A small town in Tasmania, an island off the south coast of mainland Australia, is making itself an environmental role model by becoming the country's first plastic bag-free town.
Since April 28, Coles Bay's population of 175 and its tourist shoppers have been using reusable paper or cloth bags to carry their shopping.
Ben Keamey, a local businessman who supports the bag ban, said it would cut  the amount of waste and prevent damage to native wildlife that try to eat the plastic.
"Most businesses here come from the tourism and that's all based on the environment, so people were pretty supportive," he said.
Every year Australians use more than six billion plastic bags. More than half of these come from the supermarket. Since it takes years for the bags to biodegrade（生物遞減分解）, tens of millions end up polluting the environment. They kill about 100,000 sea-birds and animals, which mistake bags for food, every year.
Only in the past few months have major Australian supermarkets begun cutting on their use of plastic bags. Environmental groups are pushing for a plastic bag fee like that in Ireland. There, since plastic bags cost 10 pence (about 1 yuan) each, their use has been cut by 90 per cent.
Pollution caused by plastic bags is a big headache for countries all over the world. As early as 1999, Beijing said that only plastic bags of certain thickness could be used. This was to encourage them to be used again and again, since an average of six million plastic bags are used there every there every single day.
小題1:Which might be the best title for this passage?

A．Deadly Plastic Bags	B．The End of Plastic Bags
C．How to Reuse Plastic Bags	D．The Present Situation of Plastic Bags

小題2:Plastic bags will not be used by the native people of Coles Bay because they ______.

A．cause the environmental pollution	B．a(chǎn)re not easy to be reused
C．a(chǎn)re not as good as cloth bags	D．a(chǎn)re not strong enough

小題3:Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A．Plastic bags kill many animals in Australia each year.

B．Most Australian supermarkets have begun cutting on their use of plastic bags.

C．People at Coles Bay think poor environment may affect their tourism.

D．You have to pay for the plastic bags if you go shopping in Ireland.

小題4:The example of Coles Bay is to show that ______.

A．people take serious actions to deal with the plastic bag problem

B．people begin to realise the harm of using plastic bags

C．Australia is the first country in solving the plastic bag problem

D．Australians are aware of the importance of protecting the small town

小題5:Which of the following measures on plastic bags is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A．To forbid to use them by law.

B．to charge fee for plastic bags.

C．To make them thick enough to be reuseable.

D．To make them environmentally friendly.

"USA? Britain? Which country is better to study in?" We often hear such discussions. As China opens its doors, studying abroad has become a dream for many Chinese students. They want to learn about the world.
It's true that studying abroad can help students develop themselves. Language skills will improve and it may be easier to find jobs.
But there are problems that should be considered(考慮). Language is the first. Students must spend a lot of time learning another language and getting used to a different culture.
Students must also learn to live without parents' care and deal with all kinds of things they haven't had to do before, like looking after themselves. There are reports about Chinese students abroad sinking into an ocean of difficulties and giving up easily. When they have to take care of themselves, it is hard for students to study well.
Finally, studying abroad brings a heavy burden(負(fù)擔(dān)) to the family. For most Chinese parents, the cost of studying abroad is very high. But is it worth it?
We know that there are many famous people who succeed in great things through their hard work in China. Liu Xiang is a good example. Once an American teacher invited him there but he refused. He kept training hard with his Chinese teacher. He surprised the world when he won a gold medal(金牌) at the Athens Olympics. So when you wonder which country is better to study in, consider whether studying abroad is the right choice(選擇).
小題1:From the passage, we learn that many Chinese students dream about studying abroad to __________.

A．taste a new life	B．make a lot of money
C．learn about the world	D．learn to look after themselves

小題2:The writer thinks __________ should be considered first before students study abroad.

A．places

B．time

C．money

D．language

小題3:The writer mentions Liu Xiang in the passage in order to tell us that __________.

A．Chinese teachers are better than American ones

B．studying abroad is not the right choice

C．people can also be successful in China if they work hard

D．Liu Xiang was a gold medal winner

小題4:Which of the following is NOT true?

A．Studying abroad will cost students' families a lot of money.

B．Studying abroad will make it easy for students to learn well.

C．Studying abroad will help students to improve language skills.

