Nearly all our food comes from the soil. Some of us eat meat, of course, but animals live on plants. If there were no plants, we would have no animals and no meat. So the soil is very necessary for life. The top of the ground is usually covered with grass or other plants. There may be dead leaves and dead plants on the grass. The waste matter (粪) from animals also falls on it.
All soil needs food. If we do not give it any, the plants will be weak. Farmers found that animals’ waste is the best food for the soil, but chemical fertilizers (化肥) are also very useful. The same crop (庄稼) should not be grown in the same place every year; it’s better to have a different crop. A change of crop and the use of a good fertilizer will keep the land good.
【小题1】What would happen first without plants?

A．People would have more crops.	B．Animals would die.
C．There would be more food.	D．There would be less soil.

【小题2】What does the writer tell us in the first paragraph (段落)?

A．Leaves, plants, grass and waste live on each other.

B．There would be no animals without meat.

C．There would be no plants without animals.

D．People, animals, plants and soil live on each other.

【小题3】Which is the best food for soil in the field?

A．Chemical fertilizers

B．Plants and grass.

C．Animals’ waste.

D．Different crops.

【小题4】Why do we often grow a different crop in the same place every year?

A．Because we can keep the soil rich this way.

B．Because we don’t have enough land.

C．Because we want to have a different food.

D．Because we do this as a habit.

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

A．Soil and Waste

B．Plants and Animals

C．Food and Waste

D．Soil and Food

Valencia is in the east part of Spain(西班牙). It has a port on the sea, two miles away on the coast. It is the capital of a province that is also named Valencia.
The city is a market centre for what is produced by the land around the city. Most of the city’s money is made from farming. It is also a busy business city, with ships, railways, clothes and machine factories.
Valencia has an old part with white buildings, colored roofs, and narrow streets. The modern part has long, wide streets and new buildings. Valencia is well known for its parks and gardens. It has many old churches and museums. The University in the centre of the city was built in the 13th century.
The city of Valencia has been known since the 2nd century. In the 8th century it was the capital of Spain. There is also an important city in Venezuela(委内瑞拉)named Valencia.
【小题1】From the text, how many places have the name Valencia?

A．One.

B．Two.

C．Three.

D．Four.

【小题2】What is the main difference between the two parts of the city?

A．The color of the buildings.	B．The length of the streets.
C．The age of the buildings.	D．The color of the roofs.

【小题3】When was Valencia the most important city in Spain?

A．2nd century.

B．8th century.

C．13th century.

D．20th century.

【小题4】What is Valencia famous for?

A．Its seaport.	B．Its University.
C．Its churches and museums.	D．Its parks and gardens.

【小题5】The main income of the city of Valencia is from its_____.

A．markets.

B．business.

C．factories.

D．farming.

In most languages, a greeting is usually followed by “small talk”. Small talk means the little things we talk about at the start of a conversation. In English-speaking countries people often make small talk about the weather. “Nice day, isn’t it?” “Terrible weather, isn’t it?” But there is something special about small talk. It must be about something which both people have the same opinion about. The purpose of small talk is to let both people agree on something. This makes meeting people easier and more comfortable. People usually agree about the weather, so it is a safe topic for small talk. But people often disagree about religion(宗教) or politics(政治) so these are not suitable topics for small talk. The topics for small talk also depend on where the conversation is taking place. At football matches, people make small talk about the game they are watching. “Great game, isn’t it?” At bus-stops, people may comment on the transport system. “The bus service is terrible, isn’t it?”
【小题1】Small talk is _______________.

A．a kind of conversation with short words

B．a greeting used when people meet each other

C．to let people disagree about something

D．something we talk about to start a conversation

【小题2】The favorite topic of small talk for English people is _________.

A．the weather

B．politics

C．games

D．languages

【小题3】The passage suggests that when we learn a language _________.

A．we should learn about the transport system of the country

B．we should only master the grammar and the vocabulary

C．we should learn the culture of the country

D．we should understand the importance of the language

【小题4】When we say “Great game, isn’t it?”, we are in fact __________.

A．asking a question	B．having a conversation
C．greeting each other	D．making small talk

【小题5】What we learn from the passage is that __________.

