A
George had stolen some money, but the police had caught him and he had been put in prison. Now his trial was about to begin, and he felt sure that he would be found guilty and sent to prison for a long time.
Then he discovered that an old friend of his was one of the members of the jury at his trial. Of course, he did not tell anybody, but he managed to see his friend secretly one day. He said to him, "Jim, I know that the jury will find me guilty of having stolen the money. I cannot hope to be found not guilty of taking it —— that would be too much to expect. But I should be grateful to you for the rest of my life if you could persuade the other members of the jury to add a strong recommendation for mercy to their statement that they consider me guilty."
“Well, George,”answered Jim. “I shall certainly try to do what I can for you as an old friend, but of course I cannot promise anything. The other eleven people on the jury look terribly strong-minded to me.”
George said that he would quite understand if Jim was not able to do anything for him, and thanked him warmly for agreeing to help.
The trial went on, and at last the time came for the jury to decide whether George was guilty or not. It took them five hours, but in the end they found George guilty, with a strong recommendation for mercy.
Of course, George was very pleased, but he did not have a chance to see Jim for some time after the trial. At last, however, Jim visited him in prison, and George thanked him warmly and asked him how he had managed to persuade the other members of the jury to recommend mercy.
"Well, George," Jim answered, "as I thought, those eleven men were very difficult to persuade, but I managed it in the end by tiring them out. Do you know, those fools had all wanted to find you not guilty!"56. We are told that George expected Jim to help _____.
| A．prove him innocent | B．him turn over a new leaf |
| C．lighten his punishment | D．him escape from prison |
57. Which of the following is true about Jim?
| A．He covered up George's guilt. |
| B．He persuaded the jury to set George free. |
| C．He told the jury that George was indeed guilty. |
| D．He recommended severe punishment to give George a lesson. |
58. The passage suggests that _____.
| A．it was due to Jim that George was found guilty |
| B．Jim did not do exactly what George asked him to do |
| C．Jim asked his colleagues to recommend mercy |
| D．Jim persuaded the jury to lighten George's punishment |
59. The title for this passage is ______.
| A．Illegal or Not? | B．Guilty or Not? |
| C．Merciful or Not? | D．Answerable or Not? |
Edward Nino Hernandez is 24 years old. In many ways，he is a traditional Colombian (哥伦比亚的)man. He loves to dance, dreams of owning a fast car and wants to see the world. However, he has just been officially certified as the world's shortest living man by Guinness World Records with a height of 27 inches( ≈0. 7m).
Although he has cataracts (白内障)in both of his eyes that require an operation that the family can't afford, he said, “ I feel happy because I'm special. ” He also said he has a girlfriend. Nino works part time as a dancer. Recently, he has won a part in a new film, playing a drug thief. Nino said there are some disadvantages of being the world's smallest man. “It bothers me that people are always touching me and picking me up,"he said.
Nino's mother, Noemi Hernandez，has 5 children and Nino is the oldest. She said, “ He hasn't grown since he was 2 years old. ” She added that doctors could not explain why Nino was so small. She said Nino weighed just 3. 3 lb( 1. 5kg) when he was born and was just 15 inches long. Doctors at first wondered why he was so small and studied him until he was three years old, but then" lost interest" . She and her husband lost a daughter who was born similarly small in 1992. Their youngest child, Miguel Augel, 11, stands 37 inches tall. The other three boys are of normal height and appearance. Nino had to repeat several years of school before dropping out (退学)when he was about 13. His mother said he loves to travel, though he hasn't been outside Colombia.
