In most developed countries the government provides free education for children because it realizes that educated citizens are useful to the country in their later life. Most countries also have private (私立的)education. This means that parents can pay to send their children to certain schools. People who agree with this system say that it gives parents a larger choice of schools. Other people think that private schools give the children who go to them an unfair advantage over other children.
At the age of three, many children go to nursery school. Two or three years later, they enter a primary school. At the age of 11 they go to a secondary school. Then they may have a chance .of continuing their studies at a university or college.
Universities and colleges are places where some young people go to continue their education after leaving school. Most university students study one main subject, though they may also study a number of others. Teaching is usually by lectures, or by discussions between a lecturer and students.
Most students stay at university for three or four years. At the end of that, they take an examination. If they pass, they receive their Bachelor’s degree, usually a BA, which is short for Bachelor of Arts, or a BS for Bachelor of Science. Some students study for several more years in order to get higher degree, such as a MA or a PhD
Most university courses don’t train students to do a certain job. Colleges, on the other hand, usually teach skills which enable students to follow a career（職業(yè)）, such as clothing design, or business studies.
小題1:The passage mainly tells us_______.
A Something about the private schools in developed countries
B. How developed countries pay attention to education
C. Some general information about education in developed countries
Why education is important
小題2: Why do most developed countries provide free education to children?

A．Because the children don’t have money to go to school.

B．Because the government want their citizens to be useful to the country.

C．Because education doesn’t cost the country too much money.

D．Because there are not enough private schools.

小題3:In the first paragraph the underlined word “citizen” refer to________.

A．the cities	B．members of a country
C．the children	D．people who lives in cities

小題4:Which of the following statement is true according to the passage?
All the university students study one subject.
After studying at the university for three or four years, all the students can get a Bachelor’s degree.
C. Students usually receive a master’s degree before receiving a Bachelor’s degree.
D. Unlike university, colleges usually teach students some useful skills for a career

閱讀下面短文，掌握其大意，然后從21-30各題所給的A、B、C和D項中，選出最佳選項，并在答題卡上將該項涂黑。
One day, Miss Ellis gave her pupils a new kind of homework: homework on happiness. Her pupils would be “happiness   1  ”, and were to see what would happen when they tried to bring happiness to those around them. As part of their homework, all the students did really    2  , wonderful things, but what Carla Chalmers did left everyone    3  . Several days after the homework had been handed out, Carla turned up carrying a big bag.
“Here in this bag I have all the happiness I’ve collected so far,” she said    4  . On seeing this, everyone was filled with    5  , but Carla didn’t want to show anyone what was in the bag. Instead, she pulled out a small box and gave it to her teacher. When Miss Ellis had taken the box, Carla took a(n)    6   camera out of her own pocket and stood with it at the ready.
“Open it, Miss Ellis.”
The teacher slowly opened the box and looked inside. A big smile    7   on her face, and at that moment Carla took a photo, Carla’s photo came out of the camera immediately, and she    8    it to Miss Ellis along with a sheet of paper. The teacher read the paper in silence, and when she, had finished, she gestured at the    9  .
“Oh, so it’s…”
“Yes!”    10   Carla, opening the bag. “It’s a great big pile of smiles!”
She opened the bag and photos of different    11   fell out.
The rest of the class tried to    12   how Carla had managed to create such a great big chain of happiness. All there in the box was a photo of a big smile. But everyone who had seen it felt happiness being transmitted（傳送）to them, and in return, without    13  , every person    14   with a  smile of their own.
She managed to    15   understanding of the smile truth that every time you smile you are sending a gift to the world.

小題1:	A．explorers B．instructors C．players D．collectors

小題2:	A．regretful B．delightful C．stressful D．thankful

小題3:	A．surprised B．satisfied C．a(chǎn)nnoyed D．depressed

小題4:	A．disappointedly B．sadly C．a(chǎn)mazedly D．smilingly

小題5:	A．a(chǎn)stonishment B．kindness C．expectation D．pride

小題6:	A．expensive B．old–fashioned C．instant D．good-looking

小題7:	A．disappeared B．froze C．faded D．shone

小題8:	A．offered B．sold C．packed D．paid

小題9:	A．box B．bag C．camera D．pocket

小題10:

A．a(chǎn)dded B．questioned C．replied D．interrupted

小題11:

A．smiles B．teachers C．ceremonies D．friends

小題12:

A．try out B．focus on C．decide on D．figure out

小題13:

A．imagination B．expression C．hesitation D．reason

小題14:

A．responded B．refused C．demanded D．proved

小題15:

