Maybe ten-year-old Elizabeth put it best when she said to her father, "But, Dad, you can't be healthy if you're dead."

　　Dad, in a hurry to get home before dark so he could go for a run, had forgotten to wear his safety belt-- a mistake 75% of US population make every day. The big question is why.

　There have been many myths about safety belt ever since their first appearance in cars some forty years ago. The following are three of the most common.

　Myth the Number One: It's best to be "thrown clear" of a serious accident.

　　Truth: Sorry, but any accident serious enough to "throw you clear" is able going to be serious enough to give you a very bad landing. And chances are you'll have traveled through a windshield (擋風玻璃)or door to do it. Studies show that chances of dying after a car accident are twenty-five times in cases where people are "thrown clear".

　Myth Number Two: Safety-bets "trap" people in cars that are burning or sinking in water.

    Truth: Sorry again, but studies show that people knocked unconscious (昏迷) due to not wearing safety belts have a greater chance of dying in these accidents. People wearing safety belts are usually protected to the point of having in these accidents. People wearing safety belts are usually protected to the point of having a clear head to free themselves from such dangerous situation, not to be trapped in them.

　Myth Number Three: Safety belts aren't needed at speeds of less than 30 miles per hour (mph).

　Truth: When two cars traveling at 30 mph hit each other, an unbelted driver would meet the windshield with a force equal to diving headfirst into the ground from a height of 10 metres.

Why did Elizabeth say to her father, "But, Dad, you can't be healthy if you're dead"?

 A. He was driving at great speed.

B. He was running across the street.

C. He didn't have his safety belt on.

 D. He didn't take his medicine on time.

The reason father was in a hurry to get home was that he __________.

A. wasn't feeling very well     B. hated to drive in the dark

C. wanted to take some exercise  D. didn't want to be caught by the people

According to the text, to be "thrown clear" of a serious accident is very dangerous because you ________.

A. may be knocked down by other cars.

B. may get serious hurt thrown out of the car

C. may find it impossible to get away from the seat

 D. may get caught in the car door

Some people prefer to drive without wearing a safety belt because they believe _______.

A. the belt prevents them from escaping in an accident

B. they will be unable to think clearly in an accident

C. they will be caught when help comes

 D. cars catch fire easily

What is the advice given in the test?

A. Never drive faster than 30 miles an hour.

B. Try your best to save yourself in a car accident.

C. Never forget to wear the safety belt while driving.

 D. Drive slowly while you're not wearing a safety belt.

Each high school has its own policy. One good example is that some high schools require all students to wear uniforms, while others do not. I have been to both types of schools, and if I have to decide which one is better, I will pick the former.

Perhaps every student has this experience: once you are in your school uniforms, you will care more about your own behavior. Uniforms give you an identity that always reminds that you belong to a group. What you do will not only represent yourself, but also the group you belong to, as well as the people with you. In other words, you carry the responsibility to maintain the honor of the group. When you are in your own clothes, it doesn’t matter for you to behave badly in public, but when in your uniform, it does. For high school students, who are not adults yet, this is a good way to shape their behavior.

Moreover, uniforms create an atmosphere of equality. While permitted to wear their won clothes, students may pay much attention to what they wear, in order to show how rich their families are. While in uniforms, all students, rich or poor, look the same, and will be treated equally.

Besides, free from the desires to gain what is new in the shopping mall, wearing uniforms helps students to concentrate on their study.

For all the reasons above, I believe that it is a better choice for high school students to wear uniforms.  They can wear them after school or on weekends.

According to the author, high schools that require students to wear uniforms______.

A. are more attractive to students

B.    are more strict with students

C.    carry out a better policy

D.    admit more excellent students.

How many reasons does the author give to support his or her ideas?

A. two              B. three                C. four                   D. five

According to Paragraph 2, wearing uniforms helps students_______.

  A. focus on their study

  B. become responsible

   C. build up their confidence

   D. find the group they belong to

What would be the best title for the passage?

   A. A wise choice, to wear school uniform

   B. An honor, to wear your school uniform

   C.A difficult choice, in school uniform or not?

   D.A difficult choice, which school should we pick?

