Dear sir,
I read your story (of the 4th February) about the cost of living in the country rather than in the town, and I agree with most of the points that you made. My husband and I lived in the middle of Horlton until two years ago — a seaside town of nearly five hundred thousand people. When my husband stopped working, we moved to our present house in a small village at the foot of Roland Hill, and there is no doubt that our costs are higher now.
I have to do my shopping in small shops, where the food is more expensive than in city supermarkets; it costs more to travel by bus; and because the men who come to mend the television or the washing
machine, have to come farther, we have to pay them more.
But it does not cost us much to enjoy what is beautiful in the country; and peace and quiet are cheap. Many people spend a great deal of time and money driving into the country to enjoy the simple things of life; yet we can enjoy them just by going out of the front door. It costs more to live here than it did in Horlton but now life really is worth living.
Yours faithfully.
Edith Randall What do you know about Horlton?
| A．A quiet town not far from the sea. |
| B．A middle-sized town until two years ago. |
| C．A town with a population of nearly half a million. |
| D．A small village at the foot of Roland Hill |
What Mrs Randall really wants to express in the letter is that _____.
| A．it cost less to live in the country |
| B．it costs more to live in the country |
| C．living in the country is no better than in the town |
| D．she is quite satisfied with the life in the country |
One can probably find this letter in _____.
| A．a guidebook | B．a newspaper | C．a speech | D．a story book |
According to the passage, which of the following is true?
| A．The letter is written by an unknown person. |
| B．This letter is a reply to the questions of 4th February. |
| C．Living in the country is better than living in the city. |
D．The cost of li ving in the city is lower than that of the country. |
In the suburban district of a city lived an old woman quite alone. Her husband died thirty years ago and two years later, her only son went away with lung cancer. So she had no family still living and her only friend was a little white dog who went everywhere with her - with one exception. The dog loved the fireplace in winter, and after the old woman went to bed he would sometimes go and lie in front of the warm coals. Usually though, the dog lay on a rug right next to the bed.
Deeply as the old woman loved her dog, she wouldn't allow the dog on the bed with her. However, if she became frightened or had a nightmare, she would put her hand down to her little white dog and he would lick it to calm her down.
One night she was reading the newspaper just before going to sleep. She trembled and pulled the duvet（羽绒被褥）up around her as she read that a mental patient had wandered out from a nearby hospital. No one knew if the patient was dangerous or not, but he was a suspect in the murders of several women who lived alone.
The woman turned off the lights and tried to sleep, but she was frightened, and turned over continually. Finally, she reached down to where her little white dog slept. Sure enough, a warm, wet tongue began to lick her hand. The woman felt reassured and safe, and left her hand hanging off the side of the bed. As she turned to settle in comfortably she opened her eyes for a moment and looked through the open door into the living room.
There in front of the fireplace, sat her little white dog, gazing at the coals and wagging his tail. And down beside her bed, something was still licking her hand.From the first paragraph we can know that _________.
| A．her husband died following her son |
| B．the old woman was through with her relatives |
| C．the dog wasn’t always keeping her company . |
| D．the dog sometimes was tired of her |
Why didn’t she allow the dog on the bed with her?
| A．Because the dog was too dirty. |
| B．Because she was fearful of dogs. |
| C．Because the author dislikes keeping dogs. |
| D．The author didn’t mention the reason for it. |
The reason the old woman shivered was that _____________.
| A．she was too old to stand the cold weather |
| B．the room temperature came down with a run |
| C．she was reading a frightening story |
| D．a news story was carried in the paper |
Seeing the dog still sitting by the fireplace, __________.
| A．the old woman would call him to her |
| B．the old woman would be frightened to half death |
| C．would be luck to have another dog |
| D．would feel puzzled what was under her bed |
Mr. Peter Johnson, aged twenty-three, battled for half an hour to escape from his trapped car yesterday when it landed upside down in three feet of water. Mr. Johnson took the only escape route--through the boot(后备箱).
