高中英语故事类阅读阅读理解

GU Zhaodi, 60, had taken water for granted for years. In fact, no one in the beautiful lake city of Wuxi, Jiangsu Province had bothered to spare a thought on water.
But all that changed dramatically overnight last month when taps in the city ran dry. Due to a blue-green algae(藻类) outbreak in Taihu Lake, China’s third largest freshwater lake and the source of drinking water for 4 million Wuxi residents(居民), water from the city’s taps became dark and smelly.
“I can’t believe there is no water for drinking, let alone cooking and washing,”said Ｇu.
The lake was blanketed with the algae, giving off a strong smell of rotting meat. A stone thrown into it took a long time to sink. Experts said that algae usually boom because of hot water and rich chemicals like phosphor(磷)in the water.
“High temperature and a lack of rain in the past few months helped the growth of algae,”said Zhang Lijun, an official from the State Environment Protection Administration. “However, pollution from human activity should be most blamed for the disaster.”
Taihu Lake is surrounded by many small factories, whichsprang up in the 1980s.Inthe 1990s,many foreign-funded(外资的) companies joined in. The industries prospered(繁荣)，Wuxi has grown into one of the wealthiest cities in East China.
But that came at the price of pollution. The lake was treated like a waste dump(垃圾堆)，with factories emptying industrial waste and untreated sewage(污水)into it.
Although, after the government's effort, life in the city has gone back to normal, the one-week crisis（危机）rang a bell for the government and local people.“It's time to rebuild the beauty of nature, or our lives will be at risk,”said Gu.
“A safe environment comes first. Economic growth will be nothing without fresh water to drink and clean air to breathe.” said China Daily.
The following can help the blue green algae grow______

A．high water temperature

B．rich chemicals in the water

C．a lack of rain

D．plentiful water and sunshine

What can we learn from the passage?

A．The one-week disaster has made the local people realize the importance of building a beautiful city.

B．It is human activity rather than the algae that is to blame for the water pollution.

C．Only when the environment is safe and friendly can man live a better and healthier life.

D．Environment should be taken into consideration first if a city plans to develop its economic.

Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

A．Who is to blame, man or algae?

B．Water turned off

C．Water pollution troubled Wuxi

D．Algae threatened Taihu Lake

According to the passage ,Taihu Lake________

A．is the third largest lake in China.

B．is surrounded by many foreign-funded factories and companies.

C．used to be a waste dump.

D．suffered from industrial waste，untreated sewage and algae.

The underlined phrase “sprang up” in the sixth paragraph means______

A．develop quickly	B．produce goods quickly
C．come to life	D．grow up

When Ben Franklin was very only a boy, he always wanted to know about things. He was always asking his father and brothers “What?” and “How?” and “Why?”
They couldn’t always tell him what he wanted to know.
When they couldn’t tell him, Ben tried to find out for himself.
Many times Ben did find out things that no one knew before. The other boys would say, “That’s Ben Franklin! He’s always finding out something new! ” 
Ben lived close to the water. He liked to go there to see the boats. He saw how the wind blew them across the water.
One day Ben said to himself, “Why can’t the wind help me float across the water? And I’m going to try.” Ben got his big kite. He took hold of the kite string and ran with it. The wind took the kite up into the air. Then Ben jumped into the water.
The wind blew the kite high into the air. Ben began to float across the water. Soon he was on the other side, and he had not worked at all.
One boy shouted, “Look at Ben floating across the water! His kite takes him to the other side without any work!”
“Yes”, said another. “He’s always finding new ways to do things.”
When he was only a child, Ben _____.

A．liked to fly a kite by himself

B．always asked easy questions

C．always liked to play with water

D．always liked to find out how things worked

His father and brothers _____.

A．couldn’t answer all his questions

B．could answer all his questions

C．tried hard to find out something new for him

D．were too busy to answer his questions

How did Ben Franklin float across the water?

