“Teenager” is the new term being used in the UK to describe kids at either 8—12 or 10—13 years old.
More and more companies are beginning to create products and services for teenagers. The Disney Company sells music and film to teenagers and their parents. You can get everything from lunchboxes and mobile phone covers, to monthly fan magazines and clothing. It’s all about sales, which suggests that teenagers must have more money, freedom and influence upon their parents than they’ve ever had before.
Most kids in the UK today get more pocket money than kids did ten years ago. Parents have more money to give their kids than before, since parents are having fewer children. In addition, the divorce（离婚） rate in the UK is continually rising and parents spend less time with their children than they used to, so many parents try to please their children by buying them presents. It’s a bad habit for both parents and kids to get into, but parents are under pressure from commercial marketing and the pleas（请求） of their children.
UK kids today are very media and computer-literate. A lot of kids have a TV, if not a computer, in their bedrooms. They have easy access to much more information about life and the world. They may have experienced a lot in life as well, since 24% of UK kids live in single-parent families, so people now say that “kids are getting older younger”. With such maturity (成熟)at such a young age, it’s no wonder teenagers are able to influence their parents and have more freedom than previous generations.
UK teenagers never used to be worried about spending money on clothes. That’s changed. Now, they are much more fashion(时尚) conscious and concerned about their image(形象). Many of them outgrow the bright colors and fashions of kids years ago and go for something darker and more rebellious(叛逆).
Surely none of the above is a good thing. The UK government is certainly concerned, and for that reason has strict laws preventing companies from marketing their products and services at children.Why are more products and services created for teenagers?
| A．Because companies are creating better products and services. |
| B．Because children education is becoming more important. |
| C．Because it is better to study music from an early age. |
| D．.Because children have more money to buy them. |
Kids today can get more money partly because ________.
| A．parents always accompany(陪) their kids |
| B．more parents divorce nowadays |
| C．parents have more expectation(期望) of kids |
| D．kids know how to make money |
Teenagers have more freedom due to the following facts EXCEPT that ________.
| A．they become mature at a younger age |
| B．they know more information than kids before |
| C．they have a lot of experience in life |
| D．parents can no longer influence them |
Which is true about kids in the past?
| A．They used to have more money to spend. |
| B．They couldn’t influence their parents. |
| C．They preferred to wear brighter clothes. |
| D．They looked older than their age. |
What is the purpose of the passage?
| A．To introduce a new phenomenon(现象). |
| B．To teach a new word “teenager”. |
| C．To warn parents to care about their kids. |
| D．To blame（责怪）today’s young people |
Animals are natural resources that people have wasted all through our history.
Animals have been killed for their fur and feathers, for food, for sport, and simply because they were in the way. Thousands of kinds of animals have disappeared from the world forever. Hundreds more are on the danger list today. About 170 kinds in the United States alone are considered in danger.
Why should people care? Because we need animals. And because once they are gone, there will never be any more.
Animals are more than just beautiful and interesting. They are more than just a source of food. Every animal has its place in the balance of nature. Destroying one kind of animal can create many problems.
For example, when farmers killed large numbers of hawks(老鹰), the farmers stores of corn and grain were destroyed by rats and mice. Why? Because hawks eat rats and mice. With no hawks to keep down their numbers, the rats and mice multiplied(繁殖) quickly.
Luckily, some people are working to help save the animals. Some groups raise money to let people know about the problem. And they try to get the governments to pass laws protecting animals in danger.
Quite a few countries have passed laws. These laws forbid the killing of any animals or plants on the danger list. Slowly, the number of some animals in danger is growing.Animals are important to us mainly because____.
| A．they give us a source of food | B．they are beautiful and lovely |
| C．they keep the balance of nature | D．they give us a lot of pleasure |
What has happened to the animals on the earth?
| A．Hundreds of kinds of animals have disappeared forever. |
| B．Many kinds of animals have died out. |
| C．About 170 kinds of animals have disappeared forever. |
| D．All kinds of animals are in danger. |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．People care much about animals because they need them. |
| B．Once a certain kind of animals is gone forever, there will never be any more. |
| C．Killing all rats and mice may cause some problems. |
| D．People must not kill any animals. |
What can we infer from the fact that quite a few countries have passed laws protecting animals in danger?
| A．Every person will know the importance of protecting wild animals. |
| B．Animals in danger will not be killed any more. |
| C．The number of some animals in danger will increase. |
| D．Animals in danger will be kept away from people. |
The clock struck eleven at night. The whole house was quiet. Everyone was in bed except me. Under the strong light, I looked sadly before me at a huge pile of that troublesome stuff(东西) they call “books”.
I was going to have my examination the next day. “When can I go to bed?” I asked myself. I didn’t answer, In fact I dared not.
The clock struck twelve. “Oh, dear!” I cried. “Ten more books to read before I can go to bed!” We pupils are the most wretched creatures in the world. Dad does not agree with me on this. He did not have to work so hard when he was a boy.
The clock struck one. I was quite desperate(绝望的) now. I forgot all I had learned. I was too tired to go on. I did the only thing I could. I prayed, “Oh, God, please help me pass the exam tomorrow. I do promise to work hard afterwards, Amen.” My eyes were so heavy that I could hardly open them. A few minutes later, with my head on the desk, I fell asleep.When the author was going over his lessons, all the others in the house were______ .
| A．asleep | B．outside | C．working in bed | D．quietly laughing at him |
The underlined word “wretched” in Paragraph 3 probably means _______.
| A．very happy | B．disappointed | C．very unhappy | D．hopeful |
What do you suppose happened to the author?
| A．He went to a church to pray again. | B．He passed the exam by sheer luck. |
| C．He failed in the exam. | D．He was punished by his teacher. |
The best title for the passage would be __________ .
| A．The Night Before the Examination | B．Working Far into the Night |
| C．A Slow Student | D．Going Over My Lessons |
Douglas Grace talks about his ideal city of the future.
