Prolonging human life has increased the size of the human population. Many people alive today would have died of childhood diseases if they had been born 100 years ago. Because more people live longer, there are more people around at any given time. In fact, it is a decrease in death rates, not an increase in birthrates, that has led to the population explosion.
Prolonging human life has also increased the dependency load. In all societies, people who are disabled or too young or too old to work are dependent on the rest of society to provide for them. In hunting and gathering cultures, old people who could not keep up might be left behind to die. In times of famine (饥荒), infants might be allowed to die because they could not survive if their parents starved, where as if the parents survived they could have another child. In most contemporary societies, people feel a moral obligation (责任) to keep people alive whether they can work or not. We have a great many people today who live past the age at which they want to work or are able to work; we also have rules which require people to retire at a certain age. Unless these people were able to save money for their retirement, somebody else must support them. In the United States many retired people live on social security checks which are so little that they must live in near poverty. Older people have more illnesses than young or middle-aged people; unless they have wealth or private or government insurance, they must often “go on welfare” if they have a serious illness.
When older people become senile (衰老的) or too weak and ill to care for themselves, they create grave problems for their families. In the past and in some traditional cultures, they would be cared for at home until they died. Today, with most members of a household working or in school, there is often no one at home who can care for a sick or weak person. To meet this need, a great many nursing homes and convalescent (疗养的) hospitals have been built. These are often profit making organizations, although some are sponsored by religious and other nonprofit groups. While a few of these institutions are good, most of them are simply “dumping (倒垃圾的) grounds” for the dying in which “care” is given by poorly paid, overworked, and under skilled personnel (员工).
【小题1】The author believes that the increased size of the human population results from _______.

A．an increase in birthrates	B．the industrial development
C．a decrease in death rates	D．childhood diseases

【小题2】It can be inferred from the passage that in hunting and gathering cultures _______.

A．it was a moral responsibility for the families to keep alive the aged people who could not work

B．the survival of infants was less important than that of their parents in times of starvation

C．old people were given the task of imparting (传授) the cultural wisdom of the tribe to new generations

D．death was celebrated as a time of rejoicing for an individual freed of (免除) the hardships of life

【小题3】The phrase “this need” in the last paragraph refers to ________.

A．prolonging the dying old people’s lives

B．reducing the problems caused by the retired people

C．making profits through caring for the sick or weak people

D．taking care of the sick or weak people

【小题4】According to the passage, which of the following statements about the old people in the United States is true?

A．Many of them live on social security money which is hardly enough.

B．Minority of them remain in a state of near poverty after their retirement.

C．Many nursing homes are sponsored by religious and nonprofit groups.

D．Older people have wealth or private insurance if they have a serious illness.

就题目“茶(Tea)”写一篇120词左右的短文。内容包括：

   1、饮茶源于中国，现已遍及全世界；

   2、中国有许多世界名茶。用不同的方法加工茶，可生产出红茶(black tea)，绿茶，花茶(scented tea)保健茶(tea)等；

   3、饮茶已成为我们生活的一部分。饮茶可以使人保持大脑清醒，解除疲劳。茶里的营养成分(nutritious elements)以及微量元素(trace elements)可以使人健康。

 

                                                                               

                                                                                   

                                                                                       

                                                                                       

                                                                              

 

At exactly eleven Sir Percival knocked and entered, with anxiety and worry in every line of his face. This meeting would decide his future life，and he obviously knew it.
"You may wonder, Sir Percival,”said Laura calmly, “if I am going to ask to be released (免除）from my promise to many you. I am not going to ask this. I respect my father's wishes too much.”
His face relaxed a little, but one of his feet kept beating the carpet.
"No, if we are going to withdraw. (退出）from our planned marriage, it will be because of your wish, not mine.
“Mine?” he said in great surprise. “What reason could I have for withdrawing?^’
"A reason that is very hard to tell you," she answered. "There is a change in me.”
His face went so pale that even his lips lost their color. He turned his head to one side.
"What change?" he asked, trying to appear calm.
“When the promise was made two years ago,” she said, ⁴⁴ my love did not belong to anyone. Will you forgive me, Sir Percival, if I tell you that it now belongs to another person?”
“I wish you to understand, “Laura continued, “that I will never see this person again, and that if you leave me, you only allow mc to remain a single woman for the rest of my life. All I ask is that you forgive mc and keep my secret."
‘I will do both those things, “he said. Then he looked at Laura, as if he was waiting to hear more.
"I think I have said enough to give you reason to withdraw from our marriage, “she added quietly.
“No. You have said enough to make it the dearest wish of my life to marry you, ” he said.
【小题1】How did Percival feel during his meeting with Laura?

