阅读回答问题（一）

Do you have friends? Yes, of course. The need of a friend is unquestionable in these days. International Friendship Day is a day for celebrating friendship. And it is very popular in western countries. The day has been celebrated in several southern South American countries for many years. Friendship Day comes on different dates in different countries. In 2011 the General Assembly of the United Nations（联合国大会）stated 30 July as official International Friendship Day.

If you have leftover turkey (or chicken) or you just want to enjoy a good bowl of soup, try this recipe for Turkey Bean Soup. There is nothing like a good hot bowl of soup to warm you from the inside out. You can make this recipe in a matter of minutes for a quick, easy, healthy bowl of tasty hot soup!

On a Friendship Day, not only teenagers but people in all age groups have different ways to make this day special for their friends. Some believe to give a surprise party to their very dear friends, while some believe to go for an outing and talk to each other will make their life special. Those who live far away from each other and can’t make to meet personally on Friendship Day prefer to send flowers and greeting cards online. There are different kinds of gifts in these days on Friendship Day. Some believe to give expensive gifts like a watch, a mobile phone, a music player to their friends. There is no exact way how to celebrate a Friendship Day, and it depends on each and every one’s feelings and standard of living. So people should think of the cost while celebrating Friendship Day. If you want to leave a memorable Friendship Day in the mind of your friends, the best way is to pay attention to what your friends like most. Prepare in such a way and they will feel you are the special one in their life.

1. Is Friendship Day very popular in western countries?

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2. When is International Friendship Day?

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3. How do people offer Friendship Day greetings if they are far away from each other?

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4. What should people do to make a memorable Friendship Day?

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5. What does the writer mainly tell us about Friendship Day?

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阅读回答问题（二）

Harvard University is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. It celebrated its 350th birthday in 1986. Since its birth hundreds of years ago, the university has grown from nine students with a single teacher to more than 18,000 degree candidates. Over 14,000 people work at Harvard, including more than 2,000 teachers and professors. Seven presidents of the United States were graduates of Harvard, and it has produced 40 Nobel Prize winners.

Harvard College was built in 1636 and was named for John Harvard, its first benefactor(捐助人）. John Harvard was a young priest .He died in 1638 and left his library and half his money to the new institution. Nowadays, Harvard is one of the richest university in the world.

Who is a typical Harvard student? The answer is that there is no such person. They come from all over the United States and more than 100 other countries. In 1997, Mary Fasano became the oldest person to get a Harvard degree when she graduated at the age of 89.

The John Harvard Statue（雕像）, located in front of University Hall, was completed in 1984 and is now known as ‘The Statue of Three Lies（谎言）’. Although the writing on the statue reads ‘John Harvard, Founder, 1938’, none of the writing is true. The statue is not really John Harvard, since no pictures of Mr Harvard has ever been found; John Harvard was not the founder（创建者） of Harvard College; and the College started in 1636. However, the statue is very popular with tourists, and each year, thousands of visitors touch John Harvard’s shoe for luck.

1. Is Harvard University the oldest institution of higher learning in the USA?

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2. How many people work at Harvard?

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3. What did John Harvard leave to the new institution after he died?

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4. Why is the John Harvard Statue also called ‘The Statue of Three Lies’?

5. What does the writer think of Harvard University?

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阅读回答问题（三）

Winners Club

Winners Club is a bank account (账户) specially for teenagers. It has been sep up to help you better manage your money. The club is a bank account where you receive a key-card, so you can enjoy dealing with your money 24/7 — that’s 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!

Here are the features (特点) of the club.

♦ No account keeping fees (费用)!

You’re not a rich man, so we don’t expect you to pay large fees. In fact, it’s free for all the service!

♦ Excellent interest rates (利率)!

You want your money to grow, right? If you put money into the club without taking it out for a year, the club will give you a good rate of interest.

♦ Convenient (方便)！

Teenagers are busy — we get that. You may never need to come to a bank at all. With the club you can choose to use handy tellers and to bank from home using the phone and the Internet. This could be your pocket money or your pay from your part-time job!

