1 . Eating too much fatty food, exercising too little and smoking can raise your future risk of heart disease. But there is another factor that can cause your heart problems more immediately：the air you breathe.

Previous studies have linked high exposure (暴露) to environmental pollution to an increased risk of heart problems，but two analyses now show that poor air quality can lead to heart attack or stroke (中风) within as little as a few hours after exposure. In one review of the research, scientists found that people exposed to high levels of pollutants (污染物) were up to 5% more likely to suffer a heart attack within days of exposure than those with lower exposure. A separate study of stroke patients showed that even air that the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)considers to be of “moderate” (良好) quality and relatively safe for our health can raise the risk of stroke as much as 34% within 12 to 14 hours of exposure.

The authors of both studies stress that these risks are relatively small for healthy people and certainly modest compared with other risk factors such as smoking and high blood pressure. However, it is important to be aware of these dangers because everyone is exposed to air pollution regardless of lifestyle choices. So stricter regulation by the EPA of pollutants may not only improve environmental air quality but could also become necessary to protect public health.

1. The text mainly discusses the relationship between ________.

A．heart problems and air quality

B．heart problems and exercising

C．heart problems and smoking

D．heart problems and fatty food

2. The underlined word “modest” in Paragraph 3 most probably means ________.

A．relatively high	B．extremely low
C．relatively low	D．extremely high

3. What can we learn from the text?

A．Eating fatty food has immediate effects on your heart.

B．The EPA conducted many studies on air quality.

C．Moderate air quality is more harmful than smoking.

D．Stricter regulations on pollutants should be made.

4. The author's purpose of writing the text is most likely to ________.

A．inform	B．persuade
C．describe	D．entertain

2 .         Franz Kafka wrote that “a book must be the ax for the frozen sea inside us”. I once shared this sentence with a class of seventh graders, and it didn't seem to require any explanation.

We'd just finished John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men. When we read the end together out loud in class, my toughest boy, a star basketball player, wept a little, and so did I. “Are you crying?” one girl asked, as she got out of her chair to take a closer look. “I am,” I told her, “and the funny thing is I've read it many times.”

But they understood. When George shoots Lennie, the tragedy is that we realize it was always going to happen. In my 14 years of teaching in a New York City public middle school, I've taught kids with imprisoned parents, abusive parents, irresponsible parents; kids who are parents themselves; kids who are homeless; kids who grew up in violent neighborhoods. They understand, more than I ever will, the novel's terrible logic-the giving way of dreams to fate.

For the last seven years, I have worked as a reading enrichment teacher, reading classic works of literature with small groups of students from grades six to eight. I originally proposed this idea to my headmaster after learning that a former excellent student of mine had transferred out of a selective high school-one that often attracts the literary-minded children of Manhattan's upper classes-into a less competitive setting. The daughter of immigrants, with a father in prison, she perhaps felt uncomfortable with her new classmates. I thought additional “cultural capital” could help students like her develop better in high school, where they would unavoidably meet, perhaps for the first time, students who came from homes lined with bookshelves, whose parents had earned Ph.D.'s.

Along with Of Mice and Men, my groups read: Sounder, The Red Pony, Lord of the Flies, Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth. The students didn't always read from the expected point of view.

About The Red Pony, one student said, “it's about being a man, it's about manliness.” I had never before seen the parallels between Scarface and Macbeth, nor had I heard Lady Macbeth's soliloquies read as raps, but both made sense; the interpretations were playful, but serious. Once introduced to Steinbeck's writing, one boy went on to read The Grapes of Wrath and told me repeatedly how amazing it was that “all these people hate each other, and they're all white.” His historical view was broadening, his sense of his own country deepening. Year after year, former students visited and told me how prepared they had felt in their first year in college as a result of the classes.

Year after year, however, we are increasing the number of practice tests. We are trying to teach students to read increasingly complex texts, not for emotional punch but for text complexity. Yet, we cannot enrich the minds of our students by testing them on texts that ignore their hearts. We are teaching them that words do not amaze but confuse. We may succeed in raising test scores, but we will fail to teach them that reading can be transformative and that it belongs to them.

