Would the voice of Amanda Holden saying “your city had talent” encourage you to use a litter bin? Or maybe former Monty Python star Michael Palin telling you no one had expected “the Spanish bin-quisition”？
Organizers of a plan persuading celebrities（名人）to lend their voices to “talking bins”believe it can make a real difference to keeping Britain tidy. They hope that by using humor, they will succeed where fines and warnings have failed in keeping streets and parks clean.
A similar experiment in Sweden found a talking bin received nearly three times as much rubbish as an ordinary one because people were attracted by its quality of being new and unusual value.
Twenty-five specially adapted bins to be installed（安装）in the streets of London and Liverpool next  month will use a sound card to play a themed message when litter is placed inside. For example，one near the Royal Opera House will play a “thank-you” message sung by Janis Kelly to the tune of Nessun Dorina. Bins installed in Liverpool will play Beatles-themed messages. For others，Britain’s Got Talent  judge Holden is expected to record the message：“This is Amanda, and this city’s got talent.”
The campaign，entitled Bin Thinking, is being organized by art group Sing London. If successful，talking bins could become a familiar feature on Britain’s streets.
Colette Hiller, director of Sing London, said, “ The idea is to reward people in a small way for changing their behavior and raise awareness through a sense of fun.”
【小题1】What is the plan persuading celebrities to lend their voices to “talking bins” aimed at？

How hard we have all prayed(祈祷) to grow up quickly, and looked forward to the happy days of being a grown-up and enjoying the many interests that a youth should have.
At last, you have grown up. At least you are no longer a child. They call you “young lady”. You then enjoy the pleasure of being a young lady. You are proud of being a grown-up teenager. People welcome you-this young lady-heartily. You are glad that your prayer has been answered.
But there is always something that troubles you a lot. You say; “Papa and Mama, give me some money please. My pocket money is all gone already.”
“No”, they say, “your age is a dangerous age. If you have too much money to spend, it won’t do you any good.” Then you have to stay at home because you dare not go out with an empty pocket.
Another time you tell your grandma, “Grandma, see, I am a grown-up now.”
“Good, now, you can sit here and knit (编织) this for me while I go and have a rest.” To show that you are no more a child, you have to sit there the whole afternoon doing the work, which only a grown-up can do. After an hour, you find it hard to do, and give the knitting basket back to your grandma. Your grandma criticizes your work. You hear what she says, “Such a big girl can’t do such easy work.” You wish then you were a child again.
But the fact is, you are growing up, and you can’t help it. That’s the way it goes!
【小题1】The passage is told about _______ problems.

How hard we have all prayed(祈祷) to grow up quickly, and looked forward to the happy days of being a grown-up and enjoying the many interests that a youth should have.
At last, you have grown up. At least you are no longer a child. They call you “young lady”. You then enjoy the pleasure of being a young lady. You are proud of being a grown-up teenager. People welcome you-this young lady-heartily. You are glad that your prayer has been answered.
But there is always something that troubles you a lot. You say; “Papa and Mama, give me some money please. My pocket money is all gone already.”
“No”, they say, “your age is a dangerous age. If you have too much money to spend, it won’t do you any good.” Then you have to stay at home because you dare not go out with an empty pocket.
Another time you tell your grandma, “Grandma, see, I am a grown-up now.
“Good, now, you can sit here and knit (编织) this for me while I go and have a rest.” To show that you are no more a child, you have to sit there the whole afternoon doing the work, which only a grown-up can do. After an hour, you find it hard to do, and give the knitting basket back to your grandma. Your grandma criticizes your work. You hear what she says, “Such a big girl can’t do such easy work.” You wish then you were a child again.
But the fact is, you are growing up, and you can’t help it. That’s the way it goes!
【小题1】The passage is told about _______ problems.

