Students often complain their teachers give them too much homework. Now, two reports show that in America this is not true.

　　The Brookings report shows that most students do less than one hour of homework. The Rand report shows that only 10% of high school students spend more than two hours a night on homework.

　　The Brookings report also talks about a study from 1995. American students do almost the least homework among twenty countries. Students in France, Italy and South Africa spend more than two hours on homework.

　　The Rand report says there was only one time when homework greatly increased in America. During the early 1960s, Americans were not happy when the Soviet Union (前苏联) became the first country to reach space. People thought it was necessary to improve education.

　　Parents want their children to have time for sports, music lessons and other things after school. Some experts say schools need to give useful homework.

(1) Students are not happy about ________.

[　　]

A．too much homework

B．going to school

C．less homework

(2) French students usually spend ________ on homework than American students.

[　　]

(3) ________ shows homework once greatly increased in America.

[　　]

A．The Brookings report

B．The Rand report

C．A university

(4) The Soviet Union was the ________ to get to space.

[　　]

(5) Some experts think ________.

[　　]

A．students don't work hard enough

B．students should not do any homework

C．homework is welcome if it is useful

　　Do you enjoy travelling to other countries? There is a saying that goes, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

　　You will find gifts are important. Do remember not to give anything of four--the word “four”is similar to the word of “death”. All gifts, even money, should be wrapped（包裹）, but your host will not probably open the gifts in front of you. This will show the host thinks the giving of gifts is more important than the real gifts. Use both your hands when you give or receive a gift.

A．have enough money

B．learn something about the country

C．know how to give gifts

D．know how to eat out

(2)“When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”means ________.

A．When you are visiting in Rome, you should do things as the Romans do

B．You should go to Rome before you go to visit other countries

C．All the people in Rome must do things like Romans

D．When you are in other places, you'd better learn the customs there and do things in the same way

A．They may begin when the meal is ready.

B．They wait until the older people begin.

C．They begin almost at the same time.

D．They pick up their chopsticks before they begin eating

A．the giving of gifts is more important than the real gifts

B．money is the best gift

C．it's good to learn the customs of other places

D．hosts can't open the gifts in front of the guests

A．Japanese open the gift as soon as they get the gifts.

B．Japanese like travelling.

C．Japanese use one hand to receive gifts.

D．Japanese value（重视）the giving of gifts.

　　Yang Liwei circled the earth 14 times in 21 hours on October 15 and 16, 2003, landing on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia. Looking a little tired, Yang stepped out of Shenzhou V, smiling and waving at the waiting people. “I feel very good,” Yang said to Premier Wen Jiabao on the phone. Yang said to a newspaper, “To our motherland and me, this is a great moment.”

　　China's launch of Shenzhou V shows a higher starting point. It has two special systems (系统) to protect the spaceman, but neither Russian rockets (火箭) nor American ones have.

　　Yang didn't know that he was chosen as China's first spaceman until just before the launch. Although Yang was excited at the news, he still slept at 8 p. m. as usual and was woken up at 2 a. m. the next morning. Before the launch, Yang ate Chinese traditional food—dumplings. We all know that travelers usually eat them before going on a journey for good luck.

　　A stamp Success of China's First Manned Space Flight was issued (发行) on October 16, 2003, making China the third country to send a spaceman into outer space.

(1) It took Yang ________ to travel around the earth every circle.

[　　]

(2) How did Yang feel after he came back to the earth?

[　　]

(3) Which of the following statements (叙述) is right?

[　　]

A．There is no difference between China's spaceship and other countries'.

B．Yang knew he'd be China's first spaceman long before.

C．At the news, Yang was too excited to fall asleep.

D．Yang was proud of the flight.

(4) What does the underlined (画线的) word launch mean?

[　　]

(5) China issued the stamps to ________.

[　　]

A．leave them in space

B．give them to Yang Liwei as a reward

C．celebrate the success

D．give them to Russian and American spacemen

　　What makes us ill? It is germs（细菌）.Germs are everywhere. They are very small and you can't find them with your eyes, but you can see them with a microscope. They are very very small and there could be hundreds of them on a very small thing.

　　Germs aren't found only in water. They are found in air and dust. If you cut your finger, if some of the dust from the floor goes into the cut（割开处）, some of the germs would go into your finger. Your finger would become big and red, and you will have much pain in it. Sometimes the germs would go into all of your body, and you would have pain everywhere.

A．If things are very very small, they are germs.

B．If things can't be seen, they must be germs.

C．Germs are only in dirty water.

