近日汶川发生大地震，它不仅给中国带来了灾难，也让人想起了唐山地震。以下是两次地震的一些信息：

       根据以上信息，写一篇英语短文，并包括以下内容：

       1．两次地震发生的时间和震中所在的省份

       2．两次地震的震级和死亡人数的对比

       3．两次地震在时间和死伤人数之间可能的关联

       4．两次地震的主要特点

       要求：120词左右

       Leonardo da Vinci was  66  Italian painter, scholar, and scientist, a genius the world has never seen again so far. One of the  67  (great) creative figures of history, Leonardo takes his name from his native village Vinci in Italy, and was a man well beyond his time. He divided most of his artistic life between the cities of Florence and Milan. He didn’t produce many paintings. However, those that remain,  68  (include) the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, are among the greatest masterpieces (杰作) of the world history. Not only was Leonardo interested in art  69  he was also interested in all branches of the arts sciences.

       His notebooks contained designs for submarines, helicopters, and other inventions that the world  70  (build) for the next few centuries. He had many other talents  71  his painting. He was one of the first  72  (art) to get an exact knowledge of some special field by studying dead bodies.  73  (general), his writings show a strong curiosity about and wonder at the workings of the universe. Leonardo da Vinci was like a man  74  awoke too early in the darkness,  75  the others were all still asleep.

       Have you ever been afraid to talk back when you were treated unfairly? Have you ever bought something just because the salesman talked you into it? Many people are afraid to support themselves. Dr. Robert Albert，author of Stand Up，Speak Out，and Talk Back thinks it’s because their self-respect is low. “There’s always a ‘superior’ (长者) around--parent， a teacher，a boss--who knows better.”

　　But Albert and other scientists are doing something to help people help themselves. They offer “assertiveness training” courses, A.T. for short. In the A. T. Course people learn that they have a right to be themselves. They learn to speak out and feel good about doing so. They learn to be aggressive without hurting other people.

　　In one way, learning to speak out is to get rid of fear. A group taking an A. T. Course will help the timid person to lose his fear. But A. T. uses an even stronger motive (动机)--he needs to share. The timid person speaks out in the group because he wants to tell how he feels. Whether or not you speak up for yourself depends on your self-respect.

61．The problem the writer talks about is that       .

　　A．some people buy things they don’t want

　　B．some people are afraid to speak out for their rights

　　C．there are too many superiors

　　D．some people don’t think enough of themselves

62．The cause of the problem talked about in this passage is that      .

　　A．some people have a low self-respect

　　B．there is always someone around who “knows better”

　　C．salesmen talk people into buying things they don’t want

　　D．people don’t share enough

63．The underlined word “timid” in the 3^rd paragraph most probably means       .

　　A．brave                  B．confident　　      C．self-respect　　  D．shy

64．One thing the A . T. Course don’t do is to       .

　　A．share the need of people

　　B．show they have a right to be themselves

　　C．help people overcome fear

　　D．help people to help themselves even if others suffer

65．A good title for this passage could be “        ”.

　　A．The Need to Share

　　B．Talk Back When Necessary

　　C．One Way to Build Self-Respect

　　D．One Way to Train Speaking Ability

       The Great Fire of London started in the very early hours of 2 September 1666. In four days it destroyed more than three-quarters of the old city, where most of the houses were wooden and close together. Over one hundred people became homeless, but only a few lost their lives.

The fire started on Sunday morning in the house of the King's baker(面包师) in Pudding Lane. The baker, with his wife and family, was able to get out through a window in the roof. A strong wind blew the fire from the bakery（面包房） into a small hotel next door. Then it spread quickly into Thames Street. That was the beginning.

By eight o'clock three hundred houses were on fire. On Monday nearly a kilometer of the city was burning along the River Thames. Tuesday was the worst day. The fire destroyed many well-known buildings, old St Paul's and the Guildhall among them.

Samuel Pepys, the famous writer, wrote about the fire. “People threw their things into the river. Many poor people stayed in their houses until the last moment. Birds fell out of the air because of the heat.”

The fire stopped only when the King finally ordered people to destroy hundreds of buildings in the path of the fire. With nothing left to burn, the fire became weak and finally died out.

After the fire, Christopher Wren, the architect(建筑师), wanted a city with wider streets and fine new houses of stone. In fact, the streets are still narrow; but he did build more than fifty churches, among them new St Paul's.

The fire caused great pain and loss, but after it London was a better place: a city for the future and not just of the past.

