Many teenagers(青少年) feel that the most important people in their lives are their friends．They believe that their family members don’t know them as well as their friends do．In large families, it is quite often for brothers and sisters to fight with each other and then they can only go to their friends for some ideas．

It is very important for teenagers to have one good friend or a group of friends．Even when they are not with their friends, they usually spend a lot of time talking among themselves on the phone．This communication is very important in children’s growing up, because friends can discuss something．These things are difficult to tell their family members．

However, parents often try to choose their children’s friends for them．Some parents may even stop their children from meeting their good friends．Have you ever thought of the following questions?

Who chooses your friends?

Do you choose your friends or your friends choose you?

Have you got a good friend your parents don’t like?

Your answers are welcome．

21. Many teenagers think that ____ can understand them better．

      A．friends              B．brothers          C．sisters             D．parents

22. When teenagers have something difficult to tell their parents, they usually____．

      A．stay alone at home                         B．fight with their parents

      C．discuss it with their friends          D. go to their brothers and sisters for help

23. The sentence (句子) “Your answers are welcome．” means _______．

  A．You are welcome to discuss the questions with us

  B．We’ve got no idea, so your answers are welcome

  C．Your answers are always right

  D．You can give us all the right answers

24. Part of the purpose of this passage is to ___.

      A. give information for the parents to make their own judgment (判断)

      B. give advice to children who want to choose their friends

C. help parents to find better friends for their children

      D. get some information from many readers

With fuel costs rising and airlines finding more fees to impose on travelers every day, airfare isn’t getting any cheaper. Since you can’t drive to all your dream destinations, flying is the only way to go sometimes and, undeniably, the fastest. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to find the most affordable fares and also avoid paying as many extra charges as possible when you plan ahead.

Getting the best fare. Airlines put out their fare sales on Tuesday morning, making this day the best day to book a flight for less.

Fly during the least popular times. Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday are the slowest days to fly, which means cheaper deals than the rest of the week. You can also find reduced rates on early morning flights, since many people don’t like to get up before the sun to get to the airport. Earlier boarding times can also considerably cut down your chances of getting bumped on an overbooked flight or delayed because of other delayed flights or mechanical issues.

Choose your seat later. Some airlines charge you to pick your seat when you book online, adding even more to the bottom line of your ticket cost. If you show up early on your travel day, you can still get suitable seats. Some of the best seats get held back until flight day, unless others are willing to pay extra for them ahead of time, so you still have the chance at one of those.

Fly on holidays. You already know that summer is the most expensive time to fly, and even though most other times are more affordable, the days surrounding holidays can be crazy. Save big if you’re willing to travel on major holidays, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Don’t wait until the last-minute to book. Many travelers don’t know that there’s a sweet spot for booking and getting the best price on your tickets. Book too early or too late and you could end up paying more than you need to. The best time to book is between three months and six weeks from when you want to travel.

Avoiding extra fees Airlines will charge for just about anything these days. Some have even toyed around with charging customers for using the restroom. All those extra fees can certainly add up, but there’s no reason to pay them if you don’t have to. Here are some tips to keep money in your wallet once you get to the airport.

Avoid the upgrade it's not necessary. Sometimes upgrades are free, but mostly you will be charged for seeking a last-minute bump to first class, and the cost can be hefty.

Fly carry-on only. Baggage fees vary wildly, but almost all airlines charge them and charge big. Why pay for your clothes to fly with you? If everyone in your travel party checks a bag, your bill can be astronomical before you ever even get to your destination. It’s easy to reduce the amount of stuff you pack: Make sure all your clothing coordinates, so you can take less and still make more outfit combinations, take only two pair of shoes, plan to do a bit of laundry on your trip and bring only travel-sized toiletries.

Pack your own snacks. Unless you’re flying internationally, it’s rare your flight comes with a free meal. Snacks on the plane are not cheap and almost never healthy. Don’t rely on what’s on the small menu and instead tuck some of your own snacks – granola bars, homemade muffins, fruit and trail mix all make fantastic travel foods – into your bag and eat a lot better, and cheaper, than other passengers. 

Do you have a tried and true method of getting the best deal on your flights? Let us know.

25. Tuesday is the best to book a ticket at a lower cost for __________.

  A. fewer people travel on Tuesday.

  B. the flights are slower than usual.

  C. fare sales are usually announced on Tuesday.

  D. flights are seldom delayed on Tuesday.

26. Which of the following will help to cost you less for a flight?

  A. Book your flight on Thursday.

  B. Travel surrounding Christmas.

  C. Pick your seat the moment you book online

  D. Book early morning flights

27.  The underlined word “hefty” here has the same meaning as ______

A. large    B. heavy    C. fierce   D. acceptable

28. To save the cost for the flight, you should __________.

  A. check whether the upgrade is free before you bump to the first class.

  B. make sure your clothes and shoes are fit for a lot of walk.

  C. share your own snacks with other passengers.

  D. plan to do the washes on flight.

What kind of pets do people have in your country? Dogs? Cats? How about a duck, hippo or lion? Here are two cases of animal owners with unusual pets.

