Parents and kids today dress alike, listen to the same music, and are friends. Is this a good thing? Sometimes, when Mr. Ballmer and his 16-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, listen to rock music together and talk about interests both enjoy, such as pop culture, he remembers his more distant relationship with his parents when he was a teenager.

“I would never have said to my mom, ‘Hey, the new Weezer album is really great. How do you like it?’” says Ballmer. “There was just a complete gap in taste.”

Music was not the only gulf. From clothing and hairstyles to activities and expectations, earlier generations of parents and children often appeared to move in separate orbits.

Today, the generation gap has not disappeared, but it is getting narrow in many families. Conversations on subjects such as sex and drugs would not have taken place a generation ago. Now they are comfortable and common. And parent—child activities, from shopping to sports, involve a feeling of trust and friendship that can continue int0 adulthood.

No wonder greeting cards today carry the message, “To my mother, my best friend.”

But family experts warn that the new equality can also result in less respect for parents. “There’s still a lot of strictness and authority on the part of parents out there, but there is a change happening,” says Kerrie, a psychology professor at Lebanon Valley College. “In the middle of that change, there is a lot of confusion among parents.”

Family researchers offer a variety of reasons for these evolving roles and attitudes. They see the 1960s as a turning point. Great cultural changes led to more open communication and a more democratic process that encourages everyone to have a say.

“My parents were on the ‘before’ side of that change, but today’s parents, the 40-year-olds, were on the  ‘after’ side,” explains Mr. Ballmer. “It’s not something easily accomplished by parents these days, because life is more difficult to understand or deal with, but sharing interests does make it more fun to be a parent now.”

The underlined word gulf in Para.3 most probably means _________.

A. interest       B. distance     C. difference       D. separation

Which of the following shows that the generation gap is disappearing?

A. Parents help their children develop interests in more activities.

B. Parents put more trust in their children’s abilities.

C. Parents and children talk more about sex and drugs.

D. Parents share more interests with their children.

The change in today’s parent-child relationship is _________.

A. more confusion among parents            B. new equality between parents and children

C.1ess respect for parents from children

D. more strictness and authority on the part of parents

By saying “today’s parents, the 40-year-olds, were on the ‘after’ side.” the author means that today’s parents _________.

A. follow the trend of the change            B. can set a limit to the change

C. fail to take the change seriously           D. have little difficulty adjusting to the change

The purpose of the passage is to _________.

A. describe the difficulties today’s parents have met with

B. discuss the development of the parent—child relationship

C. suggest the ways to handle the parent—child relationship

D. compare today’s parent—child relationship with that in the past

In the U.S., people prefer waiting for a table to sitting with people they don’t know. This means a hostess may not seat a small group until a small table is available, even if a large one is. If you are sitting at a table with people you don’t know, it is impolite to light up a cigarette without first asking if it will disturb them.

At American restaurants and coffee shops you are usually served tap water before you order. You may find the bread and butter is free, and if you order coffee, you may get a free refill.

Most cities and towns have no rules about opening and closing time for stores or restaurants, though they usually do make rules for bars. Especially in large cities, stores may be open 24 hours a day.  

Serving in restaurants is often large; too large for many people. If you can’t finish your meal but would like to enjoy the food later, ask your waitress or waiter for a “doggie bag”. It may have a picture of a dog on it, but everybody knows you’re taking the food for yourself.

Supper and dinner are both words for the evening meal. Some people have “Sunday dinner”. This is an especially big noon meal.

Tips are not usually added to the check. They are not included in the price of the meal, either. A tip of about 15% is expected and you should leave it on the table when you leave. In some restaurants, a check is brought on a plate and you put your money there. Then the waiter or waitress brings you your change.

Which statement is true?

A. American people like sitting with people they don’t know.

B. Tips shouldn’t be given to the waiter or waitress.

C. Orange juice is served before you order

D. American people would not light a cigarette if the people who sit at the same table mind their smoking.

What does the underlined word “doggie bag” mean in the article? It means ______.

A. a bag with a picture of a dog on it

B. a bag used to carry dogs

C. a small bag for taking the food left over home to enjoy it later

D. a small bag for taking the food left over home for dogs

Sunday dinner is _______.

