When I was in primary school, sometimes I would meet a girl of the same age as me. Lisa was never active, but she was always very sweet and nice. In the 5th grade she came to my class.
She was absent(缺席) a lot , and one day I had the courage to ask why. She told me she was sick, and she explained she wore a wig(假发) because her medicine made her lose her hair. We left it at that. Anytime Lisa came to class—seldom—I would hang around with her on the playground.
I received much ridicule (嘲笑) from my friends for this because they thought I was ignoring them for Lisa. My family education taught me to be nice, and I felt Lisa’s needs were much more important than others I knew.
It had been months since Lisa was in our class, and one day our teacher was crying. She explained Lisa died the day before and would no longer be our classmate. She told us Lisa had fought a battle (斗争)with cancer for years.
I was shocked. Lisa never spoke of her illness as if it could kill her. Well, all these years I have kept Lisa in my mind and heart. When I go through the important events in my life, I think of Lisa.
I’ve had a strong wish recently to find her mother and father. I’d like to tell them that though they never met me, their daughter had a sweet effect on my life. I have no idea what her parents’ first names are. I write to your column (栏目)and hope you can point me in the right direction.
Lisa was such a lovely girl. Maybe her parents would be comforted by the fact that after all these years they are not the only ones who remember her.The underlined sentence in Para 2 probably means ________________.
| A．we discussed the topic and then left together |
| B．we just stopped talking about her illness |
| C．we went away after talking about her illness |
| D．we kept on talking about her illness later |
Why was the author being laughed at?
| A．Because she lost her friends because of Lisa. |
| B．Because she wore a wig to school. |
| C．Because she cried in the classroom. |
| D．Because she always played with Lisa. |
What did the author learn from Lisa?
| A．To put others’ needs above yours. | B．To keep your illness a secret. |
| C．To be nice to everyone everywhere. | D．To face challenges in life bravely. |
The author wrote this passage mainly to __________.
| A．ask for help to find a friend’s parents | B．remember a true friend |
| C．tell her experience of fighting cancer | D．show her concern for a friend |
There is a saying in France that states, "The government could fall, the Louvre （卢浮宫）could be broken into or creatures from other planets could land on earth, but if any of these things happened during the Tour de France, no one would notice．" The Tour de France is the most famous cycling race in the world．It begins in July and runs for three weeks．Cyclists who race in the Tour de France ride in six legs or stages of the race, and they have between one to four days of rest between each leg of the race．The rider who completes all six legs of the race in the shortest overall time wins．
The Tour de France began as a publicity stunt（惊人的表演） for the French sports newspaper, L’Auto．Hcnri Desgranges, who worked for L’Auto, came up with the idea for "the greatest bike race in the world, "and on July 1,1903, the first Tour de France began．Sixty cyclists began that first leg of the race which started in front of the Alarm Clock Cafe just outside of Paris．This first leg took them 467 kilometers to Lyon．The first Tour de France received an astonishing 2,000 francs．Maurice Garin, the most popular cyclist in France at that time, won the first Tour de France．It took him 94 hours and 33 minutes to ride all 2,428 kilometers of the race．This time was three hours faster than the second -place rider．Over the weeks during which the race was run, the idea of the Tour de France slowly caught the imagination of the people of France．The race has been run every year since that time, except during the years of World War I and World War Ⅱ．
The Tour de France has developed several special honors for which racers compete．Above all, the highest honor is the " yellow jersey"．Mr．Desgranges introduced the yellow jersey in 1919 to show the leading racer each rider's total time in order to find the racer with the lowest time．That racer wears the yellow jersey during the day's race．Other honors include the "green jersey " which is given to the rider who sprints the best by riding the fastest over short distances, and the "polka dot jersey" for the best rider in the mountains along the route．Who wins the Tour de France?
| A．The first cyclist to finish the race． |
| B．The cyclist with the most points． |
| C．The cyclist with the polka dot jersey． |
| D．The cyclist with the shortest overall time． |
Henri Desgranges was .
| A．a photographer | B．a famous cyclist |
| C．the man who first won the Tour de France | |
| D．the man who first thought of the Tour de France |
How many stages make up the Tour de France?
| A．One． | B．Four． | C．Six． | D．Ten |
The yellow jersey is worn by____.
| A．the fastest daily cyclist | B．the fastest overall cyclist |
| C．the youngest cyclist | D．the champion from the previous year |
A new law has recently been announced which forbids people to disturb, annoy, harm, kill or interfere with any bats which choose to live in their houses. Anyone who disturbs a bat on its nest ,or handles one without a license will be fined ￡1,000.
