1 . Europe is now the biggest market for organic food in the world, having grown by 25 percent a year over the past 10 years. Denmark’s agriculture minister is herself an organic farmer. The UK market for organic food grew by 55 percent in 2000, while the food market as a whole grew by only one percent. Yet only seven percent of British shoppers account for nearly 60 percent of organic sales. However popular the idea of organic farming may be, it is still an interest for only a few people.
So what makes the idea of organic farming popular? Organic farming means farming with natural materials, rather than with man-made fertilizers or pesticides. Organic farmers rely on many methods — such as crop rotation (农作物的轮作) and the use of resistant（有抵抗力的） varieties, because they are necessary for organic farmers to compensate for the shortage of man-made chemicals.
Organic farming is often supposed to be safer than traditional farming for the environment. Yet after a long research on organic farming worldwide for a number of years, science continues to be against this opinion. The House of Commons committee on agriculture publicized that, even with complete research work, it would fail to find any scientific evidence to prove “that any of claims （宣称） made for organic farming is always true”.
However, the talk about the benefits of organic farming is going on. This is partly because many people depend on their individual farm, the soil, the weather, and so on.
1. The first paragraph mainly tells us _____.

A．organic farming has been performed only in Europe over the past 10 years

B．governments of European countries have cared less about organic farming

C．organic farming is far from being as popular as expected

D．European countries need organic food more than the other countries in the world

2. The underlined words “compensate for” in the second paragraph probably mean “________”.

A．argue for

B．care for

C．struggle for

D．pay for

3. What can we know about organic farming?

A．It refers to farming with natural materials, instead of chemical fertilizers.

B．It refers to farming with chemical fertilizers rather than natural fertilizers.

C．It refers to farming with soil rather than any other thing.

D．It refers to growing crops with man-made fertilizers and pesticides.

4. According to the third paragraph, _____.

A．organic farming is safer than traditional farming for the environment

B．the idea that organic farming is safer has not been proven by science

C．organic farming is accepted by the UK’s House of Commons committee

D．organic farming is preferred to traditional farming

5. Which of the following is TRUE, according to the passage?

A．The UK’s agriculture minister is an organic farmer.

B．Organic farming is popular with young people.

C．Farmers make use of many different kinds of methods to improve the organic sales system.

D．Ninety-three percent of British shoppers don’t buy organic products.

2 . Central Park
Outside among the trees, watch the wildlife—both the human and animal varieties. Call(212) 360-3465 or (212) 360-2726 for daily events and tours.
Central Park stretches from 59th to 110th Sts., and from 5th Ave. to Central Park West.
Empire State Building
This is among the most striking buildings in the city, the nation, even the world. The observation deck (瞭望台) on the 86th floor is open to the general public, offering a wonderful view of the city. On the second floor you'll find the New York Skyride, a simulate helicopter ride over Manhattan.
5th Ave. at 34th St., Midtown: (212) 736-3100
Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum
Five blocks west of Time Square, this museum has hundreds of air, deep-sea and space exhibits. Walk the flight deck of the 900-foot-long aircraft carrier Intrepid, see dozens of old and modern aircraft and ride the Intrepid Navy Flight Simulator.
Pier 86, W. 46th St. and 12th Ave.: (212)245-0072
Madison Square Garden
If it's big, it probably happens at the Garden. Check out sporting events, concerts and much more. Tours are available.
7th Ave., btwn. 31st and 33rd Sts., Midtown: (212)465-6741
1. The New York Skyride is for                            .

A．sightseeing	B．flight training
C．model plane sports	D．city transportation

2. If a visitor is interested in music, he will probably go to                            .

A．Central Park	B．Empire State Building
C．Intrepid Sea-Air-Space museum	D．Madison Square Garden

3. What is the purpose of these texts?

A．To provide information of living in New York.

B．To provide directions of city traffic in New York.

C．To give visitors a guide to New York.

D．To give a brief introduction to the history of New York.

3 . Do you enjoy reading? Do you read newspapers or magazines? Chances are, if you do any of these activities, your pre-school child is on his way to becoming a reader.
The process of learning to read is complex, and one of the most important things to know is that parents can help their children learn to read. As children have conversations with adults, they hear both new and familiar words and their vocabulary grows.
There are many opportunities for adults and children to talk together, such as when riding in the car or in a bus, doing housework like fixing dinner, or bathing and getting ready for bed. A major part of conversation is listening. When children talk, adults listen and respond. Then children listen and respond, and so the flow of conversation happens.
Have you watched you pre-school child pretend to read to his younger sisters or brothers? Have you read his favorite story over and over? These experiences tell children that reading is fun. And when things are fun and they are repeated, your child will see letters. He begins to connect them to familiar words, especially the letters that make up his name. A natural next step for him to take is to write the letters.
When children see parents make a grocery list, they want to use a pencil and paper to make their own list. To encourage these beginning writing activities, have pencils, markers, crayons and scrap paper within your children’s reach.
The more children get connected with talking, listening, reading and writing, the easier it is for them to become active readers. While you as a parent have a big influence on these early behaviors, it is important to remember that opportunities for literacy experiences happen when you and your child share in the basic routines（日常生活）of everyday life.
1. The third paragraph tells us that parents can talk with their children__________.

