“Good afternoon!Remember tomorrow is Crazy Day,so you are welcome to do anything crazy,” boomed a voice through our school speakers.

“Crazy Day?What does that mean?” I asked my ESL teacher,Mrs Ramsey.She answered,“On this day,everyone dresses up like a crazy person.” She suggested I make a strange hairstyle or wear two different shoes.However,I decided that I would wear my T-shirt backwards.

The next day as I walked into the classroom,everybody looked so funny:Mrs Toalson had curled her hair into large curls and my classmate Bradley had coloured his hair white!I thought he was an old person when I first saw him.

“Hi,Jim,you look weird!How do I look?” My friend Taylor asked.She was wearing an old hat that looked like it came from the 17th century paired with a cute and trendy skirt.It reminded me of women from ancient times mixed with a 21st century woman who chewed gum during school.

The next day,I received a note from school that said “Tomorrow is Pajama(睡衣)Day.” “Should I wear my pajamas to school tomorrow?What if tomorrow is not Pajama Day?What if the note is just a joke?” I worried.“What if tomorrow I am the only one wearing pajamas?I will look silly and strange!” I decided to be safe and not wear my pajamas.

As I walked into the classroom the following day,I was amazed how my classmates were dressed!They were all wearing pajamas!Some of them even brought their dolls and Barbies with them!I deeply regretted not wearing my pajamas.

1.What days are mentioned in this passage?

A. Crazy Day. B. Pajama Day.

C. April Fool’s Day. D. Both A and B.

2.What did his teacher advise him to do?

A. She advised him to wear two different coats.

B. She advised him to wear his pajamas.

C. She advised him to make a weird hairstyle.

D. She advised him to wear T-shirt backwards.

3.Why didn’t the author wear his pajamas?

A. Because he thought it was a joke.

B. Because his mother didn’t allow him to wear his pajamas.

C. Because he wanted to be beautiful.

D. Because he didn’t have any pajamas.

4.What does the passage mainly talk about?

A. Mrs Toalson had curled her hair into large curls.

B. Two crazy days in America.

C. They all wore their pajamas including the author.

D. The author was afraid to wear his pajamas to school.

Discovery’s astronauts arrived to an exciting celebration Wednesday as nearly 700 people crowded an airplane storage place, waving flags and holding signs that read: “Welcome Home, Astronauts!”

The seven-person team returned to Earth on Tuesday after being the first to take a space shuttle into orbit since the Columbia disaster(灾难) of 2003.

“In the last two and a half years, we have been through the very worst that manned space flight can bring us, and over the past two weeks we have seen the very best,” NASA Administrator Michael Griffin told the astronauts and their families and fans Wednesday.

The crowd waved American flags for the U.S. astronauts and Japanese flags for crew member Soichi Noguchi, one of the spacewalkers.

“As a rookie(新手)astronaut, I could not ask for more,” Noguchi said, “We had three spacewalks, two extra days in space and one great team.”

While the homecoming has been filled with excitement for what mission controllers declared a “truly spectacular test flight”, uncertainty remains for the future of the shuttle program.

Shortly after Discovery rose up into space July 26, a nearly 1-pound large piece of foam insulation(泡沫绝缘材料) fell from the fuel tank—the very thing that was supposed to have been fixed after Columbia exploded. The foam missed Discovery, but NASA grounded all shuttle flights until engineers fix the problem.

NASA ground crews examined Discovery after its return from orbit and found it in good condition, an official said Wednesday at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Technicians counted 101 dings and divots, including 20 that were larger than 1 inch. Schaaf Dean, landing support group chief, said the numbers were similar to the results of other shuttle, post-landing examinations.

A beginning examination of the shuttle’s thermal(热的)blanket showed it remained undamaged during re-en-try into the Earth’s air.(Agencies)

1.The seven astronauts ________.

A. are the first to take a space shuttle into orbit

B. took the Columbia into space

C. returned to earth safely

D. are Americans

2.According to the text, the NASA officials think ________.

A. the flight of Discovery is a failure

B. manned space flight has been through the best in the past

C. the flight of Discovery is a success

D. the astronauts are national heroes

3.When the Discovery took off, ________.

A. the fuel tank burned B. a piece of foam insulation fell

C. the safety belt is not fixed D. it knocked into the Columbia

4.The underlined word “grounded” means ________.

