Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side.
     Most people know this joke. But recently, some people have been much more worried about how the grizzly bear and mountain lion can cross the road.
     "Millions of animals die each year on U.S. roads," the Federal Highway Administration reports. In fact, only about 80 ocelots, an endangered wild cat, exist in the U. S. today. The main reason? Road kill.
     "Eco-passages" may help animals cross the road without being hit by cars. They are paths both over
and under roads. "These eco-passages can be extremely useful, so that wildlife can avoid road accidents," said Jodi Hilty of the Wildlife Protection Society.
      But do animals actually use the eco-passages? The answer is yes. Paul Beier of Northern Arizona
University found foot marks left by mountain lions on an eco-passage that went under a highway. This
showed that the lions used the passage.
     Builders of eco-passages try to make them look like a natural part of an area by planting trees on and
around them. Animals seem to be catching on. Animals as different as salamanders(火蜥蜴)and grizzly
bears are using the bridges and underpasses.
     The next time you visit a park or drive through an area with a lot of wildlife, look around. You might see an animals overpass!

1. The writer uses the example of "ocelots" to show that __________.

A. an increasing number of animals are killed in road accidents
B. the driving conditions have improved greatly
C. the measure for protecting wildlife fails to work
D. wild animals have become more dangerous

2. From the news story, we know an eco-passage is __________.

A. an underground path for cars
B. a fence built for the safety of the area
C. a pass for animals to cross the road
D. a bridge for animals to get over a river

3. When the writer says that animals seem "to be catching on", he means __________.

A. animals begin to realize the dangers on the road
B. animals begin to learn to use eco-passages
C. animals are crossing the road in groups
D. animals are becoming safer

4. The writer asks visitors and drivers to look around when traveling because __________.

A. wild animals may cause danger
B. wild animals may jam the road
C. they may kill the animals
D. they may see wild animals on eco-passages

5. This passage is written to __________.

A. protect the endangered animals
B. call on drivers to be careful when seeing animals on roads
C. introduce a new way to help protect animals
D. tell us the main reason for the killing of animals in the US

     Today,I read an interesting article about television viewing.In one experiment,families were paid to stop watching TV for either a week or a month.Many could not complete the task and some families quarrelled or even fought.It was quite interesting and now I will say something about TV.
    After TV became a product most families could afford,people bought and started to watch their new
TVs.Both adults and children became less creative in problem solving,less able to focus on tasks,and less
tolerant of flexible time.
     In my family,we grew up with the TV on.Every weekend,we watched Gun Smoke and Bonanza
together as a family.TV provides us with a comfortable background when we want to learn a foreign
language at home,and it entertains us cheaply with live action sports,incomparable performing arts and
important events of the world.In addition,it educates us about everything from the cells in our body to the
galaxies in the universe.
     Perhaps it's not even practical to live without television unless our views change unexpectedly as we get older.I don't think that TV damages us so much as it robs us of time that could be spent doing other things such as learning new skills,getting some exercise or doing volunteer work.
     I was lucky to have a family that watched TV together.Today there seems to be a TV in every room of the house and there's no need to agree on a program to watch.To watch TV or not is more of a question
for adults than for us,and even though we all say we want to cut down the time we spend in front of the
tube,we never really do.TV_has_us_hypnotized!

1. The experiment in Paragraph 1 shows________.

A. how interesting watching TV is
B. how much people like watching TV
C. whether people like watching TV
D. why people give up watching TV

2. After most families could afford a TV,they________.

A. got more active at work
B. found it easier to solve problems
C. became more independent of TV
D. fixed less attention on tasks

3. From Paragraph 3,we can learn that________.

A. the author likes to spend weekends watching TV by himself
B. watching TV too much prevents the author from growing up well
C. TV programmes bring only fun to the author and his family
D. the author and his family get a lot of valuable experience in watching TV

4. According to the author,which of the following is TRUE?

A. It is a waste of time to watch TV.
B. We benefit little when we watch TV.
C. It is hard to live without television.
D. We change our views as we live with television

5. The underlined sentence in the last paragraph implies that________.

A. we depend too much on TV
B. watching TV makes us united
C. TV robs us of valuable time
D.TV changes our daily life

     Many people wonder why the United States has been a hot spot for Chinese students for years,despite its extremely strict visa policy.On the other hand,China's rise as an economic powerhouse is resulting in a
rapid expansion of its higher education system,making it the fastergrowing destination for American foreign exchange students.
     Recently,according to a study by the Institute of International Education,a research organization based
in New York,the number of American students seeking higher education in China has never been greater,
increasing by 90 percent from 2002 to 2004.Alan Goodman,president of the institute,believes that the_
phenomenon lies in the pace of change in China,which is spending billions of dollars to expend and
transform its higher educational facilities into worldclass institutions.
     "China is a job market," said Professor Chou,professor of East Asian Studies at Princeton University.
"Twenty years ago,only those interested in Chinese literature would study the Chinese language.Now all
professors have opened up."
     China now ranks 9th as a host destination for American students,advancing from the No.12 spot it held a year earlier.The study revealed that Britain continues to be the leading destination,attracting 16.8 percent of all American students who study abroad.On the other hand,in the 2004～2005 academic year,China
sent more than 62,000 students to the United States,nearly 60 percent more than a decade earlier.
According to the study,the Chinese now make up 11 percent of foreign students in the United States,the
secondlargest group behind students from India.

