1 . The king’s Elephant-keeper had a Dog, who often went into the house where the king’s Elephant lived. At first the Dog went there to get the_________that was left after the Elephant had _________eating. Day after day they became great_________. The Elephant began to share his food with the Dog, and they_________and played together.

One day a_________saw the Dog. He loved the Dog, so he _________the Dog and took him away from the Elephant-keeper. The Elephant _________ the Dog and did not want to eat. The next _________, the king knew it. He sent his servant to find out why the Elephant was_________in that way.

The servant went to_________the Elephant-keeper, “Why does the Elephant look so _________?” The keeper answered, “There was a Dog who was the Elephant’s friend but he _________ yesterday.”

“Do you know _________ he is now?” asked the servant.

“No, I do not,” said the keeper.

Then the servant went back to the king and said, “The Elephant is not sick, but he is _________ without his friend, the Dog. A farmer took him away, but nobody knows where the farmer ________.”

“Well,” said the king, “I’ll send _________ all over the country, asking the farmer to turn him _________. I’ll give him as much money as he paid for the Dog.”

When the farmer _________ this, he turned him loose. The Dog ran back as _________ as he could. The Elephant was so _________ to see the Dog that he picked him up and put him on his head.

All the rest of their lives the Elephant and the Dog lived together.

1.

A．money

B．food

C．cloth

D．water

2.

A．finished

B．allowed

C．spent

D．forgot

3.

A．soldiers

B．heroes

C．friends

D．workers

4.

A．traveled

B．ate

C．studied

D．tried

5.

A．servant

B．keeper

C．farmer

D．king

6.

A．trained

B．borrowed

C．bought

D．beat

7.

A．visited

B．met

C．welcomed

D．missed

8.

A．week

B．day

C．hour

D．month

9.

A．acting

B．running

C．sleeping

D．drinking

10.

A．ignore

B．recognize

C．ask

D．help

11.

A．clever

B．short

C．busy

D．sad

12.

A．went away

B．came up

C．turned to

D．came back

13.

A．how

B．who

C．where

D．why

14.

A．free

B．slow

C．lovely

D．lonely

15.

A．walks

B．writes

C．reads

D．lives

16.

A．wood

B．word

C．air

D．medicine

17.

A．loose

B．quick

C．right

D．open

18.

A．felt

B．stopped

C．imagined

D．heard

19.

A．often

B．quietly

C．carefully

D．fast

20.

A．glad

B．sorry

C．safe

D．Shy

2 . A few days ago my wife sent me out to buy something. When I came home, I handed her a paper bag and said, “Here are the apples you wanted.” She looked in the bag, and then she looked at me. “I told you,” she said slowly, “to buy some eggs.”

I felt worried about my absent-mindedness (心不在焉，健忘) , so I went to see a doctor. He was a very kind man. “I have seen many people like you. It’s nothing to worry about,” he said. “If you know you are absent-minded, you are all right. But if you do not know you’re absent-minded, you may be really in trouble.”

“Many famous people were absent-minded,” the doctor told me. “Thomas Edison was standing in line one day to pay his taxes. When he arrived at the window, he found that he had forgotten his own name. He had to ask the man who was behind him to tell him who he was.”

I felt much better and got up to leave. “Thank you, doctor,” I said. “How much do I have to pay you?”

“Ten dollars for the check-up ,” the doctor said.

“But doctor, I did not have a check-up!”

For a moment the doctor looked puzzled. Then he said, “Oh, yes, it was the patient before you who had a check-up. How absent-minded I am!”

1. It can be inferred (推断) from the first paragraph that when the author’s wife heard what her husband told her, she was ______.

A．excited	B．surprised
C．sad	D．proud

2. The doctor took Edison’s story for example ______.

A．to make fun of Edison

B．because he liked telling stories

C．to show absent-mindedness is common among people

D．to make the author laugh

3. According to the passage, who was/were absent-minded?

A．Only the author.	B．The author and the doctor.
C．The doctor alone.	D．The author's wife.

