I've refused to allow my step son Jim to go to university because it will be too expensive and a waste
of time. People think I'm selfish or not kind-hearted. But I don't feel sorry for that, and I think more parents
will be coming around to my way of thinking. Britain's universities are failing to serve either the country or
our children. It's about time we voted (投票) with our feet.
        I can't remember when I began to change my mind on education. Like a lot of middle-class parents,
we had believed that going to university was what your children did. It's one of the reasons (理由) we offered
more than $ 100,000 in fees (學(xué)費) for Jim to go to a private (私立) school rather than a free public one.
Education is more important than nice cars, new kitchens or skiing holidays.
        Jim is a young boy of whom any parent would be proud. He's clever and helpful; he's good at things like
hanging pictures and mending doors; he can get on well with other kids. But he's shown little interest in study.
        It's not Jim's intellect (智力) that's the problem-after he entered the school he was asked to sit an exam
but an in-built reluctance (勉強(qiáng)) to do any more work than necessary to get by. We've tried everything to make
him work harder. None of it has worked. For his final exams, Jim got a D and two Es. Even allowing for our
low expectations (期望), this came as a surprise to his mother and me.
         "Surely," I said to one of Jim's teachers, "the only subject Jim would get on with such poor grades would
be the kind of subject that wouldn't be worth doing anyway."
         "Not at all," the teacher answered, as if speaking to a dinosaur. He read out the names of a lot of univer-
sities I'd never heard of, saying they'd all be fit for Jim. 
         It was at this point I realized how far away I was from today's education. I knew that, since I was at
school in the early 1980s-when a student with such poor grades as Jim's would not have been allowed to go to
any university-the population in the UK going on to higher education has gone up from 14% to a surprising 44%.

1. The reason the writer won't let Jim go to university is that _________.

A. the family is too poor to send Jim there
B. there are few universities in the UK
C. Jim won't be allowed to go to university
D. it's a waste of time and money to do so

2. What's Jim's main problem?

3. What is the teacher's idea in the passage?

A. He thinks the writer should encourage Jim to go to university.
B. He is sure most universities will certainly refuse to take Jim.
C. He is sure Jim's father is too old to understand today's education.
D. He thinks education in the UK has changed a lot in the past years.

4. From the passage we can infer（推論）_________.

A. some people can't follow the steps of the country
B. many young people don't go to university in the UK
C. parents are usually strongly against higher education
D. education in the UK is becoming worse and worse

       The first person who'd sent emails was an American friend who was in a big company. Some years ago,
when this method of communication first came into business life, his company in New York and its satellites
across the earth were among the first to get it.
        One evening in New York, the American friend was late for a drink we'd arranged (安排). "Sorry," he
said, "I've been away and had to deal with 998 emails." "Wow," I said, "I'm really surprised you made it before
midnight." "It doesn't really take that long," he explained, "if you simply delete (刪除) them all."
        The friend had developed his own way on dealing with emails before most of us heard of emails. If any
information he got was very important, his no reply would make the sender ring him up. If the sender wasn't
important enough to have his phone number, the communication couldn't be important enough.
        Almost every week now, we have to spend lots of time in dealing with emails. But if this happens, it's only
because we haven't developed the same thing in dealing with emails as we do with post. Have you ever regarded
an important letter as a piece of advertisement and thrown it out? Of course you haven't. Junk (垃圾) email
looks unnecessary to read. But I cannot understand why so many people would like to open emails which come
from this kind of address such as SPECIALOFFER@junk.com.
         Dealing with emails is an art. Firstly, you delete anything from any address you don't know. Secondly, not
all the emails have to be answered. Thirdly, a reply email doesn't have to be the same length as the original (原始
的).

1. Why was the friend late for the drink that evening?

A. Because he had a lot of work to do.
B. Because he had to deal with quite a lot of emails.
C. Because he had to finish his work before midnight.
D. Because he had to delete quite a lot of emails.

2. What is the American friend's opinion on e-mails?

3. Which of the statement is true according to the writer?

A. All the emails should be answered.
B. A reply email should be the same length as the original.
C. To find an important letter among the advertisements is easier than to find an important e-mail among the 
    junk emails.
D. Most of people would hardly open the emails from the address they don't know.

