A traveler lost his way and got off the highway to see where he was. As he drove by, he saw rows and rows of pigpens and pigs running in fields. Suddenly, his eyes caught something really strange. It looked like a pig with a wooden leg.
He drove up into the arm, where he met the farmer. “ Excuse me, ” the traveler said. “ I was just driving by and looking at all your pigs, and I just had to stop and ask about it. Tell me, is there really a pig out there with a wooden leg?” The farmer smiled. “ Oh, that would be old Caesar you saw. He’s the finest pig I’ve ever had ---and smart! Well, let me tell you a little about that pig.”
“ One night a couple of years ago I got to drinking and I guess I had more than I should have. I fell down and knocked over a lamp. That started a fire in the house and old Caesar smelled the smoke. He came in the back door, got the wife and kid out, roused me up and got me out. There is no question about it ---- that night old Caesar saved all our lives. You know that I’m not going to forget it too easily.”
“ Why,” the traveler said, “ this is amazing! I have never heard of a pig like this before! This is fantastic! But tell me, how did he get that wooden leg?”
The farmer laughed and said, “ Well, when you have a pig so smart, you don’t want to eat him all at one time!”The farmer thought the pig _______.
| A．very fat | B．very clever | C．very kind | D．very strange |
The passage indicates that _______.
| A．the pig lost a leg in the fire |
| B．the farmer deeply thanked the pig |
| C．the pig had a very good keeper |
| D．the real leg had been eaten by the farmer |
The author wants to _______.
| A．report a piece of news |
| B．tell us a moving story |
| C．tell us a humorous story |
| D．have a joke with us |
Kept inside on a rainy day? Take the kids to your closest children’s museum, where they can learn about their world while having a fantastic time.
| Please Touch Museum It can make your children’s life rich and colorful by offering play and hands-on（亲身实践）programs… Address ² 4231 Avenue of the Republic, Philadelphia Hours & Admission  ² Tuesday—Sunday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.² CLOSED: Mondays ² Under the age of 2: FREE ² Children and adults: $15 each For more information, visit www.pleasetouchmuseum.org |
Madison Children’s Museum In this green museum, kids can get hands-on learning about nature… Address ² 100 N. Hamilton Street, Madison, WI 53703 Hours & Admission  ² Tuesday—Sunday: 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.² CLOSED: Mondays ² Under the age of 1: FREE ² Children and adults: $12 each For more information, visit www.madisonchmuseum.org |
| National Museum of Play It is an exciting, hands-on place to play, learn, dream, wonder, and… Address ² Manhattan Square, Rochester, New York Hours & Admission ² Monday—Thursday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. ² Friday & Saturday: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. ² Sunday: Noon to 5 p.m. ² Under the age of 2: FREE ² Children and adults: $15 each  For more information, visit www.childrensmuseums.org |
Children’s Museum of Phoenix It is a fantastic place of imagination, creativity and fun with over 300 hands-on activities and many kinds of classes and programs… Address ² 215 N. 7th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85034 Hours & Admission ² Tuesday—Sunday: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.  ² CLOSED: Mondays² Under the age of 1: FREE ² Children and adults: $18 each For more information, visit www.childmusephx.org |
Which museum opens on Monday afternoon?
| A．Please Touch Museum. |
| B．Madison Children’s Museum. |
| C．National Museum of Play. |
| D．Children’s Museum of Phoenix. |
If Mr. Moor takes his one-year-old son to Please Touch Museum, they will pay .
| A．$12 | B．$15 | C．$18 | D．$30 |
If Adam would like his children to learn more about nature, he can go to for more information.
| A．www.childrensmuseums.org |
| B．www.childmusephx.org |
| C．www.pleasetouchmuseum.org |
| D．www.madisonchmuseum.org |
Which of the following about the four museums is TRUE?
| A．They all offer children hands-on activities. |
| B．They are all open on weekdays. |
| C．They are all closed after 5 in the afternoon. |
| D．They are all in the city of Phoenix. |
Where does the text probably come from?
| A．A science textbook. | B．A news report. |
| C．A museum guide. | D．A tourist map. |
Many centuries ago, birthdays were considered a time when the bad spirits were able to harm you. It was believed that you should have your friends and family around you so that their good wishes and present-giving would keep the bad spirits away. People also believed that, by lighting candles, they were sending a signal or wishes to the gods.
