Growing up as a youngster, and even today as somewhat of an “oldie”, there is nothing I like better than being able to go to a library. To be honest I have good memories of a tiny library in the remote north of Australia in a town called Roe Bourne, where I did a lot of my research for my masters. I think it was just the feeling of peace that was found inside.

What’s fascinated me here since coming to China is the way that many people use bookshops as virtual libraries. I’ve noticed in some of the huge bookstores that many customers will pick up a book or magazine and then just spend hours reading it in the shop. Some even just sit down right there on the floor and start reading – I’ve even seen some fellow bring a fold-up chair!

It’s quite a contrast really because back home in the bookshops or newsagents usually the boss prefers that we don’t touch the books or magazines in case we dirty them, rip them or try to steal them. One of their more common remarks to a customer who is looking at a text is, “Are you going to buy that? This isn’t a library you know.” What a pain!

Anyway these days I wonder if it is all changing.

With the internet becoming so pervasive and so many books, magazines and journals going electronic, in many ways it is cheaper and more efficient to just have everything available online. Though for all its efficiencies, I wonder if we lose something if we stop investing in public libraries.

I don’t feel the same romanticism for knowledge and literature when I go to a net bar to research nor do I think senior citizens feel comfortable surfing online in such public places amid gaming and qq chatters.

1. From the first paragraph, we can guess that________.

A．The writer is kind of a bookworm.

B．The writer was born in Roe Bourne

C．The writer was once a researcher in Australia.

D．The writer does not like libraries

2. According to the writer which of the following is NOT the fact about bookshops in China and the writer’s hometown?

A．Chinese people usually spend hours reading in the bookshops.

B．Chinese people use bookshops as virtual libraries.

C．The shopowner in the writer’s hometown doesn’t like people to touch the books for fear that the books get dirty.

D．The shopowner in the writer’s hometown often persuade readers to buy the books.

3. What’s the writer’s opinion about internet?

A．Internet has much efficiency.

B．He prefers a library rather than internet.

C．People will lose everything if investment in public libraries is stopped.

D．It’s a romance to go to a net bar talking amid gaming and qq chatters.

Timeless, classic songs wrecked by tuneless, howling drunks: the karaoke machine is the most annoying gadget in Britain, a survey for the government found.

    A TNS Omnibus poll found that the Japanese invention topped a list of gadgets that people wished had never been invented. Nearly a quarter （22 percent） of those surveyed chose the karaoke machine. 17 percent said 24-hour sports channels, 12 percent chose video games consoles, while 11 percent said mobile phones and seven percent said alarm clocks.

    "When people are singing karaoke they are enjoying themselves, but as a member of the audience you are just watching somebody who can't perform -- and isn't particularly pleasant to listen to -- for as long as you can bear it." It is anti-social. You might have 10 people who want to sing some karaoke, which means 150 people have to suffer it."But the crazy thing is that people still do go just to be a spectator at other people's inability to sing." After a short while -- unless they're very drunk -- they're going to find that listening to performers failing to perform for two hours is not the best way to spend the evening."

    Karaoke has turned into a multibillion-dollar industry since being invented in 1971 by Daisuke Inoue, a Japanese club keyboardist looking to provide music for a customer who wanted to sing on a company trip.

    Asked which gadgets people would like to see invented in the future, 18 percent said a robot cleaner, 16 percent said a time machine and 12 percent said a teleporter. Asked what the most important safety gadgets were, 69 percent said the smoke alarm, 64 percent said seat belts and 29 percent said baby seats. Pollsters TNS Omnibus surveyed 2,584 adults in England online.

1. Which is not the question put forward by the pollsters TNS Omnibus?

A．Which gadget is the one people wished had never been invented?

B．Which gadget would people like to see invented in the future?

C．What is the most important safety gadget?

D．How was the karaoke machine invented?

2. How many people surveyed chose the karaoke machine to be the most annoying machine?

   A．About 150 people                     B．Some 568 people

   C．Over a quarter of those surveyed              D．Less than 22% of those surveyed

3. Which is not the reason why the karaoke machine is the most annoying gadget in Britain?

   A．Unless drunk, they will not find listening to people who can’t perform is the best way to spend the evening

   B．Classic songs are wrecked by those who are out of tunes.

   C．Only those singing are enjoying themselves while the members of audience have to bear it

   D．It is against social rules.

