I’d rather read than watch television; the programs seem ______ all the time．

A．to get worse                                               B．to have got worse

C．that it is getting worse                  D．to be getting worse．

---Hey, look at my shoes, look what you’ve done．

---Oh, I’m sorry I’ve got your shoes dirty．But I ______ ．

A．haven’t noticed                                   B．didn’t notice

C．wasn’t noticing                              D．hadn’t noticed

I’ve always loved pigeons．Some years ago I persuaded my wife to let me buy a few and start racing them myself．They cost us a lot of money and   1   and they spoiled our hobby a lot, but my wife never actually stopped me so I   2   carried on．I learned so much about pigeons that I could   3   a good racer anywhere and I did buy some beauties．My pigeons won some top races, and I even began to make a bit of   4  ．You see people are prepared to pay big prices if they know that your pigeons are   5   big prizes．

   My wife had been changing her   6   to the pigeons over the past few years anyway．She was quite   7   of all the prizes we’d won．Then came the traveling, which she liked．You see someone has to take the pigeons a   8   way off and set them free．Some of the   9   were really nice and you could enjoy beautiful sceneries all the way．I never traveled．I used to like to wait at home and   10   them come in．They’d got this wonderful sense of   11   , which could bring them back home so quickly．They’d flown hundreds of miles sometimes   12   storms or against the endless  13   ．Then I’d watch them  14   round and come down onto the landing shelf．I’d looked at my watch and thought, “My goodness, that’d be a good   15  ．” And took off the little leg ring and pushed it through the machine to   16   what time he’d arrived．Then my wife would   17   up and said, “Has he arrived yet?” Then we would work out if we’d won   18   ．

   Then last year we had a   19   ! One of my pigeons got some sort of flu and died, and then they all   20   one by one．It was terrible; I had to burn them all．We lost a fortune of course．

1．A．food                     B．time                    C．power                 D．space

2．A．just                       B．even                    C．almost                 D．hardly

3．A．notice                   B．learn                   C．imagine               D．recognize

4．A．living                    B．fun                     C．money                D．change

5．A．losing                   B．winning               C．giving                 D．making

6．A．subject                  B．decision              C．relation                D．attitude

7．A．proud                   B．fond                    C．careful                D．sure

8．A．different                B．long                    C．short                   D．far

9．A．distance                B．activities              C．trips                    D．movements

10．A．see                     B．invite                  C．welcome            D．wish

11．A．direction              B．sight                   C．hearing                D．touch

12．A．over                    B．along                   C．under                  D．through

14．A．show                  B．look                    C．circle                  D．whistle

15．A．fly                      B．time                    C．day                     D．look

16．A．write                   B．record                 C．count                  D．memorize

17．A．come                  B．show                  C．call                     D．cheer

18．A．again                   B．over                    C．only                    D．accidentally

19．A．disadvantage       B．chance               C．problem              D．disaster

20．A．slowed down     B．went down       C．turned down    D．let down

Over the years new technology have changed farming. Change in a general direction is a trend. Yet people often recognize trends only when they consider the past. Today we look back at some trends in American agriculture. We began with the change from animal power to mechanical power.

       In 1920, America had more than 25 million horses and mules （骡子）. Most were used for farm work. Around the same time, a competitor began to appear in large numbers. Tractors could turn soil, pull loads and speed harvests and they could do it better.

       More tractors meant fewer horses and mules. By the 1960s, the numbers of these work animals settle to where they remain today. That is about one-tenth the levels in 1920. Yet even the demand for tractors had its limits. Tractors reached their highest numbers around 1982. The numbers have been slowly decreasing. Experts say farmers can do more with less now because of new technologies. So tractors replaced horses and mules. As a result, farmers no longer needed to raise crops to feed work animals.

       Oats （燕麦） have long been food for horses and mules. In 1954, American farmers planted over 16 million hectares of oats. By 2000, that was down to less than one million hectares. So, what did the farmers do with the extra land? More and more farmers began to plant a new crop around the same time that the tractor became popular. It was the soybean. The soybean is one of the oldest plants harvested. Yet it was not planted widely in the United States until the 1920s. By the year 2000, close to 30 million hectares were planted with soybeans. It is the nation’s most important crop for high protein animal feed and for vegetable oil. In fact, soybeans are the second most valuable crop grown by American farmers after corn. Much of the soybean production goes to exports.

1．The best title for this text might be ______________．

       A．Technology Have Changed Farming      

       B．The Tractors Have Replaced Horses

       C．The Tractors Are More Advanced Than Horses                                               D．Soybeans Have Replaced Oats

2．By the 1960s, how many work horses and mules had still remained in America?

