Mark felt that it was time for him to take part in his community activities, so he went to the neighborhood meeting after work. The city councilman(议员) was leading a discussion about the decreasing life quality. The neighborhood faced many problems.
Mark looked at the charts taped to the walls. There are charts for crime, parking problems, and for problems in vacant(空置的)buildings. People were supposed to suggest solutions to the councilman.
It was too much for Mark. “The problems are too big,” he thought. He turned to the man next to him and said, “I think this is a waste of my time. Nothing I could do would make a difference here.”
Mark thought some more on his way to the bus stop. “People should just take care of themselves,” he decided. “That’s enough to do. I can’t take on all the problems of the world.”
As he neared the bus stop, Mark saw a woman carrying a grocery bag and a baby. She was trying to unlock her car, but she didn’t have a free hand. As Mark got closer, her other child, a little boy, suddenly darted into the street. The woman tried to reach for him, but as she moved, her bag shifted and groceries started to fall out. Mark ran to take the boy’s arm and led him back to his mother. Then he picked up the groceries while the woman smiled in relief. “Thanks!” she said. “You have got great timing!”
“Just being neighborly,” Mark said. As he rode home, he glanced at the walls of the bus. On one of them was “Small acts of kindness add up.” Mark smiled and thought, “ Maybe that’s a good place to start.”We learn from the passage that_____.
| A．Mark always played an active part in community activities |
| B．the city councilman was responsible for the decreasing of life quality |
| C．the seriousness of problems is made known to people in the community |
| D．many people were discouraged by the many problems facing them |
The underlined word “darted” in Paragraph 5 means______.
| A．walked | B．looked | C．fell | D．ran |
The words on the bus wall imply that______.
| A．if you are kind to others, you will be treated the same way |
| B．everyone can play his own part to make things better |
| C．all small acts will add up to kindness |
| D．it is a small act to help a person in need |
This passage mainly wants to tell us______.
| A．how each of us can help make a difference |
| B．how a neighborhood meeting can solve its problems |
| C．how citizens react to the problems they face |
| D．how problems are solved through group action |
Silence is unnatural to man．He begins life with a cry and ends it in stillness．In between he does all he can to make a noise in the world, and he fears silence more than anything else．Even his conversation is an attempt to prevent a fearful silence．If he is introduced to another person, and a number of pauses occur in the conversation, he regards himself as a failure, a worthless person, and is full of envy of the emptiest headed chatterbox（喋喋不休的人）.He knows that ninety-nine percent of human conversation means no more than the buzzing of a fly, but he is anxious to join in the buzz and to prove that he is a man and not a waxwork figure（蜡塑人像）.
The aim of conversation is not, for the most part, to communicate ideas; it is to keep up the buzzing sound. There are, it must be admitted, different qualities of buzz; there is even a buzz that is as annoying as the continuous noise made by a mosquito （蚊子）.But at a dinner party one would rather be a mosquito than a quiet person. Most buzzing, fortunately, is pleasant to the ear, and some of it is pleasant even to the mind. He would be a foolish man if he waited until he had a wise thought to take part in the buzzing -with his neighbors.
Those who hate to pick up the weather as a conversational opening seem to me not to know the reason why human beings wish to talk. Very few human beings join in a conversation in the hope of learning anything new. Some of them are content if they are merely allowed to go on making a noise into other people's ears, though they have nothing to tell them except that they have seen two or three new plays or that they had food in a Swiss hotel. At the end of an evening during which they have said nothing meaningful for a long time, they just prove themselves to be successful conservationists.According to the passage, people usually talk to their neighbors_____.
| A．in the hope of learning something new |
| B．in the hope of getting on well |
| C．about whatever they have prepared |
| D．about whatever they want to |
According to the author, people make conversation to______.
| A．achieve success in life |
| B．exchange ideas |
| C．overcome their fear of silence |
| D．prove their value |
What is the author's purpose in writing the passage?
