A group of swans flew down to a beach where a crow (乌鸦) was jumping around. The crow watched them with disdain (笔试).
“You have no flying skills at all!” he said to the swans. “All you can do is to move your wings. Can you turn over in the air? No, that’s beyond you. Let’s have a flying competition. I’ll show you what real flying is!”
One of the swans, a strong young male, took up the challenge (挑战). The crow flew up and began to show his skills. He flew in circles, performed other flying tricks, and then came down and looked proudly at the swan.
Now it was the swan’s turn. He flew up, and began flying over the sea. The crow flew after him, making all kinds of comments (评价) about his flying. They flew on and on till they couldn’t see the land and there was nothing but water on all sides. The crow was making fewer and fewer comments. He was now so exhausted that he found it hard to stay in the air, and had to struggle to keep himself from falling into the water.
The swan pretended (假装) not to notice, and said, “Why do you keep touching the water, brother? Is that another trick? “
“No,” said the crow. He knew he had lost the competition. “I’m in trouble because of my pride (自大) ! If you don’t help me, I’ll lose my life...”
The swan took pity on him, and took him on his shoulders and flew back to the beach.
【小题1】 What’s the correct order of the following events?
a. The crow followed the swan and got into trouble.
b. The swan felt pity for the crow and saved it.
c. The crow had to ask the swan for help.
d. The swan accepted a challenge of performing flying tricks.

In many classrooms, it’s not  31  to find students spinning (旋转) their pens  32  they listen to their teachers.

    Pen-spinning is also popular  33  Japanese students. It is a form of entertainment. Recently, a pen-spinning competition was held in Tokyo, Japan. Ryuki Omura, a 16-year-old high school student, became the first pen-spinning  34  .

    276 people took part in the competition. They came from different age groups. Some were students  35  some were office workers. First, they  36  the videos of their pen-spinning skills to the organizer’s website. Then some of them came to the last round in Tokyo.  37  of them had 30 seconds to show their skills in front of 400 people,   38  reporters and fans. Omura took a pen from his little finger to the rest fingers, then to his palm(手掌) and the back of his hand. His wonderful show made him  39  the champion.

   Omura said he began learning pen-spinning only about 14 months ago. He did  40 in the competition. If you like to spin your pen, you can practice it in your spare time. But when you are in the class, please don’t do that.

1.A. different       B. easy         C. common         D. difficult

2.A. before         B. when        C. after            D. as soon as

3.A. for            B. between     C. among           D. to

4.A. chairman      B. captain       C. champion       D. sport

5.A. or             B. and          C. with            D. but

6.A. were sent      B. sent          C. was sent        D. sends

7.A. Each          B. Both          C. Every           D. All

8.A.includes         B. included      C. included        D. including

9.A. become       B. became       C. becomes        D. becoming

10.A. quite good     B. quite well     C. quite better     D. even better

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Zach Linsky, 11, watches TV for 3 and a half hours a day and plays video games every other day. Zach, a sixth grader in Washington, D. C., is an American. But unlike many kids, he doesn’t have a TV, VCR, or computer in his bedroom. He only has a boom box (手提录音机).
The survey of 3,155 kids, aged 2 to 18, shows that they spend 5 hours and 29 minutes on average(平均的) a day using some types of media outside of school, including 2 hours and 46 minutes watching TV, 21 minutes on the computer, 20 minutes playing video games, and 8 minutes on the Internet. The good news: The total includes 44 minutes spent reading.
The survey also shows that those aged 2 to 7 spend 3 hours and 9 minutes watching TV every day and shows that 32 percent in that age group have TV sets in their rooms. Among those aged 8 to 18, 21 percent have computers in their rooms, 65 percent have TV sets, and 61 percent say their parents don’t stop them from watching TV. Nearly 1 in 4 say they watch more than 5 hours a day.
“Kids are living much more lonely lives than ever before,” says Kay S. Hytnowitz. “They just disappear into their rooms and spend all of their time with these media.”
【小题1】At what age do children in America spend about five and a half hours on the media a day?