Nowadays more and more young athletes are taking part in the risky activities called “extreme sports” or “X-sports”.
In the past young athletes would play baseball. Today, they want risk and excitement — the closer to the edge, the better. They snowboard over cliff and hike deep mountains.
Extreme sports started as an alternative to more expensive sports such as golf. A city kid who couldn’t afford expensive sports equipment could get a skateboard and have fun. But now it has become a whole new area of sports, with specialized equipment and high levels of skill. There is even an Olympics for extreme sports, called the winter x-game, which includes snow mountain hiking and ice climbing.
What makes extreme sports so popular? Maybe it’s because people love the risk. City people want to be outdoors on the weekends and do something challenging. The new equipment is so much better that people can take more risks without getting hurt. Sure there’s a risk. Once you go mountain hiking or snowboarding, it’s impossible to go back to have riding or skiing. It’s just too boring.
Now even the older crowd is starting to join in. Every weekend, groups of friends in their early 30s get together. On weekdays they work as computer programmers in the same office. On weekends they hike mountains together.
Extreme sports are certainly not for everyone. Most people still prefer to play basketball or watch sports on TV. But it has been a fact that extreme sports are gaining popularity.
【小题1】Extreme sports started as an alternative to more expensive sports because _______.

There is even an animal whose tail will         so that it can run away if someone grabs it.

  A．break up B．break out    C．break off    D．break down

Holidays are really important. Many of us will have childhood memories of summer holidays where we were taken away from home to experience new environments and learn in different ways.

But holidays are expensive and, for those on low wages or living on benefits, they are often unobtainable. Even the cheapest holidays require travel and other additional costs that are difficult for many families to meet.

For working parents, the long summer break can be a very difficult problem for childcare. When an annual leave allowance amounts to only five weeks, there is a need to spread this across the year. Couples can find themselves taking leave in turn in order to care for children who are on holiday. For some this makes even an affordable family holiday difficult.

The schools that I visit in Nottingham are full of experienced staff committed to giving our children a caring and inspiring learning environment. The number of children receiving free school meals is quite large in Nottingham and many schools have breakfast clubs to make sure that children get a healthy start to the day. Most schools undertake programs of group or individual educational support. Schools also have an important role in safeguarding children's welfare through the ongoing touch and support with their pupils. During the long summer holidays, much of this is missed.

While teachers are holidaying in the UK, many of their pupils spend the whole six weeks on the street where they live. The lack of free school meals for six weeks can result in pressure on a family budget and an inability to afford the inspiring experiences that help children to continue their learning.

In setting out its plans for a five-term year, Nottingham City Council (委员会)is seeking to reduce the summer holiday down to four and a half weeks, with a more balanced five terms of roughly eight weeks, each followed by a two-week break. We believe this will give real “down time" for school staff and pupils alike but will be short enough not to cause a real break in learning.

We acknowledge that this change may be difficult for some school staff, particularly whose own children are educated in other authorities. However, this must be weighed against the benefits for city children for whom we all have the greatest duty of care.

1.The passage is probably written by      .

A. an experienced teacher        B. a working parent

C. an inspired student                 D. a city council member

2.The underlined word "they" in the second paragraph refers to "       ’.

A. environments                 B. holidays                  C. wages                      D. benefits

3.It is suggested in the passage that the summer break be reduced to       .

A. 2 weeks                            B. 4.5 weeks               C. 5 weeks                  D. 6 weeks

4.The plans for a shorter summer holiday will help students_____    .

A. obtain the cheapest holidays without additional costs

B. get a chance to spend six weeks a term with teachers in school

C. benefit more from the caring and inspiring learning environment

D. have more school days to receive free school meals

5.It can be inferred from the passage that          _______.

A. working parents can enjoy a five-week break to care for their children

B. the suggested plans for a five-term school year can hardly be carried out

C. the long summer holiday gives teachers and students real "down time"

D. some school staff will say “No” to the plans for a shorter summer holiday

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　　Most of us can remember the days when we didn't use e-mail as an everyday vehicle for communication. Slowly but surely, it crept into 1 . E-mail is a 2 tool for college students at any level. It's available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 3 at holidays. Most universities assign students an account upon entrance, 4 there is usually not even an option (choice) involved.

　　You can do everything from consulting on homework and projects, 5 classmates, family and friends, arid getting daily news services to 6 you informed of world 7 . But, what are the 8 ?

　　E-mail can. be e-jail. You might 9 hours writing and replying to e-mail. 10 you should be busy with the books for an upcoming exam. 11 , you might be signed up for so many daily services, 12 horoscopes, news services, or personals, that your mailbox is so 13 “junk mail,” the finding the 14 e-mails through your box might take hours.

　　If you're a student, 15 is precious. Create and organize your e-mail folders into important school-related mail, correspondence with friends and family, and a folder for jokes, horoscopes and other news, services. 16 put the mail into the proper folders first, and when you're finished, head for the important school-related folder first. Respond to the most important e-mails first and, 17 you have time, you can get to the others.

　　 18 your friends from forwarding those tiresome joke lists, sex quizzes, and chain mails. The minute you 19 you've got one, delete it 20 so you won't be tempted to read it.

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根据对话情景和内容，从对话后的选项中选出能入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

Americans use the term “college students” to mean students either in colleges or universities. Not only that, Americans almost never say “going off to university” or “when I was in university. ”That sounds British.   1.   

College, university: what’s the difference?   2.  . Both offer undergraduate degrees in the arts and sciences, for example. And both can help prepare young people to earn a living.

But many colleges do not offer graduate studies. Another difference is that universities are generally bigger.    3.  

Another place of higher education, especially in technical areas, is an institute, like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Yet even an institute of technology can offer a wide choice of programs and activities.

Modern universities developed from those of Europe in the Middle Ages. The word “university” came from the Latin universities, describing a group of people organized for a common purpose.  4.  . In England, colleges were formed to provide students with places to live. Usually each group was studying the same thing. So college came to mean an area of study.

The first American universities divided their studies into a number of areas and called each one a college. This is still true.   5.  . For example, Harvard College is the undergraduate part of Harvard University.

Programs in higher learning can also be called schools, like a school of engineering or a medical school within a college or university. You know, learning all these terms is an education in itself.

A. A college can also be a part of a university.

B. There are more universities than colleges in the USA.

C. They offer more programs and do more research.

D. “College” came from collegium, a Latin word with a similar meaning.

E. Universities and colleges offer students different opportunities.

F. Instead, they say “going off to college” and “when I was in college.”

G. Colleges and universities have many things in common.