高中英语故事类阅读试题

A long time before I was born, my grandma and grandpa had a young family of four little girls. During the Great Depression (大萧条时期), work was hard to find, so Grandpa did whatever jobs he could. On weekends he and Grandma dug a garden to grow some of their own food.
Everybody worked to keep the garden growing. All summer long, the family ate food and enjoyed flowers from the garden. Grandma put up strawberry jam, tomatoes, beans, peppers, pears and peaches in canning jars. They were good to eat through the long winter.
The family grew up, and grandparents grew old. It became hard to keep up the garden, so they made it a little smaller. There was still plenty to eat from the garden and lovely flowers to enjoy.
Then one summer when Grandpa was eighty-nine years old, all he could do was watch from his lawn chair as the vegetables grew and the roses bloomed. Summer slowly faded, and Grandpa died before it was time to bring in the harvest.
It was a lonely winter for Grandma. She sat near the window, looking out at the yard and wondering if she could plant a garden in the spring. When spring came, she planted only a little garden.
One sunny day in the early summer, Grandma heard a commotion (骚动) in the front yard and looked out the window to see a frightening sight. A huge swarm of bees filled the air between two tall trees. The buzzing sound was very loud.
The bees made their way into a hole up in one of the trees. Before long, every one of those bees had disappeared into its new home. During the next few days, the bees were busy minding their own business. Grandma could always see a few bees buzzing in and out around the opening high in the tree. Before long, she decided the bees weren’t bothering anyone, so she didn’t give them another thought.
That summer, Grandma’s little garden grew and grew. The neighbors would stop to admire the huge crop of vegetables and puzzle over their own gardens weren’t doing well.
One day, Grandma’s brother Frank visited from Arizona. As Grandma made Frank a delicious lunch of squash cakes and homemade applesauce, she told him the story about the swarm of bees. Frank said, “In Arizona, the farmers often hired beekeepers to set up beehives near their fields. The bees pollinated (授粉) the crops and helped them to grow.”
That was when Grandma realized that her bees had helped with her garden all summer. “So that’s why my little garden had such a big crop!” she exclaimed.
From that time on, Grandma always believed that since Grandpa couldn’t be there to help her that summer, he had sent the bees to take his place and make Grandma’s little garden grow and grow.
According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?

A．The garden was dug by Grandparents during the Great Depression.

B．The garden provided enough food and flowers for the family.

C．The garden was made smaller as Grandparents grew older.

D．The garden once lay in waste after Grandpa passed away.

It can be inferred from the passage that __________.

A．Grandma was too busy to hire someone to deal with the bees.

B．Grandma felt very lonely and helpless when Grandpa passed away.

C．Frank hired beekeepers to help Grandma keep the garden growing.

D．Grandpa turned into bees to help Grandma keep up the garden.

The method the author uses in the underlined sentence is _______.

A．offering analyses	B．providing explanations
C．making comparison	D．giving examples

Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A．Grandpa’s Bees	B．Grandparents’ Garden
C．The Harvest of Summer	D．The Secret of the Garden

In Shanghai's Grand Theater, a fashionable, mainly young audience applauds enthusiastically as Guo Yong takes center stage．He holds a large bushy tree branch with leaves．Blowing on one of the leaves, he produces a sound like the singing of birds as he plays a traditional Buyi folk song．Some other musicians are also playing the traditional instruments from various ethnic groups in China．
It's the first time such music has ever been performed in the Grand Theater．But all this is the efforts of Zhu Zheqin, a Cantonese­born singer, who has made it her mission to help preserve China's traditional ethnic music．
In 2009, after being appointed a United Nations Development Program ambassador, Zhu traveled through some of China's remotest regions in an attempt to document the traditional music of various minority groups．In the course of the four­month trip, she recorded more than a thousand songs．But she noticed that many of the best musicians were old, and some of the music was at risk of dying out．
“I was shocked by the beauty of what I heard—it was so good，” she says．“But it needed support．I hope to let people see the beauty of these things in the contemporary times．”
So Zhu decided to introduce some of the musicians to a wider audience．By doing this, she hopes to rekindle(点燃) the interest of the younger generation．“Young people don't like this music much; they prefer pop music and love songs．They think these songs are something their grandma sings．This kind of repackaging gives young people a new door into their heritage．”
Zhu believes China needs to look again at its own roots．“China today is basically all Western art; in our conservatories (音乐学院) Western classical music is the top，” she says．“For China to really contribute to the world, we need to go on our own path．So what can represent China today？” The answer, she suggests, is to move from “made in China” to “created in China”．
From the first paragraph, we learn that________．

A．the audience are all young people

B．Guo Yong is playing the Buyi folk music

C．Guo Yong is the only minority performer in China

D．tree branches make good musical instruments

Which of the following is true of Zhu Zheqin?

