Saturday, October 7th, was a marathon of sad tasks for Anna Politkovskaya. Two weeks earlier, her father, a retired official in the department of foreign affairs, had died of a heart attack as he emerged from the Moscow Metro while on his way to visit Politkovskaya’s mother, Raisa Mazepa, in the hospital. She had just been diagnosed(诊断) with cancer and was too weak even to attend her husband’s funeral. “Your father will forgive me, because he knows that I have always loved him,” she told Anna and her sister, Elena Kudimova, the day he was buried. A week later, she had an operation and since then Anna and Elena had been taking turns helping her deal with her grief.
Politkovskaya was supposed to spend the day at the hospital, but her twenty-six-year-old daughter, who was pregnant, had just moved into Politkovskaya’s apartment, on Lesnaya Street, while her own place was being prepared for the baby. “Anna had so much on her mind,” Elena Kudimova told me when we met in London, before Christmas. “And she was trying to finish her article.” Politkovskaya was a special reporter for the small newspaper Novaya Gazeta, and, like most of her work, the piece focused on the terror that can be seen all over the southern republic of Chechnya. This time, she had been trying to report repeated cruel acts done by people faithful to the Prime Minister, Ramzan Kadyrov, who are in favour of Russia. In the past seven years, Politkovskaya had written dozens of accounts of life during wartime; many had been collected in her book “A Small Corner of Hell: reports from Chechnya.” Politkovskaya was far more likely to spend time in a hospital than on a battlefield, and her writing bore frequent witness to robbery, and the uncontrolled cruelty of life in a place that few other Russians—and almost no other reporters—cared to think about. Politkovskaya’s father died of ______.
| A．tiredness | B．a disease | C．an attack | D．an accident |
From the text we know that Raisa Mazepa ______.
| A．didn’t love her husband |
| B．didn’t attend her husband’s funeral |
| C．was having an operation the day her husband was buried |
| D．was too sad to attend her husband’s funeral |
The underlined word “emerged” most likely means ______.
| A．came out | B．went into | C．looked into | D．left for |
How many family members of Anna are mentioned in the passage?
| A．Three. | B．Four | C．Five | D．Six |
Which of the following words can best describe Politkovskaya’s character?
| A．curious | B．easy-going | C．careless | D．responsible |
Crossing Texas and Mexico, the Big Bend region is high in biodiversity(生物的多样性). It’s a place so untamed that if something doesn’t bite, stick, or sting, it’s probably a rock.
You know you have arrived in the heart of the Chihuahuan Desert when it feels as if you have fallen off the edge of the earth and into the rabbit hole. Nothing is as it appears. Moths (蛀虫) are the size of birds. Are those twin pillars (柱) of black rock (a landmark known as Mule Ear Peaks) ten miles (16 kilometers) away or fifty (80 kilometers)? Visibility (能见度) reaches more than a hundred miles on a clear day, and since there are few roads or buildings to use as milestones, distance is difficult to judge.
This is a place where water runs uphill, where rainbows have to wait for rain. The line between myth (虚构的故事) and reality is unclear. Stare long enough at the Chisos Mountains or the Sierra del Carmen, the two mountain ranges, known as sky islands, which lie on the land, and they rise and float above the plain.
The vast Chihuahuan Desert is a land of no people. There is always the chance you’ll die of thirst. The “You Can Die”possibilities are endless, and keep some visitors — 350,000 a year to Big Bend National Park, built in 1944 — from coming back. Those who do return are left to think of the remarkable courage of the brave few who have managed to survive in this terrible environment. The underlined word“untamed”in Paragraph 1 means“________”.
| A．untouched | B．wild | C．unchanged | D．fresh |
Why do the twin pillars of black rock seem ten or fifty miles away?
| A．They were put so far away. |
| B．They lie across the Chihuahuan Desert. |
| C．It is difficult to judge the distance, with few milestones. |
| D．One lies in the Chisos Mountains, the other in the Sierra del Carmen. |
How many years are there since the Big Bend National Park was built?
| A．350,000 years. | B．350 years. | C．66 years. | D．44 years. |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．The natural wonders of the Chihuahuan Desert. |
| B．Everything you see is not what it seems in the Chihuahuan Desert. |
| C．The terrible environment of deserts in Texas and Mexico. |
| D．A special place where none who go can return. |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．There are all kinds of living things in the Chihuahuan Desert. |
| B．No people live in the Big Bend region. |
| C．Nothing is as it appears in the Big Bend region. |
| D．Traveling in the Big Bend region is dangerous. |
Last year my wife and I spent a most interesting month in Turkey. Before we left, we were reminded of the difficulties of driving in Turkey. We certainly did not find this to be the case and, except for a few places in faraway mountain areas, the roads were wide, and well-paved (铺设). We drove for 12 days along the Western Coast of Turkey and had no problems at all. We found the Turkish drivers to be very polite and well educated. We also found that eating lunch in the smaller towns was difficult, so we picnicked almost every day.
