Why do people drink too much, eat too much, smoke cigarettes or take drugs? What’s to blame for all the bad behavior? Most people would say that, while these self-destructive (自我毁灭的) acts can have many root causes, they all have one obvious thing in common: they are all examples of failures of self-control, lacking the will power to resist them.
According to a recent study, however, if you really think about it, something about that simple answer doesn’t quite make sense. In fact, it turns out that sometimes it’s having will power that really gets you into trouble.
Think back to the time you took your very first sip (啜饮) of beer. Disgusting, wasn’t it? When my father gave me my first taste of beer as a teenager, I wondered why anyone would voluntarily drink it. And smoking? No one enjoys their first cigarette — it tastes awful. So even though smoking, and drinking alcohol or coffee, can become temptation (诱惑) you need will power to resist, they never, ever start out that way.
Just getting past those first horrible experiences actually requires a lot of self-control. Ironically (讽刺的是), only those who can control themselves well, rather than give in to them, can ever come to someday develop a “taste” for Budweiser beer, Marlboro cigarettes, or dark-roasted Starbucks coffee. We do it for social acceptance. We force ourselves to consume alcohol, cigarettes, coffee and even illegal drugs, in order to seem experienced, grown-up, and cool.
These bad habits aren’t self-control failures — far from it. They are voluntary choices, and they are in fact self-control successes. Self-control is simply a tool to be put to some use, helpful or harmful. To live happy and productive lives, we need to develop not only our self-control, but also the wisdom to make good decisions about when and where to apply it.
【小题1】What do most people think causes bad behavior?

A．Being forced by others.

B．Not having enough will power.

C．Enjoying their first experiences.

D．Following the examples of their friends.

【小题2】The author mentions his experience in the third paragraph to prove ____.

A．will power helps develop bad habits sometimes

B．drinking beer is harmful to the health of teenagers

C．self-control should be developed when one is young

D．everyone can be challenged by different temptations

【小题3】In the last paragraph, the author stresses that ____.

A．without self-control, no one can succeed

B．bad habits don’t always lead to bad results

C．applying self-control correctly is important

D．people can develop wisdom from bad behavior

【小题4】What would be the best title for the passage?

A．My First Sip of Beer

B．Do You Have Will Power ?

C．Will Power Benefits Us

D．Dark Side of Self-control

Water, which covers about 74 percent of the earth’s surface, is man’s most precious resource. Without it we cannot live. Clean water keeps us alive; polluted water means disease and death.Keeping our water pure is by no means an easy task but it is something that must be done.
Hong Kong once prided herself on being the “Fragrant Harbour”. However, these days, it is not certain if Hong Kong’s harbour could still be called “fragrant”. For, like many other places, Hong Kong has not been spared water pollution. A visit to Tolo and Victoria Harbour, or any of the beaches in Hong Kong is enough to make one aware of the ugly truth that Hong Kong waters are indeed polluted.
The great threat to our water is bacteria pollution. Another great source of water pollution is poisonous chemicals. These substances, which are found in industrial waste and agricultural pesticides, make up unseen dangers that enter biological food chains.
Pollution control is a continuing problem for the government. It is believed that the most effective form of control is legislation（立法）. Most importantly, the present laws on pollution should be given more force. On the other hand, no amount of legislation can effectively control pollution unless those concerned are properly educated about the danger posed by pollution.
While a great majority of Hong Kong citizens and residents seem to be greatly concerned about ways to control water pollution, it is discouraging to note that there are, in our midst, some people who remain apathetic（无动于衷）about the problem. In a recent radio programme conducted on what people in the streets thought about the water pollution problem, one apparently unconcerned person said, “What do I care about water pollution? I don’t drink polluted water. As long as the water I drink is not polluted, I’m not bothered. Water pollution is too big a problem and let’s leave it to the government.”
If all residents in Hong Kong will take such an indifferent attitude, all the government’s attempts to control pollution, let alone the anti-pollution legislation, will prove useless. The best form of pollution control each citizen can employ is to be aware of his surroundings. We hope that someday, the problem of water pollution in Hong Kong will cease to alarm us.
【小题1】By the underlined sentences, the writer wants to show that ______.

A．we should not use polluted water

B．it is our responsibility to keep our water clean and safe

C．clean water is vitally important to the survival of human beings

D．water is abundant but very expensive

【小题2】What can you infer from the second paragraph?

