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When the Platypus emerges into the pouch it has been

2C

In 1933 an unknown American called Clarence Nash went to see the filmmaker Walt Disney. He had an unusual voice and he wanted to work in Disney's cartoon film for children. When Walt Disney heard Nash's voice, he said "Stop! That's our duck!" The duck was the now-famous Donald Duck, who first appeared in 1934 in the film The Wise Little Hen. Donald lived in an old houseboat and wore his sailor jacket and hat. Later that year he became a star after an eight-minute Mickey Mouse film. The cinema audience liked him because he was lazy and greedy, and because he lost his temper very quickly. And they loved his voice when he became angry with Mickey's eight nephews. Soon Donald was more popular than Mickey Mouse himself, probably because he wasn't a _ like Mickey. In the 1930s, 40s and 50s Donald and his friends Mickey, Goofy and Pluto made hundreds of Disney cartoons. He also made educational films about the place of the USA in the world, and safety in the home. Then in 1966 Donald Duck and his voice disappeared---there were no more new cartoons. Clarence Nash died in February, 1985. But today's children can still see the old cartoons on television and hear that famous voice. Where do today's children see Donald Duck?

2C

He may not have an "S" across his chest but this dog is most certainly a hero. Harley, who was rescued from a puppy mill four years ago, was named the American Humane Association's 2015 American Hero Dog. Harley, who is missing an eye and has other medical issues from his time at the mill, is now a "spokes-dog" against puppy mills. He serves as the adorable furry face of the"Harley to the Rescue"campaign, which raises funds for the National Dog Mill Rescue, according to a press release. The pup was rescued back in 2011 and adopted by Rudi and her husband, Dan. "It was just four years ago that he was pulled from the cage in the puppy mill and left to die," Harley's owner, Rudi, said during the awards show at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles this past weekend, according to Today. com. "We never would have ever thought he would live this long and make such a difference for so many puppies. " The dog was one of eight finalists up for the American Hero Dog and was chosen as the winner through public votes. The finalists all won $ 1,500 to be donated to one of American Humane Association' s charity partners, with Harley receiving another $ 5 ,000 to go toward his charity partner, New Leash On Life. According to the release, Harley spent 10 years at the puppy mill, and endured rough treatment there, which led to his many medical issues. He lost his eye as a result of his cage being power-washed with him inside. The dog isn't just the face of his campaign, he also goes on rescue missions and makes public appearances at events and schools to raise awareness for puppy mills. This incredible work is all due to the dog' s fighting spirit. That spirit is allowing him now to be the voice for dogs who cannot speak for themselves and give everybody hope that tomorrow's going to be a better day. How did the "Harley to the Rescue" campaign function?

2C

Wanted Project Management Assistant Responsibility: Provide service for the project in Chongqing. Provide assistance to the project manager for everyday work. Responsible for file management, customer service for students & parents. Requirements: College degree and above. Good English and computer skill. Related working experience in an international organization. Patient, careful, supportive. Have strong team work spirit. English Teacher Responsibility: Conduct English teaching according to British education system. Requirements: University degree and above in English major or normal English. Eager to learn and open-minded with creativity. With deep understanding for different cultures. (Warmly welcome the fresh graduates to apply for this position.) Marketing Assistant Responsibility: Responsible for the local management of marketing & sales activities according to the instructions from the head office. Collect related information to the head office. Develop relationship with local media and customers. Requirements: College degree and above with good English (speaking & writing). With basic idea of sales and marketing, related experience is preferred. Working experience in the international organizations is a must. Good communication and presentation skills Accountant Responsibility: Accountant work for Chongqing office and project. Perform the finance management locally according to the rules & policy of the company. Requirements: College degree and above in finance area. Good English and good computer skill. Have sense of finance management. At least 2 years' experience as an accountant in an international organization is a must. Self-management, hardworking, independent and able to deal with pressure. You can go to _ for more information. Please mail or fax your resume (both in English & Chinese), diploma, training certificates and expected salary to the following address within two weeks. No personal visit or telephone call before that. Your materials will be kept in ACE files. Add: Room 1806 Plaza Building Yuzhong District Chongqing 40010 Fax No: 023- 63728428 Email: acercq @ cta.cq.cn If you have just graduated from a university, you should apply for the position as _ .

3D

As the global financial crisis hits the economy, it's tough finding a job--especially if you're competing with thousands of other hopeful students. Sometimes you get the interview, but don't quite seem to land the job because you don't have related experience. Don't despair! Here are a few tips that might give you an edge. Get connected to your network and try to expand it. Talk to friends, family and acquaintances. Let everyone know you are looking for a job. Prepare your resume carefully and be sure it's perfect. Have someone else read it over for typos and grammatical errors. Get professional help. It's worth the money to present yourself well. If money is tight, read books on resume writing from your public library or search for free help on the Internet. When you apply for a job, be sure you match and list any skills listed on the posting with the skills you have. If you get an interview, be sure to describe those skills thoroughly. Just having the skills is not enough. Expressing your abilities well can make all the difference in getting the job. Research typical interview questions and practice interviewing. Be well prepared for every interview.www.ks5u.com Don't be afraid to accept a position for which you are overqualified--if there's room for advancements. Many great job advancements come from first doing well at an entrylevel position. If you have the right skills and attitude, it won't be long before you're in the job you want. Volunteer for a few weeks in your field of study to gain experience if you feel your resume needs an improvement. When deciding what to wear for an interview, think about the position level and the dress code of the organization. Use every tool available to you. For example, this site has many job links for your use. Good luck! The purpose of the text is to _ .

3D

As a public school superintendent , I believe the best way to prepare students for colleges and careers is to focus on providing instructional programs and opportunities that help them become good thinkers. To do this, teachers and actually everyone else in a community, should play a role as a "cognitive coach" to students, helping develop good thinkers among our youth. The best way for you to become a cognitive coach is to seek out and engage school children and adolescents in meaningful conversations. The objective here is to get kids talking about what they think, how they feel, and what they believe whenever and wherever you may find them. It may be in a classroom. It may be at the grocery store. It may be at a basketball game. It doesn't matter where as long as you engage students in a topical conversation and, hopefully, even a debate. Mainly, you want to encourage students to voice their opinion about things. Get them to take a position on "this thing, or that thing," and ask them to support their position with evidence. Curiously enough, the simple process of engaging students in real life conversations and debates will serve to strengthen what they have learned in the classroom, and help them create their own knowledge about a subject or a topic. Learning indicates that a student has been exposed to material, understands the material, and can recall the information. Knowledge, on the other hand, goes beyond recall and includes information processing, application to other situations, consideration of meaning, and contrasting with other concepts. Naturally, the topic of conversation you engage in with one of your learners will differ from student to student, and in the level of complexity based on child's age and developmental level. Even a kindergartener has an opinion about things that are going on in his or her life. Engaging in conversation with any members of your learning community in ways that get at what they have learned and what they know will help them develop higher order reasoning skills. A student's synthetic thinking process occurs when a respected adult asks a question, particularly a question that requires reflection. I think all adults in a community have a responsibility to help children with this process, with the goal of producing independent thinkers. Which is the best question raised by a cognitive coach?

3D

Rae Armantrout, who has been a poetry professor at the University of California San Diego(UCSD) for two decades, has won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in the poetry category for her most recent book, "Versed". "I'm delighted and amazed at how much media recognition that the Pulitzer brings, as compared to even the National Book Critics Award, which I was also surprised and delighted to win," said Armantrout. "For a long time, my writing has been just below the media radar, and to have this kind of attention, suddenly, with my 10th book, is really surprising." Armantrout, a native Californian, received her bachelor's degree at UC Berkeley, where she studied with noted poet Denise Levertov, and her master's in creative writing from San Francisco State University. She is a founding member of Language Poets, a group in American poetry that analyzes the way language is used and raises questions to make the reader think. In March, she won the National Book Critics Circle Award for "Versed." "This book has gotten more attention," Armantrout said, "but I don't feel as if it's better." The first half of "Versed" focuses on the dark forces taking hold of the United States as it fought the war against Iraq. The second half looks at the dark forces casting a shadow over her own life after Armantrout was diagnosed with cancer in 2006. Armantrout was shocked to learn she had won the Pulitzer but many of her colleagues were not. "Rae Armantrout is a unique voice in American poetry," said Seth Lerer, head of Arts and Humanities at UCSD. "Versed", published by the Wesleyan University Press, did appear in a larger printing than her earlier works, which is about 2,700 copies. The new edition is scheduled to appear in May. According to Rae Armantrout, _ .

1B

Over the last 30 years, Bangkok, once a small fishing village, has transformed into a rich, concrete, high-rise city that it is today. The spreading metropolis and its population of 12 million now produces 35 per cent of Thailand's economic wealth. As a magnet for foreign companies, Bangkok attracts many overseas managers and business people from different fields, including tourism, automobiles and electronics. The city's population of foreigners is in the high hundreds of thousands, with tens of thousands of Japanese, Chinese and western employees working alongside hundreds of thousands of Burmese who mostly do unskilled jobs shunned by Thais. For those used to the good life, the variety and quality of the city's food is a key attraction, says one US manager, before listing many of his favourite Italian, Mexican and, of course, Thai restaurants. Most offer quality meals for less than the cost of a takeaway sandwich in London. Great choice and value can be found in Bangkok's other attractions, too. For overseas business people who enjoy shopping in luxury and air-conditioned comfort, the city has hundreds of modern shopping malls. Some foreigners, however, prefer the charms of Chatuchak Market, where anything can be bought at a good price by the skilled bargainer. When the time comes to talk business many overseas business people prefer to move out of the markets and onto the golf course. Thailand has thousands of courses, which can provide a welcome break from the busy and noisy city life. But most business people go to the golf course because it's the perfect place to discuss the next big deal. Because of the fast-paced life some foreign business people see Bangkok as a place to stay for the short term, rather than a lifetime. Australian computer software designer Sarah Huang is seven months pregnant but still working full-time in her Bangkok office. She says the city is "definitely a place I want to stay for the next five, ten years". Nannies and home help are affordable, but high fees for quality secondary education have convinced Ms. Huang to return to Australia when her child reaches high school age. The main purpose of the passage is to

2C

The New Year holidays bring delicious food, but no one wants a weight problem after they are over. American Food psychologist Brian Wansink has recently published "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think". The book explains why we eat what we eat and how we can control our eating. Most of his suggestions are based on scientific studies he has conducted as director of Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab. Here are 10 of his tips for the holiday season: 1 People tend to eat more when distracted by conversation or a game on TV. Setting your chopsticks down and giving full attention to the conversation will prevent overeating. 2 See it before you eat it. Eating chips from a bowl led one group to consume 134 fewer calories than others who ate straight from the bag. 3 Keep the evidence on the table, such as chicken bones, cake papers, and candy wrappers . Studies have shown that leaving the wrappers and remains of food on the table leads diners to eat less. 4 Budget calories. Do not eat the appetizer if you know you want dessert. It will be easier to count how many calories you consume. 5 Sit next to the slowest eater at the table and try to eat slower than him or her. Always be the last one to start eating, and set your chopsticks down after every bite. 6 Don't avoid the food you really want, but eat it in smaller portions . 7 The more variety, the more people will eat. When there are a smaller number of dishes on the table people eat less. 8 Put foods that are unhealthy in the back of the cupboard , the back of the refrigerator, the back of the freezer. You can also "hide" food that is bad for you. Office workers ate 23 percent less candy when it was in a white, covered candy dish than in a see-through one. 9 Use small bowls. A study found that people serving themselves from smaller bowls ate 59 per cent less. 10 Use tall, narrow glasses for drinks. Even experienced waiters poured more into short, wide glasses than into thin ones. What is the main point of the article?

0A

Sitting in front of the television may be relaxing, but spending too much time in front of the TV may take years off your life. That's what Australian researchers found when they collected TV viewing information from more than 11,000 people older than 25 years. The study found that people who watches an average six hours of TV a day lived an average 4.8 years less than those who didn't watch any television .Also ,every hour of TV that participants watched after age 25 was associated with a 22-minute reduction in their life expectancy . It's no mystery that sitting in front of the TV isn't exactly healthy. The more TV you watch, the less physically active you are. And the less exercise you get, the more likely you are to develop disease such as diabetes or hear problems. Lennert Veerman is the lead author of the study ,which was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine .Working at the University of Queesland, Veerman acknowledges that it may not just be the sedentary nature of watching TV that lowers life expectancy,but also the poor diet that onscreen junk-food advertising can promote. But Veerman says that association between watching too much TV and lower life expectancy exists, even after adjusting for diet. Veerman says that it might make sense for doctors to start asking their patients about how much time they spend in front of the TV, and to treat TV time as they would be other risk factors for poor health, such as lack of exercise and an unhealthy diet. Veerman points out that people who are concerned can simply turn off the TV and get off the couch. "Exercise is good," he says, "but even light physical activity also improves health." If you change your diet and watch too much TV, you will _ .

3D

Our environment is being polluted faster. Man's present efforts cannot prevent it .Time is bringing us more people, and more people will bring us more industry, more cars, larger cities and the growing use of man-made materials. What can explain and solve this problem ?The fact is that pollution is caused by man ----by his desire for a modern way of life. We make "industrialization "our main aim. So we seem to be ready to give up everything: clear air, pure water, good food, our health and the future of our children. Large numbers of people are moving from the countryside into the cities, looking forward to the modern life. But as our world has developed so fast in the last twenty years, pollution has become a serious problem. Isn't it time for us to stop to ask ourselves where we are going-----and why? It makes one think of the story about the airline pilot who was heard over the loudspeaker, "I've some good news and some bad news. The good news is that we're flying at 530 miles per hour. The bad news is that we're lost and don't know where we're going." The sad fact is that this becomes a true story when we talk about our modern society. According to the passage, what does man believe to be the most important?

