Everyone needs friends. We all like to feel close to someone. It is nice to have a friend to talk, laugh and do things with. Sure, there are times when we need to be alone. We don’t always want people around. But we would feel lonely if we never had a friend.
No two people are the same. Sometimes friends don’t get along well. That doesn’t mean they no longer like each other. Most of the time they will go on being friends. Sometimes friends move away. Then we feel very sad. We miss them very much. But we can call them and write to them. Maybe we wound never see them again. And we can make new friends. It is surprising to find out how much we like new people when we get to know them. Families sometimes name their children after a close friend. Many places are named after men and women, if they are friendly to people in a town. Some libraries are named in this way. So are some schools. We think of these people when we go to these places.
There is more good news for people, if they have friends. These people live longer than those people who don’t have friends. Why? It could be that they are happier. Being happy helps you stay well. Or it could be just knowing that someone cares. If someone cares about you, you take better care of yourself.
【小題1】According to the author, why sometimes friends don’t get along well? Because________

A．friends move away	B．we don’t call them and write to them
C．we have made new friends	D．no two people are the same

【小題2】Which of the following places people name after their friendly people is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A． A town	B． A room
C． A school	D． A library

【小題3】Why do people who have friends live longer?

A．They feel happier and healthier.

B．They know more about friendship.

C．They take less care of themselves.

D．They care more about their friends.

【小題4】This passage mainly tells us ______

A．that people are all friends	B．that people need friends
C．how to get to know friends	D．how to name a place

However urban life strikes you, cities worldwide have been growing ever more rapidly. Some of this growth has occurred in the developed world, but the most dramatic increase has been in the Third World. Almost all the world’s population growth over the next 30 years will take place in the cities of developing countries
By the year 2030, for the first time in history, 60 percent of the world’s people will be living in cities.
This is actually good news in some ways. “Cities are the fundamental building blocks of prosperity,” says Marc Weiss, chairman of the Prague Institute for Global Urban Development, “ both for the nation and for families.” Industrial and commercial activities in urban areas account for between 50 and 80 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in most countries of the world“ there’s the crazy notion that the way to deal with a city’s problems is to keep people out of them,”Weiss continued. “But the problems of the rural life are even more serious than those of the city.” For better or worse, urban-watchers are clear on one point: The quality of life for most people in the future will be determined by the quality of cities. Those cities will be bigger than ever. And yet, population numbers by themselves don’t determine a city’s prospects; after all, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Hamburg, Germany, have the same population. Nor is explosive growth necessarily the determining factor. “City problems,” one authority points out, “mostly have to do with weak, ineffective, and usually unrepresentative city governments.”
【小題1】The passage mainly discusses ______________.

A．Big cities.

B．City life.

C．Population.

D．Gross Domestic Product.

【小題2】According to the passage, in the year of 2030 _______.

A．there will be 21 cities having a population of more than 10 million.

B．rural area will be extinct.

C．most people will live in cities.

D．the third world will keep abreast with the developed world.

【小題3】In the author’s opinion, _________.

A．better city, better life

B．both urban and rural areas have a larger population

C．the larger population, the faster a city develops

D．both urban and rural areas have larger gross domestic products

【小題4】Which statement is NOT true according to the passage?

A．The developing countries develop faster than the developed countries.

B．Cities contribute more to the GDP than the villagers.

C．Some problems are more easily solved in cities than in country.

D．It’s impossible to solve urban problems by getting people out of cities.

【小題5】The last paragraph implies that ____________.

A．Public services are ineffective.

B．Cities are increasing too fast.

C．Population is not linked with development.

D．Government should be responsible for the problems in the cities.

Five years ago, David Smith wore an expensive suit to work every day.“I was a clothes addict（有癮的人）”he jokes.“I used to carry a fresh suit to work with me so I could change if my clothes got wrinkled.” Today David wears casual（不經(jīng)意的，隨意的） clothes—khaki pants （褲子）and a sports shirt—to the office. He hardly ever wears a necktie.“I am working harder than ever.”David says,“and I need to feel comfortable.”
More and more companies are allowing their office workers to wear casual clothes to work. In the United States, the change from formal to casual office wear has been gradual. In the early 1990s, many companies allowed their employees to wear casual clothes on Friday（but only on Friday）.This became known as“dress-down Friday”or“casual Friday”.“What started out as an extra one-day-a-week benefit for employees has really become an everyday thing.”said business Maisly Jones.
Why have so many companies started allowing their employees to wear casual clothes? One reason is that it’s easier for a company to attract new employees if it has a casual dress code.” “A lot of young people don’t want to dress up for work,” says the owner of a software company,“so it’s hard to hire people if you have a conservative（保守的）dress code.”Another reason is that people seem happier and more productive when they are wearing comfortable clothes. In a study conducted by Levi Strauss and Company, 85 percent of employers said that they believe that casual dress improves employee morale（心境，士氣）. Only 4 percent of employers said that casual dress has a negative influence on productivity. Supporters of casual office wear also argue that a casual dress code helps them save money. “Suits are expensive, if you have to wear one every day,”one person said. “For the same amount of money, you can buy a lot more casual clothes.”
【小題1】David Smith refers to himself as having been“a clothes addict,”because      .

