A press report stating that Microsoft has restarted talks to buy Yahoo's search business for 20 billion U. S. dollars. "It has no basis in fact," the San Francisco Chronicle said on Monday.

The Times of London reported on Sunday that the deal under discussion would put former AOL CEO Jonathan Miller and Ross Levinsohn, a former president of Fox Interactive Media, in charge of Yahoo. The report also said executives (管理人员) at both companies had agreed to the broad terms of a deal.

In fact, there are no current talks between the two companies. The Chronicle quoted an executive at one of the firms who requested his name to be kept secret as saying. Furthermore, the 20-billion-dollar price mentioned in the Times of London article for Yahoo's search business appears questionable given that the market capitalization (资本总额) for all of Yahoo is 16 billion dollars, said The Chronicle.

Yahoo and Microsoft had had on-again, off-again talks over several months earlier this year about a 47. 5-billion-dollar takeover, and later a proposal focused only on Yahoo's search business. Discussions regarding both plans collapsed without an agreement.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has said repeatedly that he is no longer interested in buying all of Yahoo, but that he is open to some sort of partnership involving their respective search businesses.

Brad Williams, a Yahoo spokesman, said Sunday "We don't comment on rumors." Frank Shaw, a Microsoft spokesman, declined to comment.

Yahoo's shares have plummeted since Microsoft withdrew its 33-dollar-a-share acquisition offer earlier this year, leaving people to think that discussions would eventually be restarted. Yahoo's shares closed Friday at 11. 51 dollars, nearly one-third of the original offer.

1. From this passage, we can know that ______.

  A. Microsoft has given up buying all of Yahoo but its search business 

  B. Microsoft has already taken over the whole company of Yahoo

  C. the market capitalization for all of Yahoo is over $ 20 billion

  D. the market capitalization for all of Microsoft is only $ 6 billion

2. What is the author trying to convince readers of in the third paragraph?

  A. Yahoo and Microsoft are talking about takeover.

B. Microsoft is buying Yahoo’s search businesses for $ 20 billion.

C. Yahoo would like to sell its search businesses to another company.

D. There are no current talks between Yahoo and Microsoft.

3. What does the underlined word “plummet” in the passage most probably mean?

  A. develop rapidly      B. increase quickly      C. fall quickly     D. keep balanced

4. You can find this passage most probably in ______ .

  A. an entertainment website       B. an economical newspaper

  C. a sports magazine              D. a biological dictionary

A new plan for getting children to and from school is being started by a local government in Eastern England. This could end the worries of many parents fear ful for their children's safety on the roads.

Until now the local government have only been prepared to provide bus services for children living more than three miles from their school, or sometimes less if special reasons existed. Now it has been decided that if a group of parents ask for help in organizing transport they will be prepared to go ahead, as long as the arrangement will not lose money and children taking part will be attending their nearest school.

The new plan is to be tried out this term for children living at Milton who attend Impington School. The children live just without the three mile limit and the local government have said in the past that they will not undertake to provide free transport to the school. But now they have agreed to offer a sum of money for a bus service from Milton to Impington and back, a plan which has the support of the school's headmaster.

Between 50 and 60 parents have said they would like their children to take part. Final calculations have still to be carried out, but a government official has said the cost to parents should be less than ￡ 20 a term.

They have been able to arrange the service at a low cost because there is already an agreement with the bus company for a bus to take children who live further away to Impington. The same bus would now just make one more journey to pick up the Milton children. The official said they would get in touch with other groups of parents who in the past had asked if transport could be provided for their children, to see if they would like to take part in the new plan.

1.What is the aim of the plan?

A.To prevent the students' road accident.        

B.To relieve the traffic pressure.

C.To save time for the parents and students.        

D.To help the parents save money. 

2.How can the local government arrange the new bus service at a low cost?

A.By letting the bus run in the morning only.

B.By limiting the number of the students.

C.By obtaining the support from the headmaster.

D.By lining the new bus service with the existing one. 

3.The new bus service will be paid for by  ________ .

A. the parents             B. the local government

C. the bus company         D. the local government and the parents 

4.Which of the following is possible if the plan is carried out?

A.The bus company will make much more money.

B.The children can choose whatever school they like.

C.The parents can get rid of their worries.

D.The students in Impington School can have free bus rides. 

5.This passage is most probably ________  .

A.a personal letter         B. a headmaster's report

C.an advertisement          D. a newspaper article 

A newly trained teacher named Mary went to teach at a Navajo Indian reservation. Every day, she would ask five of the young Navajo students to __1__ the chalkboard and complete a simple math problem from   2   homework.

    They would stand there, silently,  3   to complete the task. Mary couldn’t figure it out.   4   she had studied in her educational curriculum helped, and she   5   hadn’t seen anything like it in her student-teaching days back in Phoenix.

