Russ was a lovable kid with a variety of communication challenges---a speech impediment (语言障碍), dyslexia (诵读困难), and auditory problems. __41__ today he is walking confidently, standing tall to make an acceptance __42__ for having been chosen one of the “Outstanding Young Citizens” in Ocean County, New Jersey __43__ his remarkable volunteer service in the town of Toms River.
As I listened, I closed my eyes. I found myself __44__ those memorable moments. My mind was full of warm images of Russ as a loving, caring youth, a gentle soul, __45__ his challenges. And now, as he stood at the platform, I knew his heart __46__ be racing. As Russ continued to speak, I thought about the fateful day when he was diagnosed with all those impairments(损伤) and how __47__ his tutors would be if they could see him today. Here he was at twenty-nine, being honored for ten years of service as a volunteer __48__. Russ was __49__ for organizing clothing for the homeless, teaching preschool children about fire safety, and for playing Santa Claus for very sick children by driving up in a fire truck.
Russ thanked his parents for providing him with dignity and for teaching him about morals. Then, pausing for a few seconds, he __50__ us by surprise by touching lovingly on the __51__ of his nephew, Austin. Austin was just three years old when he died from an incurable disease. At that moment, I had to close my eyes again __52__ a different set of tears ran down my cheeks. A silence __53__ the room as Russ owed his volunteer award to Austin. He __54__ his address by lifting the audience up with these words, “Austin taught me how to love.”
I have never thought of this day. __55__, no one had ever thought that Russ would make __56__ as the star of the football team, and he had never been voted “most likely to succeed,” but he __57__ to be a true “star” in his community. Russ became a man of strong character __58__ his unselfish service to others. With so many impairments, Russ now sees and acts __59__ with his heart. His words and deeds inspire everyone who knows him. It is Russ, our son, who has shown us what __60__ is.

【小题1】

A．And B．While C．As D．But

London has become a cycle friendly zone after the launch of a new bike hire scheme. It has been designed to encourage more people to cycle in and around central London.

So how does it work？First you have to sign up to the scheme to be sent a key. The key will unlock one of the bikes，which are kept at docking stations in and around central London. You have to pay an access fee for the key and then you pay as you go，for the length of time you use the bike.

Transport for London，which runs the scheme，are hoping to have 6，000 bikes and 400 docking stations in place by the end of the year. The new hire system is hoping to ease congestion (拥挤) in London and is expected to create up to 40，000 extra cycle trips a day into the city centre. London Mayor Boris Johnston launched the scheme and said London had been “filled with thousands of gleaming machines that will transform the look and feel of our streets and become as commonplace on our roads as black cabs and red buses”.

However，there have been a few problems since the scheme was launched last Friday. On the first day some people found they couldn’t dock their bike properly and their usage of the bike had not registered. Transport for London did admit they had been expecting a few “teething problems” and have said they wouldn’t charge for the first day as a “gesture of goodwill”. Some other people have criticized the lack of docking stations and locks for the bikes as well as the price it costs to hire the bicycles.

Despite the comments，the green-thinking London Mayor still seems very positive about things，saying，“My campaign for the capital to become the greatest big cycling city in the world has taken a big pedal-powered push forwards.”

1. London Mayor boris Johnston launched the new bike scheme in order to _________.

A. reduce the air pollution of the city   

B. encourage the citizens to take exercises

C. deal with the city’s traffic problems

D. increase employment opportunities

2.If you want to hire a bike, in which order will you do？

a. pay for the bike according to the time you use it 

b. pay for the key to a bike

c. cycle in and around central London      

d. sign up as a member to get a key

A. b-d-c-a          B. b-c-a-d          C. d-c-b-a          D. d-b-c-a

3.All the following are the problems of the scheme EXCEPT         ．

A. the high cost to hire a bike                B. not registering their usage of the bikes

C. not charging for the first day of the scheme   D. docking the bikes properly

4. From the passage we can infer that         .

A. the London Mayor is confident in the scheme

B. the scheme will be cancelled because of the problems

C. all the citizens in London support the scheme

D. the cycling revolution is not successful

Australia---The vote for euthanasia(安乐死)was finally taken at 3:45 this morning. After six months’ argument and final 16 hours’ hot debates, Australia’s Northern Territory became the first legal authority in the world to allow doctors to take the lives of incurably ill patients who wish to die. The bill was passed by the vote of 15 to 10. Almost immediately word flashed on the Internet and was picked up, half a world away, by John Hofsess, the director of the Right to Die Society of Canada. He sent it on through the group’s on-line service, Death NET. Hofsess says, “We posted it all day long, because this isn’t just something that happened in Australia. It’s world history.”

The full import may take a while to understand. The NT Rights of the Terminally III law has left physicians and citizens trying to deal with its moral and practical meaning. Some have breathed sighs of relief, but others, including churches, right to life groups and the Australian Medical Association, bitterly attacked the bill and the haste(匆忙,急忙) of its passage. But the tide is unlikely to turn back. In Australia — where an aging population, life extending technology and changing community attitudes have all played their part — other states are going to consider making a similar law to for euthanasia. In the US and Canada, where the right to die movement is gathering strength, observers are waiting for the dominoes(多米诺骨牌) to start falling.

