It’s amazing what a little free beer can accomplish. In 1997 the small Danish island of Samso, located in the Kattegat Strail, won a contest hosted by the Danish Ministry of Environment and Energy. Samso, then known for its dairy and pig farms, would become Denmark’s showcase for sustainable power, eventually going carbon-free. How that would happen, however, was far from clear, since the government initially offered no funding, tax breaks or technical expertise(专门知识).

Given that almost all its power came from oil or coal — and the island’s 4,300 residents didn’t know a wind turbine(风力发电机) from a grain silo(谷仓) — Samso seemed an strange choice. Soren Hermansen, though, saw an opportunity. A restless native son who grew up on a family farm, Hermansen was teaching environmental studies at a local school when he heard about Samso’s award. He volunteered to be the first — and only — participant. “I realized this could happen,” he says. “This was realistic.” He may have been the only one who thought so.

Hermansen knew Samso islanders were conservative, but that could be an advantage: once he convinced enough potential first movers to act, the rest would follow. So Hermansen showed up at every community or club meeting to campaign for the renewable-energy project. He pointed to the island’s unexplored potential for wind power and the economic benefits of making Samso energy-independent. He sometimes brought free beer.

It worked. The islanders bought shares in new wind turbines to build 11 large land-based turbines, enough to meet the entire island’s electricity needs. Not satisfied with that, they supported the construction of 10 huge offshore turbines，which provide power that the island’s dependence on cars and ferries needs. Today Samso isn’t just carbon-free — it actually produces 10% more clean electricity than it uses, with the extra power fed back into the national electricity network at a profit.

Hermansen has become a green angel, traveling from country to country telling the story of Samso’s success when he’s not at home running the Energy Academy, a research center for clean power. But he’s the first to say that the real credit belongs to the islanders，and that Samso’s lesson is that environmental change can only come from the ground up.

What was Hermansen’t response to the Samso’s winning the contest?

A. He regarded it as a chance.

B. He was not satisfied with the award.

C. He thought it was strange.

D. He thought it was reasonable.

From the second paragraph we can learn that __________.

A. many Samso islanders participated in the green project actively

B. most Samso islanders were against the renewable energy project

C. Samso has a long history of making use of renewable energy

D. at first people showed little interest in the renewable energy project

Why did Hermansen show up at every community or club meeting?

A. It was his duty to keep the islanders informed of government policies.

B. He wanted to convince the islanders to use clean power instead of oil or coal.

C. He wanted to persuade the islanders to be involved in the wind power project.

D. He wanted to share his beer with other islanders.

What can we learn about Hermansen’s personality from the last paragraph?

A. He is practical.                 B. He is courageous.

C. He is modest.                  D. He is ambitious.

Today, almost everyone has heard of Harry Potter. The books detailing his experiences at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry have aroused passion, creativity, and interest in reading throughout the world.

But have you ever considered why you are a fan of the Harry Potter series?

JK Rowling has created a list of characters and an environment for them to inhabit that appeals to both adults and children. 

The fantasy aspect of the wizarding world expands the imagination, and takes the mind to new and exciting places. Anything could happen there. Her stories contain parts of the believable and unbelievable, changing the predictability that readers commonly come across and bear in fiction. 

The main theme of the series, including good versus evil, prejudice, love, death, sacrifice, friendship and loyalty, in actuality contributes to the ever-lasting nature of the stories. At the same time, these themes remind us of classic literature, offering mature readers tales that wear like a comfortable pair of shoes, while introducing younger readers to concepts they will meet throughout their lives. 

Much of the appeal also comes from the characters. In each book, JK Rowling introduces and describes the characters in such a way that we wonder not only about their futures, but also about their pasts. Even supporting characters are suddenly more than just extras in the background. And what of Harry Potter himself? We care about Harry, because we watch him grow from an innocent boy to a powerful wizard. We see him as both Hero and Victim. He experiences endless love and extreme pain, and as readers, we experience them with him.

This perfect combination of emotion, suspense and fantasy, together with the fact that JK Rowling is a superb storyteller is the reason why we are Harry potter fans. People are fond of Harry Potter series. With books like these, it’s hard not to be.

Harry Potter series become popular partly because ____________.

A. they remind us of the childhood and environment we had in the past

B. they take us to a world beyond our imagination and expectation

C. they offer us ever-lasting nature of the stories

D. they set an example of hero for us to follow

What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 6 mean?

A. The supporting characters are not necessary in the story.

B. Readers care only about Harry but not those supporting characters.

C. Even the supporting characters are attractive in the story.

D. Those supporting characters only appear all of a sudden.

The themes of the Harry Potter series do not contain ____________.

A. prejudice and love                          B. good and evil

C. death and sacrifice                          D. safety and peace

People care for Harry Potter because ____________.

A. they think of classic literature when reading the story

B. they find different experiences from theirs on Harry

C. they share the experiences with Harry

D. they like JK Rowling’s description very much

It is reported that today in China, 50% of people who write blogs do so as a personal diary and 83% use their blogs for sending messages to friends. It is also found that there is a strong East-West difference. In places like the US, blogs that offer information on news attract more readers but in China, blogs are more likely to be about sharing personal feelings.

   It seems that bloggers can be divided into three types: IT bloggers, bloggers who record their ordinary feelings and media bloggers.

When blogging first started, the IT people had the technological advantage and they took the chance to put their thoughts on the web. Some of these IT people read their blogs.

The next wave of bloggers did not have any training as writes or in IT and wrote about normal daily life. Media bloggers, however, are trained writers, such as journalists and editors. When the many media bloggers showed up, the everyday blogs lost most of their readers. Media bloggers have the advantage of knowing how to communicate well through the written word.

