The 2012 London Olympic Games are around the corner. If you have the chance to visit Britain yourself, you can see at every bus stop the British people form a queue. You may have read about it, but you will still feel amazed to see it with your own eyes.

It’s an amazing social behavior; it brings the British to a higher level of civilization(文明). At least that is what one German professor thinks. The professor named Joseph Heinrich and his workmates say that standing in line is the “highest form of cooperative(协作的) group behavior”.

The social rules(细则) of standing in line are also interesting. For example, you need to be able to decide the correct distance to the person in front of you. Get too close and there is a danger of entering other people’s personal space. This is a serious mistake and often makes other people angry. However, when you leave too much space, the next person is likely to ask: “Are you in the queue?” This may sound polite but in fact it means: “Can’t you stand in line properly?”

In no other countries can you see the one-man queue except in Britain. If a British person arrives at a bus stop and no one else is there, he will not simply wait. Instead, he stands at the head of the queue.

Tourists are often unfamiliar with local customs(习俗), and if they do not get in line behind the British person, he or she will tell them strictly: “This is a queue.”

Though it might seem that the British people take their queues too Seriously, one thing is certain: queues can save lives. In dangerous situations, standing in line has prevented them from getting very frightened.

In the serious train accident in 1999, people who were hurt formed a queue as they escaped from their trains. One writer later wrote about a polite man who let her pass with a quiet “after you”.

Topic	Queuing in Britain
Professors’ (34) of queuing	● The British have    (35)     a higher level of civilization. ● It is the highest form of cooperative group behavior.
Social rules of queuing	● You should stand    (36)     too close to nor far from the person in front of you. ● Even if there is only one British person waiting for a bus, he queues too. ● If tourists do not queue, they will be strictly reminded to    (37)     the local custom.
The power of queuing	The British queued and kept calm even in face of    (38)    .

DIY, which means Do It Yourself, is quite popular in UK. Lots of stores and supermarkets sell DIY things. TV proprammes show people how to DIY.
English people like DIY. There is a saying in UK –“An Englishman’s home is his castle”. Huge numbers of people spend their holidays making their homes beautiful “castles”. If there is anything that needs fixing around their houses, such as painting the walls or putting in a new shower, they will do the jobs themselves. They share DIY experiences with their friends. More and more people have discovered the joy of DIY. Sometimes people also DIY for saving money. With the economic downturn at present, many people can not afford to buy a bigger house. They are looking at how they can make their house better without spending a lot of money. It is not surprising that DIY is so popular.
DIY can be difficult. There is a huge market for DIY furniture which people need to put together themselves with a few basic tools. However, people often find it not easy to build a piece of furniture because they can’t understand the instructions. Sometimes the instructions are simple and clear, but the furniture itself is difficult to build. One thing is for sure, though most DIY projects are started with the best intentions, many of them may not get finished. DIY can also be dangerous. For example, anything electrical should be done by a professional worker. Unluckily, many people don’t care about this warning and put themselves in danger. It is reported that in just one year over 230,000 people were hurt while doing DIY in UK, including 41,000 who fell off ladders.
Therefore, DIY can bring us fun and help us save money, but it is not always as easy as it is thought to be if we bite off more than we can chew. Maybe factories should make products that are easier and safer for us to DIY.
【小题1】How do many English people spend their holidays according to the passage?
A.    Making their homes beautiful.   B. Visiting their friends.
B.    Travelling all over the world.   D. Making a lot of money.
【小题2】Why do English people like DIY?

A．Many stores sell DIY things.	B．DIY can bring them fun.
C．TV programmes teach them to DIY	D．All DIY projects are easy.

【小题3】What can we learn from the passage?
A.    DIY is a waste of money.   B. It is always difficult to DIY.
B.    We should be careful while doing DIY.   D. It’s very safe for us to DIY
【小题4】In the passage, “we bite off more than we can chew” probably means ___________.

A．we can eat everything we like	B．we should do something difficult
C．we do something that is too difficult	D．we eat too much food that is not safe

Some students, parents and teachers in Shanghai were surveyed last month. According to the result of the survey, the generation gap (代沟) between students and parents as well as teachers is becoming wider. Here is what they said.
Voice of the students:
　 “Our parents hold too high expectations（期望）which put us under lots of pressure. They care too much about our lives and studies,” one student said.
“It’s impolite that some students’ parents read their children’s diaries without permission!” one student said angrily.
“Some of our teachers are so serious that we can’t make friends with them at all,” another student said sadly.
Voice of the parents:
One mother said, “After school, my daughter usually locks herself into her room and spends lots of time talking with others on the phone. And I can’t stand（忍受） her clothes and hairstyle!”
“I thought my son was doing very well in his studies. I didn’t realize I was being cheated by him until I got a call from his teacher,” said a father.
Voice of the teachers:
An English teacher said, “Today, the role of the teacher is to put knowledge into students’ brain. The power (权力) teachers have kept students away from them.”
“Some parents pay too much attention to their children’s grades instead of creating a lively and colorful environment at home,” another teacher said.
“In the past, teachers and students often played games together or talked with each other. Today, only studies and grades are talked about,” said a teacher. “A school should be a place where students can learn not only knowledge, but also how to face failure and frustration（挫折） bravely enough.” 
【小题1】 What does the first paragraph mainly tell us?