D．Studying abroad will bring students a lot of difficulties in their life.

London—coffee protects mice from radiation and could get the same way in humans, according to Indian scientists.
Scientist at India’s Bhabha Atomic Research Center discovered that mice injected with caffeine (咖啡因)remained alive after high doses(劑量)of normally lethal radiation.
Although the study was limited to animals, Kachadillilli George, head of the research team, believes the findings could have implications (something suggested )  for humans .
“It does suggest that coffee might have some beneficial effects in protecting against radiation,” he told New Scientist magazine late last month.
George and his team injected 471 mice with caffeine and left them uncovered to 7.5 grays of gamma radiation(伽瑪射線),enough to kill most mice. But 25 days later 70 percent of the mice that had received 80 milligrams(毫克)of caffeine per kilogram of body weight were still alive.
On the contrary all 196 mice that had been left uncovered to the same radiation but had not been given any caffeine died.
小題1:George and his team drew the conclusion from    .

A．the magazine

B．their invention

C．the experiment

D．their experience

小題2:From the news, we know     can be protected from radiation.

A．both mice and humans	B．only mice
C．only humans	D．neither humans nor mice

小題3:From paragraph 5, we know 30 percent of the mice died 25 days later. The reason was probably that     .

A．these mice had been given only 80 milligrams of caffeine

B．these mice hadn’t been injected with caffeine

C．these mice were very big and strong

D．these mice hadn’t been given enough caffeine

小題4:Which is the best title of the article?

A．Human and Mice	B．New Radiation Defense—Coffee
C．Deadly Radiation—Gamma Radiation	D．Mice Died of Caffeine

小題5:In paragraph 2,the underlined word “ lethal ”means   .

A．causing death

B．lively

C．exciting

D．rich

“How can I learn English well?” This is a question many students ask. In my opinion, the most effective way is to learn lessons by heart. If you can recite the text and write it out, you’ve learned it fairly well. And if you can tell, in your own words, what the lesson says you’re a very successful learner indeed. Your English will be quite perfect.This is a difficult task. However, if you try to learn by heart only part of each lesson, you’ll find it not half so hard as you might have thought. Learning this way, you will make rapid progress. Of course, writing is also necessary. It helps you a lot on our way to success in English. Equally important is to feel the language. You should be able to laugh at jokes and be shocked at bad news. When using English, try to forget your mother tongue. Instead of helping you, your own language gets in your way. So, never try to see English through translation.
小題1:In the writer’s opinion, the most effective way in learning English is ____.

A．to practise speaking, writing and feeling it

B．to forget your own native language

C．to translate everything into his own language

D．to memorize the English words and grammatical rules

小題2:“Instead of helping you, your own language gets in your way.”This sentence means that memorizing your own language can ________.

A．help you to study English well	B．stop you mastering English
C．make English easy to learn	D．help you notice mistakes

小題3:Equally important is to feel the language. “to feel the language” here means________.

A．to get a knowledge of English by touching

B．to be able to read and write English

C．to translate English into your own by imagining

D．to be able to experience the rich sensation of the language

University of Oxford is the oldest university in the English-speaking world and it’s one of the top university in the world. There is no clear date when the university started, but teaching began at Oxford in some forms in 1096 and developed quickly from 1167.
There are 39 independent(獨立的) colleges at Oxford, attracting students and learned men from across the world. There are over 100 libraries for the students and learned men to use. At University of Oxford, they also provide a number of money for the best students. Of course, if you want to study here, first you have to reach a certain level of English language.
College life at Oxford is very exciting but busy. The groups of college provide a friendly and welcoming home for students while the college are strict with students about their studies. Many Chinese students are studying here. The number of Chinese students at the university has grown quickly over the past 10 years.
根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容，從A、B、C、D四個選項中選出能回答所提問題或完成所給句子的最佳答案。（共3小題，每小題1.5分，滿分4.5分）
小題1:What do you have to do first if you want to ask fir studying at Oxford? You have to________.

A．be independent

B．pass a certain level test of English language

C．study English hard

D．be the best students

小題2:How’s the college life at Oxford? It’s full of ________ and has __________.

A．excitement; much school work to do

B．excitement; no school work to do

C．a(chǎn)ttraction; no school work to do

D．a(chǎn)ttraction; a little school work to do

小題3:What’s the best title for the passage?.

