Common sense would tell us that physically active children may be more likely to become active and healthy adults.

In the United States, elementary and middle schools are advised to give students two and a half hours of physical activity a week. That is what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Heart Association recommend. They say high schools should provide about four hours of physical activity each week.

Yet many schools across the country have reduced their physical education programs. Just this week, a study reported that life expectancy has fallen or is no longer increasing in some parts of the United States. The situation is worst among poor people in the southern states, and especially women. Public health researchers say it is largely the result of increases in fatness, smoking and high blood pressure. They also blame differences in health services around the country.

In 2006, a study found that only four percent of primary schools provided daily physical education all year for all grades. This was true of eight percent of middle schools and two percent of high schools. The study also found that twenty-two percent of all schools did not require students to take any P.E.

Charlene Burgeson , a health expert says one problem for P.E. teachers is that schools are under pressure to put more time into academic subjects. Also, parents may agree that children need exercise in school. Yet many parents today still have bad memories of being chosen last for teams because teachers favored the good athletes in class.

But experts say P.E. classes have changed. They say the goal has moved away from competition and toward personal performance, as a way to build a lifetime of activity. These days, teachers often lead activities like weight training and yoga.

Some parents like the idea of avoiding competitive sports in P.E. class. Yet others surely dislike that idea. In the end, schools may find themselves in a no-win situation.

1. The underlined word “expectancy” in Paragraph 3 probably means “       ”                            

2.According to the passage which of the following may not lead to poor health?

3. What can be inferred after you read this passage?

4. What is the main idea about this passage?

IV.阅读理解（共20小题；每题2分; 满分40分）

Football--called soccer in the United States--is probably the most popular sport in the world today, It has been popular for a long time. But many years ago each country had different rules for its own football game.

In 1863 a group of people met in England to change this. They wrote a set of rules for all countries to follow. They also planned for soccer teams from different countries to play against each other. The idea worked. These rules are the same today, more than 100 years later.  Now teams from all the world compete in the famous World Cup. The cup is a series of games which is held every four years. Team from many countries plays to see which is the best. Soccer is so popular today that it is not unusual for 600 million people to watch a World Cup match on television.

How did the World Cup start? The soccer team from Uruguay won the Olympic championship in soccer in 1924 and 1928. That country decided to have the first World Cup games in Montevideo in 1930, These first games were not very successful. Only thirteen teams arrived to play and eight of them were from South America.

It didn't seem like a world championship. The team from Uruguay won the Cup that first year.

56. In 1863 a group of people met in England______.

A. to play for football teams from different countries

B. to learn the rules for football

C. to write a set of rules for football

D. to have matches between teams from different countries

57. The rules written in 1863 are _____.

A. the same as today's     B. different from today's

C. changed a lot          D. changed a little

58. When did the first World Cup take place?

A. In 1930.        B. In 1924.         C. in 1928        D. In 1934

59. The first World Cup was not successful because

A. the Olympic champion didn't take place   

B. some of the teams arrived too late

C. all teams were from South America       

D. it did not seem like a world championship

The earliest newspapers started in ancient Rome. They were handwritten news sheets. The first printed newspapers appeared in China during the Tang dynasty, which were printed from carved(雕刻的) wooden blocks. Modern papers first appeared in Venice, Italy in the middle of the 14th century. The newspapers of today, with advertising and a mixture of political, economic, and social news and comments, were started in Britain in the mid-18th century.

The main function of newspapers is to report news. Many newspapers also provide special information to readers, such as weather reports and television timetables. They also provide comments on politics, economics, arts and culture. Almost all newspapers depend on advertising to make money.

Nearly six out of ten adults in the United States and Canada read a newspaper every day. Seven out of ten read a paper each weekend. Readers search newspapers for de-tailed background information(背景资料)and analysis(分析). This is what television and radio news reports seldom offer. Newspapers tell readers what happened, and they also help readers understand what caused an event and how it will affect the world around them.

The workers at large newspaper companies work under a lot of pressure to bring news to readers as soon as possible. Reporters, photographers, artists, and editors collect articles in just a few hours. Page designers select articles, photos, advertisements, and eye-catching headlines to make the pages, and then rush their work to the printer. Printing workers may work overnight around printing presses to churn out more than 60,000 copies per hour.

