For the past year, the World Food Program has operated a project to prevent hunger in twenty-one countries in Africa. In the project, the United Nations agency works with small farmers to grow more and better produce.
The World Food Program buys the produce through local cooperative associations. Then it distributes the products within the country or area. The project works mainly with women. Sheila Sisulu from the World Food Program says the project aims to break a cycle that keeps people hungry. The situation is that farmers have to sell their produce at low prices after harvest, when supplies are greatest. Then they have to pay high prices to buy food for themselves during the "lean season," when supplies are limited.
But when farmers produce more food, they can sell more. And when they produce high-quality food, they can get higher prices. They can also store food for themselves, and have enough money to buy food if they need to during the lean season. Sheila Sisulu says the farmers are now starting to earn profits through the project.
The Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Fund for Agricultural Development help the farmers choose the best seeds and fertilizers. They also advise the farmers on the quality levels that the World Food Program requires to buy their produce.
Two other groups recently launched a separate effort to increase food security in Africa. The groups are the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa and the New Partnership for Africa's Development. They say African governments have to increase their investment in agriculture in order to fight problems related to climate change. The groups want the governments to develop programs in seeds, soil health, policy and markets.
Former United Nations chief Kofi Annan is the chairman of AGRA. The group's president, Namanga Ngongi, says many African governments are not meeting a target of spending ten percent of their national budgets on agriculture. But he says investment has risen from four percent of national budgets to probably five and a half percent today.
1. The underlined word “lean” in Paragraph 2 probably has the same meaning with ______.
A. He is a tall, lean and handsome boy, liked by many girls.
B. The changes made the company leaner and more competitive.
C. The company recovered well after going through several lean years.
D. The doctor told him that lean meat was healthier for his mother than fatty meat.
2. According to Sheila Sisulu, the project _____.
A. distributes the products within the whole world
B. has benefited few African farmers during the past year
C. enables the African farmers to sell their produce at low prices after harvest
D. can help the farmers to get away from the situation that keeps them hungry
3. The problem of hunger in Africa can possibly be relieved by ______.
A. United Nations chief
B. the World Food Program
C. African governments and farmers
D. the Food and Agriculture Organization
4. Which can be the best title?
A. Hunger, the most serious problem in Africa      
B. Two efforts seek to increase food security in Africa
C. A project to grow more and better produce in Africa
D. More investments in agriculture by African governments

The drug store was closing for the night and Alfred Higgins was about to go home when his new boss approached him.

“Empty your pockets please, Alfred,” Sam Carr demanded in a firm voice.

Alfred pretended to be shocked but he knew he had been caught. From his coat he withdrew a make-up kit, a lipstick and two tubes of toothpaste.

“I’m disappointed in you, Alfred!” said the little gray-haired man.

“Sorry, sir. Please forgive me. It’s the first time I’ve ever done such a thing,” Alfred lied, hoping to gain the old man’s sympathy.

Mr Carr’s brow furrowed as he reached for the telephone, “Do you take me for a fool? Let’s see what the police have to say. But first I’ll call your mother and let her know her son is heading to jail.”

“Do whatever you want,” Alfred shot back, trying to sound big. But deep down he felt like a child. He imagined his mother rushing in, eyes burning with anger, maybe in tears. Yet he wanted to come quickly before Mr. Carr called the police.

Mr. Carr was surprised when Mrs. Higgins finally arrived . She was very calm, quiet and friendly. “Is Alfred in trouble?” she asked.

“He’s been stealing from the store,” the old man coolly replied.

Mrs. Higgins pulled out her hand and touched Mr. Carr’s arm with great gentleness as if she knew just how he felt. She spoke as if she did not want to cause him any more trouble. “What do you want to do, Mr.Carr?”

The woman’s calm and gentle manner disarmed the once-angry store-owner, “I was going to get a cop. But I don’t want to be cruel. Tell your son not to come back here again and I will let it go.” Then he warmly shook Mrs. Higgins’ hand.

Mrs. Higgins thanked the old ma for his kindness, then mother and son left. They walked along the street in silence. When they arrived home his mother simply said, “Go to bed, you fool.”

In his bedroom, Alfred heard his mother in the kitchen. He felt no shame, only pride in his mother’s actions. “She was smooth!” he thought. He went to the kitchen to tell her how great she was, but was shocked by what he saw.

His mother’s face looked frightened, broken. Not the cool, bright face he saw earlier. Her lips moved nervously. She looked very old. There were tears in her eyes.

This picture of his mother made him want to cry. He felt his youth ending. He saw all the troubles he brought her and the deep lines of worry in her grey face. It seemed to him that this was the first time he had ever really seen his mother.

1.Which of the following is true according to the passage?

2.What does the underlined word “disarmed” probably mean?

3.What was the mother’s attitude towards Alfred?

4.What impressed Alfred most about his mother at the drugstore was_______.

5.From the last paragraph, we know Alfred________.

Check Engine Light

As I turned from the parking lot，heading for home，I noticed a yellow light on my dashboard(仪表板)had come on.The symbol indicated that I was to ____ the engine.I noted the water temperature and the oil light ___ to see if there were problems that would ____ an overheated engine.Noting these two gauges(仪表)were okay，I ____ I could ignore the little yellow light that caused such great ___ for at least the moment.

