閱讀理解。

We know good manners are important. Today I am going to tell you something about manners in different countries. I think you already know that people in different countries usually have different ways of doing things.

Something that is rude in one country may be quite polite in another. For example, in Britain you mustn’t lift your bowl to your mouth when you are having liquid food(流質(zhì)食物). That is considered bad manners in Britain. But in Japan you needn’t worry about making a noise when you drink something. It shows that you are enjoying it. In Britain we try not to put our hands on the table at all during a meal. In Mexico, however, guests are expected to keep their hands on the table throughout a meal. In Arabic countries we must be careful with our hands. You see, in Arabic countries you mustn’t eat with your left hand. This is considered to be very impolite. So, what should you do if you visit a foreign country?

Well, you needn’t worry. You can ask the natives(本地人) there to help you and you can just watch carefully and try to do what they do.

1.It is polite to make a noise when you drink something in .

A. Britain B. Japan

C. Mexico D. Arabia

2.In Britain we try not to put our hands during a meal.

A. on the table B. around the bowl

C. on the desk D . in the pocket

3.In Arabic countries you must be careful with your .

A. noise B. mouth

C. food D. hands

4.If you visit a foreign country, you should .

A. do as you like B. try to do what the natives do

C. do as the British do D. eat with your right hand

閱讀理解。

Tucket was the saddest bucket in the world. He had once been a garden favorite. The gardener used to hold him by his strong handle as he went to get water. “What a good bucket,” he said. But as time passed, the bucket grew a hole. Suddenly he was useless. What good is a bucket with a hole? Tucket was tossed into the corner of the garden. He was left out in the rain and the sun, and began to rust(生銹). Sometimes he even got kicked around. “I should throw that bucket away”, the gardener said. Tucket didn’t want to be thrown away. He felt very sad, though his good friends in the garden tried to cheer him up. The rabbits set him back up when he was kicked down, and the birds cheerfully jumped and flew about him. “Don’t worry, Tucket!” they said to him. Tucket really tried to be happy but it was very, very hard.

One day, a little girl ran through the garden and stopped in front of Tucket. He waited for the usual kicks, when suddenly he heard, “Perfect!” Soon he found that the girl was cleaning him! He felt heavy pieces of rust fall off and his spirits brightened. “Oh! You already have a big hole at the bottom!” said the girl as she looked inside. “Even better!”

Tucket could not believe what he had just heard. She wanted a bucket with a hole? The girl took him to the veranda, filled him with rich soil and planted a tiny rose inside. “This is a baby rose,” she said to Tucket. “You must help me take care of her, OK?”

Tucket was so happy. The girl really wanted him! She even asked him to take care of this small rose. Tucket was filled with joy. He straightened himself up proudly as the girl finished planting. She carefully placed Tucket in the best place of the veranda. It was a warm corner, protected from the wind and the rain. Tucket smiled at his friends in the garden. “Look, I’m taking care of this little rose!” “We’re very happy for you, Tucket!” said the rabbits, and the birds sang happily. Tucket veranda took great care of the rose and was visited by the girl and his friends every day. He was now the happiest bucket in the world.

1. What does the underlined word “tossed” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?

A. Put away B. Thrown carelessly

C. Taken away D. Kept carefully

2.Why did Tucket feel very sad?

A. Because the rabbits kicked him.

B. Because the gardener got a new bucket.

C. Because the gardener wanted to throw him away.

D. Because the gardener would use him to get water.

3.The little girl ran through the garden .

A. to pick some flowers

B. to find a beautiful rose

C. to take a walk and have a rest

D. to find something to plant a rose in it

4.What made Tucket the happiest bucket in the world?

A. Having friends to play together.

B. Being placed in the warm corner.

C. Being needed and having his own value.

D. Being cared about by his friends around him.

閱讀理解。

Best Tool to Teach Baby Talk

A new study says electronic toys are not helping babies learn. The study’s writer is Professor Anna Sosa. She leads the Child Speech and Language Lab at Northern Arizona University. She said, “Even if companies say that their toys are educational, they’re not teaching the babies anything at this time.”

Anna Sosa and her team studied babies who were from 10 to 16 months old.

The scientists listened to recordings of parents playing with their babies. The children used electronic toys, traditional toys and books.

What they found is that parents talked less with their babies when the babies played with electronic toys. Sosa says that the parents also responded(反應) less and used fewer words when the babies played with electronic toys.

Why is this important?

She says research shows that how quickly children develop language often depended on what they hear from parents. When the babies played with electronic toys, parents said little to their children. Sosa says parents talked a lot more when the babies played with traditional toys. Parents would describe the toys, name them and tell about their colors and shapes, as their children played. Parents even gave more information as their babies looked at the pictures in books.

Sosa is not telling parents to throw out electronic toys. She believes that these electronic toys can provide entertainment(娛樂) for the babies. But parents should not look at such play as a learning experience.

Toy Industry Association spokeswoman Adrienne Appell responded to the study.

She said, “It is important that parents make time to play with their children. Playing is a way that kids can learn so much, not only learning skills, but social and developmental skills.” She added that play should be balanced, including time for just “make-believe” activities, as well as traditional and electronic toys.

1.According to the study, electronic toys teach babies .

A. a lot B. language

C. colours D. nothing

2.From this passage we can learn that .