0A

Turn on the radio. A program will come out from a broadcasting station miles and miles away. We know that sounds and music themselves couldn't travel that distance through space .There must be something that brings the program from the station. But what is this silent carrier ( ) ? This is known as radio waves. However, we can't see them or even hear them. In fact, nobody knows exactly what they are. Nevertheless( ) ,we know that they are made by electricity . At the broadcasting station, people talk, sing, play musical instruments or make many other sounds. These sounds are changed into electricity. Then from the broadcasting aerial of a tall tower , electricity sends out radio waves which travel in all directions .And some of them reach your radio aerial. What happens next is a magical thing. The radio waves start an electric current ( ) in your aerial like the one that was first made in the broadcasting station . Finally, the loudspeaker in your radio set changes the electricity into sound .Therefore, you hear the program. ,. Electricity sends out radios waves from _ .

0A

Babysitter Wanted I am seeking a babysitter for my 6-month-old son. A few hours on Saturdays and Sundays to help me and then other times as needed. He or she should be over 18, responsible, loving, warm, and have some experience in caring for babies. This position also suits a college student with experience looking for a part-time job. The pay is $10 an hour. If this sounds like a good job to you, please reply to rebecharv@aol.comor call 800-4964. Office Manager Wanted Our company is looking for a full-time experienced manager to run the business. Strong skills in organisation and business management are required for this position. The office manager will be responsible for keeping financial records, so he or she should be familiar with computers. Please reply to jim@californiaaquatics.comor call 800-6978 to apply. Waiter/ Waitress Wanted A restaurant is looking for an experienced waiter / waitress. Knowledge of wines and experience in dining are necessary. Must work well under pressure and understand the basics of fine dining and customer service. If you're interested, please contact us at job-tkupe-1329358152@craigslist.orgto apply. This is a part-time job. Office Cleaner Wanted Looking for a Part-time job? A position in the Mississauga area needs an office cleaner! Part-time 4 hours a day from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm. Duties include: *Cleaning the washrooms *Cleaning the furniture *Sweeping the floors *Other general cleaning Some experience is necessary. Pay:$15 per hour Replyto:job-p3b7u-1365632206@craigslist.orgor call 800-8197. Which of the following is necessary for a waiter / waitress?

1B

Homestay provides English language students with the opportunity to speak English outside the classroom and the experience of being part of a British home. What to Expect The host will provide accommodation and meals. Rooms will be cleaned and bedcovers changed at least once a week. You will be given the house key and the host is there to offer help and advice as well as to take an interest in your physical and mental health. Accommodation Zones Homestays are located in London mainly in Zones2,3 and 4 of the transport system. Most hosts do not live in the town centre as much of central London is commercial and not residential . Zones 3 and 4 often offer larger accommodation in a less crowed area. It is very convenient to travel in London by Underground. Meal Plans Available Continental Breakfast Breakfast and Dinner Breakfast, Packed Lunch and Dinner It's important to note that few English families still provide a traditional cooked breakfast. Your accommodation includes Continental Breakfast which normally consists of fruit juice, cereal ,bread and tea or coffee. Cheese, fruit and cold meat are not normally part of a Continental Breakfast in England. Dinners usually consist of meat or fish with vegetables followed by dessert, fruit and coffee. Friends If you wish to invite a friend over to visit. you must first ask your host's permission. You have no right to entertain friends in a family home as some families feel it is an invasion of their privacy. Self-Catering Accommodation in Private Homes Accommodation on a room-only basis includes shared kitchen and bathroom facilities and often a main living room. This kind of accommodation offers an independent lifestyle and is more suitable for the long-stay student. However, it does not provide the same family atmosphere as an ordinary homestay and may not benefit those who need to practise English at home quite as much. Which of the following will the host provide?

0A

Do you want to be the most popular, person in your class? You don't want to change your character; you just need to improve your personality. In fact, the most popular people are trusted and loved because they stay normal but still have something that makes them different from the rest of us. Here are some pieces of advice about becoming the most popular person in the class. If you want others to like and respect you, you have to start by liking and accepting yourself. Do not change yourself in order to please others. Be helpful to everyone and do it happily. _ Be active and have a positive view towards life. Develop confidence in yourself. Stay clean and wear fresh clothes. Do no try to follow fashion to please others Respect cannot be brought with big words and power . You have to get it by being honest. It also helps your personal growth. You must be a person that can be trusted to get respect. How can you be respected by your classmates according the article?

2C

Li Lu is a fifth-grade student who lived in a small village in Shanxi Province. She lived with her grandparents, because her parents are migrant workers in big cities. During the days when there were no school buses, Li Lu had to ride a bike five kilometers and climb a small mountain to school every day. Her 70-year-old grandfather says he and Li Lu's grandmother always worried about her safety. "There are so many cars on the roads, and we were really _ about her all the time. When it was time for her to come home, we would stare at the alley's entrance until she showed up." But with the start of the new school year, the school's new bus now picks up the students. Eleven-year-old Li Lu pointed at her seat on the bus and said ,"Now I don't ride my bike any more. My grandparents no longer need to worry about me. The bus is spacious and comfortable. Look! This is my seat, with my name tag on the seatback." Why does Li Lu live with her grandparents?

3D

As people in Beijing and northern China struggle with severe air pollution this winter,the toxic air is also making life hard for plants and even food crops of China. "in the last 50 years there has been a 1 6-fold increase in ozone pollution"in the Beijing area,said Hanqin Tian of Auburn University in Alabama,who studies the effects of China's pollution and climate change on plants. Ozone is particularly harmful to plants because it damages the pores on leaves,called stomata,which plants use to regulate how much water evaporates from the leaves.That,in turn,affectS how much water a plant must take up through its roots.Changes in water uptake by plants have been documented in other parts of the world,including the United States,as having major impacts on regional groundwater and surface water supplies. In studies of the long-term productivity of plants,Hanqin Tian and some of his colleagues show that ozone pollution,along with climate change,has been lowering plant productivity in China,which reduces the amount of carbon and other pollutants that the plants Can absorb to fight all the emissions from the burning offossil fuels. The worst effects on plants are likely to be in areas where the growing pollution problem is just fairly new, said Arthur Chappelka, also a plant researcher at Auburn University.Some plants are more resistant to pollutants than others,he said,and the plants that are living today in long-polluted urban areas are likely to be only those that are very pollution tolerant. Away from the cities, however, where crops are necded to feed China's yast population, the effeets of the growing pollution on crops is a significant concern. "In some ways it affects the crop production and food securiy of China,"said Hanqin Tian."Air quality is really important for human health, plants and ecosystem and sustainability." The problem is bound to get worse as China continues to develop economically, he said, and so he and other researchers continue to urge the Chinese government to take action to reduce emissions from cars and industries. What'S the best title of the passage?

0A

An allowance is an important tool for teaching children how to make plans for the use of money, save and make their own decisions. Children remember and learn from mistakes when their own dollars are lost or spent foolishly. How large is an allowance is suitable? Experts say there is no right amount. Actually amounts differ from region to region, and from family to family. To set up a suitable allowance for your child, work up a weekly plan. Allow for entertainment costs such as movies or fast food. Next, include everyday expenses such as lunch money, bus fare, school supplies. "If you make the child responsible for these bills," says Josephine ,a specialist , "he or she will learn to plan for necessary costs." Finally, add some extra money to make saving possible, if you keep your children's allowance in line with that of his friends. A child whose buying power falls away below his peer's can feel left out. It can be taught but don't excuse your children when they make a mistake with their allowance. When Brooke was ten, her mother gave her $5 a week, $1.75 of which was for bus fare and lunch. "If you lose your money, Brooke" mother told her, "you walk home." One week that girl spent all her money in a candy store; then she called home for a ride. "Mom made me walk home," recalls Brooke, now a financial planner in a big company. "At first I was angry. But I finally realized that she was trying to teach me an important lesson." Why does the writer mention the girl Brooke?

0A

Many gardeners believe that "talking" to their plants helps them grow---it turns out that _ may not be crazy after all. According to the scientists from the University of Exeter, plants may keep communicating with each other through a secret "unseen" language. For their experiment, the scientists picked a cabbage plant that is known to send out a gas when its surface is cut. In order to get video evidence of the communication, they changed the cabbage gene by adding the protein---luciderase , which is what makes fireflies glow in the dark. When the changed cabbage plant was in full bloom, they cut a leaf off with a pair of scissors, and almost immediately, thanks to the luciderase, they could see the plant sending out "methyl jasmonate ". While this was a known fact, what was surprising was the fact that the minute this gas began to give out, the nearby cabbage plants seemed to sense some kind of danger and started to send out a gas that they normally have to keep predators like caterpillars away. What the scientists are not sure is whether the plants are trying to warn the other leaves or the near plants about the danger---something that will require further research However, the team, which is led by Professor Nick Smirnoff, is quite excited about the findings because this is the first time it has been proved that plants do not live a passive life, but actually move, sense and even communicate with each other. However, before you get all concerned, they are quite sure that plants do not feel the pain when they are cut, since they do not have nerves---so go ahead and bite into that juicy carrot! According to the experiment, plants _ .

0A

About a year ago, if you had asked who Dinara Safina was the answer would have been: "She is Marat. Safin's younger sister." Back then she was overshadowed by her wonder brother. But now she has made a name for herself: the world No. 1 player in women's tennis. The 22-year-old Russian. will overtake Serena Williams of the prefix = st1 /USfor top ranking on April 20. "Before, every place I go, I am Marat's sister. Nothing else," she told New York Times. "I always wanted to be myself, and now finally the results are coming, and people can know me as Dinara Satina." Safina has made it to two great event finals, in the 2008 French and in this year's Australian Open, and won a silver medal in the Beijing Olympic Games. Clearly; family isn't the only connection Safina's and her brother share. Both of their DNA burns with competitive fire. Satin has held the distinction for years of being a hot tempered player on Court. When he lost his temper, he would break a racket . Safina is as emotionally explosive as her brother. A headline in the newspaper The Australian once described her as "mad as a snake". The Sydney Morning Herald, during the Australian Open, summed up Safina's volatile emotional state with the headline: "Satina goes from basket case to top of the world." It's not rare for a family to have two top tennis players. Safina's father owns a tennis academy and her mother worked as a coach. "I had no choice but to become a tennis player, but I don't mind being a tennis player," Safina said. From this talented family she is also given one of her best weapons on court, her size. She is 1.82 meters tall and Weighs 70 kg. But it is hard work that led her to her recent Success. "I hope to prove to everyone over the coming months that I deserve the honor of being world No. 1," she said. What is the passage mainly about?

0A

Jim and Tom were eating at a restaurant . On the table there was a cup of hot ( )mustard . Jim thought it was sweet and took a spoonful of it into his mouth. Tears ran down from his eyes. However, he wished Tom to do the same thing. So he said nothing. Tom saw Jim crying , and asked,"What for, my friend?" "I'm thinking of my father, he was hanged 20 years ago,Jim said.Soon after Tom took a spoonful of mustard and when tears began to run down from his eyes, Jim asked "Why are you crying, then?""I am thinking why you were not hanged 20 years ago." How was Jim after he took a spoonful of hot mustard?

2C

The national schools' first aid competition is an interesting way for young people to practice their first aid skills in a safe environment. A school may have three teams. The deadline for this competition has now been continued to April 21, 2012. All teams will compete at an elimination round, with the winners going forward to the National Final for the chance to become the winner. A team has three formal members, and a reserve is also needed. All team members, together with the reserve, will take part. There are two age sections: Junior: 7 to11 Senior: 12 to 16 This competition is based on the Young First Aid Course from St. John Ambulance Training Officer. Support will be given to make sure everyone has equal chances to win. The winners of this competition will be invited to take part in the Young Grand Prior Competition. This competition improves the practical first aid skills of young people and tests their knowledge and skills with a series of realistic accidents and injuries. Youth teams are aged between 12 and 16 years old and should have three members. Young adults are aged between 17 and 21 and should have two members. All teams may bring a reserve. The Young Grand Prior Competition will be held at the Spa Complex, Scarborough, on November 28, 2012. Those who want to take part in the national schools' first aid competition will have to complete our application form. How many students will stand for a school?

1B

Alex Rawlings, from Oxford University, Has been named the UK's most multilingual person. The 21-year-old British student can speak 11 language and is learning a 12th, He knows English, Greek, German, French, Dutch, Afrikaans, Spanish,Catalan,ltalian, Russian and Hebrew.Rawlings' mother, who is half Greek, spoke to him in English, Greek and some French when he was growing up. Rawlings is studying German and Russian at university now. He taught himself other languages like Dutch because he wanted to talk to people on his travels or simply because he thought the language was interesting or beautiful."When I was a kid, I always wanted to speak different languages," Rawlings said. "My parents often took me to my mom's family in Greece. My dad worked in Japan for four years. I was always frustrated that I couldn't talk to other kids in those countries because of the language. " Thanks to his talent for languages, Rawliings has made many friends. He also thinks that picking up new languages getseasier over time.Rawlings plans to perfect his Russian while studying in the small Russian city of Yaroslavi and the next language he plans to learn is Arabic."No matter how many languages I Iearn, my favorite language is always Greek because I have spoken it since childhood," he said. How is Alex Rawlings going to improve his Russian?

