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Hearst Castle is in California, America. A person called William Randolph Hearst built it between 1922 and 1939, at a cost of more than $30 million. Last year, I had a trip to that castle.
I spent the whole day looking around. But there was much to see, and a day wasn’t enough. Hearst Castle has four houses. The main house, “Casa Grande”, is the biggest one. Visitors can live in the other three ones. Many of them are Hollywood film stars, and they often come to the parties there.
At Hearst Castle, there are also beautiful gardens and two swimming pools, one inside and a larger one outside. I loved the one outside, the “Neptune Pool”. It was a pity that we couldn’t go swimming there!
The guide told us that Mr. Hearst travelled around Europe with his mother at the age of ten and looked at paintings and castles. He never forgot that tour and wanted his house to look like a castle. When Mr Hearst died in 1951, his family gave Hearst Castle to the people of California. Now it’s a museum.The underlined word “Castle” in the first paragraph means _____.
| A．城堡 | B．胜地 | C．城垛 | D．楼阁 |
“Casa Grande” is _____ the other three ones at Hearst Castle.
| A．younger than | B．bigger than |
| C．older than | D．smaller than |
There are _____ at Hearst Castle.
| A．beautiful gardens | B．one swimming pool inside |
| C．one swimming pool outside | D．all the above |
_____ made Mr. Hearst build this wonderful castle.
| A．A tour around Europe | B．The paintings and castles in Europe |
| C．His mother | D．His dream |
Which of the following sentences is TRUE?
| A．Hearst Castle in California was cheap to build. |
| B．Hearst Castle is on a mountain near the sea. |
| C．Many Hollywood film stars come to Hearst’s parties. |
| D．After Mr. Hearst died, his family lived at Hearst Castle. |
On a recent day, “Linsanity” is popular all over the world. It’s the combination of “Lin” & “insanity”, referring to the person who made surprising success.
“Lin” refers to Jeremy Lin, an American professional basketball player, with the Chinese name Shu How Lin. He is the first American player with Chinese descent（血统）.
Jeremy Lin was born on August 23, 1988. At the age of 5, He started playing basketball at the kindergarten. He went to Harvard University after playing at Palo Alto High School in California. He graduated in 2010 and joined the Golden State Warriors, an NBA team in California. In late 2011, Lin moved to another team - the New York Knicks at the very end of the year. The Knicks added him to their starting lineup（阵容）that month. He began averaging more than 20 points a game and leading the team to a series of wins.
Here is his career statistics（统计表）.
NBA Regular Season Accurate as of February 20, 2012
| Year |
Team |
GP |
GS |
MPG |
FG% |
3P% |
FT% |
RPG |
APG |
SPG |
BPG |
PPG |
| 2010–2011 |
Golden State |
29 |
0 |
9.8 |
0.389 |
0.200 |
0.760 |
1.2 |
1.4 |
1.1 |
0.3 |
2.6 |
| 2011–2012 |
New York |
19 |
9 |
23.1 |
0.487 |
0.343 |
0.742 |
2.7 |
5.7 |
1.4 |
0.2 |
14.6 |
GP: Games played GS: Games started MPG: Minutes per game
FG%: Field-goal 3P%: 3-point field-goal FT%: Free-throw
RPG: Rebounds per game APG: Assists per game SPG: Steals per game
BPG: Blocks per game PPG: Points per game“Linsanity” is an expression referring to the person who ______.
A. made surprising success
B. played basketball young
C. was very popularJeremy Lin is the first American player with _______ descent.
A. French B. Chinese C. EnglishAccording to the passage, Jeremy Lin started playing basketball at ________.
A. kindergarten B. high school C. universityJeremy Lin is playing for ________ team in NBA now.
A. the Golden State Warriors
B. the Los Angeles Lakers
C. the New York KnicksJeremy Lin got 14.6 _________ in Regular Season 2011-2012.
A. PPG B. SPG C. MPG
Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa. It is also the second largest lake in the world. It is an important lake because it is one of the sources(源头) for the longest river in the world, the Nile River. Lake Victoria provides a source of water, food, and power(电力) for several African countries. Lake Victoria is a big part of African life.
Unfortunately, Lake Victoria has a problem. It is shrinking. There are several power stations at Lake Victoria in Uganda. These are on the Nile River, and besides producing power, they keep the water of the lake at a certain level. For the past forty years, that level has been 11.9 meters. Over the last several years, the water level has dropped by about 2.5 meters. There seem to be several reasons for this drop.
One possible reason is drought(干旱). Drought has been very bad in the area since 2000. Lake Victoria gets all of its water from rain, so the drought means less water in the lake.
However, some environmentalists believe that the real problem is the power plants(工厂) on Lake Victoria. Uganda depends on those power plants for most of its power, and they made the power plants larger in 2000. Many people believe the power plants have been taking too much water off Lake Victoria. As a result, they have been asked to use less water until Lake Victoria goes back to its old level.
Whether the low water level is caused by drought or power plants, the result is the same. This is already a poor area of Africa, where many people live a really hard life. People, animals and plants around Lake Victoria will suffer even more from low water levels on the lake. Many people need Lake Victoria for fishing or growing food. Fish need the water to live, and animals need it for water. Plants around the lake will die without the water, and then more animals and people will suffer. Unless the lake fills soon, many people will suffer and die.Lake Victoria is __________.
| A．an important lake in Africa |
| B．the largest lake in the world |
| C．the source of water, food and power for America |
| D．the only source for the Nile River |
What does “It is shrinking” most probably mean?
| A．It is becoming larger. |
| B．It is becoming more beautiful. |
| C．It is becoming smaller. |
| D．It is becoming more useful. |
The water level of Lake Victoria is now __________.
| A．2.5 meters | B．11.9 meters | C．14.4 meters | D．9.4 meters |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A. Rain water is the only source for the lake.
