Ⅳ、阅读理解（每小题2分，共30分）
Buster Brown was a thief—and a good one, too, he thought. He’d never been caught by the police because he never took chances. He was always prepared for any unforeseen event or emergency.
Confidently, he stood outside the house of his intended victim（受害者）and read the sign on the front gate of the house. “Don’t worry about the dog—be aware of the owner!” it said. Buster smiled and found his way in.
The house looked quite normal outside, but inside it was very exotic with fascinating objects on display. As he began putting them into his bag, a dog came into the room. It stopped when it saw Buster, then wagged its tail madly and went over to him. Licking his outstretched hand. “Good boy,” Buster whispered. “What a great guard dog you are—trying to lick me to death.”
Satisfied he’d made friends with the dog, Buster began to wander round the house, choosing items to put in his bag. His skilled eye picked out only the best antiques （古董）：a pair of silver candleholders, a silver tea-and-coffee service, etc.. His new friend, the dog, sat and watched, as if wondering what was happening.
“Well, boy,” Buster whispered finally. “That might do. Any more and I won’t be able to carry it!” He swung the heavy bag onto his shoulders, just as the lights came on, nearly blinding him. He shielded his eyes with his hand.
“You’re a very silly person,” the figure in the doorway said, his voice dry as dust. As the man came closer, Buster could see he was well dressed. His face seemed familiar, but Buster couldn’t quite place where he had seen him before.
“You should have taken more notice of the sign outside,” the man resped. “I knew about this attempted robbery last week and I also know you will end up behind bars for 20 years. Fancy trying to rob the house of the world’s greatest fortune-teller!”
1.Why was Buster so confident?
A.He was not afraid of dogs.
B.He knew the owner of the house lived alone.
C.He had never been caught by the police.
D.The house had no security alarm.
2.How did Buster decide which objects to take?
A.He took those that were easy to carry in his bag.
B.He took only the best antiques.
C.He took those that he knew he could sell easily.
D.He looked for silver objects.
3.What punishment waits for Buster Brown?
A.A prison sentence with hard labour.
B.A long prison sentence.
C.A heavy fine.
D.Community service for 20 years.
An estimated 80 percent of American adults think music lessons, though at times boring and challenging in the eyes of some kids, improve children’s ability to learn or their performance in school . They say that the satisfaction for learning to play a new song helps a child express creativity.
Researchers at Harvard University, however, have found that there’s one thing musical training does not do. Samuel Mehr, the leading researcher of the new study, said it is wrong to think that learning to play a musical instrument improves a child’s intellectual development. The evidence comes from studies that measured the mental ability of two groups of 4-year-olds and their parents. One group attended music class; the comparison group went to a class that places importance on the optical arts-arts that can be seen.
“We found no evidence for any advantage on any of these tests for the kids participating in these music classes,” said Mehr.
Samuel Mehr says researchers have carried out many studies in an effort to learn whether musical training can make children smarter. Only one study seems to show a small percentage increase in IQ, intellectual scores among students after one year of music lessons.
He does not believe that IQ is a good measure of a child’s intelligence. Therefore, the researchers in his study compared how well children in the musical training group did on mental processing tasks, then the results were compared to those of children who did not take lessons.
Music lessons may not offer children a fast easy way to gain entry to the best schools later of their life, but the training is still important.
Mr Mehr notes that the works of writer William Shakespeare are not taught , so the children will do better in physics. He says Shakespeare is taught because it is important for cultural reasons.“And I don’t think music needs to be any different than that.”What attitude do most American grown-ups have towards music lessons? _________
| A．Uninterested | B．Approving | C．Doubtful | D．Uncertain |
The underlined word“optical”in Paragraph 2 probably means .
| A．visual | B．colorful | C．traditional | D．serious |
According to Samuel Mehr, _________ .
| A．many studies show that music training can improve IQ |
| B．IQ is a good measure of a child’s intelligence |
| C．music can enable a child to go to a better school |
| D．music should be taught for cultural reasons |
The study shows that .
| A．early music training has negative effects |
| B．musical lessons should be stopped at school |
| C．musical training doesn’t improve kids’ intelligence |
| D．playing musical instrument makes kids more creative |
There are two types of people in the world. Although they have equal degree of health and wealth and other comforts of life, one becomes happy and the other becomes unhappy. This arises from the different ways in which they consider things, persons, events and the resulting effects upon their minds.
People who are to be happy fix their attention on the convenience of things: the pleasant parts of conversation, the well prepared dishes, the goodness of the wine and the fine weather. They enjoy all the cheerful things. Those who are to be unhappy think and speak only of the opposite things. Therefore, they are continually dissatisfied. By their remarks, they sour the pleasure of society, offend (hurt) many people, and make themselves disagreeable everywhere. If this turn of mind was founded in nature, such unhappy persons would be the more to be pitied. The intention of criticizing and being disliked is perhaps taken up by imitation. It grows into a habit, unknown to its possessors. The habit may be strong, but it may be cured when those who have it realize its bad effects on their interests and tastes. I hope this little warning may be of service to them, and help them change this habit.
