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From the beginning of human history, wild animals provided food, clothing and sometimes medicine for man. We may not depend as much on wild animals now. But we hear about them every day. Americans use the names of animals in many ways. Automobile manufacturers and gasoline companies especially like to use big cats to sell their products. They like lions, tigers and wildcats. When Americans say wildcat, they usually mean a lynx, an ocelot or a bobcat. All these cats attack quickly and fiercely. So wildcats represent something fast and fierce.  
An early American use of the word wildcat was quite different. It was used to describe members of Congress who declared war on Britain in 1812. A magazine of that year said the wildcat congressmen went home. It said they were unable to face the responsibility of having involved their country in an unnecessary war.
Wildcat also has been used as a name for money in the 1800s. At that time, some states permitted banks to make their own money. One bank in the state of Michigan offered paper money with a picture of a wildcat on it. Some banks, however, did not have enough gold to support all the paper money they offered. So the money had little or no value. It was called a wildcat bill or a wildcat banknote. The banks who offered this money were called wildcat banks. A newspaper of the time said those were the days of wildcat money. It said a man might be rich in the morning and poor by night.
Wildcat then was also used for an oil well or gold mine that had almost no oil or gold in it. Dishonest developers would buy such property. Then they would sell it and leave town with the money. The buyers were left with worthless holes in the ground. Today, wildcat oil wells are in areas that are not known to have oil.
What is the main idea of the passage?

A.Wildcats and their stories.
B.Wildcats and their characters.
C.Varieties of animal species.
D.Relationship between animals and humans.

The underlined words "a lynx, an ocelot or a bobcat" in Paragraph 1 may refer to "__________".

A.gasoline companies B.automobile manufacturers
C.brands of automobile D.names of wildcats

Which of the following would people like to have or trust according to the passage?

A.Wildcat congressmen. B.Wildcat oil wells.
C.Wildcat banks. D.Wildcat cars.

It can be inferred that during the days of wildcat money__________.

A.people couldn't buy anything with the money
B.people complained and suffered a lot
C.the rich invested too much on oil wells
D.people didn't know how to save money
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Louis Armstrong had two famous nicknames(绰号). Some people called him Bagamo. They said his mouth looked like a large bag. Musicians often called him Pops, as a sign of respect for his influence(影响)on the world of music.
Born in 1901 in New Orleans, be grew up poor, but lived among great musicians. Jazz was invented in the city a few years before his birth. Armstrong often said, “Jazz and I grew up together.”
Armstrong showed a great talent for music when he was taught to play the cornet (短号) at a boy’s home. In his late teens, Armstrong began to live the life of a musician. He played in parades, clubs, and on the steamboats that traveled on the Mississippi River. At that time, New Orleans was famous for the new music of jazz and was home to many great musicians. Armstrong learned from the older musicians and soon became respected as their equal.
In 1922 he went to Chicago. There, the tale of Louis Armstrong begins. From then until the end of his life, Armstrong was celebrated and loved wherever he went. Armstrong had no equal when it came to playing the American popular song.
His cornet playing had a deep humanity (仁爱) and warmth that caused many listeners to say, “Listening to Pops just makes you feel good all over. ”He was the father of the jazz style and also one of the best-known and most-admired people in the world. His death, on July 6, 1971, was headline news around the world.
Armstrong was called Pops because he    .

A.looked like a musician
B.was a musician of much influence
C.showed an interest in music
D.traveled to play modern music

When Armstrong often said, “Jazz and I grew up together.” what did he mean?

A.He meant he had a brother named Jazz.
B.He meant he was very good at Jazz.
C.He meant he couldn’t afford to learn Jazz.
D.He meant he was very lucky to live among great musicians.

The third paragraph is developed    .

A.by space B.by examples C.by time D.by comparison

Which statement about Armstrong is true?

A.His tale begins in New Orleans.
B.He was born before jazz was invented.
C.His music was popular with his listeners.
D.He learned popular music at a boy’s home.

Which would be the best title for the text?

