Passage 42

　　Bill Clinton took office (就职)on January 20,1993 and became the 42nd U.S. President (总统). He is the first U.S. president who was born after World War II. He is also one of the youngest of all U.S. presidents.

　　Clinton was born in a poor family. Three months before he was born, his father, William Blats, died. When he was small, his mother remarried (再婚) Norger Clinton, so the boy‘s family name was changed.

　　In the summer of 1963, Clinton was asked to visit the city of Washington. During his visit, he met President Kennedy in the White House. At that time, he wanted to become a president, and now he is!

　　1. Clinton became the 42nd U.S. president when he was______.

　　A. thirty B. about forty C. forty-seven D.37years old

　　2. Clinton’s father died______.

　　A. after 1946 B. before Clinton was born

　　C. before World War II D. when Clinton was young

　　3. Why was the boy‘s name changed?

　　A.Because he became a president

　　B.Because his family was very poor

　　C. Because his father was dead

　　D. Because his mother remarried Norger Clinton

　　4. In 1963 Clinton came to the city of Washington___.

　　A. to take part in an exam B. for his holidays

　　C. for a visit D. to have a meeting with Kennedy

　　5. Which one of the following is Not right?

　　A.Everybody can visit the president in the White House

　　B. All the U.S. presidents work in the White Horse

　　B.Clinton wanted to become a president after he saw President Kennedy

　　D. The White House is in the city of Washington

　　Passage 43

　　EVERYTHING has two sides. One side of SARS is already clear. It is a deadly disease, which causes fear. There were 2,601 cases (病例) recorded on the Chinese mainland on April 24, according to government report. 115 people have died and numbers keep rising.

　　But, there is another side.

　　SARS is a reminder (提醒) of how fragile life can be. Suddenly, it’s not just the old people who are thinking about death. Everyone now realizes there might not always be a tomorrow.

　　Wang Xinying, a student in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province came into contact (接触) with a suspected (疑似) SARS patient in mid-April. He was told to stay at home for at least two weeks. “Watching TV about more and more SARS patients dying, I never knew that death could be so close. Life is valuable (珍贵的) and I’m going to treasure (珍惜) every single day,” he said.

　　SARS teaches people to be grateful, both for their own lives and for others. Doctors and nurses, for example, have to spend all their time with infected (被感染的) patients. As a result, more than one fifth of SARS cases in China are medical workers.

　　Xu Bing, a student of Beijing No. 5 Middle School wants to be a doctor in the future. “Although they certainly know the dangers, doctors and nurses kept working hard on saving people’s lives. I’m deeply moved by what they have done. I think they are real heroes.” he said.

　　SARS also teaches sympathy (同情). The past few weeks have been terrible for Chinese people. But there are far worse things than SARS in this world, such as war, earthquakes and robberies. Think of the Iraqis, who have been living terrible lives for 20 years. Think of how the Americans felt on 9.11.

　　And finally, SARS offers the chances to grow. All different kinds of people and the governments are joining together to work in this difficult time. When this passes, China and its people will have learned great lessons.

　　1.What does “Everyone now realizes there might not always be a tomorrow” mean?

　　It means life is easy to _____ and we must ______ our life.

　　2.How long was Wang Xinying told to stay at home?

　　He was told to stay at home for about _______ a _______.

　　3.Why can medical workers be easily infected?

　　Because they have to be with infected patients _______ and _______.

　　4.What do we learn in the difficult time?

　　We learn nothing is difficult if we ___________.

　　Passage 44

　　Marco Polo was born in Venice in 1254. He was the most famous westerner to visit Asia during the middle Ages. He wrote a book about his travels. In his book he wrote all the things he saw and heard. Many people read the book but few believed what Marco Polo said. He spoke of strange people and places that nobody knew about at that time.

　　As a young man, Marco Polo decided to travel together with his father. It took them more than three years to travel to China. He became the Chinese emperor’s friend. He learned the Chinese language when he traveled around and talked to many people. Before he reached the age of thirty he was made a Chinese official.

　　After nearly seventeen years in the east, Marco and his father prepared to return home. When they finally arrived in Venice, their family and friends were surprised to see them again. They had been away for almost 25years.