The former smallest man in the world was He Pingping of China ，who was 1. 5 inches taller than Nino and recognized by Guinness as the shortest man. He died in March. The underlined word" certified" in the first paragraph may mean
“__________”
| A．recognized |
| B．ignored |
| C．set |
| D．won |
Nino feels annoyed in his daily life because __________.
| A．he finds it difficult to talk with others |
| B．he is not high enough to carry heavy things |
| C．he is often made fun of by other people |
| D．nobody wants to pick him up |
What was the height of He Pingping?
| A．27 inches. |
| B．37 inches. |
| C．28. 5 inches. |
| D．38. 5 inches. |
From the text we can know __________.
| A．why Nino is so short |
| B．all Nino's family are very short |
| C．Nino didn't grow after the age of 2 |
| D．Nino finished school at the age of 12 |
Many people are upset when their flight is delayed. Not only do they have to change their schedule but, even worse, they have to wait in an airport! There's no need to be upset, though. Airports are much better places these days than most people think. Look at the following realities, and you may change your mind.
Belief 1 ： Airport food is bad—as bad as airplane food.
Reality ： Airports have fine international food and you can buy something to have for later—for example, cheese and seafood in Paris.
Belief 2 ：Shopping in airports is great，that is，if you need a T-shirt.Reality ： In Amsterdam，you can buy anything. In El Paso，Texas, you can buy old-fashioned knives or special art. The art is so interesting that some people fly to El Paso just to visit the airport gallery (画廊). And Singapore's airports are known for some of the best shopping in the world.
Belief 3 ： Airports make people uncomfortable and tense.
Reality ： The airport at Honolulu has peaceful gardens. Pittsburgh has a meditation (沉思)room ： when you walk in, you can hear relaxing music and see pictures of clouds painted on the walls. If you prefer exercise, hotels at the airports in Los Angeles, Dallas，and many other cities have fitness centers (健身中心)that anyone can use.
So, the next time you're waiting in an airport, have some fun!According to the passage, in which airport can you buy an interesting painting?
| A．El Paso. |
| B．Amsterdam. |
| C．Singapore. |
| D．Los Angeles. |
What can we know about the airport at Honolulu?
| A．Its food is world-famous. |
| B．It is known for its art gallery. |
| C．It has peaceful gardens for passengers to relax in. |
| D．Its fitness center is open to all passengers for free. |
Which of the following opinions does the author agree with?
| A．Airplane food is free of charge and delicious. |
| B．Things in airports are too expensive to buy. |
| C．It can be comfortable and relaxing in airports. |
| D．Airports are not so good as most people think. |
What does the underlined sentence means?
| A．You can buy anything in airports. |
| B．Airport shops sell great T-shirts. |
| C．Everything for sale in airports is great. |
| D．There is no T-shirt for sale in airports. |
Last December, I performed 30 shows in 11 days. I knew it would be a tiring tour before I set off, but I just wanted to be there to support our men and women.
From the minute I walked onstage the afternoon I arrived at the army, the soldiers were cheering， singing along at the top of their voices. I had done hundreds of concerts, but it was my first time to perform for troops. Looking at the smiling faces of these soldiers—some of them only teenagers—I felt great joy moving through me. They were the loveliest fans I had ever met. Then，from out of nowhere , words came into my head. “I want to play you something new. ”a song just came in my head minutes ago. It's called Here With Me, ” I told them. Cheers rang out. As I sang, I could see the tears in some of the soldiers' eyes. I finished to thunderous applause.
At the autograph (亲笔签名)part afterward，one of the soldiers took out a picture of a high school student. “This is my girl. You know, I miss her so much,”he said. “That new song you sang meant so much to me. Those were the words I've always wanted to tell her. ”
I realized that the song wasn't about me and that it was, in fact，a gift for these men and women. I played it in every concert after that, always with the same unbelievable reaction.
