From the health point of view we are living in an amazing age. We are free from many of the most dangerous diseases. A large number of once deadly illnesses can now be cured by modern medicine. It is almost certain that one day medicines will be found for the most stubborn remaining diseases. The expectation of life has increased greatly. But though the possibility of living a long and happy life is greater than ever before, every day we witness the unbelievable killing of men, women and children on the roads. Man vs the motor-car! It is a never-ending battle which man is losing.
Thousands of people all over the world are killed or horribly killed each year and we are quietly sitting back and letting it happen.
It has been rightly said that when a man is sitting behind a steering wheel(方向盘), his car becomes the extension of his personality. There is no doubt that the motor-car often brings out a man’s very worst qualities. People who are normally quiet and pleasant may become unrecognizable when they are behind a steering-wheel. They say, they are ill-mannered and aggressive, willful as two-year-olds and completely selfish. Their hidden angers and disappointments seem to be brought to the surface by the act of driving.
The surprising thing is that society smiles so gently on the motorist and seems to forgive his behavior. Everything is done for his convenience. Cities are allowed to become almost uninhabitable because of heavy traffic; towns are made ugly by huge car parks; the countryside is ruined by road networks; and the deaths become nothing more than a number every year, to be easily forgotten.
It is high time a world rule was created to reduce this senseless waste of human life. With regard to driving, the laws of some countries are unbelievable lenient(宽容的) and even the strictest are not strict enough. A rule which was universally accepted could only have an obviously beneficial effect on the accident rate. Here are a few examples of some of the things that might be done. The driving test should be standardized and made far more difficult than it is; all the drivers should be made to take a test every three years or so; the age at which young people are allowed to drive any vehicle should be raised to at least 21; all vehicles should be put through strict tests for safety each year. Even the smallest amount of alcohol in the blood can damage a person’s driving ability. Present drinking and driving laws(where they exist) should be made much stricter. Speed limits should be required on all roads. Governments should lay down safety specifications for car factories, as has been done in the USA. All advertising stress power and performance should be banned. These measures may not sound good enough. But surely nothing should be considered as too severe if it results in reducing the number of deaths. After all, the world is for human beings, not motor-cars.
【小题1】What is the main idea of this passage?

　"Mark Twain" was the name used by Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910) when he wrote books. His father was a lawyer, but a poor one, who lived at Florida, Missouri. The family was so poor that Samuel did not receive much teaching. He had to learn all that he could from the people whom he met. His father died when he was very young, and then there was even less money than before.

　　Many of the men in this part of America worked in the ships on the great River Mississippi, and he did this himself at one time (1857).

　　Where did he find the name "Mark Twain"? It came from the great river itself. It was part of one of the cries used by men who worked in the ships. When a man called "By the mark twain!" he meant that the river was "two marks deep" there, that is to say, six feet deep ( "Twain" is an old form of the work "Two".) Samuel Clemens often heard these words when he was young, and he used them as a penname all his life.

　　During his work on the Mississippi he met travelers of all kinds, and this helped him a great deal when he started to write. But the number of travelers became smaller when war started in America in 1861. Many of the great ships on the river stopped work. Samuel left then and went to Nevada with his brother, who was at that time Governor of Nevada. There, near the town of Carson, Samuel became a gold miner, but he never made much money at the time. He soon saw that life in the gold mines was not for him. He also tried writing for the newspapers in Nevada, and this seemed more hopeful. He found that he could write.

　　He went to Europe in 1867 and visited France and Italy. In 1870 he married Olivia Langdon, and two years later he was spending nearly all his time writing. Among his books is his own story (1908).

　　He is now always known as Mark Twain, and many people do not even know that his family name was Clemens. He traveled in America and in England, and went to Oxford in 1907. He was one of the great American writers of the time, and could make his readers laugh – a thing which few writers can do. He died in 1910.

"Mark Twain" was _________.

 A. a famous American writer    B. name of a book      

 C. a great river in America      D. a large ship

As a child, Samuel did not get much education because _________.

 A. his father died too early          B. the family was very poor 

C. he disliked school very much

D. he could learn what he liked from the people he met

What gave him a great deal when he started writing? _______

 A. His poor childhood               B. The Mississippi river   

 C. All kinds of travelers he met        D. His brother

We can infer from the passage that ________.

 A. Samuel loved writing from his early age  

 B. Samuel did not love writing at the beginning

 C. his writings to the newspaper were successful            

 D. his brother encouraged him to write more

According to the writer of the passage, a good writer could _________.

A.write a lot for his readers            B. make a lot of money for his family

C. cause his readers to laugh           D. travel everywhere he wanted

Not very long ago, a special family system(体系) existed in certain parts of South India. In the system, the actual head of a family unit was the mother’s eldest brother, though the mother also had an important position in the family. In families of this kind, a husband was actually no more than a visitor. He did not live with his wife, but with his own mother, brothers and sisters in another house. He saw his sons and daughters sometimes, but the man who actually fed and cared for them and acted as their father was their uncle--- their mother’s brother.

