1．You may take ________ of the two books.

2．Here are three balls. You can take ________ of them.

Two magazines recently listed the best cities to live in. Here are two of the cities listed as “ the world’s best.”

SAN JOSE, COSTARICA The city has comfortable weather all year round (15℃to 26℃). Housing is not very expensive in SAN JOSE. Also, many of the city’s older neighborhoods are very beautiful and have small hotels and cafes. Beautiful mountains are around the city. Lots of people go sightseeing there every year. But air pollution is a problem in the city center.

Hong Kong, CHINA This lively city­­­---- once a small fishing village----- is today an international business center. It is an interesting mix of East and West, old and new. Modern tall buildings are next to small temples (庙宇). Popular nightclubs are close to traditional teahouses. Busy people fill the streets at all hours of the day. But outside the city, there are parks for walking or relaxing. Hong Kong is famous for its wonderful native dishes. There’s also food from Europe, North America, and other parts of Asia. However, this small city has a large population of nearly seven million! That’s why housing is often very expensive. Traffic and air pollution are also a problem.

(      ) 1. Which of the following is NOT mentioned about San Jose?

     A. The weather    B. The mountains   C. The air    D. The traffic

(      ) 2. What makes Hong Kong the world’s best according to this passage?

A. The lively city and the wonderful dishes. 

B. The large population and the traffic.

C. The expensive housing.       

D. The beautiful temples.

(      ) 3. What do the two cities have in common?

A. They both have beautiful mountains.    B. They both have a large population.

C. Air pollution is a problem in both cities.     D. They are both crowded.

(      ) 4. The word “mix” here means _________.

     A. 交点           B. 融合          C. 区别          D. 中点

(      ) 5. From the passage, we can know that_________.

A. San Jose and Hong Kong are the only two cities of the world’s best.

B. Housing in San Jose is not very expensive.

C. the weather in both cities is fine.

D. San Jose used to be a small fishing village.

Reading is a good habit, but the problem is there’s too much to read these days and too little time to read every word of it. There are hundreds of skills to help you read more in less time. Here are two skills that I think are especially good.
Preview — if it’s long and hard. Previewing is especially useful for getting a general idea of heavy reading like long magazine articles and business reports.
Here’s how to preview.
Read the first two paragraphs and the last two paragraphs carefully.
Then read only the first sentence of the other paragraphs.
Previewing doesn’t give you all the details. It keeps you from spending time on things you don’t really want － or need － or read.
Skim － if it’s short and simple. Skimming is a good way to get a general idea of light reading like popular magazines or the sports and entertainment of your daily paper.
Here’s how to skim.
Get your eyes to move fast. Sweep them across each line.
Pick up only a few key words in each line.
Everybody skims differently. You and I may not pick up the same words when we skim the same piece, but we’ll get a similar idea of what it’s all about.
【小题1】 How many skills does the writer introduce to help us in reading?

Here are two pictures. You can see a man and a boy in one picture. Who are they? The man is Mr. Brown, and the boy’s name is Jack. They are father and son. They are in Jack’s room.
Now let’s look at the other picture. You can see a woman and a little girl in it. The woman is Jack’s mother and the girl is her daughter, Ann. They’re in Ann’s room. You can see a photo of the family on the white wall. A clock is on the table. It’s eleven. What’s that on the floor? Oh, it’s Ann’s hat, but it looks *like a white cat.
【小题1】 Is Mr. Brown Ann’s father?