—Did you say sorry to the teacher yesterday?

—Yes, but I would rather________

A. I didn’t                    B. I wouldn’t                C. I hadn’t                           D. I shouldn’t

Remaining________is one of positive qualities it takes to be successful

A. organizing         B. organized                  C. to organize                      D. to be organized

—How did you find their performance?

—Well, to tell the truth, I was not________impressed with it.

A. specially                          B. particularly               C. indeed                      D. profoundly

One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley.

Suddenly, an old man appeared and said, "Why, your heart is not   1   as beautiful as mine."

　　The old man’s heart was full of   2   , with some pieces removed and others put   3   , but they didn't   4   quite right, and there were several jagged edges.   5   , in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were   6   .

　　The young man laughed. "Comparing your heart with mine, mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars."

　　"Yes, but I would never   7   with you,” said the old man. You see, every scar   8   a person to whom I have given my love. I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and   9   they give me a piece of their heart that fits into the   10   place in my heart. But because the pieces aren't   11   , I have some rough edges, which I   12   , because they remind me of the love we   13   .

　　"Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and   14   person hasn't returned a piece of his or her heart to me. These are the empty gouges—giving love is taking a chance.

　　Although these gouges are painful, they stay   15   , reminding me of the love I have for those people too, and I hope someday   16   may return and fill the space I have waiting. So now do you see what true beauty is?"

　　The young man walked up to the old man, reached into his   17   heart, ripped a piece out, and offered it to the old man.

　　The old man placed it in his heart, then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the    18    in the young man's heart. It fit, but not perfectly,   19   there were some jagged edges.

　　The young man looked at his heart, not perfect    20   but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man's heart flowed into his.

　　They embraced and walked away side by side

1. A. almost                  B. far                           C. nearly                      D. ever

2. A. scars                    B. cuts                         C. marks                      D. gouges

3. A. in                         B. out                           C. on                           D. back

4. A. suit               B. fit                            C. set                           D. put

5. A. After all                B. Above all                  C. In fact                            D. As a result

6. A. damaged        B. wounded                  C. left                          D. gone

7. A. admire                  B. trade                        C. envy                        D. share

8. A. represents             B. commits                   C. shows                      D. suggests

9. A. seldom                 B. never                       C. often                        D. usually

10. A. empty                 B. proper                      C. previous                   D. bleeding

11. A. perfect                B. exact                        C. well-designed            D. man-made

12. A. hate                    B. cherish                     C. like                         D. fear

13. A. give                    B. have                         C. share                       D. sacrifice

14. A. another               B. other                        C. the other                  D. one

15. A. open                   B. fresh                        C. still                          D. live

16. A. somebody           B. my friends                C. they                         D. he

17. A. empty                 B. beautiful                  C. perfect                            D. whole

18. A. space                  B. middle                      C. wound                            D. gouge

19. A. where                 B. though                            C. unless                      D. as

20. A. at all                   B. anymore                   C. furthermore                     D. still

The ability of forests to absorb man-made CO₂ is weakening, according to an analysis of two decades of data from more than 30 sites in the frozen north.

The study was conducted by a team of Canadian, Chinese and European researchers and published in the science journal Nature on January 3. The findings mean that more of the CO₂ we release will end up affecting the climate rather than being safely locked away in trees or soil.

As plants take up more CO₂, that should put a break on CO₂ increases, scientists once thought. However, the new data suggest that this idea is too simplified. The research team monitored the date in autumn at which the forests switched from being a net sink for carbon into a net source. Instead of moving later in the year as they had expected, this date actually got earlier—in some places by a few days, but in others by a few weeks.

"This means potentially a bigger warming effect," said Timo Vesalai, who led the study. The precise effect the trend will have on future warming is hard to predict. But the research could partly explain why the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere is increasing faster than expected.

Currently, half of the man-made CO₂ is absorbed by oceans and ecosystems on land.

Between 1970 and 2000, the CO₂ concentration（浓度）in the atmosphere rose by 1.5ppm. Since 2000 the annual rise leap to an average of 1.9ppm—35% higher than expected.

In China, the average temperature in 2007 was 1.3℃ higher than the average temperature between 1970 and 2000.

So, it is time for us to take action now.

1. The whole passage is intended to tell us that_________.

   A. the average temperature is getting higher          B. trees are taking in less CO₂

   C. the air is becoming worse and worse             D. the ecosystems on land are harmful

2. What does the third paragraph mainly tell us?

   A. Plants take up more CO_2.                                                                B. Winter becomes later with spring earlier.

