Paper produced every year is_____ the world’s production of vehicles．

A．the three times weight of                          B．three times the weight of

C．as three times heavy as                         D．three times as heavier as

She has set a new record，that is，the sales of her latest book______50 million．

A．have reached                                    B．has reached              

C．are reaching                            D．had reached

Oil companies in the U.S are already beginning to feel the pressure. Refinery workers and petroleum-equipment-manufacturing employees are being_________.

A．laid out          B．laid off          C．laid down      D．laid aside

_______cancer, he felt as if the world was at an end.

A．Diagnosed with                                  B．Diagnosed as  

C．Being diagnosed with                      D．Be diagnosed as

Years ago, a farmer owned land along the Atlantic coast. He constantly advertised for hired _ 1 ___. Most people were unwilling to work on farms along the Atlantic．They __2___ the terrible storms that became violently across the Atlantic would destroy lives, buildings and crops. As the farmer ___3___ applicants for the job, he received a world of ___4___.

  Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, __5___ the farmer. “Are you a good __6___?” the farmer asked him. “Well, I can sleep when the wind blows.” Answered the __7___man. Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, __8___for help, hired him. The man worked well __9___ the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt __10___ the man’s work.

  Then one night the __11___ howled loudly in from off-shore. __12__ out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and __13___ next door to the hired hand’s sleeping room. He __14__ the man and called, “Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down ___15___ they blow away!” The little man rolled over in bed and said ____16___, “No, sir. I told you that I can sleep when the wind blows.”  Enraged by the __17___, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. ___18___, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm.  To his ___19___ , he discovered that all of the haystacks(干草堆) had been covered with tarpaulins(防水油布).The doors were locked. The windows were tightly closed. Everything was ___20____. Nothing could blow away. The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew.

1．A．taxies              B．boats             C．cows             D．hands

2．A．feared              B．fought            C．met               D．approached

3．A．selected            B．examined          C．interviewed        D．observed

4．A．letters             B．refusals           C．arrivals           D．invitations

6．A．farmhand          B．cook             C．cowboy           D．mechanic

7．A．strong             B．rich               C．gentle            D．little

8．A．ready              B．desperate         C．fit               D．famous

9．A．over               B．on              C．in                D．with

10．A．satisfied with      B．tired of           C．surprised  at     D．discontented with

11．A．rain              B．snow            C．wind              D．wolf 

12．A．Walking          B．Stepping         C．Rolling            D．Jumping

13．A．rushed           B．tiptoed           C．crawled           D．walked

14．A．moved           B．shook            C．struck            D．slapped 

15．A．after             B．until             C．before            D．when 

16．A．sadly             B．quietly           C．firmly             D．sad

17．A．storm            B．wind            C．shout             D．response 

18．A．Instead          B．Therefore        C．Luckily           D．Unfortunately 

19．A．disappointment  B．amazement         C．fear              D．sorrow

20．A．washed away   B．blown away       C．broken down           D．tied down

There are many famous museums throughout the world where people can enjoy art. Washington, D.C．has the National Gallery of Art (美术馆); Paris has the Luvre; London, the British Museum. Florida International University (FIU) in Miami also shows art for people to see. And it does so without a building, or even a wall for its drawings and paintings. FIU has opened what it says is the first computer art museum in the United States. You don't have to visit the University to see the art. You just need a computer linked to a telephone. You can call the telephone number of a university computer and connect your own computer to it. All of the art is stored in the school computer. It is computer art, produced electronically by artists on their own computers. In only a few minutes, your computer can receive and copy all the pictures and drawings.

A computer artist can only record his pictures electronically and send the records, or floppy discs, to others to see on their computers. He can also put his pictures on paper. But to print good pictures on paper, the computer artist needs an expensive laser printer.

Robert Shostak says the electronic museum is mostly for art or computer students at schools and universities. Many of the pictures in the museum are made by students. Mr. Shostak said the FIU museum will make computer art more fun for computer artists because more people can see it. He says artists enjoy their work much more if they have an audience. And the great number of home computers in America could mean a huge audience for the electronic museum.

1．The main purpose of this text is to give information about     .

       A．museums throughout the world  

    B．an electronic art museum in Miami, U.S.A.

