In many ways, our society doesn’t simply prepare for the kinds of lives that the elderly must lead. We have made medical advances that allow people to live longer than ever before, but we do not seem to know what to do with them after we have saved their lives. Too little allowance (津貼) is made for the person who is no longer earning a living, who can not walk long distances or drive a car, or who may have physical or mental disabilities that keep him from communicating with others. The institutional (慈善機構的) care we give our older people is a good reflection of the overall attitude of our society toward the aged.

In the past few years, nursing homes have received wide attention as boring, meaningless places where old people often have little else to do but wait for the end of their lives. Elderly wards in mental hospitals are even worse. One of the most shocking things abort nursing homes has been the unwillingness of people on the outside to show real concern for what happens in these institutions. Even people who are entrusting (委托) a parent to the care of a home rarely ask about the nurse-parent ratio (比率), about the kinds of creative facilities or physical treatment equipment available, or about the frequency of doctors’ visits.

And the government has provided federal money without enforcing high standards of care. In fact federal standards were lowered in 1974. Therefore, in some sense our concern for the aged seems to be moving backwards, not forwards. This picture is in striking contrast to the treatment of respectable patriarchs (男長者) and matriarchs (女長者) in many societies.

1. What would be the most suitable title for this passage?

A. Failure of Care for the Elderly             B. The Elderly

C. Institutional Care                             D. A National Shame

2. We can conclude from this passage that the writer feels ____.

A. nursing homes should be got rid of

B. a country that can help people live longer should also be able to care for them better

C. people have no thanks toward their parents

D. our society’s institutions need to be reformed

3. The writer believes that people who place a parent in a nursing home should ____.

A. demand higher federal standards

B. consider the example set in other countries

C. be ashamed of not keeping the parents in their own homes

D. investigate it first

4. The writer complains ____.

A. about the indifference of some people towards nursing homes

B. about the shortage of equipment in nursing home

C. that nursing homes keep the aged from communicating with others

D. both A and B

Twenty-three senior high school graduates of 1999 from Wuhan, Hubei Province, have recently left for Germany on a work-study program according to Xi’an Evening Newspaper.

They will study hotel management in Bavarian Hotel Management School for a year and then take up two-year practice in Germany. Upon graduation, they will also get diplomas (文憑) recognized internationally. During their two-year practice, they earn no less than 1 200 Deutsche Marks (德國馬克) a month.

The program, organized by a company in Wuhan, aims at providing the city’s high school graduates with new job chances.

Applicants (申請者) must first pass an exam given by the German side and pay 180 000 yuan covering the three year’s study and living expenses in Germany. In spite of this, the program still attracted a lot of high school graduates and their parents. And applicants came in a continuous stream.

“The change for my child to go to college is small. What’s more, it’s not easy to find a job. We find the work-study program an equally good way out for him,” a parent said, “We don’t worry much about the high costs because the total income from the two-year-long practice will be quite enough to clear them.”  

This text is mainly about _________.

A. a hotel management school in Bavarian, Germany

B. students from Wuhan studying in Germany

C. students going abroad on work-study program

D. new job chances offered in Germany

Which of the following words best describes the parents of these 23 students?

A. Wasteful.       B. Wise.        C. Sorry.       D. Worried.

We can infer that these applicants found it hard ___________.

A. to go to college at home         

B. to pay for the cost

C. to pass the test given by the Germans

D. to get a job when they return home

Many cancer patients are finding new hope in an unusual approach to cancer treatment. The common method has been developed by Carl Simonton, a specialist in the science of tumors.  1  can sometimes be "truly amazing," he says, when a cancer   2   lets his mind take part in the treatment.

Simonton remembers that his first patient might have been thought to be a "  3  ” case by some. "He was a sixty-one-year-old man with very severe throat cancer.  He had lost a great deal of weight. He could  4  swallow his own saliva and could eat no food.