B. There has been little rain in the lake area since 2000.
C. The power plants in Uganda provide water for the lake.
D The power plants in Uganda were made larger in 2000.According to the passage, how can we solve the problems around Lake Victoria?
| A．People must build more power plants. |
| B．More sources of water must be found. |
| C．Every country should offer some money to Africa. |
| D．All the people living in the area should move to another place. |
Many people have to work on the weekend. Some people do not mind. Others think it is terrible.
One man thinks that working on the weekend can be dangerous. He is Graham Coates. Mr Coates works in an office in Brighton, England.
On Saturday, May 24, 1986, he went to the office to do some work. When he got on the lift(电梯), it stopped between floors. Mr Coates could not get out of the lift. He started to shout, but no one heard him. Then Mr. Coats remembered that it was a holiday in England. No one was going to come to work until Tuesday.
There was nothing for him to do. He had to wait until one of his workmates came to work and found him. With nothing to eat or drink, Mr Coats ended up sleeping for most of the day.
Now Mr. Coates says, "I only use lifts if they have telephones in them."Mr. Coates thinks working on the weekend is_____.
| A．interesting | B．terrible | C．happy | D．unhappy |
Mr. Coates stayed in the lift for_____.
| A．about twenty hours | B．nearly two days |
| C．one week | D．more than sixty hours |
When Mr. Coates got out of the lift he_____.
| A．was cold, weak, hungry and tired |
| B．wouldn't work there any more |
| C．said "I only use lifts if they have telephones in them." |
| D．went home at once |
Why could Mr. Coates not get out of the lift? Because _____.
| A．it was broken | B．it was the weekend |
| C．it was in an office | D．it was a holiday |
In the lift, there was_________.
| A．water | B．beer | C．telephone | D．nothing |
Long, long ago there was a very foolish thief. Do you know what he did one day? When he wanted to steal (偷) the bell on his neighbor’s door, he walked up to the door, took hold of (抓住) the bell and pulled hard. The bell made a very loud noise. The thief was afraid and went home.
Then he sat down to think, “I must do something about the noise,” he said. He thought and thought. At last he had an idea. “Ah, I’ll put some cotton in my ears. Then I won’t be able to hear the noise.” The next day he went to the door of his neighbor, and took hold of the bell. This time he pulled even harder. The bell rang loudly, but the thief did not hear anything. With another hard pull he got the bell out. Just then the neighbor came running out. “Steal my bell? I’ll teach you a lesson (教训),”the angry man shouted. And he hit the thief on the nose.
The foolish thief did not know how the neighbor found out he was stealing the bell. “Why did he come out just then?” he wondered (感到疑惑).The thief was trying to get .
| A．his neighbor | B．his neighbor’s doorbell |
| C．some cotton | D．a door with a bell on it |
The thief put some cotton in his ears. He thought it would be for him to steal the doorbell.
| A．safe | B．difficult | C．dangerous | D．easy |
The neighbor ran out probably (很可能) because_________.
| A．he knew his doorbell was being stolen |
| B．he thought someone was eager (渴望的) to visit him |
| C．He realized (意识到) something strange happened |
| D．Both B and C |
The neighbor hit the thief to ________.
| A．give him lessons | B．punish (惩罚) him for stealing |
| C．help him with the bell | D．be his teacher |
Which of the following is TRUE?
| A．The thief understood why he was hit on the nose. |
| B．The thief knew why the neighbor came out. |
| C．The thief thought the neighbor could not hear the bell. |
| D．The thief didn’t want to know why the neighbor ran out just at the time he stole the doorbell. |
Michael Jackson is one of the world’s best singers. Michael Jackson was born in the middle west of Gary, Indiana, in 1958. He began singing with his four brothers. They called the group “Jackson Five”. The group became very popular after appearing on a television progam. They started singing in 1965, became popular soon. In 1970 the group made their first record the name of “I Want You Back”. It was very popular. One of their hit records was “Never Say Goodbye”.
Michael was good at dancing as well as singing, for example, his dance moves and moon walking. He was asked to act in a film in 1978 for the first time, in the same year he made a record on his own, which sold eight million copies all over the world.
Michael nearly didn’t go out because he was too famous. Once his fans went off in a faint（晕倒） when they saw him at the concert. No one can do it by now. He lived in a large house and kept lots of animals. He never ate meat. He often raises money for charity. This made him win the Guinness World Records（吉尼斯世界纪录）in 2006. He died on June 25th, 2009, but he would live in our heart forever.What’s the name of their first record?
| A．“Never Say Goodbye” | B．“See You, See Me” |
| C．“I Want You Back” | D．“On the World” |
Michael was good at __________ according to the passage.
| A．rock music | B．street dance |
| C．playing the piano | D．moon walking |
Why did Mochael have to stay at home most of the time?
| A．Because he was too famous |
| B．Because he often felt lonely. |
| C．Because he had no friends |
| D．Because his company asked him to do so |