【推荐1】As a boy growing up in India, I had longed to travel abroad. I used to listen to the stories my father would tell me about his stay in Canada and tours to Europe in the 1970s, with great interest.

My big moment finally came in the summer of 1998 when I was able to accompany my parents to Europe, where my father was to attend a meeting. We planned to travel to Belgium, Netherlands and West Germany.

I have vivid memories even today of going to Mumbai airport at night all excited about finally going abroad. I had heard several great things about Lufthansa till then but now I finally got to experience them first hand, during the flight to Frankfurt. We flew business class and even today I can remember the excellent service by the Lufthansa crew. The flight was really smooth and thoroughly enjoyable, even for someone like me, who is otherwise scared of flying.

After spending almost two weeks in Europe, we took the Lufthansa airport express from Dusseldorf to Frankfurt airport, for our return flight. What a journey that was! All along the Rhine (莱茵河), it was simply an unforgettable experience. I was in a sombre mood on the flight back to Mumbai as it marked the end of a wonderful vacation, but the Lufthansa crew members were able to change it into a most enjoyable experience yet again, with the quality of their service.

Being the first airline to take me overseas, Lufthansa will always hold a special place in my heart. Even today, I continue to enjoy flights on Lufthansa and simply cannot dream of choosing any other airline. Flying, in general, for me, has always been an ordeal (terrible and painful experience). Flying on Lufthansa, however, is something I always have and always will look forward to.

1. Which of the following is TRUE about the author's trip to Europe in 1998?

A．The author traveled with one of his parents.

B．Both their going and return are by air.

C．They traveled in spring that year.

D．They stayed in Europe for nearly two months.

2. It can be inferred from the passage that Lufthansa is ________.

A．a city in India

B．a city in Europe

C．an airline company

D．a travel agency

3. What does the underlined word “sombre” in the 4th paragraph probably mean?

A．Happy.

B．Sad.

C．Angry.

D．Enjoyable.

【推荐2】Once upon a time, there lived a rich man. He had a servant (仆人). He and the servant loved wine and good food very much. Each time the rich man left his home, the servant would drink the wine and eat up all the nice food in the house. The rich man knew what his servant did, but he had never caught his servant doing that.

One morning, when he left home, he said to the servant, “Here are two bottles of poison (毒药) and some nice food in the house. You must take of them.” With these words, he went out.

But the servant knew that what the rich man had said was untrue. After the rich man was away from his home, he enjoyed a nice meal. Because he drank too much, he was drunk and fell to the ground. When the rich man came back, he couldn't find his food and his wine. He became very angry. He woke the servant up. But the servant told his story very well. He said a cat had eaten up everything. He was afraid to be punished ( 惩罚), so he drank the poison to kill himself.

1. In the story, ________ liked wine and good food very much.

A．the rich man

B．the servant

C．both A and B

D．neither A and B

2. In fact, it was ________ that drank the wine and ate up all the nice food.

A．the cat

B．himself

C．nobody

D．the servant

3. The rich told the servant that there was poison in the two bottles, because ________.

A．there was in fact poison in the bottles	B．did not want the servant to drink his wine
C．he wanted to kill the cat	D．he wanted to kill the servant

4. From the story, we know that the servant is very ________.

A．lazy

B．bad

C．clever

D．kind

【推荐3】I’m sure you know the song “Happy Birthday”. But do you know who wrote the song and for whom it was written?

The retired professor, Archibald A. Hill in Lucasville, USA could tell us the story. Ninety-seven years ago, two of Mr. Archibald Hill’s aunts, Miss Patty Hill and Miss Mildred Hill were asked to write some songs for a book called “Song Storied for the Sunday Morning”. Miss Patty Hill and Miss Mildred Hill were both kindergarten teachers then. They loved children very much and wrote many beautiful songs for the book. One of them was the famous “Good Morning to You.” The song said, “Good morning to you, good morning to you, children, good morning to all.” This song was very popular at that time among kindergarten children. But not many grown-ups knew it. A few years later little Archibald was born. As his aunt, Miss Patty Hill sang the song “Happy Birthday” to the melody(曲调) of “Good Morning to you” to her little nephew(侄子). She sang the song like this: Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, Archie! Happy birthday to you!

Miss Patty Hill and her sister had never expected that this song would become so popular, but it really did. People all over the world like the song because of its simplicity in tune(曲调简单) and friendliness in words.

1. Archibald A. Hill was _______.

A．English

B．American

C．Russian

D．Australian

2. Professor Archibald A. Hill was Miss Mildred Hill’s ______.

A．son

B．student

C．brother

D．nephew

3. The song “Happy Birthday” has a history of _______ years.

A．97

B．more than 90

C．less than 90

D．about 90

4. The sentence “it really did” means _______.

A．The song really became popular

B．Their wish would really come true

C．People all over the world like to listen to the song

D．Yes, but the song didn’t become popular

【推荐2】Hundreds of years ago, a Roman army came north from England to make war on Scotland. The Scots, a brave people, love their country. They fought hard to drive the enemy out of Scotland. But there were too many of the Romans. It looked as if the Romans would win.

One night, the leader of the Scots marched his soldiers to the top of a hill. “We will rest here tonight, my men,” he said, “Tomorrow we will fight one more battle. We must win, or we will die.”