A．during daily routines	B．only in quiet places
C．in their spare time	D．when they are eager to walk

2. During the process of learning to read, children may _________.

A．copy the action of the adults.

B．prefer to talk with those of their own age.

C．show no interest in reading at all.

D．waste a lot of paper and other materials.

3. When do children want to learn to write?

A．When their parents ask them to do so.

B．When they believe they can write well.

C．When they know what they want to know

D．When they can connect letters with familiar words.

4. The passage is written to _____________.

A．talk about parents’ influence on their children’s behavior

B．encourage parents to set a good example to their children

C．advise parents to make reading a part of their children’s daily life

D．make parents believe in the importance of early reading

4 . I had to knock on the taxi to get his attention. Finally, the driver, a man about 60, looked up from behind the wheel and apologized, “I'm sorry, but I was reading a letter.” He sounded as if he had a cold or a cough.

Since I was in no hurry, I told him to finish his letter. He shook his head, explaining that he had already read it several times and almost knew it by heart. Curious, I asked whether it was from a child or maybe a grandchild.“This isn't family，” he replied, “though he might just as well have been a regular member of the family. Old Ed and I grew up together.”

They were always friends. But since he moved away from the neighborhood 30 years ago, it'd generally just been postcards at Christmas time between them. A couple of weeks ago, Ed died. “I should have kept in touch.” He repeated this, more to himself than to me. To comfort him, I said sometimes we just didn't seem to find the time. “But we used to find the time，” he said. “Take a look.” He handed the letter over to me.

The first sentence “I've been meaning to write for some time, but I've always delayed it.” reminded me of myself. It went on to say that he often thought about the good times they had had together. When I read the part where it said“Your friendship really means a lot to me, more than I can say because I'm not good at saying things like that”， I found myself nodding in agreement.

We had gone several kilometers and were almost at my hotel, so I read the last paragraph：“So I thought you'd like to know that I was thinking of you.” And it was ended with “Your Old Friend, Tom.”

“I thought your friend's name was Ed，” I said.

“I'm Tom，” he explained. “It's a letter I wrote to Ed before I knew he'd died. I never put it in the mailbox. I guess I should have written it sooner.” His face was pale as he wiped his eyes with a handkerchief.

When I got to my hotel room I didn't unpack right away, I had to write a letter and post it.

1. Who wrote the letter?

A．Tom.

B．Old Ed.

C．The author.

D．The driver's grandchild.

2. It can be inferred from the passage that the driver regretted ________.

A．missing Ed's funeral

B．moving away from his neighborhood

C．forgetting to send Ed Christmas cards

D．not being able to keep in touch with Ed

3. From Paragraph 4, we can learn that the author of the passage ________.

A．often failed to write to his friends

B．had no intention to write to his friends

C．had many great moments with his friends

D．was good at expressing feelings to his friends

4. What message does the passage probably try to convey?

A．Comfort your friends when they are feeling down.

B．Life is unpredictable, so live each day as if it were your last.

C．Remember to always mail your letters after expressing your words.

D．Always make time to value and experience your lasting friendships.

5 . Energy goes from one plant or animal to another. A food chain shows how this energy moves. Each time an animal gets eaten, its energy is passed onto the animal that eats it. The food chain is very important because it keeps the balance of nature. If one part of the food chain disappears, it can affect all the other plants and animals. Any threat to the food chain is a threat to the environment’s biodiversit(生物多样性). The food chain helps keep animal populations in balance. However, if something happens to increase or decrease one of the links in the food chain, that balance is broken. If one animal becomes endangered, it puts all the animals above it at risk.
Some of the threats are natural, such as wildfires, hurricanes, tornados, floods and so on. But the biggest threats to the food chain come from you and me. These threats include overhunting, overfishing, logging, farming, development, pollution, etc. The food chain is endangered anywhere humans have had an effect on the natural environment.
A recent study shows that the overfishing of large sharks is damaging the food chain along the US Atlantic coast. Canadian and American scientists say sharks are being killed in great numbers for their meat and fins(鳍). Now, not enough sharks are around to eat the cownose(牛鼻) ray. The ray’s population has increased and they have eaten up the shellfish to the point where it has hurt commercial(商业的) fishing.
Many of us disturb the natural environment in our own backyards. It’s up to us to take care of the environment and try not to disrupt the natural food chain. If we don’t act responsibly, animals will start disappearing.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 1?

A．The food chain is not easy to be broken.

B．The energy of an animal usually disappears when it dies.

