Everyone tries to get to school on time. But when bad weather gives you trouble, can you still make it before the bell rings?

In northern China during spring, big sandstorms often make trouble for students and everyone else. When the sky is dark with sand, buses and cars all move much more slowly. Sometimes, people can’t even see for 20 metres.

Sandstorms usually happen in spring. This year, sandstorms started in late March. They have happened in more than 10 provinces (省)  in northern China this year. More than 70 million people have had problems in those places because of the sandstorms.

People in southern China don’t have to worry about this kind of bad weather. Most of the sand comes from Gansu and Inner Mongolia（内蒙古）. In northern China, lots of places have few trees and don’t get much rain. People there have been cutting down too many trees. When there aren’t many trees, the ground can’t keep enough water. Over the years, the ground dries up and turns to sand. When spring comes and the ice melts（融化）, the ground becomes looser（更松散的）. Strong winds take the loose sand into the sky.

Sandstorms are bad for people’s health. If people breathe（呼吸） too much sand, they could cough or have asthma（哮喘）.

Sandstorms also give farmers lots of problems. Sometimes their sheep get lost in the storms and never get back home. The winds also tear down farmers’ houses.

What can you do to stop sandstorms? Here’s an idea: Ask you parents to help you plant some trees this spring.

If you see people cutting down too many trees, tell them about the dangers of sandstorms, and ask your government to stop them from cutting.

1.In which season do sandstorms usually happen?

2.Which of the following provinces in China is often hit by sandstorms?

3.The underlined phrase “tear down” in the sentence means “_________”.

4. According to the passage, what cannot be caused by sandstorms?

5.Which is not stated in the passage？_______________ .

An English traveler found himself in Norway with only enough money to buy the ticket for his journey back home, As he knew that it would take him only two days to get to England, he decided that he could easily spend the time without food. So he bought a ticket and got on the ship. The man closed his ears to the sound of the lunch bell(铃子). When dinner time came, he didn’t go to dinner room, saying that he was not feeling very well.
The next morning he still didn’t have breakfast and at lunchtime he again stayed in his room. But at dinner time he was so hungry that he went to the dinner room and ate everything the waiter put in front of him. He got ready for the quarrel(吵架).
“Bring me the bill (账单),” he said. “The bill, sir?” said the waiter in surprise, “There isn’t any bill, On our ship meals are included (包括) in the money for the ticket,” said the waiter.
【小题1】The story happened_________.

There was a famous church in London. It was 110 meters high. The center of the church was like a bell. The ceiling of the church was painted by a famous artist. A platform （平台）was built so that the artist could put up the ladder on it and paint the ceiling. The platform was about 70 meters over the ground.

One day the artist was working hard and had nearly finished one popular corner of the ceiling. Also on the platform was his assistant, who was mixing paints. The artist stepped back so that he could see how his work was progressing. To have a better look at his painting, he stepped back again. Suddenly, his assistant shouted, picked up a small bowl of paint and started to paint the artist’s work on the top. The artist was very angry and rushed forwards to stop him.

“What do you think you are doing?” he shouted angrily. “Are you mad?” His assistant replied, “I saw you walking backwards to have a better look at your painting. But you didn’t notice that you had reached the very edge of the platform. You were in great danger. I wanted to make you move forwards. If I had not made you run forwards, you would have fallen backwards off the edge of the platform.

1.The story happened in ______.

A．America          B．France            C．German           D．England

2.Why did the artist step back again?

A．To see how his work was progressing.        B．To have a better look at his painting.

C．To paint a bow in his painting.              D．To pour some paint on his painting.

3.What did the assistant do to stop the artist falling off the platform?

A．He painted a famous painting himself.        B．He ran forwards to stop him.

C．He shouted to the artist and painted his painting.    D．He stopped mixing the paints.

4.Which picture shows the same situation as the underlined sentence in Paragraph2?

Note: a: artist b: assistant c: painting ←: the direction of the movement.

5.After reading the passage, what do you think the artist would probably do?

A．He would be angry with what the assistant had done.

B．He would punish the assistant for having destroyed his painting.

C．He would be thankful to be the assistant for having saved his life.

D．He wouldn’t allow the assistant to work with him any more.

Long, long ago there was a very foolish thief. Do you know what he did one day? When he wanted to steal (偷) the bell on his neighbor’s door, he walked up to the door, took hold of (抓住) the bell and pulled hard. The bell made a very loud noise. The thief was afraid and went home.

Then he sat down to think, “I must do something about the noise,” he said. He thought and thought. At last he had an idea. “Ah, I’ll put some cotton in my ears. Then I won’t be able to hear the noise.” The next day he went to the door of his neighbor, and took hold of the bell. This time he pulled even harder. The bell rang loudly, but the thief did not hear anything. With another hard pull he got the bell out. Just then the neighbor came running out. “Steal my bell? I’ll teach you a lesson (教训),”the angry man shouted. And he hit the thief on the nose.

The foolish thief did not know how the neighbor found out he was stealing the bell. “Why did he come out just then?” he wondered (感到疑惑).

1.The thief was trying to get         .

A．his neighbor                           B．his neighbor’s doorbell

C．some cotton                           D．a door with a bell on it

2.The thief put some cotton in his ears. He thought it would be       for him to steal the doorbell.

A．safe              B．difficult           C．dangerous         D．easy

3.The neighbor ran out probably (很可能) because_________.

A．he knew his doorbell was being stolen

B．he thought someone was eager (渴望的) to visit him

C．He realized (意识到) something strange happened

D．Both B and C

4.The neighbor hit the thief to ________.

A．give him lessons                        B．punish (惩罚) him for stealing

C．help him with the bell                    D．be his teacher

5.Which of the following is TRUE?

A．The thief understood why he was hit on the nose.

B．The thief knew why the neighbor came out.

C．The thief thought the neighbor could not hear the bell.

D．The thief didn’t want to know why the neighbor ran out just at the time he stole the doorbell.

If someone says to you: “give me five”, do not search your pocket to get five yuan! It will make others laugh! The person's not asking for your money, but your fingers.

In the US, "give me five" or "give me the high five" is a popular gesture (动作). You can see it often in films or on TV. It means the slapping (拍) of each other's raised (举起的) right hands together.

People do it when they meet for the first time or something happy happens. For example, a student has good marks in exams or wins a lottery ticket (彩票). If a football team wins a game, the players will give high fives to everyone around to celebrate.

 This gesture may come from the old Roman gesture of raising the right arm for the emperor(皇帝). This showed that the person raising his arm did not have a sword (刀) in his hand.

 Why not try to give the high five to your friends?

1.“Give me five” is a gesture to __________.

A. make people laugh                                                       B. ask for money

C. celebrate success                                                D. search one’s pocket

2.The gesture “give me five” is the clapping of __________.

A. toes                                  B. hands                                C. arms                        D. legs

3.When you __________, you give your friends high five.

A. lose your money                                                 B. go back home

C. win a football game                                            D. do badly in exam

4.Why did the Romans raise the right arm for the emperor? Because __________.

A. they were proud of their emperor

B. they were happy to see the emperor

C. they wanted to show there were no swords in their hands

D. we don’t know