Americans with small families own a small car or a large one. If both parents are working, they usually have two cars. When the family is large, one of the cars is sold and they will buy a van(住房汽车)
A small car can hold(容纳)four persons and a large car can hold six persons but it is very crowded(拥挤). A van hold seven persons easily, so a family three children could ask their grandparents to go on a holiday travel. They could all travel together.
Mr. Hagen and his wife had a third child last year. This made them sell a second car and buy a van. Their children sixth and seventh seat are used to put other things, for a family of five must carry many suitcases(衣箱)when they travel. When they arrive at their grandparents’ home , the suitcases are brought into the two seats can then carry the grandparents.
Americans call vans motor homes. A motor home is always used for holidays. When a family are traveling to the mountains or to the seaside, they can live in their motor home for a few days or to the seaside, they can live in their motor home for a few days or weeks. All the members of a big family can enjoy a happier life when they are traveling together. That is why motor homes have become very popular. In America there are many parks for motor homes.
【小题1】From the passage, a van is also called ____________.

A．a motor car

B．a motor home

C．a motorbike

D．a big truck

【小题2】Before Mr. Hagen and his wife bought a van, they__________.

A．sold their old house

B．moved to their grandparents’ house

C．built a new place for a van

D．sold their second car

【小题3】A motor home is usually owned by a family with__________.

A．a baby	B．much money
C．more than two children	D．interest in vans

【小题4】Americans usually use motor homes____________.

A．to travel with all the family members of holiday

B．to do some shopping with all the family members

C．to visit their grandparents at weekends

D．to drive their children to school every day

【小题5】Motor homes have become popular because___________.

A．they can take people to another city when people are free

B．they can let families have a happier life when they go out for their holidays

C．some people think motor homes are cheap

D．big families can put more things in motor homes

“Cool” is a word with many meanings．Its old meaning is used to express a temperature that is a little bit cold．As the world has changed，the word has had many different meaning．
“Cool” can be used to express feelings of interest in almost anything．
When you see a famous car in the street，maybe you will say，“It's cool．”You may think，“He's so cool，”when you see your favorite footballer．
We all maximize（扩大） the meaning of “cool”．You can use it instead of many words such as “new” or “surprising”．Here's an interesting story we can use to show the way the word is used．A teacher asked her students to write about the waterfall（瀑布）they had visited．On one student's paper was Just the one sentence，“It's so cool．Maybe he thought it was the best way to show what he saw and felt．
But the story also shows a scarcity（缺乏）of words．Without “cool”，some people have no words to show the same meaning．So it is quite important to keep some credibility（可信性）．Can you think of many other words that make your life as colorful as the word “cool”？ I can．And I think they are also very cool．
【小题1】We know that the word "cool" has had ________.

A．only one meaning	B．no meanings
C．many different meanings	D．the same meaning

【小题2】In the passage，the word “express” means “________”.

A．see

B．show

C．know

D．feel

【小题3】If you are _______ something，you may say，“It’s cool.”

A．interested in

B．angry about

C．afraid of

D．unhappy with

【小题4】The writer takes an example to show he is ______the way the word is used．

A．pleased with

B．strange to

C．worried about

D．careful with

【小题5】In the passage，the writer suggests（暗示）that the word “cool”________．

A．can be used instead of many words

B．usually means something interesting

C．can make your life colorful

D．may not be as cool as it seems

Mexico's neighbours are the United States to the north and Guatemala and Belize to the south. Mexico is about one quarter of the size of the United States. Mexico has more than ninety million people. The language of Mexico is Spanish. This makes Mexico the world's largest Spanish-speaking country.
Mexico City is the capital and largest city of Mexico. The city is also very high. It is 7349 feet high (2240 metres). This makes it one of the highest capital cities in the world. The population, of Mexico City grows bigger every day. About thirty million people live there. It has more people than any other city in the world, even more than Tokyo.
Mexico also has its specialities. Many of the foods we eat started in Mexico. Foods like beans, maize, avocados, tomatoes, peanuts, chili peppers, vanilla, and chocolate come from Mexico. Mexico is also famous for its cactus (仙人掌) plants. Mexico has more kinds of cactus than any other country.
【小题1】Mexico is ____the USA.
A. on the south of     B. on the north of    
C. a part of      D. as large as
【小题2】Mexicans speak______.

A．English

B．Spanish

C．French

D．Latin(拉丁语)

【小题3】Which of the following is NOT true?

A．Mexico City is the capital of Mexico.

B．The population of Mexico City is 30,000,000.

C．Tokyo is one of the cities with the largest population.

D．Mexico City is the highest city in the world.

【小题4】Tomatoes were originally (最初) grown in ______.

A．America

B．Spain

C．Tokyo

D．Mexico

【小题5】The best title (题目) of the passage is ___.

