In Greek mythology(神话), fire is a gift form God, stolen from Zeus(宙斯) by Prometheus and handed over to humans suffering from cold. What could be more natural than sitting around a beautiful fire on a winter night, at a campsite in the Berkshires?

Hard as it may be to believe, the fireplace—long considered a trophy(奖杯), particularly in a city like New York—is acquiring a social shame. Among those who desire to be environmentally responsible, it is joining the ranks of bottled water and big houses.

Sally Treadwell, a 51-year-old public relations executive in Boone, N.C., said nothing makes her happier than building a fire on a cold winter night. But most of the time she doesn’t, because she feels too guilty about the damage it may do to the environment. Every time she builds a fire, it causes “inner conflict,” she said. “It’s a guilty pleasure”.

“The smoke from a fire smells very nice,” said Diane Bailey, a senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco. “But it can cause a lot of harm. The tiny particles(颗粒) can cause illness, and can cross into the bloodstream, causing heart attacks as well as worsening other conditions.”

Growing concerns about the air pollution and health problems caused by smoke from wood fires are urging a number of areas across the country to pass laws regulating them. Idaho offers a tax cut to people who replace uncertified(不合格的)wood stoves with “greener” ones; San Joaquin County in California forbids selling a home unless its wood stove is replaced with an E.P.A. certified one；and Palo Alto and other governments in California forbid wood-burning fireplaces in new construction.

Certainly, many think otherwise. In any case, most fireplaces are used far too infrequently to cause any real damage to the environment, said Stephen Sears, the vice president of the Brick Industry Association, voicing an opinion shared by some.

Perhaps not coincidentally, sales of wood-burning equipment dropped to 235,000 in 2009 from 800,000 in 1999, according to the Brick Industry Association. It also reports that approximately 35,000 fireplaces were installed in the United States in 2009, compared to 80,000 in 2005. Certainly those numbers reflect the economic slowdown, but the may also be affected by growing mixed feelings to wood fries.

1.We can infer from the 2nd paragraph that ________.

A. big houses are not considered environmentally friendly

B. bottle water is a good companion for a fire place

C. a fireplace is viewed as a sign of success

D. people in New York are laughed at for their tradition

2.Sally’s “inner conflict” in the 3rd paragraph resulted from ________.

A. her love for the fireplace

B. the damage to the environment

C. the concern about her health

D. her mixed emotion fro the fireplace

3. In terms of the regulations about wood fires we can learn from the passage that_______.

A. uncertified fireplaces are forbidden in Idaho

B. some people are against the woodfire controlling regulations 

C. only energy-efficient wood stoves can be used in the US

D. all the people support measures taken to control the use of fireplaces

4.What is the author’s purpose in writing the passage?

A. To urge people to burn less wood

B. To discuss wood-burning’s impact

C. To throw light on the causes of the fireplace’s decline

D. To indicate the cooling love for the fireplace

Another person’s enthusiasm was what set me moving toward the success I have achieved．That person was my stepmother．

       I was nine years old when she entered our home in rural Virginia．My father    36    me to her with these words: “I would like you to meet the fellow who is    37    for being the worst boy in this county and will probably start throwing rocks at you no    38    than tomorrow morning．”

       My stepmother walked over to me,    39    my head slightly upward, and looked me right in the eye．Then she looked at my father and replied, “You are    40   ．This is not the worst boy at all,    41    the smartest one who hasn’t yet found an outlet（释放的途径）for his enthusiasm.”

       That statement began a（n）   42    between us．No one had ever called me smart. My family and neighbors had built me up in my    43    as a bad boy．My stepmother changed all that．

       She changed many things．She    44    my father to go to a dental school, from which he graduated with honors．She moved our family into the county seat, where my father’s career could be more    45    and my brother and I could be better    46   ．

       When I turned fourteen, she bought me a secondhand    47    and told me that she believed that I could become a writer．I knew her enthusiasm, I    48    it, and I saw how it had already improved our lives．I accepted her    49    and began to write for local newspapers．I was doing the same kind of    50    that great day I went to interview Andrew Carnegie and received the task which became my life’s work later．I wasn’t the    51    beneficiary （受益者）．My father became the    52    man in town．My brother and stepbrothers became a physician, a dentist, a lawyer, and a college president．

       What power    53    has! When that power is released to support the certainty of one’s purpose and is    54    strengthened by faith, it becomes an irresistible（不可抗拒的）force which poverty and temporary defeat can never    55   ．

       You can communicate that power to anyone who needs it．This is probably the greatest work you can do with your enthusiasm．

A．rushed              B．sent                    C．carried               D．introduced

A．distinguished       B．favored               C．mistaken            D．rewarded

A．sooner              B．later                          C．longer                D．earlier

A．dragged           B．shook                 C．raised                 D．bent

A．perfect            B．right                   C．wrong                D．impolite

A．but               B．so                       C．and                    D．or

A．agreement        B．friendship           C．gap                    D．relationship

