Scientists are trying to make the deserts into good land again．They want to bring water to the deserts，so people can live and grow food．They are learning a lot about the deserts．But more and more of the earth is becoming desert all the time．Scientists may not be able to change the desert in time．

Why is more and more land becoming desert？Scientists think that people make deserts．People are doing bad things to the earth．

Some places on the earth don’t get much rain． But they still don’t become deserts． This is because some green plants are growing there． Small green plants and grass are very important to dry places． Plants don’t let the sun make the earth even drier． Plants do not let the wind blow the dirt away． When a bit of rain falls， the plants hold the water． Without plants， the land can become desert more easily．

1.Deserts ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿ ．

A．never have any plants or animals in them

B．can all be turned into good land before long

C．are becoming smaller and smaller

D．get very little rain

2.Small green plants are very important to dry places because ＿＿＿＿＿ ．

A．they don’t let the sun make the earth even drier

B．they don’t let the wind blow the soil away

C．they hold water

D．All of the above．

3.Land is becoming desert little by little because ＿＿＿＿＿＿．

A．plants can’t grow there

B．there is not enough rain

C．people haven’t done what scientists wish them to do

D．scientists know little about the deserts

4.Why is more and more land becoming desert according to this passage？

A．Earthquakes make deserts.                B．Wind makes deserts.

C． Lack of water makes deserts.              D．People make deserts．

 

(You may read the questions first.)

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Theatrical Release Date: July 1, 2011

Studio: Paramount Pictures 

Director: Michael Bay 

Genre: Action︱Adventure︱Sequel︱ Sci-Fi︱ 3D

The Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, are back in action, taking on the evil Decepticons. The Autobots and Decepticons become involved in a dangerous space race. The Autobots learn of a Cybertronian spacecraft on the Moon and must race against the Decepticons to find its secrets, which could turn the tide in the Transformers’ final battle. Shockwave, a longtime “Transformers” character, rules Cybertron while the Autobots and Decepticons battle it out on Earth.

 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II

Theatrical Release Date: July 15, 2011

Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures

Director: David Yates

Genre: Action︱Adventure︱Sequel︱Fantasy︱3D

In part II, the battle between the good and evil forces of the Wizarding world evolves into an all-out war. This final adventure continues Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s attempt to find and destroy Voldemort’s remaining Horcruxes. Harry Potter is called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice to bring an end to his nemesis.

Winnie the Pooh

Theatrical Release Date: July 15, 2011

Studio: Walt Disney Pictures

Director: Don Hall, Stephen J. Anderson

Genre: Sequel︱Family Animation

Winnie the Pooh is a 2011 American traditionally animated feature film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. Based upon the characters of the children’s books Winnie-the-Pooh, The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne and Return to the Hundred Acre Wood by David Benedictus, the film features two previously unadapted stories from the original books. 

In the movie, Owl sends the whole gang to save Christopher Robin from an imaginary bad character, and it turns out to be a very busy day for Winnie the Pooh who simply set out to find some honey.

1.Which of the following is not the genre of Transformers: Dark of the Moon?

    A. Action.  B. Sequel.    C. Fantasy.   D. 3D

2.According to the Movie Express above, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II is mainly about ______.

A. a journey of Harry, Ron, and Hermione

B. high risks of the final adventure

C.a fear of Lord Voldemort

D. an all-out war between good and evil forces

3.Who might be most interested in the Movie Express of Winnie the Pooh?

   A. Would-be parents.                     B. Families with children.

   C. Writers of children’s books.             D. Honey lovers.

 

As we get older, most of us worry about grey hair, wrinkles and maintaining a youthful body. But people often don’t realize the voice needs looking after. Here, Mr. Rubin, a voice expert, reveals how to keep your voice youthful.

Drink more fluid and avoid spicy food

You need water for the vocal cords(声带) to vibrate(振动) well. The body must be kept hydrated enough to make the vocal cords operate well. Drinking 1.5 liters of water a day at intervals of 15 minutes is very important. Mr. Rubin advises avoiding foods with an annoying effect on the stomach, such as onions, chili, fizzy drinks and chocolate.

Rest the throat and talk regularly

The vocal cords can be scared if you use your voice during a bad cough. If you have a case of laryngitis(喉炎) with a cold, you should rest your voice for a day or two, and seek medical advice.

Simply staying sociable and using your voice is very important. “As older people get less mobile, they can become socially isolated and speak less.” says Mr. Rubin. “The elderly need to communicate with people more. By using the vocal cords, they enable the ageing process to slow down. ”

Improve your posture

Good posture is essential to keeping the voice young, so we’d better stand properly. Exercise helps you take deeper breaths as it means there is better airflow through the voice box, producing a stronger tone.

Sing in the shower

This is one of the best ways to preserve your voice, as it keeps the larynx muscles strong while the steam lubricates(使润滑) the voice box. “Singing is gymnastics for the voice,” says Mr. Rubin. Joining a choir is one of the best ways to preserve a youthful tone.

1.Mr. Rubin gives us advice on ________.

A．ways to keep us from aging

B．ways to talk with other people

C．ways to keep our voice youthful

D．prevention of diseases caused by talking too much

2.Which of the following statements is TRUE in the opinion of Mr. Rubin?

A．We should stand properly to keep our voice youthful.

B．Professional singers’ voices tend to age quickly.

