We spent a day in the country, picking wild flowers. With the car full of flowers we were going home. On our way back my wife noticed a cupboard (柜厨) outside a furniture shop. It was tall and narrow. “Buy it, ” my wife said at once. “We’ll carry it home on the roof rack. I’ve always wanted one like that.”
What could I do? Ten minutes later I was ￡20 poorer; and the cupboard was tied on the roof rack. It was six feet long and eighteen inches square, quite heavy too.
In the gathering darkness I drove slowly. Other drivers seemed unusually polite that evening. The police even stopped traffic to let us through. Carrying furniture was a good idea.
After a time my wife said, “There’s a long line of cars behind. Why don’t they overtake, I wonder?” In fact a police car did overtake. The two officers inside looked at us seriously as they passed. But then, with great kindness, they led us through the rush-hour traffic. The police car stopped at our village church. One of the officers came to me.
“Right, sir, ” he said. “Do you need any more help?”
I was a bit puzzled. “Thanks, officer, ” I said. “You have been very kind. I live just on the road.”
He was staring at our car, first at the flowers, then at the cupboard. “Well, well, ” he said, laughing. “It’s a cupboard you’ve got there! We thought it was something else.”
My wife began to laugh. The truth hit me like a stone between the eyes. I smiled at the officer. “Yes, it’s a cupboard, but thanks again.” I drove home as fast as I could.Other drivers thought the author and his wife were _______.
| A．carrying a cupboard to the church |
| B．sending flowers to the church |
| C．carrying nothing but a piece of furniture |
| D．going to attend a funeral at the church |
The police will be more polite to those who are _______.
| A．driving in gathering darkness |
| B．in great sorrow |
| C．driving with wild flowers in the car |
| D．carrying furniture |
What did the husband think of this matter?
| A．It was very strange. | B．He took great pride in it. |
| C．He felt ashamed of it. | D．He was puzzled at it. |
When I was going home to India last year, I called up my mother to ask if she wanted anything from China．
When India had not opened up its markets to the world, I carried suitcase loads of dark glasses and jeans．Thankfully, we can get all these anywhere in India now．
Still, her answer surprised me: “Green tea．”
As long as I can remember she didn’t even drink Indian tea ．
I dutifully bought a big packet of Longjing and headed home to hear the story．My mother and her brother, both regular newspaper readers, believed that Chinese green tea was the wonder drug for all illnesses．
At the turn of the century, China was not really familiar to the average Indian．It was a strange country．
How things change! And how soon!
Now every town of any size seems to have a “China Market”．And everyone is talking about China．
The govemment of Indin has planned to send a team to China to see how things are done．A minister once said that India must open the doors for more foreign investment(投资)and such a step would “work wonders as it did for China”．
But it’s a two-way street．I just heard about a thousand Shenzhen office workers who have gone to Bangalore to train in software．Meanwhile, all the Indian IT majors are setting up a strong presence in China．
No wonder that trade, which was only in the millions just ten years ago, is expected to hit about US $15 billion for last year and US $20 billion by 2008, a goal set by both governments．
No wonder, my colleague wrote some weeks ago about this being the Sino-Indian(中印)century as the two countries started on January 1 the Sino-Indian Friendship Year．
But what is still a wonder to me is my mother drinking Chinese tea．According to the passage, the author left _____ for ______．
| A．India; China | B．China; India |
| C．China; Longjing | D．India; Shenzhen |
The reason why the writer’s mother asked for Chinese green tea is that_____．
| A．she had a son working in China | B．she believed it had a curing effect |
| C．she enjoyed Chinese products | D．she was tired of Indian tea |
The underlined part “it’s a two-way street” in Paragraph 10 probably means ____．
| A．The exchanges between Indian and China benefit both． |
| B．China and India have different traffic rules． |
| C．Tea trade works wonders in both India and China． |
| D．Chinese produces are popular in both China and India． |
It can be inferred from the passage that _______．
| A．the author was concerned for his mother’s health |
| B．the author was in favor of drinking Chinese green tea |
| C．the author was surprised at China’s recent development |
| D．the author was curious about the growth of India’s IT industry |
All too often , a choice that seems sustainable（可持续的）turns out on closer examination to be problematic. Probably the best example is the rush to produce ethanol（乙醇）for fuel from corn . Corn is a renewable resource —you can harvest it and grow more, almost limitlessly. So replacing gas with corn ethanol seems like a great idea.