3D

In today's world, almost everyone knows that air pollution and water pollution are harmful to people's health. However, not all people know that noise is also a kind of pollution, and this is harmful to people's health, too. People who work and live under noisy conditions usually become deaf today. However, scientists believe that 10 percent of workers in Britain are being deafened by the noise where they work. Many of the workers who print newspapers and books, and who weave cloth become deaf. Quite a few people living near airports also become deaf. Recently it was discovered that many teenagers in America could hear no better than 65-year-old persons, for these young people like to listen to pop music and pop music is a kind of noise. Besides, noise produced by jet planes or machines will make people ill or even drive them mad. It is said a continuous noise of over 85 decibels can cause deafness. Now the government in many countries have made laws to control noise and make it less than 85 decibels. In China, the government is trying to solve not only air and water pollution problems but also noise problems. According to the text, a continuous noise of _ decibels can make people deaf.

3D

If an organism is existing then it is made up of

1B

In the U.S. Mother's Day is a holiday celebrated on second Sunday in May. It is a day when children honor their mothers with cards, gifts and flowers. First _ in Philadelphia in 1907,it is based on suggestions by Julia Ward Howe in 1872 and by Anna Jarvis in 1907. Although it wasn't celebrated in the U.S. until 1907,there were days honoring mothers even in the days of ancient Greece. In those days, however, it was Rhea, the Mother of the gods that was given honor. Later,in the 1600's,in England there was an annual celebration called "Mothering Sunday." It was celebrated during June, on the fourth Sunday ,the servants, who generally lived with their employers, were encouraged to return home and honor their mothers. It was traditional for them to bring a special cake along to celebrate the occasion. In the U.S., in 1907 Ana Jarvis, from Philadelphia, began a campaign to establish a national Mother's Day. Jarvis persuaded her mother's church in Grafton, West Virginia to celebrate Mother's Day on the second anniversary of her mother's death, the 2ed Sunday of May. The next day Mother's Day was also celebrated in Philadelphia, Jarvis and others began a letter-writing campaign to ministers, businessmen, and politicians asking to establish a national Mother's Day. They were successful. President Woodrow Wilson, in 1914,made the official announcement recognizing Mother's Day as a national celebration that was to be held each year on the 2nd Sunday of May. Many other countries of the world celebrate their own Mother's Day at different times throughout the year. Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia, and Belgium celebrate Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May, as in the U.S. What could be the best title for this passage?

0A

When we talk about stars ,especially women stars ,it seems that they are always young, pretty and own charming body shapes. But recently a Britain's Got Talent star Susan Boyle has changed our views absolutely. Simon Cowell ,one of the judges of the talent show spoke of his shock over Ms Boyle's voice. "This lady camp up ,and I'm thinking, 'This will take five seconds and I can go to have a cup of tea'. That changed when she began to sing I Dreamed to Dream from Les Miserables. She knew we were going to have that reaction and just to see that look of satisfaction on her face through -it was one of my favorite moments," Cowell said. The performance was posted on line and before long, the 47-year-old Scottish woman has been famous all over the world. Speaking from her home in Scotland, Ms Boyle said that she hasn't thought of changing her appearance. She said that her friend helped her with make-up. "I mean, that's hardly a makeover," she added.Ms Boyle also spoke of the reason she first began to explore her vocal talents, "I was kind of slow at school, so getting like singing was a good way of hiding behind that and thus it built my confidence." Susan Boyle had a look of satisfaction on her face when she was singing because _ .

0A

Sabina Castelfrancol Rome October 16, 2011---The U.N. World Food program says there are growing concerns over food insecurity in the developing world. Some of those concerns are discussed in a report to agree with the anniversary Sunday of World Food Day. The theme for World Food Day 2011 is "Food prices-From Crisis to Stability". A ceremony to mark World Food Day will be held Monday at the headquarters of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome. Rising food prices, weather emergencies and political instability are deepening the struggle of families trying to provide for their households in many developing nations. This year's "State of Food In security in the World" report, published last week, focuses on the impact of food price _ confirming that high, unpredictable prices are likely to continue. The report highlighted how poor consumers, small farmers and countries dependent on imports, especially in Africa, have been deeply affected by the food and economic crises. Gregory Barrow is with the World Food Program in Rome. "if you look at the places where World Food program works particularly in developing countries, you see populations of people who might be spending 60,70,80percent of their salaries on purchasing food for their families". Barrow added that if prices become changeful and generally start rising, even by a small amount, it means that many of these people are going to struggle to put nutritious food on their tables. The report also showed that even short-term fluctuations in prices can have a long-term effect on development, and that cutting back on nutritious food in the first 1.000 days of a child's life can affect mental and physical development and finally, future earning capacity . The United Nations has programs in place aimed at reducing the number of hungry people by one-half by 2015.But most observers agree this target is unlikely to be reached. The attitude of Barrow towards food prices is _ .

0A

Money spent on advertising is money spent as well as any I know of. It serves directly to assist a rapid distribution of goods at reasonable prices, thereby establishing a firm home market and so making it possible to provide for export at competitive prices. By drawing attention to new ideas it helps enormously to raise standards of living. By helping to increase demand it ensures an increased need for labor, and is therefore an effective way to fight unemployment. It lowers the costs of many services: without advertisements your daily newspaper would cost four times as much, the price of your television license would need to be doubled, and travel by bus or tube would cost 20 per cent more. And perhaps most important of all, advertising provides a guarantee of reasonable value in the products and services you buy. Apart from the fact that twenty-seven Acts of Parliament govern the terms of advertising, no regular advertiser dare promote a product that fails to live up to the promise of his advertisements. He might fool some people for a little while through misleading advertising. He will not do so for long, for mercifully the public has the good sense not to buy the inferior article more than once. If you see an article consistently advertised, it is the surest proof I know that the article does what is claimed for it, and that it represents good value. From the passage, we can draw a conclusion that _ .

3D

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 , 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." According to the text, Matt's daughter would like to have _ .

3D

Mini Hoover Dam Tour ONLY $48 per person LIST PRICE $60 This tour begins with beautiful sights as you travel by coach through famous Las Vegas towards Boulder City, Nevada. As you leave Boulder City on your way to the famous Hoover Dam, you will see in the distance Lake Mead. Created by the Hoover Dam, it is one of the largest and most beautiful man-made lakes in America! When you arrive at Hoover Dam, you can visit the museum, watch a movie on the Dam's construction and see Oskar J.W. Hansen's famous sculptures on the Nevada side. Experience the excitement of this man-made wonder with great views that will create memories of a lifetime! Tour Highlights * Free hotel-to-hotel pick-up and drop-off * Coaches with windows for your viewing pleasure * Beautiful views of man-made Lake Mead * Experience the Hoover Dam from two states * Hoover Dam Discovery Tour * Time for souvenir shopping * Relax and enjoy our return journey by coach to Las Vegas According to the text, the Hoover Dam lies _ .

1B

Tom gets up at half past seven in the morning. He has an egg and some milk for his breakfast. Then he begins to go to school slowly. When he is on his way to school, he thinks, "I tell my teacher my mother is ill on Monday morning. I tell him my bike is wrong on Tuesday. What do I tell my teacher today?" Tom thinks over but he doesn't find a good idea before he gets to school."May I come in?" Tom shouts at the door of the classroom. " Oh, my boy," says Mr Green. " Please look at the clock on the wall. What time is it now?" " It's ten past eight," answers Tom. Mr Green is not happy. " You are late for class three times this week. If all the students are like you, the clock is no use, I think." " You are right, Mr Green," says Tom. " If we don't have the clock, how do you know I am late for class?" There is a _ on the wall of the classroom.

1B

OK, I admit it: emoticons are popular. Some people even think they are fun. Many seem unable to get through an e-mail or Instant Message chat sentence without using one. Some feel that they add feeling and character to otherwise cold digital communications. Some, however, such as editor and Hollywood scriptwriter John Blumenthal, blast the use of emoticons as "infantile just like the people who use them" He believes that words themselves should be enough. "If you're being funny, happy or sad, that should be apparent from the comment that goes before the emoticon," he argues. In the eyes of Blumenthal, the use of emoticons is a gender issue. "Men don't use emoticons very much. Maybe not at all," he said. "Teenage girls and women seem to use them a lot. Maybe there' s an emoticon gene." It's an interesting opinion, but it is not shared by all. In an interview with The New York Times, Dacher Keltner, professor of psychology at the University of California, said that emoticons are popular because our brains are programmed "to seek out representations of humanity". He believes that they appeal not because they are shortcuts for the lazy, but because they tap into something beyond language. They reach to our need to be with and communicate with people. All of these arguments may be somehow valid . Each one of us will choose to communicate in our own way. I do not have much time for emoticons. I tried to use one once and felt like I was stealing into a primary school class that I had no place being in. I'd rather let my words do the talking. Friends, however, send me messages and e-mails full of emoticons. I have no problem with this. I don't regard any of my friends as lazy or immature . It's just a question of individuality. :) What is the main point of the article?

2C

Kewen Lichadson is thirty two years old now. He works in the Lasailian Park in the South Africa, where many wild animals such as lions, tigers, leopards and wolves are living. When you get there you may have a chance to see him playing with these wild animals without anything to protect himself except a small bag of pepper . Sometimes he would go swimming with them side by side. It is reported that nearly all the wild animals are brought up by him even from the time they were six months old. For so many years he has cared for them day and night that they have made great friendship between them. "Sometimes if I could not get home at night I would stay with these animals throughout the night. It's quite warm and safe." He often says to the reporter. "Compared with animals, the human beings are less trusted." he may go on. "You needn't have to worry about whether these wild animals could make a secret attack from the back, but for the human beings I can't give you a good answer because, I believe, they are more cunning ." When asked why, he would tell you, "I'm not a talented animal tamer, you know. But I believe, like any of us they have their own feelings. Instead of sticks, whips or iron chains , I treat them with as much patience and respect as possible. Perhaps this might be dangerous but for me this is not a kind of job but love." From the passage we can see Kewen Lichadson _ .

1B

My friends, Emma Daniels, spent the summer of 1974 traveling in Israel. During her monthlong stay in Jerusalem she often went to a cafe called Chocolate Soup. It was run by two men, one of whom - Alex - used to live in Montreal. One morning when Emma went in for coffee, while chatting with her new friend Alex, she mentioned that she had just finished the book she was reading and had nothing else to read. Alex said he had a wonderful book she might like, and that he'd be happy to lend it to her. As he lived just above the cafe, he quickly ran up to get it. The book he handed to Emma just minutes later was Markings, a book by a former Secrcetary-General of the United Nations (UN). Emma had never read it, nor had she ever bought a copy. But, when she opened it up, she was floored to see her own name and address inside the cover in her own handwriting.It turned out that the summer before, at a concert back in Montreal, Emma had met a Californian who was in town visiting friends. They decided to exchange addresses, but neither of them had any paper. The man opened up a book he was carrying in his backpack and asked Emma to write her name and address inside. When he returned to California, he left the book behind in Montreal, and his friend Alex kept it. When Alex later moved to Jerusalcm, he took the book along. Who was supposed to be the first owner of the book?

3D

The Americans have been voted the world's "funniest nationality" ---the one "best at making people laugh" ---in a global poll , which also names the Germans the "least funny" nationality and the British "not as funny as they think". 30,000 people across 15 countries were asked to name both the "funniest" and "least funny" nationality in a poll conducted by Badoo.com, the world's largest social network for meeting new people, with 119 million users worldwide. The Americans were voted the funniest nationality, ahead of the Spanish --- the funniest Europeans --- in second, Italians in third and British in seventh. The voting for the "least funny" nationality confirmed the view of America's Mark Twain that "a German joke is no laughing matter". The Germans won, ahead of the Russians and Turks. The stereotype of German humourlessness is believed to _ from their reputation for efficiency, punctuality and rationality . Examples of German jokes include: "Yesterday, I met my friend Horst at the hospital. He'd swallowed a sponge. He says it doesn't hurt but he's always thirsty." "When we meet someone new, one of the first things we notice is whether they make us laugh", says Lloyd Price, Badoo's Marketing Director. "America is a worthy poll winner", says Price. "It's the world's only comedy superpower." The British pride themselves on their humour but learn from the poll that they're not as funny as they think. They placed just seventh of 15 --- behind the Brazilians, French and Mexicans. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

1B

The London Eye is a giant 135---meter tall Ferris wheel situated on the banks of the River Thames in the British capital. Since 20 January 2011, it has been officially known as the EDF Energy London Eye following a three---year deal with the company. It is the tallest Ferris wheel in Europe, and the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom, visited by over 3.5 million people every year. The London Eye is located at the western end of Jubilee Gardens, on the South Bank of the River Thames In the London Borough of Lambeth in England, between Westminster Bridge( which has longer history than the famous Severn Bridge to the west of London) and Hungerford Bridge. When erected in 1999, it was the tallest Ferris wheel in the world, until surpassed first by the 160 m Star of Nanchang in 2006, and the 165m Singapore Flyer in 2008. A breathtaking feat of design and engineering, passengers in the London Eye's capsules can see up to 40 kilometers in all directions. The London Eye is the vision of David Marks and Julia Barfield, a husband and wife architect team. The wheel design was used as a metaphor for the end of the 20thcentury, and time turning into the new millennium . Back in 2000, the London Eye was known as the Millennium wheel. In 2009, a 4D Film Experience was added as a free extra to enjoy before your ride on the Eye. Once you get high enough and start coming down the other side, you will see people reach for their cameras. Here's where the good stuff is right at your fingertips(or seems so). Parliament and Big Ben are beneath you, as are so many other historical things . If you are interested in other attractions in London, you can refer to the homepage. You can find this passage _ .

3D

Nowadays, lots of students in Shenzhen complain that they have too much homework. Because of this, they feel unhappy about learning at school. According to a survey, a pupil has to spend two hours finishing the homework every day. It usually takes three hours for a middle school student and four hours for a high school student to finish the homework every day. Students in Grade Nine often do their homework until midnight. And all of them have to get up at as early as six o'clock the next morning. Mr. Li, a doctor in a hospital, told me yesterday, "Half of the students in Shenzhen are sub-healthy . The lack of sleep makes them tired and their health is becoming poorer and poorer." Many parents worry about _ . What does the passage mainly tell us?

