Footracing(竞走)is a popular activity in the United States．It is not only seen as a competitive sport，but also as a to exercise．Though runners may spend months training to compete，other runners and walkers might not train at al1． not competing to win might run in an effort to their own time，or to enjoy the fun and exercise．People of all ，from those less than one year old to those in their 80s， into this sport．The races are held on city streets，on college campuses， parks，and in suburban areas，and commonly 5 to 10 kilometers in ．
The largest footrace in the world is the 12-kilometer Bay to Breakers that is held in San Francisco every spring．This race on the east side of the city near San Francisco Bay and ends on the side at the Pacific Ocean．In 1993 there were 80，000 people in this race through the streets and hills of San Francisco．In the are the serious runners who compete to win，and might finish in as little as 34 minutes．Behind them the thousands who take several hours to finish．In the back of the race are those who wear various clothing just for ．There was a group of firefighters who were all in a long line and were carrying a fire-hose(消防水龙带)．One year there was a wedding ．in which the bride dressed in a long white dress and the groom wore a tuxedo(晚礼服)．They 60 flowers to by-standers，and were actually married at some point along the route．
1.A．plan B．design C．sport D．way
2.A．serious B．amateur C．famous D．ordinary
3.A．Others B．These C．Those D．Ones
4.A．save B．beat C．waste D．value
5.A．finally B．simply C．partly D．certainly
6.A．ages B．walks C．sorts D．nations
7.A．turn B．1ook C．break D．enter
8.A．across B．over C．through D．on
9.A．size B．1ength C．depth D．height
10.A．race B．city C．ground D．ceremony
11.A．holds B．goes C．begins D．carries
12.A．north B．south C．east D．west
13.A．signing B．helping C．watching D．running
14.A．beginning B．front C．course D．process
15.A．who B．what C．which D．As
16.A．stay B．fall C．are D．stand
17.A．fun B．medal C．win D．prize
18.A．wrapped B．followed C．separated D．tied
19.A．dinner B．party C．day D．invitation
20.A．sold B．presented C．threw D．Donated
It is natural that young people are often uncomfortable when they are with their parents. 1.They often think that their parents are out of touch with modern ways；that they are too serious and too strict with their children；and that they seldom give their children a free hand．
2. Parents tend to forget how they themselves felt when young．For example，young people like to act on the spot without much thinking．It is one of their ways to show that they have grown up and they can face any difficult situation． 3. Most of them plan things ahead，at least in the back of their minds，and do not like their plans to be upset by something unexpected．
When you want your parents to let you do something, you will have better success if you ask before you really start doing it．
Young people often make their parents angry with their choices in clothes，in entertainment and in music．But they do not mean to cause any trouble；it is just that they feel cut off from the older people’s world，into which they have not yet been accepted． 4. And if their parents do not like their music or entertainment or clothes or their way of speech，this will make the young people extremely happy．
Sometimes you are so proud of yourself that you do not want your parents to say“yes”to what you do． 5. It is natural enough，after being a child for so many years，when you were completely under your parents’control．
If you plan to control your life，you’d better win your parents over and try to get them to understand you．If your parents see that you have a high sense of responsibility，they will certainly give you the right to do what you want to do．
A．It is true that parents often find it difficult to win their children’s trust．
B．Young people tend to do what they like．
C．They say that their parents don’t understand them.
D．All you want is to be left alone and do what you like.
E．That’s why young people want to make a new culture of their own.
