ISLANDS in the world are famous for different things. But Hawaii is special for its variety of features. Beautiful sandy beaches, active volcanoes, a great canyon and special history and culture add up to create its famously romantic atmosphere.

Formed by volcanoes at the bottom of the sea, the Hawaii islands are like a necklace(项链) in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 6,000 kilometres off the west coast of Mexico. There are eight main islands in the group Hawaii (or Big Island), Maui, Kahoolawe, Lanai, Molokai, Oahu, Kauai, and Niihau.

The youngest and biggest island, also called Hawaii was formed 430,000 years ago and is still growing. Kauai, the oldest was formed 5.1 million years ago. For tourists, the sight of the lava that still flows from some of the volcanoes down to the sea, is a major attraction.

Hawaii is the newest and smallest state in the US. In 1900 the islands joined the US. In modern history it will always be remembered for the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese air force 1941.

About 1,000 years ago the islands were settled by Polynesians Captain James Cook led the first group of Westerners there in 1778.

Native Hawaiians have a special culture and languages. Although nowadays English is the official language of Hawaii, folk music and dancing are still widely practiced. The traditional dance of the islands is the hula, a Hawaiian word that means dance.

Hawaii's reputation for romance was spread when Hollywood started to use its typical music in movies in the 1960s.

Today, Hawaii is famous for its mix of cultures. Chinese, Japanese and Filipinos all live there. Chinese arrived in the islands as early as the late 18th century. Dr Sun Yat－sen, the famous Chinese revolutionary, grew up there.

Everyone in Hawaii is a member of an ethnic minority and generally they exist in a pleasant harmony of races and cultures.

6. Which of the following directly led to the formation of the Hawaii islands?

A. The sea. 

B. The volcanoes.

C. The violent meeting of the earth's different plates.

D. The nonstop turning of the earth.

7. Which of the following shows the correct order of the listed events?

a. Japan attacked Hawaii.

b. The Hawaii islands became part of the US.

c. Hawaii began to be known for romance.

d. First group of Chinese settled there.

A. d, b, c, a           B. b, d, a, c

C. d, b, a, c            D. b, a, d, c

8. What's the official language of Hawaii nowadays?

A. English.           B. Japanese.   

C. Polynesian.        D. Chinese.

9. Native Hawaiians come from ________.

A. Asia              B. the West

C. South America       D. Polynesia

10. The main idea of the story is about Hawaii's ________.

A. history             B. geography   

C. culture             D. features

第二部分　阅读理解 (共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分)
A
Residents along Australia’s east coast awoke in the morning to an orange sky as winds swept millions of tons of red dust from the country’s inland and dumped it on Sydney．
Tanya Ferguson，living in Sydney，saw that the room was completely orange．She thought there was a bush fire．But when she went outside，the entire city was covered in a film of orange dust．
“It was like being in the outback(澳大利亚内陆)，but it was right here in the city，”she said On that day，a big dust storm swept through Sydney．It covered the city in orange dust for about eight hours，making landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge invisible．
The storm affected the transportation system．Flights were delayed．Roads were busy as drivers struggled in the difficult conditions．Children and the elderly were told to stay indoors until the dust had cleared．Later strong winds blew it out to the sea and up the coast．
No one was hurt in the storm，though health officials answered hundreds of calls from
people with breathing difficulties．Emergency services responded to hundreds of calls about
tree branches brought down by strong winds．
Dust storms are common in the Australian outback，where the land is arid(贫瘠的)．But the storms rarely reach the coastal regions．
Officials said it was the worst dust storm of the past 70 years．Air pollution levels were
15，500 micrograms of pollutants per cubic meter．
“On a clear day the pollutants are around 10—20 micrograms per cubic meter，”said Chris
Eiser of the NSW department of the environment．
Experts said that dry conditions in the outback and strong winds caused the sandstorm．
“Ten very dry years over inland southern Australia and very strong winds have combined to produce the storm，”said Nigel Tapper，an environmental scientist at Monash University， Australia．
56．The article is about            ．
A．the causes of the major dust storm in Australian cities
B．different reactions to a dust storm in Australia
C．the damage caused by the big dust storm in Australia
D．the worst dust storm in Australia in the past 70 years
57．Which of the following is TRUE?
A．The dust storm didn’t blow up to the coastal regions of Australia．
B．The level of air pollution was very high due to the dust storm．
C．People called the emergency service because they had got lost．
D．Children stayed indoors for the schooling had been cancelled．
58．From the passage we can see that              ．
A．Tanya Ferguson lives in the Australian outback at the moment
B．a bush fire may have brought the orange dust along the coast
C．this terrible sandstorm lasted about 24 hours after it hit the city
D．Sydney’s landmarks were out of sight when the storm happened
59．The tone of the article is               ．
A．worried              B．sympathetic                C．objective         D．Angry

Jimmy lives in London and began swimming a few months ago.
He likes swimming, and often goes to the swimming pool near by his【小题1】_____
house with his mother and swims there for a hour or so.          【小题2】______
He was six year old last week, and his mother said, “You         【小题3】______
swim quite good now, but you have never seen the sea, my        【小题4】_____
child, haven’t you? Your father and I are going to take you        【小题5】_____
there on Saturday, and you are going to swimming in the sea.      【小题6】_______
It isn’t cold now, and it’s much nice than a swimming pool.”       【小题7】_____
Jimmy’s father and mother brought him to the sea in their         【小题8】_______
car on Saturday, but they stopped at the side of a small           【小题9】________
harbor(港口). Jimmy got out and looked at the sea for long       【小题10】______
time, but wasn’t happy. Then he said to his mother,
“Which is the shallow end, mother?”.

