Liverpool, my hometown, is a unique city. It is so unique that in 2004 it became a World Heritage （遺產(chǎn)） Site.

I recently returned to my home city and my first stop was at a museum on the River Mersey. Blanketed in mist （薄霧）, Victorian architecture rose from the banks of the river, responded to the sounds of sea-birds, and appeared unbelievably charming. When I headed toward the centre, I found myself surrounded by buildings that mirror the best palaces of Europe. It is not hard to imagine why, on first seeing the city, most visitors would be overpowered by the beauty of the noble buildings, which are solid signs of Liverpool’s history.

As if stress its cultural role, Liverpool has more museums and galleries （美術(shù)館） than most cities in Britain. At Walker Art Gallery, I was told that it has best collections of Victorian paintings in the world, and is the home of modern art in the north of England. However, culture is more than galleries. Liverpool offers many music events. As Britain’s No.1 music city, it has the biggest city music festival in Europe, and its musicians are famous all over the world. Liverpool is also well-known for its football and other sports events. Every year, the Mersey River Festival attracts thousands of visitors, madding the city a place of wonder.

As you would expect from such a city, there are restaurants serving food from around the world. When my trip was about to complete, I chose to rest my legs in Liverpool’s famous Philharmonic pub（酒館）. It is a monument to perfection, and a heritage attraction itself.

Being a World Heritage Site, my home city is certainly a place of “outstanding universal value”. It is a treasure house with plenty of secrets for the world to explore.

Visitors who see the city for the first time would be deeply impressed by __________.

A. its charming banks

B. its famous museums

C. its wonderful palaces

D. its attractive buildings

The third paragraph is developed mainly by __________.

A. providing different examples

B. following the order of space

C. making comparisons

D. analyzing causes

The author uses the Philharmonic pub to prove that _________.

A. Liverpool is a well-known city for its restaurants

B. Liverpool is an impressive place full of attraction

C. a pub is a wonderful place for visitors to relax themselves

D. a pub is a perfect choice for visitors to complete their journey

What is the passage mainly about?

A. The universal value of the world heritage in Liverpool.

B. The exciting experience of the author in Liverpool.

C. The special cultural atmosphere of Liverpool.

D. The beautiful historic sites of Liverpool.

     Australia’s Great Barrier Reef will lose most of its coral cover by 2050 and, at worst, the world’s largest coral system could collapse by 2100 because of global warming, a study recently said.

     The study by Queensland University’s Center for Marine Studies, commissioned (委托) by the Worldwide Fund for Nature, said that the destruction of coral on the Great Barrier Reef was unavoidable due to global warming, regardless of what actions were taken now. “Under the worst-case scenario, coral populations will collapse by 2100 and the reestablishment of coral reefs will be highly unlikely over the following 200-500 years,” said the report entitled “Implications (可能的影響) of Climate Change for Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.”

     The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest living reef formation stretching 2,000 km north to south along Australia’s northeast coast. “Only if global average temperature change is kept to below two degrees Celsius can the Reef have any change of recovering from the predicted damage,” the report said. Coral has a narrow comfort zone and is highly stressed by a temperature rise of less than one degree Celsius. Water temperature rises of less than one degree coincided (同時(shí)發(fā)生) with the world’s worst recorded coral bleaching (顏色變淡) period in 1988. The warmer water forces out the algae (海藻) that give coral its color and, if all are lost, the coral dies and the reef will die out. In 1988, 16 percent of the world’s coral died, with 46 percent of the Indian Ocean coral destroyed.

     Scientists express water temperatures to rise this century by between two and six degrees Celsius. “There is little to no evidence that corals can adapt fast enough to match even the lower  temperature rise,” said the report. Over-fishing and pollution from coastal farms were also contributing to the destruction of coral on the Great Barrier Reef.

     The Great Barrier Reef supports huge fishing and tourism industries. Even under favorable conditions tourists would only be able to experience real corals in reef “theme parks”.

The underlined word “scenario” in Paragraph 2 probably means         .

