_______ is no chance that they'll show up at the meeting.

A．That               B．There          C．It       D．This

Before the war broke out, many people ______ in safe places possessions they couldn't take with them.

A．threw away              B．give away        C．put away           D．carried away

The number of registered participants in this year's marathon was half _________.

A．that of last year's                                         B．those of last year's

C．those of last year.                                       D．of last year's

_______ at the news that I didn't know what to say to comfort her.

A．So sad she looked                         B．So sad did she look

C．So sadly she looked                        D．So sadly did she look

Don't _______ that all those who get good grades in the entrance examination will prove to be most successful.

A．take as granted                                         B．take this for granted

C．take that for granted                                  D．take it for granted

Our headmaster and secretary _______ mother has been in hospital ________kind and strict.

A．whose ; is       B．who ;are        C．whom ; was         D．as; were

_________ made him worried.

A．Not known how to do it                        B．Unknown what to do

C．Our Knowing not how to do                    D．Our not knowing how to do it

The great advantages of the electric train over the steam train, I think, are that it does not smell. When one is in a ( 1 ) drawn by a steam locomotive ( 机车 ) , one always has the (2) smell of burning coal around one . If one opens the window to look out at the  ( 3 ) and to get some fresh air , one is ( 4 )  with little bits of coal-ash which get into one ' s hair and eyes , and

soon force one to shut the window again and withdraw (退缩) into the ( 5) atmosphere of one ' s compartment (车厢) . In a tunnel ,（6）distress reaches a peak , for there the smoke is forced into a ( 7 ) area , from which it escapes into the train itself through any small cracks ( 缝隙 ) it may （8 ）. In a long tunnel , the （9 ）grows worse and worse , while one 's eyes smart (刺痛 ) and the electric light in the carriage grows no longer (10 ), hidden behind the smoke.

With an electric locomotive, on the other hand, one can enjoy the view and the fresh air without inconvenience. I really think that one gets part of the extra (11 ) out of traveling through the Alps or Tyrol by train for the simple  ( 12 ) that the trains there are  ( 13 ) operated , so that the traveler who ( 14 ) become used to having his air dirtied by ( 15 ), and considers such a condition as ( 16 ) , believes that there is something extra-special about the Tyrolese air . Of course, (17 ) air is purer and fresher than the air of the plains, (18 ) the smoke of a steam train (19 ) not allow this condition to (20) .

1．A．boat                      B．car                    C．train                 D．truck

2．A．slight                    B．sweet               C．unpleasant          D．natural

3．A．view                     B．people                 C．wheels                D．street

5．A．impure                 B．friendly               C．informal             D．warn

6．A．one's                    B．his                     C．its                      D．their

7．A．tidy                      B．open                   C．small                  D．special

8．A．have                    B．get                     C．receive               D．find

9．A．smell                    B．road                   C．noise                  D．scenery

10．A．blinding              B．bad                    C．dull                    D．bright

11．A．joy                     B．money                C．time                   D．work

12．A．impression           B．rule                     C．theory                 D．reason

13．A．quickly               B．confidently          C．smoothly            D．electrically

14．A．will                    B．can                    C．has                    D．should

15．A．smoke                B．sand                   C．dust                   D．gas

16．A．terrible               B．normal                C．disagreeable        D．unusual

17．A．village                B．suburb                C．mountain            D．forest

18．A．but                     B．or                      C．for                     D．so

19．A．should                 B．would                 C．must                  D．need

20．A．improve             B．remain               C．change              D．disappear

"Life is speeding up. Everyone is getting unwell."

This may sound like something someone would say today. But in fact, an un-known citizen who lived in Rome in AD 52 wrote it.

We all love new invention .They are exciting, amazing and can even change our lives.

But have all these developments really improve the quality of our lives?

Picture this: You're rushing to finish your homework on the computer. Your mobile phone rings, a QQ message from your friend appears on the screen, the noise from the television is get- ting louder and louder. Suddenly the computer goes blank and you lose all your work.. Now you have to stay up all night to get it done. How calm and happy do you feel?

