Last August, Joe and Mary Mahoney began looking at colleges for their 17-year-old daughter, Maureen. With a checklist of criteria in hand, the Dallas family looked around the country visiting half a dozen schools. They sought a university that offered the teenager’s intended major, one located near a large city, and a campus where their daughter would be safe.

 “The safety issue is a big one,” says Joe Mahoney, who quickly discovered he wasn’t alone in his worries. On campus tours other parents voiced similar concerns, and the same question was always asked: what about crime? But when college officials always gave the same answer — “That’s not a problem here.” — Mahoney began to feel uneasy.

 “No crime whatsoever?” comments Mahoney today.  “I just don’t buy it.”  Nor should he: in 1999 the U.S. Department of Education had reports of nearly 400,000 serious crimes on or around our campuses. “Parents need to understand that times have changed since they went to colleges,” says David Nichols, author of Creating a Safe Campus. “Campus crime mirrors the rest of the nation.”

But getting accurate information isn’t easy. Colleges must report crime statistics （统计数字) by law, but some hold back for fear of bad publicity, leaving the honest ones looking dangerous. “The truth may not always be obvious,” warns S. Daniel Carter of Security on Campus, Inc., the nation’s leading campus safety watchdog group.

To help concerned parents, Carter promised to visit campuses and talk to experts around the country to find out major crime issues and effective solutions.

1. The Mahoney’s visited quite a few colleges last August ______.

 A. to express the opinions of many parents            B. to choose a right one for their daughter

         C. to check the cost of college education        D. to find a right one near a large city

2. It is often difficult to get correct information on campus crime because some colleges ______.

 A. receive too many visitors                                        B. mirror the rest of the nation

         C. hide the truth of campus crime                     D. have too many watchdog groups

3. The underlined word “buy” in the third paragraph means ______.

 A. mind                      B. admit                     C. believe                            D. expect

4. We learn from the text that “the honest ones” in the fourth paragraph most probably refers to colleges   ______.

A. that are protected by campus security                B. that report campus crimes by law

C. that are free from campus crime                           D. the enjoy very good publicity

5. What is the text mainly about?

 A. Exact campus crime statistics.                              B. Crimes on or around campuses.

         C. Effective solutions to campus crime.           D. concerns about kids’ campus safety.

 

In the future your automobile will run on water instead of gas! You will be able to buy a supercomputer that fits in your pocket! You might even drive a flying car!
For each prediction that has come true today, several others have missed by a mile. Many of these predictions didn’t consider how people would want to use the technology, or if people really needed it in their lives or not. Let’s look at some predictions from the not-too-distant past.
Robot Helpers
Where’s the robot in my kitchen? Nowhere, of course. And he’s probably not coming anytime soon. Robots do exist today, but mostly in factories and other manufacturing environments.
Back in the 1950s, however, people said that by now personal robots would be in most people’s homes.
So why hasn’t it happened?  Probably because robots are still too expensive and clumsy. And maybe the idea of robots cooking our dinners and washing our clothes is just too weird. At home we seem to be doing fine without them.
Telephones of Tomorrow
In 1964 an American company introduced the video telephone. They said by the year 2000 most people would have a video phone in their homes. But of course the idea hasn’t caught on yet.
Why? The technology worked fine, but it over—looked something obvious: people’s desire for privacy. Would you want to have a video phone conversation with someone after you just step out of the shower?  Probably not---it could be embarrassing! Just because a technology available doesn’t always mean people will want to use it.
And finally, how about that crazy prediction of the flying car? It’s not so crazy anymore! But a flying car remains one of the most fascinating technology ideas to capture our imagination. Keep watching the news, or perhaps the sky outside your window, to see what the future will bring.
【小题1】 The whole passage is mainly about ________________.

A．predictions that have come true.	B．predictions that haven’t come true.
C．why predictions don’t come true easily.	D．what technology will bring about.

【小题2】The author of this passage won’t believe that _________________.

A．predictions needn’t consider people’s practical use of technology.

B．the future isn’t always easy to guess.

C．not all past predictions have come true.

D．many of the high—tech things our parents thought we’d be using by now

simply never appeared.
【小题3】The underlined word “weird” probably means __________.

A．wonderful

B．stupid

C．practical

D．strange

【小题4】 What does the author think of the flying car?

A．It is too difficult to imagine.	B．It is too crazy an idea.
C．It is likely to be made.	D．It is often reported in the news.

