Most people buy a lot of gifts just before Christmas. But some people think we buy too much. They have started a special day called Buy Nothing Day. They don’t want anyone to go shopping on that day.

Buy Nothing Day is November 29. It’s 25 days before Christmas. It’s after Thanksgiving Day and often the first day of Christmas shopping. At this time, we see ads in Newspapers and on TV telling us to “buy, buy, buy!”

The idea for Buy Nothing Day started in Vancouver, British Columbia. Now people all over the world celebrate Buy Nothing Day. In California, parents and children get together to read stories, sing songs, and paint pictures. The children talk about why they don’t need a lot of toys. This year, in Manchester, England, people dressed up in costumes(统一服装) to tell people that we buy too much.

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, high school students wanted to tell other students about Buy Nothing Day. They organized a spaghetti dinner to give people information about Buy Nothing Day. They asked restaurants in the neighborhood to donate（捐赠） the food. They made posters and talked to other students about it. The dinner was a big success, and many students agreed not to buy anything on November 29. The students at high schools liked the idea of this new tradition. Next year, they want to have another dinner to tell more people about Buy Nothing Day!

1.Which of the following is NOT the day for people to celebrate Buy Nothing Day?

A．November 29.                          B．25 days before Christmas.

C．After Thanksgiving.                      D．The first day after Christmas.

2.People usually buy many gifts_______.

A．before Thanksgiving                     B．on Christmas

C．before Christmas                        D．anytime

3.How do people celebrate Buy Nothing Day?

A．In California, parents and children get together to play games.

B．In England, people celebrate by performing plays.

C．In Mexico, high school students dress up.

D．They buy nothing and persuade others not to buy things.

4.What did the students do in New Mexico for the day?

A．They donated the food of their own.

B．They talked to others about it.

C．They made some slogans（标语口号） for it.

D．They organized a luxurious（奢华的） dinner.

My mind went blank when I saw the gun pointing against the car window as we pulled out of the garage. This can't be happening to me. Then I felt the gun, cold, against my head, and I heard my friend Jeremy saying，“What do you want? Take my wallet，” but at the time I thought of nothing.

I remember being a little annoyed when the gunman pulled me from the car by the hair. I remember the walk to the house—Jeremy, me, the two men with two guns. I remember the fear and anger in the gunmen's voices because Jeremy was being slow, and I remember wondering why he was being slow. I did not realize that Jeremy had thrown the keys into the bush. But I remember that sound of the gun hitting Jeremy's head and the feeling as the man who had hold of my hair released me. And I remember the split second when I realized he was looking at Jeremy，and I remember wondering how far I could run before he pulled the trigger. But I was already running, and upon reaching the car across the street, I didn't crouch (蹲伏) behind it but screamed instead.

I remember thinking there was something ridiculous and illogical about screaming “Help, help！” at eight o'clock on a Tuesday evening in December and changing my plea(恳求) to the? more specific “Help, let me in, please let me in！” But the houses were cold, closed, unfriendly, and I ran on until I heard Jeremy's screams behind me announcing that our attackers had fled.

The neighbors who had not opened their doors to us came out with baseball bats and helped Jeremy find his glasses and keys. In a group they were very brave. We waited for the police to? come until someone said to someone else that the noodles were getting cold, and I said politely，“Please go and eat. We're OK.”

I was happy to see them go. They had been talking of stricter sentences for criminals, of? bringing back the death penalty(处罚) and how the President is going to clean up the country. I? was thinking, they could be saying all of this over my dead body, and I still feel that stiffer? sentences wouldn't change a thing. In a rush all the anger I should have felt for my attackers was? directed against these contented people standing in front of their warm, comfortable homes? talking about all the guns they were going to buy. What good would guns have been to Jeremy? and me?

People all over the neighborhood had called to report our screams, and the police turned out? in force twenty minutes later. They were ill?tempered about what was, to them, much trouble? about nothing.? After all, Jeremy was hardly hurt, and we were hopeless when it came to? describing the gunmen. “Typical，” said one policeman when we couldn't even agree on how tall? the men were.? Both of us were able to describe the guns in horrifying detail, but the two? policemen who stayed to make the report didn't think that would be much help.

