Several years ago， a television reporter was talking to three of the most important people in America. One was a very rich banker， another owned one of the largest companies in the world， and the third owned many buildings in the center of New York.
The reporter was talking to them about being important.
“How do we know if someone is really important？” the reporter asked the banker.
The banker thought for a few moments and then said， “I think anybody who is invited to the White House to meet the President of the United States is really important.”
The reporter then turned to the owner of the very large company. “Do you agree with that？” she asked.
The man shook his head， “No. I think the President invites a lot of people to the White House. You‘d only be important if while you were visiting the President， there was a telephone call from the president of another country， and the President of the US said he was too busy to answer it.”
The reporter turned to the third man. “Do you think so？”
“No， I don‘t，” he said. “I don’t think that makes the visitor important. That makes the President important.”
“Then what would make the visitor important？” the reporter and the other two men asked.
“Oh， I think if the visitor to the White House was talking to the President and the phone rang， and the President picked up the receiver， listened and then said， ‘It’s for you.‘ ”
【小题1】 There are _______ in this passage.

A．two men and two women	B．three men and one woman
C．three women and one man	D．four women

【小题2】 The banker thought _______.

A．he was really important because he was a rich banker	B．the visitor to the White House was really important
C．the visitor who met the President of the United States
D．the reporter was really important

【小题3】 The owner of the very large company thought _______.

A．she was really important because she owned one of the largest companies

B．the banker was really important

C．the owner of many buildings in the center of New York was really important

D．the visitor would be really important if while he was visiting the President， the President would not answer any telephone call

【小题4】 The owner of many buildings thought _______.

A．he was really important because he owned many buildings in the center of New York

B．the owner of the very large company was really important

C．the visitor was really important if he talking to the President and the President received a telephone call for the visitor

D．the person who worked in the White House was really important

Dick lived in England. One day in January he said to his wife, "I'm going to fly to New York next week because I've got some work there." "Where are you going to stay there?" his wife asked. "I don't know yet." Dick answered. "Please send me your address from there in a telegram (电报)," his wife said. "All right," Dick answered.
He flew to New York on January 31st and found a nice hotel in the center of the city. He put his things in his room and then he sent his wife a telegram. He put the address of his hotel in it.
In the evening he didn't have any work, so he went to a cinema. He came out at nine o'clock and said, "Now I'm going back to my hotel and have a nice dinner."
He found a taxi and the driver said, "Where do you want to go?" But Dick didn't remember the name and address of his hotel.
"Which hotel are my things in?" he said, "And what am I going to do tonight?" But the driver of the taxi did not know. So Dick got out and went into a post office. There he sent his wife another telegram, and in it he wrote, "Please send me my address at this post office."
【小题1】 Dick flew to New York because ___.

A．he went there for a holiday

B．he had work there

C．he went there for sightseeing (观光)

D．his home was there

【小题2】Why did his wife want a telegram from him?

A．Because she didn't know his address yet

B．Because she wanted to go to New York, too

C．Because she might send him another telegram

D．Because she couldn't leave her husband by himself in New York

【小题3】 Who would send him the name and address of his hotel?

A．The manager of his hotel.	B．The police office.
C．The taxi driver.	D．His wife.

【小题4】Which of the following is not true?

A．Dick stayed at a nice hotel in the center of the city.

B．Dick didn't work on the first night of his arrival.

C．Dick forgot to send his wife a telegram.

D．Dick wanted to go back to his hotel in a taxi.

On numerous drives throughout my childhood, my mother would suddenly pull over the car to examine a flower by the side of the road or rescue a beetle (甲虫) from certain tragedy while I, in my late teens and early twenties, sat impatiently in the car.
Though Mother’s Day follows Earth Day, for me, they have always been related. My mom has been “green” since she became concerned about the environment. Part of this habit was born of thrift (节俭). Like her mother and her grandmother before her, Mom saves glass jars, empty cheese containers and re-uses her plastic bags.
Mom creates a kind of give-and-take relationship with wildlife in her yard. She knows to pick the apples on her trees a little early to fend off the bears and that if she leaves the bird feeders out at night, it’s likely they’ll be knocked down by a family of raccoons (浣熊). Spiders that make their way into the house are captured (捕获) in a juice glass and set loose in the garden.
I try to teach my children that looking out for the environment starts with being aware of the environment. On busy streets, we look for spent (开败的) dandelions (蒲公英) to parachute; we say hello to neighborhood cats and pick up plastic cups and paper bags. This teaching comes easily, I realize, because I was taught so well by example. Mom didn’t need to lecture; she didn’t need to beat a drum to change the world. She simply slowed down enough to enjoy living in it and with that joy came compassion and an instinct (本能) for preservation.
I am slowing down and it isn’t because of the weight of my nearly forty years on the planet, it is out of my concern for the planet itself. I’ve begun to save glass jars and re-use packing envelopes. I pause in my daily tasks to watch the squirrels race each other through the palm (棕榈树) leaves above my porch (门廊).
Last summer, in the company of my son and daughter, I planted tomatoes in my yard. With the heat of August around me, I ate the first while sitting on my low wall with dirt on my hands. Warm from the sun, it burst on my tongue with a sweetness I immediately wanted to share with my mom.
【小题1】Why does the author say Earth Day is connected with Mother’s Day?

