With the start of the new semester students around the country exchange their fun and fashionable clothes for boring school uniforms.

"The uniform makes us look like a bunch of clones, especially when we are doing morning exercises in the playground, "said Qing, a Senior 2 from a high school in Shanghai. "But we are not exactly the same from the top to the bottom. The boys wear different sport shoes and girls have different decorations ( 装饰品 )in their hair. These are the areas where you can express yourself" said Qing.

Although it might be strange for boys to talk about fashion, they do care about what they wear in school, especially shoes, according to Qing.

"Nike and Adidas basketball shoes, although they are still the must for many of my friends ,are becoming out-of-date,” added. He explained, "Since Liu Xiang ran so fast in Athens, running shoes are becoming popular in this autumn."

"Still in fashion are the various baseball caps and American-style T-shirts with random English words printed on them, "said Qing. "The accuracy ( 准确性 )of the written message isn't important. Often, the words are misspelt . Sometimes they do not even make sense “ Qing said with a smile.

Besides sports shoes and T-shirts, styles and colours of school bags are another opportunity for students to express their taste in fashion. Some bags are made more eye-catching by decorating them with small hanging dolls. Other fashionable items are the colourful drink contains which are now popular among girls this semester.

As in China, the new semester in the US also brings new fashion trends: shirts printed with Chinese words, necklaces with Hebrew ( 希伯莱 )or Hindi ( 印度的 )characters, and Brazilian jewelry, are all common in schools in Florida, according to Carmen Domingues, a high school student.

What does "a bunch of  clones”( Paragraph 2)mean?

       A．All of the clothes are the same.          B．All of the exercises are the same.

       C．All of the clothes are different.          D．All of the exercises are different.

How do the students express themselves in school?

       A．The girls wear different sport shoes.     

       B．All the students wear school uniforms.

      C．The girls have different decorations in their hair.

       D．The boys drink water from colourful drinks containers.

Why are Nike and Adidas basketball shoes becoming out-of-date?

              A．Because the shoes are not eye-catching.

       B．Because running shoes become more popular.

       C．Because the shoes have been popular for a long time.

       D．Because they have changed their opinions for Liu Xiang.

Which of the following is NOT the new fashion trends in the US?

       A．Necklace with Hebrew or Hindi characters.

       B．Baseball caps and American-style T-shirts.

       C．Shirts printed with Chinese words.

       D．Brazilian jewelry.

With fifteen years Britain and other nations should be well on with the building of big industrial plants for the recycling of waste. The word rubbish could lose its meaning because everything which goes into the dustbin would be made into something useful. Even the most dangerous and unpleasant wastes would provide energy of nothing else.

The latest project is to take a city of around half a million citizens and discover exactly what raw (未经加工的) materials go into it and what go out. The aim is to find out how much of these raw materials could be provided if a plant for recycling waste were built just outside the city. This plant would recycle not only metal such as steel, lead and copper, but also paper and rubber as well.

Another new project is being set up to discover the best ways of sorting and separating the rubbish. When this project is complete, the rubbish will be treated like this: First, it will pass through sharp metal bars which will tear open the plastic bags in which rubbish is usually packed; then it will pass through a powerful fan to separate the lightest elements (元素) from the heavy solids; after that rollers will break up everything that can be broken. Finally, the rubbish will pass under magnets (磁铁), which will remove the bits of iron and steel; the rubber and plastic will then be sorted out in the final step.

The first full-scale (全方位的) big recycling plants are perhaps fifteen years away. Indeed, with the growing cost of transporting rubbish to more distant dustbins, some big cities will be forced to build their own recycling plants before long.

The underlined phrase “be well on with…” most probably means   __    .

  A. have completed what was started  B. get ready to start

  C. have achieved a great deal in    D. put an end to

What is NOT mentioned as a part of the recycling process (过程) described in

  Paragraph 3?

   A. Breaking up whatever is breakable.

   B. Sharpening metal bars.

   C. Separating light elements from the heavy ones.

   D. Sorting out small pieces of metal.

What’s the main reason for big cities to build their own recycling plants?

  A. To deal with wastes more economically.

  B. To protect the environment from pollution.

  C. To get raw materials locally.

  D. To get advantage from those plants.

The passage is mainly about         .

  A. a cheap way to get energy    B. the position of recycling plants

  C. new ways of recycling wastes D. the probability of city environment

With the Indian economy predicted to grow by 7．5 percent this year, experts say it could be time for Western CEOs to learn some lessons from Indian CEOs．The key differences between Indian and Western bosses are:

       Social purpose

       One of the most important things is that Indian leaders lead with a sense of social purpose．Every leader in India gave a specific social purpose as being the goal of their business．Those purposes ranged from improving healthcare to getting cell phones to people who didn't have access to communication tools．Having a social purpose motivates workers．

       Invest in employees

      Indian firms invest an enormous amount in their employees' training and development．IT firms typically offer 60 days of formal training for newly hired workers and they even spend months training experienced workers．A study said that Western firms have largely abandoned investing in employees, seeing it as a waste if they quit．But Indian bosses believe that investing in employees ensures the quality of those who stay at the company．

       Take the long view

       Indian bosses stress far less on shareholders than it is typical at Western business．As a result they're more able to take a long-term view．Western companies can't just ignore their shareholders, but their CEOs can do more to protect their -employees from short-term financial pressures, letting them get on with their jobs．

