I thought I could continue to work here, but________I shall have to look for another job.

A. in fact B. as it is

C. as usual D. as is the case

—He tried to explain it to me but I just couldn't understand.Do you?

—________.

A. Not likely B. Not certainly

C. Not really D. Not cleverly

A little girl lived in a simple and poor house on a hill. Usually she ______ play in the small garden. She could see over the garden fence and across the valley a wonderful house with shining golden windows high on another hill.______ she loved her parents and her family, she desired to live in such a house and ______all day about how wonderful and exciting ______must feel to live there.

At the age when she gained some ______ skill and sensibility (識別力), she ______ her mother for a bike ride ______ the garden. Her mother finally allowed her to go，______ her keeping close to the house and not ______ too far. The day was beautiful. The little girl knew______ where she was heading! ______ the hill and across the valley, she rode to the ______ of the golden house.

______ she got off her bike and put it against the gate post, she focused on the path______to the house and then on the house itself.She was very disappointed when she ______ that all the windows were ______ and rather dirty.

So ______and heart?broken, she didn't go any further. She ______， and all of a sudden she saw an amazing ______. There on the other side of the valley was a little house and its windows were golden. Looking at her little home, she______ that she had been living in her golden house filled with love and care. Everything she dreamed was right there in front of her house.

1.A. might B. should C. would D. must

2.A. Unless B. Although C. Since D. But

3.A. dreamed B. worried C. asked D. shouted

4.A. this B. that C. it D. which

5.A. different B. scientific C. musical D. basic

6.A. begged B. blamed C. invited D. paid

7.A. inside B. outside C. through D. along

8.A. insisting on B. relying on C. arguing about D. wondering about

9.A. traveling B. running C. riding D. walking

10.A. madly B. rapidly C. exactly D. possibly

11.A. Over B. Down C. Around D. Beside

12.A. windows B. steps C. center D. gate

13.A. Until B. As C. While D. Because

14.A. getting B. introducing C. leading D. moving

15.A. felt B. learned C. concluded D. found

16.A. transparent B. bright C. plain D. wide

17.A. anxious B. angry C. serious D. sad

18.A. turned around B. cheered up C. settled down D. dropped in

19.A. hill B. valley C. background D. sight

20.A. imagined B. decided C. realized D. guessed

The best kept secret in San Diego is waiting to offer you a delightful getaway—without leaving town.

Less than three years ago, the Parisi Hotel was just an office building above the shops on the corner of Prospect Street. Now, that valuable space is an intimate luxury hotel with several rooms overlooking the ocean. You'll be amazed when you enter from the corner and ascend the curving staircase to the second?floor lobby. It will take you into a different world.

What will you find when you enter the large contemporary lobby is a hand some and peaceful space that was designed with a hint of Tuscany in its modern Mediterranean style. The lobby has a large fire place with comfortable sofas in warm neutral colors surrounding it. You'll feel relaxed just sitting there—with its skylight overhead letting in the morning sun. All the rooms are more like suites (套間), with large comfortable beds, beautiful baths and stylish custom?designed furnishings and art throughout.

The Parisi Hotel is the perfect place for seniors because it's quiet and restful—with only 20 rooms. You won't find many hotels like this in the center of a tourist town.

The shops are all around you. Likewise for some of the city's best restaurants, you will never have to take your car out of the garage during your stay. And, by the way, the underground parking lot at the Parisi Hotel is free for hotel guests.

Once you stay at this little gem (珍品), you'll want to return again and again. I know we do. It's a perfect place for seniors.

Rates for standard suites begin at $ 275. You can call the hotel for reservation at (858)454?1513. The Parisi Hotel is located at 1111 Prospect St. right across from La Valencia.

1.What does the underlined word “ascend” in Para.2 mean?

A. Find. B. Change.

C. Use. D. Climb.

2.When you enter the lobby, you will find that ________.

A. it is decorated with Mediterranean furniture

B. the walls are painted in bright colors

C. a large fireplace is burning all the time

D. sunlight comes through the window in the roof

3.The Parisi Hotel is perfect for old people because ________.

A. all the rooms are like suites with beautiful ocean view

B. it can give them the sense of peace

C. it is convenient for them to go shopping

D. it has stylish custom?designed furnishings and art throughout

4.According to the passage，________.

A. the price of the suites in the Parisi Hotel varies

B. the Parisi Hotel has furniture specially designed for old people

C. the Parisi Hotel is located in a secret place in San Diego

D. you must make a reservation before entering the hotel

Since people first launched rockets into space in the 1950s, we have been leaving behind all sorts of things. Some of them, like the camera, were lost by astronauts while they did work outside their spacecraft. But much of the space junk is made up of little pieces of things that were once bigger objects, until they struck each other and broke apart.

Some things we send into space fall back toward Earth and burn up in the atmosphere. But larger pieces sometimes survive the extreme heat and hit the ground or the ocean at great speeds. So there is always concern that something may fall from the sky and do some harm.

But space junk falling on roofs is not the biggest worry. Scientists are concerned about the “Kessler” problem. Imagine what happens when an empty rocket strikes another while orbiting the earth. Two big things become many smaller things. They then hit other things. The pieces get smaller and smaller until they form a cloud of junk that blocks the path of future space vehicles.

