When you cough(咳嗽) or sneeze, please turn your head away from others and cover your mouth with the full part of your hand. Afterwards, you should say," Excuse me." This is a rule I set for my students.

It is so simple, but many kids have never been told to do this. In fact, I notice adults cough and sneeze in public without putting a hand over the mouth. I hate traveling by underground in New York during cold and flu(流感) season, because it is certain that someone is going to stand right behind me and cough or sneeze on my neck.

One important thing I point out to the kids is that after they sneeze or cough on their hand, they should wash their hands as soon as possible. Otherwise, they will be passing those germs along to everything and everyone they touch.

In order to help the students remember this rule, I tell them about an old story. It says that when you sneeze, evil spirits jump into your body. If you don't cover your mouth, the spirits will enter, but if you cover your mouth, you will keep them out, We say "God bless you" when someone sneezes, and in Germany(德國) you should say "Gesundheit". That means "Good health to you." Both expressions are said that if you didn't cover your mouth in time and the spirits were able to enter your body. The kids love finding out the origins(起源) of these expressions and it encourage them to put the advice to use more often.

1.The writer of this article must be _______ .

A. a reporter                       B. a teacher                         C. a doctor                           D. an officer

2. What does the underline word 'this" mean?

A. Don't cough or sneeze in front of people.

B. Don't stand beside someone who coughs or sneezes.

C. Many people cough or sneeze on the underground train.

D. Cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing and say sorry.

3.After coughing or sneezing on their hand, students are advised to _______.

A. say "God bless you"      

B. wash their hands as soon as possible

C. go to see a doctor as soon as possible

D. go home and have a good rest

4. According to the article, the writer would like the kids _______.

A. to be polite to adults                                 B. to be in better health

C. to have good manners                              D. to do well in exams

5. What does the underlined word “germs” mean in Chinese?

A. 咳嗽                                B. 噴嚏                                 C. 鼻涕                                 D. 病菌

 

“Why does the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side!”

  That’s an old joke in the west, but it came to my mind again when I saw people crossing the road at the intersection of Shanxi Road and Huaihai Road in Shanghai.

  When the traffic light was red, a group of people were waiting for the light to change. Suddenly one man began rushing to the other side of the road. Soon others followed him at the crossing and more people did the same. Just like chickens, they didn’t mind the honking horns(喇叭聲) and kept crossing the road in a mess.

  Every year several thousand people are either killed or hurt on the roads in Shanghai. And at least one third of them were jaywalking(亂穿馬路). Jaywalking is very common in Shanghai. It seems that jaywalkers are not afraid of the danger to themselves.

  Traffic laws are to keep people safe. So we should obey them, and have good road-crossing habits. When someone starts to jaywalk, we should stop him, and never follow him. That way we can avoid the traffic accidents.

1.The underlined word “intersection” here probably means “        ”.

A. road       B. bridge              C. crossing      D. traffic

2.The writer saw people      in Shanghai that day.

A. crossing the road in a mess           B. waiting for the green light patiently

C. crossing the road with chickens       D. hurting each other in the street

3.How does the writer like what he saw in Shanghai that day?

A. He thinks it’s OK.                 B. He thinks it’s wrong.

C. He has no idea of it.                D. He doesn’t mention it

 

Making sense of how the US shows humor

Living in a new country gives me many surprises. The first surprise was the way that the US people speak.

One day I saw someone was having a public speech in a square. I thought it would be a serious speech. But I soon found it became a kind of entertainment show.

   The speaker told the audience to protect the environment with humorous words. Later he said some people’s behavior didn’t go with their words. He took the example of Taylor Swift’s song We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.

   He said that since Swift doesn’t want to be with the boy any more, she doesn’t need to speak it aloud, she doesn’t need to sing unless she still keeps in touch with that guy. It sounds like she is a hypocrite.

   Then he sang the song in a funny way. The audience laughed out loudly. I felt a little angry because Swift is my favourite star. I couldn’t understand why they laughed at Swift.

As time goes on, I find many US people make fun of others. But they don’t mean to hurt them. They do that to show closeness and humour. And people who are laughed at seldom get angry. Now I understand the speaker at the square. Now I’ve got used to the way the US people speak.

   It’s easy to find culture shock when you’re in a new place. But everyone should learn to understand different cultures and customs. 

1.The man in the square was _______________.

A. teaching people how to give a speech

B. calling on people to protect the environment

C. giving a singing show in public

D. criticizing the US government           

2. What does the underlined word “hypocrite” in Paragraph 4 mean?

A. 會唱歌的人      B. 真誠的人       C. 虛偽的人       D. 愛護(hù)環(huán)境的人

3.From Paragraph 6, we learn that_________________.