| A．To persuade people to stop making noises． |
| B．To explain why people keep talking． |
| C．To discuss why people like talking about weather． |
| D．To encourage people to join in conversations． |
By "the buzzing of a fly"(Para.1), the author means"_____".
| A．the voice of a chatterbox |
| B．meaningless talk sound |
| C．a low whispering |
| D．the noise of an insect |
The African elephant, the largest land animal remaining on earth, is of great importance to African ecosystem(生态系统). Unlike other animals, the African elephant is to a great extent the builder of its environment. As a big plant-eater, it largely shapes the forest-and-savanna(大草原) surroundings in which it lives, therefore setting the terms of existence for millions of other animals that live in its habitat.
It is the elephant’s great desire for food that makes it a disturber of the environment and an important builder of its habitat. In its continuous search for the 300 pounds of plants it must have every day, it kills small trees and under-bushes, and pulls branches off big trees. This results in numerous open spaces in both deep tropical forests and in the woodlands that cover part of the African savannas. In these open spaces are numerous plants in various stages of growth that attract a variety of other plant-eaters.
Take the rain forests for example. In their natural state, the spreading branches overhead shut out sunlight and prevent the growth of plants on the forest floor. By pulling down trees and eating plants, elephants make open spaces, allowing new plants to grow on the forest floor. In such situations, the forests become suitable for large hoofed plant-eaters to move around and for small plant-eaters to get their food as well.
What worries scientists now is that the African elephant has become an endangered species. If the elephant disappears, scientists say, many other animals will also disappear from vast areas of forest and savanna, greatly changing and worsening the whole ecosystem. What does the underlined phrase “setting the terms” most probably mean?
| A．Improving the quality. |
| B．Worsening the state. |
| C．Fixing the time. |
| D．Deciding the conditions. |
The passage is developed mainly by_________.
| A．showing the effect and then explaining the causes |
| B．giving examples |
| C．pointing out similarities and differences |
| D．describing the changes in space order |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Forests and savannas as habitats for African elephants. |
| B．The eating habit of African elephants. |
| C．Disappearance of African elephants. |
| D．The effect of African elephants’ search for food. |
What do we know about the open spaces in the passage?
| A．They are home to many endangered animals. |
| B．They result from the destruction of rain forests. |
| C．They are attractive to plant-eating animals of different kinds. |
| D．They provide food mainly for African elephants. |
Due to the increasing number of violence acts produced in schools all over the world, more and more parents prefer to have their children educated at home rather than at school． This way they can ensure their safety and well-being, although teachers and school representatives are trying to improve the situation in schools by increasing the number of the persons in charge of the safety of the students．
The main reason for violence acts are the films and cartoons that fill the children’s time． They want to do everything they watch on TV and never think of the consequences, and they may hurt a classmate or a teacher．
On the other hand, parents are not fully satisfied with the children’s results obtained in classes and they consider private classes would have better results. When a teacher has to watch 30 students in class he can’t probably see what each of them is doing, how he is writing, or if he understands the explanations． At home the teacher can explain in details everything the child doesn’t understand as many times as he considers proper. And many times the child grows fond of the teacher at home, who becomes his best friend, and who helps him whenever he needs someone to talk to.
However, the best solution would be a mixture between the education received at school and that at home, because school makes children communicate and socialize． Keeping a child at home for fear there might happen something bad to him only makes the child’s character weak and prevents him from knowing what real life is． Staying in a crystal ball only does harm to the child．
All in all, schools have been created to help children, not to harm them, so it’s best to keep children in these special places, where they learn, laugh, have fun and make new friendsThe writer’s purpose in writing the text is to ________
| A．teach parents the ways to keep their children safe |
| B．show solutions to developing children’s character |
| C．analyze an education problem and give opinions |
| D．explain the main reason for violence acts in schools |
Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
| A．Advantages and Disadvantages of Private Classes |
| B．Who is to Blame, Parents or Schools? |
| C．Which Is Better, School Study or Home Study? |
| D．The Relationship between Teachers and Children |
What does “a crystal ball” in the passage refer to?
