Australia is the smallest continent in the world. It is a little smaller than China. It is on the Southern Hemisphere of the earth. Australia is big, but its population is small. The population of Australia is nearly as large as that of Shanghai.

    Enough laws have been made to fight against pollution. The cities in Australia have little air or water pollution. The sky is blue and the water is clean. You can clearly see fish in the rivers. Plants grow very well.

    Last month we visited Perth, the biggest city in Western Australia, and went to a wild flower exhibition. There we saw large numbers of wild flowers on show, most of which we had never seen before. We had a wonderful time. Perth is famous for its beautiful wild flowers. Every year in spring Perth has a wild flower exhibition. After visiting Perth, we spent a day in the countryside. We sat down and had a rest near a path at the foot of a hill. It was quiet and we enjoyed ourselves very much. When we heard bells ringing at the top of the hills, we looked up, but what we saw made us pick up all our things and run back to our car as quickly as we could. There were about three hundred sheep coming towards us along the path.

    Australia is famous for its sheep and kangaroos. After a short drive from any town, you will find yourself among the white sheep. Sheep, sheep, everywhere you can see sheep.

    A massive winter storm is expected to begin hitting Massachusetts tonight, dumping up to a foot or more of snow in some areas, while whipping the coast with powerful winds and driving rains, forecasters predict.

    “It's got a little bit of everything,” William Babecock, a meteologist（气象学家）at the National Weather Service in Taunton, said of the post-Christmas storm that brought snowstorm conditions to the Ohio Valley before heading east with its mixed bag of snow, sleet, and rain.

     State Highway Administrator Frank De Paola said more than 4,000 states and snowplows（扫雪车）and salt spreaders were ready to make the roads safer for holiday travelers.

    “MassDOT will be fully staffed and will be ready to handle this,” De Paola said, nothing that the storm, which should bring snow to most of the state except the Cape and Island before turning into rain tomorrow, is Massachusetts' first significant snow storm of this winter season.

    “There have been events where we have had pretty much freezing, icing concerns, which we have treated with chemicals.But this is the first big event that will call for plowing,” he said.

     A high wind watch has been issued for southeastern Massachusetts, including Cape Cod, Forecasters say the wind could reach 60 mph, possibly bringing down power lines.

    In Worcester, some were busy for severer by buying rock salt,shovels and windshield wash,Barrows Hardware president Brain Barrow said.He called the volume（总量）of customers at his Webster Street store very steady on Wednesday morning, “You do get that supermarket effect for sure,”he said of shoppers stocking supplies before a storm.

     There were no flight delays or cancellations at Logan International Airport in Boston as of day,” Right now, everything's running normally.” airport spokesman Richard Walsh said.But Walsh said as the day progressed, travelers should contact their airlines directly to check the status of their flights.

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。

    You may not know a lot of people when you start high school. Even if you know some new students, you still feel nervous that you don't know any upperclassmen (高年级学生) and teachers. How are you going to make friends among this sea of unknown faces?

    Most high schools welcome new students before school actually starts. These are helpful not only because you learn your way around the buildings and get to meet some of your teachers, but also because you get to meet new students. That way, when you show up on your first day of school, you may already recognize a few familiar faces.

    When you talk to people, you'll probably find that a lot of them are feeling just like you. They're all new to the school and don't know what to expect. Talking about a common concern with your classmates can help you develop friendships.

    The work in high school is something freshmen are probably worried about. The work in high school builds on what you learned in middle school, giving you a more advanced knowledge of many subjects. So you may find you have more work to do or that it's a bit more challenging (有挑战性的). If you ever find your work too difficult, teachers can give you extra help.

    High school also has more activities after class than middle school, such as clubs, music and theater groups and sports teams. This is a good time to explore your interests and try new things.

    Middle school taught you the basics of academics, time management, and social skills while providing you with a little extra support and guidance. High school gives you the chance to learn how to be more independent (独立的) and responsible (有责任的).

    Three-day－old Oskar Lunde sleeps in a small bed at an Estonian(爱沙尼亚) hospital.

    Across the room, his father turns on a laptop computer. "Now we will register our child, "Andrei Lunde says as he lifts his identification card into the card reader. His wife, Olga, looks on. And just like that, Oskar is Estonia's newest citizen. No paper. No time spent standing in a line.

    Estonia has launched a project to make government administration completely digital. The goal is to reduce the size of the government work force, open up the decision-making process and fuel economic growth.

    Need medicine? Reach for a computer and send an email or text message to a doctor. Need help from the local government? Click on a link to the government websites…

    Estonia has created a system that supports electronic authentication(身份验证) and digital signatures. It provides paperless communications for both the government and private industry.

    However, there are a few things that one cannot do electronically in Estonia: marry, end a marriage or buy and sell property. That is only because the government has decided it is very important to show up in person for some big life events. When Estonia declared independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991, it had to build a new economy. Government leaders looked for an industry where the country could compete. They decided on information technology and the Internet.

    When the poor country needed to replace a 1930s phone system, former President Toomas Hendrik Ilves rejected the offer of a free analog(模拟) system from Finland and argued for a digital one.

    Last year, information and communications made up 5.9 percent of the economy. The government hopes to increase that figure with an "e-residency" program that lets businessmen around the world register their businesses in Estonia, thus gaining a presence in the European Union. More than 51, 000 people from 167 countries have registered at a cost of only 100 euros, or＄114 each.

Yosemite is a national park in California. It is very beautiful and big. The park includes more than 760,000 acres in the California Mountains. Most of the park is wilderness.

The part of Yosemite that everyone likes is Yosemite Valley. It is a tiny valley that is 7 miles long and less than 1 mile wide. It has tall rock walls and streams that splash down in waterfalls. More than two million visitors come to the valley each year.

One ranger (守护人) says the number of visitors is more than the land can handle. The valley has 4,500 camping spots. It has a hotel that can hold 4, 000 families. This is still not enough to handle all of the visitors. The valley has grown so big that it has a lot of traffic and crime.

A worker says the park is trying to keep the beauty of the park and let everyone visit. Some areas have been fenced off from people and planted with seeds to try to keep them beautiful.

A former worker thinks Yosemite should get more money to take better care of the park. He would also like to teach people what the park service is trying to do.

Some people are trying to save Yosemite Valley. A plan has been made to get rid of some buildings. There will be fewer cars allowed inside the park. More buses will help get people around.

Ever since I entered YYHS, I have been struggling with the courses I take, in particular math. Although much effort has been put into math, I can't see any sign of improvement. Every day, I sit in the classroom, looking at the math teacher {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(困惑地). In a sense, I can {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(被称为) an idiot in learning math. Worse still, there are countless unknown fields {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(来探索) in my spare time. Last weekend, we took a math exam and scored only 78, {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(这使我很受挫和绝望). YYHS, originally known as the Eighth School, {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(属于) the list of first provincial key schools in Hubei province. {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(被包围) talented students here, I feel highly pressured all the time. At times, an idea pops up into my mind that I may as well {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(摆脱) this renowned school. How I wish I could learn in a relaxed atmosphere, where I can have my learning schedule {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(调整) a little bit {#blank#}9{#/blank#}（如果可能）. When I shared my idea with my parents the other day, they urged me to {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(抛弃) all my troubles and {#blank#}11{#/blank#}(留心) in each class. Without their support, I had to stay and commit myself to my work. Whatever challenge comes my way, I will face it bravely. Should I fail in the future, I can {#blank#}12{#/blank#}(接管) my family business. After all, just as the saying goes, "All roads lead to Rome."