The Man of Many Secrets — Harry Houdini — was one of the greatest American entertainers in the theater this century. He was a man famous for his escapes — from prison cells, from wooden boxes floating in rivers, from locked tanks full of water. He appeared in theaters all over Europe and America. Crowds came to see the great Houdini and his “magic” tricks.
Of course, his secret was not magic, or supernatural powers. It was simply strength. He had the ability to move his toes as well as he moved his fingers. He could move his body into almost any position he wanted.
Houdini started working in the entertainment world when he was 17, in 1891. He and his brother Theo performed card tricks in club in New York. They called themselves the Houdini Brothers. When Harry married in 1894, he and his wife Bess worked together as magician and assistant. But for a long time they were not very successful. Then Harry performed his first prison escape, in Chicago in 1898. Harry persuaded a detective to let him try to escape from the prison, and he invited the local newspapermen to watch.
It was the publicity(宣传) that came from this that started Harry Houdini’s success. Harry had fingers trained to escape from handcuffs and toes trained to escape ankle chins. But his biggest secret was how he unlocked the prison doors. Every time he went into the prison cell, Bess gave him a kiss for good luck — and a small skeleton key, which is a key that fits many locks, pass quickly from her mouth to his.
Harry used these prison escapes to build his fame. He arranged to escape from the local prison of every town he visited. In the afternoon, the people of the town would read about it in their local newspapers, and in the evening every seat in the local theater would be full. What was the result? World-wild fame, and a name remembered today. According to the passage, Houdini’s success in prison escapes depends on _______.
| A．his special tricks and supernatural powers |
| B．his unusual ability and a skeleton key |
| C．his magic tricks and unhuman powers |
| D．his wisdom and magic tricks |
In the fourth paragraph, the underlined word “this” refers to _______.
| A．his first prison escape | B．the year 1898 |
| C．the publicity | D．Harry Houdini’s success |
It can be inferred from the passage that Houdini became famous _______.
| A．in 1894 | B．before he married |
| C．at the age of 17 | D．when he was about 24 |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．A Skeleton Key | B．A Man of Many Secrets |
| C．World-wild Fame | D．Great Escape |
The story begins with fishing.
Once a boy and his father went fishing before bass (a kind of special fish) season opened. They were fishing ea
rly in the evening, catching other fish with worms. Then the boy tied on a small silver lure (鱼饵) and put it into the lake. Suddenly he felt that something very big pulling on the lure. His father watched with admiration as the boy skillfully brought the fish beside the bank. Finally he lifted the tired fish from the water. It was the largest one he had ever seen, but it was a bass(the special fish).
The boy and his father looked at the big fish. The father lit a match and looked at his watch. It was 10 pm – two hours before the bass season opened. He looked at the fish, then at the boy. “You’ll have to put it back, son,” he said.
“Dad!” cried the boy, “There will be other fish,” said his father. “Not as big as this one,” cried the boy. He looked around the la
ke. No other fishermen or boats were in sight in the moonlight. He looked again at his father.
Even though no one had seen them, nor could anyone ever know what time he had caught the fish, the boy could tell from his father’s voice that the decision couldn’t be changed. He threw the huge bass into the black water. The big fish disappeared. The boy thought that he would never again see such a big fish.
That was 34 years ago. Today the boy is a successful architect in New York City. He often takes his own son and daughters to fish at the same place.
And he was right. He has never again caught such a large fish as the one he got that night long ago. But he does see that same fish … again and again … every time he has an ethical decision to make. For, as his father had 
taught him, ethics (伦理道德)are simple matters of right and wrong. It is only the practice of ethics that is difficult. What happened when the big fish turned out to be a bass?
| A．The boy threw the bass back into the water willingly. |
| B．The boy and his father discussed what to do with the big fish. |
| C．The father lit a match in order to check the time. |
| D．They worried other fishermen may discover what they had done. |
From the text we know that the father _____.
| A．disliked the huge fish | B．was firm and stubborn |
| C．didn’t love his son | D．always disagreed with his son |
The successful architect went fishing with his children at the same place because _____.
| A．they might catch a big fish there |
| B．he was taught a moral lesson there |
| C．it was a most popular fishing spot |
| D．their children enjoyed fishing there |
What does the story imply?
| A．An ethical decision is always easy to make. |
| B．It is easy to say something, but difficult to do. |
| C．It’s hard to tell right from wrong sometimes |
| D．Fishing can help one to make right decisions |
What kind of the person the father is?
