1 . One of my wonderful memories is about a Christmas gift. Unlike other gifts, it came without wrap (包装).
On September 11th, 1958, Mum gave birth to Richard. After she brought him home from hospital, she put him in my lap, saying, “I promised you a gift, and here it is.” What an honour! I turned four a month earlier and none of my friends had such a baby doll of their own. I played with it day and night. I sang to it. I told it stories. I told it over and over how much I loved it!
One morning, however, I found its bed empty. My doll was gone! I cried for it.Mum wept and told me that the poor little thing had been sent to a hospital. It had a fever. For several days, I heard Mum and Dad whispering such words as “hopeless”, “pitiful”, and “dying”, which sounded ominous.
Christmas was coming. “Don’t expect any presents this year,” Dad said, pointing at the socks I hung in the living room.“If your baby brother lives, that’ll be Christmas enough.” As he spoke, his eyes filled with tears. I’d never seen him cry before.
The phone rang early on Christmas morning. Dad jumped out of bed to answer it. From my bedroom I heard him say, “What? He’s all right?” He hung up and shouted upstairs. “The hospital said we can bring Richard home!”
“Thank God!” I heard Mum cry.
From the upstairs window, I watched my parents rush out to the car. I had never seen them so happy. And I was also full of joy. What a wonderful day! My baby doll would be home. I ran downstairs. My socks still hung there flat. But I knew they were not empty; they were filled with love!
1. What happened to the author on September 11th, 1958?| A．He got a baby brother. |
| B．He got a Christmas gift. |
| C．He became four years old. |
| D．He received a doll. |
| A．Impossible. | B．Boring. |
| C．Difficult. | D．Fearful. |
| A．Excitement. | B．Happiness. |
| C．Sadness. | D．Disappointment. |
| A．A sad Christmas day. |
| B．Life with a lovely baby. |
| C．A special Christmas gift. |
| D．Memories of a happy family. |
2 . I was never very neat while my roommate Kate was extremely organized. Each of her objects had its place, but my always hid somewhere. She even labeled (贴标签) everything. I always looked for everything. Overtime, Kate got neater and I got my merriser. She moved to push my dirty clothing over and I would lay my books on her tidy desk. We both got tired of each other.
Who broke out one evening. Kate came into the room. Soon, I heard her screaming, “Take your shoes away! why under my bed!” Suddenly I saw my shoes flying at me. I jumped to my feet and started yelling. She yelled back louder.
The room was filled with anger. We could not have stayed together for a single minute but for a phone call. Kate answered it. From her end of the conversation, I could tell right away her grandma was seriously ill. When she hung up. She quickly crawled (爬) under her covers, crying. Obviously. that was something she could not go through alone. All of a sudden, a warm feeling of sympathy (同情) rose up in my heart.
Slowly, I collected the pencils, took back the books, made my bad. Cleaned the suckers and swept the floor even on her side. I got so absorbed into my work that I even didn’t notice Kate had sat up. She was watching. Her tears dried and her expression was such disbelief. Then, she reached out her hands to grasp mine. I looked up into her eyes. She smiled at me. “Thanks.”
Kate and I stayed roommates for the rest of the year. We didn’t always agree, but we learned the key to living together: giving in, cleaning up and holding on.
1. What made Kate so angry one evening?| A．She couldn’t find her books. |
| B．She heard the writer shouting loud. |
| C．She got the news that her grandma was ill. |
| D．She saw the writer’s shoes beneath her bed. |
| A．Because she was scared by Kate’s anger. |
| B．Because she hated herself for being so messy. |
| C．Because she wanted to show her care. |
| D．Because she was asked by Kate to do so. |
| A．By analyzing courses. |
| B．By showing differences. |
| C．By describing a process. |
| D．By following time order. |
| A．My Friend Kate. |
| B．Hard Work Pays off. |
| C．How to Be Organized? |
| D．Learning to Be Roommates. |
3 . The morning had been a disaster. My tooth was aching, and I’d been in an argument with a friend. Her words still hurt, “ The trouble with you is that you won’t put yourself in my place. Can’t you see things from my point of view? ” I shook my head stubbornly-and felt the ache in my tooth. I’d thought I could hold out till my dentist came back from holiday, but the pain was really unbearable. I started calling the dentists in the phone book, but no one could see me immediately. Finally, at about lunchtime, I got lucky.
