The weather is getting hotter. You are thirsty playing basketball or riding home from school. A cold drink may be just the thing. But be careful what you are drinking. Something that looks cool may not be good for your health. There are plenty of “energy drinks” on the market. Most of them have beautiful colors and cool names. The lists on them tell you they are helpful to your health. Sounds great!

But after a careful check you may find that most energy drinks have lots of caffeine(咖啡碱)in them. These drinks are especially aimed at young people, students, busy people and sports players. Makers sometimes say their drinks make you better at sports and can keep you awake. But be careful not to drink too much. Caffeine makes your heart beat fast. Because of this, the International Olympic Committee(IOC) has limited(限制) its use. Caffeine in most energy drinks is at least as strong as that in a cup of coffee or tea. Possible health dangers have something to do with energy drinks. Just one box of energy drink can make you nervous, have difficulty sleeping and can even cause heart problems. Scientists say that teenagers should be discouraged from taking drinks with a lot of caffeine in them.

1.Many people like drinking energy drinks because of the following EXCEPT that ______.

A. they have beautiful colors and cool names

B. they have lots of caffeine

C. they can keep them awake and better at sports

D. they are said to be helpful to health

2.The main reason for people not to drink too much energy drinks is that they may cause ______.

A. heart problems            B. nervousness

C. sleeping difficulty       D. possible health dangers

3.The underlined word “discouraged” can be replaced(替换) with ______.

A. encouraged            B. stopped       C. helped      D. disliked

4.From the passage we can know that ______.

A.advertisements are important in getting people to buy energy drinks

B.energy drinks are helpful to teenagers’ study

C.sports players need to drink a lot of energy drinks

D.energy drinks are especially aimed at teenagers

5.Which of the following can be the best title of the passage? ______

A. What’s the Use of Energy Drinks?

B. Who Can Drink Energy Drinks?

C. What’s That in Energy Drinks?

D. Why Can’t We Buy Energy Drinks?

 

My bookshelves are full of dust — and with good reason. When it comes to cleaning that part of my home, I suffer from the most serious case of avoidance (回避反应症).

The thing is this: when I do set out to clean and re-organize my books, which seldom happens, I place myself into a really bad situation. No sooner do I take a title from the shelf, blow off the dust, and wipe down the cover than I find myself sitting on the floor with legs crossed and my back against the wall. Pretty soon books get piled up on my legs as I am reunited with old friends.

It is as if these books have voices, and each wants to say its piece. “Remember me? I was given to you when you went into the Navy, so that you would never lack for companionship,” one whispers. Another says, “I was your first book of poems, given to you before you learned to love poetry.” And a third, “I was the book that made history so attractive to you.”

Perhaps the greatest pleasure of re-organizing my books are the surprises — or better said, reunions — that occur. During my latest book-cleaning adventure, I found one that had fallen behind the shelf: “Tales of Edgar Allan Poe.” Not an unusual title, but the words written on the first page made it very special: “With Love from Mom and Dad, Christmas 1965.” What’s this? A book on the physics of lasers（激光）. It is filled with mathematical statements, and I had bought it at a library sale when I was 12, not long after the laser had been invented. I couldn’t understand a bit of it, but I did learn what “laser” meant.

What I end up with when I empty my bookshelves is a cross-section (横剖面) of my personal history. It’s like a road cut where one sees all the layers of rock going back through time to the beginning of the simplest life forms. The books I’ve read — and kept — are not just old friends. They are my résumé.

1.What could be said about the author?

A．He is too busy to tidy up his bookshelves.

B．He considers his books treasured possessions.

C．He has made a lot of notes in his books.

D．He is a lover of science books.

2.By saying that his books have voices, the author means ________ .

A．they bring back happy memories

B．they are recorded in human voice

C．they say a lot about human history

D．they offer good topics for discussion

3.What does the author enjoy most from re-organizing his books?

A．Finding some missing books.

B．Putting books in good order.

C．Learning something new from the books.

D．Rediscovering interesting stories behind some books.

