Escaping a fire is a serious matter, knowing what to do during a fire can save a life. It is important to know the way you can use and show them to everyone in the family, such as stairs and lire escapes, but not lifts. From the lower floors of building, escape through windows is possible. Learn tile best way of leaving by window with the least chance of serious injury.

　　The second floor window is usually not very high from the ground. A person of average height, hanging by the fingertips will have a drop of about 6 feet to the ground. It is about the height of an average man. Of course, it is safer to jump a short way than to stay in a burning building.

　　Windows are also very useful when you are waiting for help. Be sure to keep the door closed before opening the window. Otherwise, smoke and fire may be drawn into the room. Keep your head low at the window to be sure you get enough fresh air rather than smoke that may have leaked into the room.

　　On a second or third floor, the best windows for escape are those which open onto a roof. From the roof a person can drop to the ground more safely. Dropping onto the cement might end in injury. Bushes and grass can help to break a fall.

(1) Which of the following people seldom use when trying to escape a fire?

[　　]

(2) How far from the ground is the second floor window?

[　　]

A．About 12 feet.

B．About 3 feet.

C．Nearly 10 feet.

D．About theheight of an average man.

(3) According to the passage, windows are_______ of escaping a fire.

[　　]

A．the only way

B．the best way

C．safer than any other ways

D．one of the many possible ways

(4) The writer tells us that________.

[　　]

A．breathing in smoke might be harmful

B．smoke will enter the room by an open window

C．fresh air can't reach the second floor

D．to keep your head low will help you escape a fire

(5) If you are on the ground floor when a fire break out, you'd better drop________.

[　　]

A．directly onto the ground

B．first onto a roof and then onto the cement

C．first onto a roof and then onto bushes or grass

D．onto the cement rather than bushes or grass

　　Olaf Stapledon wrote a book called First and Last Men, in which he looked millions of years ahead. He told of different men and of strange civilizations（文明）, broken up by long“dark ages”in between. In his view, what is called the present time is no more than a moment in human history and we are just the First Men. In 2000 million years from now, there will be the Eighteenth or Last Men.

　　However, most of our ideas about the future are really very short-sighted. Perhaps we can see some possibilities for the next fifty years. But the next hundred? The next thousand? The next million? That’s much more difficult.

　　When men and women lived by hunting 50000 years ago, how could they even begin to picture modern life? Yet to men of 50000 years from now, we may seem as primitive（原始的）in our ideas as the Stone-Age hunters do to us. Perhaps they will spend their days gollocking to make new spundels, or struggling with their ballalators through the cribe. These words, which I have just made up, have to stand for things and ideas that we simply can’t think of.

　　So why bother even to try imagining life far in the future? Here are two reasons. First, unless we remember how short our own lives are compared with the whole human history, we are likely to think our own interests are much more important than they really are. If we make the earth a poor place to live on because we are careless or greedy（贪婪）or quarrelsome, our grandchildren will not bother to think of excuses for US.

　　 Second, by trying to escape from present interests and imagine life far in the future, we may arrive at quite fresh ideas that we can use ourselves. For example, if we imagine that in the future men may give up farming, we can think of trying it now. So set your imagination free when you think about the future.

(1) A particular mention made of Stapledon’s book in the opening paragraph ________.

[　　]

A．serves as a description of human history

B．serves as an introduction to the discussion

C．shows a disagreement of views

D．shows the popularity of the book

(2) The text discusses men and women 50000 years ago and 50000 years from now in order to show that ________.

[　　]

A．human history is extremely long

B．life has changed a great deal

C．it is useless to plan for the next 50 years

D．it is difficult to tell what will happen in the future

(3) Spundels and ballalators are used in the text to refer to ________.

[　　]

A．tools used in farming

B．ideas about modern life

C．unknown things in the future

D．hunting skills in the Stone Age

(4) According to the writer of the text, imagining the future will ________.

[　　]

A．serve the interests of the present and future generation

B．enable us to better understand human history

C．help us to improve farming

D．make life worth living

　　To make an estimate means to guess the number of things in a group or guess a measurement of some kind. It sometimes means to make a calculation（计算）about the future, which is based not on exact data but on past experience. This kind of estimate has some basis, but it generally has to be changed and corrected later.

　　When you estimate a number, a size, a temperature or a weight, you do not count things one by one or use a measuring tool. You look at a group of things without counting them and try to get a rough, general idea of their number, you try to weigh something in your hand instead of on a balance. You feel hot and say“My temperature must be 38 degrees”or you look at a room and say that you estimate its area as 10×8 feet.

