Kelly Christopher, a student at Lutheran High School in California, US, loves oranges. One day last week, she used a pole to pick oranges off trees and collect them in baskets. It's the first time in her 15 years she's picked fruit from trees. "This is quite different from buying oranges in the supermarket," said Christopher. "Every time I eat an orange, I'll remember this experience." Christopher was one of the 30 student volunteers at Soil Born Farms. She volunteered as part of a project which was set up in 2009 to help homeowners in South Land Park pick oranges and other fruits out of their backyards. Before, the fruit would rot on the ground or get eaten by animals. Now the fruit is donated to those who need it. "It is good for many people", said Randy Stannard, who works for the project. "The homeowner gets fruit picked and more people can have healthy food." "Two harvests ( ) were organized in 2009 and volunteers picked 3,000 pounds (1,360kg) of fruit", Stannard said. In 2010, the number was 20,000. This year, Soil Born Farms hopes to get 40,000 pounds. They will harvest every weekend from January to April. Shannon Galloway, Christopher's science teacher, brought her students into the project this year. "You're making use of a _ that might be wasted," she said. "I think it's meaningful to everyone." Donato Frazier, 15, always climbs up a ladder and gets on the top of the tree. "Standing on the treetop is pretty cool," Frazier said. "I can see clearly that many baskets are filled up, and even see that many people are eating healthy fruit because of our volunteer work." When was the project set up? A) In 2008. B) In 2009. C) In 2010. D) In 2011.
B

Teachers say the digital age has had a good and a not-so-good influence on the American teenagers. More than 2,000 high school teachers took an online survey. 75 percent of the teachers said the Internet and digital search tools have had a "mostly good" use for their students' research habits and skills, But 87 percent agreed that these technologies "make the students not have enough attention." And 64 percent said the technologies "do little to help them in courses." Judy Buchanan is a director of the National Writing Project. Ms. Buchanan says digital research tools are helping students learn more, and learn faster. Teachers really like these tools, because they are ways to make some of learning exciting. Young people enjoy using these tools. And the goal is to help them become creative students of meaningful work, and not just that kind of copyist. But one problem the survey found is that many students don't have a good understanding of how to use the digital knowledge well. In other words, they trust too much of the information. Judy Buchanan says these students have not developed the skills they need to tell whether the online information is good or bad. Another problem the survey found is something that might not seem like a problem, at all, being-able to quickly find information online. Teachers say the ability of their students to work hard to find answers is becoming weaker. They say students depend too much on search engines and do not make enough use, of printed books or research, librarians. Besides, many teachers are also worried about the problem that the Internet makes it easy for students to copy work done by others, instead of using their own abilities. What does the writer want to tell us by writing this passage? A) Digital search tools have quite a lot of advantages. B) Students don't know how to use the digital search tools. C) Many teachers are worried about the students' abilities. D) Students should learn how to use the digital tools in a right way.
D

Yesterday,I overheard our 9-year-old son,Aaron,talking to his friend,Zach. "Oh,God!"Zach began,looking in Aaron's closet "Where are all your toys?" "Oh,we are doing something called Simplicity plan,so I basically got rid of 80% of my stuff . " "What? Did your mom and dad make you do this?" "No, Idecided to do it because I wanted to.When I give away a lot of my things,I make room for family activities. I did it because I wanted to live differently and have less stuff in my life." "But still,why would you choose to get rid of most of your toys?" "Part of the reason is that my parents were doing it with their stuff .And my mom talked to me about it and explained how they felt happier afterwards. And I thought maybe I really had spent a lot of my time in my room playing with toys instead of spending time with my parents and sister." "Seriously?" "I feel proud because I am a person who has just what I need and not more. And I'm starting new activities like writing how I feel,reading more,and spending more time doing housework around the house." "OK.Let me get this. You have fewer toys,more housework,and you feel happier?" "Well, it's not that the housework is fun ,But I do it with my parents. We talk and connect while we are doing it, so that is the fun.And we've been doing more activities together, like reading aloud at night. And on weekends,we have conversations or go out together, instead of my dad being at his computer,my mom cleaning and me playing with my toys." Why did Aaron give away most of his toys? A) Because he didn't like them. B) Because his parents made him do it. C) Because he had no time to play with them. D) Because he wanted to spend more time with his family.
D

The brain receives information from the outside world through the sensory system.This information is collected through the eyes,the nose,the ears,the mouth and the surface of the body.It is then kept in the memory.In fact,scientists do not completely understand how the memory works but they are not sure how much information that the human brain can store.Also, it appears that the information is never lost.Very old people often remember things that happened in their childhood which have not come to their minds for sixty to seventy years.If we have kept something in our memory, it is here.But can we get it out again and use it? That is the difficulty. Some of the information we receive only goes into the Short Term Memory.We only keep this information for a minute or two,then we lose it.This temporary memory is very important in our thinking and understanding.It is used,for example,when you try to remember a name that someone told you a moment ago or a telephone number that you are going to dial .School children in class often seem to use the Short Term Memory if they are not interested in the subject.When school teachers describe this,they say that things go"in one ear and out in the other".But if a child is interested,he puts the information in his Long Term Memory, and he never loses it.Long Term Memory depends heavily on our understanding of the meaning of the information we receive. Information is collected through the _ of sight,hearing,smell,taste and touch. A) sense B) experience C) practice D) brightness
A