2C

Barefoot and dirty, the girl just sat and watched the people go by. She never tried to speak. Many people passed, but never did one person stop. The next day I decided to go back to the park, curious to see if the little girl would still be there. Right in the very spot as she was yesterday, she sat with the saddest look in her eyes. Today I was to make my own move and walk over to the little girl. As we all know, a park full of strange people is not a place for young children to play alone. As I began walking towards her, I could see the back of the little girl's dress indicated a deformity . I smiled to let her know it was okay, I was there to help, to talk. I sat down beside her and opened with a simple "Hello". I smiled and she shyly smiled back. We talked until darkness fell and the park was completely empty. I asked the girl why she was so sad. The little girl looked at me and with a sad face said, "Because I'm different." I immediately said "That you are!" and smiled. The little girl acted even sadder. She said, "I know." She looked at me and smiled. Slowly she stood to her feet, and said, "Really?" "Yes, dear, you're like a little guardian angel sent to watch over all those people walking by." She nodded her head "yes" and smiled, and with that she spread her wings and said with a twinkle in her eye, "I am. I'm your guardian angel." I was speechless, sure I was seeing things. She said, "For once you thought of someone other than yourself, my job here is done." Immediately I stood to my feet and said, "Wait, so why did no one stop to help an angel!?" She looked at me and smiled, "You're the only one who could see me, and you believe it in your heart." ...and she was gone. And with that my life changed dramatically. So, when you think you're all you have, remember, your angel is always watching over you. Mine is! People just passed by the girl because _ .

2C

They lived thousands of miles apart, and both died in 1616. This has led to a lot of studies comparing their works,which are still important to this day. To mark the 400th anniversary of Tang Xianzu and William Shakespeare's deaths, an exhibition called Dialogue Across Time and Space: Homage to Tang Xianzu and William Shakespeare is being held across 26 Chinese Cultural Centers in different countries from Sept 1 to December. Shakespeare's plays are always found in the British school curriculum, while Tang's best-known opera, The Peony Pavilion , continues to be performed worldwide. Both were "great men in the circle of world drama', according to Aoki Masaru, who put the work of Shakespeare and Tang together in his 1943 book A History of Chinese Literary Thought. Both shared a love for a journey of self-discovery. The difference is that Shakespeare's work shows people of all backgrounds and classes, while Tang's dramas come form a more aristocratic background. Tang's lines were sung mostly in family theaters. Shakespeare, however, had to sell tickets to whoever would buy them. That probably affected their writing styles. Though few can touch Shakespeare's range and richness of work, there is one area in which Tang's work may have been better. That's in the use of dreams, not only to tell a story, but also to explore ideas. The Peony Pavilion is set in the world of the characters' dreams, especially Du Liniang, the young lady who has not seen or gotten to know Liu Mengmei when she falls in love with him. After Liu has dreamed of her, he finds her portrait three years after her death and can't stop thinking about her. But for Du, a dream is a path to the freedom that young women of ancient China normally didn't have - the freedom to love someone without their families getting in the way. Shakespeare also famously used the stage to look at Philosophy in A Midsummer Night's Dream . But in a sense, the dream was Tang's stage. The writer wrote this article mainly to _ .

1B

Breakthroughs in science and technology are paving the way for modern cities to support bigger populations. Now, we see the most exciting urban innovations to show you exactly how they'll improve your city's infrastructure . Lighting Up The Night Anthony Di Mari dreamed up an electric tree to help irrigate public parks and light them at night. These electric trees contain a special infill that collects water from rainfall. The water is then distributed through a shallow underground irrigation system with the help from the trees' swaying movement. An electric motor turns energy from the waving of the artificial trees into electricity, which is used to light up the trees' outer LEDs. Thinking Outside The Box As more people flock to urban areas, city planners will need to get increasingly creative about how to satisfy residents' health and transportation needs within decreasing available space. One way to achieve this is by updating infrastructure to support biking and walking by building suspended roundabouts like hovering in the Netherlands. By lifting bicycle and pedestrian traffic above busy roadways, cities can significantly decrease over-crowded traffic condition. Waving Hello To Clean Energy Cities that don't receive enough sunlight may find an attractive alternative in wave power. Since ocean waves rarely experience disruption , electric engines driven by their clockwork push-and-pull can reliably provide power throughout the year. Further, thanks to advances in wave power technology, engineers have been able to move wave power engines farther offshore, where the waves pack the most punch, making the engines extremely efficient. So in the future, heavily populated coastal cities may use wave to meet their energy needs. What is the special infill used to do?

3D

When someone says "well, I guess I'll have to face the music", it doesn't mean that he is planning to go to hear a singer. It is something far less happy, as you are called in by your leader to explain why you did this and did that or why you did not do this or that. At some time or another, every one of us has to "face the music", especially as children. We can all remember father's angry word "I wasn't to talk to you" and only because we did not listen to him. What a bad thing it was ! In the middle or at the end of every term, we students have to "face the music". The result of the exam will decide whether we will face the music or not. If ...that means parents' cold faces and the contempt of the teachers and classmates. "To face the music" is well known to every American, younger or old. It is at least 100 years old. It really means that you have to do something, no matter how terrible the whole thing might be, because you know you have no choice. If you didn't listen to your father's words, you would "face the music" ,or _ .

2C

This past month saw one of the most devastating storms in history brings death and destruction on the Philippines. The number of lives lost is still being calculated, but it is already sitting above five thousand. In the flurryof news about the storm and its after-math, the cries of "I told you so" from environmentalists rang out loud and clear. These scientists were especially vocal during the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which just wrapped up in Warsaw, Poland. The timing of the conference and Typhoon Haiyan was an eerie coincidence, but perhaps the concurrence offered a wakeup call for all. Christiana Figures, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) said, "We are witnessing ever more frequent extreme weather events, and the poor and vulnerable are already paying the price." Scientists claim that storms like Typhoon Haiyan are an inevitable result of the effect greenhouse gases are having on our environment. Environmental analysts claim that rising temperatures around the globe and changing weather patterns are all part of the same problem. This isn't breaking news. We've heard the warnings for years. The UN has been hosting the Climate Change Conference since1995.But the changes that need to be made are huge. Added to this, the developed nations and developing countries have competing interests that are difficult to settle. The issue of who takes responsibility becomes difficult to resolve. We may feel far away from Poland and resolving conflicts between countries, but we mustn't feel far away from the issue. When we watch neighboring countries suffer in severe weather, when we hear reports of increasing global temperatures, when we walk outside and find it difficult to breathe the Shanghai air, we know we have a very real problem. So what are we going to do about it? Are we making every-day choices that can have a positive impact? Are we reducing our carbon footprint? Are we choosing to walk, ride a bicycle or take public transportation instead of a car? Are we recycling? Are we turning off the lights and electronics whenever possible? The problem is complex, but saving our earth starts with each of us taking simple steps. Which of the following is NOT FALSE?

3D

I have a big family. My name is Tony Brown. I'm English. My father and mother are teachers. They teach English in No.1 Middle School. I have a sister. Her name is Mona. We are students in N0.1 Middle School. My grandfather's name is David, My grandmother's name is Sue. They are retired , they are at home. Paul is my uncle. He is a worker . Paul's wife --Jane, is a doctor . They have ason. His name is Jeff. He's only three. Tony's parents are _ .

0A

In the middle of a really embarrassing moment, you might feel like you just want to disappear. Maybe you wish for a time machine that could send you back five minutes. Well, time machines are hard to come by in the real world, so finding a better way of getting through the humiliation is needed. Sometimes, embarrassment is caused by how we act after we make an unwanted thing. If the thing is a small one, you can just pretend it didn't happen, and many people won't notice. On the other hand, if you stop, or get red in the face after you've messed up, people will really notice, and it will be hard to let the moment pass by. Of course, some embarrassing moments are too big or obvious for this plan to work. Sometimes when you meet or get caught in a really cringe-worthy moment, it doesn't seem funny. Other people may laugh, but you just get red in the face and feel like curling up in a ball of shame. But there are some people who can laugh at their own mistakes. When they mess up, they laugh harder than their friends do! People like _ don't stay embarrassed for long, because this can turn into another funny story. They might even make a joke about their mistake before anyone else gets the chance to. You shouldn't pretend a laugh if you really feel angry or embarrassed, but changing your attitude or outlook might be worth trying. Remember that a thing that makes you embarrassed today will probably make you laugh tomorrow. So why not try to laugh today? ,. How will you feel when you meet or caught in a really cringe-worthy moment?

2C

Clare is a third grader at Hoover Elementary School in Dubuque, Iowa. She often saw some!body outside during a class break, sitting alone and not having any friends to play with. When see!ing this scene,she felt bothered,for in her mind everybody in the world needed friends. That was why Clare came up with an idea -- "a buddy bench". Buddy benches have been tried at other schools. In 2012, a girl named Acacia came up with the idea of the friendship bench with her parents' help. The students found it was something that was badly needed. Many students went there and found their friends. Other students learnt the importance of social communication with the words,like"hope","respect","listen"and"dream",painted on the benches. The friendship bench was also praised by teachers there. Clare thinks her school also needs such benches. So she has been working on raising the mon!ey to pay for the benches and talking with school officials about getting them installed. "They are certainly something that I think will be great additions to our school, "said Claret principal , Kath!leen. ^Clare thinks that everybody needs friends, " said her mom, Tricia. "Moreover , she wants everybody to be her friends. Clare had been inspired by her elder sister who is disabled. ""Having seen her sister's struggles,she understood what other kids felt when they were struggling. Clare didn't want to see her sister or anybody else struggle." As the actor Will Rogers said,"A stranger is just a friend I haven't met yet. "That's appar!ently how Clare sees people as well. "I hope that I can have thousands and thousands of friends, " Clare said. "Everybody needs friends. " Buddy benches will be added to Clare's school to_.

3D

I'm Ann. I am twelve. My birthday is on May 11th. I am a student. I am in No. 3 middle School. I have a good friend. Her name is Alice. She is twelve, too. We are not in the same class. We have the same English teacher. Her name is Monica. We all like her. Kate is Alice's sister. Oh, today is November 11th. It's Kate's birthday. I will buy her a birthday card. Ann and Alice are _ .

0A

The Cave of Lascaux It was Thursday, September 12,1940.Four French teens were out exploring in the woods off the northern slopes of the Pyrenees.Many years before, an old pine tree fell and left a large hole in the ground.The teenagers were curious and they started to explore the area and fell into one of the most important archeological finds of the twentieth century! There are over a hundred limestone caves in this region of France.Some were _ by humans thousands and thousands of years ago.Between 15,000 and 17,000 years ago, humans painted lively creatures such as cows, bulls, horses, and even cats on the walls of the caves. Why did they mark these walls? Was it to tell a story? Was it to record a famous battle? There are many mysteries and ancient secrets still waiting to be discovered in the cave of Lascaux.There were dots in many of the paintings.What do these dots mean? Were they meant to record time, a calendar? Deep in the cave, there is a drawing of a "birdman".What does this mean? Was it a place for sacred ceremonies? No one knows for sure. The actual cave of Lascaux was closed in 1963 due to the overabundance of tourists visiting the site.The carbon dioxide that people were breathing out was causing damage to the fragile cave paintings.Up till now the Lascaux cave is still closed for tourists.Only a specialist can visit the cave by a special order that must be made out almost a year in advance.Not more than six persons can enter the cave per day.Two days a week, the cave is completely closed.Due to the great interest of numerous tourists, in 1983 Lascaux IIwas opened for tourism.It is an exact replica of the cave of Lascaux. The Pyrenees are the _ in France.

2C

Mr. Jackson is a teacher of science in a middle school. His students like his classes because his classes are very interesting. They can learn a lot in his class. The students can make many things. His little son Val also likes making things. He makes lots of machines , such as a machine like a man. It can do the job that is dangerous for people to do. He says, "I want to be a scientist." ,. What can students do in Mr. Jackson's classes?

3D

What Is Self-tracking All about Perhaps you've tracked how many kilometers you've run, how many hours you've slept or how much you've eaten in a day. If so, you've taken part in a popular movement called the "Quantified Self Movement" or "Self-tracking". Maybe you've wanted to change a bad habit but couldn't. Self-tracking may be your answer. The idea is to collect information about your everyday activities and analyze them to help improve and form a healthier lifestyle. Recently, tools such as smartphones, apps, along with newly published wearable things, are making self-tracking easy. Today, one can use Fitbit, the Jawbone Up, Google Glass or a smart watch to record personal data including sleeping hours, stress levels, heart rate and mood. So why does a person self-track? Someone may be trying to lose weight or improve their sleep. Another person feels tired after eating. Self-tracking could help him to know what foods make him sleepy and watch his diet. [:Z#xx#k.Com] Tracking daily activities isn't a new concept. In years past, athletes and their coaches kept notes food, training and sleep in order to achieve an athletic goal. Similarly, doctors have also helped patients to record parts of their lifestyles and eating habits to help fight health problems. However, it wasn't until 2007 that magazine writers Gary Wolf and Kim Kelly created the term "Quantified Self" or "self-tracking". Although self-tracking has many advantages, Dennis Nash, president of Data Speaks Health Solutions, says self-tracking has its disadvantages. Once people start tracking their daily activities, it can become an extra task people like to do often. Also, they might begin to worry too much about their health. Though self-tracking doesn't make sure that one's quality of life will improve, it can encourage people to make healthier choices. Self-tracking was firstly come up with by _ .