A．hide B．correct C．a(chǎn)ppreciate D．spread

Two Christmas traditions have come under attack in recent years from environmentalists: Christmas cards and Christmas trees.
Paper cards are seen as wasteful and, for some people, going card-free is another way of going green. They also argue that in a world of e-mail, Skype, Facebook and Twitter, people are in touch all the time anyway; they no longer need the yearly card that connects them with long lost friends. If you want to send Christmas greetings, there are free e-cards, which get the job done with no postage or wasted paper.
However, especially for people who didn’t grow up with e-mail, there is something missing from a Christmas e-mail. The first Christmas cards appeared in London in 1843 and were designed by the same man who had introduced the world’s first postage stamp three years earlier. His name was Sir Henry Cole.
They rose in popularity throughout the 20th century. Many people sent cards that were sold for charity. The most famous of these are the ones sold for UNICEF. In the UK this year, in the three weeks before Christmas, the post office expects to handle 100 million cards every day. Environmental awareness also means that nowadays many people recycle their cards; this helps raise money to plant more trees, as well as recreating more paper.
When we think of trees at Christmas, there is one that immediately springs(躍入)mind---the evergreen tree that people decorate with ornaments and place their presents under. The custom dates back almost a thousand years to Germany. Nowadays 33 to 36 million Christmas trees are produced in America and 50 to 60 million in Europe each year. Some trees are sold live with roots and soil so people can plant them later and reuse them next year.
Some people prefer artificial trees as they are reusable and much cheaper than their natural alternative. However, environmentalists point out that they are made from petroleum (石油) products and so have many pollution issues.
小題1:What is the main idea of the article?

A．To introduce the history of two typical Christmas traditions.

B．To explain the debate about some Christmas traditions.

C．To analyze how two Christmas traditions grew in popularity.

D．To point out the problems caused by celebrating Christmas.

小題2:What does the underlined word “They” in the fourth paragraph probably mean?

A．Many people

B．Christmas e-mails

C．Postage stamps

D．Christmas cards

小題3:Some people suggest getting rid of paper cards because     .
a. they cannot be recycled         b. they are not environmentally friendly
c. they are mostly sold for charity  d. the e-cards have many advantages over them
e. they are not as necessary as they used to be for people

A．a(chǎn), b, d

B．a(chǎn), c, d

C．b, d, e

D．b, c, e

小題4:What can we conclude from the article?

A．The first Christmas cards were designed earlier than the world’s first stamps.

B．This year has seen a dramatic drop in Christmas card sales.

C．Environmentalists advise people to buy cards that are sold for charity.

D．Growing environmental awareness is encouraging people to recycle their cards.

小題5:Which of the following statements in TRUE according to the article?

A．There is always a wider Christmas tree market in America than in Europe.

B．The custom of decorating Christmas trees first appeared in Britain.

C．Some people prefer to buy live trees that can be reused next year.

D．Artificial trees are better than natural ones in all aspects.

閱讀下面的短文，并根據(jù)短文后的要求答題。（請注意問題后的字數(shù)要求）
[1] Learning to save money when you’re young is an important lesson. All good lessons and habits begin early, and saving is a skill that everyone needs. Many people---adults included-- do not have a good sense of saving for the long run.
[2] Make sure you save and don’t spend too much, which is a good way to build up wealth. I have put my earnings in a bank. Many teens I know spend all the money they earn so it never has a chance to grow. Young people should realize that their teenage years are a great time to begin saving.
[3] At high school many parents pay for almost everything, so your expenses can be small. If you have a lot , you should have fun with some of the money. But you should also save some so that it will grow. Then you can begin planning for your future.
[4] After high school, college is expensive and then “real” life begins, with expenses such as food and rent. You can hold on to a good percentage of the money you earn as a teen. The earlier      , the more time the money has to grow. If you are in your thirties without any savings, you will always have to struggle. The earlier you begin saving, the easier it is to create a nest egg.
[5]Later in life it can be hard to start saving because general costs of living are more expensive and you may only have enough to pay your bills. If you want to buy a house and have a family, you need money to start with, which comes from saving.
[6]Saving early will mean you will have to work for fewer years when you are older. It will also allow you to spend time doing the things that you want to do. In addition, it will mean you can live the way you want to without worrying.
小題1:What might be the purpose of the writer? (no more than10 words)
                                                                        
小題2:Please fill in the blank in Paragraph 4 with proper words or phrases to complete the sentence. (no more than 5 words)
                                                                        
