There are many special hotels around the world. In Greenland, there is a hotel made out of ice. In Turkey, there is a cave hotel. And in Bolivia, there is the Salt Palace Hotel.
Thousands of years ago, the area around the Salt Palace Hotel was a large lake. But over time, all the water disappeared. Today, the area has only two small lakes and two salt deserts.
In the early 1990s, a man named Juan Quesada built the hotel. He cut big blocks of salt from the desert and used the blocks to build it. Everything in the hotel is made out of salt: the walls, the roof, the tables, the chairs and the beds.
The sun heats the walls and roof during the day. So the rooms stay warm at night, though it’s cold outside in the desert. The hotel has twelve rooms. A single room costs $40 a night, and a double room $60.
A sign on the hotel’s wall tells guests, “Please don’t lick (舔) the walls.”
小題1:Where did the salt for the hotel come from?

A．A cave.

B．The lake.

C．The salt desert.

D．A salt field.

小題2:What keeps the rooms in the Salt Palace Hotel warm at night?

A．The water in the lake.	B．The sand in the desert.
C．The furniture in the rooms.	D．The heat from the walls and roof.

小題3:What is the passage mainly about?

A．A large lake.

B．A special hotel.

C．A beautiful wall.

D．A famous desert.

The British aren’t having as many children as they used to. One reason is that people are having children much older than before, meaning they have fewer years in which they can have them. After years at university, they need a few years of work experience before they can get the job they want. They might then get married, but it’s incredibly expensive to buy a house in the UK.
The above explains why young British people now don’t move out of their parents’ home until they are around 30 years old on average. It is not until they are 30 that they can afford their own home. Increasingly, it is not until that age that they can afford to get married and start a new life in a new home. It’s only after this age that many young people start thinking about having a child.
So a British person manages to get a job, get a home and get married. Why isn’t he or she then having at least two children on average? The main reason is that it is quite expensive to bring up a child in the UK. Why is it expensive? Well, these days, both parents need to work just to pay for their home and living expenses. Because both parents are at work, that means they then need to pay someone to look after their child during the day. Paying for this childcare is nearly always expensive.
The recent financial crisis is making things even harder for families, since unemployment is rising and even fewer people can afford to have children. With so much pressure on families, is it any surprise that the divorce rate is so high?
So what is Britain doing to try and save the British family? The government is trying to make it cheaper to have children. For example, there have been increases in money families can claim from the state each month. Also, there are increasing government subsidies for nursery schools, so that parents do not need to pay so much for child care.
The government is also trying to reduce the number of hours British parents have to work to earn enough money to pay their bills. If parents didn’t have to work so many hours, they’d have more time to spend with their children and wouldn’t need to spend so much on childcare. On average, a Briton works 49 hours a week, which is the most in Europe. The state is now considering introducing laws to encourage companies to improve their employees’ work-life balance. Let’s hope they’re not too late to save the British family. Otherwise, the British will always be too tired, and won’t have enough time and money, to have children.
小題1:Young British people live in their parents’ home until around 30 because         .

A．They are allowed to get married at 30

B．they can’t find jobs to support themselves

C．they can’t afford a house of their own until then

D．they enjoy family life with their parents

小題2:The British are now having fewer children than before for all the following reasons EXCEPT that         .

A．they have fewer years to have children

B．they live much shorter lives than before

C．it is more expensive to bring up a child

D．people are losing their jobs because of the recent financial crisis

小題3:To make it cheaper to have children, the British government is         .

A．bringing down prices

B．raising the salaries of parents

C．reducing family income tax

D．increasing subsidies for families and nursery schools

小題4:It can be inferred from the text that         .

A．with long work hours, it is hard for British parents to balance life and work

B．more and more families in Britain are breaking up because they are having fewer children

C．a(chǎn)mong Europeans, British people work hardest and earn the least

D．childcare takes up too much energy and time for the British

小題5:The underlined word “subsidies” in Paragraph 5 means _________.

