The president of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, is asking for foreign help to fight forest and agricultural fires in his country. According to Mr Widodo, Indonesian helicopters are only able to carry a small amount of the water needed to put out the fires. “_____________________________________” the Associated Press reported his comment.
The Indonesian National Institute of Aeronautics and Space says more than 1,300 fires are burning across the country. The government has sent about 25,000 soldiers, police and firefighters in six provinces to battle the fires.
Indonesian farmers and some businesses often burn rainforest to clear land at this time of year. The burning usually takes place during the country's dry season. But a large rise in palm（棕榈）oil production on peat lands is blamed for the many fires this year. Peat is made partly of dead plants, which burns easily and is often used as cooking fuel.
The resulting thick, black smoke has polluted skies over Indonesia and four other countries. The burning has worsened air quality, closed schools and caused any outdoor activities to stop. The smoke is not only affecting people; it is affecting wildlife. In Indonesian Borneo, an animal rescue center says some of its animals have developed breathing problems. If the fires continue, a lot more could become sick and some could die.
Scientists have warned that the fires this year could be worst ever because of a weather system called El Nino. They say the weather system has created extremely dry conditions in Indonesia.
【小题1】What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 1 probably mean?

A．Countries should hold hands in the fight against fires.

B．It takes countries time to figure out ways to fight fires.

C．It’s too late for countries to make efforts together to put out fires.

D．Countries should work together to put our fires as soon as possible.

【小题2】Which statement is true according to the passage?

A．El Nino might help relieve the dry conditions in Indonesia.

B．Many animals have become sick and died because of the fires.

C．25,000 people from home and abroad have been sent to fight fires.

D．Some other countries besides Indonesia have been affected by the fires.

【小题3】What is the main cause of the many fires this year?

A．The increase in palm oil production.

B．The burning of rainforest.

C．The extreme dry weather.

D．A weather system called El Nino.

【小题4】This passage might be found in .

A．a government report	B．a news report
C．a firefighting guide	D．an agricultural book

D
As thousands of communities in the USA — especially in the South — became booming gateways for immigrant families from Central and South America during the 1990s and the early years of the new century, public schools struggled with the unfamiliar task of serving the large numbers of English learners arriving in their classrooms.
Education programs needed_____________“We had no teaching resources suitable for English learners here before. We had to develop them all ourselves,” a Texas principal said. Throughout the country, districts had to train their own teachers to teach English to non-native speakers or recruit (招聘)teachers from elsewhere. School staff members had to figure out how to communicate with parents who spoke no English.
But even as immigration has slowed or stopped in many places, and instructional programs for English-learners have matured, serving immigrant families and their children remains a work in progress in many public schools, especially those in communities that are skeptical, or sometimes unwelcoming, to the newcomers. One of the biggest challenges educators face, is communicating effectively with parents who don’t speak English — an issue that, in part, has contributed to recent complaints of discrimination by Latino students in some cities.
“The parents’ role is very important for the success of these students, but it's also one of the most difficult things we’ve had to tackle(处理),” said Jim D. Rollins, the president of the Springdale school district, where the 19,000-student school system has gone from having no English-learners 15 years ago to more than 7,500 now. “You have to make it a priority and work on it, work on it, and work on it.”
Aside from the practical challenges, such as finding bilingual (会说两种语言的) staff members, guiding districts through such dramatic changes requires school leaders to bridge difficult political and cultural divides. For school leaders in the South, especially in the last few years, this difficult job has been made harder still by the negative attitudes of some locals towards immigrants.
【小题1】According to the passage, what is the problem that public schools are facing?

A．Handling more cases from the immigrant Mexican communities.

B．Offering services to immigrant families in the southern states.

C．Offering enough communicative lessons to immigrant parents.

D．Providing education for non-native English learners.

【小题2】The underlined part “built from scratch” (in Paragraph 2) probably means “________”.

A．completely new

B．painful to make

C．based on past experience

D．constructed gradually

【小题3】What do we know about the immigrant parents?

A．Many of them cannot speak English.

B．Most of them think education is not important.

C．Some of them feel skeptical about the local community.

D．Few of them have attended American schools.

In certain countries of the world，the king or queen is still the head country。The UK is one of these countries。So that does the British royal family(皇室) represent for the British people today? Well，a large number of things。The royal family are of course a part of British history and tradition。They still have an important and meaning for many people today。It just wouldn’t feel the same if there were no royal family。In addition to that，the queen has important formal duties：
●as head of the state，the Queen represents the UK on visits other would leaders to visit the UK.
●as head of the armed force，only the Queen can declare when the UK is at war or when the war is over。
●as head of the Church of England。
Not just the Queen，the royal family spend a great deal of their time traveling up and there should be royal family。Sometimes the press and media criticize（批评）the royal family as well。One criticism is that the British people should not have to pay for the royal through their taxes。Another is that the Buckingham Palace should be open to the public more often，in order to pay for the building repairs that are necessary。
【小题1】Today，the British royal still represents ____of the UK。

A．the honor and pride	B．history and tradition
C．function and law	D．politics and culture

【小题2】Which is one of the Queen’s formal duties？

A．Visiting foreign countries.

