假设你叫李华，你的家乡原来有很多茂密的森林，但现在森林已变成了沙漠。请根据下面几幅图的内容，向一家英文报社写一封信，陈述以下内容：

1. 当地土地荒漠化的经过。2. 举一例来说明土地荒漠后的后果。3. 发表你的看法。

生词提示：wasteland（荒漠）

注意：1.词数不少于100个；信的开头部分已写好（不计入总词数）。

2.不能使用真实姓名和学校、班级名称。

                                                                 March 31st

Dear editor,

Some years ago, my hometown used to be a beautiful place.                            

                                                                  Yours,

                                                                  Li Hua

Many years ago, when I was fresh out of school and working in Denver, I was driving to my parents’ home in Missouri for Christmas. I stopped at a gas station(加油站)about 50 miles from Oklahoma City, where I was planning to stop and visit a friend. While I was standing in line at the cash register(收款台), I said hello to an older couple who were also paying for gas.

    I took off, but had gone only a few miles when black smoke poured from the back of my car. I stopped and wondered what I should do. A car pulled up behind me. It was the couple I had spoken to at the gas station. They said they would take me to my friend’s. We chatted on the way into the city, and when I got out of the car, the husband gave me his business card.

    I wrote him and his wife a thank-you note for helping me. Soon afterward, I received a Christmas present from them. Their note that came with it said that helping me had made their holidays meaningful.

    Years later, I drove to a meeting in a nearby town in the morning. In late afternoon I returned to my car and found that I’d left the lights on all day, and the battery (电池) was dead. Then I noticed that the Friendly Ford dealership—a shop selling cars — was right next door. I walked over and found two salesmen in the showroom.

    “Just how friendly is Friendly Ford?” I asked and explained my trouble. They quickly drove a pickup truck to my car and started it. They would accept no payment, so when I got home, I wrote them a note to say thanks. I received a letter back from one of the salesmen. No one had ever taken the time to write him and say thank you, and it meant a lot, he said.

    “Thank you” —two powerful words. They’re easy to say and mean so much.

1.Why did the author plan to stop at Oklahoma City?

    (No more than 5 words)                                       (2 marks)

________________________________________________________________________________

2.What happened when the author found smoke coming out of his car?

    (No more than 10 words)                                      (2 marks)

________________________________________________________________________________

3.Why was the battery of the author’s car dead?

    (No more than 10 words)                                      (3 marks)

________________________________________________________________________________

4.What does the author tries to show by telling his own experiences?

    (No more than 12 words)                                      (3 marks)

________________________________________________________________________________

We are well aware of the role of modern transportation in our lives. Not too long ago, people suffered great hardship in order to make a long journey. Moving heavy goods from one town to another involved hard labor. Today, we enjoy the convenience of various kinds of vehicles including ships, planes, trains, and automobiles, which allow us to go wherever we choose and make our workload much lighter.  

But modern transportation, along with convenience has brought some problems. With more drivers on the road, there has been an increase in traffic jams and accidents. The exhaust from automobiles has added to our air pollution, aside from additional noise caused by trucks and cars on the road.

Like everything else, modern transportation has more than one face. Here in China, we look to our government experts to solve these problems. Scientists are working on developing modern fuel (燃料) that produces less pollution. However, we can all help reduce air pollution from automobiles by only driving when it is necessary and using public transportation when available.

                     Title:    1   

A camera and a computer can “see” something that perhaps millions of pairs of eyes failed to see for 480 years: the Mona Lisa’s necklace. The discovery about the famous painting was made by an American physicist.

The Mona Lisa, painted by the Italian, Leonardo da Vinci, has been on show for many years in Paris. Now a row of white spots on the neck have been “seen”. They are said to be the remains (痕迹) of a necklace which the artist later painted over.

The painting will be examined further by using infrared scanning (红外线扫描) techniques. Laser (激光) technology can be used to show what lies directly under the surface of the finished work, too. This will help us to understand how the artist drew the picture: Did he begin with a quick-made drawing or have second thoughts as he painted the picture?

