In England a woman fell down a stair. Panic followed—178 persons lost their lives. In Michigan a woman fell ill. There was a call for water. Someone thought it meant fire---71 were killed. In Oklahoma an old man’s hair caught fire---36 died.
What should you do to be out of danger?
1. As you sit in any crowd, pick out an exit(出口) which is not the one where most persons enter and plan to use if necessary.
2. If a rush stairs, do not get into it . Stay still. Let it pass. Then go to the exit you have chosen.
3. Do not cry out. Speak quietly. Act calmly.
4.Do not stop for your hat and coat unless they are at hand.
5. If there is smoke, crouch. The best air is about three feet above the floor.
6. When you are outside the building, stay out. Many dead would be alive if they had not returned for something.
7. When you get out, move far from the door so that others can get out.
【小题1】The first paragraph tells us that over two hundred people lost their lives because of_________.

A．a fire	B．a call for water
C． falling downstairs	D．panic

【小题2】If you are in a crowd when panic stars, you should ________.

A．run with the others.

B．call for help as loudly as you can.

C．hurry at once to an exit.

D．stay still until the crowd has passed.

【小题3】What should you do once out of a place where there is panic?

A．stay outside.

B．go back for your wallet.

C．return to ask people not to run.

D．stand near the exit.

【小题4】When you are safe outside a burning building , stay away from the door so that _______.

A．the smoke can get out.

B．you will not get burned

C．others may leave.

D．others may enter.

Zoe Chambers was a successful PR (Public Relations) consultant (顾问) and life was going well—she had a great job, a beautiful flat and a busy social life in London. Then one evening in June last year, she received a text message telling her she was out of work. “The first two weeks were the most difficult to live through,” she said. “After everything I’d done for the company, they dismissed me by text! I was so angry and I just didn’t feel like looking for another job. I hated everything about the city and my life.”
Then, Zoe received an invitation from an old school friend, Kathy, to come and stay. Kathy and her husband, Huw, had just bought a farm in northwest Wales. Zoë jumped at the chance to spend a weekend away from London, and now, ten months later, she is still on the farm.
“The moment I arrived at Kathy’s farm, I loved it and I knew I wanted to stay,”said Zoe.“Everything about my past life suddenly seemed meaningless.”
Zoe has been working on the farm since October of last year and says she has no regrets. “It’s a hard life, physically very tiring,” she says.“In London I was stressed and often mentally exhausted. But this is a good, healthy tiredness. Here, all I need to put me in a good mood is a hot bath and one of Kathy’s wonderful dinners.”
Zoe says she has never felt bored on the farm. Every day brings a new experience. Kathy has been teaching her how to ride a horse and she has learnt to drive a tractor. Since Christmas, she has been helping with the lambing—watching a lamb being born is unbelievable, she says,“It’s one of the most moving experiences I’ve ever had. I could never go back to city life now.”
【小题1】 When she worked as a PR consultant in London, Zoë thought she lived a         life.

A．meaningless

B．tough

C．boring

D．satisfying

【小题2】 The most important reason why Zoe went to visit Kathy’s farm is that         .

A．Kathy persuaded her to do so	B．Zoe lost her job as a PR consultant
C．Zoe got tired of the city life	D．Zoe loved Wales more than London

【小题3】 How does Zoe feel about the country life according to the passage?

A．Physically tiring but rewarding.	B．Romantic and peaceful.
C．Mentally exhausting but healthy.	D．Tiresome and troublesome

【小题4】 Which of the following is closest to the main idea of the passage?

A．A friend in need is a friend indeed.	B．A misfortune may turn out a blessing.
C．Kill two birds with one stone.	D．Where there is a will, there is a way.