小題3:What is the main idea of Paragraph 3?(no more than 12 words)
                                                                        
小題4:List three benefits of saving early according to the text.( no more than 30 words)
①                                                                        
②                                                                        
③                                                                        
小題5:According to the passage, what do you think of saving?(no more than 20 words)
                                                                        
                                                                        

About ten men in every hundred suffer from color blindness in some way. Women are luckier，only about one in two hundred is affected in this matter. Perhaps, after all, it is safer to be driven by a woman.
There are different forms of color blindness. In some cases a man may not be able to see deep red. He may think that red, orange and yellow are all shades of green. Sometimes a person cannot tell the difference between blue and green. In rare cases an unlucky man see everything in shades of green—a strange world indeed.
Color blindness in human beings is a strange thing to explain. In a single eye there are millions of very small things called "cones". These help us to see in a bright and tell difference between colors. There are also millions of "rods ", but these are used for seeing when it is nearly dark. They show us shape but no color.    Some insects have favorite colors. Mosquitoes(蚊子) like blue but do not like yellow. A red light will not attract insects, but a blue lamp will. In a similar way human being also have favorite colors. Yet we are lucky. With the aid of the cones in our eyes we can see many beautiful colors by day, and with the aid of the rods we can see shapes at night, One day we may even learn more about the invisible colors around us.
小題1:According to the passage, with the help of the "cones", we can        

A．tell different colours	B．see in a weak light
C．tell different shapes	D．tell orange from yellow

小題2: Why do some people say it is safer to be driven by women?

A．Women are more careful.

B．There are fewer color-blind women.

C．Women are fonder of driving than men.

D．Women are weaker but quicker in thinking.

小題3:Which of the statements about the color-blind is true?

A．Not all of them have the same problem in recognizing colors.

B．None of them can see deep red.

C．None of them can tell the difference between blue and green.

D．All of them see everything in shades of green.

小題4:We can attract and kill mosquitoes by using a        

A．red light	B．yellow light
C．blue light	D．green light

While success is surely sweeter than failure, it seems failure is a far better teacher, and organizations that fail miserably often flourish (繁榮) more in the long run, according to a new study by Vinit Desai, assistant professor of management at the University of Colorado Denver Business School. Researchers have found that people missing their goals perform much better in the long run. That is because they gain more knowledge from their failures than their successes and the lessons are more likely to stay longer in their minds.
“We found that the knowledge gained from success was often fleeting while knowledge from failure stuck around for years,” said professor Desai, who led the study. “But companies often ignore failure. Managers may fire people or turn over the whole workforce while they should treat the failure as a learning opportunity.”
Prof Desai compared the flights of the space shuttle Atlantis and the Challenger. During the Atlantis flight last year, a piece of insulation (絕緣體) broke off and damaged the left solid rocket booster (助推火箭) but didn’t influence the program. There was little investigation. The Challenger was launched next and another piece of insulation broke off. This time the shuttle and its seven–person crew were destroyed. The disaster led to a major investigation resulting in 29 changes to prevent future disasters.
The difference in response in the two cases came down to this: Atlantis was considered a success and the Challenger a failure.
“Despite crowded skies, airlines are extremely reliable,” he said. “The number of failures is extremely small. And past researches have shown that older airlines, those with more experience in failure, have a lower number of accidents.”
Prof Desai doesn’t recommend finding out failure in order to learn. Instead, he advises organizations to analyze small failures to collect useful information rather than wait for major failures.
小題1: Why did experts pay little attention to the problem of Atlantis?

A．Because it worked perfectly.

B．Because the right booster was still OK.

C．Because nothing serious happened then.

D．Because fewer people died in the flight.

小題2:Fewer accidents happen to older airlines in that ________.

A．their planes couldn’t fly high in the sky

B．they gained much from experience in failure

C．their planes were often checked by the experts

D．they were unpopular among passengers

小題3:The passage is written mainly to ________.

A．show failure is a better teacher than success

B．explain why Challenger failed

C．introduce something about Prof Desai

D．tell managers how to achieve success

小題4: Which writing strategy is NOT used in developing the passage?

A．Giving definitions.

B．Making comparisons.

C．Analyzing causes.

D．Providing different examples.