A．Mexico City

B．Mexico's plants

C．Mexico

D．Mexico's population

In England a woman fell down a stair. Panic followed—178 persons lost their lives. In Michigan a woman fell ill. There was a call for water. Someone thought it meant fire---71 were killed. In Oklahoma an old man’s hair caught fire---36 died.
What should you do to be out of danger?
1. As you sit in any crowd, pick out an exit(出口) which is not the one where most persons enter and plan to use if necessary.
2. If a rush stairs, do not get into it . Stay still. Let it pass. Then go to the exit you have chosen.
3. Do not cry out. Speak quietly. Act calmly.
4.Do not stop for your hat and coat unless they are at hand.
5. If there is smoke, crouch. The best air is about three feet above the floor.
6. When you are outside the building, stay out. Many dead would be alive if they had not returned for something.
7. When you get out, move far from the door so that others can get out.
【小题1】The first paragraph tells us that over two hundred people lost their lives because of_________.

A．a fire	B．a call for water
C． falling downstairs	D．panic

【小题2】If you are in a crowd when panic stars, you should ________.

A．run with the others.

B．call for help as loudly as you can.

C．hurry at once to an exit.

D．stay still until the crowd has passed.

【小题3】What should you do once out of a place where there is panic?

A．stay outside.

B．go back for your wallet.

C．return to ask people not to run.

D．stand near the exit.

【小题4】When you are safe outside a burning building , stay away from the door so that _______.

A．the smoke can get out.

B．you will not get burned

C．others may leave.

D．others may enter.

There are four forms about medicine. Every must know how to use the medicine. Because it is very important. Never take any by mistake.
1）Take the medicine with water, followed by one tablet every eight hours as required. For further night-time and early morning, take two tablets at bedtime. Do not take more than six tablets in 24 hours. For Children six to twelve years old, go to your doctor for advice. Reduce dosage(剂量) if nervousness, restlessness or sleeplessness takes place.
2）Each pill of the medicine taken three times every day for fourteen years old. As usual, a pill 6:00 a. m. before breakfast, one before 11:00 and one before sleep. Not for children under six years old and old persons with heart attack.
3）The medicine for a person with a fever. Once two pills a day before sleep for adult. Not take the medicine without fever. Half for Children under 12 years old. Children with a high fever go to see a doctor.
4）The medicine taken three times a day. Once five pills for adult with a cold. Half of the pills for children 10 years old. Take the medicine before breakfast, lunch, supper or before sleep.
【小题1】Obviously a kind of medicine can’t be proper for____judging from the information.        

A．some old persons with heart attack

B．some old persons with a fever

C．children over twelve years old

D．neither adults nor heart attack

【小题2】When a person has a cold. he had better      .

A．have twice a day

B．have about more than fourteen pills a day

C．have four times a day

D．have nine pills a day

【小题3】How many kinds of medicine are used for the children six years old?

A．All of them.	B．Three kinds of medicine.
C．Two kinds of medicine.	D．Almost not any medicine.

Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan sees an epidemic (流行病) sweeping across America’s farmland. It has little to do with the usual challenges, such as flood, rising fuel prices and crop-eating insects. The country’s farmers are getting older, and there are fewer people standing in line to take their place. National agricultural census (普查) figures show that the fastest-growing group of farmers is the part over 65. Merrigan is afraid the average age will be even higher when the 2012 statistics are completed.
Merrigan, a former college professor, is making stops at universities across the country in hopes of encouraging more students to think about careers in agriculture. Aside from trying to stop the graying of America’s farmers, her work is made tougher by a recent blog posting that put agriculture at No. 1 on a list of “useless” college degrees. Top federal agriculture officials are talking about the posting, and it has the attention of agricultural organizations across the country.
“There couldn’t be anything that’s more incorrect,” Merrigan said. “We know that there aren’t enough qualified graduates to fill the jobs that are out there in American agriculture.”
In addition, a growing world population that some experts predict will require 70% more food production by 2050, she said.
“I truly believe we’re at a golden age of agriculture. Global demand is at an all-time record high, and global supplies are at all-time record lows,” said Matt Rush, director of the Texas Farm Bureau. “Production costs are going to be valuable enough that younger people are going to have the opportunity to be involved in agriculture. “
The Department of Agriculture has programs aimed at developing more farmers and at increasing interest in locally grown food. The National Young Farmers’ Coalition has also been pushing for state and federal policy changes to make it easier for new farmers.
Ryan Best, president of Future Farmers of America, has been living out of a suitcase, traveling the country and visiting with high school students about careers in agriculture. The 21-year-old Best hopes his message --that this is a new time in agriculture-- will motivate the next generation to turn around the statistics. “Never before have we had the innovations (创新) in technology which have led to agriculture in this country being the most efficient it has ever been,” he said. “There’s really a place for everybody to fit in. “
【小题1】What is the new challenge to American agriculture?

