I was very disappointed not to be able to go to the jazz concert last Friday. The announcement in the paper said that you could buy tickets at the theatre box office in Richland Hills any day between 10:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Since I work from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., the only time I could go to the theatre was during my 45-minute lunch break. Unluckily, the theatre is on the other side of the town, and the bus service between my office and Richland Hills is not very good. But if you are lucky, you can make the round trip in 45 minutes. Last Monday, I stood at the bus stop for 15 minutes waiting for a bus. By the time I saw one come around the corner, there was not enough time left to make the trip. So I gave up and went back to the office.
The same thing happened on Tuesday, and again on Wednesday. On Thursday, my luck changed. I got on a bus right away and arrived at the theatre in exactly 20 minutes. When I got there, however, I found a long line of people at the box office. I heard one man say he had been waiting in line for over an hour. Realizing I would not have enough time to wait in line, I caught the next bus and went back across the town. By Friday, I realized that my only hope was to make the trip by taxi. It was expensive, but I felt it would be worth to hear the concert. The trip by taxi only took 10 minutes, but it felt like an hour to me. When I got to the theatre, I was relieved to see that nobody was waiting in line. The reason, I quickly discovered, was that they had already sold out all the tickets.The writer could go and buy the ticket __________.
| A．any day before work hours |
| B．both before and after work hours |
| C．only during lunch time |
| D．on Saturday and Sunday |
The writer tried to go to the theatre every day, but was only successful______.
| A．twice | B．three times |
| C．four times | D．five times |
He failed to get the ticket on Friday because _________.
| A．it was impossible to make the round trip to the theatre in 45 minutes |
| B．the concert wasn’t on Friday |
| C．it was expensive to take a taxi |
| D．all the tickets had been sold out |
The word "______" can be used instead of the underlined(划线的)word "relieved".
| A．nervous | B．terrified | C．pleased | D．sad |
Look at this mail-order advertisement:
| SUNSHINE COMPANY Products for a Safe Environment |
|||
A2477—l You're going to love this natural soap.There are no chemicals in it.It is very good for your hands and face. |
D4545—GARDEN SPRAY Insects are going to run away from our new chiligarlic spray.It's safe and natural. |
||
| B2377—HOME CLEANERYou're not going to need 5 or 6 chemical cleaners.You have Dr Clean!It is safe and strong,and it cleans everything in your house! |
A2104—CANVAS BAG You're going to say,“No paper or plastic!”You have this excellent heavy canvas shopping bag. |
||
 |
item |
code |
price |
| Natural ampoo |
T6762 |
$3.00 |
|
| garden spray |
D4545 |
$2.50 |
|
| canvas bag |
A2104 |
$4.00 |
|
| hand soap |
A2477 |
$1.00 |
|
| home cleaner |
B2377 |
$2.25 |
|
| Postage:$3.50 |
Dr Clean is _________.
| A．an expert in cleaning everything | B．a newly-invented machine |
| C．a can of cleaning powder | D．a magic cloth for cleaning |
According to the ad,where can you mail your letter if you want something to kill the ants?
| A．D4545 Garden Spray. | B．Sunshine Company. |
| C．A2104 Canvas Bag. | D．The Dr Clean's. |
You're going to love the natural soap,because _________.
| A．it is cheap | B．it smells sweet |
| C．there are no chemicals | D．it is powerful |
According to the ad,how much do you have to pay for 3 shampoos and 2 canvas bags totally?
| A．＄12.25. | B．＄20.50. | C．＄13.50. | D．＄17. |
Shundagarh is a village on India's east-facing coast.It is a village of simple mud and grass houses built on the beach just above the waterline.The Khadra Hills rise immediately behind the village,to a height of one hundred and fifty meters.A simple,good-hearted old man,whose name was Jalpur,farmed two small fields on the very edge of these hills.From his fields he could see the fishing boats that travelled up and down the coast.He could see the children playing on the sands;their mothers washing clothes on the flat stones where the Shiva River flowed into the sea;and their fathers landing the latest catch or repairing nets and telling stories that had no end.
