The world is not only hungry but also thirsty for water. This may seem strange to you, since nearly 70% of the earth’s surface is covered with water. But about 97% of that is sea water or salt water. Man can only drink and use the other 3% of fresh water from rivers, lakes, underground and so on. And we can not even use all of that because some of it has been made dirty.
Earth Day is April 22. But on all other days, we must also remember how important water is. The water that we use is the most important natural resource on the earth. Today we face serious water problems. One of them is water pollution. All kinds of things from cars, factories, farms and homes make our rivers, lakes and oceans dirty. Polluted water is very bad for people to drink. And dirty water is bad for fish, too.
How do cars and factories make our water dirty? First they pollute the air. Then when it rains, the rain water makes our drinking water dirty. Dirty rain, called acid rain is also bad for plants, animals and buildings. Scientists say that in 30 years, more than half of the people in the world won’t have enough clean water. We have to learn how to stop wasting water. One of the first steps is to develop ways of reusing it. Today in most large cities, water is used only once and then sent out into a sewer system (下水道). From there it returns to the sea or goes underground.
But even though every large city reused its water, we would still not have enough. So we should make use of sea water by removing the salt in it. If we can take these steps, fresh water won’t be used up.
小题1:The world is thirsty for water because _______.

A．we don’t have enough fresh water	B．a lot of water goes into sewer systems
C．only 70% of the earth’s surface is water	D．sea water is widely used rather than fresh water

小题2:From this passage, we know acid rain _______.

A．is only bad for living things	B．is not bad for buildings and factories
C．can be produced in factories	D．is bad for people, animals, plants and buildings

小题3:One difficult way we can solve the problem is to _______.

A．use the water with salt in it	B．remove the salt from sea water
C．get water from underground	D．reuse the water in cities

小题4:What is the best title for this passage?

A．Fresh water and sea water	B．A thirsty country
C．The importance of water	D．The world’s water problem

Can you imagine a classroom without one thing that has long been considered a necessary part? No notebooks, no textbooks, no test papers. Nor are there any pencils or pens, which always seem to run out of ink at the critical moment.
A “Paperless classroom” is what more and more schools are trying to realize. Students don’t do any handwriting in this class. Instead, they use hand-sized or specially-designed computers. The teacher downloads texts from Internet libraries and sends them to every student’s personal computer.
Having computers also means that students can use the Web. They can look up information on any subject they’re studying, from maths to social science.
A high school teacher, Judy Herrel in Florida, US, described how her class used the Web. “Using a book that’s three or four years old is impossible,” she said.
A paperless classroom is a big step towards reducing the waste of paper.
“Think about the money and trees we could save with the computers,” she said.
But, with all this technology, there’s always a risk that the machines will break down. So, in case of a power failure or a technical problem, paper textbooks should still be widely available (可得到的) for these students.
小题1:The underlined word “critical” in the first paragraph probably has the same meaning as _______.

A．worrying

B．dangerous

C．happy

D．important

小题2:You are sure to find __________ in a paperless classroom.

A．pens

B．computers

C．test papers

D．notebooks

小题3:According to Judy Herrel, __________.

A．the Web can talk the students everywhere

B．the Web can take the place of teachers

C．the Web is a better tool for information

D．the Web is for downloading information

小题4:The paper textbooks should still be widely available because __________.

A．students won’t have trouble with their pens

B．computers may break down sometimes

C．students may not get all information from the Internet

D．paper textbooks may give students more information

Hundreds of years ago, life was harder than it is today. People didn’t have modern machines. There was no medicine, either.
Life today brings new problems. One of the biggest is pollution. Water pollution has made our rivers and lakes dirty. It kills our fish and pollutes our drinking water. Noise pollution makes us talk louder and we become angry more easily. Air pollution is the most serious kind of pollution to all living things in the world.
Cars, planes and factories all pollute our air every day. Sometimes the polluted air is very thick. People cannot see the sky clearly.
Many countries are making rules to fight against pollution. Factories now must clean their water before they throw it away. And they mustn’t let dirty smoke go into the air.
There are many things we can do to fight against pollution. We should put waste things in dustbins and do not throw them on the ground. We should go to work by bike or on foot instead of taking a car or a bus. If there are fewer people driving, there will be less pollution.
Rules are not enough. We should do our best to fight against pollution.
小题1:Which of the following is NOT true about life in the past?
小题2:What should people do to fight against pollution?
小题3:The most serious pollution is              .
小题4:What should factories do to fight against pollution?
小题5:From the passage, we know that              .
 

