150 Years of Cool
Look in the bedrooms of young people around the world. You will probably find a pair of blue jeans in each room. Jeans are very popular all over the world.
Jeans give you the feeling of comfort, youth and energy. They have long been liked by every person.
Levi Strauss is an American company. It first made blue jeans. The company was founded in 1853 by 24-year-old Levi Strauss. Twenty years later, he made the first blue jeans in the world. The jeans were used as working trousers for the cowboys of the American West. During the Second World War, American soldiers brought blue jeans to Europe and Asia. People there began to wear jeans. Little by little, they become cool.
People from different countries like different styles of jeans. Americans like to wear simple and single-colored jeans, but many Chinese like to wear jeans with lots of different colors.
Jeans now can be seen everywhere. However, in many places, it’s not always good to wear jeans. No matter how good they may look, or what color they are, it’s often not right to wear jeans in formal places. But, when you are out, relaxing and having fun, jeans are the best choice. The story is talking about ______.
A. Levi Strauss B. jeans C. coolLevi Strauss made the first blue jeans ______.
A. when he was 44 B. when he was 24 C. in 1853______ wore jeans after they were first made.
A. American soldiers B. American cowboys C. Levi StraussJeans can be cool for nearly 150 years because ______.
A. they have different styles
B. they have different colors
C. they make us feel youth, comfort and energyWhen you ______, you’d better not wear a pair of jeans.
A. go to an important meeting B. go on a trip C. have a party
News Review
APEC Blue People in Beijing got the saying after the APEC meeting in Beijing. It refers to(指) the clear blue sky during the meeting. To get such a blue sky, many factories in Beijing and nearby cities stopped work, and the number of cars on the road was cut.
A Warning Ticket A 24-year-old woman in Nanjing was given a warning ticket for eating food on the subway. Eating is not allowed on Nanjing subway. Up to now, 2,698 people have been punished(惩罚) because of their eating, smoking or selling goods on the subway.
A Teacher-free Exam Recently, students at Ningbo Huamao Foreign Language School in Zhejiang took their mid-term exam –a teacher-free exam. After handing out the exam papers, the teachers left the classroom, leaving the students to take the exam without being watched. They only came back to collect the papers at the end.
A Tomato Fight Do you want a tomato shower? Come to the “tomato fight” in Spain! Once every year, people in the town of Bunol throw tomatoes at each other. Don’t worry. It’s not a real fight. People do this only for fun.APEC Blue refers to _____ in Beijing during the APEC meeting.
| A．the factories | B．the clear blue sky |
| C．the people | D．the cars on the road |
A 24-year-old woman in Nanjing was given a warning ticket for _____ on the subway.
| A．drinking | B．smoking |
| C．eating food | D．selling goods |
In a teacher-free exam, students take their exam _____.
| A．at the end of the term | B．outside the classroom |
| C．without giving answers | D．without being watched |
In the town of Bunol, Spain, people throw tomatoes at each other _____.
| A．to have fun | B．to enjoy dinner |
| C．to take a shower | D．to start a fight |
Have you ever returned a book late to the library before? If so, you may pay a small fine(罚款). How much would you have to pay if the book is returned 65 years late?
A high school in Washington, Us had to deal with such a problem recently. A copy of Gone with the Wind was finally returned to its library 65 years late.
However, the school said that it would not ask Wayne to pay the fine, though that would be about $475.
The book was borrowed out of the library of the high school in 1949, and disappeared until it was found in Maine, Us by Wayne. Wayne found the book in his father’s basement(地下室) and then offered to send it back to the school.
“I feel very sorry about that,” Wayne said.
“We’re very pleased to have the book back. Wayne did the right thing,” Lori Wyborney, headmaster of the school said.The book was borrowed out of the library of the high school _____.
| A．in 1949 | B．in 1965 |
| C．in 1975 | D．in 2014 |
Gone with the Wind is the name of _____.
| A．a library | B．a school |
| C．a book | D．a magazine |
_____ offered to send the book back to the school.
| A．Wayne’s father | B．Wayne |
| C．Lori’s headmaster | D．Lori |
A.
B.
C.
D.
