An earthquake happens when two plates（板块） rub (碰撞) together.  The earth plates travel in different directions and at different speeds. If one plate is slowly forced underneath the other, pressure builds up until the plates break apart. This process causes the ground to move. It is an earthquake. In other words, earth-quakes are the shaking of the earth’s surface caused by the earth’s rocky outer layer as a result of the energy stored within the earth. The strain within the rocks is suddenly released (释放).

The damage an earthquake causes depends on where it is and the time it is happening. If an unpopulated region is struck, there will be low loss of life or property. If it hits a large city, there may be many in-juries and much destruction. Many of the areas at risk are largely populated now. Major earthquakes hitting those areas today could produce terrible damage.

       Actually, there are several million small earth-quakes every year.  Large earthquakes such as the 1964 Alaskan quake that measured 9.2 on the Richter scale, cause millions of dollars in damage. In the last 500 years, millions of people have been killed by earth-quakes around the world — including 240,000 in the 1976 Tangshan earthquake in China.

       A 60-second or less earthquake can cause devastation that continues for years after the first tremor (小震). In 1972, a series of severe earthquakes struck Managua, Nicaragua. Fifteen years later, the city still looked the way it had a week after the earthquake hit, because the country did not have the necessary money to rebuild it.

The shaking of the earth is sometimes not the greatest disaster. It is in the  ensuing fires and floods that often the greatest damage occurs. In the 1906 earthquake, it was the fires caused after it that did the majority of the damage. An earthquake can also destroy dams high above a city or valleys, causing floods to sweep down and sweep away everything in their path.

61.Which of the following is the main idea of the first paragraph?

A. An earthquake comes from inside the earth.

B. The earth has great energy in storage.

C. How the earth plates move.      

D. How an earthquake happens.

62.How many examples are used in the passage to show the damage and destruction earthquakes cause?

A. Three.              B. Four.         C. Five.       D. Six.

63. Which of the following is mentioned to show that an earthquake can kill too many people?

A. The 1964 Alaskan quake.          B. The 1976 Tangshan earthquake.

C. The 1972 Managua earthquake.    D. The 1906 earthquake.

64. The underlined word “ensuing” in the last paragraph probably means ______.

A. causing too much heat and great damage

 B. causing many injuries and much destruction

C. happening as a result of another event   

D. happening suddenly and unexpectedly

65. By giving the example in Paragraph 4, the author wants to show that ______.

A. an earthquake doesn’t last long        B. the damage can last long

C. people in Managua suffered too much   D. Nicaragua is still a poor country

   The sleep debt is the difference between the amount of sleep you should get and the amount you actually get. It grows every time we skim some extra minutes off our nightly sleep. “People accumulate sleep debts gradually,” says Dr. William Dement, founder of the Stanford University Sleep Clinic. Studies show that such short-term lack of sleep leads to a foggy brain, impaired vision, worsened driving and troubled remembering. Long- term effects include obesity, insulin(胰岛素) resistance, and heart disease.

  A 2007 survey by the National Sleep Foundation reports that Americans sleep for 6.9 hours per night, 6.8 hours on average during the week and 7.4 hours on the weekends. Generally, experts recommend eight hours of sleep per night, although some people may require only six hours of sleep while others need ten. That means on average, Americans lose one hour of sleep each night more than two full weeks of sleep every year.

  The good news is that the sleep debt can be repaid with some work, though it won’t happen when you sleep longer for once. Adding an extra hour or two hours of sleep a night is the way to catch up. For the long-term sleep shortage, it takes a few months to get back to natural sleeping pattern, says Lawrence J. Epstein, medical director of the Harvard Sleep Health Center.

  Go to bed when you are tired, allowing your body to wake you in the morning, with no alarm clock. You may find yourself uncomfortable at the beginning of the recovery cycle. Expect to bank to ten hours shut-eye per night. As the days pass, however, the amount of sleeping time will gradually decrease. For recovery sleep, both the hours of the sleep and the intensity(强度) of the sleep are important. The most refreshing sleep occurs during deep sleep, which is generally considered a restorative (促使健康的) period for the brain. And when you sleep for more hours, you allow your brain to spend more time relaxing.

   As you reduce the sleep debt, your body will come to rest at a sleeping pattern that is specifically right for you. Sleep researcher believe that genes determine our individual sleeping patterns. So you can’t train yourself to be a “short sleeper”. A 2005 study in the journal Sleep found that the more tired we get, the less tired we feel.