A．Because Mother’s Day falls shortly after Earth Day.

B．To stress that all the older women in her family are environmentalists.

C．To stress how much her mother cares about the environment.

D．Because on Mother’s Day her mother shows her how to be friend to nature.

【小题2】 According to the fourth paragraph, which of the following is the author’s mother NOT likely to do?

A．When she came across a lost dog, she helped it to find its shelter.

B．In spring, she spent some time watching the plants growing in the garden.

C．She joined in the campaign to encourage the public to contribute actively towards a better environment.

D．She walked to a nearby shop which was within ten minutes’ walk rather than drove there.

【小题3】What can we conclude from the article?

A．The author’s mother is very patient with her children.

B．The author’s mother knows how to live in harmony with nature.

C．The author’s mother always took care of the wildlife that came into her yard.

D．The author’s mother used to remind her to slow down to protect the environment.

【小题4】 We can infer from the article that ______.

A．the author thinks that too many people now label themselves environmentalists

B．the author’s mother knows how to get rid of the wildlife in her yard

C．the author believes that only by learning to slow down, can we enjoy life

D．the author realizes that she should teach her children by example as well

【小题5】What is the main idea of the last three paragraphs?

A．How the author taught her children to protect the environment.

B．How the author’s mother influenced the author.

C．What inspired the author to slow down and enjoy life.

D．How the author spent her time with her children.

Chuck was thirteen when he came home from the hospital. He came home not because he was getting better but because he wanted to be with people he knew and loved when he died. I came by the house to visit him and his family several times a week during his treatment. On most of my visits, Chuck was very weak. But the last time I saw him alive, he was awake. “I have got something for you.” He pulled out a piece of crumpled (弄皱的) paper from under his pillow. “I want you to give this to my mom and dad after I die. You’ll know when it’s right, I guess, won’t you?”
“What is it?” I asked. “It’s a list of all the fun we had, and all the happy time when we laughed.” I almost gasped in great surprise.
“Like what?” I asked quietly, trying to regain my calmness.
“Like the time when Mom, Dad, Chrissie, Linda and me were dressed up as fruits and Dad was driving us to a costume party. Dad was a bunch of grapes and I was an apple, and the others were different things like bananas and pears.”
And a policewoman pulled Dad over for speeding. When the policewoman came up to the car, she looked and started laughing so hard that she could hardly stand up. And we all started laughing and she said, “Where are you all heading — a salad bar?” Dad said he was sorry to be speeding, but his kids were getting so ripe（成熟的） that they were starting to draw flies. And she laughed till she had to take off her dark glasses and wiped tears from her eyes.”
Chuck laughed and so did I. The list was full of laughing and fun. What a wonderful gift, I thought.
【小题1】Why did Chuck go home from the hospital?

A．He had been cured by the doctors.

B．He got better and better.

C．He missed his friends and teachers.

D．He wanted to be with people who he knew and loved when he died.

【小题2】What did Chuck write on the list?

A．What to do after his death.	B．His thoughts about fear, anger and disappointment.
C．What to do before his death.	D．All the happy time he had with his family.

【小题3】 Why did the policewoman laugh when she looked into the car?

A．Because she mistook the children for fruits.

B．Because she saw some flies around the children.

C．Because she was frightened.

D．Because the children were dressed in a funny way.

【小题4】 The underlined expression “pulled Dad over” probably here means “________”.