Although in fact it is chiefly an act of the imagination, it has serious results in life since it brings on deep sorrow and bad luck. Those people offend many others; nobody loves them, and no one treats them with more than the most common politeness and respect. This frequently puts them in bad temper and draws them into arguments. If they aim at getting some advantages in social position or fortune, nobody wishes them success. Nor will anyone start a step or speak a word to favor their hopes. If they bring on themselves public objections, no one will defend or excuse them, and many will join to criticize their wrongdoings. These should change this bad habit and be pleased with what is pleasing, without worrying needlessly about themselves and others. If they do not, it will be good for others to avoid any contact(接触) with them. Otherwise, it can be disagreeable and sometimes very inconvenient, especially when one becomes mixed up in their quarrels. People who are unhappy _______.
| A．always consider things differently from others |
| B．usually misunderstand what others think or say |
| C．always discover the unpleasant side of certain things |
| D．usually are affected by the results of certain things |
The phrase “sour the pleasure of society” in the first paragraph most nearly means “_______”.
| A．make others unhappy |
| B．tend to scold others openly |
| C．have a good taste with social life |
| D．enjoy the pleasure of life |
We can conclude from the passage that _______.
| A．we should pity all such unhappy people |
| B．people can get rid of the habit of unhappiness |
| C．such unhappy people are dangerous to social life |
| D．unhappy people can not understand happy persons |
In this passage, the writer mainly _______.
| A．describes two types of people |
| B．laughs at the unhappy people |
| C．tells people how to be happy in life |
| D．suggests the unhappy people should get rid of the habits of unhappiness |
When most of us hear the word chocolate, the verb that comes to mind is probably “eat”, not “drink”, and the most proper adjective would seem to be “sweet”. But for about 90 percent of chocolate’s long history, it was strictly a beverage (饮料), and sugar didn’t have anything to do with it.
The Origin of Chocolate
Many modern historians have estimated that chocolate has been around for about 2000 years, but recent research suggests that it may be even older.
In the book The True History of Chocolate, authors Sophie and Michael Coe prove that the earliest linguistic (语言学的) evidence of chocolate consumption dates back three or even four thousand years.
Valuable and Fashionable Chocolate Beverage
It’s hard to discover exactly when chocolate was born, but it’s clear that it was cherished from the start. For several centuries in pre-modern Latin America, cacao beans were considered valuable enough to use as currency. 100 beans could purchase a good turkey hen, according to a 16th-century Aztec document.
Sweetened chocolate didn’t appear until Europeans discovered the Americas and sampled (品尝) the native cuisine. Chocolate didn’t suit the foreigners’ taste at first — one described it in his writings as “a bitter drink for pigs” — but once mixed with honey or cane sugar, it quickly became popular throughout Spain. By the 17th century, chocolate was a fashionable drink throughout Europe, believed to have nutritious, medicinal functions. But it remained largely a privilege of the rich until the invention of the steam engine made mass production possible in the late 1700s.
The Birth of Solid Chocolate
In 1828, a Dutch chemist found a way to make powdered chocolate. His product became known as “Dutch cocoa”, and it soon led to the creation of solid chocolate. In 1847, Joseph Fry created the first modern chocolate bar. By 1868, a little company called Cadbury was marketing boxes of chocolate candies in England. Milk chocolate hit the market a few years later.
Prosperous Chocolate Industry
In America, chocolate was so valued during the Revolutionary War that it was used instead of wages. Even now, statistics show that the humble cacao bean is still a powerful economic force. Chocolate manufacturing is a more than 4-billion-dollar industry in the United States, and the average American eats at least half a pound of the stuff per month.The earliest chocolate was most probably _________.
| A．a dish | B．a drink | C．a bar | D．a candy |
It can be inferred from the passage that ________________.
| A．the history of chocolate is at most 4,000 years. |
| B．people around the world could buy things with chocolate. |
| C．chocolate was well paid attention to since it was born. |
| D．an American at least eats a pound of chocolate per month. |
Why did chocolate suit the Spanish’s taste so quickly? _________
| A．Because chocolate was so tasty and bitter. |
| B．Because chocolate was believed to be a source of nutrition. |
| C．Because chocolate was sweetened with honey or cane sugar. |
| D．Because chocolate became a fashionable beverage. |
Which one shows the correct order according to the time of their appearing? _________
| A．chocolate beverage----chocolate bar----chocolate candies----milk chocolate |
| B．chocolate bar----chocolate beverage----chocolate candies----milk chocolate |
| C．chocolate bar ----chocolate candies ----milk chocolate ---- chocolate beverage |
| D．chocolate beverage ----chocolate candies----chocolate bar---- milk chocolate |
People often say that money talks. They mean that a person with a lot of money can say how he or she wants things done. But it is not easy to earn enough money to gain this kind of power. Ask anyone in a business, they will tell you that it is a jungle out there. The expression probably began because the jungle is filled with wild animals and unknown dangers that threaten people. Sometimes people in business feel competing businesses are as dangerous as wild animals. And they feel that unknown dangers in the business world frighten the survival of their business.
