Harry is a boy with a learning disability. On his fourth birthday, he was given a pug called Millie. Two weeks after the dog’s arrival, he was happier and calmer and said his first words, “dog” and “mummy”. Just two months later, thieves stole the dog, and now the heartbroken little boy is back to where he started. He has refused to talk since losing his best friend. His mother was worried and gave him another dog, but he just “pushed it away”. Mrs Hainsworth, his mother, says, “My son is very sad. He’ll go over to her cage and just beat(敲打) on the bars. There is no word coming out, but you just know he’s screaming ‘Where is Millie’ inside. Millie was really his best friend. They would play together happily for hours. None of his toys has ever held his attention that long. Now he has just completely turned quiet again. ”Harry suffers from a condition which affects his ability to speak and move. But the dog’s being with him achieved more in days than months of speech therapy and physiotherapy had. Mrs Hainsworth says, “My son was so happy when he saw Millie. Being with Millie changed him, and within two weeks he had said his first words and was working on saying ‘dad’. Just last week, his teachers and I were saying how much Millie had helped him. And now this!” Mrs Hainsworth is considering buying another pug in the hope that her son will accept it. Maureen Hennis of the charity, Pets as Therapy, says she has seen many cases of dogs helping people with speech problems. “People may talk to a dog when they wouldn’t like to talk to another human,” she says. “A dog doesn’t care if words come out wrong.” Before getting Millie, Harry .
A.had never seen a dog |
B.had never said a word |
C.had received little treatment |
D.had never played with toys |
With Millie gone, Harry .
A.is too sad to continue learning to talk |
B.often quietly waits for her beside the cage |
C.keeps asking his mother to get him another pug |
D.does not want to play with other children any more |
According to Maureen Hennis, Millie was able to help Harry because .
A.dogs are man’s best friends |
B.dogs are very clever and helpful |
C.children don’t have stress when talking to dogs |
D.children would rather talk to dogs than to humans |
YOU might go to a museum to look at old cars or something about an ancient civilization (文明). Would you like to see ice cream?
Believe it or not, there is a museum of ice cream in Iowa in the United States. Visitors can see a video that tells all about the history of the delicious snack.
It seems that ice cream goes back to about 2000 years ago , when the Chinese mixed together ice, milk and sugar. Spending an afternoon looking at how to make ice cream can make you a little hungry. No problem, the museum has its own ice cream store, where you can taste some of them.
In Edinburgh, Scotland, there is a museum of childhood. The museum shows objects about the lives of children in Scotland, past and present. You can expect toys, dolls, teddy bears and train sets. But there are also videos which tell you what it was like to be a kid in Scotland in old times.
You can hear children reading their multiplication tables (乘法表): "Seven sevens are 49, eight sevens are 56." You can also watch documentary movies of the games kids played in Edinburgh in the 1950s, look at the clothes they wore and get to know what their schools were like.
It will be wonderful to visit the Children's Discovery Museum in Bangkok (曼谷), Thailand. The museum has parts of nature, environment, technology and kids' activities. In this museum, you get to take part in the kids’ activities. You can dress up to be a fireman in a fire truck. It is interesting.The museum of ice cream is in _____________.
A.Scotland | B.Bangkok | C.America | D.China |
We can’t know about _______________ in the museum of childhood.
A.the games kids played |
B.the clothes kids wore |
C.the food kids ate |
D.the schools kids studied in |
It is interesting that _______________ in the Children's Discovery Museum.
A.you can taste the ice cream |
B.you can become a kid in old times |
C.you can be a fireman in a fire truck |
D.you can wear old clothes |
Which of the following is NOT right?
A.Chinese people invented ice cream first about 2000 years ago. |
B.The Children's Discovery Museum in Thailand is about childhood. |
C.You can learn about the children’s lives in the old times from the museum in Edinburgh. |
D.There is an ice cream store in the ice cream museum where you can taste one. |
Special OffersA book is 40 yuan at Xinhua Bookstore. How much should you pay if you show this ticket to buy it?
A.40 yuan. | B.44 yuan. | C.36 yuan. | D.28 yuan. |
What can Tom get for free after he has spent 7 yuan at Mike’s Cafe?
A.A soft drink. | B.The best hamburgers. |
C.The best snacks. | D.A delicious meal. |
How long can you park your car for free at most after spending 118 yuan in RT-Mart?
A.1 hour. | B.5 hours. | C.6 hours. | D.7 hours. |
Computer programmer David Jones earned $ 150,000 a year designing new computer games, yet he cannot find a bank prepared to let him have a check card . Instead, he has been told to wait another two years until he is 18.
He works for a small firm in Liverpool, where most young people of his age are finding jobs. David’s biggest headache is what to do with his money. Though he has high payment, he cannot drive a car, or get credit cards.
David got his job four months ago, a year after leaving school with six O-Levels(普通成绩) and working for a time in a computer shop. “I got the job because the people who run the firm knew I had already written some programs,” he said. “I suppose $150,000 sounds a lot but I hope it will come to more than that this year.” He spends some of his money on records and clothes, and gives his mother $20 a week as he lives with his parents. But most of his spare time is spent working. “Unfortunately, computing was not part of our studies at school,” he said. “ But I had been studying it in books and magazines for four years in my spare time. I knew what I wanted to do and never considered staying on at school. Most people in this business are fairly young, anyway. I would like to earn a million and I suppose early retirement is a possibility. You never know when the market might disappear.why is David so different from other young people of his age?
