China warned the French President Sarkozy（萨科奇）to ______ the meeting with the Dalai Lama, which, however, didn’t work.

       A. call on                      B. call up               C. call in                D. call off

现在，很多学校建造了塑胶操场和跑道，但有报道说塑胶表面会在强烈光照下散发出有害气体。你班同学对此进行了讨论。请用英语写一篇短文，介绍讨论结果，须包括下列要点：

1．  塑胶表面散发的有害气体十分有限，在户外不足以影响人们的健康。

2．  与传统的水泥场地相比，塑胶场地大大减少了运动损伤。

3．  如果用草地取代塑胶，所带来的高昂费用难以承受。

4．  散发过多有害气体是因为有些塑胶跑道使用了劣质材料。

注意：1．可适当增加细节，使行文连贯；

2．词数：120字左右；

3．参考词汇：塑胶操场和跑道rubberized playgrounds and running tracks

水泥场地cement ground

Recently we asked for people’s opinions about paying students to encourage them to come to class and get higher scores on tests. Some American schools are doing this.

More of the people were against the idea than were for it.

Some people said paying students sends a message that money is the only reason they should study for. Steven from China says students should study for knowledge. Money may make a difference in the short term, he says, but we should think about the long term.

Zhao Jing Tao, a college student in China, thought of an old saying. Paying students is like “drinking poison to end thirst”― trying to solve a problem without thinking of the bad effects.

Dinh Minh Tuan from Vietnam says rewards are important because they prepare students for the future life. But young children should get things they value more than money, like funny books, pens and film tickets.

There was a suggestion from South Korea that if rewards are necessary for learning，they could be gathered like a charity fund. This money could be used for a project designed by the students.

Francisco Mora from Colombia says the city of Bogota pays parents, so children do not have to work until they finish their basic education. This, he says, has increased the number of students who come to public schools.

Teresa Finamore wrote: “I am an Italian teacher of math and science for students from eleven to fourteen. I think that it is wrong to pay students. Each student has to understand that going to school, he gets a wonderful chance to live better in the future and also at present.”

Nelly Constant in France wonders, if young people get paid for studying, what will they expect from a job ―a rocket to the moon?

Sergio Fernandes from Brazil says paying students is not realistic. But Camillus Chiemela, a Nigerian living in Germany, feels it will help to make the education system better. Students’ expectations will be much higher.

Naval from Russia also says yes to the idea: “We should at least get something for our time wasted. Because in my country students pay money to go to school or get good grades from teachers.”

And Lucy Ding from China says most Chinese students work hard for two reasons: their parents’ expectations and pressure from teachers. She says getting rewards will become a good thing that will get students to work hard for themselves, for the things they hope to get.

77. Zhao Jing Tao thought paying students              .

A. is like drinking water to end thirst

B. couldn’t make a difference in the short term

C. is good for the students’ future life

D. couldn’t help the students with their study

78. Who of the following says yes to the idea of paying students?

A. Dinh Minh Tuan

B. Camillus Chiemela

C. Nelly Comstant

D. Teresa Finamore

79. What do Chinese students work hard for according to Lucy Ding?

A. For their parents and teachers.

B. For the things they hope to get.

C. For themselves.

D. For money.

80. The passage mainly talks about              .

A. it is right for some American schools to pay students

B. paying students is trying to solve a problem without thinking of the effects

C. people’s different opinions about paying students

D. paying students helps to improve the education system

Computers have been used in teaching for more than twenty years. But a new book says that only now are they changing education. And it predicts that a lot more is about to happen.

The book is called “Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns.” “Disruptive Innovation” is a theory developed by lead author Clayton Christensen, a professor at the Harvard Business School. He says organizations almost always use new, creative technology only to continue what they already do.

New technology should change organizations, he says, and disrupt them in a good way. They should use the technology to do things differently―for example, to serve more needs. The book says the needed disruptive force in education is computer-based learning.

Michael Horn, another author of “Disrupting Class”, told us about a Boston public that he visited. Every student at Lilla G. Frederick Middle School in Dorchester, Massachusetts, has a laptop computer. One class was learning about storms. Michael Horn says the laptops made it possible to truly individualize（使个人化）the lessons, to divide materials by ability level and learning style. At the end of the class, the students all took part in a discussion led by the teacher.

Computer-based learning offers a way for students to take advanced courses not offered at their school, or to retake classes they failed. It also serves those who cannot physically attend school, and students who receive home schooling.