A．food paid by the government

B．school buildings for poor students

C．free transportation

D．money from the government to benefit the public

The early lack of exposure to science ，technology，engineering and mathematics (STEM) can be harmful to achieving gender (性別）balance in these fields. It begins when we are young and continues throughout our time in high school.
While at home，girls generally don’t get to experience the level of exposure or encouragement in STEM fields that their male counterparts do. It is often subtle ，but it’s the first hurdle that faces and confuses so many women. Boys ，on the other hand, get on their path ，and are encouraged to do so， generally earlier than girls. For example ，boys are more often given science sets as toys ，which spark an interest in these subjects.
In school ₃ boys are often pushed to take the more challenging math and science classes. So if we want to attract the best and brightest minds into the fields that will advance us as a people _? a country，and a planet，we can no longer look to only half of the population. Young girls cannot possibly consider opportunities they do not know exist. If girls are not exposed to certain subject and career paths，they are highly unlikely to choose to follow them in college.
Our bias(偏見)toward girls₉ either from families or from schools ，is so rooted in our culture that we often don’t even recognize it. Although the situation Has changed greatly in the past 20 or 30 years，there is still a sense that girls aren't as good at math ₉ for instance ₉ even though there is almost no evidence to support such a belief.
It is important that as a society we deal with gender stereotypes long before young people are faced with a decision to declare or choose a major in college. Without making efforts to break them， we are limiting the potentials of our youth，both male and female. Providing the necessary resources， exposure _, and encouragement would help young women understand that their gender shouldn^’t determine the career path they choose, and that pursuing a STEM career does not make them less feminine.
小題1:According to the passage _? not many girls grow to enter STEM fields because______.

A．girls are not as good at STEM as boys

B．girls do not like to take science classes

C．girls get fewer chances to know about STEM

D．girls seldom survive the high pressure positions

小題2:The underlined word “it” in Para. 4 refers to______

A．our bias

B．our culture

C．the situation

D．a(chǎn) sense

小題3:The main purpose of the passage is to______.

A．show women’s potentials in STEM fields

B．praise women’s contributions to STEM fields

C．describe the present gender bias in STEM fields

D．call for more involvement of women in STEM fields

小題4:Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?

My own experiment with culture shock came to a fruitless end when I returned with homesick from a year’s study in Italy. I had never heard of culture shock. All I knew was that I was unhappy and wanted to go home.
That was twenty years ago, and since then culture shock has become a real field of study. It is now understood that any normal person, finding him or herself for an extended time in a new culture, is in for trouble.
The process of “culture shock” is now recognized as so predictable that its four stages have been noticeable. The first is the honeymoon stage, familiar to those of us who love to travel, but never stay in one place long enough to find out what follows. In this stage, the new country and its people seem delightful. Everything is better than home. Everything is so different and charming.
Then the bloom comes off the rose. Now the people start to look shallow, selfish and stupid. The different ways of doing things don’t seem interesting any more. You start to feel tired all the time. Culture shock has set in. You feel at sea.
The emotional response to culture shock in stage two can be extreme. Confusion, depression and anxiety, and resentment can all enter to varying degrees. You may become physically ill. Little things seem terribly annoying.
The happier resolution is to move on to stage three. Adjusting. Rather than itemizing（列舉） what’s “wrong” with Americans, you remind yourself that “right” and “wrong” are not meaningful terms in cultural matters.
Instead, you try to understand what motivates Americans, perhaps realizing that many of the things you don’t like are related to the things you do like.
As time goes on, you should be moving into stage four. Acceptance. At this point, you simply don’t think any more about the specialties of Americans. You accept them as individuals. You have started to feel at home; you know how to do things. You have not rejected your old culture; but the American ways have settled upon you. You feel optimistic about your future here. You have truly arrived.
小題1:Why do people not suffer from culture shock when they first arrive in a foreign country?

A．They love to travel.

B．They don’t stay in one place long enough.

C．The new country and its people are delightful.

D．Everything is so different and charming.

小題2:What do you understand by the underlined sentence “Then the bloom comes off the rose”?.

A．The rose comes up.	B．The rose blooms.
C．Something good comes about.	D．Something good goes away.

小題3:Which one is the possible psychological effect of culture shock on the second stage?

A．Anxiety.

B．Excitement.

C．Shock.

D．Delight.

小題4:Which of the following statements will the writer agree with?

A．Any normal person facing a new culture will be in trouble.

B．Culture shock is now recognized as unpredictable.

C．There is no “right” and “wrong” in terms of cultural matters.

D．When you reject your old culture, you can accept the new one.

小題5:The passage is mainly about __________.

