What is your favourite colour? Ask famous persons like Cate Blanchett，Searlett Johansson and Bono，and maybe they will say“green．”That’s not because these artists particularly like the colour green．Instead，they are interested in green fashion．
Green fashion is about making(and wearing)clothes that are good for humans，animals，and the Earth．In the past，green fashion made people think of hippies(嬉皮士)and ugly clothes．But today，green fashion is different．It is about looking good and caring about the Earth and other people．You can have interesting clothes and be green．
Around the world，green fashion is becoming popular．For example，the U．K．company
People Tree sells men’s and women’s clothing and accessories(飾品)．They are made from
natural fabrics(織物)like cotton and wool．Workers who make the clothes are from countries like Nepal，Kenya，and Bangladesh．People Tree pays the men and women good money for the clothes they create．
Singer Bono and his wife also started a clothing company called EDUN．When the clothes sell，EDUN uses most of the money to help people around the world．
【小題1】According to the passage，what is“green fashion”?

A．Wearing the colour green all the time．

B．Making clothes from green trees．

C．Putting green make-up on your face．

D．Wearing clothes that are good for the Earth．

【小題2】In the past，what did people often think of when they heard“green fashion”

A．Dangerous animals．

B．Beautiful women．

C．Colourful accessories．

D．Ugly clothes，

【小題3】Which sentence about green clothing companies is true?

A．Most use natural fabrics to make clothes．

B．Many do not pay their workers well．

C．They make clothes mostly for women．

D．Most of the companies are in Africa．

【小題4】According to the passage，what does EDUN do?

A．It teaches children to make clothes．

B．It sells clothes and uses the money to help people．

C．It gives clothes to poor people．

D．It makes expensive clothes for teenagers．

Cats are the most popular pets among Americans. So it is not surprising that there are a lot of expressions about cats. Some cats like to catch small birds, like canaries (金絲雀). If someone looks very proud and satisfied with himself, we say “he looks like the cat that ate the canary.”
Sometimes, a cat likes to play with a small animal it catches. So if you “play cat and mouse” with someone, it means that you change between different kinds of behavior when dealing with another person. For example, a girl might offer something sweet to her little brother and then take it away when he reaches for it.
Americans might say that something is “the cat’s miaow” or “the cat’s pajamas(睡衣)” to describe something that is the best or finest. “A copycat” is someone who acts just like someone else or copies another person’s work. “A fat cat” is a person with a lot of money.
If you tell about something that is supposed to be a secret, we say you “l(fā)et the cat out of the bag”. If you are not able to speak or answer a question, someone might ask you if “the cat has got your tongue(舌頭)”
Have you ever watched children in a classroom when their teacher leaves for a few minutes? “When the cat’s away, the mice will play” means people sometimes act badly when there is no supervision (監(jiān)管).
You may have heard the expression “curiosity killed the cat”. This means caring too much about things that are not your business might cause problems.
If you have ever had cats as pets, you know it is difficult to train them or to get them to do something. Cats are not like Sheep or cows that can be moved in a group. So we say a difficult or impossible job is like “herding (放牧) cats “
【小題1】What can we learn from the passage?

A．The expression “a fat cat” is used to describe someone who is very fat.

B．The expression “play cat and mouse” usually means “play tricks on others”.

C．It is more difficult to keep sheep or cows than cats.

D．There are more expressions about cats than those about dogs.

【小題2】 In which of the following situations do we most probably use the expression “curiosity killed the cat”?

A．Someone always asked a lady her age or weight and it made her angry.

B．Someone promised to keep a secret but he failed to do so.

C．Someone won the first prize in an English singing competition and he felt very excited.

D．Someone tried to swim across the Yangtze River with his newly broken legs.

【小題3】Where can you most probably find the passage?

A．In a scientific research paper about cats.

B．On a website telling people how to keep cats.

C．In a magazine telling various jokes and funny stories.

D．In a language book that teaches students how to use American slang.

Life in the twenty-first century
The World Future Society is a group of people from more than 80 countries who are interested in how modern technology is making our world better, and who write reports about how it will change our lives.                                                                                                                                            The things that we will be able to do in the twenty-first century (since the year 2000) should help us live better lives in many ways, at home and at work, in our own country and around the world. Here are just some of them, put into five groups.
People
People may live for up to 120 years and use new technology to help when people go blind, deaf and have other problems. The number of people over a hundred years old could go from 135,000 today to 2.2 million people by 2050. By 2015 people think that 100 million workers will be able to work from home for a company in a different country by using the Internet.
Money
Worldwide e-business will become even more successful with online shops that sell special products for each person, which will be brought to their house the next day.
Environment
The technology for making energy from wind and the Sun is growing very quickly. In the future wind and Sun energy could become much cheaper and many more countries could use it. This would be very useful in poor countries. The air in big cities would also become much cleaner and healthier as a result.
Society and culture
The Internet will help to create more worldwide friendships. Families may spend more time together as people will be able to do 24-hour online banking and shopping.
Technology      
The new science of “nanotechnology” (very small robots or machines) will make all sorts of products smaller and lighter. Very, very small machines could take away rubbish, make things in factories, and help inside the human body by taking away fat. By 2012 people will be able to wear these small machines that look like watches, which will give them lots of information about their body and keep them healthy.
【小題1】What does the World Future Society do?

