Short and shy, Ben Saunders was the last kid in his class picked for any sports team. “Football, tennis, cricket—anything with a round ball, I was useless,” he says now with a laugh. But back then he was the object of jokes in school gym classes in England’s rural Devonshire.

It was a mountain bike he received for his 15^th birthday that changed him. At first the teen went biking alone in a nearby forest. Then he began to cycle along with a runner friend. Gradually, Saunders set his mind building up his body, increasing his speed, strength and endurance. At age 18, he ran his first marathon.

The following year, he met John Ridgway, who became famous in the 1960s for rowing an open boat across the Atlantic Ocean. Saunders was hired as an instructor at Ridgway’s school of Adventure in Scotland, where he learned about the older man’s cold-water exploits (成就). Intrigued, Saunders read all he could about Arctic explorers and North Pole expeditions, then decided that this would be his future.

Journeys to the Pole aren’t the usual holidays for British country boys, and many people dismissed his dream as fantasy. “John Ridgway was one of the few who didn’t say, ‘You are completely crazy,’ ” Saunders says.

In 2001, after becoming a skilled skier, Saunders started his first long-distance expedition toward the North Pole. He suffered frostbite, had a closer encounter(遭遇) with a polar bear and pushed his body to the limit.

Saunders has since become the youngest person to ski alone to the North Pole, and he’s skied more of the Arctic by himself than any other Briton. His old playmates would not believe the transformation.

This October, Saunders, 27, heads south to explore from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and back, an 1800-mile journey that has never been completed on skis.

1.The turning point in Saunders’ life came when _______.  

A. he started to play ball games

B. he got a mountain bike at age 15

C. he ran his first marathon at age 18

D. he started to receive Ridgway’s training

2.We can learn from the text that Ridgway _______.                               

A. dismissed Saunders’ dream as fantasy

B. built up his body together with Saunders

C. hired Saunders for his cold-water experience

D. won his fame for his voyage across the Atlantic

3.What do we know about Saunders?      

A. He once worked at a school in Scotland.

B. He followed Ridgway to explore the North Pole.

C. He was chosen for the school sports team as a kid.

D. He was the first Briton to ski alone to the North Pole.

4.The underlined word “Intrigued” in the third paragraph probably means_______.     

A. Excited       B. Convinced       C. Delighted       D. Fascinated

5.It can be inferred that Saunders’ journey to the North Pole ________.                 

A. was accompanied by his old playmates

B. set a record in the North Pole expedition

C. was supported by other Arctic explorers

D. made him well-known in the 1960s

Among rich countries, people in the United States work the longest hours. They work much longer than in Europe. This difference is quite surprising because productivity per hour worked is the same in the United States as it is in France, Spain and Germany, and it is growing at a similar speed.

     In most countries and at most times in history, as people have become richer they have chosen to work less. In other words they have decided to “spend” a part of their extra income on a fuller personal life. Over the last fifty years Europeans have continued this pattern, and hours of work have fallen sharply. But not in the United States. We do not fully know why this is. One reason may be greatly lower taxes in America, which increase the rewards to work. Another may be more satisfying work, or less satisfying personal lives.

Longer hours do of course increase the GDP (国内生产总值). So the United States has produced more per worker than, say, France. The United States also has more of its people at work, while in France many more mothers and older workers have decided to stay at home. The overall result is that American GDP per head is 40% higher than in France, even though productivity per hour worked is the same.

It is not clear which of the two situations is better. As we have seen, work has to be compared with other values like family life, which often get lost in interest. It is too early to explain the different trends（趋势）in happiness over time in different countries. But it is a disappointing idea that in the United States happiness has made no progress since 1975, while it has risen in Europe. Could this have anything to do with trends in the work-life balance?

1.From the text we know that the author      .          

A. believes that longer working hours is better

B. prefers shorter working hours to longer ones

C. says nothing certain about which pattern is better

D. thinks neither of the patterns is good

2.Which of the following countries has more of its people at work?                    

A. Spain.           B. France.        C. Germany.         D. America.                              

3.In the last paragraph, the underlined word “which” refers to ______.                 

A. family life        B. situations      C. other values       D. trends

4.What message can we get from the text?                                        

A. The GDP of Europe is higher than that of America.

B. Two possible reasons are given for working longer hours in the US.

C. People all over the world choose to work less when they are richer.

D. Americans are happier than Europeans.

5.Which of the following would be the best title for the text?                         

