In their book Time to Eat the Dog : The Real Guide to Sustainable Living, Robort and Breanda Vale say keeping a medium-sized dog has the same ecological impact as driving 10,000 km a year in a 4.6 liter Land Cruiser.
“We ‘re not actually saying it is time to eat the dog .We are just saying that we need to think about and know the ecological impact of some of the things we do and that we take for granted.”
Constructing and driving the jeep for a year requires 0.41hectares of land ,while growing and manufacturing a dog’s food takes about 0.84 hectares or 1.1hectares in the case of a large dog such as a German shepherd.
Convincing flesh-eating cats and dogs to go vegetarian for the sake of the planet is a non-starter,
The Vales say .Instead they recommend keeping greener, smaller, and more sustainable pets ,such as goldfish, chickens or rabbits.
The book ‘s playful title, and serious suggestion that pet animals may be usefully recycled, by being eaten by their owners or turned into pet food when they die ,may not appeal to animal fans .
Annoying as the idea may be, the question is valid given the planet’s growing population and limited resources, Robert vale said.
“Issues about sustainability are increasingly becoming things that are going to require us to make choices which are as difficult as eating your dog . It’s not just about changing your light bulbs or taking a cloth bag to the supermarket,” he said
It about much more challenging and difficult issues, he added . Once you see where cats and dogs fit in your overall balance of things , you might decide to have the cat but not also to have two cars and three bathrooms and be a meat eater yourself.
【小题1】. The authors gave their book the playful title to    .
A make it amusing       B  create a vivid image
C show writing skills     D  arouse people’s concern
【小题2】. In Paragraph 3 the writer mainly wants to tell us      .
A  the amount of consumed land     B  the neglected ecological impact
C  some familiar examples          D   some actual figures
【小题3】. What does “sustainability” mean according to the passage?
A Going vegetarian    B  Raising cats and dogs
C Using a cloth bag    D Keeping a greener life
【小题4】. Who may not the idea of  “recycling” pet animal?
A Manufactures   B Drivers  C Animal fans  D The authorities
【小题5】.  What do the authors thing of living a sustainable life?
A Challenging    B Inspiring   C Inviting  D Touching

This year Canada’s navy is one hundred years old. To mark the occasion, military ships from six different countries around the Pacific Ocean came to Canada for a four-day celebration. There were parades, parties and demonstrations of navy search and rescue aircraft and a show put on by the Snowbirds.
The Snowbirds, Canada’s aerobatic team, fly Tudor jet aircraft that are not particularly fast or particularly new but with amazing and sometimes hair-raising precision. They put a formation of nine aircraft into a space that would normally hold only one and they change the information in flight, roll it, loop it, break it and reform it in a dizzying ballet in the sky. The Snowbirds are one of the best aerobatic flying teams in the world and they are a readily recognized symbol of Canada just as the Great Wall is a recognized symbol of China. For a Canadian, watching the Snowbirds fly can bring tears. They make us very proud.
The Snowbirds have been flying since 1971. All of the pilots are serving members of the Canadian Air Force. They are all very young, all are highly-skilled and each is attached to the Snowbirds for two or three years. Each winter they practice in the cold, clear skies and each summer they put on more than fifty air-shows across the country and sometimes abroad. What they do is highly specialized. They often fly less than two meters from each other at speeds of about seven hundred and fifty kilometers an hour.
Flying is, by its nature, inherently risky and what the Snowbirds do increases that risk. While the pilots are all highly trained professionals, eight Snowbird pilots have been killed over the years. I have been fortunate enough to watch the Snowbirds fly probably fifteen or twenty times and if I know they are going to be flying I will go to see them again and again. This is not because I want to see someone do something dangerous, it is because I want to see something done so well—it is almost unbelievably precise and beautiful. I want to watch nine aircraft in an incredibly tight formation, each one painted in the red and white of my country’s flag, soaring through the cloudless blue sky. I want to feel that pride and that tear just behind my eyelids that comes from watching something uniquely and wonderfully Canadian.
【小题1】.
Which of the following is TRUE about the Snowbirds?

