“Old wives’ tales” are beliefs passed down from one generation to another. For example，most of us remember our parents’ telling us to eat more of certain foods or not to do certain things. Is there any truth in these teachings? Some of them agree with present medical thinking，but others have not passed the test of time.
Did your mother ever tell you to eat your carrots because they are good for your eyes? Scientists now report that eating carrots can help prevent a serious eye disease called macular degeneration. Eating just one carrot a day can reduce the possibility of getting this disease by 40%. Garlic is good for you，too. It can kill the type of virus that causes colds.
Unfortunately, not all of Mom’s advice passed the test of medical studies. For example, generations of children have been told not to go swimming within an hour after eating. But research suggests that there is no danger in doing so. Do sweets cause tooth problems？Well, yes and no. Sticky sweets made with grains(谷物) tend to cause more problems than sweets made with simple sugars.
Even though science can tell us that some of our traditional beliefs don’t hold_water,_there is still a lot of truth in the old wives’ tales. After all, much of this knowledge has been accumulated (積累) from thousands of years of experience in family health care. We should respect this body of knowledge even as we search for clear scientific support to prove it true or false.
【小題1】Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?

A．Sticky sweets are damaging to our teeth.

B．Eating garlic is good for our eyes.

C．Swimming after a meal is dangerous.

D．Carrots prevent people from catching colds.

【小題2】The author develops the third paragraph mainly________.

A．by cause and effect	B．by order in space
C．by examples	D．by order in time

【小題3】The phrase“ hold water” in the last paragraph most probably means“________”．

A．to be valuable	B．to be believable
C．to be admirable	D．to be suitable

【小題4】What is the author’s attitude towards“old wives’ tales”in the text?

A．Subjective(主觀的).

B．Objective(客觀的).

C．Dissatisfied.

D．Curious.

Winners Club
You choose to be a winner!
The Winners Club is a bank account specially designed for teenagers. It has been made to help you better manage your money. The Winners Club is a transaction account（交易賬戶）where you receive a key-card so you can get to your money 24/7 – that’s 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!
It’s a club with impressive features for teenagers:
No account keeping fees!
You’re no millionaire so we don’t expect you to pay large fees. In fact, there are no account keeping or transaction fees!
Excellent interest rates!
You want your money to grow. The Winners Club has a good rate of interest which gets even better if you make at least two deposits（儲(chǔ)蓄）without taking them out in a month.
Convenient
Teenagers are busy – we get that. You may never need to come to a bank at all. With the Winners Club you can choose to use handy tellers and to bank from home using the phone and the Internet··· . You can have money directly deposited into your Winners Club account. This could be your pocket money or your pay from your part-time job!
Mega magazine included
Along with your regular report, you will receive a FREE magazine full of good ideas to make even more of your money. There are also fantastic offers and competitions only for Winners Club members.
The Winners Club is a great choice for teenagers. And it is so easy to join. Simply fill in an application form. You will have to get permission from your parent or guardian (so we can organize that cool key – card) but it is easy. We can’t wait to hear from you. It’s the best way to choose to be a winner!
【小題1】The Winners Club is a bank account intended for ________.

A．parents

B．teenagers

C．winners

D．a(chǎn)dults

【小題2】Which of the following is TRUE about the Winners Club?

A．Special gifts are ready for parents.

B．The bank opens only on work days.

C．Services are convenient for its members.

D．Fees are necessary for the account keeping.

【小題3】The Winners Club provides magazines which ________.

A．encourage spending

B．a(chǎn)re free to all teenagers

C．a(chǎn)re full of adventure stories

D．help to make more of your money

【小題4】If you want to be a member of the Club, you must ________.

A．be an Internet user

B．be permitted by your parent

C．have a big sum of money

D．be in your twenties

【小題5】What is the purpose of this text?

A．To set up a club.

B．To provide part-time jobs.

C．To organize key-cards.

D．To introduce a new banking service.

