Bill Javis took over our village news-agency at a time of life when most of us only want to relax. He just thought he would like something but not too much to do, and the news-agency was ready-made. The business produced little enough for him, but Bill was a man who only wanted the simplicity and order and regularity of the job. He had been a long-serving sailor, and all his life had done everything by the clock.
    Every day he opened his shop at six a.m. to catch the early trade; the papers arrived on his door-step before that. Many of Bill’s customers were city workers, and the shop was convenient for the station. Business was tailing off by 10 o’clock, so at eleven sharp Bill closed for lunch. It was hard luck on anybody who wanted a paper or magazine in the afternoon, for most likely Bill would be down on the river bank, fishing, and his nearest competitor was five kilometers away. Sometime in the afternoon, the evening paper landed on the doormat, and at 4 o’clock Bill reopened. The evening rush lasted till seven, and it was worthwhile.
    He lived in a flat above the shop, alone. Except in the very bad weather, you always knew where to find him in the afternoon, as I have said. Once, on a sunny afternoon, I walked home along the river bank from a shopping trip to the village. By my watch it was three minutes past four, so I was astonished to see Bill sitting there on his little chair with a line in the water. He had had no luck, I could see, but he was making no effort to move.
    “What’s wrong, Bill?” I called out from the path.
    For answer, he put a hand in his jacket and took out a big, golden object. For a moment I had no idea what it could be, and then it suddenly went off with a noise like a fire engine. Stopping the bell, Bill held the thing up and called back, “Ten to four, you see, and this is dead right.”

I had never known anyone carrying a brass alarm clock round with him before.

1. Bill Javis became a news-agent when ________.

A. he needed the money.             B. he decided to take things easy

C. he was quite an old man          D. he gave up clock-repairing

2. Bill opened the shop so early in the day because ________.

A. he liked to do as much as possible before he went to work

B. the shop had to be open when the morning papers came

C. he was never sure of time

D. it was then that he did a lot of business

3. On that sunny afternoon, the writer was surprised when he saw Bill because _______.

A. he thought it was late for Bill to be still fishing

B. he thought Bill was ill, since he was not moving at all

C. Bill had not caught anything, and that seemed strange

D. Bill stayed in his flat

4. What’s the meaning of the underlined phrase in paragraph 2?

A. become noisy              B. become less

C. become stronger            D. become busy

Genetically modified (转基因 ) foods have become a focus point of agriculture throughout the news today. This has an effect on many different aspects of the agriculture world. From the seed dealer, to the farmer that buys the seed, to the workers that the farmer sells to; all are affected by the new technologies that are involved in this part of production agriculture.

Genetically modified foods have come under heavy fire lately. There are some countries that are against buying these types of foods. They are tested for safety by the best scientific experts in Europe, the US and the rest of the world. They are not for sale until they have gone through this complete safety process. Since they are a new product, and any slight problem with them could affect a whole country, these tests are very necessary.

These safety tests are carried out because of the new rules that were made with the Novel Foods Regulation. Begun in May of 1997, the Novel Foods Regulation set up an EU-wide pre-market system for all novel foods. A novel food is described as one that has not been eaten by EU consumers widely in the past. By setting up this program the EU hopes to keep its consumers safe from any possible side effects of any new food products.

There are a variety of ways in which genetic modification has helped food producers. They can improve the nutritional (营养的) value or the storage conditions of the food. Today there are only two genetically modified foods that have been allowed for use, these are GM soybean and GM maize.

Despite any safety checks, many people are still cautious about eating genetically modified foods. By providing these people with the necessary information, we can allow them to make decisions about these foods.

5. What do we know about the novel food?

A. It’s very popular in EU.     B. It’s bad for people’s health.

C. It’s a new kind of food.     D. Its story has been published.

6. Genetically foods are allowed to be sold if they are             .

A. tested for safety            B. of high quality              

C. more nutritional              D. grown in Europe

7. From paragraph 2, we can learn that genetically modified foods           .

A. do no harm to people                    

B. have caused some problems

C. are well received after being tested

D. are criticized and attacked by many people

8. What’s the writer’s attitude towards genetically modified foods?

A. We should warn people that they are too dangerous to be eaten.

B. We should give people information about them so that they can decide whether to buy them

   C. We should encourage people to eat them because they are more nutritional.

D. We should tell people that they are trying to fool the farmers.

In the last few years the popularity of eBooks has exploded. The advantages are clear: You can carry as many books with you as you want. You can simply download even 7 books you like and instantly start reading instead of having to wait for the book to arrive by mail.

However, one thing hadn't changed. If you wanted to rent a book you were still forced to use hardcopy books. Until now that is  Amazon. com recently announced the start of a new program where you can rent eBooks.

Where to rent eBooks?

As mentioned before, Amazon. com is the first and currently the only retailer (零售商) that has a program in place for renting eBooks. Luckily, Amazon is the largest online retailer in the world and their eBook assortment (分类) is massive. They are also the producer of the Kindle, the most popular eReader, which means you can be sure that the eBooks you rent will work.

