Guangdong’s average daily road death toll was 20 people last year, a slight drop from the previous year, but still more than that of any other province in the country.

    The total traffic death toll in 1998 was 7 600, a1．4 per cent drop from the previous year’s toil. The number of traffic accidents also fell, from 39 500 to 39000 cases in 1998, a decrease of 1．23 percent. However, the number of people injured in traffic accidents rose from 27 000 in 1997 to 32 000 this year.

    Economic losses caused by accidents accounted for26.5 million yuan.

    There are more police officers in Guangdong than in most other provinces. Traffic controlling facilities here are also considered to be better than in the rest of the country.

1．According to the passage, the total traffic death toll in 1997 was ________.

A．78000

B．7700

C．7600

D．7500

2．The number of people injured in traffic accidents rose ________ percent in 1998.

A．17

B．18.5

C．17.9

D．20

3．The writer tended to think that ________.

A．the traffic of Guangdong should be like that

B．the traffic of Guangdong should have been better

C．There shouldn’t be so many traffic police officers in Guangdong

D．Traffic controlling facilities should be improved

4．From the passage we can infer that ________.

A．there are no standard roads in Guangdong

B．either drivers drive carelessly or few people pay much more attention to traffic rules

C．the drivers are not so skillful

D．there are too many motor vehicles in Guangdong

Better Left Unsaid

    Here is an opinion column from a magazine about how honest people should be with their families and friends.  Read it carefully, more than once if you want, but do not worry if there are words you do not understand as long as you get the general meaning.

    During the past ten or fifteen years a great deal of attention has been given to “telling it like it is,” or “letting it all hang out.” My impression is that this overzealous devotion to speaking one’s mind has more often led to hurt feelings and ruined relationships than to great joy and fulfillment.

    I think we generally agree that never expressing real feelings and repressing all less- than- lovely thoughts about each other hardly leads to constructive communication. It’s a great relief to allow ourselves the luxury of acknowledging our human frailties and pursuing more honest relationships with others. But we need to strike a balance between telling it all and telling nothing.

    Recently I received a letter from a mother who had been persuaded by her troubled twenty- five - year- old son to attend a weekend marathon with him. Under pressure from the group, her defenses collapsed and she heard herself telling her son for the first time that he had had an accident-that she hadn’t been planning to have a child．He in turn told her that he couldn’t recall a single day in his childhood that he’d been happy.

    “At that time,” this woman wrote, “it seemed helpful. We cried and we made up; I thought telling the truth had been good for us. But the trouble is, it was’t the whole truth. By the time Tommy was born I did want him, and at times he was happy. Ever since that day, we’ve both been haunted by some terrible feelings we shared.”

    I must admit I’ve come to the conclusion that some things are better left unsaid．Honesty is a fine policy as long as we know what the truth really is, but most of the time we don’t. It’s a fine goal to encourage children to express their real feelings. And many marriages have been saved by an open confrontation of deep and painful misunderstandings. But we need a new sense of balance. Disclosure is not a panacea for every problem nor even an end in itself. It’s useful and freeing under some circumstances and terribly hurtful and damaging under others.

    It’s a good idea, I think, to bite your tongue for ten or fifteen minutes before saying what is on your mind．Try to decide whether it’ s going to open up new and better avenues of communication or leave wounds that may never heal.

    Notes:

    letting it all bang out: saving exactly how you feel

    devotion to: belief in　　 frailties: weaknesses

    marathon: non- stop meeting where people try to solve their psychological problems by talking in a group (an unusual meaning of this word)

    made up: became friends again

    disclosure: telling something that has been a secret.

A．Do you have the main ideas?

    Here are six sentences. Only four of them express important ideas from the text. The other ideas are in the text, but they are not the author’s main concerns. Choose the four main points, and compare answers with some other students before discussing them with your teacher.

    1) What seems to be the whole truth may in fact be only part of it.

    2) It is relief to admit our weaknesses.

    3) It is sometimes good to say exactly what’s on your mind.

    4) You should think carefully before “telling it like it is.”