       Work from their strengths

       Western companies often think about strategy in terms of chasing customers or pursuing market opportunities, but Indian firms will more often start by identifying their strengths and customers’ needs, and then try to meet those needs．

       Act as a role model

       Being a personal role model for their employees is an amazing thing for a CEO．If Western bosses could think of themselves as role models, it would have a real impact on their workers．

Indian CEOs use their sense of social purpose to _________．

       A．improve the workers' healthcare system

       B．provide cell phones to people in need

       C．motivate and encourage their employees

       D．promote the development of communication systems

Western firms have largely abandoned investing in employees’ training and development because _______．

       A．it takes too long to complete the formal training of newly hired workers

       B．they often hire experienced workers who don't need much training

       C．they are afraid of the losses brought about by the resignation of employees

       D．they don't care about the quality of the employees in their firms

Which of the following is TRUE about Western bosses?

       A．They stress on workers more than shareholders．

       B．They always act as role models for employees．

       C．They are good at identifying their own strengths．

       D．They pay closer attention to market opportunities．

      With the Indian economy predicted to grow by 7．5 percent this year, experts say it could be time for Western CEOs to learn some lessons from Indian CEOs．The key differences between Indian and Western bosses are:

       Social purpose

       One of the most important things is that Indian leaders lead with a sense of social purpose．Every leader in India gave a specific social purpose as being the goal of their business．Those purposes ranged from improving healthcare to getting cell phones to people who didn't have access to communication tools．Having a social purpose motivates workers．

       Invest in employees

      Indian firms invest an enormous amount in their employees' training and development．IT firms typically offer 60 days of formal training for newly hired workers and they even spend months training experienced workers．A study said that Western firms have largely abandoned investing in employees, seeing it as a waste if they quit．But Indian bosses believe that investing in employees ensures the quality of those who stay at the company．

       Take the long view

       Indian bosses stress far less on shareholders than it is typical at Western business．As a result they're more able to take a long-term view．Western companies can't just ignore their shareholders, but their CEOs can do more to protect their -employees from short-term financial pressures, letting them get on with their jobs．

       Work from their strengths

       Western companies often think about strategy in terms of chasing customers or pursuing market opportunities, but Indian firms will more often start by identifying their strengths and customers’ needs, and then try to meet those needs．

       Act as a role model

       Being a personal role model for their employees is an amazing thing for a CEO．If Western bosses could think of themselves as role models, it would have a real impact on their workers．

Indian CEOs use their sense of social purpose to _________．

       A．improve the workers' healthcare system

       B．provide cell phones to people in need

       C．motivate and encourage their employees

       D．promote the development of communication systems

Western firms have largely abandoned investing in employees’ training and development because _______．

       A．it takes too long to complete the formal training of newly hired workers

       B．they often hire experienced workers who don't need much training

       C．they are afraid of the losses brought about by the resignation of employees

       D．they don't care about the quality of the employees in their firms

Which of the following is TRUE about Western bosses?

       A．They stress on workers more than shareholders．

       B．They always act as role models for employees．

       C．They are good at identifying their own strengths．

       D．They pay closer attention to market opportunities．

With so many other ways to get information these days, do we still need books? Old habits die hard, and are passed down from generations. If your parents read to you, the chances are you will read to your children and so on. Well, that is an ideal world.

I think it comes from the educational side of life. If you have a good experience in school with books, then reading on after school years won't be a problem. For me I did very well in English language and literature as I had an inspiring and interesting English teacher who let us write our stories freely without correcting our spelling right away. The creative side of you should always come first and then the technical errors can be corrected.

Starting reading early is very important to children's relationship with books. If you casually read to your children then the books will have always been there in their lives and by the time reading comes along at the age of 4－5 years old it will all be fun and start to make sense. It has to be said that books are vital to learning.

Getting information and searching on the Internet is fine and necessary at this moment but it requires reading and reading requires practice, I believe we should relax whilst learning and digesting facts and information, and this can only be done with the simple book. Learn the basic habit of reading a book and then expand on and use the technology available, like e－books to make things convenient. But when you're not in a rush or whilst on a sunny beach, spending time with your children, what could be better than holding that book in your hands and feeling the achievement of getting to the last page?

1. The author of the passage thinks that ________.

A. the habit of reading should be passed down from generations

B. books are less important with so many other ways to get information

C. reading to children has become an old habit

D. it's difficult to get children to read books today

2. We can conclude from the second paragraph that ________.

A. children can develop the good habit of reading by themselves

B. it's not necessary to correct children's errors in reading

C. reading on after school years is becoming a difficult problem today

D. a good teacher can cultivate the habit of reading

3. According to the third paragraph, if you casually read to your children, they will ________.

A. form the habit of reading in time

B. have no idea of their relationship with books

C. lose the interest in reading books later

D. realize the importance of reading by the age of 4

4. What is the author's attitude towards the Internet?

A. He thinks it can only ruin people's pleasure in reading.

B. He thinks it is an important way to get information.

C. He thinks it will replace traditional books.

D. He believes we should limit the use of it.

5. We learn from the last paragraph that ________.

A. reading e－books is a better way to digest facts and information

B. the technology available can help us learn the basic habit of reading books

C. reading books on a sunny beach is only a way to kill time

D. reading can be a great pleasure when you are not in a hurry