On the long plane ride home I kept thinking about the soldiers I'd met. They risked their lives every day to defend our country, yet they were grateful for a simple concert. I decided to record the new song to thank our men and women in uniform (制服). Which of the following words can best take the place of the word "troops"in the second paragraph?
| A．Officials. |
| B．Teenagers. |
| C．Soldiers. |
| D．Students. |
When the author performed on the stage, he felt __________.
| A．pleased |
| B．nervous |
| C．confident |
| D．worried |
What might be the topic of the new song?
| A．The tiring army life. |
| B．The danger of being a soldier. |
| C．The excitement of going to a concert. |
| D．The family one misses. |
They baby is just one day old and has not yet left hospital. She is quiet but alert (警觉)。Twenty centimeters from her face researchers have placed a white card with two black spots On it.She stares at it carefully . A researcher removes the card and replaces it by another, this time with the spots differently spaced. As the cards change from one to the other,her gaze(凝视) starts to lose its focus - until a third, with three black spots, is presented. Her gaze returns；she looks at it for twice as long as she did at the previous card. Can she tell that the number two is different from three, just 24 hours after coming into the world?
Or do newborns simply prefer more to fewer? The same experiment,but with three spots shown before two, shows the same return of interest when the number of spots changes.Perhaps it is just the newness? When slightly older babies were shown cards with pictures of objects(a comb,a key,an orange and so on),changing the number of objects had an effect separate from changing the objects themselves.Could it be the pattern that two things make,as opposed to three? No again.Babies paid more attention to squares moving randomly on a screen when their number changed from two to three, or three to two. The effect even crosses between senses.Babies who were repeatedly shown two spots became more excited when they then heard three drumbeats than when they heard just two;likewist(同样地) when the researchers started with drumbeats and moved to spots.The experiment described in Paragraph 1 is related to the baby’s__.
| A．sense of hearing. | B．sense of sight. |
| C．sense of touch. | D．sense of smell. |
Babies are sensitive to the change in______.
| A．the size of cards. | B．the colour of pictures. |
| C．the shape of patterns. | D．the number of objects. |
Why did the researchers test the babies with drumbeats?
| A．To reduce the difficulty of the experiment. |
| B．To see how babies recognize sounds. |
| C．To carry their experiment further. |
| D．To keep the babies’ interest. |
Where does this text probably come from?
| A．Science fiction. | B．Children’s literature. |
| C．An advertisement. | D．A science report. |
In 1978, I was 18 and was working as a nurse in a small town about 270 km away from Sydney, Australia. I was looking forward to having five fays off from duty. Unfortunately, the only one train a day back to my home in Sydney had already left. So I thought I’d hitch a ride (搭便车).
I waited by the side of the highway for three hours but no one stopped for me. Finally, a man walked over and introduced himself as Gordon. He said that although he couldn’t give me a lift, I should come back to his house for lunch. He noticed me standing for hours in the November heat and thought I must be hungry. I was doubtful as a young girl but he assured （使…放心）me I was safe, and he also offered to help me find a lift home afterwards. When we arrived at his house, he made us sandwiches.
Twenty-five years later, in 2003, while I was driving to a nearby town one day, I saw an elderly man standing in the glaring heat, trying to hitch a ride. I thought it was another chance to repay someone for the favour I’d been given decades earlier. I pulled over and picked him up. I made him comfortable on the back seat and offered him some water.
After a few moments of small talk, the man said to me, “You haven’t changed a bit, even your red hair is still the same.” I couldn’t remember where I’d met him. He then told me he was the man who had given me lunch and helped me find a lift all those years ago. It was Gordon.The author had to hitch a ride one day in 1978 because.
| A．her work delayed her trip to Sydney |
| B．she was going home for her holidays |
| C．the town was far away from Sydney |
| D．she missed the only train back home |
Which of the following did Gordon do according to Paragraph 2?
| A．He helped the girl find a ride. |
| B．He gave the girl a ride back home. |
| C．He bought sandwiches for the girl. |
| D．He watched the girl for three hours. |
The reason why the author offered a lift to the elderly man was that .
| A．she realized he was Gordon |
| B．she had known him for decades |
| C．she was going to the nearby town |
| D．she wanted to repay the favour she once got |
What does the author want to tell the readers through the story?
| A．Giving sometimes produces nice results. |
| B．Those who give rides will be rapid. |
| C．Good manners bring about happiness. |
| D．People should offer free rides to others |