Tea drinking was common in China for nearly one thousand years before anyone in Europe had ever heard about tea．People in Britain were much slower in finding out what tea was like, mainly because tea was very expensive. It could not be bought in shops and even those people who could afford to have it sent from Holland did so only because it was a fashionable curiosity. Some of them were not sure how to use it. They thought it was a vegetable and tried cooking the leaves. Then they served them mixed with butter and salt. They soon discovered their mistake but many people used to spread the used tea leaves on bread and give them to their children as sandwiches.

    Tea remained scarce and very expensive in England until the ships of the East India Company began to bring it direct from China early in the seventeenth century. During the next few years so much tea came into the country that the price fell and many people could afford to buy it.

   At the same time people on the Continent were becoming more and more fond of tea．Until then tea had been drunk without milk in it, but one day a famous French lady named Madame de Sevigne decided to see what tea tasted like when milk was added．She found it so pleasant that she would never again drink it without milk. Because she was such a great lady her friends thought they must copy everything she did, so they also drank their tea with milk in it. Slowly this habit spread until it reached England and today only very few Britons drink tea without milk.

   At first, tea was usually drunk after dinner in the evening. No one ever thought of drinking tea in the afternoon until a duchess (公爵夫人) found that a cup of tea and a piece of cake at three or four o’clock stopped her getting “a sinking feeling” as she called it. She invited her friends to have this new meal with her and so, tea-time was born.

Which of the following is true of the introduction of tea into Britain?

A. The Britons got expensive tea from India. 

B. Tea reached Britain from Holland.

C．The Britons were the first people in Europe who drank tea.

D．It was not until the 17th century that the Britons had tea.

This passage mainly discusses_____________.

A．the history of tea drinking in Britain 

B．how tea became a popular drink in Britain

C．how the Britons got the habit of drinking tea   

D．how tea-time was born

Tea became a popular drink in Britain.

A．in eighteenth century    B．in sixteenth century

C．in seventeenth century   D．in the late seventeenth century

People in Europe began to drink tea with milk because.

A．it tasted like milk               

B．it tasted more pleasant

C．it became a popular drink

D．people tried to copy the way Madame de Servinge drank tea

60．We may infer from the passage that the habit of drinking tea in Britain mostly resulted from the influence of　________.

 A．a famous French lady    B．the ancient Chinese

 C．the upper social class  D．people in Holland

How do you feel after you've stayed up late to finish schoolwork? Or the day after a slumber party? Scientists now say that your answers to these questions may depend on your genes.

Genes are stretches of DNA that work like an instruction manual for our cells. Genes tell our bodies and brains what to do. People have about 40,000 genes, and each gene can have different forms. So, for example, certain forms of some genes make your eyes blue. Other versions of those genes make your eyes brown.

In a similar way, new research suggests that a gene called period3 affects how well you function without sleep. The discovery adds to older evidence that period3 helps determine whether you like to stay up late or get up early.

The period3 gene comes in two forms: short and long. Everyone has two copies of the gene. So, you may have two longs, two shorts, or one of each. Your particular combination depends on what your parents passed on to you.

Scientists from the University of Surrey in England studied 24 people who had either two short or two long copies of period3. Study participants had to stay awake for 40 hours straight. Then, they took tests that measured how quickly they pushed a button when numbers flashed on a screen and how well they could remember lists of numbers.

Results showed that the people with the short form of period3 performed much better on these tests than the people with the long form did. In both groups, people performed worst in the early morning. That's the time when truck drivers and other night-shift workers say they have the most trouble concentrating.

After the first round of experiments, participants were finally allowed to sleep. People in the group that performed well on the tests took about 18 minutes to nod off.

People with the long period3 gene, by contrast, fell asleep in just 8 minutes. They also spent more time in deep sleep. That suggests that people with the long form of the gene need more and deeper sleep to keep their brains working at top form.

1.We can know from the passage that genes can not ________.

2.Which of the following statements about the period3 is wrong?

3. People with the short form of period3__________.

4.What’s the best title of the passage?

第三部分：阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）

请认真阅读下列短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

When Janet, a grade two student at a well-known school, was pestered(纠缠) by her classmates to join their group to steal from shops, she was shocked. She was a quiet, well-behaved girl and she did not understand why the girls had approached her.

They showed her some of the things they had stolen and said that shop theft was great fun and very exciting. Then they threatened to beat Janet if she did not join them.

Janet was deeply troubled. She did her best to avoid the group of the girls after class­es, but they often waited for her outside the school and tried to persuade her to come with them.

This problem is one which many school students in Hong Kong face. We asked the chairman of the local-fight-crime committee what Janet should do in these cases.

“First of all, she could try to talk the other girls out of the whole thing. Being caught stealing from shops could ruin their futures and it is simply not worth the risk,” he said.