A．Students like telling how they feel to their classmates.

B．More and more students don’t like to be surveyed.

C．Some parents don’t like their children’s clothes and hairstyle.

D．There has been a great distance between students and parents as well as teachers.

【小题2】The underlined word “cheated” in the passage means ___________.

A．欺骗

B．批评

C．表扬

D．揭露

【小题3】 What can we infer (推断) from the teachers who were surveyed?

A．Teachers feel what they are doing for students is good.

B．Parents, teachers and educational rules all influence students greatly.

C．Teachers should care more about excellent students.

D．Now teachers and students communicate better than before.

【小题4】Which of the following could be the best title for the passage?

A．Unhappy Teenagers	B．Educational Rules
C．The Generation Gap	D．Serious Parents

To most of us, school means classes, teachers, schedules, grades and tests. But for the children at Sudbury Valley School in Massachusetts, school is very different.

Firstly, there are no lessons. All the children, aged between 4 and 19, do whatever they want. There are no teachers, only “staff members”. The idea behind this is that you do not need to make children learn, because children want to learn anyway. “You do not need to say to a three-year-old, ‘Go explore your environment.’ You can’t stop them!”says Daniel Greenberg, a founder of the school. “But if you make children do what you want all day… they will lose all taste of learning.” At Sudbury Valley School, you will find children talking, reading, painting, cooking, working on computers, studying French, playing the piano, climbing trees, or just running around. Two boys spent three years just fishing!
The other way that Sudbury Valley School is different is that the children can decide the rules. Every week, there is a school meeting where both children and staff have one vote (投票)each—even the four-year-olds. They decide the school rules, how to spend the school money, and even which staff they want and do not want anymore.
When the school first opened in 1968, people said it would never work. But today, the school has 200 students, and 80% of its students go on to college. Even the two boys who went fishing all the time have successful careers today. One of them is a musician and the other is a computer scientist.
【小题1】What's special about the school?

A．There is nobody but students there.

B．All the students are of the same age.

C．There are no classes for the students.

D．There are no rules in the school.

【小题2】What do the students do in the school?

A．They learn everything there from the staff members.

B．They grow up there without learning anything.

C．They spend all the time with their parents.

D．They do whatever they are interested in.

【小题3】The school seems to believe that children________.

A．learn best when they are doing what they want

B．are too young to learn anything by themselves

C．can look after themselves without any help

D．can't go to college without any hard work

【小题4】The last paragraph wants to tell us that_         .

A．the writer doesn't like the idea of the school

B．the school is quite successful in its work

C．most of the parents don't believe in the school

D．younger students learn better there than older ones

【小题5】The underlined word career in the last paragraph most probably means_.
A. family   B. money    C. lifestyle   d. job

Do you ever feel a stomachache during a test? Are you ever so worried about something that you even have a headache or can’t sleep at night? If so, then you know what stress is. Stress is what you feel when you are worried about something. You may feel angry, sad, scared, or afraid —all this can give you a stomachache or a headache.

There are different kinds of stress. Some kinds of stress are good and others are bad. Good stress may happen when someone asks you to answer questions in class or when you have to give a report. This kind of stress can help you to finish things better.

However, bad stress can happen if the stress lasts too long. You may not feel well if a family member is sick, if you’re having problems at school, or if anything else makes you upset every day. That kind of stress isn’t going to help you.

The best way to keep stress away is to have a balanced life. If you get enough sleep and food, and if you exercise and leave time for fun, you’ll feel less stressed.

1.What’s the main idea of the first paragraph?

A.  How can you pass a test? 

 B. Why do you have a stomachache?

C.   What is stress? 

D. Why are you worried?

2. Good stress may happen when you’re doing the following things EXCEPT _______.

A. answering questions in class 

B. having problems at school

C. helping other classmates

D. giving a report in front of school

3.The underlined word “upset” means _______ in the passage.

     A. delightful            B. unhappy           C. excited        　 D. successful

4.Which of the following is RIGHT, according to the passage?

A. Having a balanced life is the best way to keep stress away.

B. Different kinds of stress will help you with the study a lot.

C. You may feel angry, sad, or afraid when you’re doing something.

D. You may not feel well if your parents are talking about things.

5.What is the best title for this passage?

A. A Balanced Life

B. How to Do Better in a Test

C. Bad Stress and Good Stress

D. How to Face Your Stress