We’ve used the wind as an energy source for a long time．

The Babylonians and Chinese were using wind power to

pump water for irrigating crops 4,000 years ago, and sailing

boats were around long before that．Wind power was used in the

Middle Ages, in Europe, to grind（磨碎） corn, which is where

 the term “windmill” comes from．

We can use the energy in the wind by building a tall tower, with a large propellor（螺旋桨） on the top．The wind blows the propellor round, which turns a generator to produce electricity．We tend to build many of these towers together, to make a “wind farm” and produce more electricity．The more towers, the more wind, and the larger the propellors, the more electricity we can make．It's only worth building wind farms in places that have strong, steady winds, although boats and caravans（大篷车）increasingly have small wind generators to help keep their batteries charged．

The best places for wind farms are in coastal areas, at the tops of rounded hills, open plains and gaps in mountains — places where the wind is strong and reliable．Some are offshore．To be worthwhile, you need an average wind speed of around 25 km/h．Most wind farms in the UK are in Cornwall or Wales．Isolated places such as farms may have their own wind generators．In California, several “wind farms” supply electricity to homes around Los Angeles．

The propellors are large, to obtain energy from the largest possible volume of air．The blades can be angled to cope with varying wind speeds．Some designs use vertical turbines （垂直涡轮机）, which don’t need to be turned to face the wind．The towers are tall, to get the propellors as high as possible, up to where the wind is stronger．This means that the land beneath can still be used for farming．

1．The first paragraph aims to introduce to us _______．

         A．the function of wind power                B．the source of wind power

         C．the nations using wind power           D．the history of using wind power

2．The best places for building the wind farm are places where _______．

         A．boats and caravans can often be seen    B．isolated farms don’t have enough electricity

         C．there are less human activities                 D．the wind is strong and reliable

3．We can infer from the passage that _______．

         A．wind farms will not take up too much farming land

         B．wind farms need no fuel because wind is free

         C．the blades can be angled to turn to face the wind wherever it comes from

         D．the higher and larger the towers are, the stronger the wind is

4．What can be a suitable title for the passage?

       A．Where to build a wind farm．          B．ABC of the using of wind energy．

       C．How to make best use of wind．      D．Wind energy is the best energy．

 

 

I needed to buy a digital camera, one that was simply good at taking good snaps (快照), maybe occasionally for magazines. Being the cautious type, I fancied a reliable brand. So I went on the net, spent 15 minutes reading product reviews on good websites, wrote down the names of three top recommendations and headed for my nearest big friendly camera store. There in the cupboard was one of the cameras on my list. And it was on special offer. Oh joy. I pointed at it and asked an assistant, “Can I have one of those?”  He looked perturbed (不安). “Do you want to try it first?” he said. It didn’t quite sound like a question. “Do I need to?” I replied ,“There is nothing wrong with it？” This made him look a bit insulted and I started to feel bad. “No, no. But you should try it,” he said encouragingly. “Compare it with the others.”

 I looked across at the others: shelves of similar cameras placed along the wall, offering a wide range of slightly different prices and discounts, with each company selling a range of models based around the same basic box. With so many models to choose from, it seemed that I would have to spend hours weighing X against Y, always trying to take Z and possibly H into account at the same time. But when I had finished, I would still have only the same two certainties that I had entered the store with: first, soon after I carried my new camera out of the shop, it would be worth half what I paid for it; and second, my wonderful camera would very quickly be replaced by a new model.

But something in the human soul whispers that you can beat these traps by making the right choice, the clever choice, the wise choice. In the end, I agreed to try the model I had chosen. The assistant seemed a sincere man. So I let him take out of my chosen camera from cupboard, show how it took excellent pictures of my fellow shoppers… and when he started to introduce the special features, I interrupted to ask whether I needed to buy a carry-case and a memory card as well.

Why do we think that new options(选择) still offer us anything new? Perhaps it is because they offer an opportunity to avoid facing the fact that our real choices in this culture are far more limited than we would like to imagine.