       C．art exhibitions in Florida International University 

D. latest development of computer art

2．To see the art in FIU museum, you need      .

       A．floppy discs    

    B．a computer and a printer

       C．pictures and drawings on paper 

D．a computer connected to the museum by telephone line

3．The museum was started when        .

       A．Robert Shostak wanted to do something for computer scientists

       B．Robert Shostak wanted to help computer artists

       C．art students needed a place to show their works

       D．computer scientists wanted to do something about art

4．The words “an audience” in the last paragraph refer to        .

       A．art students                           B．computer owners?

       C．exhibits in the museum               D．those who will enjoy art

       Italian sculptor and painter Michelangelo was one of the most remarkable artists who ever lived. Working in Rome and Florence in the early 1500s, he produced both religious and secular art that is still marveled at today. But it appears that Michelangelo could be his own harshest (苛刻的)critic(评论家).

       Michelangelo was an old, sick man when he began carving a sculpture known as The Florence Pieta (a pieta is a sculpture of the Virgin Mary holding the dead body of Jesus). He worked on the sculpture only at night, and sometimes was in such pain that he could not work at all. Michelangelo intended to have the huge, almost eight feet tall sculpture as part of his own tombstone(墓碑); included in the work was the figure of an elderly suffering man. In describing the sculpture, Michelangelo’s biographer wrote of its great “beauty and sorrow”.

       But one day, after ten years of labor, the artist suddenly turned on his work. He attacked it with a sledgehammer, chopping off arms and legs. He would have destroyed the sculpture entirely if an assistant had not dragged him away. Later, the work was repaired by another assistant, but in an imperfect way.

       What prompted(促使) Michelangelo to almost destroy one of his greatest works? Did he feel he had made a mistake in the composition or the carving? Did he discover a hidden flaw(瑕疵)in the marble? Scientists have begun studying the repaired statue, taking 3-D photos of it from every angle so that they can study its structure with a computer. Perhaps someday they will have a clue as to what motivated Michelangelo.

1．Choose a good title for this passage.

       A．The lonely life of a genius                B．An artistic mystery

       C．Beauty and sorrow                   D．Using a computer to reconstruct the past

2．Michelangelo was carving the pieta for___________.

       A．his tombstone      B．a museum           C．a private client     D．an Italian church

3．What conclusion can you draw from this passage?

       A．Michelangelo was an impatient, temperamental man

       B．Michelangelo worked in constant pain.

       C．Michelangelo ordered his assistant to repair the statue.

       D．Computer may help in resolving ancient puzzles.

4．The author of this passage quotes Michelangelo’s biographer in order to show that_______.

       A．the statue did not look to be flawed

       B．Michelangelo was unhappy with his work

       C．sometimes biographers don’t know what they are talking about

       D．Michelangelo could not stand to be criticized.

5．The word “secular” means__________.

       A．holy                                                 B．worldly(世俗的) 

       C．mediocre(低劣的)                   D．excellent

1．What does the writer want to tell us        .

       A．let you pick up the coolest inventions

       B．tell you how to invent something

       C．explain to you some hi-tech inventions

       D．introduce some coolest inventions listed by time

2．Which of the inventions would Lucy, who just started college and missed her family very much, want to buy ?

       A．Hydrogen car                                     B．Hug Shirt

       C．Solid coffee                                        D．Sniffle-proof cats

3．From the text, we can see that        .

       A．the new type of cat  will probably enjoy the best sales

       B．real hydrogen-fuel-car will be available soon

       C．flying mattress is both expensive and silly

       D．many people don’t like cats because they smell

4．The only invention that has already been put on the market is        .

       A．Flying mattress                                   B．Hug shirt

       C．Solid coffee                            D．Sniffle-proof cats

       You’ve heard the saying: if you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know when you get there. Thousands of successful people attribute most of their success to goal setting. Knowing this, why don’t the majority of people set goals?

Goal setting starts within you. You have to believe it’s possible to do a thing before you will have a strong desire to write it down on paper and take steps to make it happen.

How do you possibly bring yourself to believe in your own success? After all, so many of you have been at this success thing for a while and it still hasn’t happened to you. Companies that you believed in and worked hard for having failed, your family and friends are waiting for you to “be realistic”, and life just keeps giving you one blow after another. But there is a small fire burning inside of you. You keep at it because all you know is you can’t continue to get up every morning, go to work for someone else and allow them to determine how much you’re worth each week which is far below your true value.