A．the study of culture shock

B．how to get rid of culture shock

C．the writer’s own experiment with culture shock

D．the four stages of culture shock and their features

The hottest show this summer-the “Voice" just finished on Sunday at the Shanghai Stadium．But the show that had a good start didn't end to everyone's satisfaction．The two and a half hour show dragged on for more than four hours because of the huge amount of advertising, which the audience and residents living nearby could hardly bear．
This summer, something hotter than the weather came to Shanghai．That is the Voice of China．The show soon became a cash cow for the organizer as the advertisement prices reached 1．16 million yuan for 15 seconds．And the show has earned more than 100 million yuan up to now in ad income only, But the organizers' bliss was audiences' melancholy．
In the final live show on Sunday, about 14 rounds of advertisements were aired, each of which came at a crucial result-announcing moment．
Frequently interrupted by advertisements, some live audience members complained that the show wasn't worth its ticket prices of 180 to 1680 yuan．
The planned two and a half hour show went two hours overtime because of the advertising．This annoyed audience members, and touched the nerves of residents living near the site．
Someone called the police, and the show is now facing punishment for going over-time and disturbing residents late at night．
小題1:Why didn't "the Voice" make audience satisfied?

A．It failed to attract audience attention in the end．

B．It failed to make audience satisfied．

C．It increased by one and a half hours and audience could bear it．

D．It was full of so many advertisements that audience can't tolerate them．

小題2:Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．The show lasted for over two and a half hours．

B．Someone called the police because they can't bear the noises late at night．

C．The show was worth its ticket prices because the audience watched many advertisements．

D．The show has earned more than 100 million yuan up to now totally．

小題3:Which of the following can best serve as the title of the passage?

A．The Voice of China-the most popular TV show of last summer．

B．The Voice of China-hard to say I love you．

C．The Voice of China-I want you．

D．The Voice of China-the noises of China．

小題4:This passage is organized in the pattern of___．

A．time and event	B．comparison and contrast
C．cause and effect	D．definition and classification(分類)

閱讀下面短文并回答問題，然后將答案寫到答題卡相應的位置上（請注意問題后的詞數(shù)要求）。
[1]A program in the United States brings scientists and engineers into elementary schools to teach teachers more about how to teach science.
[2]Dave Weiss is a retired engineer. One day each week he volunteers at Georgian Forest Elementary School in Silver Spring, Maryland, near Washington. He, who is so enthusiastic and so much fun with the kids, works with teacher Fred Tenyke on science projects for ten years.
[3]Student Jada Lockwood says she enjoys Mr. Weiss' visits to her classroom. She likes the drawings he uses to explain scientific ideas.
[4]The American Association for the Advancement of Science sponsors the Senior Scientists and Engineers program. Dave Weiss has been a volunteer in that program for many years. The scientists and engineers help teachers in elementary schools improve their skills.
[5]Mr. Weiss says he and the other volunteers help teachers by providing hands-on knowledge. He notes that science is an area in which many elementary school teachers have         _________experience. In elementary school, for the most part, a regular classroom teacher is responsible for teaching science, along with reading and math, and if they don't have a strong science background, just by nature, they're going to tend to underrepresent science in the curriculum.
[6]American fifteen-year-olds scored about average in science among countries that took part in testing by the OECD in 2009. The OECD is the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
[7]Dave Weiss says he is concerned about such results, but hopeful for the future for American students learning science. Fred Tenkye thinks volunteers like Dave Weiss are helping students do that. "And if you can develop a passion for science, then eventually the grades and the test scores, then that will follow and increase, too." he said.
小題1:How does Dave Weiss feel when he stays with students？(no more than 10 words)
________________________________________________________________________
小題2:What do the students think of Dave Weiss’s teaching？(no more than 6 words)
________________________________________________________________________
小題3:Fill in the blank in Paragraph 5 with proper words. (1 word)
________________________________________________________________________
小題4:What should the students do when they are learning science? (no more than 10 words)
________________________________________________________________________
小題5:What’s the main idea of this passage? (no more than 10 words)
_______________________________________________________________________

In modem society there is a great deal of argument about competition．Some value it highly，believing that it is responsible for social progress and prosperity．Others say that competition is bad, that it sets one person against another and that it leads to unfriendly relationship between people．
I have taught many children who held the belief that their self-worth relied(依賴)on how well they performed at tennis and other skills．For them，playing well and winning are often life-and-death affair. In their single-minded pursuit(追求)of success，the development of many other human qualities is sadly forgotten．
However，while some seem to be lost in the desire to succeed，others take an opposite attitude．In a culture which values only the winner and pays no attention to the ordinary players，they strongly blame competition．Among the most vocal are youngsters who have suffered under competitive pressures from their parents or society．Teaching these young people，I often observe in them a desire to fail．They seem to seek failure by not trying to win or achieve success .By not trying，they always have an excuse：“I may have lost，but it doesn’t matter because I really didn’t try.’’ What is not usually admitted by themselves is the belief that if they had really tried and lost，that would mean a lot．Such a loss would be a measure of their worth．
Clearly，this belief is the same as that of the true competitors who try to prove themselves．Both are based on the mistaken belief that one’s self-respect relies on how well one performs in comparison with others．Both are afraid of not being valued．Only as this basic and often troublesome fear begins to dissolve(緩解)can we discover a new meaning in competition．
小題1:What does this passage mainly talk about?

