When you are visiting New York City with kids，there are numerous things to do which will entertain their spirits and feed their minds.
•The Whispering Gallery
Make your way to the Whispering Gallery. The Whispering Room's architecture allows for a phenomenon that usually sparks a lot of giggles. Once inside the gallery，place one person facing the corner at one end of the room and then place another person facing the corner at the opposite end. Ask one of the participants to whisper a phrase or a quick sentence or two and the person at the opposite end will be able to hear every word that was said.
E．42nd St.
New York，NY 10017
2127715322
grandcentralterminal.com
•American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History was founded in 1869.In addition to its impressive exhibits，permanent attractions bring the cool feeling to kids. They can enter the Fossil Halls and take in the impressive dinosaur skeletons. And the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life educates kids on the fragility of the ocean.
Central Park West at 79th St.
New York，NY,10024
212—769—5606
amnh.org
•The Scholastic Store
Most parents want their children to read，and moreover，to enjoy reading. The Scholastic Store helps to make that wish a reality by publishing engaging，well written stories that appeal to children. With classics such as Clifford the Big Red Dog，The Magic School Bus，and Harry Potter，the Scholastic Store will delight your children.
557 Broadway
New York,10012
212—343—6100
scholastic.com
•Ellen's Stardust Diner
The restaurant is a place where each person in your family can find something to eat .At Ellen's Stardust Diner，a diverse menu will whet everyone's appetite. Arugula salads，grilled cheese，burgers and meatloaf are all on this varied menu. The hall of beauty queens，a drive-in theatre and wait staff that sing to you can add to the unique dining experience.
•1650 Broadway，corner of 51st St.
•New York，NY 10019
•2129565151
ellensstardustdiner.com Once children visit the Whispering Gallery they'll find it ________.
| A．interesting | B．splendid | C．disappointing | D．frightening |
Which of the following websites helps the kids learn about the ancient ocean life?
| A．ellensstardustdiner.com | B．grandcentralterminal.com |
| C．amnh.org | D．scholastic.com |
You would like to get your children interested in reading so you can bring them to visit ________.
| A．the Whispering Gallery | B．the Scholastic Store |
| C．Ellen's Stardust Diner | D．American Museum of Natural History |
In addition to your favorite food in Ellen's Stardust Diner you can also ________.
| A．make some good friends |
| B．see many beautiful queens |
| C．receive the first—class service |
| D．enjoy some entertaining programs |
Which of the following is the best title for this passage?
| A．Tips for travelling around New York City |
| B．Children would like to travel in big cities |
| C．Things to do with kids in New York City |
| D．Entertaining activities in the United States |
At first, the earth’s surface layer (层) was made up of huge blocks of hard, solid rocks. Then slowly, the rocks broke up into smaller and smaller pieces. Finally stones, pebbles (卵石) and grains of sand were formed. Many sorts of plants and animals lived and died on the surface of the earth. Their remains mixed up with the stones, pebbles and formed soil. The outmost layer of the earth is soil.
There are many ways in which large pieces of rock break into smaller ones. Wind, water, heat and cold help to break up rocks. When winds blow grains of sand against a large rock for a long time, the softer layers of the rock are slowly worn away. These leave holes and cracks in the rock, which become bigger and finally the rock breaks up into smaller pieces.
The moving water of streams and rivers also helps to break up rocks. As the water moves along, it carries with it small pieces of rock. These rub the larger ones. Thus, the larger rocks are worn down to smaller pieces.
The heat of the sun is also helpful to breaking up rocks. When the sun shines, the rocks become very hot. If these rocks are suddenly cooled, they may crack. Ice also plays a part in making soil. Water in the cracks can turn into ice in cold weather. As this happens, it becomes bigger and the cracks become wider, and finally break into smaller pieces.According to the passage, soil____________ .
| A．forms very slowly |
| B．is a mixture of stones, pebbles and sand |
| C．makes up the layers of the earth |
| D．is becoming smaller and smaller |
How many factors are mentioned in helping break up rocks?
| A．Three. | B．Four. |
| C．Five. | D．More than five. |
Which of the following speeds up（加速） the breaks of rocks most?
| A．Hot weather. |
| B．Cold water. |
| C．Sharp changes in temperature. |
| D．More dead plants in the cracks. |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．The remains of many plants and animals formed soil. |
| B．If a large rock never moves, it will never break up. |
| C．Even if a large rock never moves, it will break up. |
| D．Ice in the cracks helps to break up rocks. |
The best title for this passage should be____________ .