A．opinion           B．image                 C．expectation            D．mind

A．begged         B．persuaded            C．ordered              D．invited

A．successful        B．meaningful          C．helpful               D．useful

A．treaded            B．entertained          C．educated             D．respected

A．camera            B．radio                  C．bicycle               D．typewriter

A．considered         B．suspected            C．ignored                  D．appreciated

A．belief              B．request                C．criticism             D．description

A．teaching          B．writing               C．studying             D．reading

A．next                 B．same                   C．only                   D．real

A．cleverest          B．wealthiest            C．strongest            D．healthiest

A．enthusiasm          B．sympathy           C．fortune               D．confidence

A．deliberately         B．happily               C．traditionally          D．constantly

A．win                 B．match                 C．reach                 D．doubt

There are good Santas and there are bad Santas. The good Santas all realize one thing: In the mind of a child, Santa Claus is perfect.

That’s difficult. And so they come from around the world to attend the Charles W. Howard School in Midland, Mich. The school offers a three-day, 40-hour course for Santas hoping to be excellent. There’s a real range to what Santas earn, from big bucks for large events to no pay for charities^①. One thing for them all is a pure love for children.

A former Macy’s Santa named Charles Howard founded the Michigan school in 1937. “Many people will think if you have a suit and you’re a Santa,” said Tom Valent, the school’s current dean. “It’s more than that.” So with a pet reindeer^②, his properly named wife Holly and a workshop full of wonder.

The school teaches everything from breathing techniques for carol singing to the beard maintenance. There are lessons in child psychology, sign language and even media training for talk-show appearances and call-in shows. Santas also need to make sure they know all the names of the reindeer. What’s harder to deal with, however, is children who ask for Christmas gifts like bringing daddy home or making mommy happy again.

After spending time in the classroom, Weir went to the mall to test his training. However, at one point, his hat fell off, and he was unsure how to react. “You’re the real Santa,” Valent said. “Pick that hat up, slip it back on, keep smiling and do your job. You’ve got to stay on top of your game. Even the last one at night, when you’re tired, you’ve got to remember: This one’s forever, so do a good job.”

Notes:

charity  n. 慈善，慈善团体

reindeer  n. 驯鹿

According to the passage, good Santas should be the ones that ________.

        A. can offer the children some gifts        B. help adults look after their children

        C. have ability to make children happy     D. should be perfect in the mind of children

The underlined words “big bucks” should refer to ________.

        A. lots of money   B. many gifts    C. loves for children    D. gifts from children

The Michigan school was founded by Charles Howard with the purpose to ________.

        A. train the pet reindeer for the Santas       B. earned money from its students

        C. train perfect Santas for the world         D. show the world’s concern to the poor

According to Weir’s performance, we can conclude that ________.

        A. Weir was short of experience            B. Weir was not fit for the job as a Santa

        C. Weir did very badly in the game         D. Weir was not a good student in school

Free Fun Guides

Read the following passage. Answer the questions according to the information given in the passage and the required words limit. Write your answers on your answer sheet.
Almost everybody in America will spend a part of his or her life behind a shopping cart(购物手推车). They will, in a lifetime, push the chrome-plated contraptions many miles. But few will know—or even think to ask—who it was that invented them.
Sylvan N. Goldman invented the shopping cart in 1937. At that time he was in the supermarket business. Every day he would see shoppers lugging(吃力地携带) groceries around in baskets they had to carry.
One day Goldman suddenly had the idea of putting baskets on wheels. The wheeled baskets would make shopping much easier for his customers, and would help to attract more business.
On June 4, 1937, Goldman’s first carts were ready for use in his market. He was terribly excited on the morning of that day as customers began arriving. He couldn’t wait to see them using his invention.
But Goldman was disappointed. Most shoppers gave the carts a long look, but hardly anybody would give them a try.
After a while, Goldman decided to ask customers why they weren’t using his carts. “Don’t you think this arm is strong enough to carry a shopping basket?” one shopper replied.
But Goldman wasn’t beaten yet. He knew his carts would be a great success if only he could persuade people to give them a try. To end this, Goldman hired a group of people to push carts around his market and pretend they were shopping! Seeing this, the real customers gradually began copying the phony(假冒的)customers.
As Goldman had hoped, the carts were soon attracting larger and larger numbers of customers to his market. But not only did more people come—those who came bought more. With larger, easier-to-handle baskets, customers unconsciously bought a greater number of items than before.
Today’s shopping carts are five times larger than Goldman’s original model. Perhaps that’s one reason Americans today spend more than five times as much money on food each year as they did before 1937—before the coming of the shopping cart.
【小题1】What do the underlined words “chrome-plate contraptions” in Paragraph 1 refer to ? ( no more than 3 words)
【小题2】What was the purpose of Goldman’s invention? (no more than 8 words)
【小题3】Why was Goldman disappointed at first? (no more than 6 words)
【小题4】Why did Goldman hire people to push carts around his market? (no more than 10 words)