London Underground
The world’s first subway was built in London in 1863. At the time，the government was looking for a way to reduce traffic problems in the city of London. The poor areas of the city were so crowded with people that it was almost impossible for horse carriages to get through. The city officials were interested in trying to make it possible for workers to live outside of London and travel easily to work each day. If people had a cheap and convenient way that they could depend on to go to and from work， they would relocate their homes outside of the city. This would help ease(减轻) the pressure of too many people living in the poor parts of London. From these problems，the idea of the London Underground，the first subway system，was born.
The plans for building the Underground met with several problems and delays，but the fast track was finally opened in January 1863. A steam train pulled the cars along the fast underground track which was 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) long. About 30，000 people got on the subway the first day. Riders were treated to comfortable seats (standing up while the train was moving was not allowed)， and pleasant decorations inside each of the cars. However， the smoke from the engine soon filled the air in the tunnels with ash and soot(煤灰)， as well as chemical gases. Fans had to be put in the tunnels later to keep the air clean enough for people to breathe. Even with its problems，riding in the Underground did catch on. It carried 9 million riders in its first year.How did the London Underground solve the smoke problem？
| A．It made the tunnels larger. |
| B．It put fans in the tunnels. |
| C．It cleaned the chemical gases in the tunnels. |
| D．It reduced the number of passengers riding in the train. |
What led the British government to build the London Underground？
| A．Traffic jams and pollution. |
| B．Population and pollution. |
| C．Overcrowding and traffic jams. |
| D．The poverty and subway problems. |
Which of the following is TRUE？
| A．To relocate the workers’ homes outside London，the government built the subway. |
| B．There were so many problems and delays that in 18th century the first subway opened. |
| C．The subway greatly eased the pressure of traffic. |
| D．There were not enough seats for the passengers the first day the subway opened. |
The underlined phrase “catch on” most probably means “______”.
| A．be troublesome | B．become popular and fashionable |
| C．keep up with | D．seize |
Although English is not as old as Chinese , it is spoken by many people around the world every day. English speakers are always creating new words and we are often able to know where most words come from.
Sometimes, however, no one may really know where a word comes from. Did you ever think about why hamburgers are called hamburgers, especially when they are not made with ham? About a hundred years ago, some men went to America from Europe. They came from a big city in Germany called Hamburg. They didn’t speak good English, but they ate good food. When some Americans saw them eating round piece of beef, they asked the Germans what it was. The Germans didn’t understand the question and answered, “We come from Hamburg.” One of these Americans owned a restaurant, and had an idea. He cooked some round piece of bread and started selling them. Such bread came to be called “hamburgers”. Today, “hamburgers” are sold in many countries around the world.
Whether this story is true or not, it certainly is interesting. Knowing why any word has a certain meaning is interesting, too. This reason, for most English words, can be found in any large English dictionary.Hamburg is ____________
| A．a kind of food | B．a round piece of beef |
| C．the name of a village | D．a city in Germany |
According to the passage, ___________.
| A．few Americans like hamburgers |
| B．hamburgers are made with beef |
| C．hamburgers are made with ham |
| D．hamburgers were first sold about a century ago |
According to the writer, which of the following can often be found in any large English dictionary?
| A．Where all the new words come from. |
| B．Where those Germans came from. |
| C．The reason why a word has a certain meaning. |
| D．The reason why English is spoken around the world. |
From the story, we can know that the word “hamburger” comes from ___________.
| A．China because it has a long history |
| B．English because Germans don’t speak good English |
| C．The round piece of beef which those people from Hamburg were eating |
| D．English speakers because they always create new words |
When George was thirty-five, he bought a small plane and learned to fly it. He soon became very good and made his plane do all kinds of tricks (特技).
George had a friend, whose name was Mark. One day George offered to take Mark up in his plane.
Mark thought, “ I’ve traveled in a big plane several times, but I’ve never been in a small one, so I’ll go. ”
They went up, and George flew around for half an hour and did all kinds of tricks in the air.
When they came down again, Mark was glad to be back safely, and he said to his friend in a
shaking voice, “Well , George, thank you very much for those two trips in your plane.”
George was very surprised and said, “ Two trips? ”
“ Yes, my first and my last. ” answered Mark. Which of the following statements is false?
| A．George learned to fly a plane very quickly . |
| B．It took George a short time to learn to fly a plane. |
| C．George had some difficulty learning to fly a plane. |
| D．Mark decided to fly in George’s small plane. |
When George did some tricks with his small plane, Mark was _____.
| A．unhappy | B．excited | C．frightened | D．surprised |
Mark went up in George’s plane _____.
| A．twice | B．only once |
| C．several times | D．once or twice |
One day, Wilson was walking quietly along the road when someone hit him hard on the back of his neck．He looked behind him, and saw a young man whom he had never seen before．
“How dare you hit me like that?” shouted Wilson．
The young man said he had mistaken Wilson for a friend of his and that he thought Wilson was making a lot of noise about nothing．
This insult (侮辱) made Wilson even angrier, of course, and he at once decided to bring the young man before a judge．
Now, the judge, who heard the case, was a friend of the young man’s father’s, and, although he pretended to be quite fair, he was thinking about what he could do to protect the young man from being punished while at the same time not to be appearing unfair．
Finally he said to Wilson, “I understand your feelings in this matter very well．Would you be satisfied if I let you hit the young man as he hit you?”
