2 . The Taj Mahal (泰姬陵) is a love story, a sad and beautiful one. If it didn’t exist, we would easily imagine that the story of its construction was simply a fairy tale. Three hundred years ago, there lived an Indian emperor called Shah Jahan. His wife was a beautiful and bright woman whom he loved greatly. Her title was Mumtazl Mahal: its shortened form Taj Mahal, means “pride of the palace”. In the year 1630 this beloved wife of the emperor died. He was so brokenhearted that he thought of giving up his throne. He decided, out of his love for his wife, to build her the most beautiful tomb that had ever been seen.

He summoned the best artists and architects from India, Turkey, Persia and Arabia and finally, the design was complete. It took more than twenty thousand men working over a period of 18 years to build the Taj Mahal, one of the most beautiful buildings in the world.

The building itself stands on a marble platform 29 metres square and 6-7 metres high. Towers rise from each of the four corners. The Taj itself soars another 61 metres into the air. It is an eight-sided building made of white marble.

The emperor planned to build an identical tomb of black marble for himself on the other side of the river connected by a silver bridge. However, his son put him into a prison in the palace before he could finish, and for the rest of his life, he could only gaze across river at the tomb of his beloved wife.

1. What can we know about Mumtazl Mahal?

A．She was once an emperor.	B．She’s Shah Jahan’s wife.
C．She was ugly but very bright.	D．She was a little proud.

2. Why was the Taj Mahal built?

A．The emperor was very disappointed.

B．The emperor fell ill and died.

C．The emperor wanted to honour his wife.

D．The emperor made his wife beautiful.

3. How’s the work for building the Taj Mahal?

A．It’s a huge project.	B．It’s an interesting project.
C．It’s a livelihood project.	D．It’s a money saving project.

4. What made the emperor stop building an identical tomb for himself?

A．His sudden illness.	B．His lack of money.
C．His people’s idea.	D．His son’s fight against him.

3 . 阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从1－20各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中选出最佳选项。
Harriet Tubman was born a slave.She didn't get a ____ to go to school.____ a child，Harriet had to work very hard in ____ all day.That way，her owner could ____ a lot of money when he sold his crops.Harriet ____ think that she was being treated fairly.
____ Harriet grew up，she ran away from the plantation(庄园) to the northern United States.There，and in Canada，____ could be free.
Harriet liked to be free.She felt ____for all of the black people who were ____ slaves.
Harriet returned to ____ to help other slaves to run away.She made ____ that they got to the North and became free.
Harriet was in great ____ because of a ____ law.The law said it was not permitted to ____ slaves run away.She also ____ that the slave owners said they would ____ $4,000 to anyone who could catch Harriet Tubman.
There were many stories about Harriet helping slaves run away.In all，she made nineteen ____ back to the South and guided about 300 slaves to ____.When the Civil War broke out，the northern states ____ with the southern states.Harriet ____ the northern states because the northerners believed that slaves should be free.She worked as a nurse and spied behind enemy lines until the northern states won the war.1.

A．day

B．chance

C．permission

D．moment

2.

A．As

B．Being

C．Since

D．Like

3.

A．the farm

B．a school

C．the fields

D．a factory

4.

A．make

B．pay

C．got

D．spend

5.

A．certainly

B．didn't

C．did

D．no longer

6.

A．Since

B．After

C．Then

D．With

7.

A．the white

B．white

C．black

D．black people

8.

A．happy

B．sure

C．wrong

D．sorry

9.

A．still

B．yet

C．only

D．not

10.

A．Canada

B．the South

C．the North

D．the U．S.

11.

A．perfect

B．way

C．possible

D．sure

12.

A．anger

B．anxiety

C．hurry

D．danger

13.

A．explained

B．gained

C．passed

D．broken

14.

A．help

B．set free

C．stop

D．catch

15.

A．found

B．noticed

C．found out

D．made sure

16.

A．pay

B．make

C．spend

D．get

17.

A．letters

B．incidents

C．trips

D．trials

18.

A．freedom

B．safety

C．North

D．southern states

19.

A．united

B．fought

C．made peace

D．gave in

20.

A．looked for

B．stood for

C．looked on

D．went to