Paul Lucas can often be seen walking around the city of San Francisco. Sometimes people are surprised to see him walking  1.  any shoes or socks,  2.  Lucas doesn’t mind at all.  3. likes to walk barefoot, and so do 640 other members of Dirty Sole Society, the club that Lucas  4.  (start) years ago. Lucas’ idea for this is to encourage others to live  5.  (free) --- free of shoes.

According to Lucas, the barefoot life has many advantages.  6.   most important is simply that it feels good. He also says  7.  walking barefoot allows you to experience the world directly by touching it with your feet.  8.  addition, the feet do not smell so much because they stay dry,   9.  (make) it hard for bacteria to grow. And, of course, walking barefoot keeps your feet in good shape, so it’s actually   10.  (healthy) than wearing shoes.

With the development of society and economy, animals and their habitats are getting pushed aside as households decrease in size and increase in number.
Small numbers of people per household on average use more energy and goods per person. Greater numbers of households require more natural resources for construction. The possible result of this problem may be insufficient natural resources to meet consumer demand without endangering habitats important to biodiversity.
Personal freedom and social choice may come at huge environmental cost. Direct costs include visible damage to animal habitats and plant life. Indirect costs include the release of more greenhouse gases.
The effects of such “personal freedom and social choice” have already surfaced in south-west China’s Wolong Nature Reserve. In Wolong, they found that a reduced average household size was directly tied to an increase in homes, and thus an increase in the amount of firewood consumed for cooking and heating. The rise in wood fuel use has contributed to disappearance of forests and to the loss of habitats for giant pandas. 
Curious about whether other parts of the world were experiencing similar phenomena, they got the support of a team of researchers including Stanford’s Paul Ehrlich, well-known for his population studies, to find out the household dynamics in 141 countries between 1985 and 2000. Their study proved that the difficult choice of Wolong is part of a global trend.
In the 76 countries considered biodiversity “hotspots”, such as the United States, Brazil, Australia, and Kenya, the number of households grew by 3.1% every year, while the population increased just 1.8%. Meanwhile, the number of people per home dropped from 4.7 to 4.0. The decline in household size has resulted in 155 million additional households in hotspot countries, almost always limiting biodiversity.
In the 10 non-hotspot countries — those without high-density areas of animal and plant species — similar results were found, though on a lesser scale. Even in countries experiencing population decline, such as New Zealand, the number of households still increased because of a reduction in household size.
【小题1】What does the underlined word “insufficient” mean?

A．Biodiversity is better kept in countries with smaller populations.

B．Biodiversity is better kept in hotspot countries.

C．The threat to nature from reduction in household size is a worldwide problem.

D．Both hotspot countries and non-hotspot countries face the threat of the same scale.

Like distance runners on a measured course，all of us will move through time in a roughly predictable pattern．

In the first stage of our lives，we develop and grow, reaching toward the top of physical vitality(活力)．

After we grow up，however, the body begins a process of gradually wearing out．

A new awareness of physical fitness may help lengthen our years of health and vitality，yet nothing we do will work to stop the unavoidable force of aging．

Most of the changes of aging take place deep inside the body．The lungs become less able to take in oxygen．Powerful muscles gradually lose their strength．The heart loses power and pumps less blood．Bones grow easier to break．

Finally, we meet a stress，a stress that is greater than our physical resistance．Often，it is only a minor accident or chance infection(a disease caused by virus)，but this time，it brings life to an end．

In 1932，a classic experiment nearly doubled the lifetime of rats，simply by cutting back the calories in their diet The reason for the effect was then unknown．

Today, at the University of California at Berkley, Dr．Paul Seagle has also greatly lengthened the normal lifetime of rats．The result was achieved through a special protein limited diet，which had a great effect on the chemistry of the brain．Seagle showed that within the brain，specific chemicals control many of the signals that influence aging．By changing that chemical balance，the clock of aging can be reset．

For the first time, the mystery of why we age is being seriously challenged．Scientists in many fields are now making striking and far-reaching discoveries．

An average lifetime lasts 75 years，yet in each of us lies a potential for a longer life．If we could keep the vitality and resistance to disease that we have at age twenty, we would live for 800 years．

1.What does the underlined word “it” refer to?

A．Physical vitality．   B．Stress．           C．Aging．           D．Physical resistance．

2.Which of the following is not a change of aging?

A．People gradually lose their muscle strength．

B．Bones tend to break more easily．

C．The heart loses power and pumps less blood．

D．The lungs become unable to take in oxygen．zxxk

3.The author believes the following except that     ．

A．human's life pattern is predictable

B．physical fitness can't stop the force of aging

C．human's lifetime will last longer than 75 years

D．all of the changes of aging take place deep inside the body

4.How did Dr．Paul Seagle lengthen the lifetime of rats in his experiment?

A．By keeping their physical fitness．          B．By cutting the calories in their diet．

C．By resetting their clock of aging．           D．By limiting the protein in their diet．

5.What is probably the best title for the article?

A．Two Great Experiments

B．The Mystery of Human Life

C．The Breakthrough in the Study of Aging

D．Ways to lengthen Human Life

假如你的名字叫李华，开学已有一周了，请你写一封电子邮件告知你的英国网友Paul有关你新校的一些情况。词数100左右。

学校概况 ： 1800名学生，32个教学班，教职员工200人。

班级情况 ： 高一(3)班：50名学生，其中35名男生、15名女生。班主任是一位女老师，教英语，心地善良、工作严谨。

学习科目 ： 语文、数学、英语为必修课，另外还有许多选修课。

参考词汇： 必修课：required courses  选修课：selected courses

班主任:  headteacher

Dear Paul,

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Best wishes,

Yours,

Li Hua

根据短文内容，从短文后的七个选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

—— Sara, I’ve been looking forward to our yearly camp out for 3 weeks.       1.      . Camping under the stars. This is the life.

—— Yeah. But Paul,      2.      . The weatherman said it was going to rain later tonight.

—— Nothing can prevent our adventure. Those weather reports are never right.

——     3.      .

—— Ah. Don’t worry. 

—— Paul, Paul. Did you remember to bring our raincoats just in case, like I told you?

—— Uh…no. I left them at home.

——      4.    . 

—— How about playing a card game? 

—— Uhh. I left them next to the picnic table. Hey, you want to me to go out in this rain and get them?

—— No. That’s Ok.     5.     . 

—— Well, we could go down the mountain and stay at that hotel we passed on the way up.

A. And it said there was a chance of heavy winds. 

B. I’m a little worried about the weather though.

C. How much do you suggest we take with us?

D. It’s up to you. 

E. What are we going to do now? 

F. It’s going to be a wonderful day for hiking tomorrow.

G. So what now?