"I taught him to  5   and mentally see his disease," Simonton says. "Then I had him  6   an army of white blood cells coming, attacking and  7  the cancer cells. The results of the treatment were both exciting and frightening. Within two weeks his cancer had noticeably become smaller and he was quickly gaining weight. I say it was '  8  ' because I had never seen such a change. I wasn't sure what was going on. I also didn't know what I would do if things went wrong. But  9  didn't go wrong.

"We may believe that we have the power in our own bodies to fight cancer as well as the power to   10   the disease in the first place.  With those patients who are willing to stay with us and try, we always find that the cancer has filled some emotional need."

1. A. Results        B. Researches       C. Records         D. Replies

A. specialist           B. author          C. patient           D. agent

A. hopeful            B. hopeless         C. valuable         D. worthless

A. easily             B. mostly           C. carefully        D. barely

A. worry              B. be nervous       C. relax              D. get angry

A. suppose            B. observe         C. pretend          D. picture

A. overcoming        B. managing        C. treating         D. threatening

A. frightening         B. interesting        C. amusing         D. relaxing

A. I                  B. we              C. they            D. it

A. carry            B. take            C. produce         D. find

Have you ever thought, “I wish I could take a year off and just travel around the world”? Well, three lucky American teenagers were able to do just that. The teens—two males and one female--got an all-expenses paid, yearlong hike to five continents.

This trip didn’t include any five-star hotels or shopping funs. Eighteen-year-old Jamie Fiel from Keller, Texas, 17-year-old Arsen Ewing from Canyon, California, and 16-year-old Tyler Robinson from Lincoln, Massachusetts, didn’t expect fancy treatment. They signed up for the experience of a lifetime, which included hard work, often uncomfortable accommodations, and encounters with some of nature’s most dangerous animals and environments.

Jamie, Arsen, and Tyler were among hundreds of high school kids nominated by their science teachers to take this trip. Earthwatch Institute sponsored (贊助) this adventure. Each year, Earthwatch employs thousands of volunteers worldwide to help with scientific research projects.

The group went all around the world to get a close look at the most pressing environmental issues of our time. Their assignments were as varied as their locations, and included measuring and attending pink flamingos in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley, and tracking giant sea turtles in Costa Rica.

As they worked with the Earthwatch scientists, Jamie, Arsen, and Tyler began to understand that we are at a critical moment in the life of our planet. Time for change is running out. As the teens went from country to country and witnessed different environmental dangers and challenges, they understood that solutions to important environmental issues start with the power of one person's actions. They realized that each of them can make a difference.

These teenagers went on the journey around the world _____.

A. to experience the most serous environmental problems on the earth

B. to bring the kindness of America to the other parts of the world

C. to go on sightseeing around the world

D. to call on more teenagers to join Earthwatch Institute

What’s true about their journey?  

A. They had to pay for their journey on their own expense.

B. They often had to move from one hotel to another.

C. They had to take great pains to collect environmental information.

D. They received a warm welcome every time they arrived at a new place.

It can be inferred that Earthwatch Institute could be _____.

A. an international university that takes in students from all over the world

B. a TV station that makes programmes on the beautiful scenery of the earth

C. a travel agency that organizes adventure trips specially for school children

D. an organization that brings science to life for people concerned about earth’s environment

What did they these teenagers learn from the journey?

A. It was high time that people protected the environment.

B. Long journey was not suitable for school children.

C. It should take the whole world to help the children.

D. Environmental problems can be solved if school children take part.

Health experts have long worried about the increasing rate of obesity in kids. It’s an important concern: Being weight or obese during childhood can lead to serious problems normally seen in adults, such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Poor diets and a lack of exercise are usually the causes. But would you ever have imagined there might be a connection between the bacteria that lived in your guts （內臟）when you were a baby and the chance that you would become overweight?

Scientists in Finland recently found just such a link. In a recent study, they showed that overweight kids had different species of bacteria living in their guts.

You probably think of bacteria only as germs that can make you sick. While it’s true that some bacteria can make people ill, your body actually depends on some types of bacteria to help you digest food and extract nutrients from it. These “good” bacteria live in your guts, where they process the food you eat.

