It was at least two months before Christmas when nine-year-old Almie Rose told her father and me that she wanted a new bicycle. As Christmas drew nearer, her desire for a bicycle seemed to fade（消退）, or so we thought. We bought her a lovely doll, and a doll house. Then, much to our surprise, on December 23rd, she said that she “really wanted a bike more than anything else.” But it was just too late. With such a lot of preparations to do for the Christmas dinner we did not have the time to buy our little girl a bike. So, here we were Christmas Eve around 9:00 p.m., with Almie and her six-year-old brother, Dylan, sleeping in their beds. Now we could only think of the bicycle and the disappointment of our child. “What if I make a little bicycle out of clay (泥) and write a note that she could trade（交易，交换） the clay bike in for a real bike?” her dad asked. So he spent the next four hours making a tiny clay bike. On Christmas morning, we were excited for Almie to open the little gift box with the beautiful red and white clay bike and the note. Finally, she opened it and read the note aloud. “Does this mean that I can trade in this bike that Daddy made me for a real one?” I said, “Yes.” Almie had tears in her eyes when she replied, “I could never trade in this beautiful bicycle that Daddy made me. I'd rather keep this than get a real bike.” At that moment, we would have moved heaven and earth to buy her every bicycle in the world!
1.Choose the right time order of the following events.
a. The girl asked for a new bike.
b. The girl opened the little gift box.
c. The parents bought the girl a modern and popular doll.
d. The father made the girl a bike with clay.
e. The girl would rather keep the clay bike than get a real one .
A．a, b, c, e, d B．a, c, d, b, e
C．a, c, b, d, e D．a, b, d, c, e
2.Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A．The parents wanted the girl to have the clay bike for ever.
B．Tears were in the girl's eyes because she didn't like the present at all.
C．The girl never lost her desire for a bike.
D．The parents paid little attention to the daughter's desire for a bike.
3.Why did Dad make the clay bicycle?
A．He wanted his daughter to buy a real one . B．He didn't want to disappoint his daughter.
C．He thought his daughter would like it . D．He wanted to give his daughter a surprise.
4.What can we know from the last sentence?
A．The parents were sad and encouraged.
B．The parents felt neverous and shy.
C．The parents were moved and felt proud of the girl
D．The parents felt unhappy for the girl.
5. Which do you think is the best title （标题）for the story?
A. A lovely little girl B. A great and serious father
C. A clay bike D. Christmas shopping
Wanted, Someone for a Kiss
We're looking for producers to join us on the sound of London Kiss 100 FM. You'll work on the station's music programmes. Music production experience in radio is necessary, along with rich knowledge of modern dance music. Please apply in writing to Producer Vacancies, Kiss 100.
Father Christmas
We're looking for a very special person, preferably over 40, to fill our Father Christmas suit.
Working days: Every Saturday from November 24 to December 15 and every day from December 17 to
December 24 except Sundays, 10:30-16:00.
Excellent pay.
Please contact (联系) the Enterprise Shopping Centre, Station Parade, Eastbourne.
Accountants Assistant
When you join the team in our Revenue Administration Unit, you will be providing assistance within all parts of the Revenue Division, dealing with post and other general duties. If you are educated to GCSE grade C level we would like to talk to you. This position is equally suitable for a school leaver or for somebody who has office experience.
Wealden District Council
Software Trainer
If you are aged 24 and have experience in teaching and training, you could be the person we are looking for. You should be good at the computer and have some experience in programme writing. You will be allowed to make your own decisions, and to design courses as well as present them. Pay upwards of £15,000 for the right person. Please apply by sending your CV (简历) to Mrs R. Oglivie, Palmlace Limited.Who should you get in touch with if you hope to work in a radio station?
| A．Producer Vacancies, Kiss 100. |
| B．Mrs Oglivie, Palmlace Limited. |
| C．The Enterprise Shopping Centre. |
| D．Wealden District Council. |
We learn from the ads that the Enterprise Shopping Centre needs a person who________.
| A．is aged between 24 and 40 |
| B．may do some training work |
| C．should deal with general duties |
| D．can work for about a month |
Which position is open to recent school graduates?
| A．Producer, London Kiss. |
| B．Father Christmas. |
| C．Accountants Assistant. |
| D．Software Trainer. |
What kind of person would probably apply to Palmlace Limited?
| A．One with GCSE grade C level. |
| B．One with some office experience. |
| C．One having good computer knowledge. |
| D．One trained in producing music programmes. |
Every living cell contains genes. They are too small to be seen in a microscope, but they are very important. Each set of genes in the body contains all the instructions needed to make a human being. Some genes determine hair color. Some determine the shape of a nose. Some genes help determine your height and even your weight.