A．Look at how technology will make people happy.

B．Look at how technology will change the world.

C．Make technology work better for themselves.

D．Make small machines to make us healthier.

【小題2】 How will technology help people?

A．Help all people live for over 120 years.

B．Help disabled people to get jobs.

C．Make people healthier and live longer.

D．Help workers to use the Internet.

【小題3】How will people go shopping?

A．In special shops.

B．Using the Internet at certain times.

C．Using the Internet any time of the day.

D．Using nanotechnology.

【小題4】 How will technology help the environment?

A．Poor countries will have enough energy.

B．Wind energy will be cheaper than Sun energy.

C．We will not need wind and Sun energy.

D．Wind and Sun energy will be cheaper.

【小題5】The new science of “nanotechnology” will _______.

A．drive small machines to work for people

B．make good-quality watches

C．a(chǎn)llow people to eat more

D．make very small products

Do you want to know something about chil­dren in Africa? What to they do for fun every day? Find out here:
Education
School is expensive for many African children. Lots of families can’t afford school uniforms or ex­ercise books even though they don’t have to pay for school.
For those lucky enough to go to school , they have a lot to learn. Some take two language clas­ses: English or French, and their first language. There is also math, science, history, social studies and geography. Chores take up much of children’s time after school. They have to get water and fire­wood for the family every day. Also there’s clean­ing , washing and helping Mum with the meal.
Daily fun
It’s not all work and no play. Sports are very popular. Children can make goals with twigs ( 嫩樹枝)and their own footballs with plastic and bits of string ( 繩子 ). They play in the country and the streets of old towns. There’re many football teams for teenagers in Africa.
Internet
It’s really expensive to get on the Internet. To surf the net for 20 hours costs over 600 yuan. This is more than the average (平均的) monthly pay per person.
Egypt and South Africa are the top two users of the Internet in Africa. All of the capital cities there can get on the Internet.
Some schools offer computer lessons but few students can enjoy computer fun at home.
【小題1】 The underlined word "Chores" probably means

A．網(wǎng)上沖浪

B．家務(wù)雜活

C．體育活動(dòng)

D．家庭作業(yè)

【小題2】 Sports are very popular in Africa because chil­dren _________.

A．do not need money to play

B．can play all kinds of ball games

C．don’t like to go to school

D．don’t like to do their homework

【小題3】The passage is mainly about_________.

A．education in Africa

B．children’s school life in Africa

C．the Internet in Africa

D．children’s daily life in Africa

【小題4】From the passage, we can infer (推斷) that in Africa_________.

A．basketball is popular among children

B．children in Africa have to pay for school

C．some children in Africa have to take two for­eign language classes

D．people in Egypt and South Africa may get higher pay than people in the other countries

Olympic torch relay (奧運(yùn)火炬接力) planned route
Beijing, April 27—The Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay will cover the greatest area and include the largest number of people. The plans were announced on Thursday night. The planned route would last  130 days and travel 137 000 km.
First Nobel Prize winner to donate to Hope School
Chinanews, Beijing, May 10—Professor Dannel Chee Tsui, in the USA, signed the agreement to donate 350 000 yuan to his home town to build a Hope Primary School in China.
Bill Gates receives Tsinghua honorary doctorate
Beijing,April 20—Bill Gates, chairman of global IT giant Mi­crosoft, received an honorary doc­torate (榮譽(yù)博士學(xué)位) when he
visited China’s   famous   Tsinghua   University   on Thursday.
Big Shaolin kung fu center to be built in Russia
Chinanews, Beijing, April 27—China and Russia have signed a letter of intent ( 意向書)on the building of a Shaolin kung fu center in Russia. It will be the first of its kind in Russia,and also the biggest overseas kung fu center when it is completed.
【小題1】 How long will the Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay last?

A．One month.

B．Two months.

C．Three months.

D．More than four months.

【小題2】 Who signed an agreement to donate money to build a Hope Primary School on May 10?

A．Bill Gates.