C．The steam can do great harm to the voice.

D．Taking more onions can keep us healthy.

3.To protect the voice, the old people should       .

A．get less mobile                         B．communicate with others more

C．avoid using the voice                     D．lie in bed more

4.What can we learn from the text?

A．Most people have realized the importance of protecting voice.

B．It’s hard to keep the vocal cords strong through exercise.

C．Singing in the shower is among the best ways to keep our voice youthful.

D．Shouting now and then benefits our vocal cords.

 

Online shoppers would rather receive an offer for a product or service than make their own offer ₃ according to a study led by a Michigan State University scholar that has implications for the fast-growing e-commerce industry. The findings may come as a surprise given that shopping online is an anonymous(匿名的）process that seemingly can give consumers more confidence to drive a hard bargain_,said Don Conlon ，Professor of Management in MSU’s Broad College of Business.

But the study found that participants who made their own offers were less successful in sealing the deal and ，when they were successful_? worried they overpaid Many shoppers found the process of researching an offer to be a hassle. “ Americans are very busy，and it’s less time-consuming to be the one receiving the offer rather than the one proposing the offer  ” Conlon said. ^u People tend to be happier when they’re in the receiver role. ”

Online spending in the United States is expected to jump 45 percent in the next four years， from $ 226 billion this year to $ 327 billion in 2017，according to Forrester Research Inc. Nevertheless, researches into this prosperous market remain largely focused on the strategies of companies, rather than those o£ shoppers. Conlon^’s study is ，obviously, a rare exception.

Conlon got the idea for the study after considering the difference between two popular sites for hotels and airline flights, priceline.com, which takes bids, and hotwire.com ，which provides offers. Using these two models ，Conlon and his fellow researchers conducted a series of experiments with more than 850 people who were charged with booking a fictional hotel room and acquiring a fictional antique car. Not only did participants prefer to receive bids, Conlon said ，but they also secured more deals in that receiver role. Further ，when they had to make the bids ，they were left more mentally taxed and regretful.

From an industry perspective，putting customers in the receiver role may help fill more hotel rooms and airplane seats. “If you’re a business with a lot of products₃ ” Conlon said，“you may want to be the one making the offers. ” However, when selling single items, such as an antique car， accepting bids may be a better option since that typically drives up the price, he said.

1.What can we learn from Para. 1?

A．The result of the study gives customers more confidence.

B．Scholars aren’t surprised at the findings of the study.

C．Online shoppers don’t bargain as much as expected.

D．E-commerce industry drives more hard bargains.

2.It can be concluded from Conlon’s experiments that______.

A．online shopping is time-consuming

B．given prices help promote online sales

C．online businesses provide a lot of products

D．receiving offers makes online shoppers regretful

3.The underlined word “taxed” in Para. 4 probably means______.

A．burdened         B．numbed           C．relieved          D．challenged

4.The passage is mainly about______.

A．the big advantages of online shopping

B．the rapid development of online shopping

C．online shoppers’ preference for taking offers

D．online companies strategies to improve service

 

Everyone knows about straight-A students．We see them frequently in TV situation comedies and in movies like Revenge（报复）of the Nerds．They get high grades, all right, but only by becoming dull laborers, their noses always stuck in a book．They are not good at social communication and look clumsy while doing sports．

How, then, do we account for Domenica Roman or Paul Melendres?

Roman is on the tennis team at Fairmont Senior High School．She also sings in the choral group, serves on the student council and is a member of the mathematics society．For two years she has maintained A’s in every subject．Melendres, a freshman at the University of New Mexico, was student-body president at Valley High School in Albuquerque．He played soccer and basketball well, exhibited at the science fair, and meanwhile worked as a reporter on a local television station．Being a speech giver at the graduation ceremony, he achieved straight A’s in his regular classes, plus bonus points for A’s in two college-level courses．

How do super-achievers like Roman and Melendres do it? Brains aren’t the only answer．“Top grades don’t always go to the brightest students, ” declares Herbert Walberg, a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who has conducted major studies on super-achieving students．“Knowing how to make the most of your innate（天生的）abilities counts for more．Much more．”

In fact, Walberg says, students with high IQ sometimes don’t do as well as classmates with lower IQ．For them, learning comes too easily and they never find out how to get down．

Hard work isn’t the whole story, either．“It’s not how long you sit there with the books open, ” said one of the many-A students we interviewed．“It’s what you do while you’re sitting．” Indeed, some of these students actually put in fewer hours of homework time than their lower-scoring classmates．

The kids at the top of the class get there by mastering a few basic techniques that others can readily learn．

1.The underlined word “nerds” can probably be          ．

A．dull bookworms lacking sports and social skills

B．successful top students popular with their peers

C．students with certain learning difficulties

D．born leaders crazy about social activities

2.What can we conclude from the first paragraph?

A．Most TV programs and films are about straight-A students．

B．People have unfavorable impression on straight-A students．

C．Everyone knows about straight-A students from TV or films．

D．Straight-A students are well admired by people in the society．

3.Some students become super-achievers mainly because           ．

A．they are born cleverer than others          B．they work longer hours at study

C．they make full use of their abilities          D．they know the shortcut to success

4.What can we infer from the passage?

A．IQ is more important than hard work in study．

B．The brightest students can never get low grades．

C．Top students certainly achieve all-around developments．

D．Students with average IQ can become super-achievers．