1 . When I was a boy there were no smart phones, and our television only got one channel clearly. Still, I was never bored. The fields, hills, and woodlands around my home were the perfect playground. I can remember once hiking to a nearby lake. At the backside of it I was amazed to find an old dirt road that I had never seen before. It was full of muddy tracks and deep woods bordered it on both sides, but exploring it still seemed like a fine adventure.
I walked on and on for hours. I was sure my guardian angel was whispering in my ear “Turn around and head back home”, but I was stubborn, so I walked on. There was still neither a car nor a house in sight. I noticed that the sun was starting to go down and I grew scared. I didn’t want to end up trapped on this road, and I was worried that it would be dark before I could make my way back to the lake again.
I continued to walk on with something growing inside of me. My heart was pounding and my legs were aching. I was almost in tears when I turned one last curve and saw something in the distance. It was a house that I recognized. I jumped up and down and laughed out loud. It was still over a mile away, but my legs felt like feathers and I hurried back to my house in no time. I walked in with a big smile on my face just in time for dinner.
I remembered this recently when I saw a sign that said “All roads lead home”. It is true. In life, all roads, no matter how they twist and turn, can lead us home again. What is important, though, is how we travel them. Are we going to go forth in fear or are we going to go forth in faith? Are we going to make this life a terrible trip or are we going to make this life a joyful journey? The choice is ours.
1. Why did the author hardly feel bored when he was young?| A．Because he could have fun in nature. |
| B．Because he could watch TV all day. |
| C．Because he had many friends. |
| D．Because he used to explore the old dirt road. |
| A．He thought he would be scolded by his parents. |
| B．He felt contradictory in mind. |
| C．He thought he would be trapped in the woods. |
| D．He was unconscious. |
| A．The dirt road. | B．His house. |
| C．The lake. | D．A passing car. |
| A．Always make choices on our own. |
| B．All roads lead home. |
| C．It’s our attitude that matters in our life. |
| D．Every effort is worthwhile. |
2 . When most high school students complain about having to wake up extra early，they're usually referring to a swim practice before class or the last minute study before a test. But that was never the case for Corey Patrick，who woke up at 4：30 every morning last year in order to arrive on time at Tarrant High School in Alabama.
Patrick had attended Tarrant City Schools since his fourth grade，but things got difficult when his family moved to a town 14 miles away. Even though his family didn't have any forms of transportation，Patrick didn't want to miss out on his senior year with friends，so he woke up at 4：30 every morning in order to make it to a 5：41 a．m.bus that would help him get to Tarrant on time.And just as he had done every other school day of the year，Patrick got up one morning to start the journey from his home to his high school; the only obvious difference that morning was that he was wearing his graduation gown (毕业礼服)，which made that day's bus driver，DeJuanna Beasley, take some photos of him. She then shared them online with these words，“You tell me this isn't determination.He got on my bus to go to his graduation，and no one was with him.Sometimes it's all in what you want out of life.I was so proud of this young man.”
That was soon shared by many people online，and it caught the attention of radio host Rickey Smiley，who surprised Patrick by giving him a car later. Smiley confirmed that he would make sure that Patrick received help with getting his driver's license. A GoFundMe was also created for Patrick，which has raised over $20,000. And Patrick has got a scholarship (奖学金) to Jacksonville University，where he plans to study computer science.
1. Why was Patrick different from most students when it comes to rising early?| A．It had something to do with study. |
| B．It was a part of daily life for him. |
| C．He was unwilling to get up early. |
| D．He spent more time in studying. |
| A．Patrick dressed poorly on his graduation day. |
| B．It took Patrick an hour to get to the bus stop. |
| C．The driver was moved by Patrick's story. |
| D．There was no school in Patrick's town. |
| A．Patrick's request for help on the Internet. |
| B．The difficulties that Patrick experienced. |
| C．The information about Patrick's university. |
| D．The message published online by the driver. |
| A．GoFundMe. | B．Rickey Smiley. |
| C．Patrick's high school. | D．Jacksonville University. |
3 . Do you want to live another 100 years or more? Some experts say that scientific advances will one day enable humans to last tens of years beyond what is now seen as the natural limit of the human life span.
“I think we are knocking at the door of immortality(永生),” said Michael Zey, a Montclair State University business professor and author of two books on the future. “I think by 2075 we will see it and that’s a conservative estimate(保守的估计).”
At the conference in San Francisco, Donald Louria, a professor at New Jersey Medical School in Newark said advances in using genes as well as nanotechnology(纳米技术) make it likely that humans will live in the future beyond what was possible in the past. “There is a great effort so that people can live from 120 to 180 years,” he said. “Some have suggested that there is no limit and that people could live to 200 or 300 or 500 years.”
