D
Bernice Gallego sat down one day this summer, as she does pretty much every day, and began listing items on eBay. She dug into a box and pulled out a baseball card. She stopped for a moment and admired the picture. “Red Stocking B. B. Club of cincinnati,” the card read, under the reddish brown color photo of 10 men with their socks pulled up to their knees.
As a collector and seller, it's her job to spot old items that might have value today．It's what Bernice, 72, and her husband, Al Gallego, 80, have been doing since 1974 at their California antique （古玩） store．
This card, she figured, was worth selling on eBay．She took a picture, wrote a description and put it up for auction （拍卖）．She put a $10 price tag on it, deciding against $15 because it would have cost her an extra 20 cents．Later that night she got a few odd inquiries—someone wanting to know whether the card was real, someone wanting her to end the auction and sell him the card immediately．
The card is actually 139 years old．Sports card collectors call the find "extremely rare" and estimate the card could fetch five, or perhaps, six figures at auction．
Just like that, Bemice is the least likely character ever for a rare-baseball card story．"I didn't even know baseball existed that far back," Gallego says, "I don't think that I've ever been to a baseball game．" The theory is that the card came out of a storage space they bought a few years back．It is not uncommon in their line of work to buy the entire contents of storage units for around $200．
When she met with card trader Rick Mirigian, she found out what the card was—an 1869 advertisement with a picture of the first professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings．
"When I came to meet her and she took it out of a sandwich bag and she was smoking a cigarette, I almost fainted," Mirigian says．"They've uncovered a piece of history that few people will ever be able to imagine．That card is history．It's like unearthing a Mona Lisa or a Picasso．"
68．What can we conclude from Paragraph 3?
A．Bernice had to pay some fees for her card on eBay．
B．Bernice wanted to end the auction that night．
C．Bernice decided to sell the card for $15．
D．eBay charged her 20 cents for the card．
69．The underlined word "fetch" in Paragraph 4 most probably means "____"．
A．go and bring B．add up to C．go down to D．be sold for
70．From the passage, we may learn that ____．
A．Bernice is a baseball fan
B．Bernice is the last person to purchase the rare-baseball card
C．Bernice unexpectedly became the owner of the rare-baseball card
D．Bernice didn't realize the value of the card until she put it up for auction
71．What would be the best title for the passage?
A．A Surprisingly Valuable Discovery B．Bemice Gallego—A Lucky Collector
C．Sports Card Collectors D．The History of the Baseball Card
Special Bridges Help Animals Cross the Road
----Reported by Sheila Carrick
Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side.
Most people know this joke. But recently, some people have been much more worried about how the grizzly bear(灰熊)and mountain lion can cross the road.
"Millions of animals die each year on US roads," the Federal Highway Administration reports. In fact，only about 80 ocelots, an endangered wild cat, exist in the US today. The main reason? Road kill. "Ecopassages" may help animals cross the road without being hit by cars. They are paths both over and under roads. "These ecopassages can be extremely useful, so that wildlife can avoid road accidents," said Jodi Hilty of the Wildlife Protection Society.
But do animals actually use the ecopassages? The answer is yes. Paul Beier of Northern Arizona University found foot marks left by mountain lions on an ecopassage that went under a highway. This showed that the lions used the passage.
Builders of ecopassages try to make them look like a natural part of an area by planting trees on and around them. Animals seem to be catching on. Animals as different as salamanders(火蜥蜴) and grizzly bears are using the bridges and underpasses.
The next time you visit a park or drive through an area with a lot of wildlife, look around. You might see an animal overpass!.
. The writer uses the example of "ocelots " to show that .
| A．wild animals have become more dangerous |
| B．the driving conditions have improved greatly |
| C．an increasing number of animals are killed in road accidents |
| D．the measure for protecting wildlife fails to work |
.
. From the news story, we know an ecopassage is .
A．an underground path for c ars |
| B．a fence built for the safety of the area |
| C．a bridge for animals to get over a river |
| D．a path for animals to cross the road |
.
