The Palm Islands are the largest artificial islands in the world and are under construction in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. They are being developed as tourist, leisure, and residential resorts, and will increase the coastline of the country by 120 kilometres.

After four years of planning and careful consideration of the environmental issues, construction started in 2001. Dutch engineers with experience of reclaiming land from the sea were employed in the building of the first two islands. The site for all three islands is an area of the sea where the water is not very deep. Sand is taken from the seabed and sprayed into the construction site. Although the shallow water facilitates this process, the islands are still very exposed to the currents and tidal movements of the sea. Rocks are used to hold the sand in place resulting in a large crescent （月狀的） structure. This acts as a breakwater and protects the islands from the sea.

The first two islands are in the shape of date palm trees and consist of a trunk and 17 frond, or leaves coming off the trunk. The first island, named Palm Jumeirah, has three five-star hotels in the trunk, and luxury homes in the leaves. It is astonishing that when these homes went on sale in 2004, they were all sold within three days.

The second palm, Jebel Ali, was started in 2002 and is designed to be an entertainment centre. Six marinas （小游艇船塢） are planned, with a water theme park, and homes built on stilts （樁柱） in the water.

The Palm Deira planned to be the largest of the three islands, with a length of 14 km and a width of 8.5 km, an area larger than the city of Paris. It will consist of residential properties, marinas, shopping malls, sports facilities, and clubs. These will be open to both residents and tourists.

More artificial islands, the World Islands, are now being constructed near the Palm Jumeirah. They consist of 300 private islands grouped into the shape of the continents of the world and will be used for estates, private homes, community islands, and resorts.

Unquestionably, these artificial islands are one of the wonders of the modern world. They will also maintain Dubai’s status as one of the leading tourist destinations in the region.

1.According to the passage, all the following are right EXCEPT___________.

A．Some Dutch engineers are experienced in reclaiming land from the sea.

B．The islands are being built in the shallow water of the sea．

C．All the luxury homes on Palm Jumeirah were sold.

D．The World Islands are bigger than the Palm Jumeriah．

2.The underlined word “facilitates” in the second paragraph probably means___________．

A．holds back B．makes easier

C．slows down D．leads to

3.What is the passage written for?

A．To introduce the wonderful artificial islands.

B．To show how to build artificial islands.

C．To offer a travel service for tourists.

D．To prove the Palm Islands are the largest artificial islands in the world.

IKEA is the world’s largest furniture retailer, and the man behind it is Ingvar Kamprad, one of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs. Born in Sweden in 1926, Kamprad was a natural businessman. As a child, he enjoyed selling things and made small profits from selling matches, seeds, and pencils in his community. When Kamprad was 17, his father gave him some money as a reward for his good grades. Naturally he used it to start up a business—IKEA.

IKEA’s name comes from Kamprad's initials （I.K.） and the place where he grew up （‘E’and ‘A’）. Today IKEA is known for its modern, minimalist furniture, but it was not a furniture company in the beginning. Rather, IKEA sold all kinds of miscellaneous goods.

Kamprad’s wares included anything that he could sell for profits at discounted prices, including watches, pens and stockings.

IKEA first began to sell furniture through a mail-order catalogue in 1947. The furniture was all designed and made by manufacturers near Kamprad’s home. Initial sales were very encouraging, so Kamprad expanded the product line．Furniture was such a successful aspect of the business that IKEA became solely a furniture company in 1951.

In 1953 IKEA opened its first showroom in Almhult, Sweden. IKEA is known today for its spacious stores with furniture in attractive settings, but in the early1950s, people ordered from catalogues. Thus response to the first showroom was overwhelming: people loved being able to see and try the furniture before buying it. This led to increased sales and the company continued to thrive. By 1955, IKEA was designing all its own furniture.

In 1956 Kamprad saw a man disassembling（拆卸） a table to make it easier to transport. Kamprad was inspired. The man had given him a great idea: flat packaging. Flat packaging would mean lower shipping costs for IKEA and lower prices for customers. IKEA tried it and sales soared. The problem was that people had to assemble furniture themselves, but over time, even this grew into an advantage for IKEA. Nowadays, IKEA is often seen as having connotations（內(nèi)涵） of self-sufficiency. This image has done wonders for the company, leading to better sales and continued expansion．

Today there are over 200 stores in 32 countries. Amazingly, Ingvar Kamprad has managed to keep IKEA a privately-held company. In 2004 he was named the world’s richest man. He currently lives in Switzerland and is retired from the day-to-day operations of IKEA. IKEA itself, though, just keeps on growing.

1.The author states in Paragraph 6 that flat packaging___________.

A．needs large space to assembly furniture

B．is a business concept inspired by Kamprad

C．helps reduce transportation costs

D．makes the company self-sufficient

2.What is the main idea of the passage?

