For a commuter rushing to catch a train, a minute can mean the difference between dinner with the family and leftovers (剩饭) in the microwave. What most passengers don’t realize is that their minute is already there.

Every commuter train that departs from New York City — about 900 a day — leaves a minute later than scheduled. If the timetable says 8:14, the train will actually leave at 8:15. In other words, if you think you have only a minute to get that train — well, relax. You have two.

The courtesy (礼貌) minute, in place for decades and published only in private timetables for employees, is meant as a grace period（宽限期）for those who need the extra time to get off the platform and onto the train.

“If everyone knows they get an extra minute, they’re going to waste time doing unimportant things,” explained Marjorie Anders, a spokeswoman for the Metro-North Railroad. Told of this article, Ms. Anders laughed. “Don’t blow our cover!” she said.

Entirely hidden from the riding public, the secret minute is an odd departure from the railroad culture of down-to-the-second accuracy. The railroad industry helped invent the concept of standard time, and time zones were established in the United States in the 1880s, 35 years before they were written into law. And most commuters know their train by the precise minute it departs. The trains quickly make up the minute: at all other stops, the public timetable prevails. The phantom minute does not exist at commuter railroads in Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, or San Francisco. But in New York, the secret minute dates back decades.

“That’s been done forever, from my knowledge,” said Jack Swanberg, 70, an unofficial historian of Metro-North. “I was the trainmaster starting in 1970 and I’m sure it’s been the case since 1870 for all I know.”

1.The courtesy minute was hidden from the public to _____.

A. prevent the passengers’ idleness              B. help invent the concept of standard time

C. show the railroad company’s consideration     D. follow the ancient tradition of New York City

2. The underlined part “Don’t blow our cover” in Para. 4 probably means “_____”.

A. Don’t publish the timetable                 B. Don’t blame commuter trains

C. Don’t make it known by the public           D. Don’t forget our chances of catching trains

3.What can we conclude from the passage?

A. The courtesy minute exists in many cities in the US.

B. One minute means a lot for most of the commuters.

C. The courtesy minute has been in place for about ten years.

D. Most railroad staff in New York have no idea of the courtesy minute.

4. The passage mainly talks about _____.

A. the railroads in the US                      B. the secret New York minute

C. the mistake of the railroad industry         D. the history of New York commuter trains

Today’s teens have a knowledge of the Internet that often surpasses that of their parents. Because so many teens are Internet savvy, it is important that they also have an understanding of the dangers that exist online and how to deal with them. Watch teens share their own "Real-Life Stories" about issues affecting them on the Internet such as cyberbullying (网络欺凌), online enticement, and giving out too much personal information.

1.The ad is intended for ___________.

A. kids loving to play games online

B. only victims of Internet use

C. kids and their parents who want to learn about the safety online

D. pre-school students who know little about Internet

2.If you visit the website, you can ________.

A. share your friends "Real-life Stories about issues affecting them on the Internet

B. have an understanding of the dangers that exist online and how to deal with them

C. say and do terrible things to each other online

D. ask for help when you have difficulty with your study

3. If you visit www.cybertipline.com, you can __________.

A. contact your local law enforcement

B. search our knowledge base for answers to all of your questions about the online world

C. report any incident of Internet use

D. help your siblings learn how to avoid the dangers that exist on the Internet.

4. Which of the following stories you can share on the Real-Life Stories?

A. Teen murdered by man she met in chat room.

B. Problem of losing weight.

C. Left home alone.

D. Hurt by second hand smoke in the Internet cafe.

No matter how long your life is, you will, at best, be able to read only a few books of all that have been written, and the few you do read should include the best. You can be pleased with the fact that the number of such is relatively small.

It is to be expected that the selections will change over time. Yet there is a surprising uniformity (一致性) in the lists which represent the best choices of any period. In every age, the list makers include both ancient and modern books in their selections, and they always wonder whether the moderns are up to the great books of the past.

What are the signs by which we may recognize a great book? The four I will mention may not be all there are, but they are the ones I’ve found most useful in explaining my choices over the years.

Great books are probably the most widely read. They are enduring best sellers. Gone with the Wind has had relatively few readers compared to the plays of Shakespeare or Don Quixote. It would be reasonable to estimate that Homer Iliad has been read by at least 25,000,000 people in the last 3000 years.