A. many US people like to laugh at others  

B. many US people are friendly and humorous

C. the US people get angry at others easily  

D. the writer doesn’t like the way the US people speak          

4.Which is Not suitable for the passage?

A. The writer went to America and protect the environment.

B. Americans show humour in a different way from China.

C. It’s easy to find culture shock when you are in a new place.

D. Tailor Swift is an American famous singer.               

5.What does the article mainly talk about?

A. Differences between the Chinese and the US people.      

B. In what way the US people speak in public.

C. How to get used to life in the US.  

D. A Chinese girl’s culture shock experience in the US.

 

The first English week at our school started on May 4th, 2009. The whole school was filled with an English learning atmosphere. A series of activities was held. There were handwriting activities, story writing, English songs, role playing in English, and so on, all the teachers and students were very happy. They spoke English, sang English songs and enjoyed all the activities. Handwriting was for the students in lower grades. Although most of them couldn’t write so well, they were all very careful about it. In the show window, there were a lot of colorful handwritten papers. They copied some articles from books or newspapers. And then they decorated(裝飾) them with pictures in different colors, and some even put their own photos on them. How cute and lovely they looked!

Story writing was for students in Grade 7 and Grade 8. These students are always fond of cartoons, so they got interested in this activity. Reading the stories they made up, all the visitors couldn’t help speaking highly of them.

The most important event was the English show on the last day. The students and teachers presented (上演) a lot of English songs and English operas. Each program won storms of applause.

    One week is not very long, but all the students and teachers learned a lot. Just as the headmaster said, “It is a helpful week. It will certainly lead us to enjoy and learn more from our English studies.”

1. In this passage, the English week is described as__________.

A. surprising            B. boring       C. enjoyable               D. serious

2. Which of the following is NOT true?

A. All the students took part in the handwriting contest (比賽).

B. The story writing contest was for students in Grade 7 and Grade 8.

C. The English show was the most important event.

D. Teachers also took part in the English week.

3.What does the underlined word “applause” probably mean?

A. Noise      B. Cheer      C. Sound             D. Music

4.What does the writer probably want to tell us at the end of the passage?

A. The activities are a good way to learn English.

B. Students usually don’t like English.

C. The activities last longer.

D. Learning English in the classroom is invaluable.

 

Carmen Arace Middle School is situated in the pastoral town of Bloomfield, Conn., but four years ago it faced many of the same problems as inner-city schools in nearby Hartford: low scores on standardized tests and dropping enrollment（入學(xué)注冊）. Then the school’s hard-driving headmaster, Delores Bolton, persuaded her board to shake up the place by buying a laptop computer for each student and teacher to use, in school and at home. What’s more, the board provided wireless Internet access at school. Total cost: $2.5 million.

Now, an hour before classes start, every seat in the library is taken by students who cannot wait for getting online. Fifth-grade teacher Jen Friday talks about different kinds of birds as students view them at a colorful website. After school, students on buses pull laptops from backpacks to get started on homework. Since the computer arrived, enrollment is up 20%. Scores on state tests are up 35%.

Indeed, school systems in rural Maine and New York City also hope to follow Arace Middle School’s example. Governor Angus King had planned using $50 million to buy a laptop for all of Maine’s 17,000 seventh-graders – and for new seventh-graders each fall.

In the same spirit, the New York City board of education voted on April 12 to create a school Internet portal（入口）, which would make money by selling ads and licensing public school students. Profits（盈利）will also provide e-mail service for the city’s 1.1 million public school students. Profits will be used to buy laptops for each of the school system’s 87,000 fourth-graders. Within nine years, all students in grades 4 and higher will have their own computers.

Back in Bloomfield, in the meantime, most of the kinks have been worked out. Some students were using their computers to visit unauthorized（非法的）websites. But teachers have the ability to keep an eye on where students have been on the Web and to stop them. “That is the worst when they disable you,” says eighth-grade honors student Jamie Bassell. The habit is rubbing off on parents. “I taught my mom to use e-mail,” says another eighth-grader, Katherine Hypolite. “And now she’s taking computer classes. I’m so proud of her!”

1.The example of Carmen Arace Middle School in the passage is used to ______.

A. show the problems schools are faced with today

B. prove that a school without high enrollment can do well

C. express the importance of computers in modern education

D. tell that laptops can help improve students’ school performance

2.According to the writer, students in New York City’s public schools will ______.

A. enjoy e-mail service in the near future

B. make money by selling ads on websites

C. all have their own laptops within nine years

D. become more interested in their studies with laptops

3.The underlined word “kinks” in the last paragraph most probably means ______.

A. plans         B. projects       C. problems      D. products

4.From the passage we learn that ______.

A. a school Internet portal is the key to a laptop program

B. the laptop program also has a good influence on parents

C. students slowly accept the fact their online activities controlled

D. the laptop program in public school is mainly for the eighth-graders