Are you stuck in a rut（车辙）and looking for a change? Fed up of seeing hungry, poor faces on your TV screen and want to do something to help? Perhaps you’ve considered volunteering overseas but ruled it out because you thought you were too old, couldn’t commit enough time, or have a family. If so, think again.

“Over the past five years it has become far safer --- and more professionally acceptable --- to take up a job volunteering overseas,” says David Stitt, managing director of Gap Year for Grown Ups, a company catering for volunteers in their late 20s and upwards. “While 10 years ago intrepid souls took financial and personal risks in volunteering abroad, now several organizations exist to make the experience safe and well-organized.

Nowadays, universities and business encourage overseas volunteering among students and employees. Entire families can volunteer abroad, and agencies are employing more disabled and retired people. A prosperous “humanitarian tourism” industry has sprung up; thousands of UK citizens will do some form of overseas volunteering this year.

“Some volunteering jobs are easier to find than others,” explains Kevin Cusack, from a volunteer advice agency. “If you can speak English, it’s not too hard to land a job teaching English, even without a qualification, and those who enjoy working with children should be able to find child care work.” zxxk

Whether your interest is rainforests or women’s rights, you can find a volunteer position to suit you. But be warned: unless you have relevant skills or existing overseas development experience, it’s going to cost. Just how much depends on the location and length of the position, but you should budget for somewhere between £1,500 and £6,000.

“Having to pay to volunteer may sound paradoxical (矛盾的), but it’s the best way to ensure you get a position that benefits the local community while matching your interests and skills,” explains Cusack.  “You can also discuss the time you want to commit to a project --- many positions can fit into a holiday or even a weekend.”

1.The underlined words “intrepid souls” in Paragraph 2 most probably refers to ___________.

A．companies        B．volunteers         C．fighters           D．students

2.In Kevin Cusack’s opinion, paying to volunteer overseas ___________.

A．must be incredible and unrealistic

B．can help volunteers learn more about another culture

C．may benefit both volunteers and the community they work in

D．needs confidence, courage and determination

3.What can we learn from the text?

A．Disabled people can also take up a job volunteering overseas.

B．In the past no one could take up a job volunteering overseas.

C．“Humanitarian tourism” industry is in its beginning stage.

D．Taking up a job volunteering overseas needs at least £1,500.

4.Where can we most probably read this article?

A．In a job guidebook.

B．In a celebrity biography.

C．In a guidebook to work overseas.

D．In a report on volunteer work.

5.What is the writer’s attitude towards volunteer work?

A．Critical.           B．Unfavorable.       C．Supportive.        D．Disagreeable.

I was eight when my neighbors got a TV. It was small and expensive, but that didn’t matter. IT WAS WONDERFUL. Everyone in the building came up to the fifth floor to see this latest wonder of the modern world. That was in 1948.

Soon, a lot of people got a TV, but not us. My parents didn’t think it was good for children. Being a good son, I didn’t argue with them. But I secretly watch TV—at my friends’ homes.

By 1955, televisions weren’t so expensive and were much larger. My parents still thought they were not good for us, but my sisters insisted, saying they were the only people in the neighborhood who didn’t have one. All their friends talked about certain programs and actors, but they couldn’t. Their friends laughed at them, which made them feel very unhappy. My youngest sister cried, saying she was never going back to school and that life without a TV wasn’t worth living. Nothing my parents said made her feel better. The next morning, without telling us, they went out and got a new TV.

When we were young our parents allowed us to watch TV for two hours a night. And we couldn’t watch until our homework was finished. But after a year or two, TV wasn’t exciting or new anymore. It became just another part of our lives like shoes or soap. My parents still had fears about TV. We were going to forget how to read, and TV was going to fill our minds with violence, they said.

Today people still argue about the value of TV. Nobody can deny the power of TV, which has a powerful influence on our lives. On average, Americans spend 30 hours a week watching TV. Is this influence good or bad? This is an unanswerable question indeed: It is hard enough to measure influence; and it is even harder to decide what is good and what isn’t. What is good, I suppose, is that many people are concerned about TV’s influence and that we have the power to change what we don’t like.

The people of Monhegan Island, 18 kilometers away off the coast of Maine, don’t have electricity, and they decided; once again, that they liked that way. Electricity, they think, would make life too easy and spoil their way of life. Maybe the young people wouldn’t want to go to town dances anymore. Maybe they would be more interested in staying at home and watching TV.

1.How old was the author, when their family got a TV?

A. About 15.      B. 8.               C. 18.              D. About 10.

2.The author’s parents finally decided to buy a TV because _______.

A. they wanted to meet their daughters’ needs .

B. the children couldn’t go to school without a TV

C. the sisters would like to be like their friends

D. they had to do as the youngest daughter told them to

3.The author thinks “to judge whether a TV’s influence is good or bad” is ________.

A. concerning     B. hard             C. meaningless       D. important

4.The last paragraph is written to show ________.

A. the disadvantage of TV

B. TV influences people a great deal

C. the advantage of TV

D. we can change what we don’t like

根据短文内容 ，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳答案，选项中有两项为多余选项。

Why is setting goals important?      1     Instead of just letting life happen to you, goals allow you to make your life happen.