As my train was delayed for two hours, I had plenty of time to spare. After buying some newspapers to read on the journey, I made my way to the ___1___ office to collect my heavy suitcase I had ___2___ there three days before. There were only a few people ___3___, and I took out my wallet to find the receipt for my case. The receipt didn’t seem to be where I had left it. I ___4___ the contents, and railway tickets, money scraps of paper and photos fell out of it; but no matter how ___5___ I searched, the receipt was nowhere to be found.

When my turn came, I ___6___ the situation sorrowfully to the assistant. The man looked at me ___7___ as if to say that he had ___8___ this kind of story many times and asked me to ___9___ the case. I told him that it was an old, brown looking ___10___ no different from the many cases I could see on the shelves. The assistant then gave me ___11___ and told me to ___12___ of the chief contents of the case. If they were ___13___, he said, I could take the case away. I tried to ___14___ all the articles I had ___15___ packed into the case and wrote them down as they came to me.

After I had done this, I went to ___16___ among the shelves. There were hundreds of cases there. For one dreadful moment, it ___17___ to me that if someone had ___18___ the receipt up he could have easily claimed(認領) the case already. This hadn’t happened ___19___, for after a time I found the case lying in a corner. After examining the articles inside, the assistant was ___20___ and told me I could take the case away.

1. A. posting   B. working     C. luggage      D. manager’s

2. A. left B. forgotten    C. found  D. bought

3. A. standing B. crowding    C. talking       D. waiting

4. A threw      B. put     C. looked       D. emptied

5. A. often      B. much  C. hard    D. soon

6. A. said B. searched     C. spoke  D. explained

7. A. now and then B. up and down      C. here and there    D. back and forth

8. A. knew      B. realized      C. heard  D. seen

9. A. describe  B. draw   C. take out      D. show

10. A. object   B. matter C. subject       D. wallet

11. A. a paper B. a note C. a message   D. a form

12. A. sign names   B. make a list  C. write down D. draw a picture

13. A. everything   B. wrong C. correct       D. ready

14. A. draw    B. remember   C. read    D. remind

15. A. carelessly     B. suddenly    C. hurriedly    D. immediately

16. A. see       B. watch  C. find    D. look

17. A. happened     B. occurred     C. appeared    D. seemed

18. A. picked  B. collected    C. taken  D. stolen

19. A. fortunately   B. unluckily    C. by chance   D. presently

20. A. disappointed B. surprised    C. satisfied     D. worried

Strictly Ban smoking

       If you smoke and you still don’t believe that there’s a definite（一定的）link between smoking and bronchial（支氣管的）troubles, heart disease and lung cancer, then you are certainly deceiving yourself. No one will accuse you of hypocrisy. Let us just say that you are suffering from a bad case of wishful thinking. This needn’t make you too uncomfortable because you are in good company. Whenever the subject of smoking and health is raised, the governments of most countries hear no evil, see no evil and smell no evil. Admittedly, a few governments have taken timid measures. In Britain for instance, cigarette advertising has been banned on television. The conscience of the nation is appeased, while the population continues to puff its way to smoky, cancerous death.

       You don’t have to look very far to find out why the official reactions to medical findings have been so lukewarm. The answer is simply money. Tobacco is a wonderful commodity to tax. It’s almost like a tax on our daily bread. In tax revenue alone, the government of Britain collects enough from smokers to pay for its entire educational facilities. So while the authorities point out ever so discreetly that smoking may, conceivable, be harmful, it doesn’t do to shout too loudly about it.

       This is surely the most short-sighted policy you could imagine. While money is eagerly collected in vast sums with one hand, it is paid out in increasingly vaster sums with the other. Enormous amounts are spent on cancer research and on efforts to cure people suffering from the disease. Countless valuable lives are lost. In the long run, there is no doubt that everybody would be much better-off if smoking were banned altogether.

       Of course, we are not ready for such a drastic action. But if the governments of the world were honestly concerned about the welfare of their peoples, you’d think they’d conduct aggressive anti-smoking campaigns. Far from it! The tobacco industry is allowed to spend staggering sums on advertising. Its advertising is as insidious as it is dishonest. We are never shown pictures of real smokers coughing up their lungs early in the morning. That would never do. The advertisement always depict virile, clean-shaven young men. They suggest it is manly to smoke, even positively healthy! Smoking is associated with the great open-air life, with beautiful girls, true love and togetherness. What utter nonsense!

