Parking has long been a major headache for drivers in Shanghai. The Transportation Department is mapping out a new plan for the city’s parking system. There are one million cars on the road in Shanghai but only enough public parking space to provide room for 15 percent of these vehicles. It is no wonder that local drivers get so worried trying to find a place to park.
The city is seeing a rise in private car owners. In March, the city sent out 2,000 private car licenses, the highest number of licenses ever sent out in a month. And prices rose to 14,600 yuan, 500 more than in February. Industry experts say this suggests that local people have a strong, active interest in buying cars.
By the year 2020, the number of automobiles in Shanghai will probably reach two million. If one parking lot is for each car, then a lot of parking space should be built for these vehicles.
Downtown Shanghai is most short of parking space. However, experts point out that simply building more parking lots in downtown areas is not practical and doesn’t provide an ideal solution. The idea of “ Park & Ride” system has been suggested. This means that drivers can leave their vehicles in car parks nearby subway or bus stations and ride public transport to go downtown. Based on this idea, the city will limit the number of parking lots in downtown areas and demand higher parking fees but build more parking areas near main subway and bus stops.
【小题1】The underlined phrase “mapping out” in the first paragraph means __________.

A．making

B．arguing

C．commanding

D．requesting

【小题2】About __________ drivers can find places to park their cars in Shanghai now.

A．850,000

B．1,000,000

C．150,000

D．2,000,000

【小题3】What can we infer from the second paragraph?

A．The city sent out more private licenses in February.

B．Less and less people bought cars in March.

C．The city sent out less private licenses in March.

D．More and more people are going to buy cars.

【小题4】According to the idea of a “ Park & Ride ” system, the city will __________.

A．send out more private car licenses

B．build more parking lots near bus stops

C．encourage people to buy more cars

D．build more parking areas downtown

People have been painting pictures for at least 30,000 years. The earliest pictures were painted by people who hun??ted animals. They used to paint pictures of the animals they wanted to catch and kill. Pictures of this kind have been found on the walls of caves in France and Spain. No one knows why they were painted there. Perhaps the painters thought that their pictures would help them to catch these animals. Or per??haps human beings have always wanted to tell stories accord??ing to pictures.

About 5,000 years ago the Egyptians and other people in the Near East began to use pictures as a kind of writing. They drew simple pictures or signs to represent things and ideas, and also to represent the sounds of their language. The signs these people used became a kind of alphabet(字母表).

The Egyptians used to record information and to tell sto??ries by putting picture-writing and pictures together. When an important person died, scenes and stories from his life were painted and carved on the walls of the place where he was bur??ied. Some of these pictures are like modem comic-strip sto??ries. It has been said that Egypt is the home of the comic-strip. But, for the Egyptians, pictures still had magic power. So they did not try to make their way of writing simple. The ordinary people could not understand it.  

By the year 1,000 BC, people who lived in the area a-round the Mediterranean Sea had developed a simpler system of writing. The signs they used were very easy to write, and there were fewer of them than in the Egyptian system. This was because each sign, or letter, represented only one sound in their language. The Greeks developed this system and formed the letters of the Greek alphabet. The Romans copied the idea, and the Roman alphabet is now used all over the world.

These days we can write down a story, or record informa??tion, without using pictures. But we still need pictures of all kinds: drawings, photographs, signs and diagrams. We find them everywhere: in books and newspapers, in the streets, and on the walls of the places where we live and work. Pic??tures help us to understand and remember things more easily, and they can make a story much more interesting.

6. Pictures of animals were painted on the walls of caves in France and Spain because ________.

A. the hunters wanted to see the pictures  B. the painters were animal lovers

C. the painters wanted to show imagination D. the pictures were thought to be helpful

7.The Greek alphabet was simpler than the Egyptian system for all the following reasons EXCEPT that ________.  

A. the former was easy to write         B. there were fewer signs in the former

C. the former was easy to pronounce    D. each sign stood for only one sound

8. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. The Egyptian signs later became a particular alphabet.

