Bob was a clever college student, but his family was poor, so he had to work after class and during his holidays to get enough money for his studies.

One summer he got a job in a butcher's shop (肉店) during the day time, and another in a hospital at night. In the shop, he learned to cut and sell meat. He did so well that the butcher went into a room behind the shop to do all the accounts ( 算账) .In the hospital, of course, Bob was told to do only the easiest jobs. He helped to lift people and carry them from one part of the hospital to another. Both in the butcher's shop and in the hospital, Bob had to wear white clothes.

One evening in the hospital, Bob had to help to carry a woman from her bed to the operating - room. The woman already felt frightened when she thought about the operation. When she saw Bob coming to get her, she felt even more frightened.

"No! No!" she cried. "Not a butcher! I won't let a butcher operate on me!" with these words ,she fainted away.

1.Bob had to work after class and during his holidays because_________.

A. his father told him to make more friends

B. he wanted to become a rich man

C. his family couldn’t support him

D. he had nothing to do at home.

2.One summer Bob_________.

A. wanted to become not only a butcher but also a doctor.

B. got two different jobs at two places

C. was free only at night

D. worked only during the daytime

3.In the hospital, Bob's job was_________.

A. to take care of the wounded soldiers

B. to give the doctor's advice

C. to find out what was wrong with the sick people

D.to carry the sick people from one place to another

4.When the woman saw Bob,_________.

A. she was so frightened that she fainted away

B. She was frightened and then got so excited that she fainted away.

C. She was very disappointed

D. She was quite pleased

5.Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. Bob was an unknown doctor.

B. Bob was a butcher and he studied at college in the evening.

C. When the woman saw Bob, she thought he was going to operate on her.

D. Bob worked in a butcher's shop and helped to do the accounts.

 

Disease, poverty, hate, love-Charles Dickens' stories opened his readers' eyes to the most important themes of his age．Two hundred years on, his stories still speak volumes across the world, proving that Dickens' legacy （遗产） was far greater than just "great literature"．

February 7 marks the 200th anniversary of the writer's birthday．To mark this date, BBC writer Alex Hudson listed six things Dickens gave the modern world．Let's take a look at two of them．

A while Christmas

Dickens is described as "the man who invented Christmas" -not the religious festival, but the cultural aspects that we associate with the festive （喜庆的） season today．

In the early 19th century, Christmas was barely worth mentioning, according to critic and writer Leigh Hunt．The committee which ran the Conservative Party even held ordinary business meetings on Christmas Day - unthinkable in the West nowadays, when everyone, but the most necessary workers takes at least three days off．

         Many people believe that Dickens' popular depictions（描绘） of the festive period became a blueprint for generations to come．In his classic novel, A Christmas Carol, he not only put forward the idea of snow at Christmas,but also painted a picture of glowing warmth-“home enjoyments, affections and hopes"．

In his biography of Dickens, Peter Ackroyd wrote, "Dickens can be said to have almost single-handedly created the modern idea of Christmas．"

         "Dickensian" poverty

Dickens was one of the first to take an honest look at the underclass and the poor of Victorian （the period during British Queen Victoria's reign from 1837 to 1901） London．

He helped popularize the term "red tape" to describe situations where people in power use needless amounts of bureaucracy （官僚作风） in a way that particularly hurts the weaker and poorer members of society．

"Dickensian" has now become a powerful word for describing an unacceptable level of poverty．In 2009, when the president of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers in the UK wanted to talk about deprivation in some areas, of Britain, she did not use words like "terrible" or "horrific", but rather described it as "life mirroring the times of Dickens"．

1.What is the main idea of the article?

A．Charles Dickens' impact on the world．

B．An introduction to Charles Dickens' classic novels．

C．Charles Dickens' amazing characters．

D．Why Charles Dickens is popular across the world．

2.Why is Dickens called "the man who invented Christmas"?

A．Because he created the religious festival.

B．Because one of his novels helped to shape Christmas celebrations．

C．Because many of his novels have something to do with Christmas．

D．Because he was the first man to have proposed celebrating Christmas．

3.According to the article, the phrase “red tape” refers to __.

