Doyouknowaboutaseriesofbooksth-优题课

A traveler lost his way and got off the highway to see where he was. As he drove by, he saw rows and rows of pigpens and pigs running in fields. Suddenly, his eyes caught something really strange. It looked like a pig with a wooden leg.
He drove up into the arm, where he met the farmer. “ Excuse me, ” the traveler said. “ I was just driving by and looking at all your pigs, and I just had to stop and ask about it. Tell me, is there really a pig out there with a wooden leg?” The farmer smiled. “ Oh, that would be old Caesar you saw. He’s the finest pig I’ve ever had ---and smart! Well, let me tell you a little about that pig.”
“ One night a couple of years ago I got to drinking and I guess I had more than I should have. I fell down and knocked over a lamp. That started a fire in the house and old Caesar smelled the smoke. He came in the back door, got the wife and kid out, roused me up and got me out. There is no question about it ---- that night old Caesar saved all our lives. You know that I’m not going to forget it too easily.”
“ Why,” the traveler said, “ this is amazing! I have never heard of a pig like this before! This is fantastic! But tell me, how did he get that wooden leg?”
The farmer laughed and said, “ Well, when you have a pig so smart, you don’t want to eat him all at one time!”
The farmer thought the pig _______.

A．very fat

B．very clever

C．very kind

D．very strange

The passage indicates that _______.

A．the pig lost a leg in the fire

B．the farmer deeply thanked the pig

C．the pig had a very good keeper

D．the real leg had been eaten by the farmer

The author wants to _______.

A．report a piece of news

B．tell us a moving story

C．tell us a humorous story

D．have a joke with us

Over a period of time, many habitats (栖息地)change with respect to the types of plants and animals that live there. This change is known as succession.
Succession occurs because plants and animals cause a change in the environment in which they live. The first weeds and grasses that appear on a bare field, for example, change the environment by shielding the soil from direct sunlight. As these plants spread, the ground becomes cooler and more moist than it was originally. Thus, the environment at the ground surface has been changed. The new surface conditions favor the sprouting（产生）of shrubs. As shrubs grow, they kill the grasses by preventing light from reaching them and also enhance (增加)the soil. Pine seedlings (苗)soon take hold and as they grow, they in turn shade out the shrubs. They are not able to shade out oak and hickory (山核桃)seedlings, however, that have found the forest floor suitable. These seedlings grew into large trees that eventually shade out the pines.
The best title of this passage is _____.

A．The Importance of Weeds and Grasses

B．The Success of Oak and Hickory

C．How Environmental Habitats Change

D．Animal and Plant Habitats

It can be inferred (推理) from the passage that ______.

A．oak and hickory trees grow taller than pines

B．weeds and grasses prefer cold climate

C．pines and grasses can exist together

D．birds encourage the growth of shrubs

Which of the following is a stage of succession as described in the passage?

A．A forest cut down to build an airport.

B．A flood washing away a crop of wheat

C．Wild flowers growing in an unused parking lot

D．Animals being tamed (驯服)by children

My father was Chief engineer of a merchant ship, which was sunk in World War II. The book
Night of the U-boats told the story.
Memories
In September, 1940, my mother, sister and I went to Swansea, where my father’s ship was getting ready to sail. We brought him a family photograph to be kept with him at all times and keep him sail.
Then I remember my mother lying face down, sobbing. She had heard from a friend that the ship had been sunk by a torpedo(鱼雷).
I can remember the arrival of the telegram(电报),which in those days always brought bad news. My grand- mother opened it. It read, “Safe, Love Ted.”
My most vivid memory is being woken and brought down to sit on my father’s knee, his arm in a bandage.
He was judged unfit to return to sea and took a shore job in Glasgow for the rest of the war. For as long as I can remember, he had a weak heart. Mother said it was caused by the torpedoes. He said it was because of the cigarettes. Whichever, he died suddenly in his early 50s.
Ten years later I read Night of the U-boats and was able to complete the story.
Torpedo
One torpedo struck the ship. Father was in the engine room, where the third engineer was killed. He shut down the engines to slow the ship making it easier for it to be abandoned.
By the time he got on deck (甲板) he was alone. Every lifeboat was gone except one which had stuck firm. When he tried to cut it free it swung against the ship, injuring his hand and arm. He had no choice but to jump—still with the photograph in his pocket.
Three days later, he and other survivors were safe in Glasgow. All 23 with him signed the back of the photograph.
In my room is the book and the photograph. Often, glass in hand, I have wondered how I would have dealt with an explosion, a sinking ship, a jump into a vast ocean and a wait for rescue? Lest（以免）we forget, I have some more whisky and toast the heroes of the war.
We can infer(推断) that the mother and children went to Swansea ________.