My elder brother Steve, in the absence of my father who died when I was six, gave me important lessons in values（价值观念） that helped me grow into an adult.
Steve taught me to face the results of my behavior. Once when I returned in tears from a Saturday baseball game, it was Steve who asked me what happened. When I explained that my baseball had soared through Mrs. Holt’s basement window, breaking the glass with a crash, Steve encouraged me to admit to her. Although my knees knocked as I explained to Mrs. Holt, I offered to pay for the window from my pocket money if she would return my ball.
I also learned from Steve that personal property（财产） is a sacred（神圣的） thing. After I found a shiny silver pen in my fifth-grade classroom, I wanted to keep it, but Steve explained that it might be important to someone else in spite of the fact that it had little value. He reminded me of how much I’d hate to lose to someone else the small dog my father made with a piece of cheap wood. I returned the pen to my teacher, Mrs. David, and still remembered the smell of her perfume (香水) as she patted me on the shoulder.
Yet of all the instructions Steve gave me, his respect for life is the most unforgetful in my mind. When I was twelve I killed an old brown sparrow(麻雀)in the yard with a BB gun. Excited, I screamed at Steve to come and take a look. I shall never forget the way he stood for a long moment and stared at the bird on the ground. Then in a dead, quiet voice, he asked, “Did it hurt you first, Mark?” I didn’t know what to answer. He continued with his eyes firm, “The only time you should even think of hurting a living thing is when it hurts you first, and then you think a long, long time.” I really felt terrible then, but that moment stands out as the most important lesson my brother taught me.
【小题1】What is the passage mainly about?

A．The relationship between Mark and Steve.

B．The important lessons Mark learned in school.

C．Steve’s important role in Mark’s growth stage.

D．Mark and Steve’s respect for living things.

【小题2】When Mark admitted his mistakes to Mrs. Holt, he ____.

A．was surprised	B．felt frightened
C．was light-hearted	D．cried before her

【小题3】From the third paragraph, we can know that Mark _____.

A．had a shiny silver pen	B．respected his teacher
C．hated his father very much	D．once owned a small wooden dog

【小题4】To Mark, which is the most important lesson Steve taught him?

A．Respecting life.	B．Being responsible for one’s behavior.
C．Being honest.	D．Respecting others’ property

These days we are all conditioned to accept newness, whatever it costs. Very soon, there is no doubt that Apple's tablet (平板电脑) will seem as a vital tool of modern living to us as sewing machine did to our grandparents. At least, it will until someone produces an even smarter, thinner and more essential tablet, which, if recent history is any guide, will be in approximately six months' time. Turn your back for a moment and you find that every electronic item in your possession is as old as a tombstone. Why should you care if people laugh just because you use an old mobile phone? But try getting the thing repaired when it goes wrong. It's like walking into a pub and asking for an orange juice. You will be made to feel like some sort of time-traveler from the 1970s. "Why not buy a new one?" you will get asked.
And so the mountain of electrical rubbish grows. An average British person was believed to get rid of quite a number of electronic goods in a lifetime. They weighed three tons, stood 7 feet high, and included five fridges, six microwaves, seven PCs, six TVs, 12 kettles, 35 mobile phones and so on. Even then, the calculation seemed to be conservative. Only 35 mobiles in a lifetime? The huge number of electronic items now regularly thrown away by British families is clearly one big problem. But this has other consequences. It contributes greatly to the uneasy feeling that modem technology is going by faster than we can keep up. By the time I've learnt how to use a tool it's already broken or lost. I've lost count of the number of TV remote-controls that I've bought, mislaid and replaced without working out what most of the buttons did.
And the technology changes so unbelievably fast. It was less than years ago that I spotted an energetic businessman friend pulling what seemed to be either a large container or a small nuclear bomb on wheels through a railway station. I asked. "What have you got in there? Your money or your wife?" "Neither," he replied, with the satisfied look of a man who knew he was keeping pace with the latest technology, no matter how ridiculous he looked. "This is what everyone will have soon—even you. It's called a mobile telephone."
I don't feel sorry for the pace of change. On the contrary, I'm amazed by those high-tech designers who can somehow fit a camera, music-player, computer and phone into a plastic box no bigger than a packet of cigarette. If those geniuses could also find a way to keep the underground trains running on the first snowy day of winter, they would be making real progress for human beings. What I do regret, however, is that so many household items fall behind so soon. My parents bought a wooden wireless radio in 1947, the year they were married. In 1973, the year I went to university, it was still working. It sat in the kitchen like an old friend—which, in a way, it was. It certainly spoke to us more than we spoke to each other on some mornings. When my mum replaced it with a new-style radio that could also play cassette-tapes, I felt a real sense of loss.
Such is the over-excited change of 21st-century technology that there's no time to satisfy our emotional needs. Even if Apple's new products turn out to be the most significant tablets I very much doubt if they will resist this trend.
【小题1】When you try getting an old mobile phone repaired, ____.