C．Increasing the links will not break the balance of nature.

D．Breaking the food chain is bad for the biodiversity of the environment.

2. The study mentioned in Paragraph 3 proves that            .

A．human activities can be a big threat to the food chain

B．we are all responsible for the breaking of the food chain

C．natural disasters are hard to break the food chain

D．hunting large sharks for meat is beneficial

3. We can infer that the writer wrote this passage mainly to           .

A．explain what the food chain is

B．tell us something interesting about Nature

C．suggest that we stop eating meat to save animals

D．suggest that we not disrupt the natural food chain

6 . The Best of Friends
The evidence for harmony may not be obvious in some families. But it seems that four out of five young people now get on with their parents, which is the opposite of the popularly held image(印象)of unhappy teenagers locked in their room after endless family quarrels.
An important new study into teenage attitudes surprisingly shows that their family life is more harmonious than it has ever been in the past.” We were surprised by just how positive today’s young people seen to be about their families,” said one member of the research team.” They’re expected to be rebellious(叛逆的) and selfish but actually they have other things on their minds; they want a car and material goods, and they worry about whether school is serving them well. There’s more negotiation(商议) and discussion between parents and children, and children expect to take part in the family decision-making process. They don’t want to rock the boat.”
So it seems that this generation of parents is much more likely than parents of 30 years ago to treat their children as friends.” My parents are happy to discuss things with me and willing to listen to me,” says 17-years-old Daniel Lazall. ”I always tell them when I’m going out clubbing. As long as they know what I’m doing, they’re fine with it.” Susan Crome, who is now 21,agrees.”Looking back on the last 10 years, there was a lot of what you could call negotiation. For example, as long as I’d done all my homework, I could go out on a Saturday night. But I think my grandparents were a lot stricter with my parents than that.”
Maybe this positive view of family life should not be unexpected. It is possible that the idea of teenagers rebellion is not rooted in real facts. A researcher comments,” Our surprise that teenagers say they get along well with their parents comes because of a brief period in our social history when teenagers were regarded as different beings. But that idea of rebelling and breaking away from their parents really only happened during that one time in the 1960s when everyone rebelled. The normal situation throughout history has been a smooth change from helping out with the family business to taking it over.”
1. What is the popular images of teenagers today?

A．They worry about school

B．They dislike living with their parents

C．They have to be locked in to avoid troubles

D．They quarrel a lot with other family members

2. The study shows that teenagers don’t want to ___

A．share family responsibility	B．cause trouble in their families
C．go boating with their family	D．make family decisions

3. Compared with parents of 30 years ago, today’s parents___.

A．go to clubs more often with their children

B．are much stricter with their children

C．care less about their children’s life

D．give their children more freedom

4. According to the authour,teenage rebellion____.

A．may be a false belief	B．is common nowadays
C．existed only in the 1960s	D．resulted from changes in families

5. What is the passage mainly about?

A．Negotiation in family	B．Education in family
C．Harmony in family	D．Teenage trouble in family

7 . Most people buy a lot of gifts just before Christmas. But some people think we buy too much. They have started a special day called Buy Nothing Day. They don’t want anyone to go shopping on that day.

Buy Nothing Day is November 29. It’s 25 days before Christmas. It’s after Thanksgiving Day and often the first day of Christmas shopping. At this time, we see ads in Newspapers and on TV telling us to “buy, buy, buy!”

The idea for Buy Nothing Day started in Vancouver, British Columbia. Now people all over the world celebrate Buy Nothing Day. In California, parents and children get together to read stories, sing songs, and paint pictures. The children talk about why they don’t need a lot of toys. This year, in Manchester, England, people dressed up in costumes (统一服装) to tell people that we buy too much.

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, high school students wanted to tell other students about Buy Nothing Day. They organized a spaghetti dinner to give people information about Buy Nothing Day. They asked restaurants in the neighborhood to donate (捐赠) the food. They made posters and talked to other students about it. The dinner was a big success, and many students agreed not to buy anything on November 29. The students at high schools liked the idea of this new tradition. Next year, they want to have another dinner to tell more people about Buy Nothing Day!

1. Which of the following is NOT the day for people to celebrate Buy Nothing Day?

A．November 29.	B．25 days before Christmas.
C．After Thanksgiving.	D．The first day after Christmas.

2. People usually buy many gifts_______.

A．before Thanksgiving	B．on Christmas
C．before Christmas	D．anytime

3. How do people celebrate Buy Nothing Day?

A．In California, parents and children get together to play games.

B．In England, people celebrate by performing plays.

C．In Mexico, high school students dress up.

D．They buy nothing and persuade others not to buy things.

4. What did the students do in New Mexico for the day?

A．They donated the food of their own.

B．They talked to others about it.

C．They made some slogans (标语口号) for it.

D．They organized a luxurious (奢华的) dinner.