This kind of knowledge will show us the famous artist at work. It may also help to explain Mona Lisa’s smile, which has puzzled art lovers for centuries.

1.This passage is mainly about ______.

   A. the famous artist Leonardo da Vinci

B. an American physicist’s discovery

   C. further researches on the Mona Lisa

D. The uses of modern technology

2.The Mona Lisa is ______.

   A. a famous artist                  B. a famous painting

C. a smiling woman    D. a lost necklace

3.In this passage, “the Mona Lisa’s lost necklace” suggests that ______.

   A. Mona Lisa once wore a necklace

   B. someone stole the necklace from the Mona Lisa

   C. the artist did not keep the necklace he had painted on the neck

   D. the artist had a necklace stolen while working on the painting

4.According to the passage, the white spots on Mona Lisa’s neck ______.

   A. are still invisible to visitors

B. have turned into a necklace

   C. have already appeared before visitors

D. are looking more and more like a necklace

5.The painting will be examined further so that people may know more about ______.

   A. Mona Lisa and her smile

B. the time when it was finished

   C. infrared scanning and laser

D. this art work and the artist 

Though he wore his whiskers (颊须) only four years, today we can hardly think of Abraham Lincoln without them. He often talked about the little girl in Westfield, New York, who suggested in a letter that he grow the famous whiskers. And he would add, “Sometimes a small thing can change our lives!”

Grace Bedell sat in her room looking at a picture of Lincoln. Her little lamp threw shadows on the picture. A frame (框) of small shadows lay around the thin face and covered the hollow cheeks (面颊). “Whiskers!” she thought.

“How nice!” she said to herself. “There will be more people to elect him President if he lets his whiskers grow. Somebody ought to tell him.” She reached for a pen and began to write the letter.

On February 16 of the following year a special train carried the newly elected President Lincoln to the White House. The train stopped briefly at a station near Grace’s town. At the station Lincoln was speaking to a large crowd, among whom were the Bedell family.

Lincoln continued his speech, “I have a little friend in this place,” he said. “That little lady told me how to improve my appearance, and I want to thank her. If she is present, I would like to speak to her. Her name is Grace Bedell.”

Grace’s father led her forward to Lincoln. She looked and laughed happily, for up there on his face were the whiskers.

If you visit Springfield, Illinois, today you will see the house in which Abraham Lincoln used to live. On the wall of a room hangs a piece of paper covered with a child’s handwriting: “Dear sir...”

1.Which of the following is the best title for this passage?

   A. Why Lincoln Grew Whiskers

B. A Little Girl’s Letter to Lincoln

    C. How Lincoln Becamse President of the U. S.

D. Lincoln’s Great Kindness to Children

2.Grace suggested Lincoln growing whiskers because she supposed ______.

    A. he looked terrible without whiskers around his face

    B. he would look better with whiskers around his thin face

    C. no one would elect him President if he had no whiskers

    D. he would be famous with whiskers around his thin face

3.Grace’s idea that Lincoln should grow whiskers came from ______.

   A. the lamp        B. Lincoln’s hollow cheeks

   C. the picture of Lincoln           D. the shadows on the picture

4.When Lincoln said “Sometimes a small thing can change our lives”, what he really meant was that ______.

    A. his whiskers had helped him to become President of the U. S.

    B. one should pay attention to small things in one’s life

    C. a little child’s advice had helped to improve his appearance

    D. a child could play an important part in politics

5.Which of the following did Grace most likely tell Lincoln in her letter?

   A. Her school.     B. Her problems.                      C. Her age.      D. Her friends.

The flying fox is not a fox at all. It is an extra large bat that has got a fox’s head, and that feeds on fruit. Like all bats, flying foxes hang themselves by their toes (趾) when at rest, and travel in great crowds when out flying. A group will live in one place for years. Sometimes several hundreds of them occupy a single tree. As they return to the tree towards sunrise, they quarrel among themselves and fight for the best places until long after daylight.

