Mattel Inc. is recalling 4.4 million Polly Pocket toys with magnets after some of them caused serious injuries to children who swallowed magnets that fell off.

       Tiny magnets inside the toys can fall off undetected by parents and caregivers. The magnets can be swallowed, or placed in their nose or ears by young children. When more than one magnet is swallowed, the magnets can attract each other and caused intestinal perforation (腸內穿孔), infection or blockage, which can be fatal.

       The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) received 170 reports of the small magnets coming out of these recalled toys. There are three reports of serious injuries to children who swallowed more than one magnet. All three suffered intestinal perforations that required surgery. A 2-year-old child was hospitalized for seven days and a 7-year-old child was hospitalized for 12 days. An 8-year-old child was also hospitalized.

       The recalled Polly Pocket toys contain plastic dolls and accessories (附件) that have small magnets. The magnets measure one-eighth inch in diameter and are fixed in the hands and feet of some dolls, and in the plastic clothing, hairpieces and other accessories to help the pieces attach to the doll or to the doll’s house.

       The model number is printed on the bottom of the largest pieces on some of the toys. Contact Mattel if you cannot find a model number on your product to determine if it is part of the recall. Poly Pocket magnet toys currently on store shelves are not included in this recall. The model numbers involved in the recall are: B2632, B3158, B3201, B7118, G8605, H1538, and H3211. The toys were sold at discount department stores and toy stores from May 2003 through September 2006 for between $15 and $30.

       Consumers should immediately take these recalled toys away from children and contact Mattel to arrange for the return of the toys. For additional information contact Mattel at 888-597-6597 anytime, or visit the firm’s website.

1. What is the main purpose of the passage?

       A. To criticize Mattel Inc. for their bad product.

       B. To inform the reader of Polly Pocket toys’ recall.

       C. To comfort the injured children by the magnets.

       D. To suggest some ways to return Polly Pocket toys.

2. According to the passage, the three seriously injured children ________.

       A. reported their injuries in time                         B. had many Polly Pocket toys

       C. shared the same injury                                  D. stayed in hospital for many days

3. The word “recall” in the first paragraph can be best explained as “_______”.

       A. taking back               B. destroying                C. giving up                  D. examining

4. If you want to know more about this recall, you may _________.

       A. turn to the CPSC                                          B. go to hospital

       C. visit the injured children                               D. search online

5. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?

       A. The possible problems caused by the small magnets.

       B. The cases of children seriously injured by the small magnets.

       C. The function of small magnets inside the toys.

       D. The number of the toys that have been returned to Mattel.

The first fall of snow is not only an event but it is magical event. You go to bed in one kind of world but wake up to find yourself in another quite different one, and if this is not enchantment (魅力), then where is it to be found? The quietness makes it more magical. If all the snow fell at once in one crash, awakening us in the middle of the night, the event would be robbed of its wonder. But it flutters (飄揚)down, soundless, hour after hour while we are asleep. Outside the closed curtains of the bedroom, a vast transform scene is taking place, just as if a great number of elves were at work. We turn and yawn and stretch and know nothing about it. And then, what an extraordinary change it is! It is as if the house you are in had dropped down in another continent. Even the inside, which has not been touched, seems different, every room appearing smaller and more comfortable, just as if some powers were trying to turn it into a woodcutter’s hut or a small log cabin. Outside, where the garden was yesterday, there is now a white and shining level, and the village beyond is no longer our own familiar cluster of roofs but a village in an old German fairy tale…

       Now it has changed again. The snow is falling heavily, in great soft flakes, so that you can hardly see across the shallow valley, and the roofs are thick and the trees all bending, and the weathercock of the village church, still to be seen through the gray loaded air, had become some creature out of Hans Anderson. From my study, I can see the children flatten their noses against the nursery window, and there is running through my head a rhyme I used to repeat when I was a child and flattened my nose against the cold window watching the falling snow:

       “Snow, snow faster: White alabaster! Killing geese in Scotland; sending feathers here!”

1. What adds to the wonder of the first snow?

       A. Its quietness.

       B. The white and shining flakes.

       C. The house which seems to be smaller and more comfortable.

       D. The shattering crash in the middle of the night.

2. What’s the author purpose of writing this passage?

       A. To inform.

       B. To complain about the cold weather.

       C. To express his emotions.

       D. To describe a rare snow.

3. What’s the author’s feeling towards the first snow?

       A. Surprised.                B. Hopeful.            C. Delighted.          D. Regretful.

Why did humans evolve to walk upright? Perhaps it’s just plain easier. Make that “energetically less costly”, scientifically speaking.

