Dick was born in a poor family. His father had a small boat and went fishing in the morning and sold the fish in the market in the afternoon. Then he bought some food for his family. When winter came, they were often hungry. One morning the hungry man fell into the river and wasn’t found. Dick’s mother left her three-year-old son without saying good-bye. His aunt had to look after him.

Twenty years passed. Dick became a tall, strong man. He found work on a farm. He worked hard and wanted to get more money. He often went to see his aunt with some nice presents. The woman was very happy but one day she died in a traffic accident. The young man was very sad. After he buried her, he decided to buy a beautiful tombstone(墓碑)for her. He went to town and came in a shop, but all the tombstones were too expensive. He asked, “Do you sell an old tombstone, sir?” “Yes, we do, sir, ” answered the shopkeeper. “Is it as expensive as the new one?”

“No, it’s much cheaper,” said the man. “But another name was engraved (刻) on it.” “It doesn’t matter, ” said Dick. “My aunt couldn’t read.”

If      , the family members were hungry.

A. Dick’s father could catch no fish in winter  

B. Dick’s father had a boat in winter

C. Dick’s father had to look after him in winter 

D. no food was sold in winter

Dick wanted to get more money to      .

A. marry a wife            B. give his aunt nice presents

C. buy a farm              D. build a house

Dick often went to see his aunt because        .

A. she felt lonely           B. she was often ill

C. she had no children       D. with her help he grew up

Dick wanted to buy an old tombstone because      .

A. he didn’t had enough money to buy a new one

B. his aunt couldn’t read whose name was engraved

C. his aunt wasn’t going to mind it   

D. nobody knew what his aunt’s name was

Camp memories last forever!We make sure they are unforgettable!

Shadow Ridge Summer Camps offer so many exciting things for campers to do.Unlike other camp programs that include horses as a small part of their program,at Shadow Ridge horses ARE the program!We are 100% horse from stable(马厩) management,nature walks,and track rides to bedroom furnishings.

Horses help us achieve many of our aims.Girls can learn to develop responsibility,self-confidence and personal connections in their lives while having fun.Using horses as a wonderful tool for education,our camps offer an interesting place for growth and learning.

Imagine each girl having her very own horse to spend time with and a best friend to love and take care of.Each camper is responsible for a horse for the week.Our riding program provides a lot of riding and lesson time.Campers will learn how to take care of the horse and the tack(马具),as well as how to ride.Days are filled with horse-related activities to strengthen the connection between each girl and horse,as the girls learn to work safely around the horses.

At Shadow Ridge we try to create a loving,caring family atmosphere for our campers.We have “The Bunkhouse” (4 girls),the “Wranglers Roost” (4 girls),and “The Hideout” (2 girls) in our comfortable 177-year-old farm house.All meals are home cooked,offering delicious and healthy food for the hungry rider.

Our excellent activities create personalized memories of your child’s vacation.Each child will receive a camp T-shirt and a photo album.(usually 300-500 pictures) of their stay at camp.

Our camps are offered during June,July and August 2007,for small groups of girls aged 13-16 years,not only from Canada but also other parts of the world.

We will send you full program descriptions at your request.

1.What is the main purpose of the passage?

2.What do we know about the camp programs at Shadow Ridge?

3.The programs at Shadow Ridge mainly aim to help people______.

4.The passage is written mainly for______.

People living on parts of the south coast of England face a serious problem. In 1933, the owners of a large hotel and of several houses discovered, to their surprise that their gardens had disappeared overnight. The sea had eaten into the soft limestone cliff (悬崖) on which they had been built. While ex??perts were studying the problem, the hotel and several houses disappeared altogether, sliding down the cliff and into the sea.

Erosion (侵蚀) of the white cliffs along the south coast of England has always been a problem but it has become more serious in recent years. Dozens of homes have had to be aban??doned as the sea has crept farther and farther inland. Experts have studied the areas most affected and have drawn up a map for local people, forecasting the year in which their homes will be eaten up by the hungry sea.

