Scientists are building the world’s first thinking robot. It’s true. Some say machines that walk, speak and feel will have been made by 2020.Kismet is the name of a robot which scientists have built this year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

   Kismet is different from traditional robots because it can show human emotions. Its eyes, ears and lips move to show when it feels happy, sad or bored. Kismet is one of the first robots of a new generation that look like human beings and can imitate human feelings.

   Some people say that by 2020 we will have created robots with brains similar to those of adult human beings. These robots will be designed to look like people to make them more attractive and easier to sell. What kind of jobs will they do? In the future, robots like Robonaut, a robot invented by NASA, will be doing dangerous jobs, like repairing space stations. They will also be doing more and more of the household work for us. In Japan, scientists are designing robots that will entertain people by dancing and playing the piano.

   Meanwhile, people who worry about the future are wondering whether robots will become monsters? Will people themselves become increasingly like robots? Experts predict that more and more people will be wearing micro-computers connected to the Internet in the future. People will have microchips in various parts of their body, which will connect them to a wide variety of small machines. Perhaps we should not exaggerate(夸大) the importance of technology, but one may wonder whether, in years to come, we will still be falling in love, and whether we will feel pain.

   Who knows?

1.Kismet is different from traditional robots because______.

A. it is made in the MIT, USA    B. it is able to express its own feelings

C. it is the first modern robot     D. it is able to show human feelings

2.Possibly, robots will be able to ______in about ten years from now.

A. think like human beings     B. do all kinds of jobs for us

C. imitate human feelings      D. become dangerous monsters

3.The underlined word “one” can be best replaced by_____.

A. some experts      B. the writer himself    C. some scientists         D. people in general

4.It can be inferred from this passage that_______.

A. robots will take the place of human beings in the future

B. the importance of technology has been exaggerated

C. scientist have designed different kinds of robots

D. robots might be a helper or a danger.

American cities are similar to other cities around the world. In every country, cities reflect the values of the culture. American cities are changing, just as American society is changing.

　　After World War II, the population of most large American cities decreased; however, the population in many Sun Belt cities increased. Los Angeles and Houston are cities where population shifts(转移) to and from the city reflect the changing values of American society. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, city residents (居民) became wealthier. They had more children so they needed more space. They moved out of their apartments in the city to buy their own homes. They bought houses in the suburbs(郊区).

Now things are changing. The children of the people who left the cities in 1950s are now adults. Many, unlike their parents, want to live in the cities. They continue to move to Sun Belt cities and older ones of the Northeast and Midwest. Many young professionals are moving back into the city. They prefer the city to the suburbs because their jobs are there; or they just enjoy the excitement and possibilities that the city offers.

This population shift is bringing problems as well as benefits. Countless poor people must leave their apartments in the city because the owners want to sell the buildings or make apartments for sale instead of for rent. In the 1950s, many poor people did not have enough money to move to the suburbs; now many of these people do not have enough money to stay in the cities.

     Only a few years ago, people thought that the older American cities were dying. Some city residents now see a bright, new future .Others see only problems and conflicts. One thing is sure：many dying cities are alive again.

1.What does the author think of cities all over the world ?

   A. They are alive .    B. They are hopeless.   C. They are similar      D. They are different.

2.Why did American city residents want to live in the suburbs after World War Ⅱ?

   A. Because older American cities were dying.

   B. Because they were richer and needed more space.

   C. Because cities contained the worst parts of society.

   D. Because they could hardly afford to live in the city.

3.According to the 4^th paragragh, a great many poor people in American cities ______. 

   A. are faced with housing problems       B. are faced to move to the suburbs

   C. want to sell their buildings            D. need more money for daily expenses

4.We can conclude from the text that ______.

   A. American cities are changing for the worse   B. people have different views on American cities

   C. many people are now moving from American cities D. the population is decreasing in older American cities

阅读下面短文，根据所读内容在表格中的空白处填入恰当的单词。注意：每个空格只填一个单词。

You may admire both the romantic love story and the mysterious city of Rome in the movie Roman Holiday. If you are planning to visit Rome, here are some cultural dos and don’ts you should know.

Coffee Etiquette: Italian breakfast consists of pastry and a cup of Cappuccino or shot of espresso. Cappuccino is generally a morning drink and is not drunk after noon by real Italians. A post-dinner espresso, however, is a common practice.

Dinner Rules: Guests are expected to arrive for dinner reservations at least fifteen minutes late. In many restaurants, printed menus are for tourists. Regular patrons know to ask for the daily specials, which typically feature the freshest ingredients. Bread, is rarely together with butter or olive oil.

Drink the Water: Rome has plenty of public water fountains, and real Romans and their dogs always drink directly from them. Many people also refill their water bottle from these fountains.

