Bringing a giraffe into the world is a tall order. A baby giraffe is born 10 feet high and usually lands on its back. Within seconds it rolls over its legs under its body. Then the mother giraffe rudely introduces its children to the reality(现实) of life.

In his book, A View from the Zoo, Gary Richmond describes how a new-born giraffe learns its first lesson.

The mother giraffe lowers her head long enough to take a quick look. Then she puts herself directly over her child. She waits for about a minute, and then she does the most unreasonable(不合情理的) thing. She throws her long leg and kicks her baby, so that it’s sent sprawling(四脚朝天).

When it doesn’t get up, the process is repeated again and again. The struggle to rise is important. As the baby giraffe grows tired, the mother kicks it again. Finally, it stands for the first time on its shaky(摇晃的) legs. Then the mother giraffe kicks it off its feet again. Why? She wants it to remember how it got up. In the wild, a baby giraffe must be able to get up as quickly as possible to stay with its group, where there’s safety.

Another writer named Irving Stone understood this. He spent a lifetime studying greatness, writing stories about such men as Michelangelo, Vincent van Gogh, Sigmund Freud, and Charles Darwin.

Stone was once asked if he had found something that runs through the lives of all these great people. He said, “I write about people who sometime in their life have a dream of something. They’re beaten over the head, knocked down and for years they get nowhere. But every time they stand up again. And at the end of their lives they’ve realized some small parts of what they set out(着手) to do .”

1.What does the underlined part “a tall order” in Paragraph 1 mean?

A．A happy thing.                          B．A difficult task.

C．A big dream.                           D．A beautiful scene.

2.What does the book A View from the Zoo talk about?

A．A new-born giraffe’s first lesson.

B．A mother giraffe’s story.

C．The lives of some great people.

D．The way for a giraffe to stand up.

3.Why were some great people mentioned in the passage?

A．Because they all worked hard.

B．Because they all liked to read some special stories.

C．Because they were born with some illnesses.

D．Because they were similar to giraffes in some ways.

4.Which of the following statements is True according to the passage?

A．This passage is a description of giraffes’ living habits.

B．Baby giraffes can’t stand up until three months old.

C．Irving Stone spent a lifetime studying and writing stories about great people.

D．The great people can’t stand up after they’re knocked down for years.

5.What would be the best title for the passage?

A．How to Raise a Baby Giraffe.

B．Learning to Get Back Up.

C．Stories about the great people.

D．A Mother Giraffe and Its Baby Giraffe.

When you read an article you will understand and remember it better if you can work out how the writer has put the ideas together．Sometimes a writer puts ideas together by asking questions and then answering them．For example，if the article is about groundhogs（土拨鼠），the set of questions in the writer’s head might be：

What does a groundhog look like？

Where do groundhogs live？

What do they eat？…

In the article，the author might answer those questions．

Sometimes an author writes out her questions in the article．These questions give you signals．They tell you what the author is going to write next．Often an author has a question in her head but she doesn’t write it out for you．You have to work out her question for yourself．Here’s a sample reading for you to practice this method.

Earthworms

Do you know how many kinds of earthworms there are？There are about 1800 kinds in the world！ They can be brown，purple，green．They can be as small as 3 cm long and as large as 3 m long．

The best time to see earthworms is at night，especially a cool，damp night．That’s when they come up from their burrows（地洞）to hunt for food．Earthworms don’t like to be in the sun．That’s because they breathe through their skin，and they can’t breathe if their skin gets too dry．Earthworms must come out of the earth if it rains a lot，because they can't breathe in their flooded burrows．What a dangerous life！

Earthworms don't have eyes，so how can they tell when it's dark？ They have special places on their skin that are sensitive to light．These spots tell whether it’s light or dark．If you shine a flashlight on an earthworm at night，it will quickly disappear into the ground．

Earthworms don't have ears either，but they can hear by feeling movements in the earth．If you want to hear like an earthworm，lie on the ground with your fingers in your ears．Then have a friend stamp his or her feet near you．This is how earthworms feel birds and people walking，and moles digging，near them．

Earthworms are useful．Farmers and gardeners like having lots of earthworms in their land because the worms help to make better soil when they dig．That digging keeps the soil loose and airy（通风的）．In one year earthworms can pile up as much as 23,000 kg of castings in an area about the size of a football field．

1.What’s the purpose of reading Earthworms?