It was a Sunday and the heavy storm had lasted all night. The morning after the storm, though, was beautiful: blue skies, warm air and a calm, inviting sea touching the shore gently.

My father realized it was a good day for fishing and invited my sister and me to go with him. I was only 14 and fishing had never been my thing, but I decided to go all the same. I’m so glad I did.

On the road to the harbour we could see the terrible destruction on the coast, but the harbour itself was in fairly good shape. After all, it was protected by the arms of a bay that only one tiny channel to the sea. As we got on board, we noticed two big humps(脊背)in the distance.

On approaching them, we saw it was a mother whale with her baby. We couldn’t believe it—there aren’t any whale along the coast here. The storm must have driven them across the ocean into the bay, in which the still water was so badly polluted that nothing could survive.

The little baby whale actually as big as our boat was obviously stuck and could not move. The mother dived under the water and came up suddenly, making big whirlpools(漩涡)and waves. “She’s trying to help her baby, but on the wrong side,” my father said. At this point, my father moved our boat in a semicircle to the other side and, heading the boat towards the baby whale, pushed it gently. With several gentle pushes the big hump turned over and disappeared under water. Then it swam up right beside its mum. They struggled in their desperate attempts to escape but missed the exit and started heading in the wrong direction. We hurried up to the whales and tried to lead them towards the bay channel. Slowly, they let us lead them, sometimes rising from the water right beside us to breathe and to give us a trusting look with those huge eyes. Once they hit their first part of clean water flowing straight from the sea, the mum gave us a wave with her tail and off they swam into the distance.

In the excitement it had felt like only a few minutes, but we had been with those wonderful animals for almost an hour and a half. That was the simple and lasting beauty of the day. Nearly four decades later, I still look back fondly to that golden day at sea.

1.The author says “I’m so glad I did.”(in Para.2)because_______.

A．he witnessed the whole process of fishing

B．he enjoyed the beauty of the calm sea

C．he experienced the rescue of the whales

D．he spent the weekend with his family

2.The harbour survived the storm owing to ______.

A．the shape of the harbor                  B．the arms of one bay

C．the still water in the channel               D．the long coast line

3.The mother whale failed to help her baby because _______.

A．she had stayed in the polluted water for too long

B．the whirlpools she had made were not big enough

C．she had no other whales around to turn for help

D．the waves pushed her baby in the wrong direction

4.What is the theme of the story?

A．Saving lives brings people a sense of happiness.

B．Fishing provides excitement for children.

C．It’s necessary to live in harmony with animals.

D．It’s vital to protect the environment.

On December 18, 1620, passengers on the British ship Mayflower came on shore at modern – day Plymouth, Massachusetts, to begin their new settlement, Plymouth Colony.
The famous Mayflower story began in 1606, when a group of reform-minded people in England built their own church, which was separate from the state – supported Church of England. Because of this, they were forced to leave the country and settle in Netherlands. After 12 years of struggling to adapt and make a hard living, the group sought financial backing from some London merchants to set up a colony in America.
On Septmeber 6,1620, one hundred and two passengers – called Pilgrims (朝圣者) by William Bradford, a passenger who would become the first governor of Plymouth Colony – crowded on the Mayflower to begin the long, hard journey to a new life in the New World. On November 11,1620, the Mayflower landed at Provincetown Harbor. Before going on shore, 41 male passengers – heads of families, single men and three male servants – signed the famous Mayflower contract, agreeing to form a government chosen by common election and to obey all laws made for the good of the colony.
Over the next month, several small leading teams were sent on shore to collect firewood and hunt for a good place to build a settlement. Around December 10, one of these groups found a harbor they liked on the western side of Cape Cod Bay. They returned to the Mayflower to tell the other passengers, but bad weather prevented then reaching the harbor until December 16. Two days later, the first group of Pilgrims went on shore. After exploring the region, the settlers chose a cleared area once controlled by members of a local Native American tribe (部落). The tribe had abandoned the village several years earlier, after an outbreak of European disease.
That winter of 1620 – 1621 was really hard, as the Pilgrims struggled to build their settlement, find food and take care of the sick. By spring, 50 of the original 102 Mayflower passengers were dead. The remaining settlers made contact with returning members of the Native American tribe and in March they signed a peace treaty (条约) with the tribe chief. In the spring time, helped by the locals, the Pilgrims were able to plant crops – especially corn and beans – that were necessary to their survival.
On April 5,1621, the Mayflower and its crew left Plymouth to return to England. Over the next several decades, more and more settlers made the voyage across the Atlantic to Plymouth, which gradually grew into a successful shipbuilding and fishing center.
1．A group of English were forced to leave their country in 1606 because          .
A．their belief was different from the official Church
B．they built their own churches in a foreign country
C．they lacked financial support from the government
D．they were ambitious to build the colony in America
2．How many days did the sea journey to Provincetown Harbor last?          .
A．103   B．96     C．66     D．35
3．Several leading teams were sent in order to        .
A．hunt for food for the passengers     B．control local Native Americans
C．build a settlement for the passengers      D．explore the region for their settlement
4．From the passage we know that         between 1620 – 1621.
A．52 Mayflower passengers died of some illnesses   
B．Pilgrims had a good relationship with the locals
C．Plymouth turned a main center for shipbuilding   
D．Pilgrims tried to plant corns and beans in winter