The year 2009 is the Year of Ox. The ox is a representative of the farming culture of China. In the farming economy （经济）, oxen are the major animals pulling plows （犁）.

Of course, the good of oxen is not limited to plowing.  In fact, they are seen as "boats on land" for their ability to carry loads. Besides, the whole body of an ox is full of treasures. Their meat and milk are food full of nutrition, and their skin can be used to make clothes and shoes. With all these qualities, oxen are regarded as generous creatures.

In the past, oxen played an important role in the spiritual life of the Chinese. Even today, oxen still play a special part in some folk activities. For example, some people who1ive in southwest China will cook cattle bone soup and share it among family members when holding the ceremony for children who reach 13. They believe that the cattle bone soup represents the blood relationship among family members. In order to express their love for oxen, people in some other areas will run to shake off diseases on the 16th day of the first month by the lunar calendar （农历）, and during their run they will take their oxen along, which indicates they regard the creature as human.

Because of the contribution of oxen in their lives, the Chinese people are very grateful to the animal. In addition, the use of oxen in ceremonies and the thanks people owe to oxen help to develop various traditional customs, which becomes an important part of the folk culture of the Chinese nation.

1.The words "boats an land" underlined in Paragraph 2 refer to _     .

A. animals for taking goods                 B. creatures for pulling plows

C. treasures of the folk culture              D. tools in the farming economy

2.From the third paragraph, we know that __.

A. oxen are no more important today than in the past

B. ceremonies are held when people cook cattle bone soup

C. oxen are treated as human in some areas of China

D. people run with oxen to shake off diseases every month

3.Which of the following helps to develop traditional customs?

A. The special role of oxen in farming.     B. People's respect and love for oxen.

C. The practical value of an ox's body.     D. The contribution of oxen to the economy.

4. Why does the author write the text?

A. To stress the importance of oxen in farming.   B. To introduce the Chinese folk culture.

C. To describe how to celebrate the Year of Ox.   D. To explain how to develop agriculture with oxen.

Sunday, October 5

Clear, 69°F

My wife, Eleanor , and I took the train from Paris to Strasbourg, where we were met by our driver and guide,and the minibus which goes along with the boat. We stopped off in Barn for an hour on the way. Then we were taken to Nancy where the boat was kept.

After the other passengers arrived, we had our first dinner on the boat. After dinner we walked into downtown Nancy, a village with a large square and wooden houses.

Monday, October 6

Rained last night, cloudy in the morning, 69°F

We spent about two hours in Nancy, then sailed on the Canal de la Marne au Rhine. Kind of a lazy day. Eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner, after dinner we watched a tape on Baccarat. Where we will visit tomorrow.

It was pleasant to sit out on deck （甲板）and watch the scenery go by at about 3 mph.

Tuesday, October 7

Light rain, 64°F

This mourning we drove over to Baccarat and toured its museum and the church , which has this unbelievable lamp that is going on a world tour the next day. We did lost of shopping , then walked across the bridge to see a very , very modern Catholic church with special Baccarat windows.

We drove to the top of the Voges Mountains and started down the eastern side Later we drove to Sorrenbourg to see the 13th century church at the Cordeliers. It contains the largest window by Mar.

Wednesday, October8

Cloudy.65 °F

Today we sailed from Schneckenbush to Saverne. We went though two caves, an extremely unusual part of the journey. This river scenery is very different. We were in a mountain valley with grassland on one side and a forest beginning to show some color on the other.

Thursday, October9

Cloudy, 66°F

Our dependable minibus was waiting to load the luggage and take us to the hotel where everyone went their separate ways. Our boating days are over until next time.

1. Where did the author get off the train?

A. Paris            B. Strasbourg           C. Nancy         D. Barn

2. On which days did the tourists spend most of their time on the boat?

A. Monday and Tuesday           B. Tuesday and Wednesday

C. Wednesday and Wednesday      D. Monday and Wednesday

3. From the text, we learn that Baccarat and Sorrenbourg are the names of_________.

A. towns           B. churches              C. museums       D. mountains

4.What does the author think of the tour?

A. Tiring            B. Expensive              C. Enjoyable      D. Quick

I know what you’re thinking : pizza （比萨饼）? For breakfast? But the truth is that you can have last night’s leftovers in the a. m. if you want to. 

I know lots of women who skip breakfast （不吃早餐） , and they have a ton of different excuses for doing it . Some say they don’t have time. others think they’re “saving” calories （卡路里）, still others just don’t like breakfast food .  

But the bottom line is that eating in the morning is very important when you’re trying to lose weight. “Eating just about anything from 300 to 400 calories would be better than nothing at all,” says Katherine Brooking , R , D , who developed the super-easy eating plan for this year’s “SELF CHALLENGE”. And even pizza can be healthy if it’s loaded with vegetables, and you stick to one small piece.   21  Breakfast is one meal I never miss, and the same goes for most weight loss success stories. Research shows that eating breakfast keeps you from overeating later in the day. Researchers at the University of Southem California found that breakfast skippers have a bigger chance of gaining weight than those who regularly have a morning meal.  

