A terrible earthquake happened in Wenchuan on May 12, 2008. 42 people lost their lives and homes. During those days, we could hear a lot of stories about 43. Here is 44 of them. After the earthquake, under a fallen building, some soldiers found that a 45 died in a very strange way. When they were ready to take her away, they were surprised to find that a baby in her arms was still 46. The baby was sleeping and 47 hurt(受伤) at all. Between the dead mother _48 the living baby, there was a cellphone (手机) with a short 49 on the screen, “My dear baby, if you can survive (幸存) , remember that I love you.” Everybody 50 when they read these words.
Besides this story, many other stories also moved (感动) us deeply. 51 these stories, we learn more about love.
You’re lucky if you’re loved by others. You’re great if you love others when you’re in danger.

A soldier came home after having fought in Vietnam （越南）. He called his parents from San Francisco.

“Mom and Dad, I’m coming home, but I have a friend with me.”

“Sure,” they replied, “We’d love to meet him.”

“There’s something you should know,” the son continued, “he was hurt badly in the fighting. He lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to live with us.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live.”

“No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us.”

“Son,” said the father. “You don’t know what you’re asking. The young man’s handicap （残疾） will create such a terrible burden that we can’t afford. We have our own lives to live, and we can’t let something like this become a part of our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He’ll find a way to live on his own.”

At that point, the son hung up the phone. A few days later, the parents received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building. The police believed it was suicide （自杀）.

The sad parents flew to San Francisco to see the body of their son.

They recognized （认出） him, but to their surprise, they also discovered something they didn’t know before: their son had only one arm and one leg.

1. The soldier called his parents _____.

A．before going on a trip to Vietnam        B．after having fought in Vietnam

C．while serving in the army                D．on his way home from Vietnam
2. The soldier called his parents to _____.

A．tell them how he became badly hurt

B．see if they would look down upon his “friend”

C．tell them how he missed them

D．ask if everything was going well in his family

3. The son killed himself because ________.

A．he was suffering from great pain from his wound

B．he didn't want to be a burden to his family

C．he was fired from the army

D．his parents didn't like his friend

4. The expression “live on his own” in the passage means ____.

A．taking care of himself                  B．living alone and being lonely

C．living a free and happy life               D．living in a house he owns

5. Which is Not True according to the passage?

A．The soldier wanted to bring home a friend to live with his family.

B．The soldier was disappointed when his parents refused to receive the injured person.

C．The soldier was actually talking about himself.

D．The parents probably felt sad and regretful when they saw their son's body.

All living things on the earth need other living things to live. Nothing lives alone. Most animals must live in a group, and even a plant grows close together with others of the same kind. Sometimes one living thing kills another, one eats and the other is eaten. Each kind of life eats another kind of life in order to live, and together they create a food chain (链条). Some food chains are simple, while others are not. But all food chains begin with the sun, and all food chains become broken up if one of the links (链接) disappears.
All life needs sunlight to live on. But only plants can use sunlight directly. Plants are ‘factories’. They make food from sunlight, water and things in the soil (土壤) and air. Plants feed all other living things. Animals can only use the sun’s energy after it has been changed into food by plants. Some animals feed directly on plants, others eat smaller animals. Meat-eating animals are only eating plants indirectly.
What about humans? We are members of many food chains. We eat rice, vegetables, and fruits and so on. We also eat meat and drink milk. But we often break up the food chains. We kill wild animals and also make rivers, lakes and seas polluted. When these rivers, lakes and seas are polluted, the fish in them can not be eaten. If we eat the fish, we will get strange illnesses.
Each form of life is linked (关联的) to all others. Breaking the links puts all life in danger.
【小题1】Which living things can use the sun’s energy directly?

Take a look at teenagers around, dressed in baggy-pants (宽松裤), drinking soft drinks such as coke, reading Japanese cartoons. Whether you are in Beijing, Wuhan or Hong Kong, you will get the same impression. But should we copy others or should we maintain (保留) our differences?

It sounds convenient that people around the world speak the same language, dress in the same style, eat the same food and play the same games. If the world was like this, you won’t feel strange in any corner of world. But just imagine living in such a strange world. How dull and colorless it would be!

Different kinds of food that people can taste, the colorful and fashionable clothes that we dress in and different languages we speak are all part of the different cultures that our ancestors left us. These differences represent their creativity (创造力) and talent. And we all enjoy different cultures in our daily lives. When you travel to other places, you want to see different things. When you talk to foreigners you expect to listen to interesting stories. These differences in culture are what make life colorful.

But the whole world is shrinking into a small village as globalization (全球化) takes effect and many different cultures are disappearing. In most big cities around the world people wear the same clothes. Fast food stores are everywhere. Hollywood movies are kicking traditional performing arts out of our lives. The colors of our life are disappearing.

There is joke that even the panda and zebra want to live a colorful life. So let’s take action to protect our colorful culture before it becomes as simple as black and white.

It’s not difficult. Learning some folk songs, trying on a traditional clothing and even eating local food instead of going to KFC can help. And we’re sure you will enjoy it.

1.The passage is written to _______.

A．explain cultural differences               B．convince readers to maintain cultural differences

C．predict the future of globalization           D．show some cultural phenomena(现象)

2.The author thinks that cultural differences _______.

A．make the world colorful                  B．make communication difficult

C．only exist in food and clothing              D．will never fade away

3.The author starts the argument by ________.

A．mentioning certain cultural phenomena

B．mentioning his view at the very beginning

C．mentioning the opposite view at the very beginning

D．giving examples of cultural differences

4.The underlined word “shrink” probably means “_______”.

A．expand           B．disappear         C．become smaller     D．grow in number

5.The author talks of all the following cultural phenomena except _______.

A．food             B．clothing           C．language          D．architecture