One of the world’s richest men has taken a close interest in one of man’s most basic functions：visiting the toilet.Bill Gates’s charitable organization，the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation，is looking for inventors to design the loo of the future，which，they hope，would improve sanitation for millions of people around the world.

So，what’s wrong with the traditional flush toilet？Firstly，it wastes a huge amount of potential drinking water.Secondly，they are more likely to cause pollution.This is a real problem in many areas of the developing world，where，according to United Nations estimates，unsafe sanitation causes half of all hospitalizations.Younger people are particularly at risk.Illnesses which cause diarrhea are responsible for the deaths of about 1.5 million children a year.Finally，standard lavatories simply aren’t practical in remote areas.

The challenge set by Bill Gates was to come up with a latrine which works without running water，electricity or aseptic tank.It also needed to operate for less than 5 cents.28 designs were displayed at the recent Reinvent the Toilet Fair，in Seattle，USA.Among them was one which turned human waste into electricity using microwaves，another which converted human waste into charcoal，and yet another which used urine for flushing.

But the winner was a solar?powered design which generated hydrogen gas and electricity. The team from the California Institute of Technology(CIT) picked up a prize of $100,000.

But clearly Bill Gates doesn’t feel he’s flushing money down the toilet.After the Seattle event he said，“We couldn’t be happier with the response we’ve gotten.” Gates has even pledged $370 million more to the future toilet project.They hope to field test more prototypes over the next three years.

1.Why is Bill Gates paying people to invent new toilets?

A．Because he wants to test people’s sense of creativity.

B．Because he wants to improve sanitation for many people.

C．Because he thinks the traditional ones are out of fashion.

D．Because he can’t design this kind of things himself.

2.Which of the following is NOT a problem with the traditional flush toilet?

A．They waste too much water.

B．They might cause diseases.

C．They are not always practical.

D．They are too complicated to use.

3.The underlined word “latrine” in the third paragraph might have similar meanings to the word “________” in the text.

A．loo? B．sanitation

C．diarrhea? D．prototype

4.The team from CIT won the prize because their design ________.

A．can change human waste into electricity

B．can turn human waste into charcoal

C．can produce power with solar energy

D．can use urine for flushing

“A child in the street is a child that has been exposed（暴露）to a lot of bad things. And this child has no love at all. This child has no respect（尊重）for himself or herself. He sees everybody as an enemy, and he can’t trust anyone.”

Who is Moses Zulu talking about? Are there even people who live like that? Sadly, in truth, there are. They happen to be the Zambian children that Moses Zulu helps to improve their lives. Zulu does his best to give many children the hope to live even though they might have AIDS. Without his continuous work through his organization called Children’s Town, many Zambian children would have been forced to survive（生存）in an African city by getting a job as a street vendor（街头小贩）, or hurting other people.

In 1990, Moses Zulu founded Children’s Town in Zambia, where one million children have no parents, largely because of AIDS. Children’s Town teaches children the basic life skills needed for their future. Each child goes through a five-year training program where they’re taught responsibility（责任）, values, and self-care. Zulu’s Children’s Town provides hope for less fortunate children.

As we all know, a hero is any person who is respected for their qualities and achievements. There are not many people who are willing to help others in need. Zulu’s contribution to today’s modern society teaches us to lend a helping hand to others who are not as lucky as we are. He teaches us to make a difference in the world by helping others.

And from now on, if ever you throw away your banana just because it looks bad, well, remember that a group of people suffering from AIDS, homelessness, or other causes, would fight each other just to get their hands on a single bad banana.

68. Which of the following CANNOT describe Moses Zulu according to the passage?

A. Devoted                   B. Easy-going

C. Determined                D. Kind-hearted

69. In Children’s Town, children will learn ______.

A. how to fight against AIDS

B. how to get a job as a street vendor

C. how to survive by themselves

D. how to avoid fighting in the street

70. In the opinion of the author, he considers Moses Zulu ______.

   A. a teacher        B. a doctor        C. a hero     D. a fighter

71. In the last paragraph, the author advises us to ______.

A. plant more bananas                      B. make use of bad food

C. invent medicine for AIDS                 D. help poor people

Diamonds may be forever. But what’s a girl to do when she gets dumped (失恋) or divorced (离婚) and those rings, necklace and love gifts lose their emotional (情感) sense?

Help is just a click away on new Web sites that provide an outlet for selling jewelry(珠宝) from past relationships, sharing break-up stories and helping broken hearts heal (愈合).