A．Because he wants to see someone do something dangerous.

B．Because the flying is unbelievably precise and beautiful.

C．Because his country’s flag is painted on each one.

D．Because watching them fly can make people cry.

The most common complaint about cellphones is that people talk on them to the annoyance of people around them. But more damaging may be the cellphone’s interruption of our thoughts.
We have already entered a golden age of little white lies about our cellphones, and this is in generally a healthy, protective development. “I didn’t hear it ring” or “I didn’t realize my phone had shut off” are among the lies we tell to give ourselves space where we’re beyond reach.
The concept of being unreachable is not new – we have “Do Not Disturb” signs on the doors of hotel rooms. So why must we feel guilty when it comes to cellphones? Why must we apologize if we decide to shut off the phone for a while?
The problem is that we come from a long-established tradition of difficulty with distance communication. Until the recent mass use of cellphones, it was easy to communicate with someone next to us or a few feet away, but difficult with someone across town, the country or the globe. We came to take it for granted.
But cellphones make long-distance communication common, and endanger our time by ourselves. Now time alone, or a conversation with someone next to us which cannot be interrupted by a phone, is something to be cherished. Even cellphone devotees, myself usually included, can’t help at times wanting to throw their phones away, or curse this invention.
But we don’t and won’t, and there really is no need. That we have the right to take back our private time is a general social recognition.
In other words, we don’t have to pay too much attention to the rings of our own phones. Given the ease of making and receiving cellphone calls, if we don’t talk to the caller right now, we surely will shortly later.
A cellphone call deserves no more importance than a word from the person next to us. Though the call on my cellphone may be the one-in-a-million from Steven Spielberg–who has finally read my novel and wants to make it his next movie. But most likely it is not, and I’m better off, thinking about the idea I just had for a new story, or the slice of pizza I’ll eat for lunch.

【小题1】.
What does the writer think about people telling “white lies” about their cellphones?

Standardized exam in American public education are being reformed. Over the next four years, hundreds of university professors and testing experts will work together to design new assessment system.
The new tests will be computer-based and will measure higher-order skills ignored by the multiple-choice exams used in all states，including students’ ability to read complex texts, synthesize(合成)information and do research projects．
Because the new tests will be computerized and will be administered several times throughout the school year, they can provide faster feedback(反馈)to teachers．If these plans work out, It’ll turn the current testing system upside down．
One group，led by Florida，will be made up of 25 states and the District of Columbia．The group was awarded $170 million．The other group, whose membership over-laps the first，has31 states and is led by Washington．The group was given $160 million．Twelve of the 44 states are
participating in both groups but are expected eventually to choose one set of tests．
The two groups are supposed to work in a friendly competition，though their plans are very similar．Both groups will produce tests that rely heavily on technology and both groups’ tests will include so-called performance-based tasks，designed to mirror complex，real-world situations．
In performance-based tasks，students are given a problem－they could be told, for example, to suppose they are a mayor who needs to reduce a city’s pollution—and must write about how they would solve the problem．
The new tests could be useful to teachers by giving them information on what their students are learning, but it might also require some mid-course adjustments.
Over the past decade, the federal No Child Left Behind law has emphasized helping low-achieving students improve their basic reading and math by encouraging states to produce tests that measure relatively low-1evel skills. Although the Bush-era law is still on the books, two
years of Obama administration policy have been leading schools in new directions．   
【小题1】. . What is the main idea of this passage?

