It was one of the hottest days of the dry season. We had not seen rain in almost a month. The crops were dying. Cows had stopped giving milk. The streams were long gone back into the earth. If we didn't see some rain soon we would lose everything.
I was in the kitchen making lunch for my husband and his brothers when I saw my six-year old son, Billy, walking toward the woods. He was obviously walking with a great effort... trying to be as still as possible. Minutes after he disappeared into the woods, he came running out again, toward the house.
Moments later, however, he was once again walking in that slow purposeful long step toward the woods. This activity went on for over an hour: walking cautiously to the woods, then running back to the house. Finally, my curiosity got the best of me. I crept out of the house and followed him on his journey.
He was cupping both hands in front of him as he walked; being very careful not to spill the water he held in them. Branches and thorns slapped his little face but he did not try to avoid them. He had a much greater purpose. As I leaned in to spy on him, I saw the most amazing site.
Several large deer appeared threatening in front of him. But Billy walked right up to them. I almost screamed for him to get away. And I saw a baby deer lying on the ground, obviously suffering from heavy loss of water and heat exhaustion, lift its head with great effort to lap up the water cupped in my beautiful boy's hand.
I stood on the edge of the woods watching the most beautiful heart I have ever known working so hard to save a life. As the tears that rolled down my face began to hit the ground, they were suddenly joined by other drops... and more drops... and more. I looked up at the sky. It was as if God, Himself, was weeping with pride.Why did the author follow her son?
| A．Because there might be danger. |
| B．Because her son was doing a good deed. |
| C．Because she was curious. |
| D．Because she intended to help. |
Which of the following statements is Not True according to the passage?
| A．Rain was in great need. |
| B．Billy carried water with his small hands. |
| C．Billy walked into the woods and then returned over and over again. |
| D．There were few trees in the woods. |
Which is the correct order of the development of the story?
① The author was moved to tears.
② Billy fed the water to the baby deer.
③ Billy walked towards the large deer.
④ It began to rain.
⑤ The author followed Billy into the woods.
| A．⑤③②①④ | B．③②⑤①④ |
| C．④①③②⑤ | D．⑤②①③④ |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．Importance of water | B．The water of life |
| C．How to save animals | D．Animals in danger |
Bob was born in Cambridge. When he was in elementary school, he asked his mother to take him to parks in their community so he could collect empty soda cans to recycle. His mother agreed, as long as he saved part of the money he earned for college.
Bob’s mother remembers Bob as the most determined of her seven kids. Bob’s persistence paid off. On Friday, he will become the first person in his family, originally from El Salvador, to graduate from college. And he’s graduating with university honors.
For his honors thesis（毕业论文）he researched unmanned solar-powered airplanes, which BYU students have been building and testing for about 10 years. Bob’s study helps discover the best way to fly a solar-powered airplane so that it uses the least amount of power. The goal is to design and build an airplane that flies indefinitely. Bob’s thesis helps lay the foundation for this work.
“My parents were always diligent,” Bob said. “They often tell us hard work leads to success. ” Bob’s father taught him to read at the age of 3, and his mother is currently a student at Utah Valley University in a way to becoming a dentist.
Bob acknowledges he overcame some obstacles to get where he is. For starters, English is his second language. He also faced stereotypes（模式化的形象）. Although Bob never doubted that he would be a college graduate, other people assumed he wouldn’t because he didn’t come from a family of high income. There were other obstacles as well, but Bob viewed them all as opportunities.
Bob’s mother says she feels very happy and proud that her son is about to graduate with honors, and remembers the sacrifices he’s made to get there. “He has worked very hard. He started something, and now he has finished it,” Cathy says. “I have always told him, ‘If this is your dream, then you can get it! Keep working hard and you can get it!’”