A．She teaches music in a conservatory．

B．She is helping preserve Chinese ethnic music．

C．She works as an official in the United Nations．

D．She's created all the music for the Grand Theater．

What is Zhu Zheqin's idea about Chinese traditional music?

A．It is completely out of date．

B．Only old musicians play it well．

C．It needs changes to attract young people．

D．It is quickly dying out．

What does Zhu Zheqin mean in the last paragraph?

A．The traditional music should be repackaged．

B．Chinese conservatories shouldn't teach Western music．

C．China has contributed a lot to the Western art．

D．Only the things created in China can be symbols of China．

EACH of us fails from time to time. If we are wise, we accept these failures as a necessary part of the learning process. But all too often we convey to our children either by words or by actions that failure is something to be ashamed of, that nothing but top performance meets our approval.
Donnie was my youngest third-grader. His fear of failure kept him from classroom games that other children played excitedly. He seldom answered questions – he might be wrong. He seldom finished his work because he repeatedly checked with me to be sure he hadn’t made a mistake.
I tried my best to build his self-confidence. But nothing changed until midterm, when Mary Anne, a student teacher, was assigned to our classroom. She was young and pretty, and she loved children. My pupils, Donnie included, adored her. But even enthusiastic, loving Mary was baffled by this little boy who feared he might make a mistake.
Then one morning we were working math problems. Donnie had copied the problems with painstaking neatness and filled in answers for the first row. Pleased with his progress, I left the children with Mary. But when I returned, Donnie was in tears. He’d missed the third problem.
Mary looked at me in despair. Suddenly her face brightened. From the desk we shared, she got a canister (小筒) filled with pencils.
“Look, Donnie,” she said, “I’ve got something to show you.” She removed the pencils and placed them on his desk. “See these pencils, Donnie?” she continued. “They belong to Mrs. Lindstrom and me. See how the erasers are worn? That’s because we make mistakes too. Lots of them. But we erase the mistakes and try again. That’s what you must learn to do, too.”
She kissed him and continued: “I’ll leave one of these pencils on your desk so you’ll remember that everybody makes mistakes, even teachers.” Donnie looked up with love in his eyes and just a glimmer (少许) of a smile.
The pencil became Donnie’s prized possession. That, together with Mary Anne’s frequent encouragement and praise for even Donnie’s small successes, gradually persuaded him that it’s all right to make mistakes – as long as you erase them and try again.
The word “baffled” in Paragraph 3 most probably means __________.

A．eased

B．confused

C．defeated

D．impressed

Which of the following words best describe Mary Anne as she is shown in the article?

A．Patient and inspiring.	B．Creative and modest.
C．Determined and strict.	D．Considerate and proud.

Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the article?

A．Each of us should try our best to be a perfectionist.

B．Donnie rarely finished his work because he seldom answered questions and thus had difficulties.

C．The story was written mainly to sing high praise for Mary Anne.

D．The author seems to believe that failure is an opportunity to learn and make progress.

阅读理解。阅读下列四篇短文，从每小题后所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该选项涂黑。
Two men were sitting together in a plane. They were on a long journey. One of the men was a businessman. The other was a farmer. They sat without talking for a while, then the farmer said,“Let’s do something to pass the time.”
“What do you want to do?” the businessman asked. “We can ask each other riddles.” The farmer said,“You start.”“Let’s make the rules first,” the businessman said. “That’s not fair. You are a businessman with much knowledge. You know more things than I do. I am just a farmer.”
“That’s true.” The businessman said. “What do you want we should do?” “If you don’t know the answer to a riddle, you pay me $100. And if I don’t know the answer, I’ll pay you $50.” The farmer said. The businessman thought about this, then he said, “OK. That’s fair. Who will go first?”
“I will,” The farmer said. “Here is my riddle. What has three legs when it walks, but only two legs when it flies?” The business man repeated the riddle, “What has three legs when it walks, but only two legs when it flies? Mm, that’s a good one. I’m afraid I don’t know the answer.” He gave the farmer $100, then said, “Tell me the answer. What has three legs when it walks, but only two legs when it flies?”“I don’t know.” The farmer said and gave him $50.
The story happened ____________.

