The world is not only hungry but also thirsty for water. This may seem strange to you, since nearly 70% of the earth’s surface is covered with water. But about 97% of that is sea water or salt water. Man can only drink and use the other 3% of fresh water from rivers, lakes, underground and so on. And we can not even use all of that because some of it has been made dirty.

Earth Day is April 22. But on all other days, we must also remember how important water is. The water that we use is the most important natural resource on the earth. Today we face serious water problems. One of them is water pollution. All kinds of things from cars, factories, farms and homes make our rivers, lakes and oceans dirty. Polluted water is very bad for people to drink. And dirty water is bad for fish, too.

How do cars and factories make our water dirty? First they pollute the air. Then when it rains, the rain water makes our drinking water dirty. Dirty rain, called acid rain is also bad for plants, animals and buildings. Scientists say that in 30 years, more than half of the people in the world won’t have enough clean water. We have to learn how to stop wasting water. One of the first steps is to develop ways of reusing it. Today in most large cities, water is used only once and then sent out into a sewer system (下水道). From there it returns to the sea or goes underground.

But even though every large city reused its water, we would still not have enough. So we should make use of sea water by removing the salt in it. If we can take these steps, fresh water won’t be used up.

1.The world is thirsty for water because _______.

A. we don’t have enough fresh water      B. a lot of water goes into sewer systems

C. only 70% of the earth’s surface is water                  D. sea water is widely used rather than fresh water

2.From this passage, we know acid rain _______.

A. is only bad for living things       B. is not bad for buildings and factories

C. can be produced in factories        D. is bad for people, animals, plants and buildings

3.One difficult way we can solve the problem is to _______.

A. use the water with salt in it           B. remove the salt from sea water

C. get water from underground              D. reuse the water in cities

4.What is the best title for this passage?

A. Fresh water and sea water               B. A thirsty country

C. The importance of water  D. The world’s water problem

Peter is a sixth-grader at Woodland Primary School. He is only 12 years old but has been smoking for three years. John, 15, is a Junior 2 student at Woodland Secondary School. He began smoking four years ago. “Smoking is part of my life,” John said. Peter and John are not those boys’ real names. But their problem, smoking, is a very real problem. In many countries, smoking is becoming a bigger problem for young people. Most smokers start in their teens or earlier.

A study of 8,000 London students shows that smoking is a problem for many British kids. More than 21% of middle school students and 6 % of primary school pupils said they smoked. “If young people start smoking early, it will be very hard for them to give up later on,” said a professor.

Every year, about four million people die because of smoking. And if people keep smoking,  that number will go up to about ten million a year by 2030, the World Health Organization (WHO) says. So we have to learn and tell others about the dangers of smoking.

1.The sentence “Smoking is part of my life” probably means “__________”

A．I don’t smoke very often.

B．Smoking is very important to me.

C．I don’t smoke at all.

D．I’m going to give up smoking.

2.What will probably happen if a person starts smoking early?

A．He will surely die early.

B．He cannot stop smoking.

C．It will be difficult for him to give up smoking.

D．He will become lazy soon.

3.The study in the passage shows that __________.

A．smoking is a serious problem among British students

B．there are more and more smokers in England

C．some student smokers are having fun smoking

D．most of smokers are young students

4.The main idea of this passage is that__________.

A．smoking is becoming a bigger problem for young people

B．more and more people die because of smoking every year

C．WHO asks young people to give up smoking

D．we needn’t worry about the student smokers

5.As middle school students, what should we do from now on?

A．We should start smoking after middle school.

B．We should ask others to smoke outside.

C．We should laugh at smokers.

D．We should say no to smoking.

Are the lives of city kids the same as those in villages? In lots of ways, they are very different.  But what are the differences?
Hu Peng and his four friends decided to find them out.  Earlier this month, they went to live for a week at Huagui Village near Xishui.  They went door to door there and asked kids there lots of questions.  They wanted to learn more about village kids’ everyday lives, so they asked questions like these: Do your parents teach you how to do housework? How much money do you usually spend on dinner? What would you do if a thief comes into your houses? They also asked 150 city kids the same question.
On April 12, the team gave a report to their class.  They told about lots of differences between children’s lives in cities and those in villages.  The biggest difference is independence.  Hu’s team say that more than 60 percent of city kids can’t do much housework, but more than 80 percent of village kids can care for themselves.
City kids told Hu they cared about school a lot, and they had no time to wash clothes or make their beds.  Village kids said they helped their parents with a lot: they cook, clean houses and feed farm animals, Hu’s team also saw that village kids had less pocket money.  Many never use computers.  They play in rivers or on mountains.  Some don’t really like to make new friends.
Hu’s team said their trip gave them more self-confidence(自信心) because they were doing something by them-selves.  But it also worried them a bit because they saw they still had a lot to learn.  “When we grow up, our parents can’t take care of us,” Hu said.  “We have to learn to take care of ourselves. ”
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Are the lives of city kids the same as those in villages? In lots of ways, they are very different.  But what are the differences?

Hu Peng and his four friends decided to find them out.  Earlier this month, they went to live for a week at Huagui Village near Xishui.  They went door to door there and asked kids there lots of questions.  They wanted to learn more about village kids’ everyday lives, so they asked questions like these: Do your parents teach you how to do housework? How much money do you usually spend on dinner? What would you do if a thief comes into your houses? They also asked 150 city kids the same question.

On April 12, the team gave a report to their class.  They told about lots of differences between children’s lives in cities and those in villages.  The biggest difference is independence.  Hu’s team say that more than 60 percent of city kids can’t do much housework, but more than 80 percent of village kids can care for themselves.

City kids told Hu they cared about school a lot, and they had no time to wash clothes or make their beds.  Village kids said they helped their parents with a lot: they cook, clean houses and feed farm animals, Hu’s team also saw that village kids had less pocket money.  Many never use computers.  They play in rivers or on mountains.  Some don’t really like to make new friends.

Hu’s team said their trip gave them more self-confidence(自信心) because they were doing something by them-selves.  But it also worried them a bit because they saw they still had a lot to learn.  “When we grow up, our parents can’t take care of us,” Hu said.  “We have to learn to take care of ourselves. ”

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