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 desert is a very dry land where there is hardly any rain. In the day, it can be so hot that you could fry an egg on the ground. But during the night it is sometimes so could that water would turn into ice.






Many desserts are covered in sand. But some have mountains, rocks, or lakes that have dried up in the heat. The Great American Dessert has cliffs(悬崖) that have been made into amazing and beautiful shapes by the wind. The Sahara Desert in Africa is mostly sand. The Australian Desert has red sand.
Sometimes it does not rain for a whole year in the desert. But there is water deep under the ground and some plants have roots that go very deep to find it. Other plants have roots that spread out(延伸) a long way so they can suck up the rain as soon as it falls.
One desert plant is the cactus, which has long, spreading roots. The cactus stores water inside its hard skin. This skin protects it from heat and cold.
Camels are a bit like cactus plants! They store water too—inside their bodies. They have special fur which protects them from the sun during the day and keeps them warm at night.
Some other animals live in deserts, too. They have to be very good at seeing and hearing because most of them only come out at night. This is why many desert animals have extra big eyes or ears.
A desert fox has bigger ears than a normal for. A gerbil has huge eye, so that it can see at night. It stays cool in the day by staying underground, like most desert animals.
Some people live in the desert but they always make their homes near an oasis. An oasis is where water comes from an underground river. Near an oasis, people can grow lots of plants and keep animals.
Life is hard in the desert, for people, animals and plants. But desert people like to live there.
【小题1】A desert is very dry because__________.

A．it is sandy	B．there is so little rain
C．the wind is strong	D．there is no water deep under the ground

【小题2】What does the underlined phrase"suck up"in paragraph 3 mean_________?

A．围堵

B．讨好

C．释放

D．吸收

【小题3】Some desert animals have extra big eyes or ears because__________.

A．the sunlight is too strong in the day	B．they need to see and hear well at night
C．it is very cold at nigh	D．they store water in them.

【小题4】Most desert animals stay cool in the day by_________.

A．storing water in side their bodies	B．drinking water as much as they can
C．staying underground	D．growing lots of plants

【小题5】Which of the following is true?

A．Desert people like to live in the desert though life is hard.

B．People in the desert usually fry eggs on the ground.

C．Camels have special fur to store water.

D．All the deserts are covered in sand.

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．

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

There are over 800 boarding (寄宿) schools in the UK with students from home and foreign countries. Boarding schools started hundreds of years ago in the country. But the earliest boarding schools were set up for white, rich boys only. Now both boys and girls can go to boarding schools from the age of 7 to 18.
What to do
In the UK, boarding schools have three terms in a school year, with about 13 weeks in each term. Students study and live together. They can’t go outside if they are not allowed to. In some schools, each student has his or her subject plan. Besides the usual classrooms and laboratories, the boarding schools have lots of other facilities for their students, including music rooms, boats, swimming pools, cinemas and theatres. Most boarding schools have a “light out” time. So when it’s time to go to bed, all the lights in the bedrooms are turned off. There are house-masters to take care of students all the time, especially after school hours.
What to wear                                                                            
Nearly all students at boarding schools wear a school uniform. Boys usually wear a shirt and a tie, and girls wear a white blouse, sometimes also a tie and a skirt. As students get older, the rules become less strict.
_______________
In the UK, boarding schools provide students with delicious food. They can choose to have a full English breakfast or simply bread. They can also choose between a meal with no meat and another meal at lunch and dinner. And there is always self-service for salad (沙拉), other side dishes and a dessert. Students can also make themselves something to eat at any time in a kitchen, or drink tea or have a snack between meals.
【小题1】 Which of the following is TRUE according to (根据) the passage?

A．Only white children were allowed to attend the earliest boarding schools.

B．Students in a boarding school are looked after only after school hours.

C．As students get older, the rules about wearing school uniforms become stricter.

D．Students can have different activities in a boarding school.

【小题2】Which is the best title for the last paragraph?

A．What to eat

B．When to eat

C．Where to eat

D．How to eat

【小题3】 The underlined word ‘facilities’ means _____________.

A．教师

B．设施

C．活动

D．课程