阅读理解.     Charter schools operate with public money but without many of the rules that govern
traditional public schools.In the United States the rules for charter schools differ from state
to state.But in general these schools have greater freedom to decide what to teach and how
to teach it.

     The "charter" is a performance contract.It establishes the goals of the school and other
details like how student performance will be measured.Fortyseven million students attend
traditional public schools.But more than a million students attend charter schools.
     And now a group of charter schools have formed the Green Charter Schools Network.
The idea is to have environmentally friendly school buildings but to also go further than that.
The schools teach students to become involved in community issues that affect them and
the environment.For example,young children grow crops in a school garden and learn
about healthy eating.Older students help recycle waste from the cafeteria.And local schools
share what they grow in community gardens with people in need.
     Jim McGrath is president of the Green Charter Schools Network.He says there are
about 200 "green" charter schools across the United States.He says the plan is to also
include traditional public schools as well as private schools.
     Jim McGrath:"The most important thing is that every one of us-every child,every
adult-has a responsibility that their action,every action we make has an effect on the earth
that we live in.And that our natural resources are not unlimited.And that if we want a
positive earth for future generations,we all need to make commitments to be agents of
change so that we don"t destroy our natural resources."
     T he Green Charter Schools Network holds its first national conference this October
in Minnesota.It will include companies and organizations like Waste Management and the
United States Green Building Council.We sincerely hope that their goal is to expand the
movement across the country.
1．Charter schools are quite different from public ones in that____.A．they are operated by public money
B．they still use the traditional rules
C．they have more freedom in management
D．they attract more students than others2．The Green Charter Schools Network is established to______.A．advise teenagers to attend charter schools
B．paint the school buildings in the color of green
C．measure the students with the same standards
D．get students involved in environment friendly activities3．The following statements about the Network are true EXCEPT________.A．It only concerns the charter schools in the US
B．It holds its first national conference in Minnesota
C．It will benefit both the schools and the communities
D．It promotes different schools to share their achievements4．According to Jim McGrath,________.A．people"s action plays little part in nature
B．natural resources are abundant for people to use
C．students should be taught to be responsible for the world
D．everyone should make efforts to change the positive nature5．What"s the writer"s purpose of writing this passage?A．To criticize the traditional education system.
B．To encourage the students to adopt healthy eating.
C．To inspire people to recycle waste from the cafeteria.
D．To arouse the schools to take action to protect the earth.

阅读理解.

     A new study in West Africa shows how farm irrigation systems powered by the sun can
produce more food and money for villagers.The study in Benin found that solarpowered pumps
are effective in supplying water,especially during the long dry season.
     SubSaharan Africa is the part of the world with the least food security.The United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that more than one billion of the world"s people
faced hunger last year.Around 265 million of them live south of the Sahara Desert.Lack of
rainfall is one of their main causes of food shortages.
     Jennifer Burney from Stanford University in California led the study.The research team
helped build three solarpowered drip irrigation (滴灌) systems in northern Benin.Between
30 and 35 women used each system to pump water from the ground or a stream.Each
woman was responsible for farming her own 120 square meters of land.They also farmed
other land collectively.
     The solarpowered irrigation systems produced an average of nearly two tons of vegetables
per month.During the first year,the women kept a monthly average of almost nine kilograms
of vegetables for home use.They sold the surplus produce at local markets.The earnings
greatly increased their ability to buy food during the dry season which can last six to nine
months.People in the two villages with the systems were able to eat three to five more
servings of vegetables per day.But making the surplus available at markets also had a wider
effect.
     The study compared the villages with two others where women farmed with traditional
methods like carrying water in buckets.The amount of vegetables eaten in those villages also
increased,though not as much.The researchers note that only four percent of the cropland in
SubSaharan Africa is irrigated.Using solar power to pump water has higher costs at first.But
the study says it can be more economical in the long term than using fuels like gasoline,diesel
or kerosene.And solar power is environmentally friendly.