　　But in many situations in ordinary life we do not have time to measure things and must depend on estimates. Drivers do not have time to measure the distance between their own car and a car which is coming near. They must guess it; the guess or estimate will be based on their past experience. Experienced cooks do not trouble to measure the amount of salt they put into the soup or sugar they mix with flour.

　　 Suppose a man comes into the house and says“There are two inches of snow on the road”,his statement is only an estimate, but we believe it because we think that it is roughly correct. We put our boots on before we go into the snow.

　　For practical purposes in some situations it is safe to make estimates of quantity, but in other situations it is obviously dangerous. If it is your job to weigh drugs or make airplanes, do not depend on guessing but use an accurate instrument.

(1) In our daily life the estimate of a value or an amount is usually made ________.

[　　]

A．by further data

B．by instruments

C．by counting

D．according to one’s past experience

(2) According to the passage, measuring instruments are not always used in measuring things in everyday life because ________.

[　　]

A．people generally do not carry them along

B．it is more convenient to guess than to measure

C．they are not always ready when people need them

D．a general idea of things is-enough

(3) We can know from the man’s statement on snow that ________.

[　　]

A．he wants to inform people that it’s snowing heavily

B．it is necessary to depend on estimates

C．his estimate is quite exact

D．he has measured the level of the snow

(4) The writer thinks that depending on estimates ________.

[　　]

A．may save us both time and money

B．may bring us a sense of safety

C．does not always keep us out of danger

D．is practical but dangerous

As you move around your home, take a good look at the things you have It is likely that your living room will have a television set and a video, and your kitchen a washing machine and a microwave oven. Your bedroom drawers will be filled with almost three times as many clothes as you need. You almost certainly own a car and possibly a home computer, holiday abroad at least once a year and eat out at least once a week.

　　Now, perhaps, more than ever before, people are wondering what life is all about, and what it is for. Seeking material success is beginning to trouble large numbers of people around the world. They feel that the long-hours work culture to make more to buy more things is eating up their lives, leaving them very little time or energy for family or pastimes. Many are turning to other ways of living and downshifting is one of them.

　　Six percent of workers in Britain took the decision to downshift last year. One couple who downshifted is Daniel and Liz. They used to work in central London. He was a newspaper reporter and she used to work for an international bank. They would go to work by train every day from their large house in the suburbs（效区）leaving their two children with a nanny（保姆）. Most evenings Daniel wouldn’t get home until eight or nine o’clock, and nearly twice a month he would have to fly to New York for meetings. They both earned a large amount of money but began to feel that life was passing them by.

　　Nowadays, they run a farm in the mountains of Wales.“I always wanted to have a farm here,”says Daniel,“and we took,almost a year to make the decision to downshift, It’s taken some getting used to, but it’s been worth it. We have to think twice now about spending money on car repairs and we no longer have any holidays, However, I think it’s made us stronger as a family, and the children are a lot happier.”

Liz, however, is not quite sure,“I used to enjoy my job, even though it was hard work and long hours. I’m not really a country girl, but I suppose I’m gradually getting used to looking after the animals. One thing I do like, though, is being able to see more of my children. My advice for other people wanting to do the same is not to think about it too much or you might not do it at all.”

(1) What do the first two paragraphs tell us?

[　　]

A．People seldom work long hours to make money.

B．People hardly buy more things than necessary.

C．People are sure everything they own is in the right place.

D．People realise there is more to life than just making money.

(2) When Daniel was a reporter he ________.

[　　]

A．lived in central London

B．disliked his job

C．missed his children

D．was well paid

(3) Daniel and Liz both agree that they move to the farm ________.

[　　]

A．was easy to organise

B．has improved family life

C．was extremely expensive

D．has been a total success

(4) What does the underlined“it”in the last paragraph refer to?

[　　]

(5) The underlined word“downshifting”in the second paragraph means ________.

[　　]

A．repairing your car by yourself.

B．spending money carefully

C．moving out to the countryside to live a simpler and better life

D．living in a big house in the suburbs and dining out once a week

Can you imagine what our life will be like in the year 2050? Perhaps you will be flying off for a holiday on the moon, or maybe you will be taking your dog for a walk in virtual（虚拟的）reality. We recently carried out a survey（调查）of 1000 people from different countries find out what they think life will be like in the future. The results clearly show both our hopes and fears.

