There once lived a rich businessman who had a lazy son. The businessman wanted his son to realize the value of labour and said: “Today, I want you to go out and earn something, failing which you won’t have your meals tonight.”
He went crying straight to his mother. Her heart melted at her son’s eyes. She gave him a gold coin. When the father asked his son what he had earned, the son presented him the gold coin. The father asked him to throw it into a well.
The next day, he asked his son to earn something. This time he went crying to his sister who gave him a coin. When he showed it to his father he again asked him to throw it in a well. Then the father asked him to earn more money.
This time since there was no one to help him, the son was forced to go to the market. One shopkeeper told him he would pay him two coins if he carried his trunk to his house. He did so and sweated plenty. As he returned home he was asked to do the same. The son almost cried out. He could not imagine throwing his hard-earned money like this. He cried, “My entire body is aching. You are asking me to throw the money into the well.”
At this moment, the businessman told him one feels the pain only when the fruits of hard labour are wasted. On the earlier two occasions he was helped and therefore had no pain in throwing the coins into the well. The son had now realized the value of hard work. He promised never to be lazy and to safely keep the father’s wealth. The father handed over the keys of his shop to the son and promised to guide him through the rest of the life.Which of the following is TRUE?
| A．At first the son was hard-working and responsible. |
| B．The father taught his son a lesson in a good way. |
| C．The father didn’t like his son at all. |
| D．The businessman was a little lazy. |
According to the passage, the father wanted his son to realize ______.
| A．the importance of helping others |
| B．the importance of money |
| C．the value of hard labour |
| D．the value of money |
It can be inferred from the passage that ______.
| A．the mother was very generous |
| B．the sister was very warm-hearted |
| C．the father was very strict |
| D．the shopkeeper was very cruel |
According to the last paragraph, we can guess the boy was likely to ______.
| A．look for a good job |
| B．use up his father’s wealth |
| C．become a successful guide |
| D．follow his father’s career |
I found out one time that doing a favor for someone could get you into a lot of trouble. I was in the eighth grade at the time, and we were having a final test. During the test, the girl sitting next to me whispered something, but I didn’t understand. So I leaned over her way and found out that she was trying to ask me if I had an extra pen. She showed me that hers was out of ink and would not write. I happened to have an extra one, so I took it out of my pocket and put it on her desk.
Later, after the test papers had been turned in, the teacher asked me to stay in the room when all the other students were dismissed. As soon as we were alone she began to talk to me about what it meant to grow up; she talked about how important it was to stand on your own two feet and be responsible (负责任) for your own acts. For a long time, she talked about honesty and emphasized the fact that when people do something dishonest, they are really cheating themselves. She made me promise that I would think seriously about all the things she had said, and then she told me I could leave. I walked out of the room wondering why she had chosen to talk to me about all those things.
Later on, I found out that she thought I had cheated on the test. When she saw me lean over to talk to the girl next to me, it looked as if I was copying answers from the girl’s test paper. I tried to explain about the pen, but all she could say was it seemed very very strange to her that I hadn’t talked of anything about the pen the day she talked to me right after the test. Even if I tried to explain that I was just doing the girl a favor by letting her use my pen, I am sure she continued to believe that I had cheated on the test.The story took place exactly ____ .
| A．in the teacher’s office | B．in an exam room |
| C．in the school | D．in the language lab |
The girl wanted to borrow a pen, because ____ .
| A．she had not brought a pen with her |
| B．she had lost her own on her way to school |
| C．there was something wrong with her pen |
| D．her own had been taken away by someone |
The teacher saw all this, so she asked the boy ____ .
| A．to go on writing his paper |
| B．to stop whispering |
| C．to leave the room immediately |
| D．to stay behind after the exam |
The thing(s) emphasized in the teacher’s talk was (were) ____ .
| A．honesty | B．sense of duty | C．seriousness | D．all of the above |
The boy knew everything ____ .
| A．the moment he was asked to stay behind |
| B．when the teacher started talking about honesty |
| C．only some time later |
| D．when he was walking out of the room |
We all remember seeing hitchhikers（搭便车的人）, standing by the side of the road, thumb sticking out, waiting for a lift. But it is getting rare nowadays. What killed hitchhiking? Safety is often mentioned as a reason. Movies about murderous hitchhikers and real-life crime have put many drivers off picking up hitchhikers. That no single women picked me up on my journey to Manchester no doubt reflects the safety fear: a large, strangely dressed man is seen as dangerous.
But the reason may be more complex: hitchhiking happens where people don’t have cars and transport services are poor. Plenty of people still hitchhike in Poland and Romania. Perhaps the rising level of car ownership in the UK means the few people lift hitchhiking are usually considered strange. Why can’t they afford cars? Why can’t they take the coach or the train?
Three-quarters of the UK population have access to a car; many of the remainder will be quite old. The potential hitchhiking population is therefore small. Yet my trip proves it’s still possible to hitchhike. The people who picked me up were very interesting-lawyer, retired surgeon, tank commander, carpenter, man who live in an isolated farmhouse and a couple living up in the mountains. My conclusion is that only really interesting people are mad enough to pick up fat blokes in red,
spotted scarves. Most just wanted to do someone a good turn; a few said they were so surprised to see a hitchhiker that they couldn’t help stopping.
The future of hitchhiking most likely lies with car-sharing organized over the Internet, via sites such as hitchhikers. org. But for now, you can still stick your thumb out(actually, I didn’t do much of that, preferring just to hold up my destination sign) and people-wonderful, caring, sharing, unafraid people-will stop.