So eat something in the morning, anything. I know plenty of friends who end up having no breakfast altogether, and have just coffee or orange juice. I say, try heating up last night’s leftovers-it may sound crazy, but if it works for you, do it! I find if I tell myself, “You can always eat it tomorrow,” I put away the leftovers instead of eating more that night. Try it…you may save yourself some pre-bedtime calories. And watch your body gain the fat-burning effects.  

1.The word “leftovers” in Paragraph 1 probably means__________.

 A. food remaining after a meal        B. things left undone 

C. meals made of vegetables          D. pizza topped with fruit 

2.What can we infer from the text? 

A. Working women usually have breakfast in a hurry.  

B. Many people have wrong ideas about breakfast.  

C. There are some easy ways of cooking a meal.  

D. Eating vegetables helps save energy.  

3.According to the last paragraph, it is important to____________.  

A. eat something for breakfast        B. be careful about what you eat 

C. heat up food before eating it        D. eat calorie-controlled food 

4.The text is written mainly for those_____________.  

A. who go to work early        B. who want to lose weight 

C. who stay up late            D. who eat before sleep 

We already know the fastest, least expensive way to slow climate change: Use less energy. With a little effort, and not much money, most of us could reduce our energy diets by 25 percent or more—doing the Earth a favor while also helping our wallets. 

Not long ago, my wife, PJ, and I tried a new diet—not to lose a little weight but to answer an annoying question about climate change. Scientists have reported recently that the world is bending up even faster than predicted only a few years ago, and that the consequences could be severe if we don’t keep reducing emissions（排放）of carbon dioxide（CO₂）and other greenhouse gases that are trapping heat in our atmosphere.  21世纪We decided to try an experiment. For one month we recorded our personal emissions of CO₂^. . We wanted to see how much we could cut back, so we went on a strict diet. The average US household（家庭）produces about 150 pounds of CO₂ a day by doing common-place things like turning on air-conditioning or driving cars. That’s more than twice the European average and almost five times the global average, mostly because Americans drive more and have bigger houses. But how much should we try to reduce? For an answer, I checked with Tim Flannery, author of The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth. In his book, he had challenged readers to make deep cuts in personal emissions to keep the world from reaching extremely important tipping points, such as the melting（融化）of the ice sheets in Greenland or West Antarctica. “To stay below that point, we need to reduce CO₂ emissions by 80 percent,” he said. 

Good advice, I thought. I’d opened our bedroom windows to let in the wind. We’d gotten so used to keeping our air-conditioning going around the clock. I’d almost forgotten the windows even opened. We should not let this happen again. It’s time for us to change our habits if necessary. 

1. Why did the author and his wife try a new diet?

A. To take special kinds of food          B. To respond to climate change. 

C. To lose weight                      D. To improve their health

2.The underlined words “tipping points” most probably refer to  .

A. freezing points       B. burning points       C. melting points     D. boiling points

3.It can be inferred from the passage that 2___.   ..

A. it is necessary to keep the air-conditioning on all the time ..

B. it seems possible for every household to cut emissions of CO₂

C. the average US household produces about 3,000 pounds of CO₂ a month.

D. the average European household produces about 1,000 pounds of CO₂ a month.

4.Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?

 A. Saving Energy Starts at Home         B. Changing Our Habits Begins at work

 C. Changing Climate Sounds Reasonable  D. Reducing Emissions of CO₂ Proves Difficult    

阅读下面对话，掌握其大意，并根据所给字母的提示，在标有题号的右边横线上写出一个英语单词的完整、正确形式，使对话通顺。

      J = John       R = Robert

J:  I hear that an important meeting is to be ( 76 ) h        in our    76.           

    city. What’s it about?

R:  It’s said that its (77) g        is to make clean drinking         77.         

    water available to all.

J:   Who do you know will (78) t         part in the meeting?      78.       

R:   Representatives from more than 80 countries, as is

(79) r        on TV.                                         79.       

J:   Could you tell me (80) m        ?                         80.        

R:   Sure! Three things will be (81) d         at the meeting       81.        

     —ways of making good use of water, (82) r        water      82.         

     pollution and saving water.

J:   That’s good news for people in this area. As you may know,

there are too (83) m        factories around here, which let     83.        

out plenty of poisonous gas and polluted water. So we eagerly

   hope that strong (84) m         will be taken to stop the         84.       

 water pollution.

R:   I quite agree with you. Let’s hope for the day to come as

     soon as (85) p         .                                 85.         

各个时代的高中生是怎样庆祝自己的毕业典礼并留住对同窗的美好回忆的呢?假如你是校英文报的小记者，最近就此进行了一次调查。下面的表格显示的是20世纪70年代、80年代

以及现在高中生毕业留念时的做法，请你根据表格内容用英语写一篇文章反映这种变化并发表在校报英文版上。

注意: 1词数100左右。

2.可适当增加情节以使行文连贯。

When Tony came to himself, he found himself       to a big pole in a dark house.

On the one hand, they’d love to have kids, but    they don’t want to give up freedom.

To our           , China overcame all the difficulties caused by the disasters in 2008 and successfully hosted the 29^th Olympic Games.

We can’t accurately    what will happen next.