A.The Invention of the Jazz Music
B.The Father of the Jazz Style
C.The Making of a Musician
D.The Spread of Popular Music

How far would you be willing to go to satisfy your need to know? Far enough to find out your possibility of dying from a terrible disease? These days that’s more than an academic question, as Tracy Smith reports in our Cover Story.
There are now more than a thousand genetic(基因的)tests, for everything from baldness to breast cancer, and the list is growing. Question is, do you really want to know what might eventually kill you? For instance, Nobel Prize-winning scientist James Watson, one of the first people to map their entire genetic makeup, is said to have asked not to be told if he were at a higher risk for Alzheimer’(老年痴呆症).
“If I tell you that you have an increased risk of getting a terrible disease, that could weigh on your mind and make you anxious, through which you see the rest of your life as you wait for that disease to hit you. It could really mess you up.” Said Dr. Robert Green, a Harvard geneticist.
“Every ache and pain,” Smith suggested, could be understood as “the beginning of the end.”“That ’s right. If you ever worried you were at risk for Alzheimer’s disease, then every time you can’t find your car in the parking lot, you think the disease has started.”
Dr. Green has been thinking about this issue for years. He led a study of people who wanted to know if they were at a higher genetic risk for Alzheimer’s. It was thought that people who got bad news would, for lack of a better medical term, freak out. But Green and his team found that there was“no significant difference”between how people handled good news and possibly the worst news of their lives. In fact, most people think they can handle it. People who ask for the information usually can handle the information, good or bad, said Green.
The first paragraph is meant to__________.

A.ask some questions
B.introduce the topic
C.satisfy readers’ curiosity
D.describe an academic fact

Which of the following is true of James Watson?

A.He is strongly in favor of the present genetic tests.
B.He is more likely to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease.
C.He believes genetic mapping can help cure any disease.
D.He doesn’t want to know his chance of getting a disease.

According to Paragraphs 3 and 4, if a person is at a higher genetic risk, it is__________.

A.advisable not to let him know
B.impossible to hide his disease
C.better to inform him immediately
D.necessary to remove his anxiety

The underlined part“freak out”in Paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to“_________”.

A.break down B.drop out C.leave off D.turn away

The study led by Dr. Green indicates that people__________.

A.prefer to hear good news
B.tend to find out the truth
C.can accept some bad news
D.have the right to be informed

Hobbs was an orphan. He worked in a factory and every day he got a little money. Hard work changed him thin and weak. He wanted to borrow a lot of money to learn to paint pictures, but he did not think he could pay off the debts.
One day the lawyer said to him, “One thousand dollars, and here is the money.” As Hobbs took the package of notes, he was very dumbfounded. He didn’t know where the money came from and how to spend it. He said to himself, “I could go to find a hotel and live like a rich man for a few days; or I give up my work in the factory and do what I’d like to do: painting pictures I could do that for a few weeks, but what would I do after that? I should have lost my place of the factory and have no money to live on. If it were a little less money, I would buy a new coat, or a radio, or give a dinner to my friends. If it were more, I could give up the work and pay for painting pictures. But it’s too much for one and too little for the other.”
“Here is the reading of your uncle’s will,” said the lawyer, “telling what is to be done with this money after his death. I must ask you to remember one point. Your uncle has said you must bring me a paper showing exactly what you did with his money, as soon as you have spent it.”
“Yes, I see. I’ll do that.” said the young man.
He wanted to borrow money because he wanted to .

A.study abroad B.work abroad
C.pay for the debts D.learn to paint pictures

Hobbs was dumbfounded on receiving the money because he thought .

A.the money was too much
B.the money was too little
C.he would be dismissed
D.the lawyer meant to punish him

With the money he got, first Hobbs .

A.planned to have a happy life for a few days
B.decided to give up his work in the office
C.was to give a dinner to his friends
D.had no idea what to do

What Hobbs was asked to do was .

A.to tell the lawyer what he did with the money after spending it
B.to read his uncle’s will
C.to tell the lawyer what was to be done with the money
D.nothing but to buy some pictures

What Hobbs really loved to do was .

