.
Dear Cassy,
Thanks for reminding me by e-mail that you want to baby-sit our children. Although you are only 12 years old, my wife and I would be willing to consider your application（申请）if you can meet(满足) a few requirements:
1）Send us three letters from teachers who will prove that you have never failed to follow instructions perfectly in class and never failed to hand in your homework on time.
2）Send us a note from two doctors who will prove that you are in perfect health, have never been sick, and never will be sick.
3）Send us a document from your physical education teacher or team coach that proves that you can do each of the following: Run two miles in less than four minutes, climb an oiled rope to a height of twenty feet in thirty seconds while balancing a glass of water on your nose, and walk in bare feet over hot coals and broken glass without injury.
4）Send us notarized（得到公证的）letters from at least two mental health experts saying that you have never had an envious thought towards other people.
5）Play and defeat five expert chess players while blindfolded（蒙着眼睛）after going without sleep for 48 hours.
6)Wait patiently（耐心地）for two years while we have investigators（调查）certify（确保）that all your documents（文件）are real
Your loving and trusting friends,
The Smiths
40. The Smiths send their message to Cassy by .
A. e-mail B. a letter C. a newspaper D. a report
41. According to the first paragraph, .
A. the Smiths must have had an advertisement made, saying that they want someone to look after their children
B. the Smiths have informed Cassy that they need some children
C. the Smiths have promised to provide what Cassy asked for
D. the Smiths would be very glad if Cassy can meet their requirements
42.What is the attitude of the Smiths about hiring the 12-year old girl to look after their baby?
A. The Smiths try to tell her how to baby-sit children.
B. The Smiths don’t think a girl is good for the job.
C. The Smiths don’t want to hire her.
D. The Smiths are willing to offer her the job.
43. Which of the requirements mentioned by the Smiths do you think Cassy can meet?
A. All of them B. Half of them
C. None of them D. Most of them
The law is a great mass of rules, showing when and how far a man is possible to be punished, or to be made to hand over money or property to his neighbors, and so on. These rules are contained in books. A lawyer learns them mainly by reading books.
He begins by doing nothing but read, and after he has prepared himself by three years study practice, still, all his life long and almost every day, he will be looking into books to read a little more than he already knows about some new questions which he has to answer.
The power to use books, then is a special skill which the would - be lawyer ought to possess. He ought to have enough flexibility（灵活性）to make it easy for him to collect ideas from printed words. He ought to have no difficulty in finding what a book contains, and something of an instinct（直觉）for where to look for what he wants.
But although this is the power of which he will first feel the need, it is not the most important. A lawyer does not study law to recite it; he studies it to use it and act upon the rules which he has learned in real life. His business is to try cases in court and to advise men what to do in order to keep out or get out of trouble. After three years of reading________.
| A．he can study law |
| B．he can stop reading |
| C．he still has to continue reading |
| D．he is able to give clever answers |
The major business of a lawyer is________.
| A．to discuss the material he has read |
| B．to advise people who have law problems |
| C．to learn about real life |
| D．to study the law |
According to the passage, a good lawyer should know how to________.
| A．understand and use what he reads |
| B．be convenient in everything |
| C．collect ideas from different source |
| D．use power in the court |
Today, roller skating is easy and fun．But a long time ago, it wasnt easy at all. Before 1750, the idea of skating didn’t exist. That changed because of a man named Joseph Merlin. Merlin’s work was making musical instruments. In his spare time he liked to play the violin. Joseph Merlin was a man of ideas and dreams. People called him a dreamer.
One day Merlin received an invitation to attend a fancy dress ball（化装舞会）. He was very pleased and a little excited. As the day of the party came near, Merlin began to think how to make a grand entrance at the party. He had an idea. He thought he would get a lot of attention if he could skate into the room.
Merlin tried different ways to make himself roll. Finally, he decided to put two wheels under each shoe. These were the first roller skates. Merlin was very proud of his invention and dreamed of arriving at the party on wheels while playing the violin.
On the night of the party Merlin rolled into the room playing his violin. Everyone was astonished to see him. There was just one problem. Merlin had no way to stop his roller skates. He rolled on and on. Suddenly, he ran into a huge mirror that was hanging on the wall. Down fell the mirror, breaking to pieces. Nobody forgot Merlin’s grand entrance for a long time!The text is mainly about ________.
| A．a strange man | B．an unusual party |
| C．how roller skating began | D．how people enjoyed themselves in the 18th century |
People thought Merlin was a dreamer because he _________.
| A．often gave others surprises | B．was a gifted musician |
| C．invented the roller skates | D．was full of imagination |
Merlin put wheels under his shoes in order to ________ .
| A．impress the party guests | B．arrive at the party sooner |
| C．test his invention | D．show his skill in walking on wheels |
What is the main point the writer is trying to make in the last paragraph?
| A．The roller skates needed further improvement. |
| B．The party guests took Merlin for a fool. |
| C．Merlin succeeded beyond expectation. |
| D．Merlin got himself into trouble. |
Education is required and free for every child in the United States. Most children start school by the age of six. They attend eight years of elementary school and four years of high school (or secondary school ).The money for free public schools comes from taxes, and each state is responsible for its own educational system .State legislatures (立法机关) set the educational requirements but leave the management of the schools in the hands of the local communities .Most states require their children to go to school until a certain age. This age varies from 16 to 18 years according to the laws of the individual state. The Federal government contributes funds to the states for additional schools and schools services.