Oriole’s Nest
Picky, Picky
Scientists have no idea exactly why birds choose certain objects to build their nests. But scientists know that the main reason birds build nests is to keep their babies safe, warm and healthy.
Baby birds grow faster and are healthier when they are warm. They also learn to fly and leave the nests sooner than birds without warm homes.
What A Yarn (纱)
Yarn is big on an oriole’s shopping list during nest building. Scientists are still trying to work out why so many birds choose white yarn over other colors for nest building.
Scientists think that the white objects remind birds of cotton fluff (绒毛) they find in the wild.
Do It Naturally  
Even though birds can help us recycle some of our junk by using it to build nests, they also need to use lots of natural things. Long grass, dried sticks, spider’s silk and mud are some of the natural ingredients that are good for nests, too.
You can make a collection box of things to leave for birds so they can help themselves. Hang a small plastic box with holes on a tree branch. Fill the box freely with nest building goodies. Hang the box on a tree and watch birds climb on board to pick through the junk to find their treasures.
Warning: Don’t let the birds turn into a tasty treat. Keep your bird station away from places where cats hang out.
For The Birds!
Stop! Don’t throw all that garbage out! Give some to the birds. Look and see how your old junk can help beautify and warm a bird’s new home.
小题1:The baby birds with warm homes are able to _____.

A．choose right objects	B．leave the nests sooner
C．build good nests	D．learn to fly higher

小题2: What can people make for birds to build nests?

A．Holes on the tree.	B．Food out of the rubbish.
C．A warning board.	D．A collection box of things.

小题3:What can we learn from the passage?

A．Birds build nests to store things.

B．Birds regard white objects as cotton.

C．Birds and humans can help each other.

D．Birds and cats fight against each other.

Many people think sports are just for winning and honor, but there is a lot more you can gain from (get out of) them. I have learned over the past years that sometimes when I lose, I get a lot more out of it than winning. Also, I find a lot of times in sports, people are getting too caught up in the game instead of just having fun. The real purpose of sports is to have fun and learn life lessons along the way.
I greatly encourage you to be a part of the school sports. Even if you are not the best, you can still have fun. Sports give people a great and healthy way of spending an afternoon, instead of lying around playing video games or even getting into bad things. Sports also give us a sense of achievement. There isn’t a better feeling than to have done something fun and productive for my day.
I think that we all need sports to give us courage. If we try hard in sports, we usually do well. If we did the same in study, we would all be champions. Another reason why I encourage you to play sports is that it’s just fun. Without sports, our lives would just be boring. So as you may be able to tell, sports are amazing!
Our coaches not only teach us to play sports, but show class and good sportsmanship while playing them. It’s never fun when you lose to have the competitor rub it in your face. That’s why our coaches teach us to show class when we lose; also, when coaches get onto you, don’t get down. They only want to see you improve and learn from what they say. When you do badly and they don’t shout loudly is when you should start worrying because they are giving up on you.
Overall, sports are great! They bring out the best and worst of a lot of us. However, we can’ t let sports get too serious to where it brings down all the fun. So to have the most fun in sports, you just need try your best and not worry so much about the winning or losing.
小题1:The underlined phrase “get onto you” in Paragraph 4 probably means ________.

A．point out your mistakes	B．take up your time
C．worry about your future	D．look into your privacy

小题2:Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Sports bring us great fun only if we have the talent.

B．Sports give us the best way of spending free time.

C．We can get more out of winning than losing.

D．We should take pleasure in doing sports.

小题3:What is the best title of this passage?

A．Are we too caught up?	B．To win or to gain?
C．Are sports really great?	D．For honor or for health?

