When Paul was a boy growing up in Utah, he happened to live near a copper smelter（炼铜厂），and the chemicals that poured out had made a wasteland out of what used to be a beautiful forest. One day a young visitor looked at this wasteland and called it an awful area. Paul knocked him down. From then on, something happened inside him.
Years later Paul was back in the area, and he went to the smelter office. He asked if they had any plans or if they would let him try to bring the trees back. The answer from that big industry was “No”.
Paul then went to college to study the science of plants. Unfortunately, his teachers said there weren't any birds or squirrels to spread the seeds. It would be a waste of his life to try to do it. Everyone knew that, he was told. Even if he was knowledgeable as he had expected, he wouldn’t get his idea accepted.
Paul later got married and had some kids. But his dream would not die. And then one night he did what he could with what he had. As Samuel Johnson wrote, “It is common to overlook what is near by keeping the eye fixed on something remote. Attainable(可得到的) good is often ignored by minds busied in wide ranges.” Under the cover of darkness, he went secretly into the wasteland and started planting.
And every week, he made his secret journey into the wasteland and planted trees and grass. For fifteen years he did this against the plain common sense. Slowly rabbits appeared. Later, as there was legal pressure to clean up the environment, the company actually hired Paul to do what he was already doing.
Now the place is fourteen thousand acres of trees and grass and bushes, and Paul has received almost every environmental award Utah has. It took him until his hair turned white, but he managed to keep that impossible vow he made to himself as a child.When Paul was a boy，______________.
| A．he had decided never to leave his hometown |
| B．the economy of Utah depended wholly on the copper smelter |
| C．no laws were made to protect the environment against pollution |
| D．he had determined to stop the copper smelter polluting the area |
Why did Paul go to college to study the science of plants？
| A．Because he wanted to find out the best way to save the area himself. |
| B．Because he was interested in planting trees since he was young. |
| C．Because he wanted to get more knowledgeable people to help him. |
| D．Because he thought his knowledge would make his advice more persuasive. |
What does the underlined phrase “the plain common sense” probably refer to?
| A．That it was impossible for trees to grow on the wasteland. |
| B．That his normal work and life would be greatly affected. |
| C．That no one would like to join him in the efforts. |
| D．That he had to keep everything he did secret. |
The company hired Paul to plant trees and grass because___________.
| A．they realized the importance of environmental protection |
| B．What Paul was doing moved them |
| C．Paul persuaded them to help him |
| D．they had legal pressure |
The message of the passage is that _____________.
| A．action speaks louder than words | B．perseverance will work wonders |
| C．God helps those who help themselves | D．many hands make light work |
From Monday until Friday most people are busy working or studying, but in the evenings and on weekends they are free to relax (放松) and enjoy themselves. Some watch TV or go to the movies; others take part in sports. It depends on individual interests. There are many different ways to spend our spare time.
Almost everyone has some kinds of hobbies. It may be anything from collecting stamps to making model airplanes. Some hobbies are very expensive, but others don’t cost anything at all. Some collections are worth a lot of money; others are valuable only to their owners.
I know a man who has a coin collection worth several thousand dollars. A short time ago he bought a rare (稀有的) fifty-cent piece worth $250! He was very happy about his buying and thought the price was reasonable (合理的). On the other hand, my youngest brother collects matchboxes. He has almost 600 of them but I doubt (怀疑) if they are worth any money. However, to my brother they are very valuable. Nothing makes him happier than to find a new matchbox for his collection.
That’s what a hobby means, I guess. It is something we like to do in our spare time simply for the fun of it. The value in dollars is not important, but the pleasure it gives us is.The underlined word “individual” in the first paragraph most probably means____ .
| A．different | B．strange | C．secret | D．one's own |
In the writer's opinion, ____.
| A．all hobbies are very expensive | B．some hobbies don't cost anything |
| C．hobbies are worthless | D．hobbies are valuable to everybody |
Something that one enjoys doing in one's spare time is a____ .
| A．job | B．pleasure | C．hobby | D．habit |
Read the following text and choose the most suitable heading from A-F for each paragraph. There is one extra heading which you do not need.
