Inthefallof1985,Iwasabrighteye-优题课

Mail was usually carried west on ships that sailed around the bottom of South America and then north to California．That could take several months.
So, in eighteen fifty-seven, D.C．Lawmakers in Congress（国会） in Washington wanted to make it possible to send mail all the way across the United States by land．Congress offered to help any company that would try to deliver mail overland to the West Coast. A man named John Butterfield accepted this offer. He developed plans for a company that would carry the mail—and passengers, too.
Congress gave John Butterfield six hundred thousand dollars to start his company. In return, he had to promise that the mail would travel from Saint Louis, Missouri, to San Francisco, California, in twenty-five days or less.
It was not possible to travel straight through because of the Rocky Mountains and the deep snow that fell in winter. So the stagecoach（马车） would travel south from Saint Louis to El Paso, Texas, then over to southern California, then north to San Francisco. The distance was about four thousand five hundred kilometers.
Two hundred of these stations were built, each about thirty-two kilometers apart. The workers were to quickly change the horses or mules whenever a stagecoach reached the station. There could be no delay. Each stagecoach was to travel nearly two hundred kilometers a day.
One hundred stagecoaches were built and painted red or dark green. They were the most modern coaches that money could buy. They were designed to hold as many as nine passengers and twelve thousand pieces of mail. The seats inside could be folded down to make beds. Passengers either slept on them or on the bags of mail.
The cost would be one hundred fifty dollars to travel from Saint Louis to San Francisco. If a passenger was not going all the way, the cost was about ten cents a kilometer. The passengers had to buy their own food at the stations. The stagecoach would stop for forty minutes, two times a day.
The company warned passengers about the possible dangers. A poster said: “You will be traveling through Indian country and the safety of your person cannot by granted by anyone but God.”
1．What is the passage mainly about?
A．Different ways of sending mail in the United States.
B．The difficulty in sending mails across the USA by land.
C．The first stagecoaches that carried both passengers and mail.
D．The history of the first stagecoaches carrying mail to the American West.
2．The reason why Lawmakers wanted to send mail by land was that ________.
A．mail was usually carried west on ships
B．it was safer to travel to send mail by land
C．it would take less time to send mail by land
D．stagecoaches could carry passengers and mail
3．As is described in the passage, the stagecoach ________.
A．could only stop once a day
B．was modern with seats ,beds and cooking equipment
C．was a closed wagon operated only by skillful drivers.
D．had different horses or mules pulled all the way
4．What can we learn from the passage?
A．John Buttterfield got thousands of dollars for delivering mail in stagecoaches.
B．John Buttterfield kept his promise to deliver mail straight to the West Coast.
C．Passengers might be robbed by Indians when traveling through the West.
D．Passengers needed to pay one hundred dollars for their journey.

If I were writing a history of my family, some of the darkest moments recorded would be those about Christmas trees. One would certainly think otherwise; selecting and putting up our trees have always been filled with risk. For example, one afternoon dangerously close to Christmas Eve my mother bought what she thought to be a bargain, a glorious tree that was so full and tall that we could hardly get it into the house. Once we did, my father immediately realized that we would have to hire a carpenter（木匠） to build a stand for it. Another December, perhaps the very next one, we bought a tree earlier than we ever had before. We were happy with its shape and delighted that its size was manageable. We easily placed it in a stand, decorated(装饰) it from top to bottom, and then self-satisfiedly sat back by the fire in its soft light. Two or three days passed and the truth could not be hidden; we had bought a tree cut so long ago that its needles were coming off. There was nothing to do but undecorate it, take it down, and begin tree shopping again. Our most recent Christmas tree offered still another difficult task. When we brought it home, once again it seemed larger than it was in the great outdoors. To complicate matters, we had bought a new stand, one whose nuts (螺帽) and bolts (闩子) worked more mysteriously than those of our old stands. I persuaded two young neighbors to stop playing basketball and to help us get the tree into the house and set it correctly in the stand. Unfortunately, no one noticed the mud on our helpers' shoes, so only after removing several reddish brown spots from the carpet were we able to discuss the question of where the lights and ornaments (装饰物)were stored. Perhaps those who cut their own trees have tales more painful than these. I don't care to hear them, as my family's experiences are enough to cause me to make the following suggestion:" Let's forget the tree next Christmas. Let's simply hang some flowers on the front door and over the mirror in the hall. "
1．The darkest moments in the writer's family were with the fact that _____.
A．the family bought big Christmas trees B．they had problems decorating their Christmas trees
C．they had problems picking suitable Christmas trees
D．they had problems finding carpenters for putting up Christmas trees
2．We can learn from the passage that the writer would like to _____.
A．forget about Christmas stories
B．get the neighbors to put up their trees
C．buy a better tree to celebrate Christmas
D．make other decorations rather than Christmas trees
3．When the writer said " my mother bought what she thought to be a bargain", he means ____.
A．she bought the tree at a cheap price
B．she didn't really want to buy it
C．she had to bargain hard with the salesman
D．she couldn't afford a more expensive one
4．Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
A．How to Choose a Christmas Tree B．No More Christmas Tree for Us
C．Dark Moments of LifeD．Christmas Without Trees

