Mark Twain is someone Americans are taught to love. Older relatives, English teachers and the media always praise (表扬) him. But when you actually take the time to read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, you find that his work is more wonderful than you could ever imagine.
The novel describes a young boy named Tom Sawyer growing up in a small town along the Mississippi River. He explores the countryside on a riverboat with his friends, falls in love with girls, starts secret clubs and searches for treasure. Twain’s idea of childhood is magical – a time of imagination, wonder and, of course, adventure.
More importantly, through the eyes of Tom Sawyer, Twain cleverly makes fun of US culture. For example, Tom hates going to church, and Twain uses scenes of Tom there to mock religion and its old traditions.
Twain’s writing is full of these kinds of critical (批判的) points about culture and politics. That’s why he is so loved in the US – he wasn’t afraid to state his opinions, and he did so clearly.
He also believed strongly in women’s right to vote in elections and gave a famous speech on the subject, called “Votes for Women”, in 1901.
“Tom was a great hero once more – the pet of the old, the envy of the young,” Twain writes in Tom Sawyer. But he could just as well be describing himself.
According to the writer, after reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, you are likely to think__________.
| A．it’s not worth all the praise |
| B．it’s as wonderful as you imagined |
| C．it’s better to read it with teachers |
| D．it’s even better than you imagined |
What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?
| A．A brief description of the novel. |
| B．Where Twain’s idea of childhood comes from. |
| C．How naughty and adventurous Tom Sawyer is. |
| D．What makes Tom Sawyer’s adventures so wonderful. |
What does the underlined word “mock” mean?
| A．make changes to | B．make fun of |
| C．give reasons for | D．give examples of |
Why is Twain so loved in the US according to the article?
| A．He supported women’s right to vote. |
| B．He wrote bad things about US wars abroad. |
| C．He criticized American culture and society clearly and cleverly. |
| D．He showed readers a magical childhood that everyone would love. |
Edison often said, “1 will discover what the world needs, then I will try to invent it.”It is true that he did more than any other man of his time in inventing things. He made more than one thousand inventions in his life and all these have changed our way of living. Edison was one of the greatest inventors in the world. When Edison died in 1931, someone said people should turn off all the lights in their homes, streets and factories for several minutes in honour of this great man. Of course it was impossible to do so. And this shows what Edison's inventions mean to people's life.All the things Edision invented were _________ people needed at that time.
| A．what | B．that | C．then | D．which |
Edison _________in inventing new things.
| A．took all his time | B．paid all his money |
| C．spent his most time | D．spent his most money |
Edison had _________ inventions in all his life.
| A．thousands of | B．over one thousand |
| C．only one thousand | D．less than a thousand |
Edison was dead for nearly _______ years.
| A．fifty | B．severity-six | C．s ixty |
D．eighty |
It was __________ to turn off all the lights in honour of the g
reatest inventor.
| A．possible | B．not true | C．nice | D．important |
Today is fine. The sky is blue, Now it's nine o'clock in the morning. There's a sports meeting in the forest(森林)on the big mountain. Look，a horse, a panda and a cat are running. Over there a dog and two tigers are jumping. Two monkeys are climbing the trees. Four birds are flying around and singing. There are some other animals there, too. The elephants are standing. A monkey is sitting on an old elephant. The monkey has a flag(旗)in his hand. Polly is sitting in the tree. A fox, a baby panda and some small animals are sitting under the tree. They are all watching.—What colour is the sky today?—It’s____________.
| A．white | B．yellow | C．black | D．blue |
How many animals are running and jumping?
| A．Fourteen | B．Six | C．Eleven | D．Five |
Which animals are climbing the tress?
A. The monkeys.B. The pandas and the foxes
B. The elephants and the cats. D. The horses and the pandasThere’re __________ at the sports meeting.
| A．not any birds | B．a lot of animals | C．many people | D．many monkeys |
Who’re all watching at the meeting?
| A．A tiger, a baby horse and some cats | B．Polly, an elephant and some small fish |
| C．A fox, a baby panda and some animals | D．A monkey, a baby cat and some birds |
Peter wondered why he didn’t have many friends. The reason was he was always taking, never giving.
One day Peter told Bill, “I’d like to give a party on Saturday, I’d like you to come and bring Martha, too.”“Thanks, Peter. We’d be happy to come.”“Perhaps you’d like to bring your violin. You and Martha sing well together. I’m sure everyone will want you to sing for us.” That was how Peter began to plan his party. Next he asked another friend, Betty, to bring a cake. “You make the best cake in the world, Betty, and I like to eat your cake better than have one from the bakery.” Peter invited a few other friends to come to his party. He didn’t forget to ask something from each one of them. He even asked Jim and Mary Jackson to let him give the party at their house! They agreed.
The party was a big success. However, as the guests were leaving, they said “Thank you ” to Bill and Martha for the music, Betty for the cake, the Jackso
ns for the use of the house and to others for their hard work. To Peter they just said, “Thanks for the invitation.”
I’m taking my family to other countries to have a trip. My wife and I and our two children are all going along. My elder brother will go with us, too. He has never been overseas and he is even more excited than the children. My father is so old that he’d like to stay at home and take care of the house.
We’re going by train to New York, and then take a ship to Europe . When we arrive in Europe, we’re going to some countries for sightseeing (观光). We’ll go to places either by train or by bus. We’re going to fly home.
It took us a long time to decide where to go, but I think we’ll have a very interesting trip. We’ll go to England, France and Italy. We also talked about how we would go to Europe. At first we wanted to fly because it would be faster and would save more time. But my brother likes to take a boat trip and the children like that, too.
( ) 1. How many people will go to have a trip?
A. Three B. Four C. Five D. Six
( ) 2. My father will not go on the trip because .
A . he doesn’t like travels B. he like staying at home
C. he is too old to travel D. nobody wants to take him along
( ) 3 . We’re coming back home by .
A. sea B. air C. bus D. train
( ) 4. In Europe we will .
A. go sight-seeing at the seaside B. to go to different countries by ship
C. buy a lot of presents D. go from place to place by train or by bus
( ) 5. My brother and my children would like to .
A. do some shopping in Europe B. study the Italian language in Italy
C. enjoy a trip by ship D. learn French in France
Mrs Brown's telephone number was 3464, and the number of the cinema in her town was 5463, so people often made a mistake and telephoned her when they wanted th
e cinema.
One evening the telephone bell rang and Mrs Brown answered it. A tired man said, "At what time does your last film begin?"
"I'm sorry," said Mrs Brown, "but you have wrong number. That is not the cinema. "
"Oh, it began twenty minutes ago?" said the man. "I'm sorry about that. Goodbye! "
Mrs Brown was very surprised. So she told her husband. He laughed and said, "The man's wife wanted to go to the cinema, but he was feeling tired, so he telephoned the cinema. His wife heard him, but she didn't hear you. Now they will stay at home this evening, and the husband will be happy! "
根据短文判断正误：（T or F）
( ) l. Mrs Brown knew a lot about The films, so people often telephoned her.
( ) 2. The man made a mistake and telephoned her.
( ) 3. The man didn't want to see a film because his wife was feeling tired.
( ) 4. The man and his wife didn't go to the cinema because the film had already
begun.
( ) 5. The man telephoned just to cheat (骗) his wife.