A.He has got a job. |
B.He lives at home with his parents |
C.He does not get out much. |
D.He earns a high payment |
David’s greatest problem is that _____.
A.he can’t be treated as an adult (grown-up) by the bank |
B.he can’t make as many games as he wishes |
C.he doesn’t know what to buy with the money |
D.he is too young to drive a car |
He was employed by the company because _____
A.he had worked in a computer shop |
B.he had written some computer programs |
C.he is clever and works hard at his lessons |
D.he had learnt computer from books and magazines |
He left school after taking six O-Levels because ____.
A.he was afraid of getting too old to start computing |
B.he didn’t enjoy school |
C.he wanted to work with computers |
D.he wanted to earn a lot of money. |
Why does David think he might retire early?
A.He thinks computer games might not always sell so well. |
B.He wants to stop working when he is a millionaire. |
C.One has to be young to write computer programs |
D.He thinks his firm might close down. |
Fish have ears. Really. They're quite small and have no opening to the outside world carrying sound through the body. For the past seven years, Simon Thorrold, a university professor, has been examining fish ears, small round ear bones called otoliths.
As fish grow, so do their otoliths. Each day, their otoliths gain a ring of calcium carbonate(碳酸钙).By looking through a microscope and counting these rings, Thorrold can determine the exact age of a young fish. As a fish gets older, its otoliths no longer get daily rings. Instead, they get yearly rings, which can also be counted, giving information about the fish's age, just like the growth rings of a tree.
Ring counting is nothing new to fish scientists. But Thorrold has turned to a new direction. They're examining the chemical elements of each otolith ring.
The daily ring gives us the time, but chemistry tells us about the environment in which the fish swam on any given day. These elements tell us about the chemistry of the water that the fish was in. It also says something about water temperature, which determines how much of these elements will gather within each otolith ring.
Thorrold can tell, for example, if a fish spent time in the open ocean before entering the less salty water of coastal areas. He can basically tell where fish are spending their time at any given stage of history.
In the case of the Atlantic croaker, a popular saltwater food fish, Thorrold and his assistant have successfully followed the travelling of young fish from mid-ocean to the coast, a journey of many hundreds of miles.
This is important to managers in the fish industry, who know nearly nothing about the whereabouts of the young fish for most food fish in the ocean. Eager to learn about his technology, fish scientists are now lending Thorrold their ears.What can we learn about fish ears from the text?
A.They are small soft rings. |
B.They are openings only on food fish. |
C.They are not seen from the outside. |
D.They are not used to receive sound. |
Why does the writer compare the fish to trees?
A.Trees gain a growth ring each day. |
B.Trees also have otoliths. |
C.Their growth rings are very small. |
D.They both have growth rings. |
The Atlantic croaker is ___________.
A.a fish research | B.a fishing company |
C.an ocean area | D.a fish |
Why is it important to study the chemistry of otolith rings?
A.The elements of the otoliths can tell the history of the sea. |
B.Chemical contents of otoliths can tell how fast fish can swim. |
C.We can know more about fish and their living environment. |
D.Scientists can know exactly how old a fish is. |
How would you understand “fish scientists are now lending Thorrold their ears”?
A.They are very interested in Thorrold's research findings. |
B.They want to know where they can find fish. |
C.They lend their fish for chemical studies. |
D.They wonder if Thorrold can find growth rings from their ears. |
“One of my actors is sick! He has just one line and you’re the only one who fits his clothes!” One afternoon, the school drama director suddenly shouted to me. She seemed so nervous and worried that I felt sorry for her and said, “Ok”.
“You will be fine. It's easy!” She said. But it wasn’t easy at all. On the stage, four other actors and actresses spoke their lines, and I opened my mouth. Nothing came out. I couldn’t even breathe. I just wanted to leave. The next thing I knew, I was running off the stage.
As I was running off the stage, I accidentally knocked over a glass of grape juice that was on a table. The purple juice hit the girl next to me --- Andrea, the leading actress of the drama. She gave me a nasty look. I thought she was going to kill me!
But then, Andrea quickly said, “Darling, you’re so silly! Let's toast(干杯) to my darling’s silliness! Cheers!” She grabbed another glass of grape juice and drank it. The other actor quickly followed Andrea’s lead and saved the scene. The audience thought my mistake was part of the play!
I apologized to everyone after the play. To my surprise, they were not angry with me. They told me, “It’s all a part of being on stage.” I could be wrong, but I think I liked being on stage. I think I will try again.Which of the following was a problem in the story?
A.Andrea was the leading actress of the drama. |
B.Andrea drank the grape juice. |
C.The writer had only one line. |
D.The writer forgot his line. |
There were ___________ actors and actresses on the stage.
A.three | B.four | C.five | D.six |
From the passage, we know that Andrea was a ________ leading actress.
A.silly | B.pretty |
C.quick-minded | D.warm-hearted |
Which of the following is NOT true?
A.The writer made Andrea’s dress dirty. |
B.The audience knew something was wrong. |
C.The school drama director asked the writer to play a role. |
D.The writer said sorry to the drama club. |
The writer will most probably _________ in the future.
A.join the drama club |
B.dislike Andrea |
C.stay away from the stage |
D. help Andrea wash her clothes. |