Genes are made of a chemical called DNA-the letters stand for deoxyribonucleic acid(脱氧核糖核酸). In the early 1950's, two scientists, Francis Crick and James Watson, figured out how the parts of DNA fit together. Once scientists understood this structure, it became possible to take pieces of DNA apart and put them together in new ways. New kinds of genes could be made in this manner.
Scientists have studied the genes of many plants and animals. They have worked out which genes affect the color of a tomato and the thickness of its skin. Working out which genes determine which features is called genetic mapping, scientists have begun the Human Genome Project, an ambitious effort to map all the genes in the human body.
Some genes may be defective(有缺陷的). For example, something might be wrong with the gene that makes blood clot(凝聚). A baby born with this defective gene could suffer serious hemorrhages(出血) or even bleed to death because his or her blood fails to clot. If scientists ever learn how to map all the genes in our bodies, they can determine whether or not an unborn child has any defective genes. They might even discover how to treat these genes before the child is born.What was the achievement of Francis Crick and James Watson?
A. They discovered why people have different hair colors.
B. They learned that some people bleed for long periods of time.
C. They looked at human cells under the microscope.
D. They worked out the structure of DNA.What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．Defective genes can never be repaired. |
| B．Genes are too small to be seen through a microscope. |
| C．Genes help scientists understand how living things develop their characteristics. |
| D．The Human Genome Project may explain the role of every gene in the body. |
In 1752, three years after two Scotsmen, Alexander Wilson and Thomas Melville, fastened thermometers to kites to record the temperature of clouds, Benjamin Franklin made his famous experiment with a kite, a string, and a key. Franklin hoped to show that nature's tremendous displays of electricity in lightning were the same thing as the feeble electric sparks scientists of the day were producing in their laboratories. He built a square kite to which he attached an iron wire. He flew the kite with a hemp string(麻线), and near the base of the string he tied a large brass key. The kite rose into a dark thundercloud, where the iron wire picked up electrical charges. Franklin noticed that the strands of the string(绳串) were beginning to stand up with electricity. As rain wet the string, it conducted more electricity. Standing in the shelter of a shed, Franklin cautiously reached out his finger to touch the brass key. A series of sparks jumped from the key to his finger. He thus proved that lightning and electricity are the same. We now know that this experiment was a dangerous one, for Franklin might have been killed by a bolt of lighting.The best title for this passage is ________.
| A．The Discover of Electricity |
| B．The kite and Science |
| C．Franklin, a Great Scientist |
| D．Franklin's Experiment with Lightning |
According to the passage, Benjamin Franklin ________.
| A．recorded the temperature of clouds |
| B．was killed by a bolt of lightning |
| C．proved that lightning and electricity have the same essential nature |
| D．proved that lightning can be controlled by man |
Two Scotsmen experimented with kites in ________.
| A．1752 | B．1746 |
| C．1749 | D．1755 |
Franklin did not use a ________.
| A．string | B．wire |
| C．thermometer | D．key |
The fact that Franklin was not injured was apparently due to ________.
| A．wisdom | B．luck |
| C．the materials | D．the shed's protection |
When he took office, George W. Bush, son of former president George Herbert Walker Bush, became the first son to follow his father into the White House since John Quiney Adams followed John Adams in the early 19th century.
Bush was born on July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut, the first child of George Herbert Walker Bush and Barbara Pierce Bush. Although George Herbert Walker Bush began his career in the oil industry, he finally served as a congressman(国会议员), and vice(副) president and president of the United States.
At the age of two, Bush moved with his parents from Connecticut to Odessa, Texas, where his father took up the oil business. After a year in Texas, the family moved to California for business reasons. A year later, the family returned to Texas and settled in Midland, where Bush lived from 1950 to 1959.
