高中英语故事类阅读阅读理解

We are not rich by what we possess but rather by what we can do without.
——Immauel Kant
Many times my friend June would say, “If I ever get rich, I’m getting a completely new wardrobe （大衣柜）and moving into a bigger apartment.” I thought of her words and her chances of being rich are about as good as mine. But, to everyone’s surprise, a few years ago June did come to large inheritance（遗产）.
At first June said very little about the money. As the initial shock disappeared, she became excited, June is a great believer in making lists, so I was surprised to find her writing down all the ways she would spend her new wealth.
As time went on, she started revising the list. What had been midway down the list was now at the top. At last, I said to her, “You know, it isn’t necessary to spend all your inheritance at once. Take come time; think about it.” “I know, I know,” she answered with a little bit anger.
Then one morning June called, “I’ve decided how I want to use my new inheritance. I want to see what you think,” she said. This wasn’t something I looked forward to, but we had been friends so long.
As we sat, June spread a sheet of paper on the table. To my great surprise, she had written only two words: Charities, and Grandchildren-in that order. Though I had promised to keep quiet, I couldn’t keep from asking how she came to this decision.
“Well,” she said, “I took your advice and thought about it.” She added, “Helping others means a lot to me, so I’m hoping this gift will help people in need.”
I interrupted, “But what about this big apartment you most hope to have?”
“At first it was hard, but it doesn’t seem as important any more”, she answered with a smile.
Then June moved her hand, and I could see a few words written in tiny letters at the bottom of the page. After having a look at the small print, I burst into laughter. June had written: AND one new wardrobe.
From the passage we can learn that the writer at first.

A．was richer than her friend June

B．was no richer than her friend June

C．was poorer than her friend June

D．was interested in money as June

When making a list of how to deal with her inheritance, June.

A．didn’t change it at all

B．had a quarrel with the writer

C．kept it secret from the writer

D．made some changes to it

When June called the writer to talk about her new decision, the writer.

A．felt that June would do something meaningful

B．refused the invitation at first, but changed her mind later

C．had decided not to make any comments on June’s list

D．was eager to learn more about the new list

What did the writer think of her friend’s new decision?

A．She found it funny and wrong.

B．She found it unacceptable and unbelievable.

C．She found it surprising and meaningful.

D．She found it difficult and meaningless.

Many young people tell me that they want to be writers. I always encourage such people, but I also explain that there is a big difference between being a writer and writing. In most cases these people are dreaming of wealth and being famous, not the long hours alone at the typewriter.
When I became a writer, I had no future. What I had was a friend called George. He found me a home. It was cold and had no bathroom. I could only afford a used typewriter. A year later, however, I still hadn’t received a break and began to doubt myself. But I knew I wanted to write. I would keep putting my dream to the test—even though it meant living with fear of failure. This is the shadow land (阴影) of hope, and anyone with a dream must learn to live there. Then one day I got a call from a friend who asked me to be an assistant for $6,000 a year. As the dollars were dancing in my head, something brought me to my sense. “Thanks, but no,” I heard myself saying. After that, I walked around my little room and started to feel like a fool. I felt a little low.
Later, I gradually began to sell my articles. It was after 17 years of being a writer that Roots was published. At once I had the kind of fame and success that few writers ever experienced. The shadows had turned into great sunlight. Before that, it was a long and slow climb out of the shadows.
The second paragraph is mainly about ______.

A．the job chance the author ever had

B．the difficulties before the author succeeded

C．the great help from the author’s friends

D．the important choices the author made

The underlined word “something” in Paragraph 2 refers to _______.

A．the author’s dream of being a writer

B．the author’s trouble in making money

C．the author’s hard life before success

D．the author’s wish to be successful

How did the author feel after he refused the job offer?

