Once a king got two nice falcons(猎鹰)from his son. He had never seen such beautiful falcons before. He loved them so much and he ordered the best falconer to train them to fly.
After several months, the king came to see how the training was going on. He found that one falcon had already been able to fly high in the sky, while the other was staying on the branch(树枝) of a tree quietly, just keeping still.
The king called all his falconers together and ordered them to try every way they could to make the other falcon fly. But none of them succeeded. One day, while the king was taking a walk in the forest, an idea came to his mind. Maybe someone who knew the natural environment well could solve this problem. He sent for a farmer who lived in the forest into his palace to train it at once.
The next morning, the king saw the other falcon flying above in the sky freely. “It is unbelievable!” shouted the king. How could you make it happen?”
The farmer replied, “It’s very easy. I just cut off the branch where the falcon rested.”
It is always the same to human beings. We all have “two flying wings” in our hearts as well, but we often seem not to notice them and stay where we just for safety and comfort. We won’t realize we can fly so high and freely until the “branch” we are resting on breaks.What did the king do after he got the two falcons?
| A．He kept them on the branch of a tree. |
| B．He sent them to a farmer in the forest. |
| C．He made the best falconer train them to fly. |
| D．He set them free and let them fly in the sky. |
Why did the king call all his falconers together?
| A．Because he wanted to get more falcons. |
| B．Because he wanted the other falcon to fly. |
| C．Because he wanted them to see his falcons. |
| D．Because he wanted to know more about his falcons. |
Who finally made the other falcon fly in the sky?
| A．The king. | B．The king’s son. |
| C．The farmer. | D．The best falconer. |
How did the king feel when he saw the other falcon fly freely in the sky?
| A．Excited. | B．Moved. |
| C．Worried. | D．Relaxed. |
What is the best title for the text？
| A．The Wise King | B．The Nice Falcons |
| C．The Best Falconer | D．The Flying Wings. |
A small boy lived with his mother and grandmother in a big house. His father had died.
A bucket(桶) of water fell on the small boy’s left foot, and it began hurting a hot. His mother said, “I’m going to put something very hot on your foot tonight. That’s always very good. Tomorrow your foot won’t hurt any longer.”
In the evening, the small boy’s mother came to his bedroom. She had a hot poultice (膏状药) in a bowl. The small boy looked at it and said, “I don’t want that. I had one a month ago. Poultices hurt.”
His mother sat down on his bed and said, “You’re going to have this poultice on.” She pulled his sheets (床单）and blankets away, and put the poultice near his foot, but the boy pulled it away quickly, and poultice fell on the bed.
His mother was angry. She went down stairs and came back with his grandmother and a stick. She said to her son, “Your grandmother’s going to put the poultice on your foot, and I’m going to hold this stick. Now don’t be a stupid boy.”
She held the stick over the boy, and the grandmother took his foot and put the poultice near it. The boy said. “Stop, you…,” but his mother brought the stick nearer, and he did not say anything else. The grandmother brought the poultice near the foot again, and the boy stopped her again, but his mother was angry now and said, “I’m going to hit you.” The boy did not finish his words, and his grandmother put the poultice on his foot. He let it there for a few minutes and then took it off again.
The boy’s mother and grandmother put the sheets and blankets over him again and he said, “My left foot hurts, but you put the poultice on my right foot. I stopped you twice, but you didn’t listen to me.” The small boy’s foot hurt because .
| A．he fell off the bike |
| B．a bucket of water fell on his foot |
| C．he fell and hurt his foot |
| D．he was ill |
The small came to his room twice in the evening.
| A．boy’s mother | B．girl’s father |
| C．boy’s grandmother | D．girl’s grandmother |
The small boy his mother.
| A．agreed with | B．didn’t stop |
| C．thanked | D．didn’t agree with |
The small boy took the poultice off because .
| A．his foot didn’t hurt |
| B．he hated his mother and grandmother |
| C．his left foot hurt |
| D．his right foot hurt |
The best title for this passage is .
| A．Left or Right | B．A Small Boy |
| C．A Small Boy’s Mother | D．The Poultice |
If English means endless new words, difficult grammar and sometimes strange pronunciation, you are wrong. Haven’t you noticed that you have become smarter since you started to learn a language?