| A．A toy that can be used for entertainment |
| B．A safe and comfortable environment |
| C．A round object that is made of crystal |
| D．An obstacle that is hard to overcome |
We can infer from the passage that ________.
| A．violence TV programs have bad effects on children’s behavior |
| B．the teacher at home is more patient than the teacher at school |
| C．children today are weak from lack of sense of right and wrong |
| D．there are too many students in class for a teacher to teach |
Normal bicycle safety guides usually tell you to wear you helmet(头盔) and to obey the law in order to avoid being hit on a bike. Is this advice really helpful?
Consider this for a moment: Wearing a helmet will absolutely do nothing to prevent you from getting hit by a car. Surely, a helmet might help you if you get hit, but you No.1 goal should be to avoid getting hit. Plenty of cyclists were killed by cars__________. However, if they had ridden without helmets, yet followed the guidelines listed below, they might still be alive today. So they saying that wearing a helmet is the first and last word in bike safety is, to some degree(在一定程度上), wrong.
The most common bike safety advice is “follow the law”. Ridiculously, most people are already aware that it’s stupid to race through a red light at a crossroads. As a result, it’s clear that the “follow the law” advice isn’t that helpful, either. In addition, following the law is not enough to keep you safe. Here’s an example: The law tells you to ride on the right, but if you ride too far to the right, someone started a parked car could open their door right in front of you and motorists pulling out of driveways and parking lots will be less visible. In that case you were following the law, but could still have been hit.
Then what should we remember in order to keep safe when riding a bike? I will tell you about it in the following paragraph.What does the author say about wearing a helmet in the second paragraph?(within 8 words)
_________________________________________________________________________________________Which sentence in the passage is the closest in meaning to the following one?
However, nearly everyone knows that riding through hared traffic light is dangerous.
_________________________________________________________________________________________Please fill in the blank in the second paragraph with proper words or phrases to complete the sentence.(within 5 words)
_________________________________________________________________________________________ List the two regular bike safety guides.(within 8words)
_______________________________________②_______________________________________ Translate the underlined sentence in the third paragraph into Chinese.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Last week my youngest son and I visited my father at his new home in Tucson, Arizona. He moved there a few years ago, and I was eager to see his new place and meet his friends.
My earliest memories of my father are a tall, handsome, successful man devoted to his work and his family, but uncomfortable with his children. As a child I loved him; as a school girl and young adult I feared him and felt bitter（痛苦的） about him. He seemed unhappy with me unless I got straight A’s and unhappy with my boyfriends if their fathers were not as “successful” as he was. Whenever I went out with him on weekends, I used to struggle to think up things to say, feeling on guard.
On the first day of my visit, we went out with one of my father’s friends for lunch at an outdoor café. We talked along that afternoon, did some shopping, ate on the street table, and laughed over my son’s funny facial expressions. Gone was my father’s critical (挑剔的) air and strict rules. Who was this person I knew as my father, who seemed so friendly and interesting to be around? What had held him back before?
The next day dad pulled out his childhood pictures and told me quite a few stories about his own childhood. Although our times together became easier over the years, I never felt closer to him at that moment. After so many years, I’m at last seeing another side of my father. And in so doing, I’m delighted with my new friend. My dad, in his new home in Arizona, is back to me from where he was. Why did the author feel bitter about her father as a young adult?
| A．He was silent most of the time. | B．He was too proud of himself. |
| C．He did not love his children. | D．He expected too much of her. |
When the author went out with her father on weekend, she would feel .
| A．nervous | B．sorry | C．tired | D．safe |
What does the author think of her father after her visit to Tucson?
| A．More critical. | B．More talkative |
| C．Gentle and friendly. | D．Strict and hard-working. |
The underlined words “my new friend” in the last paragraph refer to.
| A．the author’s son | B．the author’s father |
| C．the friend of the author’s father | D．the café owner |