A. a dinner in the evening               B. a big noon meal

C. a big lunch Sunday                  D. a supper on Sunday

If a person pays 200 yuan in a restaurant, how many tips are given to the waiter?

A. 30 yuan.       B. 60 yuan.        C. 80 yuan.        D. 90 yuan.

Increasingly, Americans are becoming their own doctors, by going online to diagnose their symptoms, order home health tests or medical devices, or even self-treat their illnesses with drugs from Internet pharmacies(药店). Some avoid doctors because of the high cost of medical care, especially if they lack health insurance. Or they may stay because they find it embarrassing to discuss their weight, alcohol consumption or couch potato habits. Patients may also fear what they might learn about their health, or they distrust physicians because of negative experiences in the past. But playing doctor can also be a deadly game.  

Every day, more than six million Americans turn to the Internet for medical answers – most of them aren’t nearly skeptical enough of what they find. A 2002 survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 72 percent of those surveyed believe all or most of what they read on health websites. They shouldn’t. Look up “headache”, and the chances of finding reliable and complete information, free from a motivation for commercial gain, are only one in ten, reports an April 2005 Brown Medical School study. Of the 169 websites the researchers rated, only 16 scored as “high quality”. Recent studies found faulty facts about all sorts of other disorders, causing one research team to warn that a large amount of incomplete, inaccurate and even dangerous information exists on the Internet.

The problem is most people don’t know the safe way to surf the Web. “They use a search engine like Google, get 18 trillion choices and start clicking. But that’s risky, because almost anybody can put up a site that looks authoritative(权威的), so it’d hard to know if what you’re reading is reasonable or not,” says Dr. Sarah Bass from the National Cancer Institute.

According to the text, an increasing number of American _____.

A. are suffering from mental disorders

B. turn to Internet pharmacies for help

C. like to play deadly games with doctors

D. are skeptical about surfing medical websites

Some Americans stay away from doctors because they _____.

A. find medical devices easy to operate

B. prefer to be diagnosed online by doctors

C. are afraid to face the truth of their health

D. are afraid to misuse their health insurance

According to the study of Brown Medical School, ______.

A. more than 6 million Americans distrust doctors

B. only 1/10 of medical websites aim to make a profit

C. about 1/10 of the websites surveyed are of high quality

D. 72% of health websites offer incomplete and faulty facts

Which of the following is the author’s main argument?

A. It’s cheap to self-treat your own illness.

B. It’s embarrassing to discuss your bad habits.

C. It’s reasonable to put up a medical website.

D. It’s dangerous to be your own doctor.

Whatever our differences as human beings are we all think we’re more like the rest of the animal world than we realize. It is said that we share 40 per cent of our genetic（遗传的）structure with the simple worm.

But that fact has helped Sir John Sulston win the 2002 Nobel Prize for Medicine. Sir John is the founder of the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, which was set up in 1992 to get further understanding of the human genome（染色体组）.

To help them do this, they turned to the worm. The nematode（线虫类的）worm is one of the earliest creatures on planet earth. It is less than one millimeter long, completely transparent and spends its entire life digging holes through sand. But it still has lots to say about human life, and what can be done to make it better.

What the worm told Sir John and his colleagues was that each of the cells in the human body is programmed like a computer. They grow, develop and die according to a set of instructions that are coded in our genetic make-up.

Many of the diseases that humans suffer from happen when these instructions go wrong or are not obeyed. When the cell refuses to die but carries on growing instead, this leads to cancer. Heart attacks and diseases like AIDS cause more cell deaths than normal, increasing the damage they do to the body. Sir John was the first scientist to prove the existence of programmed cell death.

Sir John Sulston got a Nobel Prize for Medicine because he has         .

A．found that human beings are similar to the worm

B．got the fact we share 40 per cent of our genetic structure with the simple worm

C．found the computer which controls each of the cells in the human body

D．proved that cell death is programmed

People might be seriously ill if the cells in their body        .

