Legend has it that an apple which fell from its branches was the inspiration for Sir Isaac Newton’s discovery of gravity(引力). But now history’s famous fruit tree is paying the price of fame.
The thousands of visitors drawn to Sir Isaac’s childhood home each year could be damaging the tree. A willow barrier(围栏)has been put around the tree. It means visitors to the 17th century Woolsthorpe Manor, near Grantham, Lincolnshire, will no longer be able to sit under its branches as Newton was said to have been doing in 1665 when “the notion of gravitation came to mind.”
The National Trust, which owns the small manor(庄园)where Newton was born in 1642, said the 2ft-high barrier was designed to preserve the tree. Official Ann Moynihan said there had been no damage so far but warned that there could soon be a problem.“Visitor numbers have gone up by around 50 percent, to 33,000 a year in three years. The more people who visit, the more the earth will become compacted(压实) around the tree and over the roots. We just want to preserve the tree for another 400 years if we can.”She said visitors will still be able to take apples from the tree.
Visitor Chris Gwyther,37,said,“I suppose it is a pity that you can’t sit under the tree like Newton. But you can still see it and the tree is 400 years old, it needs saving for the future.”
Newton left no information saying he had been inspired by a falling apple. The story appeared in a book by French philosopher Voltaire published in 1727, the year Newton died at the age of 84. Why do people go to Woolsthorpe Manor to see the apple tree?
| A．Because of the story about the apple tree. |
| B．Because of the long history of the apple tree. |
| C．Because of the sweetness of the apple. |
| D．Because of the unusual flower of the apple tree. |
What is the reason that people can’t sit under the tree like Newton?
| A．The manor is too crowded to sit around. |
| B．Their heads will be hit by the apples. |
| C．A willow barrier has been put around the tree. |
| D．There is something wrong with the apple tree. |
The underlined word preserve means “_____”.
| A．keep something safe | B．make something grow |
| C．leave something as it is | D．let something be |
When did Newton have the inspiration for the discovery of gravity?
| A．In 1642. | B．In 1665. | C．In 1820. | D．In 1727. |
Which of the following sentences is true?
| A．Newton himself wrote a letter about the story of the apple tree. |
| B．Newton’s family owes Woolsthorpe Manor and tells the story. |
| C．Visitor numbers have gone up to 32,000 every year. |
| D．A French philosopher wrote the apple tree story in a book. |
Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the guestroom. Instead the angelswere given some space in the cold basement. As they made their bed on the hard floor, theolder angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, theolder angel replied, "Things aren't always what they seem."
The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable(好客的) farmer. After sharing a little food they had, the farmer and his wife let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night's rest. When the sun came up the next morning, the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their only income, lay dead in the field.
The younger angel was very angry and asked the older angel, "How could this happen?""Why didn't you watch out for the cow? The first family had everything, yet you watched over his house," she accused (谴责). "The second family had little but was willing to share everything, you didn't help."
"Things aren't always what they seem," the angel replied. "When we stayed in thebasement, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so greedy and unwilling to share his good fortune, I asked God if I could seal the wall so he wouldn't find it. Then last night as we slept in the farmer's bed, the angel of death camefor his wife. I asked God if the angel could take the cow instead. So things aren't alwayswhat they seem." The older angel repaired the hole for the rich family because _____________________.
| A．she wanted to punish the greedy owner |
| B．the basement was too cold to stay in |
| C．she wanted to save the gold for the poor. |
| D．she believed that one should always be ready to offer help |
The younger angel was very angry because _______________________________.
| A．the older angel killed the farmer's cow |
| B．the wealthy man gave them a bad place to live in |
| C．the older angel treated the two families unfairly |
| D．the angel of death took the cow away instead of the farmer’s wife |
Why did the older angel let the farmer's cow die?______________________.
| A．Because she was sympathetic to the rich |
| B．Because she wanted to save the farmer's wife. |
| C．Because God wanted the older angel to take the cow. |
| D．Because she wanted to teach the younger angel a lesson. |
The first “they” in line 7 refers to ________while the second “they” in line 8 refers to _______in the second paragraph.
| A．two travelling angels; the couple |
| B．two travelling angels; the wealthy family |
| C．the couple; two travelling angels |
| D．the couple; the angel of death and the God |
The story tries to tell the readers that _________________________.
| A．angels are always ready to help the poor |
| B．angels are always ready to help the rich |
| C．the young should always learn from the cold |
| D．sometimes things are not always what they seem |
Frank Smithson woke up and leaned over to turn off the alarm clock. “Oh，no!”he thought to himself.“Another day at that office；a boss who shouts at me all the time.”
As Frank went downstairs his eyes fell on a large brown envelope by the door. He was overjoyed when he opened it and read the letter inside. “Bigwoods Football Pools would like to congratulate you. You have won half a million pounds.”
Frank suddenly came to life. The cigarette fell from his lips as he let out a shout that could be heard halfway down the street.
At 11：30 Frank arrived at work.“Please explain why you're so late，”his boss said.“Go and jump in the lake,” replied Frank. “I've just come into a little money so this is goodbye.Find yourself someone else to shout at.”