A．confident	B．angry
C．excited	D．Unhappy

After nearly 50 years of separation，an elderly woman has been reunited with the family that she feared was lost to her forever.
Celestine Thompson left Mississippi when she was 14 years old and eventually settled in New York，where she spent more than 30 years of her life，according to WLOX 13News. After surviving a fire in 1992，Thompson was in a coma（昏迷）for two years and has since experienced memory loss. The 90-year-old found it difficult to recall details about her family.
But later she remembered the name of her nephew Clarence Woodway. Then another woman who knows Thompson in Mississippi was able to track Woodway down and help reunite Thompson with her large family.
“In our minds，my brother and I were talking that she wasn’t here anymore，because we hadn’t heard from her for a very long time，”Donald Davis，another one of Thompson’s nephews，told the media.“You know，we were overjoyed when we found out that we had gotten in contact with her.”
A few of Thompson’s relatives visited her in New York，and then arranged a larger reunion which was held this past Saturday in Gulfport，Mississippi，the Associated Press reported.
Thompson now lives in Greensboro，Alabama，with a caretaker，and，although she is yet to meet them all，she has regained quite a sizeable family of 23 nieces and nephews，64 grand nieces and nephews，66 great-grand nieces and nephews and 34 great-great-grand nieces and nephews，according to the Associated Press.
What can we know about Thompson?

A．She suffered memory loss and forgot everything about herself.

B．She lives with a caretaker and her relatives in Alabama at present.

C．She’s lost contact with her family since she left her hometown

D．She had a larger reunion with her family members in Mississippi.

Who helped Thompson get contact with her family?

A．A woman who knows her.

B．People from WLOX 13 News.

C．The Associated Press.

D．The caretaker she's living with.

How many generations are there in Thompson’s large family?

A．"Three.

B．Four.

C．Five.

D．Six.

What can we learn from Thompson’s story?

A．Great hopes make a great woman.

B．Time and tide wait for no man.

C．Life wonders can really take place.

D．Misfortune will tell what fortune is.

Ray’s wedding had gone off smoothly. Everyone seemed to have had a good time. A few people had too good a time; they went home with designated (指派的) drivers. All evening, the gift table remained unguarded. Who would steal anything, Ray thought. He had never heard of such a thing happening at a wedding. But his best friend Aaron said there was a first time for everything. He walked out regularly from the inside festivities to check on the gift table, making sure no one doubtful was hanging around it.
Ray and Julia went on a 3-week honeymoon to Italy right after the wedding. When they got back, they opened all the gifts and sent out thank-you notes. But there was one problem. A married couple that used to be good friends had obviously given nothing. This surprised Julia, because Walt and Mary said they were excited to be invited. And, they actually seemed to have had a great time at the wedding. Frankly, Ray didn’t even care if they hadn’t given a gift. He just needed to know whether to send a thank-you note. Ray called Aaron. Aaron said maybe Walt had left an envelope on the gift table like Aaron had. “Yes, but we got your envelope with the cash inside,” Ray said.
“Maybe my envelope looked too thin, and some thief thought Walt’s envelope looked nice and fat.”
Aaron asked Ray if he had looked everywhere for Walt’s gift. Had he called up the wedding site to see if anything had been left behind? Ray said that he had looked everywhere and made a lot of calls that were fruitless.
Ray didn’t know what to do. If he sent Walt and Mary a thank-you note for a gift they hadn’t given, they would be insulted. If he didn’t send them a thank-you note for a gift they had given, they would get angry.
“What would you do?” Ray asked. Aaron said he would call Walt up and tell him the problem.
“You can’t go wrong with simply being honest,” Aaron said.
“Oh, yes, you can,” Ray contradicted (反驳) him. “Sometimes it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie.” But he thought about it, and finally decided that Aaron was right. He called Walt and told him the problem. Walt said that yes, he had given an envelope. In fact, the envelope contained $500 cash.
“$500?!” Ray asked. “That’s a lot of cash, Walt!” Walt admitted that it was, but he had gotten a fat raise early that year and Ray’s was the only wedding he’d been to in quite a while. Ray thanked him very much, and apologized sincerely for someone stealing Walt’s generous gift. Walt told him that it was “only money”.
When Ray told Aaron about Walt’s gift, Aaron laughed. “The only thief at the wedding was Walt! I stopped playing cards with him last year because I caught him cheating. And it was only a $10 pot! I’m sure I told you about that.”
“Yes, you did tell me,” Ray said. But, of course, he had to send Walt a thank-you note anyway.
Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A．Aaron looked on honesty as the best policy.