A．stopped Dad	B．punished Dad
C．put Dad into prison	D．knocked Dad down

Two Chinese farmers who became an overnight sensation(轰动)when their heart-rendingversion of a famous pop song appeared on the Internet took to the stage in front of thousands offans in Shanghai last Saturday.
Wang Xu, 44，and Liu Gang, 29, sang “In the Spring" alongside the song's star composerWang Feng, in front of about 80,000 people at the Shanghai Stadium.
The audience buzzed with excitement and let out deafening cheers, the moment as theywere introduced on the stage and then when Liu started the first sentence of their parts of thesong.
The two migrant workers became stars after singing the tearjerker(催人泪下的）songduring an evening drinking session in a 6-square-meter rented room in a late August evening. Afriend recorded the performance on a cell phone and posted it on the Internet.
“If someday I am dead, please bury me in the spring," they sing. Wang's penetrating chorus,delivered with his eyes closed, has moved thousands to tears.
Wang and Liu consider the song a true portrait of lower-class groups like themselves."With no credit card, no girlfriend, or a home with hot water, but only a guitar, I am singinghappily, on streets, under bridges or in wild country, though nobody pays attention to themusic," they sing.
To support his wife and two sons, Wang came to Beijing in 2000 from the countryside andhas worked as a boiler man, and street peddler, before becoming a medical warehouse keeper,with a monthly pay of around 1,500 yuan. Little is left after he pays 600 yuan for rent and buysfood.
Liu came to Beijing in 2002. “I wanted to try my luck in the big city，，，he said. He hadworked as a guard, roadside peddler, and porter, but never had a stable job. Street performingwas his main income, even after he married and became a father three years ago.
Wang and Liu are still uncertain where their fame will lead. Wang has started learning touse a computer. They even have a microblog(微博）account to communicate with fans.
【小题1】Wang Xu and Liu Gang first became nationally known after______.

A．they sang the song “In the Spring" with a star composer Wang Feng

B．the video of them singing “In the Spring" was posted on the Internet

C．they sang on streets and under bridges

D．they started their microblog

【小题2】People like Wang and Liu's version of “In the Spring" because ______ .

A．they sang the song better than other singers

B．they were introduced to the public by the song writer himself

C．it was specially composed for them two

D．it is a heartfelt expression of the two singers as migrant workers

【小题3】It can be inferred from the passage that   ______.

A．migrant workers' conditions will be improved soon

B．they will learn to write songs on computers

C．a song showing people's real life and feelings is more likely to be accepted

D．singers for migrant workers are more likely to become popular

【小题4】The best possible title for the passage is______.

A．Internet Farmer Stars Make Stage Appearance

B．“In the Spring"—A Touching Song

C．A Successful Internet Performance

D．No Pains, No Gains

It was about midday. I’d left work early in the morning to cash a cheque. I walked along to the bank, and found that there weren’t too many people about ten or eleven customers in there, which was pretty unusual for those central city banks.
I waited until it was my turn and just went up to the desk and started to talk to the bank clerk. He had a really strange expression on his face -- just sort of blank stare at least I thought he was looking at me and then I realized he was staring over my shoulder.
I began to turn round to see what he was looking at. At the same moment the outside bank guard came flying through the door and lay face down on the floor and following him through the door were three frightening masked men. They were carrying guns; at least I think the one in front was carrying a gun. Whether or not they said anything at that point I can’t remember to this day, or whether people just automatically put their hands up I’ve just no idea.
For a few moments there was just total silence, suddenly broken by the telephone ringing and I remember thinking and wondering who was on the other end of the telephone. Nobody went to answer the telephone, so this thing just kept on ringing and ringing. Then two of the masked men went to the counter, jumped over it and got the cashiers and the bank clerks to start filling the bags with cash. While the two were getting the money, the one at the door who was covering us with the gun was a bit frightened. He started swearing at them, and telling them to hurry up, to get a move on. They jumped back over the counter. One of them slipped as he landed on the floor and fell over and the other two swore at him again. They left through the door. Warning us, “Don’t move, stay like that with your hands up for ten minutes.” And then they just disappeared. Again back to total silence. People put their hands down, I put my hands down but I just stayed exactly where I was.
【小题1】What does the writer mean by saying “…a pretty unusual number for those central banks” in the first paragraph?

A．More customers than usual were staying in the bank.

B．Less bank clerks than expected were in the bank.

C．There were often more than a dozen customers in the bank.

D．More banks should be open to serve customers in the city center.

