You don’t have to be alive to protect the environment. Who wants to give something back?
Ray Ward does. And he’s not the only one. The British businessman has bought a million – pound plot of woodland outside London where he plans to set up a green funeral company. All the people buried there will be giving something back.
It’s hard to live a green life in a modern country. Everything you do seems to create pollution or threaten wildlife. Maybe that’s why people are waiting until they die to make a positive contribution to the environment.
The aim of conventional burials is to preserve the body as long as possible. The aim of green burials is exactly the reverse （opposite）. People are buried in cardboard or light wicker（柳条） coffins so nature takes its course as quickly as possible.
Eventually, Ray Ward hopes to have a full grown forest on his land, which people will pay to fertilize themselves. No headstones or other memorials are allowed, though, the detailed notes on exactly where people are buried will be kept for the benefit of relatives. But the idea is that the whole forest will be their memorial.
It’s not a new idea. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the former US President, often expressed a wish to be buried in the White House Rose Garden. Future presidents would look at the flowers and think of him.
In Britain, people were traditionally buried in vast cemeteries found on the outskirts（郊区） of nearly all the major towns and cities and built during the 19th century. But Britain is a crowded country, and as population continued to increase, space became short.
That’s why 70 present of British people are now cremated when they die. But there are problems here, too. Large amounts of poisonous gases are released when bodies are burned, especially from the metal used to feel teeth.
Natural burials adds to the richness of the soil instead of poisoning the air. And because natural burials takes place all over the countryside, there are no space limitations as there are in ordinary burials. And demand is growing so much that this spring will see Britain’s first ever national Green Funeral Exhibition.
1．Obviously the writer is trying to talk about __________.
A．funerals in modern Britain
B．the new idea of Ray Ward
C．contribution that can be made after death
D．the new trends of the funeral business
2．Which of the following means “ordinary burials”?
A．Conventional burials. B．Green burials.
C．Natural burials. D．Green funerals.
3．If you choose a picture to go with the passage as an editor, you will select _________.
A．a picture in which people mourn at the funeral
B．a picture in which there is a light wicker coffin
C．a picture in which there is a green village
D．a picture in which people are planting trees
4．Which paragraph is organized by means of comparison?
A．Paragraph 1. B．Paragraph 2.
C．Paragraph 3. D．Paragraph 7.
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1．The AE Card and other credit cards mainly differ in .
A．he level of service at home and abroad
B．the pre – set spending limit and interest
C．some special membership rewards
D．the number of cash machines in the world
2．An AE Card holder can enjoy all the following except .
A．spending as much money as he likes without putting in per month
B．some wonderful things offered according to the collected points
C．less worry about the possible loss while traveling and shopping
D．the easy way of getting cash money in many places in the world
3．What’s the main purpose of the passage?
A．To encourage more travelers abroad
B．To compare the AE Card with other credit cards
C．To enjoy a new way of spending money
D．To attract people to use the AE Card
Reading to oneself is a modern activity which was almost unknown to the scholars of old times, while during the 15 th century the word “reading” undoubtedly meant reading aloud. Only during the 19 th century did silent reading become a common practice.
One should be careful, however, in thinking that silent reading came about simply because reading aloud disturbs others. Research into the historical development of silent reading shows that it became the usual way of reading for most adult reading tasks mainly because the tasks themselves changed in character.
The 19 th century saw a gradual increase in literacy （读写能力） and thus in the number of readers. As readers increased, so the number of listeners dropped, and thus there was some reduction in the need to read aloud. As reading for the benefit of listeners grew less common, so came the popularity of reading as a private activity in such public places as libraries, trains and offices, where reading aloud would disturb other readers in a way.
Towards the end of the century there was still heated argument over whether books should be used for information or treated respectfully, and over whether the reading of material such as newspapers was in some way mentally weakening. Indeed this argument remains with us still in education. However, whatever its advantages, the old shared literacy culture had gone and was replaced by the printed mass media on the one hand and by books and magazines for a specialized readership on the other.
By the end of the 19 th century, students were being advised to form their own opinions on books and to use skills in reading them which were unsuitable for the oral reader. The social, cultural, and technological changes in the 19 th century had greatly changed what the word “reading” implied.