0A

Researchers at San Diego Zoo have been studying what has been described as the "secret language" of elephants. They have been monitoring communications between animals that cannot be heard by human ears. The elephant's call will be familiar to most people, but the animals also give out growls . Their growls, however, are only partly audible ; two-thirds of the call is at frequencies that are too low to be picked up by our hearing. To learn more about the inaudible part of the growl, the team attached (......) a microphone sensitive to these low frequencies and a GPS tracking system to eight of the zoo's female elephants. The researchers could then relate the noises the animals were making to what they were doing. Matt Anderson, who led the project, told BBC News, "We're excited to learn how they interact and contact with one another." The team has already learned that pregnant females use this low frequency communication to announce to the rest of their long gestation of over two years, in the last 12 days we see the low part of the growl, which we can't hear. This we believe is to announce to the rest of the herd that the baby is upcoming," said Dr Anderson. The researchers believe that this also warns the elephants to look out for coming danger. "You may think that a baby calf of about 300 pounds would not be as open to predation as other species," he says. "But packs of hyenas are a big threat in the wild." Female elephants are only in season for around four days every four years and these calls can be heard by males more than two miles away. Why some elephants' call is called "secret language"?

0A

Have you ever wondered when dogs first became "man's best friend" and the world's favourite pet? If you have then you're not alone. When and where dogs first began living side-side with humans are questions that have stirred hot debate among scientists. There are a few hard facts that all agree on. These include that dogs were once wolves and they were the first animal to be domesticated by humans. They came into lives some 15000 years ago, before the dawn of agriculture. Beyond that, there is little agreement. The earliest bones found that are unquestionable dogs and not wolves date from 14,000 years ago. However, 30,000-year-old skulls have been discovered in France and Belgium that are not pure wolf and some scientists think could be dogs. With such puzzling evidence, many scientists are now turning to DNA to find out when and where dogs were first domesticated. In one research project, tens of thousands of blood samples have been taken from street dogs around the world. The plan is to compare them with those of wolves. It's even possible to analyse DNA from ancient bones. Tiny pieces of the 30,000-year-old skulls mentioned earlier are currently being studied, and another DNA study has already shown that ancient dogs preserved in the Alaskan ice-fields evolved from Asian wolves, not American ones. Indeed, the ancient DNA may turn out to be more informative than the DNA of living dogs. Because dogs have accompanied humans around the world for thousands of years, their current distribution may tell us very little of their origins. This is why different groups of scientists believe that dogs variously originated in eastern Asia, Mongolia, Siberia, Europe or Africa. But why were the animals domesticated in the first place? The most recent theory is that dogs domesticated themselves, initially living in and around our ancient villages to eat any food thrown out. Today, this is a way of life still shared by three -quarters of a billion unowned dogs worldwide. Why did dogs start living with humans?

0A

Forty-two of the fifty American states offered some kind of public online learning this past school year.One state,Michigan,now requires all students to have an online learning experience before they finish high school.Even the idea of a school has changed since the rise ofthe Internet in the 1990s. A new report from the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at Indiana University says eighteen states have full-time virtual schools.There are no buildings.All classes are online. Florida started the first statewide public virtual school in the United States in 1997.Today,the Florida Virtual School offers more man ninety courses.56,000 students were enrolled as of December.Almost sixty percent were female.The school's website says each student was enrolled in an average of two classes. Florida Virtual School has now opened the Florida Virtual Global School.Students in other countries pay for classes.Janet Heiking teaches an English class.She lives in Indianapolis, Indiana.Her students live as far away as Africa and Japan.She says they are taking her Advanced Placement class to prepare for attending an American college.They can earn college credits by passing the AP test. So how good are virtual schools? Studies have shown mixed results, as a new report from Indiana University notes.For example, students at Florida Virtual School earned higher grades than those taking the same courses the traditional way.And they scored higher on a statewide test.But virtual school students in Kansas and Colorado had lower test scores or performed at a lower level than traditional learners.Studies also find that virtual schools may not save much in operating costs. Education experts say the mixed results suggest the need for more research to find the best ways to teach in virtual schools.A1so, they say schools of education need to train more teachers to work in both real and virtual classrooms. From the passage we learn that _ .

3D

Will was playing his favorite song. The song was about a flower. Will stopped singing and went outside. A single star was out in the night sky. Will got hungry and went inside to get a biscuit. He also had jam with it. He didn't want chicken, gravy, or butter on his biscuit. Will sat and finished his dinner in the kitchen. Will walked over to the living room. On his way there, he put a napkin in the trashcan. When he was in the living room, it started to rain. It stopped raining and Will walked all the way to the store. When at the store, Will had a good laugh at a very silly looking dog. Will heard it start to thunder. Will looked outside to see if it was raining again, and it was not. Will was happy he didn't have to get wet walking home. He went outside smiling. What was Will's favorite song about?

0A

An atom with a +1 charge has

1B

One dollar a week The doorway of the house where Chandler has a room. He is dressed in his best clothes, ready for his evening out. He is going out as his friend, Jeff 'White, comes in. WHITE What are you doing this evening, Towers? CHANDLER (Smiling) Tonight I'm going to live like a man with a million dollars! WHITE What are you talking about? You haven't got a million dollars! CHANDLER How much money are you and I paid each week, Jeff? WHITE Eighteen dollars. Why? CHANDLER And how much of that eighteen dollars do you spend each week? WHITE All of it, of course. CHANDLER Well, I don't. Each week I save one dollar out of my eighteen. Then, every ten weeks, I can buy myself an evening to remember. WHITE What do you do? CHANDLER I put on my finest clothes, go to one of the best restaurants in New York, eat the most expensive food on the menu, drink the best wine, and then take a taxi home! WHITE ( _ ) Why? CHANDLER Why? Because it makes me feel wonderful to sit with some of 'the richest people in America, and to make them think that I'm rich, too. WHITE You're crazy! CHANDLER (Laughing) Perhaps I am! Mrs Black comes in. MRS BLACK Ah, Mr Chandler. I wanted to see you. CHANDLER Good evening, Mrs Black. What a lovely evening! MRS BLACK Lovely evening perhaps, but you haven't paid me for your room this month. When am I going to get the money? CHANDLER Soon, Mrs Black. Very soon. Mrs Black looks at Chandler s clothes. MRS BLACK You can spend money on expensive clothes, but you can't pay for your room. Is that right? CHANDLER (Hurrying away) Good night, Mrs Black! This is most probably part of _ .

0A

China's New Voice Three months ago,Liang Bo was just a student who was studying music in the college. Now he becomes " The Voice of China". The lucky young man is the winner of The Voice of China, the most popular TV show this summer. People think Liang's voice is natural, clear and touching. The 21-year-old boy was born in Changchun, Jilin. Like many other young Chinese, he fell in love with music by playing the guitar. Liang got his first guitar as a birthday gift when he was in middle school. He spent days and nights practicing. " I can't live without my guitar."He said. Many people think Liang Bo is just like famous Chinese rock singers such as Xu Wei, Wang Feng and Zheng Jun. But the young man doesn't want to stand in others' shadow ." I like them, but I'm not going to copy them. I will be who I am." he said. Liang Bo was born _ .

1B

Jeans are trousers made of a kind of clothe called denim. For many people, blue jeans represent American culture. The history of blue jeans usually begins with a man named Levi Strauss. Although he did not invent the jeans, he is considered the first person to produce and sell this kind of clothing in large amounts. Levi Strauss was born in Bavaria, Germany. In 1847, he and his family moved to the US. He opened a store, first in New York, and then in San Francisco, California. Among the products he sold were jeans. These trousers were especially useful for miners in California who needed clothing made of a strong material. Levi Strauss partnered with a clothing maker named Jacob Davis, who had invented a process for making rivets for jeans. These metal things helped strengthen the blue jean cloth to make the trousers stronger. In 1873, Strauss and Davis received a patent to officially own this invention. They began producing " copper-riveted waist overalls ". In 1928 the Levi Strauss company used the word "Levi's" as the trademark for their products. The 19th-century workers would probably be surprised to know that their trousers would one day become a fashion object. Today, jeans are worn by people of all ages, incomes and lifestyles. Jeans come in many colors other than blue and in many styles and at many prices. A national museum in Washington, D.C. has one of the oldest known pairs of Levi's jeans in its collection. Jeans have come to express different ideas about American culture based on the people who wear them. These include the heroes of the Wild West and famous Hollywood actors like James Dean and Marlon Brando in the 1950s. Writer James Sullivan published a book called Jean: A Cultural History of an American Icon. In the book, he says jeans serve as a sign for two American values, creativity and rebellion . This passage is mainly about _ .

3D

Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions usually cause the largest, most disastrous debris ( ) flows. A great many victims of the earthquake that struck Wenchuan of Sichuan province last May were killed not by the quake itself but by the sudden large amounts of debris that followed. Most debris flows occur where the soil is composed mainly of sand or colluviums ( ) . Loose soils made up of bits of sand or colluviums fall apart easily and are main material for fast -moving debris flows. Scientists have conducted endless experiments to find out how debris flows work. They have learned that the amount and the timing of water entering the soil are crucial ( ). Typically, that means debris flows often occur when a long rainy period of many weeks is followed by an intense, brief heavy rain. . More often than not, however, debris flows are started by water, in the form of rain, snow, or river flow. In 1998, heavy rains from Hurricane Mitch unleashed about one million tons of mudslides, burying thousands of people, in Central America. Water flows through the soil until it hits a hard layer of bedrock or clay. There the water builds up, filling the tiny spaces between the soil and rock. That buildup reduces the natural friction ( ) that keeps the rock and soil debris lying on the slope. If conditions are approaching dangerous levels, the slope will then fall down. Despite what scientist know about the fact, debris flows are still impossible to predict at present because there are many other uncertains affect the stability of each slope. However, one thing is known: On hillsides where one debris flow has occurred, another will eventually follow. The next debris flow could take days, weeks, or years to happen. The passage is mainly about _ .

2C

Dinner customs are different around the world. If you are a guest in Ghana( ), this information will help you a lot. In Ghana, dinner is usually from four in the afternoon to six in the evening. But there are no strict rules about time. Whenever a guest arrives, a family offers food. When you go to a home, the person who receives guests takes you to the living room first. At this time everyone welcomes you. Then you go to the dinning room. There you wash your hands in a bowl of water. All the food is on the table. In Ghana you usually eat with your fingers. You eat from the same dish as everyone else .But you eat from one side of the dish only. It is not polite to get food from the other side of the dish. After dinner, you wash your hands again in a bowl of water. Most meals in Ghana have a dish called fufu. People in Ghana make fufu from the powder of some plants. Sometimes they cut the fufu with a saw because it is very hard. You must chew fufu well, or you may get sick. You eat fufu with the fingers of your right hand only. When you eat fufu, you'd better _ .

3D

While on a field trip to NASA, Felicia saw a short film on materials that make up nebulae. Which topic was most likely presented in the film?

1B

Once many years ago, I pulled a family out of a burning car somewhere in Wyoming. Last week I received a telephone call from a woman who could not stop crying as she told me that one of my stories had saved her son from committing suicide. In closing she called me a hero. That got me thinking about what a hero is. Was I a hero because I pulled a family from a burning car? If so, how could I be a hero just because I wrote a story that saved someone's life? Today I decided to look up the word "hero" in the dictionary to see exactly what it meant. It read "a person who does. something brave". As I read on, it also said "a person who is good and noble ". That statement impressed me more than the part about being brave. So I thought about something very important. Say I was walking into the local Wal-Mart Store and I happened to open, and hold the door for someone as a _ . As they passed me by, I say, "How are you today?" Most of the time that would be no big deal, but this time let's say it was for someone who was deeply depressed and near the end of the rope. That may have very well been the only kindness or courtesy shown to them in a very long time. Having been near "the end of my rope", after my marriage of twenty years ended, I was in such a condition. I was within hours trying to get enough courage to end the pain and misery. When I returned home, someone had sent me a card in the mail which told me how much they would appreciate me as a friend. That wonderful card probably saved my life. That person, without even knowing it, saved a life and became a hero. Gee, who would have ever thought that anyone can become a hero, and possibly save a life just by being kind and courteous to others? The best part of all is that becoming a hero is free to all who wish to wear such an honor. According to this passage, which of the following can be considered as the behavior of a hero?

3D

Leon, 12, was born without fingers on his left hand.That didn't -stop him from being able to do many tasks. But Leon could not grasp more than one object at a time. So Leon's father, Paul, created a prosthesis ,using a 3D printer. Now Leon has fingers that open and close."It was a do-it-yourself, father and son adventure," says raw. When Leon was a baby, his doctor advised his parents not to give him a prosthetic hand until he was in his early teens. "The doctor said Leon should first learn to get full use out of the hand he was born with," says Paul. As Leon got older, his father looked into buying a prosthetic hand, which can cost as much as $30,000. Paul found a more affordable solution. One day, Paul discovered a video on the Internet about Robohand, a prosthesis created with a 3Dprinter. He downloaded the free instructions and called Robohand's creators for advice. They told him all he needed was a 3D printerwhich costs around $2,000- and some materials. Luckily, Leon's school had recently purchased a 3D printer and it offered to help Paul build the hand for Leon."We used a soccer shin guard ,cardboard, and tape. They cost about$10," says Paul. With his new hand, Leon can do things better. "I can help my mom more, because now I can carry two grocery bags,"he says. Leon's father has already built .several hands for Leon. Leon helps design each one. He says there's one thing in particular that he wants to do with a future prosthesis."The goal," he tells the reporter from the local evening paper,"is to be able to tie my shoelaces:' Where can the passage be taken from?