Mr. Johnson’s car had finished up in a ditch（沟） at Romney Marsin, Kent after skidding on ice and hitting a bank. “Fortunately, the water began to come in only slowly,” Mr. Johnson said. “I couldn’t force the doors because they were jammed against the walls of the ditch and dared not open the windows because I knew water would come flooding in.”
Mr. Johnson, a sweet salesman of Sitting Home, Kent, first tried to attract the attention of other motorists by sounding the horn and hammering on the roof and boot. Then he began his struggle to escape.
Later he said, “It was really a halfpenny that saved my life. It was the only coin I had in my pocket and I used it to unscrew the back seat to get into the boot. I hammered desperately 
with a hammer trying to make someone hear, but no help came.”
It took ten minutes to unscrew the seat, and a further five minutes to clear the sweet samples from the boot. Then Mr. Johnson found a wrench (扳手) and began to work on the boot lock. Fifteen minutes passed by. “It was the only chance I had. Finally it gave, but as soon as I moved the boot lid, the water and mud poured in. I forced the lid down into the mud and scrambled clear as the car filled up.”
His hands and arms cut and bruised(擦伤), Mr. Johnson got to Beckett Farm nearby, where he was looked after by the farmer’s wife, Mrs. Lucy Bates. Huddled in a blanket, he said,“That thirty minutes seemed like hours.” “Only the tips of the car wheels were visible”, police said last night. The vehicle had sunk into two feet of mud at the bottom of the ditch.What is the best title for this newspaper article?
| A．The Story of Mr. Johnson, A Sweet Salesman |
| B．Car Boot Can Serve As The Best Escape Route |
| C．Driver Escapes Through Car Boot |
| D．The Driver Survived A Terrible Car Accident |
Which of the following objects is the most important to Mr. Johnson?
| A．The hammer. | B．The coin. | C．The screw. | D．The horn. |
Which statement is true according to the passage?
| A．Mr. Johnson’s car stood on its boot as it fell down. |
| B．Mr. Johnson could not escape from the door because it was full of sweet jam. |
| C．Mr. Johnson’s car accident was partly due to the slippery road. |
| D．Mr. Johnson struggled in the pouring mud as he unscrewed the back seat. |
“Finally it gave” (Paragraph 5) means that __________.
| A．Luckily the door was torn away in the end | B．At last the wrench went broken |
| C．The lock came open after all his efforts | D．The chance was lost at the last minute |
Dear iPhone 4 Users,
The iPhone 4 has been the most successful product in Apple’s history. It is the best smartphone ever, and most users have told that they love it. So we were surprised when reading reports of reception (信号接收) problems, and we immediately began researching them.
To start with, holding tightly（紧紧地）almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by 1 or more bars of signal strength. This is true of iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, as well as many other phones. But some users have reported that iPhone 4 can drop 4 or 5 bars when tightly held in a way. This is a far bigger drop than normal, and as a result some have said the iPhone 4 has a faulty antenna(天线) design.
Upon research, we find that the formula（公式） we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula usually mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. The big drop in bars is because the high bars were never real in the beginning.
We will give a free software update to correct the formula. This software update （软件升级）will also be available for iPhone 3GS. If you are
not fully satisfied, you can return your undamaged iPhone to any Apple Retail Store or the online Apple Store within 30 days of buying and get all your money back.
Thank you for your patience and support.
AppleThe iPhone 4 drops more bars than normal when tightly held because of .
| A．a wrong antenna design | B．wrong usage |
| C．weak signal strength | D．a wrong formula |
How many more bars does the iPhone 4 show than it should for a given signal strength?
| A．2 | B．3 | C．4 | D．5 |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．The software update is fit for all cellphones produced by Apple. |
| B．The iPhone 4 has been the most successful product in history. |
| C．If a user is not satisfied with his iPhone 4, he will get ten times his money back. |
| D．The Apple company didn’t expect the reception problems of iPhone 4. |
The text is a letter .
| A．from Apple about iPhone problems | B．to Apple about iPhone 4 problems |
| C．to introduce the new iPhone 4 | D．on how to pay back buyers for the faults |
There was once a professor of medicine, who was very strict with the students. Whenever he took the chair on the exam committee(担任考试委员会主席), the students would be in fear, because he was seldom pleased with the answers they gave. A student would be lucky enough if he or she could receive a good mark from him. At the end of the term, the students of medicine would take their exam again. Now a student entered the exam room and got seated before the committee. This student was a little nervous as he knew it would not be so easy to get through the exam at all.
