It seems that all your friends’ names on MSN have added a little green “I’m” symbol overnight. If you ask what is going on, someone will tell you it’s a charity activity.
Though this charity program has not yet officially begun for Chinese users, this little green symbol has proven popular among Chinese Windows Live Messenger users.
Windows Live Messenger’s official blog announced on March 1 that Microsoft was beginning an “I’m” program in the United States. Every time someone starts a conversation using “I’m”, Microsoft shares a part of the program’s advertising income with nine organizations devoted to social causes. With every instant message a user sends, it helps deal with things one feels most interested in, including poverty, child protection, disease and worsening environment.
One only has to add a certain code next to one’s name for the organization one would like to support. “*red’u” is for the American Red Cross, “*bgca” is for Boys & Girls Clubs of America and “*unicef” stands for the American branch of UNICEF.
After a Chinese blogger named “hung” introduced this program on his blog on March 2, “I’m” entered the Internet in China with no actual support from Microsoft.
Beijing-based Youth Weekend reported that famous IT blogger Keso regarded this program’s rapid spread as a successful virus marketing case. He thinks that the success of the “I’m” program is because it’s spread by users without being a bother to others. This answers why “I’m” has spread so rapidly across the Internet like a virus with almost no advertisement.
However, Feng Jinhu from the press center for Microsoft China told Youth Weekend that the “I’m” project is only for Messenger users in the United States. Instant messages sent by Chinese users would not count.
This has not affected Chinese Messenger users’ interest in the little green symbol. These users hope their instant messages will actually contribute to charitable organizations someday.
小題1:What’s the main idea of the third paragraph?

A．The detail information about the “I’m” program.

B．Microsoft announced the beginning of the program.

C．The main purpose of the program.

D．How to take part in the program in China.

小題2:What is the reason for the success of the “I’m” program according to Keso?

A．It doesn’t bring other users trouble.	B．It is popular with the poor people.
C．It is supported by Microsoft.	D．It is advertised through the Internet.

小題3:The following descriptions about the “I’m” program are correct EXCEPT _________.

A．it became popular in China in a short time

B．Microsoft will support the charity activity for free

C．US MSN users who take part in the “I’m” program contribute to charity

D．it covers social problems such as poverty, child protection, etc.

小題4:What should you do to take part in the “I’m” program?

A．Send an email to Microsoft.

B．Add a little green “I’m” symbol before your MSN name.

C．Add the code of the organization you support next to your MSN name.

D．Fill in an application form in advance.

小題5:From the passage, we can come to a conclusion that _________.

A．“I’m” is a computer virus that will not be easily removed

B．Microsoft is active in advertising the program in China

C．modern technology is being used to raise money for charity

D．Chinese MSN users have no interest in the program

In the summer of 1978 an English farmer was driving his tractor through a field of wheat when he discovered that some of his wheat was lying flat on the ground. The fattened (壓平的) wheat formed a circle about six meters across. Around this circle were four smaller circles of flattened wheat. The five circles were in a formation like five dots. During the following years, farmers in England found the strange circles in their fields more and more often.
The circles are called “crop circles” because they appear in the fields of grain - usually wheat or corn. The grain in the circles lies flat on the ground but never broken; it continues to grow, and farmers can later harvest it. Farmers always discover the crop circles in the morning, so the circles probably form at night. They appear only in the months from May to September.
At first, people thought that the circles were a hoax. Probably young people were making them as a joke, or farmers were making them to attract tourists. To prove that the circles were a hoax, people tried to make circles exactly like the ones that farmer had found. They couldn’t do it. They couldn’t enter a field of grain without leaving tracks(痕跡), and they couldn’t flatten the grain without breaking it.
Many people believe that beings from outer space are making the circle to communicate with us from far away and that the crop circles are messages from them.
Scientists who have studied the crop circles suggested several possibilities. Some scientists say that a downward rush of wind leads to the formation of the circles - the same downward rush of air that sometimes causes an airplane to crash. Other scientists say that forces within the earth cause the circles to appear. There is one problem with all these scientific explanations: crop circles often appear in formations, like the five-dot formation. It is hard to believe that any natural force could form those.
小題1:In the summer of 1978, an English farmer discovered in his field that __________.

