“You don’t say!”

A year ago, I paid no attention to English idioms, though my teacher emphasized the importance again and again. But soon, the importance of English idioms was shown in an amusing experience .

One day, I happened to meet an Englishman on the road, and soon we began to talk. As I was talking about how I was studying English, the foreigner seemed to be astonished （or greatly surprised）. Gently shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders, he said, “You don’t say!”  “You don’t say!” I was puzzled. I thought, perhaps this is not an appropriate topic. “Well, I’d better change the topic.” So I said to him, “Well, shall we talk about the Great Wall? By the way, have you ever been there?” “Certainly, everyone back home will laugh at me if I leave China without seeing it. It was magnificent（or great and beautiful）.” He was deep in thought when I began to talk like a tourist guide. “The Great Wall is one of the wonders in the world. We are very proud of it” Soon I was interrupted （or stopped suddenly） again by his words：“You don’t say!” I couldn’t help asking, “Why do you ask me not to talk about it?” “Well, I didn’t request （or ask in a polite way） you to do so,” he answered, greatly surprised. I said, “Didn’t you say ‘you don’t say’?” Hearing this, the Englishman laughed to tears. He began to explain, “‘You don’t say’ actually means ‘really?’ It is an expression of surprise. Perhaps you don’t pay attention to English idioms.” Only then did I know I had made a fool of myself. Since then I have been more careful with idiomatic expressions.

Remember: what the English teachers said is always right to us students.

1. A year ago, I paid no attention to English idioms because _______    .

A．English idioms were not important

B．My teacher didn’t emphasize the importance of them

C．I was not careful with English idioms

D．I had no interest in them

2. At first, on hearing “You don’t say,” I thought the foreigner meant  ___   .

A．he was only interested in the Great Wall

B．he was not interested in the topic

C．I had talked too much

D．I had to stop talking

3. The underlined word in the first paragraph probably means  ____    .

A．important    B．interesting    C．terrible     D．unlucky

4. Which of the following is true according to the passage?

    A．The Englishman visited the Great Wall and thought it worth visiting.

B．The Englishman wanted to see the Great Wall after I talked about it.

C．The Englishman wanted me to act as his guide.

D．The Englishman left China without seeing the Great Wall.

5. After the Englishman explained the idiom,  __________   .

A．I thought the Englishman had made me a fool

B．the Englishman became a real fool

C．I became more careful in everything

D．I felt very silly

Hundreds of years ago, news was carried from place to place by people on foot or by horse. It took days, weeks and sometimes months for people to receive news. Now it is possible to send words and pictures around the world in seconds. Billions of people learn about news stories of their own country and all over the world every day, either by watching TV or reading newspapers.

Newspapers have been an important part of everyday life since the 18th century. Many countries have hundreds of different newspapers. How do newspaper editors decide which news stories to print? Why do they print some stories and not others? What makes a good newspaper story?

Firstly, it is important to report news stories. TV stations can report news much faster than newspapers. Yet, newspapers give more about the same story. They may also look at the story in another way, or they may print completely different stories to those on TV.

Secondly, a news story has to be interesting and unusual. People don’t want to read stories about everyday life. As a result, many stories are about some kind of danger and seem to be "bad" news. For example, newspapers never print stories about planes landing safely; instead they print stories about plane accidents.

Another factor is also very important in many news stories. Many people are interested in news in foreign countries, but more prefer to read stories about people, places and events in their own country. So the stories on the front page in Chinese newspapers are usually very different from the ones in British, French and American newspapers.