    5) Sometimes it can hurt more than help to say what you think or feel.

    6) It is good to encourage children to express their real feelings.

B．Guessing words from context

    Match each word or expression in italics in column A with the meaning in column B that comes closest to it. Column B has some extra meanings:

CLOUMN A

    1)... this overzealous devotion to speaking one’s mind... (line 5)

    2)... the luxury of acknowledging  our human frailties... (line 12)

    3)... we’ve both been haunted by some terrible feelings... (line 24)

    4) Honesty is a fine policy... (line 27)

    5) And many marriages have been saved by an open confrontation of deep and painful misunderstandings. (line 70)

    6) Disclosure is not a panacea for every problem ... (line 31)

    7) It’s good idea, I think, to bite your tongue for ten or fifteen minutes... (line 33)

    8)... or leave wounds that may never heal. (line 35)

COLUMN B

　　 a) discussion

　　 b) hurt places

　　 c) helped

　　 d) too enthusiastic

　　 e) way of acting

　　 f) weak

　　 g) words

　　 h) solution

　　 i) hurt yourself

　　 j) avoid speaking

　　 k) worried

　　 1) thinking about

　　 m) taking openly about

　　 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 cannot 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, that 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. To become a leader in a game the child has to ________.

A．play well

B．wait for his turn

C．be confident in himself

D．be popular among his playmates

3. What do we know about grown-ups?

A．They are not interested in games.

B．They find children’s games too easy.

C．They don’t need a reason to play games.

D．They don’t understand children’s games.

4. Why does a child like playing games.?

A．Because he can be someone other than himself.

B．Because he can become popular among friends.

C．Because he find he is always lucky in games.

D．Because he likes the place where he plays a game.

5. 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 do them a lot of good

D．children play games without reasons

George and Jim

    George had stolen some money. The police had caught him and he had been put in prison. Now his trial(审判) was about to begin, and he felt sure that he would be found guilty(有罪) and sent to prison for a long time.

    Then he discovered that an old friend of his was one of the members of the jury at his trial. Of course, he didn’t tell anybody, but he managed to see his friend secretly one day. He said to him “Jim, I know that the jury will find me guilty of having stolen the money.  I cannot hope to be found not guilty of taking it—that would be too much to expect. But I should be thankful to you for the rest of my life if you could persuade the other members of the jury to add strong recommendation (说明) for mercy to their statement that they consider me guilty.”

    “Well, George, I shall certainly try to do what I can for you as an old friend but of course I cannot promise anything. The other eleven people of the jury look terribly strong- minded to me,” answered him.

    George said that he would quite understand if Jim was not able to do anything for him, and thanked him warmly for agreeing to help.

　　 The trial went on, and at last the time came for the jury to decide whether George was guilty, with a strong recommendation for mercy.

　　 Of course, George was very pleased, but he didn’t have a chance to see Jim for some time after the trial. At last, however, Jim visited him in prison, and George thanked him warmly and asked him how he had managed to persuade the other members of the jury to recommend mercy.

“Well, George,” Jim answered, “as I thought, those eleven men were very difficult to persuade, but I managed it in the end by tiring them out. Do you know, these fools had all wanted to find you not guilty!”

1. What does the word “jury” mean in this passage?

A．Someone who works in prison.

B．A policeman.

C．The Judge.

D．A body of persons to decide if one is guilty.

2. The jury made a decision ________.

A．shortly after hearing Jim’s words

B．after having had a vote(投票)

C．soon after Jim said George was guilty

D．only after several hours of heated discussion

3. Who do you think is the biggest fool?

A．George.

B．The policeman who caught George.

C．Jim.

D．The other members of the jury.

Shanghai’s Hospice

    As its population grows older, Shanghai has developed its hospice care services over the past few years.

    Shanghai now has more than two million people over the age of 60. They make up about 15 percent of the city’s total population.

    China’s first hospice was set up in Nanhui County(县) near Shanghai in 1988. During the past few years, the hospice has cared for about 270 people suffering from terminal (晚期的) illness such as cancer and heart disease.

