Sports, school are tiring. But there is a great way to unwind after all of those activities. Go to north London, to the coolest part of the city---Camden. There you can find fashion trends (流行，趋向) and famous people.
Sam and I walked down Camden High Street and made our way to a bridge over Regent’s Canal. It is a 9-mile man-made river that goes through London.
We went into a big market and saw crazy signs, fun T-shirts, and things like hand-made earrings for sale. We bought Chinese fried noodles. It tasted very different from the noodles we make at home, and we ate it with a fork instead of chopsticks! 
Camden is famous for the punk（朋克）style that started in the 1970s. Punks walked around with bright pink and green hair, broken clothes with safety pins, metal buttons（纽扣）and pierced ears and lips. Punk music shops played loud, heavy rock music.
But there were also groups of hippies（嬉皮士）with big sweaters. They sat in cafes drinking soymilk, with black clothes, black lipstick and painted white faces.
Besides all these “normal” people, a lot of famous people come to Camden. Actor Orlando Bloom from Pirates of the Caribbean lives there.
Camden is especially known as a home to famous musicians. Lots of top bands played here, including Coldplay, Oasis---and Sam’s favourite band, The Vaccines. I had never heard of them before---But luckily they were playing that night in Camden.
【小题1】The passage is mainly about ________ in Camden.

Cloze test

Bill was an American. Last year he worked hard so his boss（老板）allowed him to have a traveling for several weeks.

　　Bill went to Canada. There he had some 1 . So Bill visited them. Two of them were Mr．and Mrs．Brown. They lived in the center of the city. Bill was 2 to live in their house. He lived there for about two weeks and felt very 3 .

　　On his last evening, when Bill was 4 TV with Mr．and Mrs．Brown, he said, “I am going back home tomorrow. I feel so happy here 5 I hope I can stay here for more days. But I have to 6 I hope I can visit you next time.” “What a pity（遗憾）!” said Mr．Brown． “We hope to see you soon. By the way, will you 7 plane or a train?” “By plane. I think it's faster. My plane leaves very early tomorrow morning. I'm going to 8 at 5 o'clock and make my breakfast. Please don't come down.” Then Bill said good-bye to his friends and went to sleep.

　　The next morning, Bill got up early and did some cooking for himself. When he was ready to have breakfast, he saw a picture of 9 . They were smiling to Bill in the picture. Bill laughed happily and said to himself, “That's great! I wouldn't like to eat breakfast 10 this morning.”

When you read an article you will understand and remember it better if you can work out how the writer has put the ideas together．Sometimes a writer puts ideas together by asking questions and then answering them．For example，if the article is about groundhogs（土拨鼠），the set of questions in the writer’s head might be：

What does a groundhog look like？

Where do groundhogs live？

What do they eat？…

In the article，the author might answer those questions．

Sometimes an author writes out her questions in the article．These questions give you signals．They tell you what the author is going to write next．Often an author has a question in her head but she doesn’t write it out for you．You have to work out her question for yourself．Here’s a sample reading for you to practice this method.

Earthworms

Do you know how many kinds of earthworms there are？There are about 1800 kinds in the world！ They can be brown，purple，green．They can be as small as 3 cm long and as large as 3 m long．

The best time to see earthworms is at night，especially a cool，damp night．That’s when they come up from their burrows（地洞）to hunt for food．Earthworms don’t like to be in the sun．That’s because they breathe through their skin，and they can’t breathe if their skin gets too dry．Earthworms must come out of the earth if it rains a lot，because they can't breathe in their flooded burrows．What a dangerous life！

Earthworms don't have eyes，so how can they tell when it's dark？ They have special places on their skin that are sensitive to light．These spots tell whether it’s light or dark．If you shine a flashlight on an earthworm at night，it will quickly disappear into the ground．

Earthworms don't have ears either，but they can hear by feeling movements in the earth．If you want to hear like an earthworm，lie on the ground with your fingers in your ears．Then have a friend stamp his or her feet near you．This is how earthworms feel birds and people walking，and moles digging，near them．

Earthworms are useful．Farmers and gardeners like having lots of earthworms in their land because the worms help to make better soil when they dig．That digging keeps the soil loose and airy（通风的）．In one year earthworms can pile up as much as 23,000 kg of castings in an area about the size of a football field．

1.What’s the purpose of reading Earthworms?

A．To show the special life facts of earthworms.

B．To explain the differences from the groundhogs.

C．To put the writer’s idea into real use.

D．To make the readers think more clearly.

2.Which question CANNOT be answered in the passage?

A．How do earthworms help with gardeners?

B．What life are earthworms living with?

C．When may people observe earthworms?

D．Why can human listen like earthworms?

3.How can you understand Earthworms better according to this passage?

A．Read, ask and answer questions in your own head while reading.

