阅读下列短文，从各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项
Every year thousands of young people in England finish school and then take a year off before they start work or go to university． Some young people go to other countries and work as volunteers．
Volunteers give their time to help people． For example， they work in schools or hospitals ， or
they do something helpful for the environment．
Paul，18，comes from Wales． Next year he wants to go to university to study Chinese，but now he's living in Belize． Paul says，"I'm working with other people here to save the coral reefs（珊瑚礁） in the sea near Belize． The reefs here are beautiful，but if the sea water is polluted badly，the coral will die． I'm helping to do research on the coral and the fish that live around the reefs． All over the world， coral reefs are dying． We need to do something about the problem before it's too late． I'm staying with a family here and I help do same housework． I don't get any money， but that's OK． I love my work here， and I'm learning a lot about the people of Belize…and myself When I finish my work， I want to stay here for another three months． I want to travel around Belize and Central America． "
（1）What will some young people in England do after finishing school？
| A． |
Go to work for money． |
| B． |
Go to other countries and work as volunteers． |
| C． |
Start work in universities． |
| D． |
Go to university in other countries． |
（2）Where is Paul living now？
| A． |
England |
| B． |
China． |
| C． |
Belize |
| D． |
America． |
（3）What is Paul doing with other people in the sea near Belize？
| A． |
Working to save the coral reefs |
| B． |
Studying Chinese in a university |
| C． |
Helping do some housework |
| D． |
Doing some research in Wales |
（4）From the passage， we know that the coral reefs ．
| A． |
are not as beautiful as before |
| B． |
will probably be sold for money |
| C． |
may die because of the pollution |
| D． |
cannot live without fish in the sea |
（5）What does Paul want to do after he finishes his work as a volunteer？
| A． |
Stay there for another year |
| B． |
Go back home to start work |
| C． |
Learn about the people's home |
| D． |
Travel around Central America |
If Tomb Sweeping Day(清明节) gives you a holiday to go outdoors, Spring break is what teenagers in the US look forward to.
Unlike our semester, which starts in late February or early March this year, . So in late March and April, most American schools, ranging from kindergartens to colleges, give students one to two weeks off school.
What do students do during the time? , but they all beat studying!
Some kids take trips with their parents, visiting a new state or even a new country. There is one place in the US that all kids dream about going on their Spring Break — Disney World in Florida. For some kids that dream will come true. .
For many, Spring break means relaxing or family reunions. They may stay home, read and watch movies, or they may go to visit friends. Others may travel to visit family members who live far away.. On a ten-day trip, for example, students may go on a tour through Spain, France, and Italy. These trips are often expensive, but they give students a great chance to see other parts of the world.
Students in the US don’t have their Spring break at the same time.. So while students from one town are on vacation, their neighbors in the next town may have classes as usual.
| A. They’ll get to meet Mickey Mouse B. Sometimes teachers lead overseas trips for groups of students C. American schools begin as early as January D. It depends on where they live E. They like to do many things |
Although most people believe that laughter is one of the nature’s great treatments for a whole range of mental and physical diseases, it is still a serious scientific subject that researchers are trying to figure out.
“Laughter above all else is a social thing,” says Baltimore neuroscientist(神经科学家), Robert Provine, who has studied laughter for many years. “All laughter groups laugh ‘ha-ha-ha’ basically the same way. Whether you speak Mandarin, French or English, everyone will understand laughter. There is a pattern generator(发生器) in our brain that produces this sound.”
Laughing is our first way of communicating. Babies laugh long before they speak. No one teaches them how to laugh. They just do. People may laugh at a prank(恶作剧) on April Fools’ Day. But surprisingly, only 10 to 15 percent of laughter is the result of someone making a joke. Laughter is mostly about social responses rather to a joke. Deaf people laugh without hearing and people on cell phones laugh without seeing, showing that laughter isn’t dependent on single sense but on social interactions.
And laughter is not just a people thing. Chimps tickle(挠痒) each other and even laugh when another chimp pretends to tickle them.
Jaak Panksepp, a Bowling Green University Psychology professor, studies rats that laugh when he tickles them. It turns out rats love to be tickled — they return again and again to the hands of researchers tickling them.
By studying rats, scientists can figure out what’s going on in the brain during laughter. Northwestern University biomedical engineering professor, Jeffrey Burgdorf has found that laughter in rats produces a chemical that acts as an antidepressant(抗抑郁药). He thinks the same thing probably happens in humans, too. This would give doctors a new chemical target to develop drugs that can fight depression.
Even so, laughter itself has not been proved to be the best medicine, experts said. Margaret Stuber, a professor at University of California, studied whether laugher helped patients. She found that distraction(分心) and mood improvement helped, but she could not find a benefit of laughter alone.
“No study has shown that laughter produces a direct health benefit,” Provine said, mainly because it’s hard to separate laughter from just feeling good. But he thinks it doesn’t really matter: “Isn’t the fact that laughter feels good when you do it enough?”The underlined word “figure out” in Paragraph 6 means “________”.
| A．deal with | B．work out |
| C．look out of | D．come up with |
According to the passage, scientists studied rats in order to find ______.
| A．how they laugh |
| B．if they like laughing |
| C．what laughter in rats produces |
| D．how rats react while being tickled |
What can we know from Robert Provine’s research?
| A．Laughter makes a person feel good. |
| B．Laughter produces a direct health benefit. |
| C．Laughter depends on all kinds of senses. |
| D．Laughter is a way of communicating. |
What is probably the best title for this passage?
| A．Why Rats Laugh |
| B．When Laughter Happens |
| C．How Laughter Works |
| D．Why Laughter Matters |
Some people say that today, reading is not as important as it was. These days we have photographs, films, radio and television. Why read a description of something when you can look at a photograph? Why read a newspaper when the latest news is brought to us every hour on radio and TV?
