American nutrition expert Professor Barry Popkin says that the number of overweight people in the world is now bigger than the number of people who don’t have enough to eat. A billion people worldwide now weigh too much and the number of obese people is now more than 300 million. “Obese” means at least 15 kilos heavier than you should be. However, there are also 800 million people in the world who don’t have enough to eat.
Professor Popkin says that the number of hungry people is falling slowly but the number of overweight people is rising fast. The main reasons for this are:
● People are doing less hard physical work
● More people worldwide now eat too much fatty food
● Too many people are driving cars instead of walking
● People spend too much time in front of a television
The United States has the highest rate of obesity in the developed world and Japan has the lowest. Professor Benjamin Senauer is absolutely certain of the reasons for this.
“Japanese people are fit. They use public transport and walk,” he said. “The average American drives to work and drives to supermarket. When he gets home, he sits on a couch in front of the TV and eats junk food.”
In Britain and many other European countries, there are three times as many obese people as there were 20 years ago. About two thirds of British adults are overweight or obese. “The effects of this are clear,” said London doctor Elena Power. “We have more illnesses related to weight and fewer fit people.
China used to be one of the slimmest nations in the world. However, Professor Wu Yangfeng from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in Beijing recently estimated （估计）that 20 percent of the world’s overweight people live in China. The Chinese government is especially worried about the increase in obesity among schoolchildren.
“We have a serious problem,” said Professor Wu. “It requires an improvement from everyone, or it will get worse.
1. How many people weigh too much in the world now?
A. A billion. B. 20 billion.
C. 300 million. D. 800 million.
2. Professor Popkin probably agrees that_______.
A. walking to work helps people keep fit.
B. watching TV makes people put on weight
C. eating food without fat helps people keep fit
D. working in offices makes people put on weight
3. Which of the following is Not True according to the passage ?
A. Being overweight can cause more illnesses.
B. About two thirds of British people are overweight.
C. More and more schoolchildren are overweight in China.
D. Most Japanese people are healthier than those in other countries.
4. What does the writer try to tell us in the passage?
A. The importance of losing weight.
B. How people keep fit all over the world.
C. How many countries have health problem.
D. The number of overweight people is growing.
When the great library of Alexandria burned, the story goes, one book was saved. But it was not a valuable book; and so a poor man bought it for a few coppers（铜钱）.Between its pages there was something very interesting. It was a thin paper on which was written the secret of the “Touchstone”!
The touchstone was a small pebble（卵石）that could turn any common metal into gold. The writing explained that it was lying among thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was this: The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles were cold.
So the man camped on the seashore and began testing pebbles.
He thought that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and put them down again, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone.
The days became weeks and the weeks into months. One day, however, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realized what he had done. He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea .So when the one he wanted came along, he still threw it away.
So it is with opportunity. Unless we are careful, it’s easy to fail to know an opportunity when it is in hand and it’s just as easy to throw it away.
1.The book was special to the man because ______.
A. it was made of cotton
B. it was the only book that was saved from the great fire
C. it was a story about how to tell the touchstone from ordinary stones
D. it included the secret of the touchstone
2.The man threw pebbles into the sea ______.
A. to test how far he could throw
B. to practice throwing pebbles
C. to avoid picking up the same pebble once again
D. to express his disappointment at failing to find the touchstone
3.The story is written mainly to tell us that___________.
A. careful habits can lead to success.
B. habits can benefit you but also hold you back.
C. never judge a person or a thing by appearances.
D. opportunity only visits the ready and watchful mind
I was born an albino(白化病人）in Pennsylvania in 1945．No one in my family had ever known what an albino was and what it meant to be an albino.
My family and friends treated me as everybody else．That was just about the best thing they could have done．It helped me believe in myself, so when troubles came along, I could deal with them．
Like most albinos, I had the terrible eyesight, but the fact that I could hardly see didn’t bother me that much .Kids would make fun of me, calling me“Whitey”． People looked at me when I held the books right at the tip of my nose so that I could see it well enough．Even when I was eight, movie-theater workers started asking me to pay full prices because I“looked older”．The worst thing for me was that because my eyesight was so bad, I couldn’t play sports very well．I didn’t give up trying, though．And I studied harder．Finally, I got better at school and loved it．When I got to university, I was double majoring(双修), going to summer school and busying myself with every activity I could find．I had learned to be proud of being an albino．I did my best to make“albino”a good word．And I decided to make my living with my eyes—and in sports．
I couldn’t see very well to play sports, but with a good education and a drive to do it, I could make a living in the area I loved．I’ve done it now for more than thirty years in video, and now in cyberspace(网络空间)．People make jokes about how I’m the only“blind editor”they know, but the jokes are of goodwill and some of them are signs of respect(尊重)．
I was just a proud albino kid from the country of Pennsylvania．I now realize that being born an albino helped me to overcome difficulties, have confidence, and be proud of my personal achievement .
