If you have a chance to go to Finland, you will probably be surprised to find how “foolish” the Finnish people are.

    Take the taxi drivers for example. Taxis in Finland are mostly high-class Benz with a fare of two US dollars a kilometer. You can go anywhere in one, tell the driver to drop you at any place, say that you have some business to attend to, and then walk off without paying your fare. The driver would not show the least sign of anxiety.

    The dining rooms in all big hotels not only serve their guests, but also serve outside diners. Hotel guests have their meals free, so they naturally go to the free dining rooms to have their meals. The most they would do to show their good faith is to wave their registration（登记）card to the waiter. With such a loose check, you can easily use any old registration card to take a couple of friends to dine free of charge.

    The Finnish workers are paid by the hour. They are very much on their own as soon as they have agreed with the boss on the rate. From then on they just say how many hours they have worked and they will be paid accordingly.

    With so many loopholes （漏洞） in everyday life, surely Finland must be a heaven to those who love to take “petty advantages”.  But the strange thing is, all the taxi passengers would always come back to pay their fare after they have attended to their business; not a single outsider has ever been found in the free hotel dining rooms. And workers always give an honest account of the exact hours they put in. As the Finns always act on good faith in everything they do, living in such a society has turned everyone into a real “gentleman”.

1. The underlined words in this passage means to “______”.

　　A. be ready to help others         B. make good use of one’s friends

　　C. be a little ahead of others       D. gain something at other’s expense

2. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

　　A. While taking a taxi in Finland, you can get off without first paying your fare.

　　B. In a big hotel in Finland, you can enjoy free meals if you’re living in the hotel.

　　C. The bosses in Finland pay the employees according to registration of their working hours.

　　D. The workers are always honest with their working hours.

3.We can learn from the passage that ______.

　　A. the Finnish society is of very high moral （道德） level

　　B. there are many loopholes in everyday life in Finland

　　C. in Finland, most taxi drivers will not charge you anything

　　D. everyone in Finland is like a gentleman, for they have faith in themselves

4.Which of the following is the best title of the passage ?

　　A. Life in Finland       B. A Society with “Foolish” People

　　C. What a Life          D. Honest accounts of the Finns

Most recently, it's very common in students that they need a parent present for job interviews．     

Naturally, it's easy to blame the students in these situations, but the bigger problem is us．We—as parents—are so eager to shelter our kids that we fail to realize that this in itself is harming them．As the mother of two young sons, I have to remind myself constantly that the biggest responsibility I have as a parent is to help them develop the skills needed to live without me．So, I'll let them fail．

    I'll let them fail because as long as they are safe and warm inside their comfort zones, they will never grow．Although failure comes along with loss, heartbreak, disappointment, etc, these will be part of growth for them．And leaving them alone is my way of helping them become equipped to fit in this world as we know it today．From terrorism and seemingly endless natural disasters, to our national debt and beyond, if we expect the next generation to stand up to the very real problems of our time, we need to stop feeding them and start teaching them how to fish．

    My children now are becoming little masters of compromise(妥协），but they try to negotiate （协商） everything now．It's a small price to help them learn a skill they'll use for the rest of their lives, including when I don't accompany them on job interviews．

1.Why do parents accompany their kids on job interviews?

    A．Because they want to protect their kids from difficulties．

    B．Because they think they can help them on the questions．

    C．Because their kids are too shy to attend interviews．

    D．Because their kids strongly request them to do so．

2.According to the author, what is beneficial to kids' development?

    A．Sheltering them．                     B．Keeping them safe．

    C．Leaving them alone．                  C．Blaming them．

3.Why does the author stress failure in kids' life?

    A．To make them stronger than other kids．

    B．To help them grow in this tough world．

    C．To help them develop all social skills．

    D．To make them learn to compromise．

4.Which of the following might be the best title for the text?

    A．Never Shelter Your Kids                B．Let Your Kids Fail

    C．Be Eager to Grow Up                  D．Live Without Parents

We've all heard the old saying，“Sticks and stones can break my bones，but words can never hurt me.” Don't you believe it？Words are powerful，and they can hurt—a lot. In fact，if you're not careful，you can even hurt yourself，by using the wrong word in your writing.

    Recently a friend sent me a copy of an e-mail she received from the customer service department of her credit card company，after she contacted them with a question about her account. She was happy with their positive response. But as I read the e-mail，one line jumped out at me：“In lieu of good customer service...”

    Did they really mean they were offering her a few extra reward points instead of good customer service？I doubt it. More likely，what the customer service department meant to say was，“Because good customer service is important to us...” followed by the details of what they were doing to make sure she remained a happy customer.

