1 . We know that cigarette smoking kills. So, producers made electronic cigarettes as a safer smoking choice — safer than tobacco. Although e-cigarettes contain the drug nicotine like cigarettes, they do not use tobacco and you do not light them. They are powered by battery.

However, if e-cigarettes are so safe, why has the United States Center for Disease Control (CDC) seen an increase in telephone calls about e-cigarette poisonings?

The answer is children. Most of the calls are from people worried about children who have played with the devices. In the period of one month this year, the Center said 215 people called the Center with e-cigarette concerns. More than half of these calls were for children aged five and younger. The devices had made them sick.

Tim McAfee is director of the Center's Office on Smoking and Health. He says the problem is regulation, meaning, the U. S. federal government does not control e-cigarettes even though they contain liquid nicotine. Mr. McAfee adds that liquid nicotine is a well-known danger. Mr. McAfee explains that nicotine poisoning happens when it gets into the skin, gets into the eyes or is swallowed. It can cause stomach pain or a sense of unbalance. And too much nicotine can kill.

Tim McAfee says e-cigarettes do not create the level of risk to people that tobacco products do. He notes that almost 500,000 Americans die each year from cigarettes. “So, cigarettes are the winner in that contest.” E-cigarettes do not contain hundreds of harmful chemicals that are found in real cigarettes. So, the U. S. Surgeon General Boris D. Lushniak has suggested that e-cigarettes may be a useful tool for adults trying to end their tobacco use.

But McAfee worries that teenagers may think electronic cigarettes are harmless. They could become addicted to the nicotine and then start smoking real cigarettes. In other words, he fears that for young people fake e-cigarettes could be a “gateway” to the real thing.

1. What do the producers think of e-cigarettes?

A．Dangerous.	B．Expensive.
C．Safer.	D．Cheaper.

2. Why did the CDC receive so many calls about e-cigarettes?

A．Parents feared that their children might get poisoned.

B．Parents found the device useless in quitting smoking.

C．Children swallowed the liquid nicotine from the device.

D．Children might get addicted to playing with the device.

3. It can be inferred from the passage that         .

A．the CDC wants to develop a better type of e-cigarettes.

B．the government is in favor of the use of e-cigarettes.

C．Surgeon General Boris

D．Lushniak is a heavy smoker.

4. What is Tim McAfee’s opinion about smoking?

A．Adults should use harmless e-cigarettes.

B．Smoking e-cigarettes can make a person sick.

C．He claims that regulations should be made to ban smoking.

D．He is concerned about the teens using e-cigarettes.

2 . I had the meanest mother in the whole world．While other kids ate candy for breakfast, I had to have cereal, eggs or toast．While others had Cokes and candy for lunch, I had to eat a sandwich．As you can guess, my supper was different from the other kids’ too．But at least, I wasn’t alone in my sufferings．My sister and two brothers had the same mean mother as I did.
My mother insisted upon knowing where we were at all times．She had to know who our friends were and where we were going．She insisted if we said we’d be gone an hour, then we should be gone one hour or less -- not one hour and one minute．And she always insisted upon us telling the truth．Now you can see how mean she was.
The worst is yet to come．We had to be in bed by nine each night and up at eight the next morning．We couldn’t sleep till noon like our friends．So while they slept - my mother actually had the courage to break the Child Labor Law．She made us   work．We had to wash dishes, make beds, and learn to cook．We had to wear clean clothes and take a bath every day．The other kids always wore their clothes for days．We reached the height of disgrace because she made our clothes herself, just to save money．I believe she laid awake at night thinking up mean things to do to us.
Through the years, things didn’t improve a bit．We could not lie in bed “sick” like our friends did, and miss school．Our marks in school had to live up to expectations．Our friends’ report cards had beautiful colors on them, black for passing, red for failing．My mother, being as different as she was, would be satisfied with nothing less than ugly black marks.
As the years rolled by, first one and then the other of us was put to shame．We graduated from high school．With our mother behind us, talking, hitting and demanding respect, none of us was allowed the pleasure of being a drop-out.
My mother was a complete failure as a mother．Out of four children, a couple of us attained some higher education．None of us have ever been arrested or divorced．Each of my brothers served his time in the service of this country．She forced us to grow up into God-fearing, educated, honest adults．I am now trying to raise my three children．I am filled with pride when my children call me mean．Why? Because now I thank God every day for giving me the meanest mother in the whole world.
1. The author’s mother wanted her children to _________．