. The writer asks visitors and drivers to look around when traveling because .
| A．wild animals may attack cars | B．wild animals may jam the road |
| C．they may see wild animals on ecopassages | D．they may see wild animals in the park |
"Yes, but what did we use to do before there was television?" How often we hear statements like this! Television hasn't been with us all that long, but we are already beginning to forget what the world was like without it. Before we admitted the "one-eyed monster" into our homes, we never found it difficult to occupy our spare time. We used to enjoy civilised pleasures. For instance, we used to have hobbies, entertain our friends and be entertained by them, go outside for our amusements. We even used to read books and listen to music occasionally. Now all our free time is regulated by the "goggle box". We rush home for our meals to be in time for this or that programme. A sandwich and a glass of beer will do—anything, providing it doesn't interfere with the programme. The monster demands and obtains absolute silence and attention. If any member of the family dares to open his mouth during a programme, he is quickly silenced.
Whole generations are growing up addicted to the television. Food is left uneaten, homework undone and sleep is lost. The television is a universal t
hing that makes people calm. It is now standard practice for mother to keep the children quiet by putting them in the living-room and turning on the set. It doesn't matter what the children will watch—so long as they are quiet.
Television encourages passive enjoyment. We become content with second-hand experiences. It is so easy to sit in our armchairs watching others working. Little by little, television cuts us off from the real world. We get so lazy, we choose to spend a fine day in semi-darkness. Television may be a splendid medium of communication, but it prevents us from communicating with each other. We only become aware how totally irrelevant television is to real living when we spend a holiday by the sea or in the mountains. In quiet, natural surrounding, we quickly discover how little we miss the King television..
. Through the passage, the writer aims to tell us ________.
A．how television is  damaging our health |
| B．how to keep away from watching television |
| C．that television is doing harm to our life |
| D．all of us find it difficult to live without television |
.
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．Second-hand experiences provided by television are harmful. |
| B．We can enjoy our life without television. |
| C．Television is a necessary way of communication. |
| D．Television is becoming irreplaceable in our daily life. |
.
. What's the main reason for parents to put the children before a television set?
| A．To save more time for housework. |
| B．To help them sleep earlier. |
| C．To keep them quiet. |
| D．To help them learn more knowledge from television. |
.
By saying "we never found it difficult to occupy our spare time," the writer means ________.
| A．television occupies too much of our spare time |
| B．it's easy for us to find some spare time to enjoy the television |
| C．we have less spare time after we have television |
| D．it's difficult to spend our spare time without a television |
In the United States, friendships can be close, constant, intense, generous, and real, yet fade away in a short time if things change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greeting for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while—then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship where it's left off and are delighted.
In the States, you can feel free to visit people's homes and share their holidays without fear that you are taking on a lasting obligation. Do not hesitate to accept hospitality because you cannot give it in return. No one will expect you to do so for they know you are far from home. Americans will enjoy welcoming you and be pleased if you accept their hospitality easily.
Once you arrive there, the welcome will be full and warm and real. Most visitors find themselves easily invited into many homes there. In some countries it is considered inhospitable to entertain at home, offering what is felt as "merely" home cooked food, not "doing something" for your guest. It is felt that restaurant entertaining shows more respect and welcome. Or for various other reasons, such as crowded space, language difficulties, or family custom, outsiders are not invited into homes.
In the United States, both methods are used, but it is often considered more friendly to invite a person to one's home than to go to a public place, except in pure business relationships. So, if your host or hostess brings you home, do not feel that you are being shown inferior treatment..
. In the United States, friendships might ________ if things become different.
| A．disappear little by little | B．last forever |
| C．be heartbreaking | D．end suddenly |
.
All the following factors but ________ prevent people from inviting their friends home for
dinner according to the passage.
| A．different languages | B．naughty children |
| C．different customs | D．small houses |
.
. We can infer that ________ in America according to this passage.
| A．friendships are difficult to get but easy to lose |
| B．it is hard for a person to pick up the friendship when he comes across his long lost friend |
| C．you might be considered as a person hungry for social activities if you accept an invitation too easily |
| D．people care little about where they are invited to go for dinner |
.
. Why is giving a dinner party at home considered less hospitable in some countries?
| A．Because eating at the restaurant is a sign of respect. |
| B．Because having dinner at home seems less friendly. |
| C．Because dishes prepared at home are less delicious. |
| D．Because a dinner at the restaurant is more expensive. |
He has lived through various dangers but time may be running out for the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat.
On September
11, Israel announced its decision to remove him, following several Palestinian suicide bomb attacks on Israel. “He should be punished for the killings,” an Israeli official said, “He has done nothing to stop the terrorist groups.”