| A．kind | B．honest | C．optimistic | D．satisfied |
Father Maurice Chase used a special way to celebrate his 90th birthday. The Catholic priest（神父） took $ 15,000 in cash to Los Angeles’ Skid Row (贫民区) and gave it away. Twenty wheelchair – bound peop
le received $100 bills, while the rest received $1to $ 3 each．
“I come out here to tell them that God loves them and I love them and that some one is concerned about them,” Chase said．
Chase has given away cash and blessings every Sunday at the same corner for 24 years．Several hundred people wait for him every week．
He makes a point of coming on Thanksgiving and Christmas, too, but this is the first year he spent his birthday in the downtown neighborhood where people live mainly in shelters and on dirty sidewalks．
“ It’s the place that makes me the happiest．I just love it,” said Chase. “I look forward to coming here.”
The money comes from donations he receives from rich and famous people he met during his work as assistant to the president of Loyola Marymount University．
The crowd broke into choruses of “Happy Birthday” several times. Some people presented him birthday cards, to his delight．
Travis Kemp, a 51 – year – old disabled man with long black hair, was one of the lucky 20 to receive $ 100. He said he had no special plans for spending the money. “He has a lot of respect from me,” Kemp said. “I know I couldn’t do it.”On his 90 th birthday, Chase．
| A．handed out cash to the needy |
| B．collected money for poor people |
| C．visited poor people’s homes with gifts |
| D．held a party at Los Angeles’ Skid Row |
Which of the following makes Chase feel the happiest?
| A．Celebrating his birthday with his neighbours． |
| B．Working in Loyola Marymount University． |
| C．Celebrating Christmas with the people he has helped． |
| D．Going to Los Angeles’ Skid Row to help people there． |
What’s the source of the money Chase used to help people?
| A．All his savings． |
| B．His earnings as a Catholic priest． |
| C．Donations from the wealthy and celebrities(名人)． |
D．Donations from Loyol a Marymount University． |
Travis Kemp is mentioned in the text to show ．
| A．he was the luckiest person on that day |
| B．the disabled need to be taken care of |
| C．Chase is greatly appreciated by the needy |
| D．even old people came to celebrate Chase’s birthday |
Which statement is CORRECT according to the passage?
| A．Every recipient could get $100 in cash from Father Maurice Chase． |
| B．Father Maurice Chase gave the cash away not only on his birthday but also on other occasions． |
| C．Although Father Maurice Chase gave the cash away on his birthday, he didn’t receive anything in return． |
| D．Father Maurice Chase earned a lot of money as assistant to the president of Loyola Marymount University． |
Researchers found that people become happier and experience less worry after they reach the age of fifty. In fact, they say by the age of eighty-five, people are 
happier with their life than they were when they were eighteen years old.
The findings came from a survey of more than 340,000 adults in the United States. The Gallup(民意调查) Organization questioned them by telephone in 2008. At that time, the people were between the ages of eighteen and eighty-five.
The researchers asked questions about emotions like happiness, sadness and worry. They also asked about mental or emotional stress.
Arthur Stone at Stony Brook University in New York led the study. His team found that levels of stress were highest among adults between the ages of twenty-two and twenty-five. The findings showed that stress levels dropped sharply after people reached their fifties. Happiness was highest among the youngest adults and those in their early seventies. The people least likely to report feeling negative emotions were those in their seventies and eighties.
Researchers say they do not know why happiness increases as people get older. One theory is that, as people grow older, they grow more thankful for what they have and have better control of their emotions. They also spend less time thinking about bad experiences.
Professor Stone says the emotional patterns could be linked to changes in how people see the world, or maybe even changes in brain chemistry.
The researchers also considered possible influences like having young 
children, being unemployed or being single. But they found that influences like these did not affect the levels of happiness and well-being related to age.
The study also showed that men and women have similar emotional patterns as they grow older. However, women at all age
s reported more sadness, stress and worry than men. What can be the best title of the text?
| A．Happiness Varies with Ages |
| B．Experience More, Worry Less |
| C．The Older, the Wiser |
| D．Being Young, Being Happy |
We can learn from the research that _________.
| A．only when people get older will they feel happier |
| B．stress levels among the youngest are the highest |
| C．older people tend to be grateful |
| D．older people usually have no worries |
According to the research, when people get older, _________.
| A．they miss the old days |
| B．they are physically weak |
| C．they have better self-control |
| D．they are more emotional |
What would the author probably talk about next?
| A．What influences happiness. |
| B．How to live better. |
| C．How to keep happier. |
| D．Why women are less happier. |
The author is intended to _________.
| A．advise how to reduce stress |
| B．introduce a scientific finding |
| C．describe how to do research |
| D．talk about human emotions |
To us it seems so natural to put up an umbrella to keep the water off when it rains, But actually the umbrella was not invented as protection against the rain, Its first use was as a shade against the sun!