1．Food security in SubSaharan Africa is insufficient mainly because of________.A．lack of rainfall
B．limitation of farmland
C．a small crop variety
D．little sunlight2．From the third paragraph we know that________.A．water is wasted by using the system
B．the farmers irrigate the land together
C．all farmers use irrigation systems in northern Benin
D．the solarpowered systems take up more manpower3．The underlined word "surplus" in the 4th paragraph most probably means________.A．special
B．unnecessary
C．extra
D．abandoned4．Using solar power to pump water has advantages EXCEPT that________.A．solar energy has higher cost at first
B．solar power helps to protect environment
C．solar power helps farmers increase earnings
D．solar energy can be more economical in the long run5．What can be the best title for the text?A．Manpower affects rainfall in Africa
B．Irrigation by carrying water in buckets
C．Solarpowered pumps aid African farmers
D．Vegetable supply increased in African villages

阅读理解.     The year was 1985.Ronald Reagan was president.Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the USSR.
Back to the Future was boffo at the box office."Born in the USA" was climbing the charts.Philanthropy
(慈善业) and pop culture combined with LiveAid and "We Are the World. " And " .com ", which few 
people outside of the military or universities knew,came into this world.
     Looking back,few could have predicted ".com" would become one of the biggest cultural touchstones
of the century.In March 1985,the Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California
assigned the first.com domain address to symbolics.com.That seemingly nominal (象征性的) event set into
motion forces that would change our world forever.
    .com wasn"t the birth of the Internet,but it was the budding computer network"s comingout party.It made
it pretty and inviting.It did away with the need to have complex "maps" that were the equivalent of writing a
phone number on your hand,and opened it up for a mainstream audience.
    After 1985,all it takes is a simple.com name to get into business.".com" became part of our daily lexicon
and  drove its own economic boom and depression. It helped create a whole new family of  industries,
facilitated  global commerce and connected people around the world in ways never before possible.
     It"s now 2010.Barack Obama is president,thanks in part to his smart use of the Internet.There is no
USSR.A computergenerated Avatar has set new box office records."TiK ToK" tops the charts.We"re
sending robots to find water on Mars.And that onceobscure computer communications system is one of
our civilization"s most prominent features.1．This passage was written to mark________.A．the change of American presidency
B．the development of entertainment
C．the 25th anniversary of.com
D．the anniversary of the internet2．What does the underlined word "boffo" probably mean?A．Successful.  
B．Changeable.  
C．Tough.  
D．Novel.3．Which of the following can be the main contribution of ".com"?A．It gave birth to the Internet.
B．It combined politics,entertainment and space science.
C．It made the Internet accessible to ordinary people.
D．It helped produce more domain addresses.4．We can infer that before 1985,getting on line was________.A．impossible  
B．complex  
C．expensive  
D．popular5．The first and last paragraphs were intended to________.A．make comparison  
B．provide details
C．list arguments  
D．stimulate readers" interest