A．rules or procedures that are required to accomplish a task

B．a situation in which poor members of society are hurt

C．conflict between people in power and weaker people

D．pointlessly time-consuming official procedures

4.What can we infer from the passage?

A．Dickens is still popular today in Britain．

B．everyone takes at least three days off at Christmas．

C．Dickens invented Christmas

D．Dickens gave the modern world six things．

 

 

He was 11 years old and went fishing every chance he got from the dock at his family's cabin on an island in the middle of a New Hampshire lake.

      On the day before the bass（鲈鱼） season opened, he and his father were fishing early in the evening, catching sunfish and bass with worms. Then he tied on a small silver lure（鱼饵）and practiced casting. The lure struck the water and caused colored ripples in the sunset, then silver ripples as the moon rose over the lake.

      When his pole doubled over, he knew something huge was on the other end. His father watched with admiration as the boy skillfully worked the fish alongside the dock.

      Finally, he very gingerly lifted the exhausted fish from the water. It was the largest one he had ever seen, but it was a bass. The boy and his father looked at the handsome fish, gills playing back and forth in the moonlight. The father lit a match and looked at his watch. It was 10 P.M.--- two hours before the season opened. He looked at the fish, then at the boy.

      "You'll have to put it back, son," he said.

      "Dad!" cried the boy.

      "There will be other fish," said his father.

      "Not as big as this one," cried the boy.

      He looked around the lake. No other fishermen or boats were anywhere around in the moonlight. He looked again at his father. Even though no one had seen them, nor could anyone ever know what time he caught the fish, the boy could tell by the clarity of his father's voice that the decision was not negotiable. He slowly worked the hook out of the lip of the huge bass and lowered it into the black water.

      The creature swished its powerful body and disappeared. The boy suspected that he would never again see such a great fish.

      That was 34 years ago. Today, the boy is a successful architect in New York City. His father's cabin is still there on the island in the middle of the lake. He takes his own son and daughters fishing from the same dock.

      He was right. He has never again caught such a magnificent fish as the one he landed that night long ago. But he does see that same fish---again and again---every time he comes up against a question of ethics（道德规范）.

67. The underlined word “negotiable” in the passage refers to _________.

A. transferable     B. reasonable    C. acceptable    D. reliable

68. When does the architect (the father’s son) think of that bass put back?

A. When he takes his own son and daughters fishing from the same dock.

B. When he builds many famous buildings.

C. When he faces some problems about ethics. 

D. When he pays a visit to his old father. 

69. Which word can not be used to describe the boy’s father?

A. honest    B. noble-minded      C. generous       D. caring

70. From the passage, we can learn _________.

A. how we have a chance to beat the system and take it 

B. how we do the right thing and are strengthened

C. how we master some skills of going fishing

D. how we understand our parents’ words is very important

 

"It's this time of year when the weather starts warming up and frogs start breeding - but they haven't been breeding," says John Wilkinson, research and monitoring officer at the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust (ARC).

Amphibians (两栖动物) are just one of the groups of animals that nature observers fear may have problems reproducing this year, as groundwater levels are even lower now than in the infamously dry summer of 1976, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). According to the UK's Centre for Hydrology and Ecology the average rainfall so far this winter has been the lowest since 1972.

"If ponds dry up totally," says Mr. Wilkinson, "you could have lots of dead tadpoles." Drier and windier conditions could also make it more difficult for juvenile amphibians to survive their journeys between wet habitats.

But Peter Brotherton, the biodiversity manager for Natural England, says that "drought is part of nature's cycle", and, at present, a lot of animals, plants and insects are still in hibernation. This means that the population picture is unclear. "However, when we get extreme events, we get animals dying," he says. "And what is worrying is that normally at this time of year we expect soil to be near saturation（湿润）after winter."

Charlie Kitchin, the RSPB's site manager of the Nene Washes in Cambridgeshire, says the 2,000-acre wetland and grassland area is now struggling following two winters with relatively little winter rain and no flooding. One species that could suffer, he says, is the black-tailed godwit（黑尾豫）. "There are only 50 breeding pairs in the country, and we have 40 of them, and everything is bone-dry," Mr Kitchin says.