Later on, candles started to be used on birthday cakes. One story about the beginnings of the birthday cake is that it started with the Greeks, who made round cakes standing for the full moon for their moon goddess（女神）. They also placed candles on the cake to make it light, again like the moon.
However, the Germans are said to have first used cakes and candles. They used a sweet cake and they put a large candle in the centre of the cake to mean “the light of life”.
The “Happy Birthday” song is more than a hundred years old. The music was written in 1893 by two sisters, Patty and Mildred Hill, who were schoolteachers in Louisville, Kentucky. The music was first used as a morning greeting to their students with the title, “Good Morning To All”. In 1935, the words legally belonged to the Hill sisters, and the copyright（版权）has been bought and sold for millions of dollars ever since. The present copyright is owned by Warner Communications. They bought it in 1989 for more than $22 million. The text mainly talks about .
| A．the ways of making cakes |
| B．the customs of lighting candles |
| C．the beginnings of birthdays |
| D．the history of the birthday song |
People celebrated birthdays many centuries ago to .
| A．have a great dinner |
| B．get birthday presents |
| C．light birthday candles |
| D．keep the bad spirits away |
Why did the Greeks put candles on the cake?
| A．To light up the dark room. |
| B．To make the cake beautiful. |
| C．To see where the cake was. |
| D．To make it look like the moon. |
When was the music written?
| A．In 1893. | B．In 1913. |
| C．In 1935. | D．In 1989. |
Who is the present owner of the song “Happy Birthday”?
| A．Patty and Mildred Hill. |
| B．Warner Communications. |
| C．A Greek cake company. |
| D．A German schoolteacher. |
Medical scientists are already putting computer chips（芯片）directly into the brain to help people who have Parkinson’s disease, but in what other ways might computer technology be able to help us? Ray Kurzweil is the author of the successful book The Age Of Intelligent Machines. He is also one of the world’s best computer research scientists. He is researching the possibilities.
Kurzweil gets computers to recognize voices. An example of this is Ramona, the virtual hostess of Kurzweil’s website, created by the computer, who is able to understand what you say. Visitors to the website can have their own conversations with her. Ramona also dances and sings.
Kurzweil uses this technology to help people with physical problems. One of his ideas is a “seeing machine”. This will be “like a friend that could describe what is going on around,” he explains. Blind people will use a sensor（传感器）which will probably be built into a pair of sunglasses. This machine will describe to the person everything it sees.
Another idea, which is likely to help deaf people, is the “listening machine”. This invention will recognize millions of words and understand any speaker. The listening machine will also be able to translate what it hears into other languages, so even people without hearing problems are likely to be interested in using it.
But it is not just about helping people with physical problems. Looking further into future, Kurzweil sees a time when we will be able to store what we hear, see and think in a computer. This technology probably won’t be ready for at least 50 years, but when it arrives, it means our minds will be able to live forever.Ray Kurzweil is .
| A．a famous medical scientist |
| B．a computer research scientist |
| C．a patient with Parkinson’s |
| D．an inventor of computer chips |
What can Ramona do?
| A．She can talk with her visitors. |
| B．She can treat brain diseases. |
| C．She can help deaf people listen. |
| D．She can teach people to sing. |
How can the “seeing machine” help blind people?
| A．It can help to treat their eyes. |
| B．It can translate into other languages. |
| C．It can help them to see the future. |
| D．It can describe to them what it sees. |
The word “virtual” in Paragraph 2 probably means .
| A．虚拟的 | B．友好的 | C．漂亮的 | D．忙碌的 |
What can be the best title for the text?
| A．The Seeing Machines |
| B．The Listening Machines |
| C．The Intelligent Machines |
| D．The Translating Machines |
An 18-year-old student was struggling to pay his fees. Not knowing where to get the money, he and a friend decided to host a musical concert to raise money for their education.