　　1. What made Marco Polo famous during the middle Ages?

　　A. His travel to America. B. His travel in the west.

　　C. His travel in Asia. D. His visit to Venice.

　　2. What did Marco Polo write about in his book?

　　A. How he traveled to China with his father.

　　B. Something too difficult for people to understand.

　　C. Some strange people and places

　　D. Something that had been known to people for many years.

　　3. Marco Polo worked as a Chinese official in ________.

　　A. 1254 B. 1284 C. 1271 D. 1279

　　4. Which of the following is the right order during Marco’s travel?

　　a. traveled with his father b. was made a Chinese official

　　c. wrote a book about his travel d. became Chinese emperor’s friend

　　e. returned to Venice

　　A. c-a-d-b-e B. c-a-b-d-e C. a-b-d-e-c D. a-d-b-e-c

　　Passage 45

　　Typhoons (台风) in the northern part of the world have girls’ names. Sometimes they have very beautiful names. Rose is a pretty name but there was nothing pretty about Typhoon Rose. It was the worst typhoon to hit Hong Kong in ten years.

　　It began to rain in the morning of Monday, August 16th, 1971. At ten o’clock in the morning, Typhoon Rose was still 130 miles away but already the wind was blowing people’s umbrella away. The wind became stronger and stronger. The typhoon shelters (避风港) were soon full of boats. Ships that were too big to go inside the shelters put down more anchors (锚). Some very big shops went out to sea. It is safer for a big shop to be at sea in a typhoon because it cannot be blown onto rocks. Kai Tak Airport closed. No planes were able to take off or land. At 9:00 in the evening, all the lights went out.

　　No one slept well that night. It is difficult to sleep in such bad weather.

　　In Typhoon Rose, more than one hundred people died. 229 people were hurt and 66 of these had to go to hospital. 1500 lost their homes. The people of Hong Kong will not quickly forget Typhoon Rose!

　　1.What’s true according to the passage?

　　A.Typhoons all over the world have girls’ names.

　　B.Typhoons with pretty names are usually beautiful.

　　C.Typhoon Rose only hit Hong Kong.

　　D.For ten years, people in Hong Kong haven’t seen a worse typhoon than Typhoon Rose.

　　2.What’s the possible result of Typhoon Rose?

　　A.Lots of big shops were blown onto rocks.

　　B.More than two hundred people lost their lives and many more lost their homes.

　　C.People didn’t sleep well in such bad weather.

　　D.People turned off the lights at 9:00 in the evening.

　　3.The people of Hong Kong will not quickly forget Typhoon Rose because ____________.

　　A.it caused the terrible losses

　　B. they didn’t sleep well that night

　　C. Typhoon Rose wasn’t as pretty as its name

　　D. they couldn’t find their ships after the typhoon

　　4.Some big shops didn’t go inside the shelters because _______.

　　A. they had more anchors B. it is safer outside

　　C. they were out at sea and they weren’t fast enough to reach the shelters when Typhoon Rose came

　　D. it was too expensive for big shops to go inside the shelters

　　5.This passage is mainly about ______.

　　A. the names of typhoons B. typhoons in Hong King

　　C. Typhoon Rose D. the typhoons

　　Passage 46

　　There was once a man called Mr. Flowers, and flowers were his only joy in life. He spent all his free time in one of his four glass-houses and grew flowers of every color, with long and difficult names, for competitions (比赛). He tried to grow a rose of a new color to win the silver cup (银杯) for the Rose of the Year.

　　Mr. Flowers’ glass-houses were very near to a middle school. Boys of around thirteen of age were often tempted (引诱) to throw a stone or two at one of Mr. Flowers’ glass-houses. So Mr. Flowers did his best to be in or near his glass-houses at the beginning and end of the school day.

　　But it was not always possible to be on watch at those times. Mr. Flowers had tried in many ways to protect his glass, but nothing that he had done had been useful. He had been to school to report to the headmaster; but this had not done any good. He had tried to drive away the boys that threw stones into his garden; but the boys could run faster than he could, and they laughed at him from far away. He had even picked up all the stones that he could find around his garden, so that the boys would have nothing to throw; but they soon found others.

　　At last Mr. Flowers had a good idea. He put up a large notice (布告) made of good, strong wood, some meters away from the glass-houses. On it he had written the words: DO NOT THROW STONES AT THIS NOTICE. After this, Mr. Flowers had no further trouble; the boys were much more tempted to throw stones at the notice than at the glass-houses.

　　1.It was Mr. Flowers’ hope to ________.

　　A.build glass-houses in his free time

　　B.grow the Rose of the Year in a silver cup

　　C.win a silver cup for growing a rose of a new color

　　D.grow a rose with the longest name

　　2.Boys were often tempted to ________.

　　A.throw stones at Mr. Flowers’ glass-house

　　B.throw stones at Mr. Flowers from their school

　　C.be in or near by Mr. Flowers’ glass-houses

　　D.play with Mr. Flowers near his glass-houses

　　3.Mr. Flowers stayed in or near by his glass-houses _______.