　　The survey suggests that friendship—one of the most important human relationships—will have changed dramatically（显著地）. People will make friends mainly through the Internet. What is more, a large number of people will come across their future spouses（配偶）in this way! Computers will have become Completely necessary by 2050. Even now, some people begin to regard them as their best friends! Others, however, say that we will become much more separated and estranged（疏远的）from each other because we will have little real human contact.

　　Education will have changed a lot, too. As more and more children will be using computers in schools, certain abilities, such as mental arithmetic（心算）won’t be necessary since there will be computer programs for most calculations（计算）. Even writing by hand—at least to some extent—will have become a thing of the past.

　　According to the survey, home life will be more and more comfortable. Most people believe that by 2050 robots will be doing housework and we will rely mainly on ready-made food. A lot of people think that we might only cook for fun in the future.

　　Space exploration（探险）will become increasingly popular. Fifty percent of the people we talked to believe that man will regularly visit Mars. They also believe that travel on our own planet will probably change. Almost everyone thinks that there will be no cars in the city center. Some even think that environmentally—friendly（利于环保的）electric of solar-powered cars will have replaced the cars we use now.

　　Pollution is something that worries us very much. Some fear that it will continue to get worse, and that it well be impossible for us to live on our polluted planet. Others even foresee（预言）that one day we’ll have to pay for clean air.

　　On the other hand, people seem to be quite optimistic about the benefits of genetic（遗传）engineering, as they think scientists will use it to cure diseases like cancers and AIDS. If scientists manage to find a cure for these, we’ll have a much healthier society.

　　Some people worry about the future, while others are full of hope and confidence（信心）. No matter how dark or bright it may seem, it is up to us to look after our planet and try to make it a better globe to live on.

(1) Many people believe that in 2050, we will ________.

[　　]

A．not pay for computers

B．seldom leave our homes

C．not have any real friends

D．find partners and friends mainly through computers

(2) The passage suggests that in 2050 ________.

[　　]

A．half of the world population will have traveled to Mars

B．students will write with typewriters only

C．cooking will not be easy to people

D．lessons taught at school and the ways in which they are taught will be very different

(3) Some people believe that pollution will have ________ by 2050.

[　　]

A．disappeared

B．killed most of the people on the planet

C．become an even worse problem

D．made our planet a warmer place to live on

(4) Many people think that by 2050 ________.

[　　]

A．there will be a cure for cancer and AIDS

B．people will have stopped dying

C．scientists will solve all the problems we face

D．people won’t get diseases

阅读下列短文，从所给的四个选项中，选出最佳答案

　Scarlett came into power at Tara now and, like others who became top leaders suddenly, all the bullying（威吓人的）nature in her rose to the surface． It was not that she was basically unkind． It was because she was afraid that others would learn about her short-comings and refuse to obey her． Besides, there was some pleasure in shouting at people and knowing they were afraid． She was not blind to the fact that her character was changing． Sometimes when she made others frightened, she wondered where her good manners had gone． All the gentleness Ellen had tried hard to put in her had fallen away from her as quickly as leaves fall from trees in the first cold wind of autumn．

　Time and again, Ellen had said, “Be firm but be gentle with those below, especially darkies（黑人）.”“But if I was gentle, the darkies would sit in the room all day, talking endlessly about the good old days when a house Negro wasn't supposed to do a field hand's work,”she would answer．

　She couldn't even love her sisters now． They were simply a dead weight on her shoulders． As for cherishing（珍爱）them, wasn't she bathing them, combing their hair and feeding them, even walking miles every day to find vegetables? If she was overly kind and gentle to them, they'd probably stay longer in bed, and she wanted them on their feet again as soon as possible, so there would be four more hands to help her

(1) That Scarlett came into power most probably means ______．

[　　]

A．she became president of Tara

B．she became owner of a landlord family

C．she suddenly became strong enough to bully others

D．she could be unkind to others

(2) Scarlett thought it necessary to shout at people so as to ______．

[　　]

A．make them afraid of her

B．cover her weak points

C．make herself understood

D．both A and B

(3) Scarlett knew that ______．

[　　]

A．she should be both firm and gentle to those below

B．a house Negro did only farm work in the past

C．she used to have good manners

D．she should get rid of her bad manners as quickly as possible

(4) What had probably happened to Scarlett before she came into power?