A town in Oxfordshire has become the first in the UK to have biomethane(生物甲烷)gas from human waste piped to their homes for gas central heating and cooking．
Up to 200 families in Didcot now receive the gas via the national gas power system. Head of energy and technology at British Gas，Martin Orrill，said customers wouldn’t notice any difference as the gas is purified to the highest standard and has no smell．The gas is produced at a sewage(污物) treatment works in Didcot．
The entire process takes only less than three weeks, with the sewage being collected and sent first to settlement tanks．The solid waste material is then fed into digesters, where anaerobic bacteria(厌氧菌)digest the sewage，with the aid of enzymes(酶)to speed up the process．The digestion process produces methane，which can be burned to drive machines(甲烷)to produce electricity，or can be purified and fed into the gas network and piped to homes and businesses. British Gas says supplying the gas rather than electricity is far more efficient since around two-thirds of the energy is lost in producing electricity.
Partners in the Didcot project，British Gas，Scotia Gas Network，and Thames Water，all hope to expand the process to other towns，and other companies such as Ecotricity and United Utilities have also announced biomethane projects being planned．One of these projects in Manchester could be supplying 500 homes with biomethane by mid next year. Another British Gas project in Suffolk will provide gas from digestion of brewery(啤酒厂)waste to around 235 families．
The Didcot project cost￡25 million and was influenced by promises of government aids aimed at encouraging companies to develop renewable technologies．An EU directive means the UK must ensure at least 15 percent of its energy is from renewable sources by 2020．
The UK produces about 1.73 million tons of sewage annually．If all sewage treatment works in the UK were fitted with the technology，they could supply gas for up to 350, 000 families.
【小题1】.  Which of the following is TRUE of the biomethane gas?

A．the UK government supports the biomethane projects

B．the biomethane projects are very costly

C．the biomethane projects still face many barriers

D．the biomethane projects are promising

The UK has a well-respected higher education system and some of the top universities and research institutions in the world．But to those who are new to it all, sometimes it can be confusing．   
October is usually the busiest month in the college calendar．Universities have something called Freshers’ Week for their newcomers．It’s a great opportunity to make new friends，join lots of clubs and settle into university life．
However，having just left the comfort of home and all your friends behind，you can feel nervous when meeting lots of strangers in big halls. Where do you start? Who should you make friends with? Which clubs should you join?
Luckily, there will be thousands of others in the same boat as you worrying about starting their university social life on the right foot．So just take it all in slowly．Don’t rush into anything that you’ll regret for the next three years.
Here are some top tips from past students on how to survive Freshers’ week:
·Learn rules．Make sure you know British social etiquette (礼节)．Have a few wine glasses and snacks handy for your housemates and friends.
·Be kind．Sometimes cups of tea or even pieces of French fries can give you a good start in making friends.
·Be sociable．The more active you are, the more 1ikely you’ll meet new people than if you’re someone who is shy and never leaves his room.
·Bring a doorstop. Keep your door open when you’re in and that sends positive messages to your neighbors that you’re friendly.
So with a bit of clever planning and motivation，Freshers’ Week can give you a great start to your university life and soon you’ll be passing on your experience to the next year’s recruits.
【小题1】. . Which of the following statements is FALSE according to the passage?   

A．tell the newcomers how to make a new start in universities

B．introduce something about higher education system of the UK

C．discuss something about the Freshers’ Week in the UK

D．advise the freshmen how to behave well in the beginning

Pop music is the name for various popular，commercial music．It originated in the USA and spread through the whole world during the 1950s and 60s．It is widely liked by the young people．The best known early form of pop music was “rock’n’ roll”; another was “blues”. A more recent development is “folk rock”．Pop music has taken the place of native music in many parts of the world．It has caused the number of people for “jazz” music to become much smaller than in the 1950s and earlier, and it has now began to rule music stage productions．It is a big industry．
Much pop music is without artistic value, but the work of some pop singers e.g. the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the group like Pink Floyd and Crosby, Still and Nash, is on a higher musical level. And there is still great interest in it today. Pop music concerts and festivals are held all over the world.
【小题1】 In this passage the underlined word "originated" means _______.

A．Not all the pop music is without artistic value.	B．Much pop music is on a high musical level.
C．Pop music is high artistic.
D．No pop music is on a high musical level.