3 . E-mail has been widely used since its invention for its convenience, efficiency, and high speed. However, it is wise to remember how easily this wonderful technology can be misused, sometimes unintentionally, but can result in serious consequences.
Now let’s look at the case of the Illinois man who left the snow-filled streets of Chicago for a vacation in Florida. His wife was on a business trip and was planning to meet him there the next day. When he reached his hotel , he decided to send his wife a quick E-mail. Unable to find the note with his wife’s E-mail address, he did his best to type from his memory. Unfortunately, he missed one letter and his E-mail was directed to an elderly lady whose husband had passed away (去世) only the day before. When the sad widow checked her E-mail, she took one look at the screen, let out a sharp cry, and fell to the floor in a dead faint (昏迷 ). At the sound , her family rushed into the room and saw this note on the screen:
MY DEAREST WIFE： JUST GOT CHECKED IN. EVERYTHING PREPARED FOR YOUR ARRIVAL TOMORROW.
P.S. SURE IS HOT DOWN HERE
1. Where do you think this text comes from?

A．It comes from a science report.

B．It comes from a computer screen.

C．It comes from a fiction.

D．It comes from a magazine.

2. What was the weather like in Florida when the story happened?

A．It was snowy.

B．It was neither too hot nor too cold.

C．It was rainy.

D．It was hot.

3. The underlined word “widow” probably means _________.

A．a woman who has no children

B．a woman who has just been married again

C．a woman whose husband died and she has not remarried

D．a woman whose husband is not at home

4. The old lady was in a dead faint because________.

A．she was too excited to hear from her husband

B．she was very ill

C．she thought the E-mail was from her dead husband

D．she was frightened to receive an E-mail from a stranger

4 . One day a few years ago a very funny thing happened to a neighbour of mine. He is a teacher at one of London’s big medical schools, He had finished his teaching for the summer term and was at the airport on his way to Russia to give a lecture.

He had put a few clothes and his lecture notes in his shoulder bag, but he had put Rupert, the skeleton (人体骨骼) to be used in his lecture, in a large brown suitcase (箱子). At the airport desk, he suddenly thought that he had forgotten to buy a newspaper. He left his suitcase near the desk and went over to the shop.

When he got back he discovered that someone had taken his suitcase by mistake. He often wonders what they said when they got home and found Rupert.

1. Who wrote the story?

A．Rupert’s teacher.	B．The neighbour’s teacher.
C．A medical school teacher.	D．The teacher’s neighbour.

2. Why did the teacher put a skeleton in his suitcase?

A．He needed it for the summer term in London.

B．He needed it for the lecture he was going to give.

C．He wanted to take it to Russia for medical research.

D．He wanted to take it home as he had finished his teaching.

3. What happened at the airport?

A．The skeleton went missing .	B．The skeleton was stolen .
C．The teacher forgot his suitcase.	D．The teacher took the wrong suitcase .

4. Which of the following best tells the teacher’s feeling about the incident?

A．He is very angry .	B．He thinks it rather funny .
C．He feels helpless without Rupert.	D．He feels good without Rupert .

5 . I used to hate being called upon in class mainly because I didn’t like attention drawn to myself. And ________otherwise assigned a seat by the teacher, I always ________to sit at the back of the classroom.

All this _________after I joined a sports team. It began when a teacher suggested I try out for the basketball team. At first I thought it was a crazy________ because I didn’t have a good sense of balance, nor did I have the_______ to keep pace with the others on the team and they would tease me. But for the teacher who kept insisting on my “________for it”, I wouldn’t have decided to give a try.

Getting up the ________to go to the tryouts was only the half of it! When I first started________the practice sessions, I didn’t even know the rules of the game, much _______what I was doing. Sometimes I’d get _________ and take a shot at the wrong direction—which made me feel really stupid.________ , I wasn’t the only one “new” at the game, so I decided to _________ on learning the game, do my best at each practice session, and not be too hard on myself for the things I didn’t ________“just yet”.

I practiced and practiced. Soon I knew the _______and the “moves”. Being part of a team was fun and motivating. Very soon the competitive _______in me was winning over my lack of confidence. With time, I learned how to play and made friends in the ________ — friends who respected my efforts to work hard and be a team player. I never had so much fun!

With my ________ self-confidence comes more praise from teachers and classmates. I have gone from _______in the back of the classroom and not wanting to call attention to myself, _______raising my hand— even when I sometimes wasn’t and not 100 percent _______I had the right answer. Now I have more self-confidence in myself.

1.

A．as

B．unless

C．until

D．though

2.

A．chose

B．agreed

C．meant

D．hoped

3.

A．continued

B．settled

C．changed

D．started

4.

A．saying

B．plan

C．belief

D．idea

5.