Human babies get these bacterial helpers from their moms. When a baby is born, some of the bacteria in the mother move into the baby’s body. Growing babies get additional “good” bacteria from the milk their mothers produce. And it turns out the bacteria might play an important role in regulating weight just six years later.

So how could these bacteria affect weight? The researchers still haven’t tested that question, but future tests might lead to an answer.

The “l(fā)ink” in Paragraph 2 refers to the relationship between _______.

A. bacteria and the chance of being overweight

B. obesity and diabetes

C. diets and the chance of being overweight

D. bacteria and exercise

Which of the following is NOT the function of “good” bacteria?

A. Helping to digest food.

B. Helping to take nutrients from food.

C. Helping to regulate weight.

D. Making a person ill.

The purpose of writing this passage is to _______.

A. introduce the role of bacteria in children’s weight

B. analyze the influence of obesity on kids

C. give advice on how to lose weight quickly

D. explain the function of bacteria in foods

If you look for a book as a present for a child. You will be spoiled for choice even in a year there is no new Harry Patten J.K Powling’s wizard is not alone the past decade has been a harvest for good children’s books, which has set off a large quantity of films and an increased sales of classics such as The lard of the Rings.

Yet despite that , reading is increasingly unpopular among children. According to statistics in 1997 23% said they didn’t like reading in all. In 2003, 35% did . And around 6% of children leave primary school each year unable to read properly.

Maybe the decline is caused by the increasing availability of computes games. Maybe the books boom has affected only the top of the educational pile. Either way, Chancellor Cordon Brown plans to change things for the bottom of the class. In his pre-budget report, he announced the national project of Reading Recovery to help the children struggling most.

Reading Recovery is wined at six year olds, who receive four months of individual daily half-hour classes with a specially trained teacher. An evaluation either this year reported that children on the school made 20 months’ progress in just one year, whereas similarly weak readers without special help made just five months’ progress, and so ended the year even further below the level expected for their age.    

International research tends to find that when British children leave primacy school they read well, but read text often for fun than those elsewhere. Reading for fun matters because children who are been on reading can report lifelong pleasure and loving books is an excellent indicator of future educational success. According to the OECD, being a regular and enthusiastic reader is of great advantage

Which of the following is true of Paragraph 1?

A. Marry children’s books have been adapted from films.

B. Marry high-quality children’s books have been published.

C. The sales of classics have led to the popularity of films.

D. The sales of presents for children have increased.

Statistics suggested that        .  

A. the number of top students increased with the use of computers

B. a decreasing number of children showed interest in reading

C. a minority of primacy school children read properly

D. a huge percentage of children read regularly

What do we know about Reading Recovery?

A. An evaluation of it will be made sometime this year.

B. Weak readers on the project were the most hardworking.

C. It aims to train special teachers to help children with reading.

D. Children on the project showed noticeable progress in reading.

Reading for fun is important because book-loving children _______.

A. take greater advantage of the project

B. show the potential to enjoy a long life

C. are likely to succeed in their education.  

D. would make excellent future researchers

The aim of this text would probably be _______.

A. to overcome primary school pupils reading difficulty.

B. to encourage the publication of more children’s books

C. to remind children of the importance of reading for fun

D. to introduce a way to improve early children reading

The days of elderly women doing nothing but cooking huge meals on holidays are gone. Enter the Red Hat Society －a group holding the belief that old ladies should have fun.

“My grandmothers didn’t do anything but keep house and serve everybody. They were programmed to do that,” said Emily Cornette, head of a chapter of the 7-year-old Red Hat Society.

 While men have long spent their time fishing and playing golf, women have sometimes seemed to become unnoticed as they age. But the generation now turning 50 is the baby boomers(生育高峰期出生的人), and the same people who refused their parents’ way of being young are now trying a new way of growing old.