The policemen were matter?of?fact about the whole thing. The thin one said，“That was a? stupid thing to do, throwing away the keys. When a man has a gun against your head you do? what you're told.” Jeremy looked properly embarrassed.

Then the fat policeman came up and the thin one went to look around the outside of the? house. “That was the best thing you could have done, throwing away the keys，” he said. “If you? had gone into the house with them...” His voice became weaker. “They would have hurt her” ——he twisted his head toward me——“and killed you both.” Jeremy looked happier. “Look，” said the fat policeman kindly, “ there's no right or wrong in the situation. There's just luck.”

All that sleepless night I replayed the moment those black gloves came up to the car? window. How long did the whole thing last? Three minutes, five, eight? No matter how many? hours of my life I may spend reliving it, I know there is no way to prepare for the next time—no? intelligent response to a gun. The fat cop was right. There's only luck. The next time I might end up dead.

And I’m sure there will be a next time.? It can happen anywhere, anytime, to anyone.Security is an illusion(幻觉); there is no safety in locks or in guns. Guns make some people feel safe and some people feel strong, but they're fooling themselves.

1.When the writer saw the gun pointing against the car window，________.

A．she felt very annoyed

B．she lost consciousness

C．she felt very much nervous

D．she lost the power of thinking

2.What most possibly drove the two gunmen away?

A．Jeremy's fighting.

B．The author's screaming.

C．Their neighbour's brave action.

D．The police's arrival.

3.When the author called for help, the neighbors didn't come out immediately because________.

A．they were much too frightened

B．they were busy preparing dinners

C．they needed time to find baseball bats

D．they thought someone was playing a trick

4.What the author wants to tell us is that________.

A．neighbors are not helpful in moments of difficulty

B．the police are not reliable when one is in trouble

C．security is impossible as long as people can have guns

D．preventing robbers entering your house is the best choice

Many people believe that “It is always calm before a storm.” Actually it is not true. Before the Tangshan earthquake, strange things happened. Some animals were too n________to eat and the water pipes in some buildings cracked and b_______. At 3:42 a.m. the terrible earthquake broke out. In fifteen seconds, a large city lay in r_______ The suffering of the people was e________. Almost everything was d_______ and thousands of children were left homeless. Before people could r__________from the first quake, a second one hit the city. Some rescue workers and doctors were t_________ underground. Water, food, and e________were cut off. People began to wonder how long the d________ would last.

       L_________, people all over the nation offered the helping hand. With the joint efforts, the city began to breathe again.

When I first got an email account ten years ago, I received communications only from family, friends, and colleagues. Now it seems that every time I check my e-mail, I have an endless series of advertisement and other correspondence that do not interest the at all. If we want e-mail to continue to be useful, we need special laws that make spamming(发送垃圾邮件) a crime.

If lawmakers do not do something soon to prohibit spam, the problem will certainly get much worse. Computer programs allow spammers to spend hundreds of millions of e-mails almost instantly. As more and more advertisers turn to spam to sell their products, individual e-mail boxes are often flooded with spam e-mails. Would people continue to use e-mail if they had to deal with an annoying amount of spam each time?

This problem is troubling for individuals and companies as well. Many spam emails contain computer viruses that can shut down the entire network of a company. Companies rely on e-mail on for their employees to communicate with each other. Spam frequently causes failures in their local communications networks, and their employees are thus unable to communicate effectively. Such a situation results in a loss of productivity and requires companies to repeatedly repair their networks. These computer problems raise production costs of companies, which are, in the end, passed on to the consumer.

For these reasons, I believe that lawmakers need to legislate (立法) against spam. Spammers should be fined, and perhaps sent to prison if they continue to disturb people. E-mail is a tool which helps people all over the world to communicate conveniently, but spam is destroying this convenience.

1.What does the underlined word “correspondence” in the Paragraph 1 probably mean?                                                          

2.According to the text, what is the major cause of the flooding spam?       

3.According to Paragraph 3,who is the final victim of spam?         

4.What is the purpose of the text?        

Thanks to the timely treatment, the patient _______ people all thought would die slowly recovered.