I never wanted a dog, but now I'm so glad I have one.
      About two years ago, my wife, Cathy, got a little dog with a face only a mother could love. We named her
Gertie.
      Gertie is the kind of dog that has to grow on you. So I decided that the dog would be trained. This didn't
quite go as planned. At 15 weeks old, she was nearly made to leave the Petsmart Training School. She spent
every night lying in our bed-snoring (打鼾) so loudly that I hardly got a good night's sleep.
      Then, about six months after she arrived, I felt that something in my heart was taking place, and I was
unable to stop it. My behavior (行為方式) began to change. I began to smile at people when passing them in a
street. I returned from neighbors. I started calling my kids and, to my surprise, they started calling me. I even
tried to speak to my grandchildren over the phone once. I even was glad to listen to laughter from a
10-month-old granddaughter. The point is that I was changing.
      My wife and I both agree that it is Gertie who has changed my behavior.
      Gertie is now nearly two years old and almost fully grown. I have come to like the pet little by little, though
she is my wife's dog.

1. What did the man think of the dog at the beginning?

A. It wasn't very lovely.
B. It looked very beautiful.
C. It wasn't necessary to be trained.
D. It could change his life.

2. When did the man's behavior begin to change?

A. About two years ago.
B. When Gertie was nearly two years old.
C. When Gertie was 15 weeks old.
D. About six months after Gertie arrived.

3. Which of the following is NOT mentioned about the man's change?

A. He began to smile at people
B. He liked helping his neighbors.
C. He started calling his kids.
D. He spoke to his grandchildren over the phone.

4. What can we learn from this passage?

A. The dog has been trained very well.
B. The man has become more confident (自信的).
C. The man has become more friendly.
D. The man likes the dog better than his wife.

      Americans love sports — they love to play them, to watch them on television, and to talk about them. But
this hobby sometimes has serious results — at least to the players. For example, when people play tennis,
sometimes they hurt their elbow (肘部) and in this way they develop "tennis elbow". Also it is easy to hurt a
knee in a football game. These injuries (損傷) happen while the player is having fun, but they still hurt.
      A few months ago, Kathleen Simmons, who loves playing volleyball, hurt her knee in a volleyball game. Her
doctor told her that she needed a very difficult operation (手術(shù)) or she might not be able to play again. She felt
very sad and didn't know what to do.
      Then Simmons learned about "video operation". With the help of this new science in medicine, doctors can
now repair many injuries and get people back on the playing field and back to their jobs much faster. Simmons
found a hospital that was using this new science and went to see the doctor there. The doctors told her the
operation could help.
      For this operation, her doctor didn't have to open her knee. Instead he put a very small camera lens (鏡頭)
inside her knee. The lens sent back pictures, which appeared on a television screen. As he worked, he could see
the inside of her knee on the TV. With the help of the large pictures on the screen, the doctor knew exactly what
to do when he was making the repairs.
      Simmons started walking five days after her operation. "My knee hurt a lot the first few days," she said. "But
I felt better very quickly." Now, six months after her operation, Simmons can do everything she did before her
injury. "It feels like a new knee," she said. "I can even play volleyball again."
1. Do Americans love sports? 
    _____________________________________________
2. What sport is Simmons interested in?
    _____________________________________________
3. What did the doctor put inside Simmons' knee?
    _____________________________________________
4. What problem may people have when they play sports?
    _____________________________________________
5. What's the advantage (優(yōu)點(diǎn)) of the new science?
    _____________________________________________

      Linda and David have traveled by air from London to Sydney, Australia. Linda has promised (答應(yīng)) her
mother that she will ring her to let her know that they have arrived safely. This is something she had done ever
since she was a child. David thinks it is not a good idea to ring so far, to spend too much, and to say so little. 
     "If there were an accident." He says, "they'd know soon enough. Bad news travels fast."
     But Linda has promised that she would ring. "However,"she says, "it doesn't cost much when you just think
that it's the other side of the world .It's only six pence per second (每秒六便士)".
     If you're on that telephone for less than one minute, I'll eat my hat, David says, "And one minute's nearly four
pounds (英磅)." 
     "That's no more than you'd pay for a new hat," Linda answers.
     She has asked the man at the hotel (旅館) desk to get her the number. The telephone rings. Linda picks it up.
     "Hello, Mum. It that you?" She says.
     "Six pence per second," David reminds (提醒) her.
     "Hello, love." It is Mrs. Lee, Linda's mother, speaking from London. "I can hear you very clearly just like you
are in the next room. It's a better line than when you called me from your office. Do you remember? I shouted
at that time, and still you couldn't hear me sometimes."
     "Yes, Mum." Linda puts in. "I Just wanted to ring to…" 
     "I remember how you rang when you went to Betty's house to eat, when you were a little girl. And then
when you…" Mrs . Lee is a great talker.
     "Nearly four pounds." says David.
     "Yes, all right," says Mrs. Lee, "But you will write, won't you, as you did when you were at work…"
     Once again, Mrs. Lee talks about the pass, and there is no stopping her.
     Four pounds fifty, says David.
     At last , Linda cuts her mother short, promises to write, and rings off.
     "There ! That wasn't long, was it?"
     "Four pounds, ninety pence." David answers. "And you didn't even say that we've arrived."