A．Competition helps to set up self-respect．

B．Opinions about competition are different among people．

C．Competition is harmful to personal quality development．

D．Failures are necessary experiences in competition．

小題2:Why do some people favor competition according to the passage?

A．It pushes society forward．

B．it builds up a sense of duty．

C．It improves personal abilities．

D．It encourages individual efforts．

小題3:The underlined phrase “the most vocal” in Paragraph 3 means________．

A．those who try their best to win

B．those who value competition most highly

C．those who are against competition most strongly

D．those who rely on others most for success

小題4:What is the similar belief of the true competitors and those with a “desire to fail”?

A．One’s worth lies in his performance compared with others’．

B．One’s success in competition needs great efforts．

C．One’s achievement is determined by his particular skills．

D．One’s success is based on how hard he has tried．

小題5:Which point of view may the author agree to?

A．Every effort should be paid back．

B．Competition should be encouraged．

C．Winning should be a life—and—death matter．

D．Fear of failure should be removed in competition．

The United States has about 475,000 school buses ---all painted yellow.Each day they carry more than 25,000,000 children, half of all schoolchildren in the country.But these buses, on average, use four liters of diesel (柴油) fuel to travel less than sixteen kilometers.When the school year began last fall, diesel averaged 55 cents a liter nationally.The price nearly doubled, to a dollar and 8 cents, by the end of school in June.
Bob Riley speaks for the American School Bus Council.He says fuel prices for schools are not much lower than others have to pay.As a result, schools are looking for ways to reduce transportation costs.Bus routes are being redrawn or, in some cases, canceled (取消).Some areas are buying buses that use natural gas or other alternative fuels.Other steps include fewer field trips and less travel by sports teams.And some school districts (地區(qū)) may end any bus service not required by law.
Studies show that school buses are the safest form of transportation to and from school.The American School Bus Council says cuts in bus service are bad for children and possibly the environment.It says removing buses from the road will mean an increase in other vehicles transporting students.Spokesman Bob Riley says another concern is that reducing bus services might reduce attendance.
But it could also get more children to walk or bicycle to school.And that would surely make people happy at the National Center for Safe Routes to School.More kids walking or biking safely to school is the aim of a three-year-old federal program, part of an international movement.The goal is to increase physical activity and reduce air pollution.The United States will celebrate Walk to School Day on October the eighth this year.But for some students, high fuel prices could make every day a walk-to-school day.
小題1:What does this passage mainly tell us?

A．High fuel prices’ influences on school buses.

B．New measures to transport school students.

C．The safest form of student transportation.

D．The origin of Walk to School Day.

小題2:Which of the following information is implied in the first paragraph?

A．There are too many school buses in the United States.

B．There are too many students in the US.

C．Diesel prices are going up too rapidly in the US.

D．School buses consume too much diesel in the US.

小題3:What can we learn from Paragraph 3?

A．Cuts in bus service will have negative results.

B．The US government is encouraging cuts in bus services.

C．The US schools are searching for the safest transportation means.

D．Reducing bus service will do a lot of good to the environment.

小題4:The National Center for Safe Routes to school encourages more children to walk or bike to school in order to ____.
A.save more fuels and diesel for the country
B.keep the children safe on their way to school
D.keep the children healthy and the environment clean.