A．To show the special life facts of earthworms.

B．To explain the differences from the groundhogs.

C．To put the writer’s idea into real use.

D．To make the readers think more clearly.

2.Which question CANNOT be answered in the passage?

A．How do earthworms help with gardeners?

B．What life are earthworms living with?

C．When may people observe earthworms?

D．Why can human listen like earthworms?

3.How can you understand Earthworms better according to this passage?

A．Read, ask and answer questions in your own head while reading.

B．Read to work out all the questions in the writer’s head while reading.

C．Read and check all the things that are not clear to you again and again.

D．Read for general ideas and discuss or compare with other similar topics.

4.What’s the best title for the passage?

A．One way to help with understanding

B．One way to practice with a new idea

C．One way to learn to be a wise writer

D．One way to be clearer about worms

There are over 800 boarding (寄宿) schools in the UK. Children of 7 to 18 can go to boarding schools.

  1.  

In the UK, boarding schools have three terms in a school year, each student has his or her  subject plan. Besides the usual classrooms and laboratories, the boarding schools also have music rooms, boats, swimming pools, cinemas and theatres for their students.

    2.  

There are some rules for the students at boarding schools to obey. Students study and live together. They can’t go outside if they are not allowed to. Most boarding schools have a “light out” time. So when it’s time to go to bed, all the lights in the bedrooms are turned off.

    3.  

Nearly all students at boarding schools wear a school uniform. Boys usually wear a shirt and a tie, and girls wear a white blouse, sometimes also a tie and a skirt. As students get older, the rules become less strict.

    4. 

In the UK, boarding schools provide students with delicious food. They can choose to have a full English breakfast or simply bread. They can also choose between a meal with no meat and another meal at lunch and dinner. Students can also make themselves something to eat at any time in a kitchen.

从A, B, C, D中选择正确的选项作为文章第2-5段的小标题，并填入76-76四个空格中。

A. What to eat        B. What to wear        C. What to learn    D. What to obey

5.Which is the best title for the passage?

A. Boarding schools in the UK

B. How to study in the UK

C. Students work hard in the UK

D. The history of boarding schools in the UK

We make traffic rules to keep order on the roads. These rules also help keep us  1  on the roads.
People have to  2  many traffic rules. In China, you must walk  3  the sidewalk or on the side of the road. Look carefully (仔细地) before you   4  the street.
If you are riding a bike, don't ride in the middle (中间) of the roads or run through (通过) the road when the traffic light is   5 . When you ride a bike   6  a friend, don't look around and talk.
If you drive, you must slow down at the traffic lights. You must always   7  a seat belt安全带). Without (没有) belts,   8  the driver and the other people in the car may hurt themselves when the car stops suddenly (突然地).
When you take a bus, you must be  9 . Get on or get off a bus only when it comes to a  10  When it’s full (满的), you shouldn't get on it or you may fall down.

Now throwing shoes at President Bush is a popular game on the Internet. It turns out that there are times when it’s good to throw shoes.

After leaving his office in the center of the city, a young man bought a new car and drove it from the city to his home. He was very happy and the car ran very fast. Suddenly, a shoe hit the car door . The man got very angry. He jumped out of the car and caught a boy who still had a shoe in his hand.

“Who are you? Why did you do that?” the young man shouted at the boy.

“I’m sorry. But I don’t know what else to do. My sister has been hurt. I cried for help but nobody stopped,” the boy said.

The man looked around and saw a girl by the road. Her leg was bleeding(流血).

“She is my sister. She wanted to cross the road but fell out of her wheelchair. She is too heavy for me. I can’t get her back into the wheelchair. ”The man was moved. He helped the bleeding girl back into her wheelchair.

“Thank you. You’re so kind,” said the little boy. Life speaks to our hearts. Sometimes we don’t have time to listen and it will throw a shoe at us.

1.The young man drove his new car ______.

2.Who threw a shoe at the car?

3.The underlined word “wheelchair” means ______ in this passage.

4.Why did the boy throw the shoe?

5.What can we learn from the story?