For Sparky, school was all but impossible. He failed every subject in the eighth grade. He didn’t do much better in sports. Although he played for the school’s golf team, he lost the only important match of the season.
Sparky was a loser. He, his classmates…everyone knew it. Sparky never asked a classmate to go out in high school. He was too afraid of being refused.
However, one thing was important to Sparky – drawing. He was proud of his artwork. Of course, no one else appreciated it. In his senior year of high school, he sent some cartoons to the editors of the Yearbook. Although the cartoons were turned down, Sparky was so confident about his ability that he decided to become an artist.
After completing high school, he wrote a letter to Walt Disney Studios. He was told to send some samples of his artwork, and the subject for a cartoon was suggested. Sparky spent a great deal of time on it. Finally, the reply came from Disney Studios. He had been rejected（拒绝）once again. Another loss for the loser.
So Sparky decided to write his own autobiography（自传）in cartoons. He described his childhood – a little boy loser and underachiever. The cartoon character would soon become famous worldwide. For Sparky, the boy who had little success in school and whose work was rejected again and again was Charles Schulz. He created the Peanuts comic strip（连环漫画）and little cartoon character – Charlie Brown.
【小题1】We can know that Sparky was ________ from the first paragraph.

Every day in China, about 200 million children go to school. Many of them take school buses. What should we do to keep these students safe on the road?
On April 5, the State Council (国务院) published new rules about school bus safety. These new rules are much stricter than the old ones.
Under the new rules, local governments must make sure that students attend nearby schools or boarding (寄宿的) schools to reduce traffic risks. Also, local governments must help kids in the countryside reach their school buses.
From now on, school buses have a speed limit of 80km per hour on highways and 60km per hour on normal roads. While on the road, other cars must let school buses go first.
The new rules also say that school buses must never be overloaded (超载的). They have a speed limit of 80 km per hour on highways and 60 km per hour on normal roads.
There are many other rules as well. A school bus must have more than seven seats. On each bus, there must be at least one adult to keep an eye on the kids. Each school bus must have a fire extinguisher (灭火器), a first aid kit (急救箱) and a GPS.
Last year, a series of school bus accidents happened in China. To stop such accidents, the Central Government decided to strengthen the rules for school buses.
The most serious accident happened in November in Gansu, when a nine-seat minibus crashed. There were 62 children inside, and 21 of them died.
【小题1】Under the new rules, which of the following is NOT true?

America is growing older. Fifty years ago, only 4 out of every 100 people in the United States were 65 or older. Today,10 out of every 100 Americans are over 65. The aging of the population will affect American society (社会) in many ways —education, medicine, and business. Quietly, the growing of America has made us a very different society —one in which people have a quite different idea of what kind of behavior is suitable at various ages.
A person’s age no longer tells you anything about his/her social position (职位、地位), marriage or health. There’s no longer a particular year in which one goes to school or goes to work or gets married or starts a family. The social clock that kept us on time and told us when to go to school, get a job, or stop working isn’t as strong as it used to be. It doesn’t surprise us to hear of a 29-year-old university president or a 70-year-old man who has become a father for the first time. Public ideas are changing.
Many people say, ‘I am much younger than my mother—or my father—was at my age.’ No one says ‘ Act your age’ any more. We’ve stopped looking with surprise at older people who act in youthful ways.
【小题1】It can be learnt from the text that the aging of the population in America ______.

As teenagers, you have many dreams. These dreams can be very big, such as winning the Nobel Prize, or they can be small. You may just want to become one of the ten best students in your class.
Once you find a dream, what do you do with it? Do you ever try to make your dream real?Follow Your Heart by Australian writer Andrew Matthews tells us that making our dreams real is life’s biggest challenge.
You may think you’re not very good at some school subjects, or that it is impossible for you to become a writer. These kinds of thoughts stop you from getting your dream, the book says.
In fact, everyone can make his dream come true. The first thing you must do is to remember what your dream is.
Don’t let it leave your heart. Keep telling yourself what you want. Do this step by step and your dream will come true faster because a big dream is, in fact, many small dreams.
You must also never give up your dream.
There will be difficulties on the road to your dreams. But the biggest difficulty comes from yourself. You need to decide what is the most important. Studying instead of watching TV will lead to better exam results, while saving five yuan instead of buying an ice cream means you can buy a new book. As you get closer to your dream, it may change a little. This is good as you have the chance to learn more skills and find new interests.
【小题1】 Follow Your Heart is         .

Every day in China, about 200 million children go to school. Many of them take school buses. What should we do to keep these students safe on the road?
On April 5, the State Council (国务院) published new rules about school bus safety. These new rules are much stricter than the old ones.
Under the new rules, local governments must make sure that students attend nearby schools or boarding (寄宿的) schools to reduce traffic risks. Also, local governments must help kids in the countryside reach their school buses.
From now on, school buses have a speed limit of 80km per hour on highways and 60km per hour on normal roads. While on the road, other cars must let school buses go first.The new rules also say that school buses must never be overloaded (超载的).  
There are many other rules as well. A school bus must have more than seven seats. On each bus, there must be at least one adult to keep an eye on the kids. Each school bus must have a fire extinguisher (灭火器), a first aid kit (急救箱) and a GPS.
Last year, a series of school bus accidents happened in China. To stop such accidents, the Central Government decided to strengthen the rules for school buses.
The most serious accident happened in November in Gansu, when a nine-seat minibus crashed. There were 62 children inside, and 21 of them died.
【小题1】Under the new rules, which of the following is NOT true?