A．do their best at school and be educated and respected citizens

B．be top students in school and graduate with honors

C．stop seeing her friends who pretended to be sick to skip classes

D．bring home colored report cards like her friends did

2. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the text?

A．The author has a deep hatred for her mother.

B．The author’s mother set timetables for her children whenever they went out．

C．Some of the children weren’t able to go to college because of their mean mother．

D．As a parent, the author is following her mother’s example．

3. It can be inferred from the passage that________．

A．All the other kids at school studied better than the author．

B．The author worked hard and usually got good grades in studies．

C．Mother was punished for breaking the Labor Law．

D．The author’s family lived a miserable life．

3 . 目前，不少人在写作文或交流时喜欢使用网络语言。就此现象，你班最近举行了一场讨论。请根据下表的提示，客观地介绍讨论的情况及你的观点。

40%的同学认为	60%的同学认为	你的观点
1. 有点荒诞，有时让人无法理解 2. 违背了汉语的语法规则，对学习毫无帮助	1. 幽默，使语言更生动 2. 有助于表达思想	1… 2. …

荒诞ridiculous
注意：                           
1. 对所给提示，不要简单翻译，可适当增加细节，使行文连贯。
2. 词数150左右。开头已给出，不计入总词数。
Nowadays, with the development of the Internet, there came a kind of language called Web Language.

4 . The National Gallery

Description:

The National Gallery is the British national art museum built on the north side of Trafalgar Square in London. It houses a diverse collection of more than 2,300 examples of European art ranging from 13th-century religious paintings to more modern ones by Renoir and Van Gogh. The older collections of the gallery are reached through the main entrance while the more modern works in the East Wing are most easily reached from Trafalgar Square by a ground floor entrance.

Layout:

The modern Sainsbury Wing on the western side of the building houses 13th-to15th-century paintings, and artists include Duccio, Uccello, Van Eyck, Lippi, Mantegna, Botticelli and Memling.

The main West Wing houses 16th-century paintings, and artists include Leonardo da Vinci, Cranach, Michelangelo, Raphael, Bruegel, Bronzino, Titan and Veronese.

The North Wing houses 17th-century paintings, and artists include Caravaggio, Rubens, Poussin, Van Dyck, Velazquez, Claude and Vermeer.

The East Wing houses 18th-to early 20th-century paintings, and artists include Canaletto, Goya, Turner, Constable, Renoir and Van Gogh.

Opening Hours:

The Gallery is open every day from 10 am to 6 pm (Fridays 10 am to 9 pm) and is free, but charges apply to some special exhibitions.

Getting There:

Nearest underground stations: Charing Cross (2-minute walk), Leicester Square (3-minute walk), Embankment (7-minute walk), and Piccadilly Circus (8-minute walk).

1. In which century’s collection can you see religious paintings?

A．The 20th	B．The 17th
C．The 18th	D．The 13th

2. Where are Leonardo da Vinci’s works shown?

A．In the East Wing.	B．In the main West Wing.
C．In the Sainsbury Wing.	D．In the North Wing.

3. Which underground station is closest to the National Gallery?

A．Charing Cross.	B．Leicester Square.
C．Embankment.	D．Piccadilly Circus.

5 . The baby is just one day old and has not yet left hospital. She is quiet but alert (警觉的). Twenty centimeters from her face researchers have placed a white card with two black spots on it. She stares at it carefully. A researcher removes the card and replaces it by another, this time with the spots differently spaced. As the cards change from one to the other, her gaze(凝视) starts to lose its focus—until a third, with three black spots, is presented. Her gaze returns: she looks at it for twice as long as she did at the previous card. Can she tell that the number two is different from three, just 24 hours after coming into the world?

