Ask someone what they have done to help the environment recently and they will almost certainly mention recycling. Recycling in the home is very important of course. However, being forced to recycle often means we already have more material than we need. We are dealing with the results of that over-consumption in the greenest way possible, but it would be far better if we did not need to bring so much material home in the first place.

The total amount of packaging increased by 12% between 1999 and 2005. It now makes up a third of a typical household’s waste in the UK. In many supermarkets nowadays food items are packaged twice with plastic and cardboard.

Too much packaging is doing serious damage to the environment. The UK, for example, is running out of it for carrying this unnecessary waste. If such packaging is burnt, it gives off greenhouse gases which go on to cause the greenhouse effect. Recycling helps, but the process itself uses energy. The solution is not to produce such items in the first place. Food waste is a serious problem, too. Too many supermarkets encourage customers to buy more than they need. However, a few of them are coming round to the idea that this cannot continue, encouraging customers to reuse their plastic bags, for example.

But this is not just about supermarkets. It is about all of us. We have learned to associate packaging with quality. We have learned to think that something unpackaged is of poor quality. This is especially true of food. But is also applies to a wide range of consumer products, which often have far more packaging than necessary.

There are signs of hope. As more of us recycle, we are beginning to realise just how much unnecessary material are collecting. We need to face the wastefulness of our consumer culture, but we have a mountain to climb.

1. What does the underlined phrase “over-consumption” refer to?

A. Using too much packaging.

B. Recycling too many wastes.

C. Making more products than necessary.

D. Having more material than is needed.

2. The author uses figures in Paragraph 2 to show _______.

A. the tendency of cutting household waste

B. the increase of packaging recycling

C. the rapid growth of super markets

D. the fact of packaging overuse

3. According to the text, recycling ______.

   A. helps control the greenhouse effect

   B. means burning packaging for energy

   C. is the solution to gas shortage

   D. leads to a waste of land

4. What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?

   A. Unpackaged products are of bad quality.

   B. Supermarkets care more about packaging.

   C. It is improper to judge quality by packaging.

   D. Other products are better packaged than food.

5. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

   A. Fighting wastefulness is difficult.

   B. Needless material is mostly recycled.

   C. People like collecting recyclable waste.

   D. The author is proud of their consumer culture.

Read the following passage．Answer the questions according to the information given in the passage and required words limit．Write your answers on your answer sheet.

Richard Wagner was a German musician who lived in the mid-19^th century．He gained fame by writing opera, a form of performance combining singing, music on instruments, and drama.

Wagner’s life and work have been very controversial(有争议的)．While he wrote excellent music, many people think his operas are too dark and serious, lacking tile fun common in operas written before his time.

Wagner, on the other hand, thought the opera of his time was too simple．He wanted to make opera a serious form of art that combined drama and music to tell deep stories that would have a strong effect on the audience.

Some people thought Wagner’s new kind of music was too different from the operas they were used to hearing．Wagner agreed with them．In fact, he didn’t call his works “operas” at all, using instead a German word that means “Musical Festival” or “Musical play”.

While many people today still do not like Wagner’s operas, they cannot deny that Wagner had a lot of influence on opera as a form of art．Wagner invented the tradition of turning off the lights before starting a play．He also was the first person to make the whole audience sit down for an entire play．Today, almost all operas are performed in this manner.

Wagner as a man was even more controversial than Wagner as a writer of music．He hated Jewish people, slept with his friends’ wives, and made many people angry, which we would today think of as evil．Some would say he was a good musician, while others would say that he was a bad musician．But it would be difficult to say he was not an important person in music and in the world.

81．What is the best word that describes Wagner? (no more than one word)

82．What does the underlined word “deep” in Para．3 mean? (no more than 3 words)

83．Why does the author say “Wagner as a man was even more controversial”? (no more than 15 words)

84．List two things that showed Wagner had a lot of influence on opera? (no more than 30 words)

After we meet people it is up to us to make them our friends．Let us stop a moment and consider what really makes a friend．The major qualities like faithfulness, devotion, friendly company, flash through our minds．But it is the large number of very small particular qualities that make up one’s whole character, such as cheerfulness, friendliness, and punctuality (守时).After all, “ to make a friend, be a friend” is not such a big and difficult order．There are particular favorable qualities, which attract others to us, and some elements which do have an effect on people in fundamental psychology(基础心理学) or not.

If you are in the presence of a shy person, talking and asking casual (随意的) questions may bring him out of his shell．Think of what would be most acceptable to the other person, for you to talk, or to listen．Either way the goal is to make yourself pleasant.

Always remember to listen, but listen intelligently．To have anyone “ hang on our words” is the most unnoticeably clever way in the world to please somebody．For a few extremely happy seconds we are the centre of attraction, but when it is our turn to be audience, let us remember how we felt as the actor, and let’s be genuinely (真正地) interested in what the other fellow is saying.

Other people will like us, if we like them．If you want friends, keep your mind and heart open to friendship．Be alive to the other person’s world.

1.This passage is mainly about_________________.

     A．the ways of talking to a shy person

     B．some favorable qualities to be a psychologist

     C．how to make yourself attractive to your listeners

     D．how to make a friend and be a friend

2.The words “ bring him out of his shell” in this passage most probably means ____.

     A．make him become active    

       B．make him feel more nervous

     C．help him understand the question better

     D．help him listen intelligently

3.According to the passage, an important way in making friends is to ________.

     A．attract them               B．be attracted 

       C．listen attentively            D．talk widely

4.The words “ Be alive to” in the last sentence of this passage most probably means________.

     A．be aware of                 B．keep with   

       C．deal with             D．be ignorant of

When Xia Min started drinking alcohol with her classmates at a friend’s birthday, she didn’t realize what would happen to her. She drank a lot and fell into a coma (昏迷). The 15year-old girl from Chongqing never recovered.

Xia’s death is warning to other students. A new rule went into effect on January 1, 2006. Teens are not allowed to buy or drink alcohol. Shops are not allowed to sell it to them.

A 1999 Chinese law forbade (禁止) shops to sell alcohol to youths under 18. But it is not taken seriously by shopkeepers because it doesn’t have specific rules. People hope the new rule will work.

“I tasted alcohol when having the dinner of the last New Year’s Eve,” said Lian Yuqi, a 16-year-old girl in Xiamen. She believes that the new rule will stop teens from drinking and help them grow in a healthy way.

“Although it may be a little disappointing not to have beer at parties, I think we can have soft drinks instead,” she said.

1.Xia Min died from alcohol at the age of ______.

A. 15       B. 16       C. 17       D. 18

2. The underlined word “it” means ________.

A. a warning sing           B. a shopkeeper 

C. the new rule         D. a 1999 Chinese law

3.We can know that ________.

A. it is against the new rule for youths under 18 to drink alcohol

B. shops can sell alcohol to a 16 years old youth.

C. without an ID card, young people can’t buy alcohol

D. it seems that the young girl, Liang Yuqi, likes to drink alcohol

4.According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

A. The new rule has worked very well.

B. Shopkeepers can sell alcohol to teens above 18.

C. China’s legal drinking age is clearly under18.

D. Many teens drink alcohol to show they’ve grown up.

5.This passage is mainly about _______.

A. the harm of drinking alcohol

B. the legal age for drinking alcohol

C. a new rule to stop teens drinking

D. student’s ideas about drinking alcohol