Now, more and more cities are facing problems, such as high housing costs, pollution and crime. Let’s see what people in Hyderabad, India and in Sao Paulo, Brazil do to solve (解决) the problems.
Hyderabad, India
To improve people’s lives, Hyderabad is planting more and more trees. The city is even creating greener buildings that use less water and less electricity for power. Adding green to a city has a number of advantages. For example, trees make the air cleaner. In Hyderabad, streets were grey and dirty in the past. However, today they are filled with trees and flowers, making the city cleaner and more colourful. Green areas also give people places to relax or exercise. A study in the USA shows an interesting thing: the greener a neighborhood is, the less crime there is.
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Many people work in the centre of Sao Paulo, but they don’t live there. They’ve spread out to neighborhoods outside the city because housing is cheaper. Every day, these people travel into the city, and traffic is very heavy. City planners are using different ways to deal with (处理) the problem. First, they are building better subways. Another goal is to make it cheaper for people to live in the downtown area (中心区). Doing this will reduce traffic and pollution in the city.
【小题1】What does the underlined word “greener” mean?

We all have our own ways of sharing our life experiences with others.
Photographers use cameras，artists use brushes, musicians use songs and writers use stories.
Spencer Johnson's story Who Moved My Cheese? shows changes exist in(存在于)our life.  Life changes and so we do. We must change ourselves to face the changing environment, or we will fail.
Just look at the cycle(循环)of the seasons. Trees bud(发芽)in spring and in summer their leaves turn green. In autumn, their leaves start to fall onto the ground. When winter arrives, there are no leaves on trees. Next spring the cycle begins again. Since we know there are cycles in nature, we can prepare for them. We know it is colder in winter and hotter in summer, so we can dress properly.

Since we accept the cycles of nature，we should also accept the changes in our life.
We can prepare ourselves for changes by becoming more flexible(灵活的). We can regard the changes in our life as chances. As we keep changing ourselves, we can keep up with the changes in our life.
【小题1】What do writers use to share their life experiences?

Recently, many people have begun to try a new way of doing shopping through the Internet. They are very interested in it. Why is itbecoming more and more popular now? There are some reasons. First, more and more people have their own computers and their computers can be joined with the Internet. So it is possible for many of them to do shopping through the Internet. Second, shopping through the Internet can save them some money and a lot of time. Third, they don't need to go to the shop themselves.  Because of these good facts, few people refuse it.
On the other hand, some people don't like this new way of shopping. They are worried about the safety of shopping online. Customers(顾客)can only see the pictures of a product on the Internet. And they can't enjoy the pleasure of buying things in a large supermarket or a wonderful shopping center. These are the reasons why they do not like it.
But I think more and more people will like this new kind of shopping in the future.
【小题1】Many people are interested in ______ online.
A. watching TV B reading C. studying D. shopping
【小题2】From the first paragraph，we know ______.

Reading is the key to school success and, like any skill, it takes practice. A child learns to walk by practicing until he no longer has to think about how to put one foot in front of the other. An excellent sportsman practices until he can play quickly, correctly and without thinking. Educators call it “automaticity (自动性)”.
A child learns to read by sounding out the letters and finding the meaning of the words. With practice, he stumbles less and less, reading by the phrase (短语). With automaticity, he doesn’t have to think about the meaning of words, so he can give all his attention to the meaning of the text.
It can begin as early as first grade. In a recent study of children in Illinois schools, Alan Rossman of Northwestern University found that automatic readers in the first grade not only read almost three times as fast as the others, but also got better results in exams.
According to Rossman, the key to automaticity is the amount (数量) of time a child spends reading, not his IQ. Any child who spends at least 3.5 to 4 hours a week reading books, magazines or newspapers will probably reach automaticity. It can happen if a child turns off TV just one night for reading at home.
You can test yourself by reading something new which is suitable (适合) for your level. If you read aloud with expression, with a sense of the meaning of the sentences, you probably are an automatic reader. If you read brokenly, one word at a time, without expression or meaning, you need more practice.
【小题1】“Reading is the key to school success” means that reading            .

In the past ten years, many scientists have studied the differences between men and women. And they all got the same answer: The sexes (性别) are different, because their brains are different. And this, the scientists say, makes men and women see the world in different ways.
Boys, for example, generally are better than girls at mathematical (数学的) ideas. Boys also generally are better than girls at the kind of hand and eye movements necessary for ball sports. Girls, on the other hand generally start speaking earlier than boys. And they generally see better in the dark than boys and are better at learning foreign languages.
What makes men and women better at one thing or another? The answer is the brain. The brain has two sides connected by nerve(神经) tracks. The left side generally is used for mathematics, speech and writing. The right side is used for artistic creation and the expression for emotions. In men and women, different areas in each side of the brain develop differently. In boys, for example, it’s the area used for mathematics. In girls, it is the area used for language skills. Another interesting difference is that the two sides of a man’s brain are connected by smaller nerves than the two sides of a woman’s brain area.
【小题1】Which of the following is best to outline(概括) the article?
A. Research on the Brain
B. Differences between Men and Women
C. Who are Better, Boys or Girls
【小题2】________ men and women think differently.
A. The different brains make
B. The different experiences make
C. The influences of society make
【小题3】According to the article, girls are generally better than boys at _______ in your school.
A. mathematics
B. physics
C. English
【小题4】Which of the following is true?
A. The left side of brain in boys generally develops better than that in girls.
B. The left side of brain in girls generally develops better than that in boys.
C. The area in girls used for language skills develops better.
【小题5】In men and women the number of nerves connecting the halves of brain _______.
A. is the same
B. is different
C. is zero