Just at that time, a telegram arrived from his brother．Mr．Jameson opened it quickly．It said, “Come home at once．Your wife is ill and in a critical condition．West End Hospital．”Mr．Jameson began to think．Since the work at the mine was going well, he decided to go home at once．He just told himself again and again that he couldn’t lose his wife, or his life would be meaningless．
At about 6 the next morning, he and one of his assistants reached Lamesa, where they were going to Chicago at 6:30．There was still half an hour left before the train started, so Mr．Jameson decided to telephone to Chicago to ask about his wife．And after that, if still enough time was left he could see a doctor and have the piece of coal or the piece of metal removed out of his eye．His eye and his whole head ached now．
After he sent his assistant to the railway station to buy tickets for the train, he went to make the phone call．When the operator put through his call, he sat down and waited．His eye felt like a piece of hot iron．And he was worried about his sick wife．The phone rang．Soon Mr．Jameson talked with the hospital in Chicago．A voice said, “Yes, sir! Your wife is here．She is much better．There is no danger now．You don’t have to return．”
Everything was all right．His wife was going to live．He would not lose his wife．Quite excited, Mr．Jameson began to cry like a little child and could not stop．Big tears rolled out of his eyes and down his cheeks．Soon his eye felt better．He touched his eye and felt something in the corner of his eye．That was a small piece of coal．His tears had washed it out of his eye!
59．What happened to Mr．Jameson before setting off?
A．He was hurt and couldn’t walk．
B．His eye was suffering from a certain disease．
C．A small piece of coal stuck him in the eye．
D．A piece of metal got into his eye．
60．The writer doesn’t mention but we can infer that Mr．Jameson probably _____．
A．worked in a factory in Chicago
B．worked as a mining engineer in a company
C．was worried about his work on the way to Chicago
D．sold coal in a faraway village
61．How was the coal removed out of Mr．Jameson’s eye?
A．It was taken out by a doctor．
B．A good rest helped it out．
C．He rubbed his eyes slightly．
D．It was washed out by his tears．
62．How can we describe the feeling of Mr．Jameson?
A．Worried ---relaxed B．Excited ---dull
C．Anger---calm． D．Depressed ---nervous．
Driving In America
Keep Right
The traffic follows the “keep right rule”. While driving, drive on the right side of the road. On one-way, multiple lanes(车道) road, the right-most lane would be slowest and left-most lane is fastest.
Hand Signals
Though indicators(车的指示灯) are used for the purpose of showing which direction you are going, knowing some hand signals is very important and are usually always asked in a driving test. When you want to turn right, you can put your left hand out of the window and point upward. When you want to make a left turn, you can reach your left arm out of the window and point to the left. If you want to slow down or stop, you can just point downward.
School Buses
Yellow school buses have flashing red lights and stop signs that reach out from the driver’s side. The drivers use these warning signals when letting pupils on and off. No matter which side of the road you are traveling on, if you come upon a school bus with its lights flashing and a stop sign used, you must stop. It’s the law. Remain stopped until the lights stop flashing or the stop sign is removed.
Using the Horn
Using horns is not common in America. Actually they are very rarely used. You may use your horn to warn walkers or other drivers of possible trouble or to avoid accidents. Do not use your horn to express anger or complain about other drivers’ mistakes or to try to get a slow driver to move faster.If Freddy is asked to go to Florida in the shortest time from Missouri, on which lane in the picture below should he drive his car according to Paragraph 1?
| A．Lane ①. | B．Lane ②. | C．Lane ③. | D．Lane ④. |
What could a driver do in America when turning left?
| A．Place left hand out of the window pointing upward. |
| B．Put left hand out of the window pointing downward. |
| C．Reach left arm out of the window pointing to the left. |
| D．Place left hand out of the window pointing backward. |
According to the passage, which of the following is possibly accepted in America?
| A．Use horns sometimes to warn passers-by of danger. |
| B．Drive on before the stop sign on a school bus is removed. |
| C．Use hand signals instead of indicators to show which direction you are going. |
| D．Do not use warning signals in the school bus until all the pupils get on the bus. |
Who is the passage most probably written for?
| A．Passers-by. | B．Pupils. | C．Policemen. | D．Drivers. |
Sometimes teens (十几岁的少年) need to have some time away from their families. They may want to move out of the family or home for a while.
