Believe it or not, weather forecasts seven days in advance are,        , wrong half the time, according to a US survey.

         A．at first                      B．in brief                      C．on average              D．by chance

—If he       , he      that food.

—Luckily he was sent to the hospital immediately.

         A．was warned, would not take                       B．had been ,warned, would not have taken

         C．would be warned, had not taken                D．would have been warned, had not taken

He is such a lazy man       nobody wants to work with      .

         A．as; him                     B．that; /                       C．as; /                          D．whom; him

I don’t want       any more trouble, you see?

         A．there being             B．it to be                     C．it being                     D．there to be

Statistics show that nearly three-quarters of 30-year-of Italian males still live at their parents’ home.

The Italian（36） grows up thinking his other is the Virgin Mary, and so （37） he thinks he is Jesus, or God’s gift to the world. It is not （38） that Italian males find it very difficult to （39） home. Their mothers make sure that their（40） are so cosseted（宠爱）that they have no real wish to leave. Even when they are （41）, they continue to behave as if they aren’t, taking their（42） home at least once a week for their mother（43） and iron.

They （44） treating home as a hotel, just like teenagers in northern European countries. Why give up a life of luxury and financial（45） with a woman who treats you as the Son of God for an （46） future with a woman（47） might ask you to do things around the （48） that you have never （49） to do, like making your bed or drying the dishes?

In fact young Italian males (50) no choice. There is little tradition of them(51) away from home during their student years, and it is(52) for them to find decent jobs until they are in their thirties;(53) the absence of suitably priced accommodation makes it practically(54) for them to afford to move out. They find themselves(55) in a trap: wanting to live on their own, but unable to leave the nest and under fire for not doing so.

1.A．child                                B．male                         C．student                    D． female

2.A．hopefully                       B．naturally                  C．happily                     D．generally

3.A．surprising                      B．exciting                    C．easy                          D．convenient

4.A．go                                    B．come                        C．leave                         D．return

5.A．sons                                B．sisters                      C．friends                      D．children

6.A．married                         B．well                           C．tried                          D．ill

7.A．books                             B．clothes                     C．cars                           D．bicycles

8.A．make                              B．cook                          C．wash                         D．see

9.A．turn up                           B．end up                      C．get up                       D．pick up

10.A．difficulty                      B．problem                   C．trouble                     D．security

11.A．bright                           B．uncertain                 C．splendid                   D．prornising

12.A．when       B．who                C．what            D．which

13.A．house   B．corner        C．place D．school

14.A．remembered         B．forgot         C．stopped     D．learnt

15.A．like        B．prefer         C．hate   D．have

16.A．going    B．living  C．putting       D．getting

17.A．unusual         B．usual C．worried      D．nervous

18.A．but        B．when C．while D．where

19.A．different        B．impossible C．important  D．casual

20.A．dressed         B．convinced  C．determined        D．caught

We invite you to join us this summer for the First ePals Conferencel

    Dear ePals Community Member, ePals will hold its first conference

for tech directors and teachers on Tuesday, July 15, in Boston. Our one-day

event is a pre-conference of Alan.

November’s Building Learning Commurities 2008 Conference.

Come see how ePals, the Internet’s largest social learning network, can

transform your classroom,

school and district with our award-winning, safe and protected School

M@ilTM and SchoolBlogTM

offered at no cost.

ePals team members, expert teachers and instructional technology directors will share their

experiences using the ePals Global Community to build 21st Century skills in the classroom.

Among the speakers are:

•       Tim DiScipio, co-founder of ePals, sharing the vision for global collaboration and corporate partnerships with National Geographic, the classmate PC powered by Intel, and the XO from One Laptop Per Child

•       Dr. Kari Stubbs on "ePals 101: Where and How to Start Using Global Collaborative Tools in Project-based Learning." Dr. Stubbs led the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) initiative in Kansas before joining ePals as director of professional development.

