阅读下面短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项。

　　At a meeting, a well-known speaker lifted up a bill of 20 dollars before starting his speech．

　　Facing 200 people, he asked,“Who wants this 20-dollar bill?”A great many hands were put up．Then he continued to say,“I intended to give it to any one of you, but allow me to do a thing before giving it to you．”Suddenly he crumpled(揉)it into a round mass．Then he asked,“Who wants it?”Still some hands were lifted up．

　　He asked again,“Well, how could it be if I do it like this?”he threw the bill onto the ground, stepped on it and twisted it．As he picked it up, the bill had become not only dirty but wrinkled．

　　“Who still wants it?”Still a few people put up their hands．

　　“My dear friends, you have had a meaningful class．No matter how I treated this bill, you still want it, because it is worth 20 dollars．On your life road, you may be knocked down(击垮)or even broken into pieces by your determination or unfavorable situations．We may feel ourselves worth nothing, but, my darling, remember that whatever happens in the future, you should never lose your value(价值)in the God's heart．You're particular——never forget it．”

阅读理解

　　Recently a Beijing father sent in a question at an Internet forum asking what“PK”meant．

　　“My family has been watching the Super Girl singing competition TV program．My little daughter asked me what PK means, but I had no idea,”explained the puzzled father．

　　To a lot of Chinese young people who have been playing games online, it is impossible not to know that item．

　　In such Internet games,“PK”is short for“Player Kill”, in which two players fight until one ends the life of the other．

　　In the case of the“Super Girl”singing competition,“PK”was used to refer to the stage where two singers have to compete with each other for only one chance to go up in competition ranking．

　　Like this puzzled father, Chinese teachers at high schools have also been finding their students composition using Internet jargon(行话)difficult to understand．

　　A high school teacher from Tianjin asked her students to write up compositions with colloquial(口语的)language, but they came up with a lot of Internet jargon that she didn't understand．

　　“My GG”came back this summer from college．He told me I've grown up to be a PLMM'：I love to FB with him together; he always took me to the KPM, went one composition．”

　　“GG”means Ge Ge(Chinese pinyin for brother)．“PLMM”refers to Piao Liang Mei Mei(beautiful sister)．“FB”means“to corrupt”．“KPM”is short for KFC, Pizza Hut and McDonalds．

　　While some specialists welcome Internet jargon as a new development in language, teachers are worried that too much use of such language might lead students away from the“right”usages．Parents especially worry that their children might not do well in language tests because of the use of Internet language．

　　Such as those mixed feelings are, the conciseness and liveliness of Internet language continues to attract Internet users for making convenient communications．

　　If you do not even know what a Kong Long(dinosaur, referring to ugly-looking female)or a Qing Wa(frog, referring to ugly-looking male)is, then you will possibly be regarded as a Cai Niao!

阅读理解

　　Playworld is a large theme park just outside New York．We employ hundreds of people and are still growing．We provide entertainment of many kinds：shows, parades, rollercoasters, carrousels, and of course our latest addition：The Landslider．Our guests can stay in the Playworld Hotel and dine in one of our fine restaurants．

　　If you are looking for a growing fun, and innovative environment, consider joining the Playworld Community．

　　At present, we are looking for Waiters/Actors．

　　Your main task will be serving food in the Western Grill in the evenings．During 3 afternoons per week you will also play a minor part in the play ：Let's Go West．

　　Qualifications：

　　Education at college level is required．Some work experience in a restaurant is preferred．Acting experience would be an advantage, a working knowledge of German and French is desirable．Spanish is a plus．We can offer you the opportunity to develop a personal career plus an attractive salary and extra benefit package．

　　Playworld is an equal opportunity employer．

　　If you want to join our team, send your letter of application and resume：

　　PLAYWORLD

　　P．O Box 6514

　　New York, NY 76156

阅读理解

　　Reading is very important to help you learn English．To learn as much as you can from reading, you need to read different kinds of English．This book provides not only different kinds of English, but also a good way to check your reading ability．

　　There are four parts in the book：

　　Part 1 is Messages：In this part somebody wants to send information in writing to somebody else．There is a test on timetable and a test on text messages．

　　Part 2 is People：In this part all the tests are about people．For example, there is an informal letter between friends．There is formal English in biography(传记)．There is a job application as a model to help with your writing, as well as testing your reading．

