You should take a few days ________ work; you’re not looking at all well.

A. of                            B. from                        C. off                           D. at

This is just one of the cases ________ the weak may defeat the strong.

A. how                         B. which                      C. where                      D. when

–Would you like me to make these calls for you?

–________. I should have made them a while ago, but I have been at meeting all day.

A. I’d really appreciate it.                                  B. Thanks. I can manage it.

C. It’s a piece of cake.                                      D. Take it easy, please.

These goods are ________ for export, though a few of them may be sold on the home market.

A. mainly                      B. totally                       C. necessarily               D. exactly

________Miss Yang appears extremely cheerful in public, she is in fact leading a very unhappy life.

A. Since                       B. As                           C. When                       D. While

The advantage human beings have to _________ the rare animals on the snowy mountain is worth discussing.

A. do with                    B. play with                  C. have on                    D. take of

_______existed some doubt among the students as to whether an English teacher should organize teaching totally in English.

A. It                             B. What                        C. That                        D. There

When Nancy Lublin got $5,000 from her great-grandfather, she never once considered taking a vacation or paying off her student loans. ___1___, the 24-year-old New York University law student began thinking about the clothing ___2___ faced by most of today’s low-income women. “If she goes for a job interview ___3___ dressed, she won’t get the job,” Lublin says. “But without a job, she can’t ___4___ proper clothing.”

       A few weeks later, Lublin ___5___ Dress for Success and began searching for clothing and volunteers. She asked women to give away ___6___ business clothes that were ___7___ in good condition. She asked the members of diet centers to give away clothes that no longer fitted. At first Lublin ___8___ the clothes in her one-bedroom apartment, but later on she found ___9___ in the Greenwich Village church basement, which now ___10___ as the organization’s main office.

       Today, when women arrive at the office for help with job-hunting, they ___11___ a dress, shoes, a bag, a pair of stocking, jewelry, and self-confidence as well. ___12___ are trying to enter the workforce after being on welfare (福利) for years.

       ___13___Dress for Success fitted its first person who got help a year ago, more than 1,000 women have received help and many have won ___14___. Yarit Polanco was recently ___15___ as a law-firm office manager. “Thanks to Dress for Success, I made a good impression and was accepted,” she says.

       Donations (捐贈) are now ___16___in, including jewelry and 6,000 pairs of trousers and $40,000 worth of handbags. Broadcast journalists have given suits. And Lublin is opening Dress for Success ___17___ in other cities. “Many women have clothes___18___ around that they’ll never wear again,” says a volunteer. “Nancy’s ___19___ is simple and practical and the ___20___ has proved so important to those women who are in great need of it.”

1. A. Anyway        B. Instead              C. Fortunately        D. Meanwhile

2. A. condition              B. direction            C. design               D. plan

3. A. poorly                  B. well                  C. better                D. worse

4. A. make                    B. find                   C. wear                 D. afford

5. A. reached                B. called                C. founded            D. visited

6. A. used                     B. needed                     C. new                  D. torn

7. A. yet                       B. already              C. almost               D. still

8. A. hid                B. stored               C. discovered         D. hanged

9. A. space                   B. employers          C. work                D. office

10. A. regards               B. serves               C. looks                D. lies

11. A. buy                    B. sell                    C. receive              D. watch

12. A. Both                   B. None                 C. All                    D. Some

13. A. When                 B. Once                 C. Although           D. Since

14. A. jobs                    B. shoes                C. business            D. prizes

15. A. fired                   B. hired                 C. interviewed        D. considered

16. A. giving                 B. pouring             C. showing            D. sending

17. A. schools               B. trades                C. races                D. branches

18. A. lying                   B. appearing           C. collecting          D. coming

19. A. promise                     B. belief                 C. idea                  D. opinion

20. A. help                    B. work                 C. shop                 D. money

      What would you think if you went back to school on Monday and there were no desks or chairs in your classroom?

       That’s what some fourth-and-fifth-graders at a school in Minnesota discovered earlier this year when they took part in a research project to see if changing their classrooms would make them more active.

       Researchers from the Mayo Clinic were concerned about reports that as many as half of American kids could be seriously overweight—or obese—by the year 2010. So they set up a different kind of classroom, which you might see in the future.

       Instead of desks, the Elton Hills elementary students had adjustable work stations where they could stand, kneel on mats or sit on big exercise balls. Students were given laptops and iPods that allowed them to move and learn at the same time.

