为了缓解交通压力，减少废气排放，保护环境，9月22日我国108个城市参加了“无车日”活动。你们学校要举行以“Is ‘No Cars Day’ worthwhile?”为题的讨论会。请你就此用英语写一篇120—150词的短文，发表自己的看法。

    Money spent on advertising is money spent as well as any I know of. It serves directly to assist a rapid distribution of goods at reasonable prices, thereby establishing a firm home market and so making it possible to provide for export at competitive prices. By drawing attention to new idea it helps enormously to raise standards of living. By helping to increase demand it ensures an increased need for labor, and is therefore an effective way to fight unemployment. It lowers the costs of many services.              your daily newspaper would cost four times as much, the price of your television license would need to be doubled, and travel by bus or tube would cost 20 percent more.

And perhaps most important of all, advertising provides a guarantee of reasonable value in the products and services you buy. Apart from the fact that twenty – seven Acts of Parliament govern the terms of advertising, no regular advertiser dare promote a product that fails to live up to the promise of his advertisements. He might fool some people for a little while through misleading advertising. He will not do so for long, for mercifully the public has the good sense not to buy the article bad in quality more than once. If you see an article consistently advertised, it is the surest proof I know that the article does what is claimed for it, and that it represents good value.

1．What is the main idea of the passage? (Please answer within 10 words.)

2．Which sentence in the passage can be replaced by the following one?

    All the honest advertisers will stick to what they have promised in their advertisements.

3．Please fill in the blank in the first paragraph with proper words or phrases to complete the sentence. (Please answer within 5 words.)

4．Do you think advertising necessary or not? Why? (Please answer within 30 words.)

5．Translate the underlined sentence in the second paragraph into Chinese.

    A few years ago a young mother watched her husband diaper (给…换尿布) their firstborn son. “You do not have to be unhappy about it,” she protested. “You can talk to him and smile a little.” The father, who happened to be a psychologist, answered firmly, “He has nothing to say to me, and I have nothing to say to him.”

    Psychologist now know how wrong that father was. From the moment of birth, a baby has a great deal to say to his parent and they to him. But a decade or so ago, these experts were describing the newborn as a primitive creature who reacted only by reflex, a helpless victim of its environment without capacity to influence it. And mothers accepted the truth. Most thought (and some still do) that a new infant could see only unclear shadows, that his other senses were undeveloped, and that all he required was nourishment, clean diapers, and a warm baby bed.

Today university laboratories across the country are studying newborns in their first month of life. As a result, psychologists now describe the new baby as perceptive (有感知的) , with remarkable learning abilities and an even more remarkable capacity to shape his or her environment including the attitudes and actions of his parents. Some researchers believe that the neonatal (新生) period may even be the most significant four weeks in an entire lifetime.

    Far from being helpless, the newborn knows what he likes and rejects what he doesn’t. He shuts out unpleasant sensations by closing his eyes or looking away. He is a glutton for novelty. He prefers animate things over inanimate and likes people more than anything.

When a more nine minutes out, an infant prefers a human face to a head-shaped outline. He makes the choice despite the fact that, with delivery room attendants masked and gowned, he has never seen a human face before. By the time he’s twelve hours old, his entire body moves in precise synchrony (同时发生) to the sound of a human voice, as if he were dancing. A non-human sound, such as a tapping noise, brings no such response.

1．The author points out that the father diapering his first-born son was wrong because________.

       A．he thought the baby was not capable of any response.

       B．he thought the baby didn’t have the power of speech

       C．he was a psychologist unworthy of his profession

       D．he believed the baby was not able to hear him

2．According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

       A．A new infant can see only unclear shadows.

       B．A new infant’s senses are undeveloped

       C．All a new infant requires is nourishment, clean diapers, and a warm baby bed.

       D．A new infant is actually able to influence his or her environment.

3．What does the sentence “He is a glutton for novelty” probably mean?

       A．The newborn is greedy for new food.

       B．The newborn tends to overeat.