Mind the Traffic: Unless there's a traffic light, or you are in a crosswalk, don't expect cars  to stop for you. Though crosswalks go first, in a car – crazy city, still you’d better keep cautious and walk cautiously.

Money: Always have some euros with you. Most major hotels, restaurants, and shops take credit cards, but many smaller operations either will either be unwilling to accept them for smaller purchases or do not accept credit cards at all. ATMs are available around the city and at the airports.

About Soccer: Most Italian men are passionate about their soccer. Arm yourself with some knowledge of Italy's soccer scene, and you will find ready conversation partners almost everywhere.

The Romans: The people here love to share their thoughts, opinions and emotions. They are creative, passionate, playful, occasionally rude or vain but always entertaining, and almost always good – humored.

高中学校生涯即将结束时，你校高三年级拟举行一次有关“感恩”的英文演讲比赛。请根据以下要点写一篇120词左右的演讲稿。

要点：1.感恩对象;   2.为何感恩;  3.如何用实际行动表达自己的感恩之情。注意 1.只能选择一个感恩

的对象，如家人、老师、朋友等。

2.可给所给要点作适当发挥；

3.演讲稿中不得提及考生所在学校及本人姓名；

4.开头和结尾已经写好，不计入总词数。

Good afternoon, everyone! It’s a great honor to have the opportunity to be with you today. The topic my speech is “Thank you       .”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________    

Thank you for listening.

完形填空 (共15小题，每小题2分，满分30分)

阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

Every year on my birthday, a white gardenia (栀子花) was     1     to my house. But no card or note came with it. Calls to the flower shop were always     2     -- it was a cash purchase. After a while I stopped trying to discover the sender’s identity and just     3     in the beauty and heady perfume of that one magical, perfect white flower lying in soft pink paper.

But I never stopped     4     who the giver might be. My mother     5      to these imaginations. She asked me if there was someone for whom I had done a special kindness who might be showing     6     . I had more fun imagining that it might be a boy I fell in love with or one who had     7     me even though I didn’t know him.

One month before my high-school graduation, my father died. My feelings      8      from sorrow to fear and     9    : my dad was missing some of the most important events in my life. I became completely     10     in my coming graduation, the senior-class play and the ball. But my mother would not hear of my losing any of those things. Mother and I had gone shopping and found an impressive dress, but it was the     11     size. When my father died, I forgot about the dress.

The day before my ball, I found that dress-- in the right size—hanging over the living room sofa. It was     12      to me so lovingly. I didn’t     13     if I had a new dress or not. But my mother did. She wanted her children to feel     14    , filled with a sense that there was a beauty even in the face of     15   .

My mother died ten days after I was married. The following year the gardenia stopped coming.

1. A. given         B. delivered            C. taken            D. brought

2. A. useful            B. helpful          C. in vain      D. hopeful

3. A. delighted     B. pleasant         C. pleasing     D. satisfied

4. A. considering       B. remembering      C. imagining        D. recalling

5. A. referred      B. led              C. preferred        D. contributed

6. A. appreciation  B. honor            C. grateful     D. respect

7. A. observed      B. watched          C. noticed      D. hated

8. A. ranged            B. differed         C. suffered     D. judged

9. A. shock         B. happiness            C. depressing   D. anger

10. A. uninterested B. interested           C. unhappy      D. disappointing

11. A. wrong            B. false                C. proper       D. right

12. A. provided     B. presented            C. introduced   D. awarded

13. A. doubt            B. wonder           C. desire       D. care

14. A. loving           B. loved                C. respected        D. honored

15. A. trouble      B. despair          C. problem      D. sorrow

语法填空(共10小题；每小题1. 5分，满分15分)

阅读下面短文，按照句子结构的语法性和上下文连贯的要求，在空格处填入一个适当的词或使用括号中词语的正确形式填空，并将答案填写在答卷标号为16-25的相应位置上。

Six days of spring rain had created a wild river    1.   (run) by Nancy Brown’s farm. As she tried to drive her cows to higher ground, she    2.    (slip) and hit her head on a fallen tree trunk. Nancy was badly hurt and could only walk with great   3.    (difficult). The water    4.   (rise). Nancy’s pace got slower and slower. Finally, all she could do was to throw her arm around Lizzie’s neck and try to hang on. About 20 minutes later, Lizzie managed to    5.   (succeed) pull herself and Nancy out of the water and onto a bit of high land.

    It took rescuers another two hours to discover Nancy.   6.   helicopter lowered a doctor, 7.   attached Nancy to a life-support lift. They raised her into the helicopter and took her to the school gym,   8.   the Red Cross had set up an emergency shelter.

When the flood subsided two days later, Nancy immediately went back to the highland. Lizzie was gone.    9.  was one of the 19 cows that Nancy lost. “I owe my life   10.   her,” said Nancy sobbingly.

