Robert had just moved into the street and he felt strange that he was not wanted. He knew that perhaps the other boys were trying to get an idea of what kind of boy he was. This did not help to make him less lonely. He was new and he had to be tested. Still, proving himself would not be all that easy. He did not want to run with bad boys or get into something against the law to prove that he was strong. No! He must show what he was made of in a more helpful way. That was when he got the idea. The next day was Saturday. He knew that most of the boys would be down on the playground and choose upsides for the Saturday game. Robert knew he could play well and what just might be enough to prove he was strong—and to make friends with them.

He arrived early and did his step exercises. He shot (投擲) the ball some times and did some other exercises—the most difficult and most wonderful in basketball. Then the boys came. Robert went through what he had done before the game and showed what he could do.

No one said a word. The boys just looked at each other, and thought about it. In the end, when it was all over, the biggest of the group just smiled and shook his head. Robert knew he had made it.

1.What does “This did not help to make him less lonely” mean?

A. Robert felt more lonely because the other boys wanted to test him.

B. Robert did not feel lonely in fact.

C. Robert felt as lonely as before when the other boys tried to find out what kind of boy he was.

D. The other boys did not want to make Robert feel less lonely.

2.When did Robert decide to prove himself by playing basketball?

A. After he had thought about the two wrong ways.

B. Long before he moved into the street.

C. When the other boys came down to the playground.

D. As soon as he showed what he was made of in front of the other boys.

3.What did the biggest of the group mean by shaking his head?

A. He did not want to say anything about what Robert had done.

B. He had not thought Robert could play so wonderfully.

C. He did want to make friends with Robert.

D. He did not think Robert played basketball well.

A team of US psychologists(心理學家) have found that talking to another person for ten minutes a day helps with memory.

“Socializing(交際) is just as effective as more traditional kinds of mental exercise in boosting memory and intellectual(智力的) performance,” Oscar Ybarra, a psychologist at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, said in a statement.

In one investigation, they analyzed data on 3610 people, aged 24 to 96.

They found that the higher their level of social interaction(交流), the better their cognitive(認知的) functioning. Social interaction includes getting together or having phone chats with relatives, friends and neighbors.

In another experiment, the researchers conducted laboratory tests on 76 college students, aged 18 to 21, to evaluate(評估) how social interactions and intellectual exercises affected the results of memory and mental performance tests.

The students were divided into three groups: the social interaction group had a discussion of a social issue for 10 minutes before taking the tests; the intellectual activities group completed three tasks (including a reading comprehension exercise and a crossword puzzle) before the tests; and a control group(對照組) watched a 10-minute clip(電影片段) of the Seinfeld television show.

“We found that short-term social interaction lasting for just 10 minutes improved participants’ (參與者) intellectual performance as much as engaging in (從事) so-called ‘intellectual’ activities for the same amount of time,” Ybarra said.

The study was expected to be published in the February issue of the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

1.What does the underlined word “boosting” in the second paragraph probably mean?

A. Improving. B. Reducing.

C. Preventing. D. Training.

2.Which is not included in social interaction?

A. Having a talk with a neighbor.

B. Attending a birthday party.

C. Watching TV at home alone.

D. Calling your classmates.

3.What’s the purpose of the experiment on 76 college students?

A. To judge the effect of social interaction on memory and intelligence.

B. To find out what is real social interaction.

C. To learn how much time is needed for social interaction.

D. To show the function of people's cognition.

4.What’s the main idea of the passage?

A. Intellectual exercises make your memory better.

B. Different people have different ways of communication.

C. Communicating with others keeps you healthy.

D. Social interaction makes you smart.

完成句子 按所給的漢語，用英語完成下列句子。

1.作為一名護士，她的工作遠遠不止照顧病人。

As a nurse, her work ________________________ of patients.

2.孫儷是個好演員，在多部影片中成功地扮演了各種角色。

Sun Li is such a good ________________________ playing different roles in many films.

3.如果你不獨立完成作業(yè)，那就是浪費生命。

It is really ________________________ you do your homework by yourself.

4.那家極具地方特色的小飯店吸引了大量游客的注意。

The small restaurant __________________________________________ of a large number

of tourists

5.這份工作對他來說比其他什么都重要。

This job ________________________ than anything else.