“ If you come by right now, ” the receptionist said, “ the dentist will fit you in. ”
I took my purse and keys and rushed to my car. But suddenly I began to doubt about the dentist. What kind of dentist would be so eager to treat someone at such short notice? Why wasn’t he as busy as the others?
In the dentist’s office, I sat down and looked around. I saw nothing but the bare walls and I became even more worried. The assistant noticed my nervousness and placed her warm hand over my icecold one.
When I told her my fears, she laughed and said, “ Don’t worry. The dentist is very good. ”
“ How long do I have to wait for him? ” I asked impatiently.
“ Come on, he is coming. Just lie down and relax. And enjoy the artwork, ” the assistant said.
“ The artwork? ”I was puzzled.
The chair went back. Suddenly I smiled. There was a beautiful picture, right where I could enjoy it: on the ceiling. How considerate the dentist was! At that moment, I began to understand what my friend meant by her words.
What a relief!
1. Which of the following best describes the author’s feeling that morning?| A．Upset. | B．Nervous. | C．Cheerful. | D．Satisfied. |
| A．The laughing assistant of the dentist. |
| B．The surroundings of the dentist’s office. |
| C．The dentist’s being as busy as the other dentists. |
| D．The dentist’s agreeing to treat her at very short notice. |
| A．Because the dentist came at last. | B．Because she could relax in the chair. |
| C．Because she saw a picture on the ceiling. | D．Because the assistant kept comforting her. |
| A．Strike while the iron is hot. | B．Put oneself in other’s shoes. |
| C．A friend in need is a friend indeed. | D．Have a good word for one’s friend. |
4 . Getting rid of dirt, in the opinion of most people, is a good thing. However, there is nothing fixed about attitudes to dirt.
In the early 16th century, people thought that dirt on the skin was a means to block out disease, as medical opinion had it that washing off dirt with hot water could open up the skin and let ills in. A particular danger was thought to lie in public baths. By 1538, the French king had closed the bath houses in his kingdom. So did the king of England in 1546. Thus it began a long time when the rich and the poor in Europe lived with dirt in a friendly way. Henry IV, King of France, was famously dirty. Upon learning that a nobleman had taken a bath, the king ordered that, to avoid the attack of disease, the nobleman should not go out.
Though the belief in the merit of dirt was long-lived, dirt has no longer been regarded as a nice neighbor ever since the 18th century. Scientifically speaking, cleaning away dirt is good to health. Clean water supply and hand washing are practical means of preventing disease. Yet, it seems that standards of cleanliness have moved beyond science since World War II. Advertisements repeatedly sell the idea; clothes need to be whiter than white, cloths ever softer, surfaces to shine. Has the hate for dirt, however, gone too far?
Attitudes to dirt still differ hugely nowadays. Many first-time parents nervously try to warn their children of touching dirt, which might be responsible for the spread of disease. On the contrary, Mary Ruebush, an American immunologist(免疫学家),encourages children to play in the dirt to build up a strong immune system. And the latter position is gaining some ground.