　　A.at times when school-boys were walking near them

　　B.all the school day when there were no boys about

　　C.where he could not be seen by the boys passing

　　D.in his free time at the beginning and end of the school day

　　4.Mr. Flowers had tried to ______ to protect his glass.

　　A. be on watch in his free time B. ask the headmaster for help

　　C. pick up all the stones around his garden D. do all the above

　　5.Mr. Flowers’ good idea was to ______.

　　A.write some words on the glass

　　B.put up a large notice to cover his glass-houses

　　C.give the boys something else to throw stones at

　　D.send for policemen

　　Passage 47

　　People often say, “Children can’t do math problem, it’s because parents can’t do their children’s homework.” Here’s an example to show what I mean.

　　The other day my daughter brought home her math homework. “I have to subtract (减) 179 from 202,” she said.

　　“It’s quite easy,” I said. “You put the 202 over the 179.”

　　“But we need a 10 here. Where is the 10?”

　　“I don’t know where the 10 is. Let’s just subtract 179 from 202. Nine from two is three. You carry one and add it to seven. Eight from zero is two. The answer is 23.”

　　“We can’t do it that way. We have to use the 10.”

　　“Well, I’m going to call your teacher to see how she subtracts 179 from 202.”

　　Over the telephone, I said that I was having a bit of trouble with the homework she had given to my daughter. The teacher said, “In the right-hand column (栏) we have units of one. The two in that column counts for two ones. The zero in the center counts for zero tens. The two in the left-hand column counts for hundreds. Are you clear?” But I didn’t think I was clear.

　　I hung up and found my way to the medicine box. My head was now hurting. I started putting pills of medicine into my mouth. “How many did you take?” my wife asked. “I took one and then I took another…I know one and one was two, but don’t ask me what it is now.”

　　1.The daughter wanted ______ the other day.

　　A. to give her father a lesson B. to show how difficult math was

　　C. her father to phone her teacher D. her father to help her with her homework

　　2.Which of the following sentences is not true?

　　A.The father had a different way to do the math problem.

　　B.The father couldn’t do his daughter’s homework.

　　C.The daughter couldn’t understand her father’s way.

　　D.The daughter had some trouble doing the math problem.

　　3.From what the teacher said, we know that the word “units” means ______ here.

　　A. whole numbers less than 10 B. whole things

　　C. groups of lessons D. the smallest numbers

　　4.What the teacher said made the father _________.

　　A. angry B. worried C. sad D. tired

　　5.Can you guess what would happen next in the story?

　　A.The father would go to school and begin to learn math.

　　B.The father would become very ill and have to take more medicine.

　　C.The father would never do his daughter’s math problems again.

　　D.The father would go to the school and fight with the teacher.

　　Passage 48

　　Almost everyone likes dogs, and almost everyone likes to read about dogs. I have a friend. He has a big police dog with the name Jack. Police dogs are very clever. Every Sunday afternoon my friend takes Jack for a long walk in the park. Jack likes these long walks very much.

　　One Sunday afternoon a young man came to visit my friend. He stayed a long time. He talked and talked. Soon it was time for my friend to take Jack for a walk. But the visitor still stayed. Jack became much worried. He walked around the room several times and then sat down in front of the visitor and looked at him. But the visitor paid no attention (注意)to Jack. He went on talking. At last Jack got angry. He went out of the room and came back a few minutes later. He sat down again in front of the visitor, but this time he took the visitor’s cap in his mouth.

　　1. The young visitor stayed a long time in my friend‘s house, didn’t he?

　　　A. Yes, he was. B. Yes, he did. C. No, he wasn’t. D. No, he didn’t.

　　2. Jack became worried because _______ .

　　　A. he wanted to go out for a walk　 B. he wanted to play with him

　　　C. he didn’t know the young man　　D. he wanted to eat something

　　3. Jack sat down in front of the visitor because he wanted _____.

　　　A. the visitor to talk with him B. to join the talk

　　　C. to show the visitor how clever he was D. the visitor to leave the house soon

　　4. The visitor went on talking and ______.

　　　A. he paid no attention to his cap B. he didn’t like Jack

　　　C. he didn’t know that his cap was taken away by Jack D. he paid no attention to Jack

　　5. At last Jack took ______ in his mouth.

　　　A. food B. nothing C. the visitor’s cap D. the visitor’s bag

　　Passage 49

　　Watson won his most important game and became Southern Chess Master (大师) in 1977. He was given the silver cup.

