—Have you finished your book report?
—Not yet. I couldn't________on it with so loud music next door last night.

You probably know you should say “please” and “thank you” at restaurants. You probably know the rules of a library. You know you should respect and be nice to your classmates. But do you have music manners?
Keep It Down! You have to notice the volume of your music. You should not play your music so loud that everyone around you can hear it. Some people might even get angry. Usually, when you play the music loud on an MP3 player, other people can’t hear the words of the song. They just hear a loud sound. No one wants to listen to this. Very loud music can also be bad for your ears. So even if you are alone when listening to our MP3 players, you shouldn’t turn it up too high.
Take Them Off! You need to know when to turn your MP3 off and put it away. Libraries, and schools don’t allow MP3 players. There are other places, like museums, that don’t have rules, but it would be rude to have your MP3 player on. Sometimes, it doesn’t make sense to listen on your MP3 player at event. Why would you listen to music at a play, a movie or a sporting event? You would miss what is going on and others would wonder why you even came.
Take One Out! Once in a while it’s okay just to take out one earphone and not other. Imagine you are listening on your MP3 player when someone asks you the way. It would not be rude to take out one earphone, tell him the way, and put back the earphone and continue listening. You can also do this when you order food at a fast-food restaurant or when you answer the telephone and it’s not for you.
It’s Your Choice! There are times when you need to decide what is best. For example, some people can listen to music on their MP3 players when reading books, while others think it is disturbing. In cases like this, you need to do what seems right for you.
【小题1】The underlined word “volume” in Paragraph Two probably means “_________.”

One day, Raul was miles away from the small ranch（牧场） house in a large valley.   36

seemed to be all right, yet he felt strange and somewhat uneasy. The wind had picked up, and angry, dark clouds   37  across the sky. He could smell the rain coming. And it did.  38  ,the lightning flashed through the clouds, nearly   39    Raul. The thunder（雷声） was so loud that he buried his  40   in his hands and rubbed his eyes. Then he heard it. Hoof beats（蹄声）.He   41  .There before him stood a tall, white   42  . An old man stared down at him from its back.

      “Wh-wh-who are y-y-you?” asked Raul. “My name is Gray Cloud,” the old man answered   43  .“Come with me.”

      Raul followed on his horse. A   44   feeling came over him. All    45    them the rain was pouring down,  46    not a drop fell on them. They seemed to be  47   back toward Raul’s home. Raul lost track of time. Then all at once he found  48  at the ranch gate. The old man turned his horse,  49  his hand, and smiled. Lightning flashed again. The old man and his horse were  50 .

Raul’s father ran out across the yard  to   51  him. “we have been  52  sick about you. Are you okay? Hurry. Let’s get in out of the  53  .”

   “Wait,” said Raul. “Have you ever heard of an old man called Gray Cloud?”

   “Can’t say I … wait. I  54  my great-grandfather used to tell storied about a man called Gray Cloud. He died a long time ago. They say he was  55  by lightning during a terrible thunderstorm. Why do you ask?”

36. A. Something             B. Everything            C. Anything              D. Nothing

37.A.dropped                   B. fell                       C. rolled                   D. covered

38.A.Suddenly                 B. Strongly               C. Quickly                D. Hardly

39.A.beating                    B. blinding                C. burning                D. touching

40.A.nose                        B. hair                      C. neck                    D. head

41.A.looked up                B. woke up               C. lay down              D. sat down

42.A.tiger                        B. horse                   C. lion                      D. elephant

43.A.lazily                       B. angrily                 C. coldly                  D. slowly

44.A.natural                     B. common              C. strange                D. bad

45.A.around                    B. beside                  C. through                D. above

46.A.yet                          B. for                       C. so                       D. or

47.A.walking                   B. leading                 C. heading                D. returning

48.A.them                       B. themselves           C. him                     D. himself

49.A.shook                      B. waved                  C. held                     D. took

50.A.gone                       B. left                      C. followed              D. lost

51.A.see                          B. meet                    C. beat                     D. ask

52.A.waited                     B. thought                C. worried                D. excited

53.A.yard                        B. wind                    C. grass                   D. rain

54.A.believe                     B. consider               C. doubt                   D. forget

55.A.defeated                  B. caught                 C. damaged              D. struck

It was a beautiful day at the beach—blue sky, gentle wind, calm sea．I knew these things because a man sitting five feet from me was shouting them into his mobile phone, like a play-by-play announcer （实况解说员）.

“IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY,” he shouted．“THE SKY IS BLUE, AND THERE’S A GENTLE WIND, AND THE WATER IS CALM, AND…”

Behind me, a woman, her mobile phone pressed to her ear was walking back and forth.