B．Walt had surely gotten a fat raise early that year.

C．Stealing had never happened at a wedding.

D．Nobody checked on the gift table all evening.

The underlined word “insulted” in Paragraph 5 probably means ______.

A．deeply impressed	B．much discouraged
C．badly hurt	D．greatly moved

What kind of person is Ray?

A．Friendly and optimistic.	B．Doubtful and experienced.
C．Outgoing and stubborn.	D．Thoughtful and polite.

Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?

A．A Wedding Party

B．The Wedding Gift

C．The Thief at the Wedding

D．A Secret at the Wedding

A city child's summer is spent in the street in front of his home’, and all through the long summer vacations I sat on the edge of the street and watched enviously the other boys on the block play baseball. I was never asked to take part even when one team had a member missing—not out of special cruelty, but because they took it for granted, I would be no good at it. They were right, of course.
I would never forget the wonderful evening when something changed. The baseball ended about eight or eight thirty when it grew dark. Then it was the custom of the boys to retire to a little stoop(门廊) that stuck out from the candy store on the corner and that somehow had become theirs. No grownup ever sat there or attempted to. There the boys would sit，mostly talking about the games played during the day and of the game to be played tomorrow. Then long silences would fall and the boys would wander off one by one. It was just after one of those long silences that my life as an outsider changed. I can no longer remember which boy it was that summer evening who broke the silence with a question；but whoever he was, I nod to him gratefully now. “What's in those books you're always reading?” he asked casually. “Stories,” I answered. “What kind?” asked somebody else without much interest.
Nor do I know what drove me to behave as I did, for usually I just sat there in silence, glad enough to be allowed to remain among them; but instead of answering his question, I told them for two hours the story I was reading at the moment. The book was Sister Carrie. They listened bugeyed and breathless. I must have told it well, but I think there was another and deeper reason that made them so keen an audience. Listening to a tale being told in the dark is one of the most ancient of man's entertainments, but I was offering them as well, without being aware of doing it, a new and exciting experience.
The books they themselves read were the Rover Boys or Tom Swift or G．A. Henry. I had read them too, but at thirteen I had long since left them behind. Since I was much alone I had become an enthusiastic reader and I had gone through the booksforboys series. In those days there was no reading material between children's and grownups' books，or I could find none. I had gone right from Tom Swift and His Flying Machine to Theodore Dreiser and Sister Carrie. Dreiser had hit my young mind，and they listened to me tell the story with some of the wonder that I had in reading it.
The next night and many nights thereafter，a kind of unspoken ritual(仪式) took place. As it grew dark, I would take my place in the centre of the stoop and begin the evening's tale. Some nights, in order to taste my victory more completely, I cheated. I would stop at the most exciting part of a story by Jack London or Bret Harte, and without warning tell them that was as far as I had gone in the book and it would have to be continued the following evening. It was not true, of course; but I had to make certain of my newfound power and position. I enjoyed the long summer evenings until school began in the fall. Other words of mine have been listened to by larger and more fashionable audiences, but for that tough and athletic one that sat close on the stoop outside the candy store, I have an unreasoning love that will last forever.
Watching the boys playing baseball, the writer must have felt ________.

A．bitter and lonely	B．special and different
C．pleased and excited	D．disturbed and annoyed

The writer feels grateful even now to the boy who asked the question because the boy ________.

A．invited him to join in their game

B．liked the book that he was reading

C．broke the long silence of that summer evening

D．offered him an opportunity that changed his life

According to Paragraph 3, storytelling was popular among the boys basically because ________.

A．the story was from a children's book

B．listening to tales was an ageold practice

C．the boys had few entertainments after dark

D．the boys didn't read books by themselves

Sometimes the writer stopped at the most exciting part of a story to ________.

A．play a mean trick on the boys

B．add his own imagination to the story

C．experience more joy of achievement

D．help the boys understand the story better

What is the message conveyed in the story?

A．One can find his position in life in his own way.

B．Friendship is built upon respect for each other.