A．some of his wheat had been damaged

B．his grain was growing up in circles.

C．his grain was moved into several circles

D．some of his wheat had fallen onto the ground.

小題2:According to the text, the underlined part “hoax” (in the 3^rd paragraph) probably means __________.

A．a(chǎn)n attempt made to fool people

B．a(chǎn) special way to plant crops

C．a(chǎn) research on the force of winds

D．a(chǎn)n experiment for the protection of crops.

小題3:Which of the following may prove that the crop circles are not made by man?

A．The farmer couldn’t step out of the field.

B．The farmers couldn’t make the circles round.

C．The farmers couldn’t leave without footprints.

D．The farmers couldn’t keep the wheat straight up.

小題4:A proper title for this passage is ___________.

A．An Unsolved Mystery

B．Strange Flying Objects

C．The Power of Natural Forces

D．The discovery of Strange Circles

This economy has really got a lot of people moving and not always by a choice they wanted to make. My wife and I now find ourselves among those unfortunates feeling that  1 .
At the end of last year, our customers just  2 .  We had to make the painful decision to 3 our office and put our house up for  4 . We haven’t lived in it for two years yet and expected it would be the  5  one for a long time. How   6 this world economic mess is changing our lives!
As I get older, I find moving less adventurous and more  7  . This time, we’re in the process of moving without knowing where we’ll   8 next. Job searching has been thrown into the quagmire(困境) of an unsettled life. Both my wife and I had been feeling pretty  9  from all this. I’ve been challenged to find the positive in all this down that’s  10  us.
But then it happened while I watched my wife  11  things up. She’s an absolute whiz(能手) when it comes to packing. I took delight in watching her  12  just the right boxes for  13  in front of her and filling in the  14  with pillows and towels. I began feeling something like a wind lift me up and sail me through my own  15 of the packing and loading.
Some friends will be helping us with the  16 . I’ve told them that they’re not  17  friends but gaining some new vacation spots.
I have  18  that we’ll get through this transition finally. We all will always have work to do, by choice or  19 , and we can also consciously make the effort to create a sense of  20  in a new place.

小題1:	A．pressure B．pleasure C．heat D．chance

小題2:	A．stayed up B．turned up C．dried up D．came up

小題3:	A．open B．close C．visit D．paint

小題4:	A．help B．comparison C．decoration D．sale

小題5:	A．last B．next C．only D．special

小題6:	A．little B．quickly C．frequently D．well

小題7:	A．dangerous B．common C．stressful D．interesting

小題8:	A．return B．a(chǎn)rrive C．study D．prepare

小題9:	A．relaxed B．excited C．a(chǎn)shamed D．depressed

小題10:

A．improving B．encouraging C．beating D．killing

小題11:

A．packing B．washing C．pulling D．dividing

小題12:

A．bring up B．keep up C．size up D．set up

小題13:

A．others B．nothing C．a(chǎn)nother D．everything

小題14:

A．cars B．gaps C．tanks D．holes

小題15:

A．boat B．share C．wish D．promise

小題16:

A．settling B．cooking C．cleaning D．moving

小題17:

A．valuing B．losing C．inviting D．making

小題18:

A．idea B．faith C．feeling D．opinion

小題19:

A．otherwise B．indeed C．worse D．rather

小題20:

A．panic B．connection C．humor D．home

The Ice Hotel
Are you going into skiing? Is winter your favorite time of year? If you like snow and ice, maybe you should stay at Ice Hotel in Quebec, Canada. But, you can only check in at this hotel during the winter. Why ? Because this hotel is built every December. It has 32 rooms and 80 people can stay there each night. The hotel even has a movie theatre, art gallery, and church. Of course, all of these parts of the hotel are made of ice. In fact, all the furniture, art, lights, and even plates and drinking glasses are made out of ice.
Because this hotel is so unusual, it is becoming very popular. People from all over the world come to the Ice Hotel to look at the fantastic ice art, drink and eat from designed ice dishes and experience the unique atmosphere (獨(dú)特的氣氛). Some couples have even got married in the hotel's ice church. But all these guests keep their winter coats on! Because of all the ice, the temperature inside the hotel is always between - 2ºC and - 5ºC. Surprisingly, sleeping is not a problem in the freezing cold hotel rooms. Every guest gets a special cold-weather sleeping bag and some fur blankets. These keep the room cozy and warm until morning.
小題1:What is the main idea of this reading?

A．How the Ice Hotel is built

B．What makes the Ice Hotel special

C．Why the Ice Hotel is made of ice

D．The services of the Ice Hotel

小題2:Why is sleeping NOT a problem in the hotel?

A．the rooms are warm	B．the temperature is -2ºC
C．the sleeping bags are warm	D．the furniture is warm

小題3:In which part of the hotel would you probably find "plates"?

A．the church

B．the restaurant

C．the rooms

D．the art gallery

One big difference between British and American English is in vocabulary. For example, the British use the word “autumn” 1. ________ the Americans use the word “fall”. In this case, the older word is “autumn”. However, about four hundred years ago, the word “autumn” was 2. ________ with “fall”. Later, the British returned to “autumn”, while the 3. ________ still use “fall”.
Of course, people from many different countries came to America and made their 4. ________ to American English. Indeed, in American English there are words from every major 5. ________ spoken on Earth. Many of these words are absent in British English.
6. ________ big distinction between American and British English is spelling. After the Americans defeated the British in 1781 and 7. ________ independence, they wanted to make their spelling of English words 8. ________. Therefore, Americans write “color” 9. ________ “colour”.
Finally, the pronunciations and accents are different. Both countries have slowly 10. ________ the way they say the same words, but in different ways. This process is continuing even today.

You are mistaken if you think all Chinese people speak in the same way. Have you ever seen a person from Shanghai try talking to 1________ from Guangzhou? It is quite likely 2________ both of them may feel puzzled! The Chinese language, 3________ a whole, uses the same set of characters, but even the same characters can have 4________ pronunciations. That is 5_______ it is difficult for people to understand each other. Luckily, the widespread use of Putonghua in China has made a great contribution 6________ people’s communication, though people from different areas tend to speak with various accents.
People in Northern Europe are much luckier. Even though people from Sweden, Denmark and Norway have their own official languages, it is very convenient for them to communicate with one another. Do you know 7______? That is because their languages are quite similar, though not 8________ small distinctions. Thus, they can communicate easily in their mother tongues.

India is traditionally a tea-drinking country. But, it is now gaining a new taste for coffee. This has led international coffee companies to consider opening businesses in the huge market. Local business people are also hoping to profit from the country’s tea-drinking habits. They want to open new stores that offer tea.
It is ten thirty in the morning in India. Two cafes are within meters of each other, near a college in New Delhi. And they are selling a lot of tea. Their main customers are undergraduate students.
“We have a lot of break between classes, so whenever we get time, we just go and we enjoy ourselves. It’s a lot of fun , especially when you are with people you enjoy spending time with.”
In the past ten years , cafes have become increasingly popular in India. The country’s huge young population have quickly taken to the coffee culture.
Coffee stores have spread from major cities like New Delhi and Mumbai to smaller towns. Coffee use has doubled in the last ten years . It is the success of this market that has gained the attention of companies like the American-based coffee chain Starbucks. The company will open its first store in India later this year. Other companies like Lavazza and Costa Coffee are already there.
Yet, the growth of coffee will not reduce the popularity of tea. Indians drink eight times more tea than coffee. They have been drinking tea for more than one hundred and fifty years. India is one of the world’s biggest producers of tea, which is known locally as “chai”. Outside homes and offices, it is mostly sold by small businesses on the street.
小題1:Why do international coffee companies consider opening businesses in India?