Consult the page adapted from an English dictionary and do Questions 45–48．
root1 /ru:t/ n [C]
1 ?PLANT? the part of a plant or tree that grows under the ground and gets water form the soil: Be careful not to damage the roots when repotting．| tree roots —see picture at germinate
2 ?CAUSE OF A PROBLEM? the main cause of a problem: Money is the root of all evil．| be/lie at the root of （="be" the cause of a problem） Often allergies are at the root of a lot of the problems．| get to the root of （="find" out the cause of a problem） | root cause （="the" main reason for a problem）
3 ?OF A CUSTOM/TRADITION? roots the origins of a custom or tradition that has continued for a long time: has its roots in Jazz has its roots in the folk songs of the southern states of the US．
4 ?OF AN IDEA/BELIEF? the main part of an idea or belief which all the other parts come from: be/lie at the root of Foucault is challenging the very root of 20th century liberalism．
5 ?FAMILY CONNECTION? sb’s roots your con- nection with a place because you were born there, or your family used to live there: Naita has come to Ghana in search of her roots．
6 put down roots if you put down roots somewhere, you start to feel that this place is your home and to have relationships with the people there
7 ?TOOTH/HAIR ETC? the part of a tooth, hair etc that fixes it to the rest of your body
8 take root a） if an idea takes root, people begin to accept or believe it: The concepts of democracy and free trade are finally beginning to take root．b） if a plant takes root, it starts to grow where you have planted it
9 have a （good） root round informal especially BrE to search for something by moving other things around
10 root and branch if you destroy something root and branch, you get rid of it completely and permanently because it is bad
11 ?LANGUAGE? technical the basic part of a word which shows its main meaning, to which other parts can be added: The suffix ‘ness’ can be added to the root ‘cold’ to form the word ‘coldness’．—compare stem1 （4）
12 ?MATHEMATICS? technical a number that when multiplied by itself a certain number of times, equals the number that you have: 2 is the fourth root of 16．
—see also cube root, square root, grass roots
root2 v
1 ?SEARCH? [I always + adv/prep] to search for something by moving things around: [+ through/in/ around] “Hang on a second,” said Leila, rooting through her handbag for a pen．| [+ for] pigs rooting for food
2 ?PLANT? a） [I] to grow roots: New shrubs will root easily in summer．b） [T usually passive] to fix a plant firmly by its roots: The bush was too firmly rooted in the hard earth to dig up easily．| root itself Clumps of thyme had rooted themselves between the rocks．—see also deeply rooted （deeply （5））
3 be rooted in to have developed from something and be strongly influenced by it: policies that are rooted in Marxist economic theory
4 be rooted to the spot to be so shocked, surprised, or frightened that you cannot move
root for sb phr v [T] informal 1 to give support and encouragement to someone in a competition, test or difficult situation, because you want them to succeed: Good luck – we’ll all be rooting for you! 2 especially AmE to support a sports team or player by shouting and cheering: We’ll all be rooting for the Dallas Cowboys in the Superbowl．
root sth ? out phr v [T] 1 to find out where a particular kind of problem exists and get rid of it: Racism cannot be rooted out without strong government action．2 informal to find something by searching for it: I’ll try and root out something suitable for you to wear．
root sth ? up phr v [T] to dig or pull a plant up with its roots
1．What’s meaning of the word “roots” in the sentence “Many Americans have roots in Europe．”?
A．The underground part of a plant．    B．One’s connection with a place．
C．The origins of a custom or tradition．   D．The main cause of a problem．
2．What’s the fourth root of 81?
A．27． B．9．   C．6．   D．3．
3．Which phrase can complete the sentence “Do you think it is possible to ____ crime?”
A．root for           B．root out           C．root up            D．root through
4．In which of the following situations can we use the phrase “be rooted to the spot”?
A．A bush is so firmly rooted in the ground that it is difficult to pull it up．
B．A football fan got excited when his favorite football team scored a goal．
C．A girl became too scared to walk when she caught sight of a long snake．
D．A man is unable to walk because he was caught in a car accident years ago．

B
America has long been considered the land of opportunity(机遇)by those from other countries. Americans, too, believe that the United States gives almost limitless opportunities for those who want to open business on their own.
Today, Americans are still fond of trying their hand at becoming small business people, even though only one out of two survives in the first two years. Many of these people start their business for the wrong reason; to get away from the paper work of their present jobs or to exchange the responsibility(责任) of their present jobs for freer life styles. But more, not less paper work and responsibility come with the ownership of a small business.
Not all small businesses succeed. Fifty percent of the 4 550 000 that start in the United States ever fail. Still ninety-five percent of businesses in the U.S. can be regarded as small, and these businesses altogether produce forty percent of America’s total national products.
60．According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
A．People from other countries and Americans think there are a lot of opportunities in the U.S.
B．Only the Americans think the U.S. can give them many opportunities.
C．Both people from other countries and Americans believe they have many opportunities in the U.S so that they can do whatever they like.
D．People from other countries and Americans all think the U.S. the place where they can realize their dreams.
61．From this passage, we know that________.
A．many people from other countries think that in the past there were many opportunities in the U.S. but not now
B．now Americans don’t believe the U.S. can give them a lot of opportunities
C．people from other countries still think they have more opportunities in the U.S. than in their own countries
D．Americans think they have more opportunities to start their own business than those from other countries
62．According to this passage, many American people like to start their own business because___.
A．they want to become rich soon
B．they not only dislike their present jobs but also want a freer life style
C．they don’t want to do paper work
D．they want to have more chances
63．From this passage, we can get the idea that________.
A．it is easy to do business successfully in the U.S
B．it is easy to start a business but hard to make it successful
C．there are more big business than small business in the U.S
D．only big business can succeed in the U.S