Although the new year is already here, the great moments of the old year are still in the memory. Let’s look back at some of these.

   the United States

   One of the world’s largest New Year’s Eve parties was held in Times Square, New Year. The festival attracted hundreds of thousands of people to watch brightly-lit ball drop on a landmark building at the stroke(报时的钟声) of midnight.

   A great amount of confetti(五彩纸屑) was released from the sky at zero o’clock..

   Britain

   Painted in shining colours and blowing on whistles,50,000 party-goers arrived in London’s Millennium Dome to dance in the New Year. The Millennium Dome came to life at midnight as 50 DJs started up, competing on five separate dance floors to warm the crowd into the party mood.

   Russia

   New Year is the biggest holiday in Russia. It is traditional to put up a tree for celebrations with family and friends.

   On the very last day of the years, Russians with a taste for a very cold swim braved freezing temperatures to plant traditional, festival trees on the bed of the Northern Ocean and at the bottom of Lake Baikal, the world’s deepest lake.

   Malaysia

   Brave skydivers threw themselves off the world’s tallest buildings near midnight and floated towards the new year.

   The jump from the 452-metre Petronas Twin Tower was called a real leap from one year to the next since the group took off in the last second of the old year and landed a minute later in the new year.“That was really cool,”said Roland Simpson,“over crowds of onlookers to the landing spot.”

1.In New Year the brightly-lit ball dropped______.

A. from the sky onto the Times Square    B. to celebrate the stroke of midnight

C. to welcome the arrival of Christmas    D. at the point between the old and the new year

2.Which of the following is NOT true about celebrations in the world?

A. A large quantity of confetti was given out from the tallest building.

B. Skydivers in Malaysia jumped down from the world’s tallest buildings.

C. Some Russians planted trees on the bed of Lake Baikal.

D. In Britain 50 DJs competed on five separate floors.

3.The underlined word “landmark”means______ in the text.

A. an easily recognizable object, such as a tall tree or building

B. something that marks an important point in one’s life

C. something marking the limits of a piece of land

D. a building that is marked on a map

4.The text shows that_____.

A. New Year has been the starting point for people to have dreams

B. people in different countries welcomed New Year in different ways

C. people’s ways of celebrations are exciting

D. the new year is better than the old year

Twelve-year-old Paul Crossnickle has lived as a hero for six years now. It wasn’t until he wrote a composition for a recent class project, however, that he got the recognition he should have got.

On July 27, 1991, Paul saved his three-year-old sister Julie from drowning in the family swimming pool. When he found her, he jumped in, pulled her off the bottom and brought her to the ground.

Their father was trying to bring Julie to life when fire fighters arrived. She survived without serious injury.

Last month, in Paul’s seventh-grade language arts class at Juniper Elementary School, teacher Liliana Mauro asked students to write about an important event in their lives. Paul wrote about rescuing Julie.

“He was somewhat disappointed, for he was never recognized for his deed,” Principal Mondragon said. “Mrs. Mauro telephoned the Fire Department and looked into what they could do for him.”

The school held a regular gathering for their teachers and 200 pupils, which surprised Paul Firefighters from a local station joined Assistant Fire Chief Dave Horn and the city officials who presented Paul with a plaque (徽章) that recognized him “for his heroic efforts preventing a needless loss of life in a near-drowning accident.”

Paul’s parents, Alan and Kathy Crossnickle, were there as well as Julie.

“Paul’s story was one of success…and his sister was able to survive with all her faculties in place,” fire Captain Steve Valenzuela said. “This should remind everyone else that because of Paul’s quick action, knowing to get his sister out of the pool and calling 911 and beginning CPR probably saved her life.”

1.The correct order of the story is _____.

   a. Paul became a known hero      

b. Paul wrote a composition    c. Paul pulled his three-year—old sister off the bottom.      d. Paul’s parents were present at the gathering.   

   e. Mrs. Mauro connected the Fire Department    f. Paul was given a plaque.

  A. a, b, c, d, e, f         B. c, a, b, d, e, f       C. c, b, e, d, f, a      D. b, c, a, e, f, d

2.Fire Captain Steve meant that _______ when he said that Julie survived “with all her faculties in place.”

  A. Julie was saved undamaged             

B. Julie was frightened though she was saved

  C. Julie was sent to hospital without delay    

D. Julie was able to return to the place because of Paul’s rescue

3.What conclusion can we get from the text?

  A. Paul’s parents didn’t want Paul to be a hero at all.

  B. The school wanted other students to learn from Paul.

  C. Mrs. Mauro was fond of Paul very much.

  D. Paul looked forward to being a hero for six years.

You may surf the internet to choose some films for the long holidays. Read the following introductions for movies that are showing at the moment. And then answer questions.