46. Which of the following is NOT the side effect of sleep debt?

A. Putting on weight.  B. Having a bad memory. 

C. Having trouble eating food.  D. A temporary loss of eyesight.

47. We learn from the 2007 survey that _______.

A. Americans generally don’t have enough sleep

B. Americans sleep too much over the weekends

C. everyone is supposed to sleep for eight hours

D. most people lack two weeks of sleep every year

48. What should we do to make up for the sleep shortage?

A. We should go to sleep when we are free.

B. We should sleep for at least ten hours every day.

C. We should sleep for one or two more hours at night.

D. We should sleep day and night during the holidays.

49. Why is the intensity of the sleep important to us?

A. Our brain is resting when we are sleeping deeply.

B. Deep sleep helps our brain to fully recover.

C. We feel more relaxed when sleeping soundly.

D. Short sleep makes our body more refreshing.

50. The author seems to believe that _________.

A. the more tired we are getting, the more sleep we need 

B. the sleeping patterns have nothing to do with our genes

C. it is possible for us to reduce our sleep time by training

D. it is wise for us to adapt to our natural sleeping patterns.

If you are traveling___ the customs are really foreign to your own, please do as the Romans do.

   A. to which           B. in which            C. that               D. where

I used to watch her from my kitchen window. She seemed so small as she muscled her way through the crowd of boys on the playground. The school was across the street from our home and I would often watch the kids as they played during break. I remember the first day I saw her playing basketball. I watched in wonder as she ran circles around the other kids. She managed to shoot jump shots just over their heads and into the net. The boys always tried to stop her but no one could. I began to notice her at other times, basketball in hand, playing alone.

One day I asked her why she practiced so much. Without a moment of hesitation she said, “I want to go to college. The only way I can go is to get a scholarship. I am going to play college basketball. I want to be the best. My Daddy told me if the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count.” Well, I had to give it to her—she was determined. I watched her through those junior high years and into high school. Every week, she led her school team to victory.

One day in her senior year, I saw her sitting in the grass, head in her arms. I walked across the street and sat down in the cool grass beside her. Quietly I asked what was wrong. “Oh, nothing,” came a soft reply, “I am just too short.” The coach told her that at 5’5” she would probably never get to play for a top ranked team—much less offered a scholarship—so she should stop dreaming about college. She was heartbroken and I felt my own throat tighten as I sensed her disappointment. I asked her if she had talked to her dad about it yet. She told me that her father said those coaches were wrong. They just did not understand the power of a dream. He told her that if she truly wanted a scholarship and that nothing could stop her except one thing — her own attitude.

The next year, as she and her team went to the Northern California Championship game, she was offered a scholarship and on the college team. She was going to get the college education that she had dreamed of.

41．The author was probably the girl’s        .

A．neighbor B．grandfather        C．mother       D．teacher

42．Why was the girl heartbroken?

A．She was considered too short to be a top player.

B．Her coach stopped her training because she did not play well enough.

C．Her father thought that she couldn’t be on a college basketball team.

D．She wouldn’t be admitted by an ideal college for her marks were not good.

43．We can learn from the passage that        .

A．her family wouldn’t like to pay her college fee

B．her father forced her to play basketball in collage

C．being a top basketball player can win you a scholarship for college

D．she wouldn’t like to turn to his father for help when in difficulty

44．Which word can best describe her father?

A．Encouraging.          B．Strict.              C．Stupid.                   D．Cold.

45．Which proverb best matches the story?

A．Practice makes perfect.

B．Rome was not built in a day.

C．Where there is a will, there is a way.

D．Pride comes before a fall.

第三节：语法填空（共10小题，每小题1.5分，满分15分）

       阅读下面短文，根据上下文填入适当的词语，或使用括号中的词语的适当形式填空，并将答案填写在答卷标号为41~50的相应位置。

Long ago the Emperor decided to hold a swimming race between 13 different animals. The order in which they finished would decide the order of their   41   (appear) in the Chinese calendar. All the animals lined up on the river bank and   42   (give) the task of getting to the opposite shore. The cat wondered how he would get across   43   he was afraid of water. The ox worried how he would cross   44   his poor eyesight. The calculating rat suggested that he and the cat   45   (jump) onto the ox's back and guide him across. The ox, steady and hard-working, did not notice the two animals on his back. In the meanwhile, the rat ran behind the unsuspecting cat and pushed   46   into the water. As the ox came ashore, the rat jumped off and finished the race first.   47   the rat got the first year   48   (name) after him and the ox got the second year.   49   the lazy pig reached the finish line in 12th place the race was over and he was awarded the final place on the calendar. From that day the cat,   50   never finished and lost his place on the calendar, became the enemy of the rat.

第四部分 写作（满分15分)

【写作内容】

假如你叫李华， 是金山市某中学生。最近你校在为一批来自英国的学生征寻住宿家庭，你有意申请。请根据下面提供的信息用英语给校长写封信，说明你申请的理由。

After blogging regularly for two months, people felt they had better social support and friendship networks than those who don’t blog. Blogging can help you feel less isolated, more connected to a community and more satisfied with your friendships, both online and face-to-face, new Australian research has found.

Researchers James Baker and Professor Susan Moore from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne have written two papers investigating the psychological benefits of blogging, regularly updating personal web pages with information that invites others to comment.