阅读理解（共20题； 每小题2分， 满分40分）

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C 和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

They like using the Internet．They have lots of pocket money to spend．And they spend a higher proportion of it online than the rest of us．Teenagers are just the sort of people an online seller is interested in, and the things they want to buy－games, CDs and clothing－are easily sold on the Web.

But paying online is a tricky business for consumers who are too young to own credit cards．Most have to use a parent’s card．They want a facility that allows them to spend money.

That may come sooner than they think: new ways to take pocket money into cyber (网络的) space are coming out rapidly on both sides of the Atlantic．If successful, these products can stimulate online sales.

In general, teenagers spend huge amounts: $153bn (billion) in the US last year and ￡20bn annually in the UK．Most teenagers have access to the Internet at home or at school－88 percent in the US, 69 percent in the UK．According to the Jupiter Research, one in eight of those with Internet access has bought something online－mainly CDs and books.

In most cases, parents pay for these purchases with credit cards, an arrangement that is often unsatisfactory for them and their children．Pressing parents to spend online is less productive than pressing on the high street．They are more likely to ask “Why?” if you ask to spend some money online.

One way to help teenagers change notes and coins into cybercash is through prepaid cards such as InternetCash in the US and Smart cards in the UK．Similar to those for pay-as-you-go mobile telephones, they are sold in amounts such as ￡20 or $50 with a concealed 14-digit number that can be used to load the cash into an online account.

1.What does the word “They” in paragraph 1 refer to?

    A. Sellers.     B. Buyers.      C. Teenagers.      D. Parents.

2. According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?

    A. More than half of the teenagers in the US and the UK have Internet access.

    B. Teenagers pay for goods online with their own credit cards.

    C. Most teenagers in the US and the UK have bought something online.

    D. Teenagers found it easier to persuade parents to buy online than in a shop.

3. A new way to help teenagers shop online is to use _________.

    A. a new machine                  B. special coins and notes

    C. prepaid cards                      D. pay-as-you-go mobile phones

4.What is the passage mainly about?

    A. Online shopping traps.             B. Internet users in the US and the UK.

    C. New credit cards for parents.       D. The arrival of cyber pocket money.

5. Which of the following words can best describe the writer’s attitude towards the phenomenon?

    A. Proud and satisfied.            B. Worried and anxious.

    C. Objective and informative.          D. Concerned and sad.

Twenty-first century humanity has mapped oceans and mountains, visited the moon, and surveyed the planets．But for all the progress, people still don’t know one another very well.

That brings about Theodore Zeldin’s “feast of conversation”－events where individuals pair with persons they don’t know for three hours of guided talk designed to get the past “Where are you from?”

Mr．Zeldin, an Oxford University professor, heads Oxford Muse, a 10-year-old foundation based on the idea that what people need is not more information, but more inspiration and encouragement.

The “feast” in London looks not at politics or events, but at how people have felt about work, relations among the sexes, hopes and fears, enemies and authority, the shape of their lives．The “menu of conversation” includes topics like “How have your priorities changed over the years?” Or, “What have you rebelled against the past?”

As participants gathered, Zeldin opened with a speech: that despite instant communications in a globalized age, issues of human heart remain．Many people are lonely, or in routines that discourage knowing the depth of one another．“We are trapped in shallow conversations and the whole point now is to think, which is sometimes painful,” he says．“But thinking interaction is what separates us from other species, except maybe dogs…who do have generations of human interactions.”

The main rules of the “feast”: Don’t pair with someone you know or ask questions you would not answer．The only awkward moment came when the multi-racial crowd of young adults to seniors, in sun hats, ties and dresses, looked to see whom with for hours．But 15 minutes later, everyone was seated and talking. They would be ‘intimate’, continuing full force until organizers interrupted them 180 minutes later.

“It’s encouraging to see the world is not just a place of oppression and distance from each other,” Zeldin summed up．“What we did is not ordinary, but it can’t be madder than the world already is.”

Some said they felt “liberated” to talk on sensitive topics. Thirty-something Peter, from East London, said that “it might take weeks or months to get to the level of interaction we suddenly opened up.”

1. What can the “conversations” be best described as?

    A. Deep and one-on-one.                B. Sensitive and mad.

    C. Instant and inspiring.                   D. Ordinary and encouraging.

2. In a “feast of conversations”, participants ________.

    A. pair freely with anyone they like

    B. have a guided talk for a set of period of time

    C. ask questions they themselves would not answer

    D. wear clothes reflecting multi-racial features．

3.In paragraph 6, “they would be ‘intimate’” is closest in meaning to “________”.

