An 80-year-old man was sitting on the sofa in his house along with his 45-year-old highly educated son.
Suddenly a crow perched on their window.
The father asked his son, “What is this?”
The son replied, “It is a crow.”
After a few minutes, the father asked his son the 2nd time, “What is this?”
The son said, “Father, I have just now told you ‘It’s a crow’.”
After a little while, the old father again asked his son the 3rd time, “What is this?”
At this time some expression of irritation was felt in the son’s tone when he said to his father. “It’s a crow, a crow, a crow.”
A little after, the father again asked his son the 4th time, “What is this?”
This time the son shouted at his father, “Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again, although I have told you so many times ‘IT IS A CROW’. Are you not able to understand this?”
A little later the father went to his room and came back with an old tattered diary, which he had maintained since his son was born. On opening a page, he asked his son to read that page. When the son read it, the following words were written in the diary:
“Today my little son aged three was sitting with me on the sofa, when a crow was sitting on the window. My son asked me 23 times what it was, and I replied to him all 23 times that it was a crow. I hugged him lovingly each time he asked me the same question again and again for 23 times. I did not at all feel irritated, I rather felt affection for my innocent child.” The underlined word “irritation” in the passage means ___________.
| A．puzzlement | B．annoyance |
| C．patience | D．excitement |
Why did the old father keep asking his son the same question?
| A．Because he developed a kind of disease. |
| B．Because he was so boring that he wanted to play a joke with his son. |
| C．Because he wanted to know whether his son was as patient as he used to be. |
| D．Because his son used to love playing this game with him. |
How old was the father when he wrote down this page in the diary?
| A．35 years old | B．38 years old |
| C．45 years old | D．80 years old |
The reason why the father did not feel irritated when his son asked him the same question for 23 times is that _______________.
| A．he knew his son was still so innocent |
| B．the father was more patient than the son |
| C．the father had already got used to this kind of situation |
| D．the father loved his son so much that he never got tired of doing this again and again |
What would the son probably say after reading the words in the diary?
| A．“Sorry, dad. It’s all my fault to forget that.” |
| B．Nothing but felt rather ashamed. |
| C．“Sorry, dad. I shouldn’t have done that to you when I was such a young child.” |
| D．“Thank you, dad. I will do the same to my son.” |
The Sahara Festival is a celebration of the very recent past. The three-day event is not fixed to the same dates each year, but generally takes place in November or December. It is well attended by tourists, but even better attended by locals.
During the opening ceremonies, after the official greetings from the government leaders, people who attend the festival begin to march smartly before the viewing stands, and white camels transport their riders across the sands. Horsemen from different nations display their beautiful clothes and their fine horsemanship. One following another, groups of musicians and dancers from all over the Sahara take their turn to show off their wonderful traditional culture. Groups of men in blue and yellow play horns and beat drums as they dance in different designs. On their knees in the sand, a group of women in long dark dresses dance with their hair: their long, dark, shiny hair is thrown back and forth in the wind to the rhythm of their dance.
The local and visiting Italian dogs are anxious to run after hares. The crowd is on its feet for the camel races. Camels and riders run far into the distance, and then return to the finish Line in front of the cheering people.
Towards the evening, there comes the grand finale of the opening day, an extremely exciting horserace. All the riders run very fast on horseback. Some riders hang off the side of their saddles. Some even ride upside down -- their legs and feet straight up in the air -- all at full speed. Others rush down the course together, men arm in arm, on different horses. On and on they went. SO fast and so wonderful!The Sahara Festival is a festival which________.
| A．has a very long history in North Africa |
| B．is held in the same place on the same day |
| C．is attended mainly by the people in the Sahara |
| D．is celebrated mostly by travelers from different countries |
Before the races begin, ________ take part in the activities during the opening ceremonies.
| A．musicians, dancers, horses and hares |
| B．camel riders, musicians, dogs and hares |
| C．horsemen, dancers, camels and dogs |
| D．musicians, officials, camels and horses |
The underlined word "finale" in the fourth paragraph most probably means the _______of the opening day.
| A．first part | B．middle | C．last part | D．whole |
This passage mainly tells readers_______.
| A．what happens on the opening day of the Sahara Festival |
| B．how people celebrate during the three-day Sahara Festival |
| C．what takes place at the closing ceremonies of the Sahara Festival |
| D．how animals race on the first and the last days of the Sahara Festival |
Hi, everybody !
