Have you ever been out on a sunny day without an umbrella when suddenly it starts to rain? Who changed tile weather? Certainly not the weather man．Nor the weather report of your town．It is the sun!

    When the sun rises，it is day．When the sun sets．it is night．Again，days are warmer than nights．This is because the sunshine falls on the earth during the day．The sunshine makes the land，the water and the air warm．At night when the sun is not there，it is cooler．In the mornings and in the evenings the sunshine is slanting．So it is not very hot．At noon the sunshine falls straight on the earth，and it is very hot．

    We know that the earth goes round the sun．When one half of the earth is close to the sun，the other half is away from it．The part of the earth closer to the sun has summer．Here the days are warmer and longer．And the part of the earth away from the sun has winter．Here the days are cooler and shorter．For example，when it’s winter in China，it is summer in Australia．So you see，the temperature and the length of the days are decided by the sun．

1．The weather may suddenly be changed by __________．

       A．the weather report   B．the weather man      C．the sun                   D．a heavy rain

2．Why does China have winter while Australia has summer? This is because __________．

       A．Australia is very far from China

       B．when China is away from the sun，Australia is closer to it

       C the weather in Australia is different from that in China

       D．it is cloudy and windy in China while it is sunny in Australia

3．In the sentence“So you see，the temperature and the length of days are decided by the sun．”，the word“length”means how __________ something is．

       A．long                       B．large                       C．little                        D．light

4．Which of the following is not true?

       A．Nights are cooler than days

       B．The sunshine doesn’t fall straight on us in the evening．

       C．The sun rises in the east and sets in the west because it goes round the earth．

       D．When winter comes in Australia．summer arrives in China．

Scotland lies in the northern part of Britain，with England in the south．the North Sea in the east and the Atlantic Ocean in the west．The country is made up of the mainland and many islands．Tourists come to Scotland from all over the world．The capital of Scot1and，Edinburgh，is a popular tourist center．Tourists also come to see Scotland’s beautiful scenery：the Loch Ness Lake，and the Gramplians Mountains，with their highest peak，Ben Nevis(1343m)．The most important river in Scotland is the Clyde．which runs through Glasgow．Although Scotland is part of the United Kingdom，it has its own currency(货币)，a separate educational and legal system(制度)and its own parliament．

上面是关于Scotland(苏格兰)的简单介绍，阅读后在表格里填上有关信息．

Information Card

1990 was a significant year in world enents. In Febbruary, Nelson Mandela was set free after 27 years in prison. In October, East and West Germany became one country again. Then at the end of 1990, the World Wide Web was born. For this final event we have one man to thank, Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the Web.

Berners-Lee was born on June 8, 1955 in London, England. His parents, both computer designers, encouraged him to think and work creativelhy as he grew up. He was an excellent student and naturally took an interest in computers and science.

After graduating from Oxford University, Tim went to work at a science research centre in Sfwitzerland. There be developed some of the different systems that would later become the Web. The first was HTML, the computer language used to make web pages. The second was an address system that let  computers anhywhere find each other and send and receive information. In 1990, while still at the science centre in Switzerland, he put them together to make the first Internet browser. It could run on any computer and allowed people to create  share their information with the rest of the world.

Tim knew that the more people used the Web, the more useful it would be. He wasn’t interested in money but knowledge, so he gave out his invention for free to anyone who was interested. Many were interested and the growth of the Internet began.

Today Tim works as a professor at the MIT in America, researching new and interesting ways to use the Web. He has received many awards from governments and organizations for his efforts. He is still not very interested in money. That is why he is so admired by his students and workmates. It may also be one of the reasons that few people outside the world of technology know his name.

1. The underlined word “significant” (in Paragraph 1) most probably means “       ” .

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

3. What can we learn about Berners-Lee from the passage?

4. Where does Berners-Lee live today?

5.What is the passage mainly about?

Two magazines recently listed the best cities to live in. Here are two of the cities listed as “the world’s best.”
SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA  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 cafés.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.
【小题1】Which of the following is NOT mentioned about San Jose?

Welcome to England! The weather of England is very changeable.

It can be rainy, sunny, windy, warm, foggy or cold at any time of year. If it’s raining when you get up in the morning, it can be hot and dry by the afternoon. The west of England is wetter than the east, and the north is cooler than the south. Just be ready for any kind of weather.

In England, shops are usually open from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm. On Sundays, some shops are open from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. But a lot of shops are closed. Banks, museums of other places are open from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. You can go to the parks at anytime.

All the cities have buses, trains and taxis. People wait in line for buses and they are unhappy if you push in at the front. Don’t forget this---traffic goes on the left.

Be careful!