Diana Jacobs thought her family had a workable plan to pay for college for her 21-year-old twin sons: a combination of savings, income, scholarships, and a modest amount of borrowing. Then her husband lost his job, and the plan fell apart.

“I have two kids in college, and I want to say ‘come home’, but at the same time I want to provide them with a good education.” says Jacobs.

The Jacobs family did work out a solution. They asked and received more aid from the schools, and each son increased his borrowing to the maximum amount through the federal loan (貸款) program. They will each graduate with $20,000 of debt, but at least they will be able to finish school.

With unemployment rising, financial aid administrators expect to hear more families like the Jacobs. More students are applying for aid, and more families expect to need student loans. College administrators are concerned that they will not have enough aid money to go around.

At the same time, tuition（學(xué)費(fèi)）continues to rise. A report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education found that college tuition and fees increased 439% from 1982 to 2007, while average family income rose just 147%. Student borrowing has more than doubled in the last decade.

“If we go on this way for another 25 years, we won’t have an affordable system of higher education,” says Patrick M. Callan, president of the center. “The middle class families have been financing it through debt. They will send kids to college whatever it takes, even if that means a huge amount of debt.”

Financial aid administrators have been having a hard time as many companies decide that student loans are not profitable enough and have stopped making them. The good news, however, is that federal loans account for about three quarters of student borrowing, and the government says that money will flow uninterrupted.

1.How did the Jacobs manage to solve their problem?

A. They asked their kids to come home.

B. They borrowed $20,000 from the school.

C. They encouraged their twin sons to do part-time jobs.

D. They got help from the school and the federal government.

2.Financial aid administrators believe that .

A. more families will face the same problem as the Jacobs

B. the government will receive more letters of complaint

C. college tuition fees will double soon

D. America’s unemployment will fall

3.What can we learn about the middle class families from the text?

A. They blamed the government for the tuition increase.

B. Their income remained steady in the last decade.

C. They will try their best to send kids to college.

D. Their debts will be paid off within 25 years.

4.According to the last paragraph, the government will .

A. provide most students scholarships

B. dismiss some financial aid administrators

C. stop the companies from making student loans

D. go on providing financial support for college students

Discover the beautiful, silent, white world or Antarctica on the holidays of a life-time．Head South to Buenos Aires and then transfer to the world's most southern city, Ushuaia．From there, it's about 1,000 kilometers on a special icebreaker ship to the freezing temperature of Antarctica．

Getting off the ship and taking your first step onto the ice, you will imagine what it is like to be an explorer．Meet penguins（企鵝） sitting on their eggs, or see an Antarctic seal that lives all the year round on the ice．But do not get closer than five meters to any animal, in case you frighten it or make it angry．

The friendly crew of the ship will look after you as you explore the ice continent. We promise you fantastic meals and a comfortable bed — you sleep in a four-person cabin — as well as many special treats．If you don't think it is cold enough, try the ''polar plunge" — jump into a special hole dug in the ice and dip your head under the water．You can then jump into a hot bath and if you succeed we will give you a certificate．

After you wake up for the first time in the Antarctica you will understand why everybody who goes there falls in love with the place．The scenery is different every day because the sea ice is always moving．

Our ships travel to Antarctica from November to March — phone today and book your dream holiday!

1.How should you behave when you see animals on Antarctica?

A. Don't take photos with them．

B. Sit on the legs of the penguin．

C. Don't watch them too near．

D. Never make them angry．

2.If you want to get a certificate, you have to ．

A. try the "polar plunge"

B. sleep in a four-person cabin

C. have a bath in hot water

D. dive in the sea

3.The author writes this text mainly to ．

A. describe what Antarctica is like

B. tell about the scenery in Antarctica

C. call for people to discover Antarctica

D. attract more tourists to Antarctica

根據(jù)對(duì)話內(nèi)容，從短文后的選項(xiàng)中選出能填入空白處的最佳選項(xiàng)。選項(xiàng)中有兩項(xiàng)為多余選項(xiàng)。

Telling the truth is a good habit. 1. Here is a story of a man who did a lot of bad things, but his promise to tell the truth saved him.

