Nowadays, studying abroad gains popularity in China. Many parents would rather send their children abroad to receive education than let them be educated in China.
Every coin has two sides and studying abroad is no exception(例外). There are advantages for people to attend school abroad. In the first place, he can use the foreign language in his daily life so that his ability in the second language may be greatly improved, as it is obvious that there is no better opportunity to improve second language skills than living in the country where it is spoken. While studying in a foreign country, he will mostly meet many others from overseas and it is possible to make friends with people from all over the world. This is not only exciting on the social level, but could lead to important overseas contacts in his career as well. He can learn the latest knowledge in science and make use of the first-rate facilities(设备) available. In this way, there are many chances for him to widen his horizons and broaden his mind.
Of course, attending school abroad may bring about a series of problems as well. The most serious problem is language barrier(障碍). Not all of the students who plan to go abroad are good at the language spoken there. As a result, on arriving there, they will find it difficult to understand what the teachers say. Besides, for lack of knowledge of the customs of the local people, they may constantly(不断地) run into trouble in dealing with various situations. Furthermore, the tuition and the cost of living are much higher than those in our country, which may add more burdens to their family.
Therefore, given an opportunity to attend a school abroad, one must consider both its advantages and its disadvantages carefully before making up his mind.What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Students life in the foreign countries. |
| B．The advantages and disadvantages of studying abroad. |
| C．Problems that will be met when we study abroad. |
| D．The reasons why many parents sent their children abroad. |
All the following are the advantages of studying abroad EXCEPT______
| A．the ability in the second language may be greatly improved |
| B．you may make friends from all over the world |
| C．you can learn to live an independent life |
| D．you can get to know the latest knowledge in science. |
The writers attitude towards studying abroad is ________
| A．Positive(肯定的) | B．Negative（否定的） |
| C．Neutral（中立的） | D．Not clear |
Children and teenagers who spend lots of time in front of screens---especially TVs---are easier to get more weight as they grow, according to a new study.
The findings agree with the research suggesting all that inactive sitting and always watching advertisements may lead to poor eating habits.
Researchers used results from a long-term study of children who took part in the surveys every two years. Children were between ages 9 and 16 when the study started. Out of 4,300 girls in the study, 17 percent were overweight or obese（肥胖的）. Twenty-four percent of the 3,500 boys were also above a healthy weight.
The surveys included questions about their height and weight as well as how much time they spent watching TV and DVDs and playing computer and video games.
From one survey to the next, each one-hour increase in children’s daily TV watching was in connection with an increase of about 0.1 points on a body mass index (BMI)（体质指数）, which measures weight in connection with height. There’s an increase of about half a pound in weight per extra hour of TV.
“The weight of the evidence is so strong that television watching is connected with unhealthy changes in weight among youth,” says Jennifer Falbe, who led the study while at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
“It's important for parents to know that all the obesity-causing（引起肥胖的）screens really should be limited in their children's lives.” Falbe says. “When children watch TV, there are many food advertisements on TV that might lead them to eat a cookie or drink a soft drink.” What's more, she says, “they can get into a hibernating(冬眠) state on the sofa, even if children are sitting down while playing a computer game.”Which of the following statements can be the best title for the text?
| A．A new study on screens. |
| B．TVs do harm to children. |
| C．The less TV time, the fatter. |
| D．Too much screen time leads to obesity. |
How many children took part in the study?
| A．4,300 | B．3,500 |
| C．7,800 | D．9,800 |
According to the study, one extra hour screen time will cause children about ______ poundfatter.
| A．0.1 | B．0.5 |
| C．0.3 | D．0.7 |
According to Falbe , what should parents do to stop children getting fat?
| A．Limiting the time of children watching TV. |
| B．Buying children food advertised on TV. |
| C．Not allowing children to watch TV. |
| D．Encouraging children to play computer games. |
Think about the different ways that people use wind. You can use it to fly a kite or to sail a boat. Wind is one of our cleanest and richest power sources, as well as one of the oldest. Evidence shows that windmills (风车) began to be used in ancient Iran back in the seventh century BC. They were first introduced to Europe during the 1100s, when armies returned from the Middle East with knowledge of using wind power.