The rising costs of health care have become a problem for many countries in the world. To deal with this problem, it is reported that a big part of the government’s health budge（预算）has been used for health education and disease prevention instead of treatment. Actually, many kinds of diseases are preventable in many ways and preventing a disease is usually much cheaper than treating it. For example, people could avoid catching a cold if they dressed warmly when the weather starts getting cold. But many people get sick because they fail to do so, and have to spend money seeing a doctor.
Daily habits like eating more healthy food would have kept millions of families from becoming bankrupt（破产）if the patients had taken ways for early prevention. For example, keeping a balanced diet（均衡饮食）, such as not consuming too much animal fat and trying to have enough vegetables and fruits, seems to be quite important.
One very effective and costless way of prevention is regular（定期的）exercise, which is necessary for a healthy mind and body. Regular exercise, such as running, walking, and playing sports is a good way to make people feel better.
In addition, health education plays a key role in improving people’s health. By giving people more information about health, countries could help people understand the importance of disease prevention and ways to achieve it. For example, knowing one’s family medical history is an effective way to help keep healthy. Information about health problems among close relatives will make them aware of what they should do to prevent certain diseases through lifestyle changes, which will work before it is too late.
However, paying more attention to disease prevention does not mean medical treatment is unimportant. After all, prevention and treatment are just two different means toward the same effect. In conclusion, we could save money on health care and treat patients more successfully if our country spends more money on health prevention and education.
小题1: What’s the meaning of the underlined word “consuming” in Paragraph 2?

A．Avoiding.

B．Producing.

C．Eating.

D．Cooking.

小题2:What’s the best title of the passage?

A．Health or Illness?	B．Exercise or Illness?
C．Prevention or Education?	D．Prevention or Treatment?

小题3:We can learn from the passage that ______.

A．more health education should be given

B．dressing warmly can prevent diseases

C．a balanced diet is cheaper than regular exercise

D．the government’s health budget should be increased

Do you know that women’s brains are smaller than men’s? Normally the women’s brain weighs 10% less than men’s. Since research has shown that the bigger the brain, the cleverer the animal, men must be more intelligent（聪明的） than women. Right? Wrong. Men and women always score similarly on intelligence tests, despite the difference in brain size. Why? After years of study, researchers have concluded that it’s what’s inside that matters, not just the size of the brain. The brain is made up of “grey matter” and “white matter”. While men have more of the white matter, the amount（数量）of “thinking” brain is almost the same in both men and women.
It has been suggested that smaller brain appears to work faster, perhaps because the two sides of the brain are better connected in women. This means that little girls may learn to speak earlier, and that women can understand sorts of different information at the same time. When it comes to talking to the boss on the phone, cooking dinner and keeping an eye on the baby all at the same time, it’s women who come out on top every time.
There are other important differences between two sexes（性别）. As white matter is the key to spatial（空间的）tasks, men know better where things are in relation to other things. “A great footballer always knows where he is in relation to the other players, and he knows where to go,” says one researcher. That may explain one of life’s great mysteries: why men refuse to ask for directions … and women often need to!
The differences begin when fetuses（胎儿）are about nine weeks old, which can be seen in the action of children when they are very young. A boy would try to climb a barrier before him or push it down while a girl would ask for help from others. These brain differences also explain the fact that more men take up jobs that require good spatial skills, while more women speech skills. It may all go back to our ancestors, among whom women needed speech skills to take care of their babies and men needed spatial skills to hunt, according to one research.
小题1:Which of the following is TRUE according to Paragraph 1?

A．Grey matter controls thinking in the brain.

B．Men’s brain is 10% less than women’s.

C．Grey matter plays the same role as white matter.

D．Men and women have the same amount of white matter.

小题2:What can you infer from Paragraphs 2 and 3?

A．Men have weaker spatial abilities.

B．Women do not need to tell directions.

C．Women prefer doing many things at a time.

D．Women do many jobs at a time better than men.

小题3:What can you learn from Paragraph 4?

A．Our children needed more spatial skills.

B．Women may have more feelings than men.

C．Young boys may be stronger than young girls.

D．More women take up jobs requiring speech skills.

小题4: The passage is mainly about _______.

