Although the New Year is already here, the great moments of the past year are still in the memory. Let’s look back at some of them.

United States

One of the world’s largest New Year’s Eve parties was held in Times Square, New York. The festival attracted hundreds of thousands of people to watch a brightly-lit ball drop on a landmark building at the stroke (击、打) of midnight.

A great amount of confetti (五彩纸屑) was released from the sky at zero o’clock.

Britain

Painted in shinning colors, blowing whistles, 50，000 party-goers arrived in London’s Millennium Dome to dance in the New Year. The Millennium Dome came to life at midnight as 50 DJs started up, competing on five separate dance floors to warm the crowd into the party mood.

Russia

New Year is the biggest holiday in Russia. It is traditional to put up a tree for celebrations with family and friends.

On the very last day of last year, Russians with a taste for a very cold swim braved freezing temperatures to plant traditional, festival trees on the bed of the Northern Ocean and at the bottom of Lake Baikal, the world’s deepest lake.

Malaysia

Brave skydivers threw themselves off the world’s tallest building near midnight and floated towards the New Year.

The jump from the 452-metre Petronas Twin Tower was called a real leap from one year to the next since the group took off in the last second of the old year and landed a minute later in the New Year. “That was really cool,” said Roland Simpson, “over crowds of onlookers to the landing spot.”

1.In New York the brightly-lit ball dropped ____________.

A．form the sky onto the Times Square

B．into the hundreds of thousands of watchers

C．to welcome the arrival of Christmas

D．at the point between the old and the New Year

2.Which of the following is NOT traditional to welcome a new year?

A．Sharing the happiness and excitement together.

B．Setting up a tree for celebrations.

C．Planting trees on the bed of a lake.

D．50 DJs’ competing on five separate floors.

3.People jumping from the tallest buildings _________.

A．spent two different years in the air.

B．stayed in the sky for two minutes.

C．landed over people’s heads.

D．floated away to the new land

4.The passage mainly shows that ________.

A．New Year has been the starting point for people to have dreams.

B．people in different countries welcomed New Year in different ways.

C．people’s ways of celebrations are exciting.

D．the New Year is better than the old year.

 

The basic flag of the United States is one of the world’s oldest national flags. Only the basic flags of Austria, Denmark, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzer land are older.

During the discovery and settlement of what is now the United States, the flags of various European nations were flown over the land, as symbols of possession. Later, in the Colonial and Revolutionary War periods, flags representing famous persons, places, and events were flown in the American Colonise.

The first official flag of the United States was created by Congress on June 14, 1777. It consisted of 13 alternate red and white stripes and 13 white stars in a field of blue, representing the 13 colonies that had declared their independence in 1776. Congress adopted a new flag of 15 stars and 15 stripes in 1795, to give representation to the two new states admitted into the Union, Vermont and Kentucky.

By 1817, there were 20 states in the Union, and it became apparent that adding one stripe for each new state would destroy the shape of the flag. As a result, Congress in 1818 restored the original design of 13 stripes and provided that each state was to be represented by one star. In 1921 Preside William H. Taft made the first official provision for the arrangement of the stars. He ordered that there be six even rows of eight stars each. Previously the arrangement of the stars had been left to the flag- maker’s fancy.

The evolution of the stars and stripes reflects the growth of the United States. After the admission of Hawaii into the Union in 1959, the flag was official changed for the 26th time since its creation.

There are many government flags flown in the United States in addition to the national flag. Among them are the president’s and vice- president’s flags and those of the federal departments and some federal agencies. Each state in the Union has an official flag. The United States Navy uses special flags for signaling.

The basic flag of the United States is _______.

A. the oldest national flag in the world

B. one of the world’ s oldest flags

C. the most beautiful flag in the West

D. as old as the basic flags of some European nations

Before the War of Independence the flags of various European nations flown over the land were symbols of _______.

A. self- rule    B. occupation

C. peace and friendship  D. independence

The first official flag of the United States was adopted ________.

