September 28, 2006

Dear Jenny,

　　We have been talking to each other mostly through e-mails. This time, I choose to write a letter instead, as I feel like writing English with a pen. When I write with a pen, it seems easier for me to express my thoughts and feelings.

　　It is almost a month since school started. I really like being in high school. It's exciting. There are so many new things to do and so many new friends to meet.

　　High school students in China live a busy but colourful life. We have to work hard for the National College Entrance Examinations, which will take place in less than three years.

　　Now I have a large group of friends. We take all of our classes together in the same classroom. It's good to have friends to study with because we can help each other. I'm pretty good at English, so many guys ask me for help with their English. I don't mind. After school we usually go to play sports for a little while. Sometimes we take a walk down the river or visit some bookstores. We have to be back for evening class by 7:30.

　　Among my classmates, there is one guy named Dazhi, whom I like most. I met him on the sports ground one afternoon. He was sitting alone, deep in thought. I went up to him and introduced myself. I learned from our talk that he is from the countryside some two hundred kilometers away from Shijiazhuang. Dazhi's fascinating life attracts me very much, because it has been very different from mine. As time goes on, I find we have many similar interests and hobbies. I think I can learn a lot from him. Being friends means learning from each other. Don't you think so?

　　I have invited Dazhi to come to my home for dinner this Sunday. I think we will have a good time together. We will have lots of things to share（分享）with each other. I am quite happy with this growing friendship. It has opened a door to many new experiences.

　　I must go back to class now.

　　Best wishes!

Yours friendly,

Li Ming

(1)In the passage, the author mainly wants to tell _________.

[　　]

A．the new things he has learned in high school

B．why he writes this letter with a pen

C．friends should learn from each other

D．his school life and how he developed a friendship with Dazhi

(2)Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

[　　]

A．The writer can express his ideas more freely with a pen than through e-mails.

B．The writer is willing to help others with their English.

C．The writer shares some interests and hobbies with Dazhi.

D．The writer got to know Dazhi through e-mails.

(3)The underlined word“fascinating”(in Paragraph 5) probably means _________.

[　　]

(4)From the passage we can know that the author __________.

[　　]

A．is sure to pass the National College Entrance Examinations

B．will experience a lot of new things in this school

C．is quite used to the life in the countryside

D．only works hard at his lessons all day long

阅读理解

　　It is ten o'clock at night and you are outside. You can see many stars in the sky. Each star is another sun. The sky is big, and it hag many suns.

　　Our sun is near to us. It warms us and gives us light in daytime. The stars are not near. We can see their light only at night, and they do not warm us.

　　The stars are not all the same. Many stars are quite like our sun. They are the same size, and they have the same colour, yellow. Other stars are bigger or smaller. A “giant(巨人)” star is very, very big. A “dwarf(侏儒)”is a small star—smaller than the sun.

　　Stars have different colours, too. They can be blue, orange, yellow, white or red. There are giants and dwarfs in all these colours. All stars are, of course, very hot. The hottest stars are the blue ones. White stars come next, they are less hot. Then yellow and orange stars are less hot again. Red stars are the least hot, and they are also the oldest stars.

　　Light moves very quickly across the sky, eighteen million (18,000,000)kilometers in a minute. Our nearest star is a red dwarf. Its name is Proxima Centauri ( proxima ＝ nearest), and it gives a weak, red light. We can just see this light. It left Proxima Centauri 4.25 years ago, and now tonight, it is reaching cur eyes. Think about it! In one minute, 18,000,000 kilometres. So, in 4.25 years—well, how many kilometers? You can find the answer yourself.

　　I will just say this: Proxima Centauri is a long way from us.

1．According to the temperatures on stars, the right order from the lowest temperature to the highest is ________.

[　　]

A．red→yellow→white→blue

B．orange→red→blue→white

C．blue→white→yellow→red

D．white→blue→orange→red

2．All the following am right except ________.

[　　]

A．a “dwarf” is smaller than the sun

B．there are dwarfs in different colours

C．a “dwarf” is a small star

D．dwarfs are the least hot

3．How far away is the star Proxima Centauri from us?

[　　]

A．40,208,400,000,000 kilometres.

B．9,460,800,000,000 kilometres.

C．679,140,000,000 kilometres .

D．279,225,000,000 kilometres .

4．When we say “The star Procyon is ‘ten light years’ away.”, we mean ________.