Photography was certainly a wonderful invention. Photographs can give a very clear idea of places and of people that we have never seen. An encyclopedia (百科全书) , for example, is always better when it has good illustrations. But we also need words to explain the photographs and drawings. A photograph of an elephant may give us a very good idea of what an elephant looks like, but it tells us nothing about the different sorts of elephants there are and where they are found, their exact size and weight, how they can be useful to man and so on.
In the same way, a good film has action, movement, color, and maybe music. These are things we do not find on the printed page. But reading a novel has certain advantages over watching even an excellent feature film. Reading a novel requires imagination. Each of us imagines a story differently.
Watching news on television can certainly be exciting. But we need newspapers as well. Some important news stories happen when there are no cameras around. More importantly, a newspaper does not just report the news. It explains why something has been happening. It also contains interesting articles on different subjects. Newspapers are an important part of our lives, if we want to understand what is going on in the places we live as well as in other parts of the world.
Reading is very important for information and pleasure. We need to be good readers to enjoy a full life as human beings. Reading is a skill and like other skills, it needs practice. The more we read, the better readers we become. And the better readers we become, the more we enjoy reading! The secret is to get the reading habit. Read at least a little every day.According to Paragraph 2, photographs can give us __________.
| A．enough information about people and places |
| B．no information about things |
| C．some information about things but not enough |
| D．the wrong information about things |
Newspapers contain __________.
| A．more information than television |
| B．less information than television |
| C．more news from other countries |
| D．less information about important events than TV |
What are the advantages of novel over a feature film?
| A．There are more interesting subjects in novels. |
| B．We do not hear any music in a novel. |
| C．Novels always explain what is happening. |
| D．Novels make us use our imagination. |
What does the author think about reading?
| A．It is a wonderful invention. |
| B．It is an important part of our lives. |
| C．It requires no practices. |
| D．It is not as important as television. |
A mother wanted to encourage her son to play the piano. She bought tickets to the concert of a great pianist. When the evening arrived，they found their seats near the front of the concert hall and looked at the big piano waiting on the stage(舞台). Soon the mother found a friend to talk to and her son ran off.
At eight o’clock, the lights in the hall became weak, and the concert was set to start. The mother began to look for the boy. Then, she saw her 6-year-old son on stage. He was on the piano bench playing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.
The mother was very amazed. Before she could get her son back, the famous pianist himself was on the stage and quickly moved to the piano.
“Don’t stop. Keep playing,” he said kindly to the boy. The great pianist reached down with his left hand and began filling in the bass (低音部) part of the song. Soon, his right arm reached around the other side and played a beautiful piece of music. Together, the old pianist and the little boy impressed people with their beautiful music.
In all of our lives, we receive helping hands — some we notice, some we don’t. Equally we ourselves also have lots of chances to give a helping hand to others — sometimes we want people to know, sometimes we don’t. Little of what we all achieve comes without others’ help. What we receive we should give back.
The mother took her son to the piano concert because _____.
| A．her friend sent them two tickets |
| B．the pianist invited them there |
| C．she wanted to develop his interest in piano |
| D．her son liked the pianist very much |
When the mother found her son playing on stage, she felt _____.
| A．happy | B．encouraged |
| C．interested | D．surprised |
What did the pianist ask the boy to do?
| A．To go back to his mother. |
| B．To keep playing the piano. |
| C．To play the bass part of the song. |
| D．To watch him play instead. |
What does the story tell us?
| A．It is good to give a helping hand to others. |
| B．Great people always like to help others. |
| C．It is important to give a child a lesson on stage. |
| D．A mother should take good care of her child. |
Safety tips in different situation
When facing an accident, the first and most important rule is to stay calm. But different accidents mean different ways to deal with.
| Stampede（踩踏） When students around you begin to push, stand still and try to hold onto something, or stay in a corner until the crowd leaves. If you fall down in a moving crowd, cover your head with both hands. Lean to one side, curl your body and bend your legs. |
| Fire Stay calm and follow teacher’s instructions. Leave the classroom quickly and use a piece of cloth to cover your mouth and nose so that you don’t breathe in smoke. If your clothe catch fire, drop to the ground and roll from side to side to put out the fire. |
| Traffic If you take a school bus on your way home or to school, remember to fasten(系紧) your seatbelt and not to walk around when the bus is moving. If you walk to school or go to school by bike, remember to wait for the green traffic light. Look left and right for cars before you cross the road. |
The passage is written for ______.
| A．students | B．teachers |
| C．adults | D．doctors |
When you are on a moving school bus, you mustn’t ______.
| A．take your seat |
| B．walk around |
| C．fasten your seatbelt |
| D．cover your head with both hand s |
When there is a fire in your school, you need to do the following EXCEPT______.
| A．staying calm |
| B．following teacher’s instructions |
| C．using a piece of cloth to cover your mouth and nose |
| D．running to the lift |