A．Ingvar Kamprad is the richest man in the world.

B．IKEA is the world’s largest furniture retailer.

C．The advantage of IKEA’s furniture is dissembling.

D．Ingvar Kamprad established IKEA and led it to great success.

3.What is the author’s attitude towards IKEA’s future according to the last paragraph?

A．Indifferent B．Optimistic

C．Doubtful D．Pessimistic

4.The passage is developed primarily in terms of ___________．

A．order of events

B．a(chǎn)nalysis of a process

C．examples that illustrate（闡釋） a problem

D．comparison and contrast

Humans may not have landed on Mars （火星） just yet, but that isn’t stopping a European company from devising a plan to send four people to the Red Planet within the next few years. This project, called Mars One, aims to send a small group of people to Mars in 2022 and eventually establish a permanent colony on the planet.

“Everything we need to go to Mars exists,” said Mars One co-founder Bas Lansdorp in March 2014. “We have the rockets to send people to Mars, the equipment to land on Mars, the robots to prepare the settlement for humans. For a one-way mission, all the technology exists.” Yet the four astronauts chosen for the trip will be stuck on Mars—forever. And despite Mars One’s thorough planning, there are a number of challenges that may prevent the mission from ever taking place. The biggest road block could be the mission's huge cost （$6 billion）. However, Lansdorp is confident that Mars One will be able to fund the project by selling the broadcast rights for the mission and subsequent experiences living on the planet.

Those broadcast rights will also play a part in helping to select the people who will be sent to Mars. Lansdorp said the company will hold a selection process similar to a reality show. Lansdorp is expecting at least 1 million applications from people around the world. In addition to the cost, several other potential problems could inhibit （阻止） the mission to Mars.

“It’s even more challenging to send people there with life support, with food, with air, with all the other things like books, entertainment, means of communication and of providing for their own resources for a long stay on Mars,” said Adam Baker, senior lecturer in space engineering at Kingston University in London. “The size of the rockets you’d need to do this would be absolutely colossal.”

1.According to Project Mars One, humans could send four people to Mars within the next ________years.

A．seven B．eight C．ten D．six

2.According to Bas Lansdorp, which of the following is NOT TRUE?

A．Robots are prepared for the settlement for humans.

B．He could not come up with the fund for Mars One.

C．We humans have the rockets to send people to Mars.

D．The equipment is ready for humans to land on Mars．

3.The word “colossal” in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to ___________.

A．very large B．very small

C．medium D．a(chǎn)verage

4.Which of the following is an appropriate title for this passage?

A．Ready for a Round Trip to Mars

B．Ready for a Short Visit to Mars

C．Ready for a One-way Trip to Mars

D．Ready for a Walk on Mars

Everyone gathered around and Paddy read out loud, slowly, his tone growing sadder and sadder. The little headline said: BOXER RECEIVES LIFF SENTENCE.

Frank Cleary, aged 26, professional boxer, was today found guilty of the murder of Albert Gumming, aged 32, laborer, last July. The jury（陪審團(tuán)） reached its decision after only ten minutes, recommending the most severe punishment to the court. It was, said the Judge, a simple case. Cumming and Cleary had quarreled violently at the Harbour Hotel on July 23rd and police saw Cleary kicking at the head of the unconscious Gumming. When arrested, Cleary was drunk but clear-thinking.

Cleary was sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour. Asked if he had anything to say, Cleary answered, “Just don’t tell my mother.”

“It happened over three years ago,” Paddy said helplessly. No one answered him or moved, for no one knew what to do. “Just don’t tell my mother,” said Fee numbly（麻木地）. “And no one did! Oh, God! My poor, poor Frank!”

Paddy wiped the tears from his face and said. “Fee, pack your things. We’ll go to see him.”

She half-rose before sinking back, her eyes in her small white face stared as if dead. “I can't go,” she said without a hint of pain, yet making everyone feel that the pain was there. “It would kill him to see me. I know him so well—his pride, his ambition. Let him bear the shame alone, it’s what he wants. We’ve got to help him keep his secret. What good will it do him to see us?”

Paddy was still weeping, not for Frank, but for the life which had gone from Fee’s face, for the dying in her eyes. Frank had always brought bitterness and misfortune, always stood between Fee and himself. He was the cause of her withdrawal from his heart and the hearts of his children. Every time it looked as if there might be happiness for Fee, Frank took it away. But Paddy’s love for her was as deep and impossible to wipe out as hers was for Frank.

So he said, “Well, Fee, we won’t go. But we must make sure he is taken care of. How about if I write to Father Jones and ask him to look out for Frank?”

There was no excitement in the eyes, but a faint pink stole into her cheeks. “Yes, Paddy, do that. Only make sure he knows not to tell Frank we found out. Perhaps it would ease Frank to think for certain that we don’t know.”