A．The College Life

B．The Famous Learners at Oxford

C．The Chinese Students at Oxford

D．The University of Oxford

American researchers found females are the more talkative sex because of a special “l(fā)anguage protein(蛋白質(zhì))” in the brain.
The study, conducted by neuroscientists （神經(jīng)學(xué)家）and psychologist from the University of Maryland, concluded that women talked more because they had more of the Foxp2 protein. The research, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, found that higher levels were found among humans that were women but in rats that were males. Their findings came after it was previously claimed that ladies speak about 20,000 words a day – over 13,000 more than men. "This study is one of the first to report a sex difference in the expression of a language-associated protein in humans or animals,” said Prof Margaret McCarthy, who led the study. In their study, the researchers attempted to determine what might make male rats more vocal than their female friends.
They separated four-day-old rats from their mothers and then counted the number of times they cried out in the “ultrasonic range”, the frequencies higher than humans can hear, over five minutes. While both sexes called out hundreds of cries, the males called out twice as often, they found. But when the pups were returned to their mother’s cage, she fussed over her sons first. Tests conducted on the parts of the brain known to be associated with vocalcalls showed the male pups have up to twice as much Foxp2 protein as the females. The researchers then increased the production in the brains of female pups and reduced it in males. This led to the female rats crying out more often and their mothers showing more interest to them. In contrast, males became less “talkative”.
The researchers then tested samples from ten children, aged between three and five, which showed that females had up to 30 per cent more of the Foxp2 protein than males, in a brain area key to language in humans.
“Based on our observations, we assume higher levels of Foxp2 in girls and higher levels of Foxp2 in male rats is an indication that Foxp2 protein levels are associated with the more communicative sex,” said Prof McCarthy.
"Our results imply Foxp2 as a component of the neurobiological basis of sex differences in vocal communication in mammals."
小題1:From the second paragraph, we can learn that ________.

A．women always speak more words than men

B．men and male rats have low levels of language protein

C．women and male rats have similar levels of Foxp2

D．McCarthy isn’t the first to find females more talkative

小題2:The underlined phrase “fussed over” in the third paragraph probably means______.

A．paid attention to

B．related to

C．put pressure on

D．counted on

小題3:The researchers carried out the experiments on rats in order to _______.

A．test which part of the brain is key to language in rats and humans

B．prove the levels of Foxp2 protein in humans and rats are different

C．determine the reason why female rats are more talkative than male rats

D．discover the association between Foxp2protein and vocal communication

小題4:Which of the following can be the best title for the passage ?

A．Tests on humans and rats	B．Why women are the talkative sex
C．Sex differences in Foxp2 protein	D．Foxp2 protein determines oral ability

To master a language one must be able to speak and understand the spoken language as well as to read and write．Lenin and his wife translated a long English book into Russian but when they went to England in 1902, English people couldn't understand a word Lenin and his wife said, and Lenin and his wife couldn't understand what was said to them．This shows the importance of spoken language．
Speaking, of course can't go without listening．If you want to pronounce a word correctly, first you must hear it correctly．The sounds of Chinese and English languages are not exactly the same．If you don't listen carefully, you'll find it difficult or even impossible to understand the native speakers．
Well, what about writing﹖ Like speaking, it's to exchange ideas．People usually use shorter words and shorter sentences in their writing．
The important thing is to make your idea clear in your mind and then to write it in a clear lively language．
Chinese students read too slowly．If you read fast, you understand better．If you read too slowly by the time you have reached to the end of a page you have forgotten what the beginning is about．When you meet with new words don't look them up in the dictionary．Guess the meaning to form the context. You may not guess quite correctly the first time but as new words appear again and again in different context their meaning will become clearer and clearer. If you look up every word you'll never finish a book．
Students of a foreign language need a particular knowledge, the knowledge of the life, history and geography of the people whose language they're studying. They should study those subjects in the foreign language not only in translation．In this way one can kill two birds with one stone: learn a foreign language and get some knowledge of the foreign country at the same time．
小題1:In England Lenin        ．

