Christmas Eve was tomorrow. I hoped one of the packages that held a camera had already been placed under the Christmas tree. It was the only thing I wanted. I had been dropping hints to my parents. I love taking photos. My bedroom walls are covered with photos I had taken with my mom’s old camera. I’m always trying to capture (捕捉) those perfect moments in which you can hear the laughter or touch the beautiful scene, but my camera has always seemed to fall short.

    I knew Mom had put a few presents under the tree this morning, so I went on a hunt in my mom’s room. I opened the door and found my Christmas present was lying unwrapped on the floor — a big pink cat. I felt so disappointed.

    Mom seemed to notice that, and she tried to cheer me up. “Stacy, I got your present today. I am so excited to surprise you!” “I can’t wait,” I said. The next day I couldn’t wait any longer. I needed to tell her.

     “Mom, may I talk to you for a second?”

    “Sure, dear. What do you need to talk about?” she asked.

    And so it came — how upset I was that I was getting a cat.

    “Stacy, that cat is for your sister Julia!” she said with a smile.

    “Then what am I getting?” I asked.

    She just smiled. “You’ll have to wait and see.”

    The next morning, I happily got into the living room and sat next to the tree. I pulled out the box with my name on it and opened the wrapping paper to find ...

      My camera! “Thank you!” I said to both Dad and Mom.

     Dad picked up the camera and took a picture of Julia, Mom and me. It has become one of my favorite pictures. Just on that Christmas morning, I took lots of photos with my camera — my little sister making a face, my parents giving me a soft smile — and all of these photos have come to mean one thing to me: love.

1. The underlined phrase “dropping hints” in Paragraph 1 means _____.

      A. talking often                                   B. suggesting indirectly

      C. sending presents                                D. taking pictures

2. Why did Stacy feel disappointed at first?

      A. Her mother couldn’t understand her at all.

      B. Her mother didn’t buy her any Christmas gift.

      C. She didn’t find her present in her mom’s room.

      D. She mistook her sister’s Christmas gift for hers.

3. We can infer from the passage that _____.

      A. her mother bought Stacy a camera after discovering her disappointment

      B. Stacy finally got her gift on Christmas Eve

      C. Stacy thought it’s OK to have an old camera

      D. her mother knew what gift Stacy wanted for Christmas

4. What would be the best title for the passage?

      A. A Christmas gift as wished.                       B. Love is more important than gifts.

      C. A wonderful Christmas.                           D. Love can not be bought.

    Every person needs water and a diet of healthy foods. These foods should ____21___ some fat, some fiber, a little salt and so on.

     People need energy __22__ . They eat different kinds of food which change into energy. The energy is___23__ in calories. Even when you __24__, you are using energy - about 65 calories an hour. __25__you are at school, or walking home, your body is burning up 100 calories an hour. When playing football or basketball, you __26__be using 400 calories an hour. ____27____ Sports Day, during the relay race, you will use most of all, __28__as much as 650 calories an hour.

     The Chinese diet is considered to be the healthiest in the world. It contains a lot of fruit and green vegetables. It is __29__in fiber and low in sugar and fat. The Chinese eat ___30___ sugar than many other countries in the world. That is __31__lots of people in China have healthy white teeth.

     People in the Western world do not eat such healthy foods. They eat __32__fat and sugar and don’t take enough __33__. Because of this, they __34__weight very easily. Their diet contains a lot of fat in the __35__of potato crisps, potato chips, butter, cream and chocolate. They eat a lot of sugar ___36___ exists in cakes, soft drinks,__37__and so on.

     The result is that many of them become fat.__38__ some have bad teeth. In some parts of Britain, one person in ten, __39__the age of thirty, has had no teeth ___40___.

21. A. include            B. contain        C. keep                 D. gain

22. A. for life          B. to live          C. to live in                  D. for a living

23. A. measuring          B. taken                C. measured                 D. measure

24. A. are asleep           B. fall asleep          C. go to sleep                      D. go to bed

25. A. While             B. During              C. Although                  D. If

26. A. must             B. can’t               C. need                       D. might

27. A. At                       B. On                    C. In                            D. With

28. A. surely             B. usually            C. perhaps                  D. hardly

29. A. rich               B. poor                 C. good                       D. bad 

30. A. more                  B. larger                C. less                          D. smaller

31. A. how                    B. why                  C. what                      D. that

32. A. much too                 B. many too           C. too many                 D. too much

33. A. exercises           B. food                 C. work                      D. exercise

34. A. put on             B. gain on             C. get on                     D. put up

35. A. type                     B. form                C. kind                        D. sort

36. A. what                   B. which               C. as                            D. whose

37. A. sweets                   B. sweet                      C. candy bar                 D. sweet thing

38. A. But             B. Or                    C. And                         D. So

39. A. at                  B. for                  C. with                              D. by     

40. A. left                            B. leave                 C. leaving                     D. to leave 

    What are you feeling right now as you start to read this? Are you curious? Hoping that you’ll learn something about yourself? Bored because this is something you have to do for school and you’re not really into it — or happy because it’s a school project you enjoy? Perhaps you’re attracted by something else, like feeling excited about your weekend plans or sad because you just went through a breakup.