According to a new study by a British university, learning a second language can lead to an increase in your brain power. Researchers found that learning other languages changes grey matter. This is the area of the brain which processes information. It is similar to the way that exercise builds muscles.
The study also found the effect is greater when the younger people learn a second language. A team led by Dr. Andrea Mechelli, from University College London, took a group of Britons who only spoke English. They were compared with a group of “early bilinguals” who had learnt a second language before the age of five, as well as a number of later learners.
Scans showed that grey matter density (密度) in the brain was greater in bilinguals than in people without a second language. But the longer a person waited before mastering a new language, the smaller the difference.
“Our findings suggest that the structure of the brain is changed by the experience of learning a second language,” said the scientists.
It means that the change itself increases the ability to learn.
Professor Dylan Vaughan Jones of the University of Wales, has researched the link between bilingualism and maths skills. “Having two languages gives you two windows on the world and makes the brain more flexible (灵活的),” he said. “You are actually going beyond language and have a better understanding of different ideas.”
The findings were matched in a study of native Italian speakers who had learned English as a second language between the ages of two and thirty-four. Reading, writing, and comprehension were all tested. The results showed that the younger they started to learn, the better. “Studying a language means you get an entrance to another world,” explained the scientists.The main subject talked about in this passage is ________.
| A．science on learning a second language |
| B．man’s ability of learning a second language |
| C．that language can help brain power |
| D．language learning and maths study |
The underlined word “bilingual” probably means _______.
| A．a researcher on language learning |
| B．a second language learner |
| C．a person who can speak two languages |
| D．an active language learner |
We may know from the scientific findings that ________.
| A．the earlier you start to learn a second language, the higher the grey matter density is |
| B．there is no difference between a later second language learner and one who doesn’t know a second language |
| C．the experience of learning a second language has bad effect on people’s brain |
| D．the ability of learning a second language is changing all the time |
In the last two paragraphs, the author wants to tell us that _________.
| A．learning a second language is the same as studying maths |
| B．early learning of a second language helps you a great deal in studying other subjects |
| C．Italian is the best choice for you as a second language |
| D．you’d better choose the ages between 2 and 34 to learn a second language |
When I was about 12, I had an enemy, a girl who liked to point out my shortcomings(缺点). Week by week her list grew: I was very thin, I wasn’t a good student, I talked too much, I was too proud, and so on. I tried to hear all this as long as I could. At last, I became very angry. I ran to my father with tears in my eyes.
He listened to me quietly, then he asked. “Are the things she says true or not? Janet, didn’t you ever wonder what you’re really like? Well, you now have that girl’s opinion. Go and make a list of everything she said and mark the points that are true. Pay no attention to the other things she said.”
I did as he told me. To my great surprise, I discovered that about half the things were true. Some of them I couldn’t change (like being very thin), but a good number I could—and suddenly I wanted to change. For the first time I go to fairly clear picture of myself.
I brought the list back to Daddy. He refused to take it. “That’s just for you.” he said, “You know better than anyone else the truth about yourself. But you have to learn to listen, not just close your ears in anger and feeling hurt. When something said about you is true, you’ll find it will be of help to you. Our world is full of people who think they know your duty. Don’t shut your ears. Listen to them all, but hear the truth and do what you know is the right thing to do.”
Daddy’s advice has returned to me at many important moments. In my life, I’ve never had a better piece of advice.What does “Week by week her list grew” mean?
| A．Week by week she discovered more shortcomings of mine and pointed them out to me. |
| B．She had made a list of my shortcomings and she kept on adding new ones to it so that it was growing longer and longer. |
| C．I was having more and more shortcomings as time went on. |
| D．Week by week, my shortcomings grew more serious. |
Why did her father listen to her quietly?
| A．Because he believed that what her daughter’s “enemy” said was mostly true. |
| B．Because he had been so angry with his daughter’s shortcomings that he wanted to show this by keeping silent for a while. |
| C．Because he knew that his daughter would not listen to him at that moment. |
| D．Because he wasn’t quite sure which girl was telling the truth. |
Which do you think would be the best title for this passage?
| A．Not an Enemy, but the Best Friend |
| B．The Best Advice I’ve Ever Had |
| C．My Father |
| D．My Childhood |
F. Scott Fitzgerald, born on September 24, 1896, an American novelist, was once a student of St. Paul Academy, the Newman School and attended Princeton University for a short while. In 1917 he joined the army and was posted in Alabama, where he met his future wife Zelda Sayre. Then he had to make some money to impress her.
