---I think you’d better type this letter again before Mr. Smith sees it.

---        Oh, dear!

请你根据以下要点提示，以学校学生会的名义，以Save our limited farmland 为标题写一篇海报，呼吁人们节约耕地资源。我国人口不断增长，而耕地面积在日益减少，耕地面积只占全国土地总面积的10%左右；更国糟糕的是，建工厂，修公路和铁路，以及建设房屋等占用了大量耕地。呼吁大家节约用地，充分利用土地，以及保护现有的耕地资。

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The Students’ Union

Wednesday, March 19

I’m Yuan Longping born into a poor farmer’s family in 1931 when farmers in China used to live a hard life．For d         , they struggled to search for ways to increase rich harvests, but without success. Thanks to my research on the hybrid rice that has a high output, which makes_______ possible to produce harvests twice as large as before_____    expanding the area of fields, which m        （意味）22% of the world's people rid themselves of h      (饥饿). I am circulating this knowledge in many countries to increase their harvest. Therefore, I am c        “father of hybrid rice” In addition , I am s         （满意）with my simple life. I c         little for money. In my free time I love listening to music, playing mah-jongg and reading. Look at my s         face and arms and my slim, strong body and you will think I’m __        like a farmer than a scientist.

1.Professor Holloway, an eye____________（专家）, organized a national survey of eye diseases in children.

2.Someone in another car started making             (手势) and pointing at our tires.

3.There is a c             between pollution and the death of trees.

4.He was a little boy, but he b             as if he were an adult.

5.It was            （令人吃惊的）to everyone that the court had made such a decision.

6.               （不幸地）he won’t be here tomorrow evening.

7.The National Day was celebrated              (遍及) the country.

8.A museum should aim to e            as well as educate.

9.The novel describes the way of life of the o           people there.

10.She’s s            to bring up a family alone.

Humor is a most effective, yet frequently neglected, means of handling the difficult situations in our lives. It can be used for patching up differences, apologizing, saying “no,” criticizing, getting the other fellow to do what you want without his losing face. For some jobs, it’s the only tool that can succeed. It is a way to discuss subjects so sensitive that serious dialogue may start a quarrel. For example, many believe that comedians on television are doing more today for racial and religious tolerance than people in any other forum.

Humor is often the best way to keep a small misunderstanding from escalating into a big deal. Recently a neighbor of mine had a squabble with his wife as she drove him to the airport. Airborne, he felt miserable, and he knew she did, too. Two hours after she returned home, she received a long-distance phone call. “Person-to-person for Mrs. I. A. Pologize,” intoned the operator. “That’s spelled ‘P’ as in…” In a twinkling, the whole day changed from grim to lovely at both ends of the wire.

An English hostess with a quick wit was giving a formal dinner for eight distinguished guests whom she hoped to enlist in a major charity drive. Austerity（节俭）was a fashion in England at the time, and she had asked her children to serve the meal. She knew that anything could happen—and it did, just as her son, with the studied concentration of a tightrope walker, brought in a large roast turkey. He successfully elbowed the swinging dining-room door, but the backswing threw the bird onto the dining-room floor.

The boy stood rooted: guests stared at their plates. Moving only her head the hostess smiled at her son,” No harm, Daniel,” she said. “Just pick him up and take him back to the kitchen”… she enunciated clearly so he would think about what she was saying… “and bring in the other one.”

A wink and a one-liner instantly changed the dinner from a red-faced embarrassment to a conspiracy of fun.

1.What is the main idea of the passage?

A.Humor is the key to success in our work and our lives.

B.Humor enables us to cope with difficult situation effectively.

C.Humor is the only best way to criticize someone without losing his face.

D.Humor makes fun of any difficult situations.

2.Which of the following is NOT stated in the passage?

A.Comedians on TV are believed to have done a lot in making people more tolerant of racial and religious differences.

B.To make up differences, humor is a most acceptable as well as a most effective means.

C.People often turn to humorous ways when meeting with difficult situations because of its effectiveness.

D.Only by adopting the means of humor can one succeed in some jobs.

3.By saying “and bring in the other one,” the hostess meant that_________.

A.the son had to cook another turkey for the guests

B.she already had made more than one turkey ready for the dinner

C.some other dish would be served instead of a turkey

D.the son could serve the same turkey after it was cleaned

Expressions about water are almost as common as water itself.

