Most kinds of rose plants come from Asia. But roses are also native to other areas including northwest Africa, Europe and the United States. In 1986, Congress chose the rose as American’s national flower. Technically, Congress and President Ronald Reagan declared it the “national floral emblem（国花）.” Whatever the name, the decision did not smell sweet to supporters of other popular flowers.
Some people say roses are difficult to grow. But you have a good chance of success if you start with a few suggestions from experts. You should plant your roses where they can get sunshine for about six hours on bright days. You can buy roses from a garden center or by mail order. You can buy potted roses, also known as container roses, or bare-root plants. Each kind has its fans.
Some gardeners say potted roses are easier to plant. They say the roots develop better. But Jeffrey Dinslage, an expert, points out that bare-root roses come without soil. So they weigh less to transport.
Another expert advises getting bare-root roses as close to planting time as you can.. If they arrive before you are ready to plant them, make sure the packing material is moist. Keep the plants in a cool, dark place. The resting plants have no leaves but still need water. When growing roses, the soil should feel moist deep down. Watering should be done in the morning.
But do not water too much. People often ask Jeffrey Dinslage about unhealthy discoloration on rose leaves. He says the spots are usually caused by too much water. After heavy rains or too much watering, he advises pulling away mulch, the substance used to protect the roots, to improve the quality of the soil, temporarily from around the roots. This will help dry the soil.From the first paragraph, we know that in the United States _______.
| A．all the people like roses |
| B．there are a lot of national flowers |
| C．some roses don' t smell sweet |
| D．there are some other popular flowers |
How many kinds of roses can you buy according to the passage?
| A．One. |
| B．Two. |
| C．Three. |
| D．Six． |
Why does Jeffrey Dinslage suggest planting bare-root roses?
| A．They are easier to plant. |
| B．Their roots develop better. |
| C．They are cheap to transport. |
| D．Their leaves need no water. |
Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word “moist”?
| A．Slightly wet. |
| B．Pretty dry. |
| C．Too hard. |
| D．Lightly soft. |
According to Jeffrey Dinslage, people should _______ to avoid the sports on rose leaves.
| A．not water roses in the morning |
| B．protect the roots of roses |
| C．improve the quality of the soil |
| D．not water roses very much |
On my first trip in the United States , I went to San Antonion . I was on foot . So I went to only three places there : the Alamo , the River Walk , and the Art Gallery . I especially enjoyed visiting the Alamo , a well- known building in America .
When I arrived at the Alamo , I was deeply impressed because it was well kept and in good shape . The Alamo was erected in about 1722, was later used as a fort(保垒) , and has been kept as a state monument(纪念馆) to the Texan War of Independence against Mexico . During the battle , all of the Texan defenders were killed . I was surprised at the exhibition of rifles , guns , cannons and swords .
I was especially attracted by the paintings of a war . The paintings expressed the feelings of a painter very well . Even thought about 160 years have passed since the Battle of the Alamo , the exhibit is well kept . When I came out after seeing the exhibition , I felt as if I had a victory . The outer wall of the Alamo was destroyed here and there . When I touched the wall , I could feel the damage . After the war , little remained of the Alamo . All of the windows and doors were destroyed . The top part of the gate way disappeared without a trace(遗迹) . I will remember the Alamo forever . It is one of the best places to visit in San Antonio . It can be inferred according to the passage that the author may be a____ .
| A．writer | B．Chinese |
| C．European | D．foreigner to Americans |
The underlined word “erected” (in Paragraph2) means ______ .
| A．found | B．invented | C．repaired | D．built |
People come to visit the Alamo now for ______ .
| A．its height and shape |
| B．its history and the story about it |
| C．the exhibits in it |
| D．its shape |
Which of the following may be the best title for this passage ?
| A．A Famous Building in America |
| B．My First Visit to America . |
| C．The Texan War of Independence against Mexico . |
| D．My Impressions of the Alamo in San Antonio , Texas . |
A major earthquake rocked Haiti at 4:53 pm local time on Jan.12, 2010, killing possibly thousands of people but no official figure has been released so far.