       For a start, governments could begin by banning all cigarette and tobacco advertising and should then conduct anti-smoking advertising campaigns of their own. Smoking should be banned in all public places like theatres, cinemas and restaurants. Great efforts should be made to inform young people especially of the dire consequences of taking up the habit. A horrific warning – say, a picture of a death’s head – should be included in every packet of cigarettes that is sold. As individuals, we are certainly weak, but if governments acted honestly and courageously, they could protect us from ourselves.

Why do a few governments take timid measures toward smoking?

A because they are afraid of people.  B Because diseases cost a lot.

C Because they are afraid of the cutting down of their revenue.

D Because they are afraid of manufacturers.

The tone of this passage is________________.

A critical.  B ironical（諷刺的用反語的）.  C distaste（不喜歡）.    D amusing.

What does the sentence “because you are in good company” mean?

A you are backed by the government. B You are not alone.

C You have good colleagues.       D Governments are blind to evils of smoking too.

What is the best title of this passage?

A World Governments should conduct serious campaigns against smoking.

B World governments take timid measures against smoking.

C smoking is the most important source of income to many countries.

D tobacco industry spends a large sum of money on medical research.

We Should All Grow Fat and Be Happy

Here’s a familiar version of the boy-meets-girl situation. A young man has at last plucked up courage to invite a dazzling young lady out to dinner. She has accepted his invitation and he is overjoyed. He is determined to take her to the best restaurant in town, even if it means that he will have to live on memories and hopes during the month to come. When they get to the restaurant, he discovers that this ethereal creature is on a diet. She mustn’t eat this and she mustn’t that. Oh, but of course, she doesn’t want to spoil his enjoyment. Let him by all means eat as much fattening food as he wants: it’s the surest way to an early grave. They spend a truly memorable evening together and never see each other again.

       What a miserable lot dieters are! You can always recognize them from the sour expression on their faces. They spend most of their time turning their noses up at food. They are forever consulting calorie charts; gazing at themselves in mirrors; and leaping on to weighing-machines in the bathroom. They spend a lifetime fighting a losing battle against spreading hips, protruding tummies and double chins. Some wage all-out war on FAT. Mere dieting is not enough. They exhaust themselves doing exercises, sweating in sauna baths, being pummeled and massaged by weird machines. The really wealthy diet-mongers pay vast sums for ‘health cures’. For two weeks they can enter a nature clinic and be starved to death for a hundred guineas a week. Don’t think it’s only the middle-aged who go in for these fads either. Many of these bright young things you see are suffering from chronic malnutrition: they are living on nothing but air, water and the goodwill of God.

       Dieters undertake to starve themselves of their own free will; so why are they so miserable? Well, for one thing, they’re always hungry. You can’t be hungry and happy at the same time. All the horrible concoctions they eat instead of food leave them permanently dissatisfied. Wonderfood(奇妙的事物) is a complete food, the advertisement says. ‘Just dissolve a teaspoonful in water…’. A complete food it may be, but not quite as complete as a juicy steak. And, of course, they’re always miserable because they feel so guilty. Hunger just proves too much for them and in the end they lash out and devour five huge guilt-inducing cream cakes at a sitting. And who can blame them? At least three times a day they are exposed to temptation. What utter torture it is always watching others tucking into piles of mouth-watering food while you munch a water biscuit and sip unsweetened lemon juice!

       What’s all this self-inflicted torture for? Saintly people deprive themselves of food to attain a state of grace. Unsaintly（saintly<圣潔的>的反義詞） people do so to attain a state of misery. It will be a great day when all the dieters in the world abandon their slimming courses; when they hold out their plates and demand second helpings!

The best title for this passage is

A On Fat.

B We Should All Grow Fat and Be Happy.

C Many Diseases Are Connected with Fat.

D Diet Deprives People of Normal Life.

Why do they never see each other again?

A Because it is a memorable evening.

B Because she lets him eat as much fattening food as he wants.

C Because she does not eat this and drink that.

