A month after Hurricane Katrina, I returned home in New Orleans. There lay my house, reduced to waist-high rains, smelly and dirty.
Before the trip, I’d had my car fixed. When the office employee of the garage was writing up the bill, she noticed my Louisiana license plate. “You from New Orleans?” she asked. I said I was, “No charge.” She said, and firmly shook her head when I reached for my wallet. 
The next day I we
nt for a haircut, and the same thing happened.
As my wife was studying in Florida, we decided to move there and tried to find a rental house that we could afford while also paying off a mortgage (抵押贷款) on our ruined house. We looked at many places, but none was satisfactory. We’d begun to accept that we’d have to live in extremely reduced circumstances for a while, when I got a very curious e-mail from a James Kennedy in California. He’d read some pieces I’d written about our sufferings for Slate, the online magazine and wanted to give us (“no conditions attached”) a new house across the lake from New Orleans.
It sounded too good to be true, but I replied, thanking him for his exceptional generosity, that we had no places to go back. Then a poet at the University of Florida offered to rent his house to me while he went to England on his one-year-paid leave. The rent was rather reasonable. I mentioned the poet’s offer to James Kennedy, and the next day he sent a check covering our entire rent for eight months.
Throughout this painful experience, the kindness of strangers has done much to bring back my faith in humanity. It’s almost worth losing your worldly possessions to be reminded that people are really nice when given half a chance. The garage employee’s attitude toward the author was that of ________.
| A．unconcern | B．sympathy |
| C．doubt | D．tolerance |
What do we know about James Kennedy?
| A．He was a writer of an online magazine. |
| B．He was a poet at the University of Florida. |
| C．He learned about the author’s sufferings via e-mail. |
| D．He offered the author a new house free of charge. |
It can be inferred from the text that ________.
| A．the author’s family was in financial difficulty |
| B．rents were comparatively reasonable despite the disaster |
| C．houses were difficult to find in the hurricane-stricken area |
| D．the mortgage on the ruined house was paid off by the bank |
From Paragraph 4, we can know that the author’s new house ________.
| A．was located in the University of Florida |
| B．was offered by a poet and the rent was expensive |
| C．was sponsored by James Kennedy with its 8-month rent |
| D．was well-equipped but the rent was low |
The author learned from his experience that ________.
| A．worldly possessions can be given up when necessary |
| B．generosity should be encouraged in some cases |
| C．people benefit from their sad stories |
| D．human beings are kind after all |
I bent down in the shade under a sixty-foot-tall cactus（仙人掌）, waiting for them to appear. The time was eight thirty in the morning. For seven mornings I had come to the same distant spot in the Sonoran Desert, in southern Arizona. I was here to watch the roadrunner, a small fast-running bird.
I spotted two birds under a bush with red flowers. The roadrunners rushed out from under it. The birds moved rapidly on long skinny legs. Their feathers were brown and black. Their tails were seven inches long. Roadrunners use the tail for balance when running.
That day, the roadrunners performed a courtship（求婚）dance. They ran in wild circles. Suddenly, one stopped and stood still, its round eyes full of light. The second bird took hold of a small stick off the ground and presented it to the first, a gift serving as a symbol of their partnership.
I returned to the spot each day, leaving bits of boiled chicken hoping they would return. Roadrunners eat snakes, lizards, mice, beetles, and spiders. Food is in short supply in the desert, so my offerings were welcome. The pair grew used to me.
Soon after the pair finished building their nest six white eggs appeared in the nest bowl. In about three weeks, six roadrunner chicks, skin as black as coal, cried for food. Their parents brought food such as fence lizards and stink bugs. They fed their young until they were a month and a half old.
Early one morning, a coyote（丛林狼）came around, nose to the ground, for fresh bird meat. The roadrunners fearlessly drove the coyote away, but it was soon back. After three attacks the coyote went away for good, tail between its legs.
I stopped watching the nest when the little roadrunners, at two months of age, were ready to live on their own. It was hard to break away from “my roadrunner family.” Whenever I see a roadrunner now, rushing over the ground, I say hello to it as an old friend.The author went to the Sonoran Desert to .
| A．go on a tour of the desert |
| B．carry out research into some animals in the desert |
| C．make an observation about a kind of bird |
| D．enjoy an adventure in southern Arizona |
What can we learn about roadrunners from the text?
| A．They have short tails and legs. |
| B．They move at a fast pace. |
| C．Their feathers are red and brown. |
| D．They don’t like boiled chicken. |
We can learn from the last but one paragraph that the roadrunners were .
| A．brave | B．clever | C．easily-frightened | D．lazy |
Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
| A．How do roadrunners seek a partner? |
| B．My close friendship with roadrunners. |
| C．Roadrunner family in the Sonoran Desert. |
| D．How did I find roadrunners in Arizona? |
Einstein was the greatest scientist of his age. But he was almost as strange as his Theory of Relativity.