In the UK, with its cheap coaches and reasonable rail service, I don’t think I’ll make a habit of it. But having enjoyed it so much, I’m ready now to do a big trip across Europe and beyond. In the 1970s a female friend of my wife’s hitchhiked to India. How wonderful it would be to have another go, though Afghanistan might be a challenge. I wish I’d got that tank commander’s mobile number.The author tried to hitchhike but was rejected by single women drivers because_____________ .
| A．they were not heading towards Manchester |
| B．they thought most hitchhikers were dangerous |
| C．hitchhiking had been forbidden and they didn’t want to break the law |
| D．he was a strong man in strange clothes who seemed dangerous |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．That some people refuse hitchhikers may reflect the safety fear. |
| B．Car ownership levels are lower in Romania than in the UK. |
| C．40% of UK people don’t have access to cars. |
| D．Increased car ownership has reduced the need for hitchhiking. |
The “fat blokes in red, spotted scarves” in Paragraph 3 most likely means.
| A．murderous hitchhikers |
| B．friendly and talkative hitchhikers |
| C．typical hitchhikers |
| D．strange hitchhikers like the author |
According to the author, future hitchhikers are more likely to .
| A．visit websites and find people to share cars with |
| B．stand by roads with their thumbs sticking out |
| C．stick out signs with their destinations written on |
| D．wait for some kind people to pick them up |
From the last paragraph, we know that the author .
| A．frequently hitchhikes in Britain |
| B．plans to hitchhike across Europe |
| C．thinks public transport is safer for travel |
| D．is going to contact the tank commander |
Probably most injuries happen to skaters’ wrists because ________.
| A．few skaters wear wrist guards |
| B．The wrist is the most fragile body part |
| C．skaters often push out their hands when falling |
| D．skaters don’t know how to protect their wrists |
________ are the majority in the study.
| A．Those who wore helmets |
| B．Those who wore wrist guards |
| C．Those who wore knee pads |
| D．Those who wore no protective gear |
To reduce injuries greatly, a skater should at least wear __________.
| A．a helmet and elbow pads |
| B．wrist guards and knee pads |
| C．elbow pads and wrist guards |
| D．the whole set of protective gear |
This passage is most probably be found in __________.
| A．a poster | B．science fiction |
| C．collection of choice stories | D．newspaper |
What was the main point of the study?
| A．To encourage people to learn skating. |
| B．To advise skaters to wear safety pads. |
| C．To advertise for skating protective gear. |
| D．To introduce ways of protecting skaters. |
He almost didn’t see the old lady, stranded on the side of the road, but even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed help. So he pulled up in front her Mercedes and got out.
Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so. Was he going to hurt her? He didn’t look safe; he looked poor and hungry. He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He knew how she felt.
He said, “I am here to help you, ma’am. Why don’t you wait in the car where it’s warm? By the way, my name is Bryan Anderson.”
Well, all she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that was bad enough. Bryan crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able to change the tire. But he had to get dirty and his hands hurt.
As he was tightening up the lug nuts, she rolled down the window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from St. Louis and was just passing through. She couldn’t thank him enough for coming to her aid.
Bryan just smiled as he closed her trunk. The lady asked how much she owed him. Any amount would have been all right with her. She already imagined all the awful things that could have happened, had he not stopped. Bryan never thought twice about being paid. This was not a job to him. This was helping someone in need, and God knows there were many people who had given him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that way, and it never occurred to him to act any other way.He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance they needed, and Bryan added, “And think of me.”
He waited until she started her car and drove off. It had been a cold and depressing day, but he felt good as he headed for home, disappearing into the twilight.This story most probably took place_______.
| A．in a garage | B．on a highway | C．in a busy street | D．near a gas station |
When the man approached the old lady, the first thing he did was to______.
| A．ask what was wrong with her car |
| B．get the old lady out of her car |
| C．change her tire as soon as possible |
| D．make her know he wanted to help her |
The underlined part in Paragraph 6 suggests that________.
| A．the old lady had got ready to pay the man |
| B．the old lady was grateful to the man |
| C．the man had a lot of difficulty changing the tire |
| D．the man didn’t stop changing the tire |
Which of the following words can best describe the man?
| A．Warm-hearted and sensitive. |
| B．Careful and serious. |
| C．Thoughtful and helpful. |
| D．Generous and open-minded. |
It can be inferred from the last paragraph that ______________.
| A．the man was happy after helping the old lady |
| B．the man received a lot of money from the old lady |
| C．the man made the old lady feel cold and depressed |
| D．the man felt extremely frustrated all the way home |
BUS SERVICE
New York City — Brennan, New Jersey
(Trip time: 30 minutes each way )
Timetable
●Buses leave the Railway Station, New York 7:00 a.m. and every half-hour thereafter(此后) until 11:30 p.m. (7 days a week).
●Buses leave Brennan Station 20 minutes before and after every hour from 6:20 a.m. to 10:40 p.m. (7 days a week ).
●Evening rush hours(5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.) buses leave the Railway Station, New York every 15 minutes (Monday — Friday).
●Holidays: buses leave every hour on the hour time, each direction.
All tickets must be bought at Window 12, the Railway Station, New York, or at the Brennan Station Window before boarding buses. What time does a bus leave New York for Brennan every Thursday?
| A．10:20 a.m. | B．6:30 a.m. |
| C．6:45 p.m. | D．4:40 p.m. |
Which is the latest bus you should take from Brennan if you have to arrive at the Railway Station, New York before 4:00 p. m. on Monday?
| A．The 3:20 p. m bus | B．the 3:00 p. m bus |
| C．The 3:30 p. m bus | D．The 3:40 p. m bus |
What time does a bus leave Brennan for New York on Christmas Day?
| A．1:00 p. m | B．9:40 a. m | C．3:15 p. m | D．8:30 a. m |