1. Linda is telephoning home to ________.

A. tell her mother some bad news
B. say that she and David have arrived safely
C. report an accident to her mother

2. Linda does not think it expensive to ring, because ________.

A. it only costs four pounds and ninety pence
B. it is even more expensive to buy a new hat
C. she will speak from one side of the world to the other

3. David says, "Nearly four pounds", because ________.

A. he wants to remind Linda of the cost of the call
B. he wants to buy himself a new hat
C. Linda has not told her mother they have arrived

4. Mrs . Lee goes on talking for so long because ________.

A. she likes to hear all about the past
B. she likes talking
C. Linda had not told her that she has arrived

5. Lina tries to stop her mother by ________.

A. telling her how much the call is costing
B. writing a letter as she has promised to do
C. promising to write, and ringing off

     Many people have to work on the weekend. Some people do not mind. Other people think it is terrible.
     One man thinks that working on the weekend can be dangerous. He is Graham Coates. Mr. Coates worked
in an office in Brighton, England.
     On Saturday, May 24, 1986, he went to the office to do some work. When he got in the elevator to go home,
it stopped between floors. Mr. Coates could not get out of the elevator. He was trapped (困住了)! He started to
shout, but no one heard him. Then Mr. Coates remembered that it was a holiday in England. No one was going
to come to work until Tuesday!
     There was nothing for Mr. Coates to do. He had to wait until one his coworkers came to work and found
him. With nothing to eat or drink, Mr. Coates ended up sleeping for most of the time. Early on Tuesday morning,
the vice president of the company came into work and found the elevator was not working. When the elevator
was opened, Mr. Coates came out cold, weak, and tired. He had been in the elevator for sixty-two hours!
     Now Mr. Coates says, "I only uses elevators if they have telephones in them."

1. Mr. Coates could not get out of the elevator because ______.

A. it was broken
B. it was a weekend
C. it was a holiday
D. it stopped on a wrong floor

2. How long did he stay in the elevator?

A. Twenty-four hours.
B. From Saturday to Monday.
C. More than sixty hours.
D. From Tuesday to Saturday.

3. What did he do in the elevator most of the time?

A. Shouted and screamed.
B. Slept and waited.
C. Telephoned his boss.
D. Ate and drank.

4. How did he make his way out in the end?

A. The vice-president found him.
B. Some one opened the elevator.
C. The elevator began to work on Tuesday.
D. He found a door in the elevator.

5. What is the best title for this story?

A. An Interesting Elevator
B. A Busy Weekend
C. Elevator Safety
D. Trapped in an Elevator

     A small man with a fat stomach got on the train at the last station before the frontier (邊境). He carried a
paper bag. And four feet of ducks (鴨子) could be seen under the cover. The man found an empty seat, put the
bag in the middle of the floor, took out a newspaper and began to read.
     Then a policeman came in. Of course he saw the bag with the ducks' feet at once and said, "Whose is that
bag?"
     Nobody answered. The policeman repeated the question, and said, "I shall have to take it away from the
owner. Food mustn't be taken out of country."
     "Well, then," said the small man with a fat stomach. "Hurry up and take it away. We want to go home." The
policeman took the bag and went on to the next carriage (車廂).
     At the next station, when they were safely across the frontier, the small man got up, smiled at other
passengers and said, "I hope that they'll enjoy the ducks' feet. The rest of the bag had nothing but rubbish in it."
Then he opened his coat and pointed to another bag he was carrying under it. It was tied over the stomach,
which was not really fat. "I have the rest of the two ducks here," he said. With these words, he got off the train.
     But while he was happily walking to the exit with the bag in his hand, a policeman came up to him, saying,
"Hey, man! Foreign food mustn't be brought in."

