E
Water and its importance to human life are the center of the world’s attention. March 22 is World Water Day, which has the theme “Water and culture ”this year. Ther are more than one billion people in the world who live without safe drinking water. The United Nations hopes to cut this number in half by 2015.
Solving such a big problem seems like an unreal challenge. But everyone, even teenagers, can do something to help. A teenage girl in the U.S. has set an example to others of her age around the world. Rene Haggerty, 13, was awarded the 2004 Gloria Barron Prize for her work of collecting deserted batteries which pollute water.
In 2003, Haggerty went on a field trip to the Great Lakes Science Centre in Ohio. There, she saw an exhibit about how chemicals in old batteries harm the water of Lake Erie. Haggerty learnt that recycling the batteries was an easy solution. “I think everybody can do it, because everyone uses batteries, and it can make a big difference.”With these words, she began to increase awareness in her area.
She talked to her county government and school board. She got permission to start a recycling programme in schools as well as the public libraries, hospitals, and churches. With the help from her family, friends and local waste-management officials, she gathered containers, arranged transportation, and made an educational video.
Over the past two years, she collected four tons of batteries and drew the attention of officials, who were in charge of a battery recycling programme but had made little progress. When asked if she feels like a hero, Haggerty is quite modest. “Not really. Well, maybe for the fish I saved!”
Every year the Gloria Barron Prize honors young Americans aged 8 to 18 who have shown leadership and courage in serving the public and the planet. Each year ten winners receive ＄2,000 each, to help with their education costs or their public service work.
68.According to the passage, how many people probably can’t drink safe drinking water in 2015?
A.About I billion.                                            B.About 2 billion.
C.About 500 million.                                        D.About 5 million.
69.In order to collect used batteries, Rene Haggerty did the following things EXCEPT_______.
A.gather some containers                                  B.arrange the transportation
C.make an educational video                             D.go on a field trip
70.The best title for this passage should be_______ .
A.A girl awarded the 2004 Gloria Barron Prize
B.A girl acts to clean the world’s water
C.We should protect our environment
D.A girl collecting batteries

(B)
Last week, while visiting my dad with my daughter, we went to a restaurant for dinner. When we were seated, my dad asked the waitress if there were any soldiers eating at the restaurant. Then waitress said there was a soldier having dinner with his friend. My dad told the waitress to tell the soldier and his friend that their dinner was paid for! He also said that he did not want to be known as the benefactor(施主).
Then waitress later commented on my dad’s thoughtful behavior saying that she had never seen anything like this before. At a local college, she had studied opera and so she used this to thank my dad by performing a piece from The Pearl Fisherman. Her voice brought me to tears because it sounded perfect!
After a while, the soldier appeared at our table (I don’t know how he knew my dad paid the bill for him.) and said that he would be sent to the front the next morning and that he could not leave this country without saying “thanks” to my dad. My dad replied that it was he who wanted to say “thanks”. They shook hands as the soldier left.
Before we left, the waitress came by again. She did a magic show as another way to show her “thanks” to my dad. Her show was really great. My dad left her a note with email address asking for her next performance time in addition to a $ 50 tip.
Everyone witnessed something exemplary in the human spirit that night. I can only hope to see more of this in the future.
46. My dad offered help to the soldier and his friend in the restaurant probably because________.
A. he wanted to thank them for all they had done
B. he wanted to know more about then
C. he wanted the waitress to thank him
D. he wanted the soldiers to know his kindness
47. The waitress performed The Pearl Fisherman in the restaurant because____.
A. she was asked to perform to the guests
B. she wanted to show off her wonderful skills
C. she wanted to show her respect and thanks to the author’s dad
D. she wanted to attract more and more guests
48. What did the soldier do in response to the author’s father’s kindness?
A. He gave something to author’s dad.
B. He gave a big tip to the waitress.
C. He said thanks to the author’s dad in person.
D. He did a magic show for the author and her father.
49. The author considered her father’s action to be ____.
A. funny        B. understandable         C. worthless            D. honorable
50. The passage mainly tells us that we should ____.
A. learn to be grateful to others      B. find ways to thank others
C. try to learn from each other               D. respect soldiers and waitresses

