What do you want to be when you grow up? A teacher? A doctor? How about an ice-cream taster?
Yes, there really is a job where you can get paid to taste ice cream. Just ask John Harrison, an “Official Taste Tester” for the past 2l years. Harrison’s job has been responsible for approving（批准）large numbers of the sweet ice cream – as well as for developing over 15 flavors（味道）.
Some people think that it would be easy to do this job; after all, you just have to like ice cream, right? No – there’s more to the job than that, says Harrison, who has a degree in chemistry. He points out that a dairy or food-science degree would be very useful to someone wanting a job in this “cool field”.
In a typical morning on the job, Harrison tastes and grades 60 ice-cream samples. He lets the ice cream warm up to about 12^oF. Harrison explains, “You get more flavor from warmer ice cream, which is why some kids like to stir it, creating ice-cream soup.”
While the ice cream warms up, Harrison looks over the samples and grades each one on its appearance. “Tasting begins with the eyes,” he explains. He checks to see if the ice cream is attractive and asks himself, “Does the product have the colour expected from that flavor?” Next it’s time to taste!
Continuing to think up new ideas, try out new flavors and test samples from so many kinds of ice cream each day keeps Harrison busy but happy – working at one cool job.
【小题1】What is John Harrison’s job?

A．An officer.	B．An ice-cream taster.
C．A chemist.	D．An ice-cream producer.

【小题2】According to John Harrison, what is useful to get a job in “cool field”?

A．To just like ice cream.

B．To find out new flavors each day.

C．To have new ideas every day.

D．To have a degree in food-science.

【小题3】What does Harrison do first when testing ice cream?

A．He smells it.	B．He lets it warm up.
C．He tastes its flavor.	D．He examines its colour.

A lot of teenagers are good at art at school, but how would you feel if people called you “the new Picasso(毕加索)” or if presidents and other famous people collected your paintings?
Alexandra Nechita was ten when her paintings became famous all over the world. She visited Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and her family’s native place (祖籍) Romania where 5,000 fans came to see her at the airport. Alexandra said, “When it all started, I was moved. It was very exciting and I loved the traveling, but I got very tired. And I missed home.”
Alexandra is a good student. Her studies always come first. She only starts painting after she’s done her homework. She works on two or three paintings at a time. The paintings sell for thousands and Alexandra’s parents have given up their jobs to work for their daughter. Life for the Nechita family is very different from what it was like a few years ago.
Alexandra’s father Niki left Romania for political reasons in 1985. At first he tried his best to learn English and had different kinds of low-paid jobs. In 1987, he brought his wife and Alexandra, who was then 18 months old, to America. The family was very poor. Alexandra began to draw at the age of three.
She was drawing for four or five hours a day. Soon people offered to buy her paintings and she had her first art show at the age of eight. Stories about this child appeared in the newspapers and television. They now live in a large house with a swimming pool. Her mother said, “We started without anything, but thanks to Alexandra, we have everything we ever dreamed of.”
【小题1】Alexandra became well-known all over the world for her paintings at the age of _______.

A．18months

B．three

C．eight

D．ten

【小题2】Which country does Alexandra live?

A．America.

B．Britain.

C．Romania.

D．France.

【小题3】 Alexandra’s painting _________.

A．took her a lot of time at school

B．made her drop out of school

C．didn’t influence her studies at school

D．made her fall behind others in studies at school

【小题4】 When her family arrived in America in 1987, _________.

A．their life was very hard

B．they lived by selling Alexandra’s paintings

C．Alexandra began to draw her painting

D．her parents left their jobs and worked for her

【小题5】 From the passage, we can learn ________.

A．Alexandra was not interested in travelling

B．Alexandra’s success changed her family’s life

C．Alexandra’s parents were good at English

D．Alexandra’s stories appeared often on the radio and TV

What are the most successful movies? American movies are the most popular around the world. The most successful movies of the twentieth century wad Titanic. People around the world paid almost $2 billion, and they saw the famous ship sink again. Titanic was more popular than Star wars. This Star Wars film made almost $1billion in the late 1990s. Close behind this was Jurassic Park, a film about dinosaurs. And it’s interesting that Titanic was also the most expensive film: it cost $200 million to make.

Which is the world’s most popular sport? The world most popular sport is or soccer．It’s more popular than football，basketball，or baseball．FIFA has 4.1 million teams，and 200 million players in l90 countries around the world．More than one billion people watch the World Cup Final on TV every four years. In the United States，soccer is not the most popular for spectators(观众)，but it is the most popular sport for kids and teens．About 3 million Americans under the age of nineteen play soccer．

What are the largest shopping malls? The largest shopping mall in the world is the West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton，Canada．The mall has more than 800 retail stores，including eight department stores．There is also a 335‘room hotel·It'8 much；larger than the 8econd largest mall in the world：this is the mall of America in Bloomington，Minnesota．The US mall has 400 stores. Its amusement attractions include a roller coaster. Some people spend their vacation at this mall．But in the future，the biggest stores probably are going to be on the computer：some online malls already say that they have stores in l00 countries·

【小题1】What's the most successful movie of the twentieth century?

