American is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while—then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us flower more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending (延伸) sometimes deeply into both families.

   Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality (好客) easily.

   Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes, but truly can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine (常规). They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.

   For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for purely business matters. So accept their hospitality at home!

36. The writer of this passage must be ___________.

    A. an American      B. a Chinese      C. a professor      D. a student

37. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

    A. Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their family.

    B. Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives.

    C. Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy.

    D. Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break.

38. From the last two paragraphs we can learn that when we arrive in America to visit an American friend, we will probably be _________________.

    A. warmly welcomed at the airport    B. offered a ride to his home

    C. treated hospitably at his home      D. treated to dinner in a restaurant

39. From the underlined sentence, we can know the Chinese people ________________.

    A. are strict with time           B. don’t take time seriously

    C. don’t know how to use time    D. are willing to spend time for friends

40. A suitable title for this passage would probably be “________________”.

    A. Friendships between Chinese   B. Friendships between Americans

    C. Americans’ hospitality         D. Americans’ and Chinese’s views of friendship

“Some day, there’ll be no Americans left in the NBA,” said 12-year-old Xing Tao, who joined his school team two weeks ago after watching Yao Ming in a televised NBA game, “The players will all be Chinese, like Yao.”

To China, Yao is a home-grown superstar who helped make the world’s first basketball league closer to Chinese players. To the NBA, the 2.23-meter center offers an opening of a different sort into the world’s largest new market. Yao’s NBA first appearance against the Indiana Pacers in October reached 287 million families in the US. That game might have been a bit of a letdown to Yao’s fans: He played just 11 of the 48 minutes, had two rebounds(篮板) and got no points. Comparing that with his performance on December 19, also against Indiana, Yao won 29 points and 10 rebounds. “This was one of the most exciting games I’ve had,” Yao said after Houston’s 95-83 victory. The NBA has to be excited about his on-count success. In all his games, he’s averaging 12.7 points and 7.7 rebounds, quite good for a new star. “Yao Ming has brought the NBA closer to the Chinese,” said NBA spokeswoman Cheong Sau Ching, “That makes the dream seem practical for other people in China and proud to be Chinese.”

The 22-year-old Yao is not the country’s first player in the NBA: Wang Zhizhi broke down the Dallas Mavericks in November 2003. But Yao’s combination of modesty and skills make him a favorite back home.

31. What’s the direct reason for Xing Tao to join the school basketball team?

    A. He watched an NBA game.                 B. He liked basketball.

    C. He hoped to play for the NBA.       D. He had dream that he would become a basketball star.

32. How many points did Yao Ming win in his first game in the NBA? 

    A. zero           B. two                       C. 29            D. 10

33. What does the word “letdown” in line 4, Paragraph 2 mean?

    A. failure              B. surprise                  C. disappointment                D. sadness.

34. Why does Yao Ming win more popularity than Wang Zhizhi at home?

A. He is modest and performs excellently.                             B. He is too kind to others.

C. More and more Chinese people like to watch his games.      D. He is very modest but proud.

35. What’s the main idea of this passage? 

A. Middle school students want to play basketball.    B. Yao Ming makes NBA closer to China.

C. There’ll be no Americans left in the NBA.        D. There are many new stars from China in the NBA.

    The weather is getting hotter. You are thirsty playing basketball or riding home from school. A cold drink may be just the thing. But be careful what you are drinking. Something that looks cool may not be good for your health. There are plenty of “energy drinks” on the market. Most of them have beautiful colors and cool names. The lists on them tell you they are helpful to your health. Sounds great!

But after a careful check you may find that most energy drinks have lots of caffeine(咖啡碱)in them. These drinks are especially aimed at young people, students, busy people and sports players. Makers sometimes say their drinks make you better at sports and can keep you awake. But be careful not to drink too much. Caffeine makes your heart beat fast. Because of this, the International Olympic Committee(IOC) has limited(限制) its use. Caffeine in most energy drinks is at least as strong as that in a cup of coffee or tea. Possible health dangers have something to do with energy drinks. Just one box of energy drink can make you nervous, have difficulty sleeping and can even cause heart problems. Scientists say that teenagers should be discouraged from taking drinks with a lot of caffeine in them.

