On September 22, 2007, 108 Chinese cities took part in Car-Free Day, a global event held every year, for the first time.

   China became the world’s second-largest auto market and third-largest car-maker in 2006. It has also become the second-largest greenhouse gas producer in the world, and is rapidly catching up with the United States. In this sense, China’s participation will greatly promote the Car-Free Day movement.

   The number of cars on the road is going up rapidly in China. In Beijing, about 1,000 new cars are added to the streets on an average day.

   Cars certainly offer people plenty of freedom to move around. But in many Chinese cities, appearance of too many cars has turned into a major problem. Getting stuck in traffic jams is an everyday experience for drivers.

   Even worse is the environmental impact（影响）caused by cars. According to a national report, on a “smog day”, 79 percent of the air pollution is caused by cars.

   The growing number of traffic accidents is another problem. Over 100,000 people die from traffic accidents every year in China, which is by far the highest number of road deaths in the world.

   108 cities’ participation in Car-Free Day shows growing public concern about the traffic and environmental problems caused by cars.

   On this day, all cars were banned from running in selected areas of the participating cities. People were encouraged to walk, cycle and use public transport. According to experts, the carbon monoxide in the atmosphere produced by cars was reduced by 3,000 tons on Car-Free Day.

   With cleaner air and smoother traffic flow on the day, more cities will hopefully want to join the event next year. And more people might share the hope that Car-Free Day is not just on September 22, but a possibility 365 days of the year.

1.From the passage, we can know that China ______.

A. has the world’s highest number of road deaths

B. has the world’s largest auto market

C. is the world’s largest greenhouse gas producer

D. is the world’s second-largest car-maker

2.Which of the following is discussed in the passage?

A. The causes of car growth in China.  

B. The effects of car growth in China.

C. The history of World Car-Free Day. 

D. The popularity of World Car-Free Day.

3.On Car-Free Day in 2007, 108 cities in China ______.

A. didn’t allow people to drive   

B. didn’t have air pollution

C. called on people to drive less  

D. called on people to drive freely

4. Car-Free Day in China will ______.

A. be held all the year round

B. stop air pollution and traffic jams

C. attract more people to join in

D. reduce the production of cars

 

MAY 14 marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel(以色列). Many Israelis, however, are not in the mood to celebrate.

Looking at the damage to her neighbor's home from a Palestinian（巴勒斯坦） rocket, Batia Katar, a 17-year-old Israeli girl, was in tears. "We can't celebrate (Israel's) independence when things like this are happening," she said.

What is clear is that Israel is not a normal country. The country has a dramatic (戏剧性) history and ancient culture but has only officially existed for 60 years. Within hours after it was established in 1948, Israel was at war with its Arab neighbors for land. It won that time, and in 1956, 1967 and 1973, acquiring the West Bank, the Golan Heights, Gaza and east Jerusalem. For good or ill, Israelis can take pride in victories with so many countries. However, it occupied much more land than the United Nations agreed, which left local Palestinians homeless.

Different from all its neighbors in religion, Israel is also far more successful economically than its neighbors. Though, it gets a great amount of support from America and other Western countries. The country is now a world leader in many industries, such as IT and modern agriculture.

However, conflict exists, just like 60 years ago. And the signal of peace is as weak as ever. Palestinian militants (武装人员) have fired more than 7,000 missiles  from Gaza, mainly at Sedro, killing 13 people. In the same period hundreds of Palestinian civilians  in Gaza have died in Israeli military action.

In order to create peace, the world community hopes both sides accept and follow the Middle East peace plan. Optimists believe through Israeli-Palestinian negotiations there will finally be peace.

Both Israelis and Palestinians want to live in peace without explosions that remind them that they are living in a special but dangerous place.

1.  Why are many Israelis not in the mood to celebrate the both anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel? Because         .

A．the government didn't organize it

B．they are too busy to attend it

C．it is dangerous to celebrate it

D．conflicts and fights still exist

2.  The underlined word established in the fourth paragraph means         .

A．defeated          B．founded          C．attacked          D．accepted

3.  Israel is not a normal country because         .

A．the country has a dramatic history and ancient culture but has only officially existed for 60 years

B．within hours after its establishment, Israel was at war with its Arab neighbors for land

C．it occupied much more land than the UN agreed, which left local Palestinians homeless

D．all of the above

4.  Which statement about Israel is NOT true according to the passage?

A．It became a country in 1948.

B．It is different from all its neighbors in religion.

C．It is now a world leader in many industries, such as IT and modern agriculture.

D．No country has supported it since it was founded.

5.  It can be inferred from the passage that         .

A．it is still a question mark whether Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace

B．Israel was created as a homeland for homeless Jews

C．for good or ill, Israelis can take pride in victories with so many countries

D．Israel is far more successful economically than its neighbors

 

Americans have taken over from the Indians many things besides their continent! Where did corn, potatoes, tomatoes, chocolate and maple sugar come from? The Indians. Who invented moccasins, snowshoes and hammocks? The Indians!

A list of the tools, plants, materials and designs we owe to the Indians would include hundreds of items. But there is something far more familiar, something that is always at hand. It is used daily by every American: a large vocabulary of Indian words.