B．Fighting in wars.

C．Writing government documents.

D．Repairing the church.

【小题3】Why are royal family criticized by the press and media？

A．Because the royal don’t do anything for the country.

B．Because more people want to visit Buckingham Palace.

C．Because some people don’t want their taxes to be used for the royal family.

D．Because the Queen is too meet busy to meet with her people.

   Tang Dynasty poets sang for about three centuries in different tones. There were many famous poets living in the Tang period such as Li Bai, Du Fu, Bai Juyi and Li Shangyin. Quan Tangshi edited in the Qing Dynasty is a collection of about 48, 900 poems that were written by over 2, 200 poets. But it doesn't cover all the poems of the Tang Dynasty.

During the Tang Dynasty, poems were recited when lovers walked under the moonlight. Poems were also recited when soldiers fought on the battlefield. People recited them in the open air or at temple fairs.

In the Tang Dynasty scholars（学者）had to be poets. Their readers were not only people of high social position but also common people. Poets recited poems；women singers sang poems and other ranks of people, including old women and children, read Tang poems. This atmosphere affected foreigners who visited the country at that time. As a result, Tang poetry was introduced to some adjacent countries, like Japan and Vietnam.

Tang poetry is a most brilliant page in the history of ancient Chinese literature. It's a miracle（奇迹）in the cultural history of mankind. The Tang Dynasty was a powerful empire with a vast territory. It inherited（继承）Chinese civilization that went back to ancient times, and was combined with the best of other cultures and adopted the benefits of other nations in the world. Tang poetry wasn’t the only spiritual wealth created by people of the Tang Dynasty. Philosophy, handwriting, painting, music and dance all gained new peaks of development. Tang poetry, however, was the jewel in the crown and the greatest achievement in the Tang Dynasty.

【小题1】It can be learned from Paragraph 1 that ________.

A．there were more than 48, 900 poems written in the Tang Dynasty

B．in total there were four famous poets in the Tang Dynasty

C．only people of the Tang Dynasty created poems

D．in the Tang Dynasty most common people were poets

【小题2】The underlined word "adjacent" in Paragraph 3 probably means ________.

A．neighboring	B．strong
C．poor	D．western

【小题3】What does the author really want to tell us in Paragraph 3?

A．In the Tang Dynasty all poets were scholars.

B．In the Tang Dynasty poems were quite popular.

C．Many foreigners came to the east during the Tang Dynasty.

D．In the Tang Dynasty many poems were sung by women singers.

【小题4】What can we know from Paragraph 4？

A．The reasons for the poets to create poems in the Tang Dynasty.

B．Tang poetry, the greatest spiritual wealth in ancient China.

C．The significance and influence of Tang poetry.

D．The editors of Tang poetry in the Qing Dynasty.

   Some authors have made some predictions (预测) about what our modern life could become. Here are four books that, somehow, managed to predict the future.

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?

This novel was published in 1935. It’s about a dance marathon competition. Competitors who last the longest can get prize money. It’s just like reality TV shows. In reality shows, people voluntarily do things that are physically and mentally tiring or embarrassing.

Neuromancer

William Gibson’s 1984 novel, Neuromancer, not only gave birth to the cyberpunk genre, but it also predicted cyberspace (网络空间) and the Internet. In 1984, there was already a network, but only several universities used it. Gibson predicted the rise of technological addiction and people’s need to be online.

Earth

In 1990, Brin published the novel where the story takes place in the year 2038. A black hole has fallen into the Earth’s core. Scientists have a year to fix it, or the earth may be destroyed. And Brin correctly predicted the World Wide Web (Web) that was invented a year after the book was published. In Earth, the characters don’t think they would find any Earth-like planets. In reality, we have found several Earth-like planets.

Childhood’s End

Childhood’s End is about an invasion (入侵) of Earth by aliens called the Overlords. They help advance human technology. One of those technologies they introduce is a type of virtual reality that is like a movie. The author also predicted that in the early 2000s, people might watch TV for three hours a day.

【小题1】Which of the following books predicts a new kind of TV shows?

A．They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?	B．Childhood’s End
C．Neuromancer	D．Earth

【小题2】What was predicted by Neuromancer?

A．A special way of communication.	B．People’s eagerness for new things.
C．People’s need for the Internet.	D．The invention of the computer.

【小题3】What do we know about the novel Earth?

A．It is about the exploration of the Earth-like planets.

B．One opinion of its characters has been proven wrong.

C．Only it made predictions about aliens.

D．It was written after the Web was invented.