It’s so beautiful outside that spending the day in the office would be very boring. So why not take the vacations(假期)off? A new survey(调查)found that 31﹪of U.S workers don’t always take all of their vacation days. Americans have 12 vacation days on average(平均)each year, but they give back an average of 3 vacation days each year.
So why don’t they use up their vacation days? Some say they would rather get money back for their unused days; some busy workers say they just can’t leave their work. Americans have fewer vacation days than workers in any other country surveyed.
The French take their vacations seriously. French workers get an average of 39 vacation days, and 40﹪ plan to take at least one there-to-four-week vacation.
Workers in Sweden receive an average of 25 vacation days a year, but they can’t find time to use them all. More workers there return vacation days than any other country surveyed.
British workers have the longest working week in Europe(欧洲),with 23 vacation days --the shortest vacation. So they feel overworked.75﹪ say their weekends or vacations are too short and 40﹪ would sacrifice a day’s pay(工资)for one more vacation day.
小题1:____________ U.S workers don’t always take all of their vacation days.

A．All

B．Most

C．Some

D．Few

小题2:How many vacation days do Americans have on average each year in fact?

A．9

B．12

C．15

D．23

小题3:Which country has the most workers working during the vacation days?

A．America.

B．France.

C．Sweden.

D．great Britain.

小题4:What does the word “sacrifice” mean in the last sentence?

A．Use up.

B．Put up.

C．Take up.

D．Give up.

小题5:Which of the following is true?

A．Some American workers are too busy to leave their work.

B．French workers can take one Three-to-four week days.

C．Swedish workers can enjoy all of their vacation days.

D．British workers have the shortest vacation days of all the countries surveyed.

Good morning, class!
We know that there are too many net bars around us. The Internet is popular and it makes our lives colorful. Many of us like going online very much because we can learn how to use the computer and get more information from the Internet. We can learn English. We can read some good newspapers and magazines. It can make us clever in playing computer games. We can send E-mails to our friends quickly. We can chat(聊天) freely online with our friends. It can help us get in touch with people from all over the world.
But some students spend too much time in playing computer game and some stay in the net bars all day and all night. Teenagers even get to have boyfriends or girlfriends online. They write too many letters to each other. It takes them too much time to chat online so they do worse and worse in their lessons and they don’t study well any more. I think we mustn’t get online when it is time for us to study. We can do it in summer or winter holidays. We should get online with adults(成人)--our teacher or parents.
At the same time, if we have lots of free time, we can do some out-of-class activities at school. We usually have activities from 4:50 to 5:50 in the afternoon. We have different kinds of activities. If you are interested in sports, you can play basketball or football. We can go to the English Corner. We can practice talking in English there. We hope we can spend more time on our subjects or on such activities that we can learn a lot from and less time on the Internet.
Thank you for listening to me. That’s all.
小题1:The short passage is about __________.

A．going online

B．how to communicate with others

C．how to spend our free time

D．different kinds of activities

小题2:The Internet can make our lives _________.

A．helpful and important

B．enjoyable and interesting

C．enjoyable but expensive

D．different kinds of activities

小题3:________ is not good.

A．Sending E-mails

B．Reading newspapers and magazines online

C．going online with adults

D．Spending all day in the net bars

小题4:Playing computer games________.

A．gives us lots of information

B．makes our studies worse

C．makes us more clever

D．is harmful to our health

小题5:Which of the following is NOT right?

A．There are too many net bars in the cities.

B．We can learn English from the Internet.

C．We mustn’t get online when we are studying at school.

D．We cannot do out-of-class activities from 4:50 to 5:50 p.m.

Having Fun “Growing” and “Stealing”?