They went to the great pianist Paderewski. His manager demanded $2,000 for the piano recital（独奏会）. A deal was made and the boys began to work to make the concert a success.
The big day arrived. But unfortunately, they hadn’t managed to sell enough tickets. The total collection was only $1,600. Disappointed, they went to Paderewski and gave him the entire $1,600, and promised to pay him the rest $400 back as soon as possible. “No,” said Paderewski. “Keep the money you need for your fees. And just give me whatever is left.” The boys were surprised, and very thankful.
Paderewski later became the Prime Minister of Poland, and he was a great leader. When the World War broke out, more than l.5 million people went hungry, but there was no food to feed them. Paderewski turned to the US Food and Relief Administration for help.
The head there was a man called Herbert Hoover — who later became the US President. Hoover agreed to help and quickly shipped tons of food to Poland.
Paderewski decided to go across to thank Hoover himself. When Paderewski began to thank Hoover for his kindness, Hoover quickly stopped him and said, “You shouldn’t be thanking me, Mr. Prime Minister. You may not remember this, but several years ago, you helped two young students go through college. I was one of them.”Why did the two students decide to raise money?
| A．To help people in Poland. |
| B．To buy the concert tickets. |
| C．To pay for their education. |
| D．To hold a musical concert. |
How much money did the two students raise?
| A．$400. | B．$1,200. | C．$1,600. | D．$2,000. |
What did the two students think of the pianist?
| A．Greedy. | B．Humorous. | C．Shy. | D．Helpful. |
What can we learn about Herbert Hoover?
| A．He was one of the American presidents. |
| B．He didn’t finish his college education. |
| C．He was very rich when he was young. |
| D．He was one of Paderewski’s students. |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．Great minds think alike. |
| B．Kindness brings its own rewards. |
| C．Honesty is the best policy. |
| D．Where there’s a will, there’s a way. |
San Francisco(People's Daily Online)-- Apple Inc. Tuesday introduced its mobile payment service Apple Pay alongside the company's iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch at the Flint Center in Cupertino, California.
What apple does is to replace consumers' wallet with its cell phone. Apple said it hopes to speed up the checkout process, make credit-card payments more secure and ultimately, to replace physical wallets.
With the near-field communication technology, Apple's gadgets like iPhone and Apple watch can transmit a radio signal between the device and a receiver when the two are in an inch apart. "To pay, just hold your iPhone near the contactless reader with your finger on Touch ID. You don’t even have to look at the screen to know your payment information was successfully sent," Apple says on its official website.
Apple said that each transaction (交易)would be authorized(授权) with a one-time, unique number, creating a security code that it said is more secure than the one on the back of your credit card because cashiers won’t see your name, card number or security code. The service will work with the three major payment networks — American Express, MasterCard and Visa — and Apple said that there are 220,000 merchant locations that accept these contactless payments.
When some applaud this disrupted service that will compete with Paypal and endanger other online payment companies, some others concern about its safety, especially when another retailer Home Depot confirmed a data opening yesterday and iCloud was reported exposing nude (裸体)pictures of celebrities (名人) a week ago.
Leo Zheng, a technology reporter in Silicon Valley said: "When Apple attracts consumers to put all their cards into one iPhone and promised the security, Jennifer Lawrence should say something."Which can be the best title for the passage?
| A．Apple announces mobile payment service to replace consumers' wallet. |
| B．Consumers can pay in cash through mobile phones. |
| C．Apple Inc. will introduce new models to the market. |
| D．Mobile payment will be popular soon. |
After reading the third paragraph, we know .
| A．Apple’s new products are popular |
| B．Apple can be used as an ID |
| C．Apple's gadgets can receive message easily |
| D．how Apple's gadgets work |
The attitude of the writer towards the mobile payment is .
| A．indifferent (冷漠的) | B．objective |
| C．skeptical | D．positive |
What could have happened to Jennifer Lawrence?
| A．She made great contributions to Apple. |
| B．She put all her cards into her iPhone. |
| C．Her nude pictures were spread online. |
| D．Her iPhone often broke down. |