1. The underlined words in Paragraph 1 probably mean that a book helps to __________.

A．realize our dreams	B．give support to our life
C．smooth away difficulties	D．awake our emotions

2. Why were the students able to understand the novel Of Mice and Men？

A．Because they spent much time reading it.	B．Because they had read the novel before.
C．Because they came from a public school.	D．Because they had similar life experiences.

3. The girl left the selective high school possibly because__________.

A．she was a literary-minded girl	B．her parents were immigrants
C．she couldn't fit in with her class	D．her father was then in prison

4. To the author's surprise, the students read the novels__________.

A．creatively

B．passively

C．repeatedly

D．carelessly

5. The author writes the passage mainly to__________.

A．introduce classic works of literature	B．advocate teaching literature to touch the heart
C．argue for equality among high school students	D．defend the current testing system

3 . Henry Ford was the first person to build cars which were cheap，strong and fast．He was able to se11 millions of cars because he could produce them in large numbers at a time；that is，he made many cars of the same kind．Ford’s father hoped that his son would become a farmer，but the young man did not like the idea and he went to Detroit（底特律）where he worked as a mechanic（机械师）．By the age of 29，in 1892，he had built his first car．However，the car made in this way，the famous “ Model T ” did not appear until 1908. Five years ago, Ford started his great motor car factory．This kind of car showed to be well-known that it remained unchanged for twenty year．Since Ford’s time，this way of producing cars in large numbers has become common in industry and has reduced the price of many goods which would be very expensive．
1. Henry Ford was the man to built _____ cars．

A．cheap and strong	B．cheap and long
C．fast and expensive	D．strong and slow

2. Ford was able to sell millions of cars，because_____．

A．he made many cars	B．his cars are many
C．he made lots of cars of the same kind	D．both A and B

3. The young man became a mechanic，_______．

A．which was his father’s will	B．which was against his own will
C．which was against his father’s will	D．which was his teacher’s will

4. The “ Model T ” was very famous_____．

A．before 1908	B．between 1982 and 1908
C．before 1892	D．after 1908

5. Ford built his own car factory_____．

A．in 1903

B．in 1908

C．in 1913

D．in 1897

4 . Many people believe Henry Ford invented the automobile (汽车). But Henry Ford did not start to build his first car until 1896. That was eleven years after two Germans developed the world's first automobile. Many people believe Henry Ford invented the production line that moved a car's parts to the worker, instead of making the worker move to the parts. That is not true, either. Many factory owners used methods of this kind before Ford. What Henry Ford did was to use other people's ideas and make them better. And he made the whole factory a moving production line.
In the early days of the automobile, almost every car maker raced his cars. It was the best way of gaining public notice. Henry Ford decided to build a racing car. Ford's most famous race was his first one. It was also the last race in which he drove the car himself.
The race was in 1901, at a field near Detroit. All of the most famous cars had entered, but only two were left: the Winton and Ford's. The Winton was famous for its speed. Most people thought the race was over before it began.
The Winton took an early lead. But halfway through the race, it began to lose power. Ford started to gain. And near the end of the race, he took the lead. Ford won the race and defeated the Winton. His name appeared in newspapers and he became well-known all over the United States. Within weeks of the race, Henry Ford formed a new automobile company. In 1903, a doctor in Detroit bought the first car from the company. ____ was the beginning of Henry Ford's dream. Ford said: "I will build a motor car for the great mass of people. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for one person to operate and care for. It will be built of the best materials. It will be built by the best men to be employed. And it will be built with the simplest plans that modern engineering can produce. It will be so low in price that no man making good money will be unable to own one."
The Model T was a car of that kind. It only cost $850. It was a simple machine that drivers could depend on. Doctors bought the Model T. So did farmers. Even criminals. They considered it the fastest and surest form of transportation. Americans loved the Model T. They wrote stories and songs about it. Thousands of Model T's were built in the first few years.
1. What do we know about Henry Ford from Paragraph 1?

A．He made good use of ideas from others.

B．He produced the first car in the world.

C．He knew how to improve auto parts.

D．He invented the production line.

2. Why did Henry Ford take part in the 1901 car race?

A．To show off his driving skills.

B．To draw public attention.

C．To learn about new technology.

D．To raise money for his new company.