However, the normal bloggers are still out there and increasing in number. It seems that blogging is the new way to express your feelings. People feel like the world is listening to, or rather reading, their problems, even if they are not .

What type of text is this?

   A. A blog.               B. A diary.             C. A news report.          D. A school textbook.

What is the passage’s subject?

How many people in China blog.

How did blogging get started.

Different types of blogs and bloggers.

What media bloggers do.

How does the writers feel about the subject?

He/She feels strongly that blogging is a good thing.

He/She feels that there are lots of problems with blogging.

We can’t tell since he/she is not a blogger.

We can’t tell since he/she is just reporting facts.

What is the writer’s tone?

   A. Humorous and light-hearted.                    B. Serious and factual.

   C. Conversational.                                       D. Informal.

It was once thought that air pollution affected only the area immediately around large cities with factories and/or heavy automobile traffic. Today, we know that although these are the areas with the worst air pollution, the problem is literally worldwide. On several occasions over the past decade, a heavy cloud of air pollution has covered the entire eastern half of the United States and led to health warnings even in rural areas away from any major concentration of manufacturing and automobile traffic. In fact, the very climate of the entire earth may be affected by air pollution. Some scientists feel that the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the air resulting from the burning of fossil fuels(coal and oil) creating a greenhouse effect-holding in heat reflected from the earth and raising the world’s average temperature. If this view is correct and the world’s temperature is raised only a few degrees, much of the polar ice cap will melt and cities such as New York, Boston, Miami, and New Orleans will be under water.

Another view, less widely held, is that increasing particulate matter in the atmosphere is blocking sunlight and lowering the earth’s temperature-a result that would be equally disastrous（灾难的）. A drop of just a few degrees could create something close to a new ice age, and would make agriculture difficult or impossible in many of our top farming areas. At present we do riot know for sure that either of these conditions will happen(though one recent government report prepared by experts in the field concluded that the greenhouse effect is very likely). Perhaps, if we very lucky, the two tendencies will offset each other and the world’s temperature will stay about the same as it is now.

As pointed out at the beginning of the passage, people used to think that air pollution ______.

       A．caused widespread damage in the countryside

       B．affected the entire eastern half of the United States

       C．almost brought worldwide effect

       D．existed merely in urban and industrial areas

As far as the greenhouse effect is concerned, the author _____________.

       A．shares the same view with the scientists

       B．is uncertain of its occurrence

       C．rejects it as being ungrounded（无根据的）

       D．thinks that it will increasingly destroy the world soon

It can be inferred from the passage that                    .

       A．raising the world’s temperature a little would not do much harm to life on the earth

       B．lowering the world’s temperature a little would lead to agricultural disasters

       C．almost no temperature variations have occurred over the past decade

       D．the world’s temperature will remain stable forever

This passage is primarily concerned with              .

       A．the greenhouse effect in the world

       B．the measures to adjust the climate

       C．the potential effect of air pollution

       D．the measures to protect the environment

It was a Sunday morning, and I was in a terrible mood. Two of my friends had gone to the movies the night before and hadn’t invited me. I was in my room thinking of ways to make them sorry when my father came in. “Want to go for a ride, today, Beck? It’s a beautiful day.”

“No! Leave me alone!” Those were the last words I said to him that morning.

My friends called and invited me to go to the mall with them a few hours later. I forgot to be mad at them and went. I came home to find a note on the table. My mother put it where I would be sure to see it. “Dad has had an accident. Please meet us at Highland Park Hospital”.

When I reached the hospital, my mother came out and told me my father’s injuries were extensive. “Your father told the driver to leave him alone and just call 911, thank God! If he had moved Daddy, there’s no telling what might have happened. A broken rib (肋骨) might have pierced (穿透) a lung....”

My mother may have said more, but I didn’t hear. I didn’t hear anything except those terrible words: Leave me alone. My dad said them to save himself from being hurt more. How much had I hurt him when I hurled (愤慨地说出) those words at him earlier in the day?

It was several days later that he was finally able to have a conversation. I held his hand gently, afraid of hurting him.

“Daddy... I am so sorry....”

“It’s okay, sweetheart. I’ll be okay.”

“No,” I said, “I mean about what I said to you that day. You know, that morning?”

My father could no more tell a lie than he could fly. He looked at me and said, “Sweetheart, I don’t remember anything about that day, not before, during or after the accident. I remember kissing you goodnight the night before, though.” He managed a weak smile.

My English teacher once told me that words have immeasurable power. They can hurt or they can heal. And we all have the power to choose our words. I intend to do that very carefully from now on.

The author was in bad mood that morning because ________.

      A. his father had a terrible accident

      B. he couldn’t drive to the mall with his friends

       C. his friends hadn’t invited him to the cinema

      D. his father didn’t allow him to go out with his friends

Why did the author say sorry to his father in the hospital?

      A. Because he didn’t go along with his father.

      B. Because he was rude to his father that morning.

      C. Because he failed to come earlier after the accident.

      D. Because he couldn’t look after his father in the hospital.

The reason why the author’s father said he forgot everything about that day is that ________.

      A. he had a poor memory

       B. he didn’t want to forgive his son

      C. he just wanted to comfort his son

      D. he lost his memory after the accident

What lesson did Beck learn from the matter?

      A. Don’t treat your parents badly.

      B. Don’t hurt others with rude words.

      C. Don’t move the injured in an accident.

      D. Don’t be angry with friends at small things.