The holiday's upon us. Finally, after months of study, you have some time to yourself. so, why not read a book? Well, some people will say, "Why bother with books? We have the Internet and other media that offer a lot more colorful entertainment. Books are history!" But don't be fooled. There's still a lot to be said for reading.
One clear reason is that a well-chosen book is a wonderful source of vocabulary, so long as you have a good dictionary, of course. Believe me, it's far easier to get new English words and phrases from a book or article than it is from the TV or the Internet.
But an even more important point is that books give you something that modern media simply can not. The average webpage is picture-heavy and the text is often designed to make it as easy to read as possible. While "easy" may be attractive, unfortunately it's little use for many long-term development of reading skills and the general language level. For that, there's still no substitute (替代品）of a book.
But perhaps the best single reason is that simply choosing what you read and doing it independently means that it's something you do by yourself. You can choose what you want to read. It's hard work, but something down the line, you will find that what once seemed like a duty is now a pleasure. We asked three bookworms -- an English teacher, a book editor and a film critic - to pick some favorite reads for you.
【小題1】 How many reasons for reading a book does the author mention in the passage?

A．One

B．Two

C．Three

D．Four

【小題2】 According to this passage, we basically need a ______ in reading.

A．computer

B．dictionary

C．notebook

D．pencil

【小題3】In the author's opinion, reading on the Internet may ________

A．develop long-term reading skills	B．improve the general language ability
C．not take the place of reading books	D．be an effective way of reading

【小題4】 The passage is written mainly to ____________.

A．share the pleasure of reading books	B．a(chǎn)dvise readers to read books
C．stress the importance of reading online.	D．help readers to choose good books.

You are walking down the street, minding your own business when you see a snowball. No big deal, right? Except the snowball is as tall as you are. And weighs about a ton. Did we mention that it is June?
That’s the experience thousand of Londoners had when they crossed paths with “ Snowball in Summer,” Goldsworthy makes sculpture （雕塑）from all sorts of things he finds outside – leaves, earth, and rocks, as well as ice and snow. He wanted to find out how busy people would react to an unexpected snowball melting in their midst.
During the winter of 2008, he rolled 13 giant snowballs near his home in Scotland. He filled each one with a surprise in the center – such as berries, feathers, little stones or sheep’s wool – which would appear as the snow melted. The finished snowballs were stored in a deep freeze until summer, then transported to London in refrigerated trucks. At midnight on June 21, 2008, while the city slept, Goldsworthy and his helpers rolled their snowballs into place.
People walking to work or school must have thought the sky was falling when they stumbled across snowballs the size of baby elephants. Some of them had never even seen snow in real life, and they couldn’t help touching them in great surprise. As the snow started to melt, things got even more interesting. The perfectly round snowballs took on different shapes as the stuff inside began to poke through. Two days later, most of Goldsworthy’s snowballs were gone, and their fillings scattered. But Londoners were left with a really good story about that odd summer day when the snowball came.
【小題1】What is really special about the snowballs is that ______________________.

A．they lie in the street

B．they are in the shape of baby elephants.

C．they have berries, feathers, little stones and feathers in them.

D．they appear in June.

【小題2】 What was the purpose of Goldsworthy in making the snowballs?

A．To find out people’s reactions to them

B．To call up people’s memory of the cold winter.

C．To show off his skills in sculpture.

D．To let people experience the cold winter.

【小題3】 Why did Goldsworthy and his helpers roll their snowballs into place at mid-night?
A. They didn’t want to disturb other people.
B. It was quite at that time.
C. They wanted to avoid the traffic jam.
D, They wanted to give people a surprise.

