1 . Life can change in the blink of an eye. For Bridgette Ponson, one of those moments took place in the parking lot at her workplace, Layton Christian Academy. While she was in the parking lot, her 2-year-old boy and 3-year-old girl in tow, a car hit them. This left the mother and her kids trapped beneath the car. Thankfully, the woman driver wasn’t driving very fast. At that moment, she was blinded by the sun. However, she got out of the car to help as soon as possible. Plus, she wasn’t the only one who stopped what they were doing to save Bridgette and her kids.

Soon, Chris Crowder, CEO of the school, became aware of the accident. Without delay, he united a group of students to help. “It was split second,” Chris recalled. “I immediately just ran into the building because I knew I had to get a lot of people to lift this car. The students just heard me shout. All students from different countries just ran out and lifted it up.”

Still, this wasn’t an easy task. The car was heavy. But the whole group of students worked together to lift the car enough for Bridgette and her kids to get free. Finally, one kid was flown to Primary Children’s Hospital while Bridgette and the other kid were taken by ambulance to the hospital. Although Bridgette took the brunt of the injuries, all three of them were expected to make complete recoveries within a few days. The heroic students who helped out certainly got their well-deserved praise.

“I’m very proud of our kids. They ran out without hesitation, and they just knew what to do without even being told what to do. I’m even surprised by the driver who was behind the wheel. She immediately ran to help,” said Chris.

1. Which of the following caused the accident in the parking lot?

A．The car was speeding.	B．The driver was trapped in the car.
C．Bridgette ignored the surroundings.	D．The sunlight blocked the driver’s sight.

2. Why were the students gathered quickly by Chris?

A．To meet foreign students.	B．To avoid the car accident.
C．To provide emergency aid.	D．To lift the kids out of the car.

3. What can we conclude from paragraph 3?

A．Many hands make light work.	B．The hospital is no place to be sick.
C．Injuries may be forgiven, but not forgotten.	D．Praise makes good men better and bad men worse.

4. What did Chris think of the action to help?

A．Passive.

B．Hesitant.

C．Timely.

D．Expected.

4 . In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what “keeping up with the Joneses” is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors.

The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors.

It was like a race, but one could never finish his race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment in New York City.

Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbors. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses” because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States. “Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.

People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are “Jonses” in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.

1. Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they ______.

A．want to be as rich as their neighbors	B．want others to know or to think that they are rich
C．don’t want others to know they are rich	D．want to be happy

2. It can be inferred from the story that rich people like to ______.

A．live outside New York City	B．live in New York city
C．live in apartments	D．have many neighbors

3. Arthur Momand used the name “Jones” in his series of short stories because “Jones” is ______.

A．an important name	B．a popular name in the United States
C．his neighbor’s name	D．not a good name

4. What’s the author’s attitude to keeping up with the Joneses？

A．Negative.	B．Positive.
C．Supportive.	D．Objective.

6 . “To educate a girl is to educate a thousand people,” says Maimouna Samaké, a mother of six children (including five girls). “If you put one seed in the ground and rain comes, it will grow to produce many seeds.”

Samaké, one of 2,000 residents, lives in a small village, Sounkala, in one of the world’s poorest countries. Now she has a chance to see this wish come true thanks to Build On, an American non-profit organization that is building a school in her community.

For 17 years, build On has been sending American high school students overseas to create schools in places where literacy (文化) and formal education are usually out of reach. The organization has built about 300 schools in Mali, Malawi, Nepal, Senegal, Nicaragua and Haiti. Its goal is to get young Americans in mostly urban areas to get involved in education. At the same time it can bring literacy to children and adults in poor villages in the developing world.

Sounkala’s current school only has about 70 children; mud floors, poor lighting, few desks and an absence of books mean that the school is not the most ideal learning environment. Therefore they certainly could use Build On’s help.

Samaké hasn’t been to school, but she wants a better future for her five daughters, including Ramatou, 12, and Mariam, 10. “When a woman attends school, she will teach what she learns to her children,” said Ramatou, who wants to become a doctor. “She will also know how to take better care of her family.”

Build On tries to build schools for grades one to three. If things go well over those three years, they return to help build another school for grades four to six, and then set up evening adult literacy classes.

Ramatou and Mariam will not learn inside the walls of build On school since they are already in the sixth grade, but Samaké hopes that they will be able to attend evening classes to continue learning.

1. Which of the following aspects of build On is NOT mentioned in the text?

A．Its history.	B．Its goal.
C．Its approach.	D．Its sources of funding.

2. According to the text, build On is most likely to help a school __________.

A．in a village in a developed country

B．in an urban area in a developing country

C．in a rural area in a developing country

D．in an earthquake-stricken area in a developed country

3. What do we know about Samakéand her family?

A．Samaké only has daughters.

B．Samaké is well-educated.

C．Ramatou is a doctor.

D．Mariam is in the sixth grade.

4. The text mainly tells us about __________.

A．people’s education conditions in poor areas

B．a woman’s dream of going to school

C．an organization that helps build schools for people in poor areas

D．build On’s great contributions to education

7 . How cool can libraries be in an era of iPods and Kindles? More than you think. Only if you know where to go.

Central Library: Seattle, Washington, United States

The Central Library in Seattle is modern and fashionable and has tourists from around the world paying visits and taking tours. It was designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and American designer Joshua Ramus. Tours began in 2006, two years after its opening. The library holds various art exhibitions, book signings and other events, while visitors can stop by the Chocolate cart for a coffee and scan through the gift shop anytime.