People in business have to be careful, if they are to survive the jungle out there. They must not be led into making bogus investments. Bogus means something that it is not real. Nobody is sure how the word got started. But it began to appear in a American newspapers in 1800s. A newspaper in Boston Massachusetts said the word came from a criminal whose name was Bogazy. The newspaper said Bogazy wrote checks to people, although he did not have enough money in the bank. After he wrote the checks, he would flee from town. So people who were paid with his checks received nothing. The newspaper said Americans shortened and changed to the criminal's name Bogazy to bogus.
People try to earn money also must be aware of being ripped off. A person who is ripped off has had something stolen or at least has been treated very unfairly. A writer for the magazine American Speech said he first saw the expression used in 1971. It was on a sign that a student carried during a protest demonstration at a university. The message on the sign was that the student felt ripped off or cheated. Perhaps the best way to prevent getting ripped off in business is to not try to get rich quickly.
To be successful, a person in business works hard and tries to get down to brass tacks. This expression means to get to the bottom or most important part of something. For example, a salesman may talk and talk about his product without saying the price. You get down to brass tacks when you say it sounds good but how much does it cost？
Word expert Charles Funk thinks the expression comes from sailors on ships. They clean the bottom of a boat. When they have removed all the dirt, they are down to the brass tacks, the copper pieces that hold the boat together. So if we get down to brass tacks, we can prevent rip-offs and bogus ways of earning money in that jungle out there. And some good luck will help too.This passage is mainly written to________.
| A．explain several expressions related to money |
| B．tell us some skills of learning English words |
| C．tell us the secret of how to do business |
| D．tell us the power of money |
People compare doing business to being in a jungle because________.
| A．doing business is as exciting as living in a jungle |
| B．businessmen are as dangerous as animals in a jungle |
| C．doing business is as difficult as living in a jungle |
| D．businessmen are as careful as people living in a jungle |
If we say something is bogus, we probably mean it is not________.
| A．real | B．beautiful | C．good | D．new |
According to Paragraph 2,where did the word "bogus" come from? _________
| A．The name of a very successful businessman. |
| B．The name of a criminal who cheated others. |
| C．The name of a famous newspaper in Boston. |
| D．The name of a check written by a criminal. |
I was blind, but I was ashamed of it if it was known. I refused to use a white stick and hated asking for help. After all, I was a teenager girl, and I couldn't bear people to look at me and think I was not like them. I must have been a terrible danger on the roads, coming across me wandering through the traffic; motorists probably would have to step rapidly on their brakes. Apart from that, there were all sorts of disasters that used to occur on the way to and from work.
One evening, I got off the bus about halfway home where I had to change buses, and as usual I ran into something. "I'm awfully sorry," I said and stepped forward only to run into it again. When it happened a third time, I realized I had been apologizing to a lamppost. This was just one of the stupid things that constantly happened to me. So I carried on and found the bus stop, which was a request stop, where the bus wouldn't stop unless passengers wanted to get on or off. No one else was there and I had to try to guess if the bus had arrived.
Generally in this situation, because I hated showing I was blind by asking for help, I tried to guess at the sound. Sometimes I would stop a big lorry and stand there feeling stupid as it drew away. In the end, I usually managed to swallow my pride and ask someone at the stop for help.
But on this particular evening no one joined me at the stop; it seemed that everyone had suddenly decided not to travel by bus. Of course I heard plenty of buses pass, or I thought I did. But because I had given up stopping them for fear of making a fool of myself, I let them all go by. I stood there alone for half an hour without stopping one. Then I gave up. I decided to walk on to the next stop. The girl refused to ask for help because she thought_________
| A．she might be recognized |
| B．asking for help looked silly |
| C．she was normal and independent |
| D．being found blind was embarrassing |
After the girl got off the bus that evening, she_________.
| A．began to run |
| B．hit a person as usual |
| C．hit a lamppost by accident |
| D．was caught by something |
At the request stop that evening, the girl___________.
| A．stopped a big lorry |
| B．stopped the wrong bus |
| C．made no attempt to stop the bus |
| D．was not noticed by other people |
What was the problem with guessing at the sound to stop a bus? _________
| A．Other vehicles also stopped there. |
| B．It was unreliable for making judgments. |
| C．More lorries than buses responded to the girl. |
| D．It took too much time for the girl to catch the bus |
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