A．India consumes very little coffee.	B．India has a large population.
C．People in India now prefer coffee to tea.	D．Indians come to like the taste of coffee.

小題2:Which one is correct about undergraduate students?

A．They only have tea in the cafes.

B．They are the main customers in the cafes.

C．They like enjoying coffee with friends in cafes.

D．They like to go to the cafes to escape lessons.

小題3:What can we learn about coffee in India?

A．Coffee is consumed more than tea in India now.

B．Coffee is much more welcomed by young Indians than tea.

C．Coffee consumed today doubles that of ten years ago.

D．The growth of coffee will reduce the consumption.

小題4:Which statement is wrong according to the passage?

A．Coffee stores have spread to small towns in India.

B．Some foreign coffee companies are trying to open Indian coffee market.

C．Local people worry about losing profit on tea.

D．Indians drink eight times more tea than coffee.

小題5:What is the text mainly about?

A．Undergraduate students are main coffee consumers in India.

B．Indians mainly consume both tea and coffee.

C．India is traditionally a tea-drinking country.

D．India is becoming a big new coffee consuming country.

Many rural areas in the United States have no doctor. Some medical schools are trying different ways to treat the problem . One idea is to educate doctors in smaller communities and hope they stay. Dr. William Cathcart-Rake heads a new program at the University of Kansas in the Midwest.
“We need more doctors. There’s somewhere like a quarter of all of our physicians in Kansas who are sixty years of age or older. So we need to be replacing physicians, too.”Says Dr. William Cathcart. He also says medical students from rural areas now typically study in Wichita or Kansas City, two of the biggest cities in Kansas. They say, “You know, I really have every intention of coming back to rural Kansas,”but they meet a soul mate, they get married, their soul mate happens to be from a big city and we never see them again. They get captured in the big city. Hopefully, if we train them in smaller communities, they can meet the future spouses here , they can network here, and they have those connections which can hopefully be lifelong.
The program is based in Kansas’ tenth largest city , Salina, home to about fifty thousand people. Salina is about a three-hour drive from Kansas City, past fields of corn, soybeans and cattle.
Student Claire Hinrichsen grew up in a town of about six hundred people. She attended the University of Kansas, or KU, as an undergraduate. One reason why the chose the Salina program is because of the size. There are only eight students—the smallest medical school in the country. Classes are taught by professors in Salina or on a video link from Kansas City or Wichita.
Students who complete the four year program will then do their residency training in a small community in the surrounding area. One place a resident might work is the Clay Center Clinic, where Dr. Kerry Murphy is a family physician.
Rural doctors generally serve older, poorer patients. Going into a specialty in a big city can mean better working hours and more money to pay off student loans.
The Salina program will pay tuition for each year that students practice in a rural area in Kansas.
小題1:What does the underlined word “spouses”in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．Wives husbands.

B．Homes.

C．Families.

D．Physicians.

小題2:The reason why the medical students don’t want to go back to rural areas is that    .

A．they don’t like to live in the rural Kansas

B．there are not many girls in the rural Kansas

C．they found their soul mates in cities

D．the life in rural Kansas is so hard

小題3:From the text we learn that   .

A．Salina has a population of 500,000

B．a(chǎn) quarter of all physicians in Kansas are too old for the ideal doctors

C．William Cathcart-Rake heads a new program in rural Kansas

D．Educating more doctors in cities can settle the problem

小題4:Why did student Claire Hinrichsen choose the Salina program?

A．Because she found her soul mate in rural Kanas.

B．Because she likes to work as a doctor.

C．Because she grew up in a town of 6,000 people.

D．Because she likes the size of the program.

小題5:What is the purpose of the passage?

