My grandmother became a widow in 1970. Shortly after that, we went to the  1  shelter to pick out a dog to keep her  2  . Grandma decided on a little dog with a reddish-brown spot above each eye.  3  these spots, the dog was named Penny.

Grandma and Penny quickly became very  4  to each other, but that attachment grew much stronger about three years later  5  Grandma had a stroke（中风）.Grandma could no longer   6  , so when she came home from the hospital, she and Penny were  7  companions.

After her stroke, it became a real  8  for Grandma to let Penny in and out because  9  was at the bottom of a flight of stairs. So a mechanism（机械装置）using a rope and pulley（滑轮）was   10  from the door to a handle at the top of the stairs. Grandma just had to pull the handle to open and close the door. If the store was   11  Penny’s favorite dog food, Grandma would make one of us  12  Penny browned beef with potatoes in it. I can remember   13  my grandmother by saying that she loved that dog better than she loved her family.

As the years passed, it was not  14  for Grandma and Penny to separate each other. If Grandma went to take her nap（打盹）, Penny stayed by her side until she  15  . As Penny aged, she could no longer jump up on the bed, so she   16  on the rug （垫子）beside the bed. If Grandma went into the   17 , Penny would walk along beside her, wait outside the door and accompany her   18  to the bed or chair. Grandma never went anywhere without her   19  companion by her side.

The time came when both my grandmother’s and Penny’s   20  were failing fast. After fifteen years of loving companionship, Grandma and Penny passed away within a few hours of each other.

1．A．animal                   B．toy                      C．fish                     D．bird

2．A．business                B．firm                    C．company             D．friend

3．A．In spite of             B．Because of           C．Instead of            D．In front of

4．A．linked                   B．fastened              C．attached              D．tied

5．A．before                   B．while                   C．until                    D．when

6．A．think                     B．speak                  C．work                  D．walk

7．A．contrary                B．content                C．confident             D．constant

8．A．problem                B．question              C．practice               D．rule

9．A．the door                B．Grandma             C．the window         D．Penny

10．A．repaired               B．fixed                   C．bought                D．loaded

11．A．  out of                B．ahead of              C．away from          D．apart from

12．A．show                  B．hand                   C．buy                     D．cook

13．A．drawing attention to                             B．making use of     

       C．breaking away from                             D．making fun of

14．A．necessary            B．possible               C．important            D．convenient

15．A．recovered            B．awoke                 C．slept                   D．screamed

16．A．rolled                  B．stood                  C．waited                 D．lay

17．A．kitchen                B．bedroom              C．living-room          D．bathroom

18．A．back                   B．up                       C．off                      D．down

19．A．splendid              B．remote                C．faithful                D．legal

20．A．smell                   B．health                  C．habit                   D．living

Today most Chinese teenagers are happy to be favored by two parents and four grandparents

in their families. But have you ever thought about how to take care of four to twelve old people

when you grow up and get married? This could be a problem for most Chinese youths as China is

entering a new stage of an aging society.

An aging society refers to one where 10 percent or more of its population is over 60. By the end of 2007, Chinese over 60 years old have made up 11.7 percent of the nation’s total population.

“China is getting old before becoming rich,” said Cai Chuang, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The population increase that has powered Chinese growth for three decades will give way over the next ten years to a rapid aging of the society. This will lead to weaker economic growth, because of a lack of labor resources.

As a result of the family planning policy, it is expected that the country’s total working population will decrease after 2015.

China is not the only country getting old. More that 60 countries have become aging societies and one in three people in the European Union is a senior citizen.

However, experts said that China doesn’t have a highly developed social security network to support the old. Social security is an insurance program protecting those in need, including the old, the disabled and others.

1．An aging society is a society that        .

      A．less that 10% of its population is over 60

       B．10% or more of its population is over 60

       C．there are four old people in a family

       D．most of its population is over 60

2．If China enters an aging society,       .

       A．there will not be enough labor resources

       B．the family planning policy will be ended

       C．everyone needs to take care of four to twelve old people

       D．China will have a highly developed social security network

3．What does Cai Chuang mean by saying “China is getting old before becoming rich.”?

       A．China will be an aging society, then be a developed country.

       B．China will be a rich country before being an aging society.

       C．An aging society will affect Chinese economy development.

       D．China will stop developing because of its aging problem.

4．The passage mainly talks about         .

      A．an aging society                                   B．Chinese social problem

       C．family panning policy                           D．aging problem in China

On the outside Betsy Lueth’s school looks like any other in Minneapolis. Yet inside, it is

Yinghua Academy, a public school where elementary（小学）students study subjects ranging from

math to American history in Chinese.

