With the loss of labor，the old farmers ________at home had to choose less labor?intensive crops.

A．having left B．to leave

C．left D．leaving

The president of the World Bank says he has a passion for China , he remembers starting as early as his childhood.

A. where B. which C. what D. when

He will come to understand your efforts sooner or later. It’s just a matter of ________.

A．luck B．value C．time D．fact

will be quite a long time _______ she is back again, so don’t be too cross with her.

A. that B. since

C. before D. until

Here is an astonishing and significant fact: Mental work alone can’t make us tire. It sounds absurd. But a years ago, scientists tried to find out how long the human brain could labor without reaching a stage of fatigue (疲勞). To the amazement of these scientists, they discovered that blood passing through the brain, when it is active, shows no fatigue at all! If we took a drop of blood from a day laborer, we would find it full of fatigue toxins(毒素) and fatigue products. But if we took blood from the brain of an Albert Einstein, it would show no fatigue toxins at the end of the day.

So far as the brain is concerned, it can work as well and swiftly at the end of eight or even twelve hours of effort as at the beginning. The brain is totally tireless. So what makes us tired?

Some scientists declare that most of our fatigue comes from our mental and emotional(情緒的) attitudes. One of England’s most outstanding scientists, J.A. Hadfield, says, “The greater part of the fatigue from which we suffer is of mental origin. In fact, fatigue of purely physical origin is rare.” Dr. Brill, a famous American scientist, goes even further. He declares, “One hundred percent of the fatigue of sitting worker in good health is due to emotional problems.”

What kinds of emotions make sitting workers tired? Joy? Satisfaction? No! A feeling of being bored, anger, anxiety, tenseness, worry, a feeling of not being appreciated---those are the emotions that tire sitting workers. Hard work by itself seldom causes fatigue. We get tired because our emotions produce nervousness in the body.

1.What surprised the scientists a few years ago?

A. Fatigue toxins could hardly be found in a laborer’s blood.

B. Albert Einstein didn’t feel worn after a day’s work.

C. The brain could work for many hours without fatigue.

D. A mental worker’s blood was filled with fatigue toxins.

2.According to the author, which of the following can make sitting workers tired?

A. Challenging mental work. B. Unpleasant emotions.

C. Endless tasks. D. Physical labor.

3.What’s the author’s attitude towards the scientists’ idea?

A. He agrees with them. B. He doubts them.

C. He argues against them. D. He hesitates to accept them.

4.We can infer from the passage that in order to stay energetic, sitting workers need to ___________.

A. have some good food. B. enjoy their work

C. exercise regularly D. discover fatigue toxins

My name is Clara.I still remember that chilly December day,sitting in science class.I’d finished a worksheet early and picked up a TIME for Kids magazine. A piece of news caught my eye:NASA was holding an essay contest to name its Mars rover(火星探測器).Before I even knew anything else about it,a single word flooded my 11-year-old mind,Curiosity.

I couldn’t want for the bell to ring so I could get started on my essay.That afternoon,I raced home,sat down at the computer,and typed until my fingers ached. “Curiosity is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone’s mind...”

Five months later, my mon received a phone call,and immediately, a wide smile spread across her face.

On August 5,2012,at 10:31 p.m,the rover named Curiosity touched down safely on the surface of Mars,and I was honored to have a front-row seat in NASA.

Curiosity is such an important part of who I am.I have always been fascinated by the stars,the planets,the sky and the universe. I remember as a little girl,my grandmother and I would sit together in the backyard for hours.She’d tell me stories and point out the stars,Grandma lived in China,thousands of miles away from my home in Kansas,but the stars kept us together even when we were apart.They were always there, yet there was so much I didn’t know about them.That’s what I love so much about space.

People often ask me why we go to faraway places like Mares.My answer is simple because we’re curious.We human beings do not just hole up in one place.We are constantly wondering and trying to find out what’s over the hill and beyond the horizon.

1.How did Clara get the new about the essay contest?( no more than 10 words)

2.Why did Clara have a front-row seat in NASA?( no more than 10 words)

3.What does Clara remember about the time spent with Grandma?( no more than 15 words)

4.What does the underlined phrase “hole up”mean?(1 word)

5.In your opinion,why is curiosity important?( no more than 20 words)

你叫李華。最近，你們班同學(xué)就“地球一小時”活動展開了一場熱烈盼討論。下表是這次討論的結(jié)果。請你用英語給《中學(xué)英語報》主編寫一封信，介紹你們班的討論結(jié)果并闡明你自己的觀點。

注意：1．字數(shù)120左右；

2．開頭結(jié)尾已給出，不計人總詞數(shù)。

參考詞匯：做秀一show

不便一inconvenience

Dear Editor，

Last week our class had a heated discussion on Earth Hour．

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Some years ago, writing in my diary used to be a usual activity. I would return from school and spend the expected half hour recording the day’s events, feelings, and impressions in my little blue diary. I did not really need to express my emotions by way of words, but I gained a certain satisfaction from seeing my experiences forever recorded on paper. After all, isn’t accumulating memories a way of preserving the past?

