There are many places to go on safari（观赏野生动物）in Africa, but riding a horse through the flooded waters of Botswana's Okavango Delta must rank as one of the world's most exciting wildlife journeys.
Several safari camps operate as the base for this adventure, providing unique rides twice a day to explore deep into the delta. The camps have excellent horses, professional guides and lots of support workers. They have a reputation for providing a great riding experience.
The morning ride, when the guides take you to beautiful, shallow lakes full of water lilies, tends to be more active. It is unlike any other riding experience. With rainbows forming in the splashing water around you and the sound of huge drops of water bouncing off your body and face. It is truly exciting. You are very likely to come across large wild animals, too. On horseback it is possible to get quite close to elephants, giraffes and many other animals. The sense of excitement and tension levels rise suddenly though, as does your heart rate, as you move closer to them.
In the evening, rides are usually at a more relaxed and unhurried pace. With golden light streaming across the grassy delta and the animals coming out to eat and drink. Sedate though they are, rides at this time of day are still very impressive. As the sun's rays pass through the dust kicked up by the horses, the romance of Africa comes to life.
Back at the camp you can kick off your boots and enjoy excellent food and wine. Looking back on your day, you will find it hard to deny that a horseback Safari is as close as you will ever come to answering the call of the wild.What does the underlined word "They" refer to?
| A．Flooded waters | B．Wildlife journey |
| C．Safari camps | D．Unique rides |
What does the author find most exciting about a horse safari?
| A．Seeing and feeling the real African life. |
| B．Enjoying good food and wine at the camp. |
| C．Hunting large animals just as our ancestors did. |
| D．Being part of the scene and getting close to animals. |
What does the underlined word "sedate" probably mean?
| A．Wild and romantic | B．Slow and peaceful |
| C．Hurry and thirsty | D．Active and excited |
The author introduced the riding experience in the OKavango Delta mainly by________.
| A．Following space order | B．Following time order |
| C．Making classifications | D．Giving examples |
My darling daughter,
Recently I saw a diary of years. It was written when you were nine. I read your goals in the diary, and one little goal was really surprising for me. It was “to make Mom happy”.
I was so moved, and I would have told you that you made me happy every day of my life. My first thoughts in the morning were of you. When I got home from work, I couldn’t wait to see you. I liked talking to you very much and I wanted to know what your day was like. You kept my spirit alive, my mind challenged and my body active. You were, and still are, the light of my life. Without you, my life would have been boring. You made me happy and you continue to do so.
You are a mother now, with a child of your own. I know you love her, so I think you should tell her how happy she makes you. Sometimes we forget to say the words that are in our hearts. These words can be very important to a child. They can change their world completely. They can create a beautiful world for them.
You are my joy in life, my little one. You always have been, and you always will be. Never forget that, and tell that to your child. Tell her that she is the most important thing in the world for you, because she makes things joyful in your life! I love you, my dearest daughter.
Mom
What can we learn from the first paragraph?
| A．The diary was written when the daughter was young |
| B．The mother was not close to her daughter. |
| C．The daughter had been dead for many years. |
| D．The mother often heard from her daughter. |
The mother ______ according to the text.
| A．thought her life was boring |
| B．has a granddaughter |
| C．was a housewife |
| D．used to get up early |
According to the third paragraph, the mother advised her daughter to ______ .
| A．try her best to make her child happy |
| B．take her child traveling around the world |
| C．let her child do whatever she wants |
| D．tell her child her feelings |
The text has most likely been taken from
| A．a report | B．a letter |
| C．a piece of news | D．a poster |
Are people less happy or more happy the older they get ? A study found that people generally become happier and experience less worry after age 50. In fact, it found that by the age of 85, people are happier with their life than they were at 18.
The finding came from a Gallup survey of more than 340,000 adults in the United States in 2008. At that time, the people were between the age of 18 an 85.
Arthur Stone in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University in New York led the study. His team found that levels of stress were highest among adults between the ages of 22 and 25. Stress levels dropped sharply after people reached their fifties.
Happiness was highest among the youngest adults and those in their early seventies. But the people least likely to report feeling negative emotions(消极情绪) were those in their seventies and eighties. The survey also found that men and women had similar emotional patterns as they grow older. However, women at all ages reported more sadness, stress and worry than men did.
The researchers also considered possible influences like having young children, being unemployed or being single. But they found that influences like these did not affect the levels of happiness and well-being related to age.
So why would happiness increase with age ? One theory is that, as people get older, they become more thankful for what they have and have better control of their emotions. They also spend less time thinking about bad experiences.
The original(最初的) goal of the study was to confirm the popular belief that aging is connected with increased sleep problems. The survey did find an increase during middle age, especially in women. But except for that , people reported that they felt their sleep quality improved as they got older.Old people may be happier probably because _________
| A．their children have grown up. |
| B．they don’t have to work every day. |
| C．they can do whatever they like best. |
| D．they are most likely satisfied with life. |
According to the survey, when will adults feel most stressful?
| A．In their twenties. | B．In their fifties. |
| C．In their seventies. | D．In their eighties. |
What may make Arthur Stone a bit surprised?
| A．Women usually live longer than men. |
| B．Middle-age men mostly are very rich. |
| C．Old people usually have a better sleep. |
| D．Most of old people can’t sleep well at night. |
Which of the following may be the topic of this passage ?
| A．The difference between men and women. |
| B．Old people’s feeling of happiness. |
| C．The young people and the old people. |
| D．The connection of sleep and happiness. |
I come to the United States ten year ago. I would always say that I was trying to study, but there were always things like work and my kids that would not allow me to start.