•       Dr. Rita Oates on "Accomplishing the New NETS Standards for Students with ePals Tools and Activities." Dr. Oates formerly was in charge of ed tech in Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

•       Dr. Laurie Henry, University of Kentucky, talking about literacy(读写能力) issues in the online world

•       Dr. Shelia Gersh, City Colleges of New York, sharing her ePals project as an example of a successful 21st century online educational experience

•       Carol Bar, teacher at Blue Valley High School(KS), "Blogging for Language Acquisition"

•       Adina Popa, teacher at Potowmack Elementary (VA), will speak about schoolwide use of ePals and video conferencing to other classrooms

•       Several district tech directors talking about best practices in implementation(安装) and use in their districts for safe and protected student email and blogs

•       Other classroom teachers sharing their experiences for instructional success in the online community and using free, safe and protected online tools from ePals

Register and get more information at www.epals.com/conference

1.The letter is written to _______.

         A．attract more customers

         B．answer readers’ questions

         C．inform related people of a conference

         D．recommend some teachers

2.From the text we can learn that ______.

         A．the July 15 conference is just a pre-conference

         B．the July 15 conference will last till November

         C．BLC08 will be set up at the July 15 conference

         D．the BLC08 Conference will be held this summer

3.________ will talk about his/her experiences in using the ePals and video conference in classrooms at school.

         A．Tim DiScipio                                                   B．Dr. Laurie Henry  

         C．Adina Popa                                                  D．A tech director

4.It can be inferred from the text that ePals here _______.

         A．refer to those who keep in touch with each other through email

         B．is in fact a software for online language study

         C．is an expensive tool for language learners on the Internet

         D．refer to all the language teachers who globally communicate with each other

 Autumn means different things to different people. It all depends on your personality, said British naturalist Richard Mabey. "Personality shapes your view of the season," he said. "You may see it as a fading away, a packing up（结束）, or as a time of packing in another sense – the excited gathering of resources before a long journey."

If this is true, perhaps it tells us a little about, for instance, Thomas Hood, the 19th Century English poet. About November, he wrote:

No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees

November!

On the other hand, another English poet John Keats, already sensing he was seriously ill, was inspired by a late September day to pen one of the most famous poems in the English language, To Autumn. He wrote to a friend afterwards that there was something comforting and healing about it.

According to Richard Mabey, Keats has the biological evidence on his side. Autumn is not a time of slowing down, but a time of new beginnings and great movements of creatures. For example, just at the moment that Keats's "gathering swallows" （in To Autumn） are departing for Africa, millions of creatures are fleeing from the frozen north like Iceland, Greenland and Russia to winter along the east and south coasts of Britain. According to scientists, before falling, the leaves transfer their chlorophyll（叶绿素） and carbohydrates into the woody parts of the tree for safe-keeping over winter. What remains are the natural antioxidants（防老剂） in the leaves: the yellow and orange carotenoids（类胡萝卜素）, and another protective chemical specially produced for autumn, the bright-red anthocyanin（花青素）. High color is not a signal of deterioration（退化） and decline, but of detox（排毒的） ability and good health.

A century after Keats, the American poet Loren Eiseley wrote in his journal: "Suppose we saw ourselves burning like maples in a golden autumn. [And that we could] disintegrate（瓦解） like autumn leaves…dropping their substance like chlorophyll. Would not our attitude towards death be different?"

1.From Thomas Hood’s poem, we may infer that _______.

         A．he suffered a lot from cold November

         B．he missed the shining summer days very much

         C．he had a negative attitude towards autumn

         D．he enjoyed butterflies and bees very much

2.Which word can best describe Loren Eiseley’s attitude towards autumn?

         A．Optimistic.             B．Fearful.                   C．Doubtful.                 D．Realistic.

3.In autumn, leaves turn yellow before falling because ______.

         A．they can’t bear the freezing

         B．they can’t get enough water from the wood part

         C．chlorophyll and carbohydrates have been lost through leaves

         D．chlorophyll and carbohydrates have come back to the wood part

4.What does the underlined sentence mean?

