4 . Hell comes to Pearl Harbor

It was Sunday, December 7,1941. As usual, the wake­up call came at 5:45 a.m. The men aboard the warship USS Arizona stretched and rubbed their eyes. Seaman Russell Warriner was awakened by Quartermaster Louis Conter. Russell made his bed and helped clean the huge, shared room. The men went to the washroom, dressed in their uniforms and sat down to breakfast. It looked like it would be a normal day on board the ship.

But nobody ate their breakfast: at that moment, there was a huge crashing sound from above. The ship shook violently and the men looked at each other in horror. Above their heads, hundreds of Japanese planes circled like eagles. They were diving down to drop bombs on Pearl Harbor. The scream of their engines was deafening. As bombs thundered all around, clouds of black smoke rose into the sky and hung over the sea. Russell felt his blood freeze, but he quickly came to himself and rushed up to the deck. Moments later, a bomb hit the USS Arizona and Russell was thrown more than 100 meters across the ship. He suffered serious burns on his hands, arms and legs, and watched many of his friends die.

Louis, meanwhile, also standing on the deck, was lucky not to be thrown into the sea. With only minor injuries, he was able to help others who were severely burnt and in terrible pain. After receiving the order to abandon ship, Louis saved more men from the water, dragging them into the lifeboat. In the chaos and confusion after the attack, the US Navy sent a message to his family that Louis had been killed in the attack. Luckily, he was able to get in touch with them before the message arrived. Despite his remarkable actions, Louis did not think that he was a hero. “The heroes are the ones that gave their lives that day,” he said.

Russell was saved from the water, but he was badly burnt, bleeding heavily. Fortunately, he was taken to hospital and survived. For many years, Russell refused to talk about what happened that morning, describing it simply as “hell”. His wife Elsa said, “When he opened up later on, he always mentioned the horror of it.”

Louis and Russell would never forget the terrible scene of the attack, but they were fortunate enough to be among the few survivors from the Arizona. Nobody had expected the bombing. Japan had hatched a plot to launch a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, so the attack began without warning and without declaring war on the United States. The attack destroyed nearly 20 American ships and over 180 airplanes. In total, more than 2,000 American people were killed and over 1,000 others were wounded that day. More than 1,000 people aboard the Arizona lost their lives. Out of 37 sets of brothers, Russell and his brother were the only full pair to survive the attack．

The surprise attack came as a great shock to the whole nation. The next day, President Roosevelt delivered his famous Pearl Harbor Speech, in which he described December 7 as “a date which will live in infamy” and asked that the US Congress declare war on Japan. In response to the attack and the president’s address, the United States joined the Second World War.

Today, the USS Arizona lies where it sank: in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Its location is marked with a memorial shaped like a bridge, which crosses the ship’s sunken remains . Each year, more than two million people visit the memorial. They come to see the shadow of the ship at the bottom of Pearl Harbor, to learn about the attack, to show respect for those who had lost their lives in the attack and to pray for world peace. Although about eight decades has passed, the attack on Pearl Harbor, one of the darkest episodes in American history, will never be forgotten.

1. When did Japanese planes attack Pearl Harbor?

A．In the morning.	B．At noon.
C．In the afternoon.	D．At midnight.

2. What can we know about Russell and Louis from the passage?

A．Russell lost his hands, arms and legs in the attack.

B．Russell was seriously burned in the attack.

C．Louis’s family were sad to hear that he was killed.

D．Louis was proud of his remarkable actions.

3. Which of the following words can best describe Louis?

A．Kind and skilled.

B．Helpful and clever.

C．Brave and clever.

D．Brave and modest.

4. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to Paragraph 5?

A．Many American ships and airplanes were destroyed in the attack.

B．More than 1,000 people aboard the Arizona were killed.

C．2,000 Americans were killed and 1,000 others were wounded in the war.

D．Both Russell and his brother survived the attack.

5 . 假定你是李华，你的美国笔友和乒乓球爱好者Mike对去年世乒赛中美选手配对参赛很感兴趣，来信向你了解中美两国“乒乓外交”的情况。请你给他回信，内容包括：
1. 中美两国球员之间的 “乒乓外交” 始于 1971 年日本名古屋 (Nagoya) 世乒赛，并直接促成了尼克松 (Richard Nixon) 总统 1972 年的访华破冰之旅；
2. 邀请他在方便的时候来中国进行训练和比赛。
注意：1. 词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇： the Ping-Pong Diplomacy 乒乓外交
Dear Mike,
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Hua

6 . After seemingly endless waiting, news finally reached President Abraham Lincoln. The North had won at Gettysburg. The citizens of Pennsylvania created a national cemetery（公墓）for the soldiers who lay dead at Gettysburg. A ceremony was planned. Lincoln received an invitation to attend. He was not asked to give the major speech of the day. That honor was given to a New England statesman and professional speaker named Edward Everett. The president was asked instead to say “a few words”.