Nobody knows who first invented it, but the umbrella was used in very ancient times . Probably the first to use it were the Chinese in the 11th century B C.
We know that the umbrella was used in ancient Egypt and Babylon as a sunshade. And there was a strange thing connected with its use: it became a symbol of honor. In the Far East in ancient times, the umbrella was allowed to be used only by those in high office.
In Europe, the Greeks were the first to use the umbrella as a sunshade. And the umbrella was in commonly used in ancient Greece. But it is believed that the first persons in Europe to use the umbrella as protection against the rain were the ancient Romans.
During the Middle Ages, the use of the umbrella practically disappeared. Then it appeared again in Italy in the late sixteenth century. And again it was considered as a symbol of power. By 1680, the umbrella appeared in France and later in England.
By the eighteenth century, the umbrella was used against rain throughout most of Europe.
Umbrellas have hot changed much in style during all this time, though they have become much lighter in weight. It wasn’t until the twentieth century that women’s umbrellas began to be made , in a whole variety of colors.According to this
passage, the umbrella was probably first invented in ancient_______.
| A．China | B．Egypt | C．Greece | D．Rome |
Which of the following statements is not true about the umbrella?
| A．No one exactly knows who the inventor of the umbrella was |
| B．The umbrella was first invented to be used as protection against the sun. |
| C．The umbrella changed much in style in the eighteenth century |
| D．In Europe, the Greeks were the first to use the umbrella as a sunshade. |
A strange feature of the umbrella’s use is that it was used as__________.
| A．protection against rain | B．a shade against the sun |
| C．a symbol of honor and power | D．women’s decoration (装饰) |
In Europe, the umbrella was first used against the rain_______________.
| A．during the Middle Ages | B．by the 18th | C．in Rome | D．in Greece |
This passage talks mainly about_______________.
| A．when and how the umbrella was invented |
| B．why the umbrella was so popular in Europe |
| C．the development of the umbrella |
| D．The history and use of the umbrella |
Long before they became doctors, lawyers, CEO’s or real estate developers, they played in garage bands and maybe even dreamed of becoming rock stars. That’s why they signed up for Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp.
For nearly a week, the mostly middle-aged “campers” had practiced in the West 54th Street studios. They came from as far away as London and Tokyo and as close as Long Island and downtown New York to prepare for their moment of onstage glory.
“I feel like I’m 18 again,” said Jerry Goldberg, a 60-year-old investment banker and guitar player, whose family was in the audience.” I admit that I felt a little uncertain when I first got here, but this has turned out to be a wonderful experience, one of the greatest of my life.”
Everybody has two businesses, their own business and show business. This can be a life-changing experience for them. Mr. Daltrey, who has appeared at several fantasy camps, was asked why he keeps coming back.
“I’ve had people tell me that I shouldn’t be doing this, that it's bad for my image,” he acknowledged. “But that’s rubbish. Look, it’s all so positive, and everybody is having so much fun. So what’s bad about that?”
Jeff Munger, a drummer and rancher(农场主) said. “I’m at a point in my life where I’m going to spend my money on things I’m passionate about, and I’m absolutely crazy about music.”
Most of the campers are successful executives or professionals: a founder of the Oracle Computer Company, a businessman whose father invented the Big Mac, a plastic surgeon, presidents of health care and seafood companies.This text is mainly about________.
| A．a music course for the elderly people |
| B．a pop club for professional musicians |
| C．a rock music camp for music lovers |
| D．a studio for wealthy businessmen |
What do the middle aged campers have in common?
| A．They are all interested in charity. |
| B．They are all passionate about music. |
| C．They are all retired business people. |
| D．They were all rock stars when they were young. |
According to the text, Mr. Daltrey ________.
| A．once played in a garage band |
| B．has come with his family |
| C．has joined in the camp a couple of times |
| D．is very careful about his image |
We can infer from the text that the campers _________.
| A．enjoy their regular jobs | B．come from different countries |
| C．do part-time jobs | D．have a great many fans |