Many parents will say no to this demand. But experts say it might be a good idea to let your teens live with a friend or a relative. “It was the break I needed at the time,” said Richard Lerne. He is talking about the time he spent living with his grandmother when he was 15. “It allowed me to be a more different person than I was with my parents.” Lerne said. He now heads the Institute for Children, Youth and Families at Michigan State University.
Experts say teens living away from their families can test new ways of thinking and getting along with people. They may see new ways to problems. Some teens who want some time away from family attend a structured summer program. Others live for a while with a relative or with the family of a friend.
If there is conflict (冲突) at home, having a teen live elsewhere can benefit other family members. It gives everyone space to develop better relationships.
Joseph Kett teaches history at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He says living at home until the late ten years has become the norm (准则) only in recent times. “In the 17th century, children were often sent to live in other people’s home when they were about 10 or 11”, he said.
Peter Sheras teaches education at the University of Virginia. He says parents should listen when a child wants to move out. They should try to find out why the child wants some time away. According to this passage, many parents may think it _____ for their children to live away from them.
| A．right | B．happy | C．unsafe | D．reasonable |
When children seriously disagree with their parents, experts suggest that parents should ______.
| A．punish them |
| B．let them live away from their family |
| C．send for a teacher |
| D．keep them in the house |
In the third paragraph the word “structured” means ______.
| A．built | B．stuck | C．organized | D．drunk |
In history, ______.
| A．teens never left their families |
| B．teens often left their parents |
| C．teens never went to school |
| D．teens never make friends with each other |
When I learned that my 71-year-old mother was playing Scrabble—a word game—against herself, I knew I had to do something. My husband suggested we give her a computer to play against. I wasn’t sure my mother was ready for it. After all, it had taken 15 years to persuade her to buy an electric cooker. Even so, we packed up our old computer and delivered it to my parents’ home. And so began my mother’s adventure in the world of computers.
It also marked the beginning of an unusual teaching task for me. I’ve taught people of all ages, but I never thought I would be teaching my mother how to do anything. She has been the one teaching me all my life; to cook and sew; to enjoy the good times and put up with the bad. Now it was my turn to give something back.
It wasn’t easy at the beginning. There was so much to explain and to introduce. Slowly but surely, my mother caught on, making notes in a little notebook. After a few months of Scrabble and other games, I decided it was time to introduce her to word processing(文字处理). This proved to be a bigger challenge(挑战) to her, so I gave her some homework. I asked her to write me a letter, using different letter types, colors and spaces.
“Are you demanding this with your kindergarten pupils?” she said.
“No, of course not,” I said. “They already know how to use a computer.”
My mother isn’t the only one experiencing a fast personal growth period. Thanks to the computer, my father has finally got over his phone allergy(过敏反应). For as long as I remember, and time I called, my mother would answer, Dad and I have had more phone conversations in the last two months than we’ve had in the past 20 years. What does the author do?
| A．She is a cook. |
| B．She is a teacher. |
| C．She is a housewife |
| D．She is a computer engineer. |
The author decided to give her mother a computer__________.
| A．to let her have more chances to write letters |
| B．to support her in doing her homework |
| C．to help her through the bad times |
| D．to make her life more enjoyable |
The author asked her mother to write her a letter__________.
| A．because her mother had stopped using the telephone |
| B．because she wanted to keep in touch with her mother |
| C．so that her mother could practice what she had learned |
| D．so that her mother could be free from housework |
After the computer was brought home, the author’s father__________.
| A．lost interest in cooking |
| B．took more phone calls |
| C．played more games |
| D．began to use it |
Two brothers, Herbert and James, lived with their mother and a cat named Edgar. James was particularly devoted to the cat, and when he had to leave town for several days, he left Herbert careful instructions about the pet’s care. At the end of his first day away, James telephoned his brother, “How is Edgar?”