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Happiness (Romance) ★★★★

Happiness tells the story of two people (Lisa Turbot and Danny Roy) who work for different advertising companies. They talk on the phone all the time and don’t like each other. But then they correspond by e-mail and fall in love. This movie will be very popular with teenagers and people who like romances. It also has beautiful music.

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I scream (Thriller ) ★★    

In I scream, Paul (Colin Jacks) is a young man who joins a thriller club. Each of the members tries to frighten the others. Paul is told to stay in an old house for the night. Everyone who has tried to stay in the house before has died. This movie is very frightening but also quite silly. It doesn’t make sense for Paul to stay in the house when things start to go wrong. Only for people who like thrillers.

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Paul’s Heroes (Comedy) ★★★  

This is very funny war movie set in World War Two. Six soldiers (including Sammy Turblow) have to get to Italy to take secret messages to the American army there. During the movie, they dress up as women and fight with Italian workers. You can guess the ending, but it’s great fun getting there.

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 (Drama ) ★★★★

   This is a very good drama with Jack Ross, who plays a hard-working truck driver. His wife becomes ill and he has to find a doctor who can help her. In his travels he meets Dr Lloyd (Phidl Driver) who has found the cure for the illness, but Jack Ross has only twelve hours to get the medicine back to his wife on the other side of America. This is an excellent movie, which is very exciting.

1.The purpose of writing this article is to _____________

   A. advertise the four films to attract more audience

   B. compare the different advantages of each film

   C. introduce different films to vacationers.

   D. persuade people to go to the cinema

2.The underlined word “correspond” can be replaced by ________.

   A. communicate        B. match           C. write          D. exchange

3.Which of the following is the best title for the fourth film?

  A .A Hard-working Truck Driver            B. Medicine

  C. A Strange Illness                       D. Twelve Hours

Children have their own rules in playing games. They seldom need a referee(裁判) and rarely trouble to keep scores. They don’t care much about who wins or loses, and it doesn’t seem to worry them if the game is not finished. Yet, they like games that depend a lot on luck, so that their personal abilities can’t be directly compared. They also enjoy games that move in stages, in which each stage, the choosing of leaders, the picking-up of sides, or the determining of which side shall start, is almost a game in itself.

Grown-ups can hardly find children’s games exciting, and they often feel puzzled at why their kids play such simple games again and again. However, it is found that a child plays games for very important reasons. He can be a good player without having to think whether he is a popular person, and he can find himself being a useful partner to someone of whom he is ordinarily afraid. He becomes a leader when it comes to his turn. He can be confident, too, in particular games, where it is his place to give orders, to pretend to be dead, to throw a ball actually at someone, or to kiss someone he has caught.

It appears to us that when children play a game they imagine a situation under their control. Everyone knows the rules, and more importantly, everyone plays according to the rules. Those rules may be childish, but they make sure that every child has a chance to win.

1.What is TRUE about children when they play games?

  A. They can stop playing any time they like.     B. They can test their personal abilities.

  C. They want to pick a better team             D. They don’t need rules.

2.One of the reasons that a child likes playing games is that ___________.

   A. he can be someone other than himself      B. he can become popular among friends

   C. he finds he is always lucky in games       D. he likes the place where he plays a game

3.Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE about children who play games?

A. They have equal chances to win         B. Everyone obeys the rules.

C. They are afraid of their partners         D. The situation they think of is in their control

4.The writer believes that __________________________.

A. children should make better rules for their games

B. children should invite grown-ups to play with them

C. children’s games can benefit them a lot

D. children play games without reasons

What science fiction once told of other worlds far away, is now a fact. Astronomers prove the existence of another solar system like ours with some planets in the constellation Andromeda(仙女座) .

Geoffrey Marcy is a professor of astronomy and physics at San Francisco State University and says, “What we have found now, for the first time ever, is indeed a fully-grown system of planets around the star Upsilon Andromeda, in which there are three planets, one close in, one at a middle distance, and one farther out.” The star is slightly larger than our sun. The planets are huge, like our Jupiter (木星)

Marcy’s partner in this research, Debra Fischer, describes the solar system, “Here’s the inner planet that goes around every 46 days, the middle planet that goes around every 242 days, and then the outer planet that goes around every three and a half to four years.”

 Astronomically, it’s not far away, 44 light years. The sun of that solar system, Upsilon Andromeda, is so near and bright that it can be seen by using no equipment during summer and fall.

For twelve years astronomers searched the skies in the belief that if our sun has planets around it, surely others do, too. Geoffery Marcy says, “And then starting three and a half years ago, we began finding for the first time planets singly, one planet here around one star.”

“When I look up at the stars now at night, I can imagine easily that every one of them has planets around them,” says Debra Fischer.

