【題目】The idea of being able to walk on water has long interested humans greatly. Sadly, biological facts prevent us ever accomplishing such a thing without artificial aid --- we simply weigh too much, and all our mass pushes down through our relatively small feet, resulting in a lot of pressure that makes us sink.

However, several types of animals can walk on water. One of the most interesting is the common basilisk Basilicus basilicus, a lizard（蜥蜴）native to Central and South America. It can run across water for a distance of several meters, avoiding getting wet by rapidly hitting the water’s surface with its feet. The lizard will take as many as 20 steps per second to keep moving forward. For humans to do this, we’ll need huge feet that we could bring up to our ears in order to create adequate “hitting.”

But fortunately there is an alternative: cornflour. By adding enough of this common thickening agent to water (and it does take a lot), you can create a “non-Newtonian” liquid that doesn’t behave like normal water. Now if the surface of the water is hit hard enough, particles（粒子）in the water group together for a moment to make the surface hard. Move quickly enough and put enough force into each step, and you really can walk across the surface of an adequately thick liquid of cornflour.

Fun though all this may sound, it’s still rather messy and better read about in theory than carried out in practice. If you must do it, then keep the water wings handy in case you start to sink --- and take a shower afterward!

【1】What do we know about Basilicus basilicas from the passage?

A. It is light enough to walk on water.

B. Its huge feet enable it to stay above water.

C. It can run across water at a certain speed

D. Its unique skin keeps it from getting wet in water

【2】What is the function of the cornflour according to the passage?

A. To create a thick liquid.

B. To turn the water into solid.

C. To help the liquid behave normally.

D. To enable the water to move rapidly.

【3】What is the author’s attitude toward the idea of human’s walking on water?

A. It is risky but beneficial.

B. It is interesting and worth trying

C. It is crazy and cannot become a reality

D. It is impractical though theoretically possible

【題目】Perhaps you think you could easily add to your happiness with more money. Strange as it may seem, if you're unsatisfied, the issue is not a lack of means to meet your desires but a lack of desires—not that you cannot satisfy your tastes but that you don't have enough tastes.

Real riches consist of well-developed and hearty capacities (能力) to enjoy life. Most people are already swamped(淹沒(méi)) with things. They eat, wear, go and talk too much. They live in too big a house with too many rooms, yet their house of life is a hut.

Your house of life ought to be a mansion (豪宅) , a royal palace. Every new taste, every additional interest, every fresh enthusiasm adds a room. Here are several rooms your house of life should have.

Art should be a desire for you to develop simply because the world is full of beautiful things. If you only understood how to enjoy them and feed your spirit on them, they would make you as happy as to find plenty of ham and eggs when you're hungry.

Literature, classic literature, is a beautiful, richly furnished room where you might find many an hour of rest and refreshment. To gain that love would go toward making you a rich person, for a rich person is not someone who has a library but who likes a library.

Music like Mozart's and Bach's shouldn't be absent. Real riches are of the spirit. And when you've brought that spirit up to where classical music feeds it and makes you a little drunk, you have increased your thrills and bettered them. And life is a matter of thrills.

Sports, without which you remain poor, mean a lot in life. No matter who you are, you would be more human, and your house of life would be better supported against the had days, if you could, and did, play a bit.

Whatever rooms you might add to your house of life, the secret of enjoying life is to keep adding.

【1】The author intends to tell us that____________.

A. true happiness lies in achieving wealth by fair means

B. big houses are people's most valued possessions

C. big houses can in a sense bring richness of life

D. true happiness comes from spiritual riches

【2】The underlined sentence in the second paragraph probably implies that__________.

A. however materially rich, they never seem to be satisfied

B. however materially rich, they remain spiritually poor

C. though their house is big, they prefer a simple life

D. though their house is big, it seems to be a cage

【題目】Pulling heavy suitcases all day in the summer is hard work, especially when you are a thin 14-year-old boy. That was me in 1940-the youngest and smallest baggage boy at New York City's Pennsylvania Railway Station.

After just a few days on the job, I began noticing that the other fellows were overcharging passengers. I'd like to join them, thinking, "Everyone else is doing it."

When I got home that night, I told my dad what I wanted to do. "You give an honest day's work," he said, looking at me straight in his eye. "They are paying you. If they want to do that, you let them do that."

I followed my dad's advice for the rest of that summer and have lived by his words ever since.

Of all the jobs I've had, it was my experience at Pennsylvania Railway Station that has stuck with me. Now I teach my players to have respect for other people and their possession. Being a member of a team is a totally shared experience. If one person steals, it destroys trust and hurts everyone. I can put up with many things, but not with people who steal. If one of my players were caught stealing, he'd be gone.

Whether you're on a sports team, in an office or a member of a family. if you can't trust one another, there is going to be trouble.

【1】What can be inferred about the baggage boys?

A. They could earn much, but they had to work hard.

B. Many of them earned money in a dishonest way.

C. They were all from poor families.

D. They were thin, young boys.

【2】What does the father's advice imply?