4.The underlined word “résumé” in the last paragraph probably means ______.

A．personal history    B．precious notes      C．good companion    D．simple life forms

 

It had been some time since Jack had seen the old man. College, carrier, and life itself got in the way. In fact, Jack moved clear across the country in pursuit of the dreams. There, in the rush of his busy life, Jack had little time to think about the past and often no time to spend with his wife and son. He was working on his future, and nothing could stop him.
Over the phone, his mother told him, “Mr. Belser died last night. The funeral is Wednesday.” Memories fleshed through his mind like an old newsreel as he sat quietly remembering his childhood days.
“Jack, did you hear me?”
“Oh, sorry, Mom. Yes, I heard you. it’s been so long since I thought of him. I’m sorry, but I honestly thought he died years ago,” Jack said.
“Well, he didn’t forget you. Every time I saw him he’d ask how you were doing. He’d reminisce (回忆) about the many days you spent over ‘his side of the fence’ as he put it, ” Mom told him.
“I loved that old house he lived in,” Jack said.
“You know, Jack, after your father died, Mr. Belser stepped in to make sure you had a man’s influence in your life,” she said.
“He’s the one who taught me carpentry. I wouldn’t be in this business if it weren’t for him. He spent a lot of time teaching me things he thought were important. Mom, I’ll be there for the funeral.” Jack said.
Busy as he was, he kept his word. Jack caught the next flight to his hometown. Mr. Belser’s funeral was small and uneventful. He had no children of his own, and most of his relatives had passed away.
The night before he had to return home, Jack and his Mom stopped by to see the old house next door one more time, which was exactly as he remembered. Every step held memories. Every picture, every piece of furniture … Jack stopped suddenly.
“What’s wrong, Jack?” his Mom asked.
“The box is gone,” he said.
“What box?” Mom asked.
“There was a small gold box that he kept locked on top of his desk. I must have asked him a thousand times what was inside. All he’d ever tell me was ‘the thing I value most’,” Jack said.
It was gone. Everything about the house was exactly how Jack remembered it, except for the box. He figured someone from the Belser family had taken it.
“Now I’ll never know what was so valuable to him,” Jack said sadly.
Returning to his office the next day, he found a package on his desk. The return address caught his attention.
“Mr. Harold Belser” it read.
Jack tore open the package. There inside was the gold box and an envelope. Jack’s hands shook as he read the note inside,
“Upon my death, please forward this box and its contents to Jack Bernett. It’s the thing I valued most in my life.” A small key was taped to the letter. His heart racing, and tears filling his eyes. Jack carefully unlocked the box. There inside he found a beautiful gold pocket watch. Running his fingers slowly over the fine cover, he opened it.
Inside he found these words carved: “Jack. Thanks for your time! Harold Belser.”
“Oh. My God! This is the thing he valued most …”
Jack held the watch for a few minutes, then called his assistant and cleared his appointments for the next two days. “Why?” his assistant asked.
“I need some time to spend with my son,” he said.
【小题1】Why did Jack think Mr. Belser died years ago?

A．College and career prevented him from remembering Mr. Belser.

B．Jack was too busy with his business and family to think about Mr. Belser.

C．Jack was too busy realizing his dreams to think about Mr. Belser.

D．His present busy life washed away his children memories.

【小题2】 Jack’s mother told him on the phone about Mr. Belser EXCEPT that _________.

A．Mr. Belser often asked how Jack was doing

B．Mr. Belser’s funeral would take place on Wednesday

C．Mr. Belser had asked for Jack’s mailing address

D．Mr. Belser had pleasant memories of their time together

【小题3】Why did Belser send Jack his gold watch?

A．Because he was grateful for Jack’s time with him.

B．Because he had no children or relatives.

C．Because he thought he had to keep his word.

D．Because Jack had always wanted it during his childhood.

【小题4】Why did Jack say he needed some time to spend with his son?

A．He was very tired of his work and wanted to have a good rest.

B．He had promised to spare more time to stay with his son.

C．He had missed his son and his family for days.

D．He came to realize the importance of the time with his family.

