1 . Can you imagine what 680,000 tons of food look like? That’s the amount of food wasted in Britain each year, and at the top of the list of wasted food is bread. In the British diet, bread appears in every meal. It is eaten for breakfast, used for sandwiches for lunch and put in soups at dinner. Almost everyone in Britain buys bread.

Bread is so important to the British that they use the word “bread” to mean “money” and the word “loaf” to mean “head”. So let’s use our “loaves” to understand why so much “bread” is wasted!

Even though bread is still sold in such a popular way and in such a large amount, that doesn’t mean it’s made full use of. It seems people are simply buying much more than they need, so they throw away the bread that they don’t need.

Baker Chris Young explains that the British aren’t valuing their bread because bread is no longer respected. “None of the bread that is thrown away is ‘real’ bread—homemade or carefully-made bread, but is bought from the bread shop.”

Another baker Mark Boyle agrees. “If you make something by yourself, you don’t want to waste it because you know how much energy you’ve put into it. But although home baking is a nice idea, for many it’s out of their ability because they have to work such long hours every day that they don’t have time to make bread by themselves at home. So they simply buy bread and just bring it home to eat.”

Perhaps the British should try to bake bread by themselves, which can probably make their dustbins lighter.

1. What can we infer from the passage?

A．Bread plays an important part in British diet.	B．Different British people like different foods.
C．Bread will become less popular in Britain.	D．Bread is the favorite food for the British.

2. If a British boss says to his workers “Please bring your loaves here,” he ________.

A．wants his workers to eat healthily	B．advises his workers to buy more bread
C．asks his workers to work more cleverly	D．promises to give his workers more money

3. Mark Boyle believes that the British throw away much bread mainly because ________.

A．they are tired of eating bread	B．they are too rich to value bread
C．they don’t like the taste of bread	D．they don’t put any energy into making bread

4. Many British people fail to make bread by themselves at home because ________.

A．they are very busy	B．they don’t earn much money
C．they become lazier than before	D．they don’t know how to bake bread

2 . When I see my children avoiding the food on dirty plates in the sink or cringing at the wet sand sticking to her hands, I’m reminded of a time when I was unwilling to get my hands a little dirty.

My parents owned a 500-acre ranch (牧场) in Montana when I was young. We had the usual group of animals to care for: cows, sheep, horses, chickens, dogs and barn cats. There were always fences to fix and things to plow or burn. I probably didn’t help as much as I should have, could have or would have if I’d been a little older.

One cold day, I was checking on the sheep with my mother when she spied a sheep in trouble. The poor thing was trying to deliver her lamb and needed our help. My mother calmly held the sheep’s head and instructed me to grab hold of two tender legs.

I hesitated, and must have had quite a look of panic on my young face. The little things were definitely not something I wanted to touch. But I worked up my courage and put my fingers around them. My heart beat in fear and excitement as I pulled with all my strength. I can still remember the feel of the unexpectedly soft legs and their sharp little hooves (蹄) as if it happened yesterday. I remember feeling happy to see “my lamb” being licked (舔) clean by her mother.

Looking back, I’m so glad that I didn’t refuse to get my hands a little dirty. If I had, a wonderful memory would have been lost. Sometimes you need to get your hands a little dirty to experience something amazing and pure.

1. What does the underlined phrase “cringing at” in Paragraph 1 mean?

A．Paying attention to.	B．Feeling uneasy about.
C．Breaking away from.	D．Getting curious about.

2. What can we know from Paragraph 2?

A．The author owned a big ranch.

B．There were many ranches in Montana.

C．The author had to fix a lot of fences.

D．The author was too young to help much.

3. How did the author help the sheep to deliver her lamb?

A．By pulling the sheep baby out.

B．By touching the little hooves.

C．By holding the sheep’s head.

D．By cleaning the baby.

4. What does the author want to tell children?

A．It is better for kids to help parents earlier.

B．Keeping your hands clean is a good habit.

C．It is certain to get dirty working on the ranch.

D．Getting hands dirty is to explore something unusual.