单词拼写（共10小题；每小题0.5分，满分5分）
【小题1】We have our bad times but on the whole we’re f____________ happy. 
【小题2】His health is improving day by day. It is quite a____________ that the medicine has a good effect on his disease.  
【小题3】He has talents by which he might d____________ himself.
【小题4】All these trees are over 800 years old, some d____________ back to 1,000 years ago.
【小题5】 Since the famine broke out, the number of people dying of s____________ has been increasing.
【小题6】 The attack by terrorists has been ____________(谴责) by the entire world.
【小题7】We must learn to ____________(调整) to the quick pace of life in modern society.
【小题8】Why ____________ (操心，烦扰) to go abroad to study when there are so many good universities at home?
【小题9】The ____________ (植物学的) analyses have showed us that it used to be a lake.
【小题10】This is a primitive necklace and it is so well ____________ (保存).

In Greek mythology（神话）, the gods punished Sisyphus by forcing him to roll a rock up a steep hill for eternity（来世）. But he was probably better off than if they’d forced him to sit and stare into space until the end of time, conclude the authors of a new study on keeping busy. They found that people who have something to do, even something pointless, are happier than people who sit around.
“The general phenomenon I’m interested in is why people are too busy doing what they are doing in modern society,” says Christopher K. Hsee, of the University of Chicago. “People are running around, working hard, the way beyond the basic level.” Sure, there are reasons, like making a living, earning money, and so on. But, Hsee says, “I think there’s something deeper: We have extra energy and we want to avoid idleness.”
In a study 98 students were asked to complete two surveys. After they had completed the first they were made to wait 15 minutes to receive the next one. They were given a choice of either handing in the first survey nearby or at a more distant location they had to walk to. Whichever option they chose, they received a chocolate bar. Not everyone chose to go to the faraway location. Two-thirds chose the lazy option. Yet those who chose to stay busy by going to the faraway location were found to be happier than those who had stayed put.
But if the chocolate bars offered at the  two locations were different, they were more likely to choose the far location—because they could make up a good and acceptable reason for the trip, Hsee and his colleagues say.
Hsee thinks it may be possible to use this principle—people like being busy, and they like being able to show being busy right or reasonable—to benefit society. “If we can find a way for idle people to engage in activity that is at least not harmful, I think it is better than destructive business,” he says. Hsee himself has been known to  give a research assistant a useless task when he doesn’t have anything to do, so he isn’t sitting around the office getting bored and depressed.

1. 1.

   The author starts the passage with the Greek mythology story to ________.

   1. A.
      make it easier to understand the passage
   2. B.
      draw readers’ attention to Greek culture
   3. C.
      show Greek people enjoyed being busy
   4. D.
      bring about the subject of the passage
2. 2.

   According to Hsee, people are busy in modern society because they want to _________.

   1. A.
      make others think they are not lazy
   2. B.
      keep their energy at the basic level
   3. C.
      earn more money to support their family
   4. D.
      avoid the state of having nothing to do
3. 3.

   The underlined phrase “stayed put” in Paragraph 3 probably means __________.

   1. A.
      remained there
   2. B.
      kept occupied
   3. C.
      got around
   4. D.
      stayed awake
4. 4.

   How does Hsee’s assistant probably feel while performing a task?

   1. A.
      Blue.
   2. B.
      Empty.
   3. C.
      Contented.
   4. D.
      Trapped.

阅读理解

　　With his standard Mandarin pronunciation, practiced skills on Chinese expressions and special humour with a Peking accent, Dashan has become a household name across China．

　　People have always wondered how the 36-year-old Canadian can be so skillful in the Chinese language even though it is considered by many as one of the most difficult languages in the world．But to Dashan, the great challenge was a piece of cake due to his deep interest, proper method and the excellent environment he created for himself.

　　“Interest is the best teacher.” That is a universal principle. Even if the 20-year-old Mark Rowswell--Dashan's real name--hadn't fully realized what attracted him to the Chinese department at the University of Toronto in Canada, he was already deeply interested in Chinese culture when he decided to have further study in Beijing.

　　Entering the Chinese department of Peking University in 1988, Dashan felt like a duck in water. Study is always a hard job, no matter how much interest you have. Therefore, effective ways are necessary to improvement. “Learn for life and learn in life”is Dashan's belief.