1. From the first paragraph,we know that for many years Chinese students want to go to the US but
________.

A. Chinese government refuses to give a visa
B. it is extremely difficult to get a visa
C. it results in a rapid expansion
D. China becomes a fastgrowing country

2. According to the text,"the phenomenon" in the second paragraph refers to________.

A. more American students' seeking higher education in China
B. the pace of change in China during the past few years
C. founding a research organization based in New York
D. expending and transforming its higher educational facilities

3. Ten years ago,China sent about________students to the United States.

A. 62,000  
B. 55,000  
C. 38,750  
D. 6,820

     In Yemen,you always see one type of vehicle on the road:the water truck.They travel mountain roads
and cross deserts to bring Yemenis the goods more valuable than oil.It is one that only the rich can afford
with the supply regularly  being cut off.Others must rely on scarce rain or charity to  fight thirst.
     Experts say Yemen is going to be the first country in the world to run out of water.The capital,Sanaa,
will run out of drinking water as early as 2025,says a report by the World Bank.
Hannan,an 18yearold from Lahej,said that only the rich could prepare for cuts in supply."In a good week
we'll have a water supply all week but then the following week there will be water only for a day or two,"
she said.
     She and her husband,a factory worker,pay 3,000 riyals (99 yuan) for a week's supply of water from a
touring water  truck when the taps run dry.With an income of only 20,000 riyals (660 yuan) a month,this
means the family often spend half their money on water.
     "There are a lot of people who can't afford it and they have to rely on their neighbors to help," she said.

     The average person in Yemen survives on onefifth of what the World Health Organization considers to
be enough water.
     In Taiz,in the south,tap water is available only once every 45 days.In the mountainous Malhan district in
the north,women and children climb a 1,500m mountain to collect water from a spring,often in the small
hours to avoid long queues.
     Yemen is located in Southwest Asia,bordering the Arabian and Red Sea.Yemeni people have lived on
scarce water supplies for thousands of years but that problem has been made serious by conflict in the are
a,the fastgrowing population and the use of water to grow a drug called qat.With one of the world's highest
rates of population growth-3.46 percent,Yemen is the poorest Arab country.
     The government is considering desalinating (淡化) seawater,but this would be expensive and it may
now be too late.The only other solution is to cut down on farming,but that means importing even more
food.

1．The passage aims to _____.

A. analyze the reasons why Yemen lacks water
B. suggest some solutions to the water issue in Yemen
C. present how serious the water problem is in Yemen
D. encourage the world to help Yemenis who are suffering from water shortages

2．When Hannan said that only the rich could prepare for cuts in supply,she meant that _____.

A. rich people drank more water than the poor
B. rich people could buy water from the water trucks if there was a water supply cut
C. she had a rich neighbor who often helped her during water supply cuts
D. the rich were not affected by water supply cuts

3．Which of the following may be a reason why Yemen is short of water?

A. The country has had no rain for a long time.
B. The population of Yemen is growing fast.
C. The government has failed to reduce farming.
D. People can't afford the water from government water trucks.

4．The best title for the passage is "_____"．

A. Never take water for granted
B. The water truck-the commonest sight in Yemen
C. The first country to run out of water in the world
D. No water for Yemen

     Prolonging human life has increased the size of the human population. Many people alive today would
have died of childhood diseases if they had been born 100 years ago. Because more people live longer,
there are more people around at any given time. In fact, it is a decrease in death rates, not an increase in
birthrates, that has led to the population explosion.
     Prolonging human life has also increased the dependency load. In all societies, people who are
disabled or too young or too old to work are dependent on the rest of society to provide for them. In
hunting and gathering cultures, old people who could not keep up might be left behind to die. In times
of famine, infants might be allowed to die because they could not survive if their parents starved, where
as if the parents survived they could have another child. In most contemporary (当代的)societies, people
feel a moral obligation to keep people alive whether they can work or not. We have a great many people
today who live past the age at which they want to work or are able to work; we also have rules which
require people to retire at a certain age. Unless these people were able to save money for their retirement, somebody else must support them. In the United States many retired people live on social security
checks which are so little that they must live in near poverty. Older people have more illnesses than
young or middleaged people: unless they have wealth or private or government insurance, they must
often "go on welfare" if they have a serious illness.
     When older people become senile (衰老的)or too weak and ill to care for themselves,they create
grave problems for their families. In the past and in some traditional cultures, they would be cared for at
home until they died. Today, with most members of a household working or in school,there is often no
one at home who can care for a sick or weak person. To meet this_need, a great many nursing homes
and convalescent (疗养的)hospitals have been built. These are often profit making organizations, although
some are sponsored by religious and other nonprofit groups. While a few of these institutions are good,
most of them are simply "dumping (倒垃圾的)grounds" for the dying in which "care" is given by poorly
paid, overworked, and under skilled personnel.