Angry owners have called on the Government to erect sea defenses to protect their homes. Government surveyors have pointed out that in most cases, this is impossible. New sea walls would cost hundreds of millions of pounds and would merely make the waves and currents further along the coast, shifting the problem from one area to another. The danger is likely to continue, they say, until the waves reach an inland ar??ea of hard rock, which will not be eaten as limestone is. Mean??while, if you want to buy a cheap house with an uncertain fu??ture, apply to a house agent in one of the threatened areas on the south coast of England. You can get a house for a knock??down price but it may turn out to be a knockdown home.

What is the cause of the problem that people living on parts of the south coast of England face?

A. The rising of the sea level.

B. The experts’ short of knowledge.

C. The washing-away of limestone cliff.

D. The disappearance of hotels, houses and gardens.

The erosion of the white cliffs in the south of England ________.

A. will soon become a problem for people living in central England

B. has now become a threat to the local residents

C. can be stopped if proper measures are taken

D. is quickly changing the map of England

The experts’ study on the problem of erosion can ________.

A. warn people whose homes are in danger

B. provide an effective way to slow it down

C. help to its eventual solution

D. lead to its eventual solution(www.nmet168.com)

It is not feasible to build sea defenses to protect against erosion because ________.

A. house agents along the coast do not support the idea

B. it is too costly and will endanger neighboring areas

C. the government is too slow in taking action

D. they will be easily knocked down by waves and currents

Farming is moving indoors, where the sun never shines, where rainfall is irrelevant (无关的) and where the climate is always right. The perfect crop field could be inside a windowless building with controlled light, temperature，humidity，air quality and nutrition. It could be in a New York high- rise or a complex （建筑群） in the Saudi desert. It may be an answer to the world’s food problems.
The world already is having trouble feeding itself. Half the people on Earth live in cities, and nearly half of those – about 3 billion – are hungry or ill–fed. Food prices, currently increasing, are badly affected by dryness, floods and the cost of energy required to plant, harvest and transport it. And prices will only get more unstable. Climate change makes long-term crop planning uncertain. Farmers in many parts of the world already are using water available to the last drop. And the world is getting more crowded: by mid-century, the global population will grow from 6.8 billion to 9 billion.
To feed so many people may require expanding farmland at the expense of forests and wilderness, or finding ways to greatly increase crop output.
Gertjan Meeuws and three other Dutch bioengineers grow vegetables and house plants in closed and regulated environments. In their research station, water flows into the pans when needed, and the temperature is kept constant. Lights go on and off, creating “day” and “night”, but according to the rhythm of the plant.
Meeuws says a building of 100 square meters and layers of plants could provide a daily diet of 200 grams of fresh fruit and vegetables for the entire population of Ken Bosch, about 140,000 people. Their idea isn’t to grow foods that require much space, like corn or potatoes.
Sunlight is not only unnecessary but can be harmful. Plants need only specific wavelengths of light to grow. Their growth rate is three times faster than under greenhouse conditions. They use about 90 percent less water than outdoor agriculture. And city farming means producing food near the consumer, so there’s on need to transport it long distances.
【小题1】According to the text, Gertjan Meeuws’ farming _______.

One day an old woman was traveling alone in the mountains. Suddenly she saw something shining in the stream. When she came close, she found it was a precious stone. She put the stone into her bag and went on with her trip.

The next day the old woman met a young man, who was also a traveler in the mountains. The young man looked very hungry, so the old woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked carefully, “The stone is beautiful. Would you like to give it to me?”

 “Sure. Why not?” the woman said, and handed the stone to him.

The young man left happily with the stone. He knew it was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the woman.

“I’ve been thinking,” he said. “I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back and hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within your bag.”

The woman opened her bag. It was almost empty. She looked at the young man and smiled, “I have nothing special in my bag, but I do have something precious — the joy of giving!”

The young man felt ashamed and left silently.

1.How did the young man find the precious stone?

A. He found it in his food.    B. He dug it out in a valley.

C. He saw it in the woman’s bag. D. He noticed it shining in the stream.

2.What does the underlined word “security” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

   A. Money.          B. Worry.        C. Health.        D. Trouble.

3.The man returned the stone to the woman because ______.

   A. he found the stone was not precious

   B. he understood the real meaning of joy

   C. he felt embarrassed at taking away the stone

   D. he wanted to get something even more precious

4.Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?

A. A special stone             B. The joy of giving

C. A woman and a young man  D. An experience in the mountains