More and more people think it necessary to study in an English-speaking country and it didn’t take long at all for me to decide to come and study in UK.

Having been in the school for 2 months, I’m getting used to school life, and I am starting to make the most of my time in here. School starts at 9 o’clock every morning, and every Monday, Wednesday and Friday we have long days, in which we have 9 lessons and school finishes at 4 o’clock. Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays we have short days, in which we have only 6 lessons and finish at 1 o’clock. After lessons, we have two hours of activity time, when you can choose from a wide range of activities, including all the major sports, such as rugby and football, and also the minor sports such as basketball and tennis.

As a boarder( 寄宿者)，the quality of food is something I consider very important, and Merchiston has not let me down. The school kitchens are run by a professional food company, and the quality of food is very excellent and also they take the healthy diet very seriously: I remember once I was once asked to take more salad for my meal by a member of the kitchen staff(员工) for I didn’t have enough vegetables. This brings another point of being a boarder: you need to learn how to look after yourself and be responsible(负责) for yourself. One of the huge advantages of being a boarder is that we can have breakfast in the school, which means we don’t have to pull ourselves out of bed as early as the day pupils!

1.The passage mainly tells us about _______.

A．the author’s school life in the UK as a boarder.

B．the author’s opinion of the school life in the UK.

C．the differences in school life between China and UK.

D．the boarder life in a Britain middle school.

2.According to the second paragraph, we can learn that the author _________ .

A．has not enough time to study              B．likes to play tennis and basketball

C．went to the school two months ago          D．finishes school at 4 o’clock

3.How many lessons do the students have every week in this school?

A．15               B．45               C．27               D．18

4.The underlined words “let me down” in the last paragraph means _______.

A．made me disappointed                   B．made me pleased   C．encouraged me  D．amazed me

5.As a boarder in the school, the author ___________ .

A．is not used to the food there               B．has learned to have healthy diets

C．is specially taken good care of              D．sleep as much as the day pupils

B
Yes. It’s really happening. This is the last weekend that Washington D.C.’s beloved giant panda, Tai Shan (aka Butterstick), has resided at the National Zoo. Born in Washtington D.C. four and a half years ago, Tai Shan is leaving for China on February 4 to become part of a breeding(培育) program that will help support panda populations in the wild. We’ve known it was coming: He’s the property of China and his departure was part of an agreement made long before he stole our hearts. And while acknowledging that he will be helping the breed (there are only about 1,600 giant pandas left in the wild), we can’t help but be sad to see him go. He’s been an international concern from the moment he was born on July 9, 2005, thanks in part to the popularity of the PandaCam, which cameraed his every roly-poly(不倒翁似的) move.
The National Zoo is hosting a huge send-off celebration this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to say goodbye to Tai Shan, gathering their team of vets, nutritionists, reproduction specialists, and other scientists to share their knowledge about pandas. The Chinese Embassy will present dance and music presentations, kids will be able to write cards for Tai Shan, and in the most brilliant display we’ve seen in a while, Land O’Lakes will host a photo gallery of favorite images of Tai Shan from the past few years. “When Tai Shan was born,” the Zoo explains in its press release, “...he was about the size of a stick of butter. This earned him the affectionate nickname ‘Butterstick.’” .
Happily, Tai Shan will be departing in style. According to the Washington Post, FedEx has offered to donate the transportation and he’ll be leaving in a 777 FedEx aircraft next week that’s fitted with his own logo on the side. There’ll be “only eight people on board, including a doctor, as well as a panda member of the opposite sex...and more than 50 pounds of his favorite food available on demand,” says the Post. Not a bad way to travel 8,642 miles, even if it is in a crate(板条箱).
So goodbye, Butterstick, safe travels, and may you lead a long and fruitful life in China!
46. We can infer from the passage that the author most probably is ________.
A. an American    B. a Chinese     C. a foreign tourist  D. a young writer
47. Why must the National Zoo send Tai Shan to China on February 4?
A. Because he’s the property of China.
B. Because his mother was stolen from China.
C. Because it’s the first part of a breeding program.
D. Because it’s bound and required by the agreement.
48. By saying “long before he stole our hearts” (in paragraph 1), the author means “long before______”.
A. he made us heartbroken     B. he made us lose heart
C. we fell in love with him      D. we felt disappointed with him
49. The send-off celebration will include the following activities except ______.
A. sharing knowledge about pandas       B. dance and music presentations
C. a photo gallery of images of Tai Shan    D. collecting nicknames for Tai Shan
50. Which of the following statements is True?
A. The number of pandas in the world is now sharply decreasing.
B. FedEx will fly Tai Shan to China in a Boeing 777 aircraft for free.
C. Washington Post is a branch company of FedEx’s in the US.
D. Tai Shan is to be accompanied on board only by eight people.