A．The other boy took him across it.

B．The water carried him across it.

C．The flying kite took him across it.

D．A boat took him across it.

He found out many things that ____.

A．children didn’t know

B．his father and brothers knew

C．people didn’t know

D．most people knew

The name of our restaurant is Mediterranean Seafood Restaurant. When you hear the name you will immediately think of the sea and Europe. European countries like Spain, Portugal, Italy and France are all famous for their special cuisine(菜肴) and most of the best sea recipes come from these countries. These countries also produce the best wines and champagnes(香槟酒) in the world.
Our restaurant has the best seafood in the world. Enjoy the best sea recipes from the Mediterranean countries like Spain, Portugal, Italy and France. We only use fresh ingredients brought directly from the sea to our kitchen.
Among the beverages we serve, you will find the best brands of wines and champagnes on earth. We also have a large variety of colorful cocktails. If you drink one of those and eat our seafood, you’ll experience a feeling that you have never felt before. We also have excellent waiters and waitresses who wear typical mariner(水手) uniforms.
Mediterranean Seafood Restaurant is the best choice for seafood lovers because it has everything you need for the perfect meal. You can find every kind of seafood here. If you are tired of the typical restaurants, come here to discover the true taste of the sea.
Nowhere else has the wonderful environment that we have. Most of the other restaurants offer the same type of dishes without the real flavor of the sea. You’ll like the Mediterranean because the quality of our service is unique. Don’t waste your time trying to find another place to eat; we have everything that you are looking for — comfort, newness, and of course, delicious food.
What is the passage mainly about?

A．Why the restaurant is named the Mediterranean.	B．Where the Mediterranean restaurant is.
C．A general introduction to the restaurant.	D．The entertainment in the Mediterranean.

The underlined word “beverages” in the third paragraph probably means “______”.

A．drinks

B．fruits

C．vegetables

D．dishes

We can infer from the passage that the reason why waiters and waitresses wear mariner uniforms is that ______.

A．they want to make people feel that they are at sea

B．they find it comfortable to wear uniforms

C．they want to remind people that they are on a ship

D．mariner uniforms can keep people safe at sea

From the writing style of this passage we can see that it is ______.

A．a news report

B．an advertisement

C．a pupil’s composition

D．a funny story

Roger was a thief，but he wasn't very clever. When he was in school, he stole apples or oranges from other children. Sometimes he stole pencils or books from other children. But he always got caught.
The teacher spoke to Roger's parents and they tried to stop him from stealing things, but Roger wouldn't stop. He kept stealing.
When he was older, he began to steal from stores, but he was still stupid. Once, he went into a store wearing the clothes he had stolen the day before. The still had the price tags（标签） on them, and the store manager called the police. They warned him that he would go to jail if he didn't stop stealing.
Then Roger decided to rob a bank. He planned everything. He got some gloves so that he would not leave fingerprints, and a mask so that no one would recognize him.
" But what if they recognize my voice?" he thought.
He decided to write his message on a piece of paper so that he wouldn't need to speak. He found an old envelope and wrote "give me all the money" on the back of it. He got a toy gun and went to the bank. He put on his mask and his gloves（ and showed the note to the bank clerk. The clerk gave him all the money, and Roger ran out of the bank and went home.
Ten minutes later he heard a knock on the door. It was the police. They had come to arrest him for robbing the bank.
" How did you find me so quickly?" asked Roger
" It was easy," said the police." Your address was on the envelope!"
How old was Roger when he started stealing things?

A．10

B．40

C．70

D．22

What is something Roger did not steal?

A．money

B．food

C．a shirt

D．a bicycle

In this story, the underline word  "recognize"  means __________.

A．know

B．make

C．watch

D．understand

How did the police catch Roger?

A．His friend worked in the bank.	B．The clerk knew his voice.
C．They found his picture.	D．They knew his address.