F．While older people worry more easily．
G．Do trust your parents and follow their suggestions．
Most people today think of sleep as one continuous period of downtime．This is not the way people used to sleep．According to researchers，in earlier times，people divided sleep by first sleeping a few hours，waking up，then going back to sleep．In the first period，you would typically sleep until midnight or shortly afterwards．Halfway through the night，you came out of first sleep，you would stay in bed and relax quietly．It was called the watching period．Then you would start to feel sleepy．so would return to bed and tall asleep again for your second sleep．This period would continue until early morning when daylight arrived．With no artificial lighting in homes，people naturally woke up early to take advantage of sunlight．
Before the 18th century, people had no gas or electricity in their homes．Fire，candles，or oil lamps were the common forms of lighting．This lack of artificial lighting in homes contributed to people’s sleep patterns．It made sense for people to go to bed early．
Today，human may consider divided sleep a strange habit，but sleep researchers say that it is actually a more natural sleep pattern．Dr．Thomas Wehr of the U．S．National Institute of Mental Health has studied human sleep．He thinks that modern sleep problems occur because the older, natural way of sleep is breaking through the more recent continuous sleep pattern．Wehr and other scientists believe that artificial lighting has altered the way people sleep．In a research study，he asked 15 adults to rest and sleep in darkness for 14 hours(from 6：00 P．M．to 8：00 A．M．)．At first，the subjects took a few hours to get to sleep，and then slept 11 hours a night．Then overtime，they switched to divided sleep．They fell asleep for about three to five hours in the evening，stay awake for an hour or two，and then slept again for four hours till early morning．
We modern humans generally do not practice divided sleep．However, many of us have the experience of waking up in the middle of the night．We usually consider this a sleeping“problem”．but perhaps we should look at it as natural behavior．Divided sleep may be the way we should all be sleeping．A first sleep followed by a relaxation period and a second period of sleep could help all of us to beat the stress of our fast-paced lives．
1.According to the first paragraph，we know the people in the past ____________．
A．did not sleep as well as people today
B．divided their sleep into two parts
C．woke up and went out during the night
D．fell asleep easily because of hard work
2.In Paragraph 3，what does the research study suggest?
A．Divided sleep is a strange way to sleep．
B．Divided sleep means sleeping 11 hours in one period．
C．Divided sleep is a natural sleep pattern for humans．
D．Divided sleep occurs when people sleep with artificial lights．
3.Which of the following is NOT true according to the text?
A．People had a divided sleep pattern only in the 18th century．
B．It may be natural to wake up in the middle of the night．
C．Scientists agree that artificial lighting has changed the way people sleep．
D．Some of the people today are not familiar with the practice of divided sleep．
4.What conclusion does the author make about divided sleep?
A．It is one type of sleeping problems．
B．It is not the best sleep pattern for everyone．
C．It shouldn’t be accepted by modern humans．
D．It could be helpful for people to handle daily stress．
Robots make me nervous—especially the ones which seem to think for themselves．I was embarrassed to admit this till I heard that Bill Gates，the founder of Microsoft，felt the same way．
Gates said in an interview with the social networking and news website Reddit：“I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence．First the machines will do a lot of jobs for us and not be super intelligent．That should be positive if we manage well．A few decades after that though the intelligence is strong enough to be a concern．”
Well，maybe I don’t have to worry about my computer and kitchen equipment yet．After I use them I can always pull the plug．But in the future，machines might find a way to prevent us from switching them off．There’s a terrible thought!
Maybe the problem with computers too clever for us is not that they are evil like some we’ve seen in sci-fi movies．What could put us in danger is that they might be too efficient．That’s what philosopher Nick Bostrom from Oxford University believes．He says that machines are indifferent(漠然)to humans and in pursuit of their own goals，the destruction of people might be just additional damage．Bostrom gives us an example：A machine which might have as its only goal to produce as many paperclips as possible might look at human bodies as extra material for paperclips and go after you．Because it is，well，a machine, it would not take pity on you.
It’s a good thing that American writer Isaac Asimov thought about how far robots can go and left us his three rules of robotics．They state that a robot may not hurt a human being or allow the human being to come to harm．
I’m glad my machines at home are“dumb”．All my cleaner wants to take over is the carpet in my living room．Let’s hope they don’t create an appliance which wants to take over the world !.
1.The author quoted Bill Gates’words in Paragraph 2 in order to make the text____________．
A．better-known B．more persuasive
C．better-organized D．more interesting
2.An intelligent paperclip machine would harm us because _______________．
A．it is much cleverer than us
B．it would take over the world
C．it would see us just as material
D．it has the strong feeling of destroying us
3.How does the author feel about Isaac Asimov’s rules of robotics?