【小题5】Which of the following is the most suitable title for this passage?

A．The Good Old Times	B．What He Valued Most
C．An Old Gold Watch	D．The Lost Childhood Days

My favorite English teacher could draw humor out of the driest material. It wasn’t forced on us either. He took Samuel Johnson’s dictionary, Addison’s essays, and many other literary wonders from the eighteenth century and made them hilarious, even at eight o’clock in the morning. The thing that amazed me most was that the first time I read these works on my own, some of them seemed dead, but the second time, after his explanation, I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t seen the humor. The stories and poems and plays were suddenly filled with allusions(典故) and irony and hilarious moments. I learned more from him than from any other teacher.

My least favorite English teacher also made people laugh. Some students found him to be wonderfully funny. Many others did not. He assigned journals over a six-week period, to be written every day. At the end of the six weeks I had a notebook full of bits and pieces about my ideas, short stories, reactions to what we had read, and so on. Our teacher announced that we would be grading each other’s journals. Mine was passed to Joe, that class clown, who always behaved in a funny or silly way. He saw it fit to make a joke of and said, “This writing isn’t fit to line the bottom of a birdcage.” Our teacher laughed at that funny remark. It hurt me so much that the anger from it has driven my writing and teaching ever since.

So what makes the difference? Humor is one of the most powerful tools teachers or writers have. It can build up students and classes and make them excited about literature and writing, or it can tear them apart. It is true that humor is either productive or counter-productive and self-defeating.

1.The passage mainly discusses ________.

A. teaching           B. literature           C. humor       D. knowledge

2.The underlined word “hilarious” in Paragraph 1 probably means ________.

A. funny      B. tiring                 C. inspiring              D. brilliant

3.The English teacher the writer disliked most ________.

A. was not able to make students laugh    

B. hurt his student’s feelings

C. didn’t let his students do the grading

D. had no sense of humor

 

“iPhone 5”, the tallest thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone

We don’t want to change your phone, we want to make you say, “Wow, that is a bigger change than I expected”. “iPhone 5” is a result of that desire to surprise.

It’s been completely redesigned. For the first time ever, we’ve increased the size of display (显示) by making the screen taller but not wider.

You can see more of your content without the need to scroll. We are making scrolling the thing of the past. It is more comfortable to use and reduces tiredness from scrolling when you read long documents.

Even with the larger display, it is the thinnest iPhone we ever built. To achieve the design this tall, we have to look at it and completely redesign the architecture inside. It’s 18% thinner and 79.5% taller than the previous iPhone. It makes everything you do on “iPhone5” easier. No more hidden menus, no confusing gestures. Everything is right at your fingertips.

The panorama feature (全景拍照) is simply awesome. The ultra HD (超高清) widescreen display lets you get your entire shot in a single snap (快门). You can also use its creative design for picture stabilization.

With an iPhone this tall, reception of signals has never been better. And of course, all your favorite applications are still available. In fact you will find your old favorites also benefit from the new experiencing handsome ultra HD widescreen. We found while many previous iPhone owners were using Facetime, they only used it for the faces. That’s why we are introducing Bodytime. With its ultra HD widescreen display, Bodytime lets you see a person’s entire body.

It took all of our learning and all of our thinking to realize something so simple, so clear, and yet so tall.

And I wish your pocket were tall enough to hold such a perfect invention!

1.How is the screen of “iPhone 5” different from the previous ones?

A. Wider.                     B. Taller.                                C. Easier.                               D. Thinner.

2.What does the underlined word “scroll” probably mean?

A. Update the webpage.                                         B. Download new documents.

C. Refresh the content.                                           D. Move the content upward.

3.What can we infer about “iPhone 5” from the passage?

A. It is really necessary for you to hide menus.

B. The reception of signals is bad due to its length.

C. Bodytime is popular with previous iPhone owners.

D. New applications of “iPhone 5” are unbelievable.

4.“iPhone 5” is introduced in a(n) ________ way in this passage.

A. humorous       B. objective                          C. scientific                          D. serious