    A. they would have physical contact B. they would have in-depth talk

   C. they would be close friends        D. they would exchange basic information

4. According to Zeldin, what prevents many people thoroughly knowing one another?

    A. Loneliness or routines.          B. Shallow conversations.

    C. Unwillingness to think.          D. The fear for awkward moment.

5. From the passage, we can conclude that what Zeldin does is _________.

    A. an attempt to promote thinking interaction

    B. one of the maddest activities ever conducted

    C. a try to liberate people from old-fashioned ideas

    D. an effort to give people a chance of talking freely

The food we eat seems to have profound effects on our health. Although science has made enormous steps in making food more fit to eat, it has, at the same time, made many foods unfit to eat. Some research has shown that perhaps eighty percent of all human illnesses relate to diet and forty percent of cancer relates to the diet as well, especially cancer of the colon. Different cultures are more likely to cause certain different illnesses because of the food that is characteristic in these cultures.

That food is connected with illness is not a new discovery. In 1945, about 35 years ago, government researchers realized that nitrates, commonly used to preserve color in meats, and other food additives, caused cancer. Yet, these carcinogenic  additives remain in our food, and it becomes more difficult all the time to know which things on the packaging labels of processed food are helpful or harmful. The additives which we eat are not all so direct. Farmers often give penicillin to beef and living animals, and because of this, penicillin has been found in the milk of treated cow. Sometimes similar drugs are given to animals not for medical purposes, but for financial reasons. The farmers are simply trying to fatten the animals in order to obtain a higher price on the market. Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has tried repeatedly to control these procedures, the practices continue.　　

1. What is the best possible title of the passage?

　 A. Drug and Food             　B. Cancer and Health

　C. Food and Health              D. Health and Drug

2. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

　 A. Drugs are always given to animals for medical reasons.

　 B. Some of the additives in our food are added to the food itself and some are

given to the living animals.

　 C. Researchers have known about the potential dangers of food additives for over

thirty-five years.

　 D. Food may cause forty percent of cancer in world.

3. How has science done something harmful to mankind?

　A. Because of science, diseases caused by polluted food haven’t been virtually

eliminated.

　 B. It has caused a lack of information concerning the value of food.

　 C. Because of the application of science, some potentially harmful substances

have been added to food.

　D. The scientists have preserved the color of meat, but not of vegetables.

4. What are nitrates used for?

　 A. They preserve flavor in packaged foods.

　 B. They preserve the color of meats.

　 C. They are the objects of research.

5. The word ‘carcinogenic’ most nearly means ‘_________’.

　 A. trouble-making                 B. color-maintaining

　 C. money-making                 D .cancer-causing

In the 1960s, many young Americans were dissatisfied with American society. They wanted to end the Vietnam War and to make all of the people in the U.S. equal. Some of them decided to "drop out" of American society and form their own societies. They formed utopian communities, which they called “communes”, where they could follow their philosophy of “do your own thing”. A group of artists founded a commune in southern Colorado called "Drop City." Following the ideas of philosopher and architect Buckminster Fuller, they built dome-shaped houses from pieces of old cars. Other groups, such as author Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters, the followers of San Francisco poet Steve Gakin, and a group that called itself the Hog Farm, lived in old school houses and traveled around the United States. The Hog Farm became famous when they helped organize the Woodstock Rock Festival in 1969. Steve Gaskin’s followers tried to settle down on a farm in Tennessee, but they had to leave when some members of the group were arrested for growing marijuana.

　　Not all communes believed in the philosophy of “do your own thing”. However, Twin Oaks, a commune founded in Virgiania in the late 1960s, was based on the ideas of psychologist B.F.Skinner. The people who lived at Twin Oaks were carefully controlled by Skinner’s “conditioning” techniques to do things that were good for the community. In 1972, Italian architect Paolo Soleri began to build Arcosanti, a utopian city Arizsona where 2500 people will live closely together in one large building called an “archeology”. Soleri believes that people must live closely together so that they will all become one.

1.Why did some young Americans decide to “drop out” of society during the 1960s?

　　A. They were not satisfied with American society.

　　B. They wanted to grow marijuana.

　　C. They wanted to go to the Vietnam War.

　　D. They did not want all people to be equal.

2. Where did the members of the Hog Farm commune live?

　　A. In dome-shaped house.         B. In old school houses.

　　C. On a farm in Tennessee.        D. In an archeology in Arizona.

3. Who gave the people of Drop City the idea to build dome-shaped house?

　　A. Paolo Soleri.  　             B. B.G.Skinner.

　　C. Steve Gaskin.                D. Buckminster Fuller.

4. What was the Twin Oaks commune based on?

　　A. The philosophy of “do your own thing”.

　　B. Virginia in the late 1960s.

　　C. The ideas of psychologist.

　　D. The belief that people must live closely together.

5. What is an “archeology”?

　　A. A person who studies archaeology.

　　B. A large building where people live closely together.

　　C. A city in Arizona.

　　D. A technique to control people.