1. The kings of France and England in the 16th century closed bath houses because_______.| A．they lived healthily in a dirty environment. |
| B．they thought bath houses were to dirty to stay in |
| C．they believed disease could be spread in public baths |
| D．they considered bathing as the cause of skin disease |
| A．Afraid | B．Curious |
| C．Approving | D．Uninterested |
| A．By providing examples. | B．By making comparisons. |
| C．By following the order of time. | D．By following the order of importance. |
| A．To stress the role of dirt. |
| B．To introduce the history of dirt. |
| C．To call attention to the danger of dirt. |
| D．To present the change of views on dirt. |
5 . To take the apple as a forbidden fruit is the most unlikely story the Christians ever cooked up. For them, the forbidden fruit from Eden is evil(邪恶的). So when Columbus brought the tomato back from South America, a land mistakenly considered to be Eden, everyone jumped to the obvious conclusion. Wrongly taken as the apple of Eden, the tomato was shut out of the door of Europeans.
What made it particularly terrifying was its similarity to the mandrake, a plant that was thought to have come from Hell(地狱 ) What earned the plant its awful reputation was its roots which looked like a dried-up human body occupied by evil spirits. Though the tomato and the mandrake were quite different except that both had bright red or yellow fruit, the general population considered them one and the same, too terrible to touch.
Cautious Europeans long ignored the tomato, and until the early 1700s most of the Western people continued to drag their feet. In the 1880s, the daughter of a well-known farmer wrote that the most interesting part of an afternoon tea at her father's house had been the "introduction of this wonderful new fruit--or is it a vegetable? ""As late as the twentieth century some writers still classed tomatoes with mandrakes as an "evil fruit".
But in the end tomatoes carried the day. The hero of the tomato was an American named Robert Johnson, and when he was publicly going to eat the tomato in 1820, people journeyed for hundreds of miles to watch him drop dead. "What are you afraid of? "he shouted. "T"ll show you fools that these things - are good to eat! Then he bit into the tomato, Some people fainted. But he survived and, according to a local story, set up a tomato-canning factory.
1. The tomato was shut out of the door of early Europeans mainly because__________.| A．it was religiously unacceptable | B．it was the apple of Eden |
| C．it came from a forbidden land | D．it made Christian evil |
| A．The process of ignoring the tomato slowed down. |
| B．The tomato was still refused in most western countries. |
| C．There was little progress in the study of the tomato. |
| D．Most western people continued to get rid of the tomato. |
| A．To make himself a hero. |
| B．To persuade people to buy products from his factor. |
| C．To speed up the popularity of the tomato. |
| D．To remove people's fear of the tomato. |
| A．To present the change of people' s attitudes to the tomato. |
| B．To give an explanation to people's dislike of the tomato. |
| C．To challenge people's fixed concepts of the tomato. |
| D．To show the process of freeing the tomato from religious influence. |
6 . The very wealthy English Baron Fitzgerald had only one child,a son,who understandably was the apple of his eye. His wife died when the child was in his early teens. So Fitzgerald devoted himself to fathering the kid. Unfortunately the son died in his late teens.
Meanwhile, Fitzgerald’s wealth greatly increased. He spent a lot on art works of the masters. Later Fitzgerald himself because seriously ill. Before his death, he had carefully prepared his will as to how his wealth would be settled—to sell his entire collection at an auction(拍卖).
Because of the large quantity and high quality of his collection, a huge crowd of possible buyers gathered for the auction. Many of them were museum directors and private collectors eager to bid(出价). Before the auction, the art works were shown, among which was a painting of Fitzgerald’s son by an unknown artist.Because of its poor quality, it received little attention.
When it was time for the auction,the auctioneer gaveled(敲槌) the crowd to attention.First the lawyer read from Fitzgerald’s will that the first art work to be auctioned was the painting of his son.
The poor-quality painting didn’t receive and bidders...except one—the old servant who had served the son and loved him, and who for emotional reasons offered the only bid.
As soon as the servant bought the painting for less than one English pound,the auctioneer stopped the bidding and asked the lawyer to read again from the will. The crowd became quiet, and the lawyer read from the will: “Whoever buys the painting of my son gets all my collection.” Then the auction was over.