A. It is wrong to give more to the passengers.

B. Don't believe them if they are paying you more.

C. Don't follow others to overcharge the passengers.

D. It is difficult to work hard and live as an honest boy.

【3】The writer can't put up with stealing because he thinks that _______.

A. it is a total shared experience

B. it is considered as the most dangerous

C. it does great harm to human relationship

D. it may led to the loss of his sports team.

【4】It can be concluded from the text that _______.

A. his father's advice helped him to decide which job to take up

B. working in the sports team was his most important experience

C. he learned much from his shared experience with his team members

D. his experience as a baggage boy had a great influence on his late life

【題目】Hilary Smith belonged to a good family. But by the age of twenty, he had spent all the money the good old family had. He then had some trouble with the bank and was put in prison. He escaped from the prison and ran to Australia without delay.

Hilary did not like Australia and Australia did not like Hilary. What he could do seemed to be one of two things: die or work. Then he remembered that he was not alone in the world. He had an aunt.

She was his father's only sister, but his father used to say she brought no glory to the family. Hilary, of course, tried to discover what she had done. It seemed that she had failed to marry a nobleman. Instead, she had chosen a husband who was connected with "trade". Of course as soon as she became "Mrs. Parks", her brother considered her dead. Later on, Mr. Parks died and left her a lot of money; but that did not bring her back to life in her brother's opinion.

Hilary discovered his aunt's address. Fortunately she remained faithful and honest to him even after she fell ill. So Hilary's star shone again, and soon he moved into her house and lived as comfortably as a sailor who had just reached harbor. He had only about a sixpence in his pocket.

One thing was soon clear: his aunt was seriously ill, and nothing could cure her illness. Hilary was very worried. Fate had found a home for him, and was now going to throw him out of it. There was only one thing that could save him: her will.

"Will?" she said, "yes, I have made one. That was when I was a girl and had not much money. I left all my money to some religious people."

"Didn't you make another will when you were married?" Hilary asked.

His aunt shook her head. "No," she said in a low voice, "There was no need. When I finally had a lot of money I found 1 had no relations."

On the next day he went to the public library and examined a book of law. It told him what he already believed. When a woman is married, an earlier will loses its value. A new will must be made. If no new will is made, the money goes to the nearest relation. Hilary knew that he was his aunt's only relation. His future was safe.

After a few months had passed, Hilary's problems became serious. He badly needed money. He had expensive tastes, and owed a lot of money to shopkeepers. They trusted him because his aunt was rich; but the debt was terrible.

Unfortunately his aunt did not want to discuss money matters at all. In the end they had a quarrel about the small amount of ten pounds. Hilary was not very angry. He began to wonder about a new problem. Was it kind to want his aunt to live any longer? Was it not better for her to die now? While he was considering what to do, his aunt told him that she was going to send for her lawyer. So she was going to make a new will, Hilary thought. She might leave all her money to someone else. Soon he reached a clear decision. He must do a great kindness to the poor old woman.

One night when the old servant who had been nursing his aunt went off, he doubled the amount of some medicine. The total amount was too great and it could just put her to sleep forever.

"Thank you," his aunt took the glass from his hand with a grateful look." I want, more than anything, to sleep, and never to wake up again. Is that what you wish, Hilary? Don't blame me if I have some doubts about what you intended to do. Sick people get these ideas, you know. One thing I ought to explain to you. Mr. Parks never married me. He already had a wife and couldn't marry again. That made your foolish father very angry with me...Well, if I am alive tomorrow I shall make another will in your favor. If I die tonight, you'll get nothing...No, Hilary, don't try to take the glass away. If you do that, I shall know; and I don't want to know. Good night, Hilary."

Then, very carefully, she raised the glass to her mouth and drank.

【1】From the story ,we learn that Hilary's aunt was ______.

A. bad-tempered and lonely B. kind-hearted and wise

C. careless about money D. cruel to her niece

【2】The underlined sentence "He must do a great kindness to the poor old woman" in paragraph 11 suggests that Hilary Smith ______.

A. was determined to put his aunt's life to an end

B. decided to do his aunt a favor to call in a lawyer

C. made up his mind to take good care of his aunt

D. would help his aunt to donate all her money to religious people

【3】Which detail from the story is the climax of the story?

A. Hilary escaped from the prison.

B. Hilary quarreled with is aunt about ten pounds.

C. Hilary's aunt drank the medicine her nephew prepared for her.

D. Hilary's aunt made a will to leave all her money to someone else.

【題目】Babies born in summer are more likely to become short-sighted in late life, a study has shown.

As many as a quarter of all cases of short-sightedness are caused by too great an exposure to sunlight in the first weeks of life, say eye experts.

They are advising all parents to put sunglasses on their babies during the first weeks.

Scientists had already established that over-exposure to sunlight caused shortsightedness in animals.

Researchers who compared the months in which babies were born with whether they needed glasses later on say the principle also applies to humans.

A study of almost 300,000 young adults-the largest of its kind-showed that those born in June and July had a 25 per cent greater chance of becoming severely short-sighted than those born in December or January.

Research leader Professor Michael Belkin, of Tel Aviv University, said it was because prolonged illumination(光照) causes the eyeball to lengthen-causing short-sightedness.