A. Americans and Europeans            B. Staying at Home

C. Work and Productivity               D. Work and Happiness

    阅读下面短文，按照句子结构的语法性和上下文连贯的要求，在空格处填人一个适当的

词或使用括号中词语的正确形式填空，并将答案填写在答题卡的相应位置上。

We took our children out with us, and it was    1.(help). When Ryan was two, we went to dinner with      2.(marry) friends and their son, also two. While Ryan ate his   dinner, the other boy    3.(run) around the chairs and crawling under the table. At two, Ryan    4.(be) to restaurants many times, but    5.the other boy this was only his second restaurant visit.

     Not having had the opportunity to experience different things,   6.sons might have turned out like     7.two-year-old son of one of our friends,    8.mother is afraid to even take him to the grocery store    9.he acts up. Instead, she shops alone. Certainly he's off to a slow start in experiencing the things in life that may    10.(late) be important to him.

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从各题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

Everyone has experienced trying but failing to master a difficult book, which was begun with the hope of increasing one's understanding. When that happens, it is    1to think that it was a mistake to try to read it, but that was not the mistake. The mistake was in    2too much from the first reading of a(n)   3book. If you read it in the right way, no book written for the    4reader, no matter how difficult, need be a cause for despair (绝望).

     What is the right method? The    5is an important and helpful rule of reading that is either not known or often forgotten. That rule is simply this: when reading a difficult book for the first time, read it through without ever    6to think about the things that you do not understand immediately.

     Do not be stopped by what you can't understand. Read through the difficult    7, and you’ll soon come to things that you do understand. Read these    8. You will have a much better chance of understanding all of the book when you read it again, but that    9you to have read the book through once    10.

     What you understand by reading the book through to the   11will help you when you try later to read the places that you did not    12in your first reading. Or if you never re-read the book, understanding half of it is much better than understanding nothing of it, which will happen if you allow yourself to be stopped by the first difficult part of the book.

     Most of us were taught to    13the things that we do not understand. We were told to find the   14of unfamiliar words, and to try to find an explanation in another    15for anything that we did not understand in the book that we were reading. But when these things are done before the proper time, they only harm our reading, instead of helping it.

1.A. necessary      B. useful               C. natural              D. effective   

2.A. learning       B. hoping               C. accepting            D. expecting              

3.A. easy           B. difficult            C. important            D. correct                

4.A. ordinary       B. young                C. serious              D. sincere                

5.A. method         B. question             C. answer               D. problem               

6.A. starting       B. hesitating           C. stopping             D . repeating 

7.A. words          B. articles             C. parts                D. points                 

8.A. quickly        B. immediately          C. clearly              D. carefully              

9.A. requires        B. causes           C. advises          D. allows             

10.A. later         B. after            C. before           D. again              

11.A. top           B. end              C. bottom           D. cover 

12.A. see           B. turn             C. notice           D. understand         

13.A. put away       B. put down          C. think aloud       D. think about         

14.A. uses          B. meanings          C. spellings         D. troubles           

15.A. thinking       B. reading          C. book          D. way             

 你校将出版校庆英文特刊介绍学校的相关情况，你将参与编写工作。

写作内容 ：请根据以下构思图，写一份关于你校植物园的英语简介。

参考词汇∶植物园 botanical garden

写作要求：  只能使用5个句子表达全部内容。评分标准：  句子结构准确，信息内容完整，篇章结构连贯。

1.She entered the lab without ______________(许可)

2.The article is _____________  (限制)to 800 words.

3.Anderson was in bed with all his clothes on, _______(躺)awake all night long thinking of them.

4.She told us an ________________(难以置信) story .

5.I must a____________ for not being able to meet you at the airport because I was busy at that time..

6.It’s important to know your own strengths and w_______ .

7.After taking the medicine, Tom is  s___________________ better today.

8.After waiting for a long time, we grew a little ___________(不耐心)

9.At first s______, it looked like a simple accident, but later the police became suspicious.

10.The p_________________ look on his face suggested that he didn’t understand the maths problem.

11.The store gives a 10% d__________________ for its VIP customers.

12.When I try to understand __________ it is that prevents children from getting fat, it seems to me that there are two reasons.

13.Meeting my uncle after all these years was an unforgettable moment, __________that  I will always treasure.

14.She’d like to offer money to ____ needs it to continue his or her study.

15.Evidence came up        specific speech sounds are recognized by babies as young as 6 months old.

阅读下面短文, 按照句子结构的语法性和上下文连贯的要求，在空格处填入一个适当的词语或使用括号中词语的适当形式填空, 并将答案填写在答案卡上。

                            A.