1. The English Baron Fitzgerald was______.| A．a museum director | B．a master of art |
| C．an art collector | D．an art dealer |
| A．He was devoted to the family. | B．He saw that no one bid for it. |
| C．He knew the content of the will. | D．He found it cheap for him to buy. |
| A．his desire to fool the bidders | B．his invaluable love for his son |
| C．his sadness at the death of his son | D．his regret of having no children to take over his wealth |
7 . I arrived at my mother’s home for our Monday family dinner. The smells of food flew over from the kitchen. Mother was pulling out quilt (被子) after quilt from the boxes, proudly showing me their beauties. She was preparing for a quilt show at the Elmhurst Church. When we began to fold and put them back into the boxes, I noticed something at the bottom of one box. I pulled it out. “What is this?” I asked.
“Oh?” Mom said, “That’s Mama’s quilt.”
I spread the quilt. It looked as if a group of school children had pieced it together; irregular designs, childish pictures, a crooked line on the right.
“Grandmother made this?” I said, surprised. My grandmother was a master at making quilts. This certainly didn’t look like any of the quilts she had made.
“Yes, right before she died. I brought it home with me last year and made some changes,” she said. “I’m still working on it. See, this is what I’ve done so far.”
I looked at it more closely. She had made straight a crooked line. At the center of the quilt, she had stitched (缝) a piece of cloth with these words: “My mother made many quilts. She didn’t get all lines straight. But I think this is beautiful. I want to see it finished. Her last quilt.”
“Ooh, this is so nice, Mom,” I said. It occurred to me that by completing my grandmother’s quilt, my mother was honoring her own mother. I realized, too, that I held in my hands a family treasure. It started with the loving hands of one woman, and continued with the loving hands of another.
1. Why did the author go to mother’s home?| A．To see her mother’s quilts. | B．To help prepare for a show. |
| C．To get together for the family dinner. | D．To discuss her grandmother’s life. |
| A．the quilt looked very strange | B．her grandmother liked the quilt |
| C．the quilt was the best she had seen | D．her mother had made some changes |
| A．unfinished | B．broken | C．bent | D．unusual |
| A．A Quilt Show | B．Mother’s Home | C．A Monday Dinner | D．Grandmother’s Quilt |
8 . The African elephant, the largest land animal remaining on earth, is of great importance to African ecosystem (生态系统). Unlike other animals, the African elephant is to a great extent the builder of its environment. As a big plant-eater, it largely shapes the forest-and-savanna (大草原) surroundings in which it lives, therefore setting the terms of existence for millions of other animals that live in its habitat (栖息地).
It is the elephant’s great desire for food that makes it a disturber of the environment and an important builder of its habitat. In its continuous search for the 300 pounds of plants it must have every day, it kills small trees and underbushes, and pulls branches off big trees. This results in numerous open spaces in both deep tropical forests and in the woodlands that cover part of the African savannas. In these open spaces are numerous plants in various stages of growth that attract a variety of other plant-eaters.
Take the rain forests for example. In their natural state, the spreading branches overhead shut out sunlight and prevent the growth of plants on the forest floor. By pulling down trees and eating plants, elephants make open spaces, allowing new plants to grow on the forest floor. In such situations, the forests become suitable for large hoofed plant-eaters to move around and for small plant-eaters to get their food as well.
What worries scientists now is that the African elephant has become an endangered species. If the elephant disappears, scientists say, many other animals will also disappear from vast areas of forest and savanna, greatly changing and worsening the whole ecosystem.
1. What is the passage mainly about?| A．Disappearance of African elephants. |
| B．Forests and savannas as habitats for African elephants. |
| C．The effect of African elephants’ search for food. |
| D．The eating habit of African elephants. |
| A．Fixing the time. |
| B．Worsening the state. |
| C．Improving the quality. |
| D．Deciding the conditions. |
| A．They result from the destruction of rain forests. |
| B．They provide food mainly for African elephants. |
| C．They are home to many endangered animals. |
| D．They are attractive to plant-eating animals of different kinds. |
| A．showing the effect and then explaining the causes |
| B．pointing out similarities and differences |
| C．describing the changes in spare order |
| D．giving examples |
9 . Sports can help you keep fit and get in touch with nature. However, whether you are on the mountains, in the waves, or on the grassland, you should be aware that your sport of choice might have great influence on the environment.