D Because eating fattening food is the surest way to an early grave.

Which of the following ways is NOT mentioned for diet?

A Doing exercises.  B Not eating sugar.  C Not eating fat.  D Taking sauna baths.

What is the author’s attitude toward diet?

A Persuasive.   B Critical.   C Indifferent.   D Adversative.

Advertisers Perform a Useful Service to the Community

Advertisers tend to think big and perhaps this is why they’re always coming in for criticism. Their critics seem to resent them because they have a flair for self-promotion and because they have so much money to throw around. ‘It’s iniquitous,’ they say, ‘that this entirely unproductive industry (if we can call it that) should absorb millions of pounds each year. It only goes to show how much profit the big companies are making. Why don’t they stop advertising and reduce the price of their goods? After all, it’s the consumer who pays…’

The poor old consumer! He’d have to pay a great deal more if advertising didn’t create mass markets for products. It is precisely because of the heavy advertising that consumer goods are so cheap. But we get the wrong idea if we think the only purpose of advertising is to sell goods. Another equally important function is to inform. A great deal of the knowledge we have about household goods derives largely from the advertisements we read. Advertisements introduce us to new products or remind us of the existence of ones we already know about. Supposing you wanted to buy a washing machine, it is more than likely you would obtain details regarding performance, price, etc., from an advertisement.

Lots of people pretend that they never read advertisements, but this claim may be seriously doubted. It is hardly possible not to read advertisements these days. And what fun they often are, too! Just think what a railway station or a newspaper would be like without advertisements. Would you enjoy gazing at a blank wall or reading railway byelaws while waiting for a train? Would you like to read only closely printed columns of news in your daily paper? A cheerful, witty advertisement makes such a difference to a drab wall or a newspaper full of the daily ration of calamities.

We must not forget, either, that advertising makes a positive contribution to our pockets. Newspapers, commercial radio and television companies could not subsist without this source of revenue. The fact that we pay so little for our daily paper, or can enjoy so many broadcast programmes is due entirely to the money spent by advertisers. Just think what a newspaper would cost if we had to pay its full price!

Another thing we mustn’t forget is the ‘small ads.’ which are in virtually every newspaper and magazine.  What a tremendously useful service they perform for the community! Just about anything can be accomplished(完成的,實現(xiàn)的)through these columns. For instance, you can find a job, buy or sell a house, announce a birth, marriage or death in what used to be called the ‘hatch, match and dispatch’ column but by far the most fascinating section is the personal or ‘a(chǎn)gony’ column. No other item in a newspaper provides such entertaining reading or offers such a deep insight into human nature. It’s the best advertisement for advertising there is!

1. What is main idea of this passage?

A. Advertisement.    

B. The benefits of advertisement.

C. Advertisers perform a useful service to communities.   

D. The costs of advertisement.

2. The attitude of the author toward advertisers is

A. appreciative.    B.  trustworthy.   

C. critical.     D.  dissatisfactory.

3. Why do the critics criticize advertisers?

A. Because advertisers often brag. 

B. Because critics think advertisement is a “waste of money”.

C. Because customers are encouraged to buy more than necessary. 

D. Because customers pay more.

4. Which of the following is Not True?

A. Advertisement makes contribution to our pockets and we may know everything.

B. We can buy what we want.

C. Good quality products don’t need to be advertised.

D. Advertisement makes our life colorful.

5. The passage is_______________

A. Narration.     B.  Description.

C. Criticism.     D.  Argumentation.

Some futurologists have assumed that the vast upsurge(劇增)of women in the workforce may portend a rejection of marriage. Many women, according to this hypothesis, would rather work than marry. The converse(反面)of this concern is that the prospects of becoming a multi-paycheck household could encourage marriage. In the past, only the earnings and financial prospects of the man counted in the marriage decision. Now, however, the earning ability of a woman can make her more attractive as a marriage partner. Data show that economic downturns tend to putting off marriage because the parties cannot afford to establish a family or are concerned about rainy days ahead. As the economy comes to life, the number of marriages also rises.

