1 . When first entered, Vanak Restaurant does not look like much of a restaurant, but once the pleasant smells of kabob (烤肉串) hit the senses, you are incapable of calling it anything less.
Owned by a local couple, this Persian restaurant has an inviting, homelike atmosphere that many restaurants lack.

The space is small with only a few dining tables and nearly no decoration, but the environment is truly charming.

Lying in a hardly noticeable street corner, the restaurant still attracts all customers, especially those experienced in the delights of Middle Eastern cooking.

A common sight is that of old Persian men sitting in the corner talking loudly about world topics, watching news events on TV, drinking a black tea known as Persian chai, an reading local Persian newspapers all the while trying to finish off their plates piled with food.

The variety of food at the restaurant is limited, but the amount of each dish is fairly large. Most of the meals can serve two people and are under $10, so not only is it affordable but practical as well.

The food, especially appeals to health-conscious eaters because each dish is very healthy, made with limited fat and oil and served straight off the grill (烤肉架).

The main dish that the restaurant is popular for is its kabobs, which are different style of grilled meat.

One delicious and extremely healthy dish is the Joojeh Kabob, which is made of grille chicken pieces served with cither rice or bread. Another great kabob is the Cbelo Kabob, kabob consisting of grilled beef.

Although the restaurant is small, the atmosphere and the food is delicious. It is a place that should not be overlooked.

1. When first entering the restaurant, one can find that it ________.

A．is splendidly decorated

B．has pleasant smells of kabobs

C．is crowded with dining tables

D．looks like a common restaurant

2. What activity is also mentioned apart from dining in the restaurant?

A．Watching news events on TV.

B．Drinking a kind of black coffee.

C．Reading local English newspapers.

D．Discussing world topics in low voices.

3. The food of the restaurant ________.

A．is served in small amounts

B．is rather expensive

C．is rich in variety

D．is very healthy

4. What is the dish Joojeh Kabob mainly made of?

A．Rice

B．Chicken

C．Bread

D．Beef

5. It can be inferred from the passage that the restaurant ________.

A．occupies a large space

B．owns a favorable location

C．is popular for its special food

D．has a quiet environment inside

2 . On a hill 600 feet above the surrounding land, we watch the lines of rain move across the scene, the moon rise over the hills, and the stars appear in the sky. The views invite a long look from a comfortable chair in front of the wooden house.

Every window in our wooden house has a view, and the forest and lakes seldom look the same as the hour before. Each look reminds us where we are.

There is space for our three boys to play outside, to shoot arrows, collect tree seeds, build earth houses and climb trees.

Our kids have learned the names of the trees, and with the names have come familiarity and appreciation. As they tell all who show even a passing interest, maple（枫树）makes the best fighting sticks and white pines are the best climbing trees.

The air is clean and fresh. The water from the well has a pleasant taste, and it is perhaps the healthiest water our kids will ever drink. Though they have one glass a day of juice and the rest is water, they never say anything against that.

The seasons change just outside the door. We watch the maples turn every shade of yellow and red in the fall and note the poplars’（杨树）putting out the first green leaves of spring. The rainbow smelt fills the local steam as the ice gradually disappears, and the wood frogs start to sing in pools after being frozen for the winter. A family of birds rules our skies and flies over the lake.

1. What can be learned from Paragraph 2?

A．The scenes are colorful and changeable.

B．There are many windows in the wooden house.

C．The views remind us that we are in a wooden house.

D．The lakes outside the windows are quite different in color.

2. By mentioning the names of the trees, the author aims to show that ______ .

A．the kids like playing in trees

B．the kids are very familiar with trees

C．the kids have learned much knowledge

D．the kids find trees useful learning tools

3. What does the underlined sentence in the last paragraph mean?

A．The change of seasons is easily felt.

B．The seasons make the scenes change.

C．The weather often changes in the forest.

D．The door is a good position to enjoy changing seasons.

4. What is the main purpose of the author writing the text?

A．To describe the beauty of the scene around the house.

B．To introduce her children’s happy life in the forest.

C．To show that living in the forest is healthful.

D．To share the joy of living in the nature.