A．Angry.

B．Calm.

C．Nervous.

D．Excited.

【小题2】We can learn from the passage that        .

A．Laura had once promised to marry Percival

B．Laura's father wished to end her marriage

C．Percival had been married to Laura for two years

D．Percival asked to be released from the marriage

【小题3】The passage is probably taken out of              .

A．a novel

B．a report

C．a diary

D．an essay

At exactly eleven Sir Percival knocked and entered, with anxiety and worry in every line of his face. This meeting would decide his future life, and he obviously knew it.
“You may wonder, Sir Percival,” said Laura calmly, “if I am going to ask to be released（免除）from my promise to marry you. I am not going to ask this. I respect my father’s wishes too much.”
His face relaxed a little, but one of his feet kept beating the carpet.
“No, if we are going to withdraw（退出）from our planned marriage, it will be because of your wish, not mine. ”
“Mine?” he said in great surprise. “What reason could I have for withdrawing?”
“A reason that is very hard to tell you,” she answered. “There is a change in me.”
His face went so pale that even his lips lost their color. He turned his head to one side.
“What change?” he asked, trying to appear calm.
“When the promise was made two years ago”, she said, “my love did not belong to anyone. Will you forgive me, Sir Percival, if I tell you that it now belongs to another person?”
“I wish you to understand”, Laura continued, “that I will never see this person again, and that if you leave me, you only allow me to remain a single woman for the rest of my life. All I ask is that you forgive me and keep my secret.”
“I will do both those things,” he said. Then he looked at Laura, as if he was waiting to hear more.
“I think I have said enough to give you reason to withdraw from our marriage,” she added quietly.
“No. You have said enough to make it the dearest wish of my life to marry you,” he said.
【小题1】How did Percival feel during his meeting with Laura?

A．Angry.

B．Calm.

C．Excited.

D．Nervous.

【小题2】We can learn from the passage that ______.

A．Laura’s father wished to end her marriage

B．Laura had once promised to marry Percival

C．Percival had been married to Laura for two years

D．Percival asked to be released from the marriage

【小题3】What do you think is the ending of the story?

A．Laura was married to Percival.

B．Laura was married to another man.

C．Percival was married to another woman.

D．Both Percival and Laura remained single for the rest of their lives.

语法填空（共10小题，每小题1.5分，满分15分）

    阅读下面短文，根据上下文填入适当的词语，或使用括号中的词语的适当形式填空。

Chinese President Hu said before arriving in Pittsburgh ahead of the G20 summit, “To realize __1__ safer world for all, we must first and foremost remove the threat of nuclear war,” saying Beijing has always wanted complete __2___ (prohibit) and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons. Hu also said, “All countries should join the NPT (Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty) and make real efforts to uphold and enhance its authority and __3__ (effective).” It was the third day when Hu had made a major speech before world leaders. __4__ was the first time that he __5__ (address) such a high-level summit on disarmament(解除武装) and nonproliferation(消除核扩散). Hu made five proposals in his speech, _6__ (say) all countries with nuclear weapons should publicly commit to not wanting to possess _7__ in the long term. Hu said China will consistently support nonproliferation and disarmament treaties. “We have adhered to(坚持) the policy of no-first-use of nuclear weapons at any time and __8__ any circumstance, and made the commitment that we will unconditionally not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons _9__ non-nuclear-weapon states or nuclear-weapon-free zones,” said Hu. The Chinese president said the function of the International Atomic Energy Agency should __10__ (strength).