3. “That sale” in Paragraph 4 refers to       .

A．the selling of Ford cars at reduced prices

B．the sale of Model T to the mass of people

C．he selling of a car to a Detroit doctor

D．the sales target for the Ford Company

4. What was Henry Ford's dream according to the text?

A．Producing cars for average customers.

B．Building racing cars of simple design.

C．Designing more car models.

D．Starting more companies.

5 . The internet will open up new vistas (前景), create the global village —you can make new friends all around the world .That, at least, is what it promised us. The difficulty is that it did not take the human mind into account. The reality is that we cannot keep relationships with more than a limited number of people. No matter how hard the internet tries to put you in communication, its best efforts will be defeated human mind.
The problem is twofold（双重的）.First, there is a limit on the number of people we can hold in mind and have a meaningful relationship with. That number is about 150 and is set by the size of our brain. Second, the quality of your relationships depends on the amount of time you invest（投入）in them. We invest a lot in a small number of people and then distribution what’s left among as many others as we can. The problem is that if we invest little time in a person, our engagement with that person will decline（减弱）until eventually it dies into “someone I once knew”.
This is not, of course, to say that the internet doesn’t serve a socially valuable function. Of course it does. But the question is not that it allows you to increase the size of your social circle to include the rest of the world, but that you can keep your relationships with your existing friends going even though you have to move to the other side of the world.
In one sense, that’s a good thing. But it also has a disadvantage. If you continue to invest in your old friends even though you can no longer see then, then certainly you aren’t using your time to make new friends where you now live. And I suspect that probably isn’ t the best use of your time. Meaningful relationships are about being able to communicate with each other, face to face. The internet will slow down the rate with which relationships end, but it won’t stop that happening eventually.
1. What is stressed in the first paragraph?

A．The present situation of the internet.

B．The difficulty in communication on the internet.

C．The socially valuable function of the internet.

D．The role of the human mind in the internet communication.

2. The underlined word “engagement” in the second paragraph probably means “      ”.

A．appointment

B．connection

C．interview

D．agreement

3. According to the passage, the author holds the view that     .

A．the internet fails to play so valuable a role in communication as it promised

B．the Internet determines the quality of social relationships

C．the internet greatly increases the size of social circles

D．the internet communication is no less effective than the face-to-face talk

4. What is the author’s attitude towards the use of the internet to strengthen relationships?

A．He is uncertain about it.	B．He is hopeful of it
C．He approves of it	D．He doubts it

6 . I am trying to muster (鼓起) the courage to toss away my mobile phone to enjoy a more peaceful and ring­-free life.

Can you imagine not having your mobile phone? In our high-­tech, in-­a-­hurry age, a cell­-free life is a hard concept to swallow. Our mobile phones can now access the Internet, and many people feel the need to express their every thought on their blog pages. If I gave up my cellphone, people would think I was mad.

I wish I had the strength to toss away my technology. I have an office phone, a home phone, an e­mail and if people want to contact me, they can. If I’m out, people can leave a message. Do they really need to find me 24/7? However, I’m a bit like Frodo in the movie Lord of the Rings. The power of the ring is too strong and I can’t let it go.

Mobile phones have become necessary tools in our busy life. For most people, they hold all contacts and many of us don’t write up address books any more. The latest phones carry our music, pictures, movies and everything else. We feel lost without this device and when we do misplace it, we feel cut off from our fellow.

“Where have you been?” said a friend, who saw me a week after I lost my cellphone, “I tried calling you, but you disappeared. You disappeared off the face of the Earth.” See, when you don’t have a mobile phone, you don’t exist.

I’m not really going to toss my mobile phone away, in fact. We humans are such social animals and mobile phones serve us well. So in 2009, I’ve decided not to serve my mobile phone. Like all machines, I can always turn it off.

1. What does the underlined phrase “toss away” mean?

A．give away

B．get away

C．break away

D．throw away

2. The writer mentions Frodo to________.

A．show it is difficult to get rid of the mobile phone

B．show how much he likes Frodo

C．suggest a cell-­free life is what he wants

D．introduce a film character to us

3. What do we know about mobile phones in the 4th paragraph?

A．Mobile phones can do anything for us.