As the day approached, Lincoln’s wife asked him to reconsider. Their son, Tad, had fallen ill. Mary Lincoln was near crazy. On the morning of the day, Tad was so sick that he could not eat. Lincoln felt unwell himself, but he decided to go anyway.

On Thursday, November 19, for two hours, Everett held the audience spellbound with his rich voice and inspiring words. Then Lincoln rose to speak. “Four score and seven years ago,” he began in his high pitched（声调高的）voice. He spoke for barely three minutes.

As Lincoln sat down, some eyewitnesses recalled little applause（掌声）. Others heard “not a word, not a cheer, not a shout”. A person taking notes asked Lincoln, “Is that all?” Embarrassed, Lincoln replied, “Yes--for the present.” A photographer in the crowd had not even had time to take a picture.

Lincoln thought his speech was a failure. Some newspapers considered it as “silly” and “boring”. But Everett correctly predicted that the Gettysburg Address would “live among the history of man”. A few days after both of them had spoken at Gettysburg, he wrote to Lincoln, saying that he wished he had come “as close to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes”. Lincoln replied, telling Everett how pleased he was that “the little I did say was not entirely a failure.”

Indeed it was not. It gave the North new hope and purpose as to why it was fighting the war. Today, Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is remembered as one of the greatest speeches of all time.

1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?

A．Lincoln was asked to give a mini speech.

B．Lincoln was elected President on the victory of Gettysburg.

C．Lincoln’s speech was given to celebrate the end of the War.

D．Lincoln ordered the construction of a cemetery in Gettysburg.

2. Why does the writer mention the person taking notes?

A．To show the disappointment of the audience.

B．To show the greatness of Lincoln’s speech.

C．To laugh at Lincoln for his unsuccessful speech.

D．To tell us that Lincoln was very sad about his speech.

3. What did Everett intend to express about Lincoln’s speech in the 5th paragraph?

A．Sympathy.	B．Criticism.
C．Appreciation.	D．Embarrassment.

4. Why did Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address become famous?

A．Because it was distinctively well constructed.

B．Because it was concise and delivered in a rich voice.

C．Because Everett, a great speaker, sang high praise for it.

D．Because people got hope and a sense of purpose from it.

7 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

It was Sunday December 7, 1941. It looked like it would be a normal day     1     board the ship. Suddenly, with a huge crashing sound from above, hundreds of Japanese planes dropped bombs on Pearl Harbor. In great horror, Russell     2     (suffer) serious burns and watched many of his friends die. After receiving the order to abandon ship, Louis still saved more men from the water,     3     (drag) them into the lifeboat. Because of his     4     (remark) actions, Louis was acknowledged as a hero, but he thought the ones giving their lives that day were real heroes.     5     (fortune), Russel survived after the treatment in hospital, but he was     6     (willing) to talk about the attack, describing it simply as “hell”.

The terrible scene of the attack, which was hatched by Japan and caused great loss, left a deep impression on Louis Russell. In response to the surprise attack and the famous address     7     (deliver) by President Roosevelt, the United States joined the Second World War.

Today, the USS Arizona lies     8     it sank: in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. A memorial shaped like a bridge     9     (cross) the ship’s sunken remains. Each year, more than two million people visit the memorial in memory of those victims and pray for world peace. Although almost eight decades has passed, the attack on Pearl Harbor, one of the     10     (dark) episodes in American history, will never be forgotten.

8 . Each year, 150,000 people hike Scotland’s Ben Nevis — Britain’s highest mountain. Many choose to take the so-called tourist trail, the rocky path which winds its way to the peak. Few realise that this path was initially carved out in 1883 for a very unique scientific expedition.

In the late 19th century, a key question of science was how depressions, storms and other severe climatic events form in the atmosphere. By 1875 mountain observatories were being established across the US, Mexico, India, France, Germany and Russia. Keen to gather similar data for Britain, the Scottish Meteorological Society decided to build a weather station at the top of Ben Nevis.

And so began a remarkable experiment. From 1883 to 1904, a few hardy individuals lived year-round in a small stone hut, surviving on tinned food and making hourly recordings of everything from atmospheric temperature to humidity (湿度), wind speed to rainfall. In total they made almost 1.5 million observations.

“They were living in very severe weather conditions: 100mph winds were not uncommon, and the temperature would drop to -15°C at times. The main danger they faced was that they were very close to the edge of the cliff (悬崖). If you weren’t careful, you would disappear off the cliff completely,” says Ed Hawkins, professor of climate science at the University of Reading.

However, by 1904, the Scottish Meteorological Society could no longer afford the observatory’s running costs. It was closed down and the data largely has remained hidden in the dusty pages of archives (档案馆) ever since.

Today, plans are underfoot to build a new modern observatory on the ruins on the former site — with automatic measuring devices rather than human data collectors. “We haven’t had any long-term observations up there for a long time now, and this would give us information straight away on how the climate at the top of the mountain has changed,” Hawkins says. “We think that the high altitude regions are some of the places where we’ve seen the largest changes in temperature. This could tell us a lot.”

