The customs in different countries are rather different. If I have dinner with a Chinese host, he always puts more food onto my plate as soon as I have emptied it. That often discomforts me greatly. I have to eat the food even if I do not want to, because it is considered bad manners in the west to leave one’s food on the plate. I have also noticed that when a Chinese sits at an American’s dinner party, he often refuses the offer of drink though he’s in fact still hungry or thirsty. This might be good manners in China but it is not in the west at all. In the United States, it is impolite to keep asking someone again and again or insist on his accepting something. Americans have a direct way of speaking. If they want something, they will ask for it. If not, they will say, “No, thanks.” When an American is served with beer by the host, for example, he might say, “No, thanks. I’ll take some orange juice if you have it.” That is what an American will do. So when you go to the United States, you’d better remember the famous saying: “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
【小题1】From this passage we can see that the writer is         .

 
E
When an ant dies, other ants take it out of the nest, often within an hour after its death. This behavior interests scientists and they wonder how ants know for sure—and so soon—that another ant is dead.
One scientist recently came up with a way to explain this ant behaviour. Dong-Hwan Choe is a biologist, a scientist who studies animals and plants. He found that ants have a chemical on the outside of their bodies that signals to other ants, “I'm dead—take me away” when it is dead.
But there's a question to answer: As we know, if an ant is dead, it stops moving. But when an ant is sleeping or knocked unconscious, it is also not moving. However, other ants don't move the living ant out of the nest. How do they know this ant is not dead? Choe found that ants have another chemical on their bodies, which tells nearby ants something like, “Wait—I'm not dead yet”when it is not dead. Choe suspects that when an ant dies, the chemical that says, “Wait I'm not dead yet”quickly goes away. When other ants detect the“dead”chemical without the“not dead yet”chemical, they move away the body.
To test his theory , Choe and his team put different chemicals on ants. When the scientists used the “I'm dead” chemical, other ants quickly moved the treated ant away. When the scientists used the“Wait—I'm not dead yet”chemical, other ants left the treated ant alone. Choe believes this behavior shows that the“not dead yet”chemical overrides the“dead” chemical when picked up by other ants. And that when an ant dies, the “not dead yet” chemical fades away. Other nearby ants then detect the remaining“dead”chemical and remove the body from the nest.
Understanding this behavior can help scientists figure out how to stop ants from invading new places and causing problems.
57. What is the function of the first paragraph?
A. Leading the following paragraphs.
B. Showing the main idea of the passage.
C. Introducing the background of the passage.
D. Giving a summary of the passage.
58. Which of the following has the closest meaning to the underlined word “overrides” in the fourth paragraph?
A.is weaker than        B. is stronger than    C. is better than    D. is worse than
59. What can we learn from the passage?
A. Living ants can also be taken away when they are not moving.
B. When an ant dies, it can tell others using a certain chemical.
C. A living ant can pretend to be dead using a special chemical.
D. Ants often use chemicals to communicate with each other.
60. Which of the following descriptions about Dong-Hwan Choe is right?
A. Choe did this study in order to stop ants from invading new places.
B.Choe is a biologist who is only interested in animals, especially in ants.
C. Choe first came up with an idea to explain this ant behavior，and then did some tests to prove his theory.
D. Choe did the research on this ant behavior on his own

Cars are an important part of life in the United States. Without a car most people feel that they are poor. And even if a person is poor , he doesn’t feel really poor when he has a car.

Henry Ford was the man who first started making cars in large numbers. He probably didn’t know how much the car was going to change American culture. The car made the United States a nation on wheels. And it helped make the United States what it is today.

There are three main reasons why the car became so popular in the United States. First of all, the country is a big one and Americans like to move around it. The car makes the travel the most comfortable and cheapest. With a car people can go to any place without spending a lot of money.

The second reason cars are popular is the fact that the United States never really developed a practical and cheap public travel system. Long distance trains have never been as common in the United States as they are in other parts of the world. Now there is a good system of air-service provided by planes. But it is too expensive to be used often.

The third reason is the most important one, though. The American spirit of independence is what really made cars popular. Americans don’t like waiting for a bus, or a train or even a plane. They don’t like to have to follow an exact timetable. A car gives them the freedom to plan their own time. And this is the freedom that Americans want most to have.

Less oil has caused a big problem for Americans. But the answer will not be a bigger system of public transportation. The real answer will have to be a new kind of car, one that does not use so much oil.

1.We can learn from this passage that Americans ______.

A．spend a lot of money traveling by car        B．travel a lot in their cars

C．seldom travel by plane                   D．use public traffic often

2.Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．In the United States even the poor own cars.

B．In the United States all the poor have no cars.

C．When an American has a car, he will never be poor.

D．An American will feel poor unless he has a car.

3.In the writer’s opinion, cars are popular in the United States mainly because ___.

A．Americans like to plan their own time

B．The United States does not have enough public transportation

C．Americans will not feel poor when they travel in their cars

D．Americans cannot move around without their own cars

4.“A nation on wheels” in the second paragraph means that _______.

A．everyone in the United States owns a car

B．the United States produces most of the cars in the world

C．cars play an important part in American’ life

D．the United States depend on car industry for its development

Protecting Copyright
Having finished her homework, Ma Li wants some music. As usual, she starts her computer and goes to Baidu.com to download music files. But this time she is surprised when an announcement about protecting songs’ copyright bursts onto the screen. The age of free music and movie downloads may have come to an end as Web companies like Baidu are accused of pirating copyright. Lawsuits have been filed against four websites offering free downloads. In September 2005, a Beijing court ordered Baidu to pay recording company Shanghai Push compensation for their losses. Baidu was also told to block the links to the pirated music on the website. This caused a heated discussion on Interact file sharing.
“Baidu’s defeat in the lawsuit shows it is not right to get copyrighted songs without paying. Down loaders may face lawsuits or fines,” said an official.
Like many teens, Huang Ruoru, an 18-year-old girl from Puning in Guangdong Province, doesn’t think that getting music from websites is wrong. She always shares her favourite songs downloaded from Baidu with her friends. When told about the lawsuit, she began to feel a little guilty about obtaining others’ work without paying.
However, other teenagers have different ideas. Wang Yafei, a Senior 2 girl from Jinan, Shandong Province pointed out that file sharing is a good way to promote pop singers. “If I download a song and really like it, I will buy the CD,” she said. “So what the recording companies really should concentrate on is improving their music, rather than pursuingfile-sharers.”
【小题1】Which of the following best describes the passage?

Earthquakes are something that people fear．There are some places that have few or no earthquakes．Most places in the world，however，have them regularly（有规律的）．Countries that have a lot of earthquakes are usually quite mountainous（多山的）．
The most talked about earthquake in the United States was in San Francisco in 1906．Over 700 people died in it．The strongest one in North America was in 1964．It happened in Alaska．
Strong earthquakes are not always the ones that kill the most people．In 1755，one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded was felt in Portugal．Around 2,000 people died．
In 1923，a very strong earthquake hit the Tokyo，Yokohama area of Japan．A hundred and forty thousand people died．Most of them died in fires which followed the earthquake．
One of the worst earthquakes ever was in China in 2008．It killed a large number of people．The worst earthquake ever reported was also in China，in which 400,000 people were killed or injured．This earthquake happened in 1556．
Earthquakes worry people a lot．The reason is that we often do not know when they are coming．People can not prepare for it．
【小题1】When and where was the worst earthquake ever reported？