Weather changes when the temperature and the amount of water in the atmosphere change. We can see and feel water coming from the atmosphere when we have rain. But the water must somehow get back to the atmosphere. Meteorologists call this the water cycle.

   There are many stages in the water cycle. Rain falls when water vapour in clouds condenses(凝结). Drops of water form and fall to the ground. The water soaks into the ground and feeds streams and rivers. A lot of rain falls into the sea. The heat of the sun evaporates some of the water in the ground and in the rivers, lakes, and the sea. It changes the liquid water into water vapour. The vapour rises onto the air. Water vapour is normally invisible. On a very damp or humid day, however, you can sometimes see water vapour rising from a puddle(水坑) or pond in a mist(薄雾) above the water. Water vapour also gets into the air from living things. Trees and other plants take in water through their roots and give off water vapour from their leaves. People and land animals drink water and breathe out water vapour. In all these ways the water returns to the air. There it gathers to form clouds and condenses to form rain. The rain falls to earth, and the cycle starts again. It continues even if snow or hail(冰雹) fall instead because both eventually melt to form water. The amount of water vapour in the air depends on the temperature. The air is more moist(潮湿) in the tropics(热带) than in the cold polar regions.

What is the main idea of the passage?

A. Water cycle.                    B. Water vapour.

C. How rain forms.            D. Water, vapour, rain.

How many ways of the water returning to the air are discussed in the text?

A. Two.                   B. Three.  C. Four.    D. Five.

Whether water vapour can be seen or not depends on _______.

A. how much water is evaporated  B. how good your eyes are

C. in which way water is evaporated           D. climate or weather

From the passage we get to know _______.

A. there is more water vapour in the air in the tropics than in cold polar regions

B. there is more water vapour in the air in cold polar region than in the tropics

C. it gets more rain in the tropics than in cold polar regions because there is less vapour

D. the amount of water vapour in the air depends on how often it rains

If your family is like many in the United States, unloading the week’s groceries includes hauling a case or two of bottled water into your home. On your way to a soccer game or activity, it’s easy to grab a cold one right out of the fridge, right?
But all those plastic bottles use a lot of fossil fuels and pollute the environment. In fact, Americans buy more bottled water than any other nation in the world, adding 29 billion water bottles a year to the problem. In order to make all these bottles, manufacturers use 17 million barrels of crude oil. That’s enough oil to keep a million cars going for twelve months.
Imagine a water bottle filled a quarter of the way up with oil. That’s about how much oil was needed to produce the bottle.
So why don’t more people drink water straight from the kitchen faucet? Some people drink bottled water because they think it is better for them than water out of the tap, but that’s not true. In the United States, local governments make sure water from the faucet is safe. There is also growing concern that chemicals in the bottles themselves may leach into the water.
People love the convenience of bottled water. But maybe if they realized the problems it causes, they would try drinking from a glass at home or carrying water in a refillable steel container instead of plastic.
Plastic bottle recycling can help—instead of going out with the trash, plastic bottles can be turned into items like carpeting or cozy fleece clothing.
Unfortunately, for every six water bottles we use, only one makes it to the recycling bin. The rest are sent to landfills. Or, even worse, they end up as trash on the land and in rivers, lakes, and the ocean. Plastic bottles take many hundreds of years to disintegrate.
Water is good for you, so keep drinking it. But think about how often you use water bottles, and see if you can make a change.
Betty McLaughlin, who runs an organization called the Container Recycling Institute, says we should try using fewer bottles: “If you take one to school in your lunch, don’t throw it away—bring it home and refill it from the tap for the next day. Keep track of how many times you refill a bottle before you recycle it.”
And yes, you can make a difference. Remember this: Recycling one plastic bottle can save enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for six hours.

One day, a teacher was speaking to a group of students about how to manage time. He gave such an interesting example that his students would never   26  .
He put a wide-mouth jar(罐) on the table. Then he    27  some rocks and carefully placed them into the jar, one at a time. When   28  rocks would fit inside, he   29  , “Is this jar full?”
Everyone in class shouted, “Yes.” “Really?” The teacher pulled out a bag of small stones. He put   30  small stones in and shook the jar. The small stones went   31  into the spaces between the big rocks. He then asked the group   32  , “Is this jar full?”
“Probably not,” one of them answered. “Good!” the teacher replied. He brought out a box of sand and   33  some sand on the jar and it went between the rocks and small stones. Again he asked the   34  question, “Is this jar full?
“No,” the class shouted. Once more the teacher said, “Good.” He poured a cup of water into the jar   35  it was full. The he asked, “What is the point here?” One student   36  his hand and said, “The point is that if you try really hard, you can   37  put more things in.”
“No,” the teacher replied, “that’s not the   38  . What I want to tell you is that if you don’t put the big rocks in first, you will never get others in at all.   39  are the ‘big rocks’ in your life? Time with your friends, your education or your dreams? Remember to put the   40  in first, or you’ll never get others in at all?”