         A．Man can never live long, just as leaves must leave the tree annually.

         B．Man is different from autumn leaves, which will come again the next spring.

         C．Man should treat death calmly, just like autumn leaves fall to the ground.

         D．Man should have a positive attitude towards death, quite different from autumn leaves.

JAMES Brown, the legendary US singer known as the “Godfather of Soul”, died Christmas morning, 2006. he was 73.

Brown was one of the major musical influences of the last

50 years. He provided the basis for much of black music and

most of pop music with his early hits like. “Please, Please,

Please”. He essentially created funk（“疯客”音乐）with

mid-1960s songs such as "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag".

It won him a Grammy Award as best rhythm-and-blues song,

and it was only the beginning of Mr. Brown's rhythmic

breakthroughs. His rapid-footed dancing inspired Michael Jackson and Prince. Rap stars of recent years, such as Fat Boys and Public Enemy, have all borrowed his lyrics and rhythms.

Brown's songs in the late 1960s and early 1970s, such as "Hot Pants" and "Make It Funky", mixed the sophistication(复杂) of jazz-style arrangements with raw funk. With these songs, Brown established himself as the godfather not just of soul, but of all subsequent styles of dance music: funk, disco, hip hop.

"He made soul music a world music," said Al Sharpton, who toured with Brown in the 1970s and imitates his hairstyle to this day. "What Brown was to music in terms of soul and hip hop, rap, all of that, is what Bach(巴赫, 德国作曲家) was to classical music. He put everybody on a different beat, a different style of music."

Amid the civil rights movement of the 1960s Mr. Brown used his fame and music for social messages. He released "Don't Be a Dropout" in 1966 and met with Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey to promote a stay-in-school initiative. Two years later "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud" insisted, "We won't quit movin' until we get what we deserve."

1.The passage is mainly about _______.

         A．black music in the US

B．James Brown's unique music styles

C．James Brown's contribution to American music

D．great musicians in the US in the last 50 years

2.The author intends to tell us by the last paragraph that ______.

A．James Brown was proud of being a black

B．James Brown was also active in political movements

C．the then Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey was one of Brown's fans

D．no children dropped out of school because of James Brown's social influence

3. Which of the following indicates that Brown's career began to take off?

A．His rapid-footed dancing.

B．His three years in prison.

C．His tour around the country with Al Sharpton.

D．His mid-1960s songs such as "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag".

4.James Brown has influenced all American music types EXCEPT ______.

         A．classical music                                                B．rhythm-and-blues    

         C．Rap                                                                    D．hip hop

China news, Beijing, Feb. 9 – Housing price in China has always aroused heated discussions among property developers（房产开发商）and ordinary Chinese. To many property developers and local government officials, housing price in China is still low compared with many developed countries. However, the average housing price in the United States is only 8,000 yuan per square meter, while in China, it is even higher than in the United States. This shows that there are some bubbles(泡沫) in Chinese real estate market, the International Finance News reported.

Although the average price of residential houses in the United States, after converted（转换）to Renminbi, is about 8,000 yuan per square meter, the houses in US are not sold in terms of building area, as most Chinese property developers do when they sell their houses. If US property developers sell their houses according to the building area, then the housing price will be even lower than 8,000 yuan per square meter. In most big Chinese cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, houses are sold a t a price even higher than those in the US.

The high housing sales price in large cities in China proves that Chinese real estate（房地产）market does have some bubbles. Moreover, Chinese houses can not be compared with houses in US in terms of building quality, environment and supporting facilities. Furthermore, it should be noted that American people’s average income is several dozen times higher than that of Chinese people. How can the Chinese afford to buy a house which is even more expensive than that sold in US?

At the beginning of 2007, Chinese government issued a set of policies that aimed to benefit the public. Now in order to reduce the high housing prices, the government can regulate (控制) the real estate market by raising tax on property industry and controlling the release of loans（贷款）and lands to property developers. At the same time, the government should allow people to build more houses through various fund-raising channels, such as funds collected from buyers or raised by working units. By applying these multiple means, it is expected that the high housing prices can be lowered.