They were all very tired so they ate their supper quickly and fell asleep. There were four guards on duty, but they were very tired, too, and one by one, also fell asleep.

The Romans were not asleep. Quickly they gathered at the foot of the hill. Slowly they went up the hill. Closer they came to the sleeping Scots. They were almost at the top. A few minutes more the war would be over. Suddenly, one of them put his foot on a thistle (蓟). He cried out and his sudden cry woke the Scots. In a minute, they were on their feet and ready for a battle. The fighting was hard, but it did not last long. The Scots wiped out the Romans and saved Scotland.

The thistle is not a beautiful plant. It has sharp needles all over it. Few people liked it. But the people of Scotland liked it so much that they made it their national flower.

1. At first it looked as if the Romans would win because ________ .

A．the Scots were not brave.	B．the Roman army was so strong.
C．the Scots did not have a good leader.	D．the Romans had the support from the Scottish.

2. At the shout of a Roman soldier, all the Scots who were asleep at the hill ________.

A．began to fight the Romans hard.

B．stood up without putting on their shoes and began to fight.

C．woke and rose immediately, ready to fight.

D．put their feet into their shoes at once and were ready to fight.

3. The Scots were waken because ________.

A．they were too tired to sleep well.	B．one of the guards pretended to sleep.
C．one of the Romans stepped on a thistle and let out a cry.	D．because the Romans got too close and they discovered them.

4. The Scots made thistle their national flower because thistle ________.

A．is lovely, though not beautiful.	B．gave them happiness.
C．is a kind of useful plant.	D．helped the Scots in wiping out the Romans.

【推荐3】Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor and industrialist, was a man of many contrasts. He was the son of a bankrupt, but became a millionaire; a scientist with a love of literature; an industrialist who managed to remain an idealist. He made a fortune but lived a very simple life, and although cheerful in company he was often sad in private. A lover for mankind, he never had a wife or family to love him; a patriotic son of his native land, he died alone on foreign soil. He invented a new explosive bomb to improve the peacetime industries of mining and road building, but saw it was used as a weapon of war to kill and injure his fellow men. During his useful life, he often felt he was useless. "Alfred Nobel," he once wrote of himself, "ought to have been put to death by a kind doctor as soon as, with a cry, he entered life." World-famous for his works, he was never personally well-known, for throughout his life he avoided publicity. "1 do not see," he once said, "that I have deserved any fame and I have no taste for it." But since his death, his name has brought fame and glory to others.

He was born in Stockholm on October 21, 1833, but moved to Russia with his parents in 1842, where his father, Immanuel, made a strong position for himself in the engineering industry. Immanuel Nobel invented the landmine and made a lot of money from government orders during the Crimean War, but went bankrupt soon after. Most of the family returned to Sweden in 1859, where Alfred rejoined them in 1863, beginning his own study of bombs in his father's laboratory. He had never been to school or university but had studied privately. And by the time he was twenty, he was a skillful chemist and excellent linguist, speaking Swedish, Russian, German, French and English. Like his father, Alfred Nobel was imaginative and inventive, but he had better luck in business and showed more financial sense. He was quick to see industrial openings for his scientific inventions and built up over 80 companies in 20 different countries. Indeed his greatness lay in his outstanding ability to combine the qualities of an original scientist with those of a forward-looking industrialist.

But Nobel’s main concern was never with making money or even with making scientific discoveries. Seldom happy, he was always searching for a meaning to life, and from his youth had taken a serious interest in literature and philosophy. Perhaps he could not find ordinary human love---he never married---he came to care deeply about the whole of mankind. He was always generous to the poor: “I'd rather take care of the stomachs of the living than the glory of the dead in the form of stone materials.” he once said. His greatest wish, however, was to see an end to wars, and thus peace between nations, and he spent much time and money working for this cause until his death in Italy in 1896. His famous will, in which he left money to provide prizes for outstanding work in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology, Medicine, Literature and Peace, is a memorial to his interests and ideals. And so, the man who felt he should have died at birth is remembered and respected long after his death.

1. The reason why Alfred Nobel invented the bomb is to ________.

A．get government orders during the Crimean War

B．protect the country from being invaded

C．mine and build roads

D．open new companies in other countries

2. What was Alfred Nobel searching for in the long course of his life?

A．Fame and wealth	B．A meaning to life.
C．How to end the war.	D．The peace between nations.

3. What is the implied meaning of the underlined sentence in the last paragraph?

A．We should honor the dead in some other way rather than by building stone monuments for them.

B．Rather than spend money and make efforts in building monuments in memory of the dead, we should do something to provide more food for the living.

C．When we are planning to build monuments to honor the dead, we should also make real efforts to provide the living with more food.

D．Living with honor comes more important than death with dignity.

4. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the text?

A．In leaving behind a well-meant will, Alfred Nobel succeeded in building a permanent monument for his interests and ideals.

B．Alfred Nobel made a glorious will so that he might be remembered and respected after his death.

C．In his famous will, Alfred Nobel expressed his wish that a monument should be put up in memory of him as a scientist and inventor.

D．According to his will, Nobel Prizes are given to those who did outstanding work in fields of Physics, Chemistry, Psychology, Medicine, Literature and Peace.