A．Hong Kong indeed deserves the name.

B．Hong Kong never deserves such a name.

C．Hong Kong can’t avoid the damage of pollution.

D．Hong Kong has failed to live up to such reputation.

【小题3】The writer quotes the words in the programme to show us that a block to the solution of the problem is _________.

A．people’s lack of education

B．people’s I-don’t-care attitude

C．people’s wait-and-see attitude

D．people’s over-dependence on the government

【小题4】In the final analysis, the best approach to the problem of water pollution is ________.

A．legislation

B．rapid development of modern science

C．mass education

D．everybody taking care of his own surroundings

The space shuttle Discovery has had a long and busy career. For 27 years, it has worked for NASA, carrying astronauts to space and back on 39 missions. On March 9, 2011, after returning from its final voyage, the world’s most traveled spaceship was retired.
A crowd of shuttle workers, reporters and schoolchildren waited to greet Discovery at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Three minutes before noon, they watched as the shuttle appeared in the sky and made one last touchdown. “For the final time: wheels stop,” Discovery’s commander Steven Lindsey said when the shuttle rolled to a stop.
Discovery’s final trip was to the International Space Station (ISS), a giant space lab in the sky. Discovery’s crew took care of the last U.S. construction project at ISS. They delivered 10 tons of supplies for the ISS. The six-person crew also dropped off an unusual companion for ISS’s researchers: a human-like robot named Robonaut 2. Astronauts will assemble（组装）R2 at the ISS over several months.
Now, NASA is winding down its shuttle programme. NASA is to begin work on new spaceships that can travel longer distances. Discovery’s retirement is the first of three. Endeavor, another shuttle, is scheduled to make its final voyage soon. And Atlantis’s last trip is planned for the end of June.
Museums across the country have requested the retired shuttles. The Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum, in Washington, D.C., was the lucky recipient（接收者）of Discovery. The museum’s collection contains hundreds of NASA artifacts.
Where will the other shuttles go? You’ll have to wait to find out. NASA will announce its decision on April 12, the 30^th anniversary of the first space shuttle launching. Stay tuned!
【小题1】As part of the final mission, Discovery’s crew___________.

A．carried researches to space

B．assembled the Robonaut 2 at the ISS

C．brought supplies to the ISS

D．went on a spacewalk

【小题2】The underlined phrase “winding down” in Paragraph 4 probably means _________.

A．improving

B．ending

C．changing

D．testing

【小题3】What can we infer from the text?

A．Discovery completed 39 missions during its two decades of space travel.

B．The ISS is a big project and six researchers live on the station.

C．American space exploration will focus on longer missions.

D．The shuttles Endeavor and Atlantis will make their last missions next month.

【小题4】According to the text, we can learn about ___________.

A．people’s opinions of Discovery’s retirement

B．the government’s concern about the shuttles’ future

C．the shuttles’ final homes after retirement

D．museums’ great interest in the retired shuttles

An earthquake happens when two plates rub (碰撞) together. The earth plates travel in different directions and at different speeds. If one plate is slowly forced underneath the other,  pressure builds up until the plates break apart. This process causes the ground to move. It is an earthquake. In other words, earth-quakes are the shaking of the earth’s surface caused by the earth’s rocky outer layer as a result of the energy stored within the earth. The strain within the rocks is suddenly released (释放).
The damage an earthquake causes depends on where it is and the time it is happening. If an unpopulated region is struck, there will be low loss of life or property. If it hits a large city, there may be many in-juries and much destruction. Many of the areas at risk are largely populated now. Major earthquakes hitting those areas today could produce terrible damage.
Actually, there are several million small earth-quakes every year.  Large earthquakes such as the 1964 Alaskan quake that measured 9.2 on the Richter scale, cause millions of dollars in damage. In the last 500 years, millions of people have been killed by earth-quakes around the world — including 240,000 in the 1976 Tangshan earthquake in China.
A 60-second or less earthquake can cause devastation that continues for years after the first tremor (小震). In 1972, a series of severe earthquakes struck Managua, Nicaragua. Fifteen years later, the city still looked the way it had a week after the earthquake hit, because the country did not have the necessary money to rebuild it.
The shaking of the earth is sometimes not the greatest disaster. It is in the ensuing fires and floods that often the greatest damage occurs. In the 1906 earthquake, it was the fires caused after it that did the majority of the damage. An earthquake can also destroy dams high above a city or valleys, causing floods to sweep down and sweep away everything in their path.
【小题1】Which of the following is the main idea of the first paragraph?

