1 . Peter, 60, loved his job as a bus driver. He had been one almost all his life, loving the little children who rode his bus daily. It made him feel much younger. His record was clean, without one accident, which made him a trustworthy driver.

However, Mr. Clark, Peter’s boss, was worried and thought that it was time for him to retire (退休). “You don’t have a choice here, Peter.” he said seriously. “We don’t want to invite any risk to the children.”

“But I have a perfect record,” reasoned Peter. “You know, for an elderly man like me, my job is the only thing that keeps me alive. I want to keep my job.”

“Would you take responsibility if something bad happened to those children?” Mr. Clark said.

Peter thought it over, and very reluctantly, he gave in to Mr. Clark’s request. Peter decided to retire a week later.

The day before his last day, Peter was dropping of the kids at his first stop when he looked out of the window and saw a lady who had passed out. He asked the kids not to leave the bus and got down to help the woman.

Just when he finished, he heard cries behind him. The children were looking out of the window and shouting. “Fire! Fire! Help!” “How could that have happened?” Peter was shaking in fear. With shaking hands, Peter dialed 911 and rushed to help the children. Covering himself with his jacket, Peter rushed into the burning car and took the children out one by one. Thankfully, the firefighters arrived soon and helped Peter, saving all students.

The next day, Peter found the whole school standing in front of his home. When Peter got close to them, Mr. Clark started clapping and everyone joined him. “You are a hero, Peter! You saved the lives of those young children.” he said. “You are the best driver. We hope you can keep the job!”

1. What made Mr. Clark worried?

A．He couldn’t talk Peter into retiring.

B．Taking school bus was unsafe for children.

C．Peter was too old to be a school bus driver.

D．The school bus driver must be changed actually.

2. What does the underlined “reluctantly” mean in Paragraph 5?

A．Angrily.

B．Unwillingly.

C．Doubtfully.

D．Cheerfully.

3. Why were the children shouting?

A．They were caught in the burning bus.

B．They couldn’t find Peter on the bus.

C．They were frightened by the woman.

D．They didn’t want a new school bus driver.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．Putting Out the Fire	B．A Dangerous Bus Journey
C．Working After Retirement	D．An Old Hero Driver

2 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Cruz Genet, 11, and Anthony Skopick, 10, couldn’t agree. Were the birds out on the ice ducks or geese? There was only one way to find out. So    1    a chilly January evening last year, the two friends ventured onto the frozen pond near their homes in Frankfort, Illinois,     2    (get) a better look. First they cast a rock onto the ice to test it, Cruz told NBC5 Chicago, “Then we stepped on it.”     3    (convince) the ice would hold their weight, Anthony took a few steps, then...FOOMP. He crashed through the seemingly frozen surface. “There was no sound, no crack,” he told ABC 7 Chicago. “I just fell through instantly. ”

Cruz rushed to help his    4    (panic) friend. FOOMP — the pond swallowed him too. Cruz managed to lift himself out of the frigid water and onto a more solid section. He then carefully worked his way toward Anthony. But the ice didn’t hold, and in he    5    (fall) again. This time, he couldn’t get out.

The boys were up to their necks in icy water and quickly losing feeling in their limbs. Any chance of their    6    (free) themselves was slipping away. Cruz was sure he was going to die. Anthony’s older sister had seen the boys fall through the ice and started screaming for help. John Lavin, a neighbour driving nearby on his way to the grocery store,     7    (hear) her. He quickly pulled over. Seeing the boys, he grabbed a nearby buoy,     8    (kick) off his shoes, and ran into the slushy water,     9    (chop) his way through the ice with his free fist.

Lavin made his way to Cruz and Anthony and dragged them back to land. They were taken to the hospital, where doctors discovered that their five-minute stay in the water    10    (lower) their body temperature nearly ten degrees.

Fortunately, the boys have fully recovered, though they are still kind of awestruck by their fearless neighbour. “Just to think,” says Cruz, “if he wasn’t there, I could have died.”

4 . 阅读理解
Is it possible that the sinking of the Titanic was caused by a ghost? A plot of the story below is true ... but did it really happen quite like this?
Our story begins not in the icy cold waters of the North Atlantic, but rather thousands of miles away in Egypt. It is here, perhaps, that we can find the start of the mystery (谜) of the Titanic, in the year 1910, in the great city of Cairo.
One day, a famous professor of Egyptian history called Douglas Murray was staying in Cairo, when he was contacted by an American adventurer.
The American had something unusual to offer Murray, something that was certain to thrill him: a beautiful ancient Egyptian mummy case, containing the mummy of an Egyptian queen. It was over 3,000 years old, but in beautiful condition — gold, with bright paintings on it. Murray was delighted with both the object and the asking­price. He gave the man a cheque immediately.
The cheque was never cashed. That evening the American adventurer died. For his part, Murray arranged to have the treasure sent back to Britain. However, it was not long before he learnt more about the beautiful mummy case: On the walls of the tomb in which it had been discovered, there were messages which warned of terrible consequences to anyone who broke into the tomb. Murray was disbelieving of these warnings until a few days later, when a gun he was holding exploded in his hand, shattering his arm. The arm had to be cut off.
After the accident, Murray decided to return to his homeland. On the return journey, two of his companions died mysteriously, and two servants who had handled the mummy also passed away. The now­terrified Murray decided he would get rid of the cursed case as soon as he arrived in London. A lady he knew named Janet Jones said she would like it, so he gave it to her. Shortly afterwards, Jones' mother died, and she herself caught a strange disease. She tried returning the mummy, but naturally Murray refused it. In the end, it was presented to the British Museum.
Even in the museum, the mummy apparently continued to cause strange events. A museum photographer died shortly after taking pictures of the new exhibit, and a manager also died for no apparent reason. In the end, the British Museum decided to get rid of the mummy too. They sold it to a collector in New York.
At the start of April 1912, arrangements for the transfer were complete, and the mummy began the journey to its new home. But the New Yorker never received the mummy or its case. For when the Titanic sank, one of the objects in its strong­room was the mummy case. Or so they say.
1. In Paragraph 5, the underlined word “cursed” is closest in meaning to ________.

A．forgotten	B．uncommon
C．expensive	D．unlucky

2. In what order did the following events occur?
a．The case was given to the British Museum.
b．Janet Jones caught a mysterious illness.
c．Murray's arm was cut off.
d．The mummy case was sold to an American.
e．A man who took a picture of the case died.
f．Warnings were written on the tomb's walls.

A．f，c，b，a，e，d	B．c，f，b，a，e，d
C．d，f，b，c，a，e	D．f，a，c，b，e，d

3. According to the passage, where is the Egyptian mummy now?

A．At the British Museum.	B．In New York.
C．In Egypt.	D．Under the sea.

4. What is the main purpose of this passage?

A．To entertain readers with a story of mystery.

B．To introduce an important historical event to readers.

C．To warn readers about the dangers of mummies' curses.

D．To inform readers about the true cause of the Titanic's sinking.