       C．The newborn always loves things that are new to him.

       D．The newborn’s desire is a constant topic in novels.

4．According to the passage, it’s unreasonable to think that newborns prefer          .

       A．a human face to a head – shaped outline

       B．animate things to inanimate ones

       C．nourishment to a warm baby bed

       D．human voice to non – human sounds

5．What is the passage mainly discussing about?

       A．What people know about newborns.

       B．How wrong parents are when they handle their babies.

       C．How much newborns have progressed in about a decade’s time.

       D．Why the first month of life is the most significant four weeks in a lifetime.

    In Western countries people have been using the installment plan since the first half of the twentieth century. Today, a large number of families in Great Britain buy furniture, household goods and cars by installments. In the U.S.A., the figure is much higher than in Great Britain, and people there spend over 10 percent of their income on the installment plan.

The price of an article bought on installments is always higher than the price that would be paid by cash. There is a charge for interest. The buyer pays one quarter or one third of the price as a down payment when the goods are delivered to him. He then makes regular payments, weekly or monthly, until the full price is paid up. The legal ownership of the goods remains with the seller until the final payment has been made.

Installment buying has advantages and disadvantages. It can help couples with small incomes to furnish their homes and start housekeeping. It increases the demand for goods, and in this way helps business and employment. There is, however, the danger that when business is bad, installment buying may end suddenly, making business much worse. This may result in a great increase in unemployment. If the people on the installment plan lose their jobs, they will probably not be able to make their payments. If great numbers of people are not able to pay their installment debts, there is a possibility that businessmen cannot collect their debts and will therefore lose money. If businessmen lose money or fail to make a satisfactory profit, it becomes more likely to have a depression. This is why, in some countries, the government controls the installment plan by fixing the amount of the down payment and installments to discourage people from buying more than they can pay for on the installment plan

1．Which of the following is NOT TRUE about the installment plan?

       A．A lot of British families use the installment plan.

       B．More than 10 percent American families buy things on installments.

       C．Americans depend more on installment than British people do.

       D．Americans spend one tenth of their income on installment buying.

2．Goods bought on installments are more expensive than goods bought by cash because       .

       A．the buyer has to pay extra money as interest

       B．the delivery of the goods charges extra money

       C．the buyer has to pay a down payment

       D．the service offered by installment plan charged extra money

3．What will happen to a buyer if he fails to make the full payment for an item bought on installments?

       A．He might lost his job.

       B．He will stop owning the item he has bought.

       C．He will have to sell what he has bought.

       D．He will go into debt.

4．The advantage of installment buying might include all the following EXCEPT that          .

       A．purchasing power is strengthened.

       B．employment might be increased

       C．people develop a good habit of saving money

       D．young couples are able to furnish their homes

5．In some countries, the governments control the installment plan to            .

       A．increase employment

       B．avoid depressions

       C．ensure that businesses make good profits

       D．ensure that people can pay for what they buy

Nuclear power’s danger to health, safety, and even life itself can be summed up in one word: radiation.

Nuclear radiation has a certain mystery about it, partly because it cannot be detected by human senses. It can’t be seen or heard, or touched or tasted, even though it may be all around us. There are other things like that. For example, radio waves are all around us but we can’t detect them, sense them, without a radio receiver. Similarly, we can’t sense radioactivity without a radiation detector. But unlike common radio waves, nuclear radiation is not harmless to human beings and other living things.

At very high levels, radiation can kill an animal or human being outright (全部地) by killing masses of cells in vital organs. But even the lowest level of radiation can do serious damage. There is no level of radiation that is completely safe. If the radiation does not hit anything important, the damage may not be significant. This is the case when only a few cells are hit, and if they are killed outright, your body will replace the dead cells with healthy ones. But if the few cells are only damaged, and if they reproduce themselves, you may be in trouble. They reproduce themselves in a deformed way. They can grow into cancer. Sometimes this does not show up for many years.

