Proudly reading my words, I glanced around the room, only to find my classmates bearing big smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes. Confused, I glanced toward my stone-faced teacher. Having no choice, I slowly raised the report I had slaved over, hoping to hide myself. “What could be causing everyone to act this way?”
Quickly, I flashed back to the day Miss Lancelot gave me the task. This was the first real talk I received in my new school. It seemed simple: go on the Internet and find information about a man named George Washington. Since my idea of history came from an ancient teacher in my home country, I had never heard of that name before. As I searched the name of this fellow, it became evident that there were two people bearing the same name who looked completely different! One invented hundreds of uses for peanuts, while the other led some sort of army across America. I stared at the screen, wondering which one my teacher meant. I called my grandfather for a golden piece of advice; flip (掷) a coin. Heads—the commander, and tails—the peanuts guy. Ah! Tails, my report would be about the great man who invented peanut butter, George Washington Carver.
Weeks later, standing before this unfriendly mass, I was totally lost. Oh well, I lowered the paper and sat down at my desk, burning to find out what I had done wrong. As a classmate began his report, it all became clear, “My report is on George Washington, the man who started the American Revolution.” The whole world became quite! How could I know that she meant that George Washington?
Obviously, my grade was awful. Heartbroken but fearless, I decided to turn this around. I talked to Miss Lancelot, but she insisted: No re-dos; no new grade. I felt that the punishment was not justified, and I believed I deserved a second chance. Consequently, I threw myself heartily into my work for the rest of the school year. Ten months later, that chance unfolded as I found myself sitting in the headmaster’s office with my grandfather, now having an entirely different conversation. I smiled and flashed back to the embarrassing moment at the beginning of the year as the headmaster informed me of my option to skip the sixth grade. Justice is sweet!
1.What did the author’s classmates think about his report?
A. interesting B. ridiculous.
C. boring. D. puzzling.
2.Why was the author confused about the task?
A. He was unfamiliar with American history.
B. He followed the advice and flipped a coin.
C. He forgot his teacher’s instruction.
D. He was new at the school.
3.The underlined word “burning” in Para. 3 probably means _______.
A. annoyed B. ashamed
C. ready D. eager
4.In the end, the author turned things around _______.
A. by redoing his task
B. through his own efforts
C. with the help of his grandfather
D. under the guidance of his headmaster
The role of a newspaper is to present and comment on the news. It is vital for keeping people well-informed on current affairs. In most Western countries, journalists try to shape the ideas and opinions of their readers, since in Western countries all newspapers are independent of the government. Some newspaper owners support liberal ideas including economic policies that help poor people. Other owners want policies such as lower taxes for rich people and less money to be given to poor people. You can almost judge the political ideas of a person in the West by looking at the newspaper he reads.
All newspapers report national and international news. They give the facts but also provide opinions on controversial issues in the editorials and columns of opinion. The readers of the newspaper can also comment on these editorials or articles. There are many informative articles too as well as reviews of new films and books, etc. These are very important, for if a film or book gets good reviews it will often become more successful.
All these articles require many journalists who are experts in different areas of life. All these articles come together and are checked by the chief editor of the newspaper. When he or she has made a decision on the articles, the newspaper is prepared for printing. All this work means that the journalists must work together as a team because there is a lot of pressure when you work in a newspaper office. There are constant deadlines and articles have to be fitted round advertisements, photographs and much, much more.
1.What does the underlined word “be fitted” mean?
A. be suitable B. be put
C. be read D. be measured
2.What articles comment on controversial issues?
A. Editorials and opinion columns.
B. News stories.
C. Some of the informative articles.
D. Jokes and humour.
3.Which is true about the journalists in Western countries?
A. There’s no time limit for their report articles.
B. They have no right to influence the readers’ opinions.
C. A newspaper can come out with just a journalist working individually.
D. Journalists must submit their articles before the due date.
4.Why are good reviews important to books?