4. The following are all safety gadgets except_______.

   A．the smoke alarm              B．seat belts           C．teleported            D．baby seats

The way people hold to the belief that a fun filled, pain free life equals happiness actually reduces their chances of ever attaining（达到） real happiness. If fun and pleasure are equal to happiness then pain must be equal to unhappiness. But in fact, the opposite is true: more often than not, things that lead to happiness involve some pain.
    As a result，many people avoid the very attempts that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain brought by such things as marriage，raising children, professional achievement，religious commitment（承担的义务），self improvement. Ask a bachelor（单身汉） why he resists marriage even though he finds dating to be less and less satisfying. If he is honest he will tell you that he is afraid of making a commitment. For commitment is in fact quite painful. The single life is filled with fun，adventure，excitement. Marriage has such moments，but they are not its most distinguishing features.
    Couples with infant（婴儿） children are lucky to get a whole night‘s sleep or a three day vacation. I don't know any parent who would choose the word fun to describe raising children. But couple who decide not to have children never know the joys of watching a child grow up or of playing with a grandchild.
    Understanding and accepting that true happiness has nothing to do with fun is one of the most liberating（解放） realizations. It liberates time: now we can devote more hours to activities that can truly increase our happiness. It liberates money: buying that new car or those fancy clothes that will do nothing to increase our happiness now seems pointless. And it liberates us from envy: we now understand that all those who are always having so much fun actually may not be happy at all.

1. According to the author, a bachelor resists marriage chiefly because.

  A．he is unwilling to take on family responsibilities
  B．he believes that life will be more cheerful if he remains single

  C．he finds more fun in dating than in marriage

  D．he fears it will put an end to all his fun adventure and excitement

2. From the last paragraph，we learn that envy sometimes stems from.

  A．hatred              B．misunderstanding         C．prejudice       D．ignorance

3. To understand what true happiness is, one must_______.

  A．have as much fun as possible during one's lifetime

  B．make every effort to liberate oneself from pain

  C．put up with pain under all circumstances

  D．be able to distinguish happiness from fun

4. What is the author trying to tell us?

  A．Happiness often goes hand in hand with pain.

  B．One must know how to attain happiness.

  C．It is important to make commitments.

  D．It is pain that leads to happiness.

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

There is an English saying that goes, "he who laughs last, laughs the hardest." High School Musical star Zac Efron is laughing a lot these days.

__1___, because he was always the smallest in his class and was laughed at because he had a big space between his teeth. In sixth grade, Efron's basketball team made it to the league championships. In double overtime （两个加时赛）, with three seconds left, he rebounded the ball and passed it — to the wrong team! ___2____

    ___3______Now at 21, Enron is one of People magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People, graces （荣登） the cover of Entertainment Weekly, Hollywood's most influential magazine, and is traveling the world promoting the third High School Musical film. Director Adam Shankman described Enron as "arguably the biggest teen star in America right now." Simply Google "Zac Enron" , and you get more than 14 million responses. Yes, it seems Enron has a lot to smile about these days.

    Enron was born and raised in California. ____4______According to Enron, "he would flip out （发疯） if he got a B and not an A in school, and that he was a class clown." It was his father who encouraged him to act. ___5_____He also took singing lessons. He graduated high school in 2006 and was accepted at the University of Southern California to study film. But he put it off— why study movies when you can star in them.

Enron has risen all the way to the top of the movie business. And he can now laugh all the way to the bank.

A．He owed it a lot to his father that he succeeded.

B．But history, as they say, is a thing of the past

C．He took part in school performances and acted in a local theater.

D．When he was young, Enron was an unqualified basketball player.

E．He took school seriously.

F．They scored and his team lost the game.

G．As a young boy, Enron was picked on by his classmates.

英语课上,老师要求同桌同学相互修改作文。假设以下小作文为你同桌所写，请你对其进行修改。文中共有10处错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。

增加：在缺词处加一个漏词符号（^），并在此符号下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词。

2．只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

3．必须按答题要求做题，否则不给分。

Dear Mary,

We’ve been pen friends for a year now. It’s a fun, isn’t it? This year I’m starting my college

life. I’m real excited. Everything will be different with things in high school. I’ll have more

classes, and each of the class will be in a different classroom. In the dormitory I will have a

locker which I can keep my textbooks, notebooks, coats and other thing. This is my favorite

thing about going college. Two students will have to share a locker. I will like my friend Kim to

be my locker partner. We’re thinking of put our favorite pictures on the locker door. Please

sending me a new picture of yourself! OK?

Well, write soon. Bye.

Best wishes.

Cindy

学校“英语角”开展以“感恩父母”为主题的征文活动。请根据下列要求写一篇文章，词数120左右。要求：

文中需讲述一件使你难忘的事

由此抒发你的感想，引发出对父（母）亲的感激。

—May I try the jacket on?

—    , but I think it will be too large for you.

A. As you like      B. By all means     C. With pleasure     D. Believe it or not

The education of ____ young is always _____ hot and serious topic in the modern society.

 A. the; a            B. the; 不填              C. a; the          D. 不填; the

He owed his achievements ______ his good luck more than his ability.

 A. with             B. for            C. to                   D. by

Many students listened to the lecture, but I wondered how much they ______.

 A. took out        B. took up           C. took off          D. took in