Directions: Read the following passage. Answer the questions according to the information given in the passage and required words limit. Write your answers on your answer sheet.

Few places have as much ancient history and modern knowledge to offer to students as Egypt. In addition to being the site of many of the world’s greatest wonders, Egypt also hosts two major religious institutions. Al-Azhar University is one of the oldest Islamic institutions for higher studies. The head of Al-Azhar is traditionally regarded as the ruler of Sunni Muslims all over the world.

Al-Azhar University had long been known as the most archaic university in the world until 2004, when archaeologists unearthed the site of what was believed to be the first ever ivory tower in the world in the northern seaside city of Alexandria.

What the archaeological team found were 13 lecture halls that could accommodate up to 5,000 students each. These lecture halls are believed to be the University of Alexandria, home of famous Greek scholars like Archimedes and Euclid during the ancient city’s golden era.

This discovery shows that Egypt was a centre for education and learning in the early world civilizations. Its tradition of scholarship was evident even from the Pharaonic Age（法老时代）, which boasted engineering wonders such as the pyramids as well as the scientific wonder of mummies, all of which still exist tod ay.

During the Islamic Age, Egypt became the regional academic centre for Islamic study and Arabic language and literature. Her popularity with scholars from all over the world grew with the establishment of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, in 975.

Today, it remains a popular destination for international scholars, especially those from the Arab world, Africa, Asia and Europe, but like most modern Egyptian universities, Al-Azhar has been equipped with the latest technologies to cope with new demands from the modern world, and is an ideal place for students from all over the world.

Find in the passage a word closest in meaning to the underlined word “ archaic” .(one word)

Why has Al-Azhar been equipped with the latest technologies?(no more than 9 word)

What is the passage mainly about ?(no more than 6 word)

What is the writer’s purpose of writing this passage?(no more than 9 word)

Everyone knows Americans as “Yanks” which _____ Yankees used during the Civil War for the northern states of the US.

Parents are a child’s first teachers. But some parents never learned from good examples. In New York City, a nonprofit agency called Covenant House tries to help homeless young mothers become good parents.

The twelve or so teenagers who live at the shelter attend parenting classes four days a week. The class is called Mommy and Me. Teacher Delores Clemens is a mother of five and a grandmother. She teaches basic skills, like how to give a baby a bath and how to dress a baby depending on the season.

She remembers one student who learned from her mother not to pick up a crying baby. The mother said that would only make the child needy and overly demanding. Delores Clemens says, “that's not true. You have to hold your baby! He is crying for a reason. If you never pick him up, he's going to keep crying. Pick your baby up. Cuddle your baby. Hug him! And she started to do that. They just want a little cuddling and a little love. And it works!”

Delores Clemens says her students also learn how to be good mothers by letting themselves be mothered. Around three hundred fifty teenage mothers graduate from Covenant House's Mommy and Me class every year.

In class, with her baby son is Natasha. She lived on the streets. She is glad not only for the warmth and shelter of Covenant House. As she told reporter Adam Phillips, she is also glad for the help they offer in seeking a more secure life.

The World Health Organization says the United States has forty-one births for every one thousand girls age fifteen to nineteen. That is higher than other developed countries, as well as some developing ones. By comparison, northern neighbor Canada has fourteen births and southern neighbor Mexico has eighty-two.

1.What is the text mainly about?

2.Covenant Houses’ Mommy and Me class is intended to _____.

3.What can we know about Delores Clemens from the text?

4. According to the World Health Organization, which country has the highest births for girls age fifteen to nineteen?

Ireland has had a very difficult history. The problems started in the 16^th century when English rulers tried to conquer Ireland. For hundreds of years, the Irish people fought against the English. Finally in 1921, the British government was forced to give independence to the south of Ireland. The result is that today there are two “Irelands”. Northern Ireland, in the north, is part of the United Kingdom. The republic of Ireland, in the south, is an independent country.

In the 1840s the main crop, potatoes was affected by disease and about 750,000 people died of hunger. This, and a shortage (短缺) of work, forced many people to leave Ireland and live in the USA, the UK, Australia and Canada. As a result of these problems, the population fell from 8.2 million in 1841 to 6.6 million in 1851.

For many years, the majority of Irish people earned their living as farmers. Today, many people still work on the land but more and more people are moving to the cities to work in factories and offices. Life in the cities is very different from life in the countryside, where things move at a quieter and slower pace.

The Irish are famous for being warm-hearted and friendly. Oscar Wilde, a famous Irish writer, once said that the Irish were “the greatest talkers since the Greeks”. Since independence, Ireland has revived(复兴) its own culture of music, language, literature and singing. Different areas have different styles of old Irish song which are sung without instruments. Other kinds of Irish music use many different instruments such as the violin, whistles, etc.

1.What does the author tell us in paragraph 1? _____________.

2.We learn from the text that in Ireland________.

3.The last paragraph is mainly about_________.

4.According to the author, all the following words can be used to describe the Irish EXCEPT ___________.

5.What can be the best title for the text?________