The quake, which struck about 15km (10 miles) south-west of the capital, Port-au-Prince, was quickly followed by two strong aftershocks. In the space of a minute, numerous buildings fell down. A five-story U.N. building was also brought down by the 7.3 magnitude quake, the most powerful to hit Haiti in more than 200 years according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
As night fell, the whole city is in total darkness. You can see thousands of people sitting in the streets with nowhere to go. There are people running, crying, screaming. Describing the earthquake as a "catastrophe", Haiti’s president said the cost of the damage could run into billions.
Haiti became the first independent Caribbean state in the early 19th century. Haiti’s location, history and attracting climate once made it a tourist hot place. However, decades of poverty, environmental pollution and violence have left it as the poorest nation in the Americas. It has suffered a lot, including four hurricanes and storms in 2008 that killed hundreds. The great earthquake happened to the _______ of the capital city.
| A．south-west | B．north-west | C．south-east | D．north-east |
What can we infer from the underlined sentence?
| A．People in Port-au-Prince don’t like to light on. |
| B．The earthquake happened in the evening. |
| C．Electricity in the city was cut off that night. |
| D．There are no lights at all in Port-au-Prince. |
What’s the meaning of the word in bald “catastrophe”?
| A．chance. | B．joke. | C．illness. | D．disaster. |
Which statement about Haiti is NOT true?
| A．Haiti became an independent state in the early 19th century. |
| B．Haiti belongs to Americas, just like Canada, America and so on. |
| C．At one time, tourism was important to the economy of Haiti. |
| D．Haiti is a country where such strong quacks often take place. |
On June 17, 1774, the officials from Maryland and Virginia held a talk with the Indians of the Six Nations. The Indians were invited to send boys to William and Mary College. In a letter the next day they refused the offer as follows:
We know that you have a high opinion of the kind of learning taught in your colleges, and that the costs of living of our young men, while with you, would be very expensive to you. We are sure that you mean to do us good by your proposal（提议）; and we thank you heartily. But you must know that different nations have different ways of looking at things, and you will therefore not be offended（冒犯） if our ideas of this kind of education happen not to be the same as yours. We have had some experience of it. Several of our young people were formerly brought up at the colleges of the northern provinces: they were taught all your sciences; but when they came back to us, they were bad manners, ignorant（无知的）of every means of living in the woods–they were totally good for nothing.
We are, however, not the less thankful by your kind offer, though we refuse to accept it; and, to show our grateful sense of it, if the gentlemen of Virginia will send us a dozen of their sons, we will take care of their education, teach them in all we know, and make men of them.The tone(语气) of the letter as a whole is best described as________.
| A．angry | B．pleasant | C．polite | D．ambitious |
The Indian chief’s purpose of writing the letter seems to be to ____.
| A．politely refuse a friendly offer | B．express their opinions on equal treatment |
| C．show their pride | D．describe Indian customs |
According to the letter, the Indians believed that ____.
| A．it would be better for their boys to receive some schooling |
| B．they were being insulted by the offer |
| C．they knew more about science than the officials |
| D．they had better way of educating young men |
Different from the officials’ view of education, the Indians thought ____.
| A．young women should also be educated |
| B．they had different goals of education |
| C．they taught different branches of science |
| D．they should teach the sons of the officials first |
Dr. Marie Curie is known to the world as the scientist who discovered radioactive metals i.e. Radium and Polonium.
Marie Curie was a Polish physicist and chemist. Together with her husband, Pierre, she discovered two new elements and studied the x-rays they emitted. She found that the harmful properties of x-rays were able to kill tumors. By the end of World War I, Marie Curie was probably the most famous woman in the world. She had made a conscious decision, however, not to patent methods of processing radium or its medical applications.