Or do newborns simply prefer more to fewer? The same experiment, but with three spots shown before two, shows the same return of interest when the number of spots changes. Perhaps it is just the newness? When slightly older babies were shown cards with pictures of objects (a comb, a key, an orange and so on), changing the number of objects had an effect separate from changing the objects themselves. Could it be the pattern that two things make, as opposed to three? No again. Babies paid more attention to squares moving randomly(随意地)on a screen when their number changed from two to three, or three to two. The effect even crosses between senses. Babies who were repeatedly shown two spots became more excited when they then heard three drumbeats than when they heard just two; likewise(同样地) when the researchers started with drumbeats and moved to spots.

1. The experiment described in Paragraph 1 is related to the baby's ________.

A．sense of hearing	B．sense of sight
C．sense of touch	D．sense of smell

2. Babies are sensitive to the change in ________.

A．the size of cards	B．the colour of pictures
C．the shape of patterns	D．the number of objects

3. Why did the researchers test the babies with drumbeats?

A．To reduce the difficulty of the experiment.

B．To see how babies recognize sounds.

C．To carry their experiment further.

D．To keep the babies' interest.

4. Where does this text probably come from?

A．Science fiction.	B．Children’s literature.
C．An advertisement.	D．A science report.

6 . One of the greatest contributions to the first Oxford English Dictionary was also one of its most unusual. In 1879, Oxford University in England asked Prof. James Murray to serve as editor for what was to be the most ambitious dictionary in the history of the English language. It would include every English word possible and would give not only the definition but also the history of the word and quotations (引文)showing how it was used.
This was a huge task. So Murrary had to find volunteers from Britain, the United States, and the British colonies to search every newspaper, magazine, and book ever written in English. Hundreds of volunteers responded, including William Chester Minor. Dr. Minor was an American Surgeon who had served in the Civil War and was now living in England. He gave his address as “Broadmoor, Crowthorne, Berkshire,” 50 miles from Oxford.
Minor joined the army of volunteers sending words and quotations to Murray. Over the next years, he became one of the staff’s most valued contributors.
But he was also a mystery. In spite of many invitations, he would always decline to visit Oxford. So in 1897， Murray finally decided to travel to Crowthorne himself. When he arrived, he found Minor locked in a book-lined cell at the Broadmoor Asylum for the Criminally insane.
Murray and Minor became friends, sharing their love of words. Minor continued contributing to the dictionary, sending in more than 10,000 submissions in 20 years. Murray continued to visit Minor regularly, sometimes taking walks with him around the asylum grounds.
In 1910, Minor left Broadmoor for an asylum in his native America. Murray was at the port to wave goodbye to his remarkable friend.
Minor died in 1920, seven years before the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was completed. The 12 volumes defined 414,825 words, and thousands of them were contributions from a very scholarly and devoted asylum patient.
1. According to the text, the first Oxford English Dictionary _________.

A．came out before minor died

B．was edited by an American volunteer

C．included the English words invented by Murray

D．was intended to be the most ambitious English dictionary

2. How did Dr. Minor contributed to the dictionary?

A．He helped Murray to find hundreds of volunteers.

B．He sent newspapers, magazines and books to Murray.

C．He provided a great number of words and quotations

D．he went to England to work with Murray.

3. Why did Dr. Minor refuse to visit Oxford?

A．He was shut in an asylum

B．He lived far from Oxford

C．He was busy writing a book

D．He disliked traveling

4. Prof. Murray and Dr. Minor became friends mainly because __________.

A．they both served in the Civil War.

B．They had a common interest in words

C．Minor recovered with the help of Murray

D．Murray went to America regularly to visit Minor

5. Which of the following best describe Dr. Minor?

A．Brave and determined	B．Cautious and friendly
C．Considerate and optimistic	D．Unusual and scholarly

6. What does the text mainly talk about?

A．The history of the English language.