The following day after our arrival was Turkey’s Children’s Day, started by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Ataturk loved children and he often said: “Children are a new beginning of tomorrow.” He even dedicated (奉献) the day 23rd of April to the children which today is celebrated as Children’s Day as well as the date when the Republic of Turkey was founded.
On that day certain children are picked to take over the places of the government, and a lucky kid will be the president of Turkey for a whole day. He can decide what’s going to happen and whether or not he is going to have the president next to him. There are a very large number of possibilities of things he can do but some shops aren’t open because they are celebrating the day as well.
All in all, it was a more enjoyable trip. I would recommend (推荐) a trip to Turkey to anyone with an adventurous (冒险的) spirit!Before the author and his wife went on a trip to Turkey, they were told that ________.
| A．it was difficult to travel in Turkey |
| B．it was not easy to drive in Turkey |
| C．the streets in Turkey were dangerous |
| D．there were many mountainous roads |
Which of the following is TRUE, according to the first paragraph?
| A．Places in mountain areas were difficult to reach. |
| B．The couple drove for 12 days during their journey. |
| C．The Turkish drivers had good manners. |
| D．It was difficult to eat meals in Turkey. |
The underlined word “He” in Paragraph 3 refers to ________.
| A．every one of us | B．the government |
| C．the president of Turkey | D．the lucky child |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．The couple had no difficulty making their way in Turkey. |
| B．Turkey’s National Day falls on the 22nd of April. |
| C．The author joined in celebrating Children’s Day. |
| D．On Turkey’s Children’s Day everyone had holidays. |
What does the author think of the trip to Turkey?
| A．Interesting and dangerous. | B．Difficult and expensive. |
| C．Enjoyable and exciting. | D．Boring and adventurous. |
Years ago, there lived a wealthy man named Mr. Cooper who, with his dearest young son John, loved art collecting. Together they traveled around the world, collecting the finest art treasures.
One winter, war came to the nation, and John left to serve his country. After only a few short weeks, his father received a telegram reading that John had died while saving a fellow soldier. Filled with sadness, the old man cried. On the coming Christmas morning, a soldier called on him and gave him a picture of John.
The following spring, the old man became ill and passed away. According to his will, all of his works of art would be auctioned (拍卖) on Christmas Day, when he had received the greatest gift of his life. The day soon arrived and art collectors from around the world gathered to buy some of the world’s greatest paintings. The auction began with a painting of the old man’s son. “Who will open the bidding (出价) with $100?” the auctioneer (拍卖人) asked. Minutes passed, but no one spoke. Finally, a neighbor of the old man’s spoke. “Can I take the painting for ten dollars? It is all I have, and he is a good man.”
“Will anyone go higher?” called the auctioneer. After more silence, the auctioneer said, “Going once, going twice, gone.” The gavel(槌) fell. “Now we can get on to the real treasures,” someone shouted angrily. But the auctioneer said that the auction was over. Someone asked,“It’s over? We didn’t come here for a picture of some old guy’s son. There are millions of dollars worth of art here!”The auctioneer replied, “It’s very simple. According to the will of the father, whoever takes the son ... gets all.”Why did they travel around the world?
| A．They wanted to visit some well-known artists. |
| B．They had their own companies around the world. |
| C．They wanted to visit all kinds of places of interest. |
| D．They wanted to collect the world’s finest art. |
When did the old man die?
| A．The morning when the solider visited him. |
| B．Several months after John died. |
| C．A few days after John served in the army. |
| D．The day he received the news of John’s death. |
The underlined words “the greatest gift” in Paragraph 3 refer to ________.
| A．a picture of John | B．the painting John collected |
| C．the finest work of art | D．the telegram about his son |
A neighbor of the old man’s bought the painting of John ________.
| A．because he knew the will of the old man |
| B．to pick up the world’s greatest paintings |
| C．in honor of John, who was worth respecting |
| D．because no one else was willing to buy it |
It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
| A．the old man and the auctioneer were good friends |
| B．no art collectors wanted to buy Mr. Cooper’s collection of art |
| C．John was a successful art collector and an excellent artist |
| D．the old man, Mr. Cooper, loved his son very much |
The Great Fire of London started in the very early hours of 2 September, 1666. In four days it destroyed more than three-quarters of the old city, where most of the houses were wooden and close together. Over one hundred people became homeless, but only a few lost their lives.