    So why didn't the writer say that？I can only guess that perhaps the writer liked the phrase “in lieu of”，thought it sounded more interesting than saying “because”，and so used it—without bothering to check the true meaning.

    Have you ever done that？Try to impress others with a big word，only to find out you've used the word incorrectly？It's just the opposite effect，isn't it？You may impress people all right，but it's not the impression you were going for.

    When you write，remember to choose your words carefully. People may still disagree with what you say，but they won't be able to dismiss you because you made careless mistakes in how you said it.

1.What's the writer's purpose in giving the saying?

    A．To amuse the reader.     B．To persuade the reader.

    C．To support a conclusion.  D．To lead to the topic.

2.What does the phrase “in lieu of” most probably mean?

    A．Because of   B．In honour of   C．Instead of      D．In favour of

3.According to the writer，the customer service department ______.

    A．didn't prefer to use familiar words to attract customers

    B．didn't express what they really meant

    C．didn't need to offer their customers extra reward points

    D．succeeded in impressing their customers

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

It’s such a common event that you probably never asked yourself why you sleep.  ___1____ In fact, for sleep researchers, it’s one of the biggest unanswered questions in the field.

Stop and think about it for a second. Why should we sleep? ____2_____ But we sleep every night, even when we have had plenty of rest. There are，no doubt，several different answers to this question, but let’s just consider one general purpose of sleep: ____3_____ Human beings are creatures that are normally active during daylight hours, when our senses function most effectively.  ____4_____ We can’t see objects well, our color vision is entirely lost, and we don’t have the smelling or hearing sharpness of other animals.  So it actually does make sense to have us stay where we are during the dangerous period when night-waking animals are walking here and there. And one sure way to make sure we don’t fall down everywhere and get lost or eaten is to have us not move for seven or eight hours, rising again only when the light is back and our survival chances are better.

It’s not the only reason we sleep. ____5____Perhaps even the most important one.

A. Is it because we get tired?

B. Should that put human beings in a terrible situation?

C. But from a scientific point of view, this is far from an ordinary matter.

D. But in terms of evolution, it may have been one of the first reasons.

E. Furthermore, if you were designing an animal, would you have it come into long periods of unconsciousness every twenty-four hours? 

F. Sleep as a survival approach.

G. At night, humans do rather poorly.

词汇填空（共10分，每题1分）(答案必须填到答题纸上)

1 One shouldn’t ________ (假装)to be what he isn’t.

2 The key to ________ （复兴）the morality sense of the public is to protect those that offer help 

  from baseless accusations.

3 The expert suggests that an healthy diet should ________ largely _______ (组成)vegetables.

4 The abolishment of slavery _______ (标志)the beginning of equal share of civil rights between the

  black and white.

5 Great concern has been raised about Steven Jobs’________ (退休)，let alone his death.

6 Since air flights have been _______ _______ _______（增长）, there will be a great demand for Airbus A380 airplanes.

7 It makes sense for the customers to make sure of the________ (保证) of a product before [来源:学,科,网Z,X,X,K]

  deciding to make the purchase of it.

8 During the economic recession, firms are ________（挣扎） against a prolonged gloomy sales [来源:Z.xx.k.Com]

  performance.

9 The process of urbanization accounts for the loss of habitat of the ________(濒危的) animals.

10 There was a massive demonstration in Greece ________ (涉及)thousands of people.

Our class recently has had a heated discussion about if the historic old buildings should be tear down. Opinions varies from one to another. Some students support the protection of those buildings so they are carriers of history through which the future generations can deep understand the development of our city. Beside, the historic old buildings can also arouse people’s love for the city.

    In the contrary, some other students think that the old buildings may hold back the development of economy and the process of modernization. It may affect the beauty of the city.

    As far I’m concerned, I approve of（赞成） the former opinion. But if a building is worth of little, it may be proper to demolish(摧毁) it and make better use of that area. We should just weight the advantages and disadvantages.

假设你是李华。你的英国笔友John写信告诉你近日他由于沉迷于电脑游戏，健康受到很大影响。他十分焦虑。请你根据以下要点提示，给他写一封回信，建议他养成良好的生活习惯。要点如下：注意：词数100左右

1.限制玩游戏的时间，把精力逐渐转移到其他事情上；

2.规定起床和睡觉的时间，形成良好的作息时间；

3.每天锻炼半小时，增强体质。

Late in the afternoon，they arrived at ________ small village _______ north of the West Hill.

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

I prefer a flat in Shuangyashan to ______ in Jiamusi, because I want to live near my Mom' s.

   A. one             B. that          C. it              D. this

It is reported that we have produced _______ this year as we did last year.

  A. as much cotton twice       B. twice as much cotton as

  C. twice as much cotton       D. much as cotton twice