From the passage we can know that Bob’s honors thesis _____ .
| A．makes his mother feel surprised |
| B．helps to save the power of flying a solar-powered airplane |
| C．is done with BYU students |
| D．doubts the way of flying a solar-powered airplane |
According to the passage, Bob _____ .
| A．researched unmanned solar-powered airplanes for 10 years |
| B．paid for all his study by collecting empty soda cans |
| C．worked hard and has graduated from college |
| D．was affected by his family and has made some achievements |
People thought Bob couldn’t graduate from college because _____ .
| A．his parents had little money to support him |
| B．his teacher didn’t think he could graduate |
| C．he didn’t work hard on his study |
| D．he didn’t dare to face the obstacles for short of confidence |
It can be inferred that _____ .
| A．Bob’s mother is in a way to becoming a dentist |
| B．Bob’s mother works in their community |
| C．Bon’s father will graduate from Utah Valley University on Friday |
| D．Bob’s father learnt to read at the age of 3 |
I lost my sight when I was four years old by falling off a box car in a freight yard in Atlantic City and landing on my head. Now I am thirty two. I can vaguely remember the brightness of sunshine and what color red is. It would be wonderful to see again, but a calamity can do strange things to people. It occurred to me the other day that I might not have come to love life as I do if I hadn't been blind. I believe in life now. I am not so sure that I would have believed in it so deeply, otherwise. I don't mean that I would prefer to go without my eyes. I simply mean that the loss of them made me appreciate the more what I had left.
Life, I believe, asks a continuous series of adjustments to reality. The more readily a person is able to make these adjustments, the more meaningful his own private world becomes. The adjustment is never easy. I was bewildered and afraid. But I was lucky. My parents and my teachers saw something in me--a potential to live, you might call it--which I didn't see, and they made me want to fight it out with blindness.
The hardest lesson I had to learn was to believe in myself. That was basic. If I hadn't been able to do that, I would have collapsed and become a chair rocker on the front porch for the rest of my life. When I say belief in myself I am not talking about simply the kind of self confidence that helps me down an unfamiliar staircase alone. That is part of it. But I mean something bigger than that: an assurance that I am, despite imperfections, a real, positive person; that somewhere in the sweeping, intricate pattern of people there is a special place where I can make myself fit.
It took me years to discover and strengthen this assurance. It had to start with the most elementary things. Once a man gave me an indoor baseball. I thought he was mocking me and I was hurt. "I can't use this." I said. "Take it with you," he urged me, "and roll it around." The words stuck in my head. "Roll it around! "By rolling the ball I could hear where it went. This gave me an idea how to achieve a goal I had thought impossible: playing baseball. At Philadelphia's Overbrook School for the Blind I invented a successful variation of baseball. We called it ground ball.
All my life I have set ahead of me a series of goals and then tried to reach them, one at a time. I had to learn my limitations. It was no good to try for something I knew at the start was wildly out of reach because that only invited the bitterness of failure. I would fail sometimes anyway but on the average I made progress.
We can learn from the beginning of the passage that __________________.
| A．the author lost his sight because of a car crash. |
| B．the disaster strengthened the author's desire to see |
| C．the disaster made the author appreciate what he had. |
| D．the author wouldn't love life if the disaster didn't happen. |
What's the most difficult thing for the author?
| A．Building up assurance that he can find his place in life. |
| B．To find a special work that suits the author. |
| C．Learning to manage his life alone. |
| D．How to adjust himself to reality. |
According to the context, "a chair rocker on the front porch" in paragraph 3 means that the author
| A．was paralyzed and stayed in a rocking chair. |
| B．would sit in a rocking chair and enjoy his life. |
| C．would sit in a chair and stay at home. |
| D．would lose his will to struggle against difficulties. |
According to the passage, the baseball and encouragement offered by the man
| A．inspired the author. |
| B．hurt the author's feeling. |
| C．gave the author a deep impression |
| D．directly led to the invention of ground ball. |
According to the passage, which of the following is CORRECT?
| A．The author set goals for himself but only invited failure most of the time. |
| B．The author suggested not trying something beyond one's ability at the beginning. |
| C．Because of his limitations, the author tried to reach one goal at a time. |
| D．The bitterness of failure prevented the author from trying something out of reach. |
It was the summer of 1965. Deluca, then 17, visited Peter Buck, a family friend. Buck asked Deluca about his plan for the future. “I’m going to college, but I need a way to pay for it.” Deluca recalls saying. Buck said, “you should open a sandwich shop.”
That afternoon, they agreed to be partners. And they set a goal: to open 32 stores in ten years. After doing some research, Buck wrote a check for $ 1,000. Deluca rented a storefront (店面) in Connecticut, and when they couldn’t cover their start-up costs, Buck kicked in another $1,000.
But business didn’t go smoothly as they expected. Deluca says, “After six months, we were doing poorly, but we didn’t know how badly, because we didn’t have any financial controls.” All he and Buck knew was that their sales were lower than their costs.