1. Which is one of the signs of being an albino?
A. He has a black face.
B. He can’t see clearly
C. He looks much older.
D. He has a little nose.
2. How did the author’s family and friends deal with him?
A. Regarding him as the best friend
B. Laughing at him
C. Treating him as a usual person
D. Being afraid to speak to him
3. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. The author has learned to face difficulties.
B. The author started to be brave after going to university.
C. The author could achieve everything because of his good education.
D. The author could play sports well because he never gave up
4. What’s the main idea of this passage?
A. To give the reason of causing the albino.
B. To tell us how the albino was treated
C. To help us deal with kinds of challenges.
D. To tell us how an albino succeeded
Even if you are a good high-jumper, you can jump only about seven feet off the ground. You cannot jump any higher because the earth pulls you hard. The pull of the earth is called gravity.
You can easily find out the pull of the earth. If you weigh yourself, you will know how much gravity is pulling you.
Since there is gravity, water runs down hill. When you throw a ball into the air, it falls back down. Because of gravity, you do not fall off the earth as it whirls (旋转) around.
Then, can we get away from the earth and go far out into space? Now you can do it, because spaceships have been invented. Then spaceship will go so fast that it can escape (逃出) the earth’s gravity and carry you into space.
1.In this passage, the word “gravity” means.
A. the pull of everything.
B. the force of attraction(吸引) among objects.
C. the force which attracts objects towards the centre of the earth
D. the force which attracts the earth towards the sun.
2. When you slip(滑) you always fall to the ground because
A. the earth always turns round.
B. the earth has gravity
C. the earth’s gravity is greater than your weight.
D. you are careless.
3. Gravity is strong that
A. it can throw a ball into the air.
B. it makes you jump only seven feet.
C. it can let you fly away from the earth.
D. it can keep everything on earth.
4. Because of gravity,
A. water flows everything.
B. we can go everywhere by ship.
C. water always flows downwards.
D. fish can live in water.
完型填空,阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，从每题所给的四个选项中选出一个最佳选项。
My class and I visited Chris Care Center in Phoenix, Arizona to comfort the old people who needed a little cheering up during the holiday season.
The first two there were for persons requiring help in taking care of themselves. We sang________ for them. They loved our sweet songs and the flowers that we left with them.
As we were ________on the third floor for old people with Alzheimer (老年痴呆症), most of them stared at the walls or floor. However, one lady ________my eye. She was sitting by the door, in a wheelchair, singing songs to herself. They weren’t the songs that we were singing, at least they didn’t________like that. As we got________ with each song, she did as well. The louder we got, the louder she got. ________ she was singing, she was also________ out to us with her hands and body. I knew that I should have gone over to her, but I thought that my ________ were to my students. People who worked at the care center could attend to her, I thought. Just when I stopped feeling ________about not giving her the attention she needed, one of my students, Justin, showed me what the holiday season is really about.
Justin also ________the same lady. The difference between us is that he________on her needs, but I didn’t. During the last song, “Silent Night,” Justin walked over to her and held her hand. He looked this aged lady in her eyes and with his actions said, “You are important, and I will take my________to let you know that.”
This tired, elderly lady stopped singing and held his hand. Then she touched his cheek(脸颊) with the other hand. Tears began to fall down her face. No ________can completely describe that touching moment...
It________a boy to teach me, a man, about kindness and love. Justin’s example of a complete, selfless attitude toward another was a lesson that I will never forget. He was the teacher that day.
1.A. rooms B. buildings C. floors D. groups
2.A. bravely B. shyly C. madly D. beautifully
3.A. dancing B. meeting C. gathering D. singing
4.A. looked B. caught C. escaped D. hurt
5.A. appear B. hear C. sound D. feel
6.A. louder B. nearer C. faster D. higher
7.A. Because B. As C. Since D. Though
8.A. moving B. reaching C. coming D. spreading
9.A. interests B. abilities C. feelings D. tasks
10.A. afraid B. sure C. sorry D. scary
11.A. feared B. avoided C. helped D. noticed
12.A. called B. acted C. looked D. kept
13.A. time B. flower C. body D. cheek
14.A. words B. poems C. expressions D. songs
15.A. took B. wasted C. caused D. made
书面表达
请以My Friend为题， 写一篇作文，需包含以下要点，可适当发挥。
1.我有一个朋友，名字叫Millie。 她是我的同班同学。
2.她十三岁，是个友善的女孩。
3.看，她在教室里。她的帽子是红色的，她的外套是黄色的，她的裙子是灰色的。
4.我所有的同班同学都喜欢她。
My Friend
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