Once a man came to the prophet(預(yù)言家) Muhammad and said,“ I have many bad habits. 2. ” The prophet said, “Give up telling lies first and always speak the truth.” The man promised to do so and went home.

3. Before setting out, he thought for a moment about the promise he made with the prophet. “If tomorrow the prophet asks me where I have been, what shall I say? If I tell the truth, I would be punished for stealing.” So the man decided not to steal that night, and gave up this bad habit.

The next day, he felt like drinking wine. 4. He said to himself, “I cannot tell the prophet that I drank some wine. And if I speak the truth, people will hate me, because a Muslim is not allowed to drink wine.” So he gave up the idea of drinking wine.

In this way, whenever the man thought of doing something bad, he remembered his promise to tell the truth at all time. 5. So if you always speak the truth, you can be a good person.

A boy was walking home from school when he saw a large, tempting （誘人的）apple on one of the branches of an apple tree hanging out over a tall fence. The boy wasn’t much of a fruit-eater, a bar of chocolate if given the choice, , as they say, the forbidden fruit can be tempting. Seeing the apple, the boy wanted it. The more he looked at it, the he felt and the more he wanted that apple.

He stood on tiptoe(腳尖), as high as he could, but even as his tallest he was unable to touch it. He began to up and down, as high as he could, at the of each jump stretching his arms to get the apple. Still it remained out of .
Not giving up, he thought, if only he had something to on. His school bag wouldn’t give enough height and he didn’t want to the things inside, like his lunch box, pencil case, and Gameboy. Looking , he hoped he might find an old box, a rock, or, luck, even a ladder, but it was a tidy neighborhood and there was nothing he could use.
He had tried everything he could think to do. seeing any other choices, he gave up and started to walk . At first he felt angry and disappointed thinking about how hungry he had become from his , and how he really wanted that apple. The more he like this, the more unhappy he became.

, the boy of our story was a pretty smart guy, even if he couldn’t always get what he wanted. He started to say to himself. This isn’t . I don’t have the apple and I’m feeling miserable as well. There’s more I can do to get the apple—that is unchangeable—but we are supposed to be able to our feelings. If that’s the case, what can I do to feel better?

1.A. preferring B. offering C. receiving D. allowing

2.A. so B. then C. but D. or

3.A. sadder B. angrier C. hungrier D. tastier

4.A. expanding B. stretching C. swinging D. pulling

5.A. strength B. length C. range D. height

6.A. jump B. look C. walk D. glance

7.A. tip B. stage C. top D. level

8.A. hope B. hand C. sight D. reach

9.A. put B. stand C. get D. hold

10.A. break B. shake C. take D. strike

11.A. up B. forward C. down D. around

12.A. for B. with C. on D. of

13.A. After B. Through C. Without D. Upon

14.A. back B. away C. up D. down

15.A. wishes B. beliefs C. efforts D. goals

16.A. thought B. imagined C. tried D. claimed

17.A. Therefore B. However C. Moreover D. Otherwise

18.A. skilful B. cheerful C. harmful D. helpful

19.A. something B. anything C. everything D. nothing

20.A. change B. express C. forget D. describe

Once there lived a rich man 1. wanted to do something for the people of his town. But first he wanted to find out whether they deserved his help.

In the centre of the main road into the town, he placed 2. very large stone. Then he 3. (hide) behind a tree and waited. Soon an old man came along with his cow.

“Who put this stone in the centre of the road?” said the old man, but he did not try to remove the stone. Instead, with some difficulty he passed around the stone and continued on his way. 4. man came along and did the same thing; then another came, and another. All of them complained about the stone but not tried to remove 5. . Late in the afternoon a young man came along. He saw the stone, 6. (say) to himself, “The night 7. (be) very dark. Some neighbors will come along later in the dark and will fall against the stone.”

Then he began to move the stone. He pushed and pulled with all his 8. (strong) to move it. How 9. (greatly) his surprise was at last! 10. the stone, he found a bag of money.