I know a man called John Smith who is a very unusual millionaire. ___1.___makes him unusual is that he has no money. He says the average millionaire never uses money and always gets other people to pay for taxis or drinks. This is because he is __2.____used to thinking in millions that small amounts of money are not worth thinking about. But this does not mean he has no worries. On the contrary , the average millionaire worries constantly about his business. His great wealth also makes __3.___ difficult for him to be happy and comfortable with other people. Are they friendly because they like him? __4.____ do they pretend to like him because they want his money? John Smith says he feels very sorry for millionaires, __5.__, instead of being masters of their wealth, are slaves of their money . In one way, ___6.__, John Smith always behaves exactly like a millionaire. I mean he never has any money and __7.___(general) manages to persuade someone else to pay for his drinks. But ___8.___other very rich men, he gives back good value for money. He is full of jokes and fun.An evening ___9.____(spend) with him is not cheap, because he is unusually very thirsty,but he always makes people happy. He does not give much thought for tomorrow. He is the happiest man I have ever met. Whenever I meet him, he tells me,” In money I am not rich ,but in peace of mind I am a millionaire,” And then the world’s richest, 10.__(penny) man usually adds, with a smile,” Do you have time for another drink? “ How can I refuse?”

B.

It is difficult for parents of nearly every family to teach their children to be responsible for housework,    11.with one of the following suggestions, you really can get your children to help at home.

   If you give your children the    12.(impress) that they can never do anything quite right, then they will consider    13.to be unfit or unable persons.  14.children believe they can succeed, they will never become totally independent.

   My daughter Carla’s fifth grade teacher made every child in her class feel special. When students received ___15._( little) than a perfect test score, she would point __16.___ what they had mastered and declared firmly they could learn what they had missed.

   You can see the same technique when you evaluate your child’s  work at home. Don’t always scold and give lots of praise    17.. Talk about what he has done right, not about what he hasn’t done. If your child completes __18.___ difficult task, reward him    19.a Sunday trip or a ball game with Dad. Learning is a process of trying and failing and trying and 20.(success)in the end. If you teach your children not to fear a mistake of failure, they will learn faster and achieve success at last.

请阅读下列应用文及相关信息, 并按照要求匹配信息。请在答题卡的相应位置填上正确的选项字母。  (注意:如选E,在卡上涂AB, 如选F,在卡上涂CD)

首先，请阅读下列杂志的信息：

A. DETECTIVES (侦探)ABROAD

  Read about the lives of real detectives. This monthly magazine brings you up-to-date true stories about real life of detectives as they chase criminals across continents. Find out how some of the most dangerous criminals in the world are caught by some of world's finest detectives. Follow their routes on the free map which comes with every issue.

B. WORLD TRAVEL

  This weekly magazine can bring the world to your home. Have you ever wondered what the Chinese eat for breakfast? Did you know that the Sahara Desert is getting bigger every year? This fascinating magazine, full of color photographs, is your window on the world.

C. ONLY 16

  Every week well-known writers bring you the latest teenage love stories. Each magazine carries three full-length stories as well as cartoons and color pictures of your favorite film stars.

D. EUROPE NEWS

  The weekly magazine keeps you in touch with what's happening. Filled with facts and figures about almost everything you can think of, plus articles by our regular writers on the week's most interesting news stories. Special back page sums up the news for the busy readers.

E. OLD SCHOOLHOUSE

The magazine is approximately 200 pages, full color, and packed with support and fun! Columns: Creation Answers with AIG's Ken Ham, Resource Room for special needs home schooling with Christine Field, Diana Waring's History column, our Finishing the Race (High School) department, and Show and Tell – where readers share their own detailed methods and curriculum choices.

F. CRIME AND CRIMINALS

  These exciting short stories are written by well-known crime writers. Every magazine brings you the best in criminal thrillers, stories are so good that you won't be able to put the magazine down. And every month we leave one crime unanswered so that you, that reader, can play detective.

　　请阅读以下读者的信息，然后匹配读者和适合他/她的杂志：

1.Emi is a university student studying Italian and Polities. She doesn't have much time to read anything very detailed but she is looking for something with plenty of news and information.

2.Carrie is sixteen years old and loves spending time listening to pop music and lying on her bed reading. She is always interested in finding out more about some of the stars in the world of pop and fashion.

3.Bill travels a lot when he was younger. Now that he has stopped his work, he enjoys reading about foreign people, places and customs even if he has already visited that part of the world.

4.Leroy used to be a detective. He still takes an active interest in the work of the police, but these days he enjoys reading fictions after years spent chasing real criminals.

5.Brigitte has a five-year-old daughter and after several talks with her husband, she is considering to educate their daughter at home. She would like a magazine to learn about this new trend.