I see the city of the future in three zones—inner, middle and outer. In the inner zone there will be no private cars. Public transport will be free and there will only be ambulances, fire engines, taxis and police cars. This inner zone will be the residential(住宅的) and recreational(娱乐的) area of the city. People will live there and go out to enjoy themselves—to cinemas and restaurants. There will be parks and open spaces, trees and lakes, schools and universities. This way, when people are at home, they can go out easily and safely.
Just outside the inner zone there will be big car parks for all private cars.
The banks and most of the shops and hospitals will be in the middle zone. These are things that people don’t need every day.
All the factories and offices will be in the outer zone. People will travel out of the center to work, and back to the center in the evenings. The inner zone will be cleaner and better to live in and there will be more space for industry on the outside.
This is my ideal city of the future—a very beautiful place! But I don’t really think things will ever be like that!Where will people live and go out to enjoy themselves?
| A．In the middle zone. | B．In the inner zone. | C．In the outer zone. | D．In the inner and middle zone. |
Where will big car parks be?
| A．Just outside the middle zone. | B．Just inside the middle zone. |
| C．Just outside the inner zone. | D．Just inside the inner zone. |
What will be in the middle zone?
| A．The banks, hospitals and schools. | B．The banks, hospitals and police stations. |
| C．The banks, schools and car parks. | D．The banks, hospital and most of the shops. |
Douglas Grace is probably_____.
| A．a painter | B．a builder | C．a town planner | D．a dentist |
The Man behind Blue Jeans
Levi Strauss was born in 1829 in Bavaria, Germany. He was the fifth of six children. His father sold dry goods from door to door. (Dry goods include many different things: fabric, thread, scissors, combs, buttons, yarn, etc.)
In 1845, his father died. All six children decided to go to the United States. Two of Strauss’ bothers started a dry goods company in New York City. Strauss’ sister Fanny and her husband started a similar business in San Francisco. Strauss decided to go to the southeastern part of the United States. For eight years, he walked along the country roads selling dry goods from door to door –just like his father in Bavaria.
In 1853, Strauss decided to move to San Francisco. (At that time, thousands of people traveled to California to look for gold.) On the way to California, Strauss sold almost all of his dry goods. He had only one thing left—some canvas.
In California, Strauss tried to sell the canvas to the gold miners. He said they could make tents from the canvas. But they weren’t interested in canvas for tents. Strauss didn’t know what to do with the canvas. Then, he had an idea. Strauss could see that the miners needed new pants. There were holes in their pants because the fabric wasn’t strong. He decided to make the canvas into pants. They called them “Levi’s”. Later, Strauss stopped using canvas and used a different fabric. It was a heavy cotton fabric—the same kind people wear today.
Levi Strauss died in 1902. He never married and left his money to his nephews. He left the world much more—the jeans that so many people wear.________ isn’t a kind of dry goods.
| A．Thread | B．Gold | C．Comb | D．Yarn |
What is canvas?
| A．Tent. | B．Pants. | C．A very strong fabric. |
| D．Anything which is used to make all kinds of trousers. |
Why did the miners call the pants “Levi’s”?
| A．Because the pants belonged to Levi Strauss’ father | |
| B．In memory of Levi Strauss’ father. | C．It’s the name of Levi’ Strauss’ nephew. |
| D．Because the pants are Levi’s invention. |
Which of the following is NOT true about Levi Strauss?
| A．He was born in Germany. | B．His parents had six children. |
| C．He had five children. | D．He died in 1902. |
阅读理解（共20小题，每题2分，共40分）
Bend over, take a deep breath and drink some water! This is just one of hundreds of tips you might get if you have the hiccups(打嗝). Hiccups are so mysterious. We really don’t know why they start and why they stop. Everyone has a favorite cure for a case of the hiccups. Some people think that a good scare is necessary to get well. Others eat a teaspoon of sugar. Still others drink a glass of water with a knife in it.
An American man named Jack O’Leary claimed to have hiccupped 160 million times over a period of eight years. He tried 60,000 cures, but none of them worked. Finally he prayed to Saint Jude, the saint of Hopeless cases, and his hiccupping stopped immediately.
It took a British plumber eight months to cure his hiccups. People from all over the world wrote him letters with suggestions for getting well. He tried them all, but the hiccups continued. Finally, he drank a “secret” mixture someone had sent him. By that evening his hiccups were gone.
Why did these cures work for these two men? No one really knows. But people who have studied many cases of hiccups have an idea. Hiccups usually go away if you believe in the cure. _________ might be the best cure for hiccups.
| A．Special pills | B．A spoonful of salt | C．Cold water |
| D．What you believe in |
The plumber spent __________ in stopping his hiccups.
| A．4 hours | B．2 days | C．8 months | D．8 years |
According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
| A．We know why the hiccups start, but we don’t know how to stop them. |
| B．Saint Jude is an expert in curing the hiccups. |
| C．The British plumber drank a secret mixture given by an experienced doctor and then became well. |
| D．Some people think that a good scare is a cure for a case of hiccups. |
What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．Different ways to stop hiccups | B．What makes hiccups happen |
| C．How to get hiccups | D．Jack O’Leary’s hiccups |