4、A serous problem for today’s society is who should be responsible for our elderly and how to improve their lives. It is not only a financial problem but also a question of the system we want for our society. I would like to suggest several possible solutions to this problem.

First, employers should take the responsibility for their retired employees. To make this possible, a percentage of profits should be set aside for this purpose. But when a company must take life-long responsibility for its employees, it may suffer from a commercial disadvantage due to higher employee costs.

Another way of solving the problem is to return the responsibility to the individual. This means each person must save during his working years to pay for his years of retirement. This does not seem a very fair model since some people have enough trouble paying for their daily life without trying to earn extra to cover their retirement years. This means the government might have to step in to care for the poor.

In addition, the government could take responsibility for the care of the elderly. This could be financed through government taxes to increase the level of pensions. Furthermore, some institution should be created for senior citizens, which can help provide a comfortable life for them. Unfortunately, as the present situation in our country shows, this is not a truly viable answer. The government can seldom afford to care for the elderly, particularly when it is busy trying to care for the young.

One further solution is that the government or social organizations establish some working places especially for the elderly where they are independent.

To sum up, all these options have advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that some combination of these options may be needed to provide the care we hope to give to our elderly generations.

1．What is the passage mainly about? 

A．The problem faced by the old in society.      

       B．Why we should take responsibility for the old

       C．How we can improve the lives of the old      

       D．Where the old can go to get their pensions.

2．According to the passage, how can the government help to improve the lives of retired people?

       A．Set aside some profits to help people with problems after they retire.

       B．Increase savings levels of people during their working years.

       C．Increase the discounts for food and transport for the old.

       D．Make available pensions for those who have retired.

3．The underlined word “viable” most probably means         .

       A．impossible.          B．practical.             C．useful.                D．successful

4．What can be concluded from the passage?   

A．Taking care of the old is mainly an issue of money.

B．Employers should allow their workers to retire at a later age.

C．Becoming independent should be the goal of most old people.

D．There is no single solution to the problems of the old.

5．What is the writer’s main purpose in writing this article? 

A．To point out the need for government support for old people  

B．To make general readers aware of the problems of retired people

C．To discuss some possible solutions to an important social problem

D．To instruct retired people on how they can have a happier life.

3、Anthropologists are scientists that study people who often lived hundreds or even thousands of years ago. Items those men, women, and children left behind when they died – everything from clothing to jewelry and tools -- tell anthropologists a lot. And sometimes even their words survive.

Experts believe that a discovery in Mexico is the oldest example of writing ever found in the Americas. The people who created it probably lived 3,000 years ago, long before Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World.

Workers digging in a rock mine happened to notice a stone block with marks carved onto its surface. They found the large piece of stone near the city of Cascajal, Mexico, which was once the capital of an ancient people called the Olmec.

“There are signs on the block that seem to show objects used by the Olmec during their religious ceremonies,” says Dr. Stephen Houston, of Brown University in the USA. “There is a sign that looks very similar to a knife and another that looks like the chair of a King,” he explains.

Houston, an expert on the writing systems of ancient cultures, says the discovery is exciting because “it makes clear that the Olmec could read and write. It is like hearing voices from the past.”

But experts don’t know exactly what the writing says. Finding other examples of Olmec writing could help decipher the puzzle.

“We could have whole sets of ancient writing which will basically make ancient people speak to us directly,” says Houston. “There are many puzzles to be solved, and this is just one of them.”

1．According to the passage, what items do scientists often use to learn more about the past?

       A．Clothing and jewelry.                   B．Books and stones.

       C．Knives and chairs.                      D．People and animals.

2．What is important about the stone block mentioned in the passage?

       A．It proves that people lived in this part of the world more than 3,000 years ago.

       B．It allows scientists to translate the ancient language used in this area.

       C．It is evidence of the oldest form of writing ever found in the Americas.

       D．It shows the people of the area have a written language.

3．Why are scientists interested in ancient languages?

A．It can allow them to better understand ancient societies.

B．So they can speak directly with ancient people.

C．It will help learn about the origins of modern languages.

D．They can learn stories told during that time.

4．The underlined expression “decipher the puzzle”(paragraph 6) most probably means “      ”.

       A．discover when the Olmec people lived

       B．learn why the Olmec civilization disappeared

       C．learn how to speak Olmec

       D． find the meaning of the Olmec language

5．Which is probably the best title for the passage!

       A．World’s First Book                               B．Oldest Writing in the New World

       C．What Does It Say?   D．New Language Discovered

1、有人提议高中学生毕业时把学过的课本留给下一届学生使用，你校的英语月报就此开设了“Is Recycling Textbooks a Good Suggestion?”的专题论坛，面向广大学生征文。请你写一篇120—150词的短文谈谈自己的看法。

30、These problems,   , will seriously affect the growth of teenagers and even the nation’s future.

A．not if solved properly                                   B．if solved properly

C．not if properly solved                                  D．if not properly solved

29、There will be 21,880 persons for the torch relay of the 2008 Olympic Games,        it the biggest in the Games’ history.

A．making     B．make        C．to make    D．made

28、--- It can’t be too worse.

--- Just        . Things will turn out to be better so long as you don’t stop trying.

A．be all right B．take your time  C．ignore it    D．take it easy

27、Everyone in the hospital hoped that he         after a few day’s treatment.

A．took up     B．gave up     C．made up   D．picked up