A few days ago we – that’s me and the husband – took a cab to the station. Chat with the driver fell to the wrong of cyclists, and the misunderstanding of the road rules. So far as the rules of the road go, there seems to be one basic principle: when you are driving a car you hate bikes, when you are riding a bike you hate cars (and I guess walkers hate everyone). 

There is an obvious difference of viewpoint built in here. It wasn’t until I started to drive a car (almost 20years after I had first rode a bike) that I actually realized that you could not see a cyclist at night without lights. In fact I now want to shout at late night cyclists without lights(like motortists once did at me): “You’ll get killed, sunshine, I can’t see you.”

The problem is that cyclists do ride headlong into danger. It's not just not having lights. It’s biking on pavements (and so threatening to injure a load of innocent walkers in the process) and biking down one-way streets the wrong way.

I admit that I do bike the wrong way down a one-way street sometimes. My feeble(软弱无力) defense is that I try always to do it as if I know I was doing wrong. That is slowly, with an apologetic look on the face, and ready to get off at any minute. I can’t bear the guys(一伙人) (usually, but not always it is guys) who do it as if they owned the place, and at high speed.

So cyclists are not entirely innocent. But they are among the disadvantaged groups, because the bottom line is that a car or a lorry can kill a cyclist and not the other way around.

1.When did the writer realize the danger for late night cyclists without lights?

A. Not until she became a driver herself.

B. Not until she had driven a car for 20 years.

C. After she was shouted at by a motorist.

D. After she was once knocked down by a group of guys.

2.When the writer biked the wrong way down a one way street, she felt_________.

A. angry            B. guilty   C. innocent                    D. proud

3.Which group is most likely to face danger according to the writer?

A. walkers         B. passers-by     C. cyclists          D. motorists

4.What can we learn about the writer?

A. She often took a cab with her husband.

B. She has been a motorist for over 20 years.

C. She used to ride a bike without lights at night.

D. She often biked the wrong way down a one way street.

As you are students of English, it’s very possible that you’ll be interested in England. That’s where the language was first spoken. But England is often called by other names. This often confuses people and I wonder if you know what these names mean. So, now I would like to tell you about this matter of names. I believe that you have heard people use the names—England, Britain or Great Britain. Let’s see what each of these names means.

If you look at a map of Europe, you’ll see a group of islands--one larger island off the northwest coast, one smaller and many tiny ones. These make up what is called the British Isles. The largest island of the British Isles is Britain. It is also called Great Britain. The smaller island is Ireland.

Britain is divided into three parts: Scotland, Wales and England. But sometimes the word “England” is used instead of “Britain”. Why so?

In ancient times, what is Britain now used to be three different countries. People in these different countries spoke different languages. Over many years the three countries became one. England is the largest and richest of the three and it has the most people. So the English people take it for granted that their own name stands for the whole island.

There’s another thing that confuses people: sometimes you may hear people say “the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”. That is the official name of the country. Northern Ireland is only one sixth of the island of Ireland. The rest of the island is an independent state, called the Republic of Ireland. So we have the names of “England”, “Britain”, “Great Britain”, and “the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”. Now do you know what each of them means?

1.English was first spoken in ____.

A．Britain            B．England           C．Great Britain       D．Ireland

2.According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?

A．Wales is the richest of the three.

B．Scotland is the largest of the three.

C．Sometimes England is used instead of Britain.

D．Britain is the only name of the largest island of British Isles.

3.The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is _____.

A．part of Britain

B．part of British Isles

C．the official name of the whole country

D．the largest country of all mentioned in the passage

4.Which of the following is the best title?

A．Students of English

B．Different Names of England

C．Different Languages Spoken in England

D．The Republic of Ireland

Pessimistic，anxious and depressed people may have a higher risk of dementia (痴呆)，US researchers reported on Thursday.

A study of a group of 3,500 people showed that those who scored high for pessimism on a standardized personality test had a 30 percent increased risk of developing dementia 30 to 40 years later.

Those scoring very high on both anxiety and pessimism scales had a 40 percent higher risk，the study showed.

“There appears to be a dose?response pattern.That is，the higher the scores，the higher the risk of dementia，”Dr Yonas Geda，a neuropsychiatrist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester，Minnesota who led the study，said in a statement.

Geda and his colleagues looked at the medical records of 3,500 men and women who lived near the clinic between 1962 and 1965.

They all took the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory，a standard personality and life experience test，Geda’s team told a meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Miami.

In 2004，the team interviewed the participants or family members.

Those who scored higher for anxiety and pessimism on the test were more likely，as a group，to have developed dementia by 2004，including Alzheimer’s disease and vascular (血管的) dementia.

This did not mean a person who is pessimistic could assume he or she has a higher risk of developing dementia.

“One has to be cautious in interpreting a study like this，”Geda said.

“One cannot make a leap from group level data to the individual.Certainly the last thing you want to do is to say，‘Well，I am a pessimist；thus，I am doomed to develop dementia 20 or 30 years later，’because this may end up becoming a self?fulfilling prophecy (预言)．”

And there is NOT any specific way to prevent dementia，although many studies have shown that a healthy diet，exercise，keeping active in other ways，doing puzzles and other activities lower the risk.

1.What is the passage mainly about?

A．It is impossible for people to avoid dementia.