The fire started on Sunday morning in the house of the King’s baker (面包师) in Pudding Lane. The baker, with his wife and family, was able to get out through a window into the roof. A strong wind blew the fire from the bakery (面包房) into a small hotel next door. Then it spread quickly into Thames Street. That was the beginning.
By eight o’clock three hundred houses were on fire. On Monday nearly a kilometer of the city was burning along the River Thames. Tuesday was the worst day. The fire destroyed many well-known buildings, old St Paul’s and the Guildhall among them.
Samuel Pepys, the famous writer, wrote about the fire, “People threw their things into the river. Many poor people stayed in their houses until the last moment. Birds fell out of the air because of the heat .”
The fire stopped only when the King finally ordered people to destroy hundreds of buildings in the path of the fire. With nothing left to burn, the fire became weak and finally died out.
After the fire, Christopher Wren, the architect (建筑师), wanted a city with wider streets and fine new houses of stone. In fact, the streets are still narrow, but he did build more than fifty churches, among them the mew St Paul’s
The fire caused great pain and loss, but after it London was a better place: a city for the future and not just of the past.From the passage, we can learn that the fire began in ________.
| A．a hotel | B．the palace | C．Pudding Lane | D．Thames Street |
The underlined word “family” in the second paragraph means ________.
| A．wife and husband | B．wife and children | C．home | D．children |
It seems that the writer of the text was most sorry for the fact that ________.
| A．many famous buildings were destroyed |
| B．some people lost their lives |
| C．the birds in the sky were killed by the fire |
| D．the King’s bakery was burned down |
Why did the writer cite (引用) Samuel Pepys?
| A．Because Pepys was among those putting out the fire. |
| B．Because Pepys also wrote about the fire. |
| C．Because he wanted to give the reader a clearer picture of the fire. |
| D．Because he wanted to show that poor people suffered most. |
How was the fire put out according to the text?
| A．The King and his soldiers came to help. |
| B．Houses standing in the direction of the fire were pulled down. |
| C．All the wooden houses in the city were destroyed. |
| D．People managed to get enough water from the river. |
To err is human．To blame the other guy is even more human．
Common sense is not all that common．
Why tell the truth when you can come up with a good excuse?
These three popular misquotes （戏谑的引语） are meant to be jokes, and yet they tell us a lot about human nature．To err, or to make mistakes, is indeed a part of being human, but it seems that most people don’t want to accept the responsibility for the problem．Perhaps it is the natural thing to do．The original quote about human nature went like this, “ To err is human, to forgive, divine（神圣的）．” This saying mirrors an ideal: people should be forgiving of others’ mistakes．Instead, we tend to do the opposite --- find someone else to pass the blame on to．However, taking responsibility for something that went wrong is a making of great maturity．
Common sense is what we call clear thought．Having common sense means having a good general plan that will make things work well, and it also means staying with the plan．Common sense tells you that you take an umbrella out into a rainstorm, but you leave the umbrella home when you hear a weather forecast for sunshine．Common sense does not seem to be common for large organizations, because there are so many things going on that one person cannot be in charge of everything．People say that in a large company, “the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing．”
And what is wrong with a society that thinks that making up a good excuse is like creating a work of art? One of the common problems with making excuses is that people, especially young people, get the idea that it’s okay not to be totally honest all the time．There is a corollary（直接推论）to that: if good excuse is “good” even if it isn’t honest, then where is the place of the truth?According to the author, what is a sign of a man’s maturity?
| A．Doing things his own way． |
| B．Bearing responsibility for his mistakes． |
| C．Making as few mistakes as possible． |
| D．Thinking seriously about his wrongdoing． |
Which of the following is N0T based on common sense?
| A．A man tries to take charge of everything in a large company． |
| B．A student goes out with an umbrella in stormy weather． |
| C．A company’s next move follows a good plan． |
| D．A lawyer acts on fine judgments． |
What is the author’s opinion about a good excuse?
| A．Making a good excuse is sometimes a better policy． |
| B．Inventing a good excuse needs creative ideas． |
| C．A good excuse is as rewarding as honesty． |
| D．Bitter truth is better than a good excuse． |
What would be the best title for his passage?
| A．A Mirror of Human Nature | B．To Blame or to Forgive |
| C．A Mark of Maturity | D．Truth or Excuse |