A．he often wore khaki pants and a sports shirt

B．he couldn’t stand a clean appearance

C．he wanted his clothes to look neat all the time

D．he didn’t want to spend much money on clothes

【小題2】David Smith wears casual clothes now, because      .

A．they make him feel at ease when working

B．he cannot afford to buy expensive clothes

C．he looks handsome in casual clothes

D．he no longer works for any company

【小題3】According to this passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．Company workers started to dress down about twenty years ago.

B．Dress-down has become an everyday phenomenon since the early 90s.

C．“Dress-down Friday”was first given as a favor from employers.

D．Many workers want to wear casual clothes to impress people.

【小題4】In this passage, the following advantages of casual office wear are mentioned EXCEPT_______

A．saving employees’ money	B．making employees more attractive
C．improving employees’ motivation	D．making employees happier

It was early morning. Peter Corbett helped Mark Wellman out of his wheelchair and onto the ground. They stood before El Capitan, a huge mass of rock almost three-quarters of a mile high in California's beautiful Yosemite Valley. It had been Mark's dream to climb El Capitan for as long as he could remember. But how could a person without the use of his legs hope to try to climb it?
Mark knew he couldn't finish the climb alone, but his friend Peter, an expert rock climber, would be there to lend a helping hand. He and Mark thought that it would take seven days to reach the top.
Peter climbed about 100 feet up and hammered a piton (巖釘) into the rock. Fastening one end of a 165-foot rope to the piton, he let one end of the rope fall down. Mark caught the rope and fastened it to his belt with a special instrument. This instrument would allow Mark to move upward, but would prevent him from falling even as much as a single inch. He next reached above his head and fastened a T-shaped bar to the rope, using the same kind of instrument.
Mark took a deep breath, pushed the T-bar up almost as far as his arms could reach, and began the first of the 7,000 pull-ups needed to reach the top. High above, Peter let out a cheer. “You're on your way.”
Seven years before, at the age of twenty-one, he had fallen while mountain climbing, injuring his backbone. The fall cost him the use of his legs, but he never lost his love of adventure or his joyful spirit.
For the first four days the two men progressed steadily upward without incident. But on the fifth day an unbearably hot wind began to blow, and as time went by, it became stronger and stronger, causing Mark to sway (搖擺) violently on his rope. But Mark kept on determinedly pushing up the T-bar and pulling himself up. In spite of that, he had to admit that he felt a lot better when the wind finally died down and his body touched solid rock again.
It took them one day more than they had expected, but on July 26 at 1:45 in the afternoon, the crowd of people waiting on the top went wild with joy as the two heads appeared. Mark Wellman had shown that if you set your heart and mind on a goal, no wall is too high, no dream impossible.
【小題1】What had Mark Wellman long desired to do?

A．To finish one of the most difficult rock climbs in the world.

B．To be the first to climb El Capitan.

C．To climb the highest mountain in California.

D．To help his friend Peter climb El Capitan.

【小題2】How did Mark climb the mountain?

A．He fastened the rope to his wheelchair.

B．He hammered in pitons so that he had something to hold on to.

C．He held on to the T-bar and Peter pulled him up.

D．He pulled himself up using a T-bar and special equipment.

【小題3】What was the worst problem Mark had during the climb?

A．He struck against the rock and hurt his arms.

B．A strong wind blew him away from the rock.

C．He kept falling several inches.

D．While swaying in space, he became terrified.

【小題4】How did Mark react to difficulties during the climb?

A．He admitted that he was frightened.

B．He often worried about his friend's condition.

C．He was able to remain clam and determined.

D．He was joking to cheer himself up.