That evening Frank was smoking a very expensive Havana cigar when a knock was heard on the door. He rushed to the door. Outside were two men，neatly dressed in grey suits. “Mr Smithson,” one of them said，“We're from Bigwoods Football Pools. I'm afraid there’s been a terrible mistake……”What do we know about Frank? ____________________________________.
| A．He was a lazy man. | B．He was a lucky person. |
| C．He made a lot of money. | D．He didn't get on well with his boss. |
When Frank said,” Go and jump in the lake”, he probably________________.
| A．told his boss to drop dead. | B．asked his boss to swim in the lake. |
| C．celebrated with his boss by the lake . | D．wanted to go fishing with his fish. |
When he heard the knock at the door, Frank probably thought ___________.
| A．someone had come to make an apology |
| B．his workmates had come to comfort him . |
| C．his neighbours had come to ask about the football pools. |
| D．his friends had come to congratulate him on his luck. |
On hearing“…there's been a terrible mistake…”Frank was most likely to be________.
| A．disappointed. | B．worried. | C．nervous. | D．curious. |
The story tells us the truth that ______________________.
| A．good luck is always against a lazy fellow. |
| B．don’t count your chickens before they are hatched(孵化) |
| C．never quarrel with your boss until you find a new job |
| D．the chances of getting rich quickly always lie in the Football Pools |
People at home keep asking me, "Is it hard to learn Chinese? Why have you learned it so well?" Well, there's one thing that makes Chinese easy to learn: there are so many people to talk to. You've probably heard that it's the most spoken language. Today it's also one of the most written languages online. And with so many Chinese people interested in learning English, it couldn't be easier to find a friend for language learning. You just have to know where to look for them.
The really good place to look for them is QQ. QQ has the same status(地位) in China as AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) does in the US. It is reported that at any moment, up to 9,000,000 people are using QQ. They're at work, or in a web café(网吧), or at home, and the information of the users can be found. If you sign on with your address set to "abroad", you'll soon find that many thousands of them are interested in speaking to you! This is a great way for you to learn Chinese, and for them to learn English. I think that it's a very interesting way of cultural contact(文化交流), too, for ordinary people from around the world to be able to have one-on-one contact. In the first paragraph(段落), the writer tells us ___________.
| A．why his family members want to learn Chinese |
| B．where you can find people to talk to for language learning |
| C．the easiest thing to do is learning Chinese |
| D．Chinese isn’t so hard to learn as his friends think |
From the second paragraph we know that QQ and AIM are __________.
| A．addresses for the Internet users | B．documents you need to get online |
| C．tools for people to talk online | D．programs of a computer |
Offices, web cafes and homes ____________.
| A．attract the most people to learn Chinese |
| B．provide both QQ and AIM in China |
| C．are the best places for English learners |
| D．have the most people online |
The writer wrote this passage mainly to __________.
| A．tell a way of learning Chinese |
| B．show what the Chinese people are doing |
| C．tell the important of learning Chinese |
| D．show the difference between AIM and QQ |
The writer of this passage is probably ___________.
| A．a Chinese who works abroad | B．an expert who works at home |
| C．an American who works in China | D．a salesman who sells soft wares |
Mr. and Mrs. White had two sons and three daughters．One Sunday，Mrs. White said to her husband，“The children don’t have any lessons today，and you’re free too．There’s a new funfair(游乐场)in the park．Let’s all go there to play.
Her husband said，“1 want to finish some work today. “oh, forget it．Go there and make our children happy．That’s the most important work” Mrs. White said.
So Mr. and Mrs. White took their children to the funfair．Mr. White was forty-five years old.
but he enjoyed the funfair more than his children. He hurried from one thing to another，and ate lost of sweets. One of the children said to her mother，“Dad is just like a small child，isn’t he, Mom?” Mrs. White didn’t want to follow her husband around any more at that time and answered， He is even worse than a small child，Mary，because he might spend more money than a small child.There were ________ children in the White family·
| A．two | B．three | C．four | D．five |
One Sunday，Mr. and Mrs. White wanted to go to _______ with their children.
| A．school | B．work | C．a funfair | D．a shop |
Mr.．White liked the place so much that he_______.
| A．bought lots of sweets | B．followed his wife all the time |
| C．hurried from one thing to another | D．asked a lot of questions |
From the story we know Mrs. White________ when Mary asked her the question.
A．was still excited to play B. was a little angry with Mr. White
C．looked for Mr.．White everywhere C. are a lot of sweetsOf all his family members,_________ enjoyed playing there most that Sunday.
| A．Mr.．White | B．Mrs. White | C．Mary | D．the boys |
| (1) WANTED Are you hard-working? Do you like to meet people? If your answer is “Yes”, then we have a job for you as a waiter. Call AL Hotel at 556779! |
(2) SUMMER JOB Do you like to talk with people? Do you like to write stories? If you want to work for our magazine as a reporter, please call Karen at 558366. |
| (3) HELP WANTED Do you like babies? Can you look after one baby for two days? If you are sure to take food care of it, call us at 766588. $80 or more. Today! Hurry! |
(4)CLEANER WANTED Can you make a large house clean and tidy? If you hope to get the job paid at $20 once, call us this evening 18:00-20:00. Tel:633800 |
The above job ads(广告) are probably from a .
| A．newspaper | B．story book | C．TV show | D．radio program |
If you like children and have two days free, you can call at for a job.
| A．766588 | B．633800 | C．556779 | D．558366 |
If the owner of the large house asks a cleaner to tidy his house twice a week, how much will the cleaner get in a month?
| A．$240 | B．$200 | C．$160 | D．$120 |
are needed in AL Hotel.
| A．Cleaners | B．Baby-sitters | C．Reporters | D．Waiters |
If you’re a college student of English who enjoys writing, during your summer holidays you will be more interested in the job in .
| A．ad. (1) | B．ad.(2) | C．ad. (3) | D．ad.(4) |