假定英語(yǔ)課上老師要求同桌之間交換修改作文，請(qǐng)你修改你同桌寫的以下作文。文中共有10處語(yǔ)言錯(cuò)誤，每句中最多有兩處。每處錯(cuò)誤僅涉及一個(gè)單詞的增加、刪除或修改。

增加：在缺詞處加一個(gè)漏字符號(hào)（∧），并在其下面寫出該加的詞。

刪除：把多余的詞用斜線（＼）劃掉。

修改：在錯(cuò)的詞下劃一橫線，并在該詞下面寫出修改后的詞。

注意：1. 每處錯(cuò)誤及其修改均僅限一詞。

2. 只允許修改10處，多者（從第11處起）不計(jì)分。

Today, Tony and I went to the countryside by the bus for the Strawberry-picking Festival. It starts at 8:00 in the morning. After the organizer introduced the rules of the festival, we led into the strawberry garden by some girls. While walking along the road, we saw beautiful flowers and heard birds sang. The air was much clean than that in the city when we live. During the festival, we enjoyed sweet strawberries or watched some exciting performances. At about 5:00pm, we had to say goodbye for the garden. Tony and I enjoyed us and hoped to visit there again. How an unforgettable experience!

假設(shè)你是星光中學(xué)的李華，將參加主題為"Let's Ride Bicycles"的英語(yǔ)演講比賽。請(qǐng)撰寫一份演講稿，主要內(nèi)容包括：

1．目前汽車帶來(lái)的空氣污染和交通堵塞等問(wèn)題；

2．騎自行車的益處，如：節(jié)能環(huán)保、有利健康等。

參考詞匯：低碳生活（low-carbon life）；節(jié)能（energy saving）

注意：1．詞數(shù)：100詞左右；

　　 2．演講稿開頭和結(jié)尾已給出，該部分不計(jì)入總詞數(shù)。

Good morning, everyone,

I am Li Hua form Xingguang Middle School. The topic of my speech is "Let's Ride Bicycles"．

_________________________________________________________

“Now,” Mrs. Virginia DeView said, smiling, “we are going to discover our professions.” The class seemed to be greatly surprised. Our professions? We were only 13 and 14 years old! The teacher must be . “Yes, you will all be searching for your future . Each of you will have to someone in your field, plus give an oral report.”

Each day in her class, Virginia DeView reminded us about this. Finally, I picked print journalism. This I had to go to interview a true-blue newspaper reporter. I was extremely nervous. I sat down in front of him able to speak. He looked at me and said, “Did you bring a pencil or pen?”

I shook my head.

“How about some ?”

I shook my head again.

Finally, I thought he realized I was , and I got my first big tip as a . “Never, never go anywhere without a pen and paper. You never know what you’ll run into.” After a few days, I gave my oral report totally from memory in class. I got an A on the entire project.

Years later, I was in college looking around for a new career, but with no success. Then I Virginia DeView and my desire at 13 to be a journalist. And I called my parents. They didn’t me. They just reminded me how competitive the field was and all my life I had run away from competition. This was true. But journalism did something to me: it was in my blood. It gave me the freedom to go up to total strangers and ask what was .

For the past 12 years, I’ve had the most satisfying reporting career, stories from murders to airplane crashes and choosing my strongest area. When I went to pick up my phone one day, an incredible wave of memories hit me and I realized that had it not been for Virginia DeView, I would not be sitting at that desk.

I was all the time: “How did you pick journalism?”

“Well, you see, there was this teacher …” I always start out. I just wish I could thank her.