| A．Soil From Rocks |
| B．Ways to Break up Rocks |
| C．Soil on the Earth |
| D．Soil, Outmost Layer of the Earth |
Popeye the Sailor first became a popular cartoon in the 1930s.The sailor in that cartoon ate lots of spinach to make him strong. People watched him, and they began to buy and eat a lot more spinach. Popeye helped sell 33 percent more spinach than before! Spinach became a necessary part of many people’s diets. Even some children who hated the taste began to eat the vegetable.
Many people thought that the iron in spinach made Popeye strong, but this is not true. Spinach does not have any more iron than any other green vegetable.
People only thought spinach had a lot of iron because the people who studied the food made a mistake. In the 1890s, a group of people studied what was inside vegetables. This group said that spinach had ten times more iron than it did. The group wrote the number wrong, and everyone accepted it.
Today, we know that the little iron there is in spinach cannot make a difference in how strong a person is. However, spinach does have something else which the body needs—folic acid. It is interesting to point out that folic acid can help make a person strong. Maybe it was really the folic acid that made Popeye strong all along.A good title for this reading passage is______.
| A．Popeye the Sailor | B．The Truth About Spinach |
| C．Mistake with Numbers | D．Folic Acid Makes You Strong |
Why did many people eat spinach after they saw Popeye the Sailor?
| A．They thought spinach made them strong. |
| B．They thought Popeye was funny. |
| C．Spinach had a lot of iron. |
| D．People liked folic acid. |
A research group told people that spinach______.
| A．made Popeye strong |
| B．was a green vegetable |
| C．had less iron than other green vegetables |
| D．had more iron than other green vegetables |
The reading passage says that perhaps Popeye got his strength from______.
| A．iron | B．folic acid |
| C．spinach | D．exercise |
Folic acid is ______.
| A．something in food | B．a vegetable |
| C．dangerous | D．a certain kind of spinach |
In the summer of 1978 an English farmer was driving his tractor through a field of wheat when he discovered that some of his wheat was lying flat on the ground. The flattened wheat formed a circle about six meters across. Around this circle were four smaller circles of flattened wheat. The five circles were in a formation like five dots. During the following years, farmers in England found the strange circles in their fields more and more often.
The circles are called “crop circles” because they appear in the fields of grain ― usually wheat or corn. The grain in the circles lies flat on the ground but is never broken; it continues to grow, and farmers can later harvest it. Farmers always discover the crop circles in the morning, so the circles probably form at night. They appear only in the months from May to September.
At first, people thought that the circles were a hoax. Probably young people were making them as a joke, or farmers were making them to attract tourists. To prove that the circles were a hoax, people tried to make circles exactly like the ones that farmers had found. They couldn’t do it. They couldn’t enter a field of grain without leaving tracks, and they couldn’t flatten the grain without breaking it.
Many people believe that beings from outer space are making the circles to communicate with us from far away and that the crop circles are messages from them.
Scientists who have studied the crop circles suggested several possibilities. Some scientists say that a downward rush of wind leads to the formation of the circles — the same downward lash of air that sometimes causes an airplane to crash. Other scientists say that forces within the earth cause the circles to appear. There is one problem with all these scientific explanations: crop circles often appear in formations, like the five-dot formation. It is hard to believe that any natural force could form those.In the summer of 1978, an English farmer discovered in his field that ______.
| A．some of his wheat had been damaged |
| B．some of his wheat had fallen onto the ground |
| C．his grain was growing up in circles |
| D．his grain was moved into several circles |
The underlined word "hoax" in Paragraph 3 is probably ______.
| A．a research on the force of winds |
| B．a special way to plant crops |
| C．an experiment for the protection of crops |
| D．an attempt made to fool people |
Which of the following may prove that the crop circles are not made by man?
| A．The farmers couldn’t step out of the field. |
| B．The farmers couldn’t make the circles round. |
| C．The farmers couldn’t leave without footprints. |
| D．The farmers couldn’t keep the wheat straight up. |
One explanation given by scientists for the crop circles is that they are made by _____.
| A．airplane crashes | B．air movement |
| C．unknown flying objects | D．new farming techniques |
In New York, Ma witnessed the Alibaba Group opening on the New York stock exchange with the largest initial public offering (IPO，新股发行) in American history. “Alibaba, the world’s largest Internet commerce company makes China equal to the US in the rapidly increasing global competition for technological innovation (创新) and economic transformation ” commented the South China Morning Post.