Recently, an Internet game has become a new fashion among young office workers and students. People can “farm” on a piece of “land” and “grow”,  “sell” or even “steal” “vegetables”,”flowers”, and “fruits” on the Net. They can earn some e-money and buy more “seeds” , “pets”, and even “houses”.
Joyce interviewed some young people. Here are their opinions.
Harold: I don’t quite understand why they are mad about the childish game. Maybe they are just not confident enough to face the real world.
Allan: I enjoy putting some “bugs” in my friends’ gardens and we’ve become closer because of the game. Having fun together is the most exciting thing about it.
Laura: You know, people in the city are longing for (渴望) the life in the countryside. It reduces my work pressure (压力) ; besides, it gives me the exciting experience of being a “thief ”.
Ivy: Well, it’s just a waste of time. Teenagers playing the game spend so many hours on it that they can not focus on (专注于) their study.
小题1:According to the passage, people can’t       things in this game.
A. grow                  B. borrow                C. steal                         
小题2:Among the people Joyce interviewed,       likes the game while        dislikes the game.
A. Laura; Allan            B. Allan; Harold          C. Ivy; Allan                                                    
小题3:From Laura’s words, we can guess that she is most probably       .
A. a student               B. a thief   C. an office worker          
小题4:Which is NOT the reason why people like the game?
A. They can have fun with friends.
B. The game can relax people and give them a new experience.              
C. They are confident enough to face the real world.
小题5:Where can you find this passage?
A. In a newspaper.    
B. In an advertisement.                          
C. In a science book..

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED, 牛津英语词典) is thinking of adding the Chinese word tuhao (土豪) to its 2014 edition (版本).
The word has become popular in China during the past few months to describe newly rich people who spend money in extravagant（铺张的，浪费的）ways. Tuhao has caught on in Western countries, too, to describe similar people in their countries.
The adoption (采用) of the word by foreign countries is an example of China’s spreading influence in the world not just economically, but also socially and culturally. People are paying attention to what is happening in China and are picking up some Chinese words in the process, especially those words that express unique (独特的) Chinese ideas that cannot be easily translated (翻译) into English.
The OED is also thinking of adding hukou (户口) and dama (大妈) to the already 120 Chinese words in its dictionary. Hukou refers to (指的是) China’s system of residency permits (户籍系统) and dama refers to middle-aged Chinese women whose gold buying habits influence the global gold markets. The news that the OED was adding these words has met with some criticism (批评). Some people say the words embarrass (使人尴尬) China, but others insist that in a globalized (全球化的) society it’s natural for words to spread and be adopted elsewhere. In fact, a word like tuhao expresses the humor of China. It’s easy to pronounce (发音) and very accurate (精准的) at poking fun at (嘲弄) rich people who have more money than taste.
小题1:_____ may be adopted in the Oxford English Dictionary in 2014 according to the passage.

A．Tuhao

B．Hukou

C．Dama

D．All above

小题2:_____can be called “tuhao” according to the passage.

A．All newly rich people

B．People who own their money easily

C．People who love money very much

D．Newly rich people who spend money in an extravagant way

小题3:The underlined word “caught on” (in Paragraph 2) most probably  means________.

A．流行

B．继续

C．接受

D．蔓延

小题4:The last paragraph mainly talks about __________________.

A．humor of Chinese style

B．criticism on the adoption of Chinese words into OED

C．support on the adoption of Chinese words into OED

D．different opinions on the adoption of Chinese words into OED

Do you know Weibo? Do you write a Weibo? If you don’t, 小题1: Weibo means microblog. People may spend much time writing a microblog, but it takes a little time to write a microblog. Why? 小题2:
Microblog started in the USA. It came to China in 2009 and it has developed very fast. In 2011, the number of Chinese, micro-bloggers grew to 300 million.小题3:For many microblog user, it is a great way of learning the freshest news, talking with friends and sharing different kinds of information, including news, daily life, pictures, music and so on. Many stars and famous people also write microblogs and share good things with their fans.
It is easy and fast to send a message on a microblog. 小题4: For example, when the big earthquake and tsunami(海啸)hit Japan in March, 2011, messages like “Salt can protect people from radiation (辐射)” were hot on microblogs. 小题5: Later people realized it was just a rumor(谣言).
In a word, microblog plays a new role in the life of Chinese people.

A. It soon caused a crazy buying of salt. B. Because every message on a microblog is less than 140 words. C. Now more and more people are interested in writing microblogs. D. However, this can also lead to problems and even cause great fear. E. You are “out”!