Successful people imagine how their life should be and set lots of goals.    2  .It’s like having a map to show you where you want to go. Thank of it this way. There are two drivers. One has a destination (目的地) in mind which can be found on a map. She can drive straight there without any wasted time or wrong turns. The other driver has no goal or destination or map. She starts off at the same time from the same place as the first driver, but she drives aimlessly around, never getting anywhere, just using up gas. Which driver do you want to be?

     3    . They decide what they want in life and then get there by making plans and setting goals. Unsuccessful people just let life happen by accident. Goals aren’t difficult to set and they aren’t difficult to reach .      4    . You are the one who must decide what to achieve and in what direction to aim your life.

     5    . Written goals can be reviewed regularly, and have more power. Like a contract (合同) with yourself, they are harder to neglect or forget. Also when you write your goals in a particularly way, you are able to make yourself know situations that will bring you nearer to your goal.

There's a man in the habit of hitting me on the head with an umbrella.At first I couldn't stand it；now I'm used to it.

　　 I don't know his name.I know he's average in appearance，wears a gray suit，and has a common face.One hot morning，when I was sitting on a tree?shaded bench in Palermo Park，reading the paper，suddenly I felt something touch my head.It was the very same man who now，as I'm writing，keeps striking me with an umbrella.

　　 On that occasion I turned around filled with anger.He just kept on hitting me.I asked him if he was crazy.He didn't even seem to hear me.Then I threatened to call a policeman.Calmly，cool as a cucumber，he stuck with his task.After a few moments of hesitation，and seeing that he was not about to change his attitude，I stood up and hit him on the nose.The man fell down.But he immediately got back on his feet，obviously with great effort，and without a word again began hitting me on the head with the umbrella.His nose was bleeding and，at that moment，I felt sorry for him.I felt regret for having hit him so hard.After all，the man wasn't exactly hitting me；he was merely tapping me lightly with his umbrella，not causing any pain at all.Of course，those taps were extremely bothersome.As we all know，when a fly lands on your forehead，you don't feel any pain；what you feel is annoyance.Well then，that umbrella was one huge fly that kept landing on my head time after time.

　　 Convinced that I was dealing with a madman，I tried to escape.But the man followed me，wordlessly continuing to hit me.So I began to run(I should point out many people run as fast as I do)．He took off after me，trying to land a blow.The man was out of breath so that I thought，if I continued to force him to run at that speed，he would drop dead right then and there.

1．When the man began to strike the author with an umbrella，the author________.

A．became angry

B．called the police

C．turned around and escaped

D．turned around and fought back

2．The author would most probably agree that the man was

________.

A．deaf 　　　　 B．blind

C．dead 　　　　 D．mad

3．The author felt sorry for the man because________.

A．the man formed a bad habit of beating others

B．he hit the man so hard that his nose bled

C．the man couldn't catch up with him

D．there was a fly on the man's head

4．It can be learned from the passage that the man ________.

A．shouted loudly while hitting the author

B．wanted to tell the author something

C．ran after the anthor breathlessly

D．acted as if he were a fly

Renee had been married for a long, long time. Her favorite part of being married was the weekend, when she was with her two horses. On the weekend, Renee was at the stables(养马场) from morning until dark. She fed, groomed, and rode her horses. She was an excellent rider. She would ride the horses bareback on Saturday, and then she would saddle（给马装鞍） them up on Sunday.

Renee loved parades. She used to say, “A parade isn’t a parade without a horse.” Renee loved parades almost as much as she loved her horses. She belonged to an email list of volunteers for parades. She regularly visited the state website list of parades to see if there were any new parades that she didn’t know about. All the state parades were organized in her computer. In the parades file, she listed the date, drive time and distance, parade time, contact people, and other details she felt were important.

She knew the parade director of every town within a four-hour drive. She never stayed overnight. She always left the parade in time to get her horses back to the stables before “bedtime”. She had to feed them before they turned in. Her horses seemed to like parades, too. They knew a few tricks that always impressed the children.

Renee was very generous with her time and her horses. But owning horses wasn’t cheap. You had to rent the stables, and there were always vet(兽医) and feed bills. Renee knew how to cope with expenses, though. Her vet always gave her a 10-percent discount for paying cash. She always bought the no-name, generic food for the horses. Her vet had told her it was just as healthful and tasty as the brand name material. She always bought economy gasoline. And on parade days, Renee always packed her own lunch and ate with her horses.

1.What did Renee regularly do on the weekend?

A．She visited the state website list of parades.

B．She took part in parades.

C．She fed, groomed, and rode her horses at the stables.

D．She spent with her family.

2.Which one did Renee like better,horses or parades?

A．She liked horses better than parades.

B．She liked parades better than horses.

C．She didn’t love her horses as much as she loved parades.

D．She loved her horses almost as much as she loved parades.

3.Renee never stayed overnight when she took part in parades because__________.

A．she didn’t like to sleep together with horses

B．she had to get her horses back to the stables before “bedtime” to be fed

C．her horses didn’t agree to stay overnight

D．she couldn’t sleep well outside

4.How did Renee cope with expenses of owning horses? The following ways were used except that __________.

A．she always bought the brand name food for the horses

B．she had a 10-percent discount for paying cash offered by her vet

C．she always packed her own lunch and ate with her horses on parade days

D．she always bought the no-name, generic food for the horses

5.Which of the following words can’t be used to describe Renee?

A．caring            B．money-saving      C．careful           D．mean