For many centuries, people used windmills to grind (磨碎) wheat into flour or pump water from deep underground. When electricity was discovered in the late 1800s, people living in remote (偏僻的) areas began to use them to produce electricity. This allowed them to have electric lights and radio. However, by the 1940s when electricity was available to people in almost all areas of the United States, windmills were rarely used.
During the 1970s, people started becoming concerned about the pollution that is created when coal and gas are burned to produce electricity. People also realized that the supply of coal and gas would not last forever. Then, wind was rediscovered, though it means high costs. Today, there is a global movement to supply more and more of our electricity through the use of wind.From the text we know that windmills _______.
| A．were invented by Europeans armies |
| B．have a history of more than 2800 years |
| C．used to supply power to electric lights in remote areas |
| D．have rarely been used since electricity was discovered |
What was a new use for wind power in the late 19th century ?
| A．Sailing a boat. | B．Producing electricity. |
| C．Grinding wheat into flour. | D．Pumping water from underground. |
One of the reasons why wind was rediscovered in the 1970s is that ______ .
| A．wind power is cleaner |
| B．it is one of the oldest power sources |
| C．it was cheaper to create energy from wind |
| D．the supply of coal and gas failed to meet ends |
What would the writer probably discuss in the paragraph that follows ?
| A．The advantages of wind power. |
| B．The design of wind power plants. |
| C．The worldwide movement to save energy. |
| D．The global trend (趋势) towards producing power from wind. |
I began working in journalism (新闻业) when I was eight. It was my mother’s idea. She wanted me to “make something” of myself, and decided I had better start young if I was to have any chance of keeping up with the competition (竞争).
With my load of magazines I headed toward Belleville Avenue. The crowds were there. There were two gas stations on the corner of Belleville and Union. For several hours I made myself easily seen, making sure everyone could see me and the heavy black letters on the bag that said THE SATURDAY EVENING POST. When it was supper time, I walked back home.
“How many did you sell, my boy?” my mother asked.
“None.”
“Where did you go?”
“The corner of Belleville and Union Avenues.”
“What did you do?”
“Stood on the corner waiting for somebody to buy a Saturday Evening Post.”
“You just stood there?”
“Didn’t sell a single one.”
“My God, Russell!”
Uncle Allen put in, “Well, I’ve decided to take the Post.” I handed him a copy and he paid me a nickel(五分镍币). It was the first nickel I earned.
Afterwards my mother taught me how to be a salesman. I would have to ring doorbells, address adults with self-confidence, and persuade them by saying that no one, no matter how poor, could afford to be without the Saturday Evening Post in the home.
One day, I told my mother I’d changed my mind. I didn’t want to make a success in the magazine business.
“If you think you can change your mind like this,” she replied, “you’ll become a good-for-nothing.” She insisted that, as soon as school was over, I should start ringing doorbells, selling magazines. Whenever I said no, she would scold me.
My mother and I had fought this battle almost as long as I could remember. My mother, dissatisfied with my father’s plain workman’s life, determined that I would not grow up like him and his people. But never did she expect that, forty years later, such a successful reporter as me would go back to her husband’s people for true life and love.Why did the boy start his job young?
| A．He wanted to be famous in the future. |
| B．The job was quite easy for him. |
| C．His mother had high hopes for him. |
| D．The competition for the job was serious. |
From the dialogue between the boy and his mother, we learn that the mother was _______.
| A．excited | B．interested |
| C．ashamed | D．disappointed |
The phrase “this battle” in the last paragraph refers to.
| A．the war between the boy’s parents |
| B．the arguing between the boy and his mother |
| C．the arguing between the boy and his customers(顾客) |
| D．the fight between the boy and his father |
What is the text mainly about ?
| A．The early life of a reporter. |
| B．The early success of a reporter. |
| C．The happy childhood of the writer. |
| D．The important role of the writer in his family. |
Big Ben, the landmark of London, a clock famous for its accuracy and chimes(和谐的钟声), stopped working for 90 minutes, an engineer said Saturday.