A．you are travelling through time	B．you are thought to be out of date
C．you will find everything wrong	D．you have got to buy a new one

【小题2】Throwing away so much electronic rubbish makes the writer feel quite _____.

A．lost and upset	B．unbelievably fast
C．broken or lost	D．regularly wasteful

【小题3】The example of the businessman implies that____.

A．the businessman mastered the latest technology

B．mobile phones used to be quite big just years ago

C．the businessman was a very ridiculous person

D．the writer failed to follow modern technology

【小题4】The passage is organized in the pattern of ____.

A．time and events	B．comparison and contrast
C．cause and effect	D．examples and analysis

【小题5】Which of the following is conveyed in the passage?

A．The fast pace of change brings us no good.

B．We have to keep up with new technology.

C．Household items should be upgraded quickly.

D．We should hold on for new technology to last.

Zoe Chambers was a successful PR (Public Relations) consultant and life was going well—she had a great job, a beautiful flat and a busy social life in London. Then one evening in June last year, she received a text message telling her she was out of work. The first two weeks were the most difficult to live through." she said. "After everything I'd done for the company, they dismissed me by text! I was so angry and I just didn't feel like looking for another job. I hated everything about the city and my life."
Then, Zoe received an invitation from an old school friend, Kathy, to come and stay. Kathy and her husband, Huw, had just bought a farm in north-west Wales. Zoe jumped at the chance to spend a weekend away from London, and now, ten months later, she is still on the farm.
"The moment I arrived at Kathy's farm, I loved it and I knew I wanted to stay." said Zoe. "Everything about my past life suddenly seemed meaningless."
Zoe has been working on the farm since October of last year and says she has no regrets. "It's a hard life, physically very tiring." she says. "In London 1 was stressed and often mentally exhausted. But this is a good, healthy tiredness. Here, all 1 need to put me in a good mood is a hot bath and one of Kathy's wonderful dinners."
Zoe says she has never felt bored on the farm. Every day brings a new experience. Kathy has been leaching her how to ride a horse and she has learnt to drive a tractor. Since Christmas, she has been helping with the lambing—watching a lamb being born is unbelievable, she says, "It's one of the most moving experiences I've ever had. I could never go back to city life now." （08上海卷）
【小题1】When working as a PR consultant in London, Zoe thought she lived a______life.

A．satisfying

B．tough

C．meaningless

D．boring

【小题2】The most important reason why Zoe went to visit Kathy's farm is that______.

A．Zoe lost her job as a PR consultant
B．Kathy persuaded her to do so
C．Zoe got tired of the city life	D．Zoe loved Wales more than London

【小题3】How docs Zoe feel about the country life according to the passage?

A．Tiresome and troublesome.

B．Romantic and peaceful

C．Mentally exhausting but healthy

D．Physically tiring but rewarding.

【小题4】Which of the following is closest to the main idea of the passage?

A．A friend in need is a friend indeed.

B．Where there is a will, there is a way.

C．A misfortune may turn out a blessing.

D．Kill two birds with one stone.