4. The best title for the passage is "_______________".

A. Emails
B. An American friend invented emails
C. Emails changed our life
D. How to deal with emails

        Mr. Brown lived in a house less than two miles from his office, so he was able to drive home every day for
lunch. Every time he drove home at noon, he found many cars were parked outside his house and there was no
room for his own car. He had to drive somewhere else to park his car. Then he had to walk back home. This
made him very angry.
        He had put up a board, which said, "No parking in the garden facing the road,"but nobody noticed it. People seemed to obey (遵守) only a police notice with white letters on a blue board: 
                                              
        Mrs. Brown suggested (建議)that he should steal a police notice. He was afraid to do so. She then
suggested that he should make one just like a police notice. He said he was not the police and couldn't use the
word "police". Several days later, Mr. Brown made a blue board with white letters: 
                                              
       "Oh,"Mrs. Brown said, "You told me you weren't going to use the word "police", but why do you use it
now?" "Really?"he asked, looked at it again.
        She started to laugh, "You are really clever."

1. Mr. Brown's office was ___________ his house.

A. next to
B. not so far from
C. 2 hours' drive from
D. 5 miles from

2. Mr. Brown made _____________ notice board (s) altogether.

3. Mr. Brown made a notice board which ___________ in the end.

A. was just the same as a police notice
B. was different in colour from a police notice
C. just looked like a police notice
D. said "POLICE NOTICE, NO PARKING"

4. We can infer（推斷）that __________ after he put up the blue board.

A. more people will park their cars outside his house
B. more policemen will come to park their cars at noon
C. fewer people will park their cars outside his house
D. fewer people will visit him at noon later on

       A London family were enjoying an unusual holiday in Iceland (冰島) last month when things went
very wrong. Anne and Ben Harding and their two children, Claire, 13, and Sam, 11,    1    died in
freezing water.
       The accident happened while the Harding family were    2    a glacier (冰河) in a popular Icelandic
beautiful place.    3     were walking along the edge of the ice when suddenly they fell     4    the ice into
the freezing water. His father Ben heard a cry for help and ran towards     5   . "I found my wife and
children in the ice water. And then my wife Anne just     6    below the surface (表面). It was terrible."
       Ben     7    his children from the water, but when he went to save his wife, he fell in, too, as he was
trying to     8    in the ice.    9   , when he was in the water, he went all out to catch hold of Anne and
pulled her   10   out of water. "Her face was blue.   11   was really frightening (恐怖的)".
      Anne spent three days in hospital there before the family   12   . And what are their plans for their
next holiday?