    Emotions like these are part of human nature. They give us information about what we’re experiencing and help us know how to react. We sense our emotions from the time we’re babies. Young children react to their emotions with facial expressions or with actions like laughing or crying. They feel and show emotions, but they don’t yet have the ability to name the emotion or say why they feel that way.

    As we grow up, we become more skilled in understanding emotions. Instead of just reacting like little kids do, we can identify（定义） what we feel and put it into words. With time and practice, we get better at knowing what we are feeling and why. This skill is called emotional awareness.

    Emotional awareness helps us know what we need and want, or don’t want! It helps us build better relationships. That’s because being aware of our emotions can help us talk about feelings more clearly, avoid or settle conflicts（冲突） better, and move past difficult feelings more easily.

    Some people are naturally more in touch with their emotions than others. The good news is that everyone can be more aware of their emotions. It just takes practice. But it’s worth the effort.

    Emotional awareness is the first step toward building emotional intelligence, a skill that can help people succeed in life.

5.  How do young children react to emotions?

      A. With laughter and shouts.

      B. With signs and expressions.

      C. With facial expressions and actions.

      D. With gestures of different kinds.

6.  From the passage we know that emotional awareness actually _________.

      A. enables us to live in society more easily

      B. lets people understand others better

      C. brings about conflicts between people

      D. smooths away difficulties in our life

7. Where is the passage probably taken from?

      A. A science fiction.                                  B. An advertisement.

      C. A science magazine.                               D. A television show.

    English is fast becoming the language of science around the world, but what is its future among everyday speakers? One expert points out that the percentage(比率) of native English speakers is declining(降低) while the languages of other rapidly growing regions are being spoken by increasing numbers of people. But English will continue to remain widespread and important.

    However, British language scholar David Graddol says English will probably drop in dominance(主导) by the middle of this century to rank after Chinese, about equally with Arabic, Hindi, and Urdu. “The number of people speaking English as a first language continues to rise, but it isn’t rising nearly as fast as the numbers of many other languages around the world, simply because the main population group has been largely in the less developed countries where languages other than English have been spoken,” he says.

    In a recent article in the journal Science, Mr. Graddol noted that three languages that are not near the top of the list of the most widely spoken now might be there soon. These are Bengali, Tamil, and Malay, spoken in south and southeast Asia.

    David Crystal, the author of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, says about 1.5 billion of the world’s six billion people speak it as a second language compared to the 400 million native speakers. But another expert on the English language says Mr. Graddol underestimates (低估) the future of its dominance. “All the evidence suggests that the English language snowball is rolling down a hill and is getting faster, but nobody quite knows what’s going to happen because no language has been in this position before.” he said.

8．In David Graddol’ s opinion, English will _______.

           A．remain widespread and important

           B．be more important than any other language

           C．lose its dominant position

           D．die away in the near future

9．The underlined sentence in the last paragraph implies that ______.

     A．more and more language users will choose English

           B．the English language snowball is rolling down faster than any time in the past

           C．English language will soon drop in dominance

     D．snowballs will roll down faster than language balls

10．How many experts does the passage mention who express their ideas about the future of       English?

           A．2.                  B．3.                     C．4.                   D．5.

11．What should be the best title for the passage?

           A．English Remaining in the Dominant Position

           B．The Future of English? Who Knows?

           C．Opinions from Different Experts

           D．The English Language Snowball Rolling Down

International students are allowed to work for the university they study at or for a business at the school. But the business must directly provide a service for students. You could work at the bookstore, for example, but not for a company that is building something at the school. Also, a foreign student cannot take the place of an American in a job.

International students can work 20 hours a week while having classes; more during school breaks. You can work until you finish your studies.

International students normally cannot take a job that has nothing to do with their school. But the government may give permission if students are suddenly faced with difficulties. Examples include large medical bills, the shortage of financial (财政上的) aid or an unexpected change in the financial support.

Students must also meet other conditions (条件). They must have studied at their American school for at least one year. Students must ask for permission again after a year if they want to continue an off-campus (校外的) job.

International students who will be studying at graduate school can apply (申请) for some jobs before they come to the United States. A good example is a university job like a teaching or research assistant.

Some schools pay their assistants. Others provide free education in return. Many do both. Graduate assistants might teach, give tests, grade work, help with research and clean the offices. Many universities now provide language training for foreign teaching assistants to help them improve their English. Some schools ask foreign students to pass an English speaking test before they are allowed to teach.

International student offices at schools have to provide information on students each term for the Department of Homeland Security. Students who violate visa (签证) rules — for example, by working off-campus without permission — could be sent home.

12. What can we learn according to the passage?

      A. All the international students can work for large companies.

      B. International students are able to work whenever they like.

      C. International students may be allowed to work outside the school when having financial trouble.

      D. International students must have studied at their American school for less than a year to get a job.

13. We may infer from the passage that ____.

      A. international students could apply for some jobs before coming to the US

      B. all the schools pay their assistants and provide free education for them

      C. international students cannot take their jobs before having language training

      D. international students normally are not completely free to choose their jobs

14. The underlined word “violate” in the last paragraph probably means ____.

      A. ask for                     B. go against               C. forget               D. obey

15. What is the passage mainly about?

      A. The rules about getting a job while studying in the US for international students.

      B. The reason why international students like studying in the United States.

      C. What international students should do while working in the United States.

      D. How international students could find jobs while studying in the US.