A woman repeated a bit of gossip (流言) about a neighbour. Within a few days the whole neighbourhood knew the story. The neighbour was deeply hurt. Later the woman responsible (负责) for spreading the gossip learned that it was completely untrue. She was very sorry and went to a wise old man to find out what she could do to repair the harm.
“Go to the marketplace,” he said. “and buy a chicken, and have it killed, then on your way home, pluck (拔) its feathers and drop them one by one along the road. ” Although surprised by this advice, the woman did what she was told.
The next day the wise man said, “ Now, go and collect all those feathers you dropped yesterday and bring them back to me. ”
The woman followed the same road, but she was so discouraged when she found the wind had blown all the feathers away. After searching for hours, she returned with only three in her hand.
“ You see, ” said the old man, “it’s easy to drop them, but it’s impossible to get them back . So it is with gossip. It doesn’t take much to spread a gossip, but once you do, you can never completely undo the wrong.”
【小题1】The woman was very _________ the harm she had done to her neighbour.

A．happy about

B．angry about

C．sorry for

D．excited about

【小题2】Which of the following statements is TURE?

A．The gossip didn’t hurt anyone at all.

B．The wise man was not kind enough.

C．The woman found all the feathers at last.

D．The woman was given a lesson.

【小题3】What the wise man said has nearly the same meaning as the Chinese phrase “_________”

A．覆水难收

B．无中生有

C．欲速不达

D．得道多助

A lift is wonderful. It is really only a small room. Rooms usually stay in one place. Lifts travel up and down all day long.
Sometimes a worker stands in the lift. He or she operates it up and down. In modern lifts there is no worker. The people walk in. They know what floor they want. They push a button and the lift goes to that floor. It is all very fast and easy.
Lifts are very important to us. Why? Think about a tall building. Maybe it has twenty floors. Maybe it has fifty or more. Who can walk up all the stairs? Maybe people can climb them one time. Can someone climb thirty floors to an office every day? Can small children walk up to their room on the twenty-fourth floor? Can their mother and father carry food up all those stairs? Of course not.
We can have high buildings because we have lifts. We could not have all the beautiful tall buildings in the world without lifts. They are really wonderful.
【小题1】Which of the following is true?

A．A modern lift has no buttons.

B．A modern lift has a worker to operate it.

C．A modern lift can go up and down with no worker in it.

D．A modern lift knows what floor people want.

【小题2】If you want to go to the floor you want, you_______.

A．ask for help	B．open the door of the lift
C．ring the bell	D．push the right button

【小题3】Why do people have to use lifts? Because________.

A．they have tall buildings

B．they can't walk up and down

C．old people and children need them

D．lifts are wonderful

In the 13^th century, the famous Indian traveller, Marco Polo, travelled a long way to China. He saw many wonderful things. One of the things he discovered was that Chinese used paper money. In western countries, people did not use paper money until the 15^th century. However, people in China began to use paper money in the 7^th century.
A Chinese man called Cai Lun invented paper almost 2,000 years ago. He made it from wood. He took the wood from trees and made it into paper. He then put these pieces of paper together and made them into a book.
Now paper still comes from trees. We use a lot of paper every day. If we keep on wasting so much paper, there will not be any trees left on the earth. If there are no trees, there will be no paper. Every day, people throw away about 2,800 tons of paper in our city. It takes 17 trees to make one ton of paper. This means that we are cutting nearly 48,000 trees every day. Since it takes more than 10 years for a tree to grow, we must start using less paper now. If we don’t, we will not have enough time to grow more trees to take the place of those we use for paper.
So how can we save paper? We can use both sides of every piece of paper, especially when we are making notes. We can also use cotton handkerchiefs（手帕） and paper ones. When we go shopping, we can use fewer paper bags. If the shop assistant does give us a paper bag, we can save it and refuse（拒绝）it later.
Everyone can help to save paper. If we all think carefully, we can help protect trees. But we should do it now, before it is too late.
【小题1】When he was in China, Marco Polo __________ .

A．discovered Cai Lun invented paper	B．learned to make paper
C．saw many wonderful things	D．read a lot of books

【小题2】 People in western countries first used paper money in the _________ century.

A．17th

B．15th

C．13th

D．7th

【小题3】 About ________ tons of paper are thrown away every day in our city.

A．1,700

B．2,000

C．2,800

D．48,000

【小题4】 Which of the following is the way of saving paper?

A．To use both sides of every piece of paper.

B．To use the paper bags from shops more than once.

C．To use cotton handkerchiefs and paper ones.

D．All of the above.

【小题5】Which is the best title（题目） of the passage?

A．Saving paper.	B．The history of paper.
C．Cotton handkerchiefs back again.	D．Cai Lun, the great inventor.

In Germany there are different kinds of high schools.Some prepare students for workers, others prepare them for college. All schools are great places for making friends and learning German.
Short days
Most high schools in Germany begin at about 8:00 a.m. and end at 3:30 p.m. This means your morning will be busy with classes. You will have time to do homework and take part in private(私人的) clubs after school.
Formal setting
In Germany, teachers and students’ relationship is more formal than you might be used to. Teachers are respected and students must use the formal “Sie(德语：您)” when talking to teachers.
Getting to school
Most students take public transport to school or ride a bicycle. Some ares have school buses. It is not common for parents to drive students to school.
Private clubs
In many countries, schools offer official sports and after-school activities. This is less common in Germany. After-school activities are usually organized through private clubs. There are clubs for things like soccer, dance, chair, theatre and almost everything else. Once you are in Germany, ask around at school and talk to other students to find out what private clubs are in your area and meet your interests.
Different states, different schools
Each of Germany’s 16 states has its own slightly different school systems. The school system in Brandenburg will be a little different from the system in Bavaria for example. Where you live, your knowledge level and your age will decide what school you can attend.
【小题1】For high school students in Germany, Which is not the common transport to school?

A．School buses

B．Private clubs

C．Public transports

D．Students’ bicycles

【小题2】In paragraph 3, the underlined word “respected” can be best translated into ________.

A．受人尊敬的

B．令人害怕的

C．高收入的

D．有权势的

【小题3】From the passage, we can learn from that in Germany ________.

A．all kinds of high schools are for college.

B．age is not important for attending schools.

C．students can take part in after-school activities from 8:00a.m. to 3;30p.m.

D．students can join private clubs to meet their interests by themselves.

【小题4】What can be the best title for this article?

A．German Private Clubs	B．German Public Transport
C．German High Schools	D．German College Systems