An epidemic (流行病) of the use of street-culture language broke out in some English exams, according to examiners.

A report said there were “a surprising number of small mistakes” in standard (标准) English. It asked teachers that they should prevent pupils from using "street language and text style", adding, “Most answers require formal expression of language.”

“Many concerns were expressed by examiners about basic errors, often appearing in the work of clearly able students,” the report continued.

It added that the use of street and text language “appeared with surprisingly regularity in the work of students who clearly desired a higher grade”.

“Most answers require formal expression but even when an informal style is appropriate--students should know the examination context and, in particular, should not use street language and text style.” it said.

There is rising concern about pupils’ writing skills, especially among boys. National test results for 11-year-old boys’ writing standards had fallen this year. Only 55 percent reached the level expected of an 1l-year-old by the time they left primary school, the results showed.

Many educationalists are now arguing that teachers should also think of ways of improving writing standards.

The report said spelling was “in general inconsistent (不一致)” and “variety of vocabulary and of sentence structure is often limited”. It went on, “Punctuation (标点符号) errors continue to be widespread.”

However, it added, “Some examiners felt that this year they had met an improvement in the whole structure of students' writing.”

1. What does the passage mainly talk about?

A. The street-culture language is being examined in English exams.

B. Street language is appearing in the standard English exams.

C. The English say no to the street-culture language in daily life.

D. What the street-culture language is in England.

2. The underlined word “appropriate” (in Paragraph 5) means “ _______”

A. comfortable B. possible   C. acceptable    D. valuable

3. What problems concerned examiners?

A. Small mistakes in spelling and punctuation,

B. Limited vocabulary of boy pupils.

C. Teachers teaching writing skills.

D. Poor sentence structure, and errors in spelling and standard English.

4. How does the author feel in writing this passage?

A. worried but positive

B. worried and negative

C. concerned and sad

D. warm and excited

5. According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. In English exams, most answers require informal expression of language.

B. When an informal style is correct, the students are allowed to use it.

C. Boys' writing skills are worse than those of girls in England.

D. There is no improvement in the whole structure of students' writing.

1—5 DBACF

(IV)★★★

The quality of drinking water in Shanghai will meet European Union standard by 2010 and, a decade later, citizens in Shanghai will drink the best water in the world.

These were the goals set out by the Shanghai Water Authority. With the city’s population expected to increase only slightly and the economy to boom by 2020, Chen Yin, and official with the water authority, said Shanghai’s water consumption will not increase from its present amount.

Zhang Yue, director of the Urban Construction Division under the Ministry of Construction, said, “Shanghai is the first city in the country to publicize these ambitions. They will not be easy to achieve.”

He said water saving will help keep the sustainable development of China’s economy.

Saving one cubic meter of water means saving the city’s infrastructure(基础设施)costs by 10,000 Yuan. Last year, Shanghai saved 300 million cubic meters of water either from readjustment of industrial structure or the employment of new technology.

“The aim is to arouse public awareness of the seriousness of water shortages,” Chen said. “The abundant surface water and amount of rain of the city are so misleading that they result in improper use of water.”

Shanghai lacks drinkable water. The Huangpu River, which supplies 80 percent of the city’s drinkable water, is nearing exhaustion.

The city, therefore, has been exploring new sources from the Yangtze River and growing forests along it to conserve quality water.

Besides penning regulations, the authority is popularizing technology among the public to efficiently cut the amount of water used.

At present, the city has 600，000 family toilets, each using 13 liters of water per flush. These are to be renovated(整修)to use only 9 liters of water per flush.

The authority is renovating the first 200 toilets for households – at a cost of 40 Yuan each.

In three years, all the toilets will be renovated, which saves the city nearly 15 million Yuan every year in water conservation.

Another task the city is engaged in is the treatment of sewage(污水)to improve the water environment.

At present the city can only treat 44 percent of its daily 5.04 million tons of waste water. To meet the total demand, 27 more sewage treatment factories are to be established with an estimated investment of 18 billion Yuan.

1.People in Shanghai get their daily water mainly from _______now.

A.the underground   B.the rain

C.the Yangtze River   D.the Huangpu River

2.According to the passage, some people have the wrong opinion of using water

because      .

A.the renovating of family toilets will save plenty of water

B.about half of waste water has been treated already

C.advanced technology makes people use water as much as possible

D.there is plenty surface water and large amount of rain at present

3.The authority is renovating the first 200 toilets for households to          .

A.make people’s living more convenient

B.improve people’s living standards

C.ease employment pressure

D.meet the total demand of water

4.Which group of measures are all mentioned in the passage to save water?

a.improve drinking water quality

b.change some industrial structure

c.introduce or use some new technology

d.speed the economic development of Shanghai

e.renovate some family toilets

f.build more sewage treatment factories

A.a, b, c, d   B.b, c, e, f

C.b, c, d, e  D.a, b, e, f

5.We can infer from the passage that          .

A.the boom of economy will need a larger amount of water in the future

B.citizens today in Shanghai drink the best quality of water in the world

C.not everyone today in Shanghai is aware of water shortage

D.all the family toilets will be renovated to save water within 3 years

1-5 DDDBC

(V)★★★