A．right

B．ability

C．chance

D．patience

6.

A．looking

B．going

C．cheering

D．applying

7.

A．strengths

B．knowledge

C．courage

D．competence

8.

A．attending

B．preparing

C．enjoying

D．watching

9.

A．worse

B．later

C．less

D．further

10.

A．committed

B．separated

C．embarrassed

D．confused

11.

A．Interestingly

B．Obviously

C．Fortunately

D．Hopefully

12.

A．try

B．act

C．rely

D．focus

13.

A．want

B．do

C．know

D．support

14.

A．steps

B．rules

C．orders

D．games

15.

A．part

B．roles

C．mind

D．value

16.

A．movement

B．operation

C．process

D．situation

17.

A．improved

B．expressed

C．preserved

D．recognized

18.

A．dreaming

B．playing

C．hiding

D．relaxing

19.

A．to

B．for

C．with

D．by

20.

A．lucky

B．happy

C．satisfied

D．sure

6 . After their 15-year-old dog Bailey died in 2007, Ron and his wife, Ann, looked for months to find the right new pet. “I love dogs,” says Ron, a worker at a health club in Waukesha, Wisconsin. “I can’t imagine not having one.”

Finally, the couple spotted a young dog at the Humane Society in Milwaukee. His name was Oscar. “He was very attractive,” says Ron, 65. Oscar quickly made himself at home, sleeping on his new owners’ bed at night.

A diabetic(糖尿病人) for 25 years, Ron faithfully took his medicine four times a day and generally had no problems. But on March 17, at about 3 a.m., he got out of bed to use the bathroom. Suddenly, he fell down to the floor. “I must have taken the wrong amount of medicine before I went to sleep, because my blood sugar was dangerously low,” he says.

“Normally, Oscar is very quiet and well-behaved,” says Ron. “But when I hit the floor, he let out sounds like a wild animal.”

“Honestly, it sounded like the dog from hell,” says Ann, who was awakened by the sound.“I didn’t know what the sound was. Then I saw my husband lying on the bathroom floor. He was cold.” She ran for the phone and called an ambulance.

Ron spent several hours in the hospital. By 6:30a.m., he was well enough to go home. “You would never suspect Oscar of any heroism.” says his grateful owner. “He’s a wonderful little guy. We are lucky enough to own him.”

Even before Oscar’s heroic action, the couple had given their pet a new nickname(昵称). “We felt the name Oscar wasn’t good enough,” says Ron, “so sometimes we call him Eduardo”—more suitable, they think, for their dog.

1. What was Ann doing when Ron went to the bathroom?

A．She was sleeping.

B．She was watching TV.

C．She was taking care of Oscar.

D．She was talking with someone on the phone.

2. Why did Ron fell onto the floor in the bathroom?

A．He forgot to take his medicine.

B．The floor in the bathroom was too wet.

C．He took the wrong amount of medicine.

D．He is a diabetic and accidentally ate some sugar.

3. Which of the following is TRUE?

A．Oscar was 15 years old when he was found.

B．The sound of Oscar was usually like a wild animal.

C．Ron got diabetes when he was 40 years old.

D．Ron had to take his medicine three times a day.

4. From the passage we can learn that Oscar_______________.

A．is a little noisy at home

B．sleeps with his owners at night

C．got his new nickname after the story

D．was found at a health club in Waukesha

7 . I was walking along the main street of a small seaside town in the north of England looking for somewhere to make a phone call．My car had broken down outside the town and I wanted to contact the AA Company．Low grey clouds were gathering across the sky and there was a cold damp wind blowing off the sea which nearly threw me off my feet every time I crossed one of the side streets．It had rained in the night and water was dropping from the bare trees that lined the street．I was glad that I was wearing a thick coat．
There was no sign of a call box, nor was there anyone at that early hour whom I could ask．I had thought I might find a shop open selling the Sunday papers or a milkman doing his rounds, but the town was completely dead．The only living thing I saw was a thin frightened cat outside a small restaurant．
Then suddenly I found what I was looking for．There was a small post office, and almost hidden from sight in a dark narrow street．Next to it was the town’s only public call box, which badly needed a coat of paint．I hurried forward, but stopped in astonishment when I saw through the dirty glass that there was a man inside．He was fat, and was wearing a cheap blue plastic raincoat．I could not see his face and he didn’t raise his head at the sound of my footsteps．
Carefully, I remained standing a few feet away and lit a cigarette to wait for my turn．It was when I threw the dead match on the ground that I noticed something bright red trickling from under the box call door．
1. At what time was the story set?