    Yinghua, the first such immersion（沉浸式）program in the Midwest is on the leading edge of

a movement that in recent years has seen Chinese language programs spread rapidly throughout the U.S.

The idea behind Yinghua is to introduce kids to the language and culture as early as possible ideally, before age 12. kindergarteners and first graders are taught in Chinese and a single period of English is introduced in second grade. By sixth grade, kids are learning half in English and half in Chinese, with the expectation of fluency in both. In Yinghua’s classrooms, the walls are covered not with ABCs but with pictures and Chinese characters.

There are many challenges at Yinghua. Most teachers come from Taiwan or mainland China, and cultural misunderstandings are very common. Lueth’s teachers are learning to be tolerant of local customs –as well as a lot more parental input than they are used to. “In China, teachers are respected. They are not questioned,” says Luyi Lien, Yinghua’s Taiwan-born director. “In America, parents are more expressive of their opinions.”

Research has shown that in the long run, immersion programs can provide benefits, including more flexible, creative thinking. Though students from the programs fall behind for a few years in English, by fifth grade they perform as well as or better than their monolingual（单语言）peers on standardized reading and math tests. For multicultural families, the psychological help can also be important. Lueth , a former teacher, co-founded the school as a way to expose her adopted Chinese daughter Lucy to her native culture. Lucy used to be annoyed when cousins asked why her skin color was different from theirs; before she started at Yinghua, she resisted exploring anything related to China. Now, Lueth says, Lucy proudly answers her cousins, “Yeah ,I was born in China.”

1．Yinghua is different from other schools in Minneapolis in the way that        .

       A．it offers subjects to students mostly in Chinese

       B．its language program is popular in the U.S.A

       C．kids there begin to learn Chinese at the age of 12

       D．its students learn subjects half in English and half in Chinese

2．One of the challenges at Yinghua is that       .

       A．most parents do not respect its teachers

       B．teachers need to get used to the local culture

       C．its students are mostly from nontraditional families

       D．there is misunderstanding between teachers and students

3．We can learn from the last paragraph that immersion program        .

       A．enables students pass tests more easily

       B．benefits students in learning psychology

       C．helps some students accept the local customs

       D．contributes to the better development of students

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

      A．Teachers in Yinghua have difficulty in understanding the local culture.

       B．Parents are discouraged to speak out their opinions of the school in Yinghua.

       C．The students in Yinghua are expected to speak English and Chinese fluently.

       D．Yinghua is the first school in the USA to introduce Chinese culture to students.

The first double hand transplant patient in the US has left a hospital after medicine cleared up

small red spots on his skin that signaled he might be rejecting his new hands. Jeff Kepner, a 58-year-old former chief cook in a restaurant, lost his hands and feet a decade ago to a bacteria infection. The donor was a 23-year-old man.

●Asecond major storm in less than a week was blowing yesterday toward the Washington area, where federal government offices were closed for a second day and workers struggled to restore power knocked out by a weekend heavy snowstorm. The storm could leave as much as 20 inches (50 centimeters) of new snow in Washington and nearly as much near Philadelphia –a Northeast travel-hub by tonight.

●British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will give evidence to a public inquiry into the Iraq War in early March, officials for the inquiry said yesterday. Brown’s appearance, just weeks before an election expected in May, could hit the ruling Labour Patry’s attempts to catch up in the polls （民意调查）behind the opposition party Conservatives. Brown, who will be questioned about his time as prime minister, will be a witness in the highest position at the inquiry since former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s appearance last month.

●The head of the UN agency aiding Palestine refugees （难民）is warning a funding shortfall and appealing for another $100 million. Filippo Grandi says the money is necessary for education, health and social services for 4.7 million Palestinian refugees scattered across Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The agency’s 2010 budget is $620 million, and it expects a shortfall of $140 million. The agency says $100 million is necessary for basic services.

1．The passage is most probably adapted from        .

       A．new items in a newspaper                     B．descriptions of the world situation

       C．discussions on foreign affairs                D．statements of a government report

2．It can be inferred from the passage that        .

       A．the man lost his hands for an unknown reason

       B．the result of the transplant operation seems satisfying

       C．another storm will hit Washington area in less than a week

       D．the electricity supply was cut off in Philadelphia a week ago

3．According to the passage, Gordon Brown          .

       A．is the leader of the ruling Labour Party in Britain

       B．will send army to the Iraq War in March this year

       C．will compete with former Prime Minister Tony Blair

       D．is now gaining more support from voters than others

4．Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the fourth news?