3 . 下面短文中有10 处语言错误。请在有错误的地方增加、删除或修改某个的单词。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写上该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（﹨）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写上修改后的词。
注意：1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2．只允许修改10 处，多者（从第11 处起）不计分。
   My father and I stayed at the South Lake Hotel for a week when we visit Beijing last month. It is in the downtown area, but it is easy to go to anywhere from the hotel by public transport. We lived in a comfortably double-room with a big bath. What I liked best were the free high-speed Internet connection in the room. I checked my email messages every day. I also shared for my friends many photos taking in Beijing. The food was wonderful with reasonable prices, and we enjoyed several local dish. It is such great hotel that I would like to recommend it to any friend of me who is going to Beijing.

4 . Thousands of people living in the Chinese capital will celebrate the start of the Chinese New year by heading for the ski resorts (滑雪场). Never mind that Beijing’s dry weather seldom produces snow. It is cold enough in winter for snow-making machines             to make a covering for the hills north to the capital. And the rapid growth of a pleasure-seeking middle class has formed the basis for this new craze(热潮).
Since Beijing’s first ski resort was opened ten years ago, the sport has enjoyed astonishing increase. There are now more than a dozen resorts. Clothes markets in the city have added bright colored ski suits to their winter collections. Mr. Wei, a             manager of a newly-opened ski resort in Beijing, sees the growth of an industry that could soon lead Chinese to head for the ski resorts of Europe. In recent years, ski resorts offering natural snow have opened in China. But many are in faraway             areas of the country and can’t really match the equipment and services of some ski resorts in Europe.
Beijing’s skiing craze is partly a result of the recent increase in private (私有的) cars. This has led to the growth of a leisure industry in the capital’s suburbs (郊区), which until the late-1990s were unreachable to ordinary people. According to Mr. Wei, about 40% of the visitors to his resort come in their own cars. The rest are bused in by schools, businesses or government offices.
The problem is making money. Starting ski resorts requires quite a lot of money; hiring land from the local government, preparing the hills, buying snow machines, making sure there are enough water and electricity to run them, and buying ski equipment             for hiring out to customers.
The ski resort where Mr. Wei works cost nearly $4 million to set up. And as so often in China when someone comes up with a good idea, many others rush in and price wars break out. Beijing now offers some of the cheapest ski training classes in the             world, though with most people rather new to the sport, expecting a few more doing the same job.
1. What does this text mainly talk about?

A．Convenience for skiers brought about by private cars.

B．Skiing as a new way of enjoying one's spare time.

C．Things to be considered when starting a ski resort.

D．A sudden increase of ski training classes in Beijing.

2. Why are some Chinese likely to go skiing in Europe?

A．To visit more ski areas.

B．To ski on natural snow.

C．For a large collection of ski suits.

D．For better services and equipment.

3. The underlined words “leisure industry” in Paragraph 3 refer to         

A．transport to ski resorts

B．production of family cars

C．business of providing spare time enjoyments

D．part-time work for people living in the suburbs

4. What is the main problem in running a ski resort?

A．Difficulty in hiring land．

B．Lack of business experience．

C．Price wars with other ski resorts

D．Shortage of water and electricity.

5 . My family and I lived across the street from Southway Park since I was four years old. Then just last year the city put a chain link fence around the park and started bulldozing (用推土机推平) the trees and grass to make way for a new apartment complex. When I saw the fence and bulldozers, I asked myself, “Why don't they just leave it alone?”

Looking back, I think what sentenced the park to oblivion (被遗忘) was the drought (旱灾) we had about four years ago. Up until then, Southway Park was a nice green park with plenty of trees and a public swimming pool. My friends and I rollerskated on the sidewalks, climbed the trees, and swam in the pool all the years I was growing up. The park was almost like my own yard. Then the summer I was fifteen the drought came and things changed.

There had been almost no rain at all that year. The city stopped watering the park grass. Within a few weeks I found myself living across the street from a huge brown desert. Leaves fell off the park trees, and pretty soon the trees started dying, too. Next, the park swimming pool was closed. The city cut down on the work force that kept the park, and pretty soon it just got too ugly and dirty to enjoy anymore.

As the drought lasted into the fall, the park got worse every month. The rubbish piled up or blew across the brown grass. Soon the only people in the park were beggars and other people down on their luck. People said drugs were being sold or traded there now. The park had gotten scary, and my mother told us kids not to go there anymore.