“How was school, Ben?” I asked my grandson after he began kindergarten(幼兒園) this year. “The work is too long… and there’s not enough time to play,” he replied.
I couldn’t help but remember Ben’s own mother, my daughter, Jane, and her reaction(反應(yīng)) to the first day of school. Julie was also disappointed with the first day of school and so was her little sister. My three-year-old daughter announced angrily after her big sister got on the big yellow school bus, “I want to go ‘sool’ and you not let me!”
When Julie returned home that afternoon, I asked her the same question that I asked Ben, “How was school, Julie?” Julie replied, “I didn’t learn to read today.”
This year as the school bus passed my house, my mind went back to those school days again. I could almost smell the chalk dust in the air. I also wonder what the children these days manage to get chosen to do in order to get out of school for a few moments since there are no erasers to clean. It was fun to be “chosen” for eraser cleaning duty. This was a task finished by going outside and beating erasers together while sneezing and coughing. No wonder so many babies now have allergies(過敏癥), and it’s simply because we all have chalk dust in our lungs!
On the first day of school, the expectation was so great that I would be ready long before it was time to leave for school. We didn’t have backpacks because we had cigar boxes. We carried our small supplies inside a cigar box from one of the local stores. We saved the cigar boxes and used them from year to year until they fell apart.
The first day of school was exciting. It was a new beginning. The doors of knowledge had been opened. The first day of school is an event in our lives that most of us remember. It’s a big step for a small child toward leaving babyhood and so “there isn’t enough time to play”.
【小題1】Why did Jane become angry according to the passage?

A．Because she didn’t learn to read on the first day of school.

B．Because there was too much work for her to do at school.

C．Because she had no time to play at school.

D．Because she was not allowed to go to school.

【小題2】The underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 suggests that       .

A．the author was thinking of her school days jokingly

B．the author warned students against the harm of chalk dust

C．the author suffered from an allergy because of chalk dust

D．the author doubted whether her lungs had chalk dust

【小題3】In the opinion of the author, the first day of school is        .

A．a(chǎn) day when a child is the happiest

B．a(chǎn) day when a child does much work

C．the beginning of great learning

D．the end of childhood full of toys

Have you ever been in a meeting while someone was making a speech and realized suddenly that your mind was a million miles away? You probably felt sorry and made up your mind to pay attention and never have daydreaming again. Most of us from earlier school days have been told that daydreaming is a waste of time.
“ On the contrary,” says L.Giambra, an expert in psychology（心理學(xué)）, “ daydreaming is quite necessary. Without it, the mind couldn’t get done all the thinking it has to do during a normal day… .
You can’t possibly do all your thinking with a conscious（有意識(shí)的） mind. Instead, your unconscious mind is working out problems all the time. Daydreaming then may be one way that the unconscious states of minds have silent dialogues.”
Early experts in psychology paid no attention to the importance of daydreams or even considered them harmful. At one time daydreaming was thought to be a cause of some mental illness. They did not have a better understanding of daydreams until the late 1980s. Eric Klinger, a professor of psychology, is the writer of the book Daydreaming. Klinger says, “we know now that daydreaming is one of the main ways that we organize our lives, learn from our experiences, and plan for our futures… Daydreams really are a window on the things we fear and the things we long for in life.”
Daydreams are usually very simple and direct, quite unlike sleep dreams which may be hard to understand. It’s easier to gain a deep understanding of your life by paying close attention to your daydreams than by trying to examine your sleep dreams carefully. Daydreams help you recognize the difficult situations in your life and find out a possible way of handling them.
Daydreams cannot be predicted; they move off in unexpected directions which may be creative and full of useful ideas. For many famous artists and scientists, daydreams were and are a main source of creative energy.
So the next time you catch yourself daydreaming, don’t stop. Just pay attention to your dream. It may be more important than you think.
【小題1】In what way are daydreams different from sleep dreams?

A．Daydreams help to develop an unconscious mind.

B．Daydreams are not so easy for us to control and direct.

C．Daydreams help us to handle more difficult situations

D．Daydreams are easier for us to understand.

【小題2】Professor Eric Klinger believes that _______.

A．our fears and longings in life are shown in our daydreams

B．we may study our experiences just through our daydreams

C．daydreaming is one of the important ways that we recognize our lives

D．we should be able to tell our futures by having daydreams

【小題3】The writer of the article thinks that ______.

A．daydreaming is more helpful than sleep dreams

B．many artists and scientists are famous because they have daydreams

C．professor Eric Klinger has a better idea than L. Giambra

D．daydreaming with an unconscious mind will do good to health

【小題4】Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage?

A．Daydreaming was once regarded as a cause of mental illness.

B．Experts began to have a better understanding of daydreams in the late 1980s.

C．Scientists believe that we can know daydreams before having them.