A．different languages have different grammar

B．small talk is an important part of a language

C．small talk depends on the purpose of the conversation

D．in English-speaking countries we should talk about the weather

When former American President Bill Clinton traveled to South Korea to visit President Kim Young Sam, he repeatedly referred to the Korean president’s wife as Mrs. Kim. By mistake, President Clinton’s advisers thought that Koreans have the same naming customs as the Japanese. Clinton had not been told that, in Korea, wives keep their family names. President Kim Young Sam’s wife was named Sohm Myong Suk. Therefore, she should be addressed (称谓) as Mrs. Sohm.
President Clinton arrived in Korea directly after leaving Japan and had not changed his culture gears. His failure to follow Korean customs gave the impression that Korea was not as important to him as Japan.
In addition to Koreans some Asian husbands and wives do not share the same family names. This practice often puzzles English-speaking teachers when talking with a pupil’s parents. They become puzzled about the student’s correct last name. Placing the family name first is common among a number of Asian cultures.
Mexican naming customs are different as well. When a woman marries, she keeps her family name and adds her husband’s name after the word “de”, which means “of”. This affects how they fill in forms in the United States. When requested to fill in a middle name, they generally write the father’s family name. But Mexicans are addressed by the family name of the mother. This often causes puzzlement.
Here are a few ways to deal with such difficult situations: don’t always think that a married woman uses her husband’s last name. Remember that in many Asian cultures, the order of first and last names is reversed (颠倒). Ask which name a person would prefer to use. If the name is difficult to pronounce, admit it, and ask the person to help you say it correctly.
【小题1】The story of Bill Clinton is used to _____ .

A．improve US Korean relations

B．introduce the topic of the text

C．describe his visit to Korea

D．tell us how to address a person

【小题2】The word “gears” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to ______.

A．action plans

B．naming customs

C．travel maps

D．thinking patterns

【小题3】When a woman marries in Korea, she _____.

A．continues to use her family name

B．uses her husband’s given name

C．shares her husband’s family name

D．adds her husband’s given name to hers

【小题4】To address a married woman properly, you’d better ______ .

A．use her middle name	B．use her husband’s first name
C．ask her which name she likes	D．change the order of her names

【小题5】What can NOT be inferred from the text? ______ .

A．Wives do not keep their family names in Japan.

B．Different countries have different naming customs in some way.

C．Naming custom will not cause any puzzle among Asian countries.

D．The naming custom in Korea is different from that of Japan.

Do you know Australia? Australia is the largest island in the world. It is a little smaller than China. It is in the south of the earth. Australia is big, but its population is not large. The population of Australia is nearly as large as that of Shanghai.
The government has made enough laws to fight pollution. The cities in Australia have got little air or water pollution. The sky is blue and the water is clean. You can clearly see fish swimming in the rivers. Plants grow very well.
Last month we visited Perth, the biggest city in Western Australia, and went to a wild flowers’ exhibition. There we saw a large number of wild flowers we had never seen before. We had a wonderful time. Perth is famous for its beautiful wild flowers. In spring every year Perth has the wild flowers’ exhibition. After visiting Perth, we spent the day in the countryside. We sat down and had a rest near a path at the foot of a hill. It was quiet and we enjoyed ourselves. Suddenly we heard bells ringing at the top of the hill. What we saw made us pick up all our things and run back to the car as quickly as we could. There were about three hundred sheep coming towards us down the path.
Australia is famous for its sheep and kangaroos (袋鼠). After a short drive from any town, you will find yourself in the middle of white sheep. Sheep, sheep, everywhere are sheep.
【小题1】Australia is _______.

A．the largest country in the world

B．as large as Shanghai

C．not as large as China

D．the largest island in the north of the earth

【小题2】The government had made _______.

A．too enough laws to fight pollution

B．so many laws that it can fight pollution

C．enough laws that it can hardly fight pollution

D．enough laws because the pollution is very serious

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

A．Perth is famous for its beautiful wild flowers.

B．Perth is bigger than any other city in Western Australia.

C．Perth lies in the west of Australia.

D．No other city is larger than Perth in Australia.

【小题4】In Perth you may visit a wild flowers’ show in _______.

A．October

B．January

C．May

D．July

【小题5】Which of the following is true？

A．Australia is famous for its sheep, kangaroos and wild flowers.

B．We ran back to the car because we were in the middle of white sheep.

C．Three hundred sheep came towards us because they saw us.

D．If you go to the countryside in Australia, you will see a large number of white sheep.