阅读理解     The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the
Northeastern United States.The term is most commonly used to refer to those eight schools considered as
a group.The term is also connected with academic excellence,selectivity in admissions,and social elitism
(精英主义)．
     The term became official,especially in sports terminology,after the formation of the NCAA Division I
athletic conference in 1954,when much of the nation polarized around favorite college teams."IV" was used
because originally the league consisted only of four members.The use of the phrase is no longer limited to a
thletics,and now represents an educational philosophy inherent to the nation"s oldest schools.In addition,Ivy
League schools are often viewed by the public as some of the most prestigious universities worldwide and
are often ranked amongst the best universities in the United States and worldwide.The eight institutions are
Brown University,Columbia University,Cornell University,Dartmouth College,Harvard University,Princeton
University,the University of Pennsylvania,and Yale University.
     All of the Ivy League"s institutions place near the top in the US News & World Report college and
university rankings and rank within the top one percent of the world"s academic institutions in terms of
financial endowment (捐助)．Seven of the eight schools were founded during America"s colonial period；
the exception is Cornell,which was founded in 1865.Ivy League institutions,therefore,account for seven of
the nine Colonial Colleges chartered before the American Revolution.The Ivies are all in the Northeast
geographic region of the United States.All eight schools receive millions of dollars in research grants and
other subsidies from federal and state government.
      Undergraduate enrollments among the Ivy League schools range from about 4,000 to 14,000,making
them  larger than those of  a typical private liberal arts college and smaller than a  typical public state
university.Ivy League university financial endowments range from Brown"s $2.01 billion to Harvard"s $26
billion,the largest financial endowment of any academic institution in the world.1．From the passage,we know the word "Ivy" in "the Ivy League" was first chosen to refer to________.A．a plant  
B．a number  
C．a sport  
D．a spirit2．What is special about Cornell University in the League?A．It is the oldest one.
B．It was founded by colonists.
C．It has the smallest endowment.
D．It is the youngest one.3．Which meaning can the term "the Ivy League" convey today?A．The largest enrollment.
B．The strongest government support.
C．The most expensive schools.
D．Firstclass education.4．Which of the following statements is true?A．There is no longer sports competition in the Ivy League.
B．Seven colleges were set up before the USA was founded.
C．Brown University has the smallest number of students.
D．Typical public state universities are larger than the Ivies.5．Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?A．The ABC of "The Ivy League"
B．Best Universities in the USA
C．The Financial Income of American Universities
D．How to Apply to an Ivy League University

阅读理解
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项中,选出最佳选项。      Albert Einstein (1879 ~ 1955) was one of the greatest and most original scientific thinkers of all time.
      Born of Jewish parents at Ulm in Germany, he completed his education in Switzerland and got his Ph.D at the University of Zurich. He went to live in the United States in 1933 because of the rise of Nazism(纳粹) in Germany and Hitler"s persecution(迫害) of the Jews.
       In 1905, while still at Zurich, he published his Special Theory of Relativity,which was based on things everyone may have noticed. If two trains are standing alongside each other and one train starts to move,a
person sitting in the train may wonder whether his own train is moving or the other is moving, and before
he finds out what is happening,he can see that one train is moving relatively to the other. From this and
also from other more complicated facts, Einstein came to the conclusion that all motion is relative and that
there are really no such things as absolute(绝对) motion. Some of the other conclusions he drew are that
nothing can go faster than light,and that if something such as a ruler was moving faster and faster it would
seem to get shorter and shorter as its speed was near the speed of light. By 1915,Einstein had made
known his General Theory of Relativity. He also improved on Newton"s theory of gravity. Most of his
theories have been tested and found to be true though some may sound strange. For his  important work
he was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics.

1. In 1933,Einstein went to live in the United States  because     ___.

A. he loved the USA more than his own country
B. he had got some friends there with whom he  could work together
C. he wanted to live quietly in the USA
D. he could no longer work in Germany when Hitler came into power

2. Einstein published  his Special Theory of Relativity  when he was           .

A. in the United States
B. in Ulm,Cermany after he got his Ph.D
C. still in Switzerland at the age of twenty-six
D. still at the University of Zurich at the age of thirty-six.

3. One of the conclusions drawn by Einstein is that       .

A. places go faster than trains and buses
B. people couldn"t run as fast as vehicles
C. light goes the fastest of all the things
D. two trains can go in different directions

4. Einstein added that if something such as a ruler was moving it would seem to get shorter and
    shorter        .

A. because the ruler itself was short
B. when it was moving faster and faster
C. because we can"t see it clearly
D. because the ruler was broken into pieces

5. Einstein was world-famous for his ___   .

A. Special Theory of Relativity
B. Ceneral Theory of Relativity
C. improving on Newton"s theory of gravity
D. all of the above