How do you feel when you stay in hospital alone? Jenny, 13, a US student, feels bored. She knows the feeling because she has been in hospital many times herself. One day, she thought of an idea—if patients could get some books to read, they would feel better. So, from May, she and many of her friends began to collect books for hospital patients.
In six months the students collected 1,250 books at school. They decided to donate the books to the North Shore Medical Centre, a children’s hospital next door to their school. “There are books for kids of all ages, from babies up to high school level.” said Jenny.
The students put the books into “early readers”, “middle readers” and “advanced readers”. Then they wrote their best wishes to patients on bookmarks (书签) and letters, put the books in big boxes and donated them to the hospital.
“We wrote things like, “Keep on reading!’ and ‘Hope you feel better!’,” siad John, 14, Jenny’s brother. “And we also wrote some funny things to make them laugh.”
Frank, 12, and Steven, 14, helped carry 16 large boxes of books into a car. “I think these books will make me a lot of patients feel happy.” said Frank. Steven shared his opinion. “It is really the most meaningful thing that I have ever done in my life.”
【小题1】Who first thought of the idea of helping those bored patients in hospital?

A．John.

B．Frank.

C．Steven.

D．Jenny.

【小题2】From the article, we can learn that _______.

A．in half a year Jenny and her friends bought 1,250 books

B．the North Shore Medical Centre is far from Jenny’s school

C．Jenny and her friends were willing to help bored patients

D．Steven had a different opinion from Frank and John

【小题3】The best title for the article might be “_______”.

A．Collecting books for bored patients	B．Writing a letter to a medical centre
C．Donating books to poor students	D．Reading books for hospital patients

【小题4】 Which of the following words can be used to describe those student?

A．Polite and hard-working	B．Lazy and stubborn
C．Selfish and proud	D．Thoughtful and helpful

London has a new magazine. But it is not printed(印刷) on paper. Everyone who has a television can receive it because it is on TV.

In order to read this magazine you have to have a decoder (解码器). Each page of it is numbered, so you only have to dial the number to choose which subject you want to read about. There are all kinds of information ---everything is included from cooking to the latest sports news.

If you want to read the news, the first thing you have to do is to turn to the back page, which has an easy-to-remember page number, 100 for example. Then you start choosing what you want to read. The news is on page 101 to 109, so you put in the numbers and the news appears written across your screen. Perhaps you want to go out in the afternoon, so you press 181, and a brightly colored weather map appears on the screen. But the weather is terrible, so you decide to go shopping and dial 162 for a list of the week’s best bargains. But should you drive or take the train? To answer that question you only have to press 189 for the traffic report. It is very simple to use. But probably the best thing about the service is that it is being updated all the time. Journalists type new material directly onto the screen and the whole pages of the magazine can be replaced in minutes.

London already has three services. One, sent out by TV, is called ORACLE while the other two, on BBC, are called CEEFAX because they let you see facts. Although CEEFAX and ORACLE have been operating for some time, they have not been well publicized(宣传). BBC engineers do not think that their idea will ever replace books and newspapers because they can be taken with you everywhere. But many people would agree that is a breakthrough(突破) as great as the invention of printing, which could not just change our reading habits but our whole way of life.

1. We can know from the passage that in London        .

A．the magazine is available at any local home

B．most of the postmen will lose their jobs some day

C．everyone can read this magazine if they have a television

D．the readers can get various kinds of information staying at home

2.In the sentence “Each page of it is numbered,” the word “it” refers to the        .

A．magazine          B．program          C．decoder          D．subject

3.According to the passage, the “decoder” is used to help people        .

A．work out the total(合计) of certain numbers

B．read the information sent by TV signals

C．go shopping and have other entertainment

D．receive some special TV program for entertainment

4.The passage is mainly about        .

A．a new magazine printed in London

B．an up-to-date way of getting information

C．a popular TV program about magazines

D．an advanced technology helping people communicate

 

Fashion isn’t very environmentally-friendly because it makes people buy things they don’t need, just because they’re new. We want to take care of the environment, we don’t want to pol­lute the air and we don’t want to waste energy and resources. But we also want to be fashiona­ble. How can we buy fashionable clothes and protect the environment?
Old styles are fashionable again, so one way is to buy second-hand clothes — recycled clothes. Another way is to buy’ fair trade clothes. These clothes are either recycled or made in a ’ way that protects the environment. They also protect the people who make the clothes.
Surprisingly, white cotton is one of the least environmentally-friendly crops of all. To pro­tect the cotton, the growers use chemicals that pollute water, make farm workers ill and kill wildlife. New materials, such as hemp and bamboo, grow quickly and are more environmental­ly-friendly. These materials are very soft, and look fantastic. The best materials are coloured using natural dyes, made from plants.
Environmentally-friendly clothes are practical but until now they were often dull. Now fashion-designers are working with these materials and the clothes are beautiful as well. So now we can buy fashionable clothes that are also environmentally-friendly.
【小题1】Why do people often buy things they don’t need? Because_.

A．new things can be more comfortable

B．everyone wants to be fashionable

C．people are richer than before now

D．people care about the environment

【小题2】What’s the topic for paragraph 2?