Great books are popular, not pedantic. They are not written by specialists about specialties for specialists. Whether they are philosophy or science, or history or poetry, they treat of human, not academic problems. They are written for men, not professors. To read a textbook for advanced students, you have to read an elementary textbook first. But the great books can be considered elementary in the sense that they treat the elements of any subject matter. They are not related to one another as a series of textbooks, graded in difficulty or in the technicality of the problems with which they deal.

Great books are always contemporary, the most readable and instructive.

Great books deal with the continuously unsolved problems of human life. There are mysteries in the world that mark the limits of human knowing and thinking. Inquiry not begins with wonder, but usually ends with it also. Great minds acknowledge mysteries only honestly. Wisdom is encouraged, not destroyed, by understanding its limitations.

1.Which is not the criterion in the following when considering a great book?

A. Although not a best seller, it must be the most widely read．

B. A great book can be read without any effort．

C. Great books are never out of date．

D. Great books will not disappoint you if you try to read them well．

2.According to the author, Gone with the Wind is      .

A. a best seller                      B. disliked by readers who like Shakespeare

C. read more often than Don Quixote    D. a great book

3. In the passage the underlined word “pedantic” means         ．

A. showing the feelings, esp., those of kindness, which people are supposed to have

B. serving as practical examples

C. being elementary

D. paying too much attention to details in books

4.The best title for this passage is         .

A. Great Books in Your Life                 B. Great Books in Your Specialty

C. How to Find a Great Book?                D. What Is a Great Book?

If your family is like many in the United States, unloading the week’s groceries includes hauling a case or two of bottled water into your home. On your way to a soccer game or activity, it’s easy to grab a cold one right out of the fridge, right?

But all those plastic bottles use a lot of fossil fuels and pollute the environment. In fact, Americans buy more bottled water than any other nation in the world, adding 29 billion water bottles a year to the problem. In order to make all these bottles, manufacturers use 17 million barrels of crude oil. That’s enough oil to keep a million cars going for twelve months.

Imagine a water bottle filled a quarter of the way up with oil. That’s about how much oil was needed to produce the bottle.

So why don’t more people drink water straight from the kitchen faucet? Some people drink bottled water because they think it is better for them than water out of the tap, but that’s not true. In the United States, local governments make sure water from the faucet is safe. There is also growing concern that chemicals in the bottles themselves may leach into the water.

People love the convenience of bottled water. But maybe if they realized the problems it causes, they would try drinking from a glass at home or carrying water in a refillable steel container instead of plastic.

Plastic bottle recycling can help—instead of going out with the trash, plastic bottles can be turned into items like carpeting or cozy fleece clothing.

Unfortunately, for every six water bottles we use, only one makes it to the recycling bin. The rest are sent to landfills. Or, even worse, they end up as trash on the land and in rivers, lakes, and the ocean. Plastic bottles take many hundreds of years to disintegrate.

Water is good for you, so keep drinking it. But think about how often you use water bottles, and see if you can make a change.

Betty McLaughlin, who runs an organization called the Container Recycling Institute, says we should try using fewer bottles: “If you take one to school in your lunch, don’t throw it away—bring it home and refill it from the tap for the next day. Keep track of how many times you refill a bottle before you recycle it.”

And yes, you can make a difference. Remember this: Recycling one plastic bottle can save enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for six hours.

全体高三学生目前正处在紧张复习迎考的氛围中。假如你叫李华，作为一名高三学生，面对目前的压力，想和父母说说知心话，请你用英文在你的博客上用书信形式表达出来。主要内容如下：

注意：1. 短文须包括所有内容要点，可适当发挥。

      2. 词数：120左右。开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。

Dear Mom and Dad,

The annual University Entrance Examination is around the corner. On this special occasion, how I wish I could have a heart-to-heart talk with you.

_______________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

                                                                                                Your son,

                                                                               Li Hua

-- Do you think I should get a good guidebook?

-- Yes, of course. __________ , you also need a good camera and comfortable shoes.

A. Furthermore           B. In other words         C. By the way           D. All in all

-- I have learned that your husband’s family has a lot of money.

   -- ___________? I have never relied on him.

A. What for               B. What if              C. So what             D. How come

At the meeting they discussed three different    ____   to the study of mathematics.

A. approaches            B. means              C. methods          D. ways

I had to report the accident _______ length as the reporter asked me to describe it _______ detail.

   A. in, in                  B. at, in               C. at, at                D. in, at

Do you ________ her view of the state of the economy?

  A. subscribe to             B. submit to            C. subscribe for          D. apply for