In England, people often talk about the weather because they can experience (经历) four seasons in one day. In the morning the weather is warm just like in spring. An hour later black clouds come and then it rains hard. The weather gets a little cold. In the late afternoon the sky will be sunny, the sun will begin to shine, and it will be summer at this time of a day.
In England, people can also have summer in winter, or have winter in summer. So in winter they can swim sometimes, and in summer sometimes they should take warm clothes.
When you go to England, you will see that some English people usually take an umbrella (伞)or a raincoat with them in the sunny morning, but you should not laugh at them.
If you don't take an umbrella or a raincoat, you will regret (后悔) later in the day.
【小题1】Why do people in England often talk about the weather?

English words don’t stay the same. People need new words for new ideas and new inventions. Different words come into use, or old words are used in a new way.
English can be changed by borrowing words from other languages. The word “tomato” was borrowed from Mexico and“tea”came from China and so on. Now new space and science words are being borrowed from other countries, too. New words are formed by adding two words together. “Countryside” and “earthquake” are made up of two parts. Sometimes new words are shorter forms of old words. The word  “photo” was made from “photograph” by cutting off the end of the longer word. “Plane” was made by cutting off the front part of “airplane”. The names of people and products can become new words, too. Our “sandwich” was named after a man called Sandwich and “sello tape”(透明胶带) was a name given by the company that first made the product.
【小题1】New English words are needed because _____.

A little girl walked to and from school every day. Though it was not fine and clouds appeared in the sky that morning, the little girl made her daily trip to school as usual. When school was over, winds became stronger and it began to rain.

    The mother of the little girl felt worried that her daughter would be afraid when she walked home from school and that lightning might frighten(受惊吓) her child. Following the bright light of lightning, the mother quickly got into her car and drove to her child's school.

    As the mother drove along the road, she saw her little girl walking alone in the rain.To her great surprise, she found that when a lightning came, her daughter stopped, looked up and smiled. Another lightning came and then another followed. With each lightning, the little girl stopped, looked up and smiled.

    Inside the car, the mother asked her daughter, "What were you doing? Why did you look up and smile when the lightning came?" The little girl answered with a smile, “Mum, you know, God was looking at me. Each time I felt a little afraid walking in the rain, God would take a picture of me. I knew he was playing a game with me.”

1.How did the little girl go to school every day?

A. By car.       B. On foot.                   C. By bus.           D. By bike.

2.What was the weather like before school was over?

A. It was rainy.         B. It was fine.                       C. It was just windy. D. It was cloudy.

3.At first, the mother felt worried because           .

A. she couldn't help her daughter

B. her daughter hadn't taken her umbrella

C. she had something more important to do

D. her daughter might be afraid of the lightning

4.According to the article, we can know that the little girl was           .

A. proud           B. shy                 C. brave                        D. nervous

5.This passage is possibly from          .

A. a menu          B. a magazine                   C. a dictionary                   D. a report

 A school bus is one that is used to take children to and from school.

   In the USA, about 450,000 school buses take more than 25 million children to and from school. The yellow school bus is a US icon(象征).Yellow became the color of school buses in the USA in 1939. Dr. Frank got the good idea. He said it was easy for people to see yellow buses and the black letters on them in early morning or late afternoon. That would make children safer.

   There are not many school buses in Britain, and they are not yellow. They have trackers(跟踪器) on them, so kids are being tracked while they travel to and from school by bus. The trackers let parents know where the school bus is and whether their kinds are on the bus.

Kindergarten(幼儿园) is difficult time for some kids. It’s the first time for them to go away from their parents. To make kids love their school, Japanese kindergartens and schools have colorful buses. The buses can easily make children want to take them---and then, go to school. Even some parents want to take them, too!

   School buses are becoming more and more popular in Chian now. It saves a lot of time for students to take a school bus. It’s said that there will be 3,000 yellow school buses on the road by the end of this year in Chongqing.

1.According to Dr. Frank, ______ school buses are safer for the students.

A. yellow          B. black      C. white     D. colorful

2.Children in Japan may easily ______ by taking the school bus.

A. save time      B. love their school     C. play games     D. do their homework

3.Chinese students will save a lot of time to ______ to school.

A. walk       B. take a taxi      C. ride a bike     D. take a school bus

4.This passage is mainly about ________.

A. school buses     B. school life     C. popular colors    D. students’ safety

Plants are very important living things. Life could not go on if there were no plants. This is because plants can make food from air, water and sunlight. Animals and man cannot make food from air, water and sunlight. Animals get their food by eating plants and other animals. Therefore animals and man need plants in order to live. This is why we find that there are so many plants around us.

If you look carefully at the plants around you, you will find that there are two kinds of plants: flowering plants and non-flowering(不开花的) plants.

Flowering plants can make seeds(种子). The seeds are protected by the fruits. Some fruits have one seed, some have two, three or four, and some have many seeds. But a few fruits have no seeds at all. An example of a fruit without seeds is the banana fruit.

Most non-flowering plants do not grow from seeds. They grow from spores(孢子). Spores are very, very small. Some spores are so small and light that they can float in the air. We may say that spores are quite the same as seeds. When these spores fall on wet and shady(阴凉的) places, they usually grow into new plants.

1.What fact does the passage lead you to believe?

A. Of all living things, animals are most important.              

B. Spores are seeds.

C. All fruits of flowering plants have seeds.                          

D. Without plants, man will die out.

2.The paragraph following the passage will be about ________.

A. how plants can make food from air                                   

B. how spores grow into new plants

C. why some plants have no seeds                      

D. why non-flowering plants are more important than flowering plants

3.This passage is most likely to be taken from ________.

A. a story book                                            B. a novel

C. a science magazine                                             D. a laboratory report