C．Reading is more important than playing games.

D．Adult habits are developed from childhood.

Florence Nightingale was born in a rich family. When she was young she took lessons in music and drawing, and read great books. She also traveled a great deal with her mother and father.
As a child she felt that visiting sick people was both a duty and a pleasure. She enjoyed helping them.
At last mind was made up. “I’m going to be a nurse,” she decided.
“Nursing isn’t the right work for a lady,” her father told her.
“Then I will make it so”, she smiled. And she went to learn nursing in Germany and France.
When she returned to England, Florence started a nursing home. During the Crimean War in 1854 she went with a group of thirty eight nurses to the front hospitals. What they saw there was terrible. Dirt and death were everywhere to be seen — and smelled. The officer there did not want any woman to tell him how to run a hospital, either. But the brave nurse went to work.
Florence used her own money and some from friends to buy clothes, beds, medicine and food for the men. Her only pay was in smiles from the lips of dying soldiers. But they were more than enough for this kind woman.
After she returned to England, she was honored for her services by Queen Victoria. But Florence said that her work had just begun. She raised money to build the Nightingale Home for Nurses in London. She also wrote a book on public health, which was printed in several countries.
Florence Nightingale died at the age of ninety, still trying to serve others through her work as a nurse. Indeed, it is because of her that we honor nurses today.
When she was a child, Florence _______.

A．loved to travel very much

B．knew what her duty in life was

C．loved to help the sick people

D．want to learn music and drawing in the future

During the Crimean War in 1854, Florence served in the front hospital where _______.

A．she earned a little money

B．work was very difficult

C．few soldiers died because of her work

D．she didn’t have enough food or clothes

Why was Florence honored by Queen Victoria?

A．She built the Nightingale Home for Nurses.

B．She wrote a book on public health.

C．She worked as a nurse all her life.

D．She did a great deal of work during the Crimean War.

The passage can best be described as _______.

A．the life story of a famous woman

B．a description of the nursing work

C．an example of successful education

D．the history of nursing in England

Sheldon Cooper is a scientific genius on the popular American TV show---The Big Bang Theory. He finally met his match last year: Stephen Hawking.
This is not the first time that the scientist has appeared on TV. He has also been on Star Trek (in 1987) and The Simpsons (in 1989). Each time, he played himself.
Hawking, 71, is perhaps the world’s most famous scientist after Albert Einstein. He has spent his whole life studying the beginning and the end of the universe, including the Big Bang theory.
The Big Bang theory explains the early development of the universe. According to the theory, about 13.7 billion years ago everything was all squeezed together in a tiny, tight little ball, and then the ball exploded. The results of that explosion are what we call the universe.
Hawking has always tried to make science more popular with people. His book: A Brief History of Time was published in 1988. In the book he shares his understanding of the universe in simple language. The book tries to explain many subjects about the universe to common readers, including the Big Bang, black holes and light cones (光锥).
Hawking’s achievements are even greater if you think about his disability. When he was 21, Hawking caught a bad illness that slowly stopped him from moving or talking. Now he sits on a wheelchair with a computer by his side. To communicate, he moves two fingers to control the computer’s mouse. He chooses his words from the screen, which are then spoken by a voice synthesizer (合成器).
Hawking also believes that there might be aliens in space. However, he believes they are probably very dangerous, so we should not look for them. “I imagine they might exist in very big ships ... having used up all the resources from their home planet,” Hawking said in a British documentary named Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking.
What does the “two Bangs” in the title refer to?

A．The director of the TV show and the founder of it.

B．The director and the actor of “The Big Bang Theory”.

C．The scientific genius on the TV show and the one in real life.

D．The founder of the “Big Bang” theory and Sheldon.

The Big Bang theory mainly explains _____.

A．how the universe started

B．what the universe is like

C．how old the universe is

D．how the universe exploded

According to the passage, which of the following about Hawking is TRUE?

A．He was born with a disability.

B．He played an artist in Star Trek.

C．He uses a computer to communicate.

D．He believes aliens are our friends.

