In many stories on TV and in science-fiction books, men travel to faraway stars. They have quick, easy journeys. But so far, men have been able to reach only the earth’s own moon.Suppose a man wanted to reach a distant star. Even if he traveled his whole life, he would have to move faster than the speed of the light. Nothing can move that fast except light itself.Strange things happen to an object when it moves rapidly. The object weighs more. An object moving at 86 percent of the speed of light is twice as heavy as it is at rest. A stick appears shorter. A clock runs more slowly. A man would not age so fast as he would on the earth.Light travels more than 186,000 miles a second, or about 11 million miles a minute. In one year, light travels six trillion miles. That great distance is called a light-year. It is used to measure distance in space.The star closest to our sun is Alpha Centauri. It is more than four light-years away. If one traveled at the speed of light, he could make a round trip to Alpha Centauri in nine years. But, even at that speed, he could not reach Alcaid (北斗星) in the handle of the Big Dipper. A one-way journey to Alcaid would take almost 200 years1．In this passage the words “closest to our sun” means the star（）.A、the earth we live onB、Alpha CentauriC、the Big DipperD、the moon2．A one-way journey to Alcaid would take（）.A、about nine yearsB、less than four yearsC、almost 200 yearsD、less than 100 years3．Why do we measure the distance in light-years instead of miles?（）A、Units of light-years sound better.B、Using light- years reduced the number of figures used.C、We used to measure distance in light-years long ago.D、We do not make mistakes when we use light-years.4．If a stone moved at the speed of light, it（）.A、would weigh twice more than it is motionlessB、would weigh as much as it is on earthC、would weigh less than it is on earthD、would not have weight at all5．This story is mainly about （）.A、the distance between the sun and the other starsB、the problems of traveling to faraway starsC、what happens when we travel faster than the speed of lightD、the tool we use when we go to faraway stars

第1题

In this age of Internet chat, videogames and reali

ty television, there is no shortage of mindless activities to keep a child occupied. Yet, despite the competition, my 8-year-old daughter Rebecca wants to spend her leisure time writing short stories. She wants to enter one of her stories into a writing contest, a competition she won last yes.

As a writer I know about winning contest, and about losing them. I know what it is like to work hard on a story only to receive a rejection slip from the publisher. I also know the pressures of trying to live up to a reputation created by previous victories. What if she doesn’t win the contest again？ That’s the strange thing about being a parent. So many of our own past scars and dashed hopes can surface.

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第2题

What did the author say about her own writing expe

In this age of Internet chat, videogames and reality television, there is no shortage of mindless activities to keep a child occupied. Yet, despite the competition, my 8-year-old daughter Rebecca wants to spend her leisure time writing short stories. She wants to enter one of her stories into a writing contest, a competition she won last yes.

As a writer I know about winning contest, and about losing them. I know what it is like to work hard on a story only to receive a rejection slip from the publisher. I also know the pressures of trying to live up to a reputation created by previous victories. What if she doesn’t win the contest again？ That’s the strange thing about being a parent. So many of our own past scars and dashed hopes can surface.

What did the author say about her own writing experience？

A) She did not quite live up to her reputation as a writer.

B) Her way to success was full of pains and frustrations.

C) She was constantly under pressure of writing more.

D) Most of her stories had been rejected by publishers.

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第3题

Why did Rebecca want to enter this year’s writing

In this age of Internet chat, videogames and reality television, there is no shortage of mindless activities to keep a child occupied. Yet, despite the competition, my 8-year-old daughter Rebecca wants to spend her leisure time writing short stories. She wants to enter one of her stories into a writing contest, a competition she won last yes.

As a writer I know about winning contest, and about losing them. I know what it is like to work hard on a story only to receive a rejection slip from the publisher. I also know the pressures of trying to live up to a reputation created by previous victories. What if she doesn’t win the contest again？ That’s the strange thing about being a parent. So many of our own past scars and dashed hopes can surface.

Why did Rebecca want to enter this year’s writing contest？

A) She believed she possessed real talent for writing.

B) She was sure of winning with her mother’s help.

C) She wanted to share her stories with readers.

D) She had won a prize in the previous contest.

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第4题

What do we learn from the first paragraph？

In this age of Internet chat, videogames and reality television, there is no shortage of mindless activities to keep a child occupied. Yet, despite the competition, my 8-year-old daughter Rebecca wants to spend her leisure time writing short stories. She wants to enter one of her stories into a writing contest, a competition she won last yes.

As a writer I know about winning contest, and about losing them. I know what it is like to work hard on a story only to receive a rejection slip from the publisher. I also know the pressures of trying to live up to a reputation created by previous victories. What if she doesn’t win the contest again？ That’s the strange thing about being a parent. So many of our own past scars and dashed hopes can surface.

What do we learn from the first paragraph？

A) Children do find lots of fun in many mindless activities.

B) Rebecca is much too occupied to enjoy her leisure time.

C) Rebecca draws on a lot of online materials for her writing.

D) A lot of distractions compete for children’s time nowadays.

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第5题

Many of the same proverbs appear throughout the world, because all people, regardless of

their culture, share common _______.