Deluca was managing the store and to the University of Bridgeport at the same time. Buck was working at his day job as a nuclear physicist in New York. They’d meet Monday evenings and brainstorm ideas for keeping the business running. “We convinced ourselves to open a second store. We figured we could tell the public, ‘We are so successful, we are opening a second store.’” And they did — in the spring of 1966. Still, it was a lot of learning by trial and error.
But the partners’ learn-as-you-go approach turned out to be their greatest strength. Every Friday, Deluca would drive around and hand-deliver the checks to pay their supplies. “It probably took me two and a half hours and it wasn’t necessary but as a result, the suppliers got to know me very well, and the personal relationships established really helped out.” Deluca says.
And having a goal was also important. “There are so many problems that can get you down. You just have to keep working toward your goal.” Deluca adds.
Deluca ended up founding Subways Sandwich, the multimillion-dollar restaurant chain.Deluca opened the first sandwich shop in order to ________.
| A．support his family |
| B．pay for his college education |
| C．help his partner expand business |
| D．do some research |
Which of the following is true of Buck?
| A．He put money into the sandwich business. |
| B．He was a professor of business as ministration. |
| C．He was studying at the University of Bridgeport. |
| D．He rented a storefront for Deluca. |
What can we learn about their first shop?
| A．It stood at an unfavorable place. |
| B．It lowered the prices to poor management. |
| C．It made no profits due to poor management. |
| D．It lacked control over the quality of sandwich. |
They decided to open a second store because they _________.
| A．had enough money to do it |
| B．had succeeded in their business |
| C．wished to meet the increasing demand of customers |
| D．wanted to make believe that they were successful |
What contributes most to their success according to the author?
| A．Learning by trial and error. |
| B．Making friends with supplies. |
| C．Finding a good partner. |
| D．Opening chain stores. |
On a stormy day last August, Tim heard some shouting. Looking out to the sea carefully, he saw a couple of kids in a rowboat were being pulled out to sea.
Two 12-year-old boys, Christian and Jack, rowed out a boat to search a football. Once they’d rowed beyond the calm waters, a beach umbrella tied to the boat caught the wind and pulled the boat into open water. The pair panicked and tried to row back to shore. But they were no match for it and the boat was out of control.
Tim knew it would soon be swallowed by the waves.
“Everything went quiet in my head,” Tim recalls（回忆）. “I’m trying to figure out how to swim to the boys in a straight line.”
Tim took off his clothes and jumped into the water. Every 500 yards or so, he raised his head to judge his progress. “At one point, I considered turning back,” he says. “I wondered if I was putting my life at risk.” After 30 minutes of struggling, he was close enough to yell to the boys, “Take down the umbrella!”
Christian made much effort to take down the umbrella. Then Tim was able to catch up and climb aboard the boat. He took over rowing, but the waves were almost too strong for him.
“Let’s aim for the pier（码头）,” Jack said. Tim turned the boat toward it. Soon afterward, waves crashed over the boat, and it began to sink. “Can you guys swim?” he cried. “A little bit,” the boys said.
Once they were in the water, Tim decided it would be safer and faster for him to pull the boys toward the pier. Christian and Jack were wearing life jackets and floated on their backs. Tim swam toward land as water washed over the boys’ faces.
“Are we almost there?” they asked again and again. “Yes,” Tim told them each time.
After 30 minutes, they reached the pier.Why did the two boys go to the sea?
| A．To go boat rowing. |
| B．To get back their football. |
| C．To swim in the open water. |
| D．To test the umbrella as a sail. |
What does “it” in Paragraph 2 refer to?
| A．The beach | B．The water |
| C．The boat | D．The wind |
Why did Tim raise his head regularly?
| A．To take in enough fresh air. |
| B．To consider turning back or not. |
| C．To check his distance from the boys. |
| D．To ask the boys to take down the umbrella. |
How can the two boys finally reach the pier?
| A．They were dragged to the pier by Tim. |
| B．They swam to the pier all by themselves. |
| C．They were washed to the pier by the waves. |
| D．They were carried to the pier by Tim on his back. |
David is an excellent student and he comes from New York. His family was there until he finished eighth grade. David had no choice but to sleep on park benches. Being alone on the streets was scary. One thing kept David going: his determination to do well in school.
Even though many things were difficult in David’s life, one thing was going very well. David was accepted to a special high school called MC2STEM.It is a public school in Cleveland for kids who are extremely good at science. The school turned out a peaceful place for David. He especially enjoyed having the chance to learn by doing lots of projects.
