“Choo, Choo!” Here comes the Chunnel train. Get aboard if you want to learn more about this underground transportation system. This is an unusual form of transportation, because it is a tunnel that trains travel through and not an actual form of transportation.
The Chunnel is actually the English nickname for the Channel Tunnel. In French, it is called le tunnel sous la Manche. It is a rail tunnel beneath the English Channel at the Straits of Dover. It connects Cheriton in Kent, England with Sangatte in northern France. It is the second longest rail tunnel in the world.
Did you know that the British and the French had a race whi1e they were building the Chunnel? The race was to see who could get to the middle of the tunnel first. The British won by a little bit. It took 15,000 workers over seven years to dig the tunnel. The tunnel was finished in 1994.
The completed Chunnel cost about $ 21 billion. But it all paid off, because it became very popular, very quick. Millions of people use it. Now it is getting even more popular.
There are three complete tunnels in the Chunnel. The two outside ones are the passenger trains. The small inner one is a guidance train. The guidance train is not used for transportation. Each track is exactly parallel to each other.
There are four different train systems in the Chunnel. The Eurostar is a high speed passenger service that connects London, Paris, Brussels, and Lille. The Eurotunnel shuttle is a rail ferry service. These shuttles carry cars. These are railcars that allow drivers to drive their vehicles on and off. There are also two Eurotunnel goods service trains.
Now you know more about the Chunnel. Everybody off, this is the last stop.The Channel Tunnel links ______ with _______.
| A．Dover; Kent | B．London; Paris |
| C．Lille; Brussels | D．Cheriton; Sangatte |
Which of the following shows the structure of the tunnels in the Chunnel?
The Eurotunnel shuttle is intended to carry _________.
| A．passengers | B．drivers and their vehicles |
| C．goods | D．staff members of the Chunnel |
The text can most probably be __________.
| A．found in a textbook | B．read in a magazine |
| C．broadcast on a train | D．heard in a railway station |
As we know, Human beings each have unique brains. The brain is of the greatest importance to the body. It is the boss of the body．Your eyes，ears，nose，and skin tell your brain what is going on around you．Other parts of your body tell your brain what is going on inside of you．Your brain takes in the signals．It tells your body what to do with them．When you touch fire，your skin tells your brain that your finger is too hot．Your brain tells you to move your finger．All these happen very fast．Your brain also controls your breathing，blinking，and heartbeat．It controls your feelings and thoughts too．
Humans have the most developed brain of all animals．Yet it is not the largest brain．The human brain weighs three pounds．The brain of an elephant weighs 11 pounds．So the largest brain is not always the best brain．In people，a larger brain does not mean a clever person．What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．The human brain works very fast． |
| B．The largest brain is not always the best brain． |
| C．The brain controls the body． |
| D．The best brain is the largest brain． |
What happens after the brain takes in the signals from the body?
| A．The brain grows faster and larger． | B．The brain tells the body what to do． |
| C．The body becomes more developed． | D．We don't know． |
What does “the boss of the body” mean?
| A．The signals． | B．The most developed body part． |
| C．The main part of the body. | D．The centre of the body． |
Which brain is the most developed?
| A．The largest brain． | B．The human brain． |
| C．The smaller brain． | D．Not too big brain． |
What are the things that the human brain does?
A．Takes in signals． B．Controls breathing．
C．Controls feelings and thoughts． D．A，B and C．
Officials say an elephant has killed an American woman and her baby while the family was on a tour in Kenya．Kenya Wildlife Service official Michel Kipkeu said Sharon Brown，39, was holding her one-year-old daughter when they were trampled (踩踏) by the elephant Monday．Melia van Laar, owner of the castle Forest Hotel，where the family was walking with a guide about 2 kilometers from the hotel when an elephant came out from the bush at full speed．The father of the family is a teacher in Naiobi．Friends and colleagues held funeral services Wednesday．
From world leaders on the White House lawn to people at the bus stop，the common handshake is the universal greeting of peace and kindness．But young people are kissing goodbye to traditional social etiquette (礼节)，killing off the handshake, researchers say．The custom is seen as too formal by many, who prefer to touch fists or blow an air kiss instead．Nearly 74 percent of adults shake hands less than they used to — and only 45 percent of under-25s use the greeting．But many prefer no physical contact at all, a side effect of the growing fear of diseases，according to the survey of 1,000 people．
The growing mountain of e-waste will cause great environmental damage if no new strategies are produced to deal with the discarded televisions, mobile phones and computers，the UN Environment Program (UNEP) study said．Electronic waste is piling up around the world at a rate estimated at 40 million tons a year．China produces 2.6 million tons of electronic waste a year, second only to the United States with 3.3 million tons, it said．LNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said the globe was ill-prepared to deal with the explosion of electronic products over the past decade．What’s the main idea of the 1
paragraph?
