A punctual person is in the habit of doing a thing at the correct time and is never late for anything.

   An unpunctual man never does what he has to do at the right time. He is always in a hurry and in the end loses both time and his good name. A lost thing may be found again, but lost time can never be got back. Time is more useful than material(物质) things. In fact, time is life itself. An unpunctual man is always wasting his most important things as well as others’. An unpunctual person is always saying unhapppily that he finds no time to answer letters or return calls. But the man who really has much to do is very careful of his time. He knows that he can not finish all his work unless he carefully does every piece of work.

Being unpunctual is the sign of disrespect(不尊重) towards others. If a person is invited to dinner and arrives later than the time when he should be there, he keeps all the other guests waiting for him. Usually this will be thought as a great disrespect to the host and all the other guests.

   Not like a punctual person, an unpunctual one can’t do his duty wonderfully, whether it is public or personal. Imagine how it would be if those who should do important tasks failed to be on time. A man who is known to be often unpunctual is never believed by his friends or fellow men.

1.The Chinese meaning of the word “punctual” in this passage is probably “______”

A. 听话的          B.守时的       C.守纪律的      D.能干的

2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. An unpunctual person often has more time.

B. An unpunctual person has more work to do.

C. A punctual person often has a busy life.

D. A punctual person often does his work wonderfully.

3. When you are invited to dinner, you’d better arrive there ______.

A. in a hurry       B. after the host      C. at a decided time    D. before other guests

4.From the passage, we learn that an unpunctual man usually ______ in the end.

A. saves time for others              B. leaves his family and friends

C. gets his chances and knowledge     D. loses his time and good name

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

Television has taken the place of schools as the main educator(教育者) in America. There are several reasons for this. First, there is the number of hours. While Americans spend about 13,000 hours in schools, they spend 15,000 to 16,000 hours in front of a TV set. Second is the age at which viewers(观看者) start watching TV. People start watching and understanding TV at about the age of 3, which is several years before they start to do school work. Finally, there is the number of viewers. About 90,000,000 young people are attending school, but most of the Americans watch TV every day. It seems, then, that TV shows are taking the place of teachers and professors as the educators in America.

1.The main idea of this passage is ___________.

A．TV is more important than school

B．fewer and fewer children go to school

C．There is not a school which has no TV set in America

D．TV plays a great part in American people’s life

2.How many reasons why television has become the main educator are mentioned in the passage?

A．Two              B．Three            C．Four             D．Five

3.The first reason shows ____________.

A．now children go to school less often than their parents did

B．in his life an American spends more time watching TV than at school

C．a TV program usually gives lessons of 15,000--16,000 hours

D．parents think 13,000 hours of school is not enough

4.In American, a child starts going to school _________.

A．when he is 3                           B．when he is about 6 or 7

C．when he is able to understand TV           D．after he starts to do school work

5.Every day in America ______________.

A．teachers and professors watch TV

B．90,000,000 young people watch TV

C．not only young people watch TV

D．15,000--16,000 people each hour watch TV

In every school there is “top” crowd that sets the pace, while the others follow their lead. For example, if the crowd decides that it is smart to wear bright red sweaters, then very soon everybody is wearing bright red sweaters.
There is nothing wrong with that, except the fact that for some people bright red sweater is really unsuitable.
The situation can even become dangerous, if the top crowd decides that it is smart to drink and to drive cars at seventy miles an hour. Then the people who follow the lead are endangering their lives. They are like the sheep being led to the slaughter(屠杀).
Now it’s possible that you have come across situations like these more than once in your life. In fact you probably did something you knew to be wrong one time or another. You may have excused yourself by saying, “ Gee, the crowd does it.” Well, let the crowd do it, but don’t do it yourself. Learn to say “No”.
Develop your own standards(标准)and your own judgment. If you know the crowd is planning something you disagree to, you’d better take the courage to bow out in a polite way. You’ll have the satisfaction of standing on your own two feet.
【小题1】The main idea of the passage is that _____________ .