1B

3D printing technology may not be a new thing in some foreign countries. But in May this year, at Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center. Many visitors were attracted by a 3D printer. The machine looks similar to an ordinary printer and can print a "statue" in about 90 minutes after scanning anything, including a person. The printer prints layer by layer. For example, if we want to print a 30-cm-tall statue, the computer will calculate* the layers and print 460 layers in total*. It can also print people and clothes. You can stand for scanning for just about three minutes, and a statue will be finished about two hours. The cost for a statue of a man is about 1000yuan. The printer, which costs about 500,000yuan, is from the USA. "We want to introduce this technology to people, and find more chances here." said an engineer, "There is a company in USA that offers 3D printing services to people. Many people come to design their own thing. It is very cool. We hope that the printer will encourage more Chinese people to be more creative." How much should you pay if you want to have a statue of yourself printed?

1B

Do you like travelling ?More and more students like riding bikes to travel on the road.But it may be dangerous on your trip.For your own safety ,do the following things. Wear a bike helmet and it can protect your head.Look for a helmet that fits you well.Even the best,most expensive helmet won't protect you if it doesn't fit. Wear the right clothes.They can make you feel better.And they can also protect you.Bright-colored clothes help people see you clearly-even in the daytime.Don't wear dark-colored clothes like black or brown while riding a bike. Keep the rules of the road while riding a bike.Always ride on the right side of the street in the same _ .Never change your direction without first looking behind you.Don't ride too closely to cars-the cars may stop and the doors open suddenly !Finally,don't wear earphones while riding a bike-you need to hear what's going on around you. According to the passage,which one is WRONG?

2C

Mr. White works in an office. He liked reading in bed when he was at school. It was bad for his eyes and now he is near-sighted. But he wouldn't want anybody else to know about it and he never wears a pair of glasses. It often brings him some trouble. One winter morning he was sent to a village school on business. He got off a bus at a stop in a small town. Then he had to walk there. The road to the village wasn't smooth. There were stones here and there. He fell over several times and it made his clothes very duty. At last he got to the village. Suddenly it began to blow strongly and it got much colder. His hat was blown off while he was looking for the school. He had to run after it but he couldn't catch it. He was wondering why his hat ran into a house as if it had legs. And then he ran into the house, too. A big woman appeared and stopped him by shouting angrily, " What are you running after my hen for?" According to the passage, which of the following is true?

3D

Your best friend is possibly the most important person in your life. But sometimes friendship's road is not always smooth, or it's a total dead end. What do you do when this happens? Scenario 1: Drifting Apart You've found that your friend no longer wants to jog with you. She'd rather hit the chat rooms, or she's become crazy about hanging with her new interest. It's a _ when old friends start having less in common. But it might still be worth trying to get into your friend's new interest, trying something new on your own, or meet some new folks who like doing the things you enjoy. Another thing to try is talking to your friend about it- in a non-this-is-your-fault way. The goal is telling how you feel, not "winning". Scenario 2: Fights "Yes, he is." "No, he isn't." the argument could continue forever. No matter how sure you are that you're right, friendship is based on RESPECT. Since you and your friend aren't clones , you will disagree sometimes! Is it worth fighting over? If it is trivial , why not give it up? Agree to disagree and get on well with life. Even if you'll never agree, try to see the other person's viewpoint. At least honor his right to have his own opinions. Never get physical. Violence can make a small problem into a disaster. Scenario 3: End of the Road Is the friendship over? If you are not the one ending it, it feels as if a knife cut your heart into pieces. But the thing is that you can't force someone to be your friend. Give yourself time. But don't freeze in a looking-back, holding pattern . Be open to new friendship. You never know when the "best friend forever" will come along. You are advised not _ when your friend reduced communication with you.

1B

I'm Tony. My best friends are Frank and Cindy. We often do many things together. Frank lives next to my home and we are in the same class. He is thirteen years old and tall and of medium build. He has curly hair and blue eyes. He's good-looking and very clever. He's good at math and often helps me with my homework. He likes wearing black pants and yellow T-shirts. Cindy doesn't go to my school. She's eleven years old. She is thin and of medium height. She has curly blonde hair and her eyes are brown. She is good-looking, too, but a little bit shy. She is good at playing the guitar. Her favorite subject at school is music. She often teaches Frank and me to play the guitar after class. The three of us have great fun together, and we help each other and sometimes play video games at my house. _ eyes are blue.

0A

On Nov.18th, 1908, three men went up in a balloon. They started early in London. The headman was Augusta Gaudron, and the other two men were Tannar and Maitland. They had a big balloon and they were ready for a long way. Soon they heard the sea. They were carrying the usual rope, and it was hanging down from the basket of the balloon. At the end of the rope they had tied a metal box. This could hold water, or it could be empty. So they were able to change its weight. It was for use over the sea. They were also carrying some bags of sand. After the sun rose, the balloon went higher. It went up to 3,000 meters, and the air was very cold. The water in the balloon became ice. Snow fell past the men's basket, and they could see more snow on the ground. The men tried to throw out some more sand, but it was hard. They tried to break the icy sand with their knives, but it was not easy. The work was slow and they were still falling, so they had to drop some whole bags of sand. One of them fell on an icy lake and made a black hole in the ice. At last they pulled the box into the basket. It was still snowing; so they climbed up to get away from the snow. They rose to 5,100 meters! Everything became icy. They were so cold that they decided to land. They came down in Poland heavily but safely. They had travelled 1,797 kilometers from London! The metal box was used for _ .

3D

Tyrone put two stones in a plastic bottle of water and shook it. After he stopped shaking the bottle, he observed that small pieces of the stones were floating in the water. What is the best prediction he can make based on this observation? If shaking the bottle causes pieces of stones to break off,

2C

The people below are needed to take part in a sport. After the description of these people, there is information about four sports(A-D). Decide which sport would be most suitable for the person mentioned in questions 58-61 and then mark the correct letter(A-D) on your answer sheet. Jack is brave and risky and a good swimmer. He enjoys water game. He looks for excitement with his friend when they are on holiday.

1B

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland By Lewis Carroll Walker (first published in 1865). Reading level: ages 6-15 In stock. Originally created by Lewis to amuse three young girls on a boat trip, it tells of a curious child named Alice who follows a white rabbit down a rabbit hole, only to find a door opening to a world of strange creatures. A Cheshire cat, a tea party, a Queen and a Duchess all add to the adventure. Animal Farm By George Orwell (first published in 1945) Reading level: ages 5-12 In stock. Old Major inspires the animals of the Manor Farm to live together with no human to control them. When he dies, three younger pigs--Snowball, Napoleon and Squealer manage to drive the farmer Mr Jones away from the farm, renaming it "Animal Farm". But soon Napoleon becomes the leader of the farm and the animals have even less freedom than before. Treasure Island By Robert Louis Stevenson (first published in 1883) Reading level: ages 8 and up In stock. Robert Louis Stevenson created a rich story of the adventures of Jim Hawkins and his search for the buried treasure of the pirate Captain in Flint. The story is told in the first person of Jim Hawkins and begins at his family's inn. The influence of Treasure Island on popular views of pirates is impressive, including treasure maps marked with an "X", the Black Spot, tropical islands and one-legged seamen carrying parrots on their shoulders Charlotte's Web By EB White (first published in 1952) Reading level: ages 7 and up In stock. Only 4 left in stock--order soon. Charlotte is a spider living in a barn where one day, a short pig called Wilbur comes to live. When she discovers that Wilbur will be killed, the spider manages to save him by writing special messages in her web. The pair become famous and is celebrated at the county fair , but sadly a spider's life is not a long one. This book explores some difficult issues in a magical story. From the text, we can infer that _ .

0A

Last year more than one million Filipinos worked abroad as servants,nurses,sailors and in other difficult but low-paid jobs.Southeast Asians leave their poorer countries for their richer neighbours. Many of these wage-earners return in the end.In the meantime,they send home huge amounts of money--in the Philippines' case,over 10% of its GDP.Between January and November,the amount was up 18% on the same period of 2005.Poverty and unemployment are still high in the Philippines and other labour-exporting countries.They would be far worse but for this outflow of bodies and inflow of dollars.As for those Asian countries that import labour,as in Europe,falling birth rates mean they are going to need more foreign workers. On January 13th leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) signed an agreement to help migrant workers--with the realization that the flow of labour between their countries is a growing problem that they cannot blame on outsiders.A 2005 study showed that 8.4 million Southeast Asians worked outside their home countries,but this did not include the huge numbers of Indonesians doing so without papers.So the true total is probably rather higher. Of the ten ASEAN countries,the Philippines,Indonesia,Myanmar,Cambodia,Vietnam and Laos export labour,Singapore and Brunei import it,and Thailand and Malaysia do both.Sziraczki of the UN's International Labour Organization points out that,in the next ten years,the total labour force of the worker-exporting countries should grow by about a third.It makes sense to work on the problem before it gets out of control. People in the receiving countries seem to be worried about competition for their jobs.Most Thais said their government should admit no more foreign workers,and a few thought otherwise.Even in Singapore,just over half of people are against admitting more foreign workers.Malaysians think that the increase in foreign workers has worsened crime rates . The flow of labour is a growing problem because _ .

0A

Do you get angry at your friends' singing loudly while you are working? Or when your best friend does not wait for you after school? If you do, you need to control your feelings and stop getting angry so easily. Getting angry with people can make you lose friends. Gary Egeberg, an American high school teacher, has writtenMy feelings Are Just Like Wild Animalsto help you control your feelings. It tells teens how to stay cool when bad things happen to them. The book says that getting angry only makes problems worse. It can never make them better. Getting angry is not a natural way to act. It is just a bad habit, like smoking. The book says you can control your anger easily--all you have to do is telling yourself not to be angry. When a baby falls over, it only cries if people are watching it. Like a baby, you should only get angry if you are sure it is the right thing to do. *Keep a record. Every time you get angry, write down why you are angry. Look at it later and you will see you get angry too easily. *Ask your friends to stop talking to you when you get angry. This will teach you not to be angry. *Do something different. When you get angry, walk away from the problem and go somewhere else. Try to laugh! The writer wants to tell us _ .

0A

If you've been joining in chat room conversation, or trading e-mail with your e-pals, you have become one of the millions who write in a special short form of English. And you've got a sense of humor about short forms like SOHF(="sense" of humor failure) to describe Internet newcomers who understand you. Across the globe, every night teenagers and their elders are "talking" online -- many of them all talking at the same time. It's fast: try talking to six people at once. It's brief: three or four words per exchange. It takes wit , and quick fingers. Want to enter a conversation? Just type PMFJI(="pardon" me for jumping in). Interested in whom you're talking to? A/S/L, the nearly universal request to know your pal's age, sex and location. You may get 15/M/NY as a response from your pal. If something makes you laugh, say you're OTF(="on" the floor), or LOL(="laughing" out loud), or combine the two into ROTFL(="rolling" on the floor laughing). And when it's time to get back to work or go to bed, you type GTG(got to go) or TTYL(="talk" to you later).People want to write as fast as possible, and they want to get their ideas across as quickly as they can. Capital letters are left in the dust, except when expressing strong feelings, as it takes more time to hold down the "shift" key and use capitals. Punctuation is going, too. In order to talk to several people at the same time on the Internet, _ .

3D

The pressure in air drops very low, so clouds

2C

The composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's remarkable musical talent was apparent even before most children can sing a simple nursery rhyme. Wolfgang's older sister Maria Anna (who the family called Nannerl) was learning the clavier, an early keyboard instrument, when her three-year-old brother took an interest in playing. As Nannerl later recalled, Wolfgang "often spent much time at the clavier picking out thirds , which he was always striking, and his pleasure showed that it sounded good." Their father Leopold, an assistant concertmaster at the Salzburg Court, recognized his children's unique gifts and soon devoted himself to their musical education. Born in Salzburg, Austria, on January 27, 1756, Wolfgang had composed his first original work by age five. Leopold planned to take Nannerl and Wolfgang on tour to play before the European courts. Their first venture was to nearby Munich where the children played for Maximillian III Joseph, elector of Bavaria. Leopold soon set his sights on the capital of the Hapsburg Empire, Vienna. On their way to Vienna, the family stopped in Linz, where Wolfgang gave his first public concert. By this time, Wolfgang was not only a skilled harpsichord player, but he had also mastered the violin. The audience at Linz was amazed by the six-year-old, and word of his genius soon traveled to Vienna. In a much attended concert, the Mozart children appeared at the Schonbrunn Palace on October 13, 1762. They completely attracted the emperor and empress. Following this success, Leopold received a lot of invitations for the children to play, for a fee. Leopold seized the opportunity and booked as many concerts as possible at courts throughout Europe. A concert could last three hours, and the children played at least two per a day. Today, Leopold might be considered the worst kind of stage parent, but at the time, it was not uncommon for prodigies to make extensive concert tours. Even so, it was an exhausting schedule for a child who was just past the age of needing an afternoon nap. A good title for this passage would be _ .

2C

Tomorrow is Mother's Day. Susan wants to give a present to her mother. Father tells her to go to the shop and try to find something. Susan hurries to the shopping center and goes to the women's store. She has $3.00. First she thinks she will get her mother something to wear. Then she thinks she will buy something for her to use . But she only has $3.00. She can't buy any nice dress. She sees a nice red hat. She knows her mother will like it. But it is too expensive. It is $10.00. The saleslady looks at her and then looks at the hat. She takes off the price tag and says, "That's exactly $3.00. " What is the price on the price tag?

