If you are asked to name some national emblems of China, the dragon will probably be one of the famous images that pop into your head. We Chinese often consider ourselves "the descendants（后代）of the dragon." It is not unfamiliar to you that your parents hope that you "may become the dragon".  
　　As a mythical（神秘的）creature, the dragon is deeply rooted in Chinese culture. Traditionally, dragons are considered to govern rainfall. They have the power to decide where and when the rain falls. In addition, the dragon is a symbol of imperial （帝王的）power. The emperors thought they were real dragons and the sons of the heaven.  　
But the creature is regarded differently in Western countries. In the Bible, dragons represent the devil（恶人）. Western people usually see dragons as cold-blooded reptiles（爬虫）, like snakes and cruel killers. In their eyes, dragons are also dishonest.　　
　　Dragons in Western literature are presented as monsters（怪物）. It is a common tale for a mediaeval knight（中世纪的骑士） to kill a dragon and save a princess and her country from its evil. Even the popular boy wizard Harry Potter has to battle against a dragon.  　　
　　However, dragons are not all bad in the West. "Puff the Magic Dragon" is a well-known song. The lyrics(歌词) tell a bitter-sweet story of the dragon Puff and his playmate Jackie Paper, a little boy. When Jackie grows up, he loses interest in the imaginary adventures of childhood and leaves Puff upset. Puff represents the innocence of a child's imagination, which is very positive for a dragon.  　　
【小题1】The underlined word” emblems” in the first paragraph means “_______”.

A．symbols

B．names

C．places

D．parks

【小题2】What is a dragon presented as according to Western literature?
A wizard      B. A mediaeval knight  C. A princess           D. A monster
【小题3】The writer gave the example of “ Puff the Magic Dragon” to show_____.

A．dragons can represent the innocence of child’s imagination

B．children don’t like to play with dragons

C．dragons are not all bad in the West

D．not all people in the West like dragons

Since my son is getting ready for first grade, I asked a friend where she shops for school supplies．For price and convenience, she had a quick answer: schoolpak．com．Parents can buy items or packaged equipment for all grades．The Generic Elementary School-pak for first through fifth graders, for example, is $23．28．（Teachers can also e-mail their grade’s or school’s whole list for a price on customized kits（销售包）．Shipping（运送）is free for 75 or more kits）
Teachers thinks highly of educational warehouse．com for its learning tools and games—everything from puzzles and puppets to software and chalks．Classroomdirect．com has great prices on over 10．000 products and a special corner offering even deeper discounts．
Pick your lunch box
The second-most-difficult back-to-school decision, right after what to wear on the first day, is what kind of lunch box to buy．Jonas Brothers or Hannah Montana? Ariel or Elmo? Your kids can examine their （and your） lunch boxes at platesplus4kids．com and lunchboxes．com．
Trade in sports tools
My garage is a tangle（混乱） of bikes and balls, sticks and clubs, so I was excited to find play it again sports．com --- a company that helps you sell quality, name-brand sporting equipment．You’ll have to visit one of its 320 stores, located in 46 states and the District of Columbia．
3 sites for saving
Feed the pig．org
Think about the savings if your kids （and you） stopped buying lunch out every day and brown-bagged（自带午餐）it．
Good shop．com
Support your favorite school by shopping at more than 1,000 participating shops．Up to 30 percent of every purchase is donated．And you’ll find hundreds of deals and coupons（优惠券）．
Tax admin．org
Click on 2009 State Sales Tax Holidays to see if your state has a tax-free shopping day．Check what’s included before going to the store．
【小题1】The passage is mainly aimed at__________．

A．parents

B．teachers

C．students

D．businessmen

【小题2】If you want to sell the bikes your children don’t use, you can go to ____________．

A．educationalwarehouse．com	B．playitagainsports．com
C．Feedthepig．org	D．Taxadmin．org

【小题3】What does the writer think of picking a lunch box?

A．It is very easy	B．It is rather hard
C．It proves interesting	D．It seems special

【小题4】What can be filled in the blank in the first item?

A．Teachers are much wiser	B．Puzzles and puppets
C．Shops where teachers shop	D．Develop your brains

London ［2009-4-01］—In the first  
meeting between Chinese President  
Hu Jintao and US President Barack  
Obama  prior to the Group of 20      
summit in London, the two leaders pledged that both countries will be working together to help the world resist the financial crisis.   
China and the US have agreed to prioritize（使……更重要; 优化） the two countries’  relations by establishing the new strategic economic dialogue.
The two teams will be headed by Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo from the Chinese side and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner from the US side.
President Hu Jintao and US President Barack Obama made the announcement to the press before they went into the official meeting, their first, at Winfield House, residence of the US ambassador to the UK.
Although it is their first meeting, they have kept a close contact, which Obama said will  “set the stage” for both countries  “to tackle the challenges in the years to come. ”
Both presidents highlighted the importance of China-US relations, especially during the current economic crisis.
Obama said he hoped their meeting will be constructive and open not only about the whole state of the world economy during the current crisis, but to the efforts to improve peace and security for both countries and the world.
Hu said all the positive results the two countries have achieved have not come easily, adding that he hoped to develop good working relationship and personal friendship with Obama.
Sino-US relations are of fundamental interests not only to both countries, but to peace, stability and prosperity to Asia and the world.
【小题1】What is the best title of this passage?