       A．About 25 000 000.                               B．About 2 500 000.

       C．About 250 000 000.                             D．About 30 000 000

3．Which of the following statements is false according to the text?

       A．Changing from animal power to mechanical power is the start of the change in American

       agriculture．

       B．Tractors changed the way of farming in America during the early 20^th century．

       C．Tractors reached their highest numbers over half a century from its beginning

       D．Soybean was planted widely in the United States owing to animal-powered agriculture．

4．What isn’t the advantage of using tractors in America?

       A．The using of tractors led to the trend of change in agriculture．

       B．Farmers can do more farming work with less labor in agriculture．

       C．More land was used to plant economic agriculture products．

       D．Using tractors increases the growth of the economy in agriculture．

If you are asked to name some national symbols of China, the dragon will probably be one of the images that come into your head. We Chinese often consider ourselves “the descendent of the dragon”. Your parents hope that you “many become the dragon”.

       As a mythical（神话里的）creature, the dragon is deeply rooted in Chinese culture. Traditionally, dragons are considered to govern rainfall. They have the power to decide where and when the rain falls. In addition, the dragon is a symbol of imperial （皇帝的） power. The emperors thought they were real dragons and the sons of heaven.

       Besides, dragons in Western literature are presented as monsters against which the hero must battle. It is a common tale for a mediaeval knight（骑士） to kill a dragon and save a princess and her country from its evil. Even the popular boy wizard Harry Potter has to battle a deadly dragon and get a golden egg from its nest in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

       However, dragons are not all bad in the West. Puff, the Magic Dragon is a well-known song. It tells a bitter-sweet story of the dragon puff and his playmate Jackie Paper, a little boy. When Jackie grows up, he loses interest in the imaginary adventures of childhood and leaves, which upsets puff. “ Puff represents the innocence of a child’s imagination, which is very positive for a dragon,” said Haagen.

1．Which quality makes the dragon either a symbol in China or a monster in the West?

       A．Mysterious          B．Cold-blooded             C．Powerful             D．Dangerous

2．Why is the dragon considered a national symbol in China?

       A．Chinese often consider themselves “the descendants of the dragon．”

       B．It’s familiar to Chinese people．

       C．The deep-rooted concept in Chinese culture．

       D．It can represent imperial power．

3．The writer uses the story of Harry Potter to show us that ___________．

       A．dragons are cold-blooded and cruel

       B．the boy wizard, Harry Potter, is clever and brave boy

       C．dragons are presented as monsters in most Western works

       D．human beings always conquer monsters like dragons

4．Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the text?

       A．Dragons were traditionally considered to be in charge of rainfall in China．

       B．Harry Patter is thought to be a hero in Western culture．

       C．All the Magic Dragons are not bad in the west．

       D．None of the Western people like dragons．

Happy birthday! Do birthdays really make people happy? Of course they do．Birthdays celebrate the day we were born．Besides, that extra candle on the cake suggests another year of growth and maturity（成熟）—or so we hope．We all like to imagine that we are getting wiser and not just older．Most of us enjoy seeing the miracle of growth in others, as well．For instance, seeing our children develop and learn new things makes us feel proud．For Americans, like people in most cultures, growing up is a wonderful process．But growing old? That’s a different story．

       Growing old is not exactly pleasant for people in youth-oriented（以年轻人为中心的） American culture．Most Americans like to look young, act young and feel young．As the old saying goes, “You are as young as you feel．” Old people joke about how many years young they are, rather than how many years old．People in some countries value the aged as a source of experience and wisdom．But Americans seem to favor those that are young, or at least “young at heart．”

       Many older Americans find the “golden years” to be anything but golden．Economically, “senior citizens” often struggle just to get by．Retirement at age 65 brings a sharp decrease in personal income．Social security （安全） benefits usually cannot make up the difference．Older people may suffer from poor nutrition, medical care and housing．Some even experience age discrimination．In 1987, American sociologist Pat Moore dressed up like an older person and wandered city streets．She was often treated rudely—even cheated and robbed．However, dressed as a young person, she received much more respect．

       Unfortunately, the elderly population in America is increasing fast．Why? People are living longer．Fewer babies are being born．And middle-aged “baby boomers” are rapidly entering the group of the elderly．America may soon be a place where wrinkles（皱纹） are “in”．Marketing experts are already noticing this growing group of consumers．

1．People consider growing up a wonderful thing because ________．

       A．people can light a candle to celebrate their birthdays

       B．people can become more mature and wiser

       C．people can enjoy the pleasure of others’ growth

       D．growing up is a wonderful process

2．The second paragraph tells us that ____________．

       A．Americans hold a negative attitude to growing old

       B．American older people often joke about their old age

       C．American culture is very young

       D．Different countries have different opinions on the old age

3．The underlined sentence in Paragraph 3 suggests that __________．

       A．the older Americans care for nothing but gold

       B．the older Americans don’t actually live happy lives

       C．the old in America have to retire at the age of 65

       D．American social security benefits are not good

4．What will the writer most probably talk about following the last paragraph of the text?