A.working in the factory
B.living in a fine hotel
C.painting pictures
D.saving the money

Studies show that laughter is something that makes you feel calm or relaxed for both physical and psychological wounds though it may seem futile to laugh in the face of pain and fear.
When Dan Rather interviewed comedian Bill Cosby just one week after his son, Ennis, was killed, Cosby said, “I think it is time for me to tell people that we have to laugh. You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, you can survive it.”
Call it a flashlight for dark times: laughter just seems to adjust attitude better than anything else. Inspirational speaker Steve Rizzo recalls a TV interview with an injured firefighter a few days after 9.11.The man had fallen more than 30 stories in one of the towers and had broken a leg. Everyone was crying, and the reporter asked, “How is it that you’ve come out of this alive?” He looked at her and without missing a beat, said, “Look, lady, I’m from New York and I’m a firefighter; that’ all you need to know.”
“Everyone laughed and though the laughter was only a couple of seconds,” says Rizzo. “Sometimes that’s all you need to catch your second breath. Laughter gives you that couple of seconds. You’re sending a message to your brain, and the message is: If you can still laugh even a little among the pain, you are going to be OK.”
Of course, there is a difference between laughing off a serious situation and laughing off the fear that results. The firefighter was doing the latter, states Rizzo, the author of Becoming a Humorous Being, and so should we. “If there is anything we have learnt from 9.11, it’s how precious life really is,” she says. “We have to send a message that our spirit won’t die. One important thing that unites us is our ability to laugh.”
The writer uses the examples of the comedian and the firefighter to show.

A.laughter is a good way to get rid of pain and fear
B.laughter is the best way to cure psychological wounds
C.it is your attitude that decides whether you can survive the pain or not
D.laughing off a serious situation is different from laughing off the fear that results

We can infer from the passage that Steve Rizzo is.

A.a reporter B.a soldier C.a firefighter D.a doctor

The underlined word futile in the first paragraph means.

A.hopeless B.useless
C.careless D.worthless

From the passage, we can know that Americans are.

A.really inspired after 9.11 B.hardly united after 9.11
C.nearly surprised by 9.11 D.greatly hurt by 9.11

To see the world is one thing;to have someone to share it with is another.Indeed,travel becomes more interesting when you have a travel partner.A travel partner can be a close friend,a family member,a pal you’ve met online,or a business friend.
You can have someone to talk to
Traveling alone is fun,but wouldn’t you feel lonely?Having a travel partner can remove the feeling of loneliness.This is especially true if you can get a travel companion who is very familiar with the place you’re traveling to.You don’t have to ask any information from the locals,and you can increase the time you spend in the country.
__________________________
One of the major headaches in traveling is the costs involved.You can’t simply ignore the rising price of hotels or plane tickets.You should also think about your daily needs,such as your food.Of course,you can’t simply go back without bringing any souvenirs (纪念品) to your friends and family.All these can ruin your budget.However,when you have a travel friend,you can have someone to share the expenses with.
You can meet a good friend
Having a travel mate is a good way of meeting a new friend or even a lifelong partner.You can never count the number of couples who actually found their way into each other’s heart while traveling together in another country.
You can have someone to watch out for you
When you’re in a foreign land,you’ll never be really safe.You don’t know the rules as well as the culture of the people.A travel mate will be perfect to remind you of your duties in the country and to watch your back just in case you get lost.So why don’t you find a travel companion now?
Let’s find out how ...
What’s the author’s purpose in writing this passage?

A.To introduce a travel company.
B.To encourage us to have a travel partner.
C.To explain how to be a perfect travel partner.
D.To tell an interesting experience with a travel partner.

What’s the best title for the 3rd paragraph?

A.You can have someone to share the expenses with.
B.You can know the local culture well.
C.You can enjoy food with your partner.
D.You can save money by bargaining together.

Which of the following statements agrees with the author’s opinion?

A.Traveling alone is not fun.
B.Buying souvenirs isn’t necessary.
C.Many people fall in love when traveling.
D.It’s better to choose a stranger as a travel partner.

The following paragraph will probably talk about________.

A.how to get along with a travel partner
B.how travel can benefit people
C.what we can learn from travel
D.how to find a travel partner

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