A. before the Independence War

B. right after the Independence War

C. when independence was declared in 1776

D. during the War of Independence which ended in 1783

The 13 red and white stripes and 13 white stars represent _______.

A. 13 independent states

B. the colonies that declared independence in 1776.

C. the U. S. Congress

D. 13 famous figures in the American colonies

How many states were represented on the new flag adopted in 1795?

A. 13.            B. 15.

C. 20.     D. 2.

It’s nearly noon on a Saturday and you can’t believe it: your teenager is still in bed, sleeping away. But before you wake him up---mumbling to yourself that you can’t believe what a lazybones he is---you should know that he probably needs all the zzzs he can get.

As much as nine hours of sleep a night, in fact. Furthermore, teens’ circadian rhythms (i.e., processes that occur once a day) mean that young people would rather stay up past midnight and rise after 9 a.m. The result? Many teens stay up late, drag themselves out of bed early for school and try to make up the sleep debt on the weekends---or in class!

“There’s a biological reason why teens stay up late and want to sleep late,” says Dr. Stan Kutcher, the Sun Life Chair of Adolescent Mental Health at Dalhousie University in Halifax. “Their natural sleep-wake cycle changes as part of the maturation process. And because of changes in their social activities, recovering from sleep debt is more problematic.”

Teens need extra sleep for several reasons. First, their brains are changing. “The brain is reorganizing itself, laying down new pathways. What we’re seeing is a relationship between brain redevelopment and an increased need for sleep,” says Kutcher. As well, growth hormones are released during sleep, so adequate sleep is crucial for adolescents’ physical development. In addition, everything adolescents have learned in school that day is being processed and locked into long-term memory during sleep. Sufficient sleep also plays a key role in overall physical health. The immune system, for example, needs deep sleep to become and remain robust(healthy).

Staying up late on school nights means that, on average, teens get between six and a half and seven hours of sleep a night---about two hours less than they need. As a result, many either doze off in class or have trouble concentrating. Some of the behavioural problems and irritability in teens can be linked directly to sleep deprivation(损失), Kutcher says.

Then there’s the breakfast issue. Dr. Carlyle Smith, a sleep researcher and a psychology professor at Trent University in Peterborough, Ont., adds that many teens simply cannot tolerate food when they first wake up, so skipping breakfast becomes another factor in reduced alertness in class. The most obvious solution to the teen sleep problem is to have school start later in the day, but initiatives(积极性) toward this across the country have gone nowhere, Smith says, mainly because of costs and resistance from school boards and teachers.

So for now, just sympathize with your teens. Encourage them to go to bed, if not early, then at least at a regular time, so they won’t develop insomnia from erratic(不稳定的) schedules. Warn them not to have too many caffeinated drinks before bed. And don’t let sleeping away the weekend become an issue to fight over. Schedule family activities to take place later in the day on weekends and let them sleep in. “If you want your kids to grow and remember stuff, let them sleep,” says Smith. “It’s not laziness. Their brains are working really, really hard.”

1.The word “zzzs” (Paragraph 1) most probably means __________.

A．food             B．sleep             C．energy           D．blame

2.What causes teenagers to be less sleepy late at night and more sleepy early in the morning?

A．Caffeinated drinks.

B．Too much family activities.

C．Circadian rhythms.

D．Too much homework.

3.How many reason why teens need extra sleep are mentioned in Paragraph 4?

A．Three.            B．Four.             C．Five.             D．Six.

4.One of the reasons why many teenagers fail to have better performances in class is that __________.

A．teenagers go to bed early and sleep late

B．teenagers stay up late and get up late

C．teenagers participate in too many social activities at night

D．teenagers skip breakfast because of sleeping in

5.The author wrote this article to __________.

A．advise parents to let sleeping teenagers lie

B．explain why teenagers often sleep late

C．state schools should start late in the day

D．warn teenagers not to drink coffee before bed

 

Two Chinese living in South Africa were killed in a robbery (抢劫) on February 5, bringing the total number of Chinese killed in the country to four in less than a month.