A．grow without being instructed B．die regularly

C．fail to follow people’s instructions  D．develop in the human body

The underlined word“they”（paragraph 5）refers to        .

A．cell deaths       B．diseases    C．instructions      D．cells

What is the subject discussed in the text?

A．The theory of programmed cell deaths.     B．A great scientist—Sir John Sulston.

C．The programmed human life.             D．Dangerous diseases.

Language is a way to communicate with each other. We started to learn language when we were born. However, people are used to speaking their native language, so immigrants are having many problems between the first generation and the second generation because they don’t have the same native language. Also, the second generation is losing their identity. Especially in America, there are many immigrants that came from different countries to succeed in the States.  Because they suffer in lots of areas such as getting a job and trying to speak English, they want their children to speak English, not only at school, but also at home in order to be more successful. Because of this situation, their children are losing their identity and, even more, they are ignoring their parents whose English is not very good.    

I think most immigrants are trying to preserve their native language in their new country, but this doesn’t help very much in getting a good job. My aunt taught Korean to her children not to help hem succeed in the U.S. she did so, hopefully, to help them establish a Korean identity. Though the second generation was born in the new country, they often get confused about their identity because they look different from others, and also, if they visit their parents’ country, they will probably feel different from other people there too. My cousins told me that when they visited Korea a few years ago, they felt different from other Koreans. They could even feel it just strolling around the street because they wore different clothes and walked differently.

We must realize that language is important and valuable for many reasons. Immigrants should make an effort not to be ignored by their children understand their background by teaching them the parents’ language. This is very important, not only for the harmony of the family, but also in helping the second generation establish their identity. 

According to the text, what is the problem of the first generation immigrants?

A. They have lost their identity.

B. Their children are losing their identity.

C. Their children speak different languages.

D. They cannot speak their native language.

My aunt taught her children Korean____.

A. so that they knew they were of Korean origin

B. so that they would be more successful in the U.S.

C. because she didn’t want them to speak English

D. because she wanted them to respect her

The writer’s cousins felt different in their parents’ country because they____.

A. had never been there before        B. behaved quite differently

C. couldn’t understand the language    D. had different facial appearance

According to the text, the native language is important and valuable to immigrants in that____.

A. it gives them self-confidence and better chance

B. t makes the second generation love motherland

C. it helps the second generation to understand their parents

D. it strengthens the family ties and reminds them of their identity (BCABD)

In the U.S., people prefer waiting for a table to sitting with people they don’t know. This means a hostess may not seat a small group until a small table is available, even if a large one is. If you are sitting at a table with people you don’t know, it is impolite to light up a cigarette without first asking if it will disturb them.

At American restaurants and coffee shops you are usually served tap water before you order. You may find the bread and butter is free, and if you order coffee, you may get a free refill.

Most cities and towns have no rules about opening and closing time for stores or restaurants, though they usually do make rules for bars. Especially in large cities, stores may be open 24 hours a day.  

Serving in restaurants is often large; too large for many people. If you can’t finish your meal but would like to enjoy the food later, ask your waitress or waiter for a “doggie bag”. It may have a picture of a dog on it, but everybody knows you’re taking the food for yourself.

Supper and dinner are both words for the evening meal. Some people have “Sunday dinner”. This is an especially big noon meal.

Tips are not usually added to the check. They are not included in the price of the meal, either. A tip of about 15% is expected and you should leave it on the table when you leave. In some restaurants, a check is brought on a plate and you put your money there. Then the waiter or waitress brings you your change.

Which statement is true?

A. American people like sitting with people they don’t know.

B. Tips shouldn’t be given to the waiter or waitress.

C. Orange juice is served before you order

D. American people would not light a cigarette if the people who sit at the same table mind their smoking.

What does the underlined word “doggie bag” mean in the article? It means ______.

A. a bag with a picture of a dog on it

B. a bag used to carry dogs

C. a small bag for taking the food left over home to enjoy it later

D. a small bag for taking the food left over home for dogs

Sunday dinner is _______.