Teenagers are under a lot of pressure to be thin. They resort to starving, vomiting and eating only diet foods to try and be thin. Television is a big influence on them. They watch shows like Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place and feel they need to look as thin as the actresses on these shows. Society is brainwashing young people into believing that being thin is important and necessary.
Diet commercials are constantly appearing on our television screens telling us that once we lose weight, we will be happy. While you’re standing at the grocery store you are surrounded by magazines claiming to have the newest and best diet. Each month another new diet appears claiming to be the diet to end all diets. If diets really worked, then why are there so many of them? The reason a new diet pops up each month, is that last’s month’s diets did not work. The truth of the matter is that DIETS DON’T WORK.
The diet and fashion industries are not totally to blame for society’s obsession with thinness. We are the ones keeping them in business. We buy into the idea that we can attain the “ideal” body image. We allow ourselves to believe the lies being thrown at us constantly. We are throwing away our hard earned money trying to live up to the standards that society has set for us. It’s unfortunate, but in today’s society, people have forgotten that it’s what’s inside a person that counts, not what’s on the outside. We need to start loving and accepting each other for who we are, not what we look like.
Once again, I would like to stress the fact that diets don’t work. Eating three healthy meals a day, a few snacks and doing moderate exercise, will allow your body to go to its natural set point. Next time you decide that you are going to start another diet because you feel you are too fat, stop, sign up for a self-esteem class instead. That would be money well spent.
小題1:What are Beverly Hills 90210 and Meltrose Place ?

A．Fashion shows.	B．Two famous place in America.
C．Popular TV shows.	D．Two TV channels.

小題2:According to the author, which of the following statements is NOT true ?

A．Our society is flooded with diet commercials.

B．The latest diet is necessarily better than all the previous ones.

C．People in North America become crazy over Dieting.

D．All diets are useless in fact

小題3:Why are there so many diets popping up according to the second paragraph?

A．Because teenagers are under a lot of pressure to be thin.

B．Because there are more and more fat teenagers.

C．Because the diets have no effect.

D．Because teenagers are fascinated by the newest and best diet.

小題4:We can infer from this passage that __________ .

A．if your diet doesn’t work, the only thing you can do is to accept your body image .

B．a(chǎn)ttending a self-esteem class will help you keep fit.

C．we shouldn’t pay attention to the size of our body.

D．what’s inside a person is much more important than his/her appearance.

小題5:What’s the function of the last paragraph in the whole text ?

A．persuasion

B．summarization

C．a(chǎn)rgumentation

D．description

D
One of the main challenges facing many countries is how to maintain their identity in the face of globalization and the growing multi-language trend. “One of the main reasons for economic failure in many African countries is the fact that, with a few important exceptions, mother-tongue education is not practiced in any of the independent African states.” said Neville Alexander, Director of the Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa at the University of Cape Town.
In response to the spread of English and the increased multi-language trends arising from immigration, many countries have introduced language laws in the laws in the last decade. In some, the use of languages other than the national language is banned in public spaces such as advertising posters. One of the first such legal provisions was the 1994 “Toubon law” in France, but the idea has been copied in many countries since then. Such efforts to govern language use are often dismissed as futile by language experts, who are well aware of the difficulty in controlling fashions in speech and know from research that language switching among bilinguals is a natural process.
It is especially difficult for native speakers of English to understand the desire to maintain the “purity” of a language by law. Since the time of Shakespeare, English has continually absorbed foreign words into its own language. English is one of the most mixed and rapidly changing languages in the world, but there has not been a barrier to acquiring prestige and power. Another reason for the failure of many native English speakers to understand the role of state regulation is that it has never been the Anglo-Saxon way of doing things. English has never had a state-controlled authority for the language, similar, for example, to the Academic Francaise in France.
The need to protect national languages is, for most western Europeans, a recent phenomenon—especially the need to ensure that English does not unnecessarily take over too many fields. Public communication, education and new modes of communication promoted by technology, may be key fields to defend.
小題1:Neville Alexander believes that         .

A．mother-tongue education is not practiced in all African countries

B．lack of mother-tongue education can lead to economic failure

C．globalization has led to the rise of multi-language trends

D．globalization has resulted in the economic failure of Africa

小題2:The underlined word “futile” (in paragraph 2) most probably means “        “.     

A．useless

B．practical

C．workable

D．unnecessary

小題3:Why do many English-speaking countries not support the language protection efforts described in the passage?

A．They think language protection laws are ineffective.

B．They want their language to spread to other countries.

C．They have a long history of taking words from other languages.

D．It reduces a language’s ability to acquire international importance.

小題4:What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．English has taken over fields like public communication and education.

B．Europeans have long realized the need to protect their national languages.

C．Most language experts believe it is important to promote a national language.

D．Many aspects of national culture are threatened by the spread of English.

小題5:The main idea of the passage is       .  

A．Fighting against the rule of English

B．Globalization and multi-language trends

C．Protecting local languages and identities

D．To maintain the purity of language by law