A new weapon (武器) is on the way in the fight against smoking in Europe. Soon when smokers buy cigarettes they might see a shocking photo of a blackened lung or a cancer patient staring back at them from the packet.

Some boys may think of smoking as cool and sexy. Their friends won’t agree when they see their packets of cigarettes lying on the table. The European Union announced that it had chosen 42 photos that showed the damage cigarettes could do to the body, calling on member nations to put these pictures on packets to discourage smokers. To catch the attention of teenagers, the special packets warn of long-term medical dangers, like cancer. Short-term effects, like bad skin, are also on the list.

“The true face of smoking is disease, death and horror. That is the message we should send to the young,” said David Byrne, an EU health official. “Hopefully these pictures will shock students out of their love for cigarettes.”

The EU head office hoped the pictures would work better than current (当前) written warnings on packs of cigarettes. The warnings included “smoking kills” and “smoking can lead to a slow and painful death”.

So far, Ireland and Belgium have shown interest in the photos. Canada has used similar pictures and warnings on cigarette packs since 2000. The country has recently seen a fall in the number of smokers. According to studies, smoking is the single biggest cause of avoidable deaths in the EU. Every year more than 650,000 smokers die, more than one person a minute.

By saying “a new weapon is on the way”, the writer means the EU is going to have _____ .

   A. the true face of smoking shown everywhere                     

   B. shocking photos printed on cigarette packets      

   C. written warnings printed on the cigarette packs                      

D. pictures put up where cigarettes are sold                            

The pictures chosen by the EU are supposed to mainly work on _____ .

   A. young smokers                  B. smokers in Ireland and Belgium

C. male smokers                   D. young smokers’ friends

What can we learn from the passage?

   A. Canada has been the first to use the EU’s “weapon”.            

 B. Most smokers don’t quite believe the written warnings.  

C. The new form of warning has already been proved to work.

D. Smoking has caused more deaths than anything else in the EU.

Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

   A. Smoking Is Cool And Sexy.        B. A New Weapon to Fight Smoking.

   C. Young Smokers in The EU.        D. Deaths from Smoking.

A morning rarely began so perfect. I took in the fresh air and felt my heart run into an enthusiastic rhythm. Though cool, the sun warmed my back as it rose over the horse from not far from my house. The slightest wind danced on my skin. Just enough to keep a runner form overheating. My ever-faithful jogging partner, a black dog named Nika pulled my leg with her mouth, mirroring my eagerness to start our run.

We raced forward with determination, ready to leap tall buildings and race against speeding trains. We pushed harder and ran faster, demonstration our skill and impressing passing motorists and neighbors.

We kept on running until we hit the Beast, a name for a very difficult, nearly two-mile long steep climb.

Only a few paces into the Beast, I gasped for air. Far short of superhero status, my enthusiasm and active steps were lost somewhere at the base of the hill. A vision of the newspaper and a cup of coffee waiting in my kitchen appeared, attracting me to turn back toward home.

With a glance I noticed Nika wasn’t doing any better. She continued to faithfully follow me, putting one paw in front of the other, but without her former eagerness. Her tiredness touched me. And in that moment, I felt a sudden spark of renewed determination to press on. I couldn’t allow this mountain to get the better of us. To improve both our spirits, I managed to shout, “Good girl, Nika! Keep going…you can do it!”

“I’m encouraging a dog, for heaven’s sake!’’ I needed to pull myself together. With a few simple words, I changed our course. One moment we were on the edge of quitting. The next, our feet picked up the pace and we continued. Though tired and discouraged myself, with a few kind words I impacted a dog’s ability to go further. I’m sure I could have completed the opposite with ill-chosen comments and an unpleasant tone. Instead, the Beast was defeated and we flew like heroes the rest of the way home.

Life is full of beasts to conquer. For some, it is the seemingly impossible climb of cancer. For others, their beast takes the shape of parenting a child or a teenager. Uphill climbs come in all shapes and sizes, common only in their ability to defeat, discourage and tempt tired travelers to quit. Sometimes all that’s needed is a few spoken, well-timed words of encouragement from a fellow runner – someone who sees the struggle, dares to jogs alongside, and cares enough to say, “Keep going! You can do it! You’re not alone. I believe in you!”

The writer starts the text by describing________.

A. the beautiful scene of the morning  

B. his or her preparations for a jogging

C. a lively dog named Nika

D. the growth of crops at the farm

The writer mentioned the newspaper and coffee to suggest that he or she _______.

A. liked reading newspapers while drinking coffee

B. had an intention to give up running

C. would treat himself or herself to coffee after running

D. might appear on the newspaper for the long running

The writer decided to continue running _______.