D． Many well-known artists gained energy of creation from daydream

I had an experience some years ago, which taught me something about the ways in which people make a bad situation worse by blaming themselves．One January, I had to hold two funerals on successive days for two elderly women in my community．Both had died “full of years”, as the Bible would say．Their homes happened to be near each other, so I paid condolence （吊唁） calls on the two families on the same afternoon.
At the first home, the son of the deceased （已故的） woman said to me, “If only I had sent my mother to Florida and gotten her out of this cold and snow, she would be alive today．It’s my fault that she died.” At the second home, the son of the other deceased woman said, “If only I hadn’t insisted on my mother’s going to Florida, she would be alive today．That long airplane ride, the sudden change of climate, was more than she could take．It’s my fault that she’s dead.”
You see that any time there is a death, the survivors will feel guilty．Because the course of action they took turned out badly, they believe that the opposite course — keeping Mother at home, putting off the operation — would have turned out better．After all, how could it have turned out any worse?
There seem to be two elements involved in our willingness to feel guilty．The first is our pressing need to believe that the world makes sense, that there is a cause for every effect and a reason for everything that happens．That leads us to find patterns and connections both where they really exist and where they exist only in our minds.
The second element is the view that we are the cause of what happens, especially the bad things that happen．It seems to be a short step from believing that every event has a cause to believing that every disaster is our fault．The roots of this feeling may lie in our childhood.
A baby comes to think that the world exists to meet his needs, and that he makes everything happen in it．He wakes up in the morning and summons the rest of the world to its tasks．He cries, and someone comes to attend to him．When he is hungry, people feed him, and when he is wet, people change him．Very often, we do not completely outgrow that childish view that our wishes cause things to happen.
【小題1】The author had to hold the two women’s funerals probably because __________________.

A．he wanted to comfort the two families

B．he was an official from the community

C．he had great pity for the deceased

D．he was priest of the local church

【小題2】People feel guilty for the deaths of their loved ones because _______________________.

A．they couldn’t find a better way to express their sorrow

B．they believe that they were responsible

C．they had neglected the natural course of events

D．they didn’t know things often turn out in the opposite direction

【小題3】According to the passage, the underlined part in paragraph 4 probably means that ______.

A．everything in the world is predetermined

B．the world can be interpreted in different ways

C．there’s an explanation for everything in the world

D．we have to be sensible in order to understand the world

【小題4】What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．Life and death is an unsolved mystery.

B．Every story should have a happy ending.

C．Never feel guilty all the time because not every disaster is our fault.

D．In general, the survivors will feel guilty about the people who passed away .

Many people who work in London prefer to live outside it, and to go in to their offices or schools every day by train, car or bus, even though this means they have to get up early in the morning and reach home late in the evening. 
One advantage of living outside London is that houses are cheaper. Even a small flat in London without a garden costs quite a lot to rent. With the same money, one can get a little house in the country with a garden of one’s own. 
Then, in the country one can rest from the noise and hurry of the town. Even though one has to get up earlier and spend more time in trains or buses, one can sleep better at night and during weekends and on summer evenings, one can enjoy the fresh, clean air of the country. If one likes gardens, one can spend one’s free time digging, planting, watering and doing the hundred and one other jobs which are needed in a garden. Then, when the flowers and vegetables come up, one has the reward of one who has shared the secret of Nature. 
Some people, however, take no interest in country things: for them, happiness lies in the town, with its cinemas and theatres, beautiful shops and busy streets, dance-halls and restaurants. Such people would feel that their life was not worth living if they had to live it outside London. An occasional walk in one of the parks and a fortnight’s (two weeks) visit to the sea every summer is all the country they want: the rest they are quite prepared to leave to those who are glad to get away from London every night. 
【小題1】Which of the following statements is NOT true? 

A．People who like country things prefer to live outside the city.

B．People who work in London prefer to live in the country.

C．Because of certain disadvantages of living outside London, some people who work in London prefer to live inside London.

D．Because of certain advantages of living outside London, many people who work in London prefer to live outside London.

【小題2】One can use the same money for ________ to buy a little house with a garden in the country.

A．getting a small flat with a garden	B．having a small flat with a garden
C．renting a small flat without a garden	D．buying a small flat without a garden

【小題3】When the flowers and vegetables in the garden come up, those _______ have the reward of one who has shared the secret of Nature. 

A．who live in the country

B．who have spent time working in the garden

C．who have a garden of their own

D．who have been digging, planting and watering

【小題4】People who think happiness lies in the town would feel that _______ if they had to live it outside London. 

A．their life was meaningless	B．their life was invaluable
C．they didn’t deserve a happy life	D．they were not worthy of their happy life

【小題5】The underlined word “rest” in the last paragraph refers to ________.