Marco Castronuovo, an Italian Space Agency researcher, says launching a satellite into space that would get very close to some of the larger pieces of space junk. The satellite would connect a small rocket to the useless object. When the rocket explodes, it pushes the junk into a lower and slower orbit, nearer the Earth. After a time, the junk burns up in the atmosphere. Mr.Castronuovo has proposed using a number of small satellites with robotic arms. One arm would catch the space junk, and another arm would connect the rocket. He imagines that each satellite could jump from one large piece of junk to another. He thinks this method could destroy about ten large objects each year.

Scientists have been concerned about space junk for many years. Right now, the costs of the clean?up have been too great. Mr.Castronuovo says his system could be put in place for a much more reasonable amount of money. So what can be done to clean up the space around our planet?

1.We can learn from the text that much of the space junk ________.

A. was left by the astronauts on purpose

B. is mainly made up of broken spaceship

C. is usually made of small pieces of things

D. burns up before it reaches the atmosphere

2.Now scientists are most worried that space junk will ________.

A. harm the future space vehicles

B. do some harm to the atmosphere

C. fall on people's house roofs

D. destroy the habitat of wildlife

3.It implies in the last but one paragraph that ________.

A. clearing up the space will actually cost little

B. small rockets also do harm to the atmosphere

C. only robots can clear up the space completely

D. it is still difficult for us to clear up the space

4.What is the text mainly about?

A. Space junk threatens earth's orbital environment.

B. Scientists use different methods to clear up space junk.

C. Spacecrafts will meet with a lot of space junk in the future.

D. Marco comes up with many methods to deal with space junk.

You have a backache; your legs are painful after a basketball match—what better than a relaxing massage (按摩)?

Scientists now say they have figured out the reason why a massage brings comfort. They say a massage changes how some of your proteins (蛋白質(zhì)) act.This makes your muscles less inflamed (發(fā)炎的), according to the Los Angeles Times.

The leader of the study, Professor Mark Tarnopolsky at McMaster University, Canada, chose several healthy young men for the experiment.He asked them to do very tiring exercise. Then he looked at how the cells changed in their legs.After this, the men were given a massage on only one leg and Tarnopolsky recorded any cell changes again.

Tarnopolsky and his team found that massaging made the inflammation caused by exercise get better because it weakened the activity of a protein called NF?kB.

Scientists also noticed that massaging helped cells recover from exercise damage.When muscles were being massaged, the amount of another protein called PGC?lalpha increased. This kind of protein can stimulate (促進) the growth of a tiny part inside cells called mitochondria (線粒體)．

People used to think that massaging eases pain by clearing away the lactic acid (乳酸) which built up after exercise. However, Tarnopolsky and his team didn't see any changes to lactic acid.

Thomas Birk is a professor at Wayne State University, US. He said that the study was the first he had seen to analyze massage in such depth. He said they wanted to start research 10 years ago, but technology was not yet good enough.

One day massages could be used to treat injuries and muscle disease. They may even be able to replace some anti?inflammatory medicines, said Birk. But, he said, more research is needed for masseurs (按摩師) to figure out the best massages for different diseases.

1.What is the article mainly about?

A. A new way to massage.

B. The best way to relax after doing sports.

C. New research into massages.

D. The advantages of a massage.

2.How can a massage bring comfort according to the article?

A. It weakens the activity of the protein NF?kB.

B. It helps protein recover from exercise damage.

C. It can clear away the mitochondria in muscles.

D. It can prevent inflammation in muscles.

3.What does the underlined word “eases” in Paragraph 6 probably mean?

A. makes easier B. reduces

C. puts up with D. stops

4.Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. It was believed that massages cleared away lactic acid.

B. Research into massages started 10 years ago.

C. Massages are used to treat muscle diseases in hospitals.

D. Massages will reduce the amount of protein PGC?lalpha.

A new collection of photos brings an unsuccessful Antarctic voyage back to life.

Frank Hurley's pictures would be outstanding—undoubtedly first?rate photo?journalism—if they had been made last week.In fact，they were shot from 1914 through 1916, most of them after a disastrous shipwreck(海難), by a cameraman who had no reasonable expectation of survival.Many of the images were stored in an ice chest, under freezing water, in the damaged wooden ship.

The ship was the Endurance, a small, tight, Norwegian?built three?master that was intended to take Sir Ernest Shackleton and a small crew of seamen and scientists, 27 men in all，to the southernmost shore of Antarctica's Weddell Sea.From that point Shackleton wanted to force a passage by dog sled (雪橇) across the continent.The journey was intended to achieve more than what Captain Robert Falcon Scott had done.Captain Scott had reached the South Pole early in 1912 but had died with his four companions on the march back.

As writer Caroline Alexander makes clear in her forceful and well?researched story The Endurance, adventuring was even then a thoroughly commercial effort.Scott's last journey，completed as he lay in a tent dying of cold and hunger, caught the world's imagination, and a film made in his honor drew crowds.Shackleton, a onetime British merchant?navy officer who had got to within 100 miles of the South Pole in 1908, started a business before his 1914 voyage to make money from movie and still photography.Frank Hurley, a confident and gifted Australian photographer who knew the Antarctic，was hired to make the images, most of which have never before been published.