When I was thirteen years old, I went on a long journey on foot in a great valley, well-equipped with pens, a diary, and a camera. During the trip, I was busy recording every incident, name and place I came across. I felt proud to be spending my time productively, dutifully preserving for future generations a detailed description of my travels. On my last night there, I wandered out of my tent, diary in hand. The sky was clear and lit by the glare of the moon, and the walls of the valley looked threatening behind their screen of shadows. I automatically took out my pen...

At that point, I understood that nothing I wrote could ever match or replace the few seconds I allowed myself to experience the dramatic beauty of the valley. All I remembered of the previous few days were the dull characterizations I had set down in my diary.

Now, I only write in my diary when I need to write down a special thought or feeling. I still love to record ideas and quotations that strike me in books, or observations that are particularly meaningful. I take pictures, but not very often—only of objects I find really beautiful. I’m no longer blindly satisfied with having something to remember when I grow old. I realize that life will simply pass me by if I stay behind the camera, busy preserving the present so as to live it in the future.

I don’t want to wake up one day and have nothing but a pile of pictures and notes. Maybe I won’t have as many exact representations of people and places; maybe I’ll forget certain facts, but at least the experiences will always remain inside me. I don’t live to make memories—I just live, and the memories form themselves.

1.Before the age of thirteen, the author regarded keeping a diary as a way of .

A. observing her school routine

B. expressing her satisfaction

C. impressing her classmates

D. preserving her history

2. What caused a change in the author’s understanding of keeping a diary? ______

A. A dull night on the journey.

B. The beauty of the great valley.

C. A striking quotation from a book.

D. Her concerns for future generations.

3. What does the author put in her diary now? _______

A. Notes and beautiful pictures.

B. Special thoughts and feelings.

C. Detailed accounts of daily activities.

D. Descriptions of unforgettable events.

4.The author comes to realize that to live a meaningful life is .

A. to experience it

B. to live the present in the future

C. to make memories

D. to give accurate representations of it

When Frida Kahlo’s paintings were on show in London, a poet described her paintings as “a ribbon (絲帶)around a bomb”. Such comments seem to suggest Kahlo had a big influence on the art world of her time. Sadly, she is actually a much bigger name today than she was during her time.

Born in 1907 in a village near Mexico City, Kahlo suffered from polio (小兒麻痹癥)at the age of seven. Her spine (脊柱)became bent as she grew older. Then, in 1925, her back was broken in several places in a school-bus accident. Throughout the rest of her life, the artist had many operations, but nothing was able to cure the terrible pain in her back. However, the accident had an unexpected side effect. While lying in her bed recovering, Kahlo taught herself to paint.

In 1929, she got married to Diego Rivera, another famous Mexican artist. Rivera’s strong influence on Kahlo’s style can be seen in her early works, but her later works from the 1940s, known today as her best works, show less influence from her husband.

Unfortunately, her works did not attract much attention in the 1930s and 1940s, even in her home country. Her first one-woman show in Mexico was not held until 1953.For more than a decade after her death in 1954, Kahlo’s works remained largely unnoticed by the world, but in the 1970s her works began to gain international fame at last.

1. What does the phrase “a much bigger name” in Paragraph 1 most nearly mean? _______

A. a far better artist

B. a far more gifted artist

C. a much stronger person

D. a much more famous person

2.The terrible pain Kahlo suffered was caused by .

A.polio B. her bent spine

C. back injuries D. the operations she had

3.Kahlo’s style had become increasingly independent since the .

A.1930s B.1940s

C.1950s D.1970s

4. What is the author’s attitude toward Kahlo? ________

A. Devotion B. Sympathy

C. Worry D. Encouragement

New Zealand

【W(wǎng)hat can you see? Mountains, volcanoes, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, forests, beaches. Both islands are mountainous. In fact, only 30% of New Zealand is flat.】

The Maoris

When the Maoris first arrived in New Zealand, they lived in villages and were excellent fishermen, hunters and farmers. About 50 years ago many Maoris started to live and work in the large cities and took jobs in government, industries, medicine and education. They are proud of their culture and are determined to keep many of the customs which are part of their way of life.

Who can you meet? Most people live on North Island. Eighty-five percent of New Zealanders are “pakeha” (“white men”), which means their “great grandfathers” came from Europe. Ten percent are Maoris. The Maoris came to New Zealand from the Polynesian islands probably around the tenth century. The “pakeha” started to arrive in New Zealand from Europe about 200 years ago as farmers and traders.

Fact box: New Zealand

Position: South of the Equator ;

Nearest neighbor: Australia, 1600 km away.

Size: Two main islands — North Island and South Island: together they are 268.680 sq. km.

Population: 4 million

Capital: Wellington

Languages: English and Maori

1. Which of the following is a fact about New Zealand?

A. 20% of the population being Maoris.

B. Four million white people.

C. About 1600 km south of the Equator.

D. Nearly 1/3 of the country being plains.

2. When did the white people begin to live in New Zealand?

A. 1000 years ago. B. 200 years ago.

C. 85 years ago. D. 50 years ago.

3. What do the Maoris value most in life?

A. Living in small villages. B. Developing farming skills.

C. Keeping their own culture. D. Taking up government jobs.