B．People who always have negative feelings may have a higher risk of getting dementia.

C．If we have a healthy diet，we would have no chance of getting dementia.

D．A person who is pessimistic has a higher risk of developing dementia.

2.According to the passage，which of the following is TRUE?

A．There are many ways to prevent dementia effectively.

B．A person who is pessimistic is sure to get dementia.

C．Those who lead a happy life will not get dementia when they are old.

D．Those who scored high for pessimism might have a higher risk of dementia.

3.Which of the following does NOT help reduce the risk of getting dementia according to the passage?

A．A healthy diet.? B．Proper exercises.

C．Doing puzzles.? D．Getting up early.

4.Which of the following words is not close to the meaning of the word “pessimistic”？

A．Cheerless.? B．Optimistic.

C．Unhappy.? D．Upset.

Do you have any skiing equipment you no longer need? A ski school in the far north of India could put it to good use.

In March we published a photo story about the extraordinary Zsnskar region in northern India，which is cut off from the outside world for more than seven months of the year，and only accessible (可通行的)via a frozen river．We also included information about the limited use of skiing in the region and the recent creation of the Zanskar Ski School:

“Despite the difficulties of travelling through the region when the snow comes，skiing hasn’t traditionally been used as a means of transport by the locals，largely because trees don't grow here, so there is little in the way of raw materials from which to make skis．In 1995, a group of British scientists in the region noticed the lack of skis and one of them returned to set up the Zanskar Ski School in Padam．The school provides lessons for a small fee and rents skis to the local people. Among the benefits that the school hopes to bring are improved education—children often find it difficult to get to school through the deep snow—and the possibility of offering ski tours to tourists in the future．So far，more than 300 local people have received training，and local doctors and policemen regularly borrow skis.”

But what we weren't able to include in the article is that the ski school is always on the look out for old skiing equipment—particularly of a size suitable for children—and, I thought. Now the European ski season is drawing to a close，there might be a few of you out there who have some old equipment you'd like to see go to a good home．If that's the ease you can get in touch with the school via their website www.zanskarski school.org.

1.What's the purpose in writing the text?

A. To raise money to develop this area

B. To attract more tourists to the area

C. To appeal to more locals to attend the school

D. To ask people to give away their skis to the school

2.The local people don't use skiing to go about because             .

A. it is against the local custom

B. they don't have the wood to make skis

C. trees are in the way of the skiing route

D. it is dangerous to go skiing in this region

3. Who would be the most helpful to the school now?

A. People having old skiing equipment．

B. Students in the Zanskar Ski School

C. Locals in Zanskar region

D. Tavellers enjoying skiing

4.What can be the best title for the text?

A. An extraordinary region in India

B. A home for old skis

C. A good means of transport

D. A popular sport—skiing

"Remember, your father is only one year older than you．" That was Mom's usual excuse when Dad said the  36  things or did something foolish．

Dad  37  drinking exactly one year before I was born．He  38   a group of other people who had also stopped drinking．I loved my dad but I  39  the way his weekly meetings took him away from me．It seemed they were more  40   to him than I was．But with my  41   coming up I thought Dad would make an exception．"Can" t you  42   it just this time? Saturday is my birthday! " I begged him．He  43  , "I'm chairing the meeting this Saturday．We will have your party on Sunday．"

Saturday evening I sat on my bed, feeling  44   for myself．Dad started to leave, then  45   and said, "Why not come with me tonight? It' s an open meeting．All are  46  ．" What would I do at a meeting? But maybe I needed to see why something Dad did every week   47  so much。

After we arrived, Dad announced the  48  of the meeting was going to be gratitude．"Today I'm  49   seventeen years of stopping drinking, " he continued．"One year after quitting drinking I received the most  50   gift of my life, my daughter．I'm so grateful that she has  51   seen me drunk．" Shame washed over me．

Later, a man called Dave also told his  52 ．Only then did I know it was Dad that saved his life from drinking．Dad was the _53_ he was at the meeting that day．Showing up week after week and  54  with people, Dad was changing lives．I was so  55   of him．

1.                A．wrong          B．kind           C．careful   D．serious

2.                A．considered      B．enjoyed        C．quitted   D．practiced

3.                A．encouraged     B．joined          C．respected D．mentioned

4.                A．forgot          B．explored        C．regretted D．hated

5.                A．important       B．funny          C．successful D．helpful

6.                A．exam          B．chance         C．fortune   D．birthday

7.                A．change         B．replace         C．miss D．finish

8.                A．declared        B．promised       C．continued D．refused

9.                A．sorry          B．ready          C．good     D．guilty

10.               A．parked         B．paused         C．doubted   D．wondered

11.               A．surprised       B．prepared       C．welcome  D．excited

12.               A．benefited       B．required        C．offered   D．mattered

13.               A．theme         B．result          C．origin D．secret

14.               A．facing          B．performing      C．celebrating D．suffering

15.               A．precious        B．expensive       C．generous  D．attractive

16.               A．Ever           B．never          C．nearly D．seldom

17.               A．joke           B．puzzle          C．response  D．story

18.               A．value          B．result          C．purpose   D．reason

19.               A．living          B．meeting        C．arguing    D．moving

20.               A．tired           B．proud          C．fond  D．ashamed