Computer-based learning includes online courses. Enrollments（招生）in online courses have grown sharply. In 2007, the United States had about one million enrollments, not including college courses. Students could be enrolled in more than one course, through schools or education companies. High school students make up about seventy percent of the enrollment. Still, nationally, only about one percent of all high school courses last year were taught online.

But the authors of “Disrupting Class”predict it will be ten percent in about six years. And their research suggests that the number will be about fifty percent by 2019. And Michael Horn says the future of online learning could be even greater in developing countries.

73. Which of the following is TRUE about the book “Disrupting Class”?

A. It was written by more than one author.

B. It thinks the computer affects students’ studies.

C. It introduces a new scientific technology to readers.

D. It has been a best-seller since it was published.

74. Paragraph 4 is written to show                .

A. how modern the Boston public school is  

B. how clever the American students are

C. how well the American teachers teach

D. what computer-based learning is like

75. From the last two paragraphs, we can infer that the authors of “Disrupting Class”think that              .

A. more and more students are interested in “Disrupting Class”

B. those who take online courses are mainly college students

C. more and more high school courses will be taught online

D. enrollments in online courses haven’t grown recently

76. The passage is mainly about              .

A. a new book

B. a new learning way

C. some American writers

D. the advantages of computers

Nature responds to climate change. To understand it, we need to monitor key life cycle events－flowering, the appearance of leaves the first frog calls of the spring－all around the world. But scientists can’t be everywhere so they’re turning to non-scientists, sometimes called citizen scientists, for help.

A group of scientists and educators launched (发起) an organization last year called the National Phenology Network. “Phenology” is what scientists call the study of the timing of events in nature.

One of the group’s first efforts depends on scientists and non-scientists alike to collect data about plant flowering and leafing every year. The program, called Project BudBurst, collects life cycle data on different kinds of common plants from across the United States.

“People don ’t have to be plant experts－they just have to look around and see what’s in their neighbourhood,”says Jennifer Schwartz, an adviser with the project, “As we collect this data, we’ll be able to predict how plants and communities of plants and animals will respond as the climate changes.”

That data will help scientists predict not only how natural communities may change but also how these changes will affect people.

Scientists monitoring lilac (丁香) flowering in the western United States reported that in years when lilacs bloomed early before May 20th－wildfires later in the summer and fall are larger and more severe. Lilac blooming could serve as an alarm bell, Jennifer says.

Improved monitoring is an important step toward predicting how natural communities will respond to climate change.

“The best way for us to increase our knowledge of how plants and animals are responding to climate change is to increase the amount of data we have,” he says. “That ’s why we need citizen scientists to get as much information from as many places on as many species over as long a time period as we can.”

69. The National Phenology Network is launched to                .

A. research how nature makes response to climate change

B. keep a record of what is happening in nature

C. make a study of the first frog calls of the spring

D. judge what plants will die out in the future

70. The task of Project BudBurst is to                .

A. grow more plants to improve the climate

B. collect information about common plants

C. made citizens tell different plants

D. find out how many kinds of plants there are in America

71. By saying “Lilac blooming could serve as an alarm bell”, Jennifer meant             .

A. lilac flowers could made people feel anxious or afraid

B. lilacs could warn people of the danger of wildlife

C. the blooming of lilacs could predict the happening of wildfires

D. the flowers of lilacs could be used to wake people up

72. The main idea of this passage is              .

A. why we need to collect data about nature

B. when an alarm bell sounds for nature

C. what citizen scientists are in America

D. how nature responds to climate change

If you see someone drowning, speed is very important. Once you get him out of water, if he isn’t breathing, you have four minutes before his brain is completely destroyed. Support his neck, tilt his head back and press his chin upwards. This stops the tongue blocking the airway in the throat and is sometimes enough to get him breathing again.

If that doesn’t work, start mouth-to-mouth breathing. Press his nostrils together with your fingers. Open your mouth and take a deep breath. Blow into his lungs until his chest rises, then remove your mouth and watch his chest fall. Repeat twelve times a minute. Keep doing until help arrives.

To bring a child back to life, keep your lips around his mouth and nose and gently blow into his mouth. Give the first four breaths as quickly as possible to fill the blood with oxygen. If, in spite of your efforts, he starts turning a blue-gray color, and you can feel no pulse，then pressing is the last chance of saving his life.