A．on a farm

B．in a shop

C．before a long plane journey

D．between two passengers

What does the word “riddle” mean in this story?

A．A difficult question to find the answer to.

B．Something to help to make rules.

C．Something to win money.

D．a kind of game on doing business.

Why did the businessman agree to give more money if he lost?

A．He made much more money than the farmer.

B．He thought he knew more than the farmer.

C．He was interested in making riddles.

D．He was better at playing riddle games.

Which of the following is NOT true?

A．The two men made rules for their riddle.

B．The farmer was much cleverer than the businessman.

C．The two men made their riddle game more interesting by paying it for money.

D．The businessman knew the answer to his riddle.

Growing up in Philadelphia, Lieberman started cooking with his stay-at-home dad when he was seven. His food-loving family had two kitchens, and he quickly learned what was the best way to bake his cakes. Lieberman improved his kitchen skills greatly during a year abroad before college, learning from a cook in Italy and studying local specialties（地方特色菜）in Germany, Spain and France. At Yale, he was known for throwing dinner parties, single-handed frying and baking while mixing drinks for dozens of friends. Just for fun, he and some friends decided to tape a show named Campus Cuisine about his cooking. Lieberman was a real college student showing his classmates how to do things like making drinks out of dining-hall fruit. That helped the show become very popular among the students. They would stop Lieberman after classes to ask for his advice on cooking. Tapes of the show were passed around, with which his name went beyond the school and finally to the Food Network.
Food Network producer Flay hopes the young cook will find a place on the network television.He says Lieberman’s charisma is key.“Food TV isn’t about food any more,” says Flay. “It’s about your personality and finding a way to keep people’s eyeballs on your show.”
But Lieberman isn’t putting all his eggs in one basket. After taping the first season of the new show, Lieberman was back in his own small kitchen preparing sandwiches. An airline company was looking for someone to come up with a tasteful, inexpensive and easy-to-make menu to serve on its flights, Lieberman got the job.
We can learn from the text that Lieberman’s family __________.

A．love cooking at home	B．have relatives in Europe
C．often hold parties	D．own a restaurant

The Food Network got to know Lieberman __________.

A．at one of his parties	B．from his teachers
C．on a television program	D．through his taped show

What does the underlined word “charisma” in the text refer to?

A．A way to show one’s achievement.

B．A natural ability to attract others.

C．Lieberman’s after-class interest.

D．Lieberman’s fine cooking skill.

Why did the airline company give Lieberman the job?

A．He could prepare meals in a small kitchen.

B．He was famous for his shows on Food TV.

C．He could cook cheap, delicious and simple meals.

D．He was good at using eggs to make sandwiches.

Raeann Sleith began making bracelets (手链) when she was six. Family and friends loved her designs and asked for more. When admirers suggested that Raeann sell her bracelets, she realized she wanted to do just that — and donate the money to help kids with special needs, like her brother Derek.
Raeann’s older brother, Derek, has cri du chat syndrome. Children with cri du chat usually have problems understanding ideas and might have a hard time learning to talk. Many also have weak muscles that can cause problems with walking or using their fingers to pick things up. The term cri du chat means “cry of the cat” in French. Babies with cri du chat often have a high-pitched cry that sounds like that of a little cat.
Over the years, Derek’s teachers helped him learn sign language and gestures. They also taught him skills such as recognizing letters, cutting with scissors, and understanding basic math. Raeann wanted to donate money to Derek’s school. “I just wanted to help my brother,” she says, “and the people who help him.”
At first, Raeann focused on creating jewelry that would raise awareness for cri du chat. But people started requesting bracelets to wear as a symbol of support and awareness for a variety of other diseases and disorders. To create those symbols, Raeann researched the color most often associated with raising awareness for the disease or disorder, such as pink for breast cancer or orange for leukemia.
In the end, it turned out to be a great idea. In only a few years, Raeann has donated more than $30,000 to local charities. Raeann’s mom says that working on the bracelets has developed the generosity and kindness that already existed in her daughter. Raeann plans to keep making bracelets and raising dollars for charities. “I just want to keep going on with it,” she says, “to help my brother more.”
Paragraph 2 is mainly about _____.

A．the origin of the term cri du chat

B．the research on cri du chat syndrome

C．the treatment for cri du chat syndrome

D．the characteristics of cri du chat syndrome

The bracelets Raeann Sleith has made _____.

A．are decorated with colorful jewels

B．represent different kinds of diseases

C．are very popular all over the world

D．add up to more than 30,000

Which of the following can best describe Raeann Sleith?