   C. Forests absorb less CO_2.                                D. Plants can block CO₂ increases.

3. With winter starting later and spring earlier, scientists once thought_________.

A. Plants would grow better with more sunshine

B. Trees would soak up less CO₂

C. Trees will live longer and longer

D. Plants would take up more CO₂ to put a break on its increase

4. According to the new data from the study, _________.

   A. the air is becoming cleaner         B. the CO₂ concentration has dropped

   C. trees take up more CO₂                    D. there exists a potential danger of warming effect

5. From the passage we know that_________.

   A. the ability of forests is becoming stronger

B. the research team has worked for about 30 years

C. the average temperature has risen recently

D. the CO₂ concentration has risen by 15% since 2000

If 2005 was the year that Ding Junhui exploded onto the international snooker scene, then 2006 could be the year he became a legend.

He won the famous Northern Ireland Trophy after beating former world No. 1 Ronnie O’Sullivan 9-6 in August 2006 and shot up to fifth place in the World Snooker Provisional Rankings. With the first title of the new snooker season at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, Ding became only the second player in snooker history to win three ranking titles before his 20th birthday, following the 2005 China Open and UK Championship. Ding was born on April 1, 1987 in Yixing, Jiangsu Province. His talent was discovered by his father when he was just eight years old. Systematic training started when he turned 11. In order to find better training facilities for Ding, his father gave up his small business and took his son to Dongguan, Guangdong Province. Father and son shared an eight-square-meter room created by partitioning the local snooker club.

Finally, Ding’s mother sold their house in their hometown and arrived at their narrow “room”. Parental love was all that supported Ding. He practiced very hard. Even as a professional player living in England, he practiced eight hours a day from 10 am to 6 pm, without a day off.

Their efforts began to pay off when 13-year-old Ding started to win prizes in an Asian invitational tournament. He turned professional at the age of sixteen.

Ding has confirmed his reputation as snooker’s most exciting young talent and perhaps the one with the potential to dominate world snooker in years to come.

However, the comments Ding and his father made on the miracle Ding performed were controversial. According to the media, when Ding questioned the importance of schooling, his father described what he did for Ding as nothing but a bet on life!

1. The whole passage is centered upon_________.

A. hard work contributing to success                            B. a successful sport—snooker

C. Ding Junhui’s way to success                                  D. the father-son relationship

2. The underlined word “dominate” in the second paragraph can be replaced by “_________”.

A. take the lead in            B. take part in             C. take advantage of   D. take hold of

3. In which year Ding Junhui was not an amateur for snooker any more?

A. 1998                         B. 2000                       C. 2003                      D. 2005

4. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

A. The year of 2005 is the turning point for Ding Junhui.

B. His talent for snooker was first discovered by his coach when trained.

C. He is sure to be the one with the potential to dominate world snooker in the coming years

D. His success is mainly owing to his parents’ love and support as well as his hard practice.

5. The author’s real attitude towards the comments made by the father in the last paragraph is that of being _________.

  A. optimistic                   B. subjective                C. positive                 D. oppositive

It is impossible not to make a mistake at some point in your life. We may as well accept that something will go wrong and we will be to blame. It is therefore sensible to work out some strategies for apologizing, and the best way to apologise is by letter. This way you can take care over every word you write—which you can’t do if you say sorry to someone in person .

We all say or do something that we wish we hadn’t said or done. You may say something that accidentally hurts someone, or you may provide a service which doesn’t come up to the standards that a client or customer expected.

You may feel that it was a genuine mistake which couldn’t be avoided. Rather than dwell on the mistake, you should quickly try to remedy （补救） the problem. An effective letter of apology is an important part of that process.

For the content of the letter, just remember TABS—Timing, Action, Brevity, Sincerity.

The timing of a letter of apology is vital—it must be sent as soon as possible. Any delay in sending the letter will only compound （使……更坏） the problem. In this case “Better late than never” is not the best motto! The longer you wait before writing a letter of apology, the more it will seem that you have been forced into writing it.

Although it is important to recognize what has gone before, it is also essential to detail the action you plan to take to put right whatever it was you did wrong. Research has shown that some indication that you have thought what future action you plan to take is always well received.

A letter of apology should be brief and the word “sorry” should appear no more than twice. Indicate that you are aware you are using it a second time “once again, I am so sorry for…”or “as I said earlier, I am really sorry about ….”. Finally, the tone of the letter has to be sincere. In fact the combination of all the above factors will help in this respect.

And don’t think that letters are out of date in the email-oriented 21st century. An apology email can be worse than no apology at all!