A．Recycled fashion.	B．The problem with fashion.
C．Fashion doesn’t have to pollute.	D．New materials.

【小题3】Which of the following is more environmentally-friendly?

A．Materials soft and looking fantastic.

B．Any materials coloured using natural dyes.

C．Hemp and bamboo.

D．White cotton.

【小题4】Why are environmentally -friendly clothes more fashionable now? Because______.

A．people pay more attention to our environment

B．environmentally-friendly clothes are practical

C．all old styles become fashionable again

D．fashion-designers are working to make them beautiful

【小题5】What is the best title for the passage?

A．Cotton or Hemp and Bamboo?

B．Environmentally-friendly Clothes

C．Old Style, New Fashion Again

D．Fashion and the Environment

Fashion isn't very environmentally-friendly because it makes people buy things they don't need, just because they're new. We want to take care of the environment, we don't want to pol­lute the air and we don't want to waste energy and resources. But we also want to be fashiona­ble. How can we buy fashionable clothes and protect the environment?
Old styles are fashionable again, so one way is to buy second-hand clothes — recycled clothes. Another way is to buy' fair trade clothes. These clothes are either recycled or made in a ' way that protects the environment. They also protect the people who make the clothes.
Surprisingly, white cotton is one of the least environmentally-friendly crops of all. To pro­tect the cotton, the growers use chemicals that pollute water, make farm workers ill and kill wildlife. New materials, such as hemp and bamboo, grow quickly and are more environmental­ly-friendly. These materials are very soft, and look fantastic. The best materials are coloured using natural dyes, made from plants.
Environmentally-friendly clothes are practical but until now they were often dull. Now fashion-designers are working with these materials and the clothes are beautiful as well. So now we can buy fashionable clothes that are also environmentally-friendly.
【小题1】Why do people often buy things they don't need? Because_.

A．new things can be more comfortable

B．everyone wants to be fashionable

C．people are richer than before now

D．people care about the environment

【小题2】What's the topic for paragraph 2?
A. Recycled fashion. B. The problem with fashion.
C. Fashion doesn't have to pollute.       D. New materials.
【小题3】Which of the following is more environmentally-friendly?

A．Materials soft and looking fantastic.

B．Any materials coloured using natural dyes.

C．Hemp and bamboo.

D．White cotton.

【小题4】Why are environmentally -friendly clothes more fashionable now? Because______.

A．people pay more attention to our environment

B．environmentally-friendly clothes are practical

C．all old styles become fashionable again

D．fashion-designers are working to make them beautiful

【小题5】What is the best title for the passage?

A．Cotton or Hemp and Bamboo?

B．Environmentally-friendly Clothes

C．Old Style, New Fashion Again

D．Fashion and the Environment

“I had a Welsh speaking test. I'd had to memorize a paragraph in front of the whole class. I just couldn’t do it,” says 13-year-old Mary. “I pretended to be ill.” But Mary did not enjoy her day off. “I watched TV all day — it was boring. I wished I had gone to school.”
Mary’s story is not unusual in Britain. According to the latest government figures, pupil absences are rising, despite schools taking a hard line on truancy (逃学)．
Philippa James, a PhD researcher at Cardiff University’s school of social sciences, thinks she knows why: “The more schools improve methods of detection（检查）, the more children work out better methods of deception.” Teenagers told her it was now harder to skip a single lesson, so they’d miss whole days to avoid being caught.
For several years, James has researched student truancy of 60 teenagers, aged 13 and 14, including Mary, to see how the teenagers truant, for how long, and why.
Through online conversations and face-to-face interviews, she discovered that most truancy was “a response to factors within the school”. Truants are not necessarily less advanced or less intelligent. They complained of teachers who failed to engage them, and of “boring” lessons. “Many truants really enjoy school and believe in education, but drop out when aspects of it were ineffective.” James says.
The views of students like Adam, who believes that skipping lessons has little impact on his schooling, were common. “I only take-off for a lesson, or a couple of days. It doesn’t affect my education,” he told James.
James’ study concludes that schools need to address the question of why pupils want to leave in the first place. “Pupils need help from the start.” she says. “It’s a two-way process – schools must be responsive. We need to look at the reasons for truancy rather than the number, so that instead of walking away from school, students have the skills and chances to talk through problems and make a change.”
【小题1】What is one of the reasons for school truancy according to James’ study?

A．Truants are fallen behind in their studies.

B．Truants have no interest in school subjects.

C．Truants have more interesting things to do.

D．Truants are not satisfied with the teachers.

【小题2】The underlined phrase “taking a hard line” (paragraph 2) is closest in meaning to“        ”.

A．experiencing a problem with	B．having a strict attitude towards
C．finding it difficult to solve	D．having little success with

【小题3】 By citing Adam's remark, James wants to show that      .

A．school education is not efficient and needs improvement

B．it’s a popular belief that occasional truancy won't cause much harm

C．school truancy is becoming more serious and needs more concern

D．even good students may sometimes need a break from school

【小题4】 What is Philippa James’ suggestion to schools?

A．Schools should solve the problem of teachers.

B．Schools should be more active in helping beginner truants.

C．Schools should have a better control of hidden truants.

D．Schools should find out who truant and how they it.