Almost all people like flowers. Some people like flowers because of their smells, shapes, colors and so on. Others like flowers because they think different flowers mean different things. Flowers have their own language. For example, red roses mean “love” and sunflowers mean “loyalty(忠诚)”. So people in more than 100 countries have chosen their own national flowers which say something about their countries’ spirit. In 1994, China talked about choosing a national flower. Some people liked the peony(牡丹) but others liked the plum blossom(梅花). They couldn’t agree with each other. So it has not been decided yet.
People like to buy different flowers in different seasons. Where do all the beautiful flowers in shops come from? They may come from far away, so their price is higher.
a. Farmers grow flowers in their fields.
b. Planes or trains or buses take the flowers to different places.
c. Flower shopkeepers buy flowers from the flower markets. They look after the flowers and throw away the broken or bad ones. They cut the flowers to make them more beautiful.
d. You go to buy the flowers in the shops. When you buy a flower, you’re paying lots of people: the farmer, the driver of the plane or train or bus, the seller in the flower market and the flower shopkeeper.
So you’d better keep your flowers from far away for a long time. But how? Why not dry them? It’s easy! Sand drying is a way. Dry, clean sand is one of the oldest things for drying flowers. And it’s one of the cheapest.
·Fill a box half-way with sand.
·Put the flowers on top of the sand.
·Put the box in a warm, dry place.
·Leave the flowers there for one to three weeks.
·Take them out and they will be dry.
【小题1】The underlined words “national flowers” most probably means ______.

When you are about to do something brave, a cheerful wish of “Good luck!” from a friend can be helpful. But if you think you need lots of luck, what else might you do?
In the UK and US there are some strange traditions for bringing yourself a little more good luck. Some are hundreds of years old and some are much newer.
Have you heard the saying “When you wish upon a star”? If you are looking up at the sky on a clear night and you see a sudden flash of light, it is probably a shooting star! Seeing one doesn’t happen very often. The saying goes that if you see one you have been very lucky, and so if you make a wish, it will come true.
Maybe you have heard of the lucky rabbit’s foot. Some people believe that rabbits are lucky animals, so they carry a part of the rabbit, its foot, for good luck. There are all kinds of strange, unclear rules about which of the rabbit’s feet is the luckiest. It is said that this good luck tradition is the oldest one of all. However, as the funny saying goes, “Depend on the rabbit’s foot if you will, but remember it didn’t work for the rabbit!”
People in Britain love trees. If it is autumn and leaves are falling from the trees, some people try to catch the leaves as they fall because they think each leaf they catch will bring them a lucky month in the following year—they will need to catch 12 falling leaves to have a whole of good luck!
【小题1】From Paragraph 3, we know that ______.

Sydney is a young city. Its history goes back just over 200 years. But in Australia, it is the oldest city. It is also the country' s largest city. Sydney is the capital of New South Wales and the most popular city of Australia.

The climate of Sydney is very good. It' s not too cold during the winter and not too hot during the summer. The sky is blue, the air is fresh, and birds sing in the garden. People who live in Sydney seem to have an easy life style. They will tell you, "Don't worry. "

Many people think that Sydney is one of the most attractive cities in the world. It has many tall and modern buildings. Among them, Center point Tower is the tallest. Standing on the 305-metre(80 storeys)tower, you will have a great view of the city.

Sydney is famous for its deep harbor(港口). The harbor has many bays(湾) and beautiful surf beaches.? Among them, Bondi beach is the most popular.? Sydney Harbor is not only beautiful, it also serves as a large port. Ships carry wool, wheat and meat from Sydney to other countries.

People living in Sydney like to call themselves Sydneysiders. They are mostly friendly and easygoing. When they are not working, they love to have a good time at the beach, swimming and sailing.

1.Sydney is the???????? city in Australia.

A. youngest??????? B. largest????? C. coldest?????? D. hottest

2. It seems that people in Sydney have easy life because????????? .

A. the climate is very good

B. the sea is very beautiful

C. they are very rich

D. they always tell you, "Don't worry. "

3.What is true about the Center point?

A. It' s the tallest building in the world.

B. It's an old building.

C. You can see most of the city on it.

D. It' s 80-metre tall.

4. Australia is rich in???????? .

A. wool????????? B. wheat???????? C. meat????? D. all the above

5.What do you think of people in Sydney?

A. cool????????? B. busy?????????? C. shy?????? D. warm-hearted

It was unusually quiet in the emergency room on December 25.

I was the nurse on duty that day. I didn't think there would be any patients. Just then five bodies   1    at my desk, a pale woman and four small children.

“Are you all sick?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said   2   , lowering her head.

But when they described their problems, things got a little strange. Two of the children had headaches, but they didn’t show any    3  of headaches at all. Two children had earaches, but only one could tell me which ear was affected. The mother  4  of a cough but seemed to work to produce it.

I didn't say anything,  5 I explained that they might wait for a little while before a doctor saw her. She answered, “Take your time; it's warm here.”

I checked the chart after another nurse had finished registering(登记) the family. No 6  —they were homeless. The waiting room was warm.

I looked at the family by the Christmas tree. The littlest one was pointing at the television and saying something to her mother. The oldest one was looking at lights on the Christmas tree.

I went back to the nurses' station and mentioned we had a homeless family in the waiting room. The nurses who felt bored with  7  Christmas, turned to compassion((怜悯) for the family just trying to get warm on Christmas. The team went into action. We began to prepare a party for our Christmas  8 . We needed presents. We put together oranges and apples in a basket. We collected from different departments candies, crayons and other things available that could be presents.

   9 , as the family walked to the door to leave, the four-year-old child came running back, gave me a hug and    10 , “Thanks for being our angels today.”

1.                A．set up          B．put up          C．cheered up    D．showed up

2.                A．excitedly       B．loudly          C．weakly   D．strongly

3.                A．systems        B．signs           C．symbols  D．secrets

4.                A．explained       B．expressed       C．complained    D．compared

5.                A．and            B．but            C．or   D．so

6.                A．address        B．age            C．name D．money

7.                A．amazing        B．working         C．interesting D．surprising

8.                A．nurses         B．doctors         C．guests    D．patients

9.                A．Soon           B．Suddenly        C．Later D．However

10.               A．screamed       B．jumped         C．whispered D．replied

补全对话 根据对话内容，从下边选出适当的选项补全对话（共4小题，每小题1分；计4分）

A．You’ve been to more places than I have.

B．I’ve never been such a place in China.

C．Where’s that?

D．What places have you been to in China.

A: Hi, Kate!       1         .

B: Oh, I’ve been to many places, such as Hangzhou, Shanghai,Guilin and Chongqing.

A:       2        ­­­­

B: Really? What places have you been to？

A: Very few. I’ve only been to Pingyao.

B:     3     

A: It’s in Shanxi. It’s a small place, but it has a long history. It’s one of the oldest towns in China. There you can see a well-kept city wall.

B:       4     . I’ve just seen a lot of natural beauties, but not much old Chinese culture yet.

A: Well, you’ll have a lot of changes if you like.