Detectives often look for footprints when they try to solve crimes. Scientists use footprints, too—dinosaur footprints when they try to figure out how dinosaurs lived and moved.
Dinosaurs died out about 65 million years ago. Today scientists work to solve the mysteries of these ancient animals.
Footprints, or tracks(腳印), are an important way to learn about dinosaurs. Christian Meyer of the Natural History Museum in Basel, Switzerland, calls dinosaur tracks “the closest thing to a movie” of dinosaurs.
“They tell us something about the size of the animal, the way they were walking…they tell us something about their speed,” Meyer said.
Tracks also show that dinosaurs sometimes traveled in groups. Traveling in groups probably helped dinosaurs protect themselves from enemies. Plus, some meat-eating dinosaurs may have hunted in groups, much like wolves do today. Being in a group could help dinosaurs work together to kill large animals.
Dinosaur footprints can be as small as a few inches across, but they can also be as big as a few feet across. Dinosaur footprints have been found throughout the world at over 1,500 sites, including a T. Rex footprint in New Mexico. “Trackways” are groups of footprints.
And scientists aren’t the only ones finding dinosaur tracks—kids can, too! Eleven-year-old Mark Turner and nine-year-old Daniel Helm discovered dinosaur tracks in British Columbia, anada. Soon scientists began studying the tracks.
Scientists and other people interested in studying dinosaurs are working to save the trackways from activities like construction and mining.
【小題1】The passage mainly tells us that_______.
A. there were really dinosaurs on the earth millions of years ago
B. dinosaurs were the most frightening animals in the past
C. dinosaur footprints are important in learning about dinosaurs
C. why dinosaurs died out millions of years ago
【小題2】By studying footprints scientists can know the following EXCEPT _______.

A．how big the dinosaur was	B．what color the dinosaur was
C．how fast the dinosaur could run	D．how the dinosaur walked

【小題3】 By working in groups, some meat-eating dinosaurs_______.

A．made the hunting of large animals easily

B．could travel a long way without being lost

C．could protect themselves from being hunted by wolves

D．could get to a place faster

【小題4】 From the last paragraph we can infer that some human activities like mining_______.

A．a(chǎn)re helpful to the study of dinosaurs

B．can help scientists solve many mysteries

C．can lead to the discovery of the footprints

D．can destroy the footprints of the dinosaur

  Microwaves may be great at warming up food, but what about warming people?
Using microwaves to directly heat owners of a room would save much of the energy wasted by heating walls and furniture. And despite popular ideas about microwaves, this technique would be safe, according to Charles R. Buffler of the Microwave Research Center in Marlborough, New Hampshire. Low-power microwaves only penetrate (貫穿) the skin (low-power microwave penetration in a ham is about 0.2 inches, for example) and with no negative effects.
To test this idea, Buffler subjected himself to microwaves in a special room using a standard 500-watt, 2459 MHz magnetron (磁控管). He found that a person will start to feel warmth at about 20 milliwatts per square centimeter (mw. /sq.cm.); a satisfactory feeling of warmth occurs between 35 and 50 mw./sq.cm. By comparison, a person standing in noonday summer sun feels the amount of 85 mw./sq.cm. And a frozen meat pie in your microwave oven receives about 1000 mw./sq. cm.
In houses of the future, each room could be provided with its own magnetron, says Buffler. When you stepped into the living room, for example, a motion detector would turn on the magnetron, filling the room with low-power microwaves. In the same way that a microwaves oven heats up a hamburger, but not the plate it’s on, you would feel warmth from the microwaves without changing the temperature of your coffee table. (You could, however, make your favorite easy chair even more comfortable by treating it with a radiation-absorbing chemical.)
While it might be some time before homeowners are comfortable enough with the idea to set up whole body microwave heaters in houses, Buffler says microwaves may attract livestock farmers. Lambs that are born outdoors in winter, for example, are frequently lost to cold. Microwaves could warm the lambs safely and quickly.
【小題1】 Which of the following can tell the main idea of the passage?

A．A new heating system.	B．A new microwave oven.
C．A popular technique.	D．The magnetron.

【小題2】 The test conducted by Buffler shows that when a person feels comfortable warmth, he receives about ____.

A．20 mw. / sq. cm.	B．40 mw. / sq. cm.
C．60 mw. / sq. cm.	D．85 mw. / sq. cm.

【小題3】 According to paragraph 4, which of the following fills the room with low-power microwaves?

A．The magnetron.	B．The motion detector.
C．The microwave oven.	D．The radiation-absorbing chemical.

【小題4】 Which of the following statements about microwave heaters would Buffler most probably agree with?

A．Microwave heaters will soon be widely used by homeowners.

B．Microwave heaters sometimes make people feel uncomfortable.

C．Microwave heaters will be probably first used by livestock farmers to protect their lambs in winter.

D．Microwave heaters cannot be accepted by the public because they are somewhat unsafe.

