Boiler rooms are often dirty and steamy, but this one is clean and cool. Fox Point is a very new 47-unit living building in South Bronx, one of the city’s poorest areas. Two-thirds of the people living there are formerly (以前) homeless people, whose rent is paid by the government. The rest are low-income families. The boiler room has special equipment, which produces energy for electricity and heat. It reuses heat that would otherwise be lost to the air, reducing carbon emissions(碳排放)while also cutting costs.
Fox Point is operated by Palladia, a group that specializes in providing housing and services to needy people. Palladi
a received support from Enterprise Community Partners (ECP), which helps build affordable housing by providing support to housing developers.
ECP has created national standards for healthy, environmentally (环境方面) clever and affordable homes which are called, the Green Communities Standards. These standards include water keeping, energy saving and the use of environmentally friendly building materials. Meeting the standards increases housing construction costs by 2%, which is rapidly paid back by lower running costs. Even the positioning of a window to get most daylight can help save energy.
Michael Bloomberg, New York's mayor, plans to create 165,000 affordable housing units for 500,000 New Yorkers. Almost 80% of New York City’s greenhouse-gas emissions come from buildings, and 40% of those are caused by housing. So he recently announced that the city’s Department of Housing and Preservation and Development (DHPD) , whose duty is to develop and keep the city’s supply of affordable housing, will require all its new projects to follow ECP’s green standards.
Similar measures have been taken by other cities such as Cleveland and Denver, but New York’s DHPD is the largest city developer of affordable housing in the country.What is the purpose of describing the boiler room in the first paragraph?
| A．To explain the measures the city takes to care for poor people. |
| B．To suggest that affordable housing is possible in all areas. |
| C．To show how the environment-friendly building works. |
| D．To compare old and new boiler rooms. |
What is an advantage of the buildings meeting the Green Communities Standards?
| A．Lower running costs. | B．Costing less in construction. |
| C．Less air to be lost in hot days | D．Better prices for homeless people. |
It can be learned from the text that_______________.
| A．New York City is seriously polluted |
| B．people’s daily life causes many carbon emissions in New York City |
| C．a great number of people in New York City don't have houses to live in |
| D．some other cities have developed more affordable housing than New York City |
What is the main purpose of this text?
| A．To call on people to pay more attention to housing problems. |
| B．To prove that some standards are needed for affordable housing. |
| C．To ask society to help homeless people and low-income families. |
| D．To introduce healthy, environmentally clever-and affordable housing. |
My first most vivid and broad impression of the identity of things seems to me to have been gained on a memorable raw afternoon t
owards evening near my parents’ tomb in the churchyard.
“Hold your noise!” came a terrible voice, as a man started up from among the tombs at the side of the church. “Keep still, you little dev
il(小鬼), or I’ll cut your throat!”
A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. He seized me by the chin(下巴).
“Tell us your name!” said the man. “Quick!”
“Pip, sir.”
“Show us where you live,” said the man. “Point out the place!”
I pointed to where our village lay, on the flat in-shore among the alder-trees and pollards, a mile or more from the church.
The man, after looking at me for a moment, turned me upside down, and emptied my pockets. There was nothing in them but a piece of bread.
“You young dog,” said the man, licking his lips, “what fat cheeks you ha’ got. Darn me if I couldn’t eat em, and if I han’t half a mind to’t!”
I earnestly expressed my hope that he wouldn’t, and held tighter to the tombstone on which he had put me; partly, to keep myself upon it; partly, to keep myself from crying.
“Now then lookee here!” said the man. “Where’s your mother?”
“There, sir!” said I.
He started, made a short run, and stopped and looked over his shoulder.
“There, sir!” I timidly explained, pointed to the tombstone. “That’s my mother.”
“Oh!” said he, coming back. “And is that your father alonger your mother?”
“Yes, sir,” said I; “him too; late of thisparish(教区).” The “voice” in the second paragraph came from______.
| A．the church | B．the man | C．the bank | D．the boy |
The boy probably lived _____.
| A．in the parish | B．in the valley | C．in the city | D．in the country |
We can infer from the passage _____.
| A．the boy was very calm and smart |
| B．the man hit the boy in the face |
| C．the boy would forever remember the raw afternoon |
| D．the man was very kind and considerate |
The passage is most probably adapted from________.