B．Mobile phones have become very important in our life.

C．We could not live without mobile phones.

D．We would be cut off by our fellow without mobile phones.

4. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．The writer is not really going to toss his mobile phone away.

B．When you don’t have a mobile phone, you don’t exist.

C．The writer decides not to serve his mobile phone.

D．We humans can control ourselves and machines.

7 . After giving a talk at a high school, I was asked to pay a visit to a spe­cial student. An illness had kept the boy home, but he had expressed an interest in meeting me. I was told it would mean a great deal to him, so I agreed.
During the nine-mile drive to his home, I found out something about Matthew. He had muscular dystrophy (肌肉萎缩症). When he was born, the doctor told his parents that he would not live to five, and then they were told he would not make it to ten. Now he was thirteen. He wanted to meet me because I was a gold-medal power lifter, and I knew about overcoming obstacles and going for my dreams.
I spent over an hour talking to Matthew. _____________________” He spoke about winning and succeeding and going for his dreams. Obviously, he knew what he was talking about. He didn’t mention that his classmates had made fun of him because he was different. He just talked about his hopes for the future, and how one day he wanted to lift weights with me. When we had finished talking, I went to my briefcase and pulled out the first gold medal I had won and put it around his neck. I told him he was more of a winner and knew more about success and overcoming obstacles than I ever would. He looked at it for a moment, then took it off and handed it back to me. He said, “You are a champion. You earned that medal. Someday when I get to the Olympics and win my own medal, I will show it to you.”
Last summer I received a letter from Matthew’s parents telling me that Matthew had passed away. They wanted me to have a letter he had written to me a few days before:
Dear Dick,
My mum said I should send you a thank-you letter for the picture you sent me. I also want to let you know that the doctors tell me that I don’t have long to live any more, but I still smile as much as I can.
I told you someday that I would go to the Olympics and win a gold medal, but I know now I will never get to do that. However, I know I’m a champion, and God knows that too. When I get to Heaven, God will give me my medal and when you get there, I will show it to you. Thank you for loving me.
Your friend,
Matthew
1. The boy looked forward to meeting the author because _________.

A．he was also good at weight lifting

B．he wanted to get to the Olympics and win a medal

C．he was one of the author’s fans

D．he admired the author very much

2. The underlined sentence in the third paragraph probably means that _______.

A．the boy never complained about how unlucky he was to have this disease

B．the boy never complained about not being able to go to school

C．the boy never complained why the author had never come to see him before

D．the boy never complained about not getting a medal

3. From the passage we learn that _________.

A．Matthew was an athlete

B．Matthew was an optimistic and determined boy

C．The author used to have the same disease as Matthew had

D．Matthew became a champion before he died

4. Matthew didn’t accept the author’s medal because _________.

A．he thought it was too expensive

B．he was sure that he could win one in the future

C．he thought it was of no use to him as he would die soon

D．he would not be pitied by others

5. What would be the best title for this passage?

A．A sick boy.	B．A special friend.
C．A real champion.	D．A famous athlete.

8 . Banks view online banking as a powerful “value-added” tool to attract and keep new customers while helping to eliminate costly paper handling or teller(出纳员)interactions in an increasingly competitive banking environment .

Today, most large national banks, many local banks and credit unions offer some form of online banking, variously known as PC banking, home banking, electronic banking or Internet banking. Online banks are sometimes referred to as “brick-to-click” banks, both to tell them from “brick-to-mortar” banks that haven’t yet offered online banking, as well as from “virtual”(虚拟)banks that have no physical branches or tellers whatsoever.

The challenge(挑战)for the banking industry has been to design this new service channel in such a way that its customers will readily learn to use and trust it. Most of the large banks can now offer fully safe, fully functional(功能的)online banking for free or for a small cost. As more banks succeed online and more customers use their sites, fully functional online banking will likely become as commonplace as automated teller machines (ATM).

Online banking has a lot of advantages. Unlike your corner bank, online banking sites never close; they’re at hand 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and they’re a mouse click away. If you’re out of state or even out of the country when a money problem appears, you can log on instantly to your online bank and take care of business. Online bank sites generally carry out and confirm (确认)deals at or quicker than ATM processing speeds. Many online banking sites now offer fashionable tools to help you manage all of your valuable items more effectively.