The first, published in the latest issue of the journal Cyber Psychology & Behavior, compares the mental health of people intending to blog with that of people not planning to blog. Moore says the researchers messaged 600 My Space users personally and directed them to an online survey. A total of 134 completed the questionnaire; 84 intended to blog and 50 didn’t.

“We found potential bloggers were less satisfied with their friendships and they felt less socially integrated, and they didn’t feel as much part of a community as the people who weren’t interested in blogging…” Moore says. “It was as if they were saying ‘I’m going to do this blogging and it’s going to help me.’”

And it seemed to do the trick, as the researchers’ second study shows. This study, which is yet to be published, was conducted two months later. The researchers sent out questionnaires to the same group of My Space users; this time 59 responded. Bloggers reported a greater sense of belonging to a group of like-minded people and feeling more confident for they could rely on others for help. All respondents, whether or not they blogged, reported feeling less anxious, depressed and stressed after two months of online social networking.

“So going onto My Space had lifted the mood of all participants in some way,” Moore says. “Maybe they’d just made more social connections.” Moore acknowledges this early research and hopes to follow a larger group of people for a longer period time to test some of the research findings.

46. What does the passage mainly tell us?

A. The mental health of bloggers  B. Blogging improves one’s social life.

C. What kind of people are likely to blog     D. Blogging has become more popular.

47. It can be inferred from the fourth paragraph that ______.

A. those who were not interested in blogging didn’t have good mental health.

B. people were likely to become bloggers if they felt socially isolated

C. potential bloggers were those who had mental health problems

D. potential bloggers usually held a wrong view about blogging

48. The purpose of the second study is to find out ______.

A. what people do on My Space

B. how many people became bloggers

C. how people felt after blogging for two months

D. how many people kept blogging after two months

49. The second study shows that ______.

A. online social networking can do people good

B. only bloggers benefit from online social networking

C. not many potential bloggers became real bloggers

D. not all bloggers found the help they needed

50. The main purpose of people going on My Space is probably to ______.

A. exchange goods B. entertain themselves

C. seek help    D. exchange views

A good idea was ____ by the local government that all the ancient paintings in the ruined temples should be protected right now.

   A. adapted      B. adopted        C. absorbed       D. aided

Ⅲ 阅读 (共两节，满分40分)

第一节 阅读理解 (共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分)

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

A person may have an idea about himself that will prevent him from doing good work. He may have the idea that he is not capable of it. A child may think he is stupid because he does not understand how to make the most of his mental faculties (机能), or he may accept another person's mistaken estimate (评价) of his ability. Older people may be handicapped (阻碍) by the mistaken belief that they are incapable of learning anything new because of their age.

A person who believes that he is incapable will not make a real effort, because he feels that it would be useless. He won’t go at a job with the confidence necessary for success. He is therefore likely to fail, and the failure will strengthen his belief in his incompetence. Alfred Adler, a famous doctor, had an experience which illustrates this. When he was a small boy he got off to a poor start in arithmetic. His teacher got the idea that he had no ability in arithmetic, and told his parents what she thought in order that they would not expect too much of him. In this way, they too developed the idea, “Isn’t it too bad that Alfred can’t do arithmetic?” He accepted their mistaken estimate of his ability, felt that it was useless to try, and was very poor at arithmetic, just as they expected.

One day Adler succeeded in solving a problem which none of the other students had been able to solve. This gave him confidence. He rejected the idea that he couldn’t do arithmetic and was determined to show them that he could. His newfound confidence stimulated him to go at arithmetic problems with a new spirit. He now worked with interest, determination and purpose, and he soon became extraordinary good at arithmetic.

This experience made him realize that many people have more ability than they think they have, and that lack of success is as often the result of lack of knowledge of how to apply one’s ability, lack of confidence, and lack of determination as it is the result of lack of ability.

41. Why might a person be prevented from doing good work?  _______.

A. Because he thinks he is old enough to make the most of his mental facilities

B. Because he accepts another person’s mistaken estimate of his ability

C. Because he has the idea that he is incapable of doing everything

D. Because he believes in what other people think of him

42. A person who believes in his low ability will________.

   A. spare no efforts to do things

   B. fail to go at a job but never lose heart

   C. change to learn other course instead of mathematics

   D. show complete lack of confidence

43. As a boy, Alfred Adler was poor at arithmetic because ________.

   A. he lost his self-confidence

   B. he was weak in thinking

   C. his parents expected too much of him

   D. his teacher had no confidence in herself

44. Which of the following is the most important factor to Alder's success? ______

   A. Spirit and experience               B. Interest and self-respect

   C. Confidence and determination        D. Purpose and knowledge

45. Alder’s experience made him realize that _______.

   A. people are not as capable as they think

   B. people can be more capable than they think

   C. lack of confidence leads to failure

   D. lack of ability results in lack of determination

I can’t give you an answer right now. I’d like     more time to consider my decision.

       A．still   B．fairly C．quite D．a lot