Some British and American people like to invite friends for a meal at home. You should not be upset if your English friends don't invite you home. It doesn't mean they don't like you! Dinner parties usually start between 7 and 8 p.m., And end at about 11. Ask your hosts what time you should arrive. It's polite to bring flowers, chocolates or a bottle of wine as gift. Usually the evening starts with drinks and snacks. Do you want to be extra polite? Say how much you like the room, or the pictures on the wall. But remember---- it's not polite to ask how much things cost. In many families, the husband sits at one end of the table and the wife sits at the other end. They eat with their guests.
You'll probably start meal with soup or something small, and then you have meat of fish with vegetables, and then desert, followed by coffee. It's polite to finish everything on your plate and have more if you want it. Did you enjoy the evening? Call your host and hostess the next day, or write them a short "thank you" letter. British and American people like to say "thank you, thank you, thank you" all the time!
【小题1】You're not invited to the evening by a friend, which              .

A．means you are not welcome f or some bad manners

B．means he or she doesn't like you for some unknown reasons

C．means you should pay more visits to them and bring more gifts

D．doesn't mean he or she doesn't like you

【小题2】You should never              .

A．say you like the host's house very much

B．ask the host the price of the things in the house

C．have drinks and some snacks before the evening

D．sit beside the host or hostess when having dinner

【小题3】As a guest, you should finish everything to show              .

A．you are healthy	B．you rea lly like the food
C．you like cooking	D．you have a good appetite.（胃口）

They can be seen more frequently than ever before on college campuses, wearing thick-rimmed glasses while listening to indie(独立的) music. One might find them playing unusual musical instruments, shopping at second-hand stores or expressing themselves in other unique ways. They call themselves hipsters. Being “hip” used to mean following the latest fashion. But gradually the word has evolved into a synonym for “cool”.
Hipsters value independent thinking, progressive politics, an appreciation of creativity and intelligence. Hipsters take pains and pride in not being mainstream. However, their culture has become quite trendy. This irony is central to their culture and offers an interesting paradox.
“I do take things in the mainstream with a grain of salt,” says Ben Polson, a college student at Brown University in the US. Polson describes himself as a hipster and says he often questions what determines popularity, especially regarding music.When lesser-known bands become popular they often lose their former fan base in exchange for a new one. There is a famous hipster saying that goes: I used to like that band before it got popular.
According to Polson, bands’ music changes when they go mainstream. They become “less experimental, doing things just to save popularity and fans. The original elements that we were drawn to slowly dwindle for the sake of popularity.”
Many young adults have started to view hipsters’ outlook as cool and are adopting their counterculture mindset (心态)themselves. This has led to specialized brands, stores and music for the hipster position. Ironically, some such stores, including clothing labels Urban Outfitters and American Apparel, have gained mainstream popularity. This has seemingly diluted(冲淡) the anti-mainstream culture.
“A lot of people that are self-defined hipsters aren’t really hipsters, they’re just trying to conform to the non-conformist(不墨守成规者) to seem cooler,” says Amanda Leopold, a college student from Oberlin College, US. Although Leopold has many unconventional tastes and seems quite individualist, she refuses to classify herself as a hipster.
There is a conflict among hipsters about the very definition of the label. To some, to be a hipster is to be free from cultural constraints. To others, it means wearing a certain style and listening to a specific style of music. The former constantly strives for uniqueness, while the latter strives not to be mainstream.
And yet, the movement is gaining mainstream popularity. “It’s kind of the trend these days; everyone wants to be hip so no one’s hip,” says Leopold. “There have been hipsters since the seventies. It’s only become popular recently.”
Hipsters reject materialism and laugh at mainstream culture. But are they really beyond material comforts? Do they have any ideas of their own if they despise mainstream so much?
Christy Wampole, an associate professor of literature at Princeton University, US, is not so sure. She says the hipster is a contradiction in himself and an easy target of mockery(嘲弄). Writing in The New York Times, Wampole paints a less appreciative picture of a typical hipster.
“The hipster is a scholar of social forms, a student of cool. He studies continuously, searching for what has yet to be found by the mainstream. He is a walking citation(例证); his clothes refer to much more than themselves. He tries to negotiate the age-old problem of individuality, not with concepts, but with material things.”
【小题1】From the passage we can know that hipsters are ____________________________.

A．a group of people who are self-denied

B．a group of students who are good at musical instruments

C．people who follow the latest trends and fashions

D．people who pay no attention to material things

【小题2】The underlined word dwindle in the fourth paragraph may probably mean______________.

A．enlarge

B．delete

C．disappear

D．decrease

【小题3】Leopold refuses to classify herself as a hipster because_______________________.