If you take into consideration feminism(女權主義), a bit of spare money, and better health for most elderly, the Red Hat Society looks almost inevitable(必然的). In this society, women over 50 wear red hats and purple(紫色的) clothes, while the women under 50 wear pink hats and light purple clothing.

 “The organization took the idea from a poem by Jenny Joseph that begins: “When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple. With a red hat which doesn’t go,” said Ellen Cooper, who founded the Red Hat Society in 1998. When the ladies started to wear the red hats, they attracted lots of attention.

 “The point of this is that we need a rest from always doing something for someone else,” Cooper said. “Women feel so ashamed and sorry when they do something for themselves.” This is why chapters are discouraged from raising money or doing anything useful. “We’re a ladies’ play group. It couldn’t be more simple,” added Cooper’s assistant Joe Heywood.

1．The underlined word “chapter” in paragraph 2 means __________.

A．one branch of an organization              

B．a written agreement of a club

C．one part of a collection of poems         

D．a period in a society’s history

2．From the text , we know that the “baby boomers” are a group of people who         

A．have gradually become more noticeable                                

B．are worried about getting old too quickly 

C．are enjoying a good life with plenty of money to spend

 D．tried living a different life from their parents when they were young

3．It could be inferred from the text that members of the Red Hat Society are          .

A．interested in raising money for social work

B．programmers who can plan well for their future

C．believers in equality between men and women

D．good at cooking big meals and taking care of others

4．Who set up the Red Hat Society ?

A．Emily Cornette .   B．Ellen Cooper .  

C．Jenny Joseph .    D．Joe Heywood .

5．Women join the Red Hat Society because          .

A．they want to stay young  

B．they would like to appear more attractive

C．they would like to have fun and live for themselves

D．they want to be more like their parents

The Western has been the favorite type for American adventure story since the nineteenth centu??ry. While the American West was being settled, newspapers and "dime novels" could depend on stories of the frontier settlements and tell tales about living in the untamed wilderness to sell. The public back East was eager to read about the West, even if the stories were more fiction than fact.

In 1902, Owen Wister published his novel The Virginian, which was one of the first novels to treat the Western as a serious literary form; the novel still sold well and had inspired several movies and a television series. In 1905, Bertha H. Bower and Zane Grey published their first novels, and the popular Western novels had continued to flourish from that day on, with current novels by Luke Short, Max Brand, and Louis L’ Amour carrying on the tradition.

The first Western movie appeared even earlier than these serious Western novels. Before the turn of the century, an associate of Edison’s had filmed Cripple Creek Barroom Scene, a few seconds of film showing the inside of a saloon, to help publicize the invention of the movie camera. In 1903 the Edison’ company filmed the first "full-length" Western — The Great Train Robbery. The film lasts less than fifteen minutes, but a story is told its entirety. In the movie, bandits (強盜) rob a train and its passengers, killing the engineer, and find themselves tracked down by a posse. Audiences loved the movie. Some theaters were actually opened for the single purpose of showing The Great Train Rob??bery and only later realized that they could do equally well showing other movies. The film was so suc??cessful that other companies, and finally even the Edison company itself, began producing copies and other versions of The Great Train Robbery. Ironically, in" an era when the West was still very real —-Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma were all territories rather than states in 1903 — The Great Train Robbery was filmed in New Jersey.  

9. The purpose of this passage is to________.

A. discuss the making of the movie The Great Train Robbery

B. discuss the early Western novels

C. discuss the art of movie making

D. trace the development of the Western as an American adventure story tradition

10. We can conclude from this passage that________.

A. people lost interest in the West after 1903

B. Owen Wister was an ex-cowboy

C. New Jersey was still "untamed wilderness" in 1903

D. films were fairly uncommon at the time The Great Train Robbery was made

11. The passage suggests that________.

A. Edison’s invention of the movie camera happened;by accident

B. movie houses didn’t make much-money in the early days

C. Easterners were fascinated by the " wild West"

D. The Great Train Robbery was poorly received by the public because it lacked a plot

12. As used in this passage, the word “l(fā)iterary” means________.

A. humorous                B. financial             C. appropriate to literature      D. amateur 

Within fifteen years Britain and other nations should be well on with the building of huge industrial complexes (結合)for the recycling of waste. The word "rubbish"  could lose its meaning because everything that goes into the dumps would be made into something useful. Even the most dangerous and un??pleasant wastes would provide energy if nothing else.