It’s really true what people say about English politeness: it’s everywhere. When squeezing (擠過去) past someone in a narrow passage, people say “sorry”. When getting off a bus, English passengers say “thank you” rather than the driver. In Germany, people would never dream of doing these things. After all, squeezing past others is sometimes unavoidable, and the bus driver is only doing his job. I used to think the same way, without questioning it, until I started traveling to the British Isles, and here are some more polite ways of interacting (交往) with people in UK.
People thank each other everywhere in England, all the time. When people buy something in a shop, customer and shop assistant in most cases thank each other twice or more. In Germany, it would be exceptional to hear more than one thank you in such a conversation. British students thank their lecturers when leaving the room. English employers thank their employees for doing their jobs, as opposite to Germans, who would normally think that paying their workers money is already enough.
Another thing I observed during my stay was that English people rarely criticize (批評(píng)) others. Even when I was working and mistakes were pointed out to me, my employers emphasized several times but none of their explanations were intended as criticism. It has been my impression that by avoiding criticism, English people are making an effort to make others feel comfortable. This also is showed in other ways. British men still open doors for women, and British men are more likely to treat women to a meal than German men. However, I do need to point out here that this applies to English men a bit more than it would to Scottish men! Yes, the latter are a bit tightfisted.
【小題1】What is the author’s attitude towards English politeness?

A．He thinks it is unnecessary.	B．He thinks little of it.
C．He appreciates it very much.	D．He thinks it goes too far.

【小題2】What can be inferred from the passage?

A．German men never treat a woman to dinner.

B．The author think it’s unnecessary to say “thank you” to the bus driver.

C．In Germany, employers often say “thank you” to employees for their job.

D．Germans think it is unnecessary to thank workers because payment is enough.

【小題3】We can learn from the last paragraph that Scottish men ______.

A．like to fight with each other

B．treat women in a polite way

C．a(chǎn)re as generous as English men

D．a(chǎn)re unwilling to spend money for women

【小題4】The author develops the text through the method of ______.

A．making comparisons	B．telling stories
C．giving reasons	D．giving examples

Poet Dean Young has dealt with impermanence（ 無常）a lot in his career, but it's a particularly strong theme in Young's latest collection, Fall Higher．The new collection was published in April, just days after the poet received a life-saving heart transplant （移植） after about a decade of living with a weakening heart condition．
Young, whose work is often frank and rich with twisted humor, tells NPR's Renee Montaigne that as he recovers from operation, he's also slowly returning to his everyday writing habits．
"I'm getting back to it," Young says．"Not with the sort of concentration and sort of flame that I look forward to in the future, but I am blackening some pages．"
And on those blackened pages you'll find poems like " How Grasp Green," which carries themes of springtime and rebirth．It's one of the first poems Young has written since his transplant．
It's easy to spot clues （線索） to Young's awful health situation in the lines of his poetry. Fall Higher's "Vintage" opens with, "Because I will die soon, I fall asleep, during the lecture on the ongoing emergency．" And the poem "-The Rhythms Pronounce Themselves Then Vanish—published in The /Vew Barker in February —opens with the CT scan that revealed Young's heart condition．
Young says "Rhythms" was written about the beginning of his illness．
"I had been having a lot of physical pain so that I could hardly walk a block．I got sent to a gastroenterologist and he did a series of tests, and then the tests came back to me and it was all heart related," he says．" And the outlook wasn't good．
Hearts tend to come up a lot in poetry, and that's especially true of Young's work, which has clearly been influenced by the troubles of his own heart,
"A lot of times, it's not just a metaphor （比喻） ," Young says．"For me, it's an actual concern because I've been living with this disease for over 10 years．My father died of heart problems when he was 49, so it's been a sort of shadowy concern for me my whole life．
But Young's poems also deal with more abstract matters of the heart．He wrote Fall Higher's, "Late Valentine" for his wife．"We've been married since late November and most of it has been spent in the hospital," Young says of his marriage to poet Laurie Saurborn Young, who says " 'Late Valentine' is very sweet．
Today, Young says, his friends can't help but comment on how pink his cheeks have become—the result of a new heart and better circulation （循環(huán)）．But Young wrote the poems of Fall Higher before the transplant, at a time when, at its weakest point, his old heart was pumping at 8 percent of what it should have been．
He was staring death in the face—but he was still able to look at his life and see art
in it.
Young's work also touches on themes of randomness and fate —two factors that contributed to him getting a second chance in the form of a new heart from a 22-year-old student．
"Everything in life is molecules （分子） bouncing against molecules," Young says, and having a successful transplant is no different．" Somebody had to die; it had to be a fit; my blood and his blood had to not have an argument; the heart had to be transported; I had to get it．"
There were, in short, an amazing number of variables （變量） that led to Young
being here today.
"I just feel enormous gratitude," he says of his donor （捐獻(xiàn)者）．"He gave me a heart so I'm still alive-"I'm sure I'm going to think about this person for the rest of my life．"
【小題1】The poetry collection Fall Higher _______．