Sam, a dog, was left behind in Colorado while his owners, Mr. And Mrs. Green moved to Southern California. They did not give the dog up. They found him a very nice home before they moved. They would have let Sam accompany them, but they were afraid the dog’s presence would make it difficult for them to rent a house when they reached their destination.
The Green family lived in Colorado for less than a year. Before that, they had lived in the same neighborhood in California to which they returned. So Sam had been there before, but only for a short time when he was young.
Several months after the Greens left Colorado, after they were comfortably settled back in California, they heard a scratch at the door. They couldn’t imagine who might be there. It never occurred to them that it might be Sam, because they were sure he was happily set up with his new family back in Colorado. When they opened the door, the Greens saw a dirty, tired dog with very hurting feet. The animal looked a little bit like Sam, but no one could believe that Sam could have walked 840 miles on his own. The tired dog spent the night under the family car. The next day, when he was more rested, he performed some of his old tricks. The Greens knew they had their own dog back.
The story suggests that _______ .

A．dog owners have trouble renting	B．many people treat their pets badly
C．keeping a dog is easy	D．dogs are too much trouble

Which is the right order of the following events according to the passage?
a. Sam walked to California.            b. The Greens moved to Colorado.
c. The Greens left Sam.                d. The Greens returned to California.
e. Sam spent the night under the family car.

A．b, d, c, e, a

B．b, c, d, a, e

C．a, c, b, e, d

D．c, e, d, a, b

The underlined word “destination” in the first paragraph means _________.

A．the cost of living	B．the country of one’s birth
C．the damage to oneself	D．the place to which one is going

The Greens knew the dog was Sam ________.

A．because of his hurting feet	B．from the color and the markings
C．by the way he walked	D．after he did some tricks

Johann Gutenberg, who worked as a goldsmith(金匠)，took what has already been discovered, and created a small invention that changed history. He created a machine that allowed him to move small blocks of letters in such a way that written material could be printed and mass-produced. Few people could read before Johann Gutenberg made the invention, but once books became less expensive, more Europeans could read and write.
Block printing existed long before Gutenberg. The Chinese had been using wood blocks to print books as early as 868, but a new set of woodcuts(木刻印版) had to be made for each book. Producing one book was not easy; producing all kinds of books was more difficult.
Writing ink dates from about 2500 BC in Egypt and China. Johann Gutenberg use an oil-base printing ink that would last longer than other inks used in his time. We don’t know much about Gutenberg because he was not famous during his lifetime. He was born in Germany about 1400. In 1448, Gutenberg developed signatures for each number, letter, and punctuation mark(标点符号). He then built the molds (模型) to hold the signatures in place. Johann Gutenberg published the first mass-produced book: a 1,282 page Bible. To this day, more copies of the Bible have been printed the any other book.
Copies of Gutenberg’s invention spread throughout Europe, but the German goldsmith did not get rich from his invention. Some officials denounced the invention of printing because they feared that it would spread bad ideas. By 1500 there 1,700 printing presses in Europe. The presses had already produced about 20 million volumes of 40,000 different books.
What happened after Johann Gutenberg’s invention?

A．People could afford to read books.

B．People became interested in inventing.

C．It was still difficult to print all kinds of books.

D．Punctuation mark began to be used in printing.

Compared with block printing in China, Johann Gutenberg’s method __________.

A．was difficult to run.	B．needed harder paper
C．used a new kind of ink	D．was put into use earlier

The underlined word “denounced” in the paragraph means __________.

A．fought against

B．accepted

C．laughed at

D．supported

What is the best title for the passage?