High school wasn’t easy. But David says that the school helped him set high standards for himself. Even when he didn’t have a place to stay at night, David kept his focus on his schoolwork.
While he was homeless, David would sometimes sleep in the park during the day because it was safer. “ If you sleep in the daytime in the park, people won’t bother you,” he says. “you’re just taking a nap. It’s acceptable.” Then David would study through the night. He showered at a friend’s house when his friend’s parents were at work.
All his hard work paid off. In May 2011, David graduated second in his high school class. He was accepted to 22 colleges. He also won a scholarship form the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It will pay for all his college expenses.
Last fall, David began attending Harvard University, one of the top colleges in the US.”I found the perfect school for me.” He wrote in his blog.
In the future, David might look for a job at a company like Google. Even better, he would like to start his own company. David says, “ I want to work for myself.”
According to the passage, David ________.
| A．liked to sleep on park benches. |
| B．studied very hard. |
| C．felt high school was easy. |
| D．hated doing a lot of projects. |
We can know from the passage that David would _________.
| A．work only in big companies. |
| B．start a company with partners. |
| C．win a scholarship again. |
| D．have a bright future. |
Which of the following word can best describe David?
| A．cautious | B．Lazy | C．Determined | D．Creative |
What’s the best title for the passage?
| A．A top University | B．A Poor Student |
| C．Homeless to Harvard | D．Winning a Scholarship |
When I met him, I had a lot of anger inside me. I’ve lived my whole life in Spanish Harlem, but in my neighborhood, there are shoot-ups all the time. I know kids who have been shot or beaten up. I have friends who ended up in prison. I could have ended up that way, too, but Mr. Clark wouldn’t let that happen.
Mr. Clark worked long hours, making sure I did my work. My grades rose. In fact, the scores of our whole class rose. One day, he took our class to see The Phantom of the Opera, and it was the first time some kids had ever been out of Harlem. Before the show, he treated us to dinner at a restaurant and taught us not to talk with our mouths full. We did not want to let him down.
Mr. Clark was selected as Disney’s 2000 Teacher of the Year. He said he would draw three names out of a hat (抽签); those students would go with him to Los Angles to get the award. But when the time came to draw names, Mr. Clark said, “You’re all going.”
On graduation day, there were a lot of tears. We didn’t want his class to end. In 2001, he moved to Atlanta, but he always kept in touch. He started giving lectures about education, and wrote a best-selling book based on his classroom rules, The Essential 55. In 2003, Mr. Clark took some of us on a trip to South Africa to deliver school supplies and visit orphanages (孤儿院). It was the most amazing experience of my life. It’s now my dream to start a group of women’s clubs one day, helping people from all backgrounds.Without Mr. Clark, the writer _________.
| A．might have been put into prison |
| B．might not have won the prize |
| C．might have joined a women’s club |
| D．might not have moved to Atlanta |
The Essential 55 is ___________.
| A．a show | B．a speech |
| C．a classroom rule | D．a book |
How many students’ names were finally drawn out of a hat by Mr. Clark?
| A．None | B．Three | C．Fifty-five | D．All |
In the passage, the writer intends to tell us that ___________.
| A．Mr. Clark went to South Africa because he liked traveling |
| B．Mr. Clark helped to set up a group of women’s clubs |
| C．a good teacher can raise his or her students’ score |
| D．a good teacher has a good influence on his or her students |
Directions：Read the following three passages．Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements．For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D．Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read.
Death is a serious theme worthy of great poets．For example, John Keats’s ‘When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be’ and John Donne’s ‘Death, Be Not Proud’ both discuss death in reflective ways．However, the imagery(意象) in these poems shows that while Keats believes that death can only destroy, Donne believes that death can be overcome.
Keats is afraid of death, because to him death means the loss of those things that make his life worth living: ‘On the shore/ of the wide world I stand alone, and think/ Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.’ Earlier in the poem, Keats says that he hopes this ‘Love’ will be a ‘high romance’ with a ‘fair creature.’ He also says that he hopes the ‘Fame’ he seeks will be the result of the ‘high piled books’ produced by his ‘crowded brain.’ In other words, Keats’s fear is that death is a ‘nothingness’ that will arrive before he can finish his life’s work or find his true love.