A．Caring and generous.	B．Honest and responsible.
C．Polite and determined.	D．Creative and humorous.

The main purpose of the text is to _____.

A．tell us the story of a loving girl

B．show us how to make bracelets

C．introduce a kind of rare disease

D．ask us to donate to local charities

Treasure hunts (寻宝) have excited people’s imagination for hundreds of years both in real life and in books such as Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Kit Williams, a modern writer, had the idea of combining the real excitement of a treasure hunt with clues (线索) found in a book when he wrote a children’s story, Masquerade, in 1979. The book was about a hare, and a month before it came out,  Williams buried a gold hare in a park in Bedfordshire. The book contained a large number of clues to help readers find the hare, but Williams put in a lot of “red herrings”, or false clues, to mislead them.
Ken Roberts, the man who found the hare, had been looking for it for nearly two years. Although he had been searching in the wrong area most of the time, he found it by logic, not by luck. His success came from the fact that he had gained an important clue at the start. He had realized that the words: “One of Six to Eight” under the first picture in the book connected the hare in some way to Katherine of Aragon, the first of Henry VIII’s six wives. Even here, however, Williams had succeeded in misleading him. Ken knew that Katherine of Aragon had died at Kimbolton in Cambridgeshire in 1536 and thought that Williams had buried the hare there. He had been digging there for over a year before a new idea occurred to him. He found out that Kit Williams had spent his childhood near Ampthill, in Bedfordshire, and thought that he must have buried the hare in a place he knew well, but he still could not see the connection with Katherine of Aragon, until one day he came across two stone crosses in Ampthill Park and learnt that they had been built in her honor in 1773.
Even then his search had not come to an end. It was only after he had spent several nights digging around the cross that he decided to write to Kit Williams to find out if he was wasting his time there. Williams encouraged him to continue, and on February 24th 1982, he found the treasure. It was worth ₤3000 in the beginning, but the excitement it had caused since its burial made it much more valuable.
The underlined word “them” (paragraph 1) refers to __________.

A．readers of Masquerade

B．treasure hunts

C．Henry VIII’s six wives

D．red herrings

What is the subject discussed in the text?

A．An exciting historical event.

B．The importance of logical thinking.

C．The attraction of Masquerade.

D．A modern treasure hunt.

Which of the following describes Roberts’ logic in searching for the hare?
a. Henry VIII’s six wives
b. Katherine’s burial place at Kimbolton
c. Williams’ childhood in Ampthill
d. Katherine of Aragon
e. stone crosses in Ampthill Park

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

What is the most important clue in the story to help Ken Roberts find the hare?

A．Katherine of Aragon.

B．Stevenson’s Treasure Island.

C．Two stone crosses in Ampthill.

D．Williams’ hometown.

阅读下列四篇短文，从每小题后所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该选项涂黑。
For 52 years my father got up at 5:30 am every morning, went to work, and returned home at 5:30 pm. I never saw my father stayed home from work ill, nor did I ever see my father lay down to take a nap. He had no hobbies, other than taking care of his family. All he asked from me, his daughter, was to help him while he was repairing something, so we could have some time to talk.
For 22 years, after I left home for college, my father called me at 9:00 am every Sunday. Nine years ago when I bought my first house, my father, 67 years old, spent eight hours a day for three days painting my house. He would not allow me to pay someone to have it done. All he asked for was a glass of iced tea. Five years ago, at age 71, my father spent five hours putting together a swing set for my daughter.
On the morning of January 16, 1996, my sister telephoned me: my father was in the hospital with an aneurysm(动脉瘤) in Florida. I got on an airplane immediately, and on the way I realized that I hadn't communicated with him as much as I'd always wanted to. I vowed(发誓) that when I arrived, I would have a long talk with him. I arrived in Florida at 1:00 am, only to find that my father, at the age of 76, had passed away at 9:12 pm. This time it was he who did not have time to talk, or time to wait for me.
From the first paragraph we can infer (推断) that the author's father ______.

A．was a good driver	B．had many hobbies
C．sometimes fell ill	D．was in good health

The underlined phrase "other than" in the first paragraph has the same meaning as "______".

A．without

B．including

C．except

D．due to

According to the last paragraph, we can know that the author's father was born in ______.

A．1920

B．1918

C．1916

D．1922

The author wrote the article in order to ______.

A．praise her father

B．remember her father

C．show her father was healthy

D．let her father be known

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.