Long bus rides are like television shows. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end with commercials (商业广告) thrown in every three or four minutes. The commercials are unavoidable. They happen whether you want them or not. Every couple of minutes a billboard glides by outside the bus window. “Buy Super Clean Toothpaste.” “Drink Good Wet Root Beer.” “Fill up with Pacific Gas. “Only when you have fallen asleep, which is equal to turning the television set off, can you get separated from the unending cry of “You Need It! Buy It Now!”
As for the ride itself, the beginning of it is comfortable and somewhat exciting, even if you’ve traveled that way before. Usually some things are keeping changing out of the windows — various houses, crop fields, attractive bridges, … and sometimes even a small accident. Your bus driver may have a unique style of driving and it’s fun trying experience it the first hour or so. If the driver is particularly reckless (鲁莽的) or daring, the ride can be as thrilling (惊心动魄的) as an adventurous story. Will the driver pass the truck in time? Will the driver move into the right or the left hand lane? After a while, of course, the excitement dies down. Sleeping for a while helps pass the middle hours of the ride. Food always makes bus rides more interesting. But you’ve got to be careful of what kind of food you eat. Too much salty food can make you very thirsty between stops.
The end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning. You know the riding will soon be over and there’s a kind of expectation and excitement with that. The seat, of course, has become harder for the hours having passed. By now you may sit with your legs crossed, or with your hands in your lap, or with your hands on the arms, or even with your hands crossed behind your head. That is to say that the end comes just at no more ways to sit.
【小题1】According to the passage, what do the passengers usually see when they are on a long bus trip?

The flag, the most common symbol of a nation in the modern world, is also one of the most ancient. With a clear symbolic meaning, the flag in the traditional form is still used today to mark building, ships and other vehicles related to a country.

    The national flag as we know it today is in no way a primitive artifact. It is , rather, the product of thousands of years’ development. Historians believe that it had two major ancestors, of which the earlier served to show wind direction.

    Early human beings used very fragile houses and boats. Often strong winds would tear roofs from houses or cause high waves that endangered travelers. People’s food supplies were similarly vulnerable (易受损害的). Even after they had learned how to plant grains, they still needed help from nature to ensure good harvests. Therefore they feared and depended on the power of the wind, which could bring warmth from one direction and cold from another.

    Using a simple piece of cloth tied to the top of a post to tell the direction of the wind was more dependable than earlier methods, such as watching the rising of smoke from a fire. The connection of the flag with heavenly power was therefore reasonable. Early human societies began to fix long pieces of cloth to the tops of totems (图腾)before carrying them into battle. They believed that the power of the wind would be added to the good wishes of the gods and ancestors represented by the totems themselves.

    These flags developed very slowly into modern flags. The first known flag of a nation or a ruler was unmarked: The king of China around 1008 B.C. was known to have a white flag carried ahead of him. This practice might have been learned from Egyptians even further in the past, but it was from China that it spread over trade routes through India, then across Arab lands, and finally to Europe, where it met up with the other ancestor of the national flag.

1.The best title for the passage would be_________________

A. Uses of Flags               B. Power of the National Flag

C. Type of Flags               D. Development of the National Flag

2.The earliest flags were connected with heavenly power because_____________

A. they could tell wind direction

B. they could bring good luck to fighters

C. they were believed to stand for natural forces.

D. they were handed down by the ancestors

3.What does the author know of the first national flag?

