B

As an effect of the high fuel prices spent on bus transportation, some American schools are changing to a four-day week. That means longer days instead of the traditional Monday through Friday schedule.

Having been approved for three years and beginning in the fall, students in the Maccray school district in Minnesota will be in school from Tuesday to Friday. Each school day will be 65 minutes longer. Officials say the district expects to save about sixty-five thousand dollars a year in transportation costs.

In new Mexico, the first school district changed to a four-day week in 1974 because of the Arab oil boycott(抵制). Now, 17 out of 89 districts use it.

In Custer, South Dakota, students have been going to school four days a week since 1995. Superintendent Tim Creal says the change has saved about one million dollars over just the past eight years. He sees other benefits, too. Students get more instructional time, and activities that used to take up class time are now held on non-school days. He says that in the future, the growth of online classes could make it possible to require even fewer days in school. High fuel prices are driving college students to take more online classes.

A four-day school week sounds like a great idea for students and teachers, but working parents may have to pay for child care for that fifth day.

1.According to Tim Creal, what makes it possible to have even fewer days in school?

A．The increasing number of private tutors.(私人教师)

B．The development of teaching methods.

C．The increase in the number of online classes.

D．The growth in the income of Americans.

2. It can be learned from the passage that______

A．students will be in school from Monday to Tuesday.

B．four-day week was first carried out in South Dakota.

C．Maccray will save one million dollars every year.

D．Minnesota state has approved the four-day week plan

3.The passage is mainly about______

A．some school’s four-day week plan         B．districts using a four-day week.

C．how to save on transportation fees.          D．expense of school transportation.

As an effect of the high fuel prices spent on bus transportation, some American schools are changing to a four-day week. That means longer days instead of the traditional Monday through Friday schedule.
Having been approved for three years and beginning in the fall, students in the Maccray school district in Minnesota will be in school from Tuesday to Friday. Each school day will be 65 minutes longer. Officials say the district expects to save about sixty-five thousand dollars a year in transportation costs.
In new Mexico, the first school district changed to a four-day week in 1974 because of the Arab oil boycott(抵制). Now, 17 out of 89 districts use it.
In Custer, South Dakota, students have been going to school four days a week since 1995. Superintendent(主管人)Tim Creal says the change has saved about one million dollars over just the past eight years. He sees other benefits, too. Students get more instructional time, and activities that used to take up class time are now held on non-school days. He says that in the future, the growth of online classes could make it possible to require even fewer days in school. High fuel prices are driving college students to take more online classes.
A four-day school week sounds like a great idea for students and teachers, but working parents may have to pay for child care for that fifth day.
1. According to Tim Creal, what makes it possible to have even fewer days in school?
A. The increasing number of private tutors.
B. The development of teaching methods.
C. The increase in the number of online classes.
D. The growth in the income of Americans.
2. It can be learned from the passage that______
A. students will be in school from Monday to Tuesday.
B. four-day week was first carried out in South Dakota.
C. Maccray will save one million dollars every year.
D. Minnesota state has approved the four-day week plan.
3. The passage is mainly about______
A. some school’s four-day week plan    B. districts using a four-day week.
C. how to save on transportation fees.   D. expense of school transportation.

The days of Europeans relaxing in the cafe with a newspaper and a seemingly endless cup of coffee appear to be numbered．A new English expression is popular in Europe these days：“coffee to go．”
“Five or ten years ago it was much more normal to sit in a cafe for several hours than it is nowadays，”says Joann，who works in a central Berlin coffee bar owned by the Canadian coffee and bakery chain Tim’s.
“There is a trend towards a more fast-paced life．But people still act surprised  when you ask if the coffee is‘to go’．You mean I can take it with me? they ask..”
“Europe is often five or eight years behind trends in America，”says Joann.“In the States.‘coffee to go’is part of everyday life.”
Owing in part to Starbucks，it appears to be very much part of everyday life in many other countries too．
The Seattle-based group compete with a growing number of global chains in attempting to reshape coffee drinking cultures in regions including Asia and the Middle East．
The US is the model for continental Europe’s new“coffee to go”culture：Each of the new cafe bars offers bagels，muffins，brownies and cookies to go with the coffee.
But then,“coffee to go’’might sound a little odd to English ears used to the words “takeaway”or take one．
It does sum up the brisker pace of life since the city resumed its status as the German capital following the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989.
As one more sign of the changing times，one of Berlin’s most venerable(古老而庄重的)coffee houses，cafe Einstein，has followed the trend by opening a small chain of coffee shops across the city．
Taking coffee,slowly and in decorous（端正的）surroundings,has been a feature of European coffee houses,particularly in German speaking countries,for decades.
For the elderly citzens of Vienna it amounts to a ritual（仪式）when they gather in coffee houses around the city for a cup of their favovrite drink and a piece of rich,creamy cake.
【小题1】From the passage,we can see that      .