A. Good reviews are excellent introduction to books.
B. Readers especially favour books with good reviews.
C. Good reviews can make readers feel relaxed and comfortable.
D. Good reviews can bring a large circulation(发行量) of the books reviewed.
One day, I received a call from a colleague. He was about to give a student a zero for his answer to a physical problem, while the student claimed a perfect score. I was elected as their arbiter（仲裁人）. I read the examination problem: “Show how it is possible to determine the height of a tall building with the aid of a barometer（气压计）. ”The student had answered; "Take the barometer to the top of the building, attach a long rope to it, lower it to the street, and then bring it up, measuring the length of the rope. The length of it is the height of the building.”
The student had really answered the question completely, but the answer didn't confirm his competence in physics. I suggested the student try again. I gave him six minutes to answer the question, warning that the answer should show some knowledge of physics. Five minutes later, he said he had many answers and dashed off one, which read：“Take the barometer to the top of the building and lean over the edge of the roof. Drop the barometer, timing its fall with a stopwatch. Then, use the physical formula（公式）to calculate the height of the building.”
At this point, my colleague had to accept it, and then the student made almost full marks. I couldn't help asking the student what the other answers were. He listed many others, and then added, "Probably the best is to take the barometer to the administrator and said to him, ‘Sir, here is a fine barometer. If you tell me the height of the building, I will give it to you.”,
Then, I asked the student if he really did not know the conventional(传统的) answer to this question. He admitted that he did, but said that he was fed up with high school and college instructors trying to teach him how to think.
The name of the student was Bohr who later was famous all over the world. He won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1922.
1.The student got a zero at the beginning because _____.
A. the teacher wasn't satisfied with him
B. his answer wasn't complete or correct
C. the teacher didn't fully understand his answer
D. his answer didn't show his knowledge of physics
2.We know from the passage that _____.
A. the student knew the expected answer
B. the administrator told Bohr the height
C. the author preferred Bohr's last answer
D. the teacher was a very stubborn person
3.We can learn from the passage that _____.
A. instructors can teach students how to think
B. arbiters can help students to get high scores
C. students should be given more freedom in thinking
D. teachers should make students use physical formulas
4.What was Bohr's attitude toward his schooling?
A. Optimistic B. Critical C. Approving D. Neutral
假设你是一名高中生，名叫李华。因为老师担心同学们浏览不健康的网站，学校关闭了电脑教室的上网功能，同学们感到很郁闷。请你给校长写一封建议信。内容包括：
1. 无法上网给学生带来的不便；
2. 网络的必要性（帮助解决学习难题、获取最新信息；）
3. 就老师的担心发表你的看法。
注意：
1. 词数100左右；
2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 信的开头和结尾部分已经给出，不计入总词数。
Dear headmaster,
I’m writing to request you to allow us to surf the Internet in the computer classroom.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
语法填空
Once there lived a rich man 1._________ wanted to do something for the people of his town. 2._________ first he wanted to find out whether they deserved his help.
In the centre of the main road into the town, he placed3._________ very large stone. Then he 4._________ (hide) behind a tree and waited. Soon an old man came along with his cow. “Who put this stone in the centre of the road?” said the old man, but he did not try to remove the stone. Instead, with some difficulty he passed around the stone and continued on his way. 5._________ man came along and did the same thing; then another came, and another. All of them complained about the stone but not tried to remove 6._________. Late in the afternoon a young man came along. He saw the stone, 7._________ (say) to himself: “The night 8._________ (be) very dark. Some neighbors will come along later in the dark and will fall against the stone.”
Then he began to move the stone. He pushed and pulled with all his 9._________ (strong) to move it, only 10._________ (find) a bag of money under the stone. Imagine how surprised he was!
根据下列各句句意及所给单词的首字母或汉语提示，写出所缺单词的正确形式或短语。
1.They are both very s________ with what we have done for them.
2.Tom r________ saying dirty words to his classmates the other day.
3.You have no choice but to s_______ for your own future.
4.The book is specially i________ for children who are under 14.
5.It rained heavily outside. U________, the man didn’t take his umbrella.
6.________(通常，总的来说), no student is allowed to go out during the class without the teacher's permission.
7.Up to now, the poor woman ________(隔绝) from the outside world for nearly 10 years.
8.The man________(谈到) at the meeting yesterday is familiar to all of us.
9.Hurry up or we will _______(很有可能) to be late for the party.
10.Liu Hulan ________(宁愿) die rather than give in to the enemy.
