Forests have always been useful and important to man who makes use of them in many ways. Every day trees are serving man everywhere. Trees supply man with fruits and building materials in the form of wood. Without trees it would be impossible to build houses, boats, bridges and so on. Furniture such as desks, chairs and beds is made of wood. Trees can stop man from terrible heat. They're also useful in preventing good and rich top soil from being washed away during heavy rains.

　　If there were no trees, heavy rains would wash away the rich top soil that is so important to plants. The result is that the land will become a desert. There are plenty of desert areas in the world. A long time ago these desert areas used to be very rich areas, but man in the past had no enough knowledge about science of nature, they cut down too many trees in the area where they lived and never planted new ones. By and by the rich top soil was blown and washed away by strong winds and heavy rains. In the end the rich land changed into useless deserts where nothing could grow.

According to the passage, ______.

　　　　A. a long time ago, man didn't know how to make use of wood

　　　　B. trees are not as useful as they were in the past

　　　　C. trees were more found in the past than they are today

　　　　D. people have always found trees useful

　　If there were no trees, ______.

　　　　A. the land would become better　　　　B. heavy rains would be very clean

　　　　C. the rich soil couldn't be kept　　　　 D. there wouldn't be any plants

　From the passage, we know that man must ______.

　　　　A. do nothing to keep the balance（平衡）of nature

　　　　B. take his best to keep the balance of nature

　　　　C. try his best to keep the balance of nature

　　　　D. do his best to stop the balance of nature

My mother asked me to repeat ______ telephone number ______ second time so that she could write it down.

 　A. the; a       B. an; the          C. an; a         D. the; the

We’ve reached a strange—some would say unusual—point. While fighting world hunger continues to be the matter of vital importance according to a recent report from the World Health Organization (WHO), more people now die from being overweight, or say, from being extremely fat, than from being underweight. It’s the good life that’s more likely to kill us these days.

　　Worse, nearly l8 million children under the age of five around the world are estimated to be overweight. What’s going on?

　　We really don’t have many excuses for our weight problems. The dangers of the problem have been drilled into us by public-health campaigns since 2001 and the message is getting through—up to a point.

　　In the 1970s, Finland, for example, had the highest rate of heart disease in the world and being overweight was its main cause. Not any more. A public-health campaign has greatly reduced the number of heart disease deaths by 80 per cent over the past three decades.

　　Maybe that explains why the percentage of people in Finland taking diet pills doubled between 2001 and 2005, and doctors even offer surgery of removing fat inside and change the shape of the body. That has become a sort of fashion. No wonder it ranks as the world’s most body-conscious country.

　　We know what we should be doing to lose weight—but actually doing it is another matter. By far the most popular excuse is not taking enough exercise. More than half of us admit we lack willpower.

　　Others blame good food. They say: it’s just too inviting and it makes them overeat. Still others lay the blame on the Americans, complaining that pounds have piled on thanks to eating too much American-style fast food.

　　Some also blame their parents—their genes. But unfortunately, the parents are wronged because they’re normal in shape, or rather slim.

　　It’s a similar story around the world, although people are relatively unlikely to have tried to lose weight. Parents are eager to see their kids shape up. Do as I say—not as I do.

　　59. What is the “strange” point mentioned in the first sentence?  A

　　A. The good life is a greater risk than the bad life.

　　B. Starvation is taking more people’s lives in the world.

　　C. WHO report shows people’s unawareness of food safety.

　　D. Overweight issue remains unresolved despite WHO’s efforts.

　　60. Why does the author think that people have no excuse for being overweight?

　　A. A lot of effective diet pills are available.

　　B. Body image has nothing to do with good food.

　　C. They have been made fully aware of its dangers. C

　　D. There are too many overweight people in the world.

　　61. The example of Finland is used to illustrate ______. C

　　A. the cause of heart disease

　　B. the fashion of body shaping

　　C. the effectiveness of a campaign

　　D. the history of a body-conscious country

　　62. Which would be the best title for the passage? A

　　A. Actions or Excuses?

　　B. Overweight or Underweight?

　　C. WHO in a Dilemma

　　D. No Longer Dying of Hunger

　　