Memphis is the largest city in the southern State of Tennessee, USA. The Mississippi River flows along the west side of the city. Memphis is the chief center of business, industry and transportation in Tennessee.
650,000 people live in the city. More than one million people live in the area. Like many other American cities, Memphis has had racial problems. About forty-eight percent of the city’s population is African American. In 1968, city workers who collected waste went on strike. Most of the workers were black. The famous civil rights leader Martin Luther King Junior went to Memphis to support the workers. On April 4^th, King was murdered in Memphis by James Earl Ray. After Mr. King’s death, the city worked to improve living conditions for black people. In 1991, voters elected W.E.Herenton the city’s first black mayor. The same year, Memphis opened the National Civil Rights Museum. It was built next to the place where Martin Luther King was killed. Many people visit the museum to learn about the history of the American civil rights movement. Today, people from across the United States and around the world visit Memphis,where tourism has become a major industry.
【小题1】.
There are about     African Americans living in Memphis.

Since the early 1990s, the Internet has greatly changed the way people communicate. But some teachers think the changes are not all for the better.
Eleanor Johnson, an English professor at Columbia University in New York, says, “Ｉthink text messaging has made students believe that it is far more acceptable than it actually is to just make spelling and grammatical mistakes.” She says her students over the past several years have increasingly used less formal English in their writing. She says words and phrases like “you know” now appearing research papers. And she now has to talk about another problem in class---incorrect word use.
Professor Johnson doubts a strong connection between the rise of communication online and an increase in writing mistakes. But she admits there may not be much scientific proof, at least not yet.
David Crystal, a British language expert, says the actively changing nature of the Internet makes it difficult to stay unchanged in studying its effects. But he believes its effect on language is small. He says, “The main effect of the Internet on language has been to increase the expressive richness of language, providing the language with a new set of communicative content that didn’t exist in the past.” Erin Jansen, founder of an online dictionary of Internet and text messaging terms, says his new technology has not changed existing language but has greatly added to the vocabulary. “Basically it is a freedom of expression,” she says, “If it is helping them write more or communicate more, that is great. That is what teachers and educators want---to get students communicating.”
But Erin Jansen and David Crystal agree with Eleanor Jonson on at least one thing. Teachers need to make sure students understand the uses and rules of language.
【小题1】 According to the text, which of the following statements is TRUE?

There are two kinds of physical activity which require special training. The first demands exact, careful movements of the muscles（肌肉）.This kind of activity must be strictly controlled because even a slight movement in the wrong direction will lead to a mistake. To type quickly, for example, a person needs training; the slightest movement of a finger in the wrong direction may cause a spelling mistake. A dancer who has to dance on the point of her shoes or turn around on one foot must be trained for a long period of time before she can sense her own center and balance herself. You may have seen a girl walking on a rope across an empty space, which, too, requires a lot of practice.
The second kind of physical activity needs greater strength or extra effort. Most of us get tired if we try to run half a mile without stopping, but a specially-trained person can do this without much effort. Three years ago, some scientists carried out experiments, which produced meaningful and unexpected results. They wanted to find out whether a certain amount of physical exercise would injure those suffering from heart problems. They selected some male patients and trained them in continuous bicycle riding. They were surprised to find that the harmful effect of a given amount of physical effort was actually less on the hearts of these trained patients than on those of the patients who were not similarly trained. This is important because it shows that regular physical exercise enables us to make better use of the oxygen we breathe in and that this training, in fact, reduces the amount of work our hearts do. Many tasks which are hard for untrained people are not hard at all for trained people.
【小题1】.  The first kind of physical activity must be strictly controlled because ______.

A．some male patients were asked to ride bicycles regularly in the experiments	B．the physical exercise had more harmful effect on the hearts of the untrained patients
C．the physical exercise was harmless to the male patients with heart trouble
D．the physical exercise could be helpful for the patients to take in more oxygen