Students these days often have a lot of worries. Sometimes they have problems with their schoolwork, and sometimes with their friends.     . Some people think the worst thing is to do nothing. Laura Mills, a teenager from Washington, agrees. “Problems and worries are normal in life,” says Laura. “But I think talking to someone helps a lot. If we don’t talk to someone, we’ll certainly feel worse.”
Laura once lost her purse, and worried for days. She was afraid to tell her parents about it. She even walked three miles to school each day because she didn’t have any money. She just kept thinking. “If I tell my parents, they’ll be angry!” But in the end, she talked to her parents and they were really understanding. Her dad said he sometimes made careless mistakes himself. They got her a new purse and asked her to be more careful. “I will always remember to share my problems in the future!” Laura says.
Robert Hunt advises students about common problems. He feels the same way as Laura. “It is best not to avoid our problems. We should always try to solve them.” He thinks that you can first find someone to talk to. This person doesn’t need to be an expert (专家) like himself. Students often forget that their parents have more experience than them, and are always there to help them.
In English, we say that sharing a problem is like cutting it in half. So you’re halfway to solving a problem if you talk to someone about it!
小题1:Which of the following can be put in the blank in Paragraph One?

A．What can they do about this?

B．Where do the problems come from?

C．When did they have these problems?

D．Why do they have so many problems?

小题2:In Paragraph 2, the writer used the story of Laura to ______.

A．answer a question	B．give an example
C．introduce his friend	D．share his experience

小题3:According to the passage Robert Hunt might be ______.

A．Laura’s teacher

B．the writer of the passage

C．a person with a problem

D．an expert on students’ problems

When your school doesn’t have a bus, and you live too far away to walk? How do you go to school?  “Let’s carpool! ”most US middle school students will get that cool idea. Carpooling is a group of people sharing the responsibility(责任) of driving to school in the morning. There are usually four or five kids in a carpool and their parents take turns driving the kids in their cars.It might be the kids’ first experience with real teamwork. Teamwork is really important in the carpool because nobody wants to make everyone else late. It’s a great lesson in resposibility.

Carpooling is coming into fashion everywhere now. You can find lots of informations of carpooling on the internet. Carpooling is cool! Why?
It’s good for the environment. In today’s culture of everyone needing to try their best to protect our environment, carpooling is one of the best ways. By taking 3 cars off the road, the pollution can be cut a little. Take that over a town, a city, a state, a country and think about how much less pollution is going to be in the air over the course of even one year.
Gas(汽油) now is much more expensive than it used to and if you need to watch the cents(美分), then it’s possible that carpooling could be the answer to your prayers. Even if you have to use your car once a week instead of two, that’s one round trip of gas you’re saving. So carpooling helps you save money.
Carpooling is a great way of getting to know people better. If you’re carpooling grade school kids, then you’ll find that slowly you’ll get to know your child’s peers(同龄人) and friends better. It's a great opportunity to meet people while saving the environment and your money. 
小题1:The word “carpool” means         .
A. 合伙用车                B. 共同租车             C. 让人搭车
小题2:One of        drives the car in a carpool of middle school students.
A. their teachers              B. the students           C. their parents
小题3:If you carpool with two persons to work every day,      will be taken off the road every day.
A. no car                   B.one car               C. two cars
小题4:There are        advantages of carpooling mentioned in this passage.
A. three                    B. four                  C. five
小题5:We can know from the passage that carpooling          .
A. is much more convenient than taking the school bus.
B. can help you save the money because you use your car less.
C. isn’t a good means to understand people better.

Survey: Most Chinese think penalty(惩罚) for drunk driving too light
2009-08-18 13:33:53 GMT2009-08-18 21:33:53 (Beijing Time) Xinhua English
BEIJING, Aug.18 (Xinhua) -- Most Chinese people consider drunk driving impossible to stop in the country while the current law(法律) too light for drunk drivers, a survey has found.