1. According to the passage, how do people learn about news stories in the world now?

A. They carry news stories and tell others from place to place on foot or by horse.

B. They tell each other what they have seen with their eyes.

C. They listen to the radio every day.

D. They watch TV or read newspapers.

2. The difference between newspaper stories and TV news reports is that _______.

A. people can read the news story more quickly in a newspaper

B. people can learn more about the same news story from a newspaper

C. people can read news stories in other countries

D. people can read news stories about their own country

3. To make a good newspaper story, how many factors does the passage talk about?

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

4. According to the passage, which aspect of the following can you most possibly watch on TV?

A. You often play football with your friends after school.

B. Your teacher has got a cold.

C. The bike in front of your house is lost.

D. A tiger in the city zoo has run out and hasn’t been caught.

5. Which of the following is Not true in this passage?

A. People like to read interesting and unusual news.

B. News stories on the front page of every country are always the same.

C. Not only TV but also newspapers can help people to learn what is happening around the world.

D. Newspapers have been an important part of everyday life for more than three hundred years.

Canada is a very large country. It is the second largest country in the world. By contrast it has a very small population. There are only about 29 million people there. Most Canadians are of British or French origin, and French is an official language of Canada as well as English. About 45% of the people are of British origin, that is, they or their parents or grandparents, etc., come from Britain. Nearly 30% are of French origin. Most of the French-Canadians live in the province of Quebec.

Over the years, people have come to live in Canada from many countries in the world. They are from most European countries and also from China, besides other Asian countries.

However, Canada was not an empty country when the Europeans began to arrive. Canadian Indians lived along the coast, by the rivers and lakes and in forests. Today there are only about 350 000 Indians in the whole country, with their own languages. In the far north live the Inuit. There are only 27 000 Canadian-Inuit. Their life is hard in such a difficult climate.

1. About       live in Quebec.

  A. 8 700 000 French-Canadians           B. 45% of the Canadians

  C. 29 000 000 people                   D. 30% of the French-Canadians

2. The official languages of Canada are      .

  A. English and Chinese                    B. Indian and English

C. French and English                    D. Chinese and Inuit

3. The word “origin” in this passage means      .

  A. 后裔                 B. 血统            C. 先驱                       D. 猿人

4. About 23% of people came from      .

  A. some other countries except France and Britain      B. England

C. France                                                             D. China

5. Which of the following is true according to this passage?

  A. There are 27 000 Canadian-Indians in Canada.

  B. More than 13 million people have come from Britain and France in recent years.

  C. There are no people when the Europeans began to arrive in Canada.

D. There are 30% of the population whose parents or grandparents come from France.

You are seeing a film in which two men are having a fight. They hit one another over the heads with chairs. And so it goes on until one of the men crashes through a window and falls thirty feet to the ground below. He is dead!

Of course he isn’t really dead. With any luck he isn’t even hurt. Why? Because the men who fall out of high windows or jump from fast moving trains, who crash cars or even catch fire, are professionals. They do this for a living. These men are called stuntmen. That is to say, they perform tricks.

They actually do most of the things you see on the screen. For example, they fall from a high building. However, they do not fall onto hard ground but onto empty cardboard boxes covered with a mattress. Again, when they hit one another with chairs, the chairs are made of soft wood and when they crash through windows, the glass is made of sugar!

But although their work depends on tricks of this sort, it also requires a high degree of skill and training. Often a stuntman’s success depends on careful timing. For example, when he is “ blown up” in a battle scene, he has to jump out of the way of the explosion just at the right moment.

Naturally stuntmen are well paid for their work, but they lead dangerous lives. They sometimes get seriously injured, and even killed. A Norwegian stuntman, for example, skied over the edge of a cliff a thousand feet high. His parachute （降落伞） failed to open and he was killed.

In spite of all the risks, this is no longer a profession for men only. Men no longer dress up as women to perform some dangerous actions. For nowadays there are stunt girls , too.