A．could be understood by Englishmen

B．could understand Englishmen

C．a(chǎn)nd Englishmen couldn't understand each other

D．a(chǎn)nd Englishmen could understand each other

小題2:In the first paragraph the writer told us        ．

A．how to speak English

B．how to read and write

C．why English people couldn't understand the Lenins

D．spoken English is important

小題3:In the fifth paragraph the writer advised us on        ．

A．how to guess the meaning of the words

B．how to read fast

C．how to look up new words in the dictionary

D．how to read carefully

小題4:“Kill two birds with one stone” means        ．

A．to get some particular knowledge

B．to get more than what one pays

C．the stone is very useful

D．the birds are blind enough

小題5:In the last paragraph the writer advised us        ．

A．to kill two birds with one stone

B．to learn two languages at the same time

C．to study all the subjects in a foreign language

D．to get some knowledge of the foreign country whose language we are studying

Looking for some inspiration or the “write” kind of ideas for your creative stories? To start with, some writers describe winter by using their five senses or their imagination. Others write on their favorite winter activity. Whatever you choose to write about, working on a winter story can always help to improve your writing skills. Now read the following story and see if it helps get rid of any icy writing block you’ ve been struggling with.
A Winter Adventure 
Beep, beep. Beep-beep: the alarm clock rang. Slowly, I got out of warm bed down onto the wooden floor which the winter had thrown its cold upon. The bitter cold temperature penetrated   （穿透）my socks and I hurried to put my feet in shoes.
Looking out of the window, I watched the white snow, soft and thick, drop onto rooftops and trees. Half an hour later, finishing the last of my hot chocolate, I prepared to enter the adventure that waited for me outside. I buttoned my jacket and fastened my boots. Hat on, I opened the door and was greeted by the winter coldness.
In the depths of winter, the early morning did not have the rush of the rest of the year. Most of my neighbours were put off by the cold, and stayed in bed until the sun had climbed higher into the sky.
Unseen by those who remained locked inside their homes, warm in their beds, I enjoyed being alone with the beauty of the wintertime. Those indoors were unable to appreciate the snow-scapes, ice crystals, frost and the crisp（清新的）breeze. For them, the coming of winter meant just the arrival of the cold.
Appreciation depends on contrasts. One cannot love the warmth of April if one has not known the freezing cold of winter. Later that year, the heat of the sun on my skin would be all the more wonderful for my memories of that cold morning and others like it.
小題1:The underlined word “adventure” refers to____________.

A．getting out of bed on the cold winter morning.

B．enjoying the loveliness of the winter outdoors

C．going skiing on the cold winter morning

D．throwing snowballs with friends.

小題2:According to the story A Winter Adventure, most of the neighbours _________.

A．didn’t work in winter	B．stayed up late in winter
C．missed the beauty of winter	D．enjoyed the seasons except winter

小題3:Which of these statements is true according to the story A Winter Adventure?

A．Of all the seasons, the writer loves winter most.

B．The writer regrets that he went out on the freezing cold winter morning.

C．The writer believes contrast makes our experiences of the seasons lovelier.

D．The writer values the autumn and summer more than the winter

小題4:What function does the story A Winter Adventure serve?

A．To share some winter thoughts with readers.

B．To show readers how to work on a winter story.

C．To inspire readers to take more exercise in winter

D．To tell readers how to appreciate the beauty of winter.

SEE a cell phone cover that you like on Taobao? Forget about placing an order, paying the bill online and waiting for days for it to be delivered to you. In the near future, you'll be able to get it in minutes just by hit­ting "print" on your computer.
You might find it hard to believe that you could actually "print" an object like you would a picture. But it is not that hard to under­stand how it would work. Just as a traditional printer sprays (噴) ink onto paper line by line, modern 3-D printers spread material onto a surface layer by layer, from the bottom to the top, gradually building up a shape.
Instead of ink, the materials the 3-D printer uses are mainly plastic, resin (樹脂)and certain metals. The thinner each layer is --- from a millimeter to less than the width of a hair ---  the smoother and finer the object will be.
This may sound like a completely new technology, but the truth is that 3-D printing has been around since the late 1980s. Back then, it was barely affordable for most people, so few knew about it.
Last year, though, saw a big change in the 3-D printing industry--- printers became much cheaper. For example, 10 years ago a desktop 3-D printer might have cost £20,000 (200,000 yuan), while now they cost only about £ 1,000, according to the BBC.
Taken out of the factory and in­troduced to more diverse and com­mon uses, 3-D printing can create just about anything you can think of ---flutes (笛子), bikinis, jewelry, aircraft parts and even human organs. In fact, scientists from Cornell Univer­sity in New York have just made an artificial ear using a 3-D printer, accord­ing to Science Daily. The fake ear looks and acts exactly like a natural one.
However, as 3-D printing becomes more commonplace, it may bring about certain problems --- such as piracy. "Once you can download a coffee maker, or print out a new set of kitchen utensils (餐具) on your personal 3-D printer, who will visit a retail (零售的) store again?" an expert in 3-D printing told Forbes News. Even more frightening, what if anyone in the world could use a 3-D printer to print out a fully functioning gun?
小題1:According to the article, in the future, the 3-D printing technology will ___.