     What am I doing wrong? Could I have chosen five students who can’t do the  6  ? Mary would wonder. No,  7  couldn’t be that. Finally she   8   the students what was wrong. And in their answers, she learned a   9   lesson from her young   10   pupils about self-image and a(n)   11   of self-worth.

     It seemed that the students  12  each other’s individuality and knew that  13  of them were capable of doing the problems.   14  at their early age, they understood the senselessness of the win-lose approach in the classroom. They believed no one would  15  if any students were shown up or embarrassed at the  16  . So they   17   to compete with each other in public.

     Once she understood, Mary changed the system   18   she could check each child’s math problem individually, but not at any child’s expense  19  his classmates. They all wanted to learn,  20  not at someone else’s expense.

1．  A．go to B．come to    C．get close to      D．bring

2．  A．his    B．their  C．his own    D．her

3．  A．happy       B．willingly   C．readily      D．unwilling

4．  A．Anything  B．Nothing    C．Everything       D．Neither

5．  A．almost      B．certainly   C．hardly      D．never

6．  A．question   B．chalkboard       C．problem    D．homework

7．  A．they  B．it      C．everything       D．each

8．  A．asked       B．questioned       C．told   D．understood

9．  A．outstanding      B．surprising C．annoying  D．frightening

10．A．sunburned B．tender       C．Indian      D．naughty

11．A．sense B．image       C．way   D．aspect

12．A．had   B．ignored     C．respected  D．cared

13．A．none        B．no one      C．each  D．not all

14．A．Especially B．Even though    C．Even so    D．Even

15．A．lose   B．win   C．achieve     D．answer

16．A．time  B．situation   C．chalkboard       D．condition

17．A．refused     B．rejected    C．tried  D．promised

18．A．if      B．so that      C．unless       D．in case

19．A．in favour of    B．of     C．by means of     D．in front of

20．A．and   B．but    C．so     D．or

A newly trained teacher named Mary went to teach at a Navajo Indian reservation. Every day, she would ask five of the young Navajo students to __1__ the chalkboard and complete a simple math problem from   2   homework.

They would stand there, silently,  3   to complete the task. Mary couldn’t figure it out.   4   she had studied in her educational curriculum helped, and she   5   hadn’t seen anything like it in her student-teaching days back in Phoenix.

What am I doing wrong? Could I have chosen five students who can’t do the  6  ? Mary would wonder. No,  7  couldn’t be that. Finally she   8   the students what was wrong. And in their answers, she learned a   9   lesson from her young   10   pupils about self-image and a(n)   11   of self-worth.

It seemed that the students  12  each other’s individuality and knew that  13  of them were capable of doing the problems.   14  at their early age, they understood the senselessness of the win-lose approach in the classroom. They believed no one would  15  if any students were shown up or embarrassed at the  16  . So they   17   to compete with each other in public.

Once she understood, Mary changed the system   18   she could check each child’s math problem individually, but not at any child’s expense  19  his classmates. They all wanted to learn,  20  not at someone else’s expense.

1．  A．go to        B．come to         C．get close to    D．bring

2．  A．his           B．their           C．his own         D．her

3．  A．happy          B．willingly         C．readily        D．unwilling

4．  A．Anything      B．Nothing         C．Everything     D．Neither

5．  A．almost         B．certainly        C．hardly           D．never

6．  A．question       B．chalkboard     C．problem         D．homework

7．  A．they         B．it             C．everything     D．each

8．  A．asked              B．questioned     C．told            D．understood

9．  A．outstanding  B．surprising       C．annoying       D．frightening

10．A．sunburned    B．tender         C．Indian        D．naughty

11．A．sense        B．image         C．way           D．aspect

12．A．had          B．ignored          C．respected       D．cared

13．A．none           B．no one        C．each           D．not all

14．A．Especially    B．Even though       C．Even so       D．Even

15．A．lose          B．win            C．achieve          D．answer

16．A．time         B．situation         C．chalkboard     D．condition

17．A．refused        B．rejected         C．tried           D．promised

18．A．if             B．so that        C．unless        D．in case

19．A．in favour of  B．of            C．by means of   D．in front of

20．A．and          B．but             C．so              D．or

5月1日，高二（3）班的学生志愿者Li Yue和ZhangHua去阳光敬老院（Sunshine Nursing Home）开展志愿者活动（送水果、打扫、聊天等）。假如你是校英语报的记者，请按下列要点用英语写一则100~120词的新闻报道。

1. 时间、地点、任务、活动；  2. 老人们的反应；  3. 简短评论

【参考词汇】 1. 时间： May 1st    2. 地点：Sunshine Nursing Home  3. 活动：a) present the elderly with fruits and …    b) do some cleaning / clean …      

c) chat / talk with      d) give per formances    4. 基本时态：一般过去时

Student volunteers Brought Sunshine to the Elderly