The increase in divorce rates follows to the increase in women working outside the home. Yet, it may be wrong to jump to any simple cause-and-effect conclusions. The impact of a wife’s work on divorce is no less cloudy than its impact on marriage decisions. The realization that she can be a good provider may increase the chances that a working wife will choose divorce over an unsatisfactory marriage. But the reverse is equally plausible(似是而非的). Tensions grounded in financial problems often play a key role in ending a marriage. By raising a family’s standard of living, a working wife may strengthen her family’s financial and emotional stability.

Psychological factors also should be considered. For example, a wife blocked from a career outside the home may feel caged in the house. She may view her only choice as seeking a divorce. On the other hand, if she can find fulfillment through work outside the home, work and marriage can go together to create a stronger and more stable union.

Also, a major part of women’s inequality in marriage has been due to the fact that, in most cases, men have remained the main breadwinners. A working wife may rob a husband of being the master of the house. Depending upon how the couple reacts to these new conditions, it could create a stronger equal partnership or it could create new insecurities.

The word “portend” (Line 2, Para.1) is closest in meaning to“_____”.

    A. defy   B. signal   C. suffer from   D. result from

It is said in the passage that when the economy slides_____.

    A. men would choose working women as their marriage partners

    B. more women would get married to seek financial security

    C. even working women would worry about their marriages

    D. more people would prefer to remain single for the time being

If women find fulfillment through work outside the home,_____.

    A. they are more likely to dominate their marriage partners

    B. their husbands are expected to do more housework

    C. their marriage ties can be strengthened

    D. they tend to put their career before marriage

One reason why women with no career may seek a divorce is that_____.

    A. they feel that they have been robbed of their freedom

    B. they are afraid of being bossed around by their husbands

    C. they feel that their partners fail to live up to their expectations

    D. they tend to suspect their husbands? loyalty to their marriage

Which of the following statements can best summarize the authors view in the passage?

    A. The stability of marriage and the divorce rate may reflect the economic situation of the country.

    B. Even when economically independent, most women have to struggle for real equality in marriage.

    C. In order to secure their marriage women should work outside the home and remain independent

    D. The impact of the growing female workforce on marriage varies from case to case.

Everyone becomes a little more forgetful as they get older, but men's minds decline more than women's, according to the results of a worldwide survey.

    Certain differences seem to be inherent in male and female brains: Men are better at maintaining and dealing with mental images (useful in mathematical reasoning<推論；說服> and spatial <空間的>skills), while women tend to excel (擅長) at recalling information from their brain's files (helpful with language skills and remembering the locations of objects).

    Many studies have looked for a connection between sex and the amount of mental decline (衰退) people experience as they age, but the results have been mixed.

    Some studies found more age-related decline in men than in women, while others saw the opposite or even no relationship at all between sex and mental decline. Those results could be improper because the studies involved older people, and women live longer than men: The men tested are the survivors, "so they're the ones that may not have shown such cognitive（認知的；認識的） decline," said study team leader Elizabeth of the University of Warwick in England.

    People surveyed completed four tasks that tested sex-related cognitive skills: matching an object to its rotated（旋轉的） form, matching lines shown from the same angle, typing as many words in a particular category (范疇) as possible in the given time, e.g.  "object usually colored gray", and recalling the location of objects in a line drawing. The first two were tasks at which men usually excel; the latter are typically dominated(占有主導地位的) by women.

    Within each age group studied, men and women performed better in their separate categories on average. And though performance declined with age for both genders（性別）, women showed obviously less decline than men overall（全部地）.

The underlined word in the second paragraph means_________.

   A. natural     B. great C. obvious D. absolute

According to the passage, which of the following can Not be typed into the same category?

   A. cloud   B. sheep C. trees D. goose

Which of the following statements is true according the article?

   A. Men do better than women when it comes to learning English.

   B. Women stand out at remembering people’s names.

   C. Men excel at typing as many words in a particular category as possible in the given time.

   D. Women excel at dealing mathematic problems.

One important factor that affects the correctness of the results is that _________.

   A. the old men tested may not have shown such cognitive decline

   B. people surveyed are all old

   C. people taking part in this test came from all over the world   D. women live longer than men

The author aims to tell us that __________.