B. The Egyptians liked to write comic-strip stories.

C. The Roman alphabet was developed from the Egyptian one.

D. The Greeks copied their writing system from the Egyp??tians.

9. In the last paragraph, the author thinks that pictures　__________.

A. should be made comprehensible         B. should be made interesting

C. are of much use in our life             D. are disappearing from our life

ANIMALS have always been used to represent certain human characteristics. Countries also use animals as symbols. From eagles to lions, many countries use an animal to show its national spirit and character.

The image of an eagle is on the US President’s flag, and on the one-dollar bill. The bald eagle is a large, powerful, brown bird with a white head and tail. The term “bald” does not mean that this bird lacks feathers. Instead, it comes from the old word piebald, that menas, “marked with white”.

The US declared that the eagle was its national bird in 1782. It was chosen because of “its long life, great strength, and noble looks”.

A few eagles have even become American heroes. An eagle named “Old Abe”, the mascot of a Wisconsin troop of soldiers during the Civil War, traveled 14,000 miles with its men. He was often shot at by the enemy, but survived 42 battles.

But, one of the Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin didn’t agree with the choice. “The bald eagle … is a bird of bad moral character, like those among men who live by robbing, he is generally poor, and often very messy,” he argued. Franklin wanted the turkey as the country’s national bird.

If Americans chose their national symbol deliberately, the symbol of England arose out of history.

King Herry Ⅰ(1068-1135) was a brave warrior but also wise. His appreciation for the rule of law earned him the nickname the Lion of Justice. He was the first English King to use a lion as a royal symbol, which is popularly known as the “king of the jungle”. By the year Richard Ⅰ, known as “The Lionheart” for his bravery, came to the throne in 1189, the famous Three Lions badge had been formed. Now it can be seen on the shirts of England’s sports teams.

Although people might not think of lions when they think of England, everyone knows about the Australian kangaroo. Legend has it that the kangaroo gets its name from an early meeting between local aborigines and white settlers. When asked by the Europeans what these strange-looking animals were, a native replied “kangaroo”, meaning “I don’t understand you.”

The kangaroo is an individualistic animal. Although it does gather in groups, the kangaroo is not a herd animal. If a group is attacked, individuals run off in different directions. Australians think the kangaroo represents positive values, such as individual responsibility and pride.

1.The general idea of this passage should probably be __________ .

A. animals are friends of human beings

B. nearly all the countries have an animal as their national animal

C. animals’ good values are always used to show a country’s national spirit and character

D. certain human characteristics are the same as some animals, so some countries love animals

2.Which is NOT true about the animal of the “bald eagle”?

A. It was Benjamin Franklin who made the bald eagle as the national animal of the USA.

B. The term “bald” means “marked with white”.

C. The bald eagle can show American national spirit and character.

D. “Old Abe” was even an American hero.

3.The reason why the lion was made as the national animal of the United Kingdom was that ______ .

A. it could always be used to represent certain human characteristics of England

B. the Kings of England loved lions

C. there are many lions in England

D. lions are “king of the jungle”

4.What good values can the kangaroo show as national spirits?

A. Group.                     B. Respect of others.

C. Not understanding            D. Positive values.

 