The drought finally ended and things seemed to get back to normal, that is, everything but the park. It had gotten into such bad shape that the city just let it stay that way. Then about six months ago I heard that the city was going to “redevelop” certain worn-out areas of the city. It turned out that the city had planned to get rid of the park, sell the land and let someone build rows of apartment buildings on it.

The chain-link fencing and the bulldozers did their work. Now we live across the street from six rows of apartment buildings. Each of them is three units high and stretches a block in each direction. The neighborhood has changed without the park. The streets I used to play in are jammed with cars now. Things will never be the same again. Sometimes I wonder, though, what changes another drought would make in the way things are today.

1. How did the writer feel when he saw the fence and bulldozers.'?

A．Scared.

B．Confused.

C．Upset.

D．Curious.

2. Why was the writer told not to go to the park by his mother?

A．It was being rebuilt.	B．It was dangerous.
C．It became crowded.	D．It had turned into a desert.

3. According to the writer, what eventually brought about the disappearance of the park?

A．The drought.	B．The crime.
C．The beggars and the rubbish.	D．The decisions of the city.

4. The last sentence of the passage implies that if another drought came,         .

A．the situation would be much worse

B．people would have to desert their homes

C．the city would be fully prepared in advance

D．the city would have to redevelop the neighborhood

6 . How Room Designs Affect Our Work and Feelings

Architects have long had the feeling that the places we live in can affect our thoughts, feelings and behaviors. But now scientists are giving this feeling an empirical（经验的，实证的） basis. They are discovering how to design spaces that promote creativity, keep people focused and lead to relaxation.

Researches show that aspects of the physical environment can influence creativity. In 2007, Joan Meyers-Levy at the University of Minnesota, reported that the height of a room's ceiling affects how people think. Her research indicates that higher ceilings encourage people to think more freely, which may lead them to make more abstract connections. Low ceilings, on the other hand, may inspire a more detailed outlook.

In additions to ceiling height, the view afforded by a building may influence an occupant's ability to concentrate. Nancy Wells and her colleagues at Cornell University found in their study that kids who experienced the greatest increase in greenness as a result of a family move made the most gains on a standard test of attention.

Using nature to improve focus of attention ought to pay off academically, and it seems to, according to a study led by C. Kenneth Tanner, head of the School Design & Planning Laboratory at the University of Georgia. Tanner and his team found that students in classrooms with unblocked views of at least 50 feet outside the window had higher scores on tests of vocabulary, language arts and maths than did students whose classrooms primarily overlooked roads and parking lots.

Recent study on room lighting design suggests than dim（暗淡的） light helps people to loosen up. If that is true generally, keeping the light low during dinner or at parties could increase relaxation. Researchers of Harvard Medical School also discovered that furniture with rounded edges could help visitors relax.

So far scientists have focused mainly on public buildings. "We have a very limited number of studies, so we're almost looking at the problem through a straw（吸管）," architect David Allison says. "How do you take answers to very specific questions and make broad, generalized use of them? That's what we're all struggling with."

1. What does Joan Meyers-Levy focus on in her research?

A．Light.

B．Ceilings.

C．Windows.

D．Furniture.

2. The passage tells us that ________.

A．the shape of furniture may affect people's feelings

B．lower ceilings may help improve students' creativity

C．children in a dim classroom may improve their grades

D．students in rooms with unblocked views may feel relaxed

3. The underlined sentence in the last paragraph probably means that ________.

A．the problem is not approached step by step

B．the researches so far have faults in themselves

C．the problem is too difficult for researchers to detect

D．research in this area is not enough to make generalized patterns

4. Which of the following shows the organization of the passage?
CP: Central Point       P: Point     SP: Sub-point（次要点）     C: Conclusion