A．A famous 1,282 page Bible

B．The life of a famous inventor

C．An invention that changed history

D．The development of printing

When my brother and I were young, my mom would take us on Transportation Days.
It goes like this: You can’t take any means of transportation more than once. We would start from home, walking two blocks(街区) to the rail station. We’d take the train into the city center, then a bus, switching to the tram, then maybe a taxi. We always considered taking a horse carriage in the historic district, but we didn’t like the way the horses were treated, so we never did. At the end of the day, we took the subway to our closest station, where Mom’s friend was waiting to give us a ride home—our first car ride of the day.
The good thing about Transportation Days is not only that Mom taught us how to get around. She was born to be multimodal (多方式的). She understood that depending on cars only was a failure of imagination and, above all, a failure of confidence—the product of a childhood not spent exploring subway tunnels.
Once you learn the route map and step with certainty over the gap between the train and the platform, nothing is frightening anymore. New cities are just light-rail lines to be explored. And your personal car, if you have one, becomes just one more tool in the toolbox—and often an inadequate(不适当的) one, limiting both your mobility and your wallet.
On Transportation Days, we might stop for lunch on Chestnut Street or buy a new book or toy, but the transportation was the point. First, it was exciting enough to watch the world speed by from the train window. As I got older, my mom helped me unlock the mysteries that would otherwise have paralyzed my first attempts to do it myself: How do I know where to get off? How do I know how much it costs? How do I know when I need tickets, and where to get them? What track, what line, which direction, where’s the stop, and will I get wet when we go under the river?
I’m writing this right now on an airplane, a means we didn’t try on our Transportation Days and, we now know, the dirtiest and most polluting of them all. My flight routed me through Philadelphia. My multimodal mom met me for dinner in the airport. She took a train to meet me.
Which was forbidden by Mom on Transportation Days?

A．Having a car ride.

B．Taking the train twice.

C．Buying more than one toy.

D．Touring the historic district.

According to the writer, what was the greatest benefit of her Transportation Days?

A．Building confidence in herself.

B．Reducing her use of private cars.

C．Developing her sense of direction.

D．Giving her knowledge about vehicles.

The underlined word “paralyzed” (in Para. 5) is closest in meaning to “_______”.

A．displayed

B．Justified

C．Ignored

D．destroyecl

Which means of transportation does the writer probably have a dislike of?

A．Subway.

B．Airplane.

C．Tram.

D．Car.

It was 1961 and I was in the fifth grade. My marks in school were miserable and, the thing was, I didn’t know enough to really care. My older bother and I lived with Mom in an ugly multi-family house in Detroit. We watched TV every night. The background noise of our lives was gunfire and horses’  hoofs(马蹄) from “Wagon Train” or “Cheyenne”, and laughter from “I Love Lucy”, or “Mister Ed”. After supper, we’d lie on Mom’s bed and stare for hours at the TV screen.
But one day Mom changed our world forever. She turned off the TV. Our mother had only been able to get through third grade. But, she was much brighter and smarter than we boys know at the time. She had noticed something in the suburban houses where she cleaned books. So she came home one day, switched off the TV, sat us down and explained that her sons were going to make something of themselves. “You boys are going to read two books every week,” she said. “And you’re going to write a report on what you read.”
We moaned（不满,发牢骚） and complained about how unfair it was. Besides, we didn’t have any books in the house other than Mom’s Bible. But she explained that we would go where the books were: “I’ll drive you to the library.”
So pretty soon there were these two peevish（坏脾气的）boys sitting in her white 1959 Oldsmobile on their way to Detroit Public Library. I wandered reluctantly（不情愿） among the children’s books. I loved animals, so when I saw some books that seemed to be about animals, I started leafing through them.
The first book I read clear through was Chip the Dam Builder. It was about beavers（河狸）. For the first time in my life I was lost in another world. No television program had ever taken me so far away from my surroundings as did this virtue visit to a cold stream in a forest and these animals building a home.
It didn’t dawn on me at the time, but the experience was quite different from watching TV. There were images forming in my mind instead of before my eyes. And I could return to them again and again with the flip（快速翻动）of a page.
Soon I began to look forward to visiting this quiet sanctuary form my other world. I moved from animals to plants, and then to rocks. Between the covers of all those books were whole worlds, and I was free to go anywhere in them. Along the way a funny thing happened: I started to know things. Teachers started to notice it too. I got to the point where I couldn’t wait to get home to my books.
Now my older brother is an engineer and I am chief of pediatric neurosurgery(儿童神经外科)at John Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore. Sometimes I still can’t believe my life’s journey, from a failing and indifferent student in a Detroit public school to this position, which takes me all over the world to teach and perform critical surgery.
But I know when the journey began the day Mom switched off the TV set and put us in her Oldsmobile for that drive to the library.
We can learn from the beginning of the passage that ___________.