WASHINGTON—Two-thirds of the world’s polar bear population could be gone by 2050 if predictions of melting sea ice hold true, the US Geological Survey reported on Friday.
The fate of polar bears could be even worse than that estimate, because sea ice in the Arctic might be disappearing faster than the available computer models predict, the geological survey said in a report aimed at determining whether the big white bear should be listed as a threatened species.
“There is a definite link between changes in the sea ice and the welfare of polar bears,” said Steve Amstrup, who led the research team. He says Arctic sea ice is already at the lowest this year and is expected to retreat(退卻) farther this month.
That means that polar bears—some 16,000 of them -- will disappear by 2050 from parts of the Arctic where sea ice is melting most rapidly, along the north coasts of Alaska and Russia, researchers said in a telephone briefing(簡報).
Other polar bears could survive beyond that date but many of those could be gone by 2100, Amstrup said. By this century’s end, the only polar bears left might live in the Canadian Arctic islands and along the west coast of Greenland.
“It is likely to result in loss of approximately two-thirds of the world’s current polar bear population by the mid 21st century,” the report’s executive summary said.
“Because the observed trajectory(軌跡)of Arctic sea ice decline appears to be underestimated by currently available models, this assessment of future polar bear status may be conservative(保守的).”
In January, the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the polar bear as a threatened species, noting polar bears depend on sea ice as a platform to hunt seals, their main food.
Without enough sea ice, polar bears would be forced onto land, but they are poor hunters once they get out of the water and ice, the researchers said. The bears’ disappearance would probably take place as young cubs(幼獸)failed to survive to adulthood and females were unable to reproduce successfully.
小題1:What was the US Geological Survey intended to do?

A．To determine whether the polar bear was in danger.

B．To measure how fast the sea ice melts in the Arctic.

C．To check the predictions of the computer models.

D．To find out the exact number of the polar bear.

小題2:What causes the polar bears to disappear by 2050?

A．The pollution of the Arctic region.	B．The sea ice melting at high speed
C．Fewer food sources being left.	D．The temperature getting colder.

小題3:The key to preventing polar bears dying out seems to _______________.

A．help young polar bears to survive the cold winter

B．have large number of seals living in the oceans

C．make sure there is enough sea ice in the Arctic

D．provide chances for adult polar bears to reproduce

Cell Phones Are the New Cigarettes
When you get in your car, you reach for it．When you’re at work, you take a break to have a moment alone with it．When you get into a lift, you play with it．
Cigarettes? Cup of coffee? No, it’s the third most addictive thing in modern life, the cell phone．And experts say it is becoming more difficult for many people to curbtheir longing to hug  it more tightly than most of their personal relationships．
With its shiny surface, its smooth and satisfying touch, its air of complexity, the cell phone  connects us to the world even as it disconnects us from people three feet away．In just the past  couple of years, the cell phone has challenged individuals, employers, phone makers and  counselors（顧問）in ways its inventors in the late 1940s never imagined．
The costs are becoming even more evident, and I don’t mean just the monthly bill．Dr．Chris  Knippers, a counselor at the Betty Ford Center in Southern California, reports that the overuse of  cell phones has become a social problem not much different from other harmful addictions: a barrier to one-on-one personal contact, and an escape from reality．
Sounds extreme, but we’ve all witnessed the evidence: The person at a restaurant who talks on the phone through an entire meal, ignoring his kids around the table; the woman who talks on the phone in the car, ignoring her husband; the teen who texts messages all the way home from school, avoiding contact with kids all around him．
Is it just rude, or is it a kind of unhealthiness? And pardon me, but how is this improving the quality of life?
Jim Williams, an industrial sociologist based in Massachusetts, notes that cell-phone addiction is part of a set of symptoms in a widening gulf of personal separation．He points to a study by Duke University researchers that found one-quarter of Americans say they have no one to discuss their most important personal business with．Despite the growing use of phones, e-mail and instant messaging, in other words, Williams says studies show that we don’t have as many friends as our parents. “Just as more information has led to less wisdom, more acquaintances via the Internet and cell phones have produced fewer friends,” he says．
If the cell phone has truly had these effects, it’s because it has become very widespread．Consider that in 1987, there were only 1 million cell phones in use．Today, something like 300 million Americans carry them．They far outnumber wired phones in the United States．
小題1:Which of the following best explains the title of the passage?

