers. I’ve often thought that those lovely blue flowers from the ditch would look great in that bed alongside other wildflowers. Every day I drove past the flowers thinking, “I’ll stop on my way home and dig them.” “Gee, I don’t want to get my good clothes dirty…” Whatever the reason, I never stopped to dig them. My husband even gave me a folding shovel（铲子）one year in my car to be used for that expressed purpose.
One day on my way home from work, I was shocked to see that the highway department had destroyed the ditches and the pretty blue flowers were gone. I thought to myself, “Way to go, you waited too long. You should have done it when you first saw them blooming this spring.” A week ago we were shocked and saddened to learn that my oldest sister has a terminal brain tumor（肿瘤）. She is 20 years older than me and unfortunately, because of age and distance, we haven’t been as close as we all would have liked. I couldn’t help but see the connection between the pretty blue flowers and the relationship between my sister and us. I do believe that God has given us some time left to plant some wonderful memories that will bloom every year for us.
And yes, if I see the blue flowers again, you can bet I’ll stop and transplant them to my wildflower garden. Why did those flowers the writer saw only bloom in the morning?
| A．Because it was hot in the afternoon. |
| B．Because someone picked them away. |
| C．Because someone took them into houses. |
| D．Because the writer passed them in the morning. |
Which of the following statements is right according to the passage?
| A．The writer’s sister died of lung tumor. |
| B．The writer was regretful when she heard her sister’s death. |
| C．The writer planned to dig the flowers to give them to her husband. |
| D．The writer’s husband planned to plant some flowers in the garden. |
The writer wrote the passage to tell us ________.
| A．to enjoy what we have now |
| B．to value now and not to lose chances |
| C．to protect the beautiful flowers we see |
| D．to love those who are your close relatives |
“Teenager” means a person from 13 to 19 years old. Although they’re young, they have to make many important choices by themselves. Often teachers and parents cannot handle them because they don’t understand and know teenagers, especially their wishes, problems or different moods in a short time. They need to think about questions like these: Should we go to college? What kind of job do I want? However, other people also influence their choices. Who influences teenagers?
It depends on the kind of choice. When teenagers buy things, friends are the most important influence. This is especially true for clothes and music. TV shows, advertisements and parents also influence teenagers. In more serious things, parents are probably the most important influence. Some teenagers say it’s best to regard both parents and friends as influences. James, a seventeen-year-old boy says he’s “just a crazy man”. He also says, “Parents are really important because they can tell you what’s right and wrong.”
But teenagers also feel they need to make choices—to make their own mistakes. As one teenager girl said, “If our parents don’t let us make our own choices, maybe in the future we don’t know how to do it.” And they feel friends can often be a big help, especially because friends sometimes know more about their situation than their parents. Why do teenagers sometimes have to make their own choices?
Because the teachers want them to do it.
Because their parents want them to do it.
Because teenagers like to make choices by themselves.
Because teachers and parents don’t understand them well. Who influences most to the teenagers when they buy music?
| A．Their teachers. | B．Theirs parents. | C．Their friends. | D．Movie stars. |
What does the passage mainly talk about?
Everybody needs to make choices.
Teenagers need to make choices by themselves.
Teenagers know more about TV shows and music.
Teachers and parents should help teenagers as much as possible.