Everyone gathered around and Paddy read out loud, slowly, his tone growing sadder and sadder. The little headline said: BOXER RECEIVES LIFF SENTENCE.
Frank Cleary, aged 26, professional boxer, was today found guilty of the murder of Albert Gumming, aged 32, laborer, last July. The jury(陪审团) reached its decision after only ten minutes, recommending the most severe punishment to the court. It was, said the Judge, a simple case. Cumming and Cleary had quarreled violently at the Harbour Hotel on July 23rd and police saw Cleary kicking at the head of the unconscious Gumming. When arrested, Cleary was drunk but clear-thinking.
Cleary was sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour. Asked if he had anything to say, Cleary answered, “Just don’t tell my mother.”
“It happened over three years ago,” Paddy said helplessly. No one answered him or moved, for no one knew what to do. “Just don’t tell my mother,” said Fee numbly(麻木地). “And no one did! Oh, God! My poor, poor Frank!”
Paddy wiped the tears from his face and said. “Fee, pack your things. We’ll go to see him.”
She half-rose before sinking back, her eyes in her small white face stared as if dead. “I can't go,” she said without a hint of pain, yet making everyone feel that the pain was there. “It would kill him to see me. I know him so well—his pride, his ambition. Let him bear the shame alone, it’s what he wants. We’ve got to help him keep his secret. What good will it do him to see us?”
Paddy was still weeping, not for Frank, but for the life which had gone from Fee’s face, for the dying in her eyes. Frank had always brought bitterness and misfortune, always stood between Fee and himself. He was the cause of her withdrawal from his heart and the hearts of his children. Every time it looked as if there might be happiness for Fee, Frank took it away. But Paddy’s love for her was as deep and impossible to wipe out as hers was for Frank.
So he said, “Well, Fee, we won’t go. But we must make sure he is taken care of. How about if I write to Father Jones and ask him to look out for Frank?”
There was no excitement in the eyes, but a faint pink stole into her cheeks. “Yes, Paddy, do that. Only make sure he knows not to tell Frank we found out. Perhaps it would ease Frank to think for certain that we don’t know.”Paddy cried because he thought ___________.
A.Frank did kill someone and deserved the punishment |
B.Frank should have told Fee what had happened |
C.what had happened to Frank was killing Fee |
D.Frank had always been a man of bad moral character |
The underlined sentence “She half-rose before sinking back…” in Paragraph 6 shows that___________.
A.Fee was so heart-broken that she could hardly stand up |
B.Fee didn’t want to upset Paddy by visiting Frank |
C.Fee couldn’t leave her family to go to see Frank |
D.Fee struggled between wanting to see Frank and respecting his wish |
What can be inferred from the passage?
A.The jury and the judge agreed on the Boxer’s Sentence of Life Imprisonment. |
B.The police found Gumming unconscious, heavily struck by Frank. |
C.The family didn’t find out what had happened to Frank until 3 years later. |
D.Frank didn’t want his family to know the sentence to him, most probably out of his pride. |
What is Frank and Paddy’s probable relationship with Fee?
A.Frank is Fee’s son and Paddy is Fee’s brother. |
B.Frank is Fee’s son and Paddy is Fee’s husband. |
C.Frank is Fee’s brother and Paddy is Fee’s lover. |
D.Frank is Fee’s lover and Paddy is Fee’s husband. |
After a year of being prepared, Laura Dekker can’t wait to set sail .Last August ,the Dutch government decided that Laura Dekker was too young to take on the challenge of sailing around the world alone. But after a year of preparing herself , Laura has been allowed to sail.
”I was so happy I almost jump into the water,” Laura said , after learning of the court’s judgement. She was born on a yacht(游艇) in the South Pacific ,and now lives with her father in a boat. When Dutch child protection groups first heard about her plan to sail alone , they stopped her from doing so .
Since the decision, though, Laura had been preparing with her father to persuade the courts that she was ready. Last week she received the books and other materials she would need for school while she was at sea. She added safety equipment to a new, big ship. And she took her first aid course to learn several survival skills, like how to put out fires on the boat, take care of her own injuries and deal with lack of sleep. She also planned a safer course --- adding alternate routes(备用路径) to avoid pirate(海盗) attacks, and planning a course that would have her on dry land as she moved from port to port across the world.