This is another reason for some of the mystery about nuclear radiation. Serious damage can be done without the victim being aware at the time that damage has occurred. A person can be irradiated and feel fine, then die of cancer five, ten, or twenty years later as a result. Or a child can be born weak or liable (易于) to serious illness as result of radiation absorbed by its grandparents.

Radiation can hurt us. We must know the truth.

1．According to the author, the danger of nuclear power lies in          .

       A．nuclear mystery                                   B．radiation detection

       C．nuclear radiation                                  D．radiation level

2．Radiation can hurt us in that it can         .

       A．affect the healthy growth of our children.

       B．damage cells which grow into cancer years later

       C．kill large numbers of cells in main organs so as to cause death immediately.

       D．all of the above.

3．The word “deformed” in paragraph 3 has the similar meaning with           .

      A．unnatural             B．normal                C．usual                   D．proper

4．What can we infer from the passage?

       A．We can’t detect radioactivity even with modern equipment.

       B．Only radiation at very high levels can kill an animal or human being.

       C．If a few cells are only damaged healthy cells will take the place of dead ones

       D．Radiation is harmful no matter what level it is.

5．What’s the author’s main purpose in writing this passage?

       A．Discussing the cause of cancer.

       B．Solving the mystery about radiation.

       C．Emphasizing the importance of protection of radiation.

       D．Introducing the nuclear power.

Even though she’s just 5 years old, Cindy Smart speaks five languages. She’s a good reader. She can tell time and do simple math, including multiplication (乘法) and division. Cindy looks like an average doll, with long, blond hair, baby – blue eyes, and a button nose.

But loaded with some devices, Cindy is the first doll that can see, think, and do as she’s told. The eagle – eyed Cindy follows in the path of other breakthrough toys like Sony’s barking Robot Aibo, which was the first to popularize voice command in the late 1990s. Cindy takes Aibo’s innovations (创新) one step beyond: she not only follows instructions but also recognizes shapes, colors and words, and remembers. The effect is a doll that appears to be learning.

The toy company which produced Cindy Smart spent a decade trying to see how much human nature it could breathe into an inanimate (无生命的) object. Its engineers began creating minibots that sense light, sounds, and pressure. However, without the sense of sight, their toys seemed to be lacking in one of the abilities that life – forms use to react to their environments.

So how do the engineers make a doll actually see? In Cindy’s case, it’s a multistep process. When presented a text like “I love you” and asked “Can you read this?” Cindy identifies it as one of 70 preprogrammed commands. Then the inbuilt digital camera scans a 15 – degree radius (半径) in search of number – or letter – shaped objects. Buried in her stomach, Cindy’s 16 – bit microprocessor compares the text with her database of 700 words. If it’s a match, “I love you,” she says.

1．This passage most likely appears in a         .

      A．medical report      B．classified ad         C．science journal        D．music magazine

2．According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE about Robot Aibo?

       A．It could recognize shapes and colors.

       B．It could respond to spoken commands.

       C．It came onto the market no later than 1990.

       D．It was created much later that Cindy Smart.

3．The underlined “it” in the third paragraph most likely refers to          .

       A．the process          B．the object            C．the doll                D．the company

4．According to the passage, how can Cindy “see”?

      A．She recognizes any text as “I love you”.

       B．She is equipped with a camera to search for text.

       C．She is instructed by an engineer standing next to her.

       D．She makes contact with the shapes of the text with her stomach.

5．What can we infer from this passage?

       A．Cindy can learn exactly like a human.

       B．Cindy has much more human nature than Aibo.

       C．Cindy is the first doll that can see, think, and do as she’s told.

       D．Cindy has no ability to react to her environment.

Transforming Obstacles into Benefits

A group of frogs was traveling through the woods and two of them fell into a deep pit. Immediately, all the other frogs in the group   1   the pit and watched as the   2   frogs tried to jump out. The pit was very   3   , so the frogs on top started yelling at the two frogs in the pit to give up.  4   the trapped frogs kept trying, the crowd yelled louder, “Give up. You’re   5   dead.” After a while, one of the exhausted frogs took heed to what the others were saying, and fell down and died.