1. The underlined expression “rather than dwell on the mistake” in the third paragraph means you __________.

A. don’t waste time worrying about it             B. consider the problem

C. forget about what happened                      D. analyze who was at fault

2. What kind of advice does the text suggest about apologizing?

  A. It’s a good idea to send several emails to apologize and show you mean it.

B. It’s a good idea to write a letter of apology as soon as something goes wrong.

  C. Write a long letter apologizing several times to make your point.

  D. Wait to see how they react to your letter before planning to do anything.

3. In the author’s opinion, __________is the most important when writing a letter of apology.

A. brevity                       B. action                      C. timing                      D. sincerity

4. What kind of things do you NOT apologize for?

A. Services that are not as good as they should be.       B. Genuine mistakes made by your friends.

C. Car accidents while traveling around                D. Causing offence or hurt to others.

5. How can timing compound problems?

A. If you write immediately, they will be suspicious.

B. If you leave it for a few days, they will know it was your idea to write.

C. Waiting for a few days before you write will show your sincerity.

D. Waiting too long will make it worse because they won’t believe you mean it.

More surprising, perhaps, than the current difficulties of traditional marriage is the fact that marriage itself is alive and thriving. As Skolnick notes, Americans are a marrying people: relative to Europeans, more of us marry and we marry at a younger age. Moreover, after a decline in the early 1970s, the rate of marriage in the United States is now increasing. Even the divorce rate needs to be taken in this pro-marriage context: some 80 percent of divorced individuals remarry. Thus, marriage remains, by far, the preferred way of life for the vast majority of people in our society.

What has changed more than marriage is the nuclear family? Twenty-five years ago, the typical American family consisted of a husband, a wife, and two or three children. Now, there are many marriages in which couples have decided not to have any children. And there are many marriages where at least some of the children are from the wife’s previous marriage, or the husband’s, or both. Sometimes these children spend all of their time with one parent from the former marriage；sometimes they are shared between the two former spouses.

Thus, one can find the very type of family arrangement. There are marriages without children; marriages with children from only the present marriage, marriages with “full-time” children from the present marriage and “part-time” children from former marriages. There are step-fathers, step-mothers, half-brothers and half-sisters. It is not all that unusual for a child to have four parents and eight grandparents! These are enormous changes from the traditional nuclear family. But even so, even in the midst of all this, there remains one constant; most Americans spend most of their adult lives married.

1. By calling Americans marrying people the author means that__________.

A. there are more married couples in the U. S. A. than in Europe

B. more Americans prefer marriage and at a younger age than Europeans

C. most divorced individuals remarry

D. marriage is the most important part of American life

2. From the first paragraph we can know that __________.

A. traditional marriage now runs into difficulty B. marriage rate has been rising since the 1970

C. marriage rate in Europe is rather low           D. Europeans marry when they are quite old

3. Which of the following can be presented as the picture of today’s American families?

A. There are no nuclear families any more.

B. A family usually consists of a husband, a wife and two or three children.

C. A child usually has four grandparents.

D. Many types of family rearrangements have become socially acceptable.

4.“Part-time”children__________.

A. do part-time jobs to earn their living

B. spend all of their time with one parent from the previous marriage

C. are shared between the former spouses

D. are quite unusual even in the U.S.A.

5. Even though great changes have taken place in the structure of American families, _________.

A. the functions of marriage remain unchanged

B. most Americans prefer a second marriage

C. the vast majority of Americans still have faith in marriage

D. nuclear family is alive and thriving

There are two factors which determine an individual's intelligence. The first is the sort of brain he is born with. Human brains differ considerably, some being more capable than others. But no matter how good a brain he has to begin with, an individual will have a low order of intelligence unless he has opportunities to learn. So the second factor is what happens to the individual—_________________. If an individual is disabled environmentally, it is likely that his brain will fail to develop and he will never attain the level of intelligence of which he is capable.

The importance of environment in determining an individual's intelligence can be shown by the case history of the twins, Peter and Mark X. Being identical, the twins had identical brains at birth, and their growth processes were the same. When the twins were three months old, their parents died, and they were placed in separate foster homes. Peter was raised by parents of low intelligence in a separate community with poor educational opportunities. Mark was raised in the home of well-to-do parents who had been to college. He was read to as a child, sent to good schools, and given every opportunity to be stimulated （刺激） intellectually. This environmental difference continued until the twins were in their late teens, when they were given tests to measure their intelligence. Mark's I.Q. was 125, twenty-five points higher than the average and fully forty points higher than his identical brother. Given equal opportunities, Peter and Mark X, having identical brains, would have tested at roughly the same level.

1. What is the best title for this passage? （within 10 words）

  ___________________________________________________________________________

2. Which sentence in the passage is the closest in meaning to the following one?

Things being equal, the twins might have equal intelligence quotient.

  ____________________________________________________________________________

3. What conclusion can you draw from the case history of the twins?

___________________________________________________________________________

4. Fill in the blank in the first paragraph with a proper phrase. （within 10 words）

___________________________________________________________________________

5. Translate the underlined sentence in the first paragraph into Chinese.

  ___________________________________________________________________________

阅读下面提示, 用英语写一篇120～150字的英语短文。

2008年初，山东省教育厅就素质教育的有关问题下发了一系列的文件。其中重要的一条就是禁止所有学校在周末上课。对这一规定，不同的人有不同的观点。请你结合自己的实际来阐述你自己的观点并说明理由。

山东省教育厅：Shandong Provincial Education Department