The latest project is to take a city of around half a million inhabitants and discover exactly what raw materials go into it and what go out. The aim is to find out how much of these raw materials could be provided if a plant for recycling waste were built just outside the city. This plant would recycle not only metal such as steel, lead and copper, but also paper and rub??ber.

Another new project is being set up to discover the best ways of sorting and separating the rubbish. When this project is complete, the rubbish will be processed like this: first, it will pass through sharp metal bars which will tear open the plastic bags in which rubbish is usually packed; then it will pass through a powerful fan to separate the lightest elements from the heavy solids; after that grounders and rollers break up everything that can be broken. Finally the rubbish will pass under magnets, which will remove the bits of iron and steel; the rubber and plastic will then be sorted out in the fi??nal stage.

The first full-scale giant recycling plants are, perhaps, fifteen years away. Indeed, with the growing cost of transpor??ting rubbish to more distant dumps, some big cities will be forced to build their own recycling plants before long.

1. The main purpose of the passage is ________.

A. to show us a future way of recycling wastes  B. to tell the importance of recycling wastes

C. to warn people the danger of some wastes    D. to introduce a new recycling plant

2. How many stages are there in the recycling process?

A. 3.                 B. 4.                C. 5.                           D. 6.

3. What is the main reason for big cities to build their own re??cycling plants?

A. To deal with wastes in a better way.  B. It’s a good way to gain profits.

C. It’s more economical than to dump wastes in some dis??tant places.

D. Energy can be got at a lower price. 

4. The first full-scale huge recycling plants ________.

A. have been in existence for 15 years    B. takes 15 years to build

C. can’t be built until 15 years later        D. will remain functioning for 15 years

America is a country on the move. In unheard?of numbers, people of all ages are exercising  their way to better health. According to the latest figures, 4 percent of American adults exercise regularly-up 12 percent from just two years ago and more than double the figure of 25 years ago. Even non-exercisers believe they would be more attractive and confident if they were more active.

It is hard not to get the message. The virtues of physical fitness are shown on magazine covers, postage stamps, and television ads of everything from beauty soaps to travel books. Exercise as a part of daily life did not catch on until the late 195s when research by military doctors began to show the health benefits of doing regular physical exercises. Growing publicity (宣傳) for races held in American cities helped fuel a strong interest in the ancient sport of running. Although running has leveled off in recent years as Americans have discovered equally rewarding-and sometimes safer-forms of exercise, such as walking and swimming, running remains the most popular form of exercise.

As the popularity of exercise continues to mount, so does scientific evidence of its health benefits. The key to fitness is exercising the major muscle groups vigorously (強有力地) enough to approximately double the heart rate and keep it doubled for 20 to 30 minutes at a time. Doing such physical exercises three times or more a week will produce considerable improvements in physical health in about three months.

5.It can be learnt from the passage that the health benefits of exercise .

A.are to be further studied                     B.are self?evident

C.are yet to be proved                         D.are supported by scientific evidence

6.A growing interest in sports developed after___________ .

A.an increasing number of races were held in American cities

B.research showed their health benefits

C.scientific evidence of health benefits was shown on TV ads

D.people got the message from magazine covers and postage stamps

7.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A.Exercise-The Road to Health                 B.Scientific Evidence of Health Benefits

C.Different Forms of Exercise                  D.Running-A Popular Form of Sport

8.Which of the following is closest in meaning to the phrase “l(fā)eveled off” in the paragraph 2?

A.“reached its lowest level in popularity”         B.“stopped being popular”

C.“stopped increasing in popularity”             D.“become very popular”