　More surprising, perhaps, than the current difficulties of traditional marriage is the fact that marriage itself is alive and thriving（旺盛的）. As Skolnich notes, Americans are a marrying people: relative to Europeans, more of us marry and we marry at a younger age. Moreover, after a decline（衰退）in the early 1970s, the rate of marriage in the United States is now increasing. Even the divorce（离婚）rate needs to be taken in this pro-marriage context: some 80 percent of divorced individuals remarry. Thus, marriage remains by far the preferred way of life for the vast majority of the people in our society.

　　What has changed more than marriage is the nuclear family. Twenty-five years ago, the typical American family consisted of the husband, the wife, and two or three children. Now, there are many marriages in which couples have decided not to have any children, and there are many marriages where at least some of the children are from the wife’s previous marriage, or the husband’s, or both. Sometimes these children spend all of their time with one parent from the former marriage; sometimes they are shared between the two former spouses（配偶）．

　　Thus, one can find every type of family arrangement. There are marriages without children; marriages with children from only the present marriages; marriages with“full-time”children from both the present and former marriages; marriages with“full-time”children from the present marriage and“part-time”children from former marriages. There are stepfathers, stepmothers, half-brothers and half-sisters. It is not all that unusual for a child to have four parents and eight grandparents! These are enormous changes from the traditional nuclear family. But even so, even in the midst of all this, there remains one constant: most Americans spend most of their adult lives married.

By calling Americans a marrying people the writer means that ________.

　　A. Americans are more traditional than Europeans

　　B. Americans expect more out of marriage than Europeans

　　C. there are more married couples in the USA than in Europe

　　D. more of Americans, as compared with Europeans, prefer marriage and they accept it at a younger age

Divorced Americans ________ .

　　A. prefer the way they live                   B. will most likely remarry

　　C. have lost interest in marriage               D. are the majority of people in the society

Which of the following can be presented as the picture of today’s American families？

　　A. Different types of family arrangements have become socially acceptable.

　　B. A typical American family consists of only a husband and a wife.

　　C. Americans prefer to have more kids than before.

　　D. There are no nuclear families any more.

Though great changes have taken place in the structure of American families, ________ .

　　A. the majority of Americans still have faith in marriage

　　B. the functions of marriage remain unchanged

　　C. most Americans prefer a second marriage

D. most Americans prefer to be single

For thousands of years, man has enjoyed the taste of apples. Apples, which are about 85 percent water, grow almost everywhere in the world but the hottest and coldest areas (地区). Among the leading countries in apple production are China, France and the United States.

There are various kinds of apples, but a very few make up the majority of those grown for sale. The three most common kinds grown in the United States are Delicious, golden Delicious, and McIntosh.

　Apples are different in colour, size, and taste. The colour of the skin may be red, green, or yellow. They have various sizes, with Delicious apples being among the largest. The taste may be sweet or tart (酸的). Generally, sweet apples are eaten fresh while tart apples are used to make applesauce (苹果酱).

　Apple trees may grow as tall as twelve metres. They do best in areas that have very cold winters. Although no fruit is yielded during the winter, this cold period is good for the tree.

It can be learned from the text that Delicious apples are _______________

　 A. grown in France.　　 B. sold everywhere.

　 C. very big.　　　　　　  D. quite sweet.

Cold winter weather is good for _______________

　 A.the growth of apple trees.

　B. producing large apples.

　C. improving the taste of apples.

　 D. the increase of water in apples.

China, France and the United States are considered to _______________

　A. be large producers of apples.

　B. be large producers of applesauce.

　C. have the longest history in apple production.

　 D. have the coldest winter among apple producing countries.

The word yielded in the last sentence means _______________

　A. improved.　 B. increased.

　C. produced.　  D. sold.