For years and years people have been saying that the railways are dead．“We can do without railways” people say，as if motorcars and planes made the railways unnecessary．We all keep hearing that trains are slow，that they lose money，that they’re dying．But this is far from the truth．In these days of expensive oil，the railways have become highly competitive with motorcars and planes．If you want to carry people or goods from place to place，they’re cheaper than planes．And they have much in common with planes．A plane goes in a strange line and so does a railway．What is more，it takes you from the heart of a city into the heart of another．It doesn’t 1eave you as a plane does，miles and miles from the city center．It doesn’t hold you up as a car does，in endless traffic jams．And a single train can carry goods which no plane or motorcar could ever do．Far from being dead，the railways are very much alive．Modern railway lines give you a smooth，untroubled journey．Where else can you eat well，sleep in comfort，feel safe and enjoy the scene while you are traveling at speed at the same time? And we are only at the beginning．For we have just entered the age of super-fast trains, traveling at 1 50 miles an hour and more．Soon we will be wondering why we spent so much on motorways we can't use because we have not enough money to buy the oil and planes we can't fly in for the same reason.

1.Some people think the railways are dead for many reasons except that ______  ．

2.The writer’s idea seems to be that ______  ．

3.According to the writer，which of the following is NOT true?

4.From the underlined sentence at the end of the passage，we can infer that   ．

When we think about giving help to developing countries, we often think about giving money so that these countries can build schools and hospitals, buy food and medicine, or find clean water supplies. These seem to be the most important basic needs of the people we are trying to help. However, it’s far from enough. Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve got to come up with some better ideas to help them.

I was very surprised, then, when I read about a plan to make cheap laptop computers（便携式电脑）for children in developing countries. A man called Nicholas Negroponte invented a cheap laptop computer, which can run without electricity. He decided to invent this computer after he visited a school in Cambodia.

The laptop which Mr. Negroponte has designed is a little different from the normal laptop computers you can buy in the shops. One difference is that it will be covered in rubber so that it is very strong and won’t be damaged easily. As an electricity supply can be a problem in developing countries, the computer also has a special handle（把手）so that children can wind（摇）the computer up to give it extra power when needed.

These special laptop computers will cost less than 100 US dollars and Mr. Negroponte wants to build as many as 15 million machines in the first year of production. The idea is that these computers will help the children’s education as they will be able to access the Internet. These computers might not help the people in developing countries immediately, but by improving children’s education they should help people to find their own solutions to their problems in the long term.

Another idea to help children in developing countries is to recycle old mobile phones so that they can be used again. In the UK, and, probably in many other countries too, millions of mobile phones are thrown away every year. The waste created by throwing away these old phones is very bad for the environment, so it seems to be an excellent idea to recycle them. In this way we will be able to achieve two important goals（目标）at the same time. We will reduce the waste we produce and help others. In other words, we will be able to “kill two birds with one stone”, and that is always a good thing.

  1  : Some new and better ways to help developing countries

I was sitting in the surgical waiting area at the hospital waiting for word of my wife's operation. The small room was filled with other families and friends, who were ___36___ waiting to hear how their loved ones were doing.

There was a young boy sitting quietly in the ___37___ . He held a small box of ___38___ in one hand and a tablet(写字板) in the other. Every so often he'd place the tablet on his lap and draw something. As the hours passed I began to see the room almost ___39___ . And there was a strange silence.

"Daddy, when is Mommy going home?" the young boy asked, breaking the ___40___.

"Tomorrow." his father replied. The boy picked up his crayons and ___41___ something on the tablet.

I ___42___ him as he moved his feet back and forth, looking up at the ceiling and then toward the sunshine-filled window. "When's ___43___, Daddy?" he asked. His father ___44___ him over to sit by him. "Come, ___45___ here next to me," he said with a gentle tone in his voice.

___46___ his things, the little boy walked slowly to his father's side from the corner.The man ___47___ out and held his son by his shoulder.

"There are three days in life. Yesterday, today and tomorrow. One is over and done, one we live in, the other we ___48___ . We can't live in yesterday, but if we are happy enough today, we will be even happier tomorrow," he said in an attempt to ___49___ the boy.

The little boy looked at him for a moment and said, "If Mommy is going home tomorrow, I'll be ___50___. So, I want it to be tomorrow already, Daddy."

Now hanging on every word of this ___51___ , I leaned forward to hear his response. It was ___52___.

"Son, the one great thing about today is once it ___53___, it is already almost tomorrow."

I thought about how ___54___ it was. Even in my adult life, I still live waiting for what tomorrow may ___55___. Now I know that it is already "almost tomorrow".