In 1959, again for business reasons, the family moved to Houston, Texas. In 1961 Bush left Texas and went to Andover, Massachusetts, to attend Phillips Academy, aboarding school(寄宿学校) that his father had also attended.
At Phillips, Bush played basketball, baseball, and football. He was best known for being head cheerleader. In 1964 he enrolled at Yale University in Connecticut.His father and grandfather had also attended Yale. At Yale, Bush was considered an average student, but he was popular with his classmates.
Bush graduated from Yale with a bachelor’s degree in history in 1968. Then he joined the Air National Guard and remained in the Guard until 1973. After earning his MBA from Harvard in 1975, Bush returned to Midland. Like his father, he first entered the oil industry as a “landsman(新手)”. However, Bush’s oil companies never enjoyed great success. He took more interest in politics. He helped his father to become president and in 1994 he himself was elected governor of Texas.
In the summer of 1999, Bush began to run for the president of the USA and on January 20, 2001, George W. Bush, hand raised, took the oath(宣誓) of office to become the 43rd president of the US.What does the writer intend to tell us in the first paragraph?
| A．George W. Bush is the first son in American history to follow his father into the White House. |
| B．George W. Bush is the first son of former president George Herbert Walker Bush. |
| C．George W. Bush is the second one in American history to follow his father into the White House. |
| D．John Quincy Adams and his father were both former American presidents. |
We may learn from the text that young Bush ______.
| A．got on very well at the universities |
| B．was very good at basketball, baseball and football |
| C．was a very successful politician like his father |
| D．did everything as his father had done |
Which of the following is NOT true about George W. Bush?
| A．He once studied at a university that his father and grandfather had also attended. |
| B．Young Bush lived with his family in Texas from 1948 to 1961. |
| C．He once ruled over an American state before he entered the White House. |
| D．He once served at the Air National Guard for about five years. |
Geena David knew she wanted to be a movie star when she was very young. She was not sure what gave her the idea, but she wanted to look like a movie star. “I have a lot of pictures from my childhood of me wearing sunglasses,” she says. “I used to wear them to watch TV.”
Early movie actors started wearing sunglasses not because they looked good, but because their eyes hurt. The lights used on movie sets were extremely bright and could cause a painful problem known as “Klieg eyes”. It was named after the Klieg brothers who invented the lights. Actors wore sunglasses to give their eyes a rest. But when movie stars began wearing their sunglasses in public, they quickly became a must.
Eventually actors started wearing sunglasses in their movies as well as on the street. Audrey Hephburn wore ultra-cool Ray-Ban sunglasses in the 1961 movie, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. As a result, Ray-Ban sunglasses started to appear more and more in the movies. In 1979, Ray-Ban “Wayfarers” were worn by Jake and Elwood in The Blue Brothers. Tom Cruise wore Ray-Ban “Aviator” sunglasses in the 1986 hit, Top Gun. Then in 1997, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones made Ray-Ban “Predator” sunglasses famous in Men in Black.
Of course sunglasses aren’t just a fashion statement. The main reason to wear sunglasses is to protect our eyes against UV radiation. UV radiation can damage our eyes, so people now choose their sunglasses carefully. But you don’t have to give up style for safety. The choice of frames and lenses available these days is huge. So you can protect your eyes and still be the coolest person on the beach.What is mainly discussed in this passage?
| A．The use of sunglasses. |
| B．The history of sunglasses. |
| C．Why movie stars like to wear sunglasses. |
| D．The sunglasses wearing. |
Why did Geena David like to wear sunglasses?
| A．She wanted to follow a movie star. |
| B．She was a movie star. |
| C．Wearing sunglasses was good to her eyes. |
| D．It was good to wear sunglasses when watching TV. |
Early actors’ eyes hurt because ______.
| A．they wore sunglasses |
| B．they went out in the sun too much |
| C．their scripts were written in very small writing |
| D．the lights on movie sets were too bright |
We may know from this passage that ______.
| A．Ray-Ban is the name of sunglasses maker |
| B．Audrey Hephburn was a famous film star |
| C．Sunglasses made Top Gun the hit in 1986 |
| D．Men in Black must be an advertisement of sunglasses |
Now people wear sunglasses ______.
| A．for fashion and to protect their eyes |
| B．just to protect their eyes |
| C．because of bright lights |
| D．because movie stars wear them |