       A．$100 million should be needed for the survival of the refugees.

       B．At least $100 million is to be raised for Palestinian refugees.

       C．The refugees mentioned in the passage are in the Middle Africa.

       D．It is a tough job for the UN agency to get money for the refugees.

Though “nanometer”（纳米） is now a fashionable term all over the world, few people know

exactly what it is. It has become a new favorite of manufacturers and sellers in recent years. Many “high-tech” products bearing the name “nano” have entered the market, bringing more mysterious feeling to surprised consumers.

Nanometer is a very small length unit of measure, and is very small. One millimeter is 1000 micrometers, and one micrometer is 1000 nanometers. That is, one nanometer is one billionth of a meter. Nano materials are solid materials composed of particles（粒子）or crystallites（晶体） of less than 100 nanometer in size. Then, is a cup made of nano material really any different from an ordinary cup in function as far as how it works?

Are nano cups really so wonderful? A reporter went to the Institute of Nanomedicine, which is the first such institute of such a sort in the world and the only one in China, specializing in researching the investigation  of the application of nano technology into medicine.

A water molecule（分子） is composed of 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom. It can be changed only by special manipulation of the atoms. The material constituting the cup can have ananometer particles. But it cannot change the chemical and physical properties of the water contained in it. The water in the cup is still water. When people drink it, it will produce no special effect on human body.

Professor Ji who worked in the Instiute of Nanomedicine told the reporter, so far, the investigation of nano materials is still limited in the laboratory. No commercial micro products can be produced yet. With the present level of science and technology, the time of everyday goods made of nanometer materials is still years away.

The products labeled with nano marks in the market now are only traditional products coated with a thin layer of nanometer material, which makes them more abrasion resistant（耐磨）, much easier to be cleaned, or oil resisting or moth proof（防蛀）.

Professor Ji explained that nano cup is a real up. It can also be included in the list of nano products in a certain sense. But the nano up has not changed its property and function as a cup. It is not a magical medicine for curing and health care.

1．Which of the following shows the right relationship?

       A．nanometer<millimeter<micrometer<meter

       B．micrometer<millimeter<nanometer<meter

       C．nanometer<micrometer<millimeter<meter

       D．millimeter<micrometer<nanometer<meter

2．It can be inferred from the passage that       .

       A．nano materials have been put into use in daily goods

       B．real nano products haven’t become available for people

       C．the nano cup is very effective in curing and health care

       D．real nano products are being produced by some companies

3．The underlined word “properties” in the fourth paragraph probably means        .

       A．possessions         B．qualities               C．reactions             D．symbols

4．What would be the best title for the passage?

       A．High-tech Products                              B．Nano Cups

       C．Nano Materials                                    D．High-teach Research

阅读下面短文，根据以下要求：（1）汉语提示；（2）首字母提示；（3）语境提示，在每个空格内填入一个适当的英语单词，所填单词要求意义准确、拼写正确。

The college entrance exam is on the way and all the teachers           

work very hard, encouraging us to build      our confidence                                  1．   

and inspiring us to i           our studies. Whenever we meet                               2．   

with difficulties, they are r      to come to our help. Meanwhile,                             3．    

our school also     （提供）great help for us students, for example,                       4．    

the library stays       in the evenings and even on the weekends.                            5．    

At home, our parents take good care of        so that we can always                         6．     

be full of energy. I’m very grateful for the        （努力）of our parents               7．    

And teachers. I’m        （决心）to try my best to prepare for the exam.

                                                                                                                           8．    

I am sure that w       their timely help I’ll be able to achieve my goal                         9．    

and be a useful person of our society in the near f     .                                          10．    

假如你是杨方，你要竞选班长（class president），请根据以下内容写一篇竞选演讲词。

1．你认为自己具备什么条件可以胜任班长工作？

2．如果当选你会为班级同学做些什么？

注意：词数120个左右，开头已给出，不计入总词数。

Hello, everybody!

My name is Yang Fang. I’m glad to have this opportunity to tell you why you should vote for me as class president.

We were greatly shocked to hear the news that ______ two Chinese engineers were shot to death in Pakistan. Worse still, ______ third one died in a hospital afterwards.

A. the; a         B. the; the        C. /; a        D. /; the

_______ is reported in the newspaper, a footballer took money for deliberately not scoring goals so as to let the other team win.

A. It               B. As        C. That            D. What

I’m so glad to see you back, Lucy. How long _______at your grandma’s?

A. had you stayed                                    B. did you stay

C. have you stayed                                    D. would you stay