A．Hu, Obama set up new economic dialogue.

B．Sino-US relations will be improved.

C．China and the US are working together to resist economic crisis.

D．China and the US have achieved positive results.

【小题2】How do China’ s and US’ s presidents think they should deal with their relations?

A．By trusting and helping each other.

B．By sharing their common interests.

C．By establishing the new strategic economic dialogue.

D．By establishing new economic policy.

【小题3】 What is Winfield House?

A．The US ambassador to the UK.

B．Residence of UK ambassador to the US.

C．The living place of US ambassador to the UK.

D．The residence of British Queen.

【小题4】 All of the following are mentioned EXCEPT____.

A．The two presidents agreed to work together to resist the financial crisis

B．The two presidents announced to the press before the official meeting

C．Both countries will make efforts to improve peace and security

D．Sino-US relations are of fundamental interests only to both countries

It is true that good writers rewrite and rewrite and then rewrite some more. But in order to work up the desire to rewrite, it is important to learn to like what you write at the early stage.
I am surprised at the number of famous writers I know who say that they so dislike reading their own writing later that they even hate to look over the publishers’ opinions. One reason we may dislike reading our own work is that we’re often disappointed that the rich ideas in our minds seem very thin and plain when first written down. Jerry Fodor and Steven Pinker suggest that this fact may be a result of how our minds work.
Different from popular belief, we do not usually think in the works and sentences of ordinary language but in symbols for ideas (known as ‘mentalese’ ), and writing our ideas down is an act of translation from that symbolic language. But while mentalese contains our thoughts in the form of a complex tapestry (织锦)，writing can only be composed one thread at a time. Therefore it should not be surprising that our first attempt at expressing ideas should look so simple. It is only by repeatedly rewriting that we produce new threads and connect them to get closer to the ideas formed in our minds.
When people write as if some strict critics (批评家) are looking over their shoulder, they are so worried about what this critic might say that they get stuck before they even start. Peter Elbow makes an excellent suggestion to deal with this problem. When writing we should have two different minds. At the first stage, we should see every idea, as well as the words we use to express it, as wonderful and worth putting down. It is only during rewrites that we should examine what we excitedly wrote in the first stage and check for weaknesses.
【小题1】What do we learn from the text about those famous writers?

A．They often regret writing poor works.

B．Some of them write surprisingly much.

C．Many of them hate reading their own works.

D．They are happy to review the publishers’ opinions.

【小题2】What do people generally believe about the way human minds work?

A．People think in words and sentences.

B．Human ideas are translated into symbols.

C．People think by connecting threads of ideas.

D．Human thoughts are expressed through pictures.

【小题3】What can we conclude from the text?

A．Most people believe we think in symbols.

B．Loving our own writing is scientifically reasonable.

C．The writers and critics can never reach an agreement.

D．Thinking and writing are different stages of mind at work.

“It was cool，because I got a chance to be in a studio and see how a record is made，”says 14-year-old Javon Martin，who joined the music clubhouse 3 years ago.“It has impacted my life in a big way. People are actually starting to see me as an artist.”Ten-year-old Akheylah Hunter didn’t play an instrument when she became a club member last year. Now，she plays piano and sings with the band. What she likes best，she says，is performing.“We performed in different places，”she says.“We go on trips and it is fun.”
Since the Music Clubhouse opened three years ago，it’s served almost 500 kids.Aggeler says performing in front of different audiences helps the young musicians build self-esteem.Coming to the club to prepare for those performances helps them learn how to deal with their personal problems and concerns.
“I can see what it does for them and it just develops confidence，”he explains.“It’s also an escape from the big problems we have in the neighborhood. So whether they feel embarrassed about a zit on their face，or they feel embarrassed because they’re not as tall as somebody，they can rap about it and let it out a little bit.”
To expand the club and help more kids learn music，Aggeler sought the support of the community. The Berklee College of Music and local music stores have provided free equipment. The club has also gotten support from the Music and Youth Initiative，a nonprofit that develops after school music education programs in underserved communities in Massachusetts. All these have made it possible to provide kids who may not have the means to get private music lessons the opportunity to still learn music and get all the benefits that music education brings.”
【小题1】Why does the writer mention the two children in the first paragraph？

A．To tell readers that all children like music.

B．To provide examples of how children like the club.

C．To convince readers that music can solve many problems.

D．To show readers how to discover children’s potentials.

【小题2】Which of the following was NOT mentioned as a benefit of joining the club？

A．Helping the youngsters to build self-confidence.

B．Helping its members escape from problems.

C．Learning to deal with personal problems.

D．Learning to get help from nonprofit groups.

【小题3】What is Mr.Aggeler’s possible post？

A．An organizer of the club.	B．A conductor of the band.
C．An expert in child problems.	D．A parent of one of the children.

【小题4】What does the writer intend the passage to be？

A．An advertisement for a club.

B．A promotion of some non-profit groups.

C．An introduction of a music club for children.

D．A try to call for attention on children’s needs.

【小题5】Which of the following might NOT be included in activities of the club？

A．Putting on performances.	B．Making records.
C．Traveling to different places.	D．Giving private music lessons.