A．was published in February

B．refers darkness as its main theme

C．is Young's latest collection of poetry

D．was written after Young's heart transplant

【小題2】We can learn from the text that Young _______．

A．was born with heart disease

B．received a heart transplant in February

C．married a female poet after he wrote "Late Valentine"

D．wrote a poem for his wife in his collection

【小題3】What does the writer try to say in Paragraph 3?

A．The writer expected some bright future, but he was disappointed．

B．The writer had less enthusiasm than before, but he still kept on writing．

C．The writer devoted more time to poems, so he grasped a good chance．

D．The writer wrote poems with less enthusiasm, so he quitted for a while．

【小題4】Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．"How Grasp Green" is the first poem in Fall Higher．

B．Young began all his poems with his illness．

C．Young's father died when Young was 49 years old．

D．Young's health situation is mentioned in his poetry．

【小題5】What is the text mainly about?

A．Dean Young and his latest collection．

B．Dean Young and his heart problems．

C．The meaning of Fall Higher．

D．An analysis of Dean Young's poems．

A car drew up outside the Swan Hotel and a young man got out．Pausing only for a moment to see that he had come to the right place，he went into the hotel and rang the bell on the counter of the bar．
Mrs．Crump，the landlady，who was busy in the kitchen at the time，hurried out，wiping her hands．The young man raised his hat．
“Excuse me，”he said．“I’m looking for my uncle，Mr．White．I believe he is staying here．”
“He was staying here．”Mrs．Crump corrected him．“But I’m afraid that he went back to London yesterday．”
“Oh，dear，”said the young man，looking disappointed．“I understood that he was going to stay here until the end of the month．At least that is what his servant told me when I rang up his house．”
“Quite right，”said Mrs，Cramp．“He planned to stay here the whole of July，as he always does． But yesterday he got a telegram to say that his relative was ill．So he caught the train back to London immediately．”
“I wish he had let me know, ”The young man said．“I wrote him a letter saying that I was coming．I’ve had all this trouble for nothing．Well，since he isn’t here，there’s no point in waiting．”
He thanked Mrs．Grump and went out．Mrs．Grump went to the window and watched him drive off．When his car was out of sight，she called out：“You can come out now, Mr．White. He’s gone．”
Mr．White came out of the kitchen，where he had been waiting．
“Many thanks，Mrs．Grump，”he said，laughing，“you did that very well．These nephews of mine never gave me any peace．That young man is the worst of them all．As you see，when he needs money, he even follows me into the country．Well，perhaps next time he won’t warn me by writing a letter!”
【小題1】This story is about a man         ．

A．who was very much loved by his nephews

B．whose nephew went to visit him at the hotel

C．who was not willing to meet his nephew

D．whose nephew is always asking him for help

【小題2】When his nephew came to the hotel，Mr．White            ．

A．took the train back to London

B．left to visit a sick relative

C．went to pick up a telegram

D．hid himself in the kitchen

【小題3】Mr. White didn’t like his nephews because         ．

A．they always follow him around

B．they frequently disturb their relatives

C．they won’t write to him often

D．they usually visit him in hotels

Teenagers in England do much the same as children in America do. They enjoy sending messages by their mobile phones and they also like swimming, listening to the latest music, watching TV and surfing the Internet.
How do teenagers in England spend their free time and holidays? Let’s follow Sally, a British teenager, and spend five days with her during her school holiday.
Day One
After breakfast, Sally’s mother went out and left her alone at home. She checked her mobile phone during lunch —one of her friends sent her a message early in the morning. Dinner was at 6:30 p.m. After that, she finished her English home-work. Then she surfed the Internet.
Day Two
Sally and her mother paid a visit to their friends and went swimming together. Later, they went shopping for clothes and books, and had dinner in a restaurant.
Day Three
She went to the supermarket with her mother to buy fish and chips for lunch as well as some pens. After she got back home, she spent the next few hours surfing the Internet and watching TV.
Day Four
She surfed the Internet. Her mother took her out for lunch before she went to work. She then read stories after lunch.
Day Five
She woke up at 2 p.m., and so did her mother. They went to a park. Her mother met some friends there. When they got home, it was already time for dinner. Afterwards, she did her homework until 10 p.m.
【小題1】When did Sally do her homework?