A．

B．

C．

D．

7 . A few years ago, Paul Gerner began to gather a group of architects in Las Vegas to ask them what it would take to design a public school that used 50 percent less energy, cost much less to build and obviously improved student learning. “I think half of them fell off their chairs,” Gerner says.
Gerner manages school facilities （设施） for Clark County, Nevada, a district roughly the size of Massachusetts. By 2018, 143,000 additional students will enter the already crowded public-education system. Gerner needs 73 new schools to house them. Four architecture teams have nearly finished designing primary school prototypes （样品）; they plan to construct their schools starting in 2009. The district will then assess how well the schools perform, and three winners will copy those designs in 50 to 70 new buildings.
Green schools are appearing all over, but in Clark County, which stands out for its vastness, such aggressive targets are difficult because design requirements like more natural light for students go against the realities of a desert climate. “One of the biggest challenges is getting the right site orientation （朝向）,”Mark McGinty, a director at SH Architecture, says. His firm recently completed a high school in Las Vegas. “You have the same building, same set of windows, but if its orientation is incorrect and it faces the sun, it will be really expensive to cool.”
Surprisingly, the man responsible for one of the most progressive green-design competitions has doubts about ideas of eco-friendly buildings. “I don’t believe in the new green religion,” Gerner says. “Some of the building technologies that you get are impractical. I’m interested in those that work.” But he wouldn’t mind if some green features inspire students. He says he hopes to set up green energy systems that allow them to learn about the process of harvesting wind and solar power. “You never know what’s going to start the interest of a child to study math and science,” he says.
1. How did the architects react to Gerner’s design requirements?

A．They lost balance in excitement.	B．They showed strong disbelief.
C．They expressed little interest.	D．They burst into cheers.

2. Which order of steps is followed in carrying out the project?

A．Assessment — Prototype — Design — Construction.

B．Assessment — Design — Prototype — Construction.

C．Design — Assessment — Prototype — Construction.

D．Design — Prototype — Assessment — Construction.

3. What makes it difficult to build green schools in Clark County?

A．The large size.	B．Limited facilities.
C．The desert climate.	D．Poor natural resources.

4. What does Gerner think of the ideas of green schools?

A．They are questionable.	B．They are out of date.
C．They are advanced.	D．They are practical.

8 . Below is a housing guide for students going to London.
University accommodation (住所)offices
Many university accommodation offices have their own list of registered landlords (房东). Others also provide information on accommodation agencies and other housing organizations. The advantage of using your university accommodation office is that you can get some support if you have 'a problem. The disadvantage is that they are unlikely to have enough registered landlords to house all their students.
Property papers: Loot and Renting
Loot is an important source (来源) of information about private housing for co-renters. The offers are from private landlords, agencies and individuals looking for other co-renters. They also have a website: www. loot. com. The advantage of using Loot is that there are some excellent bargains. The disadvantage is that there is no quality control over the offers.
Renting is another useful paper. The offers in this paper are mainly from accommodation agencies. Their website is at www. Renting.co. uk.
Accommodation agencies
The majority of rented accommodation in London is probably advertised through accommodation agencies. The advantage of using accommodation agencies is that you will have access to a large number of accommodations. A good agent will listen to your requirements and can save you time in looking for the right accommodation. The disadvantage is that they will make a range of charges to potential renters.
Noticeboards
Around the universities you will find a number of noticeboards where offers of accommodation will be posted. These will either be from landlords or from students. Some universities will also have online noticeboards where students can advertise to other students.   Advertisements from students can be an excellent way to find                                                                                                      accommodation. However, advertisements from landlords can be problematic.
Word of mouth
Some of the best housing in London is never advertised but is passed on from one group of students to another by word of mouth. It might be that you can find out about good offers from final year students. However, don't suppose that just because you have found out about housing from a friend it is necessarily, going to be better than that found through any other source.
Family
Faced with the very high rents charged in London, some students and their parents will consider buying as an alternative. In some cases this might be a good choice.
1. What is the advantage of using Loot?

A．It has more offers from accommodation agencies than Renting.

B．It gives you personal information about other co-renters.

C．Their website is designed mainly for students.

D．There are some good bargains.

2. A good agent can help you .

A．know more people

B．find cheap accommodation

C．get the right accommodation quickly

D．get free information about most accommodations

3. The information passed on by word of mouth is important because .

A．it is better than that found through any other source

B．it helps you find some of the best housing never advertised

C．the final year students always offer better information

D．the landlords have little valuable information

4. For students going to London for the first time, which of the following provides the most reliable information?

A．University accommodation offices.

B．Loot and Renting.

C．Noticeboards.

D．Family.