1．Why was reading aloud common before the 19 th century?
A．Few people could read for themselves.
B．Few people knew the value of silent reading.
C．There were few places for reading alone.
D．Scholars enjoyed themselves by reading their own works.
2．The development of silent reading during the nineteenth century showed .
A．a change in the social position of the educated people
B．a change in the nature of reading
C．an increase in the number of newspapers
D．an increase in the people’s understanding of the mass media
3．According to the text, educators are still arguing about .
A．the importance of silent reading
B．the value of information given by books
C．the effects of reading on mental development
D．the value of different types of reading materials
4．We can learn from the text that “the old shared literacy culture” refers to .
A．the practice of reading to oneself
B．the practice of reading aloud
C．the reading of books and magazines
D．the reading of newspapers
5．What is the writer of this text attempting to do?
A．Show how reading methods have developed
B．Introduce a new method of reading
C．Remind people of oral reading in old times
D．Encourage the growth of reading in the future.
任务型阅读，此题要求阅读下列短文后在表格中填入适当的字，注意字数不得超过五个字。
Many students eat their breakfasts on the way to school or in the dinning – room. But some of then don’t really know how to eat well when eating out.
Here is some important advice. The first is to eat less fast food. The most obvious harm of eating too much fast food is weight gaining because of too much fat. Young people and adults are at risk of disease related to weight.
Too much fast food can drag your body down. French fries, for example, were recently found to contain much more acrylamide （丙烯酰胺） than other food. This may cause cancer. Actually, deep fried food all contains acrylamide. So don’t eat it too often.
Soda is another thing you should watch out for. Cokes and other sodas contain a lot of sugar and can slow down a person’s calcium （钙） absorption, so it’s best to drink as little soda as possible.
Food in the dinning-room may not be as tasty as fast food, but it’s actually easier to make healthy choices. Human bodies need variety. You can have a dinner that balances lean proteins, vitamins and complex carbohydrates（碳水化合物）. In other words, a meal with fish or meat, vegetables and some bread or rice will provide you with most nutrients that the body needs.
Some snacks, on the other hand, will help keep you going until your next big meal. It is natural for teenagers, especially boys, to feel hungry during school time. Don’t forget to take some foods, like whole-grain biscuits or low-fat milk in your school bag.
1．What is the title of this passage?
2．If you want to lose weight, you’d better
3．Deep fried food may cause a disease :
4．If you feel hungry during school time, you may take some snacks with you. Please give an example from the passage :
此题要求改正所给短文中的错误.对标题号的每一行做出判断：如无错误，在该行右边的横线上划（√）；如有错误（每行只有一个错误），则按下列情况改正：
此行多一个词：把多余的词用斜线划掉，在该行右边横线上写出该词，并也用斜线划掉。
此行缺一个词：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（^），在该行右边横线上写出该加的词。
此行错一个词：在错的词下划一横线，在该行右边横线上写出改正后的词。
注意：原行没有错的不要改。
I’m still a beginner in English learning; yet I hope the following
will be advisable to you. What can we do when we meet with a new 1．
word without knowing what it means? Turn to a dictionary and just 2．
leave it alone? I think the best thing to do it is （to） look at the 3．
word near it. Looking for something about this word, we’re learning 4．
to find the clues and use the context while doing my reading. 5．
Now, for example, it was no wind in the harbor. The sailing boat 6．
hardly moved a bit all day. Towards evening a zephyr start up, 7．
but it was only weak enough to get the flag on it flying a little. 8．
What does “zephyr” mean here? Make guess, will you? 9．
Yes, a zephyr means a very gently wind. 10．
I can’t remember ______ made the teacher give Mary the permission to leave the class earlier.
A．that it was what B．what it was that
C．what was it that D．that was it what
Tom and I seldom get together, but we ______ with each other frequently.
A．write B．correspond C．respond D．count
_____ on the small island, the tower has been seriously damaged by the sea water.
A．Being lain B．Laid C．Being located D．Located
In this workshop, the output of July was three times __________ of January.
A．that B．this C．one D．it
Did your speech ____ the audience?
A．get through to B．get across to C．get through D．get across