Donne has a different attitude toward death, and so the imagery in his poem is different, too．To Donne, death should ‘be not proud,’ because it is not ‘mighty and dreadful.’ Unlike Keats, Donne sees death as weak and merely a ‘slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men.’ He also says that death is like ‘rest and sleep’．Donne believes that we will all wake from the sleep of death to everlasting life, just as we wake from our normal sleep to our everyday lives．In fact, Donne believes that it is death itself that will die: ‘One short sleep past, we wake forever,/ And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.’
Keats and Donne both know that death is a prat of life, and both poets use powerful imagery to talk about that difficult theme．The differences in this imagery show two very different attitudes toward the subject, one of which is much more positive than the other．Which poet to believe is up to the reader to decide.
Not surprisingly, the readers’ own experiences may play a part in the way they respond to these poets’ approaches．Like the two poets and their beliefs, contemporary readers also may be divided on the subject．This may explain why Keats’s and Donne’s poetry remains fascinating years after their won deaths.According to the passage, ________ makes Keats’s life worth living.
| A．expressing his grand passion for poetry |
| B．walking on the shore with a pretty lady |
| C．defeating nothingness with his true love |
| D．pursuing the fame of being a romantic poet |
In Donne’s poems he believes that death is ________ .
| A．generally powerful and terrible |
| B．only a ceaseless sleep |
| C．merely the loss of work and love |
| D．hardly worth the fear |
Contemporary readers may view the two poets’ serious subject differently because ________.
| A．they are attracted to the two poets’ everlasting opposite beliefs |
| B．they are divided naturally by their positive or negative personalities |
| C．their own life experiences affect the understandings of the poems |
| D．their preferences for the poets’ strong imageries are various |
Which of the following best describes the main writing style of the passage?
| A．Analysis． |
| B．Argument． |
| C．Comparison． |
| D．Reasoning. |
Gregory Kloehn digs through dustbins every day, but not for the reason that most people would think．He isn’t homeless．In fact he is trying to help the homeless.
Gregory began his life as a sculptor．But he often felt that his sculptures, which just stood in rich people’s houses for years, lacked a meaningful purpose．So in 201l he decided to put his artistic energies into creating homes to sell—not ordinary homes but small structures built entirely from recycled materials.
The thought of creating homes for the homeless didn’t occur to him until the year 2013, when a homeless couple asked him for a tarp(防水布)．Instead of a tarp, Gregory offered them something better: a small home with a water tank, a kitchen and a trap for waste．They were so grateful that Gregory decided to focus his efforts on helping house the homeless population in his city．And soon his “Homeless Homes Project” was started.
Before starting a new home, Gregory, goes hunting for materials by digging through dustbins．Everything he finds is usable—refrigerator doors become house doors; washing machine doors often serve as windows, and the tops of cars become strong roofs．He put wheels at the bottom for users to move their homes around easily．Each home takes two to three days to make．
So far Gregory has donated dozens of homes to the city’s most needy．While his small low-cost mobile homes are not the final solution to the problem of homelessness, they are really practical and do provide a warm and safe place for the homeless to stay in．They are simply a way for one man to do something nice for those in need of some help.
Gregory has written a book titled Homeless Architecture, where he explains techniques to build those homes and he is now working on weekend workshops．“A lot of people who hear about what I’m doing want to get involved,” he said． “Maybe we can meet someplace and put a couple of homes together.”Why did Gregory turn from making sculptures to creating homes?
| A．He had no home to live in． |
| B．He had to make more money. |
| C．He lost interest in sculpture. |
| D．He wanted to help the homeless. |
The author mentions the story in Paragraph 3 to tell us____________.
| A．Gregory’s small homes were popular among the homeless |
| B．how Gregory got the idea of “Homeless Homes Project” |
| C．the homeless couple asked Gregory to produce more homes |
| D．housing the homeless in a city was not an easy task |
What can we conclude from Paragraph 4?
| A．Gregory has great trouble hunting for materials for his small houses． |
| B．It takes Gregory a long time to produce a home． |
| C．Gregory’s work requires imagination and creativity |
| D．Everything in the dustbins will be used in Gregory’s work． |
What can we infer from the last paragraph?