However, many scientists who specialize in aging are doubtful about it and say the human body is just not designed to last past about 120 years. Even with healthier lifestyles and less disease, they say failure of the brain and organs will finally lead all humans to death.
Scientists also differ on what kind of life the super aged might live. “It remains to be seen if you pass 120, you know; could you be healthy enough to have good quality of life?” said Leonard Poon, director of the University of Georgia Gerontology Centre. “At present people who could get to that point are not in good health at all.”
1. By saying“we are knocking at the door of immortality”,Michael Zey means_________.| A．they have got some ideas about living forever |
| B．they believe that there is no limit of living |
| C．they are able to make people live past the present life span |
| D．they are sure to find the truth about long living |
| A．the human body is designed to last past about 120 years |
| B．it is possible for humans to live longer in the future |
| C．it is still doubtful how long humans can live |
| D．people can live from 120 to 180 |
| A．a great effort |
| B．the conservative estimate |
| C．the idea of living from 200 to 300 years |
| D．the idea of living beyond the present life span |
| A．No Limit for Human Life |
| B．Living Longer or not |
| C．Science,Technology and Long Living |
| D．Healthy Lifestyle and Long Living |
4 . No one is sure how the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids near Cairo. But a new study suggests they used a little rock ‘n’ roll. Long- ago builders could have attached wooden poles to the stones and rolled them across the sand, the scientists say.
"Technically, I think what they’re proposing is possible," physicist Daniel Bonn said.
People have long puzzled over how the Egyptians moved such huge rocks. And there’s no obvious answer. On average, each of the two million big stones weighed about as much as a large pickup truck. The Egyptians somehow moved the stone blocks to the pyramid site from about one kilometer away.
The most popular view is that Egyptian workers slid the blocks along smooth paths. Many scientists suspect workers first would have put the blocks on sleds (滑板). Then they would have dragged them along paths. To make the work easier, workers may have lubricated the paths either with wet day or with the fat from cattle. Bonn has now tested this idea by building small sleds and dragging heavy objects over sand.
Evidence from the sand supports this idea. Researchers found small amounts of fat, as well as a large amount of stone and the remains of paths.
However, physicist Joseph West thinks there might have been a simpler way, who led the new study. West said, "I was inspired while watching a television program showing how sleds might have helped with pyramid construction. I thought, ‘Why don’t they just try rolling the things?’" A square could be turned into a rough sort of wheel by attaching wooden poles to its sides, he realized. That, he notes, should make a block of stone "a lot easier to roll than a square".
So he tried it.
He and his students tied some poles to each of four sides of a 30-kilogram stone block. That action turned the block into somewhat a wheel. Then they placed the block on the ground.
They wrapped one end of a rope around the block and pulled. The researchers found they could easily roll the block along different kinds of paths. They calculated that rolling the block required about as much force as moving it along a slippery (滑的) path.
West hasn’t tested his idea on larger blocks, but he thinks rolling has clear advantages over sliding. At least, workers wouldn’t have needed to carry cattle fat or water to smooth the paths.
1. It’s widely believed that the stone blocks were moved to the pyramid site by .| A．rolling them on roads | B．pushing them over the sand |
| C．sliding them on smooth paths | D．dragging them on some poles |
| A．made the paths wet | B．made the paths hard |
| C．made the paths wide | D．made the paths slippery |
| A．Rolling the blocks with poles attached. |
| B．Rolling the blocks on wooden wheels. |
| C．Rolling poles to move the blocks. |
| D．Rolling the blocks with fat. |
| A．Because more force is needed for sliding. |
| B．Because rolling work can be done by fewer cattle. |
| C．Because sliding on smooth roads is more dangerous. |
| D．Because less preparation on paths is needed for rolling. |
5 . Let’s face it. No one drinks diet sodas for the taste. People drink diet sodas in the hope that it will help them lose weight or at least keep them from gaining it. Yet it seems to have exactly the opposite effect, according to a new study.
Researchers from the University of Texas said those who drank two or more diet sodas a day had waist size increases that were six times greater than those who didn’t drink diet sodas. ＂What we saw was that the more diet sodas a person drank, the more weight they were likely to gain,＂said Sharon Fowler.
The study was based on data from 474 participants in a large, ongoing research project, where the participants were followed for nearly 10 years.
While the findings are surprising, they also offer some explanations. Nutrition expert, Melanie Rogers, who works with overweight patients in New York, has found that when patients are switched from regular to diet sodas, they don’t lose weight at all. ＂We weren’t seeing weight loss necessarily, and that was confusing to us＂, said Rogers.
So why would diet soda cause weight gain? No one knows for sure yet, but it could be that people think they can eat more if they drink diet sodas, and so over-compensate for the missing calories.
