All living things on the earth need other living things to live. Nothing lives alone. Most animals must live in a group, and even a plant grows close together with others of the same kind. Sometimes one living thing kills another, one eats and the other is eaten. Each kind of life eats another kind of life in order to live, and together they create a food chain (链条). Some food chains are simple, while others are not. But all food chains begin with the sun, and all food chains become broken up if one of the links (链接) disappears.
All life needs sunlight to live on. But only plants can use sunlight directly. Plants are ‘factories’. They make food from sunlight, water and things in the soil (土壤) and air. Plants feed all other living things. Animals can only use the sun’s energy after it has been changed into food by plants. Some animals feed directly on plants, others eat smaller animals. Meat-eating animals are only eating plants indirectly.
What about humans? We are members of many food chains. We eat rice, vegetables, and fruits and so on. We also eat meat and drink milk. But we often break up the food chains. We kill wild animals and also make rivers, lakes and seas polluted. When these rivers, lakes and seas are polluted, the fish in them can not be eaten. If we eat the fish, we will get strange illnesses.
Each form of life is linked (关联的) to all others. Breaking the links puts all life in danger.
【小题1】Which living things can use the sun’s energy directly?

A．Animals.	B．Plants.
C．Animals and plants.	D．All living things.

【小题2】Who often destroy the food chains?

A．Humans.	B．Animals.
C．Plants and animals.	D．Humans and wild animals.

【小题3】Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?

A．The Sun’s Energy	B．Plants
C．Food Chains	D．Living Things

Sometimes, even the best friends have fights. They disagree with each other and begin to argue. Sometimes, they even stop talking to each other. What can be done to help the two friends make up? Finding a good friend who knows both of them very well to be a peacemaker is a good way. Maybe one day you will be a peacemaker for your good friends. Here are some useful communication strategies for you to use.
State your feelings clearly but don’t criticize them. Begin with “I feel” instead of “You always…”.
Don’t stop or finish the other person’s sentences.
Listen carefully to what the other person is saying. Try to see the other person’s side of the disagreement.
Look the other person in the eyes when you are talking.
Ask questions to make sure that you understand them.
Repeat the other person’s ideas as you understand them.
Never put anyone down. Saying things like “You’re stupid” makes communication difficult.
Try to find a solution that makes the two friends happy. Never decide who is right and who is wrong. Instead, help them to find their own “win-win” solution. A “win-win” solution allows each of them to feel good. In this way, their friendship can be continued.
【小题1】Which of the following is the suitable language for a peacemaker?

A．“I feel …”

B．“You always…”

C．“You are stupid.”

D．“You are wrong.”

【小题2】How should the peacemaker behave when talking with the two friends?

A．Stop the other person’s sentences in time.

B．Repeat his own ideas to make himself understood.

C．Listen to the other person carefully and ask some questions.

D．Don’t look at the other when you are talking.

【小题3】What does the phrase “put anyone down” mean in the article?

A．令人失望

B．提醒人

C．把人放下

D．羞辱人

【小题4】How do you understand a “win-win” solution?

A．It is a way that helps make new friends.

B．It is a way that makes both people pleased.

C．It is a way that tells who is right and who is wrong.

D．It is a way to understand a person.

Look! There are thousands of people waiting to buy tickets home in the railway station. Each time when Spring Festival comes, buying tickets of train trip would be very hard. And things seem to be getting worse and worse, although we have greatly increased the mileage of railway network and speeded up trains. Why? It’s because too many people want to go back home to spend Spring Festival with their family. Many people become angry with the Ministry (部)of Railways.
They wonder why it is hopeless for them to get the tickets from the railway station(火车站)Instead, they sometimes can only buy them from ticket scalpers (票贩) at much higher price.
The Ministry of Railways estimated(估计)that about 188 million passengers would travel by train during the 40-day peak (高峰) period surrounding the 2009 Spring Festival holiday. The number of travelers will be 8％ higher than that of 2008. This problem even drew the President Hu Jintao’s attention. He wrote a note to Liu Zhijun，Minister of the Ministry of Railways, asking him to take action to improve passenger convenience. Afterward, officials from the Ministry of Railways said they would try their best not to let any ticket-buyers spend Spring Festival at the railway station.
【小题1】 Many people can’t buy the tickets from the railway station, and they sometimes can only buy them from the scalpers_________.