A．Fewer and older farmers.	B．Higher fuel prices.
C．More natural disasters.	D．Lower agricultural output.

【小题2】Why is Merrigan visiting universities across the country?

A．To draw federal agriculture officials’ attention.

B．To select qualified agriculture graduates.

C．To clarify a recent blog posting.

D．To talk more students into farming careers.

【小题3】According to Matt Rush, American agriculture will provide opportunities for younger people because ________.

A．the government will cover production costs

B．global food supplies will be even lower

C．investment in agriculture will be profitable

D．America will increase its food export

【小题4】What do the underlined words “to turn around the statistics” in the last paragraph mean?

A．To re-analyze the result of the national census.

B．To increase agricultural production.

C．To bring down the average age of farmers.

D．To invest more in agriculture.

“If you talk to the plants, they will grow faster and the effect is even better if you’re a woman.” Researchers at Royal Horticultural Society carried out an experiment to find that the voice of a woman gardener makes plants grow faster.
The experiment lasted a month and by the end of the study scientists managed to discover that tomato plants grew up two inches taller when women gardeners talked to them instead of male.
Sarah Darwin was the one making the plants the best growth. Her voice was the most “inspiring” for plants than those of nine other gardeners when reading a passage from The Origin of Species. The great-great-granddaughter of the famous botanist （植物学家）Charles Darwin found that her plant grew about two inches taller than the plant of the best male gardener.
Colin Crosbie, Garden Superintendent at RHS, said that the finding cannot yet be explained.He says that women have a greater range of pitch and tone（音高和音色）which might have a certain effect on the sound waves that reach the plant. “Sound waves are an environmental effect just like rain or light ,”said Mr Grosbie.
The study began in April at RHS Garden Wisley in Survey. Scientists started with open auditions(听力) for the people who were asked to record passages from John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer's Night Dream and Darwin's The Origin of Species.
Afterwards researchers selected a number of different voices and played them to 10 tomato plants during a period of a month. Each plant had headphones connected to it. Through the headphones the sound waves could hit the plants. It was discovered that plants that “listened” to female voices grew taller by an inch in comparison to plants that heard male voices.
【小题1】What does the passage talk about?

A．Plants enjoy men’s voices than women’s.

B．A science experiment in a museum.

C．Voice’s influence on plant growing.

D．Strange findings at Royal Horticultural Society.

【小题2】What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 4 mean?

A．Plants need sound as well as rain and light.

B．Sound is basic for the plant to grow.

C．Sound has a good effect as rain or light does.

D．Plants can’t live without sound, rain or light.

【小题3】What can we learn from the passage?

A．The experiment ended in May.

B．Scientist can explain the findings clearly.

C．Plants enjoy listening to the passages from famous works.

D．The findings are of great importance to human beings.

Birds that are half-asleep — with one brain hemisphere (半球) alert(警觉) and the other sleeping — control which side of the brain remains awake, according to a new study of sleeping ducks.
Earlier studies have recorded half-brain sleep in a wide range of birds. The brain hemispheres take turns sinking into the sleep stage characterized by slow brain waves. The eye controlled by the sleeping hemisphere keeps shut, while the wakeful hemisphere’s eye stays open and alert. Birds also can sleep with both hemispheres resting at once.
Decades of studies of bird groups led researchers to predict extra alertness in the end-of-the-row sleepers which tend to be attacked more easily. Sure enough, the end birds tended to watch carefully on the side away from their companions. Ducks in the inner spots showed no preference for gaze(注视) direction.
Also, birds napping (打盹) at the end of the line depend on single-hemisphere sleep, rather than total relaxation, more often than inner ducks did. Turning 16 birds through the positions in a four-duck row, the researchers found that compared with 12 percent for birds in inner spots, outer birds half-asleep during some 32 percent of napping time.
“We believe this is the first evidence for an animal behaviorally controlling sleep and wakefulness at the same time in different regions of the brain,” the researchers say.
The results provide the best evidence for a long-standing assumption that single-hemisphere sleep developed over time as creatures scanned for enemies. The preference for opening an eye on the lookout side could be widespread, he predicts. He’s seen it in a pair of birds napping side-by-side in the zoo and in a single pet bird sleeping by a mirror. The mirror-side eye closed as if the reflection were a companion and the other eye stayed open.
Useful as half-sleeping might be, it’s only been found in birds and such water animals as dolphins, whales, and seals. Perhaps keeping one side of the brain awake allows a sleeping animal to surface occasionally to avoid drowning.
Studies of birds may offer unique insights into sleep. Jerome M. Siegel of the UCLA says he wonders if birds’ half-brain sleep “is just the tip of the iceberg.” He supposes that more examples may turn up when we take a closer look at other species.
【小题1】According to the passage, birds often half sleep because ______.