Laura is using a larger and more safer boat. If she finished successfully in less than two years, she will take the title from current record-holder Jessica Watson, of Australia, who was 16 when she completed the journey.Why didn’t the Dutch government allow Laura Dekker to sail alone ?
A.She was too old to take care of herself |
B.She was too young to sail alone. |
C.She was not well prepared |
D.It would cause trouble to the government. |
It can be inferred that Laura’s sailing plan was first ______.
A.not allowed by her father and mother |
B.supported by her father and mother |
C.not allowed by Dutch child protection groups |
D.supported by Dutch child protection groups |
When Laura is at sea ,she might _____.
A.learn some lessons by herself |
B.learn some lessons with the help of her father |
C.stop her school lessons for some time |
D.not learn any lessons of her schooling |
According to the passage , Laura made good preparations in the following EXCEPT _____.
A, struggling against sharks
B. learning knowledge in first aid
C. improving the yacht
D. improving herself with survival skills
When I was 16 years old, I made my first visit to the United States. It wasn’t the first time I had been abroad. Like most English children, I learnt French at school and I had often been to France, so I was used to speaking a foreign language to people who didn’t understand English. But when I went to America I was really looking forward to having a nice easy holiday without any language problems.
How wrong I was! The misunderstanding began at the airport. I was looking for a public telephone to give my American friend Danny a ring and tell her that I had arrived. A friendly old man saw me looking like being lost and asked if he could help me.
“Yes,”I said.“I want to give my friend a ring.”
“Well, that’s nice,”he exclaimed (惊呼).“Are you getting married? But aren’t you a bit young?”
“Who is talking about marriage?” I replied. “I just want to give my friend a ring to tell her I’ve arrived. Can you tell me where there’s a phone box?”
“Oh!”he said.“There’s a phone downstairs.”
When at last we did meet up, Danny explained the misunderstanding to me.“Don’t worry,” she said to me.“I had many difficulties at first. There are lots of words which the Americans use differently in meaning from us British. You’ll soon get used to all the funny things they say. But most of the time British and American people can understand each other!”Where was the writer from? _____.
A.America | B.France |
C.England | D.China |
When the writer arrived at the airport, he wanted to _____.
A.buy a ring for his friend |
B.make a call to his friend |
C.ask the way to his friend’s |
D.go to the telephone company |
From the passage we can see that “give somebody a ring ”___
A.has two different meanings |
B.means “call somebody” for the old man |
C.means “be going to get married ”in England |
D.has the same meaning in American as in England |
Which sentence is wrong according to the passage?
A. The writer’s friend, Danny had a lot of difficulties in the U.S.A. at first.
B. There are some differences between American and British English.
C. British people can’t understand the Americans most of the time.
D. British and American people can understand each other most of the time.
Joe Bloggs always had a cigarette on his lips. He smoked while he read, while he watched TV, and while he drank a cup of coffee. He smoked forty cigarettes a day, but he was happy.
Joe’s friend, Fred Brown, said to him, “It is very bad to smoke”. When Joe heard this , he started to worry and became so thin that he went to Fred for help.
Fred said , “You must eat more”. O Joe did not smoke , but he ate chocolate , and he became very fat. Again he went to Fred for help.
Fred said , “ You must not eat chocolate”. So Joe stopped eating chocolate , but he went back to smoking cigarettes. He became thin again but he was not happy, because he still smoked.
Sometimes Joe Bloggs wished Fred Brown was not his friend!When Joe became thin the first time it was because_____.
A.he smoked too much | B.he worried too much |
C.he stopped smoking | D.he ate too little |
The following sentences tell what happened to Joe.Which is the right order of the events?
a.He did not smoke , he ate chocolate , he was fat, he was unhappy.
b.He smoked , he did not eat chocolate, he was thin , he was unhappy.
c.He smoked , he did not eat chocolate , he was not fat , he was happy
A.a, b, c | B.c, b, a |
C.b, a, c | D.c, a, b |
In the end Joe was unhappy about his friendship with Fred because___
A.Fred had given him the wrong advice on purpose. |
B.he never liked being told what to do |
C.he in fact had never really understood what Fred meant |
D.Fred’s advice had brought him much trouble |
What is the writer trying to tell us with this story?
A.Chocolate is bad for one’s health. |
B.One should ask friends for help and advice |
C.Smoking is bad for one’s health |
D.One should think and decide for oneself |
Try imagining what the world will be like in the year 3000. Some serious thinkers are starting to imagine just that.