A related study found some sweeteners (甜味剂) raised blood sugar levels in some mice. ＂Data from this and other potential studies suggest that the promotion of diet sodas and artificial sweeteners may be risky, said Helen P. Hazuda, professor at the University of Texas’s school of medicine. ＂They may be free of calories, but not of consequences.＂
1. People drink diet sodas to ____________.| A．enjoy its taste | B．stay in fashion |
| C．achieve weight loss | D．gain more energy |
| A．causes people to become heavier | B．helps people to be healthier |
| C．makes people much thinner | D．offers people more calories |
| A．regular sodas make people lose more weight | B．diet soda drinkers tend to eat more food |
| C．diet sodas do help reduce calories | D．most blood diseases come from diet sodas |
| A．sweeteners | B．diet sodas and artificial sweeteners |
| C．sodas | D．diet soda drinkers and sweetener takers |
6 . When slaves were first brought over from West Africa to the southern parts of America, they brought along with them aspects of their own culture-religion, dance,language, music, and cuisine. A mix of the two cultures eventually appeared. The religious dance of the ring shout turned into modern dances like the Charleston, and tribal chants slowly transformed into sorrowful hymns (圣歌) sung by slaves that described their hardships.
These soulful accounts by slaves of the severe climate and conditions began to be called "the blues" , which continued in popularity among African Americans after the Civil War. This music increased in popularity into the early 1900s when many black musicians became an important part of the music industry.
The slaves that had been brought over were from all different regions of West Africa, but they worked together until they gradually formed a common culture. This strengthened the identity of their music that, in the 1950s, eventually led to the beginning of rock and roll. The Beatles, the most influential band of the 1960s, are often determined as the accelerator that resulted in the ideology (意识形态)surrounding music that is still around today. The freedom and individuality associated with that time period brought forth a whole culture surrounding music. It was not just music any more, but a lifestyle.
Over the decades, music has developed into such a vital part of society and pop culture. Musicians are glorified, with tons of adoring and screaming fans. The modern technology of present day has allowed for a greater gap between the creator of the music and the fans, as well as a widespread commercialization of music. However, criticisms of modern pop music often arise due to its mass production, and now there is a lack of the same soul and quality of naturalness and simplicity in music that was rising in the early 20th century.
1. What contributed to the birth of the Charleston?| A．Various African religions. |
| B．People's love of tribal dances. |
| C．A mix of two different cultures. |
| D．The popularity of sorrowful hymns. |
| A．It became popular in the late 20th century. |
| B．It may include the description of slaves' sad lives. |
| C．It mainly told the stories of the American Civil War. |
| D．It reflected the hard lives of many black musicians. |
| A．Slaves' collective work. |
| B．One region of West Africa. |
| C．The new common culture. |
| D．The music by the Beatles. |
| A．possessed soul and sincerity |
| B．became more commercialized |
| C．was blamed for its mass production D. widened the gap between musicians and fans |
7 . They like using the Internet. They have lots of pocket money to spend．And they spend a higher proportion of it online than the rest of us. Teenagers are just the sort of people an online seller is interested in, and the things they want to buy — games, CDs and clothing — are easily sold on the Web.
But paying online is a tricky business for consumers who are too young to own credit cards. Most have to use a parent’s card. They want a service that allows them to spend money.
That may come sooner than they think: new ways to take pocket money into cyber (网络的) space are coming out rapidly on both sides of the Atlantic. If successful, these products can stimulate (刺激)online sales.
In general, teenagers spend huge amounts: $153bn (billion) in the US last year and ￡20bn annually in the UK．Most teenagers have access to the Internet at home or at school — 88 percent in the US, 69 percent in the UK. According to the Jupiter Research, one in eight of those with Internet access has bought something online — mainly CDs and books.
In most cases, parents pay for these purchases with credit cards, an arrangement that is often unsatisfactory for them and their children. Pressing parents to spend online is less productive than pressing on the high street. They are more likely to ask “Why?” if you ask to spend some money online.
One way to help teenagers change notes and coins into cyber cash is through prepaid cards such as Internet Cash in the US and Smart cards in the UK. Similar to those for pay-as-you-go mobile telephones, they are sold in amounts such as￡20 or $50 with a concealed (隐藏的) 14-digit number that can be used to load the cash into an online account.
1. What does the word “They” in paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Sellers. | B．Buyers. |
| C．Teenagers. | D．Parents. |
| A．More than half of the teenagers in the US and the UK have Internet access． |
| B．Teenagers pay for goods online with their own credit cards. |
| C．Most teenagers in the US and the UK have bought something online. |
| D．Teenagers found it easier to persuade parents to buy online than in a shop. |
| A．a new machine | B．special coins and notes |
| C．prepaid cards | D．pay-as-you-go mobile phones |
| A．Online shopping traps. | B．Internet users in the US and the UK. |
| C．New credit cards for parents. | D．The arrival of cyber pocket money. |