A．to meet a friend

B．to see the father off

C．to take a family photo

D．to enjoy the sailing of the ship

What did the author learn about the father from the telegram?

A．he was still alive.

B．His knee was broken.

C．His ship had been sunk.

D．He had arrived in Glasgow.

What can we know about the author’s father after his ship was attacked?

A．He lost his arm

B．He repaired the engines.

C．He managed to take a lifeboat.

D．He was the last to leave the ship.

What is the passage mainly about?

A．A group of forgotten heroes

B．A book describing a terrifying battle.

C．A ship engineer’s wartime experience.

D．A merchant’s memories of a sea rescue.

To Chinese immigrants, in the mid-1800s, California was “The Land of the Golden Mountain.” In their homeland they had heard the words, “There’s gold in California.” They sailed 7,000miles to join the gold rush and strike it rich. Between 1849 and 1882, more than 30,000 Chinese came to California. Most were men. They had been farmers in China. They came here to be miners and laborers. They ended up doing many other jobs, too.
Like many other immigrants, they did not plan to stay in America. They came because of their ties to their homeland and their families. They planned to return to China with their fortunes and help their families.
Only a few Chinese gold miners struck it rich. Most picked over the areas that had been mined already. But still, white miners resented the Chinese. Slowly, they drove the “yellow peril” from the mining camps.
By the end of the 1850s, many Chinese returned home. Those who stayed found other jobs.
Few women had come west in the gold rush. The Chinese saw a good business opportunity. They began doing the jobs women would have done. Many became house servants. Many more opened laundries.
The Chinese opened restaurants. Chop suey and show mein are popular Chinese-American dishes. The Chinese probably created these dishes to serve to the white miners. Other Chinese became fishermen, farmers, and even cigar makers.
Why did Chinese go to America in the mid-1800s?

A．Because they could find good jobs there.

B．Because they had found gold there.

C．Because they could open laundries and restaurants there.

D．Because they heard there was gold there.

The underlined word “resented”(L.2,Para.3 ) mean “________”.

A．liked

B．helped

C．hated

D．served

Which should be the title of the passage?

A．Early Chinese immigrants in America

B．Dream to strike it rich

C．The difference between men and women

D．Gold miners in America

In her new book, “The Smartest Kids in the World,” Amanda Ripley, an investigative journalist, tells the story of Tom, a high-school student from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, who decides to spend his senior year in Wroclaw, Poland. Poland is a surprising educational success story: in the past decade, the country raised students’ test scores from significantly below average to well above it. Polish kids have now outscored American kids in math and science, even though Poland spends, on average, less than half as much per student as the United States does. One of the most striking differences between the high school Tom attended in Gettysburg and the one he ends up at in Wroclaw is that the latter has no football team, or, for that matter, teams of any kind.
That American high schools lavish more time and money on sports than on math is an old complaint. This is not a matter of how any given student who plays sports does in school, but of the culture and its priorities. This December, when the latest Program for International Student Assessment(PISA) results are announced, it’s safe to predict that American high-school students will once again display their limited skills in math and reading, outscored not just by students in Poland but also by students in places like South Korea, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Singapore, and Japan. Meanwhile, they will have played some very exciting football games, which will have been breathlessly written up in their hometown papers.
Why does this situation continue? Well, for one thing, kids like it. And for another, according to Ripley, parents seem to like the arrangement, too. She describes a tour she took of a school in Washington D.C., which costs thirty thousand dollars a year. The tour leader—a mother with three children in the school—was asked about the school’s flaws. When she said that the math program was weak, none of the parents taking the tour reacted. When she said that the football program was weak, the parents suddenly became concerned. “Really?” one of them asked worriedly, “What do you mean?”
One of the ironies of the situation is that sports reveal what is possible. American kids’ performance on the field shows just how well they can do when expectations are high. It’s too bad that their test scores show the same thing.
Tom decides to spend his senior year in Poland because _______.

A．he intends to improve his scores

B．Polish kids are better at learning

C．sports are not supported at schools in Gettysburg

D．there are striking differences between the 2 countries

According to Paragraph 2, we know that _______.

A．PISA plays a very important role in America

B．little time is spent on sports in Japanese schools

C．American high schools complain about sports time

D．too much importance is placed on sports in America

The underlined sentence in the last paragraph means _______.

A．low expectations result in American students’ poor PISA performance

B．high expectations push up American students’ academic performance

C．American students’ academic performance worries their parents a lot

D．lacking practice contributes to American students’ average performance

The purpose of this article is to _______.

A．compare Polish schools with those in America

B．call on American schools to learn from the Polish model

C．draw public attention to a weakness in American school tradition

D．explain what is wrong with American schools and provide solutions