Potato, tomato, chocolate, moccasin and hammock came into English from Indian languages. So did cocoa, tobacco, maize (an Indian word for corn) and succotash. Some words have changed on the way. Potato, for example, comes from a word that sounds like “batata”. Cocoa began as “cacahuatl”.

Some meanings have also changed. The long Indian word from which succotash comes means “something broken off in bits”. Indian women often varied their dishes by mixing bits of one food with another. White men who ate an Indian dish of mixed lima beans (青豆) and corn began using the Indian word to mean this particular mixture.

Put on your moccasins and take a walk in the country. If it is a cold day and you wear a mackinaw, your jacket will be as Indian as your shoes. But mackinaw came from “michilimackinac”, the Indian name of a place where a fort (集市) served as a trading post. Bright-colored blankets or jackets bought at the post soon became known as “mackinaws”.

Early white visitors to the continent found Indian words useful for the things new to them. But some Indian sounds, such as the “tl” at the end of many words, were hard to say. That is why “coyotl” became coyote and “tomatle” became tomato.

Some words simply seemed too long. So, “musickwautash” became succotash and “rockahominy” became hominy.

1.The first two paragraphs may serve as a(n)     .

A. explanation    B. introduction    C. comment    D. background

2. Which of the following has been changed for easier pronunciation?

A. Batata        B. Chocolate     C. Tomatle     D. Rockahominy

3. Some words have changed because       .

A.  they are too long

B.  nobody can use them

C.  the things they refer to have disappeared

D.  they are too difficult for people to write

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A.  How Indian traditions affect us.

B.  Why Indian words were changed.

C.   Things we owe to the Indians.

D.  Indian words all around us.

 

 

 

I arrived at my mother’s home for our Monday family dinner. The smells of food flew over from the kitchen. Mother was pulling out quilt(被子)after quilt from the boxes, proudly showing me their beauties. She was preparing for a quilt show at the Elmhurst Church. When we began to fold and put them back into the boxes, I noticed something at the bottom of one box. I pulled it out. “What is this?” I asked.

“Oh?” Mom said, “That’s Mama’s quilt.”

I spread the quilt. It looked as if a group of school children had pieced it together; irregular designs, childish pictures, a crooked line on the right.

“Grandmother made this?” I said, surprised. My grandmother was a master at making quilts. This certainly didn’t look like any of the quilts she had made.

“Yes, right before she died. I brought it home with me last year and made some changes,” she said. “I’m still working on it. See, this is what I’ve done so far.”

I looked at it more closely. She had made straight a crooked line. At the center of the quilt, she had stitched(缝) a piece of cloth with these words:  “My mother made many quilts. She didn’t get all lines straight. But I think this is beautiful. I want to see it finished. Her last quilt.”

“Ooh, this is so nice, Mom,” I said.

It occurred to me that by completing my grandmother’s quilt, my mother was honoring her own mother. I realized, too, that I held in my hands a family treasure. It started with the loving hands of one woman, and continued with the loving hands of another.

72. Why did the author go to mother’s home?

A. To see her mother’s quilts.           B. To help prepare for a show.

C. To get together for the family dinner.   D. To discuss her grandmother’s life.

73. The author was surprised because __________________.

A. the quilt looked very strange.         B. her grandmother liked the quilt.

C. the quilt was the best she had seen.    D. her mother had made some changes

74. The underlined word “crooked” in the passage most probably means __________ .

A. unfinished      B. broken      C. bent    D. unusual

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

A. Quilt Show     B. Mother’s Home  C. A Monday Dinner   D. Grandmother’s Quilt

 

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

Choosing the right job is probably one of the most important decisions we have to make in life, and it is frequently one of the hardest decisions we have to make. One important question that you might ask yourself is: “How do I get a good job?”___1.___.

There are people who can answer an insignificant advertisement in the local paper and land the best job in the world; others write to all sorts of places all over the country, and never seem to get a reply at all. Still others believe that the in person, door-to-door approach is by far the best way to get a job; and then there are those who, through no active decision of their own, just seem to be in the right place at the right time. __2.____. He used to spend a lot of his free time down by the sea watching the tall ships, but never thinking that he might one day sail one of them. His father was a farmer, and being a sailor could never be anything for the boy but an idle dream. One day, on his usual wandering, he heard the captain of the ship complaining that he could not sail because one member of his crew was sick. Without stopping to think, the lad(少年) offered to take his place. ___3.___.

_4.__. If the lad had gone home to ponder（考虑）his decision for a week, he may have missed his chance. It is one thing to be offered an opportunity; it is another thing to take it and use it well.

Sometimes we hear stories about people who break all the rules and still seem to land plum jobs（美差）. When you go for a job interview or fill out an application, you are expected to say nice things about the company to which you are applying. __5.___. And within a year this person had become general manger of the company.

A．This story also illustrates the importance of seizing an opportunity when it presents itself.

B．People find jobs in a great number of ways.

C．it’s almost impossible to find a good job by answering advertisement in newspapers

D．Take for example the young man who wanted to be a sailor.

E．But there was one person who landed an excellent job by telling the

interviewer all the company’s faults.

F．He spent the rest of his life happily sailing the ships he had always loved.

G．It is very important to seize an opportunity when it presents itself.