　　“It isn’t rightly mine,” he said, when he was holding the cup.” “It was won two years ago when I was on holiday in…”

　　“A family was staying at my hotel at that time. Mrs. Prig, the mother, was told that I played chess; and she begged me to give her young son a game. ‘He’s only ten.’ she said, ‘I’ve been told that he plays quite well.’

　　“Well, as you can guess, I wasn’t too happy. A player likes the opponent (对手) to play as well as he does. But it was holiday time and I agreed to play. We placed the board (棋盘) in the garden. The game began. I hoped it would be quick----and so it was.

　　“Isoon knew that David Prig was no learner. After ten minutes his sister came outside and began to play tennis against a wall. The boy seemed to lose interest in our game. He moved a piece (棋子) without care. I gave my attention to the board.

　　“ Call me when you are ready, Mr. Watson,” he said.

　　When I was ready? I looked up. He had gone off to play with his sister. I studied the board, and found I was driven into corner. So it went on with David: a quick move, then tennis, back to the board, then back to his sister. My difficult condition became impossible to change. I was beaten. Oh, so easily, by a ten-year-old chess player. He was the winner── in twenty-eight minutes.

　　“David Prig, a name to remember. I had a chance to use his game today, and it won this cup for me. To him, of course, it is only one of a hundred, or perhaps a thousand, winning games.”

　　1. When Mr. Watson said, “It isn‘t rightly mine. It was won …”, he meant _____two years before.

　　A. he had played chess with a little boy for twenty-eight minutes

　　B. he had had a chance to take part in an important game

　　C. he had learned how to play chess from a child

　　D. he had learned a good game from a child

　　2. Before the game, Mr. Watson was quite sure that _________.

　　A. the boy played as well as he did

　　B. he would be Southern Chess Master two years later

　　C. he could win the game easily

　　D. the boy would win the game quickly

　　3. Why did David play tennis while he was playing chess with Watson?

　　Because he __________.

　　A. had no interest in playing chess with adults (成年人)

　　B. was not good at playing chess

　　C. liked playing tennis much better than playing chess

　　D. played chess much better than Watson

　　4. From the story, we know that __________.

　　A. David Prig was the real winner

　　B. Mr. Watson was the real winner

　　C. neither of them was the real winner

　　D. both of them were the real winners

　　5. Which of the following is NOT true?

　　A. Sometimes young children can beat adults in playing chess.

　　B. Watson thought he could win the game quickly, and so he did.

　　C. Watson learned something from David and won the silver cup.

　　D. Watson would never forget the name of the boy.

　　Passage 50

　　阅读下面短文，把A—E五个句子填入文中空缺处，使短文内容完整正确。

　　In the 13th century, the famous Italian traveler, Marco Polo, traveled a long way to China. During his stay in China, he saw many wonderful things. One of the things he discovered was that the Chinese used paper money. In western countries, people did not use paper money until the 15th century. (1)____

　　A Chinese man called Cai Lun invented paper almost 2,000 years ago. He made it from wood. (2)____ He then put these pieces of paper together and made them into a book.

　　(3)____ We use a lot of paper every day. If we keep on wasting so much paper, there will not be any trees left on the earth.If there are no trees, there will be no paper. Every day, people throw away about 2,800tons of paper. It takes 17 trees to make one ton of paper. This means that we are cutting nearly 48,000 trees every day.

　　Since it takes more than 10years for a tree to grow, we must start using less paper now. If we don't, we will not have enough time to grow more trees to take the place of those we use for paper.

　　(4)____ We can use both sides of every piece of paper, especially when we are making notes. We can choose drinks in bottles instead of those in paper packets. We can also use cotton handkerchiefs(手帕)and not paper ones. When we go shopping, we can use fewer paper bags. If the shop assistant does give us a paper bag, we can save it and reuse it later.

　　(5)____ If we all think carefully, we can help protect trees. But we should do it now, before it is too late.

　　A. Now paper still comes from trees.

　　B. Everyone can help to save paper.

　　C. However, people in China began to use paper money in the 7th century.

　　D. He took the wood from trees and made it into paper.

　　E. So how can we save paper？

　　Passage 51

　　On November 18th, 1908, three men went up in a balloon. They started early in London. The headman was Auguste Gaudron, and the other two men were Tannar and Maitland. They had a big balloon, and they were ready for a long way.

　　Soon they heard the sea below them. They were carrying the usual rope , and it was hanging down from the basket of the balloon. At the end of the rope they had tied a metal box. This could hold water. Or it could be empty. So they were able to change its weight. They were also carrying some bags of sand.