A．the author and his brother had done well in school

B．the author had been very concerned about his school work

C．the author had spent much time watching TV after school

D．the author had realized how important schooling was

Which of the following is not true about the author’s family?

A．He came from a middle-class family.

B．He came from a single-parent family.

C．His mother worked as a cleaner.

D．His mother had received little education.

How did the two boys feel about going to the library at first?

A．They were afraid	B．They were reluctant.
C．They were impatient.	D．They were eager to go.

The author began to love books for the following reasons EXCEPT that ___________.

A．he began to see something in his mind

B．he could visualize what he read in his mind

C．he could go back to read the books again

D．he realized that books offered him new experience

The Golden Compass is the first movie based on the Philip Pullman’s bestselling novel, His Dark Materials. It is a work of imagination that tells us about a young girl who travels to the far north to save her best friend. Along the way she meets strange creatures, like witches and so on. Finally , she saves not only her world, but also ours as well.
Lyra is a young girl among scholars in Oxford’s Jordan College. She spends most of her time with her friend Roger, a kitchen boy. Together, they share a life with no worries. However, when Lyra hears a conversation about a very tiny particle(颗粒), she is thrown into a dangerous adventure. This particle is said to unite different worlds, and is feared by many people who want to destroy it. At the same time , children began to disappear without a trace, including Lyra’s good friend, Roger. As Lyra starts this horrible struggle, and begins to search for Roger, she meets strange creatures both big and small, and bad people who are not what they seem to be. Gobblers(饕餮者) that kidnap(绑架)children appear in the most unexpected places. And a magical compass made of gold will answer any question if one is skilled enough to read it. In unbelievable danger, Lyra doesn’t know that she is doomed to win, or to lose, this battle…
With the movie The Lord of the Rings making New Line cinema over a billion dollars, it’s easy to see why they got the rights to Pullman’s His Dark Materials quickly. The books, sold more than nine million copies in the world, have a different idea from the Harry Potter series. Pullman’s imagination may look suitable for children, but it works far better for adults.
In the film The Golden Compass, Lyra______.

A．is a student in Oxford’s Jordan College

B．is a kitchen boy

C．hears a conversation of Roger’s

D．meets many strange creatures

The film is named The Golden Compass probably because______.

A．the compass is useful enough to help Lyra

B．only skilled people can read the compass

C．the compass which is made of gold can answer any question

D．the compass throughout the whole story is a clue

From the passage we can conclude that______.

A．New Line Cinema won Pullman’s trust through its achievement

B．The Lord of the Rings is also based on one of Pullman’s novels

C．His Dark Materials is similar to the Harry Potter series

D．New Line Cinema made over a billion dollars through the Harry Potter series

Which group of people will like the film The Golden Compass the best according to the passage?