A．An earthquake comes from inside the earth.

B．The earth has great energy in storage.

C．How the earth plates move.

D．How an earthquake happens.

【小题2】How many examples are used in the passage to show the damage and destruction earthquakes cause?

A．Three.

B．Four.

C．Five.

D．Six.

【小题3】Which of the following is mentioned to show that an earthquake can kill too many people?

A．The 1964 Alaskan quake.

B．The 1976 Tangshan earthquake.

C．The 1972 Managua earthquake.

D．The 1906 earthquake.

【小题4】The underlined word “ensuing” in the last paragraph probably means ______.

A．causing too much heat and great damage

B．causing many injuries and much destruction

C．happening as a result of another event

D．happening suddenly and unexpectedly

【小题5】By giving the example in Paragraph 4, the author wants to show that ______.

A．an earthquake doesn’t last long

B．the damage can last long

C．people in Managua suffered too much

D．Nicaragua is still a poor country

IS IT TIME TO GET － MP3
Your computer has been playing music for years, one CD at a time．Now hundreds of songs can be stored in your PC if they’re in the MP3 format．
What is it?
MP3 compresses (压缩) music into small computer—friendly files．You access MP3 music several ways: Tunes can be downloaded from websites that have converted (转变) vast music libraries into MP3．Or you can prerecorded CDs into your PC and convert songs in minutes into MP3．Once MP3 music is on your PC’s hard drive, you can play it through your computer’s speakers, “burn” it onto blank CDs or swap (交换) MP3 files with friends using e—mail．
How much?
Software needed to play and convert MP3 music is often free．It is preinstalled (预先安装)on most new computers or can be downloaded from many websites, including MP3, com．Some MP3 sites are free．Just type at around $50 and can hold hundreds of songs．A blank CD on which you can record music costs about a dollar．
Advantages
MP3 turns your home PC into a jukebox (自动唱机)．Tiny MP3 players are the size of a deck of cards, making it easy to take hundreds of songs with you．
Disadvantages
You may find that music at many sites is limited．And some only allow you to listen rather than download offerings．Others let you download music that then can’t be copied to MP3 players．And a growing number of new CDs make it impossible to copy songs to a computer．
【小题1】How can you get Mp3 music?

A．By turning your home PC into jukebox．

B．By taking you own music or songs with you．

C．By copying songs to a PC through the speakers．

D．By downloading from websites which have converted music libraries．

【小题2】How much will you pay for a MP3 player?

A．Free of charge	B．Free downloading
C．At least fifty dollars	D．About a dollar

【小题3】What is the closest meaning of the underlined word “burn”?

A．Copy

B．Play

C．Store

D．Change

What’s delicious to eat and comes in a variety of colors? Eggplant! And no, it has nothing to do with chickens! This strangely named vegetable is, however, as versatile as an egg．It can be steamed, fried, and baked．It can be eaten by itself or combined with meats and other vegetables．
Eggplant was first grown in India in the 5th century BC．Its popularity soon spread to China and then throughout Asia．Finally, during the Middle Ages the vegetable made its way to Europe．At that time, eggplant was not the shiny purple vegetable most people know today．Instead, it’s like a white egg．Due to this egg - like appearance, eggplant got its name．In its early days, the vegetable was so bitter that people often called it a “mad apple.” This nickname started because people believed its bitterness was bad for one' s health．People actually thought eggplant could cause madness and cancer．
Fortunately today people know that eggplant doesn't cause insanity or cancer．In fact eggplant is so healthy that it may prevent cancer．In addition, the brain and the heart benefit from this super vegetable．Since it's high in fiber, eggplant can improve digestion．
Italy, Turkey, Egypt, China and Japan are the leading growers of eggplant in the world today．Depending on its location, eggplant may be purple, green, orange or yellow - white．And it can be as small as a tomato or as large as a cucumber．Dish varieties range from simple to complex, with all of them being delicious．
Today, thousands of people gather in Loomis, Calif, for the annual Loomis Eggplant Festival．The main activity at the festival is eating delicious eggplant dishes．There is plenty more to do and see, though．Recipe contests, arts and crafts, performers, races and children's activities all “egg – cite” festival - goers．Most people at the festival would agree—eggplant is an “egg—cellent” vegetable．
【小题1】Eggplant got its name because of its _____．

A．appearance

B．taste

C．color

D．value

【小题2】Which of the following does NOT belong to the qualities of eggplant?