1.Paddy cried because he thought ___________.

A．Frank did kill someone and deserved the punishment

B．Frank should have told Fee what had happened

C．what had happened to Frank was killing Fee

D．Frank had always been a man of bad moral character

2.The underlined sentence “She half-rose before sinking back…”in Paragraph 6 shows that___________.

A．Fee was so heart-broken that she could hardly stand up

B．Fee didn’t want to upset Paddy by visiting Frank

C．Fee couldn’t leave her family to go to see Frank

D．Fee struggled between wanting to see Frank and respecting his wish

3.What can be inferred from the passage?

A．The jury and the judge agreed on the Boxer’s Sentence of Life Imprisonment.

B．The police found Gumming unconscious, heavily struck by Frank.

C．The family didn’t find out what had happened to Frank until 3 years later.

D．Frank didn’t want his family to know the sentence to him, most probably out of his pride.

4.What is Frank and Paddy’s probable relationship with Fee?

A．Frank is Fee’s son and Paddy is Fee’s brother．

B．Frank is Fee’s son and Paddy is Fee’s husband.

C．Frank is Fee’s brother and Paddy is Fee’s lover．

D．Frank is Fee’s lover and Paddy is Fee’s husband.

Frederick M. Hess is the director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, which is a nonprofit organization that conducts research on many public issues. He says that a long summer vacation doesn’t make sense in today’s world.

Can American students afford to take a summer vacation? In a summer vacation, millions of kids spend valuable time sending messages, watching TV, playing video games and doing shopping in the mall. They will also be putting their academic futures at risk.

Summer vacation once made sense in the past when you didn’t need an education to get a good job. But now things have changed. For today’s students, academic skills are important to students’future success, but such skills are affected in the summertime. Many nations don’t give kids an American-style summer vacation. They offer no more than seven consecutive（連續(xù)的） weeks of vacation. Most American school districts offer up to thirteen weeks. To compete in the global marketplace, Americans must be prepared to go up against international competitors.

Summer vacation also causes challenges for today’s families. In the 1960s, more than 60% of families had a stay-at-home Mom. Now two-thirds of American children live in households where every adult works. For these families, summer vacation can be more burden than break. Someone must watch the kids.

But the biggest problem may be how summer vacation hurts academic achievement. Researchers have found that disadvantaged students lose significant ground in the summertime.

A longer school year does not have to be an invitation to hard boring work. Rather, it should allow time-pressed teachers to conduct richer and more imaginative lessons. Schools would have more time to devote to athletics, languages, music and the arts. Summer vacation can be a grand thing. But in the 21st century, it may also be outdated.

Title: Summer Vacation

“When should I begin to acquire good habits?”a young boy asked his teacher.

“How old are you?” asked the teacher.

“Eight years old, sir.”answered the boy.

“Then you have just lost eight years,”the teacher replied.

There is no doubt that habits are formed at a very early age. When one is young, it is easy to acquire good habits.

Good habits are practices that help us in our daily life. The habit of brushing one’s teeth in the morning, for instance, keeps one’s teeth clean and prevents a bad smell which is unpleasant to others. Bad habits such as sticking one’s tongue out, biting one’s fingernails and picking one’s nose, are undesirable ways of behaving in front of others. If we want people to enjoy being with us, we should try to develop habits that are pleasant.

It is said, “We sow an act; we reap a habit. We sow a habit and we reap a character.” The habits we formed at an early age shape our character. Habits are like tributaries（支流） which flow into a river. The river is made up of all its tributaries; a person’s character is made up of all the habits that he or she has acquired over the years.

【寫作內(nèi)容】

1．以約30個詞概括本文內(nèi)容；

2．以約120個詞談?wù)勀銓�好�?xí)慣養(yǎng)成的看法，并包括以下要點：

（1）你認(rèn)為好習(xí)慣重要嗎，為什么？

（2）你身上有哪些好習(xí)慣，它們對你的學(xué)習(xí)或生活有什么影響？

（3）怎樣才能養(yǎng)成良好的習(xí)慣？

【寫作要求】

1．作文中可以使用親身經(jīng)歷或虛構(gòu)的故事，也可以參照閱讀材料的內(nèi)容，但不得直接引用原文的句子。

2．作文中不得出現(xiàn)真實姓名和學(xué)校名稱。

--Jack, how can I turn on this iPod?

--_______

A. Allow me! B. So what?

C. Hold on D. Nothing much.

We planned to climb the mountain today, but in such ______ bad weather, it seems out of ______ question.

A. a; the B. /; / C. a; a D. /; the

He decided to adopt a different ___________ to teaching the language in a natural way.

A. method B. means C. way D. approach

I’ve just read an excellent book of Moyan’s, ___________ you cannot afford to miss.

A. that B. what C. one D. whom