Hence the more light a newborn is exposed to, the more the eyeball lengthens and the worse the short-sightedness will be.

The mechanism which lengthens the eyeball is associated with levels of melatonin(褪黑激素), a pigment (色素) which protects the skin against harmful rays of the sun.

In young babies not enough melatonin is released as protection, meaning they are more vulnerable to sunburn and changes to eyeball shape.

Sight expert Professor Daniel O’Leary, of Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, said “At the moment we don’t know the precise cause of why light exposure affects sight, but the evidence seems to prove that it is one of the reasons for people becoming shortsighted.”

【1】Melatonin is a kind of material to ___________.

A. prevent the eyes from becoming near-sighted

B. protect the skin from harmful sun rays

C. make our body strong

D. protect babies’ eyes from summer sun

【2】From what Professor Daniel O’Leary says we can conclude that ___________.

A. there is no evidence that shortsightedness is related to exposure to sunlight

B. whether light exposure affects sight still needs to be further proved

C. he believes that light exposure can cause shortsightedness

D. he tries to give the cause of why light exposure affects sight

【題目】America and England are two countries ________ by a common language.

A. divide

B. divided

C. dividing

D. to be divided

【題目】假設(shè)你是星光中學(xué)的李華，因越來(lái)越多的汽車(chē)導(dǎo)致環(huán)境污染做一個(gè)演講。請(qǐng)根據(jù)以下提示，就Let's Ride Bicycles這一話(huà)題，用英語(yǔ)寫(xiě)一篇演講稿。

Good morning, everyone,

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

注意：①無(wú)須寫(xiě)標(biāo)題；

②除詩(shī)歌外，文體不限；

③文中不得透露個(gè)人姓名和學(xué)校名稱(chēng)；

④詞數(shù)不少于120，如引用提示語(yǔ)則不計(jì)入總詞數(shù)。

【題目】His command was that we __________ immediately.

A. started off

B. had started off

C. start off

D. would start off

【題目】—I don't think I can walk any further.

— __________; let's stop here for a rest.

A. Neither am I

B. Neither can I

C. So can I

D. So it is with me

【題目】Here’s one number to keep in mind during your next cell phone conversation: 50. A new experiment shows that spending 50 minutes with an active phone pressed up to the ear increases activity in the brain. This brain activity probably doesn't make you smarter. When cell phones are on, they emit (發(fā)出) energy in the form of radiation that could be harmful, especially after years of cell phone usage. Scientists don't know yet whether cell phones are bad for the brain. Studies like this one are attempting to find it out.

The 47 participants in the experiment may have looked a little strange. Each one had two Samsung cell phones attached to his or her head — one on each ear. The phone on the left ear was off. The phone on the right ear played a message for 50 minutes, but the participants couldn't hear it because the sound was off.

With this set-up, the scientists could be sure they were studying brain activity from the phone itself, and not brain activity due to listening and talking during a conversation. After 50 minutes with two phones strapped to their heads, the participants were given PET scans.

The PET scan showed that the left side (the side with the phone turned off) of each participant's brain hadn't changed during the experiment. The right side of the brain, however, had used more glucose, which is a type of sugar that provides fuel to brain cells. These right-side brain cells were using almost as much glucose as the brain uses when a person is talking. This suggests that the brain cells there were active ― even without the person hearing anything. That activity, the scientists say, was probably caused by radiation from the phone.

Henry Lai, who works at the University of Washington in Seattle, is uncomfortable with the data related to cell phones. Holding a cell phone to your ear during a conversation is “not really safe,” Lai told Science News. Lai is a bioengineer at the University of Washington in Seattle. He wrote an article about the new study for a journal, but he did not work on the study. Bioengineers bring together ideas from engineering and biology.

For those who don't want to wait to find out for sure whether cell phones are bad for the brain, there are ways to talk more safely. You can have short and sweet conversations, use a speakerphone or keep the phone away from your head.

【1】Which of the following statement is true?

A. Scientists are sure that cell phones are bad for the brain.

B. In the experiment, the left side of the brain used more glucose.

C. Radiation from the phone probably causes the change in the brain.

D. Henry Lai wrote a lot of articles about this new study.

【2】Why weren’t the participants allowed to have a conversation on the phone during the experiment?

A. Because the scientists want to be sure of the accuracy of the experiment.

B. Because they really looked strange and no one wanted to talk to others.

C. Because they were given PET scans and they lost the ability to talk.

D. Because that would be too noisy and bad for the experiment.

【3】What is glucose?

A. A type of sugar that provides vitamin to brain cells.

B. Something that the right side of the brain used.

C. A type of sugar that gives energy to brain cells.

D. Something that makes a human excited.

【4】According to the last two paragraphs, which is the safest way to use a cell phone?

A. Holding the cell phone close to your head.

B. Using a cell phone more than three hours a day.

C. Taking the most powerful cell phone.

D. Keeping the cell phone at a distance.

【5】Where is this article probably taken from?

A. Literature magazine. B. Science News.

C. Story books. D. Art Journal.