A．they have to watch out for possible attacks

B．their brain hemispheres take turns to rest

C．the two halves of their brain are differently organized

D．they have to constantly keep an eye on their companions

【小题2】What is implied about the example of a bird’s sleeping in front of a mirror?

A．An imagined companion gives the bird a sense of security.

B．Birds prefer to sleep in pairs for the sake of their security.

C．The phenomenon of birds napping in pairs is widespread.

D．A single pet bird enjoys seeing its own reflection in the mirror.

【小题3】It can be inferred that _______.

A．Birds never sleep with both hemispheres resting at once.

B．Inner ducks depend on single-hemisphere sleep, rather than total relaxation, as often as birds napping at the end of the line do

C．It is not the first time for scientists to research on birds’ half-brain sleep

D．Birds hardly sleep without a companion

【小题4】By saying “just the tip of the iceberg”, Siegel suggests that _______.

A．half-brain sleep has something to do with icy weather

B．the mystery of half-brain sleep is close to being solved

C．most birds living in cold regions tend to be half sleepers

D．half-brain sleep may exist among other species

Do you often play with your pet dog or cat? Do you like touching wild animals such as squirrels? They are cute. But be careful. If they bite you, you may get a terrible disease——rabies.
Believe it or not, in the last five months, rabies killed more people in China than any other disease. 2,254 people got rabies in the first nine months of this year. In September, 318 people died of rabies. That is 37 per cent more than last September.
Animals like dogs, cats, squirrels and bats can have rabies. If they bite or scratch（抓）someone, rabies could infect（感染）the person’s nervous system（神经系统）. The person could even die. It’s important to get the right treatment as soon as possible.
Every year, more than 50,000 people around the world die of rabies. Most of them are from developing countries. India has the most deaths. China is second.
【小题1】Rabies is the name of _____.

A．a book

B．a man

C．a dog

D．a disease

【小题2】Paragraphs two and three _____.

A．teach people how to deal with rabies.

B．explain the situation in China.

C．order people not to keep pets.

D．show what rabies is really like.

【小题3】Which of the following animals might NOT have rabies?

A．Squirrels.

B．Ducks.

C．Cats.

D．Bats.

【小题4】The Chinese for the underlined word “treatment” probably is _____.

A．医生

B．请客

C．治疗

D．待遇

【小题5】What the best title for the passage?

A．Don’t keep pets	B．How to keep pets
C．Watch out for rabies	D．Pets with rabies

Does this sound familiar? It’s 3:00 am and you’re still awake and staring at the clock. You can’t sleep , and you’ve already tried all the familiar tricks – taken a warm bath , drunk a glass of heated milk ,tried counting sheep, and read a book –all with no success. If you are such a sufferer, remember you’re not alone. Experts said that one in every four Americans have trouble falling or staying asleep.
Lack of sleep can hurt your quality of life in so many ways. Short temper, impatience, poor decision-making, and mood swings are common among those with sleeping problems. Besides, relationships with family, friends, and co-workers may suffer as a result. Improper sleep can also put your safety at risk by reducing your awareness.
When you’re awake in the middle of the night, you can start to feel desperate for a way out . However, it makes sense to weigh the available treatments before choosing the one that’s right for you. Other sleep aids may seem like a quick fix, but it turns out that there are many disadvantages of these drugs. For one thing, they may require expensive, time-consuming trips to your physician. They may also be habit-forming or have unpleasant side effects like dizziness( 眩晕) dry mouth, and next-day sleepiness. Plus , they become less effective over time.
So what is the best sleep aid available on the market today? The answer is Somnapure , a product that represents nature and science coming together. This all-natural sleep aid which comes from Peak Life allows you to fall asleep quickly and remain asleep through the night . With Somnapure, you wake up feeling refreshed and energetic. Somnapure is currently giving away a 14-day trial here. Get your Somnapure trial for better, deeper sleep that you deserve.
【小题1】From paragraph 1, we can know that sleep problems are_______.

A．easy to make a sufferer lonely

B．common but hard to deal with

C．severe throughout the world

D．widespread only in the USA

【小题2】The underlined words“ a quick fix”(in paragraph3)most probably means____.

A．a waste of money

B．a quick repair

C．an easy way out

D．a cheap aid

【小题3】The purpose of the passage is to _______.

A．ask people with sleep problems to try and use Somnapure

B．introduce a kind of medicine to help sleep better

C．draw people’s attention to the bad effects of the lack of sleep

D．talk about what the main causes of the sleep problems are

【小题4】We can infer that the passage is probably immediately followed by information about ______.

A．the instructions to take Somnapure

B．the side effects of Somnapure

C．the price of Somnapure

D．the way to get Somnapure