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 practiced 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 |
When I told my father that I was moving to Des Moines, Iowa, he told me about the only time he had been there. It was in the 1930s, when he was an editor of the literary magazine of Southern Methodist University（SMU）in Dallas, Texas. He also worked as a professor at SMU, and there was a girl student in his class who suffered from a serious back disease. She couldn’t afford the operation because her family was poor.
Her mother ran a boardinghouse in Galveston, a seaside town near Houston, Texas. She was cleaning out the attic（阁楼）one day when she came across an old dusty manuscript（手稿）. On its top page were the words, “By O. Henry”. It was a nice story, and she sent it to her daughter at SMU, who showed it to my father. My father had never read the story before, but it sounded like O. Henry, and he knew that O. Henry had once lived in Houston. So it was possible that the famous author had gone to the beach and stayed in the Galveston boardinghouse, and had written the story there and left the manuscript behind by accident. My father visited an O. Henry expert at Columbia University in New York, who authenticated the story as O. Henry’s.
My father then set out to sell it. Eventually, he found himself in Des Moines, meeting with Gardner Cowles, a top editor at the Des Moines Register. Cowles loves the story and bought it on the spot. My father took the money to the girl. It was just enough for her to have the operation she so desperately needed.
My father never told me what the O. Henry story was about. But I doubt that it could have been better than his own story.Who found the O. Henry’s manuscript?
| A．The author. | B．The author’s father. |
| C．The girl. | D．The girl’s mother |
Which of the following might explain the fact that the manuscript was found in the attic?
| A．O. Henry once worked in Houston. |
| B．O. Henry once stayed in Galveston. |
| C．O. Henry once moved to Des Moines. |
| D．O. Henry once taught at SMU. |
The underlined word “authenticated” in Paragraph 2 probably means __________.
| A．named | B．treated |
| C．proved | D．described |
According to the text, why did the author’s father go to Des Moines?
| A．To meet the author himself. |
| B．To sell the O. Henry story. |
| C．To talk with the O. Henry expert. |
| D．To give money to the girl. |
Arriving in Sydney on his own from India, my husband, Rashid, stayed in a hotel for a short time while looking for a house for me and our children.
During the first week of his stay, he went out one day to do some shopping. He came back in the late afternoon to discover that his suitcase was gone. He was extremely worried as the suitcase had all his important papers, including his passport.
He reported the case to the police and then sat there, lost and lonely in a strange city, thinking of the terrible troubles of getting all the paperwork organized again from a distant country while trying to settle down in a new one.
Late in the evening, the phone rang. It was a stranger. He was trying to pronounce my husband’s name and was asking him a lot of questions. Then he said they had found a pile of papers in their trash can（垃圾桶）that had been left out on the footpath.
My husband rushed to their home to find a kind family holding all his papers and documents（文件）. Their young daughter had gone to the trash can and found a pile of unfamiliar papers. Her parents had carefully sorted them out, although they had found mainly foreign addresses on most of the documents. At last they had seen a half-written letter in the pile in which my husband had given his new telephone number to a friend.
That family not only restored the important documents to us that day but also restored our faith and trust in people. We still remember their kindness and often send a warm wish their way. What did Rashid plan to do after his arrival in Sydney?
| A．Go shopping | B．Take his family |
| C．Join his family | D．Find a house |
The girl’s parents got Rashid’s phone number from_______.
| A．a friend of his family | B．a Sydney policeman |
| C．a letter in his papers | D．a stranger in Sydney |
.What does the underlined word “restored” in the last paragraph mean?
| A．Showed | B．Gave back |
| C．Delivered | D．Sent out |
Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
| A．Turning Trash to Treasure.. | B．Living in a New Country. |
| C．From India to Australia | D．In Search of New Friends. |
Mr. Brown was going away for a week. Before he left, he said to his son, "if anyone asks for me, you can tell him that your father has been out for doing something, and will be back in a week, then be sure to ask him to sit down for a cup of tea." "OK, Dad," said his son. But he was afraid his son couldn't remember this, he wrote these words down on a piece of paper and gave it to him. His son put it into his small pocket, took it out and looked at it every now and then.