There are some people who like bats. The late Mrs. Ian Fleming was one. She would crawl for miles to see them in caves or hanging from trees. Similarly, there are many people who do not like bats much but are not particularly troubled by them. The chance of a bat resting in their attics（阁楼） or spare bedroom curtains may seem far away from them. But there are others who do not fall into either of these categories and Mr. Auberon Waugh is one. Underneath his house are eight large cellars(地下室) which for some reason bats have chosen to claim for themselves. He finds it extremely disagreeable to have to fight his way through a colony of them every time he wants a bottle of wine. And as a wine-lover he gets a particular pleasure from the ownership of wine. He has certain bottles in his cellar which he thinks are too good to serve to anyone he knows, but he likes to go down and enjoy looking at them occasionally. The bats entirely destroy this pleasure.
Until the recent law, he could keep the bat problem within manageable proportions by sending his children down on a bat hunt every three months armed with tennis rackets. They usually managed to kill one or two and discouraged the rest from settling. But now, Mr. Waugh fears that the bats will take over the house. To solve the problem he inquired what course of action he could take and was told by Dr Robert Stebbings of the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, “I am sure that no one will mind if you pick up a bat and take it outside and hang it on a tree or the outside of the house.” The trouble with this, as Mr. Waugh explains, is that he would be fined a ￡1,000 if he had not already applied to the Nature Conservancy Council for a license to handle bats. And there is no certainty that he would automatically be granted（agreed to give）one. Mr. Waugh thinks that bats .
| A．should all be destroyed | B．interfere with his wine |
| C．should be kept under control | D．prevent him owning wine |
Because he is a wine-lover, M. Waugh .
| A．stores only good wines | B．k eeps certain good wine |
C．refuses t o drink good wines |
D．only wants to own the best wines |
Success in removing bats from your home depends on .
| A．applying for a license from the Nature Conservancy Council |
| B．seeking help from the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology |
| C．taking the course of action recommended by Dr Stebbings |
| D．the granting of a Nature Conservancy Council license |
Some people who dislike bats .
| A．think they are unlikely to be bothered by them |
| B．run the risk of finding them in their attics |
| C．think it strange they should roost（栖息） in the curtains |
| D．do not mind them hanging in trees |
As you dash outdoors in the middle of winter, you might make it halfway down the block before realizing that your ears are freezing because you forgot your hat.
Now, scientists have shown that even though you’ve had an apparent memory lapse（丧失）, your brain never forgot what you should have done.
Memory works mainly by association. For example, as you try to remember where you left your keys, you might recall you last had them in the living room, which reminds you that there was an ad for soap on television, which reminds you that you need soap, and so on. And then, as you’re heading out of the door to buy soap, you remember that your keys are on the kitchen counter. Your brain knew where the keys were all along. It just took a round-about way to get there.
Now, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies are studying associative memory in monkeys to figure out just how this complicated process works.
First, the researchers trained a group of monkeys to remember arbitrary（任意的） pairs of symbols. The researchers showed the monkeys one symbol（cold weather） and then gave them the choice of two other symbols, one of which （a hat） would be associated with the first. A correct choice would earn them a sip of their favorite juice.
Most of the monkeys performed the test perfectly, but one kept making mistakes.
“We wondered what happened in the brain when the monkey made the wrong choice, although it apparently learned the right pairing of symbols,” said study leader Thomas Albright.
Albright and his team observed signals from the nerve cells in the monkey’s inferior temporal cortex （ITC）, an area of its brain used 
for visual pattern recognition and for storing this type of memory.
As the monkey was deciding which symbol to choose, about a quarter of the activity in the ITC was due to the choice behavior.
Meanwhile, more than half the activity was in a different group of nerve cells, which scientists believe represent the monkey’s memory of the correct symbol pairing, and surprisingly, these
cells continued to work well even when the monkey chose the wrong symbol.
“In this sense, the cells ‘knew’ more than the monkeys let on in their behavior,” Albright said. “Thus, behavior may vary, but knowledge endures.”What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．Your brain remembers what you forget. |
| B．Activity is a round-about way to memory. |
| C．Monkeys have better memory than us. |
| D．Your brain may forget something, but not always. |
The example of the keys and soap is given to explain the relationship between _______.
| A．memory and our daily life | B．memory and television ads |
| C．memory and association | D．memory lapse and human brain |
The researchers believe the monkey that made the wrong choice ________.
| A．had some trouble with its nerve system | B．failed to see the objects well |
| C．had the worst memory | D．also knew the correct answer |
The underlined word “endures” may be best replaced by __________.
| A．increases | B．remains | C．disappears | D．improves |
ARLANDA, Sweden （Reuters Life!）—Many people hate the idea of having to sleep on a plane. But Swedish entrepreneur Oscar Dios thinks they can be persuaded otherwise and he has created a new kind of hostel to prove it.