A．Children

B．Junior students

C．Adults

D．Only old people

Spring is coming, and it is time for those about to graduate to look for jobs. Competition is tough, so job seekers must carefully consider their personal choices. Whatever we are wearing, our family and friends may accept us, but the workplace may not.
A high school newspaper editor said it is unfair for companies to discourage visible tattoos nose rings, or certain dress styles. It is true you can’t judge a book by its cover, yet people do “cover” themselves in order to convey certain messages. What we wear, including tattoos and nose rings, is an expression of who we are. Just as people convey messages about themselves with their appearances, so do companies. Dress standards exist in the business world for a number of reasons, but the main concern is often about what customers accept.
Others may say how to dress is a matter of personal freedom, but for businesses it is more about whether to make or lose money. Most employers do care about the personal appearances of their employees, because those people represent the companies to their customers.
As a hiring manager I am paid to choose the people who would make the best impression on our customers. There are plenty of well-qualified candidates, so it is not wrong to reject someone who might disappoint my customers. Even though I am open-minded, I can’t expect all our customers are.
There is nobody to blame but yourself if your set of choices does not match that of your preferred employer. No company should have to change to satisfy a candidate simply because he or she is unwilling to respect its standards, as long as its standards are legal.
What can be inferred from the text?

A．Hiring managers make the best impression on their candidate.

B．Candidates have to wear what companies prefer for an interview.

C．What to wear is a matter of customers’ acceptance to a great extent.

D．Companies sometimes have to change to respect their candidates.

Which of the following is the newspaper editor’s opinion according to Paragraph2?

A．Customers’ choices influence dress standards in companies.

B．Candidates with tattoos or nose rings should be fairly treated.

C．Strange dress styles should not be encouraged in the workplace.

D．People’s appearances carry messages about themselves.

Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

A．Appearances Do Matter

B．Hiring Managers Matter

C．Personal Choices Matter

D．Employees Matter

Barditch High School decided to hold an All-School Reunion. Over 450 people came to the event. There were tours of the old school building and a picnic at Confederate Park. Several former teachers were on hands to tell stories about the old days. Ms. Mabel Yates, the English teacher for fifty years, was wheeled to the Park.
Some eyes rolled and there were a few low groans(嘟囔声)when Ms.Yates was about to speak. Many started looking at their watches and coming up with excuses to be anywhere instead of preparing to listen to a lecture from an old woman who had few kind words for her students and made them work harder than all the other teachers combined.
Then Ms. Yates started to speak:
“I can’t tell you how pleased I am to be here. I haven’t seen many of you since your graduation, but I have followed your careers and enjoyed your victories as well as crying for your tragedies. I have a large collection of newspaper photographs of my students. Although I haven’t appeared in person, I have attended your college graduations, weddings and even the birth your children, in my imagination.”
Ms. Yates paused and started crying a bit. Then she continued:
“It was my belief that if I pushed you as hard as I could, some of you would succeed to please me and others would succeed to annoy me. Regardless of our motives, I can see that you have all been successful in you chosen path.”
“There is no greater comfort for an educator than to see the end result of his or her years of work. You have all been a great source of pleasure and pride for me and I want you to know I love you all from the bottom of my heart.”
There was a silence over the crowd for a few seconds and then someone started clapping. The clapping turned into cheering, then into a deafening roar(呼喊). Lawyers, truck drivers, bankers and models were rubbing their eyes or crying openly with no shame all because of the words from a long forgotten English teacher from their hometown.
What activity was organized for the school reunion?

A．Sightseeing in the park.

B．A picnic on the school playground.

C．Telling stories about past events.

D．Graduates’ reports in the old building.

What can be inferred from Paragraph 2? 

A．Some graduates were too busy to listen to Ms. Yates’ speech.

B．Many graduates disliked Ms. Yates’ ways of teaching.

C．Some people got tired from the reunion activities.

D．Most people had little interest in the reunion.

We can learn from Ms. Yates’ speech that she _____________.

A．kept track of her students’ progress

B．gave her students advice on their careers

C．attended her students’ college graduations

D．went to her students’ wedding ceremonies

What was Ms.Yates’ belief in teaching teenagers?

A．Teachers’ knowledge is the key to students’ achievements.

B．Pressure on students from teachers should be reduced.

C．Hard-pushed students are more likely to succeed.

D．Students’ respect is the best reward for teachers.