Not long ago the movie 2012 came into screen. The people were threatened by those scenes of destroying flood, severe earthquake, terrifying hurricane and constructions representing human civilization being destroyed and even swallowed by disaster. Luckily, they are just the director’s imagination, but the present situation is not heading a positive direction, either.
Take my own experience in Alaska as an example. Once I took a trip to the glacier. Along the way there stood signposts marking the snow lines of different years. They started from the foot of the mountain, but it was at the top when I finally saw melting glaciers(融化的冰川). My heart ached seeing the beautiful blue ice melting at every second.
Sad but true, they are the effects of global warming and the result of our human impact. Furthermore, each year the rising sea level will kill 56 million people, and that's about the population of the en tire Italy. According to studies, if the temperature keeps on rising like this, by the year 2050, some islands and coastal cities including New York, Shanghai, Tokyo and Sydney will be drowned in water.
Our fortune is in our own hands. It depends on us to shape our future, to reduce future human impact and find ways to form a peaceful relationship with our environment. Therefore, it's time for actions to be taken right now. Contribute a little to energy saving by using more efficient light bulbs and less hot water. Let recycle become our habit by thinking twice before throwing something away. Let us take public transportation as our first choice when going to a certain place. It might cost more time for now, but it' s to the benefit of a permanent future. Take care of every tree and grass around us by watering them or simply just avoid destroying them．
In a word, small drops of water make a big ocean. The earth does not belong to us. On the contrary, we belong to the earth. Please bear in mind that the earth is our home. It is our responsibility to build a brighter and better future of our planet and prevent what happened in the movie 2012 from becoming reality．                
【小题1】Why does the author talk about the movie 2012 in the passage ?     

A．To give example．	B．To lead into the topic．
C．To make prediction．	D．To provide the evidence．

【小题2】How did the author feel when he took a trip to the glacier?

A．Worried．

B．Puzzled．

C．Scared．

D．Bored．

【小题3】It can be inferred from the third paragraph that          .

A．56 million people in Italy have been killed owing to the rising sea level

B．Some islands and coastal cities will be drowned in water by the year of 2050

C．Human being w订l be in danger if we don't take actions to prevent the global warming

D．It is certain that what happened in the movie 2012 will come into reality

【小题4】According to the passage, you are advised to             .

A．drive our own private cars instead of taking buses to some place

B．recycle everything that is used

C．go to see the movie 2012 at once

D．work together to take good care of our planet

【小题5】What does the author mean by saying "small drops of water make a big ocean"?

A．Think twice before taking action,

B．It's our duty to protect the ocean．

C．Everyone together can make a difference．

D．It's important to save every drop of water．

Beijing will create 100 smoke-free primary and middle schools as part of a China-UN program aimed at promoting health education and healthy behavior for the country’s 230 million primary and middle school students.

The World Health Organization（WHO）will send experts to help organize the activities，and then the experience from the schools in Beijing will be spread to create more smoke-free places，according to newspaper reports.

In smoke-free schools，activities will be organized to persuade teachers and students to give up smoking.The students’ parents will also be encouraged not to smoke in front of their children.

Figures from the China National Health Education Institute show that 45 percent of the boy students in senior middle schools smoke cigarettes，while the rate for junior middle schools is 34 percent，reports say.

Experts are worried that if no action is taken immediately，the rates will go up to 59 and 54 percent respectively by the year 2004.

A report by the China National Health Education Institute says that there are now 350 million smokers in China，with about five million under the age of 18.And of the adult smokers，about 75 percent said that they took up smoking between 15 and 24.

51.In Beijing there will be one hundred primary and middle schools where_______.

A.nobody is allowed to smoke

B.everybody may smoke freely

C.the teachers may smoke but the students mustn’t

D.the teachers warn the students not to smoke

52.How many smokers are eighteen years old and above in China now?

A.230 million.                     B.350 million.                     C.5 million.                  D.345 million.

53.According to the text，in our country_______.

A.the number of the students in primary and middle schools who smoke is reducing year by year

B.it is very serious that more and more primary and middle school children smoke

C.there are no smokers among the teachers in primary and middle schools now

D.most of the students in primary and middle schools ask their teachers to stop smoking

54.The UN will send experts to help create 100 smokers smoke-free primary and middle schools in Beijing because_______.

A.the organization tried to find faults with our country

B.smoking seriously does harm to the students’ health

C.the smokers in primary and middle schools ask these experts to come

D.the organization wants to express its friendship for the Chinese people

55.Which of the following sentences best expresses the main idea of the text?

A.Smoke-free activities and health education in China.

B.China will forbid the students in primary and middle schools to smoke.

C.The number of smokers in primary and middle schools is increasing.

D.One should stop smoking when young.