       Sensors (傳感器) were attached to the kids’ legs to calculate how many calories students burned in their new set-up.

       Their typical school day was probably not anything like yours. One group of students downloaded an audio file (有聲文件) of their teacher reading a book; they listen to it while walking for exercise. Another group took a spelling test by listening to their iPods.

       Some students liked the freedom, but others missed the traditional classroom.

       “I don’t like standing up,” Mariah Natrious said. “My legs get tired, and I like sitting down.”

       So, did the experiment work? Researchers still are studying the data, but early results indicate that the kids did move around more in the new classroom.

      “It showed us that, given the opportunity to move, kids will move,” said researcher Lorraine Lanningham-Foster.

       That’s important because studies have shown that even simple movement—climbing stairs instead of taking an elevator, for example, or washing dishes by hand instead of loading the dishwasher—can be as important as formal exercises when it comes to controlling one’s weight.

1. The school in Minnesota carried out the research ___________.

       A. to punish the badly performed students

       B. to prevent children from being too fat

       C. to spare a lot of money for the state

       D. to meet the needs of different children

2. The newly designed classrooms are different from the traditional ones EXCEPT that_________.

       A. there were no desks and chairs

       B. the students can move and learn at the same time

       C. students in different groups are given different tasks

       D. teachers don’t necessarily instruct the students

3. According to Lorraine Lanningham-Foster, _________.

       A. the research got some expected results

       B. the experiment needs further changes

       C. not everyone liked the freedom of this new style

       D. the students should be taught without classrooms

4. What would be the best title for the passage?

       A. No Desks or Chairs in the Classroom

       B. New Classrooms in the Future

       C. School Takes a Stand against Obesity

       D. Washing Dishes by Hand in the Classroom

“Mom, can I take some bread?” We were 15; my best friend, Hanna, and I, determined to try our hands at creating some beautiful bread.

“It’s not worth the trouble,” my mother said. “It takes lots of time and makes a big mess. Our bakery bread is delicious without all that effort.”

Begging was useless. Mom’s “no” meant “No!”

But several weeks later, opportunity knocked. My parents were going out for the evening. I immediately invited Hanna to be my partner in bread-baking crime.

We studied the recipe. That was easy. “Mix oil into flour then beat in four eggs, one at a time, with remaining sugar and salt.”

We were not good at breaking eggs. I tried to learn from my mother.

“Gradually add eight cups of flour. When dough (面團) holds together, squeeze it.”

We took turns working like that. “Is the dough ‘holding together’?” we asked each other.

I remembered my neighbor’s instructions: “If it’s too sticky, add some flour; if too dry, add water.”

We added water. Then more flour. Then more water. By then, the mass of our dough had grown very much.

“Place dough on floured surface and squeeze till smooth,” the recipe instructed.

We took turns burying our hands in the damp dough, pinching, squeezing, and feeling it leak between fingers. “Clean and oil bowl, and then return dough to bowl. Cover and let dough rise in a warm place for one hour.”

This was good news—we’d have a break. On the dirty kitchen chairs, we dreamed about our beautiful bread. “See?” we would tell my mom. “Isn’t it worth the work?”

Hanna and I couldn’t help glancing at the rising process every few minutes. But nothing happened.

“Maybe something will happen in the hot oven,” I said.

Unfortunately, when we removed the loaves from the oven, they were like hard stones.

Mom was right; it takes time and effort. It sometimes makes a mess. But still it feels good, somehow, to be part of that long, ongoing chain of bread bakers. Since that night, both Hanna and I have learned to do it right.

1. To the writer, what her mother said was _________.

A. law                   B. rubbish                     C. advice               D. warning

2. Which of the following can best describe the children’s feelings while making their first bread?

       A. Confident; hopeful; disappointed

B. Curious; hopeful; disappointed

       C. Interested; excited; satisfied

D. Worried; satisfied; proud

3. Which of the following did the writer do without referring to the instructions?

       A. Placed dough on floured surface.

       B. Added eight cups of flour to eggs.

       C. Returned dough to a cleaned bowl.

       D. Placed the dough into the hot oven.

4. The passage mainly tells us ___________.

       A. the process of making bread

       B. the conflict between mother and daughter

       C. the first experience of making bread

       D. the way of doing housework