A．In the morning.	B．In the afternoon.
C．At lunch time.	D．In the evening.

【小題2】Sally and her mother went shopping for the second time to buy __________.

A．food for lunch and pens	B．some books and pens
C．some fish and clothes	D．food and books

【小題3】Which of the following things did Sally do on Day Four?

A．She went swimming.	B．She went out for breakfast.
C．She read books.	D．She went shopping.

【小題4】According to the passage, it can be inferred that ________.

A．surfing the Internet has become an important part of teenagers’ lives

B．parents shouldn’t leave teenagers alone at home

C．teenagers don’t usually do their homework during their school holidays

D．a(chǎn) park is the best place to meet a friend

I was small for my age. I was shy and sometimes it was hard for me to make friends with the others. However, learning came fairly easy for me. I was the best in most of my classes, but PE class was my nightmare (惡夢) and made me feel that I was not as good as the others.
Miss Forsythe was our PE teacher. She was young and energetic. Everyone liked her. She said that we all had to come to her classes. No one could hide from Miss Forsythe! One day she told me that she wanted me to play a game with another girl in a PE show. I was rather worried that I wouldn’t do a good job when she explained her idea, but she was excited. With her encouragement, I had no choice but to agree. It was a "boy meets girl" game. I played the boy and my classmate, Margaret Ann, played the girl. We were dressed in evening clothes and danced around the floor. According to Miss Forsythe, I had to pick up Margaret Ann when we finished the dance. Since I was not strong enough to pick the tallest girl up, it was she who picked me up. I suddenly felt ten feet tall! It was a huge success and everybody applauded (鼓掌) for our excellent performance. What a wonderful ending! Afterwards, I smiled confidently (自信地).
Miss Forsythe’s understanding and willingness to create a place for me in her show (which certainly did not need me) gave me some much needed confidence. She was and always will be my favorite teacher.
【小題1】What do we know about Miss Forsythe?

A．She was good at dancing.

B．She was young and energetic.

C．She liked to play games with the students after class.

D．She taught students how to dance.

【小題2】How did the author feel about the game at first?

A．She was excited.	B．She thought it would be fun.
C．She was glad.	D．She was nervous.

【小題3】It can be inferred from the passage that __________.

A．Miss Forsythe had planned the game that way on purpose (故意地)

B．Miss Forsythe helped the author pick up the tallest girl

C．the author was afraid when she felt ten feet tall

D．the author didn't like his teacher.

【小題4】What is the best title for the passage?

A．Our PE Teacher—Miss Forsythe	B．My School Life
C．A Forgettable Experience	D．A Game with My Classmate

The meaning of the word “volunteer ” may be a little different in different countries, but it usually means “one who offers his or her services（服務(wù)）.” there are many different ways in which people can volunteer, such as taking care of sick people, working in homes for homeless children, and picking up garbage(垃圾) from beaches and parks. Volunteers may work within their own countries or in other countries. They are often people with a strong wish to help those who are less fortunate than themselves. Volunteers don’t expect any kind of pay.
Tracy, a good friend of mine, recently came back from India with a new idea of what being a volunteer means. She worked for two and a half weeks in one of mother Teresa’s homes in Calcutta. The following is her story.
“I worked for sick people. I helped wash clothes and sheets, and pass out lunch. To be honest, I don’t think I was helping very much. It was then that I realized that I had not really come to help, but to learn about and experience another culture(文化) that helped improve my own understanding of life and the world.”
【小題1】 According to the text, a volunteer refers to a person who ______.

A．is willing to help those in need without pay

B．can afford to travel to different places

C．has a strong wish to be successful

D．has made a lot of money in life

【小題2】Tracy started her work as a volunteer ______.

A．a(chǎn)fter she met mother Teresa

B．a(chǎn)fter she finished high school

C．when she was touring Calcutta

D．when she was working in a hospital

【小題3】 Why did Tracy choose to be a volunteer?

A．she liked to work with mother Teresa.