　　Part 3 is Places：In this part, too, many different kinds of English are shown, some informal and some formal．There is the informal English of a holiday postcard．There is also the formal English in a letter of complaint．

　　Part 4 is Things：You will find some descriptive writing in this part．There are descriptions of clothes and of a computer．

　　You can do these tests in any order you like, or you can do all the tests with a formal or informal text．I enjoyed writing this book and I hope you enjoy using it．

阅读理解

　　Parking has long been a major headache for drivers in Shanghai．The Transportation Department is mapping out a new plan for the city's parking system．There are one million cars on the road in Shanghai but only enough public parking space to provide room for 15 percent of these vehicles．It is no wonder that local drivers get so worried trying to find a place to park．

　　The city is seeing a rise in private car owners．In March, the city sent out 2,000 private car licenses, the highest number of licenses ever sent out in a month．And prices rose to 14,600 yuan, 500 more than in February．Industry experts say this suggests that local people have a strong, active interest in buying cars．

　　By the year 2020, the number of automobiles in Shanghai will probably reach two million．If one parking lot is for each car, then a lot of parking space should be built for these vehicles．

　　Downtown Shanghai is most short of parking space．However, experts point out that simply building more parking lots in downtown areas is not practical and doesn't provide an ideal solution．The idea of“Park & Ride”system has been suggested．This means that drivers can leave their vehicles in car parks nearby subway or bus stations and ride public transport to go downtown．Based on this idea, the city will limit the number of parking lots in downtown areas and demand higher parking fees but build more parking areas near main subway and bus stops．

阅读理解

　　HARROLD, Texas(August 15, 2008)－A tiny Texas district will allow teachers and staff members to carry concealed(隐藏)firearms to deter(威慑)and protect against school shootings when classes begin this month, provided the gun-toting(携带枪支的)employees follow certain requirements．

　　“The small community of Harrold in north Texas is a 30-minute drive from the Wilbarger County Sheriff's Office, leaving students and teachers without protection,” said David Thweatt, superintendent of the Harrold Independent School District．“The lone campus of the 110-student district sits near a heavily traveled highway, which could make it a target”, he argued．

　　“When the federal government started making schools gun-free zones, that's when all of these shootings started．Why would you put it out there that a group of people can't defend themselves?That's like saying 'Sic'em' to a dog,” Thweatt said in a story published Friday on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Web site．

　　Barbara Williams, a spokeswoman for the Texas Association of School Boards, said her organization did not know of another district with such a policy．Ken Trump, a Cleveland-based school security expert who advises districts nationwide, said Harrold is the first district with such a policy．

　　Trustees approved the policy change last year．For employees to carry a pistol, they must have a Texas license to carry a concealed handgun; must be authorized to carry by the district; must receive training in crisis management and hostile situations．

　　Officials researched the policy and considered other choices for about a year before approving the policy change, Thweatt said．The district also has other measures in place to prevent a school shooting, he said．

　　“The naysayers think(a shooting)won't happen here．If something were to happen here, I'd much rather be calling a parent to tell them that their child is OK because we were able to protect them,” Thweatt said．

　　Texas law outlaws firearms at schools unless specific institutions allow them．

　　It isn't clear how many of the 50 or so teachers and staff members will be armed this fall because Thweatt did not disclose that information, to keep it from students or potential attackers．

阅读理解

　　In the first-ever event of its kind, teams of U．S．and Chinese high school students took part in a program to explore Mars at Arizona State University(ASU)．Sixteen Chinese students and eight from Arizona Nogales High School took part in the nine-day China Youth Space Academy at ASU's Mars Space Flight Facility．The university's School of Earth and Space Exploration is an international leader in space science, with instruments operating both in orbit(轨道)and on the surface of Mars．Each student team, consisting of both U．S．and Chinese students, decided on a Mars geological(地质学的)problem to solve．Then the teams commanded the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, which is in orbit around the red planet, to take images and collect data to solve the problems．

　　In the final step, the student teams analyzed their data and reported on their findings, just as scientists do．The Space Academy program was created to interest high school students from the U．S．and China in careers in space science and engineering．The Chinese students were chosen from more than 12,000 students and they were reduced to 40 semi-finalists who competed in November 2007 for two days to produce the 16 winners．