D．Germs are everywhere around us.

A．Making very very small thing look much bigger.

B．Making very big things look much smaller.

C．Helping you read some newspapers.

D．Helping you if you can't see things clearly.

A．You haven't looked at it carefully.

B．Water can't be drink in this way.

C．There must be lots of germs in it.

D．Water will make you ill.

A．Germs can be found both in water and in the air.

B．Germs can go into your finger if it is cut.

C．If your temperature is not OK, there must be germs in your body.

D．If your finger isn't cut, there aren't any germs on it.

A．Germs may make us ill.

B．Gem are in dirty water.

C．Don't drink dirty water.

D．Take care of your fingers.

　　A passenger (乘客) watched a man coming toward him with two big heavy bags. As the man came near, the passenger asked if he had the time.

　　“Certainly”, the man answered, then he pushed a button on his watch and a voice rang out, “Eight fifteen”. Then he pushed another button on his watch, and a tiny TV screen appeared (出现) with morning news. Another button produced music.

　　“I'll have the watch”, said the passenger, “I'll give you 500 dollars for it.” The man agreed and handed over the watch. Just then a voice came from the speaker on the wall. “The train for London is arriving. Please go through Gate 4.” As the passenger started to leave, the man called after him, “Don't you want extra batteries (额外电池) ?”

　　“Sure. Where are they?”

　　“In the bags. I'm going to London, too.”

(1) The story happened ________.

[　　]

A．on a train

B．at an airport (机场)

C．in a hotel (旅馆)

D．in a railway station waiting-room

(2) By asking “if he had the time”, the passenger wanted to know if the man ________.

[　　]

A．had spare (多余的) time

B．was free

C．could tell him the time

D．had a watch

(3) The two bags the man carrying were ________.

[　　]

A．heavy

B．full of watches

C．expensive

D．full of something stolen

(4) The last sentence shows ________.

[　　]

A．the man was going to London

B．the man wanted the passenger to help him with the bags

C．the man needed money for the ticket

D．the man wanted to make more money

(5) Which of the following is true?

[　　]

A．The man bought a watch from the passenger.

B．The passenger bought a watch from the man.

C．The man stole a watch.

D．The passenger stole a watch.

　　New York City isn't the biggest city in the world, but it is the biggest city in the United States. Most Americans live in much smaller cities and towns, but almost 8 million people live in New York City. Why did so many people come to live in one place?

　　A look at the city shows us that New York City has a very good port (商埠). The Dutch (荷兰) settlers (new comes) wanted to use it for business. In 126, the Dutch paid (付钱) the Indians twenty-four dollars for the island of Manhattan. Its Dutch name was New Amsterdam. Then the British took the land in 1664 and changed its name to NewYork.

　　The Untied States became an independent (独立的) country in 1783, and New York was its capital for a short time. The city became so crowded that some people moved out to other areas (places). But more people from everywhere went on coming into the city every day.

(1) Which of them is the biggest city in the United States?

[　　]

(2) More and more people from different countries in the world come into New York because ________.

[　　]

A．New York has the largest population in the United States

B．New York is as beautiful as a picture

C．New York is a developing city

D．they think it is a good place for business

(3) The underlined word 'took' means ________.

[　　]

(4) The United States became an independent country in ________.

[　　]

A．the sixteenth century

B．the seventeenth century

C．the eighteenth century

D．the nineteenth century

(5) From the passage, we can know ________.

[　　]

A．much about Dutch

B．how the Dutch took New Amsterdam

C．some of the history of New York

D．how the people from different countries come to the USA

　　A traveller came out of the airport. There were a lot of taxis. He asked every taxi driver his name. Then he took the third one. It cost 5 dollars from the airport to the hotel. “How much does it cost for the whole day?” the man asked.“100 dollars,”said the taxi driver. This was very expensive, but the man said it was OK.

　　The taxi driver took the man everywhere. He showed him all the parks and museums in the city. In the evening they went back to the hotel. The traveller gave the taxi driver 100 dollars and said,“What about tomorrow?” The taxi driver looked at the man and said,“Tomorrow? It's another 100 dollars.”But the man said,“That's OK! See you tomorrow.”The taxi driver was very pleased.

　　The next day the taxi driver took the traveller everywhere again. They visited all the parks and museums again, and in the evening they went back to the hotel. The man gave the taxi driver 100 dollars again and said,“I'm going home tomorrow.”The taxi driver was sorry because he liked the traveller and, above all, 100 dollars a day was a lot of money.“So you're going home. Where do you come from?”he asked.“I come from New York!”said the traveller.“I have a sister in New York. Her name is Susanna. Do you know her?”“Of course I know her. She gave me 200 dollars for you!”