A．An early winter morning．	B．A cold winter afternoon．
C．An early summer morning．	D．A windy summer afternoon．

2. Which of the following words best describe the writer’s impression of the town?

A．Cold and frightening．	B．Dirty and crowded．
C．Empty and dead．	D．Unusual and unpleasant．

3. The underlined word “trickling” in the last paragraph means _____．．

A．rushing out suddenly	B．shining brightly
C．flowing slowly in drops	D．appearing slowly

4. Why didn’t the man raise his head when the writer came near?

A．He was annoyed at being seen by the writer．

B．He was angry at being disturbed by the writer．

C．He was probably fast asleep．

D．He was probably murdered．

8 . Bob was a clever college student, but his family was poor, so he had to work after class and during his holidays to get enough money for his studies.

One summer he got a job in a butcher’s shop during the day time, and another in a hospital at night. In the shop, he learned to cut and sell meat. He did so well that the butcher went into a room behind the shop to do all the accounts. In the hospital, of course, Bob was told to do only the easiest jobs. He helped to lift people and carry them from one part of the hospital to another. Both in the butcher’s shop and in the hospital, Bob had to wear white clothes.

One evening in the hospital, Bob had to help to carry a woman from her bed to the operating-room. The woman already felt frightened when she thought about the operation. When she saw Bob coming to get her, she felt even more frightened.

“No! No!” she cried. “Not a butcher! I won’t let a butcher operate on me!” with these words ,she fainted away.

1. Bob had to work after class and during his holidays because_________.

A．his father told him to make more friends	B．he wanted to become a rich man
C．he couldn’t go on with his studies without enough money	D．he had nothing to do at home.

2. One summer Bob_________.

A．wanted to become not only a butcher but also a doctor.	B．got two different jobs at two places
C．was free only at night	D．worked only during the daytime

3. In the hospital, Bob’s job was_________.

A．to take care of the wounded soldiers	B．to give the doctor’s advice
C．to find out what was wrong with the sick people	D．to carry the sick people from one place to another

9 . Watching some children trying to catch butterflies one hot August afternoon, I was reminded of an incident in my own childhood．When I was a boy of 12 in South Carolina, something happened to me that cured me forever of wanting to put any wild creature in a cage.

We lived on the edge of a wood, and every evening at dusk the mockingbirds would come and rest in the trees and sing. There isn’t a musical instrument made by man that can produce a more beautiful sound than the song of the mockingbird.

I decided that I would catch a young bird and keep it in a cage and in that way would have my own private musician.

I finally succeeded in catching one and put it in a cage. At first, in its fright at being captured, the bird fluttered about the cage, but eventually it settled down in its new home. I felt very pleased with myself and looked forward to some beautiful singing from my tiny musician.

I had left the cage out on our back porch, and on the second day of the bird’s captivity(囚禁) my new pet’s mother flew to the cage with food in her mouth. The baby bird ate everything she brought to it. I was pleased to see this. Certainly the mother knew better than I how to feed her baby.

The following morning when I went to see how my captive was doing, I discovered it on the floor of the cage, dead. I was shocked! What had happened! I had taken excellent care of my little bird, or so I thought.

Arthur Wayne, the famous ornithologist, happened to be visiting my father at the time, hearing me crying over the death of my bird, explained what had occurred. “A mother mockingbird, finding her young in a cage, will sometimes bring it poison berries. She thinks it better for her young to die than to live in captivity.”

Never since then have I caught any living creature and put it in a cage. All living creatures have a right to live free.

1. Why did the writer catch a mockingbird when he was a boy of 12?

A．He had just got a new cage.	B．He liked its beautiful feather.
C．He wanted it to sing for him.	D．He wanted a pet for a companion.

2. The mockingbird died because it ______.

A．was frightened to death	B．ate the poisonous food its mother gave it
C．refused to eat anything	D．drank the poisonous water by mistake

3. An ornithologist probably means ______.

A．a religious person	B．a kind person
C．a schoolmaster	D．an expert in birds

4. What is the most important lesson the writer learned from the incident?

A．Freedom is very valuable to all creatures.

B．All birds put in a cage won’t live long.

C．You should keep the birds from their mother.

D．Be careful about food you give to baby birds.