A．It can be cooked in various ways．	B．It is easy to digest．
C．It can prevent cancer．	D．It is valuable and priceless．

【小题3】Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A．Eggplant can be eaten to cure cancer	B．Eggplant used to taste bitter．
C．India produce the most eggplant in the world today．	D．Eggplant has a history of nearly 1,000 years．

【小题4】Most people come to the Loomis Eggplant Festival to_____．

A．see arts and crafts	B．enjoy food with eggplants
C．take part in recipe contests	D．promote eggplant

Have you wondered why different animals or pests have their particular colors? Colors in them seem to be used mainly to protect themselves.
Birds, especially seagulls are very fond of locusts, but birds can’t easily catch locusts because locusts change their colors together with the change of the color of crops. When crops are green, locusts look green. But when crops are ripe, locusts take on exactly the same brown color as crops have. Some other pests with different colors from plants are usually easily found and eaten by their enemies. So they have to hide themselves in terror for lives and appear only at night.
If you study the animal life in any part of the world, you will find the main use of coloring is to protect themselves, bears, wolves and other beasts move quietly through forests. They are usually invisible to the eyes of hunters, because they have the color much like the barks(树皮) of trees.
An even more strange act remains to be noticed. A kind of fish living in seas can send out a kind of very black liquid when it faces danger. While the liquid is over, its enemies cannot find it, and it quickly swims away. Thus, it has existed up to now though it is not powerful at all.
【小题1】This passage mainly talks about ______.

A．the change of color in locusts

B．the protective coloration of animals and pests

C．how a certain sea fish protects itself

D．animals or pests can dye themselves different colors

【小题2】Locusts are ______ but they aren’t easily wiped out(消灭)by their enemies because _______.

A．animals; they are powerful enough

B．beasts; they are dangerous to their enemies

C．pests; they take on the same colors as crops

D．birds; they fly very fast

【小题3】What does the underlined word “invisible” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A．can’t be seen

B．can be seen

C．can’t move

D．can’t change

The laptop is a machine which can be a mobile office；it can be used to entertain us and people can play computer games on them. One machine can perform many tasks at the same time. As technology grows，the size of the new laptop machines is decreasing. Now laptops are lighter，have smaller screen sizes，and perform better. Smaller screen laptops，which are more convenient to take along with，have been specially designed for professionals. Huge display screen laptops are still used by graphic(绘画的)designers and those who like playing computer games.
Laptops are advanced machines，and they can be very expensive. When we spend much money on something，we should take good care of it. I know some people who buy a new laptop every year. The reason they do this is that the old one either is broken or has some problems which cannot be fixed. Common problems are the breaking of the screen，the breaking of joints of the laptop，display problems，and keyboard problems.
Different problems will always come up with machines，and they cannot be avoided(避免)．Old machines will always have to be replaced by new ones. However，if we are more careful and handle our laptops with care，they will last for a longer period of time，and they will perform better. This is not a hard thing to do，but it will greatly increase the life and performance of laptops.
【小题1】According to the first paragraph，the laptop is a machine which________.

A．is being used by more and more people in the office

B．will take the place of desktops sooner or later

C．is specially designed for people who like playing computer games

D．can be used for both work and entertainment purposes

【小题2】The underlined word in the first paragraph means “________”．

A．becoming smaller

B．becoming more important

C．becoming more popular

D．becoming better

【小题3】We infer that graphic designers still use huge display screen laptops most probably because________.

A．huge display screen laptops are very cheap

B．small display screen laptops are not on sale yet

C．they can see their drawings more clearly

D．they also want to play computer games

【小题4】What can we learn from the second paragraph?

A．That laptops can only be used for one year.

B．That laptops are not as good as desktops.

C．That the prices for laptops are too high.

D．That laptops may have problems which cannot be fixed.