[　　]

A．we can reach the star in ten years

B．we first saw the star ten years ago

C．the light left Procyon ten years ago

D．Procyon has been that far away for ten years

Many of us believe that a person’s mind becomes less active as he grows older. But this is not true, according to Dr Jarvik, professor of psychiatry at the University of California. She has studied the mental functioning of aging persons for several years. For example, one of her studies concerns 136 pairs of twins (双胞胎), who were first examined when they were already 60 years old. As Dr Jarvik continued the study of the twins into their 70s and 80s, their minds did not generally decline (衰弱) as was expected.

　　However, there was some decline in their psycho-motor speed. This means that it took them longer to finish mental tasks than it used to. But when speed was not a factor, they lost very little intellectual (智力的) ability over the years. In general, Dr Jarvik’s studies have shown that there is no decline in knowledge or reasoning ability. This is true not only with those in their 30s and 40s, but with those in their 60s and 70s as well.

　　It is true that older people themselves often complain that their memory is not as good as it once was. However, much of what we call “loss of memory” is not that at all. There usually was incomplete learning in the first place. For example, the older person perhaps had trouble hearing, or poor vision, or was trying to learn the new thing at too fast a speed. In the cases where the older person’s mind really seems to get worse, it is not necessarily a sign of decline due to old age. Often it is simply a sign of a sad emotional state. 

1. This passage is mainly about _______.

A. what caused mental decline

B. a new discovery about mental decline

C. the difference between middle-aged and older persons

D. how Dr Jarvik studied mental functioning of the twins

2.The word “psychiatry” in paragraph 1 most probably means _______.

A. the study of diseases of the mind

B. the study of physical diseases

C. the study of twins’ growth

D. the study of human behavior

3.More often than not, what we call mental decline is actually a sign of _______.

A. a worsening state of health               B. old age

C. nervous tension                         D. a state of unhappiness

I have had just about enough of being treated like a second-class citizen, simply because I happen to be that unfairly treated member of society --- a customer. The more I go into shops and hotels, banks and post offices, railway stations, airports and the like, the more I am convinced the things are being run solely to suit the firm, the system, or the union. There seems to be a deceptive (欺骗的) new motto for so-called “service” organizations --- Staff Before Service.

　　 How often, for example, have you queued for what seems like hours at the Post Office or the supermarket because there were not enough staff on duty to man all the service grilles or checkout counters? Surely in these days of high unemployment it must be possible to hire cashiers and counter staff. Yet supermarkets, hinting darkly at higher prices, claim that uncovering all their cash registers at any one time would increase operating costs. And the Post Office says we cannot expect all their service grilles to be occupied “at times when demand is low”.

　　  It is the same with hotels. Because waiters and kitchen staff must finish when it suits them, dining rooms close earlier or menu choice is cut short. As for us guests, we just have to put up with it. There is also the nonsense of so many friendly hotel night porters having been thrown out of their jobs in the interests of “efficiency” and replaced by coin-eating machines which offer everything from lager to laxatives (从贮藏啤酒到通便剂). Not to mention the tea-making kit in your room: a kettle with a mixed collection of tea bags, plastic milk boxes and lump sugar. Who wants to wake up to a raw teabag? I do not, especially when I am paying for “service”.

　　Can it be stopped, this worsening of service, this growing attitude that the customer is always a bore? I angrily hope so because it is happening, sadly, in all walks of life.

　　Our only hope is to hammer home our anger whenever and wherever we can and, if all else fails, bring back into practice that other, older slogan --- Take Our Deal Elsewhere.

1.The writer feels that nowadays customers __________.

A. deserve the lowest status in society

B. are unworthy of proper consideration

C. have received high quality service

D. have become victims of modern organizations

2.The writer argues that the quality of service is changing because __________.

A. customers’ demands have greatly changed

B. the staff receive more consideration than customers

C. customers’ needs have become more complex

D. staff members are less considerate than their employers

3. According to the writer, long queues at counters are caused by __________.

A. not having enough male staff on duty

B. difficulties in hiring more efficient staff

C. lack of cooperation between staff members

D. not providing enough staff on purpose to reduce budget

4.The writer suggests that a customer __________.

A. be patient when queuing before checkout counters

B. put up with the rude manners of the staff

C. try to control his temper when ill-treated

D. go to other places where good service is available