All Jalpur owned in the world were the clothes he wore day in and day out,the miserable hut(小屋) that he slept in at night,a few tools and cooking pots—and his fields.The corn that he grew was all that made life possible.If the weather was kind and the harvest was good,Jalpur could live happily enough—not well,but happily.When the sun was fierce,and there was little or no rain,then he came close to the line between life and death.
Last year the weather had been so kind,and the harvest promised to be so good,that Jalpur had been wondering whether he could sell all that he had and live with his son farther up the coast.He had been thinking about doing this for some years.It was his dearest wish to spend his last days with his son and his wife.But he would go only if he could give;he would not go if it meant taking food out of the mouths of his grandchildren.He would rather die hungry than do this.
On the day when Jalpur decided that he would harvest his corn,sell it,and move up the coast,he looked out to sea and saw a huge wave,several kilometers out,advancing on the coast and on the village of Shundagarh.Within ten minutes everyone in Shundagarh would be drowned.Jalpur would have shouted,but the people were too far away to hear.He would have run down the hill,but he was too old to run.He was prepared to do anything to save the people of Shundagarh,so he did the only thing that he could do: he set fire to his corn.In a matter of seconds the flames were rising high and smoke was rising higher.Within a minute the people of Shundagarh were racing up the hill to see what had happened.There,in the middle of his blackened cornfield,they found Jalpur;and there they buried him.
On his grave,they wrote the words: Here lies Jalpur,a man who gave,living: a man who died,giving.Which of the following could Jalpur NOT see from his Fields?
| A．Mothers washing clothes. |
| B．Fathers taking their corn to market. |
| C．Fishing boats traveling on the sea. |
| D．Children playing on the sands. |
Why didn't Jalpur live well?
| A．He didn't work hard. |
| B．He had too many children to feed. |
| C．He only depended on good weather and harvest for survival. |
| D．The villagers kept taking his corn. |
Jalpur's dearest wish was to _________.
| A．move away from his son |
| B．take a vacation up the coast |
| C．make a great deal of money in order to live an easy life |
| D．spend his last days with his son and his wife |
What did Jalpur do when he saw the huge wave?
| A．He set his corn on fire so the people of Shundagarh would leave the beach. |
| B．He screamed loudly to get the villagers' attention. |
| C．He ran down the hill to tell the people. |
| D．He stood still,not knowing what to do. |
Early one morning,more than a hundred years ago,an American inventor called Elias Howe finally fell asleep.He had been working all night on the design of a sewing machine but he had run into a very difficult problem: It seemed impossible to get the thread to run smoothly around the needle.
Though he was tired,Howe slept badly.He turned and turned.Then he had a dream.He dreamt that he had been caught by terrible savages whose king wanted to kill him and eat him unless he could build a perfect sewing machine.When he tried to do so,Howe ran into the same problem as before.The thread kept getting caught around the needle.The king flew into the cage and ordered his soldiers to kill Howe.They came up towards him with their spears raised.But suddenly the inventor noticed something.There was a hole in the tip of each spear.The inventor awoke from the dream,realizing that he had just found the answer to the problem.Instead of trying to get the thread to run around the needle,he should make it run through a small hole in the center of the needle.This was the simple idea that finally made Howe design and build the first really practical sewing machine.
Elias Howe was not the only one in finding the answer to his problem in this way.Thomas Edison,the inventor of the electric light,said his best ideas came into him in dreams.So did the great physicist Albert Einstein.Charlotte Bronte also drew in her dreams in writing Jane Eyre.