Last August, Joe and Mary Mahoney began looking at colleges for their 17-year-old daughter, Maureen. With a checklist of criteria (衡量标准)in hand, the Dallas family looked around the country visiting half a dozen schools. They sought a university that offered the teenager’s intended major, one located near a large city, and a campus where their daughter would be safe.
“The safety issue is a big one,” says Joe Mahoney, who quickly discovered he wasn’t alone in his worries. On campus tours other parents voiced similar concerns, and the same question was always asked: what about crime? But when college officials always gave the same answer -----“That’s not a problem here,”-----Mahoney began to feel uneasy.
“No crime whatever?” comments Mahoney today. “I just don’t buy it.” Nor should he: in 1999 the U.S. Department of education had reports of nearly 400,000 serious crimes on or around our campuses. “Parents need to understand that times have changed since they went to college,” says David Nichols, author of Creating a Safe Campus. “Campus crime mirrors the rest of the nation.”
But getting accurate information isn’t easy. Colleges must report crime statistics(统计数字) by law, but some hold back for fear of bad publicity（关注）, leaving the honest ones looking dangerous. “The truth may not always be serious,” warns S. Daniel Carter of Security on Campus, Inc., the nation’s leading campus safety watchdog group.
To help concerned parents, Carter promised to visit campuses and talk to experts around the country to find out major crime issues and effective solutions.
【小题1】It is often difficult to get correct information on campus crime because some colleges ____.

A．receive too many visitors

B．mirror the rest of the nation

C．hide the truth of campus crime

D．have too many watchdog groups

【小题2】The underlined word “buy” in the third paragraph means _____.

A．mind

B．admit

C．believe

D．expect

【小题3】We learn from the text that “the honest ones” in the fourth paragraph most probably refers to colleges _____.

A．that are protected by campus security

B．that report campus crimes by law

C．that are free from campus crime

D．that enjoy very good publicity

【小题4】What is the text mainly about?

A．Exact campus crime statistics.

B．Crimes on or around campuses.

C．Effective solutions to campus crime.

D．Concerns about kids’ campus safety.

Millions of people around the world cook their food over smoky fire every day.It is often difficult to find wood for the fire .People who do not have wood must spend large amounts of money on cooking fuel. However, there is a much easier way to cook food using energy from the sun.

Solar cooker, or ovens,have been used for centuries.A Swiss scientist made the first solar oven in seventeen sixty-seven. Today ,people are using solar cookers in many countries around the world. People use solar ovens to cook food and to heat drinking water to kill bacteria and other harmful organisms.

There are three kinds of solar ovens.The first is a box cooker, It is designed with a special wall that shines or reflects sunlight into the box .Heat gets trapped under a piece of glass or plastic covering the top of the cooker. A box oven is effective for slow cooking of large amonts of food.

The second kind of solar oven is a panel cooker. It includes several flat walls.or panels.that directly reflect the sun’s light onto the food. The food is inside a separate container of plastic or glass that traps heat energy. People can build panel cookers quickly and with very few supplies. They do not cost much.In Kenya ,for example ,panel cookers are being manufactured for just two dollars.

The third kind of solar oven is a parabolic cooker.It has rounded walls that aim sunlight directly into the bottom of the oven .Food cooks quickly in parabolic ovens .However, these cookers are hard to make.They must be re-aimed often to follow the sun .Parabolic cookers can also cause burns and eye injuries if they are not used correctly.

You can make solar ovens from boxes or heavy paper. They will not catch fire. Paper burns at two hundred thirty-two degrees Celsius. A solar cooker never gets that hot. Solar ovens cook food at low temperatures over long periods of time. This permits people to leave food to cook while they do other things.

1.What is the main purpose of the author in writing the passage?

A.To tell the readers how to make solar ovens.

B.To advertise the solar ovens.

C.To give the readers brief introduction of solar ovens.

D.To help readers to save cost on fuel.

2.According to the passage we can conclude that ______.

A.panel cooker is the cheapest oven of the three

B.panel cooker is easy to make

C.box cooker is easy to make

D.box cooker is the most effective oven

3.If you have much food to cook ,you’d better choose      .

A.a box cooker	B.a panel cooker
C.a parabolic cooker	D.a paper cooker

4.From the passage we know that      .

A.solar cookers are dangerous to use

B.solar cookers don’t burn while cooking

C.solar cookers cost less than other cookers

D.Swiss often use solar cookers while cooking

 

America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while — then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us flower more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending (延伸) sometimes deeply into both families.

Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality (好客) easily.

Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness (礼貌) to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite (相反) of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes, but truly can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily activities. They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.

For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for purely business matters. So accept their hospitality at home!

1.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their families.

B．Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break.

C．Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy.

D．Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives.

2.From the last two paragraphs we can learn that when we arrive in America to visit an American friend, we will probably be ______.

A．treated hospitably at his home

B．offered a ride to his home

C．warmly welcomed at the airport

D．treated to dinner in a restaurant

3.The underlined words “generous with our time” in Paragraph 3 probably mean ______.

A．strict with time	B．serious with time
C．willing to spend time	D．careful with time

4.A suitable title for this passage would probably be “______”.

A．Friendships between Chinese

B．Friendships between Americans

C．Americans’ hospitality

D．Americans’ and Chinese’s opinions of friendships