1. What can be inferred from the author’s example of the Norwegian stuntman?

A. The percentage of serious accidents is high.

B. Sometimes an accident can happen to a stuntman.

C. Parachutes must be of good quality.

D. The cliff was too high.

2. Stuntmen are those who __________________.

A. Not only dress up as actors but also as actress .

B. like to lead dangerous lives.

C. often fight each other for their lives.

D. often perform seemingly dangerous actions.

3. Stuntmen earn their living by ___________________.

A. playing their dirty tricks.

B. jumping out of high windows.

C. selling their special skills.

D. jumping from fast moving trains.

4. When a stuntman falls from a high building, _____________________.

A. his safety is generally all right.

B. he will be covered with a mattress.

C. his life is in danger.

D. he needs little protection.

5. Which of the following is the main factor of a successful performance?

  A. Strength         B. Speed           C. Exactness           D. Carefulness

根据所学，按照要求写出下列单词的正确形式。

1. She hits the ball with great_______________（准确）.

2. At present, the influenza of Type A H1N1 spread out quickly all over the world,  no_____________（接种疫苗）for this virus has come out by now.

3. A dictionary explains words and an_______________（百科全书）explains facts.

4. This year is the 60^th_____________（周年） of People's Republic of China,  the grand parade will be held on the Tiananmen Square.

5. By buying ten books every month，he soon _________（积累） a good library.

Have you ever been in a meeting while someone was making a speech and realized suddenly that your mind was a million miles away? You probably felt sorry and made up your mind to pay attention and never have daydreaming again .Most of us , from earliest school days ,have been told that daydreaming is waste of time .

“On the contrary,” says L.Giambra, an expert in psychology, “daydreaming is quite necessary. Without it ,the mind couldn’t get done all the thinking it has to do during a normal day …You can’t possibly do all your thinking with a conscious mind .Instead ,your unconscious and conscious mind is working out problems all the time .Daydreaming then may be one way that the unconscious and conscious states of mind have silent dialogues .”

Early experts in psychology paid no attention to the importance of daydreams or even ________.At one time daydreaming was thought to be a cause of some mental illnesses .They did not have a better understanding of daydreams until the late 1980s EricKlinger ,a professor of psychology , is the writer of the book Daydreaming ,Klinger says ,“We know now that daydreaming is one of the main ways that we recognize our lives ,learn from our experiences ,and plan our futures …Daydreams really are a window on the things we fear and the things we long for in life .”

Daydreams are usually very simple and direct ,quite unlike sleep dreams ,which may be hard to understand .It’s easier to gain a deep understanding of your life by paying close attention to your daydreams than by trying to examine your sleep dreams carefully .Daydreams help your recognize the difficult situations in your life and find out a possible way of handing them .

Daydreams cannot be predicted. They move off in unexpected directions which may be creative and full of useful ideas .For many famous artists and scientists ,daydreams were and are a main source of creative energy.

So the next time you catch yourself daydreaming .Don’t stop. Just pay attention to your dream. It may be more important than what you think.

1. What’s the best title of the passage ?（Please answer within 10 words .）

_____________________________________________________________________

2. Which sentence in the passage can be replaced by the following one ?

Daydreams always reflect what we have experienced and hoped in our real life.

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

3. Please fill in the plank in the third paragraph with proper words or phrases to complete the sentence .（Please answer within 10 words ）

_____________________________________________________________________

4. What’s your opinion on daydreaming ?（ Please answer within 15 words）

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

5. Translate the underline sentence in the fifth paragraph into Chinese .

_____________________________________________________________________

请写一篇短文，阐述水在人们生活及工业中的重要性。

1、水是生命的源泉，农业的命脉、工业的血液！

2、缺水问题越来越严重。原因是人口增长；工、农业生产发展；环境污染。

3、应采取措施，解决缺水问题：充分利用，避免污染，净化雨水或海水。

4、注意：缺水原因和节水措施可据生活实际做适当发挥。

词数：120--150左右

生词：净化purify；缺水water shortage；污染pollute；采取措施take measures

More and more university graduates would like to make ______ to bigger companies in order to win greater chance of success in the future．

A．promises            B．contributions           C．applications           D．attempts

A British company has developed a camera that can detect（探测） weapons and hidden drugs, which is a great ______ for the security industry．

A．breakthrough           B．introduction          C．principle          D．conclusion

The company wishes to ______ its new factory beside the river．

A．find           B．stand            C．locate             D．arrange