Michael was a farmer in Texas. His parents moved to the USA from Ireland in the 1940’s, and they became very rich. Michael decided to go back to Ireland to meet his old grandfather, who was still living on the same farm．
Michael booked his ticket，flew to Shannon airport，hired a car and drove to the small village where his parents had been born. He asked for directions to the Ohagan farm, and in the end he drove up a bumpy path. He was shocked by what he saw: a small field, and in the middle of it was an old house, which looked as if it was falling down. Animals were wandering in and out of the front door, and on the porch an old man was smoking a pipe.
“Are you Mr Ohagan?” asked Michael.
“Yes，”replied the old man．
“I'm your grandson，Michael,” said Michael．
“A—ha,” replied the old man．
“Is this your farm?” asked Michael．“Yes，all the way to the wall over there,” said the old man．
Michael was astonished. “Grandfather,” he said，“I have a farm in Texas．I can get into my car and drive all day and I still haven’t reached the end of the farm.”
“Yes,” said his grandfather. “I used to have a car like that.”Michael’s parents _______．
| A．still lived in Ireland alone |
| B．owned a small farm in Texas |
| C．returned to their birthplace |
| D．were Irish immigrants（移民）in America |
Which of the following shocked Michael?
| A．The farm was small |
| B．The old house looked like his own． |
| C．Living conditions were poor in the fields． |
| D．Animals were free in the fields． |
The old man _______．
| A．owned a small farm，which extended only to the wall not far away |
| B．had so large a farm that he couldn’t cover it in a day |
| C．hadn’t his modern car any longer |
| D．used to have as good a car as his grandson’s |
Which of the following is TRUE?
| A．Michael owned a large farm in Ireland. |
| B．Michael’s car was in such poor condition that it couldn’t reach the end of the farm within a day． |
| C．Michael’s farm was too large for a car to reach its end in a day． |
| D．Michael didn’t know what to say to his grandfather |
From “I used to have a car like that”, we can see that________．
| A．the old man really had a car like that |
| B．the old mall knew his son’s farm in the US was quite large |
| C．the old mall misunderstood what Michael said |
| D．the old man wanted to buy a car like that |
The common cold is the world's most widespread illness, which is a plague that man receives.
The most widespread mistake of all is that colds are caused by cold. They are not. They are caused by viruses passing on from person to person. You catch a cold by coming into contact directly or indirectly, with someone who already has one. If cold causes colds, it would be reasonable to expect the Eskimos to suffer from them forever. But they do not. And in isolated Arctic regions, explorers have reported being free from colds until coming into contract again with infected people from the outside world by way of packages and mail dropped from airplanes.
During the First World War, soldiers who spent long periods in the 
trenches, cold and wet, seldom caught colds.
In the Second World War, prisoners at Auschwitz concentration camp, naked and starved, were astonished to find that they seldom had colds.
At the Common Cold Research Unit in England, volunteers took part in experiments in which they gave themselves to the discomforts of being cold and wet for long stretches of time. After taking hot baths, they put on bathing suits, allowed themselves to be with cold water, and then stood about dripping wet in a room. Some wore wet socks all day while others exercised in the rain until close to exhaustion. Not one of the volunteers came down with a cold unless a cold virus was actually dropped in his nose.
If then, cold and wet have nothing to do with catching colds, why are they more frequent in winter? Despite the most hard research, no one has yet found out the answer. One explanation offered by scientists is that people tend to stay together indoors more in cold weather than at other times, and that makes it easier for cold viruses to be passed on.
No one has yet found a cure for the cold. There are drugs and pain-killers such as aspirin, but all that they do is to relieve the symptoms.The writer offered ___ examples to support his argument.
| A．4 | B．5 | C．6 | D．3 |
Arctic explorers may catch colds when___.
| A．they are working in the isolated Arctic regions |
| B．they are writing reports in terribly cold weather |
| C．they are free from work in the isolated Arctic regions |
| D．they are coming into touch again with the outside world |
Volunteers taking part in the experiments in the Common Cold Research Unit___.
| A．suffered a lot | B．never caught colds |
| C．often caught colds | D．became very strong |
The passage mainly discusses___.
| A．the experiments on the common cold |
| B．the fallacy about the common cold |
| C．the reason and the way people catch colds |
| D．the continued spread of common colds |
Dubai boasts(夸口) that it has just built a “new global landmark”---the Dubai Tower, which stands 512.1 meters high now and has just become the tallest building in the world.