第三部分阅读技能（共两节满分40分）
阅读理解（共15小题，每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A,B,C,D四个选项中选出最佳选项。
Peter King, 15, and Mary King, 13, went to see a doctor. Peter had a bad cold, so the doctor gave him some pills to take. Mary had a bad cough, so the doctor gave her some cough medicine. The following are the words on the bottle of the medicine.
Cough Medicine
Shake well before use.
Take three times daily after meals.
At one time: adults   2 teaspoonfuls
Children 8---14      1teaspoonful
Children 4---7       1/2 teaspoonful
Not suitable for children below the age of 4
Store in a cold place.
Use before Oct. 2010.
46. Mary should take ________ in a day.
A. 2 teaspoonfuls     B. 3 teaspoonfuls    C. 4 teaspoonfuls   D. 1 teaspoonful
47. The medicine should be kept in ___________.
A. a fridge（冰箱）   B. hot water       C. any place       D. the sun
48. Mary should ________ before she takes it.
A. shake the medicine well        B. put some boiled water into it        
C. do some exercises             D. drink something
49. People aged ______ cannot take the cough medicine.
A. 80        B. 15      C. 20        D. 3
50. Which of the following statement is RIGHT?
A. Mary can’t eat anything before taking the medicine.
B. Mary should eat her meals before taking the medicine.
C. Mary can take the medicine in Dec. 2010.
D. The doctor also gave some cough medicine to Peter King.

Most people know precious gemstones (宝石) by their appearances. An emerald flashes deep green, a ruby seems to hold a red fire inside, and a diamond shines like a star. It’s more difficult to tell where the gem was mined, since a diamond from Australia or Arkansas may appear the same to one from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, recently, a team of scientists has found a way to identify a gemstone’s origin.

Beneath the surface of a gemstone, on the tiny level of atoms and molecules（分子）, lie clues (线索) to its origin. At this year’s meeting of the Geological Society of America in Minneapolis, Catherine McManus reported on a technique that uses lasers (激光) to clarify these clues and identify a stone’s homeland. McManus directs scientific research at Materialytics, in Killeen, Texas. The company is developing the technique. “With enough data, we could identify which country, which mining place, even the individual mine a gemstone comes from,” McManus told Science News.

Some gemstones, including many diamonds, come from war-torn countries. Sales of those “blood minerals” may encourage violent civil wars where innocent people are injured or killed. In an effort to reduce the trade in blood minerals, the U.S. government passed law in July 2010 that requires companies that sell gemstones to determine the origins of their stones.

To figure out where gemstones come from, McManus and her team focus a powerful laser on a small sample of the gemstone. The technique is called laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. Just as heat can turn ice into water or water into steam, energy from the laser changes the state of matter of the stone. The laser changes a miniscule part of the gemstone into plasma, a gas state of matter in which tiny particles（微粒）called electrons separate from atoms.

The plasma, which is superhot, produces a light pattern. (The science of analyzing this kind of light pattern is called spectroscopy.) Different elements（元素）produce different patterns, but McManus and her team say that gemstones from the same area produce similar patterns. Materialytics has already collected patterns from thousands of gemstones, including more than 200 from diamonds. They can compare the light pattern from an unknown gemstone to patterns they do know and look for a match. The light pattern acts like a signature, telling the researchers the origin of the gemstone.

In a small test, the laser technique correctly identified the origins of 95 out of every 100 diamonds. For gemstones like emeralds and rubies, the technique proved successful for 98 out of every 100 stones. The scientists need to collect and analyze more samples, including those from war-torn countries, before the tool is ready for commercial use.

Scientists like Barbara Dutrow, a mineralogist from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, find the technique exciting. “This is a basic new tool that could provide a better fingerprint of a material from a particular locality,” she told Science News.

1.We learn from Paragraph 1 that __________________.

A. an emerald and a ruby are names of diamonds.

B. it’s not difficult to tell where the gem was mined.

C. appearances help to identify the origin of gemstones.?

D. diamonds from different places may appear the same.

2.Why did the U.S. government pass law that requires companies selling gemstones to determine the origins of their stones?

A. To look for more gemstones.?????????????

B. To encourage violent civil wars.

C. To reduce the trade in blood minerals.??????

D. To develop the economy.

3.Which of the following facts most probably helps McManus and her team in identifying the origin of stones?

A. Heat can turn ice into water or water into steam.

B. Gemstones from the same area produce similar light patterns.

C. Laser can changes a miniscule part of the gemstone into plasma.

D. Materialytics has already collected patterns from thousands of gemstones.

4.From the last two paragraphs, what can be inferred about the laser technique?

A. It is ready for commercial use.

B. People can use the new tool to find more gemstones.

C. It can significantly reduce the gemstones trade in blood minerals.

D. It will bring about a revolutionary change in identifying the origin of minerals.

5.The author wrote this passage mainly to ________.

A. tell us how to identify the origin of diamonds.

B. introduce a laser technique in identifying a stone’s origin

C. prove identifying the origin of gemstones are difficult

D. attract our attention to reducing trade in blood minerals