The professor began to ask. The student was required to describe a certain illness, his description of which turned out to be OK.
Then the professor asked about the cure (药剂) for illness, and the student, too, answered just as right.
“Good,” said the professor, “and how much will you give the patient?”
“A full spoon”, answered the student.
“Now you may go out and wait for what you can get.”, said the professor. At the same time, the committee discussed carefully the answers the student had given. Suddenly the student noticed that there was something wrong with his last answer. “ A full spoon is too much,” he thought to himself. Anxiously he opened the door of the room and cried, “Mr. Professor, I’ve made a mistake! A full spoon is too much for a patient. He can take only five drops.”
“I’m sorry, sir.” said the professor coldly, “But it’s too late. Your patient has died.”The students were afraid of the professor because_________.
| A．they often angered and disappointed him |
| B．their answers often astonished him |
| C．their answers seldom satisfied him |
| D．he often misunderstood them and gave them bad marks |
The student’s description of the illness was .
| A．not correct | B．not satisfied | C．completely discouraging | D．accepted. |
Before he left the room the student was almost sure that .
| A．he had passed the exam, and the only thing was to wait for the mark |
| B．his last answer was satisfying |
| C．he had made a mistake |
| D．he had not done well in the exam. |
Which of the following is Not true?
| A．The patient will be in danger if he’s taken as much as a full spoon. |
| B．The doctor will be in trouble if he’s given the patient a full spoon. |
| C．Since one spoon is less than five drops, the patient will be all right soon if he takes only one full spoon at a time. |
D．If the patient wants to remain safe, he should take no more th an five drops at a time. |
Nothing can spoil a vacation quicker than losing your money or credit cards. A few simple steps before you head out of the door can help protect your cash, card and personal information while you’re traveling.
Paul Stephens, a policy analyst San Diego, notes that people spend a lot of time planning their trips, from buying guidebooks to finding just the right beach outfits（装备）. “But their eyes glaze（呆滞）over when the subject of keeping money s
afe comes up,” he said.
“Why not take a few minutes to do something that could probably save your vacation?” Stephens asked．“In most cases, they can go on your to-do list with ‘buy travel bags’ and everything else,” he added.
The top recommendation is to clean your wallet. Remove unnecessary credit cards and any other unneeded documents that could compromise（危及...的安全）your identity if lost or stolen while you’re on vocation.
Then make a photocopy of the cards you’ve decided to take along and keep it in a secure location with you（not in your wallet）or leave it with a trusted relative or friend back home. Then you will know who you need to contact and how to reach it if your wallet is missing.
“Travelers should never leave their wallets or any identifying documents in their hotel room when they’re not there,” he said. “Choose a hotel with a safe to keep your valuable things in. Or keep your wallet and documents with you at all times. ”What does the underlined word stand for?
| A．The people who are going traveling. |
| B．The outfits that are prepared for traveling. |
| C．The suggestions on what to buy when traveling. |
| D．The steps to avoid losing money or credit cards. |
What should people do with their wallet before they go on vacation?
| A．Take it with them all the time. |
| B．Put it in a safe place at the hotel. |
| C．Remove unnecessary cards and documents. |
| D．Leave it with family or friend. |
What is the topic of the passage?
| A．How to prepare for travel. |
| B．How to be happy during your vacation. |
| C．How to keep cash and cards safe on vacation. |
| D．How to protect your luggage on vacation. |
According to the passage, we know .
| A．people don’t always know how to protect their money or credit cards |
| B．people should take a lot of money with them while traveling |
| C．people can leave their identifying documents in rooms, if the hotel is expensive |
| D．people can spend a few minutes preparing the luggage for traveling |