   A. women’s minds perform better than men’s

   B. men’s minds decline more with age

   C. everyone becomes a little more forgetful as they get older

D. a survey on human’s mind decline was done recently

Every year, whenever Spring Festival arrives, a lot of Chinese people cannot wait to go home. They queue for long hours in front of the ticket offices in railway stations, or do whatever they can in order to get a ticket. They tolerate the long journey on the train only to want to ______ with their near and dear ones.

     According to The Beijing Youth Daily, most Chinese celebrate the Spring Festival not only because they want to follow tradition, there are also some practical reasons to explain Chinese people's fever for the holiday. Compared with one's workplace, home provides a more humane environment for one to relax oneself.

     Society may do with or without you, but at home, you become unique and indispensable. You may be the father or mother, daughter or son, grandfather or grandmother in the family and the family will be incomplete if anyone is absent, because every member in the family is bound together, and everyone in the family is pleased with the feeling that he or she is unique and irreplaceable.

     In addition, family provides an ideal environment for one to fully relax oneself. At home, one can take one's time do whatever he or she wants, and one can spend money whenever one likes. In society, however, one needs to do everything fast and with high efficiency, because society always reqiores efficiency and maximum profits. Such company principles make people merely a tool in modern society.

     Chinese people's strong desire for Spring Festival shows that they feel oppressed and have a sense of predicament(困境) of existence in modern society. The Spring Festival provides a chance for them to escape from such anxiety and treasure the long-lost tradition of community spirit. With the Spring Festival, people can find back the warm, family atmosphere often seen in days gone by.

1. What's the passage mainly talking about? (Please answer within 10 words. )

2. Fill in the blanks with proper words or phrases to complete the sentence. (Please answer within 10 words. )

3. Which sentence in the passage can be replaced by the following one?You may not be a necessary part in society, but in your family, you are very important and no one else can take the place of you.

4. Do you think home is important for Chinese to celebrate the Spring Festival?Why or why not? (Please answer within 30 words. )

5. Translate the underlined sentence in the last paragraph into Chinese.

Jurassic Park could become a reality with dinosaurs making a comeback after a discovery last week. Scientists found remains of a dinosaur’s blood vessels（血管）and cells .In theory, DNA from these cells could be used to clone the longdead dinosaur.

A team from North Carolina State University found the remains in a fossil(化石)of the leg bone of a Tyrannosaurus rex（暴龍）in Montana, US.

The last dinosaurs on Earth died some 65 million years ago, but they left bits of themselves behind wherever they lived. Around the world ,dug-up bones and fossils have given scientists many ideas about what the animals were like.

Preserved by minerals, the newly discovered leg bone was hard. So the scientists used a liquid to dissolve（溶解）the minerals. A week later, the remaining material was soft and stretchy（有彈性的）,which surprised the researchers.

Some of the materials appeared to be a network of blood vessels. Out of these, the researchers were able to squeeze(擠出)tiny , round, dark-red and deep-brown structures that seemed to be ancient blood cells.

Scientists are overjoyed by this discovery because most fossils come from hard body parts, like bones and shells, which last a long time. Soft tissues, like skin, muscle, and organs are very hard to find because they tend to break down more quickly.

Scientists think that the new discovery will help them to better understand how fossils form. Future finds should also help flesh out how the dinosaurs lived.

They were also very excited by the possibility of having some dinosaur DNA.From that scientists could create a real life “Jurassic Park”.

In the Hollywood movie, scientists reproduced dinosaurs from the DNA they found in a mosquito fossil and disaster soon followed.

Scientists are excited _________________________ .

A. because they have got dinosaur DNA

B. about making a movie called “Jurassic Park”

C. because they found the liquid to dissolve fossils

D. because it,s very hard to find soft tissues in fossils

The latest discovery can tell us       .

A. what the animals were like         B. how fossils form

C. how the dinosaur lived            D. how to get dinosaur DNA

What does the underlined phrase“flesh out”mean in the article?

A. add more details or information to     B. take more photos of

C. make the public know more about     D. find the answer to

Why is the latest discovery very important?

A. It could make it possible to make dinosaurs return to the former position.

B. It could throw light on how dinosaurs lived many years ago.

C. It could prove what dinosaurs were like.

D. It could explain why dinosaurs died some 65 million years ago.