“Edgar is dead.” Herbert answered. There was a pause. Then James said, “Herbert, you’re insensitive (漠然的). You know how close I was to Edgar. You should have broken the news to me slowly. When I asked about Edgar tonight, you should have said, ‘Edgar’s on the roof , but I have called the fire department to get him down.’ And tomorrow when I called, you could have said the firemen were having trouble getting Edgar down, but you were hopeful they would succeed. Then when I called the third time, you could have told me that the firemen have done their best, but unfortunately Edgar had fallen off the roof and was at the veterinarian’s (兽医站). Then when I called the last time, you could have said that although everything possible had been done for Edgar, he had died. That’s the way a sensitive man would have told me about Edgar. And, oh, before I forget,” James added, “how is mother?”
“Oh,” Herbert said, pausing for a moment, “She’s on the roof.” James telephoned his brother at the end of his first day away because he wanted to know _____.
| A．what he was doing |
| B．whether he was good |
| C．whether the cat was good |
| D．where his mother was |
Why did James say his brother was insensitive?
| A．Because he told him the news directly. |
| B．Because he killed their pet. |
| C．Because his mother was on the roof. |
| D．Because he missed the truth about the cat. |
From the last paragraph of the passage, we can know that the mother was probably _____.
| A．on the roof | B．ill or even dead |
| C．repairing the house | D．playing games |
The day after news broke of a possible revolution in physics ——particles （粒子） moving faster than light ?a scientist leading the European experiment that made the discovery calmly explained it to a standing-room- only crowd at CERN．
The physicist, Dario Auterio, did not try to explain what the results might mean for the laws of physics, let alone the broader world．After an hour of technical talk, he simply said, "Therefore, we present to you today this difference, this unusualness．"
But what unusualness it may be．From 2009 through 2011, the massive OPERA detector （探测器）buried in a mountain in Gran Sasso, Italy, recorded subatomic particles called neutrinos （ 中微子） arriving faster than light can move in an empty space．The neutrinos generated at CERN are hardly detectably early．If confirmed, the finding would throw more than a century of physics into disorder．
"If it's correct, it's phenomenal．" said Rob Plunkett, a scientist at Fermilab, the Department of Energy physics laboratory in Illinois．"We'd be looking at a whole new set of rules" for how the universe works．Those rules would bend, or possibly break, Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity, published in 1905．Basical at the time, the theory tied together space and time, matter and energy, and set a hard limit for the speed of light, later measured to be about 186, 000 miles per second．
No experiment in 106 years had broken that speed limit．Physicists expect strict study to follow, which OPERA and CERN scientists welcomed．
Fermilab operates a similar experiment, called MINOS, that shoots neutrinos from Illinois to an underground detector in Minnesota．In 2007, MINOS discovered a just detectable amount of faster than-light neutrinos, but the permissible difference of error was too big to "mention" , Plunkett said．
Fermilab scientists will reanalyze their data, which will take six to eight months．In 2013, the MINOS detector, now offline, will restart after an upgrade．It could then offer confirmation of the results．Why are the European scientists not sure about the results of the experiment?
| A．Because they are so unexpected． |
| B．Because the scientists do not believe them． |
| C．Because the scientists are careful and calm． |
| D．Because they are against the present law of physics． |
The underlined word " phenomenal" in the fourth paragraph has the closest meaning to.
| A．amazing | B．attractive | C．embarrassing | D．sensitive |
The best title for the passage may be _____．
| A．Are the laws of physics in disorder? |
| B．Particles faster than light; Revolution or mistake? |
| C．Faster than light measurement: right or wrong? |
| D．Is Einstein's theory still right today? |
What may be discussed in the paragraphs to follow?
| A．Different opinions about the experiment． |
| B．How Albert Einstein's theory developed． |
| C．The new rules for how the universe works． |
| D．How Fermilab scientists will reanalyze their data． |