When did you last visit a shopping mall? In many places, the answer would be “l(fā)ast weekend”. Some people go even more often. Why? For one thing, malls offer goods and services that people need all in one place : food, clothing, things for their houses, entertainment，and even medical services. So, are mallsone of the highlights of modern civilization? Environmental activists would say “No!” They would go even further and say that consumer behavior is causing a huge environmental disaster. They cause consumers of ignorance of the side effect of their shopping—urban sprawl (城市雜亂無序拓展的地區(qū)）.
Social scientists agree that patterns of development have changed the landscape a great deal in the last half century. Prior to 1950，most people lived in towns or cities and either walked to work or took public transportation. Only very wealthy people had automobiles. Farmers lived in rural areas or isolated villages and came into town only when they needed things they couldn’t produce themselves. If you gazed at the landscape you would see towns surrounded by countryside. Then a massive change occurred.
Automobiles became affordable and people were quick to adopt them. Now ambitious workers could live in the suburbs, the areas just outside cities, which started to grow rapidly. As long as there was lots of cheap land in the suburbs, no one paid much attention to the usage of that land. Malls, fast food restaurants, cinemas, and car dealerships spread out in large, flat buildings. These one - storey buildings and their parking lot took up a great deal of space. Well - meaning farmers thought they were better off selling their land than growing crops. In ignorance, no one realized that once the land was built up in urban sprawl, the good farming land would be ruined forever. There was no way to preserve it.
Only in recent years have people come to mourn the old way of life as they have developed insight into the problems of unconditional growth. Now people realize that urban sprawl has come with serious environmental problems. The negative aspects of sprawl include air and water pollution, loss of agricultural land, traffic jams, and the death of businesses in the old town centers. Many scholars think the time has come to analyze the problems better so we can develop appropriate policies to control further sprawl. Some think the best way to do is to educate citizens about their priceless environment.
【小題1】What is mainly discussed in the passage?

完形填空（20分）
When people don’t know the language, the most common way is  36 communicate with   37 . However, many gestures have different meanings, or no meanings at all. In different parts of the world, in the United States,   38 example   39  your head   40  “Yes.” In some parts of Greece and Turkey,  41  , this motion can mean “”  42  “. In Southeast Asia, nodding your head  43   a polite way of   44  “I hear you.”
In ancient Rome,   45 the emperor wanted to spare someone’s life, he would put his   46  up. Today in the United States, when someone put his/ her thumb  47 , it means “  48 .” However in Sardinia and Greece, the gesture is insulting and   49  not be used there.
In the United States,   50  your clasped hands   51 your head means “I’m the champion.” Or “I’m the winner.” It is the sign fighters make   52 they win a fight. When a leading Russian Statesman made this gesture after a White House meeting, Americans misunderstood and thought he meant he was a winner. In Russia, however, it is a sign of   53  .
In the United States,   54  your hand up with the thumb and index finge in a circle and the   55  three fingers spread out means “Everything is O.K.” And is frequently used by astronauts and politicians. In France and Belgium, it can mean “ You are worth nothing.”

Since its invention 100 years ago, plastic , the superstar of the technological age, has become ugly and ungreen . But that’s about to change. An exhibition at London’s Science Museum this week could put it back on the cutting edge of science.
Have you ever hesitated in donating blood? The invention of “plastic blood” might make you feel better.
British scientists are working on the artificial blood as a replacement for real blood in emergency situations. It is made of plastic molecules(分子 ) and can join oxygen and transport it around the body. As a red, honey-like glue , plastic blood can be carried around conveniently . You just add water to make as much blood as you need.
The cells  of our body are strict about what molecules the let in and out . For example , if we inject protein or DNA  directly into the body, our immune ( 免疫 ) SYSTEM WILL DESTROY IT BEFORE IT REACHES THE CELLS.
To get around this , a British scientist has created drug-carrying plastic balls that fool the body into thinking they are natural. Once inside the cell, their contents are spread out through a small controlled explosion.
Skin transplants  are widely done these days. But removing a piece of skin from, say , the bottom to plant it on the face  can hurt and be troublesome.
The British company, Celltran, is working on plastic skin. Using plastic, they plan to take a small piece of the patient’s skin and grow it into an extra lay of skin on top of the plastic. a
The plastic  feels similar to skin, so skin cells like to grow on it. The plastic then gradually disappears, without any reaction or infection .
1. What would be the best title for the text?
A. The superstar of technological age
B. An exhibition at London’s Science Museum
C. No more “white pollution”
D. Plastic takes on a new life
2. Which of the following will be on display at the exhibition at London’s Science Museum?
A. Plastic cells               B. Plastic skin
C. Plastic molecules           D. Plastic transplants
3. The phrase “get around “ in Paragraph 5 means closest to ______.
A. overcome  B. end    C. ensure     D. pass
4.Which of the following is true according to the text?
A. Plastic blood will be injected into the body in drug-carrying plastic balls
B.The plastic skin will remain a part of the new skin
C. Plastic blood will take the place of real blood
D. Plastic blood contains a lot of water