    Thus far, Shanghai has set up three such hospices, which can accommodate (提供食宿)200 elderly people. The city plans to build another10 in the coming two years.

    Experts in Shanghai believe that hospice care should include medical, nursing and psychological(心理的) care. This year, the city will open a research center for the study of hospice care.

1. In this passage, the word “hospice” probably means________.

A．a special home for old people

B．a place for old people to get pleasure

C．a hospital dealing with serious disease of old people

D．a place for old people to talk with each other

2. Shanghai has a population of more than________million.

A．2

B．13

C．15

D．10

3. The hospices only allow the persons ________ to live in.

A．who have no sons and no daughters

B．who are usually near the end of life

C．who are ill

D．who can’t make a living by themselves

4. The best headline of the news is________.

A．Old People in Shanghai

B．Shanghai’s Population Grows Older

C．How to Care for Old People

D．Shanghai Opens Hospices for Old People

    Looking thinner and darker, 30 year-old Blaine was taken out of his box over the River Thames and immediately went to hospital. He was then slowly reintroduced to food, a process doctors say could be life threatening. He had been drinking only water since September 5.

    A native of Brooklyn, New York, Blaine first became known as a street magician in the early 1990s. He soon found himself doing magic tricks in bars for the likes of American actor Leonardo DiCaprio and his super model friends.

    Over the last decade Blaine has become famous with a combination of breathtaking magic and clever tricks aimed at getting a lot of attention.

    In 1999, he was buried in a coffin for one week and, in 2000, he spent 62 hours in a giant block of ice. Last year he stood on top of a 25-meter pillar in the center of New York for 35 hours before jumping into a pile of boxes.

    “I think a lot of people are unable to accept that they’re able to do what they can do,” he said. “They don’t realize we can survive. The human being is an amazing creation.”

    But he seems to have suffered from spending so long in the glass box. He said that at times he was unable to see, had serious back pains and loot his sense of taste.

    1. It is ________ for David Blaine to eat food after such a long starvation.

    A. pleasant　　　　　　 B. delicious　　　　    C. dangerous　　　　 D. important

    2. Which of the following can best describe David Blaine?

    A. Serious　　　　　　 B. Adventurous　　  C. Mad　　　　　　　　  D. Crazy

    3. Which of the following is not true of David Blaine?

    A. Blaine immediately went to hospital after he was taken out of his box because he was in dangerous condition.

    B. Blaine was born and brought up in England.

    C. In Blaine’s opinion, people can create a wonder.

D. Blaine didn’t have any food for 44 days.

In the late 1800s, many people moved to the Midwest to settle on land that the United States government had offered for free. Upon arriving, the settlers found that there were no trees for building shelters. The ground, however, had a thick layer of knotted, matted roots below the grassy surface. This kind of soil is called sod.

The early settlers’ cut the sod into large cubes. Then they used the cubes of sod to build their shelters. The settlers also had to break up the vast areas of hard sod so that they could farm the land.

For these reasons, settlers in the Midwest became known as “sodbusters.”

1. The best title is________.

    A. Who the Sodbusters were 　　　　　　　　    B. Farming in the Midwest

    C. Building a Shelter 　　　　　　　　　　　　  D. How to Cut Sod

2. People moved to the Midwest to________ .

A. find gold 　　　　  B. look for water    C. settle on the land　　   D. find adventure

3. Before they could farm the land, the settlers________.

    A. broke up sod　　 B. built barns　　　　 C. dug up roots　　  D. cut down trees

4. The settlers in the Midwest must have________.

A.　　  wanted to hunt 　　　　　　　　　　　　   B. been lazy  

C. wanted to stay　　　　　　　　　　　　　　   D. been bored

5. The Word “matted" in line six means________.

A. grassy　　　　　　   B. tightly tangled    C. curly　　　　　　　　 D. soft

The early cattle drives were long and hard—and sometimes even dangerous. They took place because Texas ranchers wanted to get their beef cattle to people in northern cities. Railroads used for carrying the cattle did not go all the way into Texas at that time, however. The ranchers decided to solve their problem by hiring workers, called cowhands, to take the cattle to the railroad stops in Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado.