One might get a bit more energy out of the ethanol than that used to make it, which could still make ethanol more sustainable than gas generally, but that’s not the end of the problem. Using corn to make ethanol means less corn is left to feed animals and people, which drives up the cost of food. That result leads to turning the fallow land — including, in some cases, rain forest in places such as Brazil — into farmland, which in turn gives off lots of carbon dioxide（CO2）into the air. Finally, over many years, the energy benefit from burning ethanol would make up for the forest loss. But by then, climate change would have progressed so far that it might not help.
You cannot really declare any practice “sustainable” until you have done a complete lift-cycle analysis of its environmental（环境的）costs. Even then, technology and public policy keep developing, and that development can lead to unforeseen and undesired results. The admirable goal of living sustainable requires plenty of thought on an ongoing basis.What might directly cause the loss of the forest according to the text?
| A．The growing demand for energy to make ethanol. |
| B．The increasing carbon dioxide in the air. |
| C．The greater need for farmland. |
| D．The big change in weather. |
The underline word “it” in the second paragraph refers to
| A．the energy benefit | B．the forest loss |
| C．climate change | D．burning ethanol |
The author thinks that replacing gas with corn ethanol is
| A．impractical | B．acceptable | C．admirable | D．useless |
What does the author mainly discuss in the text?
| A．Technology. | B．Sustainability. |
| C．Ethanol energy. | D．Environmental protection. |
Cities alarmed by deaths and injuries of pedestrians are taking efforts to make crosswalks safer for people on foot, especially seniors and children who need more time to cross streets.
A pedestrian is killed in a traffic accident in the USA every 110 minutes；one is injured every nine minutes, according to official date. Crosswalk can be especially dangerous for the elderly. Among people 70 and older, 36% of pedestrian deaths in 2006 occurred in crosswalks, compared with 21% of those younger than 70, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
The Federal Highway Administration（FHWA）advises that next year states increase by nearly 15% the amount of time traffic lights provide for pedestrians to cross the street after the flashing orange hand appears .
FHWA spokesman Doug Hecox says reasons for the change include an aging population that needs more time to cross, health-conscious Americans walking more, children encouraged to walk to prevent getting overweight and high gas prices pushing people to walk instead of drive.
Pedestrian deaths went down by 12% from 5,449 in 1996 to 4,784 in 2006. But among those in 2006, 471 were killed in crosswalks, down slightly from 488 ten years earlier, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says.Which of the following is true according to the text?
| A．Among 100 pedestrian deaths there were 21 people younger than 70. |
| B．Old people are more likely to meet with accidents in crosswalks. |
| C．Traffic accidents killed more old people than young people. |
| D．About seven traffic accidents happened per hour. |
What is FHWA’s suggestion to states?
| A．Fixing more traffic lights. |
| B．Providing more crosswalks. |
| C．Giving pedestrians more time to cross streets. |
| D．Increasing the time before the orange lights appear. |
What’s the cause of the crosswalk safety problem according to the test?
| A．There’re many cars and buses on the road. |
| B．Pedestrians are careless. |
| C．Crosswalks are crowded. |
| D．Drivers don’t give way. |
The report from NHTSA suggests that
| A．fewer people were injured in crosswalks |
| B．crosswalk safety has been greatly improved |
| C．much has been done to reduce traffic accidents |
| D．pedestrian deaths in crosswalk remain a serious problem |
Honesty comes in many forms. First there’s self-honesty. Is what people see the real article or do you appear through smoke and mirrors? I find that if I try to be something I’m not , I feel unsure of myself and take out a part from my PBA(personal bank account ).I love how singer Judy Garland put it, “Always be a first-class version(版本) of yourself , instead of a second-class version of somebody else .”