　　The China Youth Space Academy is one of the many ways ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration educates the next generation of space explorers．The China Youth Space Academy will help a lot with cross-cultural learning．ASU is willing to find and develop brilliant minds from around the country and the world．

阅读理解

　　Imagine if you got paid to go shopping, and could keep the things you bought with other people's money．Does this sound like a dream?Well, for some, like Amy Knott, from Chicago, this is their job．

　　Amy Knott is a mystery shopper．She is paid to visit a store, eat in a restaurant, go to the bank, stay in a hotel, get her hair cut, fill up her gas tank, or see a movie．She pretends to be an ordinary customer, but afterwards she writes a report about her experience, commenting on things like：How long did you wait in line?Was the food hot?Did the cashier say “thank you”?Did the restroom have soap and tissue?This gives companies useful information about how they can improve their customer service．

　　So who can become a mystery shopper?You do not need any special qualifications or experience, but you need a good memory, an eye for detail, and good writing skills．When you apply for the job, instead of an interview, you will be asked to write about something like：“What was your best shopping experience?”

　　What is the pay like?For a 15-minute visit to a store, you might get ＄10 and the cost of what you buy．For a haircut, you might get ＄35 and the cost of the haircut．Most mystery shoppers do this job in their spare time, like Byron Jenner, who visits a restaurant on his lunch break every day and earns about ＄500 extra a month．But others, like Amy, make it their full-time career, and earn up to ＄40,000 a year．

　　“I love mystery shopping．I can't believe I actually get paid to have fun,” she says．“For example, tonight my husband and I will go out, have a ＄150 dinner, go to stay at a luxury hotel, and I'll walk away with ＄300．”

阅读理解

　　Vladimir Balderas was a 12-year-old boy when he started working in the fields．His workday began before the sun rose and ended as it set．He and his parents labored in the heat weeding sugar beets and clearing rocks from the fields．

　　They rarely got a day off．Now, Vladimir is 14 years old and he is still working in the fields．Every April, his family go north to begin months of grueling(令人筋疲力尽的)farm work．“It's hard,” Vladimir said．“It's a lot of work．We have to walk a lot in the fields．At the end of the day, I feel so tired．”

　　It is estimated that 250 million kids like Vladimir are forced to work in hard, often dangerous jobs, all over the world．They mine precious metals, weave rugs and work in factories．As many as 500,000 kids in the U．S．and more than 100 million worldwide labor on plantations and farms．What's more, experts estimate that more than 100,000 children and teens are injured on farms each year．They use sharp knives and scissors designed for adult hands．Most of them operate heavy machinery and work with poisonous agricultural chemicals．

　　“If you get hurt, there is no one to help,” said Santos Polendo who spent 10 years working in the fields．He had to carry 40-pound buckets of tomatoes in sweltering heat．He often suffered backaches, knee pain and headaches．“Sometimes, the heat was so bad, it gave me headaches for a week straight,” Polendo says．

　　In April, Vladimir will travel north with his family to find fieldwork．Migrant families move regularly to find work in the fields．Because migrant children miss so much school, as many as 65％of them drop out．Last year, the Department of Labor cut funds(专款)for migrant-youth programs in 31 states．The programs had provided kids with teachers and resources and replaced income that parents lost when their kids stayed in school．

　　The Association of Farm Worker Opportunity Programs is fighting to restore the money for migrant education and training programs and to increase earning for adult farm workers．The group is also pressuring Congress to provide kids working in agriculture with the same protection as other working kids．

阅读理解

　　There are some special traditions in Hawaii．People are very friendly and always welcome visitors．They give visitors a lei along necklace of beautiful fresh flowers．Men wear bright flowered shirts, and women often wear long flowered dresses．There are traditional Chinese, Japanese and Filipino holidays and all the holidays from the United States．They call Hawaii the Aloha State．Aloha means both hello and goodbye．It also means “I love you”．

　　Usually when people from different countries, races, and traditions live together, there are serious problems．There are a few problems in Hawaii, but in general, people have learned to live together in peace．

　　Hawaiians earn most of their money from travelers and most of the travelers come from the mainland and from Japan．There are many people living in Hawaii now so there are residential areas where there used to be farms．Some of the big sugar and pineapple companies have moved to the Philippines, where they do not have to pay workers as much money．The families of the first people who came from the U．S．mainland own the important banks and companies．Japanese are also buying or starting businesses here．