But this system, in which brothers and sisters take the place of the father, no longer exists in South India except in a few villages. Economic(经济的) changes have had far- reaching effect on family life. Family life began to change when men went out to work in factories and offices instead of working with their mothers, brothers, and sisters on the land. When a man went out to work, he had money of his own and could buy his own land and build his own family, instead of depending on his mother and his brothers. He wanted to be independent(独立的). This is an example of the way in which economic relations can have an effect on family relationships.

1. The best title of this passage is ______.

2. Who had the actual control of a family in South India not long ago?

3. In this system, the husband lived together with______.

4.Now in South India there are__ of this system in which a husband has no control of his family.

T-shirts out; uniforms in

School uniforms（制服） are becoming more and more popular across the U.S.A. That’s no surprise, because they offer many benefits. They immediately end the powerful social sorting and labeling (标记) that come from clothing. If all students are dressed in the same way, they will not pay too much attention to their clothing, and some of them will not be laughed at for wearing the “wrong” clothes.

Some people are against the strict rule of school uniforms, but they do not realize that students already accept a kind of rule — wanting to look just like their friends. The difference is that the clothing students choose for themselves creates social barriers(障碍); school uniforms tear those barriers down.

As in other places, uniforms remind the wearers of their purposes and duties. For example, when a man or woman puts on a police uniform, he or she becomes, for a time, the symbol (象征) of law and order. The uniform means to the wearer his or her special duties and sends the same message to everyone the wearer meets. People with different jobs wear uniforms of one kind or another. For students, the school uniform reminds them that their task for the six or seven hours they are in school is to get an education.

Some parents are unhappy about uniforms, saying that school uniforms will affect their children’s “creativity.” First, as noted above, the clothes students choose to wear do not necessarily express their individuality (个性). They just copy their classmates. Second, students have the rest of the day to be as creative as they like. While they’re in school, their job is to master reading, writing, and maths; this should take up all the creativity they have. Mastery of those skills will be good for the students to build up their creativity in every way.

1.In Paragraph 1, the word “benefits” probably means       .

A. tasks        B. messages       C. differences      D. advantages

2. From the passage we learn that uniforms in general       .

A. prevent the wearers from being laughed at

B. help the wearers keep their duties in mind

C. are seen as a symbol of power

D. help to create social barriers

3. Some people are against school uniforms because       .

A. they fail to realize that students have accepted the uniforms

B. they believe that uniforms will make students less creative

C. they don’t agree that uniforms can remove social barriers

D. they think that school uniforms are too popular

4.The author would probably agree that       .

A. it makes no difference whether to wear school uniforms or not

B. students’ individuality may not come from school education

C. students’ creativity is related to the clothes they choose

D. school uniforms help to create equality among students

5. School uniforms are becoming more and more popular and important because _____

  A. they can stop the powerful social sorting and labeling.

  B. if all students are dressed in the same way, they will not pay too much attention to their clothing.

  C. uniforms can remind the wearers of their purposes and duties

  D. school uniforms will affect their children’s creativity.

Today when a man steps onto the moon, or something new and important happens, the world learns about it immediately. What did the newspapers say about that first flight in 1903? Strangely enough, they said hardly anything about it at all. There were only a few reports about it in the papers. These reports said very little. Some of the things they said were not even correct. In 1904 the Rights built a second machine. They called it “Flyer No. Two”. They invited some reporters to a field near Dayton to watch them fly. Unfortunately there was some mechanical trouble with the plane and it did not fly at all that day. The newspapermen went away. They were disappointed and did not come back. The Rights went on with their work. In 1905 they built an even better machine, “Flyer No. Three”. They were able to stay up in the air for half an hour and more in this machine. They were ale to turn and climb in the air. Farmers, travelers on the roads around Dayton often saw them flying. But when these people told newspapermen about it, they refused to believe them.

The Rights offered “Flyer No.Three” to the United States Government. The Government was not interested. They seemed to think the Rights wanted money in order to build an airplane. They did not understand the Rights had already done this, and flown it as well. Experts were still saying that mechanical flight was impossible. At the end of 1905, the two brothers took their plane to pieces. The parts were put into a huge wooden case. It seemed nobody was interested.

1. What does the beginning sentence of the passage suggest?

A. The speed of information spreading today makes it possible to learn the world quickly.

B. People of today are only concerned with space exploration.

C. Reporters of today cover important events in a different way.

D. People in the past didn’t care about the outside world.

2. What can we know about “Flyer No.Three”?

A. The Rights had such a successful flight that it aroused the government’s interest.

B. The Rights were able to fly it for half an hour and even turn and climb in the air.

C. There was something wrong with the craft and it did not fly at all that day.

D. The Rights took the plane to pieces and put it into a wooden case immediately after the flight.

3. When the Rights offered “Flyer No.Three” to the United States Government, the Government_______.

A. decided to build an airport for the brothers

B. showed great interest in the machine

C. didn’t believe in the possibility of the flight

D. asked the brothers to put the machine in a wooden case

4. Which of the following is not mentioned in the passage?

A. There were only a few reports about the first successful flight in the papers.

B. Some reporters were invited to watch the second flight experiment.

C. Many people witnessed the successful flight but the newspapermen refused to believe them/

D. Before 1903 no one had ever stepped on the moon.