In Japan’s capital city of Tokyo, earthquake danger limits（限制）the height of buildings. The city has spread out so far and the traffic has become so heavy that it is very difficult to go from one place to another. The price of the land, too, has skyrocketed. All these explains why a group of Japanese land developers came to the conclusion（結(jié)論）that there was nowhere to go but down. So far they have dug out space underground for fifteen shopping centres.

    What are some of the advantages（優(yōu)勢）of shopping and eating underground? Clean air is one of them. The city of Tokyo has one of the most serious smog problems in the world.                Another advantage is that you escape the ever-present threat（威脅）of traffic accidents on the city’s busy streets. Still another is the convenience（便利）of getting around: you are usually right next to, or even in, a subway station. And you can even spend the night underground if you like. The Kibosh station, for example, in downtown Tokyo, has a hotel with a bar, restaurant, and barbershop.

1.The reason why buildings can not be very high in Tokyo is ____.

  A. that the information about high buildings is limited in Tokyo

  B. that the workers haven’t mastered enough modern science and technology

  C. the earthquake            

D. the heavy traffic

2.What’s the meaning of “skyrocket”? It means “____”.

  A. go up sharply              B. be as high as that of a rocket

  C. fall rapidly                 D. be as low as that of a rocket

3.So far how many shopping centers underground have there been?

  A.15       B.50       C. More than 15      D. More than 50

4.What are the advantages of shopping and eating underground

  A. Less air pollution, the convenience of shopping.

  B. Less air pollution, the convenience of shopping, and less traffic accidents.

  C. Clean air and the convenience of getting around.

  D. Clean air, less accidents’ threat, and the convenience of getting around.

5.The passage mainly tells us______.

  A. the capital of Japan                            B. the land and its limits

  C. the use of space underground in Tokyo    D. how to make full use of the land

“Linda, if beating yourself up were an Olympic sport, you’d win a gold medal!”
Annabel, my close friend, stunned（使…震驚）me with that frank observation after I told her how I had mishandled a situation with a student in a third-grade class where I was substituting（代替）. “I should never have let him go to the boy’s room without a pass! It was my fault he got into trouble with the hall monitor! I’m so stupid!”
My friend burst out laughing, and then made her “Olympic” comment. After a brief period of reflection I had to admit that she was right. I did put myself down an awful lot. Why, just during the previous day I had called myself “a slob” for having some papers spread out on my desk, “ugly” when I left the house without makeup and “an idiot” when I left the house for an emergency substitute job without my emergency lesson plan.
In a more reflective tone, Annabel said, “I once took a workshop at church where the woman in charge had us list all the mean things we say about ourselves.”
“How many did you have on your list?” I asked.
“Fifteen,” she confessed. “But then the teacher said, ‘Now turn to the person next to you and say all the items on your list as if you were speaking to that person!’ ”
My jaw dropped，“What did you do?”
“Nothing. Nobody did. We all just sat there, until I said, ‘I could never say these things to anyone else!’ ”
“And our teacher replied, ‘Well, if you can’t say them to anyone else, then don’t ever say them to yourself!’ ”
My friend had a point. I would never insult a child of God---and I’m God’s child, too!
God, today let me be as kind to myself as I would be to another of Your children.
【小題1】What does Annabel mean by the first sentence of the passage?