A．the other taxi drivers asked for more money

B．the third taxi driver was a kind-hearted man

C．he didn't want to spend his own money on the coming visit

D．the other drivers didn't like him

A．when he heard the traveller's last words

B．when the traveller asked every taxi driver his name

C．when the traveller asked him for his sister's name

D．during the two-day visit

　　The best way of learning a language is using it. The best way of learning English is talking in English as much as possible. Sometimes you'll get your words mixed up (混合) and people will not understand you. Sometimes people will say things too quickly and you can't understand them. But if you keep your sense of humor (幽默感), you can always have a good laugh at the mistakes you make. Don't be unhappy if people laugh at your mistakes. The most important thing for learning English is: “Don't be afraid of making mistakes because everyone makes mistakes.”

(1) The writer thinks that the best way for you to learn a language is ________.

[　　]

(2) What should you do in learning English?

[　　]

A．Be careful not to make any mistakes.

B．Write as quickly as you can.

C．Speak English as much as you can.

D．Laugh more often.

(3) When people laugh at your mistakes, you should ________.

[　　]

(4) When you make a mistake, you should ________.

[　　]

(5) The story tells us: “________.”

[　　]

A．Only foolish people make mistakes

B．Few people make mistakes

C．People never make mistakes

D．There is no one who doesn't make mistakes

　　Students learn their lessons in class. In class teachers teach them. Students sit in the classroom listening to the teacher. This is a way of learning. Is this the only way for students to learn something? Of course not. There is another way to learn. That is students can teach themselves (他们自己). For example, if you cannot remember something when you are doing homework, you can look at your book to find the answer. This is a way to teach yourself (自学). And it is not a difficult thing. We can do this at any place and at any time.

　　How do you teach yourself? The first you must do is reading. Read something you are interested in, or you have to read. The second is that you must ask yourself questions. The question is something you don't understand, or you want to know more about. You can write down these questions. A clever student is usually good at asking questions. The third is to answer the question by yourself by thinking hard, by reading the text or other books, and sometimes by asking other people. This is the way of teaching yourself. And you must do this all by yourself. If you keep doing like this (坚持这样做) for a long time, you are sure to succeed in your study.

(1) Listening to the teacher is ________ for students to learn something.

[　　]

(2) Which of the following is right? ________.

[　　]

A．A student can teach himself only in class

B．It is a bad way to learn from the teacher

C．A student can learn to teach himself if he wants to

D．Students know very well how to teach themselves

(3) In teaching yourself, the first thing you must do is ________.

[　　]

(4) Clever students usually like ________.

(5) If you want to succeed, you'd better learn ________.

[　　]

　　There is a bar in our town with the name“The White Horse”. It is Mr. Webster's. Few people went to the bar last year, but things are quite different now.

　　There was a picture of a white horse on the door of the bar. Then a stranger came in one day, drank something, looked around the bar, and then said to Mr. Webster,“Few people come here. Take down the picture of the white horse and put a picture of a black horse instead.”

　　“But the name of the bar is'The White Horse',”Mr. Webster said.

　　“Yes, but do it,”the man said. Then he went out of the bar.

　　Mr. Webster went to an artist and said,“I want a picture of a black horse.”

　　The next day a picture of a black horse was on the door of the bar instead of that of the white horse. Soon after the door opened, a man came in and said,“There's a mistake on the door of your bar, and the picture is different from the name.”The man looked, sat down and drank something.

　　Then another man came in and said the same, and then another and another. A lot of people came in and said,“The picture on your door is wrong,”and they all stopped and drank in Mr. Webster's bar.

A．picture of a black horse showed good luck

B．the picture of the white horse wasn't good for the bar

C．people would understand the picture different from the name

D．people would come in and tell the picture was different from the name

A．though he wasn't ready to do it like that at first

B．though he didn't like the black horse

C．because he knew he was an artist

D．because he also wanted to change the picture

A．it changed its name

B．the black horse was better than the white horse

C．the bar had a black horse

D．they wanted to show the mistake

A．was cleverer than Mr. Webster

B．didn't like the white horse at the beginning

C．knew Mr. Webster and the artist

D．got much money by teaching Mr. Webster

A．if your business is not good, you'd better change the name or the picture

B．if you are in trouble, you should take others' ideas

C．when you have difficulty, don't give up

D．when a good name is given, it can cause success