1. The author believes that the population explosion results from______.

A. an increase in birthrates
B. the industrial development
C. a decrease in death rates
D. human beings' cultural advances

2. It can be inferred from the passage that in hunting and gathering cultures  ________.

A. it was a moral responsibility for the families to keep alive the aged people who could not work
B. the survival of infants was less important than that of their parents in times of starvation
C. old people were given the task of imparting the cultural wisdom of the tribe to new generations
D. death was celebrated as a time of rejoicing for an individual freed of the hardships of life

3. According to the passage, which of the following statements about the old people in the United States
is TRUE?

A. Many of them live on social security money which is hardly enough.
B. Minority of them remain in a state of near poverty after their retirement.
C. When they reach a certain age, compulsory retirement is necessary and beneficial.
D. With the growing inflation, they must suffer more from unbearable burdens than ever.

4. The phrase "this need" in Paragraph 3 refers to ________

A. prolonging the dying old people's lives
B. reducing the problems caused by the retired people
C. making profits through caring for the sick or weak people
D. taking care of the sick or weak people

5. Which of the following BEST describes the author's attitude toward most of the nursing homes and
convalescent hospitals?

A. Sympathetic.  
B. Approving.
C. Optimistic.  
D. Critical.

     In the international business there is always a great need for creative talents.On the other hand creative
people are also searching for areas  1._____ they can put their talents to use.A talent to be noticed
nowadays is much  2._____ (easy) than it used to be in the old times.In the early days,for example,if one
wanted to be a singer,he or she had to have a great amount of talent in singing.That was the only way they
could promote  3._____ and be recognized.Now sources like the Internet help a great deal in promoting
oneself.The Internet is like a global village.4._____ (seat) in your home you are capable  5._____ finding a
lot of sources.People with  6._____ (vary) of talents can be recognized through the Internet.7._____,the
Internet is  8._____ opportunity to put forward one's talents,creativity,and powers in order to be noticed.
Keeping in mind  9._____ a talent unexposed is the talent unfound.Now we are lucky enough to show
our  10._____ (hide) talents,without trying very hard and just by sitting at home.

     Diana Jacobs thought her family had a workable plan to pay for college for her 21yearold twin sons:a
combination of savings,income,scholarships,and a modest amount of borrowing.Then her husband lost his
job,and the plan fell apart.
     "I have two kids in college,and I want to say'come home',but at the same time I want to provide them
with a good education,"says Jacobs.
    The Jacobs family did work out a solution:They asked and received more aid from the schools,and each
son increased his borrowing to the maximum amount through the federal loan(贷款)program.They will
each graduate with$20,000 of debt,but at least they will be able to finish school.
     With unemployment rising,financial aid administrators expect to hear from more families like the
Jacobses.More students are applying for aid,and more families expect to need student loans.College
administrators are concerned that they will not have enough aid money to go around.
     At the same time,tuition(学费)continues to rise.A report from the National Center for Public Policy and
Higher Education found that college tuition and fees increased 439% from 1982 to 2007,while average
family income rose just 147%.Student borrowing has more than doubled in the last decade.
    "If we go on this way for another 25 years,we won't have an affordable system of higher education,"says
Patrick M．Callan,president of the center."The middle class families have been financing it through debt.
They will send kids to college whatever it takes,even if that means a huge amount of debt."
     Financial aid administrators have been having a hard time as many companies decide that student loans
are not profitable enough and have stopped making them.The good news,however,is that federal loans
account for about three quarters of student borrowing,and the government says that money will flow
uninterrupted.

1．According to Paragraph 1,why did the plan of the Jacobs family fail?

A．The twins wasted too much money.
B．The father was out of work.
C．Their savings ran out.
D．The family fell apart.

2．How did the Jacobses manage to solve their problem?

A．They asked their kids to come home.
B．They borrowed $20,000 from the schools.
C．They encouraged their twin sons to do parttime jobs.
D．They got help from the schools and the federal government.

3．Financial aid administrators believe that________.