1.                A．eagerly         B．patiently        C．happily   D．curiously

2.                A．chair           B．corner         C．distance  D．shadow

3.                A．gifts           B．toys            C．chalks    D．crayons

4.                A．dark           B．full            C．empty    D．clean

5.                A．promise        B．rule            C．record   D．silence

6.                A．wrote          B．drew           C．printed   D．carved

7.                A．followed        B．found          C．watched  D．caught

8.                A．today          B．yesterday       C．future    D．tomorrow

9.                A．knocked        B．ordered        C．called    D．pulled

10.               A．stand          B．sit             C．lie   D．sleep

11.               A．gathering       B．forgetting       C．saving D．choosing

12.               A．got            B．took           C．set   D．reached

13.               A．spend          B．waste          C．kill   D．expect

14.               A．frighten        B．satisfy          C．persuade  D．warn

15.               A．happier        B．calmer         C．smarter   D．sadder

16.               A．story          B．argument       C．conversation   D．discussion

17.               A．humorous      B．silly            C．positive   D．perfect

18.               A．ends           B．starts          C．passes D．lasts

19.               A．meaningful      B．important       C．interesting D．fantastic

20.               A．happen        B．come          C．bring D．need

British researchers are looking for volunteers willing to eat a piece of chocolate daily for a year in the name of science. The trial(实验) will explore whether flavonoids (类黄酮) found in chocolate and other foods can reduce the risk of heart disease.

“We are looking at a high risk group first,” said Aedin Cassidy, a biochemist who will lead the study.

Previous studies have suggested dark chocolate is rich in the beneficial flavonoids linked with heart health, but experts note the high sugar and fat content of most commercially available chocolate might cancel out some of the advantages. Other research has also shown dark chocolate appears to lower blood pressure, improve the function of blood vessels (血管)and reduce the risk of heart attack.

This has encouraged companies to market specific products containing dark chocolate. Mars Inc has introduced Cocoa Via, a line of dark and premium chocolates that plays up such health advantages.

Cassidy said her team will also publish findings in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showing that flavonoids found in soy and cocoa appear to have the strongest effects of reducing risk of heart disease.

The next step will organize 150 women volunteers with a specific illness. The researchers will look at whether flavonoids help reduce blood pressure, cut cholesterol levels and improve the condition of blood vessels.

Half the women in the year-long study will eat chocolate containing 30 grams of flavonoids found in soy, cocoa and other fruits and vegetables. The others will get chocolate without the active flavonoids.

“This could help doctors give advice to patients on the type and amount of foods to eat to reduce heart disease risk—and it does not necessarily need to be chocolate,” Cassidy said. “If this trial works we will be able to advise on a whole range of foods. People won't have to go around eating specially designed chocolate.”

1. What is the best title for the passage?

A. Volunteers wanted for chocolate study.               B. Chocolate is good for health.

C. A new research on heart attacks.                    D. Flavonoids found in chocolate.

2. What’s the purpose of the trial?

A. To test the advantages of a new kind of chocolate.

B. To find cures for heart disease.

C. To discover how to control blood pressure.

D. To explore the advantages of flavonoids.

3. From Paragraph 3 we can infer that __________.

A. Cassidy’s team has done several studies on chocolate

B. dark chocolate has proved beneficial to health

C. people should eat much chocolate with high sugar and fat

D. most commercially available chocolate doesn’t contain flavonoids

4. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A. All the volunteers will eat the same chocolate.

B. CocoaVia is a company that produces dark chocolate.

C. People who want to take part in the trial should be healthy.

D. Soy, cocoa, some fruit and vegetables contain flavonoids.

Nowadays more and more people are trapped in too busy work to relax themselves. We have no time to tell a bed-time story to our children, or enjoy a nice dinner with our family, or take a break to think about how we live the precious life, or even meet friends. All we notice is that the distinctions that used to guide and steady us ------ between Sunday and Monday, public and private, here and there ------ are gone. We have more ways to communicate, but less and less to say. Partly because we’re so busy communicating.
Maybe that’s why more and more people I know, even if they have no religious commitment, seem to be turning to yoga, or meditation, or tai chi. Some friends of mine try to go on long walks every Sunday, or to “forget” their cellphones at home. A series of tests in recent years has shown that after spending time in quiet rural settings, subjects “exhibit greater attentiveness, stronger memory and generally improved cognition. Their brains become both calmer and sharper.” More than that, empathy, as well as deep thought, depends on neural processes that are “inherently slow. ” The very ones our high-speed lives have little time for.
In my own case, I turn to eccentric and often extreme measures to try to keep my sanity and ensure that I have time to do nothing at all. I’ve not yet used a cellphone and I’ve never Tweeted or entered Facebook. I try not to go online till my day’s writing is finished, and I moved from Manhattan to rural Japan.
None of this is a matter of principle or asceticism (苦行主义): it’s just pure selfishness. Nothing makes me feel better-----calmer, clearer and happier----than being in one place, absorbed in a book, a conversation, a piece of music. It’s actually something deeper than mere happiness: it’s joy, which the monk David Steindl-Rast describes as “that kind of happiness that doesn’t depend on what happens.” That is the highest of the highest we have been longing for----The Joy of Quiet.
【小题1】The writer sometimes doesn’t do anything because ________.