In every country, there are thousands of people who want to help out. Many join organizations run (管理) by their governments, for example, the Peace Corps in the United States and Voluntary Service Overseas in Britain. Since the powerful (猛烈的) earthquake took place in Sichuan, more than 200 thousand volunteers across China have been helping there! They do all kinds of work or come up with ways to help improve life. Some offer their professional skills for free. Others have no qualifications (资历), but they love to work hard to help.
One of the most famous volunteers in the world was Mother Teresa. She could be the best volunteer because she gave her life to helping the poorest people of Calcutta. She helped the homeless, cared for the sick, gave out food, and became the mother of those without families.
Now more and more teenagers actively look for volunteering opportunities, too. They volunteer because they think it will be fun or they will learn something. They also like the idea of being helpful to others, even if it is just handing out books for the teacher. As they get older, these reasons are still the same, but there are other important reasons for volunteering such as learning on-the-job, getting work experience, and improving their social life.
All volunteers bring joy to the people they help in so many ways. They might read books to the blind, fix up broken homes, find ways to get water for villages. Could you be a volunteer? What kind of volunteer work could you do? There is someone in the world who needs you.
【小题1】The Peace Corps is   __   in the United States.

         Who hasn’t enjoyed eating peanuts? Did you know that although peanuts look like nuts and taste like nuts, they aren’t nuts at all? They belong to the pea family, so they are called peanuts. The peanut grows flowers above ground, but its “fruit” grows underground. It grows in more countries than most other “nuts”.
The peanut is a native South American plant. Scientists believe that it grew wild in Brazil long ago. They think that for several thousand years the early peoples of South America made it a part of their diet. These peoples were nomads who moved on when a natural food could no longer be found in one area. Along the way they probably let fall some peanuts, which got into the ground and grew. This is believed to be the way the plant reached the place where the Incas（印加人）lived. The Incas, from about 1100 to 1532, thought highly of peanuts. The peanuts were eaten in several forms and used as sacrificial offerings（祭品）to the Incan Sun God. Later in the 16^th century, European soldiers had brought peanuts to other parts of the world, including North America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Pacific Islands.
Although peanuts were found native in South America, they are now grown in almost every country that has warm weather. India produces the most peanuts. China’s production is next, followed by the United States.
The peanut is special in more ways than one. It can be eaten raw, boiled, roasted, or fried. Hundreds of widely different products have been made from it. Carver, an American scientist, set himself the task of discovering new uses for eating and for many other products.
Peanuts are very highly nutritious and are also high in protein （蛋白质）. Americans use about seven-tenths of their protein in the form of meat. In India, where the poor can’t pay for meat or milk, peanut meal and peanut milk have been produced. These have been a great help to the poor.
New products are continually being made from peanuts, among them peanut cheese and a powder that becomes peanut butter when water is added. The fact is that peanuts are so healthy that they were used by astronauts. The unusual nut that isn’t a nut is one of nature’s most amazing gifts.
【小题1】 Although we like eating peanuts, many of us don’t know peanuts belong to _______ family.

No one knows how man learned to make words. Perhaps he began by making sounds like those made by animals. Perhaps he grunted like a pig when he lifted something heavy. Perhaps he made sounds like those he heard all round him—water splashing, bees humming, a stone falling to the ground. Somehow he learned to make words. As the centuries went by, he made more and more new words. This is what we mean by language.

People living in different countries made different kinds of words. Today there are about fifteen hundred different languages in the world. Each contains four or five hundred thousand words. But we do not need all these. Only a few thousand words are used in everyday life. The words you know are called your vocabulary. You should try to make your vocabulary larger. Read as many books as you can. There are plenty of books written in easy language. Your dictionary is your most useful book.

1. What do we mean by language?

A. Sounds made by man.???????

B. All the words made by man.

C. Different kinds of sound.?????

D. The way man learns.

2. Form the passage we know that long long ago________.

A. no one learned how to make sounds or words

B. animals taught man to learn the language

C. man learned the language by lifting heavy things, falling to the ground,and so on

D. man followed a lot of things in nature to make sounds and words

3. What is the number of languages spoken in the world today?

A. 500. ????????????? ????????????? B. 5,000.????????????? ????????????? C. 1,500.????????????? ????????????? D. 15,000.

4.In which sentence can the word "contain(s)" be put so that it is a right one?