A．Titanic．

B．Star Wars．

C．Jurassic Park．

D．Avatar．

【小题2】How much did the movie Star Wars make in the late l990s?

A．Almost 8 2 billion．	B．Almost $l billion．
C．Almost$200 million．	D．Almost$3 million．

【小题3】Which of the following descriptions about soccer is TRUE?

A．In the US，soccer is the most popular for both spectators and kids．

B．FIFA has 2,000 million players in l90 countries around the world．

C．Football is more popular than soccer，basketball，or baseball．

D．About 3 million Americans under the age of nineteen play soccer．

【小题4】Where is the world’s largest mall?

A．In Canada．

B．In America．

C．In England．

D．On the computer．

【小题5】What CANNOT people do in the West Edmonton Mall according to the passage?

A．Enjoy a roller coaster．	B．Spend vacations．
C．Go shoppin9．	D．See Mickey Mouse．

How do you remember the way to your house? Where do dreams come from? It is your brain(大脑) that does these things. A British scientist showed that “sleep can improve one’s memory.” It’s not a dream for students to study when they sleep. In fact, your brains is working day and night. If you learn words before bed, a certain part of the brain may help you to remember the words while you sleep. What’s more, another scientist in the USA found that there was a “talent button(天才按钮)” in the human brain. It might make a person more talented.
There are more interesting things about the brain. Your brain uses less energy than a fridge light. Just two bananas can give the brain enough energy to work for a whole day. According to some scientists, yawning(打哈欠) keeps our brains “cool”, which makes us think quicker.
Here are some pieces of advice to keep a good brain:
l Eat healthy food.
l Get a lot of playtime or exercise.
l Don’t drink or smoke.
l Use your brain a lot.
【小题1】 A British scientist found out that ________ could improve our memories.

A．drink

B．dreams

C．sleep

D．bananas

【小题2】 According to the passage, if we want to have a good brain, we should ________.

A．use our brains more	B．sleep fewer hours
C．work longer hours	D．remember fewer things

【小题3】Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Our brains only work in the daytime.

B．Our brains need much energy every day.

C．Smoking can keep our brains healthy.

D．Getting exercise is good for our brains.

A rabbit is running into his hole. You may ask, “What happened?”
Well, when a rabbit sees something dangerous, it runs away. Its tail moves up and down as it runs. When other rabbits see this tail moving up and down, they ran, too. They know there is danger. The rabbit has told them something without making a sound. It has given them a signal.
Many other animals use this kind of language. When a bee finds some food, it goes back to his home. It can’t tell the other bees where the food is by speaking to them, but it does dance in the air. This tells the bees where the food is.
But animals say things by making sounds. A dog barks, for examples, when a stranger comes near. A cat purrs(发出呼噜呼噜的声音) when pleased. Some birds make several different sounds, each with its own meaning.
But human beings have something that no animals have---- a large number of words about things, actions, feelings or ideas. We are able to give each other information to tell or inform other people what is in our mind or how we feel. By writing words down we can remind ourselves of the things that have happened, or send messages to people far away. No animals can do this. No animals has the wonderful power of language.
No one knows how man learned to make words. Somehow he learned to make them. As centuries went by, he made more and more new words. This is what we mean by language.
People in different countries made different kinds of words. Today there are about fifteen hundred different languages in the world. A very large English dictionary, for examples, contains four or five hundred thousand words. But we don’t know all these. The words we know are called vocabulary. We should try to make our vocabulary larger. Read as many books as possible. When we met a new word, look it up in the dictionary. A dictionary is the most useful book.
【小题1】What’s the meaning of the underlined word?

A．标语

B．信号

C．唱片

D．图像

【小题2】A dog can tell something__________.

A．by giving signals	B．by making different sounds
C．by purring	D．by barking

【小题3】It has been proved that no animals are able to_________.

A．give the others information

B．express their actions and feelings with words

C．tell others how they feel

D．make different sounds, each with its own meaning.

【小题4】Generally speaking, what we mean by “vocabulary” is_______.

A．all the words that we know	B．more and more words we use
C．all the words we need	D．the dictionary which contains thousands of words

【小题5】What must we do in order to make our vocabulary larger?

A．Make more and more new words

B．look up some new words in a dictionary

C．learn more language

D．Try to read as many books as possible