What can you see in the ______________ [ ?ɡɑ:dn ]?

You might have noticed that the cost of food has gone up.In fact the price of wheat and rice has nearly doubled in the past few years.It’s thought that right now，850 million people—that’s more than 10 times the population of the UK—are short of food because it’s too expensive or there’s not enough of it.
The price of basic food such as wheat and corn has stayed the same for quite a long time，about 30 years.But as the world’s population is getting bigger，there’s more pressure to feed more people，plus there’s less land and water to go round.
Another reason is climate（气候）change.Droughts and floods make it hard to grow crops like rice and grain.The price of oil has gone up and that makes it more expensive for farmers to run their tractors and to transport the food they make.And lots of fields are being used to grow crops to make other things that can’t be eaten—which is bad news for hungry people.
The main losers are poor people who live in cities in poor countries，who are facing higher prices for food.Some people are doing well out of the food crisis（危机） though.Farmers in rich countries like the US，Canada and Australia are getting record prices for their harvests.
World leaders are meeting in the Italian capital Rome to talk about the problem of rising food prices.Some countries are helping out with the cost of foods and international aid agencies have called for more money for food production in poor countries.
【小题1】The price of food goes up because all of the following EXCEPT _____.

Charlie，a master carpenter(木匠)，was very well respected in his community．Everyone knew that if they wanted the best，they would call on him．Of course that meant that Charlie would never be rich．Other carpenters always told him that if he used inferior(劣质的)materials and cheap labor then he could make a lot of money．Charlie would not take their advice．

One day，John，the richest man in town came to Charlie．He said that he had just bought the best piece of land in town. He was going to Europe for 4 months and wanted Charlie to build him the best house in town．“Spare no expense and give me the best．”

Charlie thought about this and decided finally he would make some money．He did not get his usual great carpenters and fine materials from his normal suppliers．He built the house and covered up the flaws(瑕疵)．After 4 months he had spent about 50％of what he usually spends on a house．

John came back from Europe and immediately called Charlie and asked him to meet him at the house．When they met，John asked him if he had used the finest materials and spared no expense．Charlie said absolutely(绝对地)．John said that he was glad．He paid Charlie，then told him that he wanted to reward Charlie for all of his years of service to the community by giving Charlie this house．

There are many times in our lives where we let down a little bit. When you do，you never know what is going to happen．

1.What is the main idea of the first paragraph?

A．Charlie was an honest and respected master carpenter．

B．Charlie was a very foolish master carpenter．

C．Charlie was a good but stubborn master carpenter．

D．Charlie was a carpenter who would never be rich．

2.What does the underlined phrase “spare no expense” in the second paragraph mean?

A．to spend no money

B．to spend all the money necessary

C．to give not enough money

D．to waste no money

3.From Paragraph 3 we can learn ___________________ .

A．Charlie did as the rich man told him

B．the house was well built

C．Charlie kept some of the money to himself

D．the house was only half finished after 4 months

4.When Charlie heard that he would be given the house, he must have felt _______ .

A．happy            B．sorry             C．1ucky            D．satisfied

5.What can we learn from the passage?

A．A good carpenter shouldn’t earn money from his labor．

B．A carpenter shouldn’t earn a rich man’s money．

C．The richest man often punished carpenters．

D．One should always be honest．

When you have a cold, you must be unhappy (不快乐) because your body becomes hot, and there are pains (疼痛) all over. You don’t want to work, you stay in bed, feeling terrible.

What makes you ill? It’s germs. Germs are everywhere. They are very small and you can’t find them with your eyes but you can see them with a microscope (显微镜). They are very small and there could be hundreds of them in or on a very small thing.

Germs are always found in dirty water. When you look at dirty water under the microscope, you can see them in it.

Germs are found not only in water. They are also found in air and dust (灰尘). If you cut your finger (手指), and if some of the dust goes into the finger, it will become big and red, and you will have much pain in it. Sometimes germs will go into your body and you will have pain everywhere.

1.The word “germ” means (意思是)___________.

A．细菌             B．废气             C．煤气             D．空气

2.You can see germs____________.

A．when you are ill

B．only when you use a microscope

C．when you cut your finger

D．everywhere around you

3.Your parents won’t allow(允许) you to drink dirty water because_________.

A．dirty water will make you dirty

B．there are many germs in it and germs can make you ill

C．you can see many germs in it

D．it will make your finger red and big

4.The writer(作者) talks about__________.

A．how to keep dirty water clean

B．how to look after your fingers

C．how to find germs in the dirty water

D．what can make you ill