After graduation from high school, a student can start his higher education in two –year college, a four-year college, a university or a specialized professional school----either public or private. Most colleges admit students on the basis of their high-school records. The cost of a college education is expensive in private universities, but it is much less in those supported by states and cities. Many students receive scholarships from the schools, the government, or private foundations and organizations. More than 50 percent of the college students work to help pay their college expenses.
Only 2 percent of the population of the country cannot read and write.Where does the money for public schools come from ?
A. From the Federal government
B. From the state legislatures.
C. From taxes
From the parents of the school children.What is the educational system in the United States based on ?
| A．The Federal government | B．Individual school |
| C．Individual state | D．Local communities |
What percentage of the population is illiterate (文盲) ？
| A．50 | B．2 | C．4 | D．6 |
How are college expenses of most students paid ?
A.They won earnings from part-time work .
B.Scholarship from the schools, the government or private foundations.
C. Taxes .
D. Both A and B.
T-shirts out; uniforms in
School uniforms（制服） are becoming more and more popular across the U.S.A. That’s no surprise, because they offer many benefits. They immediately end the powerful social sorting and labeling (标记) that come from clothing. If all students are dressed in the same way, they will not pay too much attention to their clo
thing, and some of them will not be laughed at for wearing the “wrong” clothes.
Some people are against the strict rule of school uniforms, but they do not realize that students already accept a kind of rule — wanting to look just like their friends. The difference is that the clothing students choose for themselves creates social barriers(障碍); school uniforms tear those barriers down.
As in other places, uniforms remind the wearers of their purposes and du
ties. For example, when a man or woman puts on a police uniform, he or she becomes, for a time, the symbol (象征) of law and order. The uniform means to the wearer his or her special duties and sends the same message to everyone the wearer meets. People with different jobs wear uniforms of one kind or another. For students, the school uniform reminds them that their task for the six or seven hours they are in school is to get an education.
Some parents are unhappy about uniforms, saying that school uniforms will affect their childrens creativity. First, as noted above, the clothes students choose to wear do not necessarily express their individuality (个性). They just copy their classmates. Second, students have the rest of the day to be as creative as they like. While they’re in school, their job is to master reading, writing, and maths; this should take up all the creativity they have. Mastery of those skills will be good for the students to build up their creativity in every way. In Paragraph 1, the word “benefits” probably means.
| A．tasks | B．messages | C．differences | D．advantages |
From the passage we learn that uniforms in general.
| A．prevent the wearers from being laughed at |
| B．help the wearers keep their duties in mind |
| C．are seen as a symbol of power |
| D．help to create social barriers |
Some people are against school uniforms because.
| A．they fail to realize that students have accepted the uniforms |
| B．they believe that uniforms will make students less creative |
| C．they don’t agree that uniforms can remove social barriers |
| D．they think that school uniforms are too popular |
The author would probably agree that.
| A．it makes no difference whether to wear school uniforms or not |
| B．students’ individuality may not come from school education |
| C．students’ creativity is related to the clothes they choose |
| D．school uniforms help to create equality among students |
School uniforms are becoming more and more popular and important because _____
| A．they can stop the powerful social sorting and labeling. |
| B．if all students are dressed in the same way, they will not pay too much attention to their clothing. |
| C．uniforms can remind the wearers of their purposes and duties |
| D．school uniforms will affect their children’s creativity. |
Who's in control of your life? Who's pulling your strings? For the majority of us, it's other people-society, colleagues, friends, family or our religious community. We learned this way of operating when we were very young, of course. We were brainwashed. We discovered that feeling important and feeling accepted was a nice experience and so we learned to do everything we could to make other people like us. As Oscar Wilde puts it, "Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
So when people tell us how wonderful we are, it makes us feel good. We long for this, good feeling like a drug—we are addicted to it and seek it out wherever we can. Therefore, we are so eager for the approval (赞同) of others that we live unhappy and limited lives, failing to do the things we really want to. Just as drug addicts and alcoholics live worsened lives to keep getting their fix（一剂毒品）, we worsen our own existence to get our own constant fix of approval.
But, just as with any drug, there is a price to pay. The price of the approval drug is freedom—the freedom to be ourselves. The truth is that we cannot control what other people think. People have their own agenda, and they come with their own baggage and, in the end, they're more interested in themselves than in you. Furthermore, if we try to live by the opinions of others, we will build our life on sinking sand. Everyone has a different way of thinking, and people change their opinions all the time. The person who tries to please everyone will only end up getting exhausted (tired) and probably pleasing no one in the process.
So how can we take back control? I think there’s only one way make a conscious decision to stop caringwhat other people think. We should guide ourselves by means of a set of values—not values imposed from the outside by others, but innate values which come from within. If we are driven by these values and not by the changing opinions and value systems of others; we will live a more authentic, effective, purposeful and happy life.What Oscar Wilde says implies that________.
| A．most people have a variety of thoughts |
| B．we have thoughts similar to those of others |
| C．other people's thoughts are more important |
| D．most people's thoughts are controlled by others |
What does the author try to argue in the third paragraph?
| A．Changing opinions may cost us our freedom. |
| B．We may lose ourselves to please others. |
| C．We need to pay for what we want to get. |
| D．The price of taking the drug is freedom. |
It can be concluded from the passage that_______.
| A．it's better to do what we like |
| B．we shouldn't care what others think |
| C．we shouldn't change our own opinions |
| D．it's important to accept others' opinions |
The author tries to persuade the readers to accept his arguments mainly by________.
| A．analyzing causes and effects | B．providing examples and facts |
| C．discussing questions | D．making suggestions |