Sports shoes that find out whether their owner has enough exercise to warrant time in front of the television have been devised in the UK.

    The shoes — named Square Eyes — contain an electronic pressure sensor and a tiny computer chip to record how many steps the wearer has taken in a day. A wireless transmitter passes the information to a receiver connected to a television, and this decides how much evening viewing time the wearer deserves, based on the day’s efforts.

 The design was inspired by a desire to fight against the rapidly ballooning waistlines among British teenagers, says Gillian Swan, who developed Square Eyes as a final year design project at Brunel University to London, UK. “We looked at current issues and childhood overweight really stood out,” she says. “And I wanted to tackle that with my design.”

Once a child has used up their daily allowance gained through exercise, the television automatically switches off. And further time in front of the TV can only be earned through more steps.

Swan calculated how exercise should translate to television time using the recommended(推荐) daily amounts of both. Health experts suggest that a child take 12,000 steps each day and watch no more than two hours of television. So, every 100 steps recorded by the Square Eyes shoes equals precisely one minute of TV time.

Existing pedometers （计步器） normally clip onto a belt or slip into a pocket and keep count of steps by measuring sudden movement. Swan says these can be easily tricked into recording steps through shaking. But her shoe has been built to be harder for lazy teenagers to cheat. “It is possible, but it would be a lot of effort,” she says. “That was one of my main design considerations.”

1.According to Swan, the purpose of her design project is to ____.

A．keep a record of the steps of the wearer

B．deal with overweight among teenagers

C．prevent children from being attracted by the TV programs.

D．prevent children from being tricked by TV programs

2.Which of the following is true of Square Eyes shoes?

A．They control a child’s evening TV viewing time.

B．They determine a child’s daily pocket money.

C．They have raised the hot issue of overweight.

D．They contain information of the receiver.

3.What is emphasized by health experts in their suggestion?

A．The exact number of steps to be taken.

B．The exact  number of hours spent on TV.

C．The proper amount of daily exercise and TV time.

D．The way of changing steps into TV watching time.

4.Compared with other similar products, the new design ____.

A．makes it difficult for lazy teenagers to cheat

B．counts the wearer’s steps through shaking

C．records the sudden movement of the wearer

D．sends teenagers’ health data to the receiver

5.Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

A．Smart Shoes Decide on Television Time

B．Smart Shoes Guarantee(保证) More Exercise

C．Smart Shoes Measure Time of Exercise

D．Smart Shoes Stop Childhood Overweight

   For many years, scientists couldn't figure out how atoms and molecules on the Earth combined to make living things. Plants, fish, dinosaurs, and people are made of atoms and molecules, but they are put together in a more complicated way than the molecules in the primitive ocean. What's more, living things have energy and can reproduce, while the chemicals on the Earth 4 billion years ago were lifeless.

　　After years of study, scientists figured out that living things, including human bodies, are basically made of amino acids and nucleotide bases. These are molecules with millions of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms. How could such complicated molecules have been formed in the primitive soup? Scientists were stumped.

　　Then, in 1953, two scientists named Harold Urey and Stanley L. Miller did a very simple experiment to find out what had happened on the Primitive Earth. They set up some tubes and bottles in a closed loop, and put in some of the same gases that were present in the atmosphere 4 billion years ago: water vapor, ammonia, carbon dioxide, methane, and hydrogen.

　　Then they shot an electric spark through the gases to simulate bolts of lightning on the ancient Earth, circulated the gases through some water, sent them back for more sparks, and so on. After seven days, the water that the gases had been bubbling through had turned brown. Some new chemicals were dissolved in it. When Miller and Urey analyzed the liquid, they found that it contained amino acids-the very kind of molecules found in all living things.

1.When did scientists come to realize how the atoms and molecules on the Earth combined to make living thing?

　　A. 4 billion years ago. B.1953.　C. After seven days.D. Many years later.

2.Scientists figured out that human bodies are basically made of .

　　A.amino acids

B.molecules

C. hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen atoms

D. water vapor, ammonia, carbon dioxide, methane and hydrogen

3.Harold Urey and Stanley L.Miller did their experiment in order to .　

A. find out what had happened on the Earth 4 billion years ago

　　 B.simulate bolts of lightning on the ancient Earth

　　 C. dissolve some new chemicals

　　 D.analyze a liquid

4.At the end of the last paragraph, the underlined word "it" refers to .

　　    A. a closed loop   B. an electric spark   C.water   D. the liquid

5.According to the writer, living things on the Earth include .

　　    A. atoms and molecules                     B.chemicals　

C. plants, fish, dinosaurs and human beings     D.the primitive soup