1 . It’s hard to believe that a beautiful silk dress comes from thousands of small insects! Silk is made by insects called silkworms (蚕). It takes about 5,500 silkworms to make 1 kilogram of silk. The process was discovered by the Chinese about 5,000 years ago.

How is silk made? The process starts with the eggs of a certain kind of insect. The eggs are collected an kept warm. After a few days, the silkworms come out of the eggs. They are fed with leaves from mulberry (桑树) trees every 30 minutes, all night and all day. The room is kept warm, and the silkworms must not be influenced by loud noises or bad smells. After a month, they start to make a cocoon (茧). After four days, the cocoon is ready.

The cocoons are heated. Then the cocoons are put into water to make the silk loose (松散的). The silk from three or four cocoons is put together and made into a thread (线). One cocoon can make a thread that is 1 kilometer long.

Finally, the silk threads are made into cloth, and the cloth is used for things like dresses and scarves. Today, silk is produced in many countries, including India and Thailand, but more than 80 percent of the world’s silk comes from China. Every year, enough silk thread is produced, which can go from the earth to the sun 300 times. People love clothes made of silk because they are very beautiful. Also, they are comfortable to wear—silk feels cool in warm weather and warm in cool weather.

1. ________ discovered the way of making silk.

A．Japanese

B．Chinese

C．Silkworms

D．Insects

2. Silkworms must live in a ________ environment.

A．dry and noisy

B．noisy and dirty

C．warm and quiet

D．dirty and warm

3. What’s the right order of making silk?
① Silkworms start to make cocoons.
② Threads are made from the cocoons.
③ Cocoons are heated and put into water.
④ Feed the silkworms with mulberry leaves.
⑤ Collect the eggs of a certain kind of insect.

A．⑤④①③②

B．⑤④①②③

C．④①③②⑤

D．④①②③⑤

4. We like to wear silk clothes because they’re ________.

A．beautiful and cool	B．cool and warm
C．beautiful and warm	D．beautiful and comfortable

5. The best title of the passage could be “________”.

A．Why is silk so popular?	B．Why is silk so expensive?
C．How is silk made?	D．Where can people buy silk clothes?

2 . The British Museum is one of the biggest museums in the world. Inside, you feel smaller than usual. There are many things to see.

The story of the British Museum dates back three hundred years or so to one unusual man, Sir Hans Sloane, a doctor of King George II. The doctor collected books, drawings, clothes, money, animals, and flowers from all over the world. The doctor wanted everything to stay together before he died, so that people could come and have a look. The British Museum began. King George II gave away his library, and the museum started to grow.

The British Museum opened in 1759, six years after Sir Hans Sloane died. At first, the museum was only open three days a week and only ten people could enter in an hour. There wasn’t much time to see things. Visitors had to run through the rooms.

By about 1800, things began to get better. Wonderful statues, three thousand years old, arrived from Egypt. King George IV sold all his books to the museum secretly. A hundred years ago not only old books but also new ones arrived at the museum, and more people came to read them. Since then many famous men have written and studied there. And the library is growing faster and faster. There are four kilometers of new shelves every year and there are about six million visitors each year.

1. When you go inside the British Museum, you feel smaller than usual because ________.

A．the museum is empty	B．the museum is very big
C．there are too many things in it	D．you are too small

2. Sir Hans Sloane die in ________.

A．1753

B．1759

C．1765

D．1800

3. Why does the writer mention King George IV?

A．Because he was the first king to support the British Museum.

B．Because he gave away all his books to the British Museum.

C．Because he sold all his books to the British Museum.

D．Because he made the British Museum famous in the world.

4. Which of the following is NOT true?

A．At first the museum was only open three days a week.

B．There weren’t many people visiting the museum every day at first.

C．There are about six million visitors every year to the museum now.

D．The second paragraph is about why King George II loved the British Museum.

5. The passage is mainly about ________.

A．the things in the museum	B．the history of the British Museum
C．some famous museums in the world	D．British kings and their museums

3 . In Chengdu, tea culture has developed into the Chengdu-featured (特色的) tea house culture. There is a saying about Chengdu tea houses: You could see more tea houses than sunny days. The tea houses catch so much eyesight because of their many different functions (功能): for fun, relaxing and meetings.

The desks and chairs in the tea houses are often made of bamboo. The teas are usually jasmine (茉莉花) tea, Longjing, and Biluochun. They use northern Gaiwan as tea sets (larger than Gongfu Gaiwan). Gaiwan is made up of three parts: the lid (盖), the cup and the saucer (茶碟). When the tea service master pours water into the Gaiwan, you will see the water falling from the air into Gaiwan, with a lively sound. In a moment, water stops. Then look at the Gaiwan. The water in it is just right at the level of the Gaiwan’s mouth, with a simple drop on the desk.

No matter where you are in Chengdu, in a quiet park or in a busy street, you can see those featured tea houses. People can stay there for half a day, having only a cup of tea and snacks. In the talks of friends and neighbors, the colorful tea culture of Sichuan is fully expressed.