【小题2】 The bank clerk wore a blank expression on his face probably because ________.

A．he was feeling upset at that moment

B．he felt puzzled and sensed something terrible

C．he was required to keep silence

D．he was threatened with a gun by robbers

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

A．The customers didn’t wait in line but jumped the queue because of the confusion.

B．All the people in the bank except the writer put their hands up automatically.

C．Nobody answered the phone because all the clerks were busy with work.

D．the bank workers were forced to fill the robbers’ bags with cash.

【小题4】 What’s the best title of this passage?

A．A Street Gang	B．A Strange Bank
C．A Bank Robbery	D．A Horrible Adventure

Miss Gogers taught physics in a New York school. Last month she explained to one of her classes about sound, and she decided to test them to see how successful she had been in her explanation. She said to them,“Now I have a brother in Los Angeles. If I was calling him on the phone and at the same time you were 75 feet away, listening to me from across the street, which of you would hear what I said earlier, my brother or you and for what reason?”
　Tom at once answered,“Your brother. Because electricity travaels faster than sound waves.”“That’s every good,”Miss Gogers answered; but then one of the girls raised her hand, and Miss Gogers said.“Yes, Kate.”
　“I disagree,”Kate said.“Your brother would hear you earlier because when it’s 11 o’clock here it’s only 8 o’clock in Los Angeles.”
【小题1】Miss Gogers was teaching her class_________.

A．how to telephone

B．about electricity

C．about time zone

D．about sound

【小题2】Miss Gogers raised this question because she wanted to know whether______.

A．it was easy to phone to Los Angeles

B．her student could hear her from 75 feet away

C．her students had a good command of her lesson about sound

D．sound waves were slower than electricity

【小题3】Tom thought that electricity was _________.

A．slower than sound waves	B．faster than sound waves
C．not so fast as sound waves	D．as fast as sound waves

【小题4】Kate thought Tom was wrong because _______.

A．clocks in Los Angeles showed a different time from those in New York

B．electricity was slower than sound waves

C．Tom was not good at physics at all

D．Tom’s answer had nothing to do with sound waves

【小题5】Whose answer do you think is correct according to the law of physics?

A．Tom’s

B．Kate’s

C．Bath A and B

D．Neither A nor B

In a new article, Zehr, a professor at the University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, describes his success in using the Caped Crusader (披篷骑士) to engage students in the study of physiology.
"Batman (蝙蝠侠) has such powerful influence on readers because he is a fictional human with superpowers that seem within reach if we only work at it," writes Zehr, in a new article published in Advances in Physiology Education, a journal of the American Physiological Society. Zehr believes that it is not Batman's vast wealth that allows him to protect the citizens of Gotham City (哥谭市) , but his dedication to developing a wide range of physical skills.
Zehr uses Batman to establish a framework, grounded in his fictional universe as well as our real one, in order to discuss the various components of exercise and physical training and illustrate how the body's physiological systems respond. His experiences in teaching undergraduate courses in physiology and neurophysiology made him realize that connecting science to popular culture helped students understand the lessons better.
He first presented a formal analysis of the personal and physical discipline that would be required to transform an ordinary person into a superhero in his book, Becoming Batman: The Possibility of a Superhero. The book drew on Zehr's understanding and work in human movement and the plasticity of nerves and muscles associated with exercise. By coincidence, the book was published in the wake of The Dark Knight, the blockbuster movie which recounts Batman and his arch-enemy, the Joker.
With the casting almost complete for the sequel(续集), The Dark Knight Rises, Dr. Zehr writes about his experiences connecting science to popular culture, which is captured in the Advances, article, "A Personal View: From Claude Bernard to the Batcave and Beyond: Using Batman as a hook for physiology education." 
【小题1】In Zehr's opinion, what makes Batman be able to defend his citizens?

A．his large amount of fortune	B．his devotion to developing varieties of physical skills
C．his habit of wearing a cape	D．his developing so wide range of magic power

【小题2】 Which one of the following statements is TRUE according to the third paragraph?

A．Students of physiology and neurophysiology should have more physical training

B．To become a batman needs developing a wide range of physical skills

C．Only Batman can illustrate the respond of the body’s physiological system

D．combining science with popular culture can be beneficial to students’ study

【小题3】To help students study physiology well, Dr.Zehr uses Batman to do the following EXCEPT___

A．set up his theoretical principles of teaching physiology

B．discuss the different components of physical training

C．illustrate the ways of body’s physiology system responding

D．perform many physiology experiments on the body movement

【小题4】.According to the book Becoming Batman, what does the possibility of becoming a superhero mainly lie on?