　　After the sun rose, the balloon went higher. It went up to 3,000 meters, and the air was very cold. The water in the balloon became ice. Snow fell past the men’s basket, and they could see more snow on the ground. There was also some snow on the balloon, and that made it very heavy. It began to go down towards the ground. The men tried to throw out some more sand; but it was hard. They tried to break the icy sand with their knives, but it was not easy. The work was slow and they were still falling; so they had to drop some whole bags of sand. One of them fell on an icy lake below and made a black hole in the ice.

　　At last they pulled the box into the basket. It was still snowing; so they climbed to get away from the snow. They rose to 5,100 meters! Everything became icy. They were so cold that they decided to land. They came down in Poland heavily but safely. They had traveled 1,797 kilometers from London!

　　1.Three men flew in a balloon _________.

　　A. more than a century ago B. to visit Poland

　　C. for nearly 1,800 kilometers D. to another city

　　2.The metal box was used for _______.

　　A. changing weight B. carrying ropes of the basket

　　C. keeping drinking water D. carrying the bags of sand

　　3.When the balloon went up higher, ________.

　　A.they saw the sun go down

　　B. the temperature of the balloon began to fall

　　C. they could see a black hole on the ground

　　D. they made a hole in the basket with their knives

　　4.The balloon landed __________.

　　A. in a foreign country B. on a lake

　　C. in London D. on the sea

　　5.The three men had to land because _______.

　　A.they were very hungry B. they had not enough sand

　　C. they pulled the box into the basket D. they felt too cold

　　Passage 52

　　In a small village in England about 150 years ago, a mail coach (邮车) was standing on the street. Around the coach many people were talking to one another about it.

　　Mail coach did not come to that village so often in those days. People had to pay a lot of money to get a letter. The person who sent the letter did not have to pay. The person who got the letter had to pay the postage (邮资).

　　“Here’s a letter for Miss Alice Brown,” said the mailman. Everyone turned to a girl of about eighteen who was standing by the coach. “I’m Alice Brown,” she said in a low voice. The mailman gave her the letter.

　　Alice looked at the envelope for a minute, and then handed it back to the mailman.

　　“I’m sorry I can’t take it,” she said. “I don’t have enough money to pay the postage.”

　　The people standing around were very sorry for the girl. They were silent for a while. Then a gentleman came up to the mailman and paid the postage for Alice’s letter.

　　When the gentleman gave her the letter, she said with a smile, “Oh, thank you very much, sir. This letter is from the young man I’m going to marry. His name is Tom. He went to London to look for work. He has to get enough money for our marriage (结婚). I’ve waited a long time for this letter, but now don’t need it. I don’t have to open the envelope because there is nothing inside.”

　　“Really?” the gentleman said in surprise. “How do you know that?” “He told me that he would put some signs on the envelope. Look, sir, this cross in the corner means that he is well, and this circle means he has found work. That’s very good news.”

　　The gentleman was Sir Rowland Hill. He did not forget Alice and her letter.

　　“The postage to be paid by the receiver has to be changed,” he said to himself. He thought and thought for many years. At last he had a good plan.

　　“The postage has to be much lower,” he said. “What about a penny (便士) for a letter? And the person who sends the letter pays the postage. He has to buy a stamp and put it on the envelope.”

　　“A good idea!” people said when they heard of his plan.

　　The Government decided to adopt (采纳) the plan. The first postage stamp was put out in 1840. It was called the “Penny Black”. It had a picture of the Queen on it.

　　1.The first postage stamp was made ________.

　　A. in England B. in America C. by Alice D. in 1910

　　2.The girl handed the letter back to the mailman because ______.

　　A.she did not know whose letter it was

　　B.the letter had already told her what she wanted to know

　　C.she could not pay the postage

　　D.the gentleman promised to pay the postage for her

　　3.When the girl returned the letter to the mailman _____.

　　A.the people around her felt sorry for her

　　B.the people thought that the girl was too poor

　　C.none of them wanted to pay the postage for her

　　D.the people was angry with the girl

　　4.Alice knew how Tom was getting from the signs on the envelope because ______.

　　A.Tom had told her what the signs meant before leaving for London

　　B.Alice was clever and could guess the meaning of the signs

　　C.Alice had put the signs on the envelope herself

　　D.Tom had put the signs as Alice had told him to

　　5.The idea of using stamps was found by ______.

　　A. the government B. Sir Rowland Hill C. Alice Brown D. Tom