People have been burying the dead at Salem’s Hope Cemetery since 1833. The place is filled with old gravestones and gothic mausoleums(哥特式陵墓), the spirits of the dead hanging over the land like an early morning fog.
Keeping watch, a few steps from the road with her skirt over the pedestal (基座), is Goldie Belle Taylor, her face weathered but otherwise in good condition. On this day, she is holding a bunch of pink rises because Goldie Belle always holds flowers. Someone makes sure of that.
“And she has had fresh flowers in her hands for the last 150 years.” Karen Biery lives in Damascus, about five miles west of Hope Cemetery. She’s written a book based on the legend of Goldie Belle Taylor titled Believe. In 1886, at the age of two, young Goldie Belle used her hands to sop up (抹去) the left over elderberry juice from her father’s iron kettle. She died not long after from poisoning. She was the love of her dad’s life, and he was so upset that he sold the family farm to buy the Italian made statue, which today marks her grave.
At first, it was her father who brought the flowers and laid them in her hands. When he died in 1896, the flowers kept coming. Her flowers are different per season. Why do the flowers keep miraculously appearing? People have tried to find out by having camped by the statue, but not even the groundskeepers have been able to catch the criminal.
It’s said that a fairy arrives at Hope Cemetery looking for the grave of her birth mother. She comes across Goldie Belle’s statue.The underlined word “that” in paragraph 2 probably refers to________.
| A．her face in good condition |
| B．her bunch of pink roses |
| C．Goldie Belle Taylor is holding pink roses |
| D．Goldie Belle Taylor always holds flowers |
It can be inferred from the third paragraph __________.
| A．her father was poisonous |
| B．the iron kettle was poisonous |
| C．elderberry juice was poisonous |
| D．it was her father that hated her |
After her father died, the flowers in the hands of Goldie Belle Taylor_______.
| A．usually change |
| B．were stolen |
| C．are no longer fresh |
| D．come from a criminal |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．A fairy brings the flowers. |
| B．The mystery of Goldie’s flowers. |
| C．What happens to the girl? |
| D．How do the flowers get there? |
Swiss national Louis Palmer fulfilled a childhood dream when he set off from his mother country on July 3, travelling over deserts, cities and seas in 17 countries in a solar taxi to reach UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia.
"In 1986, 1 was a 14-year-old boy. I was dreaming that when I will be an adult. I want to drive around the world, " he told reporters.
"Then it came to my mind, how can I travel around the world and enjoy the beauty of this world with a car that is polluting the world? Then I thought the perfect car would be a solar car. "
His car, which has become a major attraction at the gates of the summit of some 188 nations, was built in three years with scientific help from four universities and 15 Swiss companies. The car pulls a trailer with six square meters of solar panels which absorb the sun. The electricity is fed into the battery which powers the car, and can run for up to 100 kilometers a day.
"It's the first time in history that a car is driving around the world without a single drop of petrol, " said Palmer.
His epic solar journey is not his first adventure—he crossed Africa on a bicycle and North America in a light aircraft.
So far, Palmer has gone by land through Europe and the Middle East, then by sea to India and on to Indonesia. After covering much of Asia, Australia, North America and Africa, he will return to Switzerland to try and drum up support for the commercial possibilities of solar cars.
For the moment, he has his hands full, with more curious customers waiting to take a ride in his unique automobile which, he said, "works like a Swiss clock. "The sentence in the third paragraph "how can I travel around the world and enjoy the beauty of this world with a car that is polluting the world?" means" __________ ".
| A．Louis Palmer found it hard to choose how to travel |
| B．Louis Palmer would feel guilty about his travelling in a polluting car |
| C．Louis Palmer couldn't make up his mind whether to travel by car |
| D．Louis Palmer was trying to enjoy the scenery in spite of polluting the world |
Why did Louis Palmer take so long a journey in a "solar taxi"?
| A．To attend the conference. |
| B．To advertise the solar car. |
| C．To realize his dream. |
| D．To turn to the summit for help. |
So many visitors came to the car mainly because __________.
| A．it uses electricity as power |
| B．it works as well as a Swiss clock |
| C．it is the first solar car in the world |
| D．they were eager to have a look at it |
The underlined phrase "has his hands full" in the last paragraph probably means __________.
| A．becomes very popular | B．looks so proud |
| C．is extremely busy | D．shakes hands |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．Palmer will attempt to put solar cars on the market. |
| B．Palmer dreamed of a solar car when he was a boy. |
| C．Palmer will return home from Indonesia. |
| D．Palmer has never made a journey before. |
Long bus rides are like television shows. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end—with commercials thrown in every three or four minutes. The commercials are unavoidable. They happen whether you want them or not. Every couple of minutes a billboard glides by outside the bus window. "Buy Super Clean Toothpaste. " "Drink Good'n Wet Root Beer. " "Fill up with Pacific Gas. " Only if you sleep, which is equal to turning the television set off, are you spared the unending cry of “ You Need It! Buy It Now!"?
