Every day, people produce rubbish in the city. Taking away a city’s rubbish is a big _（1）_. Every day trucks come into a city to （2）_ it. Most rubbish is _（3）things we can’t eat or use. If we kept these things we would soon have a mountain of rubbish.

In some cities the rubbish is collected and taken outside of city to a（4）_. Often the city dump(垃圾场) is placed where the ground is low_（5）_ there is a big hole. The kitchen rubbish is broken into small pieces and sent into the sewage system(污水系统). The sewage system takes away the used water from toilets, bathtubs and （6）_places.

To keep mice and flies away, some earth is used to（7）_the newly dumped rubbish. Later, grass may be planted on the rubbish-filled land. Finally, a house or a school may be built there, and then you’ll never know that this have once been an old rubbish dump.

In other cities the rubbish is  (1)  in special places. The fire burns everything but the metal. Sometimes the metal can be used again in factories where things are made of metal. The food parts of rubbish are put in special piles where they（9）_change into something called humus(腐殖质), which looks like black earth. And it’s found to be  (2)   in all kinds of things that can help plants to grow.

This year, we have met a once-a-century drought(旱灾 )in Yunnan. It makes us  (1)  water is the “life blood” of our earth, like air and sunshine. It is very important to living things. Without water, there can be  (2)  life on the earth. All animals and plants need water. Man also needs water. We need water to drink, to cook and to clean_ （3） . It even_  (3)  two thirds of our bodies.

Water is almost everywhere. Even in the_  (4)  places of the world, there is water in the air. However, we can not drink sea water  (5)  fresh water.            

However, people often_  (6)  to keep the water clean. They throw rubbish into rivers, lakes and seas. So not all the fresh water is_  (7)  for us to drink. _  (8)  a member of the earth, we mustn’t waste water any more. We must do something to   (9)   water.

With the development of economic and technology, more and more pollution appeared in every part of the life .Many people know the air pollution and water pollution are   (1)  to people.   (2)  ,not all people know that noise is also a kind of pollution, and it is bad for human beings too.

People who work and live under noisy   (3)  easily become deaf .Scientists believe that 10 percent   (4)  the workers in Britain are being deafened(变聋)by the noise where they work .Many of the workers who print newspapers and books ,and who weave (织)cloth become deaf. Quite a few people   (5)  near airports also become deaf. Recently it was discovered that many teenagers in America could hear no better than   (6)  people, for these young people like to listen to pop music and most of the pop music is   (7)   noise.

Nowadays the governments in many countries have made laws   (8)  or control noise and to make  (9)  less than 85 decibels(分贝).In China , the government is trying to solve  (10)   air and water pollution problems but also pollution problem.

 We have known for a long time that flowers of different plants open and close at different time of day. Yet no one really understands why flowers open and close like this at particular times. It is not as simple as we might think, as new experiments have shown. In one experiment, flowers were kept in darkness. We might expect that the flowers, without any information about the time of the day, did not open as they usually do. In fact, they continued to open at their usual time. This shows that they have some mysterious (神秘的) way of knowing the time.

    Their sense of time does not depend on information from the outside world; it is, so to speak, inside them, a kind of “inner clock”. This discovery may not seem to be very important. However, it was later found that not just plants but also animals including man have this “inner clock” which controls working of their bodies and their activities.

Human beings, then, are also controlled by this mysterious power. Whether we wish it or not, it affects such things in our life as our need for sleep, our need for food. And our ability to concentrate(集中).

What will the weather be like? Some people say they can know what the weather will be like from birds. They kook at birds. When they see birds fly high out to the sea, they say it will be a nice day. For birds donˈt like to fly out when it could rain. When the weather will be bad, sea birds turn back and stay on shore.

A big wind may come with a rain. Birds do not like to fly in a big wind. They may sit in a tree when rain is on the way.

Some people look at different animals on a farm. Other animals can alsotellthe weather. A chicken may make a big noise when rain is on the way. It may run here and there. A frog can show the weather, too. A frog will make a big noise when rain is on the way. It will stay in the water. On a nice day, it will come out up high out of the water.

“Life is speeding up. Everyone is getting unwell.”

This may sound like something someone would say today. But in fact, an unknown person who lived in Rome in AD（公元） 53 wrote it.

We all love new inventions. They are exciting, amazing and can even change our lives. But have all these developments really improved the quality of our lives?

Picture this. You’re rushing to finish your homework on the computer. Your mobile phone rings, a QQ message from your friend appears on the screen, the noise from the television is getting louder and louder. Suddenly the computer goes blank and you lose all your work. Now you have to stay up all night to get it done. How happy do you feel?

Inventions have speeded up our lives so much that they often leave up feeling stressed and tired. Why do you think people who live far away from noisy cities, who have no telephones, no cars, not even any electricity often seem to be happier? Perhaps because they live simpler lives.

One family in the UK went “back in time” to see what life was like without all the inventions we have today. The grandparents, with their daughter, and grandsons Benjamin, 10 and Thomas, 7, spent nine weeks in a 1940s house. They had no washing machine, microwave（微波炉）, computer or mobile phones.