Marie Curie was born on November 7, 1867 in Poland and died on July 4, 1934. Her co-discovery with her husband Pierre Curie of the radioactive elements radium and polonium represents one of the best known stories in modern science for which they were recognized in 1901 with the Nobel Prize for Physics. In 1911, Marie Curie was honored with a second Nobel prize, this time for chemistry, to honor her for successfully isolating pure radium and determining radium’s atomic weight.
As a child, Marie Curie amazed people with her great memory. She learned to read when she was only four years old. Her father was a professor of science and the instruments that he kept in a glass case fascinated Marie. She dreamed of becoming a scientist, but that would not be easy. Her family became very poor, and at the age of 18, Marie became a governess. She helped pay for her sister to study in Paris. Later, her sister helped Marie with her education. In 1891, Marie attended the Sorbonne University in Paris where she met and married Pierre Curie, a well-known physicist.
Marie Curie contributed greatly to our understanding of radioactivity and the effects of x-rays. She received two Nobel prizes for her brilliant work, but died of leukemia, caused by her repeated exposure to radioactive material.The underlined word “emitted” in the 2nd paragraph means_______.
| A．gave off | B．gave away | C．set out | D．set off |
According to the passage, which order of the following is right?
① Marie Curie worked as a governess.② Marie Curie met and marry Pierre Curie.
③ Marie Curie learned to read.④ Marie Curie was honored with a second Nobel Prize.
⑤ Marie Curie discovered radium.
| A．①②③④⑤ | B．③①②⑤④ | C．①②③⑤④ | D．③①②④⑤ |
When did Marie Curie win a Nobel Prize for a chemistry?
| A．In her twenties | B．In her thirties | C．In her forties | D．In her fifties |
What does the passage mainly talked about?
| A．Marie Curie discovered radium | B．Marie Curie, a famous chemist |
| C．Marie Curie won two Noble Prizes | D．The brief biography of Marie Curie |
The Queen’s English is now sounding less upper-class, a scientific study of the Queen’s Christmas broadcasts has found. Researchers have studied each of her messages to the Commonwealth countries since 1952 to find out the change in her pronunciation from the noble Upper Received to the Standard Received.
Jonathan Harrington, a professor at Germany’s University of Munich, wanted to discover whether accent changes recorded over the past half century would take place within one person. “As far as I know, there just is nobody else for whom there is this sort of broadcast records,” he said.
He said the noble way of pronouncing vowels (元音) had gradually lost ground as the noble upper-class accent over the past years. “Her accent sounds slightly less noble than it did 50 years ago. But these are very, very small and slow changes that we don’t notice from year to year.”
“We may be able to relate it to changes in the social classes,” he told The Daily Telegraph, a British newspaper. “In 1952 she would have been heard saying ‘thet men in the bleck het’. Now it would be ‘that man in the black hat’. Similarly, she would have spoken of ‘the citay’ and ‘dutay’, rather than ‘citee’ and ‘dutee’, and ‘hame’ rather than ‘home’. In the 1950s she would have been ‘lorst’, but by the 1970s ‘lost’.”
The Queen’s broadcast is a personal message to the Commonwealth countries. Each Christmas, the 10-minute broadcast is put on TV at 3 pm in Britain as many families are recovering from their traditional turkey lunch (传统火鸡午餐).
The results were published (发表) in the Journal of Phonetics.What is the text mainly about?
| A．The relationship between accents and social classes. |
| B．The Queen’s Christmas speeches on TV. |
| C．The changes in a person’s accent. |
| D．The recent development of the English language. |
The Queen’s broadcasts were chosen for the study mainly because ______.
| A．she has been Queen for many years |
| B．she has a less upper-class accent now |
| C．her speeches are familiar to many people |
| D．her speeches have been recorded for 50 years |
Which of the following is an example of a less noble accent in English?
| A．“dutay” | B．“citee” | C．“hame” | D．“lorst” |
We may infer from the text that the Journal of Phonetics is a magazine on ______.
| A．speech sounds | B．Christmas customs |
| C．TV broadcasting | D．personal messages |