On very cold winter days , a group of Japanese children travelled a long way and arrived at a small island where nobody lived. After setting up a camp, they caught fish in the sea, and walked on the snow to find firewood , wild fruit and fresh water. Then they made a fire to do some cooking. They were not homeless children or modern Robinson. They were all pupils from a primary school and campers of special “ hardship (艰苦) camp”.
Every year primary and middle schools in Japan organize such camps to train the children’s spirit of bearing (忍受) hardship. Such places as thick forests and far-off mountains are chosen as camp places.
The Japanese education circles usually think it necessary to give children chances of suffering hardships. Children in Japan now may hardly find times of hardships, because of the rapid growth of national economy and improvement in the people’s living conditions. The experts think that such hardship camps can help children learn to live and develop in the struggle against nature in modern society.
It’s said that such hardship camps are warmly accepted by both Japanese school children and their parents.
【小题1】Many Japanese children set up camps in far-off mountains or forests to ____________.

I’m Jack, and I am a middle school student. Yesterday was the most exciting day in my life. I was on TV! This is my first time on TV. In the evening, Mum, Dad and I were watching a TV programme in the sitting room and there I was! This is how it happened.

I was playing soccer in the park with my friends when a man and a woman came to us. The man had a camera. The woman had a microphone. “I’m from Channel 9,” she said. “Do you know the programme Kid’s Speak Out?” I did know it. I watched it often. It’s a weekly programme where kids say what they think about different things.

“Would you like to be on it?” the woman asked me.

 I wanted to be on it and I thought my friends might also want to be on it, so I asked, “Can my friends be on it too?”

“Sorry, only one of you can,” the woman said. “You can talk about it and decide which of you is going to be on the programme.”

I asked my friends if they wanted to be on the programme. They didn’t, so I went on it. The woman asked me a lot of questions. I thought carefully and tried to give sensible answers. When she finished, she said I was one of the best kids she’d spoken to! I felt very proud of myself. My mum and dad were proud of me too!

1.Jack was excited yesterday because he           .

A. watched a TV programme with his parents    

B. was on TV for the first time

C. played soccer in the park with his friends     

D. saw the hosts of the programme Kid’s Speak Out

2.How did the thing happen?

①Jack asked his friends if they wanted to be on the programme.

②The woman asked Jack if he’d like to be on the programme.

③The woman asked Jack a lot of questions.

④Jack played soccer in the park with friends.

⑤Jack thought carefully and tried to give answers.

A. ④①③②⑤  B.④②①③⑤   C. ④③②①⑤  D. ④⑤③①②

3.What does the word sensible mean in the passage?

A. 明智的     B. 可能的    C. 合理的    D. 正确的

4.What can we know about Jack from the passage?

A. Jack’s parents were proud of him.

B. Jack was the top student at school.

C. Jack was afraid to be on the programme.

D. Jack never watched the programme Kid’s Speak Out.

Have you ever seen a horse with toes(脚趾)？Millions of years ago, horses had many toes. They had four toes on each front foot. They had three toes on each back foot. The horses were no bigger than the cats.These small horses lived in the forest. The toes helped the horses run on the soft, wet ground.
At first, it was very hot in the forest. But the weather changed. It became very cold. Many trees could not live in cold weather. The trees died and fell. Open fields took the place of forests. The sun made the ground dry and hard.
Horsed began to change, too. They began to get bigger. This took a long time. On the dry, hard land, horses needed only their middle toes for running. Their middle toes became hard. After a long time, horses had only one hard toe on each foot. Now we call this hard toe a hoof.
【小题1】How many toes did a horse have millions of years ago?