[　　]

A．She had defeated her enemies and become the top leader．

B．She had put down the rebellions（反叛）of the darkies．

C．Her parents had died, leaving her taking care of everything．

D．Her sisters had put on a dead weight on her shoulders．

(5) Which of the following explains why Scarlett couldn't love her sisters?

[　　]

A．She wanted to bully them too．

B．they didn't want to do a field hand's work．

C．They wanted to stay longer in bed．

D．She was too busy and wanted their help．

阅读下列短文，从所给 的四个选项中，选出最佳答案

　The idiom“No pains, no gains”has been misused by some people to brush aside failures．

　A mainland factory spent $ 200,000 to buy andvanced equipment from Hong Kong, but later found part of it was produced by an inland factory and another part outdated．

　This brought about $ 12,000 in losses, but the manager put it away, saying,“No pains, no gains．”

　With the idiom as an excuse, many people take no precautions(预防措施) against failures before achieving success．

　It is true that failure and setback(挫折) are not always avoidable(避免), and those who can draw lessons from defeat can usually succeed at last．

　But it is certainly wrong to take the idiom“No pains, no gains”as an umbrella to excuse oneself．

　China is making an effort to develop its economy．We have no time and money to waste, so steps must be taken to avoid avoidable failures．

(1) According to this article,______．

[　　]

A．one can succeed only after he has suffered losses

B．failure is not avoidable on one's way to success

C．one can succeed at last if he can draw lessons from defeat

D．it is normal to suffer failures before achieving success

(2) The manager ______．

[　　]

A．was very sorry for the losses

B．thought no one should answer for the losses

C．said he would do his best to make up for the losses

D．was a serious man

(3) The manager______．

[　　]

A．really understood the idiom

B．used the idiom properly

C．learned a lesson from the losses

D．should have had the equipment tried out before buying it

(4) Using the idiom as an excuse can______．

[　　]

A．cause many new losses

B．avoid new losses

C．make people more careful in future

D．make people fully realize the cause of losses

(5) In this article, the writer tells us______．

[　　]

A．we should do our best to avoid failures though all the failures are not avoidable

B．it doesn't matter much in any case if we suffer losses

C．we should pardon all the people who cause some losses

D．those who have taken precautions still should be punished if they fail in the end

阅读下列短文，从所给的四个选项中，选出最佳答案

　A Frenchman nicknamed（绰号叫）spiderman climbed one of Hong Kong's shining golden skyscrapers（摩天大楼）last week, avoiding guards and police until he reached the top of the 48-storey building．

　Without the use of any equipment, Alain Robert, a 34-year-old Parisian, took just half an hour to get to the top of the skyscraper．Robert, wearing a black T-shirt and jeans, climbed up by supporting himself on window frames（边，框）and stretching between them, hardly stopping for breath．

　Bystanders held their breath from fear, pointing to what looked like a black spider（蜘蛛）moving up the golden glass wall．Firemen called to the scene also kept a close watch on his climb．

　On reaching the top of the skyscraper, Robert raised his arms in victory．As an experienced rock climber, he told reporters he had also climbed other buildings around the world, including the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco．

　Robert was later taken away for questioning by police who said he must answer for his alarming（令人惊恐的）action．

(1)  How many kinds of persons, including the climber himself, are referred to in this passage?　　　

[　　]

A．Six．　　　B．Five．　　　C．Four．　　　D．Three．

(2)  Which of the following is NOT true?　　　

[　　]

A．Robert had climbed plenty of other tall buildings all over the world．

B．His climbing the skyscraper was so dangerous that some bystanders felt nervous．

C．Robert had planned to climb the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco．

D．Neither guards nor police noticed him when he began to climb the skyscraper．

(3)  Robert managed to climb the skyscraper by using ______ ．　　　

[　　]

A．a rope

B．a good tool

C．a hook（钩子）

D．nothing

(4)  He fearlessly climbed the skyscraper probably because ______ ．　　　

[　　]

A．he preferred climbing　　　　　B．he hoped to get a reward

C．he wanted to set a record　　　 D．he was really a madman

(5)  From the lines we can see that ______ ．　　　

[　　]

A．Robert was probably as cruel as a poisonous spider

B．Robert felt very tired when reaching the top of the skyscraper

C．Robert's bravery would be praised by the Hong Kong government

D．Robert might be punished for climbing the skyscraper

　　In 1993, New York State ordered stores to pay money for those who returned beverage（饮料）containers. Within a year, consumers (people who buy goods) had returned millions of aluminum cans and glass and plastic bottles. Plenty of companies were eager to accept the aluminum and glass as raw materials for new products, but because few could figure out what to do with the plastic, much of it wound up buried in landfills（垃圾填埋场）. The problem was not limited to New York. Unfortunately, there were too few uses for secondhand plastic.