B
As an effect of the high fuel prices spent on bus transportation, some American schools are changing to a four-day week. That means longer days instead of the traditional Monday through Friday schedule.
Having been approved for three years and beginning in the fall, students in the Maccray school district in Minnesota will be in school from Tuesday to Friday. Each school day will be 65 minutes longer. Officials say the district expects to save about sixty-five thousand dollars a year in transportation costs.
In new Mexico, the first school district changed to a four-day week in 1974 because of the Arab oil boycott(抵制). Now, 17 out of 89 districts use it.
In Custer, South Dakota, students have been going to school four days a week since 1995. Superintendent Tim Creal says the change has saved about one million dollars over just the past eight years. He sees other benefits, too. Students get more instructional time, and activities that used to take up class time are now held on non-school days. He says that in the future, the growth of online classes could make it possible to require even fewer days in school. High fuel prices are driving college students to take more online classes.
A four-day school week sounds like a great idea for students and teachers, but working parents may have to pay for child care for that fifth day.
【小题1】According to Tim Creal, what makes it possible to have even fewer days in school?

British scientists are breeding a new generation of rice plants that will be able to grow. in soil con??taining salt water. Their work may enable abandoned farms to become productive farms once more.

Tim Flowers and Tony Yeo, from Sussex University’s School of Biological Sciences,. have spent several years researching how crops, such as rice, could be made to grow in water that has become salty. The pairs have recently begun a three-year programme, funded by the Biotechnology and Bio??logical Sciences Research Council, to establish which genes enable some plants to survive salty condi??tions. The aim is to breed this capability into crops, starting with rice.

It is estimated that each year more than 10 million hectares (公顷) of agricultural land are lost because salt gets into the soil and stunts(防碍生长) plants. The problem is caused by several factors. In the tropics, mangroves that create swamps (沼泽) and traditionally formed barriers to sea water have been cut down. In the Mediterranean, a series of droughts have caused the water table to drop, allowing sea water to seep (渗透) in. In Latin America, irrigation often causes problems when water is evaporated by the heat, leaving, salt deposits behind.

Excess salt then enters the plants and prevents them functioning normally. Heavy concentrations of minerals in the plants stop them drawing up the water they need to survive.

To overcome these problems. Flowers and Yeo decided to breed rice plants that take in very little salt and store what they do absorb in cells that do not affect the plants’ growth. They have started to breed these characteristics into a new rice crop, but it will take about eight harvests before the resul??ting seeds are ready to be considered for commercial use.

Once the characteristics for surviving salty soil are known, Flowers and Yeo will try to breed the appropriate genes into all manners of crops and plants. Land that has been abandoned to nature will then be able to bloom again, providing much needed food for the poorer countries of the world.

4. Which of the following statements about Flowers and Yeo is true?

A. They are students at Sussex University.  B. They are rice breeders.

5. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a cause of the problem discussed in the passage?

A. Natural barriers to sea water have been destroyed.

B. The water table has gone down after droughts.

C. Sea level has been continuously rising.

D. Evaporation of water leaves salt behind.

6. The word "affect" in Paragraph 5 could be best replaced by________.

A. influence                B. effect                 C. stop                     D. present

7. The attitude of the author towards the research project is________.

A. positive                 B. negative             C. suspicious             D. indifferent