The long cattle drives ended when the railroad lines were extended into Texas and other western lands.

l. The best title is________.

    A. Cowhands 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　  B. How to Drive Cattle

    C. The Texas Cattle Drives 　　　　　　    D. The Texas Ranchers

2. Ranchers wanted to sell their cattle to people________.

    A. in the North 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. in Missouri

    C. in the South 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. on the plains

3. The workers who rode with the cattle were called________.

    A. railroad workers 　　　　　　　　　　　　   B. ranchers

    C. cowhands 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　    D. horseback riders

4. The story suggests that cattle drives________.

    A. were exciting 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　   B. took a few days

    C. covered many miles 　　　　　　　　　　  D. are still common

5. The word “extended” in line eleven means________.

    A. broken up 　　    B. made longer　　   C. torn apart   　　 D. straightened out

Neil Hunt, one of the prize-winners, was called “Sunshine Superman(超人)” . It’s important when people study the weather to be able to record sunshine accurately. We need to know how many hours of sunshine we have and how strong it is. Most sunshine recorders only record direct sunlight. Neil's is more accurate(精确的)and this is very important for research into the way of using solar(太阳的)power.

You can do so much with animated cartoon. Look at Simon West’s idea for animated road signs. He uses pictures which appear to move as you go nearer to or farther from them. This isn’t a new idea. But it is new to use these pictures on road signs. “We found that people were more likely to see moving signs,” said Simon. So now, you can really see rocks falling, trains moving, horses running or a car falling over the edge of a cliff(悬崖). Quite a warning !

The ideas in the competition were so inventive that we are surprised that British industry doesn’t ask more schoolchildren for suggestions. Perhaps this will be the start of “pupil power” !

1. The writer holds that people seldom________.

    A. have bright ideas 　　　　　　　　　　　　  B. turn their bright ideas into reality

    C. make their life easier 　　　　　　　　　　 D. think of inventing something

2. The organizers of the competition hoped the schoolchildren who took part in it would______.

    A. become good designers for future Britain

    B. invent something for immediate use.

    C. design something useful for the next day

    D. win as many prizes as they could

3. Neil Hunt’s design would finally lead to the improvement of the way of________.

    A. recording direct sunshine 　　　　　　　　　　 B. recording the hours of sunshine

    C. using the energy of the sun 　　　　    D. knowing how strong sunlight is

4. What’s the use of Simon West’s animated road signs?

    A. To warn people to be careful while working.

    B. To warn people on the roads of the danger ahead.

    C. To add to the beauty of a city.

    D. To help make a car trip more exciting.

5. The writer seems to be encouraging the British industry to________.

    A. take better care of schoolchildren

    B. help schoolchildren in their studies

    C. stop asking schoolchildren for suggestions

    D. pay more attention to schoolchildren’s inventive power

The words you know are called your vocabulary(词汇). You should try to make your vocabulary bigger. Read as many books as you can. There are plenty of books written in easy English for you to read. You will enjoy them. When you meet a new word, find it in your dictionary. Your dictionary is your most useful book. Choose the correct answer.

1. The number of different languages spoken is about________.

    A. 150 　　　　　　　　 B. 1500 　　　　　　   C. 500 　　　　　　　　 D. 15000

2. Before you leave your school, you’ll learn________.

A. only about two thousand words　　　　　　  B. five hundred thousand words

    C. three or four thousand words       D. only one thousand more words

3. Each language usually contains________.

    A. two thousand words 　　　　　　　　　　  　　 B. hundreds of words

C, different kinds of words    　　　　    D. many thousands of words

4. To make your vocabulary bigger, you must________.

    A. read as many books as possible 　　  B. get as many dictionaries as you can

    C. buy plenty of books 　　　　　　   　　D. have a very large English dictionary

5. You will enjoy________.

    A. your vocabulary 　　　　　　　　　　　　   B. the books written in easy English

    C. your dictionary 　　　　　　　　　　  　　D. finding new words in a dictionary