Once, while riding a street car in Berlin, he told the conductor that he had been given too much change. The conductor counted the change again and found it to be correct, so he handed it back to Einstein, saying “The trouble with you is you don’t know your figures.”
He had nothing and thought little of the things most people set their hearts on— fame and money. He didn’t want money or praise. He made his own happiness out of such simple things as his work and playing the violin and sailing his boat. Einstein’s violin brought him more joy than anything else in life.
He led a very simple sort of life, went around in old clothes that needed pressing, seldom wore a hat, He shaved （刮胡子）with the same soap that he used for his bath. The man who was trying to solve the most difficult problems of the universe said that using two kinds of soap made his life completely too complicated（复杂的）. From the second paragraph we know Einstein _____.
| A．wasn’t good at maths |
| B．enjoyed playing jokes |
| C．had some trouble with figures |
| D．didn’t care about money at all |
Einstein was most interested in ______ in life.
| A．sailing his boat | B．fame and money |
| C．playing the violin | D．work |
“…using two kinds of soap made his life completely too complicated” in the last paragraph suggests that Einstein ______.
| A．preferred to live a simple life |
| B．was a man of humor |
| C．was too poor to buy more soaps |
| D．liked to do something different |
For high school leavers starting out in the working world，it is very important to learn particular skills and practice how to behave in an interview or how to find all internship(实习)．In some countries，schools have programs to help students onto the path to work．In the Unites States，however，such programs are still few and far between．
Research shows that if high schools provide career-related courses，students are likely to get higher earnings in later years．The students are more likely to stay in school，graduate and go on to higher education．
In Germany，students as young as 13 and 14 are expected to do internships．German companies work with schools to make sure that young people get the education they need for future employment．
But in America, education reform programs focus on how well students do in exams instead of bringing them into contact with the working world．Harvard Education school professor Robert Schwartz has criticized education reformers for trying to place all graduates directly on the four-year college track．Schwartz argued that this approach leaves the country’s most vulnerable(易受影响的)kids with no jobs and no skills．
Schwartz believed that the best career programs encourage kids to go for higher education while also teaching them valuable practical skills at high school．James Madison High School in New York，for example，encourages students to choose classes on career—based courses．The school then helps them gain on—the-job experience in those fields while they’re still at high school．
However，even for teens whose schools encourage them to connect with work，the job market is daunting．In the US，unemployment rates for 16-to 19-year-olds are above 20 percent for the third summer in a row．
“The risk is that if teenagers miss out on the Summer job experience，they become part of this generation of teens who had trouble in landing a job，”said Michael，a researcher in the US.In the author’s opinion, American high school leavers__________.
| A．have enough career-related courses |
| B．need more career advice from their schools |
| C．perform better in exams than German students |
| D．can get higher earnings in later years |
According to Robert Schwartz，_________.
| A．there is no need for kids to go for higher education in the US |
| B．students should get contact with the working world at high school |
| C．education reform should focus on students’ performance in exams |
| D．teenagers in the US can’t miss out on the summer job experience |
What can be inferred from the text?
| A．Unemployment rates for US teenagers remain high at the moment. |
| B．Students with career—based courses never have problems finding a job. |
| C．US companies work with schools to prepare young people for future employment. |
| D．High school leavers with no practical skills can’t find a job absolutely |
What’s the main idea of the text?
| A．Arguments about recent US education reform. |
| B．Tips on finding jobs for high school leavers. |
| C．The lack of career—based courses in US high schools. |
| D．Advice for American high school leavers. |
The underlined word “daunting” in Paragraph 6 most probably means___________.
| A．discouraging | B．interesting |
| C．creative | D．unbearable |
The fictional Chinese-American detective Charlie Chan was the subject of popular books and movies for many decades. In recent years, however, the character has been criticized as an ill image of Asian-Americans.
Yunte Huang, an English professor at the University of California, says that’s not the case. He has been exploring the character and real-life policeman who inspired him.
Charlie Chan has been a familiar character to readers and film-goers, beginning in the 1920s. The detective solved crimes around the world in more than 40 films through the 1940s, and with the invention of television, found a new audience in the 1950s and 1960s.
Huang discovered Charlie Chan through books by American author Earl Derr Biggers, who created the character.
“One day, I happened to find two Charlie Chan novels. At that point I thought I knew that he was a negative character against Asians, but when I read the book,” he says, “I was immediately attracted. Ever since then, I’ve been a fan of Charlie Chan.”
As a fan of the books and films, Huang was surprised to learn that Charlie Chan was based on a real detective named Chang Apana, who was born to Chinese parents in Hawaii around 1871. Apana worked as a cowboy, and joined the Honolulu police force in 1898.