Frankenstein is one of the world’s most famous horror stories. It’s about a doctor who creates a new man from the body parts of dead people and brings it to life. But the experiment goes wrong and the monster(怪兽) kills the doctor and many others. The story has been read by millions since it was first published and in the last hundred years it has been made into dozens of movies. Many people are surprised to learn its writer was a 19-year-old woman, called Mary Shelley.
Mary was born into a rich London family in August 1797. She was educated by her parents and when she was 13 she decided to become a writer. In 1812, she met the famous writer Percy Shelley and they soon got married. Sadly for Mary, their first child died soon after birth in Italy. In her diary, Mary wrote about a dream：“I dreamt that my little baby came to life again---that it had only been cold and that we rubbed it before the fire and it lived.”
In 1816, Percy Shelley and 19-year-old Mary visited the poet Lord Byron at his home in Switzerland. Because of the bad weather they stayed indoors reading horror stories. On night, Byron asked everyone to write their own story. Mary thought of her dream and wrote the story of Frankenstein
Frankenstein was published when Mary was 21, and became a huge success. Many people didn’t think a 19-year-old woman could write so well and believed her husband was the real writer.
Although famous, Shelley’s life was full of sadness. Only one of her four children lived and in 1822 her husband died in a swimming accident. Mary was broken-hearted and decided not to marry again. She devoted herself to her child and continued to write until her death in 1851.
Where was Mary Shelley when she wrote the story Frankenstein ?

A．In England

B．In Italy

C．In Switzerland

D．In France

In which order do the following take place?
a. Bad weather made everyone stay indoors reading horror stories.
b. The story Frankenstein was first published.
c. Mary wrote about a dream in her diary.
d. Mary met the famous writer Percy Shelley.
e. Movies based on the story of Frankenstein were made.

A．a,c,b,e,d

B．d,c,a,b,e

C．c,a,b,d,e

D．b,a,d,c,e

How old was Mary Shelley when she died?

A．43

B．48

C．51

D．54

One day while shopping in a small town in southern California, it was my misfortune to be approached by a clerk．He seemed most unfriendly and not at all concerned about my intended purchase．I bought nothing, and marched angrily out of the store．
On the outside was a dark-skinned young man in his early twenties．His expressive brown eyes met and held mine, and in the next instant a beautiful, bright smile covered his face．I gave in immediately．The power of that broad smile dissolved all bitterness within me, and I felt the muscles in my own face happily responding．
“Beautiful day, isn’t it?” I remarked, in passing．Then I turned back． “I really owe you a debt of thanks,” I said softly．
His smile deepened, but he made no attempt to answer．A Mexican woman and two men were standing nearby．The woman stepped forward and volunteered, “Sir, but he doesn't speak English．Do you want me to tell him something?” In that moment I felt transformed．The young man's smile had made a big person of me．My friendliness and good will toward all mankind stand ten feet tall．
“Yes,” my reply was enthusiastic and sincere, “tell him I said, ‘Thank you’!”
“Thank you?” The woman seemed slightly puzzled．
I gave her arm a friendly pat as I turned to leave． “Just tell him that,” I insisted. “He'll understand．I am sure!”.
Oh, what a smile can do! Although I have never seen that young man again, I shall never forget the lesson he taught me that morning．From that day on, I became smile-conscious, and I practice the art diligently anywhere and everywhere, with everybody．
Why did the author leave the store angrily?

A．He couldn't buy what he wanted.

B．The clerk treated him unkindly.

C．The clerk didn't speak English.

D．The store's goods were too dear.

By saying "I felt the muscles in my own face happily responding"(in Para. 2), the author means _____.

A．he smiled back at the young man

B．he did not want to smile

C．he would thank the young man

D．he was still in a bad mood

The author asked the woman to say “Thank you!” to the young man because the young man _____.

A．had helped the author before

B．taught the author how to smile

C．taught the author a valuable lesson

D．was a kind employee of the store

In the passage, the author seems to suggest that we should _____.