B．Professor Daniel Chee Tsui.

C．Beijing government.

D．Tsinghua University.

【小題3】 What will be built in Russia according to the news?

A．A university.

B．A sports centre.

C．A Shaolin kung fu center.

D．A Hope Primary School.

Children in England mustn’t work until they are 13. They need to have a work permit (許可證) to start working.
The jobs teenagers can do_:
Delivering (遞送) newspapers_: Many teenagers will get up early to deliver newspapers to houses in their local area before going to school. They are known as Paper-boys or Papergirls.
Babysitting: Looking after young children in their home while their parents have gone out for the evening is a popular job for teenagers, as they get money for watching children and television all at the same time!
Helping the Milkman: From the age of 14 some teenagers help the milkman deliver milk to houses.
Other popular jobs ： Working in a shop; Office work; Washing cars ; In a cafe or restaurant. The hours teenagers (13 and 14 year olds )can work:
School Days_: Not more than 2 hours in one day during the following periods:
Morning 7 a. m. —start of school or Evening _: close of school— 7 p. m.
Saturdays: Up to 5 hours between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Sundays_: Up to 2 hours between 7 a.m. and 11 a. m.
Term time_: Up to 12 hours a week (Including weekends)
【小題1】 In England how old do children have to be before they can work?

A．15.

B．14.

C．10.

D．13.

【小題2】 Paper-boys and Papergirls deliver newspapers           

A．early in the morning

B．a(chǎn)t noon

C．in the afternoon

D．in the evening

【小題3】Teenagers in England can do all of the follow­ing except_________.

A．work in an office

B．work in a night club

C．look after young children

D．deliver newspapers

【小題4】 How many hours a week may teenagers work during the term time?

A．10.

B．14.

C．17.

D．20.

Imagine there is a bank that puts $ 86, 400 in your account ( 賬戶)each morning. It carries over no balance from day to day. Every evening the bank writes off( 注銷)the balance that you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Take out every cent,  of course \
Each of us has such a bank. Its name is TIME. Every morning,  it puts in 86, 400 seconds. Every evening it writes off,  as it is lost. There is no balance or overdraft 透支) . If you fail to use the day’s savings,  the lost is yours. There is no going back. There is no taking from " tomorrow". You must make good use of it so as to get more in health,  happiness and success!
The clock is running. Make the most of today. To realize the value of ONE YEAR,  ask a student who failed a grade; To realize the value of ONE MONTH,  ask a mother who gave birth to a premature( 早產(chǎn))baby; To realize the value of ONE WEEK,  ask the editor of a weekly newspaper; To realize the value of ONE HOUR,  ask the lovers who are waiting to meet; To realize the value of ONE MINUTE,  ask a person who missed the train; To realize the value of ONE SECOND,  ask a person who just avoided(避免)an accident.
Make good use of every moment that you have. Remember that time waits for no one. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why it’s called "The Present".
【小題1】The underlined word "balance" in paragraph 1 means_________.

A．平衡

B．貸款

C．余款

D．提款

【小題2】 What is special about the TIME bank we each have?

A．We can store time in it whenever we like.

B．Someone puts $ 86, 400 in it every day.

C．The time in it will surely get lost if you don’t use it.

D．Someone helps you spend your time every night.

【小題3】What can be the best title of the passage?

A．The Bank of Money	B．The Bank of Time
C．The value of one hour	D．The clock is running

【小題4】 In this passage,  the writer tries to tell us_________.

A．what a bank is	B．how to save money
C．the difference of time units	D．to make good use of time

Good morning,  boys and girls. Today I’ll talk about going online.
We know that there are too many net bars around us. The Internet can make our lives interesting and enjoyable. Many of us like going online very much because we can learn how to use the computer and can get more information from the In­ternet. We can learn English. We can read some good newspapers and magazines. It can make us clever in playing com­puter games. We can send e-mails to our friends quickly. We can chat freely online with our friends. It can help us to get in touch with people from all over the world.
But every coin has two sides. Net bars also bring us a lot of trouble. For example,  some students spend too much time in playing computer games and some stay in the net bars all day and all night. Some girls even get to have boyfriends or some boys get to have girlfriends online. They write too many letters to each other. It takes them too much time to chat online,  so they do worse and worse in their lessons and they don’t study well any more. I think we mustn’t get online when it is time for us to study. We can do it in summer or winter holidays or at the weekend.
At the same time,  if we have lots of free time,  we can do some out-of-class activities at school. We usually have activ­ities from 4’ 50 to 5- 50 in the afternoon. We can play basketball or football on Monday or Thursday afternoon. We can join some interests groups in school,  such as drawing or reading on Tuesday afternoon,  or singing and dancing on Wednesday afternoon. We can go to the English Corner on Friday afternoon. We hope we can spend more time on our subjects or on such activities.
【小題1】Many of us like going online because it can help us_________.