What’s the main subject(主题) of this writing?
| A．Making friends. | B．Learning English. |
| C．Joining school clubs. | D．Doing part-time jobs. |
Kudzu is a fast-growing vine(蔓生植物) that covers a large area in the southern United States. It is so common that one might think it is a native plant, but it is not. Kudzu was brought to the United States from Japan in 1876. Many Americans thought it was beautiful, and they began to plant it. They didn’t know it could grow up to a foot a day during the summer months. Nor did they know it would grow up and over anything in its path(路径).
In Japan, kudzu experienced cold winters and a short growing season. But in the United States, it has a very long growing season with warm and wet southern weather. It is fine weather for the vine to grow fast.
In the 1920s, people used the vine to feed farm animals. Ten years later, the government supported to plant kudzu because it kept soil(土壤) from washing away. However, by the 1950s, the government no longer wanted people to plant the vine. Twenty years after that, the government said it was a harmful plant.
The vine grows up trees and buildings, making some beautiful shapes. However, trees die after kudzu covers them because they can not get enough light. Scientists are looking for ways to kill the vine. They used poisons(毒药) to kill the vine. However, some of the poisons made it grow even better. Scientists also find it difficult to dig up Kudzu. The plant is really tough.
Because kudzu is so hard to kill, some people are making the best of it. So they try to find different uses for the vine. They find the vine can be used to make paper and baskets, it can be used to feed the goats, and it can even be eaten by people. Scientists are studying it in the hope that the vine can be used as a medicine. At the very least, kudzu serves as an example of the unexpected results that can come from non-native plants. We can learn from the passage that .
| A．kudzu mostly grows in the northern America |
| B．kudzu was brought to Japan from America |
| C．kudzu grows very fast in warm and wet weather |
| D．American government has never supported to plant kudzu |
The underlined word “tough” in Paragraph 4 probably means “ ”.
| A． not easily broken | B．widely used |
| C．hard to grow | D．important to one’s health |
The last paragraph is mostly about .
| A． how quickly the vine grows |
| B．how people use the vine |
| C．why people want to kill the vine |
| D．why people eat the vine |
The writer uses the title “The Vine That Ate the South” most probably to .
| A．let readers know kudzu is a vine |
| B．interest readers in a way |
| C．tell readers the vine is a kind of food |
| D．get readers to realize the passage is serious |
“Am I my brother’s keeper?” The question comes from the Bible(圣经). In the Bible, Cain kills his brother Abel. When God asks Cain where Abel is, he replies, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” by which he means, “Am I responsible (有责任心的) for my brother—his safety and health?” The answer, of course, is “Yes, you are.”
This sense of responsibility for others is basic to all good societies. And also it is basic to what we call “civil(文明的) society”. China is now working on building a civil society and the high schools in Shanghai want students to take part in that through volunteering. They are supposed to do sixty class hours of volunteer work before graduation. This is something new in China, but it is not new in other countries.
In the Canadian province of Ontario, high school students are required to do forty hours of volunteering. In some American states, the volunteering requirement is one hundred hours. These students spend about an hour a week during the school year and summer vacations, helping the poor, the sick and the old. They also teach young children to read and help to clean up the environment. And studies have shown that this volunteering experience influences students a lot after graduation.
Some of you may be thinking, “Gee, sixty class hours is a lot. How can I find the time?” In fact, if you finish it in three years, you only need to do the work about three class hours a month. And the time is well spent if it helps you realize that “being your brother’s keeper” makes you a better person and makes society a better place for everyone. A Shanghai high school student should finish class hours of volunteer work before graduation.
| A．thirty | B．forty | C．sixty | D．one hundred |
The underlined word “that” in Paragraph 2 refers to “ ”.
| A．building a civil society | B．reading the Bible |
| C．doing the volunteer work | D．playing more sports |
According to the writer, “being your brother’s keeper” means “ ”.
| A．being a good school student |
| B．being responsible for others |
| C．taking good care of your brother |
| D．doing volunteer work with your brother |
The main purpose of the writing is to .
| A．tell students where to do volunteer work |
| B．give advice on how to be a good volunteer |
| C．encourage students to do more volunteer work |
| D．introduce volunteer work in different countries |
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