       A．The living conditions of the older Americans．

       B．The problems of growing older Americans．

       C．The potential consuming market of the older Americans．

       D．Some laws to be passed to restrict older Americans．

I had never given a thought to working on a newspaper．But when my husband decided to start one in our small rocky Mountain town, I went along with the idea．I didn’t know how to interview anyone, take interesting photos, or even put a newspaper article together．So, I took my camera and just started carrying it with me everywhere．

       One Saturday morning, I went on a children’s hayride （乘坐干草车出游） to get some shots of the local kids．I arrived early, so I could talk to the adults in charge, I needed to get some information to go with any picture I took．

       After the kids were seated on the hay, I had plenty of pictures of their smiling faces．I just stopped to chat with a lady who had her horse with her．She planned to ride alongside the wagon and keep an eye on things．

       While I chatted with her, her horse turned to fully face me and gave me a big horse smile．He opened his mouth wide, showing all of his teeth．We all laughed and I asked the lady to make him do it again so I could take a picture．She said she hadn’t made him do it the first time and didn’t know how to get him smile again．

       I stepped back, positioned my camera, and said to the horse, “smile again for the camera,” and he did! He looked right at the camera and gave me a huge horse grin．I actually got two shots of him and he was willing to keep grinning at the camera．

       Later on, we published the pictures of the kids and their hayride in the paper but the picture of the horse got the most attention．I have kept that picture in my photo album to this day．And proudly show it off every chance I get．

       After that, I was always ready to go and get the story, I had learned how exciting and rewarding interviews and news photography could be．You may think you know your community pretty well．But wonderful surprises are waiting around you．

1．Why did the writer begin to be a reporter?

       A．She loved taking photos．                                                                                   B．She liked the rocky mountain town．

       C．She wanted to learn interview．

       D．Her husband decided to work on a newspaper

2．According to the text, why is the writer proud?

       A．She is a good reporter．                                                                                      B．She has taken pictures of the smiling kids．

       C．She has taken pictures of the smiling horses

       D．She has reported the smiling horse．

3．What does the writer suggest in the last paragraph?

       A．Everyone can be a good reporter．

       B．Good photos can be rewarded．

       C．She was happy to be a reporter after that．

       D．Surprise is just in common life．

4．What is the best title for the text?

       A．The Experience of a Reporter

       B．A Picture of a Smiling Horse

       C．Happy to Be a Reporter

       D．A Wonderful Picture

A few degrees can make a big difference when it comes to food storage．Foods can go bad if they get too warm．But for many of the world’s poor, finding a good way to keep food cool is difficult．Refrigerators are costly and they need electricity．

       Yet spoiled food not only creates health risks but also economic losses．Farmers lose money when they have to throw away products that they cannot sell quickly．

       But in 1995, a teacher in northern Nigeria named Mohammed Bath Abba found a solution．He developed the “Pot-in-Pot Preservation/Cooling System．” It uses two round containers made of clay．A smaller pot is placed inside a larger one．

       The space between the two pots is filled with wet sand．The inner pot can be filled with fruit, vegetables or drinks．A piece of wet cloth covers the whole cooling system．

       Food stored in the smaller pot is kept from spoiling through a simple evaporation （蒸发） process．Water in the sand between the two pots evaporates through the surface of the larger pot, where drier outside air is moving．

       The evaporation process creates a drop in temperature of several degrees．This cools the inner pot and helps keep food safe from harmful bacteria．Some foods can be kept fresh this way for several weeks．

       People throughout Nigeria began using the invention．And it became popular with farmers in other African countries．Mohammed Bah Abba personally financed the first five thousand pot-in-pot systems for his own community and five villages nearby．

       In 2000, the Rolex Watch Company of Switzerland honored him with the Rolex Award for Enterprise．This award recognizes people trying to develop projects aimed at improving human knowledge and well-being．

       A committee considers projects in science and medicine, technology, exploration and discovery, the environment and cultural history．Winners receive financial assistance to help develop and extend their projects．

       The award is given every two years．The next one will be given in 2008．

1．According to the text, why will the food in the inner pot not go bad?

