My grandfather often complains (抱怨)about how fast things have changed, and says that life used to be better. Families are not families they used to be. A lot of families have broken up. If husband and wife are having problems with their marriage, they don't stay together any more. Mothers used to stay at home to take care of their children, but not anymore now. Everyone's working. No one has time for children any more. They are left for their grandparents.

And the cars! No one walks anymore. Everyone drives. We used to walk five miles to school every day, even in winter. And in school, the children don't have to think anymore. In math class, for example, we used to add, minus, multiply, and divide in our heads. Kids don't use their heads anymore. They use calculators(计算器). Most families have computers now. In the old days, we didn't have computers. We didn't even have electricity. My mother used to spend all day cooking in the kitchen. But now fewer people eat home-cooked food. And people don't talk to each other anymore. They are too busy to talk, too busy to eat, too busy to think... Life used to be simple, but it isn't anymore.

根据短文内容，选择最佳答案。

1.What does the underlined word "marriage" mean in Chinese?

A. 婚礼 B. 家庭 C. 婚姻 D. 感情

2.When husband and wife have problems with their marriage, ____________.

A. they stay together B. they argue with each other

C. they don't stay together D. they have no time to solve them

3.My grandfather thinks children now spend lots of time with their __________.

A. parents B. grandparents C. friends D. cousins

4.Families now often eat ___________.

A. at home B. in the restaurants

C. at friends' houses D. on the way

5.From the passage, we can know that ______________.

A. all the things have changed now

B. the rhythm(节奏)of life becomes quicker and quicker

C. life used to be boring

D. there is no difference between the past and nowadays

At the age of 16, Julia left school and worked at a restaurant. For many years, she was only interested in making money. Then one day she had a serious car accident which changed her life. "I had a terrible car accident in August 1996. It took me 10 months to recover (康复) from the accident. During that time, I realized I wanted to find a more meaningful reason for being here in this world," said Julia.

As soon as she recovered, Julia gave up working at the restaurant and traveled to California. One day she found a big company wanted to cut down part of a forest. In the forest there were lots of redwood trees. One of the trees was more than 1 ,000 years old.

Then Julia learned a group called Our Earth was trying to save the redwood forest from the company. They decided to find someone to live in a redwood tree and hoped this would stop the company from cutting the trees down. Julia volunteered.

Julia lived in the tree for over two years without ever going down. It was cold and wet in a redwood tree. There were even very serious winter storms while Julia was in the tree.

Finally the company decided to protect the trees Julia lived in. They agreed never to cut down the big redwood tree or the trees around it. When Julia put her feet on the earth, she began to cry. But she continued to do other things to protect the environment.

根据短文内容，判断正（T）误（F）。

1.Making money was the only thing Julia took an interest in when she worked at a restaurant.

2.After Julia recovered, she went to protect the environment at once.

3.Julia's living in the redwood tree stopped the company from cutting the trees down.

4.The life in the tree for Julia was comfortable and enjoyable.

5.Julia understood there were more meaningful things to do from her experiences.

Should parents ask their children do to chores? 1.. They think that children are too young to cook or clean for themselves or their parents. But many people believe that children can learn a lot from doing regular chores. Parents should help children learn to do the housework that they will have to do when they live on their own. 2..

Most experts(专家) do agree.3.. Parents shouldn't, of course, ask a schoolboy to cook when he is doing his homework. If the child has activities after school, the time left to do chores may be short.4..

When a child does what his parents ask him to do happily, he will probably have the feeling of growing up. Chores can be useful. They are a teaching tool (工具). Parents use the tool to teach children so that they can care for themselves someday. 5.. If parents don't keep a clean house, children won't find any reason to do chores.

A. And doing chores also gives children a sense of responsibility, importance and confidence.

B. And please make sure that parents also do chores.

C. However, the time of doing chores should suit children.

D. Some believe that children should not do chores.

E. Perhaps more chores on weekends can be helpful.

A. And doing chores also gives children a sense of responsibility, importance and confidence.

B. And please make sure that parents also do chores.

C. However, the time of doing chores should suit children.

D. Some believe that children should not do chores.

E. Perhaps more chores on weekends can be helpful.

One day, a baby snail（蜗牛）found that he had to carry a big and heavy shell at any time. He was confused（困惑的）, so he went up to his mother and asked, “Why was I born with a shell that grew so hard and heavy?” His mother said, “Because we don’t have bones to hold us up. We can only move slowly, so we need a shell to protect us.”

The baby snail asked again, “The caterpillar（毛毛虫）has no bones, either, and she can’t move quickly. Why can she live without a shell?” The mother snail answered, “That’s because a caterpillar will become a butterfly（蝴蝶）. She can fly high into the sky. The sky can protect her.

The baby snail had one more question, “But the earthworm（蚯蚓）moves like us. He has no bones and he won’t turn into a butterfly. Why doesn’t he carry a hard and heavy shell?” His mother said, “ He can dig a hole and hide in the ground, and then the earth can protect him.”

The baby snail then cried, “ We are so poor! We have no protection from the sky or from the ground!” His mother smiled at him, “That’s why we have a shell. My dear, imagine that if we don’t have the shells, what will happen to us? Hot sun will dry out our bodies and we’ll have nowhere to sleep. What’s more, we’ll die in the heavy rain. How terrible it is! We don’t depend on the sky or the ground for protection. We should depend on ourselves.”

根据短文内容，回答下列问题。

1.Whom did the baby snail ask for help, his mother or father?

2.What will the caterpillar in the story become when she grows up?

3.Where can an earthworm hide?

4.How many questions did the baby snail ask?

5.Who should the snails depend on according to the story?

Mike 听说Peter近来因为考试而忙碌着，并且得了重感冒，头痛得厉害。于是便写了一封信。建议他去看医生，并告诉他多锻炼身体，健康生活。

1.______

2.______

3.______

4.______

5.______

假如你是李华，你们学校正就“帮助别人，快乐自己”这一话题展开讨论。请你以“Helping others brings me joy" 为题用英语写一篇短文来投稿，谈一谈你曾经助人为乐的经历和你对帮助他人的看法。

提示：1.词数80词左右。

2.语句连贯，语法准确，观点明确。

3.文章具有可读性。

The woman in red_____a teacher. She works in a hospital now.

A. used to be B. is used to be C. was used to be D. is

You can find______difficult to learn English.

A. that B. this C. it D. how

--- What's the matter_____ Jenny?

--- She can't find the ticket____ the concert.

A. to; of B. with; to C. for ; for D. at; of

I have a lot of homework to do. So I won't go to bed____ I finish it.

A. after B. until C. as soon as D. since