After a terrible electrical accident, which caused him to become both blind and deaf, the whole world became completely dark and quiet for Robert Edwards for almost ten years. The loss of sight and hearing threw him into such sorrow that he tried a few times to put an end to his life. His family, especially his wife, did their best to tend and comfort him and finally he regained the will to live.
One hot summer afternoon, he was taking a walk with a stick near his house when a thunderstorm started all at once. He stood under a large tree to avoid getting wet, but he was struck by the lightning. Witnesses thought he was dead but he woke up some 20 minutes later lying face down in muddy water at the base of the tree. He was trembling badly, but when he opened his eyes, he could hardly believe what he saw: a plough and a wall. When Mrs. Edwards came running up to him, shouting to their neighbors to call for help, he could see her and hear her voice for the first time in nearly ten years.
The news of Robert regaining his sight and hearing quickly spread, and many doctors came to examine him. Most of them said that he regained his sight and hearing from the shock he got from the lightning. However, none of them could give a convincing answer as to why this should have happened. The only reasonable explanation given by one doctor was that, since Robert lost his sight and hearing as a result of a sudden shock, perhaps, the only way for him to regain them was by another sudden shock.
The reason for Robert’s attempts to kill himself was that _________.

A．a terrible traffic accident happened to him

B．he had to live in a dark and silent world

C．he was struck by the lightning once more

D．nobody in the world cared about him

What was Robert doing when he was struck by the lightning?

A．Taking a walk with a stick.

B．Sheltering from the rain under a tree.

C．Driving a car.

D．Lying on the ground.

We can infer from the text that ________.

A．Robert’s wife sent for doctors immediately after the shock

B．many doctors came because Robert was badly injured

C．there was no exact explanation for Robert’s recovery

D．a sudden injury in the head led to Robert’s recovery

What’s the best title of the whole passage?

A．A Terrible Electrical Accident

B．Robert Edwards and His Wife

C．What a Sudden Shock

D．An Unforgettable Experience

One day Mr. Brown sees a young woman in the street with children. He is very surprised because all the children are wearing the same clothes. White caps, blue coats and yellow trousers.
“Are all these children yours?” he asks the woman.
“Yes, they are.” she answers.
“Do you always dress them in the same clothes ?” asks Mr. Brown.
“Yes,” answers the mother. “When we have four children, we dress them in the same clothes because we don’t want to lose any of them. It is easy to see our children among other children because they are all wearing the same clothes.
And now we have ten, we dress them like this because we don't want to take other children home by mistake. When there are other children among ours, it is easy to see them because their clothes are different.
How many people does Mr. Brown see in the street one day? He sees ____in all.

A．twelve

B．eleven

C．four

D．ten children

Why is Mr. Brown surprised? Because ________ .

A．all the children are boys

B．all the children are in the same clothes

C．all the children are lovely

D．all the children are wearing the same trousers

Why does the woman dress her children in the same clothes? Because ___________.

A．she has so many children

B．she loves her children

C．she doesn't want to take her children home

D．she wants to see her children easily among others

Barack Obama, Lady Gaga and Steve Jobs—what do they have in common? They are, of course, all Americans. And according to a survey by social networking site badoo. com, they all best illustrate(举例说明) the word “cool”.
But just what does it mean to say someone is “cool”? Most would answer that it is something to do with being independent-minded and not following the crowd.
Yale University art professor Robert Farris Thompson says that the term “cool” goes back to 15th century West African philosophy(哲学). “Cool” relates to ideas of grace(优雅) under pressure.
“In Africa, ” he writes, “coolness is a positive quality which combines calmness, silence, and life. ”
The modern idea of “cool” developed largely in the US in the period after World War Ⅱ. “Post-war ‘cool’ was in part an expression of war-weariness (厌战情绪) . . . it went against the strict social rules of the time, ” write sociologists Dick Pountain and David Robins in Cool Rules: Anatomy of an Attitude.
But it was the American actor James Dean who became the symbol for “cool” in the hugely successful 1955 movie Rebel without a Cause. Dean plays a tough guy who disobeys his parents and the authorities(权威). He always gets the girl, smokes cigarettes, wears a leather jacket and beats up bullies(欺凌弱小者). In the movie, Dean showed what “cool” would mean to American young people for the next 60 years.
Today the focus of “cool” has changed to athletics (体育运动) stars. Often in movies about schools, students gain popularity on the athletics field more than in the classroom. This can be seen quite clearly in movies like Varsity Blues and John Tucker Must Die.
But many teenagers also think being smart is cool. Chess and other thinking games have been becoming more popular in schools.
“Call it the Harry Potterization of America —a time when being smart is the new cool, ” writes journalist Joe Sunnen.
Barack Obama, Lady Gaga and Steve Jobs are mentioned in the first paragraph to ________.

