There is little rain in desert. Because deserts are so dry, they have no “quilt” to help stop the soil from going away. As a result, they may get very hot during the day with the sun shining, but don’t hold the heat overnight. Many deserts can quickly get cold once the sun goes down. Some deserts can reach temperatures of over 100 degrees F during the day and then drop below freezing (32 degrees F) during the night.
The largest hot and dry desert in the world is the Sahara Desert in Northern Africa. The Sahara is a sandy desert with great sand hills. It covers over 3 million square miles of Africa. Other large deserts include the Arabian Desert in the Middle East, the Gobi Desert in Northern China and Mongolia, and Kalahari Desert in Africa.
Animals that live in the desert are also used to needing little water. Many get all the water they need from the food they eat. Other animals keep water that they can use later. The camel stores up fat in its hump while other animals keep something they need in their tails.
Only certain types of plants can live in the terrible environment of the desert. You won’t see a lot of tall trees in the desert. Most plants have a way to keep water in their leaves, or trunks so they can live a long time without water.
Now deserts cover around 20% of the world’s land, but they are growing. This is called desertification and is caused by different reasons including human activities. The Sahara Desert is growing larger and larger each year. What should we do with it ?
How is the weather during the night in the desert?
A. Hot. B. Cold. C. Cool.
Where does the camel store up fat?
A. In its hump. B. In its stomach. C. In its tail
Why won't we see a lot of tall trees in the desert?
A. Because of few people there.
B. Because of the sun shining.
C. Because of the terrible environment
How much of the land do deserts cover in the world?
A. One fifth. B. Less than 10%. C. Two fifths
Is the Sahara Desert growing or not?
A. Nobody knows it.
B. It's growing.
C. It's not growing.
Last week, my granddaughter started kindergarten(幼儿园), and certainly I wished her success. I was saying something that is not true. What I actually wish for her is failure. I believe in the importance of failure.
Success is boring. Success is proving that you can do something that you already know you can do, or do something correctly the first time, which can often be a problem for the future. First-time success is usually a fluke(侥幸). First-time failure, in fact, is the natural order of things.
Failure means how we learn. I have been told of an African phrase(短语) describing a good cook as “she who has broken many bowls”. If you’ve spent enough time in the kitchen and have broken a lot of bowls, probably you know a lot about cooking. I once had a dinner with a group of cooks, and they spent time comparing knife wounds and burn scars. They knew how much their failures gave them.
My younger daughter is a dancer. She spent three years getting ready for an act. She did it successfully for years. There was no reason for her to change the act—but she did anyway. She said she was no longer learning anything new and she was bored; and if she was bored, she couldn’t play well. So she changed the act. She risked failure in order to feed her heart.
My granddaughter is a perfectionist. But I will also, I hope, remind her of what she learned, and how she can do whatever it is better next time. I probably won’t tell her that failure is a good thing, because that’s not a lesson you can learn when you’re five. I hope I can tell her, though, that it’s not the end of the world. Indeed, with luck, it is the beginning.What did the writer really wish for her granddaughter in the kindergarten?
| A．Success. | B．Failure. | C．Kindness. | D．Care. |
The third paragraph mainly tells us .
| A．what “a good cook” means | B．a cook should often cook |
| C．a cook must break many bowls | D．failure means how we learn |
Why did the younger daughter change the act?
| A．Because she didn’t do well in it. |
| B．Because she was asked to change it. |
| C．Because she wanted to feed her heart. |
| D．Because she wanted to try a failure. |
What does the writer hope to tell the granddaughter?
| A．Failure is a good thing. |
| B．She can’t fail any more. |
| C．Failure is not the end of the world. |
| D．Success is the end of the world. |
An old gentleman who lives a few doors away from me can always be seen with a bag. He goes out by himself and picks up plastic bottles, plastic bags and pieces of paper everywhere. He does it all carefully and never complains.
The children in the nearby school are probably responsible for some of that litter. “There will come a time when they know better,” he said. “It’s just not yet. So, I’ll do it for them.”
Well, this morning I was out walking my neighbor’s dog when I saw another neighbor, a much younger man, out doing the same thing! He had his two little sons with him and they were having good fun trying to pick up the litter.
“What a good job you are doing”, I said to him. “Well, an older fellow in our street does this”, said he. “And my friend and I thought it wasn’t fair that he had to do it all the time, so now we take turns.”
Not only was he taking a turn, not only did he have a friend join in as well, but he was passing on the lesson to the nextgeneration(一代)！
By the time I had returned the dog to my neighbor, I looked again and his children’s friends had joined in!
This man was teaching a whole group of young children to keep their own streetclean. An older man had set an example for him and now he was passing it on—the next generation is doing what he did and the generation to come after that!The old gentleman picks up the litter .
| A．to make money | B．to help the cleaners |
| C．to have a good fun | D．to keep the environment clean |
The younger man did the same thing as the old gentleman because .
| A．it was his turn |
| B．it was interesting for him |
| C．he was the old gentleman’s good friend |
| D．he wanted to share the job with the old gentleman |
When the writer returned the dog, joined in picking up the litter.
| A．the writer | B．the old gentleman |
| C．the children’s friends | D．the younger man’s friend |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．The power of example is endless. | B．Like father, like son . |
| C．Two heads are better than one. | D．No pains, no gains. |
Take a look at our library! Our library is open to everyone and the library card is free.