A．To make it known that it lacks doctors very much in rural Kansas.

B．To introduce a program handling the lack of doctors in rural Kansas.

C．To train students to become doctors for rural Kansas.

D．To meet the demands of doctors for many rural towns in Kansas.

Popular music in America is what every student likes. Students carry small radios with earphones and listen to music before class, after class, and at lunch. Students buy cars with large speakers and play the music loudly as they drive on the street.
Adult drivers listen to music on the car radio as they drive to work. They also listen to the news about sports, weather and the life of American people .Most of the radio programs are music.
Pop or popular music singers make much money .They make a CD or tape which radio stations use in many places .Once the popular singer is heard all over the country, young people buy his or her tape .Some of the money from these tapes comes to the singer .Wherever the singer goes, all the young people want to meet him or her. Now the singer has become a national star.
There are other kinds of music that are important to Americans. One is called folk music .It tells stories about the common life of Americans. Another is called western or country music .This was started by cowboys who would sing at night to the cows they were watching. Today, any music, about country life and love between a country boy and his girl is called western or country music.
小題1:__ _ kinds of music are mentioned in this passage .
A. Two   B. Three    C   Four     D .Five
小題2:When pop singers ___ ___, they will become national stars.
A make much money                   B. make a CD or tape
C .are loved by all the young people   D. are wanted to sing on the radio
小題3:From the passage we know that country music is about the ___ ___.

A．common life of Americans	B．country life of and love stories
C．life of workers	D．school life of in America

小題4:Which of the following is TRUE according to this passage?

A．a(chǎn)ll students in America like popular music .

B．students with cars in America don’t like to listen to music while driving

C．Adult drivers in America listen to music all the time while driving

D．Everyone in America wants to meet pop singers wherever they go.

小題5:What would be then best title for this passage ？

A．American music

B．Pop music

C．History of music

D．Western music

Attention to detail is something everyone can and should do — especially in tight job market. Bob Crossley, a human-resources expert notices this in the job applications that come across his desk every day. “It’s amazing how many candidates cross out themselves,” he says.
“Resumes (簡(jiǎn)歷)arrive with faults. Some candidates don’t bother to spell the company’s name correctly. Once I see a mistake, I cross out the candidates,” Crossley concludes. “If they cannot take care of these details, why should we trust them with a job?”
Can we pay too much attention to details? Perfectionists struggle over little things at the cost of something larger they work toward. “To keep from losing the forest for the trees,” says Charles Garfield, the professor at the University of California, San Francisco, “We must constantly ask ourselves how the details we’re working on fit into the larger picture. If they don’t, we should drop them and move to something else.”
Garfield compares this process to his work as a computer scientist at NASA. “The Apollo II moon launch was slightly off course 90 percent of the time,” says Garfield. “But a successful landing was still likely because we knew the exact position of our goal. This allowed us to make adjustments as necessary.” Knowing where to go helps us judge the importance of every task we undertake.
Too often we believe what accounts for others’ success is some special secret or a lucky break. But rarely is success so mysterious. Again and again, we see that by doing little things within our grasp well, large rewards follow.
小題1:According to the passage, some job applicants were rejected because       .

A．they failed to present resumes that are free of mistakes

B．they failed to give a detailed description of their background

C．they crossed out their names from the applicants list themselves

D．their handwriting on the resume was hard to recognize

小題2:The underlined word “cross out” in the first paragraph probably means ______.

A．neglect

B．recommend

C．wipe

D．introduce

小題3:The third paragraph is intended to state that       .

A．trees are as important as forests

B．we should pay much attention to details

C．we shouldn’t go too far in details to lose our goals

D．perfectionists are capable of achieving perfect results

小題4:The example of Apollo II moon launch is given to show that       .

A．minor mistakes can be ignored

B．failure is the mother of success

C．a(chǎn)djustments are the key to the successful completion of any work

D．keeping one’s goal in mind helps decide which details can be overlooked