For foreigners, entering a public toilet inChinacan be a horrifying experience. In the 1990s, a third of all complaints to tourism officials in Beijing concerned the design, and the bad smell of public toilets.

China has battled smelly toilets for at least 2 ， 000 years. In the Kingdom of Wei (220—265AD) ， visitors to the palace bathrooms would find boxes to cover their noses and ward off unpleasant smells. Both flushing (沖水)toilets and toilet paper were invented in China, however? only for the use of the emperor.

Today Chinese scientists have claimed victory in their battle to improve public restrooms, introducing a bacterial spray that can almost eliminate the bad smell. First, a set of six types of bacteria work to break down the smelly compounds and then a perfume made from or?ange skin lightly scents(使芳香)the air. The "smell-free toilet" study from the Chinese Academy of Sciences was declared the "ultimate" cure to an "urgent" national issue.

"Five scientists have worked on this from 2011 to the beginning of this year," said Dr Yan Zhiying, a bacteriolo?gist with the Academy's Chengdu Institute of Biology, adding that they had spent £140， 000 on the project.

"Some local government officials here visited a sew?age (污水 ) plant and saw that the treatment technology had come from Japan. They wanted a home-grown solu?tion so they asked us to work on it," he added. "We ob?tained bacteria from all types of waste from humans, pigs, chicken and ducks, and we tested our compounds one by one," he said. "The smells coming out of public toilets, or trash cans, are made up of more than 160 dif?ferent compounds," he explained, adding that their bac?teria spray can change and absorb many of them.

He boasted that the Chinese formula(配方)，which costs only around £5 per litre, has no side effects and can be used to remove any bad smell.

1.The underlined words "ward off" in Paragraph 2 can be replaced by " ，，.

A. keep out     B.  take out

C. give out     D.  come out

2.The underlined phrase "an ' urgent' national issue"

in Paragraph 3 refers to  .

A. the treatment of sewage

B.a horrifying experience

C.the bad smell of public toilets

D.160 smelly compounds

3.Which has not been mentioned as an advantage of the bacteria spray?

A.Low price.

B.No side effects.

C.Removing bad smells.

D.Beautiful design.

4.Which can we infer after the spray is used in toilets inChina?

A.People needn't use flushing toilets.

B.A perfume is given off in the air.

C.Tourists' complaints will be reduced.

D.Bacteria break down smelly compounds.

【高考話題】學(xué)校活動【寫作素材】

1.    你校學(xué)生會擬于下周二在學(xué)校報告廳進行英語口語大賽；

2.    你給Mr Jack留信請他做評委并告知比賽時間、地點等；

3.    詢問此次比賽后是否有時間輔導(dǎo)前兩名選手參加更高一級的比賽。

提示：the Students' Union, the School Lecture Hall, an oral English contest, a higher level competition (更高一級的比賽）

【連句成篇】將以上句子連成一篇50詞左右的英語短文。

假定英語課上老師要求同桌之間交換修改作文，請你修改你同桌寫的以下作文。文中共有10處語言錯誤，每句中最多有兩處。每處錯誤僅涉及一個單詞的增加、刪除或修改。增加：在缺詞處加一個漏字符號(A)，并在其下面寫出該加的詞。

刪除：把多余的詞用斜線(\)劃掉。修改：在錯的詞下畫一橫線，并在該詞下面寫出修改后的詞。

注意：1.每處錯誤及其修改均僅限一詞；

2.只允許修改10處，多者（從第11處起）不計分。

A tornado is a rotated column of air from a thunder?storm to the ground. The most violent tornadoes have winds of more than 400 kilometre per hour. Tornadoes can pick up cars, trains and even houses and put it down in the next street—or even in the next town. They can take the fur out the back of a cat and the feathers off a chicken. They can destroy houses, and leave the furni?ture inside exactly what it was.

On average, there are 800 tornadoes in theUSeach year, cause about 80 deaths and 1, 500 injuries. The worst tornado of all the time occur in 1925， affecting three US states. By the time it ended, more than 700 people had killed and 2,700 had been injured.

B

First Lady Michelle Obama is a big fan of volunteering. Volunteering means working for free to help someone else. Mrs Obama says volunteering is very important. "It should be part of everyone's life," she says.

Many teenagers agree. They say that helping others makes them feel great and makes a difference. These days, more teenagers volunteer than work for pay. Teenagers clean up parks? walk dogs at animal shelters, visit the elderly and more.

Some cities―including Seattle, Chicago, and Washington D. C. ―require high school students to volunteer. Students must volunteer in order to gradu?ate. The student volunteers learn new skills and help their communities.

Many parents are in favour of the idea―they say volunteering helps teen?agers build job skills. But most teenagers don't want to be forced to volunteer. They say they are busy. And they say volunteering is only fun if it's a choice.

Read both sides of the debate and decide.

YES

Volunteering can help teenagers get into college or get a job.

Many cities and towns need help. Volunteers can help keep important programmes going.