Dios says it is the world’s first jumbo （unusually large） jet hostel, an actual jet-plane at Sweden’s main airport outside Stockholm which has been changed into a 25- room guesthouse that sleeps as many as 72 people.
“I learned about this plane that was standing deserted at Arlanda airport and I’ve been trying the concept of hostels in many different houses and buildings,” he told Reuters. “I thou
ght, ‘Why not a plane?’”
Jumbo Hostels opened for business on Thursday, giving customers the chance to check in and sleep in a room that can best be described as comfortable.”
“The most challenging part with this project is trying to build something inside a metal hull（壳） – it’s just really, really tight.”
The jet, which was originally produced for Singapore Airlines, was taken out of service in 2002. It is held on a concrete foundation with the landing gear secured in steel cradles.
One feature of the hostel is its price – a room starts at 350 Swedish crowns （about $ 41）, which is a lot less than hotel rooms outside of major airports.
Another feature is that customers can get married on the wing of the plane and stay in the plane’s more luxurious honeymoon suite （套房）.
Instead of walking down the aisle in the church, lovebirds can take what Jumbo Hostels calls the “wing walk,” where they can be joined in great happiness at the wing tip. The hostel has someone ready to perform the ceremony.
But in some respects this hostel remains a plane – most customers have to share the jet’s nine bathrooms and the staff only wear air host and hostess outfits. The only room that has its own bathroom is the honeymoon suite.Which of the following is not true?
| A．The jet plane was out of use for over eight years |
| B．The hostel provides ten bathrooms for customers |
| C．The rooms in the hotel are comfortable |
| D．The hostel lies at Arlanda airport in Stockholm |
One of the features of the plane hostel is that .
| A．air hostesses can offer good service |
| B．a wedding ceremony can be held on the wing |
| C．customers can sleep in comfortable rooms |
| D．the staff can have a “wing walk” |
Why does Oscar Dios make jet plane hotel?
| A．Because he is fond of plane very much. |
| B．Because he is very curious |
| C．Because he wants to earn more money. |
D．Because he likes trying th e concept of hotel in many different things. |
The writer mainly wants to .
| A．call on people to make use of the deserted things |
| B．describe a wonderful place for weddings |
| C．introduce a new kind of hostel |
| D．prove people can sleep on a plane |
The Worst Part
Mom is usually home on Sunday but this week she was going to a big golf game and I was all alone in the house. I was mad at Mom for divorcing Dad.
I kept looking at the telephone until I couldn’t stand it any longer. I picked up the receiver and dialed Dad’s number over in Bakersfield. I even remembered to dial 1 first because it was long distance. “You promised to phone me this week but you didn’t,” I said, feeling I had to talk to him.
“Take it easy, kid,” he said. “I just didn’t get around to it. I was goi
ng to call this evening. The week isn’t over yet.”
I thought about that.
“Something on your mind?” he asked.
“I hoped you would call, so I waited and waited.” Then I was sorry I said it.
“There was heavy snow in the morning,” he said, “I had to chain up on highway 80 and lost time.”
I know putting chains on eight big wheels in the snow is no fun. I felt a little better, as long as we were talking. “How is Bandit?” I asked.
There was a funny silence. For a minute I thought the line was dead. Then I knew something must have happened to my dog.
“Well, kid—”, he began. “My name is Leigh!” I almost yelled. “I’m not just some kid you met on the street!”
“Keep your shirt on, Leigh,” he said. “When I had to stop along with some other truck drivers to put on chains, I left Bandit out of the cab, I thought he would get back … I have sent out a call to CB radio, but I didn’t get an answer yet.” I was about to say I understood when there came the bad part, the really bad part. I heard a boy’s voice say, “Hey, Bill, Mom wants to know when we’re going out to get the pizza?”We can conclude from the passage that .
| A．Leigh’s mother often went to golf games | B．Leigh was a deserted boy |
| C．Leigh’s dad never had a rest on Sundays | D．Leigh’s father lived in another city |
Which is true about Bandit?
| A．It was killed by a truck | B．It was let out of the cab and got lost |
| C．It was frozen to death. | D．It ran off Highway 80 and into the mountain. |
The underlined sentence “Keep your shirt on”（last para） probably means “ ”.
| A．Cool down | B．Stop talking | C．Be quiet | D．Keep warm |
The worst part in Leigh’s eyes may be that .
| A．he forgot to go to get the pizza | B．his parents got divorced |
| C．his dad got remarried | D．his dad didn’t love him |
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