The Dubai Tower now surpassesTaiwan’s Taipei 101, which is 508 meters tall, and has 141 storeys, more than any other building in the world.
The Dubai Tower, being built by South Korea’s Samsung Corporation and scheduled for completion next year, is one of a series of great projects taking shape in Dubai. The final projected height of the tower has remained a secret since the project was launched in January 2004; however, it is rumored that the tower will be more than 700 meters tall and have more than 160 storeys.
The Dubai Tower has become the tallest building in the world in just 1,276 days, leaving behind other tall buildings.
The Dubai Tower will house 30,000 apartments in addition to the world’s largest shopping mall. It is the centerpiece(重要工程) of the 20-billion-dollar venture. Another venture gradually emerging across the desert sands is Dubailand, a series of multi-billion-dollar projects claimed to be the Middle East’s very own Orlando. Dubai also paid 100 million dollars to buy the Queen Elizabeth II, one of the world’s superb cruise liners(游轮), which it plans to turn into a luxury floating hotel.
Faced with decreasing oil wealth, the Western-oriented emirate(酋长国) has raced to turn itself into a business and leisure hub and it aims to more than double the number of tourists to 15 million by 2015. The underlined word “surpasses” in the second paragraph means____.
| A．is equal to | B．matches | C．is left behind by | D．is higher than |
Which building was the tallest in the world before the Dubai Tower began to be built?
| A．Dubai land | B．Orlando | C．Taiwan’s Taipei 101 | D．The Twin Towers |
Why has the Western-oriented emirate paid more attention to becoming a business and leisure center?
| A．Because it wants to attract more tourists to its places of interest. |
| B．Because it produces less oil than ever. |
| C．Because it aims to race with other countries to show its wealth. |
| D．Because it wants to set a new world record. |
Which of the following statements about the Dubai Tower is TRUE according the passage ?
| A．The Dubai Tower is 508 meters tall and has more than 141 storeys. |
| B．The final height of the Dubai Tower is over 700 meters tall. |
| C．Samsung Corporation has completed building the Dubai Tower. |
| D．The Dubai Tower has apartments and a shopping mall. |
That year , in the local school, there was a new math teacher, as well as some new pupils. One of the new kids was the stupidest child anyone had ever seen. It made no difference how quickly or how slowly they tried explaining numbers to him; he would always end up saying something enormously stupid. Like two plus two was five, seven times three was twenty-seven, or a triangle had thirty corners……
Before this boy arrived, math lessons had been the most boring of all. Now they were great fun. Encouraged by the new teacher, the children would listen to the pieces of nonsense spouted by the new kid, and they would have to correct his mistakes.
Whenever the new teacher asked questions, the stupid kid would stand up but made the wrong answers, the other students all wanted to be the first to find his mistakes, and then think up the most original ways to explain them. To do this they used all kinds of stuff : sweets, playing cards, oranges, paper planes, etc. It didn’t seem like any of this bothered the new kid.
However, Little Lewis was sure that it was bound to make him feel sad inside. Lewis was sure he would see him crying. So, one day, he decided to follow the new kid home after school. On leaving school, the new kid walked a few minutes to a local park, and there he waited for a while, until someone came along to meet him……
It was the new teacher!
The teacher gave the new kid a hug, and off they went, hand in hand. Following from a distance, Lewis could hear they were talking about math.根据短文第二三段描述，可知这位新老师的工作很有创造性，故选A。
根据短文最后一段Following from a distance, Lewis could hear they were talking about math.描述，可知选B，这个所谓的最蠢的学生其实比其它学生知道的多。
根据Lewis was sure he would see him crying. So, one day, he decided to follow the new kid home after school.描述，可知选B。
联系上文To do this they used all kinds of stuff :可知选C。
The math lessons became interesting again because of the new teacher’s ___________.
| A．creativity | B．imagination | C．responsibility | D．curiosity |
The passage implies that the stupidest child____________________________.
| A．was in great need of math teacher’s help after class |
| B．knew much more about math than other classmates |
| C．had no much gift for math and was slow to learn it |
| D．disliked both the new math teacher and his lessons |
According to the passage, Lewis followed the stupidest in order to ______________.
| A．learn about where he lived | B．find out if he felt upset |
| C．say something to comfort him | D．make friends with him |
What does the underlined word “this” in the third paragraph refer to ?
| A．To find the stupidest kid’s mistakes. |
| B．To think up the most original ways to explain. |
| C．To use all kinds of stuff. |
| D．To follow him home after school. |
“I never expected that I would be so busy. Why can’t there be 25 hours in a day?” complained Liu Ran in Hong Kong as mid-term exams were going on.