Bart: I don’t know that present-day electronic chips are, but some sort of chips — I’d guess maybe plastic. Our three-pound brain is definitely a wonder, perhaps the greatest wonder of natural biology. In this coming century, we’ll be re-engineering the brain a piece at a time, first with implants(植入物) and finally engineering an complete replacement. There’s no question that in the distant future we’ll play the music of the mind on instruments different from the current ones. So, yes, chips are our destiny (命运).
Edward: In 3000 perhaps the biggest difference from today is that there will be no more men. Females can have female children, without any need for men. In about ten years, we’ll find the cocktail that women can take to have female children. There’ll be no need for men at all.
Greg: What is Heaven? Heaven’s a place where you can create worlds at will, and the ideal Heaven is where you run the whole thing yourself. The current means of getting to Heaven involve various supernatural systems for which, at this point, there’s no scientific evidence. So I think we can reduce Heaven to an engineering project which we’re doing. The demand for Heaven is great—witness the desire of every human heart, from the people who built the ancient pyramids to modern society, to live beyond one’s given time. Our plan is to change human consciousness from the brain to bits of information in a computer chip, or some other kind of computational medium, so that just by thinking we’ll be able to create our own personal world. And I think the first stage of Heaven will be the feeling world, and beyond that I think we’d find a higher, more spiritual plane.According to Bart, the brain may be the greatest wonder in the future because _______.
A.it may weigh as much as 3 pounds |
B.it may be driven by plastic chips |
C.it may be replaced by robots |
D.it may play the music of the mind |
What does Bart refer to by saying “chips are our destiny”?
A.Chips are our last choice in the future. |
B.Chips are on the way to controlling mind. |
C.Chips are the production of future technology. |
D.Chips are the implants in the distant future. |
In 3000, what about the population of the world?
A.It will be all made up of females. |
B.It will be larger than that of present. |
C.It will mainly consists of children. |
D.It will be reduced by a drink of cocktail. |
According to Greg, Heaven in the future is a place where ________.
A.your scientific idea exists |
B.you have once traveled |
C.your own thought travels |
D.your material world is formed |
Why do we call the sounds of birds, whales and insects songs? Because something about what we hear seems to have beauty, and some mellifluous (动听的) structure that touches us more than any possible message. Though for many years science has cautioned against hearing too much of what we humans would like to hear when we are trying to understand animal sounds, the musicality in some sounds is now starting to have an effect on the science of animal communication itself.
Many specific animal sounds express aggression(进攻), warning, or food, but such practical explanations are tough to apply to the long songs. Some whale songs can go on for up to 24 hours. The usual explanation for birdsong is that the birds are singing to attract mates or to announce the limits of their area. But the audience is not always evident for these long love songs, which have many of the elements related to human music: rhythm, melody (旋律), themes, repeating patterns, organization, variety, interest — all adding up to something humans have found beautiful for thousands of years. “Birds taught man,” wrote Roman poet and philosopher (哲学家) Lucretius, “and taught them songs before their art began.”
What is the scientific value of such sounds? The advantage of hearing music in nature and trying to reach out to nature through music is that though we don’t fully understand it, it is so accessible.
Music refuses explanation, but it clearly expresses something deep and important, which humans can’t live without. Finding music in the sound of birds, whales and other animals makes the farther frontiers(边缘) of nature see much closer to us.The underlined phrase “cautioned against” in Paragraph 1 probably means “_______”.
A.warned against |
B.fought against |
C.been filled with |
D.been satisfied with |
According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?
A.We call the songs of birds’ sounds because there is beauty that sounds pleasant to the ears. |
B.It is believed that birds are singing to attract mates or to warn the limits of their areas. |
C.The songs of a bird really carry an emotional message such as “aggression and caring”. |
D.It is not very long for people to know that birdsong does have something beautiful. |
By saying “Birds taught man”, what did Lucretius mean?
A.People teach rhythm, melody, themes, repeating patterns to birds. |
B.Birds can teach people how to go on singing a song up to 24 hours. |
C.Human music has, in fact, come from the sounds of birds in nature. |
D.Humans learned something beautiful from the sounds of many animals. |
From the passage we know that music in nature ________.
A.can’t be explained at all |
B.is very easy to pick up and listen to