1 . Direction: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

The King and the Royal Trees

A. handsome       B. helplessly       C. asleep        D. observed        E. remove       F. freezingly        G. damage       H. content       I. awe       J. pick       K. provided

The King had a frightful dream. He dreamt that while riding his horse through the Royal Forest, the south wind called: “Mind the falling tees! Mind the falling trees!”

Though the trees were beautiful and waved gently in the wind, the King was in     1    . He turned his horse and dashed out of the forest.

The next morning the King ordered his people to cut down all the trees in the kingdom. “We do not want the trees to fall down and hurt our children,” he reasoned. “We will     2     the forest and grow vegetables instead.”

The people liked the King’s idea, for now they had their     3     of the finest wood in the forest to build houses and furniture. And the rest of the trees were sold at     4     prices to neighboring kingdoms.

Once all of the trees were cut down, the King felt     5    —and relieved. But the people were gloomy. They missed the trees, which had     6     work for loggers and carpenters, and homes for birds. Although they sadly missed their work, they missed the birds most of all.

Soon after the trees were gone, a dry south wind began to blow. It blew day after day. The vegetable crops began to wither and die. People huddled(蜷缩)     7     in their houses watching the wind uproot their gardens and scatter the dead plants across the land.

The King was worried. He called for his horse and rode through the fields to inspect the     8     There were no more trees to break the fury of the wind. As the wind blew faster, it swept withered plants and soil past the King, who     9     dumbly as his kingdom blew northward.

Lost in clouds of dust and drifting sand, fatigue overcame the King. Nodding     10     in the saddle(马鞍), he heard the south wind call: “Mind the falling trees! Mind the falling tees!”

2 . A long，long time ago，Nyame the sky god hid all the stories in a box high in the sky. No person or animal had any story to tell，so everyone was very sad.

Then one day，an old spider，Anansi，made a long web all the way to the sky. Anansi climbed the web to the sky and asked Nyame，“Can I have the stories please？I'll do anything if you give us the stories."Nyame thought for a moment.Then he answered，“Fine. First I will give you a task. Bring me three things：a snake，a leopard，and bees.Then I will give you the stories." Nyame laughed so loudly that everyone on Earth could hear him！Anansi climbed slowly back to Earth and told his wife, Aso, what had happened. She listened carefully. Then she said，"I have a plan."

Later that day，Anansi followed Aso's plan. First，he found a long stick. After that，he went near Snake's home and said loudly，“This is very long，very long indeed！"When Shake heard Anansi talking, he said，“What is so long？"Anansi answered，“I'm sorry，Snake.This stick is longer than you are. “Snake answered proudly. “It is not！I'm a very long snake! You will see that I am longer.” He moved next to the stick. Then，Anansi quickly used his web to tie Snake to the stick.

Immediately，Anansi climbed back to the sky and gave the snake to Nyange. Bur Nyame only said，“I told you to bring three things.Where are the other two？"Then Nyame laughed，“Ha ha ha！” Anansi sadly went back to Earth with no stories. He asked his wife，“How will I ever obtain a leopard？"

Again，Aso had a plan，and Anansi followed it. First，he made a hole in the ground and put sticks over it so no one could see the hole.The next day，Anansi went back to the hole and Leopard had fallen inside！Anansi used his web to quickly tie him up. He took Leopard to Nyame. Nyame looked surprised this time. He said，“You still must bring the bees！"Again，Anansi asked Aso for help. Again，he followed her plan.The next day he found a tree with bees in it. He quickly threw water on the tree and on himself. Then he said to the bees，“It is raining！Quick--get inside my gourd（葫芦）. It will keep you dry.”So the bees fell for his trick and all flew into Anansi’s gourd. With a big smile，Anansi used his web to close the gourd, so the bees could not get out.

Finally，Anansi took the bees to Nyame. Nyame was not laughing anymore. Nyame kept his promise and gave Anansi all of the stories. Very carefully，Anansi carried all the stories back down to Earth. And after he told each story，he said，“Stories are for telling，not for keeping in boxes.”

1. It was Snake's ________that led him to being caught by Anansi.

A．being sympathetic	B．being competitive
C．being cooperative	D．being helpful

2. Nyame's laughter changed in volume each time he met Anansi because ________ .

A．he found that Anansi was a better story teller than he was

B．he felt surprised that Aso helped Anansi in such a way

C．he sensed that he would have to keep his promise

D．he was disappointed that Anansi was not so eager for stories

3. It can be inferred from the passage that Aso ________ .

A．had a good knowledge of the animals

B．was more anxious for stories than Anansi

C．liked to take challenges

D．knew where Nyame hid the stories

4. Which of the following might be the best title of the passage？

A．Why stories are for telling not for hiding

B．How Anansi gave people stories

C．Why Snake，Leopard and Bees were tricked

D．How Aso came up with the plans