1. Why was the weather station at the top of Ben Nevis built?

A．To attract visitors to Ben Nevis.

B．To study the formation of extreme weather events.

C．To provide weather forecasts for the whole Britain.

D．To compete with weather stations in other countries.

2. What do Hawkins’ words in Paragraph 4 mainly focus on?

A．The geographical features of Ben Nevis.

B．The extreme climate on top of Ben Nevis.

C．The achievements made by the weather station.

D．The bad working conditions of the station workers.

3. What does Hawkins say about the new observatory?

A．It will take a long time to build.

B．It will need many human data collectors.

C．It will have archives for the old weather station.

D．It will detect climate change at Ben Nevis’ peak quickly.

4. Why does the author write the text?

A．To argue.	B．To inform.
C．To advertise.	D．To appeal.

9 . Recently-leaked historical documents revealed that there were dozens of attempts by German Resistance almost killing Hitler.

If the Munich agreements of Sept. 29, 1938 had not given Hitler the fruits of war with Czechoslovakia without war, some generals might have ________: Secret arrangements had been made to open from within the doors to Hitler’s house so that a military ________ could rush in. If on Nov. 8, 1939, Hitler had not cut short a speech ________ for two hours in Munich, an assassination plan there might have succeeded. Two days later, with ________ thickened around Hitler, an officers’ bomb attempt was abandoned. In a March 13, 1943 attempt, explosives hidden in two bottles of red wine were placed ________ Hitlers’ plane. The fuse (引信) worked, and the firing pins (撩针) struck. Still, the ________ did not explode, perhaps because the explosive, carried in the plane’s cargo hold, was sensitive to cold.

Eight days later, as Hitler entered a military exhibition, an officer ________ a fuse on a bomb beneath his coat and stayed close to Hitler. But after just two minutes in the exhibition, Hitler, with a wild animal’s ________for danger, left through a side door. The officer dashed to a restroom to defuse the bomb.

A 24-year-old captain shocked by Nazi’s cruelty, instantly ________ when the German Resistance asked if he would kill Hitler. In November 1943, with Hitler scheduled to view a display of new uniform, the captain, with a bomb concealed ________ his person, was prepared to light a short fuse and ________ upon Hitler. But the display was ________ when the railroad car containing the uniforms was destroyed by air raid (空袭) on Berlin.

If it had not been unusually hot on July 20, 1944, Hitler’s conference with Stauffenberg and others would have been held in a concrete basement, which would have ________ the explosion of Stauffenberg’s bomb. ________, they met, in an above-ground wooden building, where the force was weakened. Hitler ________ and the planned attempt was discovered in a few hours.

1.

A．resigned

B．rejected

C．rebelled

D．retired

2.

A．force

B．strength

C．power

D．energy

3.

A．prepared

B．assigned

C．suggested

D．scheduled

4.

A．regulation

B．security

C．management

D．atmosphere

5.

A．aboard

B．around

C．along

D．across

6.

A．plane

B．fuse

C．bomb

D．cargo

7.

A．set

B．opened

C．pulled

D．lit

8.

A．nature

B．instinct

C．character

D．intelligence

9.

A．agreed

B．decided

C．declined

D．admitted

10.

A．in

B．by

C．at

D．on

11.

A．leap

B．look

C．call

D．lean

12.

A．postponed

B．canceled

C．extended

D．delayed

13.

A．prevented

B．strengthened

C．reserved

D．improved

14.

A．Meanwhile

B．Still

C．Instead

D．Furthermore

15.

A．died

B．remained

C．departed

D．survived

10 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

The Oscars are held every March in the city of Los Angeles. Many of Hollywood’s biggest     1     (celebrity) attend this event,    2     (hope) to win an Oscar award. Since the first ceremony in 1929,    3     only fifteen awards were given out, the Oscars have grown in size and popularity. Now, more than fifty of the gold-plated statues are made every year in the city of Chicago. They then     4     (transport) to Los Angeles for the awards show.

However, on March 8, 2000, someone stole the fifty-five Oscar statues that were made for that year’s ceremony. Soon after, the trucking company     5     (responsibility) for transporting the statues offered a $50,000 reward for them.

A few days later, Willie Fulgear was looking for some boxes in a garbage can near his home in the Koreatown district of Los Angeles. Willie was moving out of his apartment and he needed boxes     6     (pack) his things in. Searching through the can, he found some white boxes. He opened one of them and found an Oscar inside. He had the other boxes     7     (tear) open and got fifty-two Oscars, all     8     perfect condition. He immediately called the police.

Finally Willie Fulgear received     9     $50,000 reward and an invitation to the Oscar ceremony. He didn’t receive an award for his honesty     10     he did go from litter to glitter (闪光) in just one week.