♦ A free magazine included！

Besides your account report, you will receive a free magazine full of good ideas about making more money. There are also other fantastic offers only for the club members.

♦ Easy to be a member！

It is so easy to join. Simply fill in an application form (申请表). By the way, one of your parents must agree on it. Then you can become a member of the club.

Now you see the club is a great choice for teenagers. We can’t wait to have you as a Winners Club member.

1. Is Winners Club specially for teenagers?

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2. How many features of Winners Club are mentioned in the passage?

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3. How do you make your money in Winners Club grow?

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4. What ideas can the club members read on the magazine?

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5. What does the writer mainly tell teenagers?

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阅读回答问题（四）

One morning it took me an hour to watch a small ant carry a huge feather across my back porch (走廊). Several times it met objects on its path and after a short time it would go around them.

At one point the ant had to deal with a crack (裂缝) about 10mm wide. After a short time of thought, the ant laid the feather over the crack, walked across it and picked it up on the other side then continued on its way.

I was attracted by the cleverness of this ant, one of God’s smallest creatures (生物). It was an example of the wonder of creation. Here was an insect, tiny, yet given a brain (大脑) to think, explore, discover and beat difficulties. But this ant, just like people, also shares human weaknesses.

After some time the ant finally reached its home — a flower bed at the end of the porch and a small hole that was the entrance to its underground home. And it was here that the ant finally faced the problem. How could that large feather possibly fit down the small hole?

Of course it couldn’t. So the ant, after all this trouble and using much creativity, beating difficulties all along the way, just left the feather behind and went home.

The ant had not thought the problem through before it began its brave journey and in the end the feather was nothing more than a heavy weight.

Isn’t our life like that?

We worry about how much money we have, we worry about work, about where we live, about all kinds of things. These worries are heavy things, and they make an already difficult life even more difficult. Worrying will do nothing good for us. When we get to where we want to be in life, we will understand that worrying can only bring us down.

1. Did the writer show a great interest in the ant at first?

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2. How did the ant cross the crack?

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3. Did the ant take the feather into the hole or give it up?

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4. What do you think of the ant?

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5. What does the writer want to tell us?

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阅读回答问题（五）

Alexander Graham Bell was a British man who was a teacher to people who could not hear. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1847 and went to school in Edinburgh and London. People who can not hear any sounds at all are called deaf people, and Alexander became interested in helping them to learn to speak. He taught people how to use their mouths to make the sounds needed for talking.

Bell’s family moved to Canada in 1870 and to the USA in 1871. For several years he taught the people who could not speak in Boston. But at the same time he was developing a way to use electricity to send the sounds of talking along a wire, and he made the first telephone in June, 1875. He worked hard in his workshop for six months with his helper Tom Watson. Finally, he spoke these famous words slowly into the telephone, “Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you.” and Watson came to him.

The telephone developed quickly in the USA over the next few years. The Bell Telephone Company started in 1877, and in 1878 the first telephone centre was built in New York. More than 150,000 people had telephones in their homes ten years later. Alexander Graham Bell was a kind man and spent much of his money and time during the rest of his life helping deaf people. In 1922 he died in Canada.

1． Where was Alexander Graham Bell born, in England or Scotland?

2．What was he interested in doing when he was in Britain?

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3. When was the first telephone invented?

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4．Did he stop helping the disabled when he became famous?

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5．What do you think of the great inventor?

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阅读回答问题（六）

Around the world more and more people are taking part in dangerous sports and activities. Of course, there have always been people who have looked for adventure(冒险)---those who have climbed the highest mountains, traveled into unknown parts of the world or sailed in small boats across the greatest oceans. Now, however, there are people who look for an immediate excitement from a risky(冒险的) activity which may only last a few minutes or even seconds. I would consider bungee(蹦极) jumping to be a good example of such an activity. You jump from a high place(perhaps a bridge or a hot-air balloon) 200 meters above the ground with an elastic(有弹性的) rope tied to your ankles. You fall at up to 150 kilometers an hour until the rope stops you from hitting the ground. It is said that about 2 million people around world have now tried bungee jumping. Other activities which most people would say are as risky as bungee jumping include jumping from tall buildings and diving into the sea from the top of high cliff(悬崖).