26. Many people like drinking energy drinks because of the following EXCEPT that ______.

    A. they have beautiful colors and cool names        B. they have lots of caffeine

    C. they can keep them awake and better at sports     D. they are said to be helpful to health

27. The main reason for people not to drink too much energy drinks is that they may cause ______.

    A. heart problems       B. nervousness    C. sleeping difficulty       D. possible health dangers

28. The underlined word “discouraged” can be replaced(替换) with ______.

    A. encouraged            B. stopped               C. helped              D. disliked

29. From the passage we can know that ______.

    A. advertisements are important in getting people to buy energy drinks

    B. energy drinks are helpful to teenagers’ study

    C. sports players need to drink a lot of energy drinks

    D. energy drinks are especially aimed at teenagers

30. Which of the following can be the best title of the passage? ______

    A. What’s the Use of Energy Drinks?          B. Who Can Drink Energy Drinks?

    C. What’s That in Energy Drinks?                D. Why Can’t We Buy Energy Drinks?

Paul Lucas can often be seen walking around the city of San Francisco. Sometimes people are surprised to see him walking  16  any shoes or socks,  17  Lucas doesn’t mind at all.  18  likes to walk barefoot, and so do 640 other members of Dirty Sole Society, the club that Lucas  19  (start) years ago. Lucas’ idea for this is to encourage others to live  20  (free) --- free of shoes.

According to Lucas, the barefoot life has many advantages.  21   most important is simply that it feels good. He also says  22  walking barefoot allows you to experience the world directly by touching it with your feet.  23  addition, the feet do not smell so much because they stay dry,   24  (make) it hard for bacteria to grow. And, of course, walking barefoot keeps your feet in good shape, so it’s actually   25  (healthy) than wearing shoes.

The telephone rang in the police station at Richmond, California, US. “  1  station? A train for Santa Fe collided (相撞) a   2  at the McDonald Street Crossing. Please come here at once. With an ambulance(救护车)，too. A man is badly wounded,” said a(n)  3  voice of a young woman.

“OK. We’ll come soon. Please stay there and wait.” Replied the policeman.

Within a minute, a police car and an ambulance  4  off. Soon they got to the crossing, but only to find everything was  5  . No collision, no wounded man.

“What a dirty  6  !” said the policeman angrily. “ We must find out that mischievous (恶作剧)   7  

and…”

They had not been able to say anything about a  8  when they heard the whistle of a train was nearing them quickly. All of a sudden, a truck appeared. It came  9  towards them, too. When it was passing the crossing, it suddenly  10  to move on. Right then and there, before the eyes of all the people present, the train collided with the truck heavily and struck it dozens of metres away.

When Randolph Bruce, the driver , was helped out of the damaged truck, he was badly wounded just as the young woman had foretold (预言) on the phone. As he was taken to hospital in time, he was  11  at last. Later the police did whatever they could to  12  the woman who had  13  them, but failed.

It is really  14  that a prophecy(预言) should agree with the fact so  15  .

1.  A. Weather                B. Railway               C. Fire                 D. Police v       

2.  A. bus                       B. truck                   C. taxi                  D. train            

3.  A. sweet                   B. anxious               C. beautiful           D. low             

4.  A. turned                   B. took                    C. started             D. walked         

5.  A. bad                       B. satisfied               C. pleasant            D. fine             

6.  A. call                       B. lie                       C. trick                D. plan             

7.  A. policeman             B. boy                     C. woman            D. driver          

8.  A. reward                  B. praise                  C. thanks              D. punishment  

9.  A. turning                  B. running               C. starting            D. passing        

10.  A. continued            B. refused                C. began               D. stopped        

11.  A. saved                  B. dead                    C. awake              D. alive            

12.  A. find                    B. meet                   C. punish              D. thank           

13.  A. laughed               B. telephoned           C. repeated           D. visited          

14.  A. exciting               B. surprising            C. pleasing            D. interesting    

15.   A. equally            B. truly            C. exactly        D. carefully  

 Nowadays, in our daily life Internet Slangs (网络语言),such as “Shen Ma”, “Fu Yun” and “Qi Pa”have become popular with many teenagers.

1. 就此材料发表你的看法。

2. 应紧扣材料，有明确的观点。

3. 在答题卡上作答，字数不少于60.

单词拼写

76. The ________（成分）of something are the parts that it is made of.

77. Stories like those can be retold by Yu Minhong ________.（全部）

78. His ________(国籍) has nothing to do with his position.

79. ________(教练) from abroad like Camacho, Arie Haan all failed in China.