| A．a news report | B．a science fiction | C．a novel | D．a review |
This is the age of being busy．Many of us live in busy pl
aces and have busy lives．Even the roads are busy as we try to get from here to there．Adults are busy going to jobs and taking care of their families．Kids are busy，too，going to school and doing lots of homework after school and on weekends．
Busy isn’t bad，necessarily．If you’re not busy enough you might be bored．But if you’re too busy．you might break down．For instance，if you have a soccer game that runs late on a school night and you haven’t eaten dinner or done your homework．that’s a not—so—fun kind of busy．We wanted to know what kids thought，so we did a KidsPoll about being busy with 882 girls and boys aged 9 to 1 3．
Almost all of them said they felt stressed because they were too busy．About half said they felt this way once in a while or some of the time．But l 7％said they felt this way most of the time and 24％said they felt like this all the time! Oh dear，that’s no fun．
Only 4％of kids said they wanted less free time and l8％said they already had just the right 
am
ount．But，no big surprise，61％of kids wish they had a lot more free time．If they had more time．most would spend it hanging out or playing with friends．
Often，adults plan large parts of a kid’s day，especially during the school year．Kids can’t tell their parents they’ll be skipping school(逃学)today to get more free time!But they can tell their parents they’d like to play a game or read a book during their free time instead of watching TV．．The purpose of the first paragraph is to
A．introduce the  topic |
B．support the main idea |
| C．raise the topic sentence | D．attract the readers’ attention |
．According to the passage，the Kidspoll is done to carry out research on
| A．how kids arrange their free time | B．what kids think of being busy |
| C．how many kids felt stressed | D．what kids do with fheir study |
．According to the KidsPoll，what conclusion can we draw?
| A．91％of the kids think being busy is no fun． |
| B．22％of the kids don’t need more free time． |
| C．61％of the kids spend free time playing． |
| D．24％of the kids like the busy way． |
．From the passage，we can infer that the writer agrees kids can
A．spend their free time hanging or playing ou t |
| B．get a lot more free time from their parents |
| C．have a right amount of free time with permission |
| D．get more free time from school work sometimes |
William H. Gates is chairperson and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation．
the worldwide leader in software services and internet technologies for personal and business computing．
Bill Gates was born on October 28．1 955 in a family having rich business，political and community service background．His great—grandfather was a state legislator(立法者)and a mayor，his grandfather was vice president of national bank and his father was a lawyer．
Bill strongly believes in hard work. He believes that if you are intelligent and know how to apply your intelligence，you can achieve anything．From childhood Bill was ambitious, intelligent and competitive．These qualities helped him to attain top position in the profession he chose．1n school，he had an excellent record in mathematics and science．Bill’s parents came to know their son’s intelligence and decided to send him to a private school，known for its good academic environment．It was a very important decision in Bill Gates’ life where he was first introduced to a computer．Bill Gates and his friends were very much interested in computer and formed “programmer’s Group” in late l968．
Later，Bill Gates and his close friend Allen started a new company of their own，Traf-O-Data．They developed a small computer to measure traffic flow．From this project they earned around$20，000．In 1973．he left home for Harvard University．He did well over there，but he couldn’t find it interesting．He spent many long nights in front of the school’s computer and the next day asleep in class．
Within a year．Bill Gates dropped out from Harvard．Then he formed Microsoft．Microsoft’s vision is“ A computer on every desk and Microsoft software on every computer”．His belief in high intelligence and hard work has put him where he is today．He does not believe in mere(纯粹的)luck，but just hard work and competitiveness．
Bill Gates is not a greedy person．In fact，he is quite a giving person when it comes to computers，internet and any kind of funding．Several years ago, he visited Chicago’s Einstein Elementary School and announced grants benefiting Chicago’s schools and museums where he donated(捐款)a total of $1 1 0，000，a bunch of computers，and provided internet connectivity to a number of schools．Secondly，Bill Gates donated 38 million dollars for the building of a computer institute at Stanford University．Gates has decided to give away 95％of all his earnings when he retires．．How old was Bill Gates when he retired f
rom Microsoft in late 
June of 2008?
| A．52． | B．55． | C．60． | D．62． |
．What does Bill Gates believe are most important in achieving success?
| A．Intelligence and luck． | B．Hard work and intelligence． |
| C．Money and interest． | D．Good education and ambition． |
．What is the most important turning point in Bill Gates’ life?
| A．He left home for Harvard University． |
| B．He dropped out from Harvard University． |
C．He and his friend Allen started a new co mpany． |
| D．He was sent to a private school where he first studied computer． |
．What kind of person can we say about Bill Gates?
| A．Wealthy，greedy and successful． |
B．Ambitious，Intelligent and se lfish． |
| C．Intelligent．successful and generous． |
| D．Lazy，intelligent and competitive． |
The 9．2一magnitude(震级)earthquake which caused the tsunami in
the Indian Ocean on Boxing Day last year occurred at 7:58 a.m.，95 miles off the west coast of Aceh, Indonesia．
Eighteen minutes later．10-metre high waves crashed the ashore along a 500——mile-long stretch of Aceh．
Two hours later the tsunami hit Thailand and Malaysia and then Burma, Bangladesh, India，the Maldives，Sri Lanka，Kenya and Somalia．The final death toll is thought to be about 280，000，with tens of thousands more listed as missing．More than l.8 million people lost their homes．
●What Is Tsunami?