A．be generous to strangers

B．practice smiling every day

C．help people in trouble

D．smile at other people

Onceupon a time there was a wise man that used to go to the sea to do his writing. Hehad a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.One day he waswalking along the shore. As he looked down at the beach, he saw a human figuremoving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought that someone woulddance on the beach. So he began to walk faster to catch up. As he got closer, hesaw that it was a young man and the young man wasn’t dancing, but instead he wasreaching down to the shore, picking up something and throwing itinto the ocean. As he got closer, he called out, “Good morning! What are youdoing?’’
Theyoung man paused, looked up and replied, “Throwingstarfishes(海星)in theocean.”
“I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfishes in the ocean?”
“The sun is up and the tide is going out.And if I don’t throw them in, they’ll die”.
“But, young man, don’t you realize thatthere are miles and miles of beach and starfishes all along it. You can’tpossibly make a difference!”
Theyoung man listened politely. Then he bent down, picked another starfish andthrew it into the sea, and said, “It made a difference for that one.”Thereissomething very special in each and every one of us. We have all beengifted with the ability to make a difference. And if we can know that gift, wewill gain through the strength of our vision the power(力量)toshape the future.
We musteach find our starfish. And if we throw our starfish wisely and well, the worldwill be better. 
The underlined words “something very special” refers to _____. 

A．the gifts from friends

B．the strength of making decision

C．our own starfish

D．the ability to make a difference

From the last two paragraphs, we can learn that _____.

A．the wise man realized something new and important

B．the wise man thought it was foolish of the young man to throw starfishes in the ocean

C．the young man had the ability to make a difference

D．it is necessary for us to save starfish on the beach

The writer told this story to show us _____.   

A．how and where we can write a good article

B．everyone can do something for the future

C．wise men are sometimes stupid

D．young men are in fact wiser than old people

His first successful fight was for the equal rights of black people in South Africa. Then, as the first black president, he fought to unite the country and organize the government. Now Nelson Mandela has set his sights on a new enemy, AIDS.
On March 19 the 82-year-old, former president, hosted his second AIDS-awareness concert. He warned that 25 million people in Africa were already infected with the fatal disease.
Mandela was born in a small village in South Africa in 1918. He was adopted by the chief of his tribe and could have been a chief himself and lived a happy country life.
But he refused to be a chief when his people lived under racial discrimination(歧视). He decided to fight for equal rights for all the people in South Africa. Before 1990, under the country’s Racial Segregation Law, colored and white people lived separately. Black people were treated unfairly even when taking a bus. Blacks had to stand at the back of the bus to make room for white people even when there were only a few of them on board.
For his opposition to the system, Mandela was arrested and spent 27 years in prison. He was freed in 1990 and became the president of the country after the first election were held in which everyone could vote.
Mandela was not only a political fighter who attacked with speeches. He was also a trained boxer and fought in the ring when he was young.
“Although I did not enjoy the violence of boxing, I was interested in how one moved one’s body to protect oneself, how one used a strategy both to attack and retreat”, he wrote in his autobiography.
As a skillful fighter, he chose music as his weapon against AIDS. He hopes to win another victory against AIDS.
When was Mandela arrested? 

A．In 1963

B．In 1990

C．When he refused to be a chief

D．When he became the president

Nelson Mandela succeeded in doing the following except _______.     

A．winning the equal rights for the black people in South Africa

B．Uniting South Africa

C．organizing a government in South Africa

D．controlling the spread of AIDS

If Nelson Mandela hadn’t fought against racial discrimination, he_______. 

A．could have been the president of South Africa

B．could still have lived a happy life

C．could have been in a difficult situation

D．would have been an excellent boxer

Which of the following statements can best describe the life of Nelson Mandela?

A．struggle is his life

B．sports make his fame

C．fight for equal rights

D．a great fighter against government.