A. I________ several dictionaries. ????????????? B. Sea water________ salt.

C. A dog _______ four legs.????? ????????????? D. Mr. Smith _____ glasses on his nose.

5. Which of the followings is the best if we want to make our vocabulary larger?

A. To read more books.????????????? ????????????? ???

B. To use the words in everyday life.

C. To use the words in class.????? ?????????????

D. To write the words.

The first Starbucks coffee shop opened in 1971 in downtown Seattle, Washington, in the United States. It was a small coffee shop that roasted its own coffee beans. The coffee shop’s business did well, and by 1981 there were three more Starbucks stores in Seattle.

    Things really began to change for the company in 1981. That year, Howard Schultz met the three men who ran(经营) Starbucks. Schultz worked in New York for a company that made kitchen equipment. He noticed that Starbucks ordered a large number of special coffee makers, and he was curious about the company. Schultz went to Seattle to see what Starbucks did, and he liked what he saw. He wanted to become part of the company. In 1982, the original(原先的) Starbucks owners hired Schultz as the company’s head of marketing.

    In 1983, Schultz travelled to Italy. The unique atmosphere of the coffee bars there caught his eye. To Schultz it seemed that Italians spent their daily lives in three places: home, work and coffee bars. His experience in Italy gave Schultz a new idea for Starbucks back in Seattle.

    Schultz created an atmosphere for Starbucks coffee shops that was comfortable, and customers everywhere seemed to like it. Between 1987 and 1992, Starbucks opened 150 new stores—and that was only the beginning. In fact, by the year 2000, three new Starbucks stores opened somewhere around the world every day!

Today, Starbucks has thousands of stores, including stores in twenty-six countries. One thing that helps make Starbucks succeed in cities outside the United States is the way Starbucks works with local stores and restaurants. By working together with a store already in the city, Starbucks gets an understanding of customers in the city. This understanding helps Starbucks open stores in the right locations for their customers.

11．What is the main idea of this passage?

　　A．How Starbucks has grown     

B．What Starbucks makes．

　　C．Starbucks’customers．       

D．How Starbucks makes its coffee．

12．Which is true about Starbucks’first ten years of business?

　　A．It grew very quickly．       

B．It was run by Howard Schultz．

　　C．It made special coffee makers．  

D．It was a small company．

13．Who is Howard Schultz?

　　A．A coffee seller in New York．

　　B．An Italian coffee maker

　　C．The man who changed the company．

　　D．One of the original owners of the company．

14. How many new Starbucks stores probably opened in the year 2000 around the world?

　A.Three.   B.About1095.   C.Two thousand.  D. Thirty-six.

15．What helps Starbucks succeed in places outside the United States?

　　A．Opening restaurants in just a few locations each year．

　　B．Only selling locally produced coffee beans．

　　C．working with other major coffee-making companies．

　　D．Learning about local customers．

Who hasn’t enjoyed eating peanuts? Did you know that although peanuts look like nuts and taste like nuts, they aren’t nuts at all? They belong to the pea family, so they are called peanuts. The peanut grows flowers above ground, but its “fruit” grows underground. It grows in more countries than most other “nuts”.
The peanut is a native South American plant. Scientists believe that it grew wild in Brazil long ago. They think that for several thousand years the early peoples of South America made it a part of their diet. These peoples were nomads who moved on when a natural food could no longer be found in one area. Along the way they probably let fall some peanuts, which got into the ground and grew. This is believed to be the way the plant reached the place where the Incas（印加人）lived. The Incas, from about 1100 to 1532, thought highly of peanuts. The peanuts were eaten in several forms and used as sacrificial offerings（祭品）to the Incan Sun God. Later in the 16th century, European soldiers had brought peanuts to other parts of the world, including North America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Pacific Islands.
Although peanuts were found native in South America, they are now grown in almost every country that has warm weather. India produces the most peanuts. China’s production is next, followed by the United States.
The peanut is special in more ways than one. It can be eaten raw, boiled, roasted, or fried. Hundreds of widely different products have been made from it. Carver, an American scientist, set himself the task of discovering new uses for eating and for many other products.
Peanuts are very highly nutritious and are also high in protein （蛋白质）. Americans use about seven-tenths of their protein in the form of meat. In India, where the poor can’t pay for meat or milk, peanut meal and peanut milk have been produced. These have been a great help to the poor.
New products are continually being made from peanuts, among them peanut cheese and a powder that becomes peanut butter when water is added. The fact is that peanuts are so healthy that they were used by astronauts. The unusual nut that isn’t a nut is one of nature’s most amazing gifts.
【小题1】 Although we like eating peanuts, many of us don’t know peanuts belong to _______ family.