It has also made Ma China’s richest man with a fortune of around $25 billion (153 billion yuan), reported Reuters.
It’s reported that Ma’s rags-to-riches journey is just as spectacular as his Internet empire. Ma failed the national college entrance exams twice before he was finally in Hangzhou Normal University on his third attempt and failed in finding a suitable job several times. Also, Mr. Ma is a big believer in perseverance, which was proved in his English study experience.
However, it was his vision and goals that launched his career.
During a short trip to the US as an interpreter in 1995, Ma first experienced the Internet. He believed in the Internet’s business potential when few other Chinese people did. He started Alibaba in his Hangzhou apartment, with 17 friends and $60,000 of funds. At the time, when e-commerce was unheard of in China, “I called myself a blind man riding on the back of blind tigers,” he once said, according to The Guardian. His unusual ideas earned him the nickname “Crazy Jack Ma”.
Indeed, Ma is different. Although he is very thin and about 160cm tall, “Ma is yet animated and forceful, said The Guardian. “He is funny, creative, and a compelling (引人注目的) speaker.
Ma told Time magazine that he was “old for the Internet”. He started to slow down and looked around. According to The Wall Street Journal, Ma “plans to open a tai chi club with the actor Jet Li, build an entrepreneur (企业家) university in Hangzhou and continue to work on several environmental projects.”What made him into e-commerce industry?
| A．His foresight and ambitions. |
| B．His English learning experience. |
| C．His belief in perseverance. |
| D．His 17 friends and $60,000 funds. |
What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 5 mean?
| A．Ma is a blind man riding on a blind tiger. |
| B．Ma had no confidence in his business future. |
| C．Ma knew little about e-commerce. |
| D．Ma had not enough money at that time. |
What’s the personality of Ma Yun according to the passage?
| A．Funny and competitive. |
| B．Determined and creative. |
| C．Rich and different. |
| D．Attractive and believable. |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．The Development of Alibaba Group |
| B．Ma Yun’s Personal Life |
| C．Ma Yun’s Crazy Success |
| D．E-commerce in China |
(Reuters) --- A stampede killed at least 36 people during New Year's Eve celebrations in Shanghai, authorities said, but the police denied reports that it was caused by people rushing to pick up fake money thrown from a building overlooking the city's famous waterfront.
It was the worst disaster in the modern city since 58 died in an apartment building fire in 2010.
The cause of the crush has still to be confirmed, though state media and some witnesses have said it was at least partly aroused when people rushed to pick up coupons that looked like bank notes.
A man named Wu said the fake money had been thrown down from a bar above the street as part of the celebrations.
"This incident happened after the stampede," police said in a brief statement, without saying what the real cause was.
Another witness said there had been a problem away from the area where the fake bills were thrown, with people trying to get on to a raised platform overlooking the river.
Xinhua news agency said that people had been trampled on after falling down on the steps up to the platform.
Authorities had shown some concern about crowd control in the days leading up to New Year's Eve. They recently canceled an annual 3D laser show on the Bund, which last year attracted as many as 300,000 people.
On New Year's Eve, Beijing also canceled a countdown event in the central business district, Chinese media said, due to police fears about overcrowding.
The Shanghai government said on its official microblog that an inquiry had begun, and that all other New Year events had been canceled.
In 2004, 37 people died in a stampede in northern Beijing, on a bridge at a scenic spot, during the Lunar New Year holiday.According to the passage, why did people go to the Bund?
| A．To meet their old friends and relatives. |
| B．To celebrate the New Year’s Eve. |
| C．To watch an annual 3D laser show. |
| D．To pick up bank notes. |
What can be inferred according to the passage?
| A．Some possible measures had been taken by authorities. |
| B．People like 3D laser show better than any other events. |
| C．The local government had shown their worry about overcrowding. |
| D．The celebrations in Beijing were influenced by this stampede. |
What’s the passage about?
| A．A countdown event in Beijing. |
| B．A laser show on the Bund. |
| C．An apartment fire in Shanghai. |
| D．A stampede on New Year’s Eve in Shanghai. |
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