You can currently only rent eTextbooks. But this is likely to change as soon as the word gets out that you can save money by renting eBooks.

Why rent eBooks at Amazon?  

 ● Save money: Save up t0 80% of the normal price of the eBook.

 ●Decide how long you rent: From 30 days t0 360 days, you decide how long you want it.  You can extend the time by as little as a day. Or simply buy the eBook if you want to keep it after all.

●Use any device: If you rent an eBook from Amazon, you can read it on your PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, Android device, Windows Phone 7. Blackberry. or Kindle.                     .

●Keep your notes: Do you like to keep annotations (注释) and highlights in your eBooks? Don't worry. You  can always revisit your notes and highlights through Amazon. com.

 How to rent eBooks?

 Simply search for the eBook you want to rent on Amazon. com and select the "Rent eBooks" option. After that, a new page will open where you can select how long you’d like to rent the eBook. You can read eBooks for a period of 30 to 360 days.

 You decide how long you need the eBook.  If you later find out you need it for longer. you can simply extend the time. Or buy it for the normal price whenever you want.

 Once you've chosen the time you want to rent the eBook, you simply go to checkout. Or you can use the "Rent now" button.

9.According to the passage, _________

      A. eBooks will be changed into other types by Amazon. com

   B. eBooks will replace hardcover hooks in the next few years

   C. readers get a discount of at least 20% of the normal price

   D. readers are able to rent eBooks only at Amazon. com now

10. To rent an eBook online, which of the following goes last?

    A. open a new page              B. select the "Rent eBooks" option

    C. choose a rental date            D. press "Rent now" button

11. The main purpose of the passage is to __________.

 A. inform and explain               B. discuss and assess

C. compare and evaluate              D describe and argue

US researchers have found traces of an ancient lake on Mars recently, increasing hopes of discovering evidence that billions of years ago the Red planet hosted life.

The lake, which dates back some 3.4 billion years, appears to have covered as much as 80 square miles and was up to 1,500 feet deep, said the team from the University of Colorado.

"This is the first clear evidence of shorelines on the surface of Mars," said Boulder's research associate, Gaetano Di Achille, in a study published in the latest edition of Geophysical Research Letters.

"The identification of the shorelines and accompanying geological evidence allows us to calculate the size and volume of the lake, which appears to have formed about 3.4 billion years ago."

Analysis of the images has shown the water carved out the canyon (溪谷) in which it was found, which then opened out into a valley depositing (使淤积) sediment (沉积) which formed a delta (三角洲).

"Finding shorelines is a great discovery to us," said assistant professor Brian Hynek, adding it showed the lake existed at a time when Mars was thought to have been cold and dry.

Scientists believe the oldest surfaces on Mars formed during the wet and warm era known as the Noachan epoch, about 4.1 billion to 3.7 billion years ago.

The newly discovered lake is believed to date from the Hesperian era and postdates the end of the warm and wet period on Mars by 300 million years, according to the study.

Scientists believe deltas next to the lake may well hold secrets about past life on Mars as such places on Earth have become the natural deposits of organic carbon and other markers of life.

12. The size of the lake found on Mars is ______.

A. 80 square miles                      B. 1,500 square miles

C. 3.4 billion square miles                 D. 300 million square miles

13. When the lake existed, the weather on Mars was ____.

A. hot and wet B. wet and warm   C. cold and dry   D. cold and wet

14. Why do scientists think deltas near the lake may hold secrets about past life on Mars?

A. Because similar places on Earth have become natural deposits of markers of life.

B. Because someone has put secrets about past life on Mars there.

C. Because past life has been found in other deltas on Mars.

D. Because some people are said to have already seen life marks there.

15. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A. The Noachan epoch was a wet and warm era.

B. The lake might have existed 3.4 billion years.

C. The discovery can’t fully prove that the Mars once hosted life.

D. The lake traces prove that there exists life on Mars now.

Writing A Letter To Your Future Self

Just imagine writing a letter to your future self 5 years from now, then opening it at that exact moment to see how much of it has come true. _____16______

As you read the letter in the future, you can assess how many things agree with your expectations in the past. __17_______ Often times, the goals we set and our goal achievement process are affected by a lot of changes along the way. The letter lets you recognize how your current idea differs from the past.

In addition to that, at the very moment you are writing the letter, your thoughts are stored right there in those words. When you open the letter in the future, you as your future self gets to compare how you used to be in the past with how you are now.  ___18_____. It’s  very interesting to do so.

Take out a pen and paper right now and start writing your letter to your future self. Set a time period to write to. ____19____  Then start writing. Think about the type of person you will be, your place in life, what you will have realized then, and so on.

__20______ Put it in a safe space where no one can find it. When you open this sometime in the near future, you might gain additional insights(了解) about yourself and your journey in the past few years.

A.     And you can think about why that’s the case.

B.     It is a useful tool to be used in goal achievement.

C.     Imagine how you will be like during that time period.

D.     If you haven’t, join me in writing a letter to yourself.

E.     This lets you see how much things have changed since then.

F.     At the end of the letter, write the date to open it on the cover.

G.     It wasn’t until we moved into our new house that I found it again.