Not all teenagers will volunteer if it isn't required. Schools should require students to do all they can to get ready for adult life.

NO

Most teenagers are already very busy with classes, homework, jobs and sports. Forcing them to do more isn't fair.

It should be up to each person. Helping out doesn't feel as good if you have to do it.

Finding a volunteer job isn't always easy. Students shouldn't be kept from graduating because of something they can't control.

6.The writer mentions Michelle Obama in order to________________ .

 A.    introduce the topic of the text

B.    explain what volunteering is

C.    tell what she does for the US

D.    show she enjoys volunteering

7. According to the text, in Chicago, ______________ .

 A.    finding a volunteer job is quite easy

B.    more people would rather work for pay

C.    volunteering is a must for high school students

D.    college students have to volunteer before graduation

8.The underlined part "are in favour of" in the text means "__________________

A. drop                    B. develop     

 C. catch                   D. like

9.Which question does the text mainly discuss?

 A.    Is volunteering good for students?

B.    Should students be required to volunteer?

C.    What is the best time to volunteer?

D.    Which volunteer jobs should students do?

閱讀理解

                      A

1. What do the cities Florence? Paris, Amsterdam and Madrid have in common?

 A.    They are all great cities for female shoppers.

B.     They are all famous for their traditional food.

C.     They are all great cities for art lovers.

D.    They are all famous for cigars.

2.If you are interested in looking for truffles in the south of France, you should go there in____________ .

A. early spring        B.  autumn   

C.  summer            D.  late spring

3.  What advice would the writer probably give you if you go to visit Amsterdam?

 A.     To avoid going there in summer.

B.     To avoid going around there by bike.

C.     To take some credit cards with high credit limits.

D.     To take an umbrella with you whenever you go out.

4. The underlined part "Night owls" in the section about Madrid probably refers to people who like____________ .

A. night life                                  B.  serious art

C. drinking wine                              D.  organizing parties

5.According to the section about Venice, the writer would agree that .

 A.     summer isn't a good time to visit the city

B.     the city is not a good choice for romantic lovers

C.     streets in the city are usually too crowded with cars

D.     people avoid going there in February because of the weather

It's difficult not to become involved in gossip at work. After all, people like gossip and interesting bits of information: you only have to look at the number of celebrity-focused publications to realize that we have a huge appetite for discussing other people's lives. At work, however, this type of interaction is harmful and costly. It wastes time, damages reputations, promotes divisiveness (分歧)and creates anxiety.

Rumours often grow because people like to be " in the know". Knowledge is power, and that's why the people with the least amount of power in an organization can often be the ones to start and spread rumours. It can make them feel important if they're seen to know things that others don't.

This knowledge is at the centre of why and how ru?mours start and spread. Insufficient (不足的)knowledge or incomplete information is often to blame. Consider these examples:

?People don't know why a colleague was fired, so they make up a reason based on some limited knowledge or insignificant facts. "I saw John override(打開)the cash register the other day without a supervisor present. Maybe he stole some money and that's why he went."

?People see a pattern of behaviour between two individuals and they add their own explanation. "Joseph and Samantha spend a lot of time together after hours 'catching up on paperwork'. And just yesterday, they were sitting awfully close to each other in the meeting. I bet paperwork isn't all that's getting done after work!"

These rumours are typical of the things you'll face at work, and they spread because of a lack of accurate information. So, the best way to fight rumours is with good communication. When you communicate well, your team knows what's happening, and they trust that you'll keep them informed. Good communication within your team also means that you will become aware of any rumours that are starting, and you'll be able to address them quickly and effectively.

5.    The huge number of celebrity-focused publications reveals that     .

A.    celebrities depend on publications to achieve fame

B.    people like discussing other people's lives

C.    the publishing industry is booming

D.    celebrities are rather disturbed by rumours

6.    The passage is developed mainly .

A.    by using time order

B.    by making comparisons

C.    by giving figures

D.    by giving examples

7.    What is the relationship between Joseph and Saman?tha in the eyes of the people spreading rumours?

A.    They are lovers.

B.    They are work partners.

C.    They are rivals.

D.    They are old friends.

8.    What is mainly discussed in the last paragraph?

A.    How to fight rumours.

B.    Why rumours start.

C.    How to communicate with colleagues.

D.    Why knowledge matters.

C選詞填空

last   symbol   of all time   work on   ever since

1.In ancient China, a golden dragon on the emperor's clothes was regarded as a______________   of power and position.

2.Paul started hiking in 2011 and he has hiked across 11 countries_________________ .

3.As we know, Beethoven is the greatest musician_____________________ .

4.A lot of people were made tired of the lecture which_____________________   as long as four hours.

5. ―Would you please be quiet? I am___________________   a maths problem.

―Sorry, I didn't know you were doing your homework.

5. ______  number of books sold this month has reached 2， 000.

4.Drivers are advised to reduce speed ___________ the heavy fog.

3. Some cities__________ the east coast of China have been caught in heavy fog

these days.