The Fourth "21th Century Cup" National English Speaking Competition is to be held in Shanghai.

　　Organizers: China Daily and Shanghai Broadcasting Network.

　　Co-ordinater: China University English Speaking Association （CUESA）.

　　Co-sponsors （联办单位）: English Speaking Union （ESU）, Lotus Software （China）Co. Ltd. , Times Publishing Group of Singapore, Hilton Shanghai, Pearson Education, Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press.

　　Date: March 26 （ Friday）, 1999.

　　Place: Hilton Shanghai.

　　Competition Format （形式） : Each student will present a prepared speech on the given topic, followed by a three -minute off - hand speech and a three - minute question and answer period with the judges.

　　Prepared speech period: six minutes.

　　Q & A period: three minutes.

　　Speech topic: People and Nature: In search of harmony （和谐）in a new age ＋ your personal opinion. （Topice for the off hand speech will be given on the day of competition）.

　　Prizes: Besides books and certificates （证书）, the top two winners will be offered scholarships（奖学金） to travel to the annual international English -speaking competition which will be held by the English Speaking Union in London in May, 1999. The third and fourth place winners will be offered a study trip to Singapore, sponsored by the Times Publishing Group. The fifth through 10th place winners will be offered cash prizes. All the competitors will receive certificates from the English Speaking Union and book prizes provided by Pearson Education and Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press. The teachers of the top winners will also receive a one - year membership to the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language（IATEFL）

　The main purpose of this passage is ________.

　　A. to invite you to take part in the competition

　　B. to tell you some information of the competition

　　C. to help to improve your spoken English

　　D. to show you how to win the competition

　　Which of the following is NOT mentioned about the Shanghai English Speaking Competition?________.

　　A. Where and when it will take place.

　　B. Its program.

　　C. What each winner will be offered.

　　D. The number of its competitors.

　　Suppose you get the sixth place, you'll________ .

　　A. travel to London for free.

　　B. become a one - year member of IATEFL

　　C. get some money , some books and a certificate

　　D. get a chance to study in Singapore

　An "off- hand speech"is________.

　　A. a speech not longer than three minutes

　　B. a speech without preparation

　　C. a speech with a piece of paper in hand

　　D. a speech which is well prepared

Putting in water fountains(?????) at schools, and teaching children about the health benefits of water, could reduce their risk of getting extra pounds, reports a new study that is published in the latest issue of the journal pediatrics.

The findings are based on a survey in 32 elementary schools of two German cities, Dortmund and Essen. The researchers, led by Rebecca Muckelbauer, a nutrionist at the Research Institute of Child Nutrition Dortmund, weighed about 3,000 children, and asked them about their beverage(????) consumption.

At the beginning of the school year, the experts had water fountains added to 17 of the schools. The scientists also worked with teachers to carry out educational programs that promote the benefits of drinking water. In contrast to schools in the United States, there are very few schools in Germany that have water fountains.

At the beginning of the study, there were no big differences in the number of overweight children in different groups. But by the end of the school year, children in the schools with water fountains were 31 percent less likely to gain extra pounds, compared to kids who went to other schools, where water drinking was not encouraged.[???:?

Children in the schools with fountains, increased their water consumption from about 3 up to 4 glasses a day, while those in the other schools continued to drink an average of 3 glasses. Over the research, the number of overweight kids upped from 384 to 385 out of 1,641 at the schools with water fountains. In comparison, the number of overweight kids at the other schools increased from 339 to 364 out of 1,309, Dr. Muckelbauer said.

The experts cannot make any final conclusions and explain why the students who were encouraged to drink water were less likely to gain extra weight. Dr. Muckelbauer noted that according to a few other studies, drinking of water increases the rate at which calories are burned, while some other research suggested that water may temporarily decrease appetite.

1.According to the text, the journal Pediatrics__________.

A. may cover the subject of the health of children

B. mainly deals with the water drinking problem

C. is mainly about the mental health of kids

D. must be a journal entitled(???) by a school

2.What do we know about the survey from the text?

A. The teacher were also encouraged to drink water.

B. The students surveyed were all overweight.

C. It surveyed children in the countryside.

D. It lasted for a whole school year.

3.The fifth paragraph is mainly about __________.

A. the technique used in the survey     B. the benefits of the survey

C. the process of the survey           D. the result of the survey

4.What can be learned from the last paragraph?

A. Drinking water definitely decreases appetite.

B. Further research is needed to confirm the finding.

C. The experts will encourage all the students to drink water.

D. Why students drinking more get less pounds will be clear soon.

（2010•江苏模拟）

I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my profession stand in the way of being a good parent.

I no longer consider myself the center of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows mean what they say. I am a good friend to my friends, and they to me. Without them, there would be nothing to say to you today.

So here’s what I wanted to tell you today：Get a life. A real life, not a desire of the next promotion, the bigger pay-check…

Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work. Pick up the phone. Send an e-mail. Write a letter. And realize that life is the best thing and that you have no business taking it for granted.