But   6  , the second frog kept jumping as hard as she could despite the   7   remarks. Finally, with one brave leap, she   8   it out of the pit!

This amazing   9   occurred because the second frog was   10   and unable to hear what the others had been saying. She thought they had been   11   her on the entire time they were yelling! What she had   12   perceived (理解) as encouragement inspired her to try harder and succeed against all odds. And that made all the   13  !

With a   14   mindset, and being deaf to other’s opinions, the second frog made use of such negativity to overcome   15   and reach her goals by using it as encouragement.  16  , when we get round others’ criticism, or laughter, we can do   17   we set our minds to, just as the second frog did. But, if we are not deaf like this frog, who could not be   18   by others due to a physical condition, we need the   19   to guide us to the proper way, so as not to be blindly   20   by worldly opinion.

1．A．gathered around     B．got round            C．jumped into         D．escaped from

2．A．unconscious          B．tiresome              C．awkward             D．imprisoned

3．A．dangerous             B．shallow               C．deep                   D．secure

4．A．Before                  B．When                  C．Because              D．Although

5．A．as long as              B．as well as            C．as soon as           D．as good as

7．A．innocent                B．active                  C．negative              D．inspiring

8．A．made                    B．reached               C．got                     D．kept

9．A．response               B．adjustment           C．reflection             D．result

10．A．deaf                    B．disabled               C．stubborn             D．confident

11．A．flattering              B．teasing                C．congratulating      D．cheering

12．A．entirely                B．accurately            C．mistakenly           D．constantly

13．A．success               B．difference            C．conclusion           D．consequence

14．A．positive               B．desperate             C．ridiculous            D．passive

15．A．loneliness            B．tension                C．obstacles             D．fear

16．A．Besides               B．However             C．Thus                   D．Eventually

17．A．something           B．anything              C．nothing               D．everything

18．A．informed             B．convinced            C．persuaded            D．influenced

19．A．support               B．wisdom               C．environment        D．consensus

20．A．guided               B．pitied                   C．suspected          D．opposed

Mrs. Jones didn’t          during the flood, but she was very frightened.

A．give away        B．give out    C．give way   D．give off

A healthy life is frequently thought to be          with the open countryside and homegrown food.

A．associated        B．bound       C．related      D．tied

--- Wake up, Tom. Time to rise.

--- I         asleep while I was reading.

A．should have fallen        B．must have fallen       C．could fall             D．must fall

Get involved in sports or other activities you enjoy          you can meet people who like what you like.

A．what        B．when        C．that        D．where

       in a well – known university is what everybody wishes for.

A．Educated         B．Being educated        C．To educate       D．Educating

Why did you take a taxi         you could come here by bus?

A．while        B．unless              C．when        D．until

--- Can I ask you a favour?

---            .

A．Sure, go ahead.       B．It’s my pleasure.      C．I’ve no time.    D．What is it?

David arrived at the meeting          at ten o’clock, as it was scheduled, not a minute early or late.

A．flexibly     B．temporarily       C．approximately   D．punctually

I would have gone fishing yesterday, but it         all day.

A．had been raining      B．was raining      C．should rain       D．has rained

His grandfather was among the first to settle in         is now a famous holiday center.

A．what        B．which       C．where       D．that

--- How is she getting along with her workmates?

--- Quite well. She is very         to other people’s feelings.

A．active       B．simple       C．sensible    D．sensitive

Millions of people gave freely        the starving people’s appeal.

A．in charge of     B．in case of         C．in response to   D．in favor of

The government is trying to do something to         better understanding between the two countries.

A．raise         B．promote           C．appeal              D．arise

Our psychology professor is a man of Italian          .

A．birth         B．source      C．origin       D．kind

Sit on the edge of        bed        minute before putting your feet on the floor.

A．/; a           B．the; the            C．/; the        D．the; a