| A．Tour in Kenya |
| B．Kenya wildlife Service |
| C．A one-year-old girl trampled by an elephant |
| D．American mother, baby killed by elephant in Kenya |
Yong people wave goodbye to handshakes because
| A．they prefer physical contact |
| B．many young people think handshaking is too formal |
| C．they prefer to touch fists or blow an air kiss |
| D．they are not accustomed to handshaking |
What ean be inferred from passage three?
| A．America ranks first in producing e-waste a year |
| B．China produces 2.6 million tons of electronic waste a year |
| C．the globe was ill prepared to deal with the explosion of electronic products |
| D．The growlng mountain of e-wasted won’t cause great environmental damage． |
The underlined word“discarded”means
| A．disliked | B．deserted | C．scarred | D．scared |
The passages are most likely to appear in a/an
| A．brochure | B．science book | C．newspaper | D．magazine |
Each new school year brings fresh reminders of what educators call the summer learning gap．Some call it the summer learning setback Put simply, it means the longer kids are out of school，the more they forget．The only thing they might gain is weight．
Most American schools follow a tradltional nine-month calendar with winter and spring breaks and about ten weeks of summer vacation．Some schools follow a year-round calendar. They hold classes ror about eight weeks at a time，with a few weeks off in between．The National Association for Year-Round Education says there were fewer than 3,000 such schools at last count．They were spread among forty-six of the tifty states．
But many experts point out that the number of class days in a year-round school is generally the same as in a traditional school．Brenda McLaugblin is research director at the National Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University．She says studies of year-round schooling have not found stro
ng learning gains．Lead researcher Paul von Hippel said，“Year-round schools don’t really solve the problem of the summer learning setback．They simply spread it out across the year．”
Across the country, research shows that students from poor families fall farther behind over the summler than other students．Experts say this can be prevented．They note that many schools and local 
governments offer programs that can help．
But calling them“summer school”could be a problem．The director of the summer learning center at Johns Hopkins, Ron Fairchild, said research with groups of different parents in Chicago and Baltimore found that almost all strongly disliked the term“summer school”．In American culture，the idea of summer vacation is connected to beliefs about freedom and the joys of childhood．The parents welcomed other terms like“summer camp。”“extra time”and“hands-on learning．”According to the first paragraph，the summer learning gap
| A．helps children to gain weight |
| B．leads children to work harder |
| C．improves children’s memories |
D．affe cts children’s regular studies |
Compared to traditional schools，students in the year-round ones ．
| A．perform better and have more learning gains |
| B．have much less time for relaxation every year |
| C．have generally the same number of class days |
| D．hold more classes with more free weeks off |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．Students from poor families often fall behind after the vacation． |
| B．Year-round schools can solve the problem of the learning gap |
| C．There are schools in each state following a year-round calendar |
| D．Nothing can help the students who fall behind after the vacation． |
Why did almost all parents dislike the term“summer school”?
| A．They are worried about the quailty of the“summer school” |
| B．They cherish the children’s rights of freedom very much． |
| C．They want their children to be forced to make up the gap． |
| D．They can’t afford to the further study during the vacation． |
What would be the best title of this passage?
| A．Opening Summer Camps |
| B．Forbidding Summer Schools |
| C．Minding the Summer Learning Gap |
| D．Reforming Year-Round Education |
Are some people born clever and others born stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and our experiences? Strangely enough, the answer to both questions is yes．To some extent our intelligence is given to us at birth，and no amount of special education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence．On the other hand，a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings．Thus the limits of a person’s intelligence are fixed at birth，but whether or not he reaches those limits will depend on his environment．This view, now held by most experts，can be supportedin a number of ways．
It is easy to show that intelligence is to some extent something we are b
orn with．The closer the blood relationship between two people，the closer they are likely to be in intelligence．Thus if we take two unrelated people at random (随意地) from the population，it is likely that their degrees of intelligence will be completely different．If on the other hand we take two identical twins，they will very likely be as intelligent as each other. Relations like brothers and sisters，parents and children，usually have similar intelligence, and this clearly suggests that integigence depends on birth．
Imagine now that we take two identical twins and put them in different environments．We might send one，for example，to a university and the other to a factory where the work is boring．We would soon find differences in intelligence developing, and this indicates (表明) that environment as well as birth plays a part．This conclusion is also suggested by the fact that people who lives in close contact with each other, 
but who are not related at all，are likely to have similar degrees of intelligence．Which of the following best describes the writer’s point in Paragraph One?