“He almost immediately became a local legend because as a former cowboy,” says Huang, “he would walk the most dangerous areas in Chinatown carrying a bullwhip（皮鞭）instead of a gun. He didn’t need that.”
Although some say the image of Charlie Chan, with his broken English, is embarrassing for Asian-Americans, Huang believes Chan’s broken English and unusual ancient sayings were part of his charm（魅力）.
“Let me just quote（引用）a few – ‘Actions speak louder than French,’ or ‘Mind like parachute (降落伞). Only function when open.’ Charlie Chan always owes these instructive sayings to Confucius’ eastern wisdom.
For Huang, the fictional Charlie Chan is highly entertaining, while the real-life policeman, Chang Apana, is a Chinese-American success, whose story is worth telling. The passage mainly talks about ______________.
| A．how Yunte Huang discovered Charlie Chan |
| B．how Charlie Chan became famous in the US |
| C．what Yunte Huang thought of Charlie Chan |
| D．how a cowboy became a famous detective |
According to the passage, we know that Charlie Chan __________.
| A．was a character in books and movies based on a real detective |
| B．was a famous actor starring in movies beginning from the 1920s |
| C．was a famous detective solving crimes all over the world |
| D．was a Chinese immigrant who became a local legend |
Chang Apana didn’t need a gun as a weapon because__________.
| A．he had his personal charm |
| B．he liked being a cowboy |
| C．he was not a true policeman |
| D．a bullwhip was more useful |
It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
| A．American author Earl Derr Biggers gave an ill picture of Asian-Americans |
| B．Yunte Huang believes Charlie Chan represents Asian wisdom in some way |
| C．Chan’s story was more popular with TV audience than readers and film-goers |
| D．Charlie Chan became an ill image of Asian-Americans when it first appeared. |
Here below we will talk about the American expressions using the word “Dutch”． Many of the “Dutch” expressions heard in American English were first used in England in the seventeenth century． Britain used to be called “empire on which the sun never sets”，which gained its supreme（至高无上的） power mostly by its naval(海军的 )military forces． The period of the Anglo-Dutch Wars was a time of fierce naval competition between England and the Netherlands． At that time, the British used “Dutch” as a word for something bad, or false, or mistaken．
A “Dutch agreement” was one made between men who had drunk too much alcohol. “Dutch courage” was the false courage produced by the effects of drinking alcohol. And “Dutch leave” was what a solider took when he left his base（基地）without permission．
Some of these old expressions are still used today with a little different meaning． “Dutch treat” is one example． Long ago, a Dutch treat was a dinner at which the invited guests were expected to pay for their own share of the food and drink. Now, Dutch treat means that when friends go out to have fun, each person pays his own share．
Another common expression heard a few years ago was “in Dutch”, which simply referred to the country then． Nowadays, if someone says to you, you are in Dutch, they are telling you that you were in trouble． An important person, a parent or teacher perhaps, is angry with you．
Some of the Dutch expressions heard in American English have nothing to do with the Dutch people at all． In the 1700s, Germans who moved to the United States often were called Dutch． This happened because of mistakes in understanding and saying the word “Deutsch”, the German word for German. Families of these German people still live in the eastern United States, many in the state of Pennsylvania. They are known as the Pennsylvania Dutch．
During the American Civil War, supporters of the northern side in the central state of Missouri were called Dutch, because many of them were German settlers. In California, during the Gold Rush, the term Dutch was used to describe Germans, Swedes, and Norwegians as well as people from the Netherlands．
President Theodore Roosevelt once noted that anything foreign and non-English was called Dutch．One expression still in use, “to talk to someone like a Dutch uncle”, did come from the Dutch．The Dutch were known for the firm way they raise their children. So if someone speaks to you like a Dutch uncle, he is speaking in a very severe way． And you should listen to him carefully． According to paragraph 1, the British used “Dutch” as a word for something bad and mistaken because ___________．
| A．it was the long-lasting habit of the British language. |
| B．the Netherlands was the closest rival（竞争对手） for naval supremacy then. |
| C．there was a close connection between “Dutch” and “Deutsch”. |
| D．anything foreign and non-English was called “Dutch”. |
Most probably, a man with Dutch courage would _________.
| A．invite his friends to dinner. |
| B．beat a strange passer-by without any reason. |
| C．speak to a Dutch uncle. |
| D．become angry with the teacher. |
Which one of the following has nothing to do with the Dutch?
| A．The expression “to talk to someone like a Dutch uncle”. |
| B．When friends go out to have fun, they choose Dutch treat. |
| C．Germans who moved to the United States were called Dutch. |
| D．A solider took “Dutch leave” during wars. |
What is mainly talked about in the passage?
| A．Language causes of the Anglo-Dutch Wars |
| B．Language of the Netherlands |
| C．Deutsch VS Dutch |
| D．Dutch expressions in American English |
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