B．Read to work out all the questions in the writer’s head while reading.

C．Read and check all the things that are not clear to you again and again.

D．Read for general ideas and discuss or compare with other similar topics.

4.What’s the best title for the passage?

A．One way to help with understanding

B．One way to practice with a new idea

C．One way to learn to be a wise writer

D．One way to be clearer about worms

When you read an article you will understand and remember it better if you can work out how the writer has put the ideas together．Sometimes a writer puts ideas together by asking questions and then answering them．For example，if the article is about groundhogs（土拨鼠），the set of questions in the writer’s head might be：
What does a groundhog look like？
Where do groundhogs live？
What do they eat？…
In the article，the author might answer those questions．
Sometimes an author writes out her questions in the article．These questions give you signals．They tell you what the author is going to write next．Often an author has a question in her head but she doesn’t write it out for you．You have to work out her question for yourself．Here’s a sample reading for you to practice this method.
Earthworms
Do you know how many kinds of earthworms there are？There are about 1800 kinds in the world！ They can be brown，purple，green．They can be as small as 3 cm long and as large as 3 m long．
The best time to see earthworms is at night，especially a cool，damp night．That’s when they come up from their burrows（地洞）to hunt for food．Earthworms don’t like to be in the sun．That’s because they breathe through their skin，and they can’t breathe if their skin gets too dry．Earthworms must come out of the earth if it rains a lot，because they can't breathe in their flooded burrows．What a dangerous life！
Earthworms don't have eyes，so how can they tell when it's dark？ They have special places on their skin that are sensitive to light．These spots tell whether it’s light or dark．If you shine a flashlight on an earthworm at night，it will quickly disappear into the ground．
Earthworms don't have ears either，but they can hear by feeling movements in the earth．If you want to hear like an earthworm，lie on the ground with your fingers in your ears．Then have a friend stamp his or her feet near you．This is how earthworms feel birds and people walking，and moles digging，near them．
Earthworms are useful．Farmers and gardeners like having lots of earthworms in their land because the worms help to make better soil when they dig．That digging keeps the soil loose and airy（通风的）．In one year earthworms can pile up as much as 23,000 kg of castings in an area about the size of a football field．

1. 1.

   What’s the purpose of reading Earthworms?

   1. A.
      To show the special life facts of earthworms
   2. B.
      To explain the differences from the groundhogs
   3. C.
      To put the writer’s idea into real use
   4. D.
      To make the readers think more clearly
2. 2.

   Which question CANNOT be answered in the passage?

   1. A.
      How do earthworms help with gardeners?
   2. B.
      What life are earthworms living with?
   3. C.
      When may people observe earthworms?
   4. D.
      Why can human listen like earthworms?
3. 3.

   How can you understand Earthworms better according to this passage?

   1. A.
      Read, ask and answer questions in your own head while reading
   2. B.
      Read to work out all the questions in the writer’s head while reading
   3. C.
      Read and check all the things that are not clear to you again and again
   4. D.
      Read for general ideas and discuss or compare with other similar topics
4. 4.

   What’s the best title for the passage?

   1. A.
      One way to help with understanding
   2. B.
      One way to practice with a new idea
   3. C.
      One way to learn to be a wise writer
   4. D.
      One way to be clearer about worms

An exhausted（精疲力竭的）-looking woman came into the doctor’s office．She said，“doctor，there are dogs all over my neighborhood．They bark（叫）all day and all night，and I can’t get a good sleep．”

“I have good news for you，”the doctor answered，taking out a small bottle“Here are some new sleeping pills（药片）that work like a dream．Take a few of them and your trouble will be over．”

“Great，thank you，”the woman was very glad to go back home with the pills

A few weeks later，the woman returned，looking worse than ever She said，“Doctor， your pills are not good at all．I’m more tired than before”

“I don’t understand how that could be，”said the doctor，shaking（摇）his head“These are the strongest pills on the market．“That may be true．”answered the woman．“but I was still awake all night running after those dogs and I finally caught ode．It was ham to get him to eat the pills．”

（   ）1．The woman came to see the doctor because______．

A．her dog was ill                                         B．she was bitten by dogs

C．she couldn’t sleep well                               D．she got a bad cold

（   ）2．The doctor gave the woman some pills for______．

A．herself                 B．himself                   C．the dogs                 D．her neighbors

（   ）3．The woman looked______ a few weeks later．

A．better                  B．worse                  C．healthier                 D．stronger

（   ）4．The doctor would think the woman was a______ person after he heard her words in the end．

A．smart                  B．foolish                 C．good                      D．beautiful

（   ）5．Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．The doctor gave the woman wrong pills．

B．The woman liked to run with the dogs．

C．The woman might feel worse after she took the pills．

D．The woman thought the pills were for the dogs．