After I retrieved my owner manual(用户手册)，I ____ the check engine light comes on to indicate that there is a problem and that ____ is required.Malfunctions will often be indicated by the ____ before any problem is apparent，which may ___ more serious damage to the vehicle.This system is ___ to assist you and your technician in ____ diagnosing any malfunction.

Reading the manual made me think of how we need ____in our lives to be our “check engine light”．We need to know when a(n) ____ occurs and when service is required in our lives.We need to correct our problems before serious damage surfaces.We need a light to ____ in our minds to help us avoid conflict，pain，or disaster.We need a(n) ____ to come on to tell us not to yield to temptation.We need to be ____ that we shouldn't ignore good and work to make life better for all of us.

God makes a magnificent “check engine light”．He gives you an awareness to keep your pathway ____.He shows you the beauty of the earth to ____ you to him.He gives people who care about you，to help ____ your living.He has provided his word to point the ____.Lean on God to lead your pathway from the problems that could damage your living.He can repair malfunctions before they destroy your being.

1.A.replace? B．heat? C．repair? D．check

2.A.quickly? ????????????? B．gradually

C．luckily? ????????????? D．approximately

3.A.cool? B．cause? C．protect? D．hide

4.A.wondered? ????????????? B．reasoned?

C．imagined? ????????????? D．appreciated

5.A.strength? B．difference? C．anxiety? D．risk

6.A.found? B．sensed? C．required? D．believed

7.A.balance? ????????????? B．patience?

C．service? ????????????? D．performance

8.A.sight? B．situation? C．system? D．event

9.A.generate? ????????????? B．prevent?

C．accumulate? ????????????? D．increase

10.A.charged? B．arranged? C．achieved? D．designed

11.A.truly? B．simply? C．correctly? D．slowly

12.A.anyone? B．someone? C．everyone? D．no one

13.A.problem? B．question? C．argument? D．accident

14.A.run away? ????????????? B．work out

C．come on? ????????????? D．turn up

15.A.cube? B．alarm? C．flash? D．light

16.A.reminded? B．applied? C．recognized? D．assured

17.A.similar? B．straight? C．tough? D．changeable

18.A.adapt? B．apply? C．rush? D．lead

19.A.guide? B．finish? C．make? D．affect

20.A.use? B．time? C．way? D．sign

On the evening of June 21, 1992, a tall man with brown hair and blue eyes entered the beautiful hall of the Bell Tower Hotel in Xi’an with his bicycle. The hotel workers received him and telephoned the manager, for they had never seen a bicycle in the hotel ball before though they lived in “the kingdom of bicycles.”
Robert Friedlander, an American, arrived in Xi’an on his bicycle trip across Asia which started last December in New Delhi, India.
When he was 11, he read the book Ma-rco Polo and made up his mind to visit the Silk Road. Now, after 44 years , he was on the Silk Road in Xi’an and his early dreams were coming true.
Robert Friedlander’s next destinations (目的地) were Lanzhou, Dunhuang, Urumqi, etc. He will complete his trip in Pakistan.
【小题1】The best headline(标题) for this newspaper article would be________.

  Centuries ago, man discovered that removing moisture from food helps to store it, and that the easiest way to do this is to expose the food to sun and wind.

    All foods including water — cabbage and other leaf vegetables contains as much as 93% water, potatoes and other root vegetables 80%, lean (瘦的) meat 75% and fish, anything from 80% to 60%, depending on how fatty it is. If this water is removed, the activity of the bacteria which cause food to go bad is controlled.

    Nowadays most foods are dried mechanically. The conventional method of such dehydration (脱水) is to put food in chambers (室) through which hot air is blown at temperature of about ll0'C at entry to about 43'C at exit. This is the usual method for drying such things as vegetables, minced meat, and fish.

    Liquids such as milk, coffee, tea, soups and eggs may be dried by pouring them over a heated steel cylinder (圆筒), then put them into a chamber through which a current of hot air passes. In the first process, the dried material comes off the roller (滚筒) as a thin film which is then broken up into small, though still relatively flakes (薄片). In the second process it falls to the bottom of the chamber as small powder. Where recognizable pieces of meat and vegetables are required, as in soup, the ingredients (成分) are dried separately and then mixed.

    Dried foods take up less room and weigh less than the same food packed in cans or

frozen, and they do not need to be stored in special conditions. For these reasons they

are invaluable to the climbers, explorers and soldiers in battle, who have little storage

space. They are also popular with housewives because it takes so little time to cook

them.

It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

  A. the rattier fish contain as much water as the lean one

  B. the rattier the fish is, the more water it may contain

  C. a fatty fish holds less water than a lean one

  D. the water content of fish has nothing to do with the content of their fat

The underlined word "conventional" in Paragraph 3 can most probably be replaced by _________.

  A. particular        B. scientific          C. usual               D. special

Which of the following statements is NOT true about drying food?

  A. The removal of water in food helps prevent it from going rotten.

  B. The open-air method of drying food has been known for hundreds of years.

  C. In the course of dehydration, the temperature of hot current coming from entry to exit is gradually going up.

  D. The process of drying liquids is much more complex than that of drying solid food.

The last paragraph mainly talks about __________.

  A. the reason why housewives like dried food

  B. the general convenience of dried food

  C. the methods of storing food

  D. the advantages of dried, canned and frozen food