To know the value of dreams,you have to understand what happens when you are asleep.Even then,a part of your mind is still working.This unconscious(无意识的),but still active part understands your experiences and goes to work on the problems you have had during the day.It stores all sorts of information that you may have forgotten or never have really noticed.It is only when you fall asleep that this part of the brain can send messages to the part you use when you are awake.However,the unconscious part acts in a special way.It uses strange images which the conscious part may not understand at first.This is why dreams are sometimes called “secret messages to ourselves ”.According to the passage,Elias Howe was_________.
| A．the first person we know of who solved problems in his sleep |
| B．much more hard-working than other inventors |
| C．the first person to design a sewing machine that really worked |
| D．the only person at the time who knew the value of dreams |
The problem Howe was trying to solve was_________.
| A．what kind of thread to use |
| B．how to design a needle which would not break |
| C．where to put the needle |
| D．how to prevent the thread from getting caught around the needle |
Thomas Edison is spoken of because_________.
| A．he also tried to invent a sewing machine |
| B．he got some of his ideas from dreams |
| C．he was one of Howe's best friends |
| D．he also had difficulty in falling asleep |
Dreams are sometimes called “secret messages to ourselves” because _________.
| A．strange images are used to communicate ideas |
| B．images which have no meaning are used |
| C．we can never understand the real meaning |
| D．only specially trained people can understand them |
We know that many animals do not stay in one place.Birds,fish and other animals move from one place to another at a certain time.They move for different reasons:most of them move to find food more easily,but others move to get away from places that are too crowded.
When cold weather comes,many birds move to warmer places to find food.Some fishes give birth in warm water and move to cold water to feed.The most famous migration（迁移）is probably the migration of fish,which is called “Salmon”.This fish is born in fresh water but it travels many miles to salt water.There it spends its life.When it is old,it returns to its birthplace in fresh water.Then it gives birth and dies there.In northern Europe,there is a kind of mouse.They leave their mountain homes when they become too crowded.They move down to the low land.Sometimes they move all the way to the seaside,and many of them are killed when they fall into the sea.
Recently,scientists have studied the migration of a kind of lobster（龙虾）.Every year,when the season of bad weather arrives,the lobsters get into a long time and start to walk across the floor of the ocean.Nobody knows why they do this,and nobody knows where they go.
So,sometimes we know why humans and animals move from one place to another,but at other times we don’t.Maybe living things just like to travel.Most animals move from one place to another at a certain time to _________.
| A．give birth | B．enjoy warmer water |
| C．find food more easily | D．find beautiful places |
The mice in northern Europe move when _________.
| A．they give birth | B．the weather is bad |
| C．the place gets too crowded | D．they haven’t enough food |
The lobsters move _________.
| A．to the fresh water | B．to the deeper sea |
| C．at a certain time | D．to find more food |
Watch a baby between six and nine months old,and you will observe the basic idea of geometry（几何学）being learned.Once the baby has mastered the idea that space is three dimensional（空间的）,it reaches out and begins grasping various things,that the ideas of sets and numbers are formed.So far,so good.But now an ominous development takes place.The nerver fibers in the brain separate themselves in such a way that the baby begins to hear sounds very exactly.Soon it picks up language.And it is then brought into direct communication with grown-ups.From this point on,it is usually downhill all the way for mathematics,because the child now becomes exposed to all the rubbish words and beliefs of the born.Nature,having done very well by the child to this point,having permitted it the luxury（奢侈）of thinking for itself for eighteen months,now gives it up to the unreasonable conventions（惯例）and beliefs of society.But at least the child knows something of geometry and peaceful days,no matter what vicissitudes（兴衰变迁）it may suffer later on.The main reservoir of mathematical ability in any society is thus possessed by children who are about two years old,children who have just learned to speak freely.What does the passage mainly discuss?
| A．The impact（影响）of language on mathematics. |
| B．Children’s ability to learn languages. |
| C．How basic ideas of physics are learned? |
| D．Maths-learning strategies（策略）for babies. |
According to the passage,which of the following activities would teach a baby about geometry?
| A．Picking up a wooden block. | B．Recognizing the number 2. |
| C．Saying a rubbish word. | D．Looking at a distant word. |
Which of the following conclusions is true according to the writer?
| A．The language ideas used in early education interrupt mathematical reasoning. |
| B．It is hopeless to try to teach children mathematics after the age of two. |
| C．Language teaching should join some mathematical formulas（公式）. |
| D．Preschool education should emphasize society’s beliefs and conventions. |