Fat and shy, Ben Saunders was the last kid in his class picked for any sports team. “Football, tennis, cricket - anything with a round ball, I was useless,” he says now with a laugh. But back then he was the one always made fun of in school gym classes in Devonshire, England.
It was a mountain bike he received for his 15th birthday that changed him. At first he went biking alone in a nearby forest. Then he began to ride the bike along with a runner friend. Gradually, Saunders set up his mind on building up his body, increasing his speed and strength. At the age of 18, he ran his first marathon.
The following year he met John Ridgway and started to work as an instructor at Ridgway’s school of adventure（冒险） in Scotland, where he learnt about Ridgway’s cold-water exploits. Greatly interested, Saunders read all he could about North Pole explorers and adventures, he decided that this would be his future.
In 2001, after becoming a skillful skier, Saunders started his first long-distance expedition （探险）towards the North Pole. It took unbelievable energy. He suffered frostbite（冻伤）, ran into a polar bear and pushed his body to the limit, pulling his sled up and over the rocky mountains.
Saunders has since become the youngest person to ski alone to the North Pole, and he’s skied more of the North Pole by himself than any other British man. His old playmates would not believe the change.
【小题1】 What changed Saunders according to Paragraph 2?

A．A friend’s words.	B．A mountain bike.
C．His 18th birthday gift.	D．His first marathon.

【小题2】What did Saunders do in 2001?

A．He decided to build up his body.

B．He met John Ridgway in Scotland.

C．He worked as an instructor at school.

D．He took an adventure to the North Pole.

【小题3】What does the story mainly tell us about Saunders?

A．He is a success in sports.	B．He is the youngest British skier.
C．He is Ridgway’s best student.	D．He is a good instructor at school.

For the 17 years my life was very happy. Then the first sad thing happened. My mother became very ill. Just before she died, she asked Elizabeth and me to go to her room. She said, “Victor and Elizabeth, I’m very happy because you love each other, and because one day you’ll get married. Everyone in the family loves you, Elizabeth. Will you take my place in the family, my dear? I can die happy if you look after them when I have gone.”

My mother died and we were very sad, because we loved her so much. Elizabeth was brave and helped us; her sweet smile gave us some happiness in the unhappy days after my mother’s death. The time came for me to go to university(大学). I didn’t want to leave my sad family, but we all knew that I should go. It was hard to leave, too, because the parents of my good friend Henry would not let him go to university with me. So I had gone alone.

On my first day at university I met Professor Waldman. He gave a wonderful talk to all the students. He ended his talk by saying, “Some of you will become the greatest scientists of tomorrow. You must study hard and discover everything that you can.”

After the professor’s talk, I thought very carefully. I remembered the storm when I was 15; I remembered how the lightning had destroyed the tree. From then on, I wanted to use electricity to help people, and I wanted to discover the secrets of life. I decided to work on these two things.

I started to work the next day. I worked very hard and soon Professor Waldman and I realized that I could learn to be a very good scientist.

The professor and other important scientists helped me. I was interested in my work and I did not take one day’s holiday during the next two years. After two years, I had discovered many things and I built a scientific machine that was the best in the university. My machine would help me answer the most important question of all. How does life begin? Is it possible to put life into dead things? To answer these questions about life I had to learn first about death. I had to watch bodies from the moment when they died and the warm life left them. In the hospital and in the university, I watched the dying and the dead. Day after day, month after month, I followed death, so it was a dark and terrible time.

I built a tall mast(桅杆)about 150 metres high, which is higher than the tallest building in the city, to catch lightning and send the electricity down to my machine in the lab. I believed I could use that electricity to give life to things that were dead.

Then one day, the answer came to me. Suddenly I was sure that I knew the secret of life.

1.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Elizabeth married shortly after Victor’s mother died.

B．Elizabeth was a brave girl who loved Victor and gave him much help.

C．Victor’s mother was very angry when she knew he loved Elizabeth.

D．Victor did not want to leave his family because his mother died not long before.

2.Victor did all the following during his research in the university EXCEPT that ______.

A．he discovered many things and built a scientific machine

B．he learnt much about death both in the hospital and in the university

C．he worked hard and took only one day’s holiday during the next two years

D．he built a tall mast to catch lightning and send the electricity down to the lab

3.According to the writer, the secret of life is to _______.

A．give life to things that were dead

B．build the best machine to learn about death

C．use electricity to help others

D．become the greatest scientist of tomorrow

4.Which is the correct order about the life of Victor?

① Victor’s mother passed away.

② Victor got help from the professor and other scientists.

③ Victor went to university and attended the professor’s talk.

④ Victor found the answer to giving life to things that were dead.

⑤ Victor experienced a storm, seeing the lightning destroying the tree.

A．①②③④⑤                           B．⑤①②④③

C．①③②⑤④                           D．⑤①③②④

 

Hi, my name is Wang Jun. Do you want to know about my staying in America? Well, to tell you the truth, it is really an eye-opening experience here.
In China, I had English classes five times a week since Grade Five. But I didn’t know textbook English could be so different from everyday English until I came to Hotchkiss School, Connecticut. When I first studied English, I was told to say “I’m fine.” when people say “How are you?” But in the USA, I found that people say “I’m good.” or “I’m tired.”
One day, someone greeted （问候） me with “What’s up?” It made me confused. I thought for a moment and then smiled because I didn’t know what to say.
Since then, I have learnt more and more differences between Chinese and American cultures. To my surprise, American girls spend a lot of time in the burning sun getting a tan (晒黑的肤色). In China, girls try every possible way to keep their skin white.
American students are hard-working like Chinese students. In China, schoolwork is almost everything, so we study hard and that’s it. But here, a “good” student not only gets good grades, but also does a lot for the public. That is to say, they get lots of knowledge at school and learn many life skills from social （社会的） work.
【小题1】In China, Wang Jun had _______ English classes every week.

A．five

B．four

C．three

D．two

【小题2】Wang Jun found that _______ when he came to Hotchkiss School in the USA.
A. it was really important to learn English well
B. English he learnt in China was helpful to him
C. American students were more hard-working than Chinese students
D. textbook English was different from everyday English
【小题3】What does the underlined word “confused” mean in Chinese?

A．困惑的

B．滑稽的

C．紧张的

D．伤心的

【小题4】American girls make Wang Jun feel surprised because _______.

A．they work hard at school	B．they try to keep their skin white
C．they hope to get a tan	D．they do lots of social work

【小题5】Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A．My wonderful travel in the USA	B．After-school activities in American schools
C．What American students learn at school	D．My study experience in the USA

smoking  stop  unhealthy  allowed  badly started  easily  living  thought  named

Tang Ling often smoked cigarettes(香烟) in his school’s washing room. He  1  smoking at the age of 14. One day he learnt that the NBA star Yao Ming, an ambassador(大使) to the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control (中国控烟协会), asked people not to smoke. Yao Ming was Tang’s favorite star, and his words meant a lot to him. He decided to give up  2  .
According to the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, about 350 million Chinese smoke.  Among them, 50 million are teenagers. Sun Jiangping of Beijing University said, “ Teenagers can get cigarettes  3  , especially when their parents smoke or shops sell cigarettes to them. It’s very important for parents to help their children  4  smoking.”
A 15-year-old boy  5  Li Kun from Beijing said his parents didn’t smoke. Because they  6  smoking could make people feel  7  ill, they only  8  him to play with friends without smoking.  9  in such a good family helped Li say no to cigarettes. Some of his smoking classmates once told Li that smoking made boys look cool, but Li disagreed. He said, “Smoking is  10  and it’s not cool at all. Please stop smoking now!”