80. CBA is short for Chinese Basketball ________（协会）.

81. Rebecca will be ________(辩护) by a famous lawyer from the US.

82. Two ________（平行的）lines can never meet each other.

83. Jesse graduated from Chongqing No.1 Middle School in Yubei, a famous _______（寄宿）school.

84. Outstanding students will be offered ________(财政) support from the government.

85. As an art student, you can imagine the fun Mr. Pi has ________（背诵）English poems.

（This selection was originally published in 1992. Pluto （冥王星） is no longer classified as a planet.）
    Pluto is in many ways the strangest of the planets. It is small and has a large moon（called Charon）. Its orbit is unusual, which may cause it to have seasons in the sense that when it is close to the sun, the liquid methane（甲烷）on its surface boils to form a kind of atmospheric haze（烟雾）. When the planet moves farther away from the sun, it starts to snow solid methane.
    Pluto is not dark. Despite its great distance from the sun, the surface of Pluto is probably as bright as a moonlit night on Earth. The reason is all that methane, which is as white as newly fallen snow.
    The discovery of Pluto was more accident than design. The American astronomer Percival Lowell had predicted the existence of a ninth planet（he called it Planet X）based on what he took to be irregularities in the orbit of Neptune. Today astronomers argue that these "irregularities" weren't real, but the result of instrumental error. Nevertheless, Lowell produced predictions about where Planet X ought to be（although, to be honest, the predictions changed occasionally when he redid the calculations）.In any case, in 1930 Clyde Tombaugh, doing a systemic sky survey that would have found the planet no matter where it was, discovered the planet we now call Pluto. By coincidence, its position was pretty close to where Lowell's last prediction said it should be. Was it just luck? We'll never know．
72. On Pluto's surface, liquid methane boils to form an atmospheric haze, which would be most          

similar to ____.
  A.   light                B.  darkness                 C. liquid                     D. steam
73. What effect is produced by including the question "Was it just luck?" at the end of the text?
  A. The question encourages the reader to think about why Pluto is a strange planet．

B. The question encourages the reader to think about how planets are discovered．

C .The question suggests that all discoveries are luck, not just design．
  D. The question suggests that other planets were found in different ways．
74. What contributes to the brightness of Pluto?
  A.  Methane on its surface.               B. Its great distance from the sun.
  C.   Light from its moon, Charon.         D. Its closeness to the sun.
75. The text mainly wants to ____．
  A. give a brief introduction of Pluto          B. talk about the discovery of Pluto
  C. prove the exact position of Pluto          D. describe the strangeness of Pluto

Well-known as gourmets（美食家），the French spend more time sleeping and eating than anyone else among the world's rich nations，according to a study published on Monday.

The average French person sleeps almost 9 hours every night，more than an hour longer than Japanese and Korean，who sleep the least in a survey of 18 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development （OECD）. Despite their siesta（午睡）habit，Spanish rank only third after Americans, who sleep more than 8.5 hours. And while more and more French people prefer fast-food chains these days or wolf down a sandwich at their desk, they still spend more than two hour’s a day eating.

That means their meals are twice as long as those of the average Mexican,who spends just an hour a day on food，the OECD’s “Society at a Glance” report on work, health and leisure(休闲) in Asia, Europe and North and South America found. The Japanese manage to spend close to 2 hours a day eating and drinking, placing them third behind New Zealanders．  

Despite the limited time, Americans spend eating each day---about an hour and a quarter---U.S．obesity(肥胖) rates are the highest in the 30 members of OECD. The Japanese like to spend their rare free time watching TV or listening to the radio. This takes up 47 percent of leisure time in Japan. Norwegians spend the most time at leisure，just over a quarter of their day，while at the low end，Mexicans spend just 16 percent of their time having fun． 

The OECD has 30 members. The survey covers only the countries for which proper figures were available.

68. As to eating time，the CORRECT order is______.

A. The French > New Zealanders> Japanese> Mexicans

B. Mexicans> The Japanese > New Zealanders > The French

C. The French > The Japanese > New Zealanders > Mexicans   

D. New Zealanders > The Japanese >Mexicans> The French

69.In the 30 members of OECD，U.S ranks first at______

A. sleeping time    B.  leisure           C. eating time      D. obesity-rates

70. The main purpose of the text is______．       

A. to show which country spends the least time on sleeping

B. to tell us the French is leisure-loving gourmets

C. to show a survey about the time of leisure，sleeping，eating in some countries

D. to make a comparison to find out the best living styles of OECD countries

71. How does the author develop the whole text ?

A. By analysing cause and effect.    

B. By making comparisons.        

C. By making preditions.     

D. By following the time order.