As you move around your home, take a good look at the things you have. It is likely that your living room will have a television set and a video, and your kitchen a washing machine and a microwave oven. Your bedroom drawers will be filled with almost three times as many clothes as you need. You almost certainly own a car and possibly a home computer, holiday abroad at least once a year and eat out at least once a week.
Now, perhaps, more than ever before, people are wondering what life is all about, and what it is for. Seeking material success is beginning to trouble large numbers of people around the world. They feel that the long hours work culture to make more money to buy more things is eating up their lives, leaving them very little time or energy for family or pastimes. Many are turning to other ways of living and downshifting is one of them.
Six percent of workers in Britain took the decision to downshift last year. One couple who downshifted is Daniel and Liz. They used to work in central London. He was a newspaper reporter and she used to work for an international bank. They would go to work by train every day from their large house in the suburbs (郊區(qū)), leaving their two children with a nanny (保姆). Most evenings Daniel wouldn’t get home until eight or nine o’clock, and nearly twice a month he would have to fly to New York for meetings. They both earned a large amount of money but began to feel that life was passing them by.
Nowadays, they run a farm in the mountains of Wales. “I always wanted to have a farm here,” says Daniel, “and we took almost a year to make the decision to downshift. It’s taken some getting used to, but it has been worthy of. We have to think twice now about spending money on car repairs and we no longer have any holidays. However, I think it’s made us stronger as a family, and the children are a lot happier.”
Liz, however, is not quite sure. “I used to enjoy my job, even though it was hard work and long hours. I’m not really a country girl, but I suppose I’m gradually getting used to looking after the animals. One thing I do like, though, is being able to see more of my children. My advice for other people wanting to do the same is not to think about it too much or you might not do it at all.”
【小題1】What do the first two paragraphs tell us?

A．People seldom work long hours to make money.

B．People hardly buy more things than necessary.

C．People are sure everything they own is in the right place.

D．People realize there is more to life than just making money.

【小題2】 When Daniel was a reporter he _____.

A．lived in central London	B．disliked his job
C．missed his children	D．was well paid

【小題3】 Daniel and Liz both agree that the move to the farm _____.

A．was easy to organize	B．has improved family life
C．was extremely expensive	D．has been a total success

【小題4】 What does the underlined “it” in the last paragraph refer to?

A．Child-caring.

B．Liz’s advice.

C．Downshifting.

D．Liz’s job.

Sharks have gained unfair reputation for being large fierce sea animals. That humanity’s unfounded fear and hatred of these ancient creatures are leading to a worldwide slaughter (大屠殺) may result in the extinction of many larger, coastal shark species. The shark is the victim of a warped (有偏見的) attitude of wildlife protection; we strive (努力) only to protect the beautiful, non-threatening parts of our environment. And, in our efforts to restore only non-threat parts of our earth, we ignore other important parts.
A perfect illustration of this attitude is the contrasting attitude towards another large sea animal, the dolphin. During the 1980s, environmentalists in the United States objected to the practice of hunting tuna (金槍魚) in the Pacific Ocean since these nets also caught dolphins. The environmentalists generated enough political and economic pressure to prevent tuna companies from buying tuna that had been caught in drift nets. In contrast to this effort, the populations of sharks in the Pacific Ocean have decreased to the point of extinction and there has been very little effort by the same environmentalism to save this important species of wildlife in water. Sharks are among the oldest creatures on earth, having survived in the seas for more than 350 million years. They are extremely efficient animals, feeding on wounded or dying animals, thus performing an important role in nature of knocking out the weaker animals in a species. Just the fact that species such as the Great White Shark have managed to live in the oceans for so many millions of years is enough proof of their efficiency and adaptability to changing environment. It is time for humans, who may not survive another 1,000 years at the rate they are damaging the planet, to cast away their fears and begin considering the protection of sharks as creatures that may provide us with an insight into our own survival.
【小題1】 The best summary of the passage is __________.

A．sharks have such a bad reputation

B．how sharks become some of the oldest creatures on earth

C．sharks should be put under wildlife protection

D．the campaign to save dolphins was not extended to save sharks

【小題2】 How long have sharks been living on the planet?

A．More than 25 million years.

B．More than 150 million years.

C．More than 350 million years.

D．More than 500 million years.

【小題3】Which of the following best describes the organization of this passage?