According to the survey done by the China Youth Daily, more than 96% of the 1,792 respondents(被告) said people around them had driven after drinking, while more than 81% complained the current penalty was too light, the paper reported Tuesday. Now offenders(违规者) face a three-to-six month suspension(吊销)of their driving licenses and detention(拘留) for up to 15 days in serious cases.
Drunk driving has attracted wide public attention in China after several serious accidents in recent months. On Aug. 4, a drunk driver in Hangzhou killed a 16-year-old girl. Two days later, another drunk driver in Shanghai killed a four-year-old boy and injured three others.
Drunk driving is regarded as just traffic violation if no accidents result, according to the Chinese law. But some people have called for regarding it as a crime no matter whether it results in serious accidents. “If it’s a crime and anyone caught will go to jail(监狱), a lot more people will be afraid of risking it,” said Wang Mingliang, a professor at the Fudan University. However, other people disagreed.
In 2008, China’s alcohol（酒精）-related traffic accidents led to 18,371 deaths, 76,230 injuries, and a property(财产) loss of 250 million yuan ($36.7 million), according to official figures.
小题1:Most Chinese think it’s hard to stop drunk driving because of the __________ penalty for it according to the current law.
A. light                    B. less                 C. heavy
小题2:If a drunk driver is caught now, he or she will have to face __________.
A. a detention and an important report 
B. a suspension of driving license and a detention
C. a suspension of driving license and a serious survey
小题3:How many people died of alcohol-related traffic accidents in China in 2008?
A. 1,792                    B. 18,371                   C. 76,230
小题4:According to the passage, which of the following is true?
A. A drunk driver in Shanghai killed a 4-year-old boy On August 4.
B. Over 1700 respondents in the survey complained the current penalty was too light.
C. China’s alcohol-related traffic accidents caused a property loss of $36.7 million in 2008.
小题5:This passage may come from a __________.
A. newspaper               B. science fiction          C. story book

请阅读下面有关出国留学的文章，根据所提供的信息，完成下面表格。
Overseas education consulting companies（海外教育咨询）are always busy during the summer. That’s because many students are not interested in the majors in their college entrance exams. They want to experience studying and living abroad.
Li Qing, a Chinese student, said, “In order to enter a better university, I have decided to go abroad. I think it will give me a better development.”
According to the companies’data, the number of the students who want to study abroad has increased by 40% in the last few years.
Most of the students who want to go abroad are high school graduates. More and more parents now realize the advantages of sending their children to study abroad. It’s becoming a popular choice of many welloff（富裕的）families.
Many students apply（申请）for world-famous universities. 40% has applied for the top 50 universities in the US; 70% applied for the top 30 in Britain, and 50% applied for the top 8 in Australia.
Countries like Britain, Australia, Japan, Russia, Germany and France are still favorite for the students. Schools and colleges in nearby Malaysia and Singapore are also popular.
Information card

Why do the high school students want to study abroad?	They don’t like their 小题1:  in the college entrance exams.
How do the students think of studying abroad?	They may have 小题2: by studying abroad.
Which universities do they like?	They mostly apply for 小题3:  universities.
What about the number of the students who want to go abroad?	It has increased by 小题4:  .
Which country is the most popular with the students who want to study abroad?	小题5:  .

Your parents always tell you that a good education is the key to a bright future. The promise you made to finish your schooling has been completed. Another few years in some college classroom just doesn’t sound too attractive; so what are your choices? Let’s see, Choice One—You can live with your parents and do nothing. Or Choice Two—You could get yourself a job. Of course, there are other choices, but for this little discussion, we’ll just suppose that they aren’t related (有关的).
OK, so Choice Two is obviously going to be more effective. You will finally enter the real world. Well, hopefully high school helped to give you some kind of an idea of what type of job you would like to enter. If not, then it would be a good idea to speak with an expert working in the field you may be interested in before you jump into a job that you won’t like. Gaining knowledge can be good by helping you find the job that you will enjoy doing. Another reason to get some valued things before working. Internships (见习) or volunteering are usually a good place to start.
If you are ready to begin a job after high school, you will save money from college cost and happily making a living in your chosen jobs. From another point of view, jumping into the workforce (劳动力) is sometimes the only way to see for yourself if you are ready to work a 40-hour week yet. If you decide that full time work is not what you are ready for, then this may advise that you should go back to a university and get a certificate.
Two different

Two different choices	◆ The first one is that you do nothing, just live with your parents. ◆ The second one is that you could go out to  小题1:.
The   小题2:of starting a job	◆ Speaking with other people for advice about the job you may show some interest in. ◆ Getting knowledge can be good to help you find a(n)   小题3:job. ◆ Internships or volunteering are a good   小题4:.
The advantages to begin a job after high school	◆ One is that you will not   小题5:for college cost. ◆ Another is that jumping into the workforce is sometimes the only way to help you make sure if you are really ready to work.