“She DIDN’T,” she was saying．“No．She DIDN’T．She DID? Really? Are you SERIOUS? She did NOT．She DID? No she…”

And so on．This woman had two children, who were playing in the sea．I found myself watching them, because the woman surely was not．A huge squid could have caught and snatched the children, and this woman would not have noticed．Or, if she had noticed, she’d have said, “Listen．I have to go, because a huge squid just……No! She didn’t ! She DID? No! She……”

And next to me, the play-by-play man would have said: “…AND A HUGE SQUID JUST ATE TWO CHILDREN, AND I’M GETTING A LITTLE SUNBURNED, AND …”

It used to be that the major trouble at the beach was the fellow who brought a boom box （便携式录音机） and turned it up so loud that the bass notes caused seagulls to explode．But at least you knew where these fellows were; you never know which beachgoers have mobile phones．You’ll settle next to what appears to be a sleeping sunbather, or even （you hope） a corpse , and you’ll lie happily on your towel, and you’ll get all the way to the second sentence of your 467-page book before you fall asleep to the hypnotic surge of the surf （催人入梦的潮声）, and …

BREEP! BREEP! The corpse sits up, feels urgently for its mobile phone, and shouts “Hello! I’m at the beach! Yes! It’s nice! Very peaceful! What? She did? No, she didn’t! She DID? No, she…”

Loud mobile-phoners never seem to get urgent calls．Just once, I’d like to hear one of them say, “Hello? Yes, this is Dr．Johnson．Oh, Dr．Smith．You’ve opened the abdominal cavity （腹腔）? Good! Now the appendix should be right under the … What? No, that’s the liver．Don’t take THAT out, ha ha! Oh, you did? My God! OK, now listen carefully…”

From the passage we can know that the writer of the passage _____.

       A．had a wonderful holiday at the beach

       B．must have suffered a lot because of the terrible weather

       C．is only interested in talks by doctors about operation

       D．experienced an unhappy holiday at the beach

According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?

       A．The writer often spends his holidays at the beach.

       B．A huge squid ate two children while their mother was not watching.

       C．Some people used to play boom box while spending their holidays at the beach.

       D．Some people often make loud mobile phone calls without caring for others.

The underlined word“ corpse”in this passage has the closest meaning to________.

       A．a dead body           B．a loud mobile phone        

       C．a sound sleeper        D．a sleep lover

In the past the fellow who brought a boom box_________.

       A．turned it up to make the seagulls happy

       B．turned it up to cause the seagulls to explode

       C．might cause less trouble than the beachgoers with mobile phones

       D．might cause more trouble than the beachgoers with mobile phones

We can infer from the passage that _______.

     A．the writer is interested in mobile phone.

     B．the writer hates people using mobile phone

     C．the writer hates to be disturbed while enjoying holidays on the beach.

     D．the writer seldom finishes reading a book before going to sleep.

任务型阅读（共两节，满分35分）

All That noise is damaging Children’s Hearing

Michel become hooked on headphones in his early teens. He walked in the streets of Brooklyn day after day with his favorite music blasting directly into his ears. By his early 20s, Michel had lost much of his upper-range hearing.

The Children’s Hearing Institute reports that hearing loss among children and young adults is rising in the United States, and that one third of the damage is caused by noise.

Surrounded By Noise

We live in a noisy world. Young and old alike are beset by sounds over which we may have little or no control: power mowers, leaf blowers, snow blowers, cars and house alarms, sirens, motorcycles, Jet Skis, loudspeakers, even movie previews.

We attend rock concerts, weddings, parties and sports events at which the music is so loud you can hardly hear the person sitting next to you. At home, televisions, stereos and computer games are often turned up so loud that listeners can not hear a doorbell or telephone. Many “modern ” restaurants have chosen noise enhancement instead of abatement(减轻). Any time you need to shout to be heard by someone near you, your hearing is most likely to be in a decibel(分贝) danger zone.

As if environmental noise were not enough, now we surround children with noisy toys and personal listening devices that can permanently damage their hearing. Toys that meet the safety standards of the American Society for Testing and Materials can produce sound up to 138 decibels, as loud as a jet plane taking off. Yet workplace rules require hearing protection for those exposed to noise above 85 decibels.

Protecting Young Ears

Before buying noisemaking toys, parents would do well to listen to how loud they are. If the toy comes with a volume control, monitor its use to make sure it is kept near the lowest level. Consider returning gifts that make loud noises, disable the noise-making function. Or limit the use of noisy toys to outside play areas.

Children who play computer games and stereo equipment should be warned to keep the volume down. Time spent in video arcades, where the noise level can be over 110 decibels, should be strictly limited. Most iPods have a control that allow parents to set a maximum volume.

Don’t take children to loud action movies. If you do go and the sound seems deafening, ask the manager to turn down the volume or insist on you money back. Children who play in bands and teenagers who use power tools, gardening equipment or guns should be made to wear hearing protection, available at sporting goods stores.

The League for the Hard of Hearing urges parents to encourage participation in quiet activities, like reading, watching family-oriented films, doing puzzles, making thins with construction toys, playing educational computer games, drawing and painting, and visiting librarians and museums.

All That noise is damaging Children’s Hearing