| A．Gregory’s project will help more homeless people. |
| B．Gregory doesn’t need to make small homes now． |
| C．Gregory’s work will completely solve the homelessness problem． |
| D．A single person can make no difference to social problems． |
When Peng Liyuan stepped off the plane in Moscow，the whole world wanted to know who dressed the elegant first lady．The reporter released the secret—Ma Ke．
Peng Liyuan has been wearing Ma Ke's designs for more than a decade，a fact that was only highlighted recently when she was on her first state visitaccompanying her husband President Xi Jinping．The elegant and attractive Peng，formerly a popular singer，has been compared with the US' first lady Michelle Obama and France's Carla BruniSarkozy，since stepping off the airplane in Moscow on March 22.Suddenly，everyone was curious to know more about the first lady's wardrobe．
Even so，Ma prefers a lowkey approach．“If you eat a tasty egg why would you want to see the hen？” she says of all the media attention．
Ma's relationship with Peng began 10 years ago after a concert in Guangzhou when a reporter told Peng she knew the designer behind the label Exception de Mixmind． Peng asked for an introduction because she was a fan of Ma's designs and had been wearing them for years．
The two naturally became friends．Ma says: “The painting reflects the painter，and clothes reflect both the designer and the wearer．Someone desires fame and wealth，or love and sympathy; what you have in your heart is reflected in the design．Those who don't share my philosophy won't buy my clothes．Peng is a caring person，devoted to charity and environmental protection，which is exactly what I'm doing now．”
However，regardless of the brand，Peng's support of Chinese labels has surprised millions of Chinese who favor foreign fashion brands．
“Instead she presented a vision of Chinese fashion，desiring to bring Chinese designers to the world stage,”says a western designer．
The first lady's doublebreasted coat and her black leather handbag aren't available at any of Exception's shops，though Exception's physical stores do have seen a rising number of visitors．
The passage mainly discusses________．
| A．the designer of the first lady Peng Liyuan's dress，Ma Ke |
| B．the friendship between Peng Liyuan and her designer |
| C．Peng Liyuan's clothes on her first state visit |
| D．the reactions to Peng Liyuan's first visit to Moscow |
In the underlined sentence in Paragraph 3 Ma Ke mentioned“an egg and the hen” to show________．
| A．it is hard to explain “Which came first，the egg or the hen？” |
| B．paying such great attention to her was unnecessary |
| C．the outcome was more important than the process |
| D．her dissatisfaction with the media attention on her dress |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．First ladies compete with each other whenever they are together． |
| B．Peng's suits can be bought in Ma Ke's clothes stores． |
| C．Ma Ke offered to design the first lady's clothes through her friends． |
| D．Peng had liked Ma's designs long before she got to know her in the flesh． |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Peng wears the dress designed by a Chinese designer probably to support Chinese brands． |
| B．Many citizens found Peng Liyuan's choice quite unexpected． |
| C．Black leather handbags like Peng's are widely sold in bag stores in big cities． |
| D．After Peng Liyuan's visit to Moscow Ma Ke's clothes became more popular． |
Amanda Clement grew up in Hudson, South Dakota. Baseball was always her favorite sport. Once in a while her brother Hank and his friends would let her play first base in their games. More often, however, they asked her to umpire (裁判) for them, because they knew her calls would be fair and there would be no arguing.
One day in 1904, Amanda and her mother traveled to Hawarden, Iowa, to watch Hank play for the home team against Hawarden. When they arrived at the ball field, two local teams were waiting to play a preliminary (预备) game. The umpire hadn’t arrived, so Hank argued that the teams should let his sister serve as umpire. The players finally agreed.
Amanda, then sixteen and standing five feet, ten inches tall, made perfect calls. She was so good that players for the main game asked her to umpire for them and even offered to pay her. Thus, at sixteen, Amanda Clement became the first paid female baseball umpire of all time. She is honored in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.Why did Hank and his friends often ask Amanda to umpire for them?
| A．Because she called them brothers. |
| B．Because they wanted to make her happy. |
| C．Because no one else wanted to do it for them. |
| D．Because she knew the rules well and was fair. |
Amanda went to Hawarden in order to ______.
| A．serve as umpire |
| B．watch her brother play |
| C．make money |
| D．help the local teams |
Amanda most probably learned how to umpire a baseball game ______.
| A．in her P. E. classes at school |
| B．in an umpire training school |
| C．by watching and playing the games |
| D．from her mother, a baseball umpire |
Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
| A．The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown |
| B．Amanda Clement, First Female Umpire |
| C．Baseball Games in Hawarden, Iowa |
| D．A Family of Baseball Fans |
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A,B,C,D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂上.