A．ways of being more intelligent

B．differences between men and women

C．studies on brains between two sexes

D．studies on white matter and grey matter

阅读短文，根据其内容回答问题。
Phys ed (physical education) is making a comeback, but with a difference. The new way is to teach skills that are useful beyond gym class, like lifting weights, balancing their diets and building physical endurance（耐力）.
Considering that 15% of American children 6 to 18 are overweight, supporters say more money and thought must be put into phys ed curriculum. In many cases, that may mean not just replacing the old gym-class model with fitness programs but also starting up phys ed programs because school boards（教育委员会）often “cut P.E. completely or decrease（减少）its teachers or the days it is offered,” says Alicia Moag-Stahlberg, the director of Action for Health Kids. The difference in phys ed programs is its short of a national standard.
The wisdom of the new idea has some scientific support. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin have showed how successful the fit-for-life model of gym class can be. They observed how 50 overweight children lost more weight when they cycled and skied cross-country than when they played sports. The researchers have also found that teaching group sports like football results in less overall（全体的）movement, partly because the students who are unwilling to do may sit on the bench.
Another problem with simply teaching group sports in gym class is that only a small part of students continue playing them after finishing their high school. The new method teaches skills that translate to adulthood, which means kids are given skills and experiences so they can lead a physically active life in their future.
小题1:Is the new Phys ed program different from the one before?
小题2:What does the new P.E. program teach the students?
小题3:According to the passage, what do some school boards do with P.E?
小题4:What are the problems with simply teaching group sports?
小题5:What’s the passage mainly about?

Zhang Li lies in bed sadly. The 24-year-old young man lost his right leg because of a blood disease. The doctor said that his 10 years of smoking had caused the disease. “I began to smoke when I was in Junior 3. It made me feel like a man and I thought it looked cool. Now I know I was really wrong.” said Zhang.
It is a mistake many teenagers make. It is said that about 40 million of the country’s young people between 13 and 18 have tried smoking. Nearly 68 percent of teenager smokers smoked their first one before the age of 13. Those who live in big cities started even earlier. Many teenagers see people smoking in the movies. But in real life, stars like Jackie Chan think smoking is a bad thing. In fact, smoking is one of the top killers in China. Each year one million people die from smoking-related(与吸烟有关的)diseases. Smoking causes illnesses like lung cancer and heart disease.
Doctors say that the younger a person starts smoking, the worse it will be. If a person starts smoking as a teenager, he or she may live twenty-two years less than non-smokers.
小题1:What kind of disease did smoking cause for Zhang Li?
A. Lung cancer.  B. Blood disease.   C. Heart disease.
小题2:From the passage, we know Zhang Li started to smoke when he was      years old.
A. 13 B. 14   C. 18
小题3: The city’s young people          .
A. knew that smoking was a bad thing
B. tried smoking when they were in Junior 3
C. started smoking earlier than those in the country
小题4:Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage?
A. Zhang Li had a disease and lost his left leg.
B. Smoking may cause many kinds of diseases.
C. Smoking may make you have a shorter life.
小题5: What does the underlined word “non-smokers ” mean in English?
A. People who like smoking.
B. People who smoke.
C. People who don’t smoke.

阅读下面短文，根据短文内容回答问题。
Recently, more and more people pay attention to eating healthily. Some food additives(添加剂) are used to make different kinds of foods. Some of them can make the food more delicious and some of them can make it colorful. But lots of chemicals are used to produce what we eat every day.
Sudan red is a kind of chemical that factories used it to dye cloth, make the shoes brighter. But some people produced salted duck eggs with it . However, it isn’t a kind of food additive. The food made from Sudan red makes it easier to cause cancer. Melamine(三聚氰胺) is another kind of chemical that are banned(禁止). It’s white crystal(晶体), which was discovered by a German chemist called Sustus Von Liebig in 1834. Melamine can be used to make paper, medicine and woods, ect. But nobody can imagine that some people used it as a material of milk powder(粉末). Because of melamine, it’s reported that 4 babies died and more than 50 thousand babies are affected since 2008. Sanlu, a famous milk powder factory was closed. What’s worse, milk powder with melamine appeared in 2011 again. Problems of food safety, for example, poisonous rice, lean meat powder(瘦肉精) and plasticizers(塑化剂) are becoming more and more serious.
Fortunately, lots of laws have been made to make the solution(解决方法) better. We think we will eat more healthily in the future.
小题1:Can the food additives make the food colorful and more delicious?
小题2:What is Sudan red?
小题3: When was melamine discovered?
小题4:请将划线句子翻译成汉语。
小题5:为了保证食品安全，避免类似事件发生，请你用英语给负责食品安全的相关部门提出建议（只需一条即可）。