1.A. goodB. mad C. careless D. curious

2.A. universitiesB. families C. professions D. lives

3.A. interviewB. please C. admire D. respect

4.A. expressedB. ordered C. expected D. meant

5.A. hardlyB. nearly C. naturally D. eagerly

6.A. drinkB. newspapers C. preparations D. paper

7.A. satisfiedB. comfortable C. terrified D. sorry

8.A. student B. journalist C. teacher D. writer

9.A. called B. recognized C. remembered D. visited

10.A. answer B. promise C. stop D. persuade

11.A. how B. whether C. why D. when

12.A. breaking in B. getting down C. falling off D. going on

13.A. making B. retelling C. covering D. writing

14.A. certainlyB. finally C. doubtfully D. completely

15.A. hurtB. excited C. disappointed D. asked

My older brother and I are busy 1. (arrange) a trip to Africa. We will leave London on 15 July, and we’ll be flying to Morocco. We are going to travel on camels 2. the Sahara Desert. After the trip by camel, we’re going to travel down the River Nile. We’ll start at Lake Victoria. A little way down the river from Lake Victoria, the water 3. (actual) gets quite rough. So, we’ll go white-water rafting, 4. is quite dangerous, but very exciting! After white-water rafting, we’re going on a trip to see wild animals in Kenya.

5. we’ll be walking for almost two weeks, I’ll need to buy a large, strong, light backpack 6. advance to carry my 7. (supply) of food and water. It is so dangerous that our guides will have guns 8. (scare) the animals away if they come too near. I really want to see 9. elephant close up. After that, we’ll be moving on to Tanzania, 10. we’re going to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. The African part of our trip will take about four weeks and we will surely have a happy time.

A newly-wedded couple on a four-month honeymoon were hit by six natural disasters, including the Australian floods, Christchurch earthquake and Japanese tsunami (海嘯).

Stefan and Erika Svanstrom left Stockholm, Sweden, on December 6 and were immediately stuck in Munich, Germany, due to one of Europe's worst snowstorms.

Travelling with their baby daughter, they flew on to Cairns in Australia which was then struck by one of the most violent cyclones in the nation's history.

From there, the couple, in their 20s, were forced to shelter for 24 hours on the cement (水泥) floor of a shopping centre with 2,500 others.

“Trees were being knocked over and big branches were put down across the streets, ” Mr. Svanstrom told Sweden's Expressen newspaper. “We escaped by the skin of our teeth.”

Mr. Svanstrom said they then headed south to Brisbane but the city was experiencing massive flooding, so they crossed the country to Perth where they narrowly escaped burning bush fires.

The couple then flew to Christchurch, New Zealand, arriving just after a massive magnitude (震級(jí)) 6.3 earthquake attacked the city on February 22.

Mrs. Svanstrom said, “When we got there the whole town was like a war zone. We could not visit the city since it was completely blocked off, so instead we travelled around before going to Japan.”

But days after the Svanstroms arrived, Tokyo was rocked by Japan's largest earthquake since records began.

“The trembling was horrible and we saw roof tiles fly off the buildings,” Mr. Svanstrom said. “It was like the buildings were swaying back and forth.”

The family returned to Stockholm on March 29 after a much calmer visit to their last destination China.

But Mr. Svanstrom --- who also survived the destructive Boxing Day tsunami that hit southeast Asia in 2004 --- said the marriage was still going strong.

He added, “I know marriages have to experience some difficulties, but I think we have been through most of them. We've certainly experienced more than our fair share of disasters, but the most important thing is that we're together and happy.”

1.In Svanstrom's opinion, a marriage .

A. has to go peacefully and happily for all time

B. has to experience many disasters at the beginning

C. must always allow the couple be together and happy

D. should experience difficulties to make it steady

2. Why were Stefan and Erika Svanstrom stopped in Munich?

A. Christchurch earthquake stopped them.

B. Because of Europe's worst snowstorm.

C. The plane was damaged.

D. The trains broke down.

3.Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A. The family were stuck in a mall of Australia for twenty-four hours.

B. The family didn't experience any disaster in China.

C. During their stay in New Zealand, they also visited a war zone in the town.

D.The earthquake the family experienced in Tokyo was the largest one recorded in Japan.

4.The Svanstroms thought that Christchurch of New Zealand was .

A. disorderedB. interesting

C. beautifulD. shaking

5.The best title for this passage is .

A. Meeting Disasters During Honeymoon

B. Six Natural Disasters

C. Newly-wed Couple Met Australian Floods

D. Japanese Tsunami