A tsunami is a chain of fast moving waves caused by a sudden strong quake in the ocean．They can be caused by earthquakes，volcanic eruptions(爆发)，or even the collision of meteorites(陨星)．Tsunamis are also incorrectly known as tidal waves，but unlike tidal waves they are not caused by changes in the tides．
They are also most common around the edge of the Pacific，where more than half of the world’s volcanoes are found．These fast moving waves can attack coastlines，often with little or no warning．Rocks weighing as much as 20 metric tonnes have been pulled from sea walls and carried l 80m inland．
●Wave Power
Atsunami can have a wavelength in excess of(超过)1 00km and there may be an hour between them．They travel at great speeds across an ocean with hardly any energy losses and are barely noticeable out at sea．
Over the deep Pacific Ocean，a tsunami travels at about 800kph．If an earthquake happened in Los Angeles．a tsunami could hit Tokyo quicker than you could fly between the cities by jet．
●Strange Animal Behaviors
Ten days before giant waves slammed into Sri Lanka and India coastlines，wild and domestic(家养的) animals seemed to know what was about to happen and fled(逃跑)to safety．
Elephants screamed and ran for higher ground．
Dogs refused to go outdoors．
Zoo animals rushed into their shelters and could not be enticed(引诱)to come back out．.．What does the first part of the passage mainly tell us?
| A．The great speed of a tsunami． |
| B．The number of deaths caused by a tsunami． |
| C．The countries which were struck by a tsunami． |
| D．The serious destruction caused by the great power of a tsunaml． |
.．All the following can cause a tsunami except
| A．changes of the tides | B．volcanic eruptions |
| C．collision of meteorites | D．earthquakes |
.．Which of the following is a characteristic of a tsunami?
| A．Having a lot of small waves linked together． |
| B．The waves of a tsunami travel extremely fast． |
| C．The waves of a tsunami can be found in the distance． |
| D．The power of the waves becomes stronger and stronger as a tsunami travels． |
When he was driving home one evening on a country road，he saw an old lady，stranded(抛锚的)on the side of the road．He stopped in front of her car and got out．Even with the smile on his face，she was worried．He looked poor and hungry．He knew how she felt．He said，“I am here to help you，madam．Why
don’t you wait in the car where it’s warm? By the way, my name is Joe．”
She had a flat tire．Joe crawled under the car，changed the tire．But he got dirty and his hands hurt．She could not thank him enough and asked him how much she owed him．He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back，the next time she saw someone who needed help，she could give
that person the assistance they needed，and Joe added，“And think of me．”
She drove off．A few miles down the road the lady saw a small restaurant．She went in．The waitress had a sweet smile，and was nearly eight months pregnant(怀孕的)．The old lady wondered how someone like her who seemed poor could be so kind to a stranger．Then she remembered Joe．After the lady finished her meal，the waitress went to get her change from a hundred—dollar bill．But she stepped right out the door．
When the waitress came back，she noticed something written on a napkin，“I am helping you because someone once helped me．If you really want to pay me back，here’s what you do---Do not let the chain of love end with you．”
That night when she got home，she was thinking about the money and what the lady had written．She and her husband needed money with the baby due(预期的)next month．She knew how worried her husband was，and as he lay sleeping next to her，she whispered，“Everything’s going to be all right．I love you，Joe．”.．When Joe stopped to help the lady，she
| A．became excited | B．was afraid to be hurt |
| C．refused his offer | D．thanked him |
.．At the restaurant, the lady
| A．received good service | B．had an expensive meal |
| C．told the waitress Joe’s story | D．met another poor guest |
.．Why did the lady leave the restaurant without getting her change?
| A．She forgot it． | B．She wanted to help Joe |
| C．She wanted to tip the waitress． | |
D．S he wanted to give the waitress some help |
.．Which of the following statements is true?
| A．Joe’s boss fired him． | B．Joe worked as a driver． |
| C．Joe’s wife was a waitress． | D．Joe had an unhappy marriage． |
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