____only by one’s appearance, I’m sure, will have you get just half of him or less.

Travel Unaccompanied

Now many young people are traveling around the world on their own, not because they have no one to travel with, but because they prefer to go alone．

Kristina Wegscheider from California first traveled alone when she was at college and believes that it is something everyone should do at least once in their life. “It opens up your mind to new things and pushes you out of your comfort zone.” Wegscheider has visited 46 countries covering all seven continents．

In foreign countries, with no one to help you read a map, look after you if you get ill, or lend you money if your wallet is stolen. It is challenging. This is what drives young people to travel alone．It is seen as character building and a chance to prove that they can make it on their own．

Chris Richardson decided to leave his sales job in Australia to go traveling last year．He set up a website, The Aussie Nomad, to document his adventures. He said he wished he had traveled alone earlier. “The people you meet, the places you visit, or the things you do, everything is up to you and it forces you to grow as a person,” said the 30-year-old．

Richardson describes traveling alone like “a shot in the arm”, which “makes you a more confident person that was ready to deal with anything”. He said: “The feeling of having conquered something on my own is a major part of what drives me each day when I’m dealing with a difficult task. I walk around with my head up because I know deep down inside that nothing is impossible if you try.”

The great 19th century explorer John Muir once said: “Only by going alone in silence can one truly get into the heart of the wilderness.”

1.Which of the following will Kristina Wegscheider agree with?

A. Traveling alone is a necessary experience for everyone.

B. It is more meaningful to travel in foreign countries.

C. It is comfortable to travel around without a friend.

D. Traveling abroad helps people to find new things.

2.Traveling alone is challenging because         .

A. it will finally build your character

B. you have to make things on your own

C. you depend on yourself whatever happens

D. it is hard for you to prove yourself to others

3.What can we infer about Chris Richardson?

A. He started traveling at an early age．          B. He was once shot in the arm.

C. His website inspires others a lot.      D. He used to work as a salesman．

Parents whose children show a special interest in a particular sport feel it very difficult to make a decision about their children’s careers. Should they allow their children to train to become top sports men and women? For many children it means starting school work very young, and going out with friends and other interests have to take a second place. It’s very difficult to explain to a young child why he or she has to train five hours a day, even at the weekend, when most of his or her friends are playing.?

Another problem is of course money. In many countries money for training is available from government for the very best young sportsmen and women. If this help can not be given, it means that it is the parents who have to find the time and the money to support their child’s development—and sports clothes, transport to competitions, special equipment, etc. can all be very expensive.?  

Many parents are worried that it is dangerous to start serious training in a sport at an early age. Some doctors agree that young muscles may be damaged by training before they are properly developed. Professional trainers, however, believe that it is only by training young that you can reach the top as a successful sports person. It is clear that very few people do reach the top, and both parents and children should be prepared for failure even after many years of training.?

1.This article is most probably taken from________.?

A. a letter

B. an advertisement?

C. a personal diary    

D. a newspaper article?

2.According to the passage, parents whose children show a special interest in a sport _______.

A. feel uncertain if they should let their children train to be sports men or women

B. try to get financial（财务的）support from the government for their children’s training

C. have to get medical advice from doctors about training methods?

D. prefer their children to be trained as young as possible

3.The underlined phrase“to take a second place”means_________.?

A. to repeat the activities at some other place?     

B. to become less important?

C. all things considered, they are of poor quality?  

D. to happen again 

I feel very happy to receive your letter and here I’d like to give you

some a     on how to learn English. Above all, don’t lose   1. _______

heart. Many students find it ____ to learn English, especially 2._______

_____write good English compositions. In my opinion, if you3.__________

want to ___ (改善) your writing, you should learn by heart 4. _________

as many English expressions and sentence p        as possible.  5. ____________

And at the same time try to use _______ in your compositions.   6. ____________

think just r       grammar rules is no use. And only by reading and 7. __________

writing a lot ____ you be able to learn English well in an effective  8. _________

way. I definitely _____(相信) the most important thing is that you 9. __________

should _______(继续) writing every day and never give up.  10._________

Deserts are found where there is little rainfall or where rain for a whole year falls in only a few weeks' time. Ten inches of rain may be enough for many plants to survive (存活) if the rain is spread throughout the year. If it falls within one or two months and the rest of the year is dry, those plants may die and a desert may form.

Sand begins as tiny pieces of rock that get smaller and smaller as wind and weather wear them down. Sand dunes (沙丘) are formed as winds move the sand across the desert. Bit by bit, the dunes grow over the years, always moving with the winds and changing the shape. Most of them are only a few feet tall, but they can grow to be several hundred feet high.     

There is, however, much more to a desert than sand. In the deserts of the southwestern United States, cliffs (悬崖) and deep valleys were formed from thick mud that once lay beneath a sea more than millions of years ago. Over the centuries, the water dried up. Wind, sand, rain, heat and cold all wore away at the remaining rocks.  The faces of the desert mountains are always changing--very, very slowly--as these forces of nature continue to work on the rock.

Most deserts have a surprising variety of life. There are plants, animals and insects that have adapted to life in the desert. During the heat of the day, a visitor may see very few signs of living things, but as the air begins to cool in the evening, the desert comes to life. As the sun begins to rise again in the sky, the desert once again becomes quiet and lonely.

1.Many plants may survive in deserts when_______.

A．the rain falls only in a few weeks

B．the rain is spread out in a year

C．there is little rain in a year

D．it is dry all the year round .

2.Sand dunes are formed when_______.

A．there is plenty of rain in a year

B．sand piles up gradually

C．the sea has dried up over the years

D．pieces of rock get smaller

3.The underlined sentence in the third paragraph probably  means that in a desert there is_______.

A．too much sand                         B．more sand than before

C．nothing except sand                     D．something else besides sand

4.It can be learned from the text that in a desert_______.

A．there is no rainfall throughout the year

B．life exists in rough conditions

C．all sand dunes are a few feet high

D．rocks are worn away only by wind and heat

5.What’ the best title of this passage?

A．Deserts.                              B．The plants in the deserts.

C．The rainfall in the deserts.                 D．Sand dunes.