Trinity College Library: Dublin, Ireland

The Trinity College Library in Dublin is the oldest library in Ireland, founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I. It is the largest single library in the world, also known as the Long Room, which contains more than 200,000 of the library's oldest books. The Long Room houses one of the oldest harps (竖琴) in Ireland. Dating to the 15th century, the old harp is the model for the symbol foreland.

Geisel Library, University of California: San Diego, United States

At first glance, it looks like a spaceship. Architect William Pereira, who helped design actual space launch facilities at Cape Canaveral in Houston, Texas, designed the library in 1970. It has been featured in sci-fi films, short stories and novels. The library hosts “Dinner in the Library”,   which invites readers for cocktails, and also a special speech from distinguished authors.

TU Delft Library: The Netherlands

The library at the Delft University of Technology was constructed in 1997 and has more than 862,000 books, 16,000 magazine subscriptions and its own museum. The building itself exists beneath the ground, so you can’t really see the actual Library. What makes it interesting is the roof, which is a grassy hill. The roof covers 5,500 square meters. And it has become one of the most striking and greenest structures in the area.

1. Which of the four libraries has the longest history?

A．Central Library	B．Trinity College Library
C．Geisel Library	D．TU Delft Library

2. What makes Geisel Library different from the others is that ________.

A．Queen Elizabeth I founded the library

B．it has a roof of grassy hill

C．famous writers often deliver speeches there

D．it is the largest single library in the world

3. In Central Library, you can ________.

A．drink cocktails	B．buy souvenirs
C．enjoy sci-fi films	D．see the old harp

8 . You may have noticed something different when you ate at your favorite restaurant. Or perhaps you picked up on it while looking through your social media apps (社交媒体软件) . You guessed it——we’re becoming a foodie (吃货) culture.

For some, that means photographing every dish, but others are taking it one step further. Sophia Hampton, a senior at Staples High School in US, chooses to make her own food. She has been published in Future Chefs, a cookbook of recipes (食谱) by teens.

Hampton’s best advice for those who want to be foodies is to get in the kitchen.

“Start cooking,” she said. “There are so many resources online, like recipes and articles about food. Go to your local farmers’ market and start cooking with them.”

Besides blogs and online resources, there are also hands-on cooking classes for students. The Chopping Block, a Chicago cooking school, offers many different classes for teens, including courses on chocolate and French food.

By attending cooking classes, surfing online and going to restaurants, you can find endless recipes. But sometimes becoming a real foodie means being behind a camera. As our food-loving culture becomes more popular and teen-friendly, social media apps like Facebook, have become major players in food culture.

“Getting involved in foodie culture is as easy as having a camera and a social media app,” one foodie said. “I always go to streets and farmers’ markets to take beautiful pictures of food. Wherever food prices are expensive, the photos are free.”

1. What does Hampton advise those who want to be foodies to do?

A．Post their recipes online.	B．Cook food by themselves.
C．Eat at their favorite restaurant.	D．Take photos of every dish they eat.

2. Where can students find new recipes, according to the article?
① cooking classes                ② online resources     ③ new restaurant          ④ public libraries

A．①②③	B．①③④
C．②③④	D．①②④

3. What has made foodie culture more popular, according to the article?

A．People’s growing interest in traditional culture.

B．The convenience of getting different food.

C．The use of cameras and social media.

D．The drop in food prices.

9 . London used to be “foggy”（有雾的） for the same reason that cities like Beijing or Chongqing are “foggy” today. The “fog” was in fact smog（烟雾）, a mixture of smoke and fog．In other words, it was made by air pollution. In London, some of this pollution came from factories, but much of it came from the coal（煤）that people burnt in their houses to keep warm during the winter. By the 1950s, London’s smog problem had become so bad that the government decided to do something to clean the air. A new law was made and nobody could burn coal in any British city. Within a few years, the air became much cleaner. There were no more “pea-soupers”.
Many Chinese cities now face the same sort of problem with air pollution that London faced 40 or 50 years ago. However, this problem is more difficult for Chinese cities to solve. One reason is that more of the pollution comes from the factories, rather than from coal burnt in people’s houses. If these factories were closed, this would harm the economy and lots of people would lose their jobs. Another reason is that changing from coal to cleaner fuel（燃料）, like gas, is quite expensive.
However, the air in many Chinese cities is becoming cleaner and cleaner, as the government and people pay more and more attention to cutting down pollution. As a result, there are fewer “pea-soupers” in Beijing than there used to be.
1. What was the main reason for air pollution in London?

A．There was too much smoke in the sky．

B．There were too many factories in the city．

C．People burnt too much coal in the houses．

2. How did the air in London become much cleaner?

A．There was not so much fog in the winter later．

B．A law was made to keep people from burning coal in their houses．

C．Many factories in the city were closed．

3. What does the underlined work “pea-soupers” refer to?

A．Smog.

B．Smoke.

C．Gas.

4. The problem of air pollution is more difficult for Chinese cities to solve because of _____reasons

A．one

B．two

C．three

5. Which sentence is Not true?

A．Using coal is much more expensive than using gas.

B．Factories made much more pollution in China.

C．The reasons of air pollution in London and Beijing are different.