“Young people may think that it is easy to get away with stealing from shops, but more and more stores now have plain clothes detectives who are dressed like customers. I would say shop thieves have a more than ninety percent chance of being caught.”

“If they won’t listen to her, Janet should go to someone in charge in school, who can then decide if the matter can be dealt with by her or whether it is necessary to report the incident to the police.”

56. From the first three paragraphs we can learn that ____________.

A. Janet didn’t know what to do with the case

B. Janet faced the group bravely

C. the group stole a lot of things

D. the group were short of money

57. The underlined part “talk the other girls out of the whole thing” means ____________.

A. discuss the possible result with them

B. tell them about their futures

C. persuade them to stop theft

D. warn them not to disturb her

58. One of the suggestions to Janet is to ____________.

A. report the situation to the police

B. ask the local-fight-crime committee for advice

C. hire a detective to catch them

D. turn to her teacher for help

Dogs can be worried and pessimistic just like people, researchers report in a new study in Current Biology. And they aren’t talking about basset hounds (短脚猎狗): those dogs just look as if they expect the worst.

What the scientists say is that dogs that exhibit anxiety when left home alone by their owners may have bigger problems — they may be in a permanent bad mood.

This pessimistic outlook may not otherwise be easily apparent in a dog’s other characteristics, like running speed or learning ability, the study reports.

Dogs are similar to humans in the role that emotional state plays in decision making, said Michael Mendel, a veterinary scientist at the University of Bristol and the study’s lead author. The study’s researchers looked at 24 dogs in shelters in Britain.

They placed the dogs in isolated settings and observed their reactions — many barked, jumped on furniture and scratched at the door.

Then they placed bowls in two rooms. One bowl contained food, while another was empty. After training the dogs to understand that bowls can sometimes be empty, and sometimes full, they began to place bowls in ambiguous locations.

Dogs that quickly raced to the locations were more optimistic, and in search of food. Those that did not were deemed pessimistic.

The more separation anxiety a dog expressed while in isolation, the more likely the dog was to have a pessimistic reaction, the researchers found.

The study carries an important message for dog owners, Dr. Mendel said.

Dogs that express serious anxiety when alone may need treatment, as it could be a sign of unhappiness and instability.

1.This passage can be classified as _________.

2. In the study, many dogs barked, jumped and scratched because __________.

3.According to Dr. Mendel, which statement is true?

4.What can we learn from the passage?

第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）

阅读下列短文，从每题材所给的四个选项A、B、C、D、中，选出最佳选项

A few weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast, the Texas school where I teach collected furniture and other household items for a family from Louisiana that had lost everything. I thought of how sad it would be to lose all of the things that held so many priceless memories. Nothing could ever really replace a memory. I prayed I would be able to help the family in some ways , and at least give them practical things they could use.

I had a couple of old chairs in the house, and went into the spare bedroom to dig them out. Then I saw the wooden rocking chair(摇椅) in the corner. Deep brown , with a unique pattern of fruits and leaves edged in gold on the back. I’d never seen another like it. I used to rock my son to sleep in it when he was a baby. Talking about memories, I could never bear to part with that rocker.  http://wx.jtyjy.com/

But a feeling suddenly swept over me. Give it away. “Do you really want to do this?” my husband asked. I said firmly, “Yes!” He helped me load the rocking chair into my car. “Doesn’t it hold sentimental(情感的)value for you?” I couldn’t explain it. I took the rocker to the school the next day. The woman in charge of the donations(捐赠品)for the Louisiana family loaded it into the back of her truck.

The very next day at school, the woman in charge came rushing into my classroom. “Angie, I have to tell you a story about that rocking chair!” she said.

The family was grateful for every single item we’d donated, they told her. Then they saw the rocker. Everyone stopped and stared. Then the granddaughter cried out, “Grandma, look! It’s your rocking chair!”  http://wx.jtyjy.com/

My rocking chair was exactly like the one they had lost in the hurricane, the one that held their sweetest memories.

56. Why did the author feel sympathy for the family that had lost everything?

A. They met Hurricane Katrina.

B. They had no furniture and other items to use.

C. They lost the things holding memories.

D. They had to rebuild their house.

57. When thinking of having used the rocking chair the author     .

A. decided to give it away                          B. asked her husband for advice

C. liked it more than before                        D. hated to part with it

58. We can infer from the passage that the author’s husband      .

A. didn’t support the author’s social work    B. didn’t agree to donate the chair

C. thought the rocking chair valuable          D. could understand what she thought then

59. What’s the best title for this passage?

A. A good deed for a homeless family                B. Comfort a family with a gift of memories

C. A piece of furniture donated to a family          D. We all need the rocking chair