For the reasons, some psychologists explain that many people think their life in modern societies has become safe and boring. Not very long ago, people’s lives were constantly(持续的) in danger. They had to go out and hunt for food, diseases could not easily be cured, and life was a continuous battle (战争)for survival.

Nowadays, according to many people, life offers little excitement. They live and work in comparatively safe conditions; they buy food in shops; and there are doctors and hospitals to look after them if they become ill. The answer for some of these people is to look for danger in activities such as bungee jumping.

1. Are there many people who are taking part in the dangerous sports?

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2. How many kinds of dangerous sports does the writer refer to（提到）?

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3. How long does a bungee jumping usually last?

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4. What do many people think of their life nowadays?

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5. What does the writer tell us in the last two paragraphs?

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阅读回答问题（七）

Frank W. Woolworth was born in Rodman, New York, in 1852. His family was very poor, and there was never enough to eat. Frank decided he did not want to be a farmer. He took a short business course, and went to work as a salesman in a large city.

Frank realized he had a natural skill for displaying goods to arouse people’s interest, but he soon learned something more important. One day his boss told him to sell some odds and ends(小商品)for as much as he could get. Frank put all these things on one table with a sign which said: FIVE CENTS EACH. People fought and pushed to buy the things and the table was soon cleared.

Soon afterwards, Frank opened his own store, selling goods at five and ten cents. But he had another lesson to learn before he became successful. That is, if you want to make money by selling low-price goods, you have to buy them in large quantities directly from the factories. Once, for example, Frank went to Germany and placed an order for knives. The order was so large that the factory had to keep running 24 hours a day for a whole year. In this way, the price of the knives was cut down by half.

By 1919, Frank had over 1,000 stores in the USA and Canada, and opened his first store in London. He made many millions and his name became famous throughout the world. He always worked hard and ran his business according to strict rules, of which the most important was: "THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT."

1．Were Frank’s parents rich?

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2．Why did Frank take a short business course?

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3．Where did Frank once place an order for knives?

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4．How many stores did Frank have in the USA and Canada by 1919?

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5．How did Frank make his business successful?

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阅读回答问题（八）

AUTUMN is harvest (收获) time for the 27 eighth-graders at Heritage Middle School in Painesville, Ohio. They couldn’t wait to pick ripe vegetables from the school garden behind the school’s library. There were tomatoes, beans, peppers and broccoli.

The 27 students took part in the school’s garden project. The program teaches about environmental issues (环保事宜) – water, soil and energy – as well as leadership and team-building skills.

“I hope it helped to get the kids outside to start their own garden at home,” said Colleen Royer, coordinator (协调人) of the program.

Several gardening experts helped the students build two garden beds and plant some vegetables in May.

For some students, it’s their first taste of the garden’s fresh vegetables. Others have been working through the hot summer months to keep the plants alive.

Eighth-grader Christopher DiPierro and his family pulled weeds, watered and even took home some ripe vegetables.

His mother, Laura, said her other children also took part and it was a great learning experience for the whole family.

“We went to work one day a week [in the summer],” she said.

“The kids learned how to be patient. Chris paid extra attention and it was really exciting for him. He’s not a tomato fan, but he agreed to try.”

At the end of September, the school made pepperoni (意大利香辣肠) and jalapeno (墨西哥胡椒) pizza with the peppers and tomatoes from the garden. All the students enjoyed the delicious food – the fruits of their labor – together. 240 w

1. Is autumn harvest time for some eighth graders at Heritage Middle School?

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2. Where is their vegetable garden, behind the school or behind the school’s library?

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3. How many students took part in the school’s garden project?

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4. Who else took part in the project in Christopher’s family?

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5. What are the purposes of the school’s garden project according to the passage?

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