Going on a road trip? The St．Louis Arch，Statue of Liberty and Golden Gate Br_[dga are great tourist sites．But if you prefer offbeat destinations, check out the following roadside attractions．

     World's Largest Ball of Paint

     Alexandria, Ind．

     In 1977, Michael Carmichael set out to create the biggest ball of paint anywhere．Starting with a base-ball as center, he painted layer after layer of paint day after day, year after year．The ball weighs more than 1,300 pounds, with more than 20,000 coats of paint, which is recognized by Guinness World Records．Visitors can paint the ball themselves and become part of history．

     The Museum of Dirt

     Boston, Mass．

     The museum is the idea of Glenn Johnson．Labeled （贴有标签的） glass bottles contain such treasures as dirt from the Great Wall of China, as well as sand from a desert in Saudi Arabia and Omaha Beach in France．Best of all, the cost of seeing this museum is dirt cheap: It's free．

     Mount Horeb Mustard Museum

     Mount Horeb，Wis．

     It's heaven for hotdog lovers! This museum claims to have the world's largest collection of prepared mustards （芥末）．Its more than 4,100 bottles of spices come from 60 nations, including Turkey and China．Visitors learn the history of mustard, from how it's made to how it's advertised and sold．The museum's creator, Barry Levenson, loves mustard so much, he even puts it on ice cream!

     Paper House

     Rockport, Mass．

     Swedish immigrant （移民） Ellis Stenman was much ahead of his time in 1922, when he started to build a two-room house almost entirely out of newspaper．At the time, people didn't give much — if any —thought to recycling paper．In fact, "recycling" wasn't even a word yet．The house is framed with wood, but the walls are made of 215 layers of newspaper．In all, he used about 100,000 newspapers．

1．The underlined word "offbeat" in the first paragraph can be best replaced by______．

   A．great           B．foreign           C．unusual           D．historical

2．If you want to add your own work to what you visit, you may choose______ ．

   A．World's Largest Ball of Paint                B．The Museum of Dirt

   C．Mount Horeb Mustard Museum               D．Paper House

3．Which of the following is true of Barry Levenson according to the text?

   A．No spices but mustards can be found in his museum．

   B．He travels around the world to collect mustards．

   C．Mustard is advertised and sold in his museum．

   D．In a way, he shows much preference for mustard．

4．What can be inferred from the text?

   A．Michael must have the largest ball in the world． 

B．Glenn must have paid a visit to China．

   C．Lots of hotdog lovers will travel to Mount Horeb．

D．Ellis could be seen as a pioneer in his time．

 5．According to the text, we know that

   A．Michael will never stop painting the large ball

B．there is no charge at the Museum of Dirt

   C．Barry is the owner of the mustard museum

D．Paper House was completely made of paper

第二部分 阅读理解（共两节，满分 40分）
第一节（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列四篇短文，从每小题后所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。并在答题卡上将该选项涂黑。
Imagine a classroom missing the one thing that’s long been considered a necessary part to reading and writing ------ paper. No notebooks, no textbooks, no test paper. Nor are there any pencils or pens, which always seem to run out of ink at the critical moment.
A “paperless classroom” is what more and more schools are trying to achieve.
Students don’t do any handwriting in this class. Instead, they use palm size, or specially-designed computers. The teacher downloads texts from Internet libraries and sends them to every student’s personal computer.
Having computers also means that students can use the Web. They can look up information on any subject they’re studying from math to social science.
High school teacher Judy Harrel in Florida, US, described how her class used the Web to learn about the war in Afghanistan (阿富汗) before.
“We could touch every side of the country through different sites from the forest to refugee camps (难民营)”, she said. “Using a book that’s three or four years old is impossible.”
And exams can go online too. At a high school in Tennessee, US, students take tests on their own computers. The teacher records the grades on the network for everyone to see and then copies them to his own electronic grade book.
A paperless classroom is a big step towards reducing the waste of paper. High school teacher Stephanie Sorrell in Kentucky, US, said she used to give about 900 pieces of paper each week to each student.
“Think about the money and trees we could save with the computer,” she said.
But, with all this technology, there’s always the risk that the machines will break down. So, in case of a power failure or technical problems, paper textbooks are still widely available for these hi-tech students.
46. What does “run out of ink at the critical moment” in the first paragraph mean?
A. Pens may not write well at the critical moment.
B. Pens get lost easily, so you may not find them at the critical moment.
C. Pens may have little or no ink at the critical moment.
D. Pens use ink, while pencils don’t.
47. The high school teacher, Judy Harrell, used the example of her class to show that ______.
A. the Web could take them everywhere
B. the Web taught them a lot
C. the Web is a good tool for information
D. the Web, better than the textbooks, can give the latest and comprehensive (全面的) information
48. The paperless classrooms will benefit ______ most.
A. students            B. teachers             C. trees     D. computers 