“You go through a divorce. What do you do with that ring? Maybe you have a child you can pass it on to. Maybe you don’t. It just sits there, ” said Megahn Perry, who with her stepmother (继母) Marie Perry runs www.exboyfriendjewelry.com.

Three months after its start with the slogan(口号) “You Don’t Want It. He Can’t Have It Back,” the web site has 3,000 registered users and more than 600 postings of rings, bracelets and earrings for sale—all with a personal tale attached.

As one woman posting a diamond ring for $3,500 wrote:

“Beautiful ring came with a wrong man. Decided to sell to regain the money that I spent finishing payments on the ring that my ex didn’t.”

The idea was born when Megahn Perry, a Los Angeles actress and writer, was looking for a safe place to sell a wedding set after a divorce and realized others might have former boyfriends’ jewelry with memories(记忆) that make them too painful to wear.

The local pawn shop(当铺) proved an unattractive choice. So she teamed up with her stepmother Marie, researched the market and found a gap in it.

1. The passage is mainly about _____.

2.How long is it since the start of this website?

3.How many people have registered on this website within three months?

4.Who set up this website?

5.What’s the meaning of the underlined word “gap” in the last sentence?

Let children learn to judge their own work. A child learning to talk does not learn by being corrected all the time; if corrected too much, he will stop talking. He notices a thousand times a day the difference between the language he uses and the language those around him use. Bit by bit, he makes the necessary changes to make his language like other people’s. In the same way, children learn to do all the other things without being taught to walk, run, climb, whistle, ride a bicycle…They compare their own performances with those of more skilled people, and slowly make the needed changes. But in school we never give a child a chance to find out his mistakes and correct them for himself. We do it all for him. We act as if we thought that he would never notice a mistake. If it is a matter in mathematics or science, give him the answer book. Let him correct his own papers. Why should we teachers waste time in such routine(日常的) work? Our job should be to help the child when he tells us that he can’t find the way to get the right answer. Let the children learn what all educated persons must some day learn, how to measure their own understanding, how to know what he does not know.

1.According to the passage, the best way for children to learn things is by_____.

A. listening to skilled people’s advice.

B. asking older people many questions

C. making mistakes and having them corrected

D. doing what other people do

2.Which of the following does the writer think teachers should NOT do?.

A. Give children correct answers

B. Allow children to mark mistakes.

C. Point out children’s mistakes to them.

D. Let children mark their own work

3.According to the writer, teachers in school should _____

A. allow children to learn from each other

B. point out children’s mistakes whenever found

C. correct children’s mistakes as soon as possible 

D. give children more book knowledge

4.The passage suggests that learning to speak and learning to ride a bicycle are____

A. different from learning other skills

B. the same as learning skills

C. more important than other skills  

D. not really important skills

5.The title of this passage could probably be_____

A. Let Us Teachers Stop Work

B. Let Us Make Children Learn

C. Let Children Correct Their Exercises

D. Let Children Learn by Themselves

Mr. and Mrs. Wu were fed up with their neighbor. He was always borrowing things from them.
“It’s not right.” Mr. Wu said to his wife one evening. “At some time or another that man has borrowed nearly everything we have. Almost every day he comes over to borrow something.”
“You are quite right,” his wife replied, “and most of the things he’s never returned.”
“What I want to know,” her husband said, “is why he can’t buy the things he needs like everyone else.”
“Because people like us are foolish enough to lend him what he needs.” she replied. “As long as we are willing to lend, he’ll keep on borrowing.”
“Then we’ll never lend him anything again.” Mr. Wu said. “The next time he asks to borrow something, I’ll say no.”
“We must have a good reason for saying no,” his wire said, “and we must always try to be polite to him. We don’t want to make an enemy of the man.”
It was not long before their decision not to lend their neighbor anything ever again was put to the test.
The next morning there was a knock on the door.
Mr. Wu went to answer it.
Their neighbor was standing there. Mr. Wu knew he was going to ask to borrow something, and was ready to refuse him politely.
“Good morning,” their neighbor said, “I’m sorry to trouble you, but I wonder if I could borrow your garden scissors.”
“I’m sorry,” Mr. Wu said, “but I’m afraid my wife and I will be using them today. We’ll be spending all day working in the garden.”
“Oh, ! see.” the neighbor said, “In that case, may I borrow your golf clubs? You won’t be needing them if you are working in the garden all day, will you?”
【小题1】What did the neighbor do with most of the things he had borrowed?