Under the new Northern Territory law, an adult patient can request death — probably by a deadly injection or pill — to put an end to suffering. The patient must be diagnosed as incurably ill by two doctors. After a “cooling off” period of seven days, the patient can sign a certificate of request. After 48 hours the wish for death can be met. For Lloyd Nickson, a 54 year old Darwin man suffering from lung cancer, the law means he can get on with living without the fear of his suffering: a terrifying death from his breathing condition. “I’m not afraid of dying from a spiritual point of view, but what I was afraid of was how I’d go, because I’ve watched people die in the hospital fighting for oxygen and clawing at their masks,” he says.

1.According to the text ,which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. Australia now is the only country in the world to pass the law of euthanasia.

B. All people in Australia don’t have the same positive attitude to euthanasia.

C. Many patients will ask their doctors for euthanasia because they are afraid of death.

D. According to the law, if a patient requests death, his or her wish will be met after 48 hours.

2.The underlined sentence in Para 2, “observers are waiting for the dominoes to start falling.” means that observers are waiting to see ___________.

A. the result of the game of dominoes.

B. that people’s attitude to euthanasia will be changed.

C. that the bill about euthanasia in Australia will come to an end.

D. the similar bills will be passed in other countries.

3.Australia was the first country to pass the bill of euthanasia, but not USA or Canada. Which one is NOT the reason ?

A. In Australia, the technology of extending life is advanced.

B. In Australia, it is easy to deal with the moral and practical meaning.

C. In Australia, old people take up great part in the population of the whole country.

D. Australians gradually realize suffering from a terrible disease is worse than immediate death.

4.It can be inferred from the text that _____________.

A. when Lloyd Nickson dies, he will face his death with calm characteristic of euthanasia.

B. physicians and citizens in Australia share the same view on euthanasia.

C. other countries are going to consider making a similar law to deal with euthanasia.

D. under the bill, patients requesting death are sure to be injected by deadly medicine.

5.What’s the author’s attitude to euthanasia?

A. Negative        B. Critical          C. Positive        D. Doubtful

By the mid-nineteenth century, the term "icebox" had entered the American language, but ice was still only beginning to affect the diet of ordinary citizens in the United States. The ice trade grew with the growth of cities. Ice was used in hotels, taverns(酒馆), and hospitals, and by some forward-looking city dealers in fresh meat, fresh fish, and butter. After the Civil War (1861-1865), as ice was used to refrigerate freight cars, it also came into household use. Even before 1880, half of the ice sold in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and one-third of that sold in Boston and Chicago, went to families for their own use. This had become possible because a new household convenience, the icebox, a precursor (前身) of the modern fridge, had been invented.
　　Making an efficient icebox as not as easy as we might now suppose. In the early nineteenth century, the knowledge of the physics of heat, which was essential to a science of refrigeration, was rudimentary(未发展的). The commonsense notion that the best icebox was one that prevented the ice from melting was of course mistaken, for it was the melting of the ice that performed the cooling. Nevertheless, early efforts to economize ice included wrapping up the ice in blankets, which kept the ice from doing its job. Not until near the end of the nineteenth century did inventors achieve the delicate balance of insulation(绝缘) and circulation needed for an efficient icebox.
　　But as early as 1803, and ingenious Maryland farmer, Thomas Moore, had been on the right track. He owned a farm about twenty miles outside the city of Washington, for which the village of Georgetown was the market center. When he used an icebox of his own design to transport his butter to market, he found that customers would pass up the rapidly melting stuff in the tubs of his competitors to pay a premium price(高价) for his butter, still fresh and hard in neat, one-pound bricks. One advantage of his icebox, Moore explained, was that farmers would no longer have to travel to market at night in order to keep their produce cool.
【小题1】Where was ice used after the Civil War?

London has become a cycle friendly zone after the launch of a new bike hire scheme. It has been designed to encourage more people to cycle in and around central London.
So how does it work？First you have to sign up to the scheme to be sent a key. The key will unlock one of the bikes，which are kept at docking stations in and around central London. You have to pay an access fee for the key and then you pay as you go，for the length of time you use the bike.
Transport for London，which runs the scheme，are hoping to have 6，000 bikes and 400 docking stations in place by the end of the year. The new hire system is hoping to ease congestion (拥挤) in London and is expected to create up to 40，000 extra cycle trips a day into the city centre. London Mayor Boris Johnston launched the scheme and said London had been “filled with thousands of gleaming machines that will transform the look and feel of our streets and become as commonplace on our roads as black cabs and red buses”.
However，there have been a few problems since the scheme was launched last Friday. On the first day some people found they couldn’t dock their bike properly and their usage of the bike had not registered. Transport for London did admit they had been expecting a few “teething problems” and have said they wouldn’t charge for the first day as a “gesture of goodwill”. Some other people have criticized the lack of docking stations and locks for the bikes as well as the price it costs to hire the bicycles.
Despite the comments，the green-thinking London Mayor still seems very positive about things，saying，“My campaign for the capital to become the greatest big cycling city in the world has taken a big pedal-powered push forwards.”
【小题1】 London Mayor boris Johnston launched the new bike scheme in order to _________.