　　Today, one out of five plastic soda bottles is recycled in the United States. The reason for the change is that now there are dozens of companies across the country buying throwaway plastic soda bottles and turning them into fence posts, paint brushes, etc.

　　As, the New York experience shows, recycling includes more than simply separating valuable materials from the rest of the rubbish. A thrown-away thing remains a thrown-away thing until somebody figures out how to give it a second life--and until economic arrangements exist to give that second life value. Without enough markets to take in materials collected for recycling, throw always actually reduce prices for used materials.

　　Making landfill space become smaller and rising costs for burying and burning rubbish are forcing local governments to look more closely at recycling. In many areas, the East Coast especially, recycling is already the least expensive waste-management choice. For every ton of waste recycled, a city avoids paying for its disposal(action of getting rid of sth. ), which, in parts of New York, amounts to savings of more than $100 per ton. Recycling also forces the local economy to develop quickly by providing jobs and reduces the pollution control and energy costs of industries that make recycled products by giving them a more refined（纯净的）material.

(1) The returned plastic bottles in New York used to ________.

[　　]

A．be turned into raw materials

B．be separated from other rubbish

C．have a second-life value

D．end up somewhere underground

(2) The key problem in dealing with returned plastic beverage containers is ________.

[　　]

A．how to reduce their recycling costs

B．to sell them at a high price

C．how to turn them into useful things

D．to lower the prices for used materials

(3) Recycling has become the first choice for the disposal of rubbish because ________.

[　　]

A．recycling causes little pollution

B．other methods are more expensive

C．recycling has great interest for the jobless

D．local governments find it easy to manage

(4) It can be concluded from the passage that ________.

[　　]

A．recycling is to be attractive both economically and environmentally（环境）

B．local governments in the U. S. can expect to earn a lot from recycling

C．rubbish is a hidden cure for the shortage of raw materials

D．landfills will still be widely used for waste disposal

　　Brazil has become one of the developing world's great successes in reducing population growth--but more by accident than design.

While countries such as India have made joint efforts to reduce birth rates, Brazil has had better result without really trying, says George Martine at Harvard.

　　Brazil's population growth rate has dropped from 2.99％ a year between 1951 and 1960 to 1.93％ a year between 1981 and 1990, and Brazilian women now have only 2.7 children on average. Martine says this figure may have fallen still further since 1990, an achievement that makes it the envy of many other Third World Countries.

　　Martine puts it down to, among other things, soap operas and installment（分期付款）plans introduced in the 1970s. Both played an important, although indirect, role in lowering the birth rate. Brazil is one of the world's biggest producers of soap operas. Globo, Brazil's most popular television network, shows three hours of soaps six nights a week, while three others show at least one hour a night. Most soaps are based on wealthy characters living the hight life in big cities.

　　“Although they have never really tried to work in a message towards the problems of reproduction（生育）,they describe middle and upper class values--not many children, different attitudes towards sex, women working,” says Martine.“They sent this message to all parts of Brazil and made people realize other patterns of family life and other values, which were put into a very attractive package.”

　　Meanwhile, the installment plans tried to encourage the poor to become consumers.“This led to change in consumption（消费）patterns and consumption did not get along well with unlimited reproduction,”says Martine.

(1) The phrase“puts it down to”(Line 1, Para. 3) is closest in meaning to ________.

[　　]

(2) Soap operas have helped in lowering Brazil's birth rate because ________.

[　　]

A．they keep people sitting long hours watching TV

B．they have gradually changed people's way of life

C．people are drawn to their attractive package

D．they make birth control measures popular

(3) What is Martine's conclusion about Brazil's population growth?

[　　]

A．The increase in birth rate will increase consumption.

B．The desire for consumption helps to reduce birth rate.

C．Consumption patterns and reproduction patterns are contradictory（相矛盾）.

D．A country's production is limited by its population growth.

(4) Which is the best title of this passage?

[　　]

A．Brazil: The Developing World's Success.

B．Soap Operas and Installment plans.

C．Brazil: Reducing Birth Rate by Accident.

D．Learn from Brazil, the Third World Country.