A．Cell phone users smoke less than they used to．

B．Cell phones have become as addictive as cigarettes．

C．More people use cell phones than smoke cigarettes．

D．Using cell phone is just as cool as smoking cigarettes．

小題2:The underlined word “curb” in Paragraph 2 means ____．

A．rescue

B．ignore

C．develop

D．control

小題3:The example of a woman talking on the phone in the car supports the idea that           ．

A．women use cell phones more often than men

B．talking on the phone while driving is dangerous

C．cell phones do not necessarily bring people together

D．cell phones make one-on-one personal contact easy

My chance came at last. Our school was going to hold a sports meeting. I knew what it   51  to me, so I got up very early to prepare for it. I  52   running and jumping. When I was   53  , I   54 myself of my promise and went on.
As the time approached, I felt quite  55   . On the first day I   56  fourth in the 1500m race, but I was far from   57  because what I wanted most was the highlight of the sports meeting—250×8 relay race. I would run the last leg for my team.
With a shot, the race began. All the students were   58  for their team. The competition was so 59  that I began to feel nervous. Before my turn came, my team was   60  the others. Even worse, I almost dropped the stick when I was trying to   61  it.
  62  after that, there was nothing in my mind except to run as fast as possible. Just when I was approaching the finish line, my legs    63  . Then my promise came to mind again and   64 me on. To my   65  , I was the first to cross the finish line!
  66   , I had proved to myself and those who had often laughed at me that I am not   67  at all! My classmates greeted me warmly and I hugged them tightly. I had won the prize as well as their   68   .
From the sports meeting, I learnt that sometimes things are not so difficult as they   69  to be. Just try your best without fear and you might be surprised at the   70  .

小題1:	A．mattered B．held C．meant D．brought

小題2:	A．exercised B．tried C．chose D．practiced

小題3:	A．tired B．working C．lazy D．discouraged

小題4:	A．braved B．reminded C．encouraged D．told

小題5:	A．determined B．worried C．confident D．expectant

小題6:	A．ended B．got C．came D．ran

小題7:	A．satisfied B．proud C．excited D．happy

小題8:	A．heading B．racing C．shouting D．cheering

小題9:	A．difficult B．close C．heated D．near

小題10:

A．failing behind B．leading C．falling behind D．catching up with

小題11:

A．take B．hold C．pass D．catch

小題12:

A．Then B．But C．Thus D．Even

小題13:

A．gave in B．weakened C．gave out D．gave off

小題14:

A．cheered B．urged C．guided D．led

小題15:

A．joy B．expectation C．surprise D．relief

小題16:

A．At last B．After all C．Above all D．As a result

小題17:

A．bad B．lazy C．slow D．weak

小題18:

A．congratulations B．respect C．support D．pride

小題19:

A．expect B．choose C．look D．seem

小題20:

A．thing B．final C．result D．effort

One would have to be a fool to overlook (忽視)the importance of using positive(積極的) thinking for you rather than allowing negative thinking to work against you. In recent years, research in psychopharmacology (精神藥理學) has proved what many people have known over the centuries: a positive attitude is good for you, good for your health, good for your wealth, good for everything. Researchers found that a positive attitude produces a specific chemical reaction which makes people feel better, while negative thinking results in a decline of hormone (荷爾蒙) and shuts down the immune (免疫的) system. This leads to illness and depression. Positive thoughts will make you feel better. Even if you must begin by literally forcing yourself to be positive (faking it, so to speak), it will become contagious (會傳播的) and the positive thoughts will generate nice little chemicals and good feelings which will reinforce the positive thoughts.
For example, if you force yourself to smile or laugh, even when you don't feel like smiling or laughing, if you keep at it for a few minutes, you will soon feel like it. Feelings can generate (導致)thoughts, but thoughts can also generate feelings. Control your thoughts and you can control your feelings. Positive thinking is important in all aspects of our lives. There is probably no single factor more important in determining your success in achieving your career objectives than your own attitude.
It's often been said that in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. And in the office of militant (好戰(zhàn)) negativism, the positive workers shine like gold. You cannot control external events, but you can learn to control your reaction to those events and thereby have a positive attitude and be happy. This vital key to success is totally within your control. Use it.
小題1:We can infer from the passage that         .

A．positive thinking can cure you of your diseases

B．positive thinking can easily be generated by anyone

C．a(chǎn) decline of hormone may cause you to be depressed

D．a(chǎn) specific chemical reaction is the cause of negative thinking

小題2:According to the passage, which of the following is true?

A．Feeling and thoughts can generate each other.

B．It's easier to control thoughts than to control feelings.

C．Your success depends wholly on your attitude.

D．Keeping smiling will surely make you successful.

小題3:Just like a one-eyed man in the land of the blind, you should             .

A．control your feeling to what is happening to you

B．be king in your office

C．pay no attention to what is going on around you

D．take positive attitude in the office of militant negativism

小題4:The best title to the passage is             .

A．The Bad Effect of Negative Thinking	B．Why Should People Think
C．Thinking: The Vital Way	D．Positive Thinking Benefits People