A. imagination        B. intention        C. expectation       D. prediction

From the passage, we can infer that         .

A. corals have no difficulty in ad高☆考♂資♀源?網(wǎng)apting the temperature change

B. if we take quick actions we can avoid the destruction of corals

C. we can find corals in many areas of the seas or oceans

D. the algae help corals to live

Which of the following is NOT the cause of the destruction of coral on the Great Barrier Reef?

A. Direct sunshine.              B. Over-fishing.

C. Global warming.              D. Pollution.

By saying “Coral has a narrow comfort zone” (Para. 3), the author means         .

A. coral can only live in a small area     

B. coral prefers a crowded place

C. coral can hardly adapt to the temperature change     

D. coral grows best in a small are高☆考♂資♀源?網(wǎng)a

Modern life is a lot les s to the advantage of friendships and neighborliness than it used to be. The average American moves every five years. People drive straight into their garages, hire lawn services, hang out in their backyards instead of their front porches (前走廊). These days, neighbors don't even know each other's names. 

Good neighbors and good friends are a lot like electricity or running water: We don't know how much we depend on them until we don't have them. In fact, the authors of a recent book, Refrigerator Rights, claim that refrigerators are signs of close relationships--after all, you wouldn't snatch a drumstick(雞腿) from the refrigerator of a stranger.

The surprising thing is that all it takes to strengthen your relationship with friends and neighbors is respect for their feelings, concern for their property, and a helping hand when it's needed. Here's how to develop your relationships with two types of vitally important people in your life. 

_________________. A true friend doesn't flee when changes occur. The sign of a good friend is one who stays true through it all--marriage, parenthood, new jobs, new homes, the losses. Just because situations change doesn't mean the person has to.

Friendships fade away if there isn't an balance between the give and the take. So make sure you aren't being a burden to your friends. Be sensitive to how much your friend can and can't offer you--be it time, energy, or help -- and don't step over the line. Meanwhile, friendships that drain(耗盡) you will not last. If a friendship is out of balance in this way, you'll need to talk the situation through.

1. Which sentence in the passage is the closest in meaning to the following one?

A true friend will stay the same even when the situations change. 

2. Fill in the blank in Paragraph 4 with a proper sentence. (Within 10 words)

3. What advice is given in the last paragraph? (Within 10 words)

4. What do you think the author will go on talking about if the passage continues?(Within 10 words)

5. Translate the underlined sentence in the last paragraph into Chinese．

English is understood all over the world ________ Turkey is spoken by only a few people outside Turkey itself.

A. while            B. because            C. unless                  D. as

Switzerland is famous for its watches. However, this country didn’t invent the watch. It was the British who did it. Here is a story of how the watch was brought to Switzerland.

  Many years ago, an Englishman was traveling to Italy, on his way he stopped in a small town in south Switzerland. This Englishman traveled in a carriage inside which there was a carriage watch. This was the earliest kind of watch. A native shop assistant happened to see the watch. He wondered what it was and asked the Englishman about it, “it is a carriage watch,” said the man. “This machine tells the time but now it isn’t working.”

  At once the shop assistant offered to try to repair it. So the traveler handed him the watch. The assistant was a very wise man. So it was not very surprising that he managed to repair it. He even remembered how it was made. As soon as the traveler had gone on his journey, he made a watch exactly the same type.

  Thus the watch-making was started in Switzerland. Today Swiss watches are sold in stores all over the world.

Switzerland is famous for______.

   A. making watches.                      B. selling watches.     

   C. inventing watches.                            D. the carriage watch

The earliest watches were made in_______.

   A. Switzerland        B. England         C. Italy         D. a small town

The first Swiss watch was made by_______.

   A. an Italian shop assistant.

   B. an English shop assistant.

   C. a shop assistant in Switzerland.

   D. a man who was traveling to Italy.

The carriage watch was a machine which________.

   A. was put in the carriage                                 B. wasn’t working

   C. told people time                              D. had to be repaired