A. parents’ talk helps baby to learn language quickly

B. playing with electronic toys is a kind of learning experience

C. Sona advised parents to throw away electronic toys

D. parents talked more when the babies played with electronic toys

3. What is the passage mainly about?

A. A study on electronic toys.

B. Babies’ different learning skills.

C. A study on the tools to teach baby talk.

D. The importance of traditional toys.

閱讀短文，根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容，從短文后的五個選項中選出能填入空白處的最佳選項。每個選項只能用一次。

Expressions Using the Word “Sun”

Now it’s the time for the Learning English program “Words and Their Stories”.

In today’s program, we have expressions using the word “sun”.

The first expression is about everything, everything under the sun. If you own a store that sells many different things, your advertisements could say you sell everything under the sun. 1. .But advertising needs new and creative ideas.

Here is another example: Let’s say you are talking with a friend you have not seen for a long time. The two of you could have a lot to talk about. 2..

“Under the sun” is an old expression. 3. It means everywhere the sun shines. King Solomon used it in his poem. He wrote that nothing under the sun is new. If there is nothing new under the sun, there is nothing new anywhere. New or old, few things can be hidden in the bright light of the sun. 4. This law says that all government meetings must be open to the public. In some states, sunshine laws also say the government must allow the public to see government records. An important newspaper in the United States published a report about the value of sunshine laws. It told about how officials of a local government met secretly with a land developer to discuss using public land for a private entertainment center.

5. The newspaper report said, “It is often difficult to wake up people to their rights under the state sunshine laws.” It said the laws are called that because they shine sunlight on dark corners where secret deals can be made.

A. It is at least 3,000 years old

B. That leads to another expression: a sunshine law

C. This would not be exactly true, of course

D. The deal was stopped when it finally became publicly known

E. So, you talk about everything under the sun

閱讀短文，根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容回答問題。

A teacher from a Western country has recently visited a primary school in an eastern country. In one class, she watched sixty young children as they learned to draw a cat. The teacher drew a big circle on the blackboard, and the sixty students copied it on their paper. The teacher drew a smaller circle on the top of the first circle and then put another two even smaller circles on top of it. The children drew in the same way. The lesson went on until there were sixty-one similar cats in the classroom. Each student’s cat looked exactly like the one on the board.

The visiting teacher was greatly surprised because the teaching methods were very different from that in her own country. A children’s art lesson in her own country produced a roomful of different pictures. What makes this difference? In a classroom in any country, a teacher teaches not only knowledge of history or language.

In some countries such as the United States and Canada, people think highly of individualism – the differences between people. The teachers think it very important to make each student different from others. Students are asked to work by themselves and find answers themselves. The students are helped to learn to have their own ideas even at an early age.

But in countries such as China and Japan, people think highly of group goals rather than individualism. Students in China and Japan often work together and help each other in the classroom. The teachers teach and the students listen. The students are asked to memorize a lot. They have to learn the same textbook. They do the same homework and give the same answers.

Each educational system has its own advantages. For example, the Japanese students learn more maths and science than American students by the end of high school. The advantage of the educational system in America is that students learn to think by themselves. The teaching method makes them be more creative.

1.Are the young children learning to draw a dog?

2.How many students are there in the classroom?

3.Why was the visiting teacher greatly surprised?

4.What do people think highly of in the United States?

5.What does the writer want to tell us?

假如你是李華，本學期你們學校組織了多次校外活動。請你用英語給你的美國筆友 Peter寫一封電子郵件，介紹你難忘的一次校外活動，告訴他此次活動的時間和地點，活動的內(nèi)容，以及你的感受。

提示詞語：an unforgettable activity, climb the mountain, take a walk, go boating,

take photos, do experiments, the Summer Palace, the Science Museum,

the Palace Museum,

提示問題：

●When and where did you go?

●What did you do there?

●How did you feel?

Dear Peter,

How is it going?

I’m writing to tell you about an unforgettable school activity.

Yours,

Li Hua

假如你是李華，在世界讀書日來臨之際你們學校開展了“書香滿校園”讀書活動。請你用英語寫一篇短文給某英文網(wǎng)站投稿，談談讀書為什么重要，你通常在業(yè)余時間讀哪類書，以及你讀書時的感受。

提示詞語：favorite, hobby, history, science, literary(文學的), famous, writer,

improve, World Reading Day(世界讀書日)

提示問題： ●Why is reading important?

●What books do you usually read in your spare time?

●How do you feel when you do reading?

At our school, we are celebrating World Reading Day

根據(jù)句意及所給漢語意思或首字母寫出所缺單詞。

1.There are two (刀子)and three forks on the table.

2.That company (提供) us with 3,000 dollars in 2012.

3.Talking loudly in a library, a museum, or a movie theater is (不禮貌的).

4.We can’t breathe f air because of the polluted environment.

5.It rained so h last night that the river is full of water now.

用括號中所給單詞的適當形式填空。

1.The prices of many (flower) usually go up during festivals.

2.This is the (six) time for our school to hold the robot-making competition.

3.Larry has put on too much weight because of his (health) diet.

4.Jack finds it difficult to pronounce some English words (correct).

5.It is not wise for young people ( change) their jobs from time to time.

---Is this _______ useful book about health.?

---Yes, many famous doctors in it encourage us to take active part in sports.

A. an, / B. a , /

C. an, an D. a, an