A. (of a boat) hit the bottom of a sea and be unable to move

B. to cause a boat to hit the bottom of a sea or lake

C. to prevent a plane or person from flying

D. to be based on something

Handwriting is quickly becoming a dying art. Few businesses can run nowadays without computers, giving keyboard shortcuts an unprecedented importance. Elementary and high schools across the country now view typing courses as essential to their curricula. But what are we losing as handwriting loses its significance in society?

Brain power, according to science. Researchers from Princeton University and the University of California, Los Angeles conducted a series of studies to demonstrate the differences between students who wrote out their notes and those who typed notes. Participants took notes on a lecture using one of the two methods and were tested on the material 30 minutes after the lecture and again a week later. The results showed that both types of notetakers did well on the first test, though longhand notetakers had a stronger grasp of the overall concept, but students with handwritten notes were able to remember and still understand the concepts of the lecture after a week had passed. These participants were also more open to understanding new ideas.

At the University of Nebraska, educational psychologist Kenneth Kiewra held a similar study, where some students were tested immediately following a PowerPoint lecture and others had a chance to review their notes before being tested. Those who took notes on a laptop had a slight advantage on the test right after the lecture, but students with written notes performed significantly better when given the chance to review. Kiewra told the Wall Street Journal that the reason is likely because written notes are briefer, more organized, and better captured information from graphs and charts than typed notes.

Computers aren’t going away anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean paper notebooks need to become obsolete(过时). In fact, it’s best to start using them at an early age. University of Indiana researchers compared brain scans of five year olds, some of whom practiced printing letters and some who just looked at the letters. Those who wrote out the letters had more enhanced and “adult-like” neural activity.

Take this as a parenting hack for the digital era: Don’t let your kids go completely digital.

1.It can be inferred from the second paragraph that ________.

A. Not both types of notetakers did well on the material test 30 minutes after the lecture.

B. It’s easy for both types of notetakers to welcome new ideas.

C. Students who wrote notes out could only remember the lecture in a week.

D. Students who typed notes could have a better understanding of the material.

2.Why students with written notes performed much better when given the chance to review according to Kiewar?

A. Because the written notes are much more convenient and accessible.

B. Because they have a higher level of intelligence than those with typed notes.

C. Because they are born adapting themselves to new ideas easily.

D. Because the typed notes are always without any references.

3.The passage mainly provides suggestions for ________.

A. students B. parents

C. schools D. enterprises

Paracutin was born in Mexico in February, 1943. At the end of one week Paracutin was 500 feet high, and it is now over 9,000 feet high. Today Paracutin is asleep.

What is Paracutin? It was the first volcano(火山) in the world which was seen from its birth right up to the present day. On February 20, 1943, a peasant and his wife set out to work in their corn fields from the Mexican village of Paracutin. They were surprised to find the earth warm under their feet. Suddenly they heard noises deep in the earth and a small hole appeared in their field. In the afternoon there was a sudden loud noise and stones were thrown high in the air. The peasants ran from the field and turned to watch. They saw the birth of a volcano.

Large quantities of stone and lava(岩浆) broke out and a little hill began to form. By evening this hill was 100 feet high and hot ashes(灰烬) were falling on the village. At night the strong light of the hot lava lit up the countryside. The trees near the village were killed and the villagers had to leave their houses. When the village was destroyed, its name was given to the volcano. The news quickly reached Mexico City, far to the east. Many people came to watch the scene. The volcano grew and grew for ten years and hundreds of square miles of forest were destroyed. Then Paracutin went to sleep.

1.Paracutin was once the name of  .

A. a peasant B. a village

C. an old mountain D. a Mexican

2.Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A. Paracutin is not active now.

B. Paracutin is the first volcano in the world.

C. Paracutin did not exist until the early 1940s.

D. It took Paracutin 10 years to grow to its present size.

3.What was destroyed in the growing up of the volcano?

A. The little hill of stone.

B. The villagers living close by.

C. The forest and fields around Paracutin.

D. The Mexican peasant and his wife.

4.In this passage the writer is trying to  .

A. tell us an interesting happening

B. explain a scientific theory

C. make us believe something

D. make up an interesting story

5.What can we learn about volcanoes from this passage?

A. New volcanoes may appear in places where people do not expect them to be.

B. Volcanoes are always growing.

C. Volcanoes are active from time to time.

D. New volcanoes are active for only ten years.

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