Maybe you have seen this in schools: some students are Studying nearly all the time but they just pass their exams, while some others may spend much less time on their books but do much better in exams．How could this happen? People used to think that hard work is the only way to success．But now they have understood that smart work can make them succeed, too．

     Hard workers don't mind working for long hours, while smart workers always think of several different answers to these questions, "Why should I suffer this?  Isn't there a better way to do this?" Thanks to these people, we can use computers instead of the abacus now．Progress in every field is the direct result of "try to find a better way" by smart workers．

There was a large soap factory in Japan． Once it received an unusual letter from someone who complained that there was no soap in the soapbox he bought．

How could empty soapboxes go out of the factory? The engineers checked the producing and packing The producing was fine, but in about one in ten thousand cases, the packing machine （机器）let an empty soapbox go．There was no need to spend a lot of money repairing the machine for such a small problem．The engineer soon worked out a solution: he put a huge X-ray （X光射线） machine and two large computers to find out the empty soapboxes．After teaching the workers how to use it, he sat down in his seat, exhausted．

     "Sir, we could have solved the problems in a much simpler and cheaper way," a worker said．

     "Really? How? "

     "We can put a huge fan （风扇） near the packing machine． The wind coming from the fan will blow away the empty boxes, leaving the other boxes with soap．There would be no need for an X-ray machine, two computers, and operating by workers．"

     See, this is smart work． In order to succeed, we should not only work hard like the engineer, but also think smart like this worker．

根据短文内容，选择最佳答案。

1．Some students spend much less time on schoolwork but do much better in exams _______.

A．because of their hard work

B．because of different education

C．because they try to find a better way

D．because they study for a much longer time

2．Someone wrote to the soap factory and complained that _______.

A．the soapbox he bought was empty

B．their soap was too expensive

C．the soap he bought was terrible

D．their service was very bad

3．The soap factory could only _______ near the packing machine to solve the problems in a much simpler and cheaper way．

A．set some soapboxes

B．set an X-ray machine

C．put two large computers

D．put a huge fan

4．The phrase "blow away" here in Chinese means _______.

A．停止                   B．吹走                     C．熄灭                      D．逃脱

5．The article mainly tells us that we should _______ in order to succeed．

A．think of different answers to our questions

B．spend much less time on our schoolwork

C．work hard like the engineer and think smart like the worker

D．spend enough money repairing the machine for any problem

Dear Helen,
How are you? I’m in Beijing now. I study(学习) in Bayi High School. I like Beijing very much. I have two good friends here. They are Rose and Xu Ting. Rose is from America and Xu Ting is from China. We are in the same class. Xu Ting often helps me with my Chinese. So I can speak a little Chinese now. The teachers are all kind to me.
I like Chinese food here, like Guangdong food, Sichuan food and Shandong food. They are very nice. For breakfast, I have milk and bread. My favorite food is jiaozi. I often have jiaozi for lunch and noodles(面条) for dinner. Sometimes(有时) we go out to have dinner. What about you?
Yours,
Linda
根据短文内容，选择最佳答案。
【小题1】Where is Linda now?
A. In Canada.   B. In Japan.    C. In China.
【小题2】Where is Rose from?
A. America. B. England. C. Cuba.
【小题3】Who helps Linda with her Chinese?
A. Rose.    B. Xu Ting. C. Helen.
【小题4】What does Linda have for breakfast?
A. Noodles and jiaozi.  B. Rice and eggs.   C. Bread and milk.
【小题5】Which(哪个) is NOT right?
A. Rose, Xu Ting and Linda are in different classes.
B. Linda’s teachers are kind to her.
C. Jiaozi is Linda’s favorite food.

One day, I happened to meet an Englishman in the street and soon we began to talk. As I was talking about how I was studying English, the foreigner seemed to be very surprised, gently shaking his head and saying “You don’t say!”
I was confused, and I thought, “Perhaps this is not a right thing to talk about.” Then I said to him, “Well, shall we talk about the Great Wall? Have you ever visited it?”
“Certainly! Everyone back home will laugh at me if I leave here without seeing it. The Great Wall is wonderful! ” “Yes, it is one of the wonders in the world. And people of many countries have come to visit it.” As I went on telling him more about it, he stopped me again, “You don’t say!”
I couldn’t help asking, “Why couldn’t I talk about it?”
“Well, I didn’t stop you talking about it,” he answered, greatly surprised.
“Didn’t you say ‘You don’t say!’?” I asked again.
Hearing this, the foreigner laughed loudly. He began to explain, “’You don’t say!’ means ‘Really’. Perhaps you know little about English idioms(习惯用语).”
Wow! How foolish I was! Since then I have been careful with English idioms.
【小题1】What made the foreigner laugh loudly?

Dear David,

How are you ? I’m fine. I’m in London, at the International School of English. I’m in Class 3 with eight students . They are from different countries---Spain, Japan, Argentina, Switzerland and Thailand. Our teacher’s name is Henry . He’s very nice. He’s a very good teacher.

I’m living with an English family. Mr and Mrs Brown have three children. Thomas is fourteen, Catharine is twelve, and Andrew is seven. They are all very friendly, but it isn’t easy to understand them !

London is very big and very interesting. The weather is cold but sunny and the parks are beautiful! Hyde Park , Green Park and ST.Jame’s Park are all in the city centre(中心）.

English food is OK, but the coffee is horrible!

Write to me soon .

                                                            Love,

                                                            Paula

1.The letter is from ___________ .

A. David   B. Paula   C. Paula’s classmate  D. Paula’s teacher

2.The writer’s class has ________.

A. many students         B. eight students

C. nine students         D. eight girls

3.The writer（作者） lives ____________.

A. at school             B. in a hotel 

C. with her classmates    D. at Mr Brown’s home

4.Hyde Park is __________.

A. in a school B. in London  C. next to London D. Small

5.The letter is NOT about ____________.

A. the writer’s classmates        B. the writer’s teacher

C. the writer’s dinner            D. London