A. a dinner in the evening               B. a big noon meal

C. a big lunch Sunday                  D. a supper on Sunday

If you are planning to study in the United States, you need to consider several factors. Everyone has different opinions about where the best places to live in also; the best places to live are not always home to the best schools. Finally, many schools specialize in different areas of study. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for example, is a great school for computer science and technology-based fields of study, However, if you want to study oceanography, your interests may be better served by attending school in a place that is on a coastline or near the ocean.

Now I am sure that you know which schools are considered the best in the country. So I will tell you about which states I believe are the best to live in.

California is a nice state. Northern California specifically has very good weather. Los Angeles in southern California is another story though. Life in LA is full of excitement and fast, and sometimes—dangerous. As for me, I enjoyed the history and culture. The weather is not as perfect as California, but it is still quite nice. My favorite area of America is the Mid-west. Middle America, I think, is home to the true American sense of values. In addition, there are many good universities there.  

Also, you need to think about your likes and dislikes and then research the various states. You like sunshine and hate snow? Then you probably won’t like the Midwest or even the Northeast. Open space, nature and peace and quiet? Then you should stay away from America’s larger cities. Are you interested in government? Then Washington D.C. is the only place for you. Whatever you decided put some thought into it. The place you live could be the difference between a great study abroad experience and a state of great suffering on earth.

From the first paragraph we can conclude that in the U.S.A. __________.

all colleges and universities lie in big cities

all colleges and universities lie in beautiful places

famous colleges and universities lie in nice places

famous colleges and universities may not lie in nice places

What should be considered first if you want to study in the U.S.A.?

A. The climate.       B. The scenery.        C. The study condition.       D. The living condition.

If you study in Middle America, you can probably _______.

find the best universities

feel the real character of the nation

meet the most famous professors there

face more difficulty

From the last paragraph of this passage we can get to know that ________.

Washington is the largest city in the U.S.A.

Washington is the political center of the U.S.A.

you can’t find sunshine in the Midwest

you can’t find any universities out of big cities in the U.S.A.

Michelle is blind, but she makes such good use of her other senses that guests rarely realize that she is blind.

When my daughter Kayla came back from her home, she was very  1   about her day. She told me that she had baked cookies, played games and done art projects. But she was especially excited about her finger-painting project. “I learned how to   2   colors today! Blue and red make purple, and yellow and blue make green! Michelle   3  with us too. She said she liked how the paint feels through her fingers,” said Kayla.

Something about my child’s excitement caught my   4  . this made me sit down and take a look at my child and at myself.

Then Kayla said, “Michelle told me my picture showed joy,   5   and a sense of accomplishment. She   6  saw what I was doing!” Kayla said she had never felt how good finger-painting felt until Michelle showed her how to paint without looking at her paper.

This is when I realized Kayla didn’t know that Michelle was blind. It had just never   7   in conversation. When I told her, she was quiet for a moment. At first, she didn’t   8   me. “ But mommy, Michelle understood exactly what was in my picture!” Kayla insisted. I knew my child was   9  because Michelle had listened to Kayla when she  10   her artwork. Michelle had listened to Kayla’s pride in her work, and her wonder at her discovery of the way colors blend.

1. A. satisfied             B. moved                     C. excited              D. affected

A. mix                   B. combine              C. connect             D. join

A. wrote                B. dealt                   C. contacted           D. painted

A. attention             B. sight                 C. note                  D. observation

A. discovery        B. understanding      C. pride                 D. achievement

A. apparently         B. really                  C. obviously          D. carefully

A. come around      B. com across          C. come through    D. come up

A. doubt                B. refuse                 C. believe              D. approve

A. right                     B. polite                 C. real                   D. wrong

A. described          B. created              C. designed            D. invented

Jungle country is not friendly to man, but it is possible to survive there. You must have the right equipment and you must know a few important things about woodcraft. Then your chances of staying alive are very good.

No one should go into the jungle without the right equipment. You need light weight clothing, a good knife, and a compass. Fishhooks and a line, a rifle, matches in a waterproof container and a poncho are necessary too. So is a mosquito net to protect the head.

In the jungle you can get hopeless lost within five minutes after leaving a known landmark. That is why you should always carry a compass. In open country, during the day, you can tell which way o go by studying the sun. At night the stars are sure guides o direction. But in most places the jungle rooftop is so thick that it is impossible to see the sun or the stars. Again and again you must check your position by the compass.