When Charles Stratton was five, he stopped growing. His mother took him to see the famous showman, P. T. Barnum. Mr. Barnum thought a small person would be the perfect addition to his show. He hired Charles' parents along with him, and they traveled the world together.
He gave the two-foot-tall Charles a name, General Tom Thumb. He taught Tom how to sing, dance, act and tell jokes. When he felt Tom was ready to perform on stage, he made up ads. To stir up great interest, he said that Tom was eleven years old and had come from England.
During the show, Tom fought battles pretendedly with tall people. He also danced upon a wooden plate held by a person who was eight feet tall. Tom's act was very popular and brought in a lot of money. By the time Tom was an adult, he had grown very rich. He had become a billionaire at the age of twenty five.
Fortunately for Tom, Mr. Barnum added more little people to his show, and Tom became lucky in love as well. One of the little people was Lavinia Warren, a schoolteacher. Tom was able to win her love, and they married.
The ceremony and reception were the talk of the town. They were attended by many rich and famous people and by about 2000 guests. Crowds filled the streets of New York to have a look at their tiny wedding marriage. The couple even met with President Abraham Lincoln on their honeymoon just before going to live in Tom's house in Connecticut.
Their wedding, which took place during the Civil War, provided a welcome escape from the sad problems of war. Not willing to let this bit of sunshine fade, communities throughout the country sponsored "Tom Thumb" weddings. In these weddings, small boys and girls, all dressed up, went through marriage ceremony for fun.The underlined words "talk of the town" means________.
| A．it was in the newspaper |
| B．it was the most popular topic |
| C．people spread bad rumors about it |
| D．it was discussed in a city meeting |
Which one of the following statements is true according to the text?
| A．Charles mother took him to see the famous showman because he stopped growing. |
| B．Tom had to fight with others during the show. |
| C．Tom’s wedding ceremony helped people cheer up in a dark time. |
| D．Tom and his mother came from England. |
What is the main idea of the last paragraph?
| A．Weddings always make people feel full of sunshine. |
| B．People are always disappointed during war time. |
| C．Entertainment can serve an important purpose. |
| D．People should be married when they are small children. |
The world is filled with smart, talented, educated and gifted people. We meet them every day. A few days ago, my car was not running well. I pulled it into a garage and the young mechanic had it fixed in just a few minutes. He knew what was wrong by simply listening to the engine. I was amazed. The sad truth is: Great talent is not enough.
I am constantly shocked at how little talented people earn. I heard the other day that less than 5 percent of Americans earn more than $100, 000 a year. A business consultant who specializes in the medical trade was telling me how many doctors and dentists struggle financially. It was this business consultant who gave me the phrase, “They are one skill away from great wealth.”
There is an old saying that goes, “Job means just over broke (破产)' ”. And unfortunately, I would say that the saying applies to millions of people. Because school does not think financial intelligence is intelligence, most workers “live within their means”. They work and they pay the bills. Instead I recommend to young people to seek work for what they will learn, more than what they will earn.
When I ask the classes I teach, “How many of you can cook a better hamburger than McDonald’s?” almost all the students raise their hands. I then ask, “So if most of you can cook a better hamburger, how come McDonald’s makes more money than you?” The answer is obvious: McDonald’s is excellent at business systems. The reason so many talented people are poor is because they focus on bui1ding a better hamburger and know little or nothing about business systems. The world is filled with talented poor people. They focus on perfecting their skills at building a better hamburger rather than the skills of selling and delivering the hamburger.The author mentions the mechanic in the first paragraph to show that __________.
| A．he has a sharp sense of hearing |
| B．he is ready to help others |
| C．he is just one of the talented people |
| D．he knows little about car repairing |
The underlined part in the third paragraph can be best replaced by__________.
| A．spend more than they can afford |
| B．live within what they earn |
| C．live in their own circle |
| D．do in their own way |
Why do talented people earn so little according to the author?
| A．They don't work hard enough. |
| B．They have no specialized skills. |
| C．They don't make full use of their talents. |
| D．They lack financial intelligence. |
The main purpose of the author is to tell us___________.
| A．why so many talented people are poor |
| B．what schools should teach students |
| C．how young people can find a satisfactory job |
| D．how McDonald's makes much money |
Larry was on another of his underwater expeditions(探险)but this time, it was different. He decided to take his daughter along with him. She was only ten years old. This would be her first trip with her father on what he had always been famous for.