So where do you go from here? Where do you start today? The road to inner belief in your success begins with you telling yourself every day, throughout the day, that you can do what you set out to do, you can have what you set out to get, and you can be that successful person you know that lives inside you. Yes, obstacles will come, doubters will be around, but don’t you be one of them.

Treat yourself like the person you love and care about most. If you had children who had a paper route and they wanted to accomplish a goal but they kept running into obstacles, what would happen? They would soon become discouraged with so many people telling them no. I’m not interested in what you have to offer. What would you say to your child? I’m sure it won’t be the same thing you’ve been saying to yourself. Turn your words around. Speak those same words of encouragement you would speak to your discouraged child, to yourself, If you would never put a loved one down, especially when they are feeling discouraged why would you do that to yourself? You have the power within to stop it right now and turn it around.

Be committed（表示出明确意图的）from this point forward, to speak words of encouragement to yourself. The mind is an amazing thing. You can convince yourself of anything over time. If you repeatedly tell yourself every day, throughout the day, how successful you are, how capable you are, you will not only start to believe it, you will start to live it.

1．What does the author mean by saying “Turn your words around?”

       A．You should speak words of encouragement to your discouraged child.

       B．You shouldn’t put a loved one down.

       C．You should encourage yourself.

       D．You should change the subject of the conversation.

       A．Thousands of successful people owe most of their success to goal setting.

       B．The majority of people set goals in order to succeed.

       C．We can bring ourselves to believe in our own success.

       D．We should say words of encouragement to ourselves.

3．According to the author, how should you treat yourself?

       A．Treat yourself like an innocent child.

       B．Treat yourself like a hero who can do everything.

       C．Treat yourself like a fool who can’t achieve anything.

       D．Treat yourself like the person you care and love most.

4．In the eyes of the author,            is what you should do to set a goal.

       A．being ambitious to do whatever you like to do.

       B．telling yourself time and again that you can do it

       C．treating yourself like the person you love and care about most

       D．convincing others that you are quite capable

LAST week's decision by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to strip Pluto(冥王星) of its planetary status, held since its discovery in 1930, has saddened those with a strong love of it.

"Pluto, once the smallest of the Nine Great Planets” writes American science writer Dava Sobel, in her book "The Planets", " is still loved by people, old and young."

Many people felt sorry about Pluto's demotion(降级).

"I just cannot accept this at this time," says Liu Ming, 29, who co-runs a small logistic(物流)company an Shanghai.

"I was taught that 'the Nine Great Planets' formed our solar system since primary school. And now they suddenly decrease the planets to eight. This will take some time for most of us to absorb it," says Liu.

Ordinary people simply feel nostalgic(怀旧), but for some professionals, especially planetarium (天文馆)curators(博物馆馆长)and educators, the change has become a real headache.

The "eight instead of nine" change will affect thousands of planetariums around the world. Schools will also be greatly affected.

In China, teachers are anxious as outdated textbooks are printed and released to the remotest corner of the country for schoolchildren ready to start a new term soon.

According to the Ministry of Education, new textbooks with modified(修正的) contents will not be available until next year.

Zhao Zhiheng, a member of the Astronomy Association from Tianjin, suggested that primary and middle school teachers be trained in the revised knowledge, and that the media carry more stories to let people know about the change as soon as possible. 

1．Which word similar to “strip” in meaning?

A．reduce             B．decrease           C．cross out         D．leave

2．What is the correct order of the events described in the passage?

a．New textbooks with Pluto stripped of plants in solar system are released

    b．Pluto was discovered

    c．The International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of its planetary status

    d．Outdated textbooks were printed and released to school children .

A．b d a c           B．b c d a           C．b d c a            D．b a c d

3．Which description is Not True ?

A．The fact that Pluto has lost its planetary status made some people sad.

B．That Pluto is decreased from nine to eight affected thousands of planetariums around the world .

C．Textbooks with the “eight instead of nine” change have been released for school children ready to start a new term.

D．The media are advised to be used to let people know about the change as soon as possible.