1. The small man put the bag in the middle of the floor _______.

A. because the other passengers didn't like it
B. so that the policeman could find it easily
C. so that he could make more room for himself
D. because there was not an empty seat in the carriage

2. Why did the first policeman take the paper bag away? Because _____.

A. he wanted to find the owner of the bag
B. he enjoyed the ducks' feet in the bag
C. the bag was put in a wrong place in the carriage
D. food can't be taken abroad

3. The bag the policeman took away had nothing in it except _______.

A. two ducks
B. rubbish
C. the ducks' feet and rubbish
D. the ducks' feet

4. How many ducks are there in the passage?

A. 2.
B. 4.
C. 6.
D. We don't know.

5. What happened in the end? The small man _______.

A. failed to take his food home
B. crossed the frontier with two paper bags
C. took the ducks safely home
D. hid his ducks under his coat again

      Helen Beckman, an old woman of fifty, always thought herself right. Sometimes she made a mistake, but
she tried her best to deny (否認(rèn)) it.
     One day, she was walking along the street when she met with another woman. She remembered it seemed
like one of her friends. So she looked at her very carefully.
     Then she said, "Sandy Smith, my old friend! Well, well, well I haven't seen you for ten years." 
     She looked at the woman up and down. But the woman was puzzled (迷惹不解的) and couldn't know what
to say. 
     "But you've changed, Sandy," she went on. "You used to be fat but now you're thin." She smiled at the
woman again. "But, oh, you have changed," she said. "I've never known anyone change so much. You used to
have thick hair but now it's very thin. You didn't use to wear glasses but now you're wearing really thick ones." 
     She smiled at the woman again. 
     "But you're still the same Sandy Smith I used to have coffee with every week. We had some good times,
didn't we, Sandy?" 
     "Excuse me, madam," the woman said, "but my name isn't Sandy Smith."
     Helen thought for a minute, and then she said, "So you've changed your name as well, haven't you?"

1. Helen Beckman never thought _______.

A. she was too old.
B. she was free at home.
C. she did something wrong.
D. she was bad to her friends.

2. _______, so she looked at her up and down.

A. Helen Beckman didn't know the woman
B. Helen Beckman was not sure if the woman was her friend
C. Helen Beckman hoped to talk with the woman
D. The woman forgot to say hello to Helen Beckman

3. The man was puzzled because _______.

A. she didn't know Helen Beckman all
B. she forgot Helen Beckman was her friend
C. Helen Beckman changed greatly
D. Helen Beckman talked too much

4. _______, so she remembered her well.

A. Sandy Smith often wrote to Helen Beckman
B. Sandy Smith often went to see Helen Beckman
C. Sandy Smith was one of Helen Beckman's neighbours
D. Sandy Smith often had coffee with Helen Beckman

5. Which of the following is true?

A. Sandy Smith changed her name.
B. Helen Beckman made a mistake again.
C. Sandy Smith was much fatter than before.
D. Sandy Smith forgot her old friend.

     When Mencius (孟子) was a little boy, his father died. Mencius and his mother were quite poor. One day
Mencius returned home from school and found his mother making some cloth. It was very beautiful and
expensive.
      "How much of the book have you read today?" Mencius' mother asked him. "I haven't read any of it yet."
Mencius replied, "I played with some friends of mine in the fields." 
     When his mother heard this, she picked up a pair of scissors and cut the cloth. 
     "Why have you cut your cloth?" Mencius asked, "It was so beautiful but now you've wasted (浪費(fèi)) it." "You
have wasted your time," his mother said, "now I have wasted mine. Look at the terrible things we have done."
     Mencius learnt a lot from this lesson. After that, he always studied hard.

1. When did this story happen?

A. Not long before liberation (解放).
B. More than 2000 years ago.
C. About 400 years ago.
D. In the 18th century.

2. What was Mencius doing while his mother was cutting the cloth?

A. He was reading his book.
B. He was playing in the fields.
C. He was trying to help her.
D. He was watching strangely.

3. The mother cut the cloth because _______.

A. she thought making cloth was wasting time
B. she wanted to give her son a lesson
C. she wanted to use more beautiful and expensive cloth
D. she wanted her son to do his lessons at once

4. Mencius and his mother were quite poor because ___________________.
5. When the mother knew Mencius had not read any books, she felt s__________________.