Welcome to our newly-opened Richards Cinema Bookstore!
Now let me introduce to you some of the new film books in our store.
Are you Chinese film fans? OK, here comes the latest 25 New Takes about Chinese films. It is a collection of 25 fresh readings of different Chinese films from the 1930s to the present. In recent years, Chinese films are very popular in the States, such as Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon, Hero, and Flowers of Shanghai.
Do you like French films? Well, here is The French Cinema Book. It covers French films from the 1890s to the beginning of the 21st century. It is written for all lovers of French cinema: students and teachers, specialists and fans, and so on.
Maybe you are Indian film fans and star-chasers. Then here is Encyclopedia ( 百科全书 ) of Indian Cinema. The book is a complete introduction to all the best Indian films. It also offers a full list of names of the famous and successful film stars in the past ten years. You know, the Indian film industry is the largest in the world after our Hollywood.
If you like British films, we have The British Cinema Book. It is a good review of British cinema. This book contains a good many nice pictures.
In our bookstore, you can also find books about Mexican, Japanese, Australian, German and Italian films..
Well, please help yourselves to some coffee or tea, and have a good time here!
60. The speaker of the passage is most probably _______.
A. the author of 25 New Takes
B. a tourist in the cinema bookstore
C. the manager of the cinema bookstore
D. a reader of Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema
61. How many Asian countries does the speaker refer to when he talks about the film books?
A. Two. B. Three. C. Four. D. Nine.
62. Which of the following statements is NOT mentioned in the passage？
A. Indian cinema is second only to Hollywood.
B. The British Cinema Book includes a complete list of names of stars.
C. Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon is well received in the States.
D. The French Cinema Book covers over a century's French films.
63. The purpose of the speaker is_______.
A. to satisfy the customers' various tastes
B. to keep the authors in the cinema bookstore
C. to offer the tourists chances to meet the film stars
D. to mm the readers into film producers
Jane Austen, a famous English writer, was born at Steventon, Hampshire, on December 16,1775, and died on July 18, 1817. She began writing early in life, although the prejudices of her times forced her to have her books published anonymously ( 匿名 ).
But Jane Austen is perhaps the best known and best loved of Bath's many famous local people and visitors. She paid two long visits here during the last five years of the eighteenth century and from 1801 to 1806, Bath was her home. Her deep knowledge of the city is fully seen in two of her novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, which are largely set in Bath. The city is still very much as Jane Austen knew it, keeping in its streets and public buildings the well-ordered world that she described so well in her novels. Now the pleasure of learning Jane Austen's Bath can be enhanced (增强)by visiting the Jane Austen Centre in Gay Street. Here, in a Georgian town house in the heart of the city, you can find out more about Bath in Jane Austen's time and the importance of Bath in her life and work.
The Centre has been set up with the help and guidance of members of the Jane Austen Society. After your visit to the Centre, you can look round the attractive shop, which offers a huge collection of Jane Austen related books, cards and many specially designed gifts. Jane Austen quizzes are offered to keep the children busy.
You can also have walking tours of Jane Austen's Bath, which is a great way to find out more about Jane Austen and discover the wonderful Georgian city of Bath. The tour lasts about one and a half hours. The experienced guides will take you to the places where Jane lived, walked and shopped.Jane Austen paid two long visits to Bath________.
| A．in her early twenties | B．in her early teens |
| C．in her late twenties | D．in her late teens |
What can we learn about Bath from the passage?
| A．Bath has greatly changed since Jane Austen's death. |
| B．The city has changed as much as Jane Austen knew it. |
| C．Bath remains almost the same as in Jane Austen's time. |
| D．No changes have taken place in Bath since Jane Austen's time. |
The author writes this passage in order to________.
| A．attract readers to visit the city of Bath |
| B．ask readers to buy Austen's books |
| C．tell readers about Jane Austen's experience |
| D．give a brief introduction to the Jane Austen Society |
It takes you about one and a half hours________.
| A．to get to the Jane Austen Centre in Gay Street |
| B．to buy Jane Austen related books, cards and gifts |
| C．to find a guide to take you to the Centre |
| D．to look around the city of Bath on foot |
Every year more people recognize that it is wrong to kill wildlife for “sport.” Progress in this direction is slow because shooting is not a sport for watching, and only those few who take part realize the cruelty and destruction.