B．The friendship between Murray and Minor

C．Minor and the first Oxford English Dictionary

D．Broadmoor Asylum and is patients

7 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的适当形式。

Why is pink or purple a color for girls and blue or brown for boys?

The answer depends largely     1    cultural values as well as personal experiences. To the Egyptians, green was a color     2     represented the hope and joy of spring, while for Muslims, it means heaven. Red is a symbol of good luck in many cultures. During the Spring Festival in China, children     3     (give) money in a red envelope to bring good fortune in the New Year. For many nations, blue is a symbol of protection and religious beliefs. Greek people often wear a blue necklace hoping to protect    4    against evils（灾祸）.

People’s     5     (choose) of colors is also influenced by their bodies’ reactions toward them. Green is said to be     6     most restful color. It has the ability to reduce pain and relax people both mentally    7    physically. People     8    (work) in green environment have been found to have fewer stomach aches.

Red can cause a person’s blood pressure to rise and increase people’s appetites（食欲）. Many decorators will include different shades of red in the restaurant. And many commercial websites will have a red “Buy Now” button because red is a color that     9    (easy) catches a person’s eye.

Blue is another calming color. Unlike red, blue is believed to cause people to lose appetite. So     10     you want to eat less, some suggest that eating from blue plates can help.

8 . In the face of tragedy，you must of course let yourself feel: Cry without holding back, shake with fear, yell out in anger, accept and follow your feelings．This is part of the wise approach to tragedy: The Upward Path — the feeling of emotions, the acceptance of them, and the coupling of the emotional mind with wisdom．Along this path, you'll take the experience — no matter how sad or upsetting — as a learning event, just as a11 other points on your journey will prove to be．While tragic, you must recognize this is still a chance for all involved to grow．You should let both sadness and joy, fear and courage, dark and light fill your world, and learn to find your steady, calm center in the midst of the opposing forces．This is the Upward Path．Use the event as a chance to gain balance and discover wisdom — the wisdom of love and of letting go, of non-attachment and non-resistance, and using this experience to eventually help others in need of guidance.
Being able to relate to others who have also experienced tragedy and inspire in them hope — of recovery, and of moving forward — is perhaps the greatest gift you can receive from tragedy．Turn the negative into positive, the pain into connection．After you've taken appropriate time to be sad, to feel your own pain, you should make it your work，your goal, your purpose to connect with others who need help．Show them how you've experienced feelings, achieved balance，and gained wisdom that you would never have otherwise had the chance to learn.
FEEL, but do not FEED on tragedy．Rather, let it inspire you to go beyond the person who you were before．With demise comes renewal, so let this loss be also your rebirth．No matter how hopeless it seems, no matter how difficult this becomes, you have the power to transform yourself into someone greater than you ever knew you could be.
1. When following the Upward Path, the person facing tragedy should _______.