A．expensively

B．happily

C．dangerously

D．hardly

【小题2】 How many people took the train trip during the peak period surrounding the 2008 Spring Festival holiday?

A．About 203 million．	B．About 188 million．
C．About 180 million．	D．About 174 million．

【小题3】What does the passage mainly tell us?

A．People go home much more easily during the Spring Festival．

B．It is very hard to buy tickets in the railway station during the Spring Festival．

C．President Hu Jintao cares about the railway building problem．

D．The Ministry of Railways felt sorry about the problem．

B
Sun Liping, 6 , lives in a small village in Yunnan. Her biggest wish is to have running water in her home. All 35 families in Sun’s village have a serious problem--- they don’t have enough water. Every day, the villagers have to walk 20 minutes to get water.
Last year, the worst drought since the 1950s hit Yunnan, making more than 2 million people short of drinking water. This year, the drought is even worse.
Not only Yunnan, but many other provinces in China are short of water as well, such as Gansu and Qinghai.
According to a report on February 17, each Chinese person has about 28% of the world’s average（平均的） person’s amount of available(可用的) water. Two thirds of China’s cities are short of water and nearly 300 million people in rural areas don’t have safe water for drinking.
Every drop of water is important. Waste a drop of water a day and you lose a bucket(桶) a year. How can we use water in a smart way? Here are some tips for you to save water in your daily life:
1. Put plastic bottles of water in your toilet to cut down the water waste when you flush (冲洗) your toilet.
2. Don’t keep the water running while you’re brushing your teeth or washing your face and hands.
3. Use low-flow(低流量) shower heads .
4. Use a bucket to collect shower water while you wait for it to warm up.
5. Make your shower time shorter.
6. Set up a rain bucket to collect rainwater for watering plants or flowers.
【小题1】 What is the problem in Sun’s village?

A．They don’t have enough food.

B．They don’t have enough water.

C．They have to walk far away to go to school.

D．There are fewer and fewer villagers.

【小题2】 What does the underlined word drought mean in the second paragraph?

A．饥饿

B．干旱

C．水灾

D．贫穷

【小题3】 According to the report, __________________________________.
A. China has just 28 percent of the world’s available water.
Each Chinese person can use more water than the world’s average person.
There is not enough water in two thirds of China’s cities.
D. There are about 300 million people in China’s cities who don’t have enough water.
【小题4】Which of the following would lead to a waste of water?

A．Using low-flow shower heads.

B．Collecting shower water while waiting for it to warm up.

C．Taking a quick shower.

D．Keeping the water running while brushing one’s teeth.

When I was a teenager growing up in Russia, I felt studying very boring, I wanted to leave school and have my own life. There were only two ways for me to do this—working in the toy factory in my town, or getting married. I chose the first one. I was nervous when I told my father that I wanted to leave school. I thought he would say, “No! You are going to college.” Instead,  he took me by surprise when he said, “OK. We’ll go to the toy factory.”
Two days later, he took me to the factory. I had a very romantic idea of working in a factory. I had imagined everyone to be friendly working together and having fun. I even imagined there would be music and singing. I guess I had watched too many movies as a teenager.
When we arrived at the factory gates, my father spoke to the guard and one minute later we went inside. My father said, “Take your time. Look around.” I walked around the factory, looking at the buildings, the workers, and listening to the noise. It was terrible. I ran back to my father and said, “I want to go home.”
He asked me, “What do you think of the factory?”
“It’s terrible,” I replied.
“And you have another choice, but I think getting married is even worse!” he said.
I went back to school the next day. From then on, I studied as hard as I could. Finally I got into a good college. I enjoyed studying English so I decided to major in languages at college. Thanks to my father and our trip to the factory, I now work at the United Nations and my father is very proud of me. I married a very good man and my life is much better than it would have been working in the factory!
【小题1】The writer lived in ________ when she was a teenager.

A．Russia

B．Japan

C．China

D．England

【小题2】At first she thought life in the factory would be ________ than in school.

A．more terrible

B．more colorful

C．busier

D．more boring

【小题3】After they visited the factory, the writer ________.

A．decided to work there	B．changed her romantic idea
C．wanted to get married	D．argued with her father

【小题4】Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A．The writer studied languages after she went into the college.

B．The writer now works at the United Nations.

C．The writer’s father used a special way to let his daughter go back to school.

D．The writer’s father is proud because his daughter married a good man.