2C

A written contract was entered into between Bouquet, a financier-investor, and Vintage Corporation, a winery and grape-grower. The contract provided that Bouquet would invest $1,000,000 in Vintage for its capital expansion and, in return, that Vintage, from grapes grown in its famous vineyards, would produce and market at least 500,000 bottles of wine each year for five years under the label "Premium VintageBouquet." The contract included provisions that the parties would share equally the profits and losses from the venture and that, if feasible, the wine would be distributed by Vintage only through Claret, a wholesale distributor of fine wines. Neither Bouquet nor Vintage had previously dealt with Claret. Claret learned of the contract two days later from reading a trade newspaper. In reliance thereon, he immediately hired an additional sales executive and contracted for enlargement of his wine storage and display facility. "For this question only, assume the following facts. Amicusbank lent Bouquet $200,000 and Bouquet executed a written instrument providing that Amicusbank "is entitled to collect the debt from my share of the profits, if any, under the Vintage-Bouquet contract." Amicusbank gave prompt notice of this transaction to Vintage. If Vintage thereafter refuses to account for any profits to Amicusbank and Amicusbank sues Vintage for Bouquet's share of profits then realized, Vintage's strongest argument in defense is that

2C

My bookshelves are full of dust -- and with good reason. When it comes to cleaning that part of my home, I suffer from the most serious case of avoidance . The thing is this: when I do set out to clean and re-organize my books, which seldom happens, I place myself into a really bad situation. No sooner do I take a title from the shelf, blow off the dust, and wipe down the cover than I find myself sitting on the floor with legs crossed and my back against the wall. Pretty soon books get piled up on my legs as I am reunited with old friends. It is as if these books have voices, and each wants to say its piece. "Remember me? I was given to you when you went into the Navy, so that you would never lack for companionship," one whispers. Another says, "I was your first book of poems, given to you before you learned to love poetry." And a third, "I was the book that made history so attractive to you." Perhaps the greatest pleasure of re-organizing my books are the surprises -- or better said, reunions -- that occur. During my latest book-cleaning adventure, I found one that had fallen behind the shelf: "Tales of Edgar Allan Poe." Not an unusual title, but the words written on the first page made it very special: "With Love from Mom and Dad, Christmas 1965." What's this? A book on the physics of lasers . It is filled with mathematical statements, and I had bought it at a library sale when I was 12, not long after the laser had been invented. I couldn't understand a bit of it, but I did learn what "laser" meant. What I end up with when I empty my bookshelves is a cross-section of my personal history. It's like a road cut where one sees all the layers of rock going back through time to the beginning of the simplest life forms. The books I've read -- and kept -- are not just old friends. They are my By saying that his books have voices, the author means _ .

0A

The Internet began in the 1960s as a small network of academic and government computers primarily involved in research for the prefix = st1 /U.S.army. Originally limited to researchers at a handful of universities and government departments, the Internet has quickly become a worldwide network providing users with information on a range of subjects and allowing them to purchase goods directly from companies via computer. By 1999, 84 millionU.S.citizens had access to the Internet at home or work. More and more Americans arc paying bills, shopping, ordering airline tickets, and purchasing stocks via computer over the Internet. Internet banking is also becoming increasingly popular. With lower overhead costs in terms of staffing and office space, Internet banks are able to offer higher interest rates on deposits and charge lower rates on loans than traditional banks. "Brick and mortar" banks are increasingly offering online banking services via some special websites to enlarge their traditional services. At present, 14 percent of Internet households conduct their banking by means of the Internet, and the figure is expected to double during the next two or three years. Increasing commercial use of the Internet has heightened security and privacy concerns. With a credit card, an Internet user can order almost anything from an Internet site and have it delivered to their home or office. Companies doing business over the Internet need many security measures to protect credit card, bank account, and social security numbers from unauthorized access as they pass across the Internet. Any organization that connects its networks to the global Internet must carefully control the access point to ensure that out-siders cannot disturb the organization's internal networks or gain unauthorized access to the organization's computer systems and data. What is this text mainly about?

1B

While I was having dinner with a well-known author and lecturer, our conversation drifted to money. "I have enough money," he told me casually. "I don't need any more money." "Of course you can say that," I thought to myself. "You get fifteen thousand dollars for a lecture." Then I caught my thought process, and pondered more deeply on his statement. Is he satisfied because he has a lot of money, or does he have a lot of money because he chooses to be satisfied? _ So is enoughness something that happens to us when we reach a certain level, or is it an experience we can choose and celebrate at any time? My friends Adrian and Carey live in a humble cottage in the rainforest. They have quite a modest income, no telephone, and they walk around naked most of the time. I think they are the happiest people I know. They wake up with the sun, love each other very much, and welcome guests with a full and open heart. They appreciate every moment of their lives, have no distraction games going, and are not waiting for the big break around the corner. When I am with them, the predominant feeling I have is, "It's all right here--why would anyone want anything more?" Ram Dass used to say, "There are three kinds of people in the world: those who say, 'Too much!'; those who say, 'Not enough!'; and those who say, "Ah, just right!'"; Since "too much" of one thing implies "not enough" of another, there are really only two approaches to life: lack or contentment. What does the author think of Adrian and Carey's life?

3D

What is an example of navigation?

1B

Women consistently lie on social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter to make their lives appear more exciting, a survey has found. The survey was asked to carried out by Pencourage, a new anonymous "diary-style" social media website. Researchers found that at least one in four women exaggerated or twisted what they are doing on social media once a month. The survey of 2000 women found they mostly pretended to be out on the town, when in fact they are home alone, and beautify about an exotic holiday or their job. The most common reasons for women to write _ included worrying their lives would seem " boring", jealousy at seeing other people's more exciting posts and wanting to impress their friends and acquaintances. Psychologists suggested that as people attempt to stay connected on social media, they can in fact be left more isolated. They also said that the more we try to make our lives seem perfect, the less perfect we feel. According to the OnePoll survey, one third of women surveyed admitted to dishonesty on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter at some stage. Almost one in four admitted to lying or exaggerating about key aspects of their life online between one and three times a month while almost one in 10 said they lied more than once a week. Nearly 30 percent of women lied about "doing something when I am home alone", almost a quarter overstated their alcohol consumption while one in five were not truthful about their holiday activities or their jobs. Almost one in five women even lied about their "relationship status". "We work very hard presenting ourselves to the world online, pretending and attempting to be happy all the time which is exhausting and ultimately unfulfilling," said Dr Michael Sinclair, a leading British consultant psychologist. "Leaving out the less desirable imperfections of our lives from the conversations with our 'friends online leads to less opportunity to feel empathized with, resulting in a greater sense of disconnection from others. " In Dr Michael Sinclair's opinion, _ .

1B

Homestay provides English language students with the opportunity to speak English outside the classroom and the experience of being part of a British home. What to Expect The host will provide accommodation and meals. Rooms will be cleaned and bedcovers changed at least once a week. You will be given the house key and the host is there to offer help and advice as well as to take an interest in your physical and mental health. Accommodation Zones Homestays are located in London mainly in Zones2,3 and 4 of the transport system. Most hosts do not live in the town centre as much of central London is commercial and not residential . Zones 3 and 4 often offer larger accommodation in a less crowed area. It is very convenient to travel in London by Underground. Meal Plans Available Continental Breakfast Breakfast and Dinner Breakfast, Packed Lunch and Dinner It's important to note that few English families still provide a traditional cooked breakfast. Your accommodation includes Continental Breakfast which normally consists of fruit juice, cereal ,bread and tea or coffee. Cheese, fruit and cold meat are not normally part of a Continental Breakfast in England. Dinners usually consist of meat or fish with vegetables followed by dessert, fruit and coffee. Friends If you wish to invite a friend over to visit. you must first ask your host's permission. You have no right to entertain friends in a family home as some families feel it is an invasion of their privacy. Self-Catering Accommodation in Private Homes Accommodation on a room-only basis includes shared kitchen and bathroom facilities and often a main living room. This kind of accommodation offers an independent lifestyle and is more suitable for the long-stay student. However, it does not provide the same family atmosphere as an ordinary homestay and may not benefit those who need to practise English at home quite as much. Why do some people choose self-catering accommodation?

3D

BEIJING, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Commander-in-chief of China's manned space program Chang Wanquan announced Thursday night that the launch of Tiangong-1 space lab module is successful. China's first space lab module Tiangong-1 blasted off at 9:16 p.m. Beijing Time (1316 GMT) Thursday from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest desert area. The unmanned module, carried by Long March-2FT1 rocket, will test space docking with a spacecraft later this year, _ the way for China to become the third country in the world to operate a permanent space station around 2020. The Tiangong-1 will orbit the Earth for about one month to await Shenzhou-8 unmanned spacecraft. Once the two vehicles successfully rendezvous , they will conduct the first space docking at a height of 340 kilometers above Earth surface. After two docking tests, Tiangong-1 will await Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 in the next two years, according to a plan of China's manned space program. The 8.5-tonne Tiangong-1, with a length of 10.4 meters and maximum diameter of 3.35 meters, provides a room of 15 cubic meters for two to three astronauts to live and work. Zhang Shancong, deputy chief designer of the Tiangong-1, told Xinhua that the module carries special cameras which will take hyperspectral images of China's vast farmlands to detect heavy metal pollution and pesticide residue as well as plant disease. Moreover, scientists on the ground will also conduct experiments on photonic crystal , a new material expected to revolutionize information technology, in the low-gravity environment inside the Tiangong-1 as these experiments would be extremely difficult to conduct on Earth's surface. "China is clearly becoming a global power and its investments in areas like technology and space exploration reflect this," said Peter Singer, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution. "It is a natural result of the growth in political and economic power and is to be expected," said Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China's manned space program, "China will turn its future space station into an international platform for space research and application. A space station could provide a low-gravity environment for research on geography, astronomy and bio-technology, which will bring unimaginably greater achievements than those conducted on Earth's surface. " "The Chinese nation has pursued peace since ancient times," Zhou also said, "China's ultimate intention with the space program is to explore space resources and make use of them for mankind's well-being." From the passage we learn that _ .

2C

I went home one Saturday afternoon in the autumn of 1993 to get some work done in the garden. While sweeping leaves on the ground, my five-year-old son Nick came over and asked me to write something on a piece of paper to make a sign for him. "What for?" I asked. "I'm going to sell some of my stones, " he answered. Nick _ stones and had collected many stones from all over. "I'm busy to do that for you. Go and ask your mum for help." I said. A short time later, Nick returned with a sign, reading. " Stones. One Dollar Each". He took the sign, a small chair and 4 of his best stones and walked to the road in front of our garden. There he put the stones in a line and sat down on the chair. After half an hour, nobody passed by. I walked to him and asked him to go back, but he didn't. Another half hour later, a small car came down the road. I watched as Nick stood up, holding his sign up. A woman rolled down a window and read the sign. I couldn't hear their talk, but I saw the woman turn to the driver and the man reach for his pocket. I sat in the yard, as Nick ran to me. Waving the dollar, he shouted. "I told you I could sell one stone for a dollar -- if you believe in yourself, you can do anything." From the passage we know _ .

3D

BEIJING Nov. 28 (Xinhuanet) - Premier Wen Jiabao on Sunday pledged central and local government funds to provide and improve school bus services in the wake of the traffic accident that killed 19 preschool children and sparked national outrage . He urged relevant departments of the State Council to "rapidly" formulate safety regulations for school coaches, and said China will accelerate the setting up of standards on design and production. Central and local governments will share the costs on providing more school buses that meet safety requirements, the premier said. However, Wen said a lot of local governments have failed to meet the rapidly increased demand for safe school buses or established sound management systems. Officials will face investigations into their responsibility if tragedies such as the one in Gansu occur again, he warned. Yuan Guilin, an education professor at Beijing Normal University who is known for his research into rural education, has proposed that all school buses should be equipped with black boxes, adding that it is achievable and affordable. The government should also improve the wages and benefits for drivers to prevent them from taking extra jobs and often driving while tired, he said. Given that some authorities complain that they are short of money, Yuan suggested they be allowed to sell advertising space on school buses. Gan Yuanchun, who participated in a campaign to promote school bus safety, said the central government should encourage the use of smaller school buses in rural areas, as roads in remote countryside areas are not as wide as in cities. Students' parents should also be able to get involved in deciding how school buses are managed, he added. In rural areas, especially in western parts, many children are struggling to receive quality preschool education because public kindergartens are scarce and most private ones often do not have qualified teachers or hardware. Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?

0A

In a 2013 study, it was reported that almost 66 percent of recent high school graduates went to college, a 4 percent decline since 2009, when college enrollment reached an all-time high. So, what are the other 35 percent of high school graduates doing after they walk out of their school for the last time? Here are what some Robinson High students have planned. For Robbie Claiborne, graduation means the start of a military career.He plans to join the Coast Guard after graduation."I was born around the ocean.I love the water.I want to fight for my country and for what I love," said Claiborne. Others just want a break from school."I really want to take _ ," Liliam Clavijo said."I'd really love to work in Spain for a year before going to college." Most students, however, are rather excited.Eban Trunk, a junior, has been planning his future career since middle school."I really want to be a mailman.It just seems like a cool job.Everyone loves the mailman," Trunk said."One day the idea just came to me, and I knew that was what I wanted to do." For many students, a high school diploma means more choices."I'm not really sure what I'll do after high school," senior Joshua Loring said."I might do technical school.I'm in auto shop classes right now." Meanwhile, Cassidy Grunderson plans on working at Busch Gardens full time."I just want to live on my own, get a job and move out," Grunderson said. Stephen Hambleton, who teaches auto tech classes at Robinson, says many of his students choose to enter the automobile industry after graduation."It's an instant job, and after taking years of auto shop in high school, it's easy to get hired," he said.Several seniors in his class, including Loring, plan to enter the industry upon graduation. "College isn't for everyone, and I really respect people who decide to do their own thing," said Coleman Parks, a senior student."I think too many people feel that they're only as valuable as their degree." Graduates are proving that college isn't the only option when high school ends. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

2C

People eat different things in different parts of the world. In south China we eat rice every day. Sometimes we eat it two or three times a day, for breakfast, lunch and supp-er. We usually eat it with fish, meat and vegetables. The Japanese eat rice, too. They also eat a lot of fish. They sometimes eat raw fish. In Africa, maize is the most important food. People there make maize into flour .From this flour they make different kinds of bread and cakes. In western countries such as Britain, Australia and the U.S.A, the most important food is bread or potatoes. People there usually make their bread from wheat flour. They cook the potatoes in different ways. In England the most popular food is fish and chips. Sometimes people cook this food at home, but usually they buy it at the shop. They eat this food at home, in their work place, in the park or on the road. People call it "take-away" food. This passage is about _ .

