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MAINE

by J. Courtney Sullivan, fiction, $26

The Kellehers are a big, disorderly family who sometimes seem to have only one thing in common: love for their beach house in Maine. Lie there with this novel and listen to a summer’s worth of secrets, quarrels, and misunderstandings.

WHAT I LEARNED WHEN I ALMOST DIED

by Chris Licht, nonfiction, $23

The energetic co-creator of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” was unprepared for the pain, fear, and helplessness he felt after suffering a brain bleed. But as he detailed in this outspoken, thoughtful book, the lessons he took from the event surprised him the most.

FIRE AND RAIN

by David Browne, nonfiction, $26

This book transports you back to a year — the 1970 of Apollo 13, the first Earth Day — and the turning point of albums by the Beatles, James Taylor, and Crosby, Stills and Nash that provided the sound for a new decade. Rolling Stone contributing editor Browne artfully describes the creation of these classic songs.

LONG DRIVE HOME

by Will Allison, fiction, $22

A moment of anger has life-and-death consequences in this beautifully written novel. Being angry with a speeding teenage driver, Dad Glen Bauer makes a turn of his car in response, causing an accident in which the other driver dies. It’s a story about guilt, responsibility, and how mistrust can tear a loving family apart.

JESSICA LOST

by Bunny Crumpacker and J.S. Picariello, memoir (回忆录)，$25

Two authors — a woman who gave up a baby for adoption and the child herself — write alternating chapters in this memoir, which takes readers on a 50-year journey through their separate lives, their meeting, and their following relationship. Its account is both original and heartbreaking.

1. Which of the following is TURE according to the text?

A. MAINE talks about a loving happy family. 

B. WHAT I LEARNED WHEN I ALMOST DIED is a novel. 

C. JSSICA LOST is about a mother and her daughter. 

D. LONG DRIVE HOME is written in the first person.

2.. Which of the following may be favored by music lovers?

A. MAINE.                                                                           B. FIRE AND RAIN.             

C. LONG DRIVE HOME.                                        D. JESSICA LOST.

3.The text is most probably a(n) _______.

A. advertisement.                                                              B. literary research report.   

C. Collection of novels                                                        D. book review

2011年10月13日下午5点30分，在广东佛山一五金城内，2岁女童小悦悦在过马路时不慎被一辆面包车撞倒并两度碾压，随后肇事车辆逃逸，随后开来的另一辆车辆直接从已经被碾压过的女童身上再次开了过去，七分钟内在女童身边经过的十几个路人，都对此冷眼漠视，只有最后一名拾荒阿姨上前施以援手。2011年10月21日，小悦悦经医院全力抢救无效，于0时32分离世。由此引发网友广泛热议。请根据下面提示，以“Say no to indifference and awaken true love”为题写一短文，简述这一事件及事后人们对此的不同反应，并谈谈你自己的看法。

One of the world's richest men has taken a close interest in one of man’s most basic functions: visiting the toilet．Bill Gates’s charitable organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is looking for inventors to design the loo of the future, which, they hope, would improve sanitation for millions of people around the world．

So, what's wrong with the traditional flush toilet? Firstly, it wastes a huge amount of potential drinking water．Secondly, they are more likely to cause pollution．This is a real problem in many areas of the developing world, where, according to United Nations estimates, unsafe sanitation causes half of all hospitalizations．Younger people are particularly at risk．Illnesses which cause diarrhea are responsible for the deaths of about 1.5 million children a year．Finally, standard lavatories simply aren’t practical in remote areas．

The challenge set by Bill Gates was to come up with a latrine which works without running water, electricity or aseptic tank(化粪池)．It also needed to operate for less than 5 cents．28 designs were displayed at the recent Reinvent the Toilet Fair in Seattle, USA．Among them was one which turned human waste into electricity using microwaves, another which converted human waste into charcoal, and yet another which used urine for flushing．

But the winner was a solar-powered design which generated hydrogen gas and electricity.The team from the California Institute of Technology（CIT）picked up a prize of $ 100,000.

But clearly Bill Gates doesn’t feel he’s flushing money down the toilet．After the Seattle event he said, “We, couldn’t be happier with the response we’ve gotten,” Gates has even pledged $370m more to the future toilet project．They hope to field test more prototypes over the next three years．

1.Why is Bill Gates paying people to invent new toilets?

A．Because he wants to test people’s sense of creativity．

B．Because he wants to improve sanitation for many people．

C．Because he thinks the traditional ones are out of fashion．

D．Because he can’t design this kind of things himself．

2.Which of the following is NOT a problem with the traditional flush toilet?

A．They waste too much water．

B．They might cause diseases．

C．They are not always practical．

D．They are too complicated to use.

3.The underlined word “latrine” in the third paragraph might have similar meanings to the word “__ ”n the text．

A．Loo              B．sanitation          C．diarrhea          D．prototype

4.The team from CIT won the prize because their design        .

A．can change human waste into electricity

B．can turn human waste into charcoal

C．can produce power with solar energy

D．can use urine for flushing

5.If someone “flush money down the toilet”, they are       .