1.Which is the best title for the passage?

A．Production of Newspapers                B．Functions of Newspapers

C．Publication of Newspapers                D．An Introduction to Newspapers

2.Modern newspapers were first made in ______.

A．China             B．Ancient Rome      C．Italy              D．Britain

3.What is the main idea of the third paragraph?

A．Most adults in America and Canada read newspapers every day.

B．The importance of newspapers in people’s lives.

C．Newspapers offer readers detailed information.

D．The effects of newspapers on readers.

4.We can infer everything from the passage EXCEPT that ______.

A．newspapers will become less popular because of the development of TV

B．few newspapers have no advertising

C．many adults in America read newspapers every day

D．people can read about many different issues in newspapers

5.The phrase "churn out" in the last paragraph probably means ______.

A．press             B．produce          C．publish           D．sell

It may not be news to parents of teenage girls, but researchers have confirmed that no one can stop their 16-year-old daughter from deciding how the family spends its money.

The willpower and determination of teenage girls give them a big say in how a family’s money is spent on everything from food and meals to mobile phones, and, of course, clothes. Teenage boys did not show up at all in the analysis, which was designed to find out the influence of young people on household spending.

The findings on the spending power of teenage girls were calculated from Office for National Statistics records of family spending during the 1980s and 1990s. Researchers examined how much money went on services and leisure goods in different kinds of homes. They checked spending on food, restaurant meals, alcohol, tobacco, services, heating, transport, clothes and sports in 2,745 British families.

They found that teenage girls in the UK typically played an active role in family decisions about the allocation（分配）of household resources. But older children— those over the age of 21 who are still living with their parents—appear to have no say in household decisions.

They also tried to calculate to what extent the bargaining power of a teenager affected family budgets. “Every parent knows that children, even at a very early age, have their own preferences with regard to consumption, researchers said. “But children are only interested in a limited range of goods—mainly sweets and toys—and parents are able to use punishment to reduce their children’s bargaining power or remove it.”  When they become teenagers, however, girls are much more independent and they are capable of earning their own money, which improves their bargaining power in family decisions.

The researchers could not explain why girls have more influence over spending while the evidence for boys is much less conclusive. However, this study could be of great significance to market research and how marketers target children.

1. From the passage we can learn that            .

2.What does the underlined part “give them a big say” in the second paragraph mean?

3.It appears that household decisions are NOT affected by        .

4.How can parents reduce children’s bargaining power?

Zhoukoudian is a small village situated about 50 kilometers to the southwest of Beijing. In the 1920s, archaeologists discovered some prehistoric human bones there which changed people’s view of China’s history. They came from an unknown species of man and were the first evidence of human life in China thousands of years ago. The remains were three teeth!

In 1929, a complete skull was also discovered. Eventually, archaeologists found almost 200 items, including six skulls and more than 150 teeth. These discoveries proved the existence of a human species who lived in the area between 700,000 and 200,000 years ago. Four sites where Beijing Man and his relatives lived were discovered on the northern face of Longgushan. They lived in the caves in the area.

However, the life span of Beijing Man was short. About 70% of the people probably died before the age of 14. Fewer than 5% lived to the age of 50. Ashes were found alongside the fossils which showed they had used fire for cooking food and also for light, warmth, and protection against wild animals. This is the earliest evidence of the use of fire anywhere in the world. They also made tools of bones and stones. Unfortunately, when Japan invaded China in 1937, excavations (发掘) at the Beijing Man Site stopped and most of the fossils disappeared, including a Beijing Man skull. After the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949, the work started again.

Zhoukoudian was listed as a World Heritage Site in December 1987. It has not only given us important information about prehistoric Asian societies, but also provided amazing evidence about the process of evolution. Today, parts of the caves have been badly affected by rain. Some areas are almost completely covered in weeds, causing serious damage. Pollution from the nearby factories has also led to the problem. This is a very serious matter and the Chinese Academy of Sciences is trying to raise public awareness of protecting it.

1.Archaeologists _________.

2.Beijing Man used fire to do all of the following things EXCEPT _____.

3.What’s the main idea of the last paragraph?