1.The shop assistant insisted that the writer should               

A. try the camera to see if there was anything wrong with it.

B. compare the camera he had chosen with the others.

C. get more information about different companies.

D. trust him and stop asking questions.

2.What does the writer mean by “it would be worth half what I paid for it ”(paragraph 2)

A. He should get a 50% discount.

B. The price of the camera was unreasonably high.

C. The quality of the camera was not good.

D. The camera would soon fall in value.

3.The writer decided to try the model he had chosen because he                  

A. knew very little about it.

B. didn’t trust the shop assistant.

C. wanted to make sure the one he chose would be the best.

D. had a special interest in taking pictures of his fellow shoppers.

4.I t can be inferred from the passage that in the writer’s opinion,            .

A. people waste too much money on cameras

B. cameras have become an important part of our daily life

C. we don’t actually need so many choices when buying a product

D. famous companies care more about profit than quality

 

We don’t plan to cry, but it just happens. In fact when we feel sad or angry, a good cry is almost impossible to resist. But if you didn’t know what crying was, you’d have to wonder why some strong feelings started water streaming from people’s eyes and why they seemed to feel better afterwards.

Now a US researcher had found there may be more in crying than we think. William H. Frey II, author of “Crying: The Mystery of Tears,” believes it may really be one of the body’s clever self-repair mechanisms. Crying may be a way of getting rid of the by-products of stress, he says.

He has found that tears contain some chemicals which can cause stress. One of these is the hormone prolactin (激素), which is set free when one is feeling stressed. Since women have more of this than men, that might explain why they usually cry more, he suggests.

Unsurprisingly, Dr Frey’s study seemed to prove that most people feel better after a good cry. And sex has nothing to do with it ––– the result was true for women and men. So, next time you feel like bursting into tears, go ahead. If Dr Frey is right, you’ll be doing yourself a favour.

1.The best title of this passage would be ________.

A．Why Do We Cry                        B．Crying and Tears.

C．Dr Frey and Crying.                      D．Tears and Chemicals

2.According to the author, we feel like crying because________.

A．crying is one of our habits

B．we can’t control it

C．crying is one of the body’s self-repair mechanisms

D．we can get the by-products of stress by crying

3.According to the passage, men seem less likely to cry than women because_______.

A．their bodies contain less hormone prolactin

B．their tears contain more chemicals

C．they are not so full of feelings as women

D．the chemicals in their tears can’t cause stress

4.The author advised us________.

A．to plan to cry very often

B．not to cry any more

C．to go outdoors without hesitation

D．to cry as we want to

5.Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A．Good cries can make most people feel better

B．Only women can feel better after crying.

C．It is easy to understand that people feel better after a good cry.

D．Crying is sometimes impossible to resist.

 

Section B

Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A．opportunity B． reality C．impossible D．importantly E. ordinary F. achieve       G.. view      H. fame        I. laughed at     J. formed

 

This I Believe

I believe in the challenge to accomplish something out of the ordinary. I have ___41__ this belief from the Guinness Book of World Records. That book showed me the value of equal ____42__and competition. It proved to me, early on, that I could rise above anonymity and ___43___ remarkable things.

The Guinness Book of World Records taught me to believe in the “accessibility of the “___44__”. I was attracted by the descriptions in the book: the fastest, the longest, the widest, the most …whatever you can imagine. It opened up the possibility of what I might be able to do.

The Guinness Book of World Records taught me tenacity and perseverance and, more __45___, the desire to do something unexpected. So many people in the book were __46___ by family and friends for what they were doing. Yet they did it. I see them as success stories --- the ___47____ people who did something extraordinary.

I am not saving the world. I am not the best at what I do, but I am only 24 --- there is still time.

The Guinness Book of World Records helped give me a different ___48___ on the impossible, and encouraged me to try something unusual. I believe in making the “dream ” a ___49____, and I hope to someday break a few records myself.

 

 

1. He has to take 2 part-time jobs during the weekends to s_________ his big family.

2. As friends, you should at first understand and r________ each other.

3. Only when one is put into prison will he realize the value of f________.

4. As the rules say, drivers shall r________ speed when they get close to a crossroad.

5. The earthquake made thousands of people in the country h________.

6. They communicate with each other entirely by g_________ as they are unable to speak.

7. With the a___________ of winter, the weather is getting colder and colder.

8. According to the weather forecast, a hurricane is l_______ to hit the city.

9. You should book a ticket in a_________ to make sure that you can get a good seat.

10. His best friend’s failure to keep his promise filled Jack with a________.