       A．The temperature is lower than the outside．

       B．Both of the pots are made of clay．

       C．It is covered with a wet cloth．

       D．Drier air is moving outside the pots．

2．What makes foods go bad if they get too warm according to the text?

       A．The water in the food．                                                                                      B．The air around the food．

       C．The harmful bacteria．                                                                                              D．The writer doesn’t mention it．

3．Rolex Watch Company gave Mohammed Bah Abba an award because _________ ．

       A．he saved lots of energy                                                                                        B．he made contribution to common people

       C．he was more than a good teacher

       D．he made a great discovery in Africa

4．From the text we can infer this article was probably written in _________．

       A．1995       B．1996          C．2000           D．2007

阅读下列材料，从所给的六个选项（A、B、C、D、E、F）中，选出符合各小题要求的最佳选项。选项中有一项为多余选项。

       The people below are all looking for a course on Chinese to study．Read the following information about the six courses．Decide which course would be the most suitable for the people mentioned in questions 1—5 and then mark the correct letter （A—F） on your answer sheet．

1．Mathew majors in media and hopes to understand Chinese broadcasting and TV News and

       communicate with the Chinese people．

2．Sarah is a leaner of Chinese with a fairly good knowledge of basic Chinese grammar and a

       vocabulary of 2500, hoping to improve her Chinese ability in speaking, reading and writing．

3．Lois majors in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language and hopes to improve her ability in

       translation．

4．Dennis once has taught himself Chinese and can speak a little Chinese but with poor

       pronunciation and grammar, hoping to meet the needs of everyday life and study, and

       understand each other in basic communication through training．

5．Georgia specializes in the Chinese language and culture at the average．He plans to have a tour

       in China．

A．Comprehensive language skill training

       100 lessons in total focusing on pronunciation, grammar and discourse（谈话）．To enable the learner to master the basic knowledge of the Chinese language, to have the basic ability of listening, speaking, reading and writing, so that they are able to communicate with others and to meet the need of everyday life, study and society．This will lay a foundation for further study of Chinese．

B．Intermediate （中等） Chinese Comprehensive Course

       40 lessons in all, focusing on the training of the comprehensive skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing of intermediate Chinese．To enable the students to recognize, understand and use the active and less active words, to improve their ability of expressing themselves in paragraphs and discourse, to master the new words, patterns, grammatical structures, paragraphs and discourse and means of connections so as to express the meaning of the texts correctly and fluently in paragraphs and discourse．

C．News Listening

       Based on frequently used words, typical sentences and information and concentrating on improving the ability of listening comprehension．To  improve the ability of collecting information, to grasp the knowledge and skills, they have learned to understand the broadcasting and TV news of similar themes and relevant level of difficulty with the correctness of 80%．To build up the foundation for further study．

D．Elementary English-Chinese Translation

       25 classes in total, including various styles such as poems, popular science, political comments and news, about every aspect of everyday life．The texts vary from easy to difficult and combine theory with practice as well as translation and interpretation．About 185 hours are needed．To familiarize the learner with the equivalent（ ）Chinese expressions of English．To enable them to know usage of Chinese and English words and sentences, cultural differences and the background knowledge．

E．Elementary Spoken Chinese in Business

       24 units in all．Chinese words and expressions in business and trade are introduced in the form of vivid situational dialogues, notes and exercises．To enable the learner to master the words and expressions of elementary spoken business Chinese and to communicate with others in trade and business．

F．Chinese Human Geography

       Introduction to geographic environment and cultural phenomena in various parts of China, such as natural features, historical backgrounds, religious sites, ancient battle fields, dramas and arts, traditional products, and special food, etc．Through the introduction to historical and cultural sites and scenery, the leaner will have a general view about Chinese geography, history, culture and regional features．

此题要求改正所给的短文中的10处错误。要求你在错误的地方增加、删除或修改某个单词。

       增加：在缺词处加一个漏词符号（∧），并在该词下写出该加的词。

       删除：把多余的词用（∕）划掉。

       修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写上修改后的词

注意：1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

          2．只允许修改10处, 多该不计分。

    One day, Mr. Li accepted an invitation to a large business conference in Dalian．He was felt very pleased and decided to attend it．In the morning of November 12, he arrived at the conference．What a lot businessmen! He got a bit surprised．The people, who invited to the conference, came from the United States, Italy, France, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong included some provinces of China．At the conference, they introduced to their products like textiles, computers, telephones, toys, food and so on．There had more than 50 show for different production．During the conference they build new relation with each other and sold products．