A．introduce the topic

B．draw our attention

C．tell us what they have in common

D．tell us what is “cool”

If you were considered “cool” in Africa in the 15th century, you ________.

A．thought and acted differently from the majority

B．had a calm and quiet attitude towards life

C．didn’t observe rules and authorities

D．had all kinds of “bad” manners

The heroes in Varsity Blues and John Tucker Must Die are likely to be those who ________.

A．do very well in their studies

B．are very skilled at sports

C．are good at chess and other thinking games.

D．have supernatural powers like Harry Potter

Which of the following is NOT true according to the article？

A．It is generally considered “cool” to be independent-minded and not to follow the crowd.

B．“Cool” was used as early as the 15th century.

C．Disobeying one’s parents and the authorities is considered “cool” among American young people nowadays.

D．Getting the first place in an exam can also be considered “cool”.

What does the article mainly talk about?

A．The origin of the word “cool”.

B．The kinds of people who are “cool”.

C．The changing meaning of the word “cool”.

D．How to be a “ cool” person.

You never see him, but they're with you every time you fly. They record where you are going,how fast you're traveling and whether everything on your airplane is functioning normally. Their ability to withstand almost any disaster makes them seem like something out of a comic book.They're known as the black box.
When planes fall from the sky, as a Yemeni airliner did on its way to Comoros Islands in the India ocean June 30, 2009, the black box is the best bet for identifying what went wrong. So when a French submarine (潜水艇) detected the device's homing signal five days later, the discovery marked a huge step toward determining the cause of a tragedy in which 152 passengers were killed.
In 1958, Australian scientist David Warren developed a flight-memory recorder that would track basic information like altitude and direction. That was the first mode for a black box, which became a requirement on all U.S. commercial flights by 1960. Early models often failed to withstand crashes, however, so in 1965 the device（装置） was completely redesigned and moved to the rear of the plane – the area least subject to impact – from its original position in the landing wells (起落架舱). The same year, the Federal Aviation Authority required that the boxes, which were never actually black, be painted orange or yellow to aid visibility.
Modern airplanes have two black boxes: a voice recorder, which tracks pilots' conversations,and a flight-data recorder, which monitors fuel levels, engine noises and other operating functions that help investigators reconstruct the aircraft's final moments. Placed in an insulated ( 隔绝的) case and surrounded by a quarter-inch-thick panels of stainless steel, the boxes can withstand massive force and temperatures up to 2,000℉. When submerged, they're also able to emit signals from depths of 20,000 ft. Experts believe the boxes from Air France Flight 447, which crashed near Brazil on June 1,2009, are in water nearly that deep, but statistics say they're still likely to turn up. In the approximately 20 deep-sea crashes over the past 30 years, only one plane's black boxes were never recovered.
In Paragraph 1，the author wants to say the black box_________.

A．is an necessary device on an airplane

B．comes from a comic book

C．can prevent disasters

D．can control the function of an airplane

From the black box on the Yemeni airliner_________could be found.

A．the scene of the crash and the degree of the damage

B．the total number of passengers on board

C．data for analyzing the cause of the crash

D．homing signals sent by the pilot before the crash

Why was the black box redesigned in 1965?

A．New materials became available by that time.

B．The early models often got damaged in the crash.

C．Too much space was needed for its device.

D．The early models didn't provide the needed data.

The black boxes were painted orange or yellow to_________.

A．distinguish them from the colour of the plane.

B．warn people to handle them with care

C．make them easily identified.

D．obey the international standards.