1. The word “eliminate” in the first paragraph probably means “         ”.

A．keep

B．remove

C．reduce

D．improve

2. What is the challenge for the banking industry according to the text ?

A．To make online banking attractive.	B．To open new services all over the world.
C．To offer online banking for free.	D．To take care of business 24 hours a day.

3. From the text we can conclude that           .

A．“brick-to-click” banks are in fact another kind of physical banks

B．the function of a “brick-to-click” bank is as common as that of an ATM

C．a “brick-to-mortar” bank is no better than a virtual one

D．customers can deal with their banking by a mouse click

4. What would be the best title for this text ?

A．Banking of Various Forms	B．Improvement of Banking Industry
C．Development of Online Banking	D．Functions of the “Brick-to-Click” Bank

9 . 根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
What is your favorite color? Do you like yellow, orange, red?     1    . Do you prefer grays and blues? Then you are probably quiet, shy, and you would rather follow than lead. You tend to be pessimist. At least, this is what psychologists tell us, and they should know, because they have been seriously studying the meaning of color preference, as well as the effect that colors have on human beings.     2    . If you happen to love brown, you did so, as soon as you opened your eyes, or at least as soon as you could see clearly.
    3    . A yellow room makes most people feel more cheerful and more relaxed than a dark green one; and a red dress brings warmth and cheer to the saddest winter day.     4    . A black bridge over the Thames River, near London, used to be the scene of more suicides(自杀) than any other bridge in the area — until it was repainted green. The number of suicide attempts immediately fell sharply. Perhaps it would have fallen even more if the bridge had been done in pink or baby blue.
    5    . It is an established fact that factory workers work better, harder, and have fewer accidents when their machines are painted orange rather than black or grey.

A．On the other hand, black is depressing.

B．They tell us, among other facts, that we do not choose our favorite color as grow up — we are born with our preference.

C．The rooms are painted in different colors as you like.

D．If you do, you must be an optimist, a leader, an active person who enjoys life, people and excitement.

E．Light and bright colors make people not only happier but more active.

F．Life is like a picture or a poem, full of different colors.

G．Colors do influence our moods—there is no doubt about it

10 . I travel a lot, and I find out different “styles”(风格)of directions every time I ask “ How can I get to the post office?”
Foreign tourists are often confused(困惑的)in Japan because most streets there don’t have names. In Japan, people use landmarks(地标)in their directions instead of street names. For example, the Japanese will say to travelers, “ Go straight down to the corner. Turn left at the big hotel and go past a fruit market. The post office is across from the bus stop.”
In the countryside of the American Midwest, there are not usually many landmarks. There are no mountains, so the land is very flat. In many places there are no towns or buildings within miles. Instead of landmarks, people will tell you directions and distances. In Kansas or Iowa, for example, people will say, “ Go north two miles. Turn east, and then go another mile.
People in Los Angeles, California, have no idea of distance on the map. They measure distance in time, not miles. “ How far away is the post office?” you ask. “ Oh,” they answer, “ it’s about five minutes from here.” You say, “ Yes, but how many miles is it?” They don’t know.
It’s true that a person doesn't know the answer to your question sometimes. What happens in such a situation? A New Yorker might say, “ Sorry, I have no idea.” But in Yucatan, Mexico, no one answers “ I don't know”. People in Yucatan believe that “I don't know” is impolite. They usually give an answer, often a wrong one. A tourist can get very, very lost in Yucatan!
1. When a tourist asks the Japanese the way to a certain place, they usually _______ .

A．describe the place carefully

B．show him a map of the place

C．tell him the names of the streets

D．refer to recognizable buildings and places

2. What is the place where people measure distance in time?

A．New York.	B．Los Angles.
C．Kansas                 C. Iowa

3. People inYucatan may give a tourist a wrong answer ________ .

A．in order to save time	B．as a test
C．so as to be polite	D．for fun

4. What can we infer from the text?

A．It’s important for travelers to understand cultural differences.

B．It’s useful for travelers to know how to ask the way properly.

C．People have similar understanding of politeness.

D．New Yorkers are generally friendly to visitors.