A．the rest time	B．the rest people
C．the rest of the country	D．the rest of the parks and of the sea

My elder brother Steve, in the absence of my father who died when I was six, gave me important lessons in values（價(jià)值觀念） that helped me grow into an adult.
Steve taught me to face the results of my behavior. Once when I returned in tears from a Saturday baseball game, it was Steve who asked me what happened. When I explained that my baseball had soared through Mrs. Holt’s basement window, breaking the glass with a crash, Steve encouraged me to admit to her. Although my knees knocked as I explained to Mrs. Holt, I offered to pay for the window from my pocket money if she would return my ball.
I also learned from Steve that personal property（財(cái)產(chǎn)） is a sacred（神圣的） thing. After I found a shiny silver pen in my fifth-grade classroom, I wanted to keep it, but Steve explained that it might be important to someone else in spite of the fact that it had little value. He reminded me of how much I’d hate to lose to someone else the small dog my father made with a piece of cheap wood. I returned the pen to my teacher, Mrs. David, and still remembered the smell of her perfume (香水) as she patted me on the shoulder.
Yet of all the instructions Steve gave me, his respect for life is the most unforgetful in my mind. When I was twelve I killed an old brown sparrow(麻雀)in the yard with a BB gun. Excited, I screamed at Steve to come and take a look. I shall never forget the way he stood for a long moment and stared at the bird on the ground. Then in a dead, quiet voice, he asked, “Did it hurt you first, Mark?” I didn’t know what to answer. He continued with his eyes firm, “The only time you should even think of hurting a living thing is when it hurts you first, and then you think a long, long time.” I really felt terrible then, but that moment stands out as the most important lesson my brother taught me.
【小題1】What is the passage mainly about?

A．The relationship between Mark and Steve.

B．The important lessons Mark learned in school.

C．Steve’s important role in Mark’s growth stage.

D．Mark and Steve’s respect for living things.

【小題2】When Mark admitted his mistakes to Mrs. Holt, he ____.

A．was surprised	B．felt frightened
C．was light-hearted	D．cried before her

【小題3】From the third paragraph, we can know that Mark _____.

A．had a shiny silver pen	B．respected his teacher
C．hated his father very much	D．once owned a small wooden dog

【小題4】To Mark, which is the most important lesson Steve taught him?

A．Respecting life.	B．Being responsible for one’s behavior.
C．Being honest.	D．Respecting others’ property

You want to have fun and adventure and so you decide to travel somewhere to do it. Sounds like a simple enough thing. And basically it is. But what is adventure? That is the key here and the answer can be different for different people.
For those who love sports, adventure travel can have a whole different meaning than for those who like history. The physical travel types that you can find include such adventure travel as white water rafting (白浪漂流), kayaking or climbing and hiking to some mountains somewhere. To the hiker, backpacking across Ireland might be their adventure. For this type of person, adventure travel almost always includes something physical. Often the goal is to push their body’s limits and test their individual endurance (耐力).
For those who less want to climb mountains, adventure travel might mean traveling to Nepal and taking in the local festivals. Wine tasting in Italy is also vacation adventure for the more relaxed traveler who enjoys peace and comfort. Anything that is opposite to the normal scope (范圍) of the traveler’s lifestyle defines (定義) adventure.
Adventure travel is not necessarily a one-size-fits-all type of vacation. Adventure depends on the person’s physical limits, how much money the person has and what the person enjoys doing. Going beyond the normal is adventurous for many. If your life is quite busy, then sitting on a beach in the moonlight with your family might be adventure for you. The point is not what you do but that you have a good time and that it is an adventure for YOU — not for the person next to you.
Do not sit home this year when vacation time rolls around. Go beyond your normal routine and try something new. If you usually spend your vacation sun-bathing on a beach, try hiking, instead, through the mountains. Look around you, think beyond your comfort zone and head out on an adventure vacation.
【小題1】For a quiet traveler, he is most likely to choose _________.

A．backpacking across a country

B．wine tasting in a bar

C．hiking to some mountains

D．white water rafting

【小題2】To have an adventure travel, the most important is _________.

A．whether you enjoy yourself

B．whether you try something dangerous

C．where you go for the traveling

D．what you do in the traveling

【小題3】The underlined word “beyond” in Paragraph 4 probably means “_________”.

A．a(chǎn)ccording to

B．later than

C．more than

D．less than

【小題4】From the passage, we can make a conclusion that _________.

A．a(chǎn)dventure travel always includes something dangerous

B．a(chǎn)dventure travel will cost you a large sum of money

C．a(chǎn)nything that goes beyond the normal is adventure travel

D．a(chǎn)dventure travelers like to do things to the limits of their body

【小題5】The best title for the passage may be “_________”.

A．Tips on adventure travel

B．Who is interested in adventure travel

C．What is adventure travel

D．Popular places for adventure travel