What do we know about the black boxes from Air France Flight 447?

A．There is still a good chance of their being recovered.

B．There is an urgent need for them to be reconstructed.

C．They have stopped sending homing signals.

D．They were destroyed somewhere near Brazil.

Brenda Bongos was a happy, artistic girl. She had one big dream—to play the drums in a band. But one big problem lay in her way. To be good enough to play in a band, Brenda had to practice a lot, but she lived next-door to a lot of old people. Many of them are sick. She knew that the sound of beating drums would really get on their nerves. So, she had tried playing in the strangest places: a basement, a kitchen, and even in a shower. But there was always someone it would annoy.
One day, while watching a science documentary on TV, she heard that sound cannot travel in space, because there's no air. At that moment, Brenda Bongos decided to become a sort of musical astronaut.
With the help of a lot of time, books and work, Brenda built a space bubble. This was a big glass ball connected to a machine which sucked out all the air inside. All that would be left inside was a drum kit（成套设备） and a chair. Brenda got into the space suit she had made, entered the bubble, turned on the machine, and played those drums like a wild child.
It wasn't long before Brenda Bongos came very famous. Many people came to see her play in her space bubble. Shortly afterwards she came out of the bubble and started giving concerts. Her fame spread so much that the government suggested that she be part of a unique space journey. Finally, Brenda was a real musical astronaut, and had gone far beyond her first ambition of playing drums in a band.
Years later, when asked how she had achieved all this, she thought for a moment, and said: ''If those old people next – door hadn't mattered so much to me, I wouldn't have found a solution, and none of this would have ever happened.''
Why did Brenda try to play in the strangest places?

A．Because she didn't want others to hear her play

B．Because she didn't mean to disturb others.

C．Because she didn't have her own room

D．Because she didn’t like her neighbors.

Brenda started to give concerts _______.

A．after she practiced in her space bubble

B．when she became part of the unique space journey

C．after she became a real musical astronaut

D．when people came to see her in the space bubble

Brenda became famous because ______.

A．she was good at music and science

B．she became a real musical astronaut

C．she invented a special way of practice

D．she played well and had a talent

It can be inferred from the text that: " _______".

A．He laughs best who laughs last

B．It's never too old to learn

C．Two heads are better than one

D．One good turn deserves another

Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. His father came to America from Kenya, which is a country in Africa. His parents, Ann and Barack, met when they were students at the University of Hawaii. Since Barack had the same name as his father, young Barack went by the nickname “Barry”.
In 1979, after he finished high school, Barry went to Occidental College in Los Angeles, California. There, he started to learn about his African roots and decided to use his African name, Barack. After two years in L.A., he went to Columbia University in New York City to study politics.
After college, he moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he worked to help poor people in his city. He traveled to Africa to meet his grandmother and cousins for the first time. He went back many times over the years to visit with his family and learn about where he came from. At work, he met a lawyer named Michelle Robinson. They worked together in a big law firm. Then he left Chicago to go to Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He did very well in law school.
After he was done with school, Barack moved back to Chicago and in 1992 he married Michelle. He worked as a lawyer, devoted to helping poor people for free who had been treated unfairly. He worked hard to get the people he helped to vote(投票).
He made many people believe that their votes were important, and helped them feel like they could make a difference.
Barack Obama’s father was probably born in _________.

A．Hawaii	B． Illinois
C．Kenya	D．California

Which of the following is the right order according to the text?
①Getting married to Michelle.
②Travelling to Africa to meet his grandmother
③Going to Harvard Law School
④Going to Columbia University
⑤Working in a big law firm.

A．④③②⑤①	B．④②⑤③①
C．③④①⑤②	D．②①⑤④③

How did Obama get people to vote?

A．By cheating them to do so.

B．By making a difference to people.

C．By helping poor people who treat others unfairly.

D．By showing them the importance of their votes.

According to the text, which of the following words can best describe Barack Obama?