A．Optimistic． B．Sympathy．
C．Disappointed． D．Regretful．
4.What does the text mainly focus on?
A．The benefits of future robots．
B．The new applications of robots．
C．The concern for super intelligence．
D．The popularity of robots in the future．
We were driving from Los Angeles to Dallas，running low on gas somewhere in New Mexico and figured we’d see a gas station soon enough to fill up．
But that didn’t happen and we realized we wouldn’t make it to the next town．So my daughter made up a sign that read“Low on gas．Can u help?” and held it outside her window in the hopes that a driver in the next lane would notice it and stop．
There weren’t too many vehicles passing us either at the time．It was a lonely stretch of road and about 3：30 pm on a weekday．A suburban was driving along happily in the neighboring lane ahead of us．We caught up with it in the hopes the driver would notice the sign．After a brief expression of confusion on his face，he seemed to have noticed the sign and slowed down to pull over．We pulled over right behind him．
He was friendly and was eager to help us．At first he thought we didn’t have enough money to buy gas，so he offered to buy us gas at the next town Roswell that was about 10 miles away!
When we explained our predicament of not having enough gas to get to Roswell，he said his farm was about 1 0 minutes away and they had a gas pump there，so if we could give him 20 minutes，he would head back there，get a can of gas and fill up our tank for us．
We could not believe our good fortune ! There not being any cell phone reception for either of us in the area, we had just hoped that whoever stopped to help would be kind enough to call AAA when they got to Roswell and we would just wait it out for them to help us．
We were filled with gratefulness for the kindness of strangers such as this person as we waited for him to return．Sure enough，he was back with the can and quickly filled our tank．He refused to take payment for the gas．Tears flowed，as did our endless appreciation．
1.What is the author’s final destination?
A．Roswell． B．Dallas．
C．New Mexico． D．Los Angeles．
2.From the text we know _______________.
A．the street was crowded with cars
B．something was wrong with the car
C．the gas of the author's car ran out
D．there was no signal for the mobile phone
3.The underline word“predicament”in Paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to _______________.
A．instruction B．assistance
C．trouble D．courage
4.Which of the following best describes the old man?
A．Warm-hearted and generous．
B．Honest and confused．
C．Kind and productive．
D．Enthusiastic and serious．
The London Pass is a sightseeing city card which gives you entry to a choice of over 60 popular tourist attractions in the city．It makes sightseeing easy and affordable by giving you access to top sights in the city with one card．
With the London Pass you don’t have to queue to buy tickets，or stand in line to get into the attraction．The London Pass acts as your ticket into every one of the 60 attractions included．It saves the trouble of carrying around cash for tickets and allows you to budget your spending as you’ve already made the one-off payment．As well as this，you can feel like a VIP with the London Pass as you are granted Fast Track Entry into a handful of London’s most popular attractions．
The London Pass is available for 1，2，3 or 6 days—so choose the duration of Pass that best matches your trip．Your London Pass is valid for use on continuous days for the duration you have selected and is activated upon entry at your first attraction，through a bar code recognition system．
London is packed with top restaurants featuring world—class chefs serving a variety of cooking delights．However, dining out can be expensive．With the London Pass you can make great savings at over 145 restaurants，with discounts of up to 50％off or special offers such as a free bottle of wine or ice cream sundae．
So if you are planning a trip to London，do yourself a favour and check out the London Pass．You may have a more enjoyable trip．
1.With the London Pass，you can _____________．
A．stay in hotels free of charge
B．buy entrance ticket in advance
C．travel to each sightseeing in London
D．enter the attractions through Fast Track Entry
2.What can we learn about the London Pass?
A．You can use it at any time you want．
B．It can save time，money and stress．
C．It must be activated as quickly as you Can．
D．You can enjoy the discounts at any restaurant．
3.The main purpose of the text is to ______________．
A．advise visitors to buy the London Pass
B．tell visitors how to book the London Pass
C．supply visitors with some restaurant information
D．introduce the most popular attractions in London