A．she doesn’t like her own unconventional tastes

B．there are too many specialized brands, stores and music for the hipster position

C．she thinks that a lot of people that are self-defined hipsters aren’t really hipsters

D．the hipsters’ culture has become quite trendy

【小题4】When Leopold said “It’s kind of the trend these days; everyone wants to be hip so no one’s hip”, we can see that she felt a bit ______________.

A．happy

B．disappointed

C．excited

D．content

【小题5】The passage mainly tells us ________________________.

A．the difficult situation of hipsters	B．the trend of fashion
C．the changes of the society	D．the culture of hipsters

In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what “keeping up with the Joneses” is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors.
The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors.
It was like a race, but one could never finish his race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment in New York City.
Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbors. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses” because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States. “Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.
People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are “Joneses” in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.
【小题1】Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they ________.

A．want to be as rich as their neighbors

B．want others to know or to think that they are rich

C．don’t want others to know they are rich

D．want to be happy

【小题2】It can be inferred from the story that rich people like to ________.

A．live outside New York City	B．live in New York city
C．live in apartments	D．have many neighbors

【小题3】Arthur Momand used the name “Jones” in his series of short stories because “Jones” is _____.

A．an important name	B．a popular name in the United States
C．his neighbor’s name	D．not a good name

People who like travelling have their reasons. They believe that travelling can help them expand their field of view, especially in the geographical and historical sense. They also think that touring will give them more chances to enjoy different kinds of food and experience new things that would never be brought by other activities. But those who dislike travelling also have some reasons.
Travelling, in my opinion, does more good than harm. Most importantly, it broadens(扩大) our mind. We can get in touch with other civilizations(文明), culture, customs and ideas.
Through history, most people travelled because of necessity(必要性)—not for pleasure. People travelled just in order to remain alive. They searched for food to eat or places to live in. They sometimes ran away from enemies. This is not to say that no one ever travelled just for the fun of it. In ancient times, for example, rich Romans travelled all the way to Greece to take part in the Olympic Games, and festivals. Of course, some people decided to travel just out of curiosity(好奇心). They wanted to find out what it looked like beyond the horizon(地平线). Also, business travel has been going on for centuries.Traders could not only make money but also learn to speak several languages and be introduced to different cultures.
So travelling does enrich our mind and draw new ideas to us. There is no doubt that we can get much from it.
【小题1】The underlined word“expand”in Paragraph 1 can be replaced by “ __________”.

A．decide

B．protect

C．widen

D．lose

【小题2】According to the passage, in the past most people travelled _____________.

A．for knowledge

B．to make a living

C．to get experiences

D．for fun

【小题3】In the writer’s opinion, travelling can be ______________.

A．tiring

B．funny

C．expensive

D．helpful

BRITAIN is a popular tourist place．But tours of the country have advantages and disadvantages.
GOOD NEWS
Free museums．No charge for outstanding collections of art and antiquities（文物）.
Pop music．Britain is the only country to compare with the US on this score.
Black cabs．London taxi drivers know where they are going even if there are never
enough of them at weekends or night.
Choice of food．Visitors can find everything from Ethiopian to Swedish restaurants.
Fashion．Not only do fashion junkies love deeply and respect highly brand names
such as Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen; street styles are justly loved, too.
BAD NEWS
Poor service．“It’s part of the image of the place．People can dine out on the rudeness they have experienced,” says Professor Tony Seaton, of Luton University’s International Tourism Research  Center.
Poor public transport．Trains and buses are promised to defeat the keenest tourists, although the overcrowded London tube is inexplicably (难以理解的) popular.
Rain．Still in the number one complaint.
No air-conditioning．So that even splendidly hot summers become as unbearable as the downpours.
Overpriced hotels．The only European country with a higher rate of tax on hotel rooms is Denmark.
Licensing hours．Alcohol (酒) is in short supply after 11 p.m. even in “24-hour cities”.
【小题1】What do tourists complain most?

A．Poor service．	B．Poor public transport.
C．Rain.	D．Overpriced hotels.

【小题2】What do we learn about pop music in Britain and the US through this passage?

A．Pop music in Britain is better than that in the US.

B．Pop music in Britain is as good as that in the US.

C．Pop music in Britain is worse than that in the US.

D．Pop music in Britain is quite different from that in the US.

【小题3】When are people not able to get alcohol?

A．At 12: 00 p.m.

B．At 10: 00 p.m.

C．At 11: 00 p.m.

D．At 9: 00 p.m.

【小题4】Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．You have to pay to visit the museums．

B．It’s very cheap to travel by taxi there.

C．You cannot find Chinese food there．

D．The public transport is poor there.