He lost his arms in an accident that took his father’s life. Since then，he has had to depend on the __26__ of his younger brother.__27__ writing with his toes，he was completely unable to do anything in his life. But when the two brothers grew up，his younger brother __28__ to separate from him，living his own life，as many normal people do. So he was __29__ and didn’t know what to do.
A __30__ disaster befell (降临) a girl，too. One night her mother，who  __31__ from mental illness disappeared. So her father went out looking for her mother，__32__ her alone at home. She tried to prepare meals for her parents，__33__ to overturn the kerosene light (煤油灯) on the stove，__34__ in a fire which took her hands away.
Though her elder sister showed her __35__ to take care of her，she was determined to be completely __36__.At school，she always studied hard. Once she wrote the following in her composition: “I am __37__.Though I lost my arms，I still have legs; I am lucky.__38__ my wings are broken，my heart can still fly.”
One day，the boy and the girl were both invited to __39__ on a television interview program. The boy told the TV host about his uncertain __40__ at being left on his own.__41__，the girl was full of hope for her life. They both were __42__ to write something on a piece of paper with their toes. The boy wrote: My younger brother’s arms are my arms while the girl wrote: Broken wings，__43__ heart.       
It is true that __44__ can strike at any time. But if you decide to be strong，the hardship will __45__ to be a fortune on which new hopes will arise.

Two thieves came to a house to steal something. They dug a hole in the wall of the house.
There lived many mice in the house. The woman in the moonlight saw a mouse crawl(爬行) into the house. “Look! In comes one,” she said to the man in the house. He was so frightened that he hurriedly crawled out of the house and said to the one waiting outside, “She found me when I was just in.” But the thief outside didn’t believe him, so he said; “Let us two try to crawl into the house together.” At that time two mice happened to crawl into the house, too. The woman saw the mice and shouted, “In come two, catch them!” The two thieves were terribly frightened. The man in the house said, “You saw them come in but where are they? I will catch them tonight.” The two thieves started running away at once.
The two thieves wanted to make it clear whether they had been found or not the night before. The next day they acted as men selling sweet potatoes and came before the house. The man and the woman were ploughing in their fields. The rein(缰绳)broke and the woman came home for a rope. She saw two men selling sweet potatoes and wanted to buy some. She picked out two which looked like mice. At the time the man couldn’t wait for her any longer in the fields and he ran back from the fields to hurry her up. The woman showed the sweet potatoes to the man and said, “How they look like the two of last night.” The man said, “I asked you to fetch a rope, why don’t you hurry for it?” The two thieves ran away very quickly without their sweet potatoes.
65. The two thieves failed to steal anything from the house because_______.
A. they were found out                               B. they were frightened by what they had heard in the house
C. they didn’t work together well with each other               D. mice stopped them from doing so
66. From the last paragraph, we know that_______.
A. the two thieves were famous selling sweet potatoes
B. the woman recognized the two thieves
C. the woman pretended to know nothing about the two thieves and made fun of them
D. the two thieves didn’t know that they were not found at all
67. The woman said, “How they look like the two of last night.” Here “the two” refers to_______.
A. the two thieves                B. nothing                 C. the mice                 D. the ropes

Motherhood may make women smarter and may help prevent dementia（痴呆） in old age by bathing the brain in protective hormones（荷尔蒙） , U．S．researchers reported on Thursday．
Tests on rats show that those who raise two or more litters of pups do considerably better in tests of memory and skills than rats who have no babies, and their brains show changes that suggest they may be protected against diseases such as Alzheimer’s（早老痴呆症）．University of Richmond psychology professor Craig Kinsley believes his findings will translate into humans．“Our research shows that the hormones of pregnancy（怀孕） are protecting the brain, including estrogen（雌激素）, which we know has many neuroprotective （保护神经的） effects,” Kinsley said．
“It’s rat data but humans are mammals just like these animals are mammals,” he added in a telephone interview．“They go through pregnancy and hormonal changes．” Kinsley said he hoped public health officials and researchers will look to see if having had children protects a woman from Alzheimer’s and other forms of age-related brain decline．
“When people think about pregnancy, they think about what happens to babies and the mother from the neck down,” said Kinsley, who presented his findings to the annual meeting of the Society of Neuroscience in Orlando, Florida．
“They do not realize that hormones are washing on the brain．If you look at female animals that have never gone through pregnancy, they act differently toward young．But if she goes through pregnancy, she will sacrifice her life for her infant—that is a great change in her behavior that showed in genetic alterations（改变） to the brain．”
【小题1】How do scientists know “Motherhood may make women smarter”?