The number of gunners, however, grows rapidly. Children too young to develop proper judgments through independent thought are led along way away by their gunning parents. They are subjected to advertisements of gun producers who describe shooting as good for their health and guncarrying as a way of putting redder blood in the veins (血管). They are persuaded by gunner magazines with stories honoring the chase and the kill. In school they view motion pictures which are supposedly meant to teach them how to deal with arms safely but which are actually designed to stimulate (刺激) a desire to own a gun. Wildlife is disappearing because of shooting and because of the loss of wildland habitat (栖息地). Habitat loss will continue with our increasing population, but can we slow the loss of wildlife caused by shooting? There doesn't seem to be any chance if the serious condition of our birds is not improved.
Wildlife belongs to everyone and not to the gunners alone. Although most people do not shoot, they seem to forgive shooting for sport because they know little or nothing about it. The only answer, then, is to bring the truth about sport shooting to the great majority of people.
Now, it is time to realize that animals have the same right to life as we do and that there is nothing fair or right about a person with a gun shooting the harmless and beautiful creatures. The gunners like to describe what they do as character-building, but we know that to wound an animal and watch it go through the agony of dying can make nobody happy. If, as they would have you believe, gun-carrying and killing improve human-character, then perhaps we should encourage war.According to the text, most people do not seem to be against hunting because___________.
| A．they have little knowledge of it | B．it helps to build human character |
| C．it is too costly to stop killing wildlife | D．they want to keep wildlife under control |
The underlined word "agony" in the last paragraph probably means______________.
| A．form | B．Condition | C．pain | D．sadness |
According to the text, the films children watch at school actually__________.
| A．teach them how to deal with guns safely | B．praise hunting as character-building |
| C．describe hunting as an exercise | D．encourage them to have guns of their own |
It can be inferred from the text that the author seems to_____________.
| A．blame the majority of people | B．worry about the existence of wildlife |
| C．be in favour of war | D．be in support of character-building |
Whoever has made a voyage up the Hudson River must remember the Catskill Mountains. They are a branch of the great Appalachian family, and can be seen to the west rising up to a noble height and towering over the surrounding country. When the weather is fair and settled, they are clothed in blue and purple, and print their beautiful shapes on the clear evening sky, but sometimes when it is cloudless, gray steam gathers around the top of the mountains which, in the last rays of the setting sun, will shine and light up like a crown of glory (华丽的皇冠).
At the foot of these mountains, a traveler may see light smoke going up from a village.
In that village, and in one of the houses (which, to tell the exact truth, was sadly time-worn and weather-beaten), there lived many years ago, a simple, good-natured fellow by the name of Rip Van Winkle.
Rip's great weakness was a natural dislike of all kinds of money-making labor. It could not be from lack of diligence (勤劳), for he could sit all day on a wet rock and fish without saying a word, even though he was not encouraged by a single bite. He would carry a gun on his shoulder for hours, walking through woods and fields to shoot a few birds or squirrels. He would never refuse to help a neighbor, even in the roughest work. The women of the village, too, used to employ him to do such little jobs as their less helpful husbands would not do for them. In a word, Rip was ready to attend to everybody's business but his own.
If left to himself, he would have whistled ( 吹口哨) life away in perfect satisfaction; but his wife was always mad at him for his idleness (懒散). Morning, noon, and night, her tongue was endlessly going, so that he was forced to escape to the outside of the house -- the only side which, in truth, belongs to a henpecked husband.Which of the following best describes the Catskill Mountains?
| A．They are on the west of the Hudson River. |
| B．They are very high and beautiful in this area. |
| C．They can be seen from the Appalachian family. |
| D．They gather beautiful clouds in blue and purple. |
The hero of the story is probably_____________.
| A．hard-working and likes all kinds of work |
| B．idle and hates all kinds of jobs |
| C．simple, idle but very dutiful |
| D．gentle, helpful but a little idle |
The underlined words "henpecked husband" in the last paragraph probably means a man who
| A．likes hunting | B．is afraid of hens |
| C．loves his wife | D．is afraid of his wife |
What would be the best title for the text?
| A．Catskill Mountains. | B．A Mountain Village. |
| C．Rip Van Winkle. | D．A Dutiful Husband. |