A．showing off their wealth

B．being angry with their work onditions

C．wasting money for nothing

D．expressing their great determination

A Charlotte, N.C., man was charged with first-degree murder of a 79-year-old woman whom police said he scared to death. In an attempt to evade policemen after a bank robbery, the Associated Press reports that 20-year-old Larry Whitfield broke into the home of Mary Parnell. Police say he didn’t touch Parnell but that she died after suffering a heart attack that was caused by terror. Can the guy be held responsible for the woman’s death? Prosecutors(公诉人) said that he can under the state’s murder rule, which allows someone to be charged with murder if he or she causes another person’s death while committing or fleeing from a severe crime like robbery—even if he or she doesn’t kill someone on purpose.

But, medically speaking, can someone actually be frightened to death? We asked Martin Samuels, chairman of the neurology department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Absolutely, no question about it.

The body has a natural protective method called the fight-or-flight response(战或逃反应), which was originally described by Walter Cannon，the chairman of Harvard University’s physiology department from 1906 to 1942. If, in the wild, an animal is faced with a life-threatening situation, the autonomic nervous system responds by increasing heart rate, increasing blood flow to the muscles, and slowing digestion, among other things. All of this increases the chances of succeeding in a fight or running away from an aggressive beast. This process certainly would be of help to primitive humans. However, in the modern world there is obvious decline of the fight-or-flight response.

The autonomic nervous system uses the chemical messenger to send signals to various parts of the body to activate the fight-or-flight response. This chemical is toxic in large amounts; it damages the organs such as the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. It is believed that almost all sudden deaths are caused by damage to the heart. There is almost no other organ that would fail so fast as to cause sudden death. Kidney failure, liver failure, those things don’t kill you suddenly.

By the way, any strong positive or negative emotions such as happiness or sadness can cause the same result. There are people who have died in intercourse or in religious passion. There was a case of a golfer who hit a hole in one, turned to his partner and said, “I can die now”, and then he dropped dead. For about seven days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon there was an increase of sudden cardiac death among New Yorkers.

1.Why the Charlotte, N.C., man was charged?

A. Because he threatened the policemen to kill an old woman.

B. Because he caused an old woman’s terror and she died.

C. Because he beat an old woman and caused her heart attack

D. Because he murdered an old woman while robbing a bank.

2. What is Martin Samuels’ attitude to the possibility of being frightened to death?

A. Approval.              B. Disapproval.                  C. Doubtful.          D. Indifferent.

3.Which of the following about the fight-or-flight response is true?

A. The fight-or-flight response was raised and proved by Martin A. Samuels.

B. It is a natural protective method that can’t be found in all creatures but humans.

C. The ancient humans had a superior fight-or-flight response than modern ones.

D. The fight-or-flight response is beneficial to both our actions and organs.

4. What activity can we infer is less likely to damage the organs?

A. Winning a big lottery.                               B. Missing a dead family.

C. Watching a horror movie.                            D. Listening to a sweet song.

5.The purpose of the passage is_________.

A. to explain why people will die of a heart attack

B. to offer some advice on protecting us from heart failure

C. to compare different kinds of feelings to cause a death

D. to show strong emotions can cause a sudden death

After a 15-year ban on the sale of fireworks in Beijing, Kang Guoliang, 51, was able to start his old trade again yesterday．

       As a salesman in Xinhui store in Dongcheng District, he is happy about the increasing number of buying fireworks wrapped in red paper — a color standing for happiness and good luck．

       “Fireworks are available for the first time in town for more than a decade,” Kang said happily．“People will buy them．”

       The store has 300 boxes of fireworks piled up and is open 24 hours at the moment．Residents are buying the fireworks and firecrackers for the upcoming Spring Festival, which falls on February 18．

       Citywide, 2,116 registered stores and retailers, 585 in the centre and 1,600 on the outskirts are trading fireworks in the Chinese capital．Sales of fireworks within the Fifth Ring Road started yesterday and will last until March 4, Xinhua reported．Among the stores, 117 stores are permitted to operate 24 hours．About 600,000 boxes of firecrackers worth more than 100 million yuan have been carried to registered stores．

       The Chinese capital began a ban in 1993 to reduce fireworks-related deaths and fires during the holiday season．Last September the ban was removed in response to residents’ fondness for fireworks when celebrating Spring Festival．

       According to new rules, Beijing residents are allowed to set off fireworks within the Fifth Ring Road all day on Lunar New Year’s Eve and Lunar New Year’s day, from 7 a．m．to midnight every day from February 19 to March 4．

       “Spring Festival without fireworks is not Spring Festival,” said Sheng Hefei, who was buying fireworks in the store．“It was fun to light the firecrackers when I was little,” he said．“The sound and view of fireworks make a real holiday．” However, not all residents welcome the return of firecrackers because of injuries, pollution and noise．“My child is scared of the sudden sound of firecrackers, and it is annoying to hear it all night long,” complained Lu Jun, a local resident．

（China Daily02/11/2008）

The passage is likely to belong to a（n）__________?

       A．description   B．argument       C．advertisement        D．news report

What’s the main idea of the passage?

       A．Beijing fireworks sales start after a 15-year ban．

       B．People go to buy fireworks and firecrackers every where in Beijing．

       C．Beijing residents all welcome the return of firecrackers．

       D．Many stores began to sell fireworks and firecrackers．

We can learn from the passage that ____________．

       A．every Spring Festival falls on February 18

       B．Beijing residents can set off fireworks everywhere ．

       C．fireworks are allowed to be sold because people like them．

       D．from February 19 to March 4, Beijing residents can set off fireworks twenty four hours every day．

What is the writer’s attitude towards the sales of fireworks in Beijing?

       A．Negative   B．Not mentioned C．Positive    D．Satisfactory