B．she had already had some experience.

C．she was asked by mother Teresa.

D．she wanted to follow mother Teresa’s example.

【小題4】What is Tracy’s “new idea” (paragraph 2) of being a volunteer?
A.  going abroad to help the sick.
B.  working in mother Teresa’s home.
C.  doing simple things to help the poor.
improving oneself through helping others.

As the pace（步速） of life continues to increase , we are fast losing the art of relaxation. Once you are in the habit of rushing through lift, being on the go from morning till night, it is hard to slow down. But relaxation is completely necessary for a healthy mind and body.
Stress is an natural part of everyday lift and there is no way to avoid it. In fact , it is not the bad thing it is often supposed to be. A certain amount of stress is vital to provide motivation and give purpose to life. It is only when the stress gets out of control that it can lead to poor performance and ill health.
The amount of stress a person can withstand(忍受) depends very much on the individual. Some people are not afraid of stress, and such characters are obviously prime material for managerial responsibilities. Others lose heart at the first signs of unusual difficulties. When exposed to stress, in whatever form, we react both chemically and physically. In fact we make choice between "fight" or "flight" and in more primitive days the choice made the difference between life or death. The crises（危機(jī)）we meet today are unlikely to be so extreme, but however little the stress, it involves the same response. It is when such a reaction lasts long, through continued exposure to stress, that health becomes endangered. Such serious conditions as high blood pressure and heart disease have established（確定的）links with stress. Since we cannot remove stress from our lives (it would be unwise to do so even if we could), we need to find ways to deal with it.
【小題1】According to the writer, the most important character for a good manager is his ________.

A．not fearing stress

B．knowing the art of relaxation

C．high sense of responsibility

D．having control over performance

【小題2】Which of the following statements is true, according to the passage?

A．We can find some ways to avoid stress

B．Stress is always harmful to people’s health.

C．It is easy to change the habit of keeping oneself busy with work.

D．Different people can withstand different amounts of stress

【小題3】 In the last sentence of the passage, “do so” refers to         .

A．“expose ourselves to stress”

B．“find ways to deal with stress”

C．“remove stress from our lives”

D．“establish links between diseases and stress”

【小題4】 According to the author, the right attitude toward stress is         .

A．to avoid it

B．to try to deal with it

C．to regard it as a vital motivation

D．to find some relaxation

The other day, my friend Jane was invited to a 40th birthday party. The time printed on the invitation was 7:30 pm．Jane went off with her husband, expecting a merry evening of wine, food, and song．
By 9:45, everybody was having great fun, but no food had appeared. Jane and David were restless. Other guests began whispering that they, too, were starving．But no one wanted to leave, just in case some food was about to appear. By 11:00, there was still no food, and everyone was completely off their heads. Jane and David left hungry and angry．
Their experience suggests that the words on the printed invitations need to be made clearer. Everyone reads and understands the invitations differently. Most of us would agree that 6:30 - 8:30 pm means drinks only, go out to dinner afterwards; 8:00 pm or 8:30 pm means possible dinner, but 9:30 pm and any time thereafter means no food, eat beforehand, arrive late．
But this is not always the case．If asked to a students’ party at 6:30 pm, it is unaccepted for guests to appear on time. Being the first to arrive — looking eager — is social death. When my mother is asked to a party at 6:30, she likes to be there, if not on time, then no later than seven．My age group (late thirties) falls somewhere between the two, but because we still think we’re young, we’re probably closer to student-time than grown-up time．
The accepted custom at present is confusing, sometimes annoying, and it often means you may go home hungry, but it does lend every party that precious element of surprise．
【小題1】The underlined words “off their heads” probably mean _______．

A．tired

B．crazy

C．happy

D．encouraging

【小題2】Jane and David’s story is used to show that _______．

A．party invitations can be confusing

B．party-goers usually get hungry at parties

C．people should ask for food at parties

D．birthday parties for middle-aged people are dull

【小題3】For some young people, arriving on time for a students’ party will probably be considered _______．

A．very difficult	B．particularly thoughtful
C．friendly and polite	D．socially unacceptable

【小題4】What is the general idea of the text? 

A．It’s safe to arrive late just when food is served．

B．It’s wise to eat something before going to a party．

C．It’s important to follow social rules of party-going．

D．There’s no need to read invitations carefully．