The expression to be in hot water is a very old expression. Hot water was used five hundred years ago to mean being in trouble. One story says it got that meaning from the custom of throwing extremely hot water down on enemies attacking a castle.

That no longer happens. But we still get in hot water. When we are in hot water, we are in trouble. It can be any kind of trouble—serious or not so serious. A person who breaks a law can be in hot water with the police. A young boy can be in hot water with his mother, if he walks in the house with dirty shoes.

Being in deep water is almost the same as being in hot water. When you are in deep water, you are in a difficult position.

To keep your head above water is a colorful expression that means staying out of debt. A company seeks to keep its head above water during economic hard times. A man who loses his job tries to keep his head above water until he finds a new job.

Water over the dam is another expression about a past event. It is something that is finished. It cannot be changed. The expression comes from the idea that water that has flowed over a dam cannot be brought back again.

Another common expression to hold water, is about the strength or weakness of an idea or opinion that you may be arguing about. It probably comes from a way of testing the condition of a container.; If it can hold water, it is strong and has no holes in it. If your argument can hold water, it is strong and does not have any holes.

Throwing cold water also is an expression that deals with ideas or suggestions. It means to not like an idea. For example, you want to buy a new car because the old one has some problems. But your wife throws cold water on the idea, because she says a new car costs too much.

1.If Robert says he is in deep water, we may guess_________.

A.he is swimming under the water

B.he is tired of changing shoes

C.he nearly breaks a law

D.he faces a difficult choice

2.What can you say to your friend Jane, who is troubled by a mistake she has made?

A.Keep your head above water.

B.Throw cold water.

C.It is water over the dam.

D.It can hold water.

3.If your argument doesn’t hold water, then it is _________.

A.weak          B. convincing           C. logical              D. disappointing

4.The passage explains the origins of the following expressions EXCEPT_________.

A.to be in hot water

B.to keep your head above water

C.water over the dam

D.to hold water

Watching television makes it easier for toddlers（学走路的孩子）to kick and scream, according to a U.S. study. Children under two should not watch any TV. The longer they sit in front of the box, the worse their behavior becomes.

Just having the TV on in the background, even if the child wasn’t watching it, was also connected to troublemaking behavior although the relationship wasn’t as strong, said the researchers.

“Parents should be smart about TV use,” researcher Jennifer Manganello from the University at Albany, New York, said.

“They should limit the time that children use TV, pay attention to the content of TV programs, and consider how TV is used throughout the home.”

The study looked at 3,128 women from 20 U.S. cities who had a child between 2005 and 2008.

While there was some diversity（差异）of education among the women, one-third hadn’t graduated from high school.

Two-thirds of the mothers said their three-year-old watched more than two hours of TV a day, and the average（平均的）viewing time for children was around three hours. On average, the TV was on for about five additional hours on a common day.

After accounting for factors（因素）such as living in a violent neighborhood, scientists also found watching TV was strongly connected to behavior such as hitting others, having angry moods, being disobedient（不服从的）, and screaming a lot.

The researchers thought that children may see violence on TV, and spend less time on positive development tasks such as reading or playing.

The American Academy of Paediatrics suggests no TV at all for children at two and younger, and two hours a day or less for older kids.

1.what is the main idea of the passage?

A.Children should choose positive programs.

B.Children should keep away from TV.

C.Watching TV can make children violent.

D.Parents should watch less TV.

2.what do we know from Paragraph 2?

A.Children can watch good programs.

B.Children will be affected as long as the TV is on.

C.It’s OK that the TV is on if children don’t watch it.

D.Children’s troublemaking behavior is mainly caused by watching TV.

3.what can be learned about the study between 2005~2008 from the passage?

  A.The TV was on for about three hours.

  B.The women studied have different jobs.

  C.The study included men and women.

  D.Most women allowed their child to watch TV.

4.Children who spend much time watching TV will ________.

A.not be hit by others

B.be influenced by others

C.become angry easily

D.know more about the neighborhood

Did you ever wonder who invented products like Liquid Paper, Kevlar or paper bags? Most would think a man invented these items. Guess what? Women invented each of these. What? You don’t believe me? Well, read this:

Liquid Paper was invented by Bette Nesmith Graham in 1951 and originally called Mistake Out. Being a typist, Bette was increasingly irritated with being unable to erase her typing mistakes. The messy business left her hands black and the paper dirty. Bette was good at painting and remembered that an artist paints over mistakes. She applied that same principle to typing mistakes and Liquid Paper was born, making Bette into a self-made millionaire.