A．Specific(細(xì)節(jié)) to general.	B．Cause and effect.
C．Statement and example.	D．Time order.

【小題4】 How did environmentalists manage to protect dolphins?

A．They prevented fishermen from selling them for meat.

B．They pressured fishermen into protecting dolphins by law.

C．They created shelters where dolphin fishing was not allowed.

D．They brought political pressure against tuna companies.

The website FarmersOnly.com calls itself an online dating and friendship finder. The idea started in the mind of a man, Jerry Miller in Ohio. He wondered how farmers could meet new people who understand the life of a farmer. Jerry Miller is not a farmer but he represents a lot of farmers.
As he tells it, the idea for the site was planted when a farmer told him one day that she was recently divorced and would like to date. But someone would invite her to meet for coffee at nine o’clock at night, when she had to start her day at five the next morning.
So, in 2005, Jerry Miller launched his website. “You don’t have to be a farmer to be on FarmersOnly.com, but you do have to have the good old-fashioned traditional values of America’s Heartland.” 
You also have to live in the United States or Canada to be a member of the site. Some services are free, but a full membership costs fifty dollars for a year. As of last week the site listed more than 58,000 members. Many of them are farmers in the United States. Others are students or workers involved in some way with agriculture. Jerry Miller tells us about thirty marriages in the last year have resulted from his website.
Some farmers have also found love through a group, Singles in Agriculture, which was formed as a nonprofit organization in 1986. It organizes gatherings that usually end with a dance, but is not a dating service. The purpose is to support educational and social activities that offer people a chance for friendship. Its website, singlesinag.org, says there are more than 1,000 members across the nation and as far away as France.
【小題1】Jerry Miller started singlesinag.org in order to     .

A．help farmers	B．support traditions
C．understand farmers	D．represent farmers

【小題2】What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 indicate?

A．She dislikes city lifestyle.

B．She prefers late night coffee

C．Country life isn’t well understood.

D．It’s tiring to get up early.

【小題3】Which of the following is true of singlesinag.org?

A．Its services are free.

B．It provides dating services.

C．Only farmers can become its members.

D．Farmers in France can’t benefit from it.

【小題4】The author of the text intends to     .

A．a(chǎn)dvertise for the two websites

B．introduce two websites

C．encourage social activities

D．urge readers to help farmers

【小題5】 It can be inferred from the text that     .

A．a(chǎn)ll farmers desire marriage

B．farmers are easy to meet new people

C．more farmers get divorced in the USA

D．the Internet helps improve farmers’ social life

Parents are often amazed at how fast their child grows and develops. New research has determined that the ability to quantify may develop much sooner than most parents realize.
Kristy vanMarle, professor of the University of Missouri, has determined that contrary to what previous studies have shown, infants（嬰兒）are able to quantify substances（物質(zhì)）—like sand or water—as early as 10 months. As long as the difference between the two substances is large enough, infants will choose the larger amount, especially when it comes to food.
With the assistance of her team researchers, vanMarle tested the quantifying skills of babies by presenting them with two cups: one containing a small amount of food, and one containing a larger amount. Consistently, the babies chose the larger amount.
“Several studies throughout the last 15 years have shown that infants are very good at telling how many objects they see; however, infants don’t seem to count things like water or sand,” vanMarle said. “What we’re saying is that they can quantify substances; it’s just much harder. The infants can see how much food goes into each cup and compare that in their memories. They decide which amount is larger, and they almost always select the larger one.”
This information further refutes（駁斥）the long-held idea that babies “know nothing of the world,” vanMarle said.
“Since psychologists have begun studying infants with sensitive measures, we’ve discovered a lot of early abilities. I think for parents, it should be exciting to know that there’s somebody in there that has some fundamental and basic knowledge of the world, and that knowledge is guiding their development,” vanMarle said.
In the future, vanMarle says this kind of study could be linked to a child’s progress in math-related skills, although programs marketed to increase those abilities, such as “Baby Einstein,” still have mixed reviews when it comes to academic study.
【小題1】The quantifying ability refers to the ability to     .

A．choose between different substances

B．get much knowledge of the world

C．describe the quantity of something

D．obtain math-related skills

【小題2】 What is mainly talked about in Paragraph 4?

A．The process of doing research.

B．The scientific findings.