| Books |
●books in 36 languages ●information about the world ●all kinds of stories ●picture books for children ●novels You can enjoy newspapers and magazines in the reading room. You can borrow two books at a time and keep them for three weeks. |
| Videos |
●all kinds of video films ●music videos ●TV plays You can enjoy yourself and watch your favorite videos at home. You can rent(租) a video at two yuan for a week. |
| Audios (音频) |
●music for everyone ●language cassettes; 42 world languages Special rooms for you to enjoy listening. CDs and cassettes can be borrowed — FREE. You can borrow one CD or one cassette at a time and keep it for one week. |
| E-books |
●many different kinds of e-books ●e-newspapers and e-magazines You can browse(浏览) all the e-books in the computer room — FREE |
How many books can you borrow at a time?
| A．One. | B．Two. | C．Three. | D．Four. |
How much should you pay if you rent a video for a week?
| A．Two yuan. | B．Three yuan. |
| C．Four yuan. | D．Free. |
What can you do in the computer room?
| A．Enjoy e-books. | B．Borrow some books. |
| C．Enjoy music videos. | D．Borrow some CDs. |
第二节：请仔细阅读题1—5关于Carol, Mark, Stella, Dave和John的兴趣爱好。然后根据题后A—F中对各张唱片的描述，分别选出适合每个人的唱片，其中有一项多余。 Carol likes many kinds of music, but her favorite is jazz. The only music she really doesn’t like is piano music, even if it is jazz.
Mark doesn’t care about music, but he does like to have soft, gentle music playing in his flat sometimes. He doesn’t like classical (古典的) or jazz music, but he likes piano playing.
Stella likes all kinds of music, but her favorite instrument is electric guitar. She also quite likes jazz and folk music.
Dave only likes rock and pop, but he enjoys classical music better.
John likes country music because he thinks that country music has great voices and the words are good. He listens to country music nearly all the time.
A. The best of Keith Jarrett
The master（大师）of jazz piano continues to surprise audiences around the world. This collection of his greatest works includes The Koln Concert, Part 1 and extracts from the Paris Concert as well. Excellent value and a must for all jazz lovers.￡12.99.
B. Richard Thompson 1980---2000
Thomposon’s attractive electric guitar playing, and his folk-rock songs, are gathered together on a 2-CD collection that shows the best of his works over the past twenty years. ￡18.99.
C. Richard Claydermsn
French pianist, known for his relaxing piano music, has this new collection out on CD. Ideal as a present for the person who likes relaxing background music. ￡9.99.
D. Reach
In this collection, Meredith Edwards shows that her voice is perfect for country music. People who like country music should really try it. Great value at ￡9.99.
E. The best of Paco Pena
The great classical guitarist shows all his talents in this new collection. Works by Vila-Lobos and Haydn, among others with rock and pop. Great value at only ￡9.99.
F. Wynton Marsalis
The great jazz trumpeter (吹号手) has put together some of his best-known numbers and a few new pieces on this magical set. Perhaps not as classical as his last offering, but all jazz lovers will want this one anyway. ￡13.99.
There is an old saying in English, “Laughter is the best medicine”. Until recently, few people took the saying very seriously. Now however, doctors have begun to study laughter and the effects (作用) it has on the human body. They have found evidence that laughter really can improve people’s health.
Tests were carried out to study the effects of laughter on the body. People watched funny films while doctors checked their heart rate, blood pressure, breathing and muscles. It was found that laughter has similar effects to physical exercise. It increases blood pressure, the heart rate and the rate of breathing. It also works several groups of muscles in the face, the stomach and even the feet. If laughter exercises the body, it must be helpful.
Other tests have shown that laughter appears to make the effect of pain on the body less. In one experiment doctors produced pain in groups of students who listened to different radio programs. The group which could bear the pain for the longest time was the group which listened to a funny program. The reason why laughter can make pain less seems to be that it helps to produce endorphins (内啡肽) in the brain. These are natural chemicals which make both stress and pain less.
There is also some evidence to suggest that laughter helps the body’s immune system that is the system which fights infection (感染). In an experiment, one group of students watched a funny video while another group served as the control group — in other words, a group with which to compare the first group. Doctors checked the blood of the students in both groups and found that the people in the group that watched the video had an increase in the activity of their white blood cells that is the cells which fight infection.
As a result of these discoveries, some doctors and psychiatrists (精神病学) in the United States now hold laughter clinics, in which they try to improve their patients’ condition by encouraging them to laugh. They have found that even if their patients do not really feel like laughing, making them smile is enough to produce good effects similar to those caused by laughter.We learn from the first paragraph that laughter .
| A．is good for one’s health |
| B．has strong effects to do with some illness |
| C．has been studied long since |
| D．has no effect on the body |
Doctors have found that laughter .
| A．keeps down blood pressure |
| B．has similar effects to physical exercise |
| C．decreases the heart rate |
| D．increases stress and pain |
Which of the following statements is NOT true of laughter according to the passage?
| A．It makes pain less. |
| B．It exercises the body. |
| C．It improves the body’s immune system. |
| D．It can cure cancer. |
Smiling can produce _________.
| A．about the same effects as laughter |
| B．more effects than laughter |
| C．fewer effects on the human body |
| D．no effects on the human body |
The main idea of this passage is that _________.
| A．the doctors should learn how to make people laugh |
| B．there are several ways of studying the advantages of laughter |
| C．tests show that laughter can produce positive effects on human body |
| D．laughter and physical exercise have the same effects on human body |
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