Chen Jianqing, 35, from Southeast China's Fujian Province, who ran a shop with her husband in a small town 45 kilometers away from South African capital Johannesburg, was shot dead.

"One of her business partners died later in the hospital," the Chinese consulate (领事馆) officials in Johannesburg said yesterday. "Local police are trying to find more information about the case. And we have told the victims' (遇难者的) relatives and are helping them come to Johannesburg," Consul Wu Gang told China Daily. Chen's husband was injured during the robbery but did not suffer seriously, said Wu.

The robbery happened at about 5:45 pm local time and the armed robbers ran away after taking more than 50,000 South African rand (US $8,200) and some jewelry,  Xinhua News Agency reported.

The killing happened just three days after Chen Jingmin, a 23-year-old man from Qingdao, Shandong Province, was shot dead north outside Johannesburg by armed robbers. On January 10, a Hong Kong businessman was attacked and robbed at his home in Johannesburg and died the next day in the hospital. All these happened just in less than a month.

According to records, there were more than 40 robberies attacking Chinese in South Africa last year, in which eight were killed. More than 100,000 Chinese are doing various kinds of businesses in South Africa, according to a Chinese official in the country. An increasing number of them are becoming targets (目标) of robbers after buying big houses or luxury cars, the official said.

1.The passage is probably ______.

A. a business story                               B. a scientific article

C. a newspaper report                                   D. an official document

2.Who were killed on February 5 in a small town near Johannesburg?

A. Chen Jianqing and her husband.

B. Chen Jianqing and one of her partners.

C. Chen Jingmin and a Hong Kong businessman.

D. Chen Jingmin and one of his relatives.

3.How many Chinese were killed in South Africa since January ?

A. 2            B. 4.                     C. 5.           D. 8.

4._______are more likely to be robbed in South Africa.

A. Those Chinese who depend too much on local police

B. Those Chinese who live near the capital of South Africa

C. Those Chinese who open shops selling Chinese goods

D. Those Chinese who leave others the impression of being rich

 

The ISS project is a partnership of five - the US, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada.

At the moment, no program for its use nor any money has been put in place to support the platform beyond 2015.  

One of the biggest issues stopping an agreement on station-life extension（延长期） is the human spaceflight examination ordered by US President Barack Obama.

The Americans are developing a new vision for space exploration, and the rockets and spacecraft they will need to start it. The future of US joining in the ISS is closely tied to the result of the examination.

Mr Dordain, the European Space Agency's (Esa) Director General, said no one partner in the ISS project could alone call an end to the platform. A meeting would be held in Japan later in the year where he hoped the partners could get something clearly going forward. He said it was also necessary the benefits（成效） were increased and the costs were reduced. Increasing the benefits could include finding new uses for the station.

Esa has called for ideas on how to use the ISS as a platform for Earth observation（观测站）. Mr Dordain said the agency had received about 20 very good proposals.

On the issue of reducing costs, there were many ideas on the table, he explained.

He also questioned whether it was necessary for the station to have six astronauts at all times. If there were periods when little maintenance（维修） was required or the experiment load was light, could the ISS run on a smaller group of people, he suggested.

Construction of the space station should finish this year. Next month, two components built in Europe - a connecting node and a robotic control room - will be flown to the platform by the US shuttle Endeavour.

Tranquility and the Cupola, as they are known, will complete the non-Russian side of the ISS.

1.Why will America joining in the ISS be tied to the result of the examination?

A．Because America is the greatest power among them

B．Because America provides most of the money

C．Because they need America’s rockets and spacecraft

D．Because Obama ordered the human spaceflight examination

2.According to Mr Dordain, how should they do to reduce costs?

A．To find new uses for the station

B．To make little maintenance

C．To reduce the experiment load

D．To have fewer astronauts sometimes

3.Where do you think you can read this passage?

A．In a story book                         B．In a handbook

C．In an advertisement                     D．In a newspaper