The Internet has opened up a whole new on-line world for us to meet, chat (聊天) and go where we’ve never been before.
But just as in face-to-face communication, there are some basic rules of behavior that should be followed when online. The basic rule is simple: treat others in the same way that you would want to be treated. Imagine how you’d feel if you were in the other person’s shoes.
For anything you’re going to send, ask yourself: “Would I say this in front of the person?” If the answer is no, rewrite and reread. Repeat the process till you feel sure that you’d feel comfortable saying the words to the person’s face.
If someone in the chat room is impolite to you, your feeling is to fight back in the same manner. But try not to do so. You should either ignore (忽略) the person, or use your chat software (软件) to stop their messages. If it was caused by a disagreement with another member, try to fix the situation by politely discussing it. Remember to respect the beliefs and opinions of others in the chat room.
Everyone was new to the network once. Offer advice when asked by newcomers, as they may not be sure what to do or how to communicate. When someone makes a mistake whether it’s a stupid question or an unnecessarily long answer, be kind about it. If it’s a small mistake, you may not need to say anything. Even if you feel strongly about it, think twice before saying anything. Having good manners yourself doesn’t give you the right to correct everyone else.
If you do decide to tell someone about a mistake, point it out politely. At the same time, if you find you are wrong, be sure to correct yourself and apologize to those who you have offended (冒犯).
It is not polite to ask others personal questions such as their age, sex, and families. Unless you know the person very well, and you are both comfortable with sharing personal information, don’t ask such questions.
【小题1】. When you send short messages to a person, you must       .

Sometimes people come into your life and you know at once that they were sure to be there. They serve some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson or help find out who you are or who you want to become. You never know who these people may be: your classmate, neighbor, teacher, long-lost friend or even a real stranger. But you know that every moment they will affect your life in some serious way.
Sometimes things happen to you. At the time they may seem terrible, painful and unfair. But later you realize that without getting over those difficulties you would have never realized your further ability and strength. Everything happens for a reason and nothing happens by chance or with good or bad luck.
The people you meet affect your life, and the successes and failure you experience, create who you are. Even the bad experiences can be learned from. In fact, they are probably the most poignant and important ones.
Enjoy every day even every moment and take from it everything that you possibly can, for you may never be able to experience it again. Talk to people you have never talked to before, and really listen. You should set your sights high, hold your head up, tell yourself you are a great one and believe in yourself.
You can make your life anything you wish. Create your own life and then go out and live it.
【小题1】The people we meet       .
A. all know where to find us 
B. serve us on no purpose  
C. will change us in some way
【小题2】From the passage, we know that bad things can make us       .
A. terribly meet bad luck  
B. realize our further ability 
C. find no serious success    
【小题3】The underlined word "poignant" in the passage means "       ".
A. 平淡的              B. 明显的              C. 深刻的     
【小题4】The writer's advice is that we should       .
A. never talk to strange people 
B. learn as much as we can each day
C. get over difficulties painfully            
【小题5】Which is the best title for the passage?
A. Create Your Own Life  
B. Hold Your Head Up     
C. People You Meet in Life