But the decision has angered many other countries. China said that Arafat is the true leader, elected by the Palestinian people, and removing him would harm the peace in the Middle East. Other governments share this idea.
Arafat himself said: “They can kill me, but never get me out of my country.” He has spent most of his life in danger as the most important aim of Israel. But, just like a cat with nine lives, Arafat escaped every time.
For years he has made a practice of sleeping in a different bed each night, thinking a moving person is harder to hit. In 1985, Israel sent fighter planes to kill Arafat. The wild bombing destroyed his office in Tunis but Arafat himself was unhurt. In 1992, the aircraft in which he was flying over North Africa broke in two during a crash landing. The pilot was killed but he managed to remain alive.
What is so unbelievable is that he always remains calm in great danger. Israeli tanks and planes attacked his office building in Ram Allah in December 2001. When they saw the attackers coming, Arafat’s bodyguards took no notice of his orders to stay still and carried him to safety underground. Seconds later, several bombs were dropped nearby. Though safe, his bodyguards were so frightened that they were wet in sweat.
But, Arafat, with Israeli tanks onl
y 200 meters away, showed no fear at all. He stayed in the damaged office, talking by phone with foreign leaders in hope of preventing further attacks from Israel.
All these experiences have made him a beloved leader to his people and an enemy to some others.
But has he used up the last of his nine lives? Only time will tell.. According to the passage, which statement is true?
| A．In 1992, Arafat’s plane crashed in South Africa. |
| B．Israeli officers thought Arafat himself sent the terrorist groups to Israel. |
| C．China is the only country against Israel’s decision of removing Arafat. |
| D．Being Palestinian leader, Arafat would rather die in his own country than be driven away |
from his people.. . What did the author mean by saying “just like a cat has nine lives” when he talked about Arafat?
| A．Arafat is as clever as a cat. |
| B．Arafat can live as long as a cat. |
| C．Arafat can stay alive after accidents or disasters as if he has nine lives. |
| D．Arafat should have died for at least 8 times. |
. The underlined phrase “took no notice of” can be replaced by __________.
| A．obeyed | B．ignored | C．disagreed | D．dissatisfied |
. . What’s the writer’s attitude towards Arafat’s future, judging from the last sentence of the passage?
| A．Hopeful. | B．Interesting. | C．Satisfactory. | D．Doubtful. |
Time spent in a bookshop can be most enjoyable, whether you are a
book-lover or merely you are there to buy a book as a present. You may even have entered the shop just to find shelter from a sudden shower. Whatever the reason, you can soon become totally unaware of your surroundings. You soon become engrossed in some book or other, and usually it is only much later that you realise you have spent far too much time there and must dash off to keep some forgotten appointment—without buying a book, of course.
This opportunity to escape the realities of everyday life is, I think, the main attraction of a bookshop. There are not many places where it is possible to do this. You can wander round such places to your heart's content. If it is a good shop, no assistant will disturb you with usual greetings, "Can I help you, sir?" Of course you may want to find out where a particular section is. Then, and only then, are his services necessary. However, when he has led you there, the assistant should retire carefully and look as if he is not interested in selling a single book.
You have to be careful not to be attracted by the variety of books in a bookshop. It is very easy to enter the shop looking for a book on ancient coins and to come out carrying a copy of the latest best-selling novel. This sort of thing can be very dangerous. Apart from running up a huge account, you can waste a great deal of time wandering from section to section..
. Which may not be included in the writer's experiences while he is in a bookshop?
A．Getting relaxed without buying a bo ok. |
| B．Quarrelling with the shop assistant. |
| C．Buying other books instead of those he wanted. |
| D．Forgetting some important appointment. |
.
. What does the writer mean by saying "time spent in a bookshop can be most enjoyable"?
| A．You may free yourself from the real life. |
| B．Reading is free of charge there. |
| C．There is nobody disturbing you there. |
| D．You can enter without any certain reason. |
.
What does the underlined wordengrossed most probably mean in the first paragraph?
| A．Lost. | B．Forbidden. | C．Puzzled. | D．Impressed. |
.
. The writer wrote the passage in order to ________.
| A．suggest a good way of running a bookshop |
| B．encourage people to do some reading in bookshops |
| C．share his experience in bookshops |
| D．give some advice on buying books in a bookshop |
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