People have been painting pictures for at least 30,000 years. The earliest pictures were painted by people who hunted animals. They used to paint pictures of the animals they wanted to catch and kill. Pictures of this kind have been found on the walls of caves in France and Spain. No one knows why they were painted there. Perhaps the painters thought that their pictures would help them to catch these animals. Or perhaps human beings have always wanted to tell stories in pictures.

About 5,000 years ago, the Egyptians and other people in the Near East began to use pictures as kind of writing. They drew simple pictures or signs to represent things and ideas, and also to represent the sounds of their language. The signs these people used became a kind of alphabet.

The Egyptians used to record information and to tell stories by putting picture-writing and pictures together. When an important person died, scenes and stories from his life were painted and carved on the walls of the place where he was buried. Some of these pictures are like modern comic strip stories. It has been said that Egypt is the home of the comic strip. But, for the Egyptians, pictures still had magic power. So they did not try to make their way of writing simple. The ordinary people could not understand it.

By the year 1,000 BC, people who lived in the area around the Mediterranean Sea had developed a simpler system of writing. The signs they used were very easy to write, and there were fewer of them than in the Egyptian system. This was because each sign, or letter, represented only one sound in their language. The Greeks developed this system and formed the letters of the Greek alphabet. The Romans copied the idea, and the Roman alphabet is now used all over the world.

These days, we can write down a story, or record information, without using pictures. But we still need pictures of all kinds: drawing, photographs, signs and diagrams. We find them everywhere: in books and newspapers, in the street, and on the walls of the places where we live and work. Pictures help us to understand and remember things more easily, and they can make a story much more interesting.

1.Pictures of animals were painted on the walls of caves in France and Spain because ______.

A. the hunters wanted to see the pictures    

B. the painters were animal lovers

C. the painters wanted to show imagination

D. the pictures were thought to be helpful

2.The Greek alphabet was simpler than the Egyptian system for all the following reasons      EXCEPT that _______.

   A. the former was easy to write    

B. there were fewer signs in the former    

C. the former was easy to pronounce

D. each sign stood for only one sound

3.Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. The Egyptian signs later became a particular alphabet.

B. The Egyptians liked to write comic-strip stories.

C. The Roman alphabet was developed from the Egyptian one.    

D. The Greeks copied their writing system from the Egyptians.

4.In the last paragraph, the author thinks that pictures ___________.

A. should be made comprehensible

B. should be made interesting

C. are of much use in our life     

D. have disappeared from our life

Television, which made its first serious appearance in 1939, did not become common until the early 1950s. Since then, millions of children have grown up in front of the set, and many people now worry about the effect that TV has on the young, and on society in general. Educators, psychologists, and crime experts wonder if television should be abolished(取消). Many ordinary parents wish it had never been invented. Why are they so afraid? Is television as harmful as they think it is?

Like almost anything else, television has its good and its bad sides. One should surely thank its inventors for the joy and interest that they have brought into the lives of the old, the sick, and the lonely -- all those who, without it, would have no pleasure and no window on the world.

In truth, television has opened windows in everybody's life. No newspaper has ever reached so many people and shown so clearly what was happening right now in their own country and everywhere else. TV not only gives the news instantly, it also shows it in pictures more powerful than words. It can be said that TV has brought reality to the public. Millions of people now have seen the effects of a battle, a flood, a fire, a crime, disasters of every sort on the screen.

Unfortunately, television's influence has been extremely harmful to the young. Children do not have enough experience to realize that TV shows present an unreal world. They want to imitate what they see. They do believe that the violence they see is normal and acceptable. By the time they are out of high school, most young people have watched about 15,000 hours of television, and have seen about 18,000 killings or other acts of violence. All educators and psychologists agree that the "television generations" are more violent than their parents and grandparents,

According to the same experts, the young are also less patient. Used to TV shows, where everything is quick and entertaining, they do not have the patience to read an article without pictures; to read a book that requires thinking; to listen to a teacher who doesn't do funny things like the people on children's programs. And they expect all problems to be solved happily in ten, fifteen or thirty minutes. That's the time it takes on the screen.

It is certain that television has deeply changed our lives and our society. It is certain that, along with its benefits, it has brought many serious problems. To these problems we must soon find a solution because, whether we like it or not, television is here to stay.

1.First TV set was made ______.

A. in 1939                  B. in 1950s

C. in 1940s                 D. in 1919

2.Which of the following people have a view on TV different from the others?

A. Educators.                   B. TV producers.

C. Crime experts.               D. Psychologists.

3.According to the author, who need TV most?

A. Educators.

B. Crime experts.

C. The old and the lonely.

D. The children and their parents.

4.We can conclude that ‘television generations’ are_______.

A. lonely                        B. more patient

C. more violent             D. more gentle

M: Excuse me, how can I get to the Riverside Theatre?

W: Sorry. I didn't catch (1.)w________ you said.                           

M: Please (2.)s________ me where the Riverside Theatre is.             

W: Do you speak French? I'm a (3.)f________ here.                      

M: Oh, wonderful! I come from Paris. Is there a Riverside Theatre near here?

W: OK. Let me tell you the way. Walk (4.)a________ the river and take      

the fourth (5.)t________ on the left, then go down until you reach the 

second set of traffic (6.)l________. Turn right at the end of the road      

and you will see the theatre.

M: Good heavens! What a long way!

W: You can take a taxi if you can't (7.)r________ what I told you or if you    

don't want to walk a long way.

M: Well, I like (8.)w________. It's a fine day for it, isn't it? And           

Shakespeare's play is worth the (9.)e________!                      

W: Yes, you are right. I like Shakespeare too!

M: Thank you very much.

W: It's a (10.)p________.                                          

假设你是新华中学的学生李明，班里从外地转来一名同学张华，他一时无法融入新的班集体，感到很苦恼请根据下列要点给他写一封信：

1．帮他分析原因

2.给他提出建议(至少两条)

3.陈述你帮助他的具体打算

注意：1．词数：100左右；

2．信的开头和结尾已给出(不算入总词数)；

Dear Zhang Hua,

I’m sorry to hear that you have trouble in getting along well with the new class. So I hope I can give you a hand.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours sincerely,

Li Ming　

 ----Did Susanna visit you again ______ next year?

----No, it was almost ten years before she came to see me ______ second time.

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

 It is still unclear ______ the little boy got the CD player to work.

A. where             B. what             C. that             D. how

 ----I can’t find my favorite magazine.       

----I saw Jack going away with ______, but I’m not sure whether it’s yours.

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

 ________ the two designs, and you will find what problem there is with yours.

   A. Comparing         B. Compared         C. To compare           D. Compare

 I need to call my friend David _____ coat I walked off by mistake yesterday.

   A. in whose          B. in that          C. with which           D. with her

 The news that Xiamen Xiang’an Tunnel, China’s first undersea tunnel, has been put into traffic excites us greatly,

______?

   A. doesn’t it           B. does it              C. do they          D. don’t they