A．enable people to make better purchases online

B．be applied as widely in our daily lives as computers

C．change the way we make many products

D．shorten the time it takes for people to get what they buy online

小題2:What was the big event happening in the 3-D printing industry last year?

A．The 3-D printing technology was taken out ofthe factory.

B．The 3-D printer became more affordable forconsumers.

C．The 3-D printer was used for medical treatmentfor the first time.

D．3-D printing technology began to be used invarious fields.

小題3:How is the last paragraph developed?

A．By analyzing a cause and an effect.	B．By making comparisons.
C．By giving examples.	D．By presenting research findings.

小題4:What is the best title of the passage?

A．Printing out everything	B．Technology in the future
C．Online shopping disappearing	D．Great demand for 3-D printers

A 70-year study of personality suggests that pessimism is a risk factor for early death, especially among men.
　　The study results also indicate that pessimism can be linked to increased risk for sudden death from accidents or violence, according to the report published in the March issue of Psychological Science.
　　Christopher Peterson of the University of Michigan and his colleagues analyzed data from the Terman Life-Cycle Study, which began by studying California public-school children with high IQs in 1921 and followed them through their life. Most of the 1,528 children were teenagers when the study began. Those still living are now in their 80s. In 1936 and 1940, participants were asked to complete a questionnaire designed to obtain information about difficult life events and their effect on overall outlook. One such question was, “What do you regard as your most serious fault of personality or character?”
　　Pessimists were defined as fatalistic(宿命論的)people who tend to blame themselves when things go wrong and who believe that one bad event can ruin the rest of their life. They also tend to expect bad things to happen to them and feel that they have little or no ability to change their situation.
　　Males were more likely than females to be classified as pessimistic. Compared with individuals with a more cheerful and optimistic outlook, pessimists were more likely to die from accidents and violence (including suicide).
　　A pessimistic personality may lead to poor problem-solving ability, social difficulties and risky decision-making. Taken together, these variables put the pessimist at higher risk of untimely(不適時的) death, say the researchers. Such a person is less likely to avoid or escape potentially dangerous situations, the researchers concluded. “A pessimistic way of thinking in which people worry too much about bad events, predicts untimely death decades later,” according to Peterson.
小題1:According to the passage, you may be a pessimistic person, if one failure makes you feel________.

A．other people have been unfair to you.

B．other people will help you.

C．you cannot change a bad situation.

D．you can do better next time.

小題2:According to the passage, pessimists may feel all of the following EXCEPT________

A．helpless when faced with difficulties.

B．cheerful when faced with troubles.

C．hopeless when one bad event occurs.

D．guilty when things go wrong.

小題3:Which of the following statements is true, according to the passage?

A．Pessimists believe that everything in life depends on fate.

B．There are more pessimists among women than among men.

C．Most pessimists will end up committing suicide.

D．All pessimists will eventually die from accidents.

小題4:The Terman Life-Cycle Study is a research program that studies________.

A．people over 70 years old.

B．people since their childhood.

C．pessimistic people over 80 years old.

D．only younger people.

小題5:The analysis made by Christopher Peterson and his colleagues shows that pessimistic people________

A．will die from violence if they learn to be optimistic.

B．will more likely die from violence than optimistic people.

C．will die from violence because their IQs are low.

D．will die untimely if they are not able to learn to be cheerful and optimistic.