56．The fire began in______ .

A．a hotel                       B．the palace           C．pudding Lane      D．Thames Street

57．The underlined word ‘family’ in the second paragraph means     .

       A．home                 B．children               C．wife and husband D．wife and children

58．It seems that the writer of the text was most sorry for the fact that ______.

A．some people lost their lives

B．the birds in the sky were killed by the fire

C．many famous buildings were destroyed

D．the King's bakery was burned down

59．Why did the writer cite(引用) Samuel Pepys?

A．Because Pepys was among those putting out the fire.

B．Because Pepys also wrote about the fire.

C．To show that poor people suffered most.

D．To give the reader a clearer picture of the fire.                             

60．How was the fire put out according to the text?

A．The king and his soldiers came to help.

B．All the wooden houses in the city were destroyed.

C．People managed to get enough water from the river.

D．Houses standing in the direction of the fire were pulled down.

English is fast becoming the language of science around the world, but what is its future among everyday speakers? One expert points out that the percentage(比率) of native English speakers is declining(降低) while the languages of other rapidly growing regions are being spoken by increasing numbers of people. But English will continue to remain widespread and important.

However, British language scholar David Graddol says English will probably drop in dominance(主导) by the middle of this century to rank, after Chinese, about equally with Arabic, Hindi, and Urdu. “The number of people speaking English as a first language continues to rise, but it isn’t rising nearly as fast as the numbers of many other languages around the world, simply because the main population group has been largely in the less developed countries where languages other than English have been spoken,” he says.

In a recent article in the journal Science, Mr. Graddol noted that three languages that are not near the top of the list of the most widely spoken now might be there soon. These are Bengali, Tamil, and Malay, spoken in south and southeast Asia.

David Crystal, the author of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, says about 1.5 billion of the world’s six billion people speak it as a second tongue compared to the 400 million native speakers. But another expert on the English language says Mr. Graddol underestimates (低估) the future of its dominance. “All the evidence (证据) suggests that the English language snowball is rolling down a hill and is getting faster, but nobody quite knows what’s going to happen because no language has been in this position before.” he said.

51．In David Graddol’ s opinion, English will _______.

    A．remain widespread and important

    B．be more important than any other language

    C．lose its dominant position

    D．die away in the near future

52．The underlined sentence in the last paragraph implies that ______.

    A．snowballs will roll down faster than language balls

    B．the English language snowball is rolling down faster than any time in the past

    C．English language will soon drop in dominance

    D．more and more language users will choose English

53．How many experts does the passage mention who express their ideas about the future of English?

    A．2.                  B．3.           C．4.          D．5.

54．According to David Graddol, which of the following will possibly be one of the languages that will be most  widely spoken?

    A．Malay.     B．Arabic.           C．Urdu.             D．German.

55．What should be the best title for the passage?

       A．English Remaining the Dominant Position

       B．The Future of English? Who Knows?

       C．Opinions from Different Experts

       D．The English Language Snowball Rolling Down

       Our eating habits are very important for good health and a strong body. There are times 41 most of us would have sweets and ice-cream 42  eat meat and rice, Sweets and ice-cream are not bad for the stomach if we eat  43  the end of a meal. If we eat them before meals, they may  44  away our appetite（胃口）. It's important for us to eat our meal at the time each day. When we feel hungry, it is a  45  that our body needs food. When we feel angry or excited, we may not want to eat. A long time ago, in England, some judges 46 whether a man was  47  the truth by giving him some dry bread. If the man could not swallow the bread, the judges would decide he was lying. Although this seems very strange and 48  foolish, it is indeed an excellent way of finding out the truth. A man  49  is worrying about something has difficulty swallowing anything dry. Because he is worried, he  50  his appetite and does not want to eat.

Fred is second to none in math in our class, but       , he hardly passed the final math exam.

       A．as a matter of fact                                                               B．as usual

       C．right away                                          D．believe it or not

The sentence “All the students haven’t passed the exam.” Means       .

       A．None of the students have passed the exam.

       B．Not all the students have passed the exam.

       C．None of the students have failed in the exam.

       D．Most of the students haven’t passed t he exam.

         children whose parents  had died in the earthquake     sent to live with families in other cities.

       A．A great number of; was                        B．A great number of; were

       C．The great number of; was                    D．The great number of; were

When the children were told that they could go to the USA for month’s tour, they could hardly         to tell their friends about it.

       A．remember            B．wait                    C．afford                 D．determine