A. Reasons for the use of Podcasting
B. Definition and origin of Podcast
C. Importance of Podcasting at school
D. Advantage of Podcasts over other audio media
E. Podcasts—a further step from voice recordings
F. Devices needed for Podcasting_______
Recently a group of second-graders visited our school library to work on a “holidays around the world” project. The children created pictures showing holiday customs and then created voice recordings explaining what they drew. The incident showed very clearly the effectiveness of student-created voice recordings. Now imagine taking things one step further and creating Podcasts in a classroom setting.________
The term Podcast refers to an audio recording, linked to the Web, that can be downloaded to a personal MP3 player. The word is created from broadcast and from iPod ---the wildly popular MP3 player from Apple.________
Using audio with students isn’t new, of course. Teachers have used audiobooks at listening centers and recorded student voice on tape or CD for many years. Voice and music are the original media for teaching. Podcasts, however, can reach a much wider audience in a time frame outside the school days. Booktalking, an old way of getting kids excited about books, gets a tech assistance with Podcasting. Students can do some booktalking themselves; book review Podcasts seem to be another natural way for students to share what they know, providing an alternative to the book report.________
There are a number of excellent reasons for using Podcasting. Teachers made audio Podcasts, including visuals or video clips for any content area instruction and review. Some teachers have begun to record themselves teaching important concept
s; this creates an account of information online for kids to access when they’re stuck on a homework assignment. Audio and video files can also function as assessment tools. Imagine being a classroom teacher in September who can actually hear how his or her students were reading in June the school year before.________
You don’t need an iPod to make a Podcast. If you have a computer, a microphone, and some free software, you can make a Podcast. While an MP3 player is a popular and useful gadget, your audience doesn’t need MP3 players to listen, either: your students and their families can use the computer to play back what you’ve recorded.
There are still many things that Peter Cooke would like to try his hand at — paper-making and feather-work are on his list. For the moment, though, he will stick to the skill that he has been delighted to make perfect over the past ten years: making delicate and unusual objects out of shells.
As he leads me round his apartment showing me his work, he points to a pair of shell-covered ornaments(装饰品) above a fireplace. “I shan’t be at all bothered if people don’t buy them because I have got so used to them, and to me they’re lovely. I never meant to sell my work commercially. Some friends came to see me about five years ago and said, ‘You must have an exhibition — people ought to see these. We’ll talk to a man who owns an art gallery’”. The result was an exhibition in London, at which 70 per cent of the objects were sold. His second exhibition opened at the gallery yesterday. Considering the enormous prices the pieces command —around ￡2,000 for the ornaments — an empty space above the fireplace would seem a small sacrifice for Cooke to make.
There are 86 pieces in the exhibition, with prices starting at￡225 for a shell-flower in a crystal vase. Cooke insists that he has nothing to do with the prices and 
is cheerily open about their level: he claims there is nobody else in the world who produces work like his, and, as the gallery-owner told him, “Well, you’re going to stop one day and everybody will want your pieces because there won’t be any more.”
“I do wish, though,” says Cooke, “that I’d taken this up a lot earlier, because then I would have been able to produce really wonderful things — at least the potential would have been there. Although the ideas are still there and I’m doing the best I can now, I’m more limited physically than I was when I started.” Still, the work that he has managed to produce is a long way from the common shell constructions that can be found in seaside shops. “I have a miniature(微型的) mind,” he says, and this has resulted in boxes covered in thousands of tiny shells, little shaded pictures made from shells and baskets of astonishingly realistic flowers.
Cooke’s quest(追求) for beautiful, and especially tiny, shells has taken him further than his Norfolk shore: to France, Thailand, Mexico, South Africa and the Philippines, to name but a few of the beaches where he has lain on his stomach and looked for beauties to bring home. He is insistent that he only collects dead shells and defends himself against people who write him letters accusing him of stripping the world’s beaches. “When I am collecting shells, I hear people’s great fat feet crunching(嘎吱嘎吱地踩) them up far faster than I can collect them; and the ones that are left, the sea breaks up. I would not dream of collecting shells with 
living creatures in them or diving for them, but once their occupants have left, why should I not collect them?” If one bases this argument on the amount of luggage that can be carried home by one man, the beauty of whose work is often greater than its natural parts, it becomes very convincing indeed.What does the reader learn about Peter Cooke in the first paragraph?
| A．He has produced hand-made objects in different materials. |
| B．He hopes to work with other materials in the future. |
| C．He has written about his love of making shell objects. |
| D．He was praised for his shell objects many years ago. |
When mentioning the cost of his shell objects, Cooke ____.
| A．cleverly changes the subject. |
| B．defends the prices charged for his work. |
| C．says he has no idea why the level is so high. |
| D．notes that his work will not always be so popular. |
The “small sacrifice” in Paragraph 2 refers to _________.
| A．the loss of Cooke’s ornaments | B．the display of Cooke’s ornaments |
| C．the cost of keeping Cooke’s ornaments | D．the space required to store Cooke’s ornaments |
What does Cooke regret about his work?
| A．He is not as famous as he should have been. | B．He makes less money than he should make. |
| C．He is less imaginative than he used to be. | D．He is not as skillful as he used to be. |
What does the reader learn about Cooke's shell-collecting activities?
| A．Not everyone approves of what he does. |
| B．Other methods might make his work easier. |
| C．Other tourists get in the way of his collecting. |
| D．Not all shells are the right size and shape for his work |
Have you ever had the strange feeling that you were being watched? You turned around and, sure enough, someone was looking right at you!