Flying foxes have babies once a year, giving birth to only one at a time. At first the mother has to carry the baby on her chest wherever she goes. Later she leaves it hanging up, and brings back food for it to eat. Sometimes a baby bat falls to the ground. Then the older ones fly down and try to pick it up. If they fail to do so, it will die. Often hundreds of baby bats can be found lying on the ground at the foot of the tree.

1.The passage tells us that there is no difference between the flying fox and the ordinary bat in ______.

   A. their size   B. their appearance

C. the kind of food they eat        D. the way they rest

2.Flying foxes ______.

   A. double their number every year

B. fight and kill a lot of themselves

   C. move from place to place very often

D. lose a lot of their young

3.At daybreak every day flying foxes begin to ______.

   A. fly out toward the sun

B. look for a new resting place

   C. come back to their home

D. go out and look for food

4.Flying foxes have fights ______.

   A. to occupy the best resting places

B. only when it is dark

   C. to protect their homes from outsiders

D. when there is not enough food

5.How do flying foxes care for their young?

   A. They only care for their own babies. 

B. They share the feeding of their young.

   C. They help when a baby bat is in danger.

D. They often leave home and forget their young.

Junk food is food that has a lot of calories but few nutrients (营养物质), vitamins and minerals (矿物质). Some food does have nutrients, for example pizza, but because it contains too many calories, it is 48______ called junk food. Fruit and vegetables are the best examples of good food. 49______ contain few calories and many vitamins and minerals. A healthy diet should include a variety of food, most of 50______ should be rich in nutrients. That does not mean that we are never allowed to eat junk food. 51______ of us who love French fries, sweets, ice cream and cheeseburgers can still enjoy an unhealthy bite every now and then. All we have to do 52______ to be careful how often and how much we eat 53______ it.

If we make the right choices about 54______ we eat, we will be healthier 55______ have more energy to enjoy the good things in life. A balanced diet combined with exercise is the key to a healthy life.

My neighbor’s children love playing hide-and-seek (捉迷藏) as all children do, but no one   36   that a game they played last week would be reported in the local newspaper.

One afternoon, they were playing in the vacant lot (空地)down by the corner. Young Paul, who is only five years old, found the perfect place to   37  . His sister, Natalie, had   38   her eyes and was counting to ten when Paul noticed the mail box at the corner and that the metal door was standing open. The mailman had just   39   several bags of mail and had carried them to his truck which was standing a few feet away. Paul climbed   40   the mail box and pulled the door closed so hard that it   41  . Soon realizing what he had done, he became   42   and started crying. At that time, Natalie was looking for him everywhere but could not find him. It was   43   that she happened to stand at the corner for a minute and heard her brother’s cries. She   44   ran to tell the mailman who hurried back from his   45   to unlock the metal door. Paul was now   46  , but he had such a bad fright that he could not stop crying. The mailman, however, soon found a way of making him   47   again. He told him that the next time he wanted to hide in a mail box, he should remember to put a stamp on himself!

1.A. realized          B. warned          C. imagined         D. wondered

2.A. hide              B. watch           C. rest             D. sleep

3.A. opened            B. shut            C. raised           D. wiped

4.A. lost              B. found           C. taken out        D. put in

5.A. through           B. over            C. out of           D. into

6. A. broke            B. fell down       C. opened           D. locked

7. A. surprised        B. frightened      C. excited          D. angry

8.A. lucky             B. a pity          C. possible         D. strange

9.A. suddenly          B. slowly          C. immediately      D. carelessly

10. A. home            B. truck           C. mail box         D. post office

11. A. found           B. hidden          C. happy            D. free

12.A. laugh            B. cry             C. climb in         D. play

Jane ______ a cold and was absent from school yesterday.

   A. came down with B. rose up against                    C. took control of   D. stood in the path of

Animals suffered at the hands of Man ______ their homes were destroyed by people to make way for agricultural need to provide food for more people.

   A. in which        B. for which       C. so that         D. in that