Most people believe they don't have imagination. They are wrong. Everyone has imagination, but most of us，once we became adults, forget how to access it. Creativity isn't always connected with great works of art or ideas. People at work and in their free time routinely think of creative ways to solve problems. Maybe you have a goal to achieve，a tricky question to answer or you just want to expand your mind! Here are three techniques to help you.
This technique involves taking unrelated ideas and trying to find links between them. First，think about the problem you have to solve or the job you need to do. Then find an image，word，idea or object，for example，a candle. Write down all the ideas/words associated with candles：light，fire，matches, wax，night，silence，etc. Think of as many as you can. The next stage is to relate the ideas to the job you have to do. So imagine you want to buy a friend an original present; you could buy him tickets to a match or take him out for the night.
　  Imagine that normal limitations don't exist. You have as much time/space/money，etc. as you want. Think about your goal and the new possibilities. If，for example，your goal is to learn to ski, you can now practice skiing every day of your life (because you have the time and the money). Now adapt this to reality. Maybe you can practice skiing every day in December，or every Monday in January.
Look at the situation from a different point of view. Good negotiators use this technique in business，and so do writers. Fiction writers often imagine they are the characters in their books. They ask questions: what does this character want? Why can't she get it? What changes must she make to get what she wants? What does she dream about? If your goal involves other people, put yourself “in their shoes”. The best fishermen think like fish!
【小题1】According to the passage, when we become adults, _________ .

A．most of us are no longer creative	B．we can still learn to be more creative
C．we are not as imaginative as children	D．we are unwilling to be creative

【小题2】The second technique suggests that you just imagine

A．setting a goal is as simple as skiing

B．new possibilities will soon appear

C．December and January are the best months for skiing.

D．you have every resource to achieve your goal

【小题3】The phrase “put yourself in their shoes” in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to ______  .

A．dress yourself like them	B．think as they would
C．do as they ask you to	D．put on their shoes

【小题4】We learn from the third technique that a good salesman should ask himself “ _________ ?”.

A．what do I usually do	B．what did my boss tell me to do
C．what are my customers' needs	D．how should I sell my products

Futurologists predict that life will probably be very different in 2050.
TV channels will have disappeared. Instead, people will choose a program from a “menu” and a computer will send the program directly to the television. Today, we can use the World Wide Web to read newspaper stories and see pictures on a computer thousands of kilometers away. By 2050, music, films, programs, newspapers, and books will come to us by computer.
Cars will run on new, clean fuels and they will go very fast. Cars will have computers to control the speed and there won’t be any accidents. Today, many cars have computers that tell drivers exactly where they are. By 2050, the computer will control the car and drive it to your destination. Space planes will take people halfway around the world in 2 hours. Today, the United States Space Shuttle can go into space and land on Earth again. By 2050, space planes will fly all over the world and people will fly from Los Angeles to Tokyo in just 2 hours.
Robots will have replaced people in factories. Many factories already use robots. Big companies prefer robots — they don’t ask for pay rises or go on strike, and they work 24 hours a day. By 2050, we will see robots everywhere — in factories, schools, offices, hospitals, shops and homes.
Medical technology will have conquered many diseases. Today, there are devices（设备）that connect directly to the brain to help people hear. By 2050, we will be able to help blind and deaf people to see and hear again.
Scientist will have discovered how to control genes（基因）. Scientists have already produced clones of animals. By 2050, scientists will be able to produce clones of people, and decide how they look, how they behave and how clever they are. Scientists will be able to do these things, but should they?
【小题1】We can learn from the passage that some big companies prefer robots to human workers, because human workers __________.

A．often ask for more pay

B．can work 24 hours a day

C．are not clever enough

D．are often late for work

【小题2】The underlined word “conquered” in Paragraph 5 most probably means ________.

A．discovered

B．treated

C．caused

D．cured

【小题3】It can be inferred from Paragraph 5 that _________.

A．few diseases will attack people by 2050

B．there will be no blind and deaf people by 2050

C．medical technology will be more effective by 2050

D．devices are connected directly to the brain to help people hear

【小题4】What is the author’s attitude towards the cloning technology?

A．The author does not support the use of cloning technology.

B．The author thinks human cloning is impossible.

C．The author does not really support the idea of human cloning.

D．The author is quite excited about human cloning.

【小题5】According to the passage, which of the following can be realized today?

A．Read newspapers on a computer.

B．Make a space shuttle to go into the land.

C．Use computers to control car speed.

D．Choose TV programs freely from a “menu”.