Inventions have speeded up our lives so much that they often leave us feeling stressed and tired .Why do you think people who live far away from noisy cities, who have not telephones, no cars, not even any electricity often seem to be happier ? Perhaps because they lead simpler lives.                                      

One family in the UK went ^“back in time "to see what life was like without all the inventions we have today. The grandparents, with their daughter, and grandsons Benjamin, 10, and Tomas, 7, spent nine weeks in a 1940s house. They had no washing machine, microwave, computer or mobile phones.        

The grandmother, Lyn, said, "It was hard physically, but not mentally.” She believed life was less materialistic．"The more things you have , the more difficult life becomes .”She said．The boys said they fought less to fight over, such as their computer. Benjamin also noticed that his grandmother had changed from being a "trendy (时髦的) , beer-drinking granny , to one who cooked things."

Here are some simple ways to beat the stress often caused by our inventions!

Don't be available all the time. Turn off your mobile phone at certain times of the day .Don't check your e-mail every day.

Don't reply to somebody as soon as they leave a text message just because you can. It may be fun at first, but it soon gets annoying.

1．The passage is mainly about________.       

    A．problem with technology

    B．improvements of our life with technology

    C．the important roles technology plays in our everyday life

    D．major changes which will be likely to happen to technology

2．The writer quoted (引用) what a citizen in ancient Rome said at the beginning of the story in order to________.

    A．share a truth about life

    B．tell us what life was like long time ago

    C．make us wonder what causes such a thing to happen

    D．point out that you experience some big problems and they may be the same

3．Why did the family choose to spend some time in a 1940's house? Because ________.

    A．they liked to live simple lives

    B．they were curious about how people lived without modern inventions

    C．they were troubled by modern inventions

    D．living in a different time would be a lot of fun for them

4．What do you think the underlined word "available" in the first suggestion offered by the writer mean?

    A．Busy on line.                                B．Free.                       

       C．Be able to.                        D．Be found by others

Until the 1960's, almost everyone in the U. S. followed tradition and gave all the children in the same family the same last name or surname, as it is called. But during the 60's, young parents began giving their children strange names—names like Moonglow, Eternal Peace, and Sunshine. Some states passed laws controlling the names that parents could use. But after a court case in 1981, a federal judge ruled that parents are free to give any surnames they wish to their children.

So , for the last few decades , more parents are not giving their children the fam­ily 's sur- names .Some insist that while it ' s OK for a boy to have the father ' s family name, a girl should have the mother' s family name . Thus, Philip Gaylord and Pan Zimmitti could be brother and sister. Some parents think that using family surname is old —fashioned and boring. One couple gave their son the last name Sue because they like the Johnny Cash song," A Boy Named Sue." And finally, some parents think that giving their children different surnames is just a "neat thing to do". So the first son of a New York family has the last name Washington —Lincoln, after the two fa­mous presidents. The daughter has the last name Anthony—Tubman after two women who fought for women's rights.

This change in naming customs presents two problems. First, if each person in the family has a different last name, family records will be very confusable. It will be hard to track a person's family, and record keeping will be difficult .Second, some physiologists are afraid that different surnames will threaten family unity. Since names have  an important effect on one's identify (身份) , they think brothers and sisters will not feel connected if they have different last names.

So this problem of names will get worse as new and different last names increase. Get ready to meet Welcome Baby Darling , sister of Aren't We Glad , You ' re Here and It ' s About Time.

1．In America, ________to give children different surnames these days.

    A．it is allowed by the law                  B．it breaks the law

    C．it is one of the customs                  D．it is unusual

2．In the second paragraph of the passage a "neat thing to do" means________.

    A．a good thing to do                                                  B．a terrible thing to do

    C．a dirty filing to do                   D．a clean thing to do

3．According to some psychologists, the different last names will let brothers and sisters feel they

are________.

    A．enemies                          B．as close as before

    C．good fiends                       D．separated

4．From the last paragraph, we can see the author _____this change in naming customs.

       A．is for        B．is against          C．doesn't care         D．doesn't notice