6.相當多的四十多歲的成年人是聽鄧麗君的歌長大的。

Quite a lot of adults ________________________________________ Teresa Deng’s songs.

After running a 1000-metre race, he was________.

A. out of breathe B. breathed heavily

C. took a deep breath D. out of breath

— The song Where did the time go ______ the old days and the love of family.

— Sure. It’s my favorite song.

A. reminds us of B. helps us out

C. lets us down D. cheers us up

—What else should we pay attention to ________ building the bridge?

—The change of the weather, I think.

A. finishing B. finished

C. to finish D. finish

Is there intelligent (有智力的) life on other planets? For years, scientists said “no.” or “we don’t know.” But today this is changing. Seth Shostak and Alexandra Barnett are astronomers(天文學家). They believe intelligent life exists (存在) somewhere in the universe. They also think we sill soon contact these beings(人；生物).

Why do Shostak and Barnett think intelligent life exists on other planets? The first reason is time. Scientists believe the universe is about 12 billion years old. “This is long enough for other planets to have intelligent life,” say Shostak and Barnett. The second reason is size—the universe is huge. “Tools like the Hubble Telescope(哈勃望遠鏡) have shown that there are at least 100 billion galaxies,” says Shostak. “And our galaxy, the Milky Way, has at least 100 billion stars. Some planets going around these stars might be similar to Earth.”

In the past, it was hard to look for signs of intelligent life in the universe. But now, powerful telescopes(高倍望遠鏡) allow scientists to discover smaller planets—the size of Mars or Earth—in other solar systems. These planets might have intelligent life.

Have beings from space already visited Earth? “Probably not,” says Shostak. “It’s a long way away. However, intelligent beings may contact us in other way, such as radio signals(信號). In fact, they may be trying to communicate with us now, but we don’t have the right tools to receive their messages. However, this is changing. By 2025, we could make contact with other life forms in our universe and we might help each other.”

1.Seth Shostak and Alexandra Barnett are _____.

A. astronomers B. farmers

C. singers D. drivers

2.What is the best title for Paragraph 2?

A. The Age and Size of Earth

B. Our Galaxy: The Milky Way

C. Why Intelligent Life Might Exist

D. Earth: The Only Planet with Intelligent Life

3.Why was it hard to look for signs of intelligent life in the universe in the past?

A. There were not any smaller planets.

B. There were not any powerful telescopes.

C. The astronomers were not interested in them.

D. The Milky Way didn’t exist at that time,

4.Why haven’t beings from space visited us yet according to Shostak?

A. They’re afraid of us.

B. It’s a long way away.

C. They don’t want to see us.

D. They don’t know how to use radio signals.

任務型閱讀

George Dennehy was born with no arms. He never dreamed he would become a musician. But that is what he has become. He was born in Romania. And because of his poor condition, his parents sent him to an orphanage (孤兒院), where George was adopted (領養(yǎng)) by a family in America.

Early on, George’s parents saw musical abilities in him. “When I was 8 years old, my mum took me to have cello (大提琴) lessons,” he said. Though he didn’t really enjoy it, he seldom missed any lessons.

His first teacher helped him be able to play with his feet. Soon he was very good at it. At the beginning of high school, when the cello became “not so cool” to play, George began to play the guitar. “It was a lucky thing to learn the cello first,” he said. This made playing the guitar not so hard.

Playing music hasn’t been an easy road. He was shy at first. “I did face different challenges and didn’t know if I was going to make something of myself,” he said. But these doubts didn’t stop him. Every time he got on stage to play music, he could see how the audience (觀眾) admired his abilities. This gave him confidence and encouraged him to continue his career.

George said that the secret of his success was being able to overcome (克服). “No matter what situation you’re in, anything is possible. It is so easy to give up sometimes, but we shouldn’t do that. We believe there is more that is meaningful for us,” he said.

寫作：中學生普遍面臨著很多煩惱，請用英語描述下面表格中列出的問題，并提出自己的建議。

要求：1、條理清楚，語句通順；

2、80詞左右。開頭已給出，不計入總詞數(shù)。

Now, many middle school students face some problems.

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Annie always gets good scores in lots of exams because she is a girl.

A. shy B. friendly C. polite D. hard-working