The 18-year-old was Shandong Province’s top scorer in this year’s college entrance examination. After graduating from Tai’an No.1 High School, she chose the Chinese University of Hong Kong(香港中文大学) ， although both Peking University and Tsinghua University promised her a place.
“I want to experience a more international school and social life in Hong Kong. I’m majoring in journalism, so Hong Kong will surely help widen my horizons,” Liu said.
It is two months since Liu first set foot on Hong Kong. She missed home a lot at the beginning, because of the food and language problems.
“The canteen offers mostly Western or Guangdong food, but it’s convenient to cook for ourselves in our dorm if we like. People speak Cantonese and almost all classes are in English,” Liu explained.
Her English and Cantonese are now both improving, but she still needs more time to adapt to the new environment.
“I’m happy that I made the right decision to study here. With a mix of the Eastern and Western cultures, there is so much to discover and learn,” she said.
Liu has 18 credit hours(学分) of classes every week and 23 non-credit hours every other week. She has signed up for four associations including the Chinese Language Debating Team and the drama club. Essays, book reports and presentations also take plenty of time to prepare. And , of course, there are various parties to attend.
“I wasn’t a party animal before, but that may be interesting part of college. I sense myself changing,” Liu said.Liu Ran chose the Chinese University of Hong Kong, because___________.
| A．she couldn’t be admitted to Peking University |
| B．Hong Kong is a good place |
| C．she wants to be far from her homeland |
| D．the Chinese University of Hong Kong can widen her horizons |
According to the last paragraph, we can infer______________________________.
| A．now Liu Ran is an animal |
| B．Liu Ran hates the busy life in the Chinese University of Hong Kong |
| C．Liu Ran likes the food there |
| D．the busy and full life makes Liu Ran feel good |
Liu Ran had to overcome the difficulties in many aspects EXCEPT_______________.
| A．food | B．language | C．missing home | D．no friends |
The 16-year-old girl Jessica Watson is said to be the youngest person to sail non-stop alone around the world. But her record has been questioned because someone thought that she has not sailed far enough. She will also not be recognized by the World Speed Sailing Record Council, as it was too dangerous for someone under 18 years old.
Ms Watson sailed into Sydney port on Saturday, seven months after leaving on a hard voyage. Family, friends and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd have gathered to greet her. Thousands of well-wishers waited at the port and watched from boats as Ms Watson sailed her pink, 10m boat over the finishing line. Many more Australians watched the event broadcast live on television. Watson said she was just an “ordinary girl who believed in her dream”.
Ms Watson left Sydney on 18 October, despite that some people disagreed to her plan. Watson traveled northeast through the South Pacific and across the equator (赤道), south to Cape Horn at the tip of South America, across the Atlantic Ocean to South Africa, through the Indian Ocean and around southern Australia. The route took her through some of the world’s most changeful waters, and she battled through huge storms and suffered seven accidents of her boat.
People around the world have followed Ms Watson’s adventures on her blog, which she has daily updated (更新). On her blog, she wrote down beautiful sunrise over seas, the excitement of meeting a blue whale and the bright, terrible sight of a shooting star flying across the night sky above her boat. Ms Watson has reportedly sold her story to a news company for $700,000. She is planning to write a book on her experience. Which of the following oceans didn’t Ms Watson cross through in her voyage?
| A．The Pacific Ocean. | B．The Arctic Ocean. |
| C．The Indian Ocean. | D．The Atlantic Ocean. |
Ms Watson’s voyage will NOT be considered an official world record mainly because __________.
| A．no one can prove that her route was dangerous enough |
| B．she hasn’t applied for the record |
| C．teenagers are not encouraged to take such a dangerous adventure |
| D．girls are not allowed to take part in the dangerous sports |
We can make a conclusion from this passage that Watson __________.
| A．would make another voyage for money |
| B．made the world round voyage for money |
| C．had no way to communicate with others during the voyage. |
| D．is so confident and brave that she could overcome troubles on her own |
All the following can be inferred from this passage EXCEPT that __________.
| A．her book about her voyage is a best seller |
| B．people in Australia had much interest in her voyage |
| C．she spent more than 200 days alone at sea |
| D．people have different attitudes towards her voyage |