A．learn English and send e-mails	B．get more information
C．play computer games	D．a(chǎn)ll of the above

【小題2】According to the speaker,  in our spare time we should_________.

A．go online for longer time

B．stay in the classroom doing more exercises

C．go to the English Corner every afternoon

D．do more out-of-class activities at school

【小題3】If you are free on Tuesday afternoon,  what out-of-class activities can you have at school?

A．Playing basketball or football.	B．Singing and dancing.
C．Drawing or reading.	D．Going to the English Corner.

Living in a foreign culture can be exciting, but it can also be confusing (令人迷惑的). A group of Americans who taught English in other countries recently discussed their experiences. They decided that miscommunications were always possible, even over something as simple as "yes" and "no".

On her first day in Micronesia, an island in the Pacific, Lisa thought people weren’t paying any attention to her. The day was hot. She went into a store and asked, “Do you have cold drinks. The woman there didn’t say anything. Lisa repeated the question. Still the Woman said nothing. She later learned that the woman had answered her:  She had raised her eyebrows (眉毛), which in Micronesia means "yes".
Jan remembered an experience she had in Bulgaria, a country in Europe. She went to a restaurant that was known for its cabbage. She asked the waiter, "Do, you have cabbage today?" He nodded his head. Jan waited, but the cabbage never came. In that country, a nod means no.
Tom had a similar problem when he arrived in India. After explaining something in class, he asked his students if they understood. They answered with many different nods and shakes of the head. He thought some people had not understood, so he explained again. When he asked again, they did the same thing~ He soon found out that his students did understand. In India, people nod and shake their heads in different ways depending on where they come from. You have to know where a person is from to understand whether they mean "yes" or "no".
【小題1】These Americans teaching English in other countries found that they ______.

A．should go abroad for vacations

B．needed to learn foreign languages

C．should often discuss their experiences

D．had problems with communications

【小題2】People in Micronesia show "yes" by ____.

A．nodding heads	B．raising eyebrows
C．shaking heads	D．saying "no"

【小題3】Tom misunderstood his class at first because

A．he did not know much about Indian culture

B．he didn’t explain everything clearly enough

C．some students didn’t understand his questions

D．he didn’t know where the students came from

【小題4】Which of the following is TRUE according to(根據(jù)) this passage?

A．In Bulgaria, nodding heads means no.

B．Jan taught English on a Pacific island.

C．Lisa was trying to buy some cabbage.

D．In India, only shaking heads means "YES".

【小題5】The passage is mainly about _____.

A．body language in foreign restaurants

B．class discussion in Indian schools

C．miscommunication in different cultures

D．English teaching in other countries

Penguins are lovely animals. Most people like them. But now as many as 10 of the 17 kinds of penguins are in danger of disappearing. The number of penguins has decreased by ( 減少了) 30% since 1987.
Penguins are black and white birds that live in the southern part of the world. They are common in the Antarctic Continent (南極大陸) ,New Zealand, Australia and South America. Many live near cold waters (水域). But some live near warm waters in Galapagos Islands. Penguins  cannot fly, but  they are fine swimmers. The shape of their body helps them to survive. Penguins eat fish and krill  (磷蝦). They have short wings that help them to dive up to 900 feet to catch larger fish. They can swim 10-15 kilometers an hour which lets them protect themselves. They also have lots of body oil that helps in keeping them dry in the water.
The warming of the earth is the reason for the decrease in the number of penguins. The hotter and hotter air has caused ocean waters to become warmer. Higher water temperature has decreased the fish and krill. Some years later these birds are completely unable to reproduce. And many adult penguins die of hunger.
Too much fishing, exploration for oil and oil leaks (泄漏) also make penguins be in danger. Poisonous things in ocean waters are another danger. Penguins also have their enemies, including sharks, seals and sea lions.
【小題1】Penguins can do the following except________.

A．diving

B．flying

C．swimming

D．catching fish

【小題2】Which of the following is NOT the reason for the decrease in the number penguins?

A．The warming of the earth.	B．Too much fishing.
C．Natural disasters.	D．Poisonous things in ocean waters.

【小題3】What does the underlined word "reproduce" mean?

A．繁殖

B．滅絕

C．遷徙

D．覓食

【小題4】 What’s the passage mainly about?

A．Fish and krill have decreased.

B．Ocean waters are polluted.

C．Sharks and seals are the enemies of pen­guins.

D．The decrease in the number of penguins.