A、arts

B、languages

C、experiences

D、stories

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第6题

Passage OneShortly after the war, my brother and I were invited to spend a few days' holid

Passage One

Shortly after the war, my brother and I were invited to spend a few days' holiday with an uncle who had just returned from abroad. He rented a cottage in the country, although he rarely spent much time there. The cottage, however, had no comfortable furniture in it, many of the windows were broken and the roof leaked, making the whole house damp.

On our first evening, we sat around the fire after supper listening to the stories our uncle had had to tell of his many adventures in distant countries. I was so tired after the long train journey that I would have preferred to go to bed, but I could not bear to miss any of my uncle's exciting tales.

He was just in the middle of describing a rather terrifying experience he had, when there was a loud crash from the bedroom above, the one where my brother and I were going to sleep.

"It sounds as if the roof has fallen in!" shouted my uncle, with a loud laugh.

When we got to the top of the stairs and opened the bedroom door, a strange sight met our eyes. A large part of the ceiling had collapsed (坍塌), falling right on to the pillow of my bed. I was glad that I had stayed up late to listen to my uncle's stories, otherwise I should certainly have been seriously injured, perhaps killed.

That night we all slept on the floor of the sitting room downstairs not wishing to risk our lives by sleeping under a roof which might at any moment collapse on our heads. We left for London the very next morning and my uncle gave up his cottage in the country. This was not the kind of adventure he cared for, either!

What does the writer say about his uncle during the war？

A．He had a lot of adventures.

B．He fought as a soldier.

C．He made a lot of money.

D．He enjoyed many of his adventures.

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第7题

Legends about King Arthur have existed since the 6th century. Stories of the man and his d

oings have grown far beyond anything that could be regarded as factual history. Here are some of the highlights.

Arthur was born as a result of the wizardry of Merlin, who arranged all adulterous liaison between Arthur's father, King Uther Pendragon, and his lover, a married duchess. Merlin agreed to do this only if the lovers allowed him to bring up the child born of the affair. When Uther Pendragon died some years later, there was confusion in the kingdom about who should inherit the throne. Merlin arranged a pageant where many knights came to try their luck at pulling a sword out of a stone. Whoever successfully extracted the blade was the rightful king. After many a brave knight had tried and failed, Merlin presented the young Arthur who, to everyone's surprise, easily pulled out the sword.

As king, Arthur established the knightly fellowship of the Round Table at his castle of Camelot, so appear all the other chivalrous knights associated with the king. The knights of the Round Table spent much of their time on the quest for the Holy Grail. The Grail is the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, which was allegedly brought to Britain, then somehow lost. It is notoriously hard to get hold of, as finding it requires an almost superhuman degree of moral purity. At last it was the true gentleman Sir Galahad who eventually found it and set off to return it to its rightful place in the Holy Land.

Arthur's death is a matter of some debate. According to legend, one of Arthur's less intelligent moves was his decision to marry the Lady Guinevere, who fell in love with Sir Lancelot, and their adultery led to war among the knights of the Round Table, culminating in the Battle of Camlan and Arthur's mortal woound. After the Battle of Catalan the wounded king was taken to the mysterious isle of Avalon ruled by his sister Morgan Le Faye. She, being skilled in the arts of witchcraft and healing, was apparently meant to cure him. But evidently Arthur thought he had little chance, because he gave his sword, Excalibur, to Sir Bedivere to return to the Lady of the Lake, an enigmatic character from whom Arthur had originally received the blade. Bedivere hurled the sword over the water, where a spooky hand appeared from the lake to catch it, waved it around for a while and then carried it down to the murky depths where, who knows, perhaps it still lies. As for Arthur, we can only conclude that his sister wasn't such a good doctor.

The passage is mainly about ______ .

A．a brief history of King Arthur

B．the story of the Round Table Knights

C．a legendary life of King Arthur

D．the death of King Arthur

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第8题

Bad news for bankersThere was great uncertainty today about the future for employees of La

Bad news for bankers

There was great uncertainty today about the future for employees of Lancet Bank following publication of (29) ...company's yearly financial results. Losses reached ￡8.5m, (30) ... this year's financial figures the worst (31) ... almost 20 years. Lancet Bank, (32) .,. was founded over a century ago (33) ...Jamie McCIoud, currently employs more (34) ... 5,000 staff at 200 branches, mainly in Wales and the north of England. Many people believe stories that the bank is planning to close most of (35) ... branches in Wales. However, the bank has refused to comment on (36) ... rumours. Gary Tooley, a spokesman for Lancet, warned that (37) ... some redundancies would be unavoidable, he could give no further details (38) ... September at the earliest. Union officials are currently involved. (39) ... talks with management and are trying to find an acceptable solution for (40) ... parties.

(29)

A．the

B．a

C．any

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第9题

Sleep is a funny thing. We're taught that we should get seven or eight hours a night, but

a lot of us get by just fine on less, and some of us actually sleep too much. A study out of the University of Buffalo reported that people who routinely sleep more than eight hours a day and are still tired are nearly three times as likely to die of stroke--probably as a result of an underlying disorder that keeps them from sleeping soundly.