Wilson said he would not be．The young man had insulted him and should be properly punished．
“Well, then,” said the judge to the young man, “I order you to pay ten coins to Wilson．”
Ten coins was very little for such a crime, but the young man did not have it with him, so the judge allowed him to go and get it．
Wilson waited for him to return with the money．He waited an hour, and then two hours, while the judge took care of other business．
When it was nearly time for the court to close, Wilson chose a moment when the judge was especially busy, came up quietly and hit him hard on the back of the neck．Then he said to him, “I am sorry, but I can’t wait any longer．When the young man comes back, tell him that I have passed my right to the ten coins on to you．”Why did the young man hit Wilson from behind?
| A．Wilson had hit him before． |
| B．He had mistaken Wilson for a friend of his． |
| C．Wilson was a stranger there． |
| D．Wilson made a lot of noise when he was walking． |
Which of the following explanations has the closest meaning with the underlined word “properly”?
| A．completely | B．correctly | C．immediately | D．finally |
The best title for this passage is ________．
| A．I’ve passed my right on to you |
| B．The judge and Wilson |
| C．Wilson and the young man |
| D．The young man was set free |
“I've changed my mind. I wanted to have a telescope, but now I want my daddy back." Lucien Lawrence’s letter to Father Christmas written after his schoolteacher father had been knifed to death outside his school gate, must have touched every heart. Lucien went on to say that without his father he couldn't see the stars in the sky. When those whom we love depart from us, we cannot see the stars for a while.
But Lucien, the stars are still there, and one day, when you are older and your tears have gone, you will see them again. And, in a strange way, I expect that you will find your father is there too, in your mind and in your heart. I find that my parents, long dead now, still figure in many of my dreams and that I think of them perhaps more than I ever did when they were alive. I still live to please them and I' m still surprised by their reactions. I remember that when I became a professor, I was so proud, or rather so pleased with myself, that I couldn't wait to cable my parents. The reply was a long time in coming, but when it did, all Mother said was “I hope this means that now you will have more time for the children!” I haven' t forgotten. The values of my parents still live on.
It makes me pause and think about how I will live on in the hearts and minds of my children and of those for whom I care. Would I have been as ready as Philip Lawrence have been to face the aggressors (挑衅者)，and to lay down my life for those in my care? How many people would want me back for Christmas? It's a serious thought, one to give me pause.
I pray silently, sometimes, in the dead of night, that ancient cry of a poet “Deliver my soul from the sword (剑), and my darling from the power of the dog.” Yet I know the death comes to us all, and sometimes comes suddenly. We must therefore plan to live forever, but live as if we will die tomorrow. We live on, I'm sure, in the lives of those we loved, and therefore we ought to have a care for what they will remember and what they will treasure. If more parents knew this in their hearts to be true, there might be fewer knives on our streets today.According to the whole text we can see that the first paragraph ________.
| A．explains the importance of a telescope |
| B．shows the writer's pity on the kid |
| C．acts as an introduction to the discussion |
| D．makes a clear statement of the writer's views |
In the second paragraph the author mainly wants to explain to us ________.
| A．how much he misses his parents now |
| B．why his parents often appear in his dream |
| C．when Lucien will get over all his sadness |
| D．how proud he was when he succeeded in life |
In the writer's opinion, the value of a person’s life is ________.
| A．to leave behind a precious memory to the people related |
| B．to have a high sense of duty to the whole society |
| C．to care what others will remember and treasure |
| D．to share happiness and sadness with his family |
What feeling did the author’s mother express in her reply?
| A．Proud. | B．Happy. | C．Disappointed. | D．Worried |
A year ago, August, Dave Fuss lost his job driving a truck for a small company in west Michigan. His wife, Gerrie, was still working in the local school cafeteria, but it was hard for Dave to find work, and the price of everything was rising. The Fusses were at the risk of joining the millions of Americans who have lost their homes in recent years. Then Dave and Gerrie received a timely gift—$7,000, a legacy(遗产) from their neighbors Ish and Arlene Hatch, who died in an accident. “It really made a difference when we were meeting difficulty.” says Dave.
But the Fusses weren’t the only folks in Alto and the neighboring town of Lowell to receive unexpected legacy from the Hatches. Dozens of other families were touched by what the Hatches had done. In some cases, it was a few thousand dollars; in others, it was more than $100,000.
It surprised nearly everyone that the Hatches had so much money, more than $3 million—they were an elderly couple who lived in an old house on what was left of the family farm.
Children of the Great Depression, Ish and Arlene were known for their habit of saving. They preferred comparison shopping and would go from store to store, checking prices before making a new purchase.
Through the years, the Hatches paid for local children to attend summer camps when their parents couldn’t afford it. “Ish and Arlene never asked if you needed anything,” says their friend Sandy Van Weelden, “They could see things they could do to make you happier, and they would do them.”
Even more extraordinary was that the Hatches gave away their farmland. It was the Hatches’ wish that their legacy—a legacy of kindness as much as one of dollars and cents—should enrich the whole community and last for generations to come.
Neighbors helping neighbors—that was Ish and Arlene Hatch’s story.According to the text, the Fusses ________.
| A．were employed by a truck company | B．led a difficult life |
| C．worked in a school cafeteria | D．lost their home |
What can we learn about the Hatches?
| A．They had their children during the Great Depression. |
| B．They left the old house to live on their family farm. |
| C．They gave away their possessions（财产）to their neighbors. |
| D．They helped their neighbors to find jobs. |
What Sandy Van Weelden said mainly tells us that the Hatches were _________.
| A．understanding | B．kind | C．childlike | D．wealthy |
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