                                                        Waiting for Dr. Dirkson  
                                                                    (A play)
THE SCENE: A classroom in a high school.
        (場景) Summer is over. This is the first day of school. The students arrive one by one or in small
                   groups. Everyone stops to read the sign on the door. It says: 
                   PHYSICS 1, DR.F. DIRKSON.
THE CHARACTERS: Five students (Linda, Ben, Rudy, Tony, Molly) and Dr. Dirkson. 
        (人物)
Linda: Dirkson? Dirkson? I don't know that name. Who is he?
Rudy: Don't ask me. He must be a new teacher. I don't remember him teaching in this school last year.
         Do you, Ben?
Ben: No, but here comes Tony. If anyone can tell you about Dr. What's-His-Name, Tony can. He knows
        everything.
Tony: (laughs.) I don't know everything. I only know almost everything. What is your question, please?
Molly: What do you know about this new teacher?
Tony: I don't really know much about Dr. Dirkson. I do hear things, though. I hear lots of things.
Rudy: What do you hear? Is he a good teacher? I'm hoping to go to college. This class is important to me.
Tony: I have a friend who goes to Central High School. I'm almost sure that's where Dr. Dirkson comes 
         from. If it's the same teacher, he is rough. Believe me, he is rough and tough.
Linda: What do you mean 'rough and tough'? I plan to go to college, too. I have to do well in this class.
Tony: What I hear is that Dirkson's exams are very hard. He usually fails about half the class. All the girls.
Linda: (angry) That can't be true. You're making it up, Tony.
Molly: He's just talking like that to make us angry, Linda. Tony, What does Dr. Dirkson look like? Is he
          married?
Tony: I don't think so. But don't get excited, Molly. He isn't going to interest you. He's about seventy-seven
          years old and he uses a walking stick.
Molly: (she is angry) Tony, why do you say that this teacher fails all the girls? Do you think physics is too
          hard for girls? Do you think we can't do it?
Tony: All I'm saying, Molly, is that girls don't make it in Dr. Dirkson's class. Physics is very difficult. It's
          not like art or music or history. It's a science. How many famous women scientists are there? Hardly
          any. You can count them on the fingers of one hand.
Ben: That's not fair(公平), Tony. There are many women who are doctors and engineers and scientists. And
        there are more of them all the time.
Rudy: That's right, Tony. I agree with Ben. Girls can do anything we can do.
Tony: I don't care what anybody says. I'm telling you the truth, Molly. I'm not saying that girls are not
          intelligent (有智力的). They just don't have the right kind of intelligence to understand physics.
          Dr. Dirskson must know that. Take my advice (忠告) and get out of his class before he walks in.
          (A very pretty young woman hurries into the classroom.)
Dr. Dirkson: Good morning. I'm sorry I'm late. I am Dr. Dirkson. 
         (The whole class starts to laugh. Everyone laughs hard. Everyone except Tony.)

A. Tony is able to know about anyone that he doesn't know his name
B. nobody knows more than Tony about a man called What's-His-Name
C. only Tony can know what the man's name is instead of anyone
D. no one can remember people's names as many as Tony can

2. What kind of a boy is Tony? He is the boy that _______.

A. has an unusual memory
B. believes in himself
C. takes pity on the girls
D. likes making up stories

3. Which statement is right?

A. The boys are all for Tony's idea.
B. The girls like to have a man teacher.
C. Dr. Dirkson is rough and tough.
D. Tony has to face the fact.

       "Climbing Mount Qomolangma is a kind of discovery," said a reporter of CCTV. He was sent to join the
climbing team for broadcasting? (播放) this TV program. The climbers climbed Mount Qomolangma from
May 18 to 24. CCTV also sent a team to join in this most dangerous and exciting sport. They called it "Standing
at the World's Third Pole (極) in 2003".
        It is just 50 years since the first climbers got to the top of Mount Qomolangma. In 2003, nearly 600 people
from all over the world tried to reach the highest mountain in the world.
        As we know, Mount Qomolangma is famous for its height 8,848 metres in the world, so it has attracted
thousands of people to climb. On May 25th, 1953, Edmund Hillary from New Zealand, and Tenzing Norgay
from Nepal finally reached the top of Mount Qomolangma. This most dangerous sport in the world brings the
greatest challenge and the most exciting and happiest moment to human beings because the climbers have to
face the terrible cold and avalanches (雪崩), and some other difficulties. The higher they climb, the more
difficulties they will meet. On the way to the top they may lose their lives at any time. It is reported that 175
climbers had to live there for ever. During the past 50 years, more than 10,000 men and women tried to get to
the top, but only 1,200 have made their dreams come true. We Chinese climbers first showed our national flag
to the world on the top of the mountain in 1960.
        Once someone asked why the pioneers never stopped trying to reach the top. "I don't think climbing the
highest mountain only means danger or death. It is really a chance to challenge. You can really understand the
love of nature and the true meaning of life," a reporter of CCTV answered.
1. How many people succeeded in (成功) climbing up to the top of the mountain?
_________________________________________________________________________
2. What may the climbers meet when they climb Mount Qomolangrna?
_________________________________________________________________________
3. When did the Chinese climbing team first stand on the top of Mount Qomolangma?
_________________________________________________________________________
 4. What does the sentence "It is reported that 175 climbers had to live there forever" mean?
_________________________________________________________________________
5. What can we learn from the climbers?
_________________________________________________________________________