1.What is the average housing price per square meter in China?

         A．8000 yuan.              B．10000 yuan.            C．7000 yuan.              D．it’s not mentioned here.

2.Which of the following does NOT support the idea that the average housing price in China is  even higher than in the United States?

        A．Chinese houses can not be compared with houses in US in terms of building quality, environment and supporting facilities.

        B．American people’s average income is several dozen times higher than that of Chinese       

people.

        C．The houses in US are not sold in terms of building area, as most Chinese property       

developers do when they sell their houses.

        D．There population who need houses in China than in the United States.

3.How many measures are mentioned in the last paragraph in order to reduce the high housing  prices?  

         A．Four.                        B．Three.                     C．Tow.                         D．One.

4.What is the main idea of this passage?

      A．The housing price in China is so high that the government should do something useful to

prevent it.

        B．There are some bubbles in Chinese real estate market.

        C．The average housing price in China is even higher than in the United States.

        D．The Chinese government issued a set of policies that aimed to benefit the public.

Three armed robbers stole two Pablo Picasso prints from an art museum in downtown Sao

Paulo on Thursday, which was the city’s second high-profile art theft in less than a year. The bandits also took two oil paintings by well-know Brazilian artists Emiliano Di Cavalcanti and Lasar Segall, said Carla Regina, a spokeswoman for the Pinacoteca do Estado museum.

The Picasso prints stolen were "The Painter and the Model" from 1963 and "Minotaur, Drinker and Women" from 1933, according to a statement from the Sao Paulo Secretary of State for Culture, which oversees the museum. The prints and paintings have a combined value of $612,000, the statement and a museum official said.

About noon, three armed men paid the $2.45 entrance fee and immediately went to the second-floor gallery where the works were being exhibited, bypassing more valuable pieces, authorities said. "This indicates to us that they probably received an order" to take those specific works, Youssef Abou Chain, head of Sao Paulo's organized crime unit, told reporters at a news conference. The assailants overpowered three unarmed museum guards and grabbed the works, officials said. The robbery took about 10 minutes and the museum was nearly empty at the time. The assailants took the pieces — frames and all — out of the museum in two bags. The institution has no metal detectors.

In December, Picasso's "Portrait of Suzanne Bloch" and "O Lavrador de Cafe" by Candido Portinari, an influential Brazilian artist, were stolen from the Sao Paulo Museum of Art by three men who used a crowbar（铁撬棍）and car jack to force open one of the museum's steel doors. The framed paintings were found Jan. 8, covered in plastic and leaning against a wall in a house on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, South America's largest city. One of the suspects in that robbery — a former TV chef — turned himself over to police in January, who already had two suspects in custody（监禁）.

1.What did the armed men steal on Thursday?

         A．Two prints by Pablo Picasso

        B．Two oil painting by Brazilian artists

        C．Two prints by Pablo Picasso and two oil paintings by two Brazilian artists.

        D．Two prints by two Brazilian artists and two oil paintings by Picasso Pablo.

2.Why didn't the thieves take other more valuable works?

        A．Because they didn't know that the other pieces were worth more.

        B．Probably because they had received an order for the prints that they took.

        C．Because they didn't have enough time. [来源:Zxxk.Com]

        D．Because they were in such a hurry that they couldn’t get them all.

3.How many people were in the museum during the robbery?

        A．A lot. The museum was crowded.

        B．Not too many. It was almost empty.

        C．There were a lot of people outside the museum.

        D．Only three of them.

4.According to the passage, which of the followings is TRUE?

        A．In December, "Portrait of Suzanne Bloch" and "O Lavrador de Cafe" painted by Candido

Portinari were stolen.

        B．There are steel doors and no detectors in Sao Paulo Museum of Art.

        C．Three robbers defeated three armed museum guards and took away the works on Thursday.

        D．Three suspects in the first high-profile art theft in less than a year were arrested.