The beginning of the ride is comfortable and somewhat exciting, even if you've traveled that way before. Usually some things have changed—new houses, new buildings, sometimes even a new road. The bus driver has a style of driving and it's fun to try to figure it out the first hour or so. If the driver is particularly reckless or daring, the ride can be as thrilling as a suspense story. Will the driver pass the truck in time? Will the driver move into the right or the left-hand lane? After a while, of course, the excitement dies down. Sleeping for a while helps pass the middle hours of the ride. Food always makes bus rides more interesting. But you've got to be careful of what kind of food you eat. Too much salty food can make you very thirsty between stops.
The end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning. You know it will soon be over and there's a kind of expectation and excitement in that. The seat, of course, has become harder as the hours have passed. By now you've sat with your legs crossed, with your hands in your lap, with your hands on the arm rests—even with your hands crossed behind your head. The end comes just at no more ways to sit.According to the writer, long bus rides and TV shows are similar in that __________.
| A．they are both long and boring, with commercials disturbing you all the time |
| B．they both have a beginning, middle, and an end, with commercials in between |
| C．they are both exciting, with new things to see in every three or four minutes |
| D．they both make you sit in your seat uncomfortably for a very long time |
The writer sounds as if he likes __________.
| A．reckless bus drivers | B．sleeping on bus trips |
| C．salty food | D．commercials |
The writer thinks that the end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning because both are __________.
| A．tiring | B．comfortable | C．exciting | D．boring |
When passengers get tired, they tend to __________.
| A．watch the commercials | B．eat food |
| C．cross their legs | D．change their ways to sit |
What is the purpose of this passage?
| A．To warn people of the danger on long bus trips. |
| B．To persuade readers to take a long bus trip. |
| C．To describe the writer's own feelings from long bus trips. |
| D．To explain how bus trips and television shows differ. |
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 teenage girl, and I couldn't bear people looking at me and thinking 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 hallway 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 lamp post. 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 lamp post 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. |
Finally the girl decided to walk to the next stop, hoping __________.
| A．to find people there |
| B．to find more buses there |
| C．to find the bus by herself there |
| D．to find people more helpful there |
Bissel is a small village of the West Sahara. It lies next to a 1. 5square-kilometer oasis (绿洲), from where three days and nights are generally required to go out of the desert. However, before Ken Levin discovered it in 1926, none of the Bissel villagers had ever walked out of the desert. Reportedly, they were not unwilling to leave this barren land. Many had previously tried but failed, always somehow finding themselves back at the oasis after several days of trying to walk out.
When interviewed by Ken Levin, an expert at the British Royal College of Sciences, the villagers explained that no matter which direction they walked it always brought them back to the village.
Why couldn't the Bissel villagers walk out of the desert? Levin was very puzzled. He had, by himself, managed to walk north from the village and reach the nearest town in three and a half days. He decided to carry out an experiment to solve the mystery. He and a Bissel villager called Argutel, would walk out of the desert together. They prepared enough water for a half-a-month journey and two camels. But this time Ken Levin didn't bring his compass. Levin would follow Argutel.
Ten days later, they had walked for about 500 miles but were still in the desert. On the 11th morning, an oasis came into their view. They were back at Bissel. Levin now understood why the Bissel people couldn't escape the desert. They had no knowledge of the North Star, which had for centuries provided sailors and other travelers with a point of direction. In the desert, if a person goes forward relying only on their senses, they will not be able to travel in a straight line. Rather they will travel in a very large circle and eventually track back to where they began. Levin explained to Argutel the function of the North Star and said, "As long as you rest in the daytime and walk towards the brightest star at night, you would be able to walk out of the desert. " Argutel did as he was told. Three days later, he came to the edge of the desert.