His life with her was full of great happiness, as he wrote in his diary “My own happiness in the past often got such joy that I could share it even with the person dearest to me but had to walk it away in quiet streets and take down parts of it in my diary.”
This side of paradise, his first novel, was published in 1920. Encouraged by its success, Fitzgerald began to devote more time to his writing. Then he continued with the novel the Beautiful and Damned (1922), a collection of short stories Thales of the Jazz Age (1922), and a play The Vegetable (1923). But his greatest success was the novel The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, which quick brought him praise from the literary world. Yet it failed to give him the needed financial（财政的） security(安全，保障). Then, in 1926, he published another collection of short stories All the Sad Young Men.
However, Fitzgerald’s problems with his wife Zelda had an effect on his writing. During the 1920s he tried to reorder his life, but failed. By 1930, his wife had her first breakdown and went to a Swiss clinic. During this period he completed novels Tender Is the Night in 1934 and The love of the last Tycoon in 1940. While his wife was in hospital in the United States, he got totally addicted to alcohol（酒精）. Sheila Graham, his dear friend, helped him fight his alcoholism.Which of the following is the correct order to describe Fitzgerald’s life according to the passage?
a. He became addicted to drinking.
b. He studied at St. Paul Academy.
c. He published his first novel This Side of Paradise.
d. The Great Gatsby won high praise.
e. He failed to reorder his life.
f. He joined the army and met Zelda.
| A．f-c-e-a-b-d | B．b-e-a-f-c-d |
| C．f-d-e-c-b-a | D．b-f-c-d-e-a |
We can infer from the passage that Fitzgerald_______.
| A．had made some money when he met Zelda in Alabama |
| B．was well educated and well off before he served in the army |
| C．would have completed more works if his wife hadn’t broken down |
| D．helped his friend get rid of drinking while his wife was in hospital |
The passage is probably followed by a concluding(总结的) paragraph about_____.
| A．Zelda’s personal life |
| B．Fitzgerald’s contributions to the literary world |
| C．Fitzgerald’s friendship with Graham |
| D．Zelda’s illness and treatment |
I have a neighbor we call “Happy”. I have never seen her angry at anything and never heard her say a harsh (苛刻) word to anyone or about anyone.
Happy and her husband Ben, 70, have a huge garden. They spent many happy hours together working on it. Most of the neighbors watched interestingly as Ben doubled the size of their garden. As the cost of food climbed faster than Ben’s beans, we all wished we also had such a large garden. As the rest of us spent our dollars at the market, Happy could be seen picking beans in her back yard.
Last month, Happy and Ben invited most of the neighborhood over for an “all-day food fest”. We were told to bring gloves and arrive very early in the morning. We didn’t know what was about to take place.
By 9:00 am, there were nine of us in the garden picking tomatoes, beans, okra, and squash. By 10:00 am, there was lots of laughter. We shared a lot of stories. By five o’clock, everyone was a little drunk from the wine and beer. After dinner, we played games. As we were leaving, Happy and Ben handed each of us a shopping bag filled with the bounty（收成）of the day, already packaged and frozen. What a delightful gift!
Well, the point wasn’t so much about the food. The true gift was a day of friends enjoying one another’s company. None of it would have happened if it had been for Happy and Ben’s garden. Now they have a blog about gardening in case we decided to plant a garden. And I am so proud of my tomato plants!According to paragraph 2, people wish they also had a garden so that_______.
| A．they didn’t have to spend so much money on food |
| B．they could grow vegetables and sell at the market |
| C．they could invite their neighbors and hold parties in it |
| D．they could spend happy times together with their family in it |
For what purpose did Happy and Ben invite the neighbors to their garden?
| A．To ask them to attend a birthday party. |
| B．To help them get to know each other. |
| C．To let them enjoy what they grew in the garden. |
| D．To ask them to share some interesting stories. |
What did the writer most probably think of the time he spent in the garden?
| A．It was too long. |
| B．It was wonderful. |
| C．It was not as good as he thought. |
| D．It was too terrible. |
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