Then there’s honesty in our actions. Are you honest at school, with your parents, and with your boss? If you’ve ever been dishonest, I think we all have, try being honest, and notice how whole it makes you feel. Remember, you can’t do wrong and feel right. This story by Jeff is a good example of that:
In my second year of study, there were three kids in my math class who didn’t do well. I was really good at it. I would charge them three dollars for each test that I helped them pass. I’d write on a little piece of paper all the right answers, and hand them off.
At first I felt like I was making money, kind of a nice job. I wasn’t thinking about how it could hurt all of us. After a while I realized I shouldn’t do that anymore, because I wasn’t really helping them. They weren’t learning anything, and it would only get harder down the road. Cheating certainly wasn’t helping me.
It takes courage to be honest when people all around you are getting away with cheating on tests, lying to their parents, and stealing at work. But, remember, every act of honesty is a deposit（储蓄）into your PBA and will build strength.The underlined part “appear through smoke and mirrors” in the first paragraph means “ ”.
Which of the following can best explain Judy Garland’s words?
| A．Be your true self rather than follow others. |
| B．Don’t copy others or you can’t be the first class. |
| C．Make efforts to be the first instead of the second. |
| D．Don’t learn from others unless they’re excellent. |
What does the author expect to show by Jeff’s story ？
| A．honesty can be of great help. |
| B．A bad thing can be turned into a good one. |
| C．Helping others cheat can do good to nobody. |
| D．One should realize the wrong in his bad deeds. |
In the last paragraph the author mainly wants to express .
| A．one must be brave to be honest |
| B．it’s difficult to be honest when others are not |
| C．one should be honest when making a deposit |
| D．honesty in one’s actions can help him in the future |
July 21st, 2007 was a typical English summer’s day — it rained for 24 hours! As usual, I rushed home from work at midday to check on the house. Nothing was amiss. By the time I lift work at 5 pm, however, the road into our village was flooded. Our house bad never been flooded but, as I opened the front door, a wave of water greeted me. Thank God the kids weren’t with me, because the house was 5 feet deep in water. We lost everything downstairs. And the plaster had to be torn off the walls, ceilings pulled down.
At first we tried to push on through. We didn’t want to move the children out of home, so we camped upstairs. we put a sheet of plastic across the floor to protect us from the damp. But after three months, we felt very sick, so we moved to a wooden house in a park. The house was small, but at first we were all just delighted to be in a new place. Unfortunately, things took longer than expected and we were there for 10 months. The life there was inconvenient. What surprised me most was how much I missed being part of a community（社区）.We had lived in a friendly village with good neighbours, and I’d never thought how much I’d miss that.
Although-our situation was very bad, it’s difficult to feel too sorry for yourself when you look at what’s happening elsewhere. I watched a news report about floods in Northern India and thought , “We didn’t have a straw hut（茅草房）that was swept away , and our house is still sanding . We’re lucky .”
We moved back home in August. With December coming, there’s reconstruction work to be done, so it’s difficult to prepare for Christmas. But I can’t wait — I’m going to throw a party for our friends in the village to say thanks for their support. This year , I won’t need any gifts — living away from home for months has made me realize how little we actually need or miss all our possessions . Although we are replacing things, there’s really no rush — we have our home back, and that’s the main thing.What does the underlined word “amiss” in the first paragraph mean?
| A．Wrong. | B．Missing. | C．Right. | D．Found. |
It can be inferred from the text that the author .
| A．was sick of staying upstairs |
| B．cared much about her children |
| C．could not stand living a wooden house |
| D．did not deal well with her family affairs during the flood |
Why does author say that they were lucky in the third paragraph?
| A．Because her situation was not serious. |
| B．Because many other places were flooded. |
| C．Because she had been to Northern India. |
| D．Because some others suffered even more. |
What does the author mainly want to express by telling her story?
| A．She valued human feelings more than before. |
| B．She realized she almost didn’t need possessions. |
| C．She found Christmas gifts no longer badly needed. |
| D．She thought her own home was the most important. |
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