More and more people think it necessary to study in an English-speaking country and it didn’t take long at all for me to decide to come and study in UK.

Having been in the school for 2 months, I’m getting used to school life, and I am starting to make the most of my time in here. School starts at 9 o’clock every morning, and every Monday, Wednesday and Friday we have long days, in which we have 9 lessons and school finishes at 4 o’clock. Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays we have short days, in which we have only 6 lessons and finish at 1 o’clock. After lessons, we have two hours of activity time, when you can choose from a wide range of activities, including all the major sports, such as rugby and football, and also the minor sports such as basketball and tennis.

As a boarder( 寄宿者)，the quality of food is something I consider very important, and Merchiston has not let me down. The school kitchens are run by a professional food company, and the quality of food is very excellent and also they take the healthy diet very seriously: I remember once I was once asked to take more salad for my meal by a member of the kitchen staff(员工) for I didn’t have enough vegetables. This brings another point of being a boarder: you need to learn how to look after yourself and be responsible(负责) for yourself. One of the huge advantages of being a boarder is that we can have breakfast in the school, which means we don’t have to pull ourselves out of bed as early as the day pupils!

1.The passage mainly tells us about _______.

A．the author’s school life in the UK as a boarder.

B．the author’s opinion of the school life in the UK.

C．the differences in school life between China and UK.

D．the boarder life in a Britain middle school.

2.According to the second paragraph, we can learn that the author _________ .

A．has not enough time to study              B．likes to play tennis and basketball

C．went to the school two months ago          D．finishes school at 4 o’clock

3.How many lessons do the students have every week in this school?

A．15               B．45               C．27               D．18

4.The underlined words “let me down” in the last paragraph means _______.

A．made me disappointed                   B．made me pleased   C．encouraged me  D．amazed me

5.As a boarder in the school, the author ___________ .

A．is not used to the food there               B．has learned to have healthy diets

C．is specially taken good care of              D．sleep as much as the day pupils

It amazed me—every time I saw Joe，he was smiling.It didn’t ____ whether he had to stop at a stop light，or if he were the seventh person in ____ at the bank，and the service stopped just before he got there.Joe ___ smiled.It made me wonder why he seemed so ____ every day.

Having observed Joe with other people，I ____ something else also.Joe asked people how they were doing，and really seemed to listen to their ____.If someone were hurting，he had __7__ for him and kind words，and offered to ____ in any way he could.

It made me think...What if I tried to smile more？A(n) ____ of sorts began when I went to the grocery store.I smiled as I went up and down the aisles...and people I didn’t even ___ smiled back at me.Some even ____！The little kid in the cart(购物车) who was giving his mother a ____ time saw me smile and ____ talking...and，you guessed it.He made a shy little attempt at a smile.The man in the handicapped(残疾的) cart ____ a person to reach something...I could get that for him.The smile even transferred over to him，and he ____me.

As I drove home，I was smiling.I ____ what I had just learned，and when someone passed me and gave me a(n) ____，I smiled at him.He looked puzzled.

Now I know a smile is a small thing，but what if we were all to try to smile a few more times each day？I couldn’t believe how ___ I felt.Nothing in my life had changed，____ maybe it had.For what I learned was that such a small thing could ____ not only my spirits，but those around me as well.

1.A.work? B．happen

C．matter? D．last

2.A.order B．debt

C．hand? D．line

3.A.always B．eventually

C．immediately? D．still

4.A.naughty? B．happy

C．active? D．humourous

5.A.decided B．judged

C．noticed? D．considered

6.A.answers? B．complaints

C．excuses D．comments

7.A.guidance? B．respect

C．sympathy? D．protection

8.A.perform? B．attempt

C．bother? D．help

9.A.experiment? B．life

C．project? D．program

10.．A.meet? B．touch

C．know? D．contact

11.A.glared? B．greeted

C．approached? D．escaped

12.A.spare? B．long

C．hard? D．great

13.A.stopped? B．tried

C．kept? D．enjoyed

14.A.persuaded? B．accepted

C．supported? D．needed

15.A.thanked? B．changed

C．encouraged? D．invited

16.A.worried about? B．thought about

C．talked over? D．looked over

17.A.gesture? B．address

C．call? D．ticket

18.A.normal? B．great

C．reasonable? D．complicated

19.A.so B．for

C．but? D．till

20.A.release? B．admire

C．display? D．lift

My favorite English teacher could draw humor out of the driest material. It wasn't forced on us either.  He took Samuel Johnson's dictionary, Addison's essays, and many other literary wonders from the eighteenth century and made them hilarious, even at eight o'clock in the morning. The thing that amazed me most was that the first time I read these works on my own some of them seemed dead, but the second time, after his explanation, I couldn't believe that I hadn't seen the humor. The stories and poems and plays were suddenly filled with allusions (典故) and irony (反讽) and hilarious moments. I learned more from him than from any other teacher.