       Bipedalism—walking on two feet, is one of the defining characteristics of being humans, and scientists have debated for years how it came about. In the latest attempt to find an explanation, researchers trained five chimps (黑猩猩) to walk on a treadmill (跑步機) while wearing masks that allowed measurement of their oxygen consumption. The chimps were measured both while walking upright and while moving on their legs and knuckles (關節(jié)). That measurement of the energy needed to move around was compared with similar tests on humans and the results are published in this week’s online edition of “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

       It turns out that humans walking on two legs use only one-quarter of the energy that chimps use while knuckle-walking on four limbs(肢). And the chimps, on average, use as much energy using two legs as they did when they used all four limbs.

       However, there were differences among chimps in how much energy they used, and this difference corresponded to their different manner of walking and anatomy (解剖構造). One of the chimps used less energy on two legs, one used about the same and the others used more, said David Raichlen, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona.

       “What we were surprised at was the variation,” he said in a telephone interview. “That was pretty exciting, because when you talk about how evolution works, variation is the bottom line, without variation there is no evolution.”

       Walking on two legs freed our arms, opening the door to drive the world, said Raichlen. “We think about the evolution of bipedalism as one of first events that led hominids (原始人) down the path to being humans.

       The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and the L. S. B. Leakey Foundation.

1. The underlined word “Bipedalism” in Paragraph 2 probably means ________.

       A. moving sideways                    B. walking upright               

C. walking on four legs                D. running fast

2. We can infer from the passage that_________.

       A. scientists have no idea on how humans’ walking on two legs came about

       B. scientists have had different views on why chimps walk on four legs

       C. scientists have had different views on how humans’ walking on two legs came about

       D. scientists have had similar views on how humans’ walking on two legs came about

3. What is Paragraph 4 mainly about?

       A. How chimps saved energy.

       B. Why chimps didn’t walk on two legs.

       C. David Raichlen studies chimps.

       D. Different chimps consumed different energy.

4. According to the passage, humans walk upright in order to ________.

       A. conserve energy                      B. differ from other animals

       C. free their brains                       D. strengthen their legs

此題要求改正所給短文中的錯誤。對標有題號的每一行作出判斷：如無錯誤，在該行右邊橫線上畫一勾（√）；如有錯誤（每行只有一個錯誤），則按下列情況改正：

該行多一個詞：把多余的詞用斜線（\）劃掉，在該行右邊橫線上寫出該詞，并也用斜線劃掉。

該行缺一個詞：在缺詞處加一個漏字符號（∧），在該行右邊橫線上寫出該加的詞。

該行錯一個詞：在錯的詞下劃一橫線，在該行右邊橫線上寫出改正后的詞。

注意：原行沒有錯的不要改。

           Dear Mr. Johnson,

                We have just heard with pleasure that you and Mrs.           1._____________

        Johnson are coming Beijing for a holiday this summer.                     2. ____________

        That’s real great! As members of the football team, we            3. ____________

       were sending you this gift to express our gratitude to you            4. ____________

       for spending so much time and energy train our team.                 5. ____________

       Your help enabled us to win the district championship in that              6. ____________

       year. We owe all our victories and achievements on you,             7. ____________

       but we hope the binoculars (望遠鏡) will be useful to you                8. ____________

       on your trip. May you have wonderful vacation. We’re               9. ____________

       looking forward to meet you in Beijing.                                      10. ____________

                                   Sincerely yours,

                                   Li Mei

—Ellis, I’m sorry, I can’t fly a kite with you tomorrow．

—           ．

—I fell off my bike yesterday and my leg hurts．

A．How are you?                               B．So what?

C．How come?                                 D．What’s the problem?

This is Ted’s photo. We miss him a lot. He           trying to save a child in the earthquake.

A．was killed                   B．is killed                C．killed                   D．was killing

Last winter it was extraordinary cold.           , many people say it was the coldest weather they’ve ever experienced.

A．At last      　　B．As a result　　　    C．In a word 　　　D．Little by little

As a result of destroying the fortests, a large           of desert           covered the land.

A．number; has     　　B．quantity; have   　　　C．number; have       　　D．quantity; has

           at the gate of the theatre, Sunsan found the ticket for the play was left at home.

A．To arrive   　　　B．On arriving   　　　C．As arriving   　　　D．While arriving

Jam insisted that the book Mr Black referred to           .

A．was worth buying     　　B．was worth to be bought

C．being worth buying    　　D．be worth buying