Do you know what really troubles me? For some reason, words with silent letters have always bothered me. For example, consider these words: know, design, island, school, wrist, naughty, and salmon. All of these words have at least one letter that is not typically pronounced, and these words are just a very small part of words with silent letters in them.

   Some words are even worse, consider this word: colonel. Not only are some letters not pronounced, but letters that are not even there are pronounced.

   Even foreign languages, especially French, are guilty of this needless complexity and confusion. I know there must be some main historical reasons why the words are spelled and pronounced the way they are, but that does not mean bad traditions must continue to survive. Especially if they are no longer logical.

   Unfortunately, there is very little that anyone can do for it, because there’s no group of people who can change or have the right to change the English language for everyone. However, the only thing we can do is make changes in the way we talk and write in hopes that it catches on. For example, I pronounce the letter “l(fā)” in salmon on purpose to make people annoyed and to sound more different or complicated. I even pronounce colonel the correct or French way.

   I can only hope these two minor changes to the English language make sense to you, and you will help to keep up these minor changes forever in your everyday life.

We can learn from the passage ________.

   A. colonel is pronounced   

B. salmon is pronounced

   C. all the words with silent letters come from French

   D. linguists will solve the problem of dumb letters

Which of the following is the main reason for silent letters?

   A. French language.   B. Historical reasons.  C. Some linguists  D. Bad traditions.

The underlined phrase “catches on” probably means “________”.

   A. becomes popular   B. gets across   C. follows the fashion  D. doesn’t fall behind

Which of the following is the best title for this passage?

   A. Troubles in everyday life            B. Traps in English words

   C. Words with silent letters            D. Necessary changes of languages

假設(shè)你們班最近就科學(xué)家是否應(yīng)該克隆人展開了辯論，請(qǐng)根據(jù)下面提供的信息，用英語(yǔ)寫一篇100詞左右的短文，說明這次辯論的情況并表明你的態(tài)度。

   贊成（20%）：1. 有利于促進(jìn)科學(xué)領(lǐng)域取得突破；

                2. 克隆智力過人的偉大科學(xué)家，人類將擁有更多有非凡貢獻(xiàn)的人。

   反對(duì)（80%）：1. 違背社會(huì)公德；

                2. 克隆人沒有父母，無法象正常人一樣生活。

   你的態(tài)度：…

   注意：開頭已給出，不計(jì)入總詞數(shù)。

   Recently our class has had a debate on whether scientists should clone the human beings or not. The results of this debate are as follows:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It’s incredible that the sci-fi film, set in the Space, ________ adults as well as teenagers.

A. appeals to          B. leads to                    C. belongs to                D. refers to 

—Where is the telephone book?

—I ________ and get it for you.

   A. am going to go  B. will go       C. will be going     D. am going  

There was never any time for her to feel happy, _____ lots of people loved her.

A. ever since           B. now that                C. even though           D. in case

Tom’s team is _______ 55 players while Mary’s _____ 70 players

A. composed of; makes up

B. consisted of; makes up of

C. made up; consists of

D. made up of; consists of

 As the final examination is coming , the students are busy ____ it.

A.  preparing          B.  preparing for        C. prepare       D. prepare for  

Where        the recorder?

   I can’t see it anywhere.

Sports can help you keep fit and get in touch with nature. However, whether you are on the mountains, in the waves, or on the grassland, you should be aware that your sport of choice might have great influence on the environment.

Some sports are resource-hungry. Golf, as you may know, eats up not only large areas of countryside, but also tons of water. Besides, all sorts of chemicals and huge amounts of energy are used to keep its courses（球場(chǎng)） in good condition. This causes major environmental effects. For example, in the dry regions of Portugal and Spain, golf is often held responsible for serious water shortage in some local areas.

There are many environment-friendly sports. Power walking is one of them that you could take up today. You don’t need any special equipment except a good pair of shoes; and you don’t have to worry about resources and your purse. Simple and free, power walking can also keep you fit. If you walk regularly, it will be good for your heart and bones. Experts say that 20 minutes of power walking daily can make you feel less anxious, sleep well and have better weight control.

Whatever sport you take up, you can make it greener by using environment-friendly equipment and buying products made from recycled materials. But the final goal should be “green gyms”. They are better replacements for traditional health clubs and modern sports centers. Members of green gyms play sports outdoors, in the countryside or other open spaces. There is no special requirement for you to start your membership. And best of all, it’s free.

Which of the following is the author most probably in favor of?

　　A. Cycling around a lake.                           B. Motor racing in the desert.

　　C. Playing basketball in a gym.　　            D. Swimming in a sports center.

What do we know about golf from the passage?

　　A. It is popular in Portugal and Spain.　　        

B. It causes water shortages in some areas.

　　C. It pollutes the earth with chemicals and wastes.

　　D. It needs water and electricity to keep its courses green.

The author writes the passage to_______.

　　A. show us the function of major sports

　　B. introduce different types of environment-friendly sports

　　C. discuss the major influence of popular sports

D. encourage us to go in for green sports

閱讀下面短文，根據(jù)漢語(yǔ)或首字母提示以及文章內(nèi)容，在每條橫線上填入一個(gè)適當(dāng)?shù)挠⒄Z(yǔ)單詞，使短文意思完整。

Over time computers have been changed quite a lot. The computer     

was c___________ a technological revolution and the start of articficial           1. _________

intelligence. Alan Turning ________ a book about how the computer could      2. __________

be made to work as a u       machine to solve any difficult mathematical     3. __________

problem. From then on, it grew r_________ both in size and in brainpower.    4. __________

By the 1940s it had grown as large as a room. As time ________ by, it            5. __________

was made smaller. In the early 1960s people could share ________(知識(shí))       6. __________

with each other through the World Wide Web. _______ the 1970s many          7. __________

new _________(應(yīng)用) have been found and computers become very　　　     8. __________

important in communication, finance and trade. B_______, it has been       9. ___________

put into_______(機(jī)器人) and used to make mobile phones as well as        10.___________

help with medical operations.