My least favorite English teacher also made people laugh. Some students found him to be funny. Many others did not. He assigned journals over a six week period, to be written every day. At the end of the six weeks I had a notebook full of bits and pieces about my ideas, short stories, reactions to what we had read, and so on. Our teacher announced that we would be grading each other's journals. Mine was passed to Joe, that class clown, who always behaved in a funny or silly way. He saw it fit to make joke of and said, " This writing isn't fit to line (衬垫) the bottom of a birdcage. " Our teacher laughed at that funny remark. It hurt me so much that the anger from it has driven my writing and teaching ever since.

So what makes the difference? Humor is one of the most powerful tools teachers or writers have. It can build up students and classes and make them excited about literature and writing, or it can tear them apart. It is true that humor is either productive or counter-productive and self-defeating.

1.The passage mainly discusses ________.

A. teaching         B. literature

C. humor            D. knowledge

2.The underlined word "hilarious" in Paragraph 1 probably means ________.

A. funny             B. tiring

C. inspiring         D. brilliant

3.The English teacher the writer disliked most ________.

A. was not able to make students laugh

B. hurt his students' feelings

C. didn't let his students do the grading

D. had no sense of humor

根据短文内容，从短文后的七个选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

The Importance of Accessibility Awareness

? At a recent Teen Leadership of Jewish Family Services meeting, people with disabilities talked about their lives. ? 1.? However, what amazed me most was the great importance of education about handicap accommodations (残疾人便利设施).

? One school-teacher who is blind, and a woman who has used a wheelchair all her life are two important members of the National Group for Disabled Persons, devoted to raising awareness about disabilities. ? 2.? These include handicap parking spots, handrails, and wheelchair ramps. One big concern is the people who take advantage of aids, such as handicap parking spaces.????????????? ? 3.? And the meeting focused on educating the public.

? Some handicap spots have extra room next to them, marked with the “No Parking” signs. “As long as I'm not in the spot, I can take the no-parking area next to it,” some people say. However, the woman who uses a wheelchair disagrees to this. The space exists to allow someone in a wheelchair to have room to get in or out of their car. ? 4.?

? Some walkways have handrails next to them to help those who require extra assistance. Whether it is a blind person seeking guidance or an elderly person seeking support, the rail is there for walking. Sometimes the rail is blocked, by a parked bicycle for instance, and consequently made useless. ? 5.? People who are informed of the rail’s use would be less likely to mistake it for a bike rack.

? Meeting some of the people who are affected by the lack of education about accommodations made me see that there is work to be done. If more people were educated about the proper uses of accommodations, there would be fewer challenges for people with physical disabilities.

A. Accommodations will vary according to the needs of the disabled.

B. As with the parking spot, this is more likely a case of lack of education.?

C. They educate about all the accommodations for people with disabilities.?

D. Improvement must be made so that disabled people can fully participate.

E. If there is a car in that space, the handicap parking spot is no longer useful.

F. So people without disabilities need to be educated about these accommodations.

G. I was amazed to hear about the challenges faced by people with physical disabilities.

My favorite English teacher could draw humor out of the driest material. It wasn’t forced on us either. He took Samuel Johnson’s dictionary, Addison’s essays, and many other literary wonders from the eighteenth century and made them hilarious, even at eight o’clock in the morning. The thing that amazed me most was that the first time I read these works on my own, some of them seemed dead, but the second time, after his explanation, I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t seen the humor. The stories and poems and plays were suddenly filled with allusions(典故) and irony and hilarious moments. I learned more from him than from any other teacher.

My least favorite English teacher also made people laugh. Some students found him to be wonderfully funny. Many others did not. He assigned journals over a six-week period, to be written every day. At the end of the six weeks I had a notebook full of bits and pieces about my ideas, short stories, reactions to what we had read, and so on. Our teacher announced that we would be grading each other’s journals. Mine was passed to Joe, that class clown, who always behaved in a funny or silly way. He saw it fit to make a joke of and said, “This writing isn’t fit to line the bottom of a birdcage.” Our teacher laughed at that funny remark. It hurt me so much that the anger from it has driven my writing and teaching ever since.

So what makes the difference? Humor is one of the most powerful tools teachers or writers have. It can build up students and classes and make them excited about literature and writing, or it can tear them apart. It is true that humor is either productive or counter-productive and self-defeating.

1.The passage mainly discusses ________.

A. teaching                     B. literature                    C. humor                D. knowledge

2.The underlined word “hilarious” in Paragraph 1 probably means ________.

A. funny                B. tiring                          C. inspiring                       D. brilliant

3.The English teacher the writer disliked most ________.

A. was not able to make students laugh                   B. hurt his student’s feelings

C. didn’t let his students do the grading                  D. had no sense of humor