A．Dr. Zehr’s formal analyses of the body's movement rules

B．the flexibility of nerves and muscles when being trained well

C．the physical training conducted by Dr. Zehr

D．the final influence of Batman on one person

【小题5】This passage is mainly about          .

A．Batman’seducation significance in physiology	B．introduction to Zehr’ s books on physiology
C．how to become a superhero like Batman	D．Batman’s powerful effects on the readers

Once an Englishman named Larry Belmont went to Russia for a holiday. After he got back some of his friends came. “I had a very dangerous trip while I was in Russia.” Larry said, “I went to see a friend in the country and when the sun went down, I was still traveling through a forest in a sleigh(雪橇). It was a long way from my friend’s house when about twenty wolves began to follow my sleigh.”
“It was very dark in the forest. There was thick snow on the ground. First I heard the wolves. The noise was terrible! Then I saw long, grey forms among the trees, and soon the wolves were near me. They were running very fast, and they didn’t seem to get tired like the horses.”
“What did you do?” one of Larry’s friends asked.
“When the wolves got very near,” Larry answered, “I put up my gun and shot the first wolf dead. Then all the other wolves stopped and ate it, so my sleigh got away from them for a few minutes. Then they finished their meal, and I heard them coming again. The moon was shining brightly on the snow now, and after a few minutes I saw them running among the trees once more. They came nearer again, and then I shot another one of them, and the others stopped once more to eat it. The same thing happened again, and my horses become more and more tired and ran slower and slower until, after two hours, only one wolf was still alive and following me.”
“Wasn’t it too fat to run?” one of Larry’s friends asked.
【小题1】The purpose of this passage is to ______.

A．amuse readers	B．tell an exciting adventure
C．praise Larry Belmont’s bravery	D．show the danger of traveling through a forest

【小题2】According to what Larry said, the last wolf _______.

A．was the strongest of all	B．had eaten up all the other wolves
C．ran much faster than the other wolves	D．was very fat and couldn’t run fast enough

【小题3】From what Larry’s friend asked at the end, we know that_______.

A．Larry’s trip was really dangerous

B．the last wolf was too fat to run

C．all the wolves had been shot by Larry

D．the friend did not believe what Larry had said

My friend Dr. Dong had a wonderful chance to go to Seattle to present a paper at a professional meeting. When he got back to Beijing, he told me his experience.
Dr. Dong enjoyed his first days very much. At the medical conference, he felt quite confident in his area of research and was able to perform well in his presentation. But after a few days, he began to feel uncomfortable. His medical English was fine, but the social communication skills were different.
He got more and more worried that he was misunderstanding simple English greetings and table talk conventions(习俗). When someone greeted him with, “Hi, how’s it going?” he thought they had asked him “Where are you going?” and answered with the name of the conference hall, only to get a surprised stare from them. At a western style dinner, a colleague asked, “So how’re you enjoyin’ the States?” he thought he heard, “how are you enjoying your steak?” and answered that he was eating chicken, not beef. That time, they smiled, and patiently repeated the question, then both laughed at the error.
By the end of the meetings, Dr. Dong felt a deep sense of “cultural stress” and was worn out from having to pay attention to so many new expressions and ways of dealing with things. He felt his handshake was not as firm as Americans’, found that people reacted unusually when he modestly insisted his English was not good after they complimented(称赞) him, didn’t know how to accept dinner invitations properly and therefore missed out on going to several lunches, and so on. Eventually, he was so confused that he felt the full impact of “culture shock”.
【小题1】Why did Dr. Dong travel to Seattle?

A．To improve his spoken English.	B．To experience culture shock.
C．To give lectures on his research.	D．To attend a medical conference.

【小题2】 Which of the following best describes Dr. Dong’s experience in Seattle?

A．Comfortable—very uncomfortable—uncomfortable.

B．comfortable—very uncomfortable—comfortable.

C．Comfortable—uncomfortable – very uncomfortable.

D．Comfortable—uncomfortable – very comfortable.

【小题3】Dr. Dong felt a deep sense of “cultural stress” mainly because_______.

A．he was too modest	B．he didn’t understand cultural differences
C．he lacked confidence	D．he was not good at English listening

【小题4】