| A．To some extent, intelligence is given at birth． |
| B．Intelligence is developed by the environment． |
C．Some peo ple are born clever and others born stupid． |
| D．Intelligence is fixed at birth, but is developed by the environment． |
In the first paragraph，“no amount of special education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence”suggests that
| A．no environment can change the least able into the most able |
| B．the difference in men’s intelligence depends on the amount of their education |
| C．if a person is born clever, he is certain to be a genius |
| D．if a person is born stupid, nothing can change him into an educated person |
The last paragraph mainly shows
| A．the importance of education |
| B．the relationship between environment and birth |
| C．the writer’s final conclusion |
| D．the relationship between intelligence and environment |
The best title for this passage would be
| A．Dependence on Education |
| B．Intelligence |
| C．Surroundings |
| D．Effect of Education |
Which statement about the passage is true?
| A．All twins have similar degrees of intelligence． |
| B．A man who is educated in university must make greater achievements than a man who works in a boring factory． |
| C．Proper education can change one’s intelligence at some degree． |
| D．Education can’t make a child born with low intelligence cleverer |
When I was an official of a school in Paio Alto，California, Polly Tyner, the president of our board，wrote a letter that was printed in the Palo Alto Times．Polly’s son，Jim，had great difficulty in school, He was classified as the educationally handicapped and required a great deal of patience on the part of his parents and teachers．But Jim was a happy kid with a great smile that lit up the room．His parents knew his difficulties，but they always tried to help him see his strengths so that he could walk with pride．Shortly after Jim finished high school，he was killed in a motorcycle accldent, After his death，his mother gave this letter to the newspaper．
“Today we buried our 20-year-old son．He was killed in a motorcycle accident on Friday night．How I wish I had known that the last time I had talked to him would be the last time．If I had only known that，I would have said to him，‘Jim，I love you and I’m always so proud of yon．’I would have taken the time to count the many blessings he had brought to the lives of the people who loved him．I would have taken the time to appreciate his beautiful smile，his laughter, and his genuine love to other people．
“When I put all the good things on the scale and try to balance them with all the irritating (恼人的) things such as the radio that was always too loud，the haircut that wasn’t to our liking, the dirty socks under the bed，etc．，I find that the irritations really don’t amount to much．
“I won’t get another chance to tell my son all that I would have wanted him to hear, but，other parents, do have a chance．Tell your young people what you would want them to hear as if it may be your last conversation．The last time I talked to Jim was the morning of the day when he died．He called me to say,‘Hi, Mom! I just called to say I love you．You have to go to work now．Bye．’That day, he gave me something to treasure forever．”
If there is any purpose at all for Jim’s death, maybe it is to make others appreciate life more and to tell people，especially family members，tha
t they should take the time to let each other know just how much they care．You may never have another chance．Do it today! Who was Jim?
| A．A school boy． |
| B．The writer |
| C．The president of a school board． |
| D．An official of a school． |
What’s the meaning of the underlined phrase“the educationally handicapped”?
| A．The communication difficulty． |
| B．The physical problems． |
| C．The psychological problems． |
| D．The learning difficulty． |
According to the writer, which of the following about Jim is TRUE?
| A．He was always sad about his school marks． |
| B．His parents always scolded him about his bad school marks． |
| C．His study needed more attention from his parents and teachers． |
| D．He was kilied in a car accident |
What did PoIly think of Jim?
| A．He was a lovely boy with a beautiful smile who always loved others． |
| B．He was physically sick but always happy |
| C．He was an irritating boy with some bad habits． |
| D．He seldom expressed his love to his parents． |
The purpose of Polly’s letter is to ．
| A．memorize her son |
| B．teach parents to appreciate their chtidren |
| C．teach children how to be good boys |
| D．give some advice on how to deal with children’s problems |
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