A．more families will face the same problem as the Jacobses
B．the government will receive more letters of complaint
C．college tuition fees will double soon
D．America's unemployment will fall

4．What can we learn about the middle class families from the text?

A．They blamed the government for the tuition increase.
B．Their income remained steady in the last decade.
C．They will try their best to send kids to college.
D．Their debts will be paid off within 25 years.

5．According to the last paragraph,the government will________.

A．provide most students with scholarships
B．dismiss some financial aid administrators
C．stop the companies from making student loans
D．go on providing financial support for college students

     The United Nations says more than 900 million people worldwide do not have enough to eat.
Officials say 100 million more could go hungry this year because of the food and financial crises.
     To deal with the situation, the UN World Food Program has started a project to help small farmers.
These farmers are mainly women. Many cannot produce enough food even to feed and support their own
families.
     The new effort is called Purchase for Progress, or P4P.It aims to connect local farmers with
dependable markets. That way, they could get a chance to sell their surplus (剩余) at competitive prices.
P4P will be tested in as many as 21 countries during the next five years.
     The biggest contributor to the project is Bill Gates, through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Another donor (捐款者) is the Howard Buffett Foundation, led by a son of the American investor
Warren Buffett. The government of Belgium is also supporting the project in a former colony (殖民地),
now the Democratic Republic of Congo.
     Together these donors have provided more than 76 million dollars for projects in Africa and Central
America.
     Purchase for Progress will work with United Nations agencies, governments and nongovernmental
organizations to help increase crop production. The World Bank Group and other partners are to help
train farmers in better crop management and marketing skills.
     The World Food Program says it expects to buy 40,000 tons of food in the first year using methods
carried out by the project. That will be enough to feed 250,000 people.
     P4P is expected to develop food cooperatives and longterm agreements for buying corn, wheat and
other food crops. About 350,000 farmers could be assisted.
     Officials say the project will change the way the World Food Program buys food in developing
countries. Executive Director Josette Sheeran says this is the first time her agency will buy a large
amount  of food from small farmers. The agency has traditionally bought most of its food from
developing countries, but through larger trading organizations.

1. From the passage, we know that________.

A. in all 900 million people worldwide lack food
B. a project has been started to help women farmers
C. there are only two donors to help the project
D. some farmers still cannot support their families

2. According to the passage, ________will work hard to deal with the situation.

A. the United Nations    
B. the combined efforts
C. some governments    
D. some nongovernmental organizations

3. Which of the following will NOT be done to help small farmers?

A. To donate money.            
B. To reform the way of food purchase.
C. To provide them with food.    
D. To buy a large amount of food from them.

4. What's the best title for this passage?

A. Project to Help Small Farmers      
B. Contribution to Small Farmers
C. Food Problems                 
D. P4P Is Being Carried Out

     English is fast becoming the language of science around the world, but what is its future among
everyday speakers? One expert points out that the percentage of native English speakers is declining
(降低) while the languages of other rapidly growing regions are being spoken by increasing numbers of
people. But English will continue to remain widespread and important.
     However, British language scholar David Graddol says English will probably drop in dominance(主导)
by the middle of this century to rank, after Chinese, about equally with Arabic, Hindi, and Urdu. "The
number of people speaking English as a first language continues to rise, but it isn't rising nearly as fast as the
numbers of many other languages around the world, simply because the main population group has been
largely in the less developed countries where languages other than English have been spoken," he says.
     In a recent article in the journal Science, Mr. Graddol noted that three languages that are not near the
top of the list of the most widely spoken now might be there soon. These are Bengali, Tamil and Malay,
spoken in south and southeast Asia.
     David Crystal, the author of The Cambridge Encyclopedia(百科全书) of the English Language, says
about 1.5 billion of the world's six billion people speak it as a second tongue compared to the 400 million
native speakers. But another expert on the English language says Mr. Graddol underestimates (低估) the
future of its dominance. "All the evidence suggests that the English language snowball is rolling down a hill
and is getting faster, but nobody quite knows what's going to happen because no language has been in this
position before." He said.

1. In David Graddol's opinion, English will _____.

A. remain widespread and important
B. be more important than any other language
C. lose its dominant position
D. die away in the near future.

2. The underlined sentence in the last paragraph implies that _____.

A. snowballs will roll down faster than language balls
B. the English language snowball is rolling down faster than any time in the past
C. the English language will soon drop in dominance
D. more and more language user will choose English

3. According to David Graddol, which of the following will possibly be one of the languages that will be most widely spoken?

A. Malay.            
B. Arabic.            
C. Urdu.              
D. German

4. What should be the best title for the passage?

A. English Remaining the Dominant Position
B. The Future of English? Who Knows?
C. Opinions from Different Experts
D. The English Language Snowball Rolling Down