Some sports are resource-hungry. Golf, as you may know, eats up not only large areas of countryside, but also tons of water. Besides, all sorts of chemicals and huge amounts of energy are used to keep its courses （球场） in good condition. This causes major environmental effects. For example, in the dry regions of Portugal and Spain, golf is often held responsible for serious water shortage in some local areas.
There are many environment-friendly sports. Power walking is one of them that you could take up today. You don’t need any special equipment except a good pair of shoes; and you don’t have to worry about resources and your purse. Simple and free, power walking can also keep you fit. If you walk regularly, it will be good for your heart and bones. Experts say that 20 minutes of power walking daily can make you feel less anxious, sleep well and have better weight control.
Whatever sport you take up, you can make it greener by using environment-friendly equipment and buying products made from recycled materials. But the final goal should be “green gyms”. They are better replacements for traditional health clubs and modern sports centers. Members of green gyms play sports outdoors, in the countryside or other open spaces. There is no special requirement for you to start your membership. And best of all, it’s free.
1. Which of the following is the author most probably in favor of?| A．Cycling around a lake. |
| B．Motor racing in the desert. |
| C．Playing basketball in a gym. |
| D．Swimming in a sports center. |
| A．It is popular in Portugal and Spain. |
| B．It causes water shortages around the world. |
| C．It pollutes the earth with chemicals and wastes. |
| D．It needs water and electricity to keep its courses green. |
| A．it is an outdoor sport |
| B．it improves our health |
| C．it uses fewer resources |
| D．it is recommended by experts |
| A．show us the function of major sports |
| B．encourage us to go in for green sports |
| C．discuss the major influence of popular sports |
| D．introduce different types of environment-friendly sports |
Please read Professor Hume’s email about his next lecture on Rosa Parks.
Susan Miller
Secretary
Dear Susan,
Please forward this message to students of my history class.
Besides the life story of Bosa Parks in the textbook, the students are also required to read the passage below and some related stories that can be borrowed from the school library.
Ted Hume
The early experiences of Rosa Parks (1913-2005), long known as the “mother of the civil rights movement,”were not different from those of many African-Americans at that time. The black woman, however, turned the course of American history in December 1955 when she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man.“By sitting down,” remarked John Lewis, “she was standing up for all Americans.”
Among the numerous awards Parks received in her life were the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1996) and the Congressional Gold Medal(1999).
Parks died on Oct. 24, 2005, At St. Paul A.M.E. Church in Montgomery, a large crowd including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice celebrated her life. Rice said she and others, who grew up when the political activities of Parks held public attention, might not have realized her impact (影响) on their lives, “but I can honestly say that without Mrs. Parks, I probably would not be standing here as Secretary of State.”
After her casket (灵柩) was placed at the Capitol, U.S. President Bush, members of Congress and ordinary Americans paid their respects. In American history Parks is the first woman to lie in state at the Capitol, a very high regard usually reserved for Presidents of the United States.
1. What is the main purpose of Susan’s email?
| A．To make arrangements for Professor Hume’s class. |
| B．To introduce to the students Rosa Parks. |
| C．To help the students organize a lecture. |
| D．To answer Professor Hume’s last email. |
| A．Explain. | B．Send. |
| C．Take. | D．Read. |
| A．helped Condoleezza Rice achieve political success |
| B．joined the civil rights movement at a young age |
| C．made racial equality a common value in American society |
| D．set a good example in her early life for other black Americans |
| A．She was named “mother of the civil rights movement”. |
| B．She was received by President Bush at the Capitol. |
| C．She was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom. |
| D．She was honored to lie in state at the Capitol. |