　　As a freshman at the University of Toronto, the student did study textbooks, which especially aimed on foreign Chinese learners. They did help him build to solid foundation.

　　However, that's far from enough to grasp the Chinese language. Starting in his junior year, Dashan began to read original Chinese novels, Chinese newspapers and even the selected works of Deng Xiaoping. “Only the material for Chinese native readers could give me a proper sense of the language,” he said．

　　The language that is the daily means of communication is the principle that Dashan always keeps in his mind．What you have really learned depends on what you can use, not necessarily your textbooks.

　　To learn in daily life requires a favourable language environment which is also necessary for improvement. Dashan admits it is hard for Chinese English learners to be brought into a good English speaking environment, but insists, “to listen and speak as much as possible does help.”

　　To help Chinese English learners develop a favourable environment, Dashan took part in a VCD programme--“Travel with Dashan”--to teach daily and up-to-date English in real-life situations.

(1)Dashan could learn Chinese very well because of ________.

[　　]

A．his interest

B．practiced skills on Chinese expression

C．his special method

D．Special humour with a Peking accent

(2)The sentence “learn for life and learn in life” here means________

[　　]

A．learn things in our daily life, otherwise it will not last long.

B．we should study in practice all our lives

C．life is difficult, so we'd better learn more to lead a better life

D．language is the necessary part of our daily life, so we must practise it frequently

(3)The main idea of the passage is ________.

[　　]

A．Dashan has become a household name across China

B．how can we master a foreign language in a short time.

C．dashan took park in a VCD programme“Travel with Dashan” to teach English in real-life situation

D．try to learn English under the direction of Dashan, and you'll succeed one day.

(4)The underlined phrase“a piece of cake” here refers to ________.

[　　]

(5)Dashan read the selected works of Deng Xiaoping because ________.

[　　]

A．he admired the former leader of the government

B．he hoped to learn more of the spirits of it

C．he wanted to give him a proper sense of the Chinese language

D．They are very popular in modern times

Energy is very important in modern life. People use energy to run machines, heat and cool their homes, cook, give light, and transport people and products from place to place. Most energy comes from fossil fuels—petroleum, coal, and natural gas. However, burning fuels causes pollution. Also, if we don’t find new kinds of energy, we will use up all the fossil fuels in the twenty-first century. Scientists are working hard to find other kinds of energy for the future. What might these sources of energy be?

                   Energy from the wind

   All over the world, people use the power of the wind. It turns windmills and moves sailboats. It is a clean source of energy, and there is lots of it. Unfortunately, if the wind does not blow, there is no wind energy.

Energy from water

   When water moves from a high place to a lower place, it makes energy. This energy is used to create electricity. In Brittany, France, for example, waterpower produces enough energy to light a town of 40,000people. Waterpower gives energy without pollution. However, people have to build dams to use this energy. Dams cost a lot of money, so water energy is expensive.

Energy from the earth

There is heat in rocks under the earth. Scientists use this heat to make geothermal energy. San Francisco gets half of the energy it needs from geothermal power. This kind of energy is cheap, but it is possible only in a few places in the world.

Energy from the sun

Solar panels on the roofs of houses can turn energy from the sun into electricity. These panels can create enough energy to heat an entire house. Solar power is clean and there is a lot of it in sunny places. But when the weather is bad, there is no sunlight for energy.

1.What does this passage mainly talk about?

   A．Advantage of the energy from nature.

   B．The future of the energy.

   C．Scientists have been working hard to research other kinds of energy.

   D．Energy is the most important power in the word.

2.From the first paragraph we know ______.

   A．energy can do everything for people

   B．all the energy causes pollution

   C．the new kinds of energy are badly needed

   D．scientists have found other kinds of energy for the future

3.What is the writer’s opinion about the energy?

   A．Try to use water energy more though it costs a lot.

   B．Each natural energy has its own advantages and disadvantages.

   C．Solar power is environmental.

   D．Wind power is the cheapest but we can’t get.

4.What can be inferred from the passage?

   A．In order to protect our environment, we should try other kinds of energy.

   B．All scientists in the world will unite to find energy.

   C．People in modern life use energy every day.

D．Energy changes people’s lives.