A．free his emotions

B．hold back his feelings

C．fill his world with positive ideas

D．give in to tragedy and all opposing forces

2. According to the author， the greatest gift one gets from tragedy is being able to _______.

A．seek solutions from others

B．forgive others and move on

C．stay calm and resist change

D．understand and help others

3. The purpose of the passage is to _______.

A．analyze the causes of tragedy

B．suggest a way of dealing with tragedy

C．tell people how to prevent tragedy

D．encourage people to build friendship after tragedy

9 . Like many other nations, China has been busy putting together evacuation （撤侨）plans for its citizens stuck in crisis-torn Libya．The real surprise has been just how many Chinese are living there．The foreign ministry does not know for sure but puts the figure at 30-40,000．
The huge contingent （代表团） in Libya, who work for at least 27 Chinese companies, has brought to light one of the new dilemmas facing China as its economic interests expand．For a mixture of reasons that are partly political, partly business, Chinese workers are now present in many of the most unrest and dangerous parts of the world, including places where anti-Chinese sentiment over jobs and working conditions is on the rise．One of the first wake-up calls was in 2007, when a group of Chinese women were kidnapped in Pakistan, an event which led to the siege of the Red Mosque in Lahore．In the same year, nine Chinese oil workers were killed in Ethiopia．In recent years, Chinese workers have been kidnapped in Cameroon, Congo and Afghanistan．
Publicly, Chinese diplomats admit that the country needs better contingency plans to deal with this sort of situation．Privately, they worry about a different issue: that such incidents will force them to get much more involved in domestic political disputes in far-off lands, pulling the government away from its commitment to a policy of non-interference．The nightmare, a few diplomats and academics admit, would be a large, violent attack on a group of Chinese which then prompted an intense nationalist reaction at home, forcing the government to take the sort of interventionist （干涉主义的） actions it tries to shun．
Beijing gave some indication of how it will respond in the future with the decision on Thursday to send the frigate（护卫舰） Xuzhou, currently conducting anti-piracy tasks off the coast of Somalia, to Libya．Its mission will be to help the evacuation effort, but it is also a warning to any in Libya who might attack Chinese interests, as well as the latest indication of the growing global reach of China’s navy．As Andrew Erickson, a China expert at the US Naval War College says: “This latest initiative（方案） is part of a larger ongoing increase in Chinese power, presence, and influence around the world, and should come as no surprise．China has global interests, cannot free ride forever, and requires a presence in critical areas and situations in order to have a voice．”
1. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．There are many Chinese workers in the most unrest and dangerous parts of the world．

B．China should protect workers in the foreign countries．

C．China are taking actions to bring its citizens back from Libya．

D．The international situation is terrible

2. The underlined word “shun” in the third paragraph most probably means?

A．take part in	B．avoid
C．carry out	D．refuse

3. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A．It remains unknown how many Chinese are living in Libya．

B．A large number workers are working abroad, which bring about advantages and disadvantages．

C．In no case will the Chinese government take part in solving the political problems in far-off lands．

D．Our government take immediate action to deal with this sort of situation．

4. What’s Not true about the frigate Xuzhou?

A．It is conducting anti-piracy tasks off the coast of Somalia．

B．It will help the evacuation effort．

C．It is a warning to Libya who might attack Chinese interests．

D．It indicates that China’s navy can reach an increasing number of parts of the global．

10 . Batteries can power anything from small sensors to large systems．While scientists are finding ways to make them smaller but even more powerful, problems can arise when these batteries are much larger and heavier than the devices themselves．University of Missouri（MU） researchers are developing a nuclear energy source that is smaller, lighter and more efficient．
“To provide enough power, we need certain methods with high energy density（密度）”，said Jae Kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at MU．“The radioisotope（放射性同位素） battery can provide power density that is much higher than chemical batteries．”
Kwon and his research team have been working on building a small nuclear battery, presently the size and thickness of a penny, intended to power various micro / nanoelectromechanical systems （M/NEMS）．Although nuclear batteries can cause concerns, Kwon said they are safe．
“People hear the word ‘nuclear’ and think of something very dangerous,” he said, “However, nuclear power sources have already been safely powering a variety of devices, such as pace-makers, space satellites and underwater systems．”
His new idea is not only in the battery’s size, but also in its semiconductor（半导体）．Kwon’s battery uses a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor．
“The key part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure（晶体结构） of the solid semiconductor,” Kwon said, “By using a liquid semiconductor, we believe we can minimize that problem．”
Together with J．David Robertson, chemistry professor and associate director of the MU Research Reactor, Kwon is working to build and test the battery．In the future, they hope to increase the battery’s power, shrink its size and try with various other materials．Kwon said that battery could be thinner than the thickness of human hair．
1. Jae Kwon gave examples in Paragraph 4_________．

A．to show chemical batteries are widely applied．

B．to introduce nuclear batteries can be safely used．

C．to describe a nuclear-powered system．

D．to introduce various energy sources．

2. According to Jae Kwon, his nuclear battery _______．

A．uses a solid semiconductor

B．will soon replace the present ones．

C．could be extremely thin

D．has passed the final test．

3. The text is most probably a ________．

A．science news report	B．book review
C．newspaper ad	D．science fiction