Towards the end of Middle English, a sudden change in pronunciation started, with vowels being pronounced shorter and shorter. From the 16^th century the British had contact(联系) with people from around the world. This means that many new words and phrases entered the language. The invention of printing also meant that there was a common language in print. Books became cheaper and more people learned to read. Spelling and grammar became fixed and the dialect （方言）of London became the standard. In 1604, the first English dictionary was published.

The numbers of words in Early Modern English and Late Modern English differ. Late Modern English has a lot more words because of two main factors(因素): firstly, the Industrial Revolution created a need for new words; secondly, the British Empire covered one quarter of the earth’s surface, and the English language took in foreign words from many countries.

From around 1600, the English colonization(殖民地化)of North America resulted in the creation of American English. Some English pronunciation and words froze when they reached America. In some ways, American English is more like the English of Shakespeare than modern British English. Some expressions that the British call “ Americanisms” are in fact original （原先的）British expressions that were preserved (保存) in the colonies but were lost in Britain. Spanish also had an influence on American English, with words like canyon, ranch, stampede and vigilante being examples of Spanish words that entered English. French words and West African words also influenced American English.

Today, American English is the most influential(有影响力的). But there are many other kinds of English around the world, including Australian English, New Zealand English, Canadian English, South African English , Indian English and Caribbean English. They have differences.

1.What can we know from Paragraph 1?

A．The dialect of London became the standard in the year 1604.

B．Vowels were pronounced longer towards the end of Middle English

C．The first English dictionary was published in the early 17^th century.

D．Many new words entered English because many people moved to Britain.

2.From Paragraph 2, we know that the Industrial Revolution __________.

A．required spelling and grammar to be fixed

B．required a greater number of English words

C．caused many old English words to be useless

D．led to the English colonization of North America.

3.The underlined word “froze” in Paragraph 3 shows that some English words in America___________.

A．became longer

B．greatly changed

C．a little changed

D．stayed as they were

4.What will the paragraph following this passage most probably discuss?

A．The development of Modern English

B．How the English vocabulary became larger

C．Differences among the different kinds of English

D．Differences between Middle English and Modern English

What happens to a teenage kid when the world he thought he knew suddenly changes? Find out in Little Brother by American author Cory Doctorow. It is a fascinating book for a new generation of sci-fi readers.

Marcus Yallow, 17, from San Francisco is much more comfortable in front of a computer than obeying the rules of society. Smart, fast and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting (骗过) his high school's monitoring system. This way he and his friends get to head off to play a popular online game in real life.

While they are playing, a bomb explodes on the Bay Bridge. Marcus stops a military (军队的) vehicle to get help for his injured friend, but this simple act throws him into a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secret prison. There he is treated as a possible terrorist(恐怖分子). He is eventually let go after four days, but his injured friend disappears.

When he returns, Marcus discovers that there are many "security measures" in place and that now all citizens are treated like potential terrorists. While some consider this government action necessary for public safety, Marcus sees this as a complete destruction of the rights he is supposed to have as a citizen.

He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him with only one thing to do: to take down the DHS himself. He helps organize a large network called Xnet to spread the truth, anonymously (匿名地).

The book presents a young man who is irresponsible, but learns about himself, and grows, in the course of the story. As part of this learning and growing he becomes aware of very serious issues about his society.

1. What kind of article does this passage belong to?     

A．A fascinating story.                      B．A book review.

C．News report                           D．A TV programme

2. Marcus Yallow was sent to prison because ________.        

A．he killed his friend

B．he bombed a military vehicle

C．he did something that a possible terrorist could do

D．his injured friend disappeared

3. From the second paragraph we can infer that _________.     

A．Marcus Yallow is much more comfortable obeying the rules of society

B．Marcus Yallow is smart, fast and wise in real life

C．Marcus Yallow always plays online games in real life

D．Marcus Yallow is expert at the network world

任务型阅读(共10小题;每小题1分,满分10分)

We all have goals that we are moving towards and making a great effort to achieve. This is a good thing. Or can it be bad? How many of us never reach our goals and yet we have tried so hard and really thought about nothing else? I believe the mistake most of us make is that we do not focus on our present situation.

Let me explain. Most of us see our present situation as a stepping stone that we use simply as a means of reaching our final destination. We don’t take time to truly appreciate where we are today and all the great things we already have in our lives. We should focus our attention on the journey and not on the destination, or we will miss the beautiful scenery along the way.

Let’s use our job as an example. Now most of us want a promotion. We have plans to become the manager or general manager in our companies. Unfortunately, most of us will never reach the goal, but will watch others achieve our goal instead.

What we should be doing is focusing on the job we are currently in now. Forget where we want to get to and just focus on the present. You see, what we can control is our performance in our current job. We can decide to be the best we possibly can in our current job. Now this may mean further education to have the skills we currently do not have. It may mean working harder to produce better results than our colleagues. It could simply be a change of attitude, such as stopping complaining and becoming a more devoted and supportive employee. By doing our current job to the best of our abilities, we in fact give ourselves the best chance of promotion.

So the best thing for all of us to do to achieve our goals is to just focus on what we have and where we are now. Do the best and be the best we possibly can in our current situations, and we will give ourselves the very best chance of reaching our goals in the future. We have heard the old sayings and they are true: “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”, “Patience is a virtue”, and so on.

Have patience, have appreciation of what we already have, and take time to help ourselves be the very best we can. Do these things and we will all reach our goals, but more importantly, we will enjoy our life every day.

书面表达（满分25分）

学生之间是否应该在自习课上讨论问题? 你所在班级就此话题展开了讨论. 根据下列内容要点用英语写一篇150词左右的短文.

注意：文章标题和开头已给出，但不计入总词数。可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

Should We Study by Talking in Self-study Classes?

Lately our class has had a discussion on whether we should study by talking in self-study

classes. Views vary（变化）from person to person.

——————————————————————————————————————

——————————————————————————————————————

It is believed that traveling to Chuzhou in ______ November is ______ enjoyable experience.

A．/; the　　　       B．the; an 　　       C．/; an　　　        D．the; the

I found the homework was not so heavy as ______ I ______ to get in my old school.

A．that; was used      B．what; used         C．which; used        D．that; used

Mrs. Black is ________ a neighbour to us. She also takes good care of our children when we are away.

A. no more than        B. more than            C. rather than         C. less than

It took her some time to ________ from the shock.

A．recover           B．hear             C．learn             D．receive

My robot caught a virus, so my flat was _____.

A．in the mess        B．in a mess          C．in the messes      D．six and seven

 ________ we have finished the course, we shall do more revision work.

A．Now that          B．For              C．Ever since         D．By now