The grandmother, Lyn, said, “The more things you have, the more difficult life becomes.” The boys said they fought less. Probably, they said, because there was less to fight over, such as their computer. Benjamin also noticed that his grandmother had changed from being a “trendy（赶时髦的）, beer-drinking granny”, to one who cooked things.

根据短文内容，选择正确答案。

Maybe you are an average (一般的) student. You probably think you will never be a top student (尖子生). However, anyone can become a better student if he or she does his or her best. Here are some tips (技巧) to help you.

Plan your time carefully. You should plan your time for such things aseating, sleeping and dressing. Then make a good, regular time for studying, but don’t forget to set enough time for entertainment (娱乐).

Keep your study quiet and clean. The study should have a desk, a chair and some study materials (资料), but no games, no radio and no television! When you sit down to study, you can put your heart into it. Make good use of your time.

Listen to everything that the teacher says. Listening carefully in class means less work later. Taking notes will help you remember what the teacher says.

After you get home from school, go over your notes. Review the important points. If you know what your teacher is going to discuss next day, read the material. It will help you study better.

Develop a good attitude (态度) to tests. The purpose (目的) of a test is to show what you have learned about a subject. It helps you know what you are not good at. The world will still go on even if (即使) you fail (不及格) in a test, so don’t be too worried.

More and more people like bicycling and it is no surprise. It is fun, healthy and good for the environment（环境）. Maybe that’s why there are 1.4 billion bicycles and only 400 million cars on roads worldwide today. Bikes can take you almost anywhere, and there is no oil cost!

Get on a bicycle and ride around your neighborhood. You may discover something new all around you. Stopping and getting off a bike is easier than stopping and getting out of your car. You can bike to work and benefit（受益）from the enjoyable exercise without polluting the environment. You don't even have to ride all the way.

Folding（可折叠的）bikes work well for people who ride the train. Just fold the bike and take it with you. You can do the same on an airplane. A folding bike can be packed in a suitcase. You can also take a common bike with you when you fly. But be sure to look for information by getting on airline websites. Not all airlines are bicycle-friendly to travelers.

Health Benefits of Bicycling:

It helps to prevent heart diseases.

Bicycling helps to control（控制） your weight.

A 15-minute bike ride to and from work three times a week burns off five kilos of fat in a year.

Bicycling can improve your mood（心情）.

Exercise like bicycling has been shown to make people feel better, more relaxed and self-confident.

Bicycling is healthier than driving.

We can’t remember clearly since when we started to take our mobiles to a dinner table. This happens a lot, especially when we eat out. Once a dish comes, instead of  lifting our chopsticks（筷子）, we take out our mobiles and click. Later, we         

post the photos onto Weibo or Wechat, waiting to be “liked.” Then we check our mobiles from time to time during the meal, to see whether we get “liked” or not. We just cannot leave our mobiles for simply a meal. Does that sound familiar（熟悉的） to you? Do you do that often? If not, how do you feel when others do that when having dinner with you?

A recent study suggests that what we are used to doing is not that good. Spending time taking photos of food makes the food less pleasant(令人愉快的). To test this, some researchers did an experiment. Some people were asked to take photos before they could enjoy food. It turned out that the more photos they took,     . So, why not stop taking photos and just enjoy the food ahead of you?

Besides（除…之外） the scientific result, there are also some other bad influences of taking photos of food before meals. After posting the photos onto the Internet, one will be unable to control himself and check his mobile many times. “Does everyone accept my photo? I hope a lot of people like it!” It seems like your mobile secretly calls your name all the time, even when you are with real people.

So, next time you go out to have dinner with your family or friends, how about not taking photos of food? Let the food be delicious as it is and share your life with people around you. Trust me, it will be a wonderful time.

Have you ever had trouble trying to choose a gift? Perhaps you need a birthday present for someone who is hard to please. How about clothing? You might be worried about choosing the wrong size, color, or style. Books or DVDs? You may not know enough about the person’s likes, dislikes, and interests. And giving money may not seem right. Well, how about a gift card?

  A gift card is a card that is issued (发行) by a certain store. It’s worth a certain amount money. It looks like a credit card (信用卡), but it actually works like cash. A gift-card holder can spend the amount of money noted on the card in the store that issued it. These cards are big money makers. One reason is that when gift-card holders go to the store, they often see other things to buy, and they end up spending more money than the gift card is worth.

  Gift cards are becoming popular in many countries around the world. Why? Cards are easy to buy and easy to use, either in the store or online. The receiver can select his or her own gift, and the giver doesn’t have to worry about finding just the right thing.

  Receiving a gift card, however, is not the same as receiving a gift. An actual gift can better remind us of the giver’s thought and effort that went into the choice. The message of a real gift is more likely to be, “I spent some time trying to find the right gift for you because I care about you.”

  Often a gift card doesn’t pass on the same message as an actual gift. It may seem to say, “I was in a hurry. I didn’t have time to think about what you really like.” In today’s busy world, gift cards are certainly convenient. However, they can make us forget the real purpose of giving gifts, which is to build a closer bond relationship between the gift-giver and the gift-receiver.