The past two years of John's life may be his best. Two years ago he was voted Teacher of the Year for his school where he teaches math and science to the 5th grade students. This past year he was voted Teacher of the Year for his school for the second time,and he also received the honor of Teacher of the Year for his entire district. Last year his wife gave birth to twins. Despite all of these achievements,John's focus never left his passion for teaching and his students,not to mention the fact that he also published a book about teaching science during that period.

  All of these achievements,although not ordinary,may be common among your hardwork?ing teachers,but this is not the case for John. You see,when John was 18 ,he had a baseball accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down. Despite the challenges he faced physical?ly,mentally,and spiritually he never gave up and was able to continue to dream of becoming a teacher. And now he has so much more to teach than just math and science. Every day in his life serves a purpose,and his students are reminded of those values. John makes no excuses for what he can and cannot do in his life and continues to strive to not only make his students excel,but also push them to live up to and stand up for what they believe in.

  I can tell you more about what he means to so many people in his family,school,and community but that can never prove what John stands for. Above all John is a standup guy and he will continue to do this for the rest of his life.

(   ) 1. The past two years may be the most splendid in John's life because         .

   A. he became the father of two children

   B. he published a book about teaching science

   C. he received the honor of Teacher of the Year

   D. he got success in his teaching career and life

(   ) 2. What can we know from Paragraph 2?

   A. John was a baseball player in high school.

   B. John didn't graduate from high school.

   C. It's difficult for John to have made such achievements.

   D. John also teaches some other subjects besides math and science.

(   ) 3. What is John's life purpose?

   A. To try to enjoy life every day.

   B. To make full use of every day.

    C. To bring up more excellent students.

   D. To make efforts to achieve more fame.

(   ) 4. What's the best title for the passage?

   A. A Standup Guy   B. A Hardworking Teacher

   C. A Hero   D. A Disabled Man

  A group of students in Japan have created a realistic robot baby to encourage young people to start planning a family so as to increase the country's birth rate. The automated (自动化的) doll developed at the University of Tsukuba,called Yotara,laughs and "wakes up" when a rat?tle is shaken.

  He can become angry and sleep like a real baby and he smiles when his stomach is pressed. The robot can also sneeze and have a running nose,thanks to a heated water pump system. The students of the Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences at the University created the robot last year with touch sensors. A projector sends the facial features onto a warm silicon bal?loon which makes up Yotara's face. The robot's facial expressions and body movements change according to pressure applied to different parts of its body.

  The information collected through touch sensors under the silicon skin is processed by a special programme. It then changes the baby's expression projected onto the balloonface from behind. There is a hat on the robot's head and a colourful blanket on his limbs which simulate moving from side to side with the help of a motor. " We wanted to create a new type of robot that is soft,pretty and attractive," said project leader Hiroki Kunimura.

  "We'd like people to experience the innocent,joyful expressions of typical small babies. Through this experience,it would be great if some people started feeling that they wanted to have their own baby,if they started feeling that working is not everything."

  Japan's birth rate is among the lowest in the developed world at 1. 37% , compared to 2. 12% in the United Stated and 1. 84% in Britain. According to a ministry of labor and welfare report,Japan is facing a serious economic problem with over a quarter of its citizens expected to be aged over 65 by 2015. The population is expected to shrink by a third within 50 years if the birth rate does not increase.

(   ) 1. What is the student's purpose of creating such a robot baby?

   A. To help the old people who live alone.

   B. To give small children some pleasure.

   C. To comfort lonely young people.

   D. To increase the population of Japan.

(   ) 2. From this passage we learn that Yotara         .

   A. can react to what you say to him

   B. is controlled by pressure applied to him

   C. shows no human emotions

   D. can cough and have a runny nose

(   ) 3. What's the new type of robot like in Hiroki Kunimura's mind?

   A. It can do everything for humans.

   B. It is clever,humorous and loyal.

   C. It is gentle,lovely,and smart.

   D. It makes humans happy.

(   ) 4. What can we infer from this passage?

   A. Many young people in Japan don't want to get married.

   B. There may be a lack of workers in Japan in the future.

   C. The lifespan of Japanese people will decrease in the future.

   D. The birth rate of Japan will start to increase slowly soon.

  In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean,preparing for the worst,adventurer Peter Seiter wrote a farewell note to his family,put it in a wine bottle and threw it overboard. With a sense of bad feeling he wrote, " The ocean has a personality of its own. The place can be such a peaceful en?vironment to be in,yet it can be frightfully violent. I've experienced both."

  "I included my geographical coordinates (地理坐标) so if anything happened to me,they'd know my last place when I threw the bottle into the ocean”,says Peter. He also included some money with his message,asking whoever found it to use the money to post the letter to his family.

  Seventeen days later he reached his destination,having survived the dangerous seas. But he never thought that his message in a bottle could be found on shore,11 years later!

  Recently,American woman Katherine and a friend came across the bottle on a deserted beach in the Bahamas. Alongside it they found a life jacket. Assuming the worst,they broke the bottle open and spent 24 hours drying it out so they could read an adventurer's story and write to his family like he had requested.

  "I couldn't believe it―that after all these years my bottle turned up with its contents still undamaged," Peter said. Overjoyed,he wrote to the pair,saying he was alive and living in Australia with his wife and kids.

  Katherine posted him his letter,money and some broken glass from his bottle,placed in a tiny box as a special souvenir. The special souvenir now shares pride of place among photos of Peter's Atlantic voyage. "I can't express what this old letter means to me," Peter says, "It gives me a sense of hope and belief. It's something special to share with my children as they grow up."

(   ) 1. Why did Peter have the idea of a message bottle?

   A. He missed his family very much.

   B. He regretted running a risk on the ocean.

   C. He felt he might lose his life on the voyage.

   D. He hoped to share his experience with others.

(   ) 2. As for the survival of the message bottle,Peter         .

   A. gave up hope of finding it

   B. mentioned it in a novel

   C. did much research on it

   D. felt very certain about it

(   ) 3. Which of the following is true dbout the message bottle?

   A. Certain pieces of glass could be found in it.

   B. It had ever contained Peter's favorite wine.

   C. It was marked with a map of geographical coordinates.

   D. Perhaps there was water in it when Katherine found it.

(   ) 4. From the passage we can infer that         .

   A. it took Peter 17 days to finish his voyage

   B. in a way,Katherine is a very careful person

   C. without the life jacket,the bottle couldn't survive at all

   D. it was the first time Peter had traveled on the Atlantic Ocean

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