1.What do we know about the photos taken by Hurley?

A. They were made last week.

B. They showed undersea sceneries.

C. They were found by a cameraman.

D. They recorded a disastrous adventure.

2.Who reached the South Pole first according to the text?

A. Frank Hurley.

B. Ernest Shackleton.

C. Robert Falcon Scott.

D. Caroline Alexander.

3.What does Alexander think was the purpose of the 1914 voyage?

A. Artistic creation. B. Scientific research.

C. Money making. D. Treasure hunting.

Shared habits of happy people

Happy people all share happy habits.It's as simple as that.The happiest people I know share these obvious habits.If you're looking to expand your general happiness, you may consider adopting these in your own life.

People may take an active role in their local city council, join a social club supporting causes they believe in, or find passion in their careers.In each case, the physiological outcome is the same.They engage in something they strongly believe in.This engagement brings happiness and meaning into their lives.

A happy life is a life shared with friends and family.The stronger the personal relationships are and the higher the frequency of interaction is, the happier a person will be.

Quite often people concentrate too much on negative outcomes and leave no time to reflect positively on their successes.It's natural for a person to want to correct undesirable circumstances and focus closely on doing so, but it is important to reflect mindfully on the good while striving diligently to correct the bad.A continuous general awareness of your daily successes can have a noticeably positive effect on your overall emotional happiness.

The power of endings is quite remarkable.The end of any experience has a great impact on a person's overall perception(看法) of the experience as a whole.Think about reading a well?written novel.Now imagine the ending is really poor.Even if the story was appealing until the ending, would you still be happy recommending the novel to a friend? People always remember the ending.If the ending is happy, the experience creates happiness.Always tie loose ends, leave things on a good note, and create happy endings in your life whenever possible.

Everyone possesses unique personal strengths.We all have different talents and skill sets.Emotional happiness comes naturally to those who use their strengths to get things done.The state of completion always creates a sense of achievement.If the achievement is based on your own personal ability to get the job done, the physiological rewards are priceless.

The best things in life are free.They come in the form of simple pleasures and they appear right in front of you at previous locations and arbitrary times.They are governed by Mother Nature and situational circumstances and captured by mindful awareness.It's all about taking a moment to notice the orange and pink sunset reflecting off the pond water as you hold hands with someone you love.Noticing these moments and taking part in them regularly will bring unplanned bursts of happiness into your life.

Love Tunnel sees lots of love and trash

Bearing a resemblance to the forest－surrounded “Love Tunnel” in Ukraine, the two?kilometer tunnel in Jiangning district Nanjing saw a recent rise in popularity as more than 2,000 tourists paid a visit every day this summer.The high number of visitors caused traffic safety concerns and increased the workload of sanitation workers.The Nanjing government had intended to cut the trees by the end of 2014.After the Nanjing government was forced to draft plans to cut the trees due to public pressure, visitors poured into a railway section that runs through thick forest for sightseeing and to take photos this weekend, leaving the railway with overwhelming piles of trash.

However, in response to the government's plan, complaints and outcries were made by the citizens that the love tunnel should be reserved.They claim that walking along the leafy green tunnel is like entering a fairy tale, and a possible decision to tear down the trees could bring the story to a pitiful end.

注釋：sanitation 衛(wèi)生

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Arriving in Sydney on his own from India, my husband, Rashid, stayed in a hotel for a short time while looking for a house for me and our children.

During the first week of his stay, he went out one day to do some shopping. He came back in the late afternoon to discover that his suitcase was gone. He was extremely worried as the suitcase had all his important papers, including his passport.

He reported the case to the police and then sat there，lost and lonely in strange city, thinking of the terrible troubles of getting all the paperwork organized again from a distant country while trying to settle down in a new one.

Late in the evening, the phone rang. It was a stranger. He was trying to pronounce my husband’s name and was asking him a lot of questions. Then he said they had found a pile of papers in their trash can（垃圾桶）that had been left out on the footpath.

My husband rushed to their home to find a kind family holding all his papers and documents. Their young daughter had gone to the trash can and found a pile of unfamiliar papers. Her parents had carefully sorted them out, although they had found mainly foreign addresses on most of the documents. At last they had seen a half-written letter in the pile in which my husband had given his new telephone number to a friend.

That family not only restored the important documents to us that day but also restored our faith and trust in people. We still remember their kindness and often send a warm wish their way.

1.What did Rashid plan to do after his arrival in Sydney?

A. Go shopping B. Find a house

C. Join his family D. Take his family

2.The girl’s parents got Rashid’s phone number from_______.

A. a friend of his family B. a Sydney policeman

C. a letter in his papers D. a stranger in Sydney

3.What does the underlined word “restored” in the last paragraph mean?[

A. Showed B. Sent out

C. Delivered D. Gave back

4.Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A. From India to Australia. B. Living in a New Country.

C. Turning Trash to Treasure. D. In Search of New Friends.