A. He knows when it was sent to Europe.

B. He believes it was made in Egypt.

C. He doubts where it started

D. He thinks it came from China.

4. What will the author most probably talk about next?

A. The second ancestor of the national flag.

B. The role of China in the spread of the national flag.

C. The use of modern flags in Europe.

D. The importance of modern flags.

Do you know what your child is going to do when the school bell rings at the end of the day? More than 14 million students leave school every afternoon and have nowhere to go, since they do not have access to(使用) affordable after­school opportunities. According to the National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center (NYVPRC), 90% of the Americans think all youths should have access to after­school programs(课外活动项目), but two­thirds of parents say they have trouble finding programs locally. The bad news is that the situation may be getting worse.
After­school hours are the peak time for juvenile crimes and risky behaviors, including alcohol(酒精) and drug(药物) use. NYVPRC states that children who do not spend any time in after­school activities are 49 percent more likely to use drugs and 37 percent more likely to become a teen parent. Kids are also at the highest risk of becoming a victim of violence after school, particularly between the hours of 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. The highest amount of juvenile crime occurs between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., when most children are dismissed from school(放学).
The NYVPRC defines after­school programs as safe and structured activities that offer children opportunities to learn new skills. The skills students learn can range from technology and math to reading and art. Some programs also offer opportunities for internship (实习), community service, or mentoring. These programs have been shown to improve academic achievement, as well as relieve the stresses(减压) on working families. A report by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S Department of Justice shows that students in after­school programs have fewer behavioral problems and more self­confidence, and can handle conflicts better than students who are not involved with these programs. In addition, according to the Harvard Family Research Project, after­school programs help students from low income families overcome the inequities (不公平) they face in the school system.
【小题1】Which of the following is TRUE according to the first paragraph?

Prolonging human life has increased the size of the human population. Many people alive today would have died of childhood diseases if they had been born 100 years ago. Because more people live longer, there are more people around at any given time. In fact, it is a decrease in death rates, not an increase in birthrates, that has led to the population explosion.
Prolonging human life has also increased the dependency load. In all societies, people who are disabled or too young or too old to work are dependent on the rest of society to provide for them. In hunting and gathering cultures, old people who could not keep up might be left behind to die. In times of famine (饥荒), infants might be allowed to die because they could not survive if their parents starved, where as if the parents survived they could have another child. In most contemporary societies, people feel a moral obligation (责任) to keep people alive whether they can work or not. We have a great many people today who live past the age at which they want to work or are able to work; we also have rules which require people to retire at a certain age. Unless these people were able to save money for their retirement, somebody else must support them. In the United States many retired people live on social security checks which are so little that they must live in near poverty. Older people have more illnesses than young or middle-aged people; unless they have wealth or private or government insurance, they must often “go on welfare” if they have a serious illness.
When older people become senile (衰老的) or too weak and ill to care for themselves, they create grave problems for their families. In the past and in some traditional cultures, they would be cared for at home until they died. Today, with most members of a household working or in school, there is often no one at home who can care for a sick or weak person. To meet this need, a great many nursing homes and convalescent (疗养的) hospitals have been built. These are often profit making organizations, although some are sponsored by religious and other nonprofit groups. While a few of these institutions are good, most of them are simply “dumping (倒垃圾的) grounds” for the dying in which “care” is given by poorly paid, overworked, and under skilled personnel (员工).
【小题1】The author believes that the increased size of the human population results from _______.

短文改错(共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分)
此题要求改正所给短文中的错误。对标有题号的每一行作出判断：如无错误，在该行右边横线上画一个勾(√)；如有错误(每行只有一个错误)，则按下列情况改正：
此行多一个词：把多余的词用斜线(划掉，在该行右边横线上写出该词，并也用斜线划掉。
此行缺一个词：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，在该行右边横线上写出该加的词。
此行错一个词：在错的词下画一横线，在该行右边横线上写出改正后的词。
注意：原行没有错的不要改。
May 10,2007                                                          Fine
Today I was having a PE lesson while I fell down
and hurt my foot.I was in greatly pain at that moment,
but I tried to act as if nothing has happened until the
class was over.Though I had difficulty walk back to
my my classroom.I still didn’t tell anyone but even refused
the offer of help of classmates.As result,the hurt
in my foot became worse.Now I know I’m wrong.We
can tell others our need for help and accept his help.
Some day we can not help others in return.In this way,
we can get along to each other happily and peacefully.