     It was the tremble in the star that led Marcy to discover the planets. “The star rocks around due to the gravity of the planet much like a dog owner gets pulled around by a little dog.”

     Can they support life? We don’t know, because present technology is not advanced enough to determine what the planets are made of. That, Marcy says, is astronomy’s next challenge.

1.Which of the following can best show the relationship between Andromeda (A), Upsilon Andromeda system (U) and the three mentioned planets (P) ?

A                       B                     C                   D

2.What led to Marcy’s discovery of the planets?

A. That he found a dog owner was pulled by his dog.

B. The tremble of Upsilon Andromeda

C. That any planet has gravity

D. That he believes any star has its planets

3.We can infer from the text that scientists are _______________

  A. to find out whether the planets can support life

  B. to find means to communicate with the living beings on the planets

  C. to find means to travel to the planets

  D. soon to be able to find another planet for life to live on

China’s graduates will find it harder than ever to get jobs in the coming years, as China’s economy slows down and unemployment rises.

Experts say a chronic（长期的）over-supply of graduates and a shortage of “high end” jobs had already been causing difficulties, but the mass lay-offs and business closures （倒闭）in recent months have made the situation even worse.

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has told students that the problem of graduate employment is “at the top of the government’s agenda(议事日程) .”

Six and half million graduates in China will be looking for a job over the next year.

The government says it is going to try to create nine million jobs for them and for those from previous years who are still unemployed. That will not be easy though. Economic development in China is expected by some to fall below the figure of 8%.

There are three problems for the new graduates to deal with. Firstly, the economic slowdown here means there are fewer jobs available. Secondly, widespread redundancies（冗余） mean there are more experienced people than there might have been in previous years, trying to secure the same jobs as them. Thirdly, there are many graduates from previous years who are still jobless.

Cao Shanshan, studying exhibition planning and management at Shanghai Business School, said everyone thought it would be easy for her to get a job when she graduated, because Shanghai will host the World Expo in 2010. But even though she has had dozens of interviews at job fairs, she has not managed to land the kind of job she wanted. “I’ve ended up with an intern（实习）job,” she says, “which has nothing to do with my major.” She says she is earning about $230 a month, more than many of her classmates who have had to take jobs that give them half that, but far less than she had hoped for. “I might go back to school to study for a master’s degree because it’s so hard,” she says. “Hopefully, finding a job will be easier with a higher qualification.”

1.What does the passage mainly discuss?

   A. The government will create more jobs for the graduates.

   B. It is difficult for the graduates to find a job

   C. Cao Shanshan doesn’t find an ideal job.

   D. To find a good job easily, graduates must go back to school for master’s degrees .

2.The underlined word “That” in the text refers to ________________.

   A. Developing the economy      B. Reducing the number of graduates 

C. Looking for jobs             D. Creating nine million jobs for graduates

3.According to the text, the possible reasons for the problem of graduate employment are the following EXCEPT that __________________.

   A. too many graduates appear every year and there are not enough “high end” jobs

 B. a great number of workers have been out of employment and a lot of business has closed  

   C. the expectation to find a satisfying job from graduates is too high

   D. China’s economy slows down because of the global economic crisis.

1.I a____________ him for his courage to save the girl from the big fire.

2.The World Expo in Shanghai will attract about 70 million visitors, which will be another f___________ after the 29^th Olympics.

3.The United Nations calls on people all over the world to keep the b_________ of nature

4.Our house is s____________ by trees, so we can enjoy their shade in summer.

5.He looked calm before the competition, but i________, he was very nervous.

6.Nobody knows for sure when the earth came into e_____________

7.I was so p____________ about the teacher’s words that I didn’t know what to do next.

8.She called the hotel again, c__________ her room number and the date for check-in.

9.Yao Ming is a strong and e_____________ basketball player.

10.Tom’s rude b____________ at the meeting made us unpleasant.

    假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。

    增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。

    删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。

    修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出改正后的词。

    注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词。

          2．只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不记分。

What a long winter vacation! I stay at home doing nothing except homework every day as a robot. One day, a idea occurred to me: “Why not to find a part-time job to learn something new?” The next morning, after visit many shops, I was lucky enough to find one in a small but pretty cake shop. When a tired—looking old man came in to buy some cakes, I immediate helped him sit down in a chair and brought him the cake. After he paid them, I said thanks to him. He looked too happy that he praised me with a satisfied smile. From this, I learned: “Be good to others or they’ll be good to you.”

 — Why was Professor Johnson unhappy those days?

— Can’t you see it clearly? The only reason was that the theory he stuck to________ wrong.

A. proving                               B. being proved    

C. proved                            D. was proved

 The car has been well maintained and is ________ excellent condition.

A. in               B. under            C. on           D. with