People do not know why the 147-year-old clock on the banks of the River Thames stopped at 10:07 p.m. Friday. It continued keeping time, but stopped again at 10:20 p.m. and remained silent for about 90 minutes before starting up again, a spokeswoman for the House of Commons said.
There has been speculation(推测) that a recent period of hot weather may have been to blame(责备). Temperatures in London reached 90 ℉on Saturday, and forecasters called it England’s hottest day in May since 1953.
The clock has experienced occasional problems. In 1962, snow caused the clock to stop before the New Year. In 1976, the clock stopped when a piece of its machinery broke. Big Ben also stopped on April 30, 1997, and once more three weeks later.How many times has Big Ben stopped up to now?
| A．Three | B．Five | C．Six | D．Eight |
The probable reason for Big Ben stopping working this time is ________.
| A．high temperature | B．low temperature |
| C．broken machine | D．heavy snow |
The passage mainly talks about ________.
| A．Big Ben’s history |
| B．the solution to Big Ben’s problem. |
| C．the landmark of London |
| D．Big Ben’s silence |
Europe is now the biggest market for organic food in the world, having grown by 25 percent a year over the past 10 years. Denmark’s agriculture minister is herself an organic farmer. The UK market for organic food grew by 55 percent in 2000, while the food market as a whole grew by only one percent. Yet only seven percent of British shoppers account for nearly 60 percent of organic sales. However popular the idea of organic farming may be, it is still an interest for only a few people.
So what makes the idea of organic farming popular? Organic farming means farming with natural materials, rather than with man-made fertilizers or pesticides(杀虫剂). Organic farmers rely on many methods — such as crop rotation (农作物的轮作) and the use of resistant（有抵抗力的）varieties, because they are necessary for organic farmers to compensate for the shortage of man-made chemicals.
Organic farming is often supposed to be safer than traditional farming for the environment. Yet after a long research on organic farming worldwide for a number of years, science continues to be against this opinion. The House of Commons committee on agriculture stated that, even with complete research work, it would fail to find any scientific evidence to prove “that any of claims made for organic farming is always true”.
However, the talk about the benefits of organic farming is going on. This is partly because many people depend on their individual farm, the soil, the weather, and so on.The first paragraph mainly tells us _________.
| A．organic farming has been performed only in Europe over the past 10 years. |
| B．governments of European countries have cared less about organic farming. |
| C．organic farming isn’t so popular as expected. |
| D．European countries need organic food more than the other countries in the world. |
The underlined words “compensate for” in the second paragraph probably mean “_________”.
| A．argue for | B．care for |
| C．make up for | D．pay for |
What can we know about organic farming?
| A．It refers to farming with natural materials, instead of chemical fertilizers. |
| B．It refers to farming with chemical fertilizers rather than natural fertilizers. |
| C．It refers to farming with soil rather than any other thing. |
| D．It refers to growing crops with man-made fertilizers and pesticides. |
According to the third paragraph, _________.
| A．organic farming is safer than traditional farming for the environment. |
| B．the idea that organic farming is safer has not been proven by science. |
| C．organic farming is accepted by the UK’s House of Commons committee. |
| D．organic farming is preferred to traditional farming. |
Which of the following is TRUE, according to the passage?
| A．The UK’s agriculture minister is an organic farmer. |
| B．Organic farming is popular with young people. |
| C．Farmers try every means to improve the organic sales system. |
| D．Ninety-three percent of British shoppers don’t buy organic products. |