C．The final choice of infants.]

D．The observation of infants’ behavior.

【小題3】Babies choose the larger amount of food     .

A．by saying numbers	B．with the help of parents
C．on personal preference	D．through their natural abilities

【小題4】We can learn from the text that     .

A．some parents don’t care about their kids

B．people used to think the world is known to babies

C．little research has been done on infants

D．scholars disagree on baby-training programs

【小題5】 What’s the best title of the text?

A．Breakthrough in Baby Studies

B．Amazing Baby-training Ideas

C．Early Human Abilities

D．Unique Quantifying Methods

“Our aim is to take our art to the world and make people understand what it is to move,” said David Belle, the founder of parkour(跑酷).
Do you love running? It is a good exercise, yet many people find it boring. But what if making your morning jog a creative one? Like jumping from walls and over gaps, and ground rolls? Just like the James Bond in the movie Casino Royale? Bond jumps down from a roof to a windowsill and then runs several blocks over obstacles on the way. It is just because of Bond’s wonderful performances that the sport has become popular worldwide.
Yes, that’s parkour, an extreme street sport aimed at moving from one point to another as quickly as possible, getting over all the obstacles in the path using only the abilities of the human body. Parkour is considered an extreme sport. As its participants dash around a city, they may jump over fences, run up walls and even move from rooftop to rooftop.
Parkour can be just as exciting and charming as it sounds, but its participants see parkour much more than that.
Overcoming all the obstacles on the course and in life is part of the philosophy(理念) behind parkour. This is the same as life. You must determine your destination, go straight, jump over all the barriers as if in parkour and never fall back from them in your life, to reach the destination successfully. A parkour lover said, “I love parkour because its philosophy has become my life, my way to do everything.”
Another philosophy we’ve learnt from parkour is freedom. It can be done by anyone, at any time, anywhere in the world. It is a kind of expression of trust in yourself that you earn energy and confidence.
【小題1】 Parkour has become popular throughout the world because of     .

A．its founder, David Belle	B．the film, Casino Royale
C．its risks and tricks	D．the varieties of participants

【小題2】 The underlined word “obstacles” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to “   ”.

A．streets	B．objects
C．barriers	D．roofs

【小題3】 Which of the following is true of parkour?

A．It challenges human abilities.	B．It is a good but boring sport.
C．It needs special training.	D．It is a team sport.

【小題4】 As its participants move around a city,     .

A．they can ask for help	B．they may choose to escape
C．they should run to extremes	D．they must learn to survive

【小題5】 Which of the following is the philosophy of parkour?

A．Sports and extremes.	B．Excitement and popularity.
C．Dreams and success.	D．Determination and freedom.

When someone says, “Well, I guess I'll have to go to face the music,” it doesn’t mean he is planning to go to a concert. It is something far less pleasant, like being called in your boss to explain why you did this and did that, and why you did not do this or that. Terrible music, indeed, but it has to be faced. At some time or another, every one of us has had to “face the music”, especially as children. We can remember father’s angry voice: “I want to talk to you!” And only because we did not obey him. What an unpleasant business it was!
The phrase “face the music” is known to every American, old and young. It is at least one hundred years old. Where did the expression come from?
The first explanation came from the American novelist James Fenimore Cooper. He said, in 1851, that expression was first used by actors while waiting in the wings (舞臺的兩側(cè)) to go on stage. After they got their clue(暗示) to go on , they often said, “It’s time to go to face the music. ” And that is exactly what they did face the orchestra (樂隊(duì)) which was just below the stage.
An actor might be frightened or nervous as he moved on to the stage in front of the audience(觀眾) that might be friendly, or perhaps unfriendly, especially if he forgot his lines. But he had to go out. If he did not, there would be no play. So “face the music” came to mean: having to go through something, no matter how unpleasant the experience might be, because you knew you had no choice.
【小題1】The expression “face the music” means ______.

A． plan to go to a concert

B．get one’s clue to do something

C．have to go through something far less pleasant

D．disobey what one's father says

【小題2】The passage tells us that the expression was first used by _____.

A．children

B．novelists

C．a(chǎn)ctors

D．a(chǎn)udience

【小題3】In the last paragraph the Chinese meaning of the word “l(fā)ine” is _______.

A．老板

B．同事

C．角色

D．臺詞