Why do plants grow in some places and not in others? Why does some land have so much growing on it, while other land has almost no plants growing on it at all?

To grow, plants need several things. One is warmth. In very cold places almost nothing grows. Plants also need water. In very dry parts of the Earth only a few unusual plants can grow. That’s why dry deserts everywhere are almost not covered by trees or grass.

Plants must also have a place in which to put down their roots and grow. They find it difficult to grow on hard land. The town is built on hard land. The plants here have only the soil (土壤)found between the cracks of the stones to grow in.

Another thing plants must have before they can grow is food.

What will happen if we try to make things grow on the sandy beach? A few plants, such as beach grass, will grow in sand, but most plants won’t. Even if the weather is warm enough and we water the plants each day. Many of them will die because the sand on this beach has almost no food for plants.

1.According to the passage, plants need _____ things to grow well.

A．two              B．three             C．four              D．five

2.What does the underlined word “cracks” mean in the text?

A．缝隙             B．表面             C．夹层             D．底部

3.From the passage, we can know it is _______ for plants to grow in dry places.

A．easy             B．difficult           C．impossible         D．important

4.The reason why most plants can’t grow on the sandy beach is that _______.

A．there isn’t enough sunlight               B．there is too much water

C．it is too crowded there                   D．it has little food for plants

5.The passage can most probably be found in a ______ book.

A．science           B．history            C．travel            D．math

It was Mother's Day. John was so busy with his work that he couldn't go back home. When he passed by a flower shop in the evening, an idea came to his mind, “I'll send Mum some roses(玫瑰).”While John was picking his flowers, a young man went inside. “How many roses can I get for only five dollars, madam?” he asked. The assistant(店员) was trying to tell him roses were as expensive as forty dollars a dozen(一打). Maybe he would be happy with carnations(康乃馨).
“No, I have to have red roses,” he said. “My mum was badly ill last year and I didn't get to spend much time with her. Now I want to get something special, it has to be roses as rose is her favourite.”
After hearing it, John said he would pay the rest of the money for the young man. Moved by both of them, the assistant said, “Well, lovely young men, thirty dollars a dozen, only for you.” Taking the roses, the young man almost jumped into the air and ran out of the shop. It was well worth twenty－five dollars that John paid to see the exciting moment. Then John paid for his dozen of roses and told the assistant to send them to his mother.
As he walked out, he felt nice. Suddenly he saw the young man crossing the street and going into a park. But soon John realized it was not a park but a cemetery(墓地). Crying, the young man carefully put down the roses, “Mum, oh, Mum, why didn't I tell you how much I loved you? God, please help me find my mum and tell her I love her.”
Seeing this, John turned and quickly walked to the shop. He would take the flowers home himself.
【小题1】.The assistant tried to ask the young man to buy carnations instead of roses because_______ .

As we all know, the environment around us is getting worse and worse. In some places we can’t see fish   1  in the river or trees on the hills. Some people even have no clean water to drink.

Recently, a new lifestyle called low carbon life is   2  every corner of our country. The meanings of low carbon are   3  energy and no waste. It is such an important project that I can’t wait  4  my ideas on how to promote it.

First，we should   5  a no-car day every week in our school. Because cars not only cause serious air pollution but also waste energy.   6  the no-car day, neither students   7  teachers are allowed to drive to school. At the same time，just walk or run. Use our   8  and enjoy the fun.

Second, we had better not use plastic bags   9  . No one can stand the “white pollution”，   10  it is wise to use cloth bags which can   11  again and again.

12 ，one thing   13  we should keep in mind is that every big thing comes from the small details. So, as students, we ought to turn   14  the lights the moment we leave, use  15  sides of the paper, and reuse our textbooks and so on.

All in all, it weighs greatly for all of us to put the low carbon lifestyle into practice. Just set our mind to these：no-car days, no plastic bags, and no waste. Let’s do it now.

1.                A．swims          B．swimming       C．to swim   D．swam

2.                A．spreading       B．moving         C．living     D．becoming

3.                A．below          B．high           C．above    D．low

4.                A．to express      B．express         C．expressing    D．expressed

5.                A．set off          B．set up          C．put on    D．put down

6.                A．in             B．at             C．on   D．with

7.                A．nor            B．or             C．both D．and

8.                A．foot           B．cars            C．buses    D．legs

9.                A．any more       B．no more        C．no longer D．never

10.               A．because        B．so             C．but   D．although

11.               A．reused         B．be used        C．is used    D．use

12.               A．Finally         B．Final           C．Last  D．Lately

13.               A．who           B．what           C．that  D．whose

14.               A．up            B．down          C．on   D．off

15.               A．both           B．each           C．every     D．all

All the wisdom of the times, all the stories that have delighted mankind for centuries, are easily and cheaply available to all of us in books, but we must know how to make use of this treasure. The unluckiest people in the world are those who have never discovered how satisfying it is to read good books.

I’m very interested in people and finding out about them. Some of the most amazing people I’ve met could only  be found in a writer’s imagination, then in his book, and then, again, in my imagination. I’ve found in books new friends and new worlds.

Reading is fun, not because the writer is telling you something, but because it makes your mind work. Your own imagination works along with the writer’s or even goes beyond his. Your experience, compared with his, brings you to the same or different conclusions, and your ideas develop as you understand his.

Every book stands by itself, like a one-family house, but books in a library are like houses in a city. Although they are separate(分开的), in some way they are connected with each other. The same ideas, or related(相关的) ones, appear in different places; the human problems that repeat themselves in life repeat themselves in books, but with different solutions(解决方法) according to different writings at different times. Books influence each other. They connect the past, the present and the future and have their own generations (age groups), like families. Wherever you start reading, you connect yourself with one of the families of ideas, and in the end, you not only find out about the world and the people in it, you find out about yourself, too.

Reading can only be fun if you expect it to be. If you concentrate on(专注于) books somebody tells you “ought” to read, you probably won’ t have fun. But if you put down a book you don’t like and try another till you find one that means something to you, and then relax with it, you will almost certainly have a good time — and if you become, as a result of reading, better, wiser, kinder, or more gentle, you won’t suffer during the process.

1.Which of the following ideas may the writer of this article agree with?

A．You will never meet amazing people in your life unless you read.

B．You think actively instead of getting facts passively（被动地）when reading.

C．You will get much delight from any book that you are told to read.

D．You can relax yourself by reading because it involves little thinking.

2.What can we learn from Paragraph 4?

A．We can often find something connected with ourselves in books.

B．Different writings at different times share the same characteristics.

C．The same problems will appear in different books with similar solutions.

D．Reading books which are written for your generation is more helpful to you.

3.What’s the writer’s purpose of writing this article?

A．To advise us to enjoy ourselves by reading.

B．To encourage us to make full use of libraries.

C．To encourage us to find out solutions in books.

D．To advise us to discuss books with other people.