Doctors have their own special sleep problems. Residents are famously short of sleep. It is not unusual for. them to work 40 hours in a row without rest. They are not in the least worried about it, confident they can still deliver the highest quality of medical care. But an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association points out that in the morning after 24 hours of sleeplessness, a person' s motor performance is comparable to that of someone who is drunk. Curiously, surgeons who believe that operating under the influence of alcohol is grounds for sacking often don' t think twice about operating without enough sleep.

"I could tell you horror stories," says Jaya Agrawal, president of the American Medical Student Association, which runs a website for residents. Some are terrifying." I was operating after being up for over 36 hours," one writes. "I literally fell asleep standing up and nearly planted my face into the wound."

"Practically every surgical resident I know has fallen asleep at the wheel driving home from work," writes another. "I know of three who have hit parked cars. Another hit a 'Jersey gate' on the New Jersey Expressway, going 105kin/h."

"Your own patients have become the enemy," writes a third, because they are "the one thing that stands between you and a few hours of sleep."

The U.S. controls the hours of pilots and truck drivers. But until such a system is in place for doctors, patients are on their own. If you're worded about the people treating you or a loved one, you should feel free to ask how many hours of sleep they have had and if more rested staffers are available.

Sleep is a funny thing because ______.

A．the longer one sleeps, the less sound sleep he gets

B．the more sleep one gets, the more likely a stroke occurs

C．many people stick to about eight hours of sleep to stay fine

D．many people who sleep six hours a night still feel energetic in the day

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第10题

听力原文：Ask the average American,"What is freedom？"You will probably hear,"It's being abl

听力原文： Ask the average American,"What is freedom？"You will probably hear,"It's being able to do what I want to do." When Americans think of freedom, they often think of individualism.They see themselves more as individuals than as members of a family or social group.

In American culture.freedom means equality.The Declaration of Independence states that"all men are created equal."That does not mean equal in abilities or status.For Americans,equality refers to equal worth and equal opportunity. Every individual should have an equal chance to improve his life.True,America has not always lived up to that ideal.For many years,Native Americans,African Americans and immigrants have protested their unequal treatment. But American culture still teaches that people can work hard and fulfill their dreams.Whether this idea is true or not,people hear rags-to-riches stories often enough to confirm it in the minds of many people.

Freedom arouses strong feelings for Americans.The idea of liberty binds people together in this"land of the free." However,problems still exist.One individual's freedom can conflict with the rights of others. Someone once said,"You have the freedom to swing your fist around if you want.But your freedom ends where my nose begins."People can also become too concerned about their own rights.They might demand special treatment.However,the path to freedom is not completely smooth.Even so,for Americans,no other road is really worth traveling.

What do Americans often think of when thinking of freedom？

A．Collectivism.

B．Equality.

C．Social group.

D．Individualism.

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第11题

Shortly after the war, my brother and I were invited to spend a few days with an uncle

who had just returned from abroad. He had rented a cottage in the country, although he rarely spent much time there. We understood the reason for this after our arrival: the cottage had no comfortable furniture in it, many of the windows were broken and the roof leaked, making the whole house damp. On our first evening, we sat around the fire after supper listening to the stories which our uncle had to tell of his many adventures in distant countries. I was so tired after the long train journey that I would have preferred to go to bed; but I could not bear to miss any of my uncle’s exciting tales. He was just in the middle of describing a rather terrifying experience he had once had when there was a loud crash from the bedroom above, the one where my brother and I were going to sleep. “It sounds as if the roof has fallen in!” exclaimed my uncle, with a loud laugh. When we got to the top of the stairs and opened the bedroom door, we could see nothing at first because of the thick clouds of dust which filled the room. When the dust began to clear, a strange sight met our eyes. A large part of the ceiling had collapsed, falling right on to the pillow of my bed. I was glad that I had stayed up late to listen to my uncle’s stories, otherwise I should certainly have been seriously injured, perhaps killed. That night we all slept on the floor to the sitting room downstairs, not wishing to risk our lives by sleeping under a roof which might at any moment collapse on our heads. We left for London the very next morning and my uncle gave up his cottage in the country. This was not the kind of adventure he cared for either!

1.The uncle seldom spent much time in the country cottage because ______.

A.the roof of the cottage was falling

B.the cottage was in a bad condition

C.he was used to living abroad

D.there was no furniture in it

2.The word “crash” (Line 2, Paragraph 3) most probably refers to ______.

A.a cry of terror

B.a sudden ring

C.a sound of storm

D.a sudden noise

3.When they opened the bedroom door, they could see nothing at first because ______.

A.it was completely dark inside

B.dust was blown into their eyes

C.something strange blinded them

D.there was too much dust in the air

4.The narrator felt glad that he had stayed up late because ______.

A.he did not miss the exciting stories

B.he spent more time with his uncle

C.he had a lucky escape

D.he saw a strange sight

5.Which of the following can best describe the narrator’s uncle？()

A.Adventurous and good at storytelling

B.Humorous and good at making jokes

C.Good-tempered and sensible

D.Hospitable and wealthy

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