Now I realized that those were only excuses. What stopped me was that I was afraid to start studying again. I always believed I would learn by myself.
One day, however, my son told me that he was sad because his friends would come over and I didn’t understand them because I didn’t speak English. He was also sad because I could never help him with his homework. That same day, I told myself, “Rocio, you have to start believing in yourself and you will see you can make it.”
The next day, I went downtown to look for a big banner (横幅) in front of the school which said that they offered classes for adults. I came in to see if I could join, but the classes were closed already. That night I took the kids to the movies, and on the way back, I told them we would take a new route. I ended up getting lost. That’s the way I found Chaffey College. The following Monday, I went to ask for information. They told me that summer school was starting that week.
That’s how I started studying English last summer. It is difficult, but I have had great rewards. My daughter had to write a story for school. It was about the female they most admired and why . She wrote that I was the person she most admired because I had started going to College. I will never forget this.
According to the passage, the author probably is a .
| A．teacher | B．doctor | C．father | D．mother |
What made the author make up her mind to study English?
| A．What her son said. |
| B．What her daughter said. |
| C．Thinking about herself. |
| D．Thinking about her daughter. |
How did they find Chaffey College?
| A．On the way to the movies. |
| B．They took a new route and got lost. |
| C．Ask a stranger for information. |
| D．According to the banner. |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．The author came to the United States from another country. |
| B．The author had two children at least including one daughter. |
| C．What really changed the author’s life was she believed in herself. |
| D．The author wrote that she was the person her son most admired. |
Apple is known for offering the best customer service in the consumer technology market, such as Lenovo, Google and Nokia, in customer satisfaction surveys every year .
A particular story tells of how an Apple store manager broke a rule to earn a new, 10-year-old customer for life.
Matt tells us this touching story:
My daughter has been saving her birthday money and allowance for almost 9 months so that she could afford an iPod touch with a camera in it.
As of this morning, she had saved the amount needed and headed to an Apple store in Utah with my wife. They arrived at 10:30 am, not realizing that the store would be closed from 11 am to 2 am that day. As they approach the store, two friendly Apple employees greeted them and said they were sorry, but they were closed.
My wife pointed to my daughter who had a mason jar full of cash in her arms and explained why they were there and also pointed out that it was not quite 11 am yet. They again said they were sorry, but could not let them in. My wife and daughter were sad and regretful, but understood and made their way to another store in the mall.
About three stores down, an Apple employee raced after them and explained that the manager was going to make an exception and let them in. Every one of the employees stopped what they were doing as my daughter approached the register.
As she took all of the cash out of the mason jar, one employee stepped forward and said, “I don’t mean to bother you, but I have to tell you that this made my day wonderful.”
After the transaction(交易), my daughter and wife were on their way out, the store manager raised his voice and said to all of the employees, “Everyone, please give a round of applause for saving her money and buying an iPod today.”What can we learn from the first paragraph?
| A．Apple doesn’t do well in the customer service. |
| B．Consumers are more satisfied with Apple |
| C．Nokia did better than Apple in the past. |
| D．Customer satisfaction surveys are made every two years. |
According to the text, Matt’s daughter would like to have________.
| A．a computer | B．an iPhone |
| C．an iPod | D．an iPod touch |
According the passage, what is “a mason jar” ?
| A．a money box | B．a pot for cooking |
| C．a coffee cup | D．a candy box |
What is the text mainly about ?
| A．A good example on how to bargain with an Apple employee. |
| B．How a girl and her mother tried to buy what they wanted. |
| C．A touching story about how Apple earned a new customer for life. |
| D．The reason why a girl wanted to buy an Apple product. |
I created a writing group at my school this year, and it has become a hit with all students who enjoy writing. Now students of the group make rapid progress in their writing. Let me share a few tips that you can use to start your own writing group.
Set up separate groups for different ability levels
You probably don’t want to mix a gifted eighth grader with a second grader who writes very little. In a larger school, you could have a beginner group, a more advanced group, and a publishing group. Members can move to more appropriate groups if they are not comfortable in the current one.
Advertise the group in different ways
Send advertisements home with students, and put an advertisement on the school website or in the school newsletter.
The first meeting should be very open
At the first meeting, you should tell the students that this group is all about them. It is not a class, not a grade and not a requirement. Then tell them what some other writing groups do, and ask what they would like to do.
Set up a time to meet once or twice a month
It is important that students bring their writing with them. The group could go in any direction: criticize each other’s work, read your writing aloud, read silently, publish your work in a booklet (小册子), play creativity games or do an online chat with a published author.
It will take a little while to find out what works best for your group
Search for creativity exercises and role plays. You might even be able to set up a special section of your school’s website just for your writing group.
The purpose of this passage is to ________.
| A．introduce how to start up a writing group |
| B．offer some advice on how to teach writing |
| C．train highlevel students to start up a writing group |
| D．compare different tips on starting up a writing group |
What does the underlined word “hit” probably mean?
| A．problem | B．test | C．tool | D．success |
Which of the following is NOT the activity of a writing group?
| A．Practice role plays. |
| B．Meet a published author. |
| C．Criticize each other’s work. |
| D．Play creativity games. |
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