One recent report about noise said that a 7 a lot of people say that any noise disturbs their attention, only a sudden c 8 in the level of noise really affects people’s attention. It goes on to say that a background noise, which doesn’t change too much (music, for example) may even help people to pay attention.

People are testing ways to make less noise. There are even laws c 9 noise. We can’t r 10 to the “ good old days ” of peace and quiet. But we can make less noise --- if we shout loudly enough about it 八

There are t 1 _ many accidents in cities. Accidents often happen when people c 2 the roads or streets. Read the passage c _ 3 __ and learn to be careful later on. Be careful when it is r 4 __. Many accidents happen on rainy days. People are in a h 5 because they don’t want to get w 6_ _. They often cross the roads quickly. Often they can’t see c 7 _ _ as they hold their umbrellas in front of t 8_ . Remember that cars take l 9_ __ time to stop when the roads are wet. When it is raining, we must be more and more careful, not l 10_ _ careful. 九

Most American families are smaller than the families in other c 1 __. Children in the US will l 2 their parents’homes. When they grow up, they

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usually live f 3 from their parents because they want to f 4_ _ good jobs. They often w 5 _ _ to their parents or telephone them. And they often go to v 6 their parents on holiday. Parents usually let their children choose their o 7 __ jobs. Americans think it I 8 for young people to decide on their lives by themselves. Children are asked to do some work around their houses. And in many families, Children are p 9_ _ for doing some housework so that they can learn h 10 to make money for their own use. 十

Someone says: “Time is money,” but I think time is e 1 __ more important than money. Why? Because when money is spent, we can get it back. However, when time is g 2 _, it will never r 3 _ . That’s why we mustn’t waste time. It goes without saying that the t 4 _ is usually limited（有限的）. Even a second is very important. We should make full use of our time to do s 5 useful. But it is a pity that there are a lot of people who do not know the i 6 of time. They spent their limited time smoking, drinking and p 7 _. They do not know that wasting time means wasting part of their own l 8_ _. In a word, we should save time. We shouldn’t l 9_ _ today’s work for tomorrow. Remember we have n 10 time to lose. 十一

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Andy was born in China 15 years ago．In 2005, she m 1 to the USA with her family．As a high school student，she has found many differences b 2 Chinese and Americans：

About money

1) Americans like to spend m 3 than they have，so many of them are always in debt(欠债)．But Chinese usually spend less than they have, so many of them always have m 4 left in the bank．

2) The American kids themselves make their own money．Most Chinese kids always a 5 their parents for money．

3) Many American parents think there is n 6 need to send their children to an expensive university．It’s different in China．Many Chinese parents would do anything to send their children to expensive universities t 7 their family isn’t rich enough． About school

1) Many American girls take part in sports，dancing and singing groups while many Chinese girls take part in study groups． 2) Many American students think that B is good while many Chinese students think that B is too b 8 .

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About friends

Most American parents let their sons or daughters make friends by t 9 . They never ask them about their friends while Chinese parents usually enjoy knowing more about their children’s friends i 10 many different ways，and usually stop them from staying out too late with friends． 十二

Do you have bright ideas? Ideas for inventions that c 1 the world or, at least, make life easier for somebody. P 2 we all do sometimes, but we don’t often make the idea a real thing. Recently, there was a competition in a country, which e 3 young people to make their bright ideas come true. There were t 4_ groups in the contest: Group A was for school children under 16; Group B was for those o 5_ 16. And there were eleven prize-winners altogether.

Neil Hunt, one of the prize-winners, was c 6_ “Sunshine Superman” by one newspaper writing about his design. When people study the weather, it’s important to be able to record the sunshine accurately(准确地，精确地). We need to know how many h 7_ of sunshine we have and how strong it is. Most sunshine recorders o _8 record direct (直接的) sunshine. Neil’s is more accurate and this is very i

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