Yao Ming edged Kobe Bryant as the top votegetter in fan balloting^①for the 55th NBA All-Star game Thursday, and Shaquille O’Neal became the fifth player in league history to earn 13 consecutive^②selections for the midseason showcase.
Yao and Tracy McGrady give the host Houston Rockets two starters in the Feb.19 game. They were joined on the Western Conference squad by Bryant, San Antonio’s Tim Duncan and reigning MVP Steve Nash of Phoenix — who will be a first-time All-Star starter.
Yao edged Bryant by 71,107 votes for the top overall spot in the balloting, despite missing 21 games following surgery to clean out an infection^③ in his left big toe. It’s the fourth All-Star trip for the 7-foot-6 center from China and the eighth for Bryant, who leads the NBA in scoring and had an 81-point effort — the second-biggest night in NBA history — last month in the Los Angeles Lakers’ win over Toronto.
Yao finished with 2,342,738 votes; Bryant had 2,271,631 in the closest finish among the top two players in All-Star balloting since Vince Carter, then of Toronto, edged Miami’s Alonzo Mourning by 33,385 votes in 2000.
Notes:
①    ballot  vi. 投票
②    consecutive  adj. 连续的
③    infection  n. 传染，感染

1. 1.

   Yao Ming’s got _______ Kobe Bryant in fan balloting for the 55th NBA All-Star game Thursday.

   1. A.
      the same votes as
   2. B.
      more votes than
   3. C.
      less votes than
   4. D.
      no more than
2. 2.

   Yao Ming and _______ belong to the Houston Rockets.

   1. A.
      Kobe Bryant
   2. B.
      Tracy McGrady
   3. C.
      Shaquille O’Neal
   4. D.
      Steve Nash
3. 3.

   Which of the following is not wrong according to this passage?

   1. A.
      Yao Ming edged Kobe Bryant as the top votegetter in fan balloting for the 54th NBA All-Star game.
   2. B.
      Yao edged Tracy McGrady by 71,107 votes for the top overall spot in the balloting.
   3. C.
      It’s the fourth All-Star trip for Yao Ming from China.
   4. D.
      Yao finished with 2,271,631 votes; Bryant had2,342,738 in the closest finish among the top two players in All-Star balloting.

About 12,000 years ago- long before the famous UFO crash make headlines in America—an alien spaceship crashed in China. And their descendants are still living in a faraway Chinese village today! That is the mind-bending claim made in the new book Out of Time and Place, a collection of reports from the files of Fate, a magazine edited by Terry O’Neil.
The story first came to light in 1937 when an expedition led by Chi Pu-Tei came across a group of caves deep in the Bayan-Kara-Ula Mountains. In the caves were found strange-looking skeletons with big heads and small, slender bodies—closely matching typical descriptions of space aliens. The explorers also uncovered 716 mysterious stone discs with strange hieroglyphics(象形文字) on them.
In Qinghai Province, where the mountains lie, ancient stories tell of small, skinny beings with oversize heads who came from the sky long long ago. And to this day, locals live in fear of attack from strange-looking creatures from above.
And there is more. In 1947, British scientist Karyl Robin-Evans led an expedition into the mountains and discovered a group of dwarfs(侏儒) who called themselves the Droza. “They told him that their ancestors came from a planet in the Sirius（天狼星）system and crashed in this mountain area a long time ago,” writes Hausdorf, “Many of them were killed, but survivors adapted to living on this rough planet far from home.”
For decades, Robin-Evans’ claims were dismissed as nonsense. But in 1995, the Associated Press reported that in the region a village named Huilong had been discovered—populated by 120 dwarfs ranging from 3-foot-10 to 2-foot-1tall.Hausdorf asks, “Could these people be the last living descendants of the survivors of the legendary UGO crash—the Chinese Roswell?”
【小题1】Which of the following are the findings of Chi Pu-Tei?
a. strange-looking skeletons           b. UFO crash
c. stone discs                       d. dwarfs
e. strange hieroglyphics               f. skinny beings

After several days’ warm weather around the New Year’s Day，a strong cold wave with a sandstorm from Mongolia attacked Tianjin Sunday afternoon.

From 3 o’clock p.m.，the strong cold wave from Mongolia engulfed（吞没）most areas of North China and the biggest wind-force was 7.Tianjin also suffered this year’s first sandstorm with the cold wind whistling.The sky became dusky and the air was permeated with sand.By 11 o’clock at night，the wind became weaker and the sandstorm died down.From Monday morning，the northern areas had a big drop in temperature.It is learned that flu and the infection of the upper respiratory tract are easy to be infected due to the severe pollution by dust in the air.Relevant experts remind residents to pay attention to their health care.

1.The underlined word“permeated”most probably means______.

A.cleared　　　　　　B.filled　　　　　　 C.blowing　　　　　　 D.replaced

2.We learn that ______from the passage.

A.sandstorms result in the fall of temperature

B.we can easily get infected by the dusty air

C.it is usually warmer before sandstorms come

D.sandstorms usually come around the New Year’s Day