Kevlar, yes, the Kevlar of the bullet proof vest（防弹衣）—what police officers and soldiers wear, was invented by Stephanie Kwolek. Stephanie worked for the DuPont Company as a research chemist. She was asked to find a high-performance fiber. Originally, this fiber was intended to be used for car tires (轮胎). However, the fiber she developed in 1964 was amazing and is still used in products such as sailboats, skis, shoes, and yes, bullet proof vests. In 1995 Stephanie was named to the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame.

Margaret Knight invented a machine that revolutionized the making of paper bags. Paper bags had been made like envelopes but Margaret developed a machine that would fold and paste（粘）a flat-bottom paper bag, the very same type we still use today. Margaret’s family was poor and she started working at the age of nine. Her first invention at the age of twelve was a safety tool for a loom（织布机）. Later she worked for the Columbia Paper Bag Company. It was there that she worked on improving the making of paper bags. She was issued her patent（专利）in 1870.

So next time you use a new product or an old one, will you wonder who made it? Do some research on the web and answer a few questions like: Who invented it? How was it invented? You may be surprised at some of the stories you uncover.

1.The underlined word “irritated” in Paragraph 2 is the closest in meaning to_________.

  A.annoyed             B. excited              C. delighted            D. nervous

2.What do we know about Margaret?

  A.She was a member of the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame.

  B.Her first invention was made when she was twenty.

  C.Her invention was designed to produce envelopes.

  D.She began working when she was very young.

3.which of the following best shows the structure of the passage? (①=paragraph 1, ②=Paragraph 2,… ⑤=paragraph 5)

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

A.How inventions were made

  B.Amazing inventions by women

  C.Women and modern technology

  D.You can also be an inventor

Many years ago three soldiers, hungry and tired of battles, came upon a small village. The villagers,  36  a poor harvest and many years of war, quickly  37  what little they had to eat and met the three at the village square, wringing（绞）their clothes and complaining of the  38  shortages.

The soldiers spoke quietly among themselves and the first soldier then  39  the village elders. “Your tired fields have left you  40  to share, so we will share what little we have: the   41  of how to make soup from stones.”

42  the villagers were interested and soon a fire was put to the town’s greatest pot as the soldiers dropped three smooth  43  into the pot full of water. “Now this will be a fine soup,” said the second soldier, “but a little salt and some parsley（欧芹）would make it  44  !” Up jumped a villager, crying “I’ve just remembered  45  some have been left!” She ran away, 46  with the parsley and salt. 47  the water boiled, corn, carrots, beef and cream  48  their way into the pot when all sat  49  to have a large meal.

The villagers ate and sang and danced well into the  50  , full of energy again by the meal and their new-found friends. In the next morning the three soldiers  51  up to find the whole village standing before them. At their feet  52  a bag of the village’s best bread and cheese. An elder said that the soldiers had given them the  53  gift: the secret of how to make soup from stones and they would never forget. The third soldier turned to the  54  and said, “There is no secret, but this is certain: it is only by  55  that we may enjoy a large meal.”

1.A.having          B. disliking            C. knowing          D. suffering

2.A.threw           B. hid              C. covered          D. collected

3.A.clothing            B. money                C. food             D. water

4.A.called for      B. believed in          C. looked for           D. turned to

5.A.nothing         B. everything           C. anything         D. something

6.A.skill               B. secret               C. study                D. story

7.A.Quietly         B. Naturally            C. Suddenly         D. Finally

8.A.coins           B. spoons               C. stones               D. knives

9.A.salty           B. wonderful            C. sweet                D. beautiful

10.A.where          B. when             C. why              D. how

11.A.leaving            B. starting         C. playing          D. returning

12.A.while          B. Though           C. As               D. Since

13.A.lost               B. went             C. found                D. directed

14.A.up             B. around               C. by               D. down

15.A.night          B. morning          C. afternoon            D. day

16.A.stayed         B. jumped           C. woke             D. moved

17.A.lay                B. stood                C. hung             D. fell

18.A.greatest           B. simplest         C. worst                D. funniest

19.A.adults         B. soldiers         C. workmen          D. crowd

20.A.learning           B. sharing          C. borrowing            D. trusting

Wang Feng’s _________ our school at the English speech contest proved to be a success.

  A.will represent          B. to represent     C. representing     D. represented