Barrie Hayman has a pet duck called Star. Barrie adopted (领养) him after his brothers and sisters stayed away from him at birth. Barrie, a duck breeder, realized the little duck needed special attention. So he began taking Star with him everywhere he went. “I would put him in my pocket while I did my shopping,” said Barrie. Now, at five months, Star is too big for Barrie’s pocket, but the two are still inseparable. They watch sports together and even share a drink together. Barrie said, “He is one fantastic duck. I’ve never known any like him.” Star even has his own Facebook page, with more than 2,000 Facebook friends.

Then there’s the case of Tonie and Shirley Joubert in South Africa. They live with their pet hippo, Jessica. Tonie saved Jessica from floodwaters when she was only a day old. Jessica lives outside their riverside house, but she knows how to open the kitchen door, and often goes there for a snack. Tonie recently said, “I don’t know whether Jessica sees me as a hippo or whether she sees herself as a human.” Shirley is more certain, “Jessica sees herself as our child and I see Jessica as my daughter. I can’t imagine my life without Jessica.” Jessica is free to leave, and often visits wild hippos that live nearby. But she always returns home at night. Jessica’s website notes that she has three hippo boyfriends, but one in particular, Fred, is her favorite. They often go grazing (吃青草) together and Fred has recently moved onto the Jouberts’ house as well.

29.What’s the main idea of the passage?

A.  Some websites are set up to protect pets.

B.  Some unusual pets are adopted by people.

C. People should take good care of their pets.

D.  Pets sometimes can be very interesting.

30.What does the underlined word “inseparable” in Paragraph 2 mean?

A. Always together.  B. Always separated.  C. Always friendly.  D. Always healthy.

31. Barrie took Star everywhere he went because           .

A. he had never seen a duck like Star     B. he set up a Facebook page for Star

C. he wanted to care more about Star     D. he needed Star to drink with him

    American high school students are terrible writers, and one education reform group thinks it has an answer: robots. Or, more accurately, robot-readers-computers programmed to scan student essays and spit out a grade.

 Mark Shermis, professor of the College of Education at the University of Akron, is helping to hold a contest, set up by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation ( WFHF), which promises $ 100,000 in prize money to programmers who write the best automated grading software. "If you're a high school teacher and you give a writing task, you're walking home with 150 essays, " Shermis said, "You're going to need some help. "

Automated essay grading was first proposed in the 1960s, but computers back then were not up to the task. In the late 1990s, as technology improved, several textbook and testing companies jumped into the field. Today, computers are used to grade essays on South Dakota's student writing assessments and a handful of other exams, including the TOEFL test of English fluency, taken by foreign students.

The Hewlett contest aims to show that computers can grade as well as English teachers---- only much more quickly and without all that depressing red ink. Automated essay scoring is "objective," Shermis said, " And it can be done immediately. If students finish an essay at l0 pm, they get a result at 10 :00 pm . "

Take, for instance, the Intelligent Essay Assessor, a web-based tool marketed by Pearson Education, Inc. Within seconds it can analyze an essay for spelling, grammar, organization, and help students to make revisions. The program scans for key words and analyzes semantic (语义的) patterns , and Pearson claims that it can understand the meaning of text much the same as a human reader.

33.  The text is written to introduce________.

A. Hewlett contest                       B. education reform in America

C. robot-readers                         D. William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

34. What does the underlined phrase "spit out "in Paragraph I probably mean?

A. Analyze.              B. Organize.       C. Give.           D. Check.

35.  What does Paragraph 4 focus on?

A. The application of automated essay scoring.

B. The advantages of automated essay scoring.

C. The prize of Hewlett contest.

D. Teachers' opinions about Hewlett contest.

Today we eat on the go, at our desks and even in front of computers. We eat takeout, delivered and packaged meals,  ______36______

“Over the past three decades, people have started eating out more than ever before and purchasing more prepared foods at the grocery store, which tend to contain more fat, salt and sugar than their home-made foods,” noted US healthy living website SparkPeople.

_____37_____ It encourages us to value the time we spend preparing, sharing and consuming food, as a recent USA Today article put it. It all started in 1986 with the efforts of Slow Food’s founding father, Italian activist Carlo Petrini, who wanted to bring back food varieties and flavors that had gone dark in the face of industrialization._____38____  Now, his idea is almost the mainstream.

Starting at the table, the movement promotes an unhurried way of life founded on the idea that everyone has a right to cooking pleasure, and that everyone must also take responsibility to “protect the heritage (遗产) of food, tradition and culture that make this celebration of the senses possible”, wrote The Phnom Penh Post.

“ ______ 39_____ It means turning down the speed at which we eat and increasing the amount of time we spend dining together with other people,” Althea Zanecosky, spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, told The Huffington Post. “ ______40_______ Dinner table conversations keep families together,” noted the Belgian non-profit organization Greenfudge.

A. It is a way to bring back the social togetherness of yesterday.

B. It seems that we have adapted our foods to our fast-paced lives.

C. So, the Slow Food Movement has occurred against this fast-food trend.

D. Slow Food doesn’t necessarily mean food that takes a long time to cook.

E. It is based on the idea that we should spend as much time as possible on cooking.

F. It’s not only the food itself but also the time we spend dining together that matters.

G. At that time, he asked people to follow a more sustainable (可持续的) living model.