Parapsychologists(灵学家) say that humans have a natural ability to sense when someone is looking at them. To research whether such a “sixth sense” really exists, Robert Baker, a psychologist(心理学家) at the University of Kentucky, performed two experiments.
In the first one, Baker sat behind unknowing people in public places and stared at the backs of their heads for 5 to 15 minutes. The subjects（受试者）were eating, drinking, reading, studying, watching TV, or working at a computer. Baker made sure that the people could not tell that he was sitting behind them during those periods. Later, when he questioned the subjects, almost all of them said they had no sense that someone was staring at them.
For the second experiment, Baker told the subjects that they would be stared at from time to time from behind a two-way mirror in a laboratory setting. The people had to write down when they felt they were being stared at and when they weren’t. Baker found that the subjects were no better at telling when they were stared at and when they weren’t. Baker found that the subjects were no better at telling when they were started at than if they had just guessed.
Baker concludes that people do not have the ability to sense when they’re being stared at. If people doubt the outcome of his two experiments, said Baker, “I suggest they repeat the experiments and see for themselves.”The purpose of the two experiments is to _______.
| A．explain when people can have a sixth sense |
| B．show how people act while being watched in the lab |
| C．study whether humans can sense when they are stared at |
| D．prove why humans have a sixth sense |
In the first experiment, the subjects _______.
| A．were not told that they would be stared at | B．lost their sense when they were stared at |
C．were not sure when they woul d be stared at |
D．were uncomfortable when they were stared at |
The underlined word “outcome” in the last paragraph most probably means ______.
| A．value | B．result | C．performance | D．connection |
What can be learned from the passage?
| A．People are born with a sixth sense. |
| B．The experiments support parapsychologists’ idea. |
| C．The subjects do not have a sixth sense in the experiments. |
| D．People have a sixth sense in public places. |
Some years ago, a Miami woman walking through an office building noticed two men standing together. Several minutes after her leaving, the men murdered a person working in the building. The police determined that the woman was the only 
witness and could possibly describe them. However, her memory of the men proved disappointingly unclear. Several days later, psychologist Ronald Fisher was brought in to obtain a more complete account from the woman. His interview produced a breakthrough—the woman reported a clear picture of one of the suspects. The important information enabled the police to arrest the suspect and close the case.
The police asked Fisher for help because of his rich knowledge in cognitive interview, a kind of memory-rebuilding process. Memory researchers have found that people trying to remember a past event often only recall(回忆) part of the relevant information. Human memory is selective and it is often distorted by stress. But a person’s accurate recall of an event or understanding of a question can be improved using specific interviewing techniques. The “cognitive interview” was developed in the late 1990s. It encourages the 
witness to take an active role in recalling information rather than giving answers only to some
one else’s questions. The witness first describes what happened in his or her own words, with no interviewer interruptions. 
The interviewer then goes further with specific techniques, such as having the witness tell the details of what happened from different perspectives (角度).
The cognitive interview focuses on guiding witnesses through four general recalling techniques: thinking about physical surroundings and personal feelings that existed at the time of past events; reporting everything that comes to mind about those events, no matter how broken it is; retelling events in a variety of time orders, such as from beginning to end, end to beginning, forward or backward; and adopting different perspectives while recalling events.
Experiments with police detectives trained in this demanding interview method find that they obtain nearly 50% more information from witnesses than before training, while error rates remain about the same. It is proved that cognitive interviews are quite important tools in improving the accuracy and completeness of witness testimony (证词).The purpose of the passage is to ______.
| A．give an account of a murder case |
| B．introduce an idea of cognitive interview |
| C．prove Fisher was an expert in cognitive interview |
| D．help a witness to recall information in a cognitive interview |
What is required to recall in a cognitive interview for a witness?
| A．The exact time at which a murder took place. |
| B．The information about the event in the time order. |
| C．The important things that come to his or her mind. |
| D．The surroundings and feelings at the time of the event. |
The key point in a cognitive interview is that ______.
| A．the witness is encouraged to take part in recalling information |
| B．the interviewer should interrupt the witness from time to time |
| C．the interview should take place outside the police station |
| D．the witness should recall details at the scene of the event |