Four days passed, but no one came to see his father. The boy thought that there was no man to come and that the piece of paper was of no more use for him, so he burnt it that evening.
The next afternoon, someone knocked at the door. The boy opened it. A man was standing at the door and said, "Where is your father?" The boy put his hand into his pocket at once and looked for the piece of paper. He could not find it. He suddenly remembered he had burnt it, so he shouted, "No more." The man was very surprised. He asked, "No more? I met your father last week. When did it happen?" "Burnt yesterday evening."Mr. Brown told his son that _____.
| A．he would be away from home for four days |
| B．he would be back in seven days |
| C．he would be back in a month |
| D．he liked a cup of tea |
Mr. Brown wrote the words down on ________.
| A．the wall | B．the door |
| C．a piece of paper | D．his son's pocket |
A man came to visit the boy's father on ________.
| A．the second day | B．the third day |
| C．the fourth day | D．the fifth day |
The man was very surprised because _________.
| A．he thought the child's father was dead |
| B．the child didn't ask him to sit down |
| C．the child gave him a cup of tea |
| D．he couldn't find that piece of paper |
What was burnt? ___________.
| A．The piece of paper | B．Mr. Smith |
| C．The visitor | D．The boy |
On April 1st, Mike decided to fool(愚弄) his friends.
At lunch time he said to Tom, “I think we’re going to have a test this afternoon.” “Test?” said Tom, “Really?”
“Yes, it’s quite true,” said Mike. “When I was passing by Mr. Green’s room, he was talking with another teacher about the test. Tell John, Rose and Joan about it.”
Later Tom told them about the test. Soon almost all the students knew about it. “How foolish they are!” he thought.
When class began, Mr. Green said, “Class, we’re going to have a test today.” Mike was surprised. The test was too hard for him. After class, all his classmates thanked him very much. But he could only smile. “How foolish I was !”he thought.
It really was April Fools’ Day for Mike.Mike decided to fool his friends because ________ .
| A．they were talking about the test |
| B．they began to prepare (准备) their lessons |
| C．it was April Fools’ Day |
| D．they were foolish |
________ his classmates believe (相信) him before class.
| A．Almost all | B．None of |
| C．Only a few | D．Some of |
Mike didn’t prepare his lessons because _______
| A．he didn’t like to |
| B．it was his holiday |
| C．he thought the test was easy for him |
| D．he believed there wasn’t going to be a test |
Mike was surprised to see ________ .
| A．the test was too hard for him |
| B．the teacher really gave them a test |
| C．Tom didn’t believe him |
| D．his classmates were so foolish |
Which of the following is wrong?
| A．Mike thought he himself was foolish. |
| B．All his classmates thanked him. |
| C．Mr. Green was talking with another teacher about the test. |
| D．Nearly everyone knew the test before long(不久). |
Tom was going home at five yesterday. He got on a bus. A mother with her little boy was sitting nearby. Suddenly the boy cried. His mother tried her best to make the boy stop crying. But the boy would not do so. At last Tom said angrily, “Oh, how that boy cried! Why don’t you give him what he wanted?” “I would if I could." answered the mother quietly,“But he wanted your cap.”What time was Tom going home yesterday?
| A．At four | B．At five |
| C．At six | D．At seven |
Who was sitting near Tom on the bus?
| A．An old man with his little girl |
| B．A young woman |
| C．A woman with her little boy |
| D．A young man |
The mother tried her best to make the boy ______.
| A．wake up | B．go to sleep |
| C．not talk much | D．stop crying |
When the boy cried, Tom ______.
| A．was very angry | B．was very hungry |
| C．was very happy | D．did not hear this |
Why was the boy crying?
| A．Because he wanted something to eat. |
| B．Because he wanted to get off the bus. |
| C．Because he wanted to go home. |
| D．Because he wanted Tom's cap |