阅读理解（共20小题，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题纸上将该项涂黑
In the past, people who graduated from college felt proud of their academic（学业的）achievements and confident that their degree would help them to find a good job.
　　However, in the past four years the job market has changed greatly. This year’s college graduates are facing one of the worst job markets. For example, Ryan Stewart, a graduate of San Jose State University, got a degree in religious studies, but he has not gotten any job offers. He points out that many people already working are getting laid off and don’t have jobs, so it’s even harder for new college graduates to find jobs.
　　Four years ago, the future looked bright for his class of 2006. There were many high-tech(“dot com”) job opportunities, graduates received many job offers, and they were able to get jobs with high salaries and benefits such as health insurance and paid vacations. However, “Times have changed. It’s a new market,” according to an officer of the university.
　　The officer says students who do find jobs started preparing two years ago. They worked during summer vacations, they have had several short-time jobs, and they majored in fields that are still paying well, such as accounting or nursing.
　　Even teaching is not a secure profession now. Ryan Stewart wanted to be a teacher. But instead he will probably go back to school in order to become a college teacher. He thinks college teaching could be a good career even in a bad economy.
　　In conclusion, these days a college degree does not automatically lead to a good job with a high salary. Some students can only hope that the value of their degree will increase in the future.
1. What did a college degree mean to people in the past?
　　A. It was a proof of their professional skills.　　
B. It would guarantee their quick promotion（升职）.
　　C. It built up their confidence in the job market.　　
D. It would help them to start an academic career.
2. Why does Ryan Stewart want to be a college teacher?
　　A. Teaching jobs are well-paid.　　B. He majored in teaching in the university.
　　C. College teaching is less challenging than high-tech jobs.
　　D. College teaching career won’t be influenced by economy.
3.It can be concluded from the passage that _____.
　 A. the value of a college degree has decreased now　
B. new college graduates today can’t find any job
　 C. a college degree can still lead to a good job　　
D. graduates must prepare early to find jobs

Zoe Chambers was a successful PR(Public Relations) consultant and life was going well—she had a great job, a beautiful flat and a busy social life in London. Then one evening in June last year, she received a text message telling her she was out of work. “The first two weeks were the most difficult to live through,” she said. “After everything I’d done for the company, they dismissed me by text! I was so angry and I just didn’t feel like looking for another job. I hated everything about the city and my life.”
Then, Zoe received an invitation from an old school friend, Kathy, to come and stay. Kathy and her husband, Huw, had just bought a farm in north-west Wales. Zoe jumped at the chance to spend a weekend away from London, and now, ten months later, she is still on the farm.
“The moment I arrived at Kathy’s farm, I loved it and I knew I wanted to stay,” said Zoe. “Everything about my past life suddenly seemed meaningless.”
Zoe has been working on the farm since October of last year and says she has no regrets. “It’s a hard life, physically very tiring,” she says. “In London I was stressed and often mentally exhausted. But this is a good, healthy tiredness. Here, all I need to put me in a good mood is a hot bath and one of Kathy’s wonderful dinners.”
Zoe says she has never felt bored on the farm. Every day brings a new experience. Kathy has been teaching her how to ride a horse and she has learnt to drive a tractor. Since Christmas, she has been helping with the lambing—watching a lamb being born is unbelievable, she says, “It’s one of the most moving experiences I’ve ever had. I could never go back to city life now.”
1. When working as a PR consultant in London, Zoe thought she lived a ______ life.
A. satisfying B. tough C. meaningless D. boring
2 The most important reason why Zoe went to visit Kathy’s farm is that _________.
A. Zoe lost her job as a PR consultant B. Kathy persuaded her to do so
C. Zoe got tired of the city life D. Zoe loved Wales more than London
3. How does Zoe feel about the country life according to the passage? ______.
A. Tiresome and troublesome B. Romantic and peaceful
C. Mentally exhausting but healthy D. Physically tiring but rewarding

I love charity(慈善) shops and so do lots of other people in Britain because you find quite a few of them on every high street. The charity shop is a British institution, selling everything from clothes to electric goods, all at very good prices. You can get things you won’t find in the shops anymore. The thing I like best about them is that your money is going to a good cause and not into the pockets of profit-driven companies, and you are not damaging the planet, but finding a new home for unwanted goods.
The first charity shop was opened in 1947 by Oxfam. The famous charity’s appeal to aid postwar Greece had been so successful it had been flooded with donations(捐赠物). They decided to set up a shop to sell some of these donations to raise money for that appeal. Now there are over 7,000 charity shops in the UK. My favourite charity shop in my hometown is the Red Cross shop, where I always find children’s books, all 10 or 20 pence each.
Most of the people working in the charity shops are volunteers, although there is often a manager who gets paid. Over 90% of the goods in the charity shops are donated by the public. Every morning you see bags of unwanted items outside the front of shops, although they don’t encourage this, rather ask people to bring things in when the shop is open.
The shops have very low running costs: all profits go to charity work. Charity shops raise more than ￡110 million a year, funding(资助) medical research, overseas aid, supporting sick and poor children, homeless and disabled people, and much more. What better place to spend your money? You get something special for a very good price and a good moral sense. You provide funds to a good cause and tread lightly on the environment.
1. The author loves the charity shop mainly because of _________.
A. its convenient location B. its great variety of goods
C. its spirit of goodwill D. its nice shopping environment
2. The first charity shop in the UK was set up to ________.
A. sell cheap products B. deal with unwanted things
C. raise money for patients D. help a foreign country
3. Which of the following is TRUE about charity shops? _________.
A. The operating costs are very low B. The staff are usually well paid
C. 90% of the donations are second-hand D. They are open twenty-four hours a day
4. Which of the following may be the best title for the passage? _________.
A. What to Buy a Charity Shops
B. Charity Shop: Its Origin & Development
C. Charity Shop: Where You Buy to Donate
D. The Public’s Concern about Charity Shops

A．a judge	B．a teacher
C．a writer	D．a doctor