0A

When he took office, George W. Bush, son of former president George Herbert Walker Bush, became the first son to follow his father into the White House since John Quiney Adams followed John Adams in the early 19th century. Bush was born on July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut, the first child of George Herbert Walker Bush and Barbara Pierce Bush. Although George Herbert Walker Bush began his career in the oil industry, he finally served as a congressman , and vice president and president of the United States. At the age of two, Bush moved with his parents from Connecticut to Odessa, Texas, where his father took up the oil business. After a year in Texas, the family moved to California for business reasons. A year later, the family returned to Texas and settled in Midland, where Bush lived from 1950 to 1959. In 1959, again for business reasons, the family moved to Houston, Texas. In 1961 Bush left Texas and went to Andover, Massachusetts, to attend Phillips Academy, aboarding school that his father had also attended. At Phillips, Bush played basketball, baseball, and football. He was best known for being head cheerleader. In 1964 he enrolled at Yale University in Connecticut.His father and grandfather had also attended Yale. At Yale, Bush was considered an average student, but he was popular with his classmates. Bush graduated from Yale with a bachelor's degree in history in 1968. Then he joined the Air National Guard and remained in the Guard until 1973. After earning his MBA from Harvard in 1975, Bush returned to Midland. Like his father, he first entered the oil industry as a "landsman ". However, Bush's oil companies never enjoyed great success. He took more interest in politics. He helped his father to become president and in 1994 he himself was elected governor of Texas. In the summer of 1999, Bush began to run for the president of the USA and on January 20, 2001, George W. Bush, hand raised, took the oath of office to become the 43rd president of the US. Which of the following is NOT true about George W. Bush?

1B

Which invention would a culture living above the Arctic Circle most likely develop?

2C

Does this sound familiar? It's 3:00 am and you're still awake and staring at the clock. You can't sleep , and you've already tried all the familiar tricks - taken a warm bath , drunk a glass of heated milk ,tried counting sheep, and read a book -all with no success. If you are such a sufferer, remember you're not alone. Experts said that one in every four Americans have trouble falling or staying asleep. Lack of sleep can hurt your quality of life in so many ways. Short temper, impatience, poor decision-making, and mood swings are common among those with sleeping problems. Besides, relationships with family, friends, and co-workers may suffer as a result. Improper sleep can also put your safety at risk by reducing your awareness. When you're awake in the middle of the night, you can start to feel desperate for a way out . However, it makes sense to weigh the available treatments before choosing the one that's right for you. Other sleep aids may seem like _ , but it turns out that there are many disadvantages of these drugs. For one thing, they may require expensive, time-consuming trips to your physician. They may also be habit-forming or have unpleasant side effects like dizziness( ) dry mouth, and next-day sleepiness. Plus , they become less effective over time. So what is the best sleep aid available on the market today? The answer is Somnapure , a product that represents nature and science coming together. This all-natural sleep aid which comes from Peak Life allows you to fall asleep quickly and remain asleep through the night . With Somnapure, you wake up feeling refreshed and energetic. Somnapure is currently giving away a 14-day trial here. Get your Somnapure trial for better, deeper sleep that you deserve. The purpose of the passage is to _ .

0A

How often one hears children wishing they were grown up, and the old wishing they were young again! Each age has its pleasure and its pains, and the happiest person is the one who enjoys what each age gives him without wasting any time in useless regrets. Children is a time when there are few duties to make life hard. If a child has good parents, he is fed, looked after, and loved whatever he may do. It's impossible for him to be given so much again in his life without having to do anything in return. Besides, life is always giving new things to the child. A child finds pleasure in playing in the rain, or in the snow. His first visit to the seaside makes him wild. But a child has his pains; he is not so free to do as he wishes. He is continually being told not to do this, not to do that, or being punished for what he has done wrong. His life is therefore not perfectly happy. When the young man starts to make his own living, he becomes free from the rules of school and parents; but at the time he is forced to accept duties. He can no longer expect others to pay for his food, his clothes and his room, but has to work for them if he wants to live comfortably. If he spends most of his time playing about in the way that he used to as a child, he will go hungry and suffer. And if he breaks the law of society as he used to break the laws of his parents, he may go to prison, lf, however, he works hard, keeps out of trouble, and has good health, he can have the great happiness of seeing himself make steady progress in his job and of building up his own position in society and enjoy success and good reputation.. Old age has always been thought of as the worst age to be, but it is not necessary for the old to be unhappy. Old age has its own happiness. They can have the joy of seeing their children making progress in life; they can watch their grandchildren growing up around them and, perhaps, best of all, they can, if their life has been a useful one, feel the happiness of having come through the battle of life safely and of having reached a time when they can lie back and rest, leaving others to continue the fight. According to the passage, what is a child's greatest dissatisfaction?

0A

Children don't come with an instruction manual ,but now their grades in school do! Finally,parents can stop worrying about what their child's next school year will bring and get a glimpse of what's coming. Education.com,an easy-to-use,one-stop online destination with over 4,000 articles,that helps parents and educators take an ever more active role in their children's education,unveiled Grade Specific Cheat Sheets for grades pre-school through grade 5.From academic expectations,developmental milestones,and typical social issues,to fun learning activities that literally bring it all home,parents can now find it all in one place. "As the school year approaches,parents struggle to find time to adequately prepare themselves and their children for what's ahead," said Ron Fortune,CEO of Education.com."Every grade is different.Whether it's helping parents understand what their third grader should be reading or how they should be talking to their teen about peer pressure,our goal is to provide parents with a grade and developmental stage-specific user manual that helps parents find authoritative information as quickly as possible." The start of a new grade means many new questions.Now,a parent with a child about to embark on a new school year can go to Education.com's new Grade Specific Cheat Sheets and find age-specific information and content including what their child should be learning in math,reading,writing,and science,as well as physical and language milestones.Parents can find over forty articles per grade,on everything from peer relationships to self-esteem,how gender affects development,to ideas for using goldfish crackers for math practice or making a homemade fossil. Education.com's new Grade Specific Cheat Sheets provide parents with articles and content from trusted sources such as teachers,child psychologists,parents,and guidance counselors. From the passage,we can know _ .

0A

Bookstores are second homes for readers. Although many people can now buy books online. many readers still like the feeling in bookstores. They can touch the books and smell the print. In China. there are many special bookstores. Sanlian Taofen Bookstore became the first 24-hour bookstore in Beijing at the beginning of April. Popular Holdings in Shanghai is a film-themed bookstore. It has film books and posters. Eslite Bookstore in Taiwan often has activities like talks with famous writers. At the same time. bookstores outside China can be very colorful. too. Scarthin Books is a small bookstore in the UK. It sells new and second-hand books. There are more than 100.000 books lying on the shelves of the store's 12 rooms. Bart's Books in the US is a good place to enjoy the sunshine while reading books. It's an outdoor bookstore. Bookshelves are on the street. When the store is closed. people can still buy books. They just put money into the door's coin box. Where can you find a cafe. bar and bookstore in just one place? The answer is probably El Pendulo in Mexico. Books line the walls of the store. On the second floor. visitors can order everyday meals in the cafe and drinks from the bar. In order to keep cool. there are green plants and trees inside. Does it look like a park? _ special bookstores inside China are mentioned in the passage.

1B

Laughter Yoga is one form of yoga. Madan Kataria, a doctor in Mumbai, India invented it. He believed that people had forgotten how to really laugh. Through his research he made an interesting discovery. The human mind does not know the difference between forced laughter and real laughter. Forced laughter can also lead to a feeling of happiness. And then Kataria had the idea for a group of people who would laugh together. He gathered a few of his friends together. They met in a public park in Mumbai. That small group grew and grew! And this is how people began to do Laughter Yoga. People doing Laughter Yoga usually meet together in a Laughter Club. Kataria's friends formed the first Laughter Club in 1995. Today, there're over 5,000 Laughter Clubs in 53 countries. But what exactly do people do in a Laughter Club? People in Laughter Yoga meetings usually do a series of exercises. The exercises include body movement, correct breathing, and of course, laughter! At the beginning of the meeting, people may have to force themselves to laugh. But by the end, everyone is usually laughing in a real way! Each meeting is a little different. But there are common exercises groups may do. Experts say that the exercises help blood move around the body faster. They also say that Laughter Yoga helps people deal with the bad things in their lives. They say that a person may go into a Laughter Club meeting feeling sad, angry, or worried. But then, people act happy. After a time, forced laughter becomes real laughter. This is one reason why people may enjoy laughter Yoga so much According to experts, _ .

1B

That summer I drank every day, everywhere I went. I had a bottle in my drawer next to me and a bottle next to my bed. I never did another drug, but I drank so much that my family finally asked a priest for help. My father gave me a bottle of medicine for alcoholism that produces unpleasant symptoms when users drink alcohol. I drank while taking it, which made me very sick. And I still drank. When the priest came, he said, "Jimmy, doctors said that with your diseases and the amount of drinking you're doing, _ . So your choice is either to stop drinking and live or to continue drinking and die within six months." I said, "I know I can't stop, so guess I'll have to die." The priest told my family what I said. My little brother-who is like my soul mate, looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, "But we don't want you to die." All I could think of was how desperately I had to get out of that room at that moment and have a drink. But I finally stopped drinking. I was on the care team of my dentist Russell. A lot of people in New York knew him. At the time he was the most famous dentist in the city. He drank heavily and was also with AIDS, so I was selected to be on his care team. Everybody on the team was sober but me. He went through dementia and died so quickly before my eyes. I stopped drinking and I've been with the disease for 35 years now. How did the author stop drinking?

1B

When I was a child of seven years old, my friends, on a holiday, filled my pocket with coppers. I went at once to a shop where they sold toys for children. Being charmed with the sound of a whistle that I had seen by the way, in the hands of another boy, I handed over all my money for one. I then came home, and went whistling all over the house, much pleased with my whistle, but disturbing all the family. My brothers and sisters and cousins, when I told of the bargain I had made, said I had given four times as much as the whistle was worth. They put me in mind of what good things I might have bought with the rest of the money, and laughed at me so much for my folly that I cried with vexation . Thinking about the matter gave me more chargrin than the whistle gave me pleasure. This, however, was afterwards of use to me, for the impression continued on my mind, so that often, when I was tempted to buy something I did not need, I said to myself, "Don't give too much for the whistle, " and I saved my money. As I grew up, came into the world, and observed the actions of men, I thought I met with many, very many, who "gave too much for the whistle." When I saw some men too eager for court favor, wasting his time at court gatherings, giving up his rest, his liberty, his virtue, and perhaps his friends, for royal favor, I said to myself---"This man gives too much for the whistle." When I saw another fond of popularity, constantly taking part in political affairs, neglecting his own business, and ruining it by neglect, "He says, indeed," said I, "too dear for his whistle." If I knew a miser who gave up every kind of comfortable living, all the pleasure of doing good to others, all the esteem of his fellow citizens and the joys of friendship, for the sake of gathering and keeping wealth--- "Poor man," said I, " you pay too dear for your whistle." When I met a man of pleasure, who did not try to improve his mind or his fortune but merely devoted himself to having a good time, perhaps neglecting his health, " Mistaken man, you are providing pain for yourself, instead of pleasure; you are paying too dear for your whistle." If I saw someone fond of appearance who has fine clothes, fine houses, fine furniture, fine earrings, all above his fortune, and for which he had run into debt, and ends his career in a prison. "Alas," said I, "he has paid dear, very dear, for his whistle." In short the miseries of mankind are largely due to their puffing a false value on things --- to giving "too much for their whistle." What's the best title of the passage?

1B

Ghostwriters are widely used by celebrities or public figures who wish to publish their autobiographies . The degree of involvement of the ghostwriter in nonfiction writing projects ranges from minor to significant. Various sources explain the role of the ghostwriter and how competent writers can get this kind of work. In some cases, a ghostwriter may be called in just to clean up, edit, and polish a rough draft of an autobiography or a "how-to" book. In other cases, the ghostwriter will write an entire book or article based on information, stories, notes, and an outline, interviews with the celebrity or public figure. The credited authors also indicate to the ghostwriter what type of style, tone, or "voice" they want in the book. Celebrity books are usually ghostwritten in the first person (I did this and that) or the third person (David Pardon asked the group to recommend someone etc.). In some cases, such as with some "how-to" books, diet guides, or cookbooks, a book will be entirely written by a ghostwriter, and the celebrity (e.g., a well-known musician or sports star) will be credited as author. Publishing companies use this methodto increase the marketability of a book by associating it with a celebrity or well-known figure. In several countries before elections, candidates employ ghostwriters to produce autobiographies for them so as to gain visibility and exposure. Two of John F. Kennedy's books were almost entirely ghostwritten. Former President Ronald Reagan also released a ghostwritten autobiography. A consultant or career-switcher may pay to have a book ghostwritten on a topic in their professional area, to establish or enhance their credibility as an "expert" in their field. For example, a successful salesperson hoping to become an inspiring speaker on selling may pay a ghostwriter to write a book on sales techniques. Often this type of book is published in the vanity press, which means that the author is paying to have the book published. This type of book is typically given away to potential clients as a promotional tool, rather than being sold in bookstores. A ghostwriter does all the following EXCEPT _ for his client, according to the passage.

3D