With arms straight, rock forwards, pressing down on the lower half of the breastbone. Don’t be too hard or you may break a rib. Check how effective you are by watching if his color improves or his pulse becomes independent to your chest pressing. If this happens, stop the pressing. Otherwise continue until help arrives.

65. This passage is mainly about how to              .

A. save drowning people out of water

B. give first aid to drowning people

C. do mouth-to-mouth breathing

D. bring a drowning child back to life

66. Once you get a drowning person out of water, if he isn’t breathing, you must         first.                           

A. get him breathing again

B. take him to the nearest hospital

C. find someone to help you

D. call the First Aid Center

67. If a drowning child has no pulse,              .

A. pressing his chin upwards is enough to get him breathing again

B. blowing air into his mouth can surely save his life

C. pressing his nostrils together with your fingers can work

D. pressing is the last possibility to save his life

68. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A. If a drowning man can’t breathe again in four minutes, his brain will be completely destroyed.

B. If you see someone drowning, you must give him mouth-to -mouth breathing.

C. When you bring a drowning child back to life, you should give him as many breaths as possible.

D. When pressing, you can do it as hard as you can.

Countries must learn to share water fairly if they are to prevent warring over water as population growth and climate change make it ever more scarce.

Farming uses 70 percent of the fresh water taken from the world’s lakes and rivers and need from farms is set to increase by 14 percent in the next 30 years.

Water conflicts can happen in water-stressed areas among local communities and between countries. The lack of instruments for water sharing exacerbates already difficult conditions. In the absence of clear rules, things will not be organized or arranged in order and power plays an important role.

While humans drink between 2 and 5 litres of water a day, it takes 1,000-2,000 litres to produce a kilogram of wheat and up to 15,000 litres to produce a kilo of grain-fed beef.

The daily consumption of water per person is a thousand times more than the consumption through drinking.

Already 1.1 billion people lack clean water and, with the world’s population set to grow from 6.5 billion to 8 billion by 2025, 1.8 billion people will face water scarcity by then. Global warming will exacerbate the problem, especially in poor, dry areas.

To improve cross-border cooperation on water use, the 10 countries on the Nile are negotiating (商定) a water-sharing agreement which the Food and Agriculture Organisation  hopes will be a model for other areas where the scarce water can be shared out peacefully.

61. What’s the passage mainly about?

A. Water conflicts can arise in poor and dry areas.

B. Countries must learn to share water fairly.

C. What caused water conflicts.

D. Water consumption is increasing.

62. Which of the following may be the reason for water conflicts?

A. The lack of clear rules.

B. That farming consumes too much water.

C. That too much water has been wasted.

D. Environmental pollution.

63. The underlined word “exacerbates” (in Paragraph 3) probably means “           ”.

A. makes larger

B. makes smaller

C. makes better

D. makes worse

64. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A. Farming uses 70 percent of the fresh water now.

B. It takes about 15,000 litres of water to produce a kilo of grain-fed beef.

C. The 10 countries on the Nile have reached a water-sharing agreement.

D. 1.8 billion people will face water scarcity by 2025.

A good woman one day said something that hurt her best friend of many years. She regretted   41   and would have done   42   to have   43   the words. What she said hurt the friend so much that this good woman was herself   44   for the pain she caused. In an effort to   45   what she had done, she went to an older, wiser woman in the village, explained her   46  , and asked for advice.

Listening to her, the older woman   47   the younger woman’s distress and knew she must help her. She also knew she could   48   relieve her pain,   49   she could teach. She knew the outcome would   50   the character of the younger woman. She said, “Tonight, take your best feather pillows and put a single feather on the   51   of each house in town before the   52  .”

The young woman hurried home to prepare for her task, even though the feather pillows were very dear to her. All night long, she labored alone in the   53  . Finally the sky was getting light: she placed the last feather on the steps of the last house. Just as the sun rose, she returned to the older woman,

“Now,” said the wise woman, “Go back and   54   your pillows with the feather you have put on the steps. Then everything will be as it was before.

“You know that’s   55  ! The wind blew each feather as fast as I placed them on the doorsteps!” The young woman was surprised.

“That’s true,” said the older woman. “Never forget. Each of your words is like a   56   in the wind. Once   57  , no amount of effort,   58   how heartfelt or sincere, can   59   return them to your mouth. Choose your words well and   60   them most of all in the presence of those you love.”

―Ann acts quite unfriendly.

―I think she’s _________________________（与其说她不友好，不如说她害羞）.（more…than…）

 _______________________（要是我多懂得）giving first aid, I could have helped them.（if）