A. after he or she found the dog was still energetic

B. because they came near the top of the hill

C. when he or she noticed the tired dog

D. before they arrived at the bottom of the hill

What does the writer expect to show by telling the story?

A. Words are powerful than deeds.

B. Beasts in life aren’t easily to conquer.

C. Dogs are the best friend of humans.

D. Try it one more time before giving up.

On the border, a pack of wild dogs circled the soldiers for food． The leader of the pack was a gray- and-white dog called Nubs． He was   11  and hardly able to stand． Marine major Brian Dennis looked   12  and saw that there was a knife wound in his chest．
Dennis couldn't stand seeing the dog   13_．He and his men immediately treated the wound, and  gave Nubs medicine．Nubs pulled through but was still in   14 ．The next day, the team had to  15  . Ten days later, Dennis' unit was back, and so was Nubs． He was still   16 ，but the men fed him and  played with him．
Before long the unit once again left for the front 70 miles away． Nubs, slowly but 17  , followed them far into the trackless wasteland _ 18  the men lost sight of him．Two days later, beyond Dennis'   19  , he saw Nubs just outside the outpost（前哨）．The dog had  20  him across 70 miles of frozen desert to meet with the friend who had   21 his life．From then on Nubs and the men   22 in the same place, and ran around in the same ruins（废墟）．                          
Until an order came that they were not   23_ to have pets, Dennis decided to make sure the dog would  24 _ to live the good life．So he quickly raised $4,000 from his family and friends to 25 Nubs to America．
A year later, when Dennis and the dog were   26  in California, at first Nubs didn't   27  the guy．But within minutes, the dog jumped into Dennis' arms, jumping   28   again and again to lick his friend's face．
A little love and concern in the middle of   29 will not save a violent world． But small stories, like the story of a soldier and a clog, hold a  30  of a harmonious（和谐的）world．

A friend of mine met with an accident driving in darkness. His legs were so hurt that he couldn’t move. What was the   1  was that he found himself unable to ask for help—his mobile phone went out of   2   as a result of exhausted battery (无电) . Nothing could be done but to   3   in cold wilderness (荒野). It was eight hours later that day broke, and then   4   of the rescue (援救).
It is almost   5   that he could stand （忍受）the horror in the darkness for so long. Even more surprising was his   6  : “First of all, I checked up my   7     conditions and found myself not in mortal (致命的) danger. As there was no   8   to call for help, I leaned back in my seat trying my best to keep the wound from   9  . In this way I dozed (瞌睡) off.”
His story put an end to my regret (遗憾) for the   10   of an exploration adventure (探险) that happened last year. A group of young men   11   to explore a mountain cave and got lost.   12   to find a way out in the dark cave they were frightened and ran anxiously without a sense of   13  . Finally they felt dead in fear and exhaustion. According to the   14   people that found them, the place where they got lost was only about 10 meters away from the   15   of the cave. If they stayed on the spot when they lost their way and tried to   16   themselves, they would probably sense a faint light glimmering (闪烁) not far away.
Don’t you think you can compare it with   17   itself? When you meet with difficulty in life and work, you are lost in darkness.   18   you it’s unclear yet and you needn’t put up struggle   19 . It seems to be a negative （消极）attitude,   20   a person who can afford to do so must have foresight (远见) as well as a great courage in the first place.

“A very disruptive（扰乱型的）six-year old child kicked my legs and clawed at my hand.” said one teacher. “I broke up a fight but was kicked，” said another. Many people have heard stories like this. But the situation is more worrying still and it involves(涉及) parents.
Every child, regardless of(不管) the surroundings into which they are born，has the right to achieve their potential. And we recognize that, as a nation，it is a long way to achieve this goal. But rights come with responsibilities and what worries people is that we are in danger of ignoring the latter.
Far too many children are behaving badly at school，even to the point of being violent to teachers. This is terrible enough，but it is hard to be surprised since many children are just mirroring the behavior of their parents. Too many are starting school unable to hold a knife and fork, unused to eating at a table，and unable to use the toilet properly.
We are in danger of becoming a nation of families living separate lives under one roof. The bedroom, once a place to sleep，has become the living space for the young. Spending hours in front of computer screens, on social networking sites or being addicted to computer games, children and young people spend little time with their parents. Parents are unable to monitor just what their children are watching.
Schools cannot right the wrongs of society and teachers cannot become substitute (代替)parents. Both parties need to work together. Parents must be helped and given confidence to take back control. They are responsible for setting limits to their children’s behavior and sticking to those limits when things get tough(困难). They are responsible for setting a good example to their children and for devoting that most precious of resources---time---so that children come to school ready and willing to learn.
【小题1】In the opinion of the writer, what problem do people ignore?