It is so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours, and our minutes. It is so easy to exist instead of to live. I learned to live many years ago. Something really, really bad happened to me, and something that changed my life in ways that, if I had my choice, it would never have been changed at all. And what I learned from it is what, today, seems to be the hardest lesson of all.

I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it, completely and totally. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned.

By telling them this：Read in the backyard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a deadly illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be lived.

1. It can be inferred from the passage that_____.

   A. the author is a success in personal life

   B. the author didn’t try her best to work well

   C. the author spent all her time caring for her children

   D. the author likes traveling very much

2.How did the author form her view of life?

   A. Through social experience.           B. By learning from her friends  

C. Through an unfortunate experience     D. From her children and husband.

3. By the underlined sentence “ It is so easy to exist instead of to live” in the fifth paragraph, the author really means that people tend to_____.

   A. make a living rather than live a real life

   B. work rather than enjoy life

   C. waste a lot in life

   D. forget the most important lessons in life

4. What’s the author’s attitude towards work?

   A. Do it well to serve others.

   B. Earn enough money to make life better.

   C. Try your best to get higher position and pay.

   D. Don’t let it affect your real life.

Say you meet with difficulty, what’s the first thing you do? Call your best friend and ask for help? It turns out that doing this may be better for you than you think. Researchers find that friendship has a big influence on your health, well-being and business.
One study from scientists recently found that older people with a large circle of friends were 22% less likely to die during a 10-year period than those with fewer friends. Other researchers discovered that having a strong social network could improve brain health as we age.
Even more interesting, feeling close to your friends may give you a different view on things. Researchers gathered 34 college students out side and asked them to estimate the steepness(估计陡峭程度) of a hill after climbing it. Those standing with friends gave lower estimates, and the longer the friends had known each other, the less steep the hill appeared.
What is the reason that friends can make obstacles seem less difficult? “People with stronger friendship networks feel that there is someone they can turn to,” said Karen A. Roberto, director of the center of the hospital at Virginia Tech. “Friendship is a valued resource (宝贵的资源).”
It is truly the fact. Friends make your life better. They provide support in hard times. They inspire you to make changes in your life, encourage you to set goals and cheer you on every step of the way until you reach them.
Want to find out more about the power of friendship? Read “Be a Better Friend”, “Make New Friends” and “Keep the Old”.
1. According to the author, if you’ve lost your job you should        .
A. turn to your best friend      B. ask for advice from your teacher
C. face it bravely by yourself    D. ask your parents for help
2. We can learn from the study in Paragraph 2 that        .
A. people with a lot of friends can stay away from illnesses
B. people with many friends may enjoy a longer life
C. 22% of the people who have fewer friends have a short life
D. those who have fewer friends may die 10 years earlier.
3. The underlined word “obstacles” in Paragraph 4 probably refers to some thing___________
A. that you are hoping to achieve by a plan
B. that happens to you when you are working
C. that makes it difficult for us to achieve something
D. that you have been trying to do
4. The fifth paragraph was written to tell us that        .
A. we should make many friends  B. true friendship lives long
C. friend ship has changed us     D. friendship should be valued

Fireworks explosions killed many people and injured hundreds more in China as the 2006 traditional Lunar New Year celebrations led to much disorder as well as joy across the nation.
At a temple fair in Henan, 36 people were killed on New Year's Day when a nearby storeroom full of fireworks exploded. The accident, caused by 3 children who threw burning fireworks into the storeroom, injured up to 48 people.
In the capital, Beijing, where a 12-year ban on Lunar New Year fireworks had just been lifted, the government reported 112 people were treated at hospital emergency rooms over the weekend for fireworks-related injuries.
"On New Year's Eve alone, we had more than 40 injuries and among them there were around a dozen people with serious injuries," hospital assistant director，Tian Jian said. In China's south-western city, Chongqing, where the fireworks ban was also lifted after 12 years, firefighters rushed to put out nearly 200 fires caused by fireworks on New Year's Eve.
A ban on fireworks, which are traditionally believed to ward off evil spirits and ghosts trying to enter New Year, was put in place across 200 cities in China due to safety and environmental pollution concerns. The ban was lifted in Beijing and many other cities in 2006.
However, despite the fireworks disorder, China's 1.3 billion people were largely enjoying the festival, with celebrations to continue throughout all of this week-long public holiday.
46. In which year were fireworks forbidden in Beijing and Chongqing?
A. In 1990                     B. In 1992                    C. In 1994                    D. In 1995
47. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?
A. The origin of fireworks during the Spring Festival
B. The cause of lifting the ban on fireworks.
C. The direct cause of the fireworks explosion in Henan.
D. The number of injuries caused by fireworks in Chongqing.
48. The underlined phrase" ward off" in the fifth paragraph means ________.
A. prevent              B. set off                     C. allow                D. burn down
49. Which of the following is the very reason why fireworks were banned in China?
A. Noise pollution                                       B. Waste of money       
C. Air pollution                                                 D. Possible injury and death
50. The purpose of writing the passage is to ________.
A. warn people of the great danger of fireworks
B. report the number of fireworks deaths and injuries during the festival
C. report that fireworks cause more fires and injuries than deaths
D. Advise people to keep away from fireworks