Keep alert. Watch the ground in front of you carefully. Stop and listen now and again. Avoid haste, and rest often. In a place that is hot and humid, the person who sets a fast pace will soon become tired. A steady, even pace is wisest in the long run.  

If you lose your way, don’t panic. Try to desire how long it has been since you were sure of your position. Mark the spot where you are with blazes on a tree. Put them on four sides of the tree, so that you will be able to see them from any direction. Then you can begin retracing your steps, knowing that you can always find the spot from which you started. Except in an emergency, never try to travel through the jungle at night.

Whenever possible, it is wise to follow streams and rivers that are going in your general direction. This may cause you many extra miles of travel. But in the end it will save time and energy. Nothing is more exhausting than hacking a trail cross-through umbrella jungle.

If a river is broad and deep and has no rapids, rafting is the best means of travel. Bamboo grows along the banks of many jungle streams. Since it is hollow and extremely strong, it makes a perfect raft.

Surviving in the jungle is a science. The jungle people have become perfect in this science, and you can too. Learn as much as you can about what to expect in the jungle. Make sure you have the right equipment. Then no part of the jungle will be able to “live off” it for a long time.

The author probably advises against traveling at night because ________.

one tends to move too slowly at night

some animals will attack you

emergencies occur most frequently at night

it is more difficult to check your position

Following streams and rivers will help you to ________.

avoid animal’s attacks

save many extra miles of travel

avoid crossing unbroken stretches of jungle

have a constant source of drinking water  

The word “blazes” in Paragraph 5 means _________.

A. marks where bark (树皮) is removed          B. light-colored spots

C.bursts of flame                            D. sides of knife

Washoe, a female chimpanzee (黑猩猩) believed to be the first non-human to acquire human language, has died of natural causes at the research institute where she was kept.The chimp died on Tuesday night, according to Roger and Deborah Fouts, co-founders of The Chimpanzee and Human Communications Institute in Washington, where she lived.

Washoe was born in 1965 in Africa, where she was captured by the Air Force and taken to the US for research use in the space program. In 1966, she left the program and began living with two scientists, Allen and Beatrix Gardner, who led a project to teach the chimp American Sign Language (ASL) in Washoe, Nevada, for which it was named. Washoe had been living on Central Washington University’s Ellensburg Campus since 1980. She had a vocabulary of about 250 words. Also, Washoe taught sign language to three younger chimps: Tatu, 31, Loulis, 29, and Dar, 31

Primate (灵长类) researcher Jane Goodall, in Fouts’ book Next of Kin, noted the importance of the work with Washoe. “Roger, through his ongoing conversations with Washoe and her extended family, has opened a window into a chimpanzee’s mind,” Goodall said.

Though previous efforts to teach chimps spoken languages had failed, the researchers believed there was a better chance using signs. But Washoe’s language skills were disputed by scientists who believed that language is unique to humans. Among those who doubted that chimps could use language were linguist (语言学家) Noam Chomsky and Harvard scientist Steven Pinker. They believed primates simply learn to perform certain acts in order to receive rewards, and do not acquire true language. 

As for its first task, Washoe was involved with _______.

A. some space research   

B. a study on African animals

C. an ASL project     

D. the program of training the Air Force

In Goodall’s opinion, teaching Washoe ASL ______.

A. was not successful   

B. led to the book Next of Kin

C. won honor for Fouts   

D. made a difference

In the last paragraph, the underlined word “disputed” probably means “______”.

A. supported 

B. studied 

C. questioned 

D. discussed

What can be inferred from the passage?

A. The ASL project was first set up in Africa for the study on Washoe.

B. Washoe may communicate with other chimps by signing.

C. Washoe must have been able to speak 250 words or so.

D. The researchers will prove that most chimps could use language.

Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Washoe was the first animal to be taught human language.

B. Washoe, the chimp, was named in honor of a place.

C. There were four chimps in total at Ellensburg Campus.

D. Chomsky believed primates only perform silent signs.