A．Kind-hearted	B．Humorous
C．Polite	D．Brave

When Juliet was a child, she often went to the city park and played with her friends. On a sunny morning, when Juliet came to the park with her mum, she looked around and felt very unhappy.
“What’s the matter, dear?” asked her mum.
Juliet replied, “Mum, there’s so much trash on the ground.”
Juliet’s mum looked around. There was paper, boxes and glass bottles everywhere.
“What can we do?” asked Juliet.
“I’m sure you will think of something,” said her mum.
As soon as Juliet and her mum went home, Juliet painted a picture of the park and wrote a sign in large black letters at the top of the picture. The sign read “PLEASE KEEP OUR PARK CLEAN”. Later, she took plenty of bags and went back to the park with her mum. Juliet put up her picture on a big trash can (垃圾桶).
“Will you help me pick up the trash, Mum?” Juliet said as she handed her mum a bag.
“I sure will,” replied her mum.
The children at the park ran over to see what was going on. Juliet handed them each a bag. “Let’s clean this place up,” said Juliet. Then they began to pick up the trash, talking and laughing. Soon all the bags were full.
“We need to come back another day. There’s still some trash on the ground, but the park looks much better,” said Juliet.
Her mum said, “So it does. I knew you would think of a way to help.”
Why was Juliet sad?

A．Because the weather was bad.

B．Because she couldn’t find her mum.

C．Because her friends were not at the park.

D．Because there was too much trash at the park.

Juliet put up the picture to ______.

A．show off her painting skills

B．give her mum a big surprise

C．encourage people to keep the park clean

D．show people how beautiful the park was

From the underlined sentence, we can learn that Juliet’s mum ______.

A．was proud of Juliet

B．was angry with Juliet

C．thought Juliet was lazy

D．thought Juliet was difficult

Which of the following is TRUE about the children?

A．They laughed at Juliet.

B．They had an awful and tiring day.

C．They bought some bags from Juliet.

D．They joined Juliet in picking up the trash.

What’s the topic of the passage?

A．A cleanup story.

B．Juliet and her mum.

C．A beautiful park.

D．How to protect the environment.

Strange it may sound, this is a true story about a lesson of honesty happening between a lucky thief and a worthy professor.
Once a thief won a lottery ticket but left it at his crime(犯罪) scene when he stole a suitcase from a professor. To his great surprise, his victim, who picked up the ticket and took the prize money of ￡25 000, managed to get in touch with him in order to return him the case. The robbery took place when John Smith, a math professor was changing a tyre on the motorway. The thief happened to pass by. He appeared to be a warm-hearted guy and stopped “to help”. When the professor found his suitcase in the car missing, the thief had driven off as fast as he could. The professor picked up the dropped ticket on the floor and put it in his pocket before driving home.
John Smith didn’t realize it was a winner until he knew the lottery results on TV. He got the prize money and began a battle with himself silently in his heart. At last，he decided not to keep the money although he just had been robbed of his suitcase by the owner of the ticket. He set out to advertise in newspapers and on radio for finding the owner, “ Don’t be surprised that I’m trying to find the man who robbed me in order to returned him the ￡25 000—a lottery win. Please meet me without telling me your real name if you don’t want to. ”.
Later John received tens of hundreds of calls from people around the country trying to trick him into handing them the cash. But he didn’t arrange to meet the right person in the park until he recognized the voice. The robber, was moved into tears when he returned the suitcase. “Why didn’t you keep the money？”he asked, not believing what was happening. The honest professor replied simply, “Because it’s not mine.” With these words, he walked off，spurningthe thief’s offer of a reward.
The underlined sentence “Then he began a battle with himself silently.” suggested that .

A．he made an immediate decision on knowing the lottery results

B．he silently decided to punish the robber by keeping the ticket

C．he realized that money played an important role as honesty .

D．he hesitated about how to deal with the ticket for some time

Hundreds of people phoned the professor because they _______.

A．lost their lottery ticket

B．hoped to take the money

C．knew who the robber was

D．wanted to make fun of him

The underlined word “spurning” in the last sentence is similar to______.

A．forgetting	B．accepting
C．refusing	D．making

Which of the following can be used as the best title for the passage?

A．A Magical Lottery

B．A Thief’s Lucky Day

C．A Stubborn Professor

D．A Reward of Honesty