Now in the West Sahara, Bissel has become a bright pearl, where tens of thousands of tourists come every year. Argutel's bronze statue stands in the center of the town. On its base are the words: __________.Villagers in Bissel had never walked beyond the desert because __________.
| A．they had no method to find their way out |
| B．they were discouraged by their failures |
| C．they had a fear of the outside world |
| D．they had no desire to leave the oasis |
Ken Levin asked Argutel to walk to the north in order to __________.
| A．see how far away Bissel was to the edge of the desert |
| B．prove that people could walk out of the desert |
| C．tell people not to walk in circles |
| D．show Argutel was a great person |
According to the passage, Ken Levin __________.
| A．knew Argutel before he came to the village |
| B．came to Bissel to do experiments on behalf of his college |
| C．became the first man to walk out of the desert from Bissel Village |
| D．taught Bissel villagers knowledge of the North Star when he first arrived |
It can be inferred from the passage that __________.
| A．Ken Levin didn't walk south because it would take more days |
| B．the use of a compass was necessary to walk out of the desert |
| C．tourism in Bissel has been greatly developed and improved |
| D．Argutel became the leader of Bissel after his return |
Which of the following can most probably be found at the base of Argutel's statue?
| A．Two heads are better than one. |
| B．Where there is a will, there is a way. |
| C．A long journey starts with the first step. |
| D．A new life starts from the fixed direction. |
Arthur sat at the desk in his room, pencil in hand. He had to write a story for his English class by Friday. "! don't know what to write about, " he complained to his dog Toby, who was asleep at his feet. Arthur was talkative when speaking to his friends, yet he had trouble finding words when he had to write.
By bedtime Arthur had drawn a picture of Toby smiling. He had drawn a tree with its branches blowing in the strong wind. He had also written a note asking his friend Lee to go to the movies on Saturday. But he had not written a single word of his story.
On Wednesday, Mrs. Solomon, Arthur's English teacher, asked the class to turn in the first draft of their stories. His heart sinking, Arthur turned in the only work he had—the page with his name, the drawings and the note.
Arthur wasn't surprised when Mrs. Solomon asked him to stay after class the next day. But he was surprised by what she said to him. “ This is an attractive story, Arthur. The dog, the movie, the tree in the wind—I can't wait to find out how they all fit together. "
"That isn't my story, Mrs. Solomon, " Arthur admitted. "I haven't been able to think of one yet. "
"Oh, I think you have the seed (种子) of a story there, " Mrs. Solomon replied, "Look at your note and the pictures and see if a story comes to you. "
That night Arthur sat at his desk, and this is what he wrote: "One Saturday Mike went downstairs to meet his friend Julio at the cinema. It looked as if it might rain, so Mike carried his umbrella. Suddenly a big storm blew in, bending the trees. The noise of the wind sounded like the barking of Mike's dog Toby. Toby really hated storms and barked whenever he wanted to be let inside. Then Mike realized that it wasn't the sound of the wind. It was Toby. The dog was running after him down the busy street, barking. The sound was filled with blame. Mike felt guilty because he had left Toby outside. He turned and headed home with Toby running beside him. Mike let Toby in the door just as the rain started to pour down. "
Arthur had a story in the end. The last thing he did was to write his name proudly at the top of the page.What can we know from the first paragraph?
| A．It was very quiet in the house. |
| B．Arthur was talking to his friends. |
| C．Arthur was doing his homework at school. |
| D．Arthur was a little pleased with his story. |
Why did Arthur turn in the page with only his name, the drawings and the note at first?
| A．Because he had no time to fit them together. |
| B．Because he had difficulty in writing a story. |
| C．Because he wasn't willing to do his homework. |
| D．Because he wanted to show his talent for drawing. |
What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 6 probably mean?
| A．Toby is an imaginative and lovely dog. |
| B．The small tree will grow into a big one. |
| C．His friend Lee can give him a lot of support. |
| D．He can develop his story based on the first draft. |
What kind of teacher do you think Mrs. Solomon is?
| A．She is a strict teacher. |
| B．She is a wise teacher. |
| C．She is an honest teacher. |
| D．She is an energetic teacher. |
What can we infer (推断) from the story?
| A．Arthur is a shy and quiet student. |
| B．Arthur isn't very satisfied with his story. |
| C．There will be a storm on Saturday. |
| D．Encouragement is important in teaching. |
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