1. Why do the tea houses catch so much eyesight?
__________________________________________________________
2. Are the desks and the chairs in the tea houses often made of bamboo or wood?
__________________________________________________________
3. How many kinds of teas are mentioned in this passage?
__________________________________________________________
4. What is Gaiwan made up of?
__________________________________________________________
5. What is the passage mainly about?
__________________________________________________________

4 . 阅读下面短文，完成表格。

Language is part of our daily lives, no matter where we live in the world. Similarly, music is a part of many people’s lives. Both language and music play a huge role in our culture and here are some of their similarities.

◆Both have a writing system.

In English we record language by using letters. Similarly, we use notes to record music. Just as you are reading the letters and find meaning in it, musicians read notes and create meaning in the form of music which we can hear. So just as you read English, you can read music. By writing pieces of text or music, we are able to share experiences through time. We can read or hear the ideas of someone who lived hundreds of years ago.

◆Both change with culture.

You can make a good guess where someone is from by listening to the language they use. In the same way, we know that styles of music are different around the world, and also know many different cultures through their music and providing us with music for every situation.

◆Both share feelings.

You can know that I am angry through my words. Similarly, music can sound angry, sad or happy. Music can show you properly how the composer was or is feeling, and allows us to share that feeling. When you feel happy, you may want to sing and dance to a happy song to celebrate your happiness, while you probably want to listen to sad music when you are feeling down. I think we have all used music to express our feelings.

Title:     1     between language and music.
Both language and music play a huge role in our culture.
Both have a writing system.	◆We record language and music with     2     respectively (分别地). ◆Both language and music can be     3     by us.
4	◆We can know where someone is from by listening to the language they use. ◆We can know different cultures through music of different periods.
Both share feelings.	◆You can know that someone is angry through his words. ◆By listening to the music you can feel the anger, happiness and     5     that the musicians want to express.

5 . Every day in newspapers and magazines there are articles telling us we should exercise more. And scientists now say that running is one of the best ways to keep fit. It can also make you feel better and look better. Some say it can even make you lead a long life.

All you need for running is some comfortable clothes and a pair of sports shoes. You don’t need to buy special clothes but you should get a good pair of sports shoes. And remember: You should always buy sports shoes one size larger than your usual shoes. Some people find running tiresome, so go cycling or swimming instead sometimes.

________ It’s very important to rest two or three times a week. You should eat well and drink lots of water but you can still have nice things like chocolate sometimes. Do some leg and stomach exercises every week as well, because this makes you stronger and helps you run better.

If you’re a beginner, there are lots of ways to make exercise fun. You can join a club or you can exercise with a friend. Another idea is to enter a race. This can give you a reason to train and keep you interested in running.

1. These are the reasons why running is advised except ________.

A．it can make you feel better	B．it can help you work better
C．it can make you be healthy	D．it can help you live longer

2. People should prepare ________ before running according to the passage.

A．a good pair of sports shoes	B．some special clothes
C．a pair of usual sports shoes	D．some cool sports clothes

3. The underlined word “tiresome” in the second paragraph probably means ________.

A．valuable

B．relaxing

C．terrible

D．boring

4. Which of the following can be put in “________” in the third paragraph?

A．Don’t give up exercising.	B．You should learn how to prepare.
C．You shouldn’t exercise every day.	D．Keep exercising as long as you’re free.

5. We can probably find this passage in a ________.

A．travel guide

B．sports website

C．movie poster

D．geography book

8 . We all think eating fruits means just buying fruits, cutting them and putting them into our plates. It’s not as easy as you think. It’s important to know when and how to eat fruits. Fruit should be eaten on an empty stomach. If you eat fruit like that, it will go straight through the stomach into the intestines (肠道). It will be good to your health and provide you with energy for life activities. So fruit is very important.

But when you eat two pieces of bread and then some fruit, it is stopped from doing so. Do you know the reason? You have probably heard people saying—every time I eat watermelon, I burp(打隔). When I eat a banana, I felt like running to the toilet. When the fruit is mixed with other food, it produces gas. That’s why you will feel uncomfortable. Actually, we will not check if you eat the fruit on an empty stomach.

Eat a whole fruit. It is better than drinking the juice. When you really want to drink fruit juice, drink only fresh fruit juice, not from the bottles or cans. Don’t drink juice that has been heated up. Don’t eat cooked fruits because you don’t get the nutrients(营养成分) at all. You only get the taste of the fruit. If you have understood the right way of eating fruits, you have the secret of beauty, health, happiness, energy and a long life.

Title:     1
Eat fruits on an empty stomach.	It will be good to your health and     2     you.
Don’t eat fruits with other food.	Eating the fruit mixed with other food will make you     3    .
4	Drink only fresh fruit juice. Don’t drink juice that has been heated up. Don’t eat cooked fruits.
If you eat fruits in the right way, you will be     5    , happy, energetic and live long.