Larry first began diving when he was his daughter’s age. Similarly, his father had taken him along on one of his expeditions. Since then, he had never looked back. Larry started out by renting diving suits from the small diving shop just along the shore. He had hated them. They were either too big or too small. Then, there was the instructor. He gave him a short lesson before allowing him into the water with his father. He had made an exception. Larry would never have been able to go down without at least five hours of theory and another similar number of hours on practical lessons with a guide. Children his age were not even allowed to dive.
After the first expedition, Larry’s later diving adventures only got better and better. There was never a dull moment. In his black and blue suit and with an oxygen tank fastened on his back, Larry dived from boats into the middle of the ocean. Dangerous areas did not prevent him from continuing his search. Sometimes, he was limited to a cage underwater but that did not bother him. At least, he was still able to take photographs of the underwater creatures
Larry’s first expedition without his father was in the Cayman Islands. There were numerous diving spots in the area and Larry was determined to visit all of them. Fortunately for him, a man offered to take him around the different spots for free. Larry did not even know what the time was, how many spots he dived into or how many photographs he had taken. The diving spots afforded such a wide array of fish and sea creatures that Larry saw more than thirty varieties of creatures.
Larry looked at his daughter. She looked as excited as he had been when he was her age. He hoped she would be able to continue the family tradition. Already, she looked like she was much braver than Larry had been then. This was the key to a successful underwater expedition.In what way was this expedition different for Larry?
| A．His daughter had grown up. |
| B．He had become a famous diver. |
| C．His father would dive with him. |
| D．His daughter would dive with him. |
What can be inferred from Paragraph 2?
| A．Larry had some privileges. |
| B．Larry liked the rented diving suits. |
| C．Divers had to buy diving equipment. |
| D．Ten-year-old children were permitted to dive. |
Why did Larry have to stay in a cage underwater sometimes?
| A．To protect himself from danger. |
| B．To dive into the deep water. |
| C．To admire the underwater view. |
| D．To take photos more conveniently. |
What did Larry expect his daughter to do?
| A．Become a successful diver. |
| B．Make a good diving guide. |
| C．Take a lot of photos underwater. |
| D．Have longer hours of training. |
The story began with a young mother who had three sons. Unfortunately, the youngest son developed slow thinking skills, not having the intelligence of his brothers.
With double duty as the mother of the household, she was exhausted, so that the youngest was often the target of anger and annoyance. Bad words, such as “you little fool” and the like, served as a daily meal for the youngest.
The words and curses he got from the mother and ridicule from friends convinced him that he was distressing and embarrassing his family. Every morning he woke up with his own face staring from the mirror reflection, he started to say quietly and sadly, “The fool is going to school.”
As adult citizens, there was compulsory military service which should be lived. Thus, the youngest son also signed up and started to follow the various tests: a medical, physical ability test and other tests. On the day of the announcement, he was called into the board of examiners.
In his mind, he convinced himself that he was the fool and couldn’t pass the tests this time as he entered the room with his head down. It was not expected at all. The tests turned out to have the highest praise from the board of examiners.
“Congratulations, young man! Your test results are incredible! You are really a great and talented young man. ”Words from the board of examiners became the discovery of a new side of himself that was not known in advance. Voice kept echoing in his mind, such as “I, the great man, am in the shower”, “The great man washes his face”, “The talented young man again brushes his teeth” and so on. Confidence and improved self-image came beyond usual.
20 years later, the youngest established himself as a successful businessman who was admired and respected, and received many awards.
The mindset and belief are the power behind the success that is within us. Whatever we think and believe in or minds continuously, it will eventually materialize in reality. That’s the universally applicable law.Why was the youngest often scolded by his mother?
| A．He was not as clever as his brothers. |
| B．He considered himself to be a fool. |
| C．He didn’t behave himself at school. |
| D．He didn’t cook meals for his mother. |
From the story we know that the young mother is ____.
| A．selfish and lazy |
| B．gentle and caring |
| C．ill-tempered and impatient |
| D．kind-hearted and diligent |
What happened to the youngest son later on?
| A．He received aid from others. |
| B．He became an admirable psychologist. |
| C．He became confident and successful. |
| D．He developed strange mental diseases. |
From this passage, the author tells us that____.
| A．military service can change a person completely |
| B．mothers’ attitude toward children is important |
| C．even a fool can become a successful businessman |
| D．think big and you will get big results |
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