But one bad nesting season, he says, is "not the end of the world". "One of the features of flood plains is that they're volatile anyway," he adds. "But if they fail to breed another year, the population is likely to dip again."

1.According to the passage animals may have problems reproducing this year mainly due to _____.

A．drought

B．hibernation

C．windier conditions

D．extreme events

2.What really worries Peter Brotherton is that ________.

A．drought is part of nature’s cycle	B．animals are still in hibernation
C．soil at this time is far from saturation	D．the population of animals is still unclear

3.Which of the following is NOT true of Charlie Kitchin’s words?

A．Drought has so far continued for two winters.

B．Animals could survive one bad nesting season.

C．The black-tailed godwit is in danger of extinction.

D．40 black-tailed godwits live in the Nene Washes.

4.The underlined word volatile in the last paragraph can be replaced by ________.

A．losing water	B．undergoing changes
C．breeding animals	D．suffering flood

5.It can be learnt from the text that ______________.

A．groundwater levels this summer are lower than those of 1976

B．the average rainfall this year has been the lowest since 1972

C．windier conditions could also cause some amphibians’ death

D．flooding plays no useful role in wetlands and grasslands

 

Eight-year-old Bethany and seven-year-old Eliza are having a great time jumping around in the orchard of their home in a village near Penrith. They can play any time they like because they don't go to school. Instead, they are educated at home by their parents, Paul and Veronika Robinson. But they don't have lessons, have never used a timetable and learn only what and when they want to learn. .www..com

“I want my kids to have freedom in their childhood, not spend it in an institution," says 37-year-old Veronika, "School is all about control and following the rules." Veronika and her 56-year-old husband Paul have never experienced the daily rush to get dressed and out of the door that is common in most households with school-aged children. "We get up at our leisure - usually around 8:30," says Veronika. "We might visit a friend, or go to the library, and on Tuesdays we shop at the market. In summer, we spend most of our time outside and the girls entertain themselves a lot.” .www..com

New research due to be published this spring reveals a very different picture of Britain's home educators. "Out of 297 families, 184 said that they never use a timetable,” says Mike Fortune-Wood of Home Education UK. "Ninety per cent never or rarely use textbooks, and nearly all said that happiness, contentment and self-fulfillment were more important than academic achievement. Only 15% felt that planning what to learn was very important.” .www..com

So far, so good. But what, you might ask, are the children actually learning?

"It wasn't important to me that the girls could read by a certain age, but they both picked it up for themselves at around seven," says Robinson. "Weighing cooking ingredients uses maths, and making a shopping list teaches them to write. Observing five hens has taught the girls about survival of the fittest. "

But what about when the children grow up? Can they go to university? The home educators' answer is they can if they want to. There are a variety of routes into higher education, but probably the most common is to join a local college. This is what Gus Harris-Reid has done. "I was educated at home all my life. I'd never had a lesson or been inside a classroom until I started GCSEs," says the 18-year-old. "I'm now studying for 4 A-levels at Exeter Colle ge. I've had no problem with the work or with fitting in." When asked to reflect on his experience of home education, his considered response is, "Like a permanent holiday, really!" Not a bad start for someone who plans to take a mechanical engineering degree next year. .www..com

What is the topic of this article?

　　A. New ways of learning to read and write   B. Problems with UK schools

　　C. Home education in the UK                    D. Wild, undisciplined children

According to the article, in homes with school-going children, ______.

　　A. mornings are rushed and stressful.

　　B. the children hardly ever go outside.

　　C. the family wakes up around 8:30am.

　　D. the children must ask permission to go to the toilet.

Which of the following statements is NOT true?

　　A. Most home educators believe that happiness is more important than good grades.

　　B. Most home educators believe that planning is important.

　　C. Most home educators do not follow a timetable or use textbooks.

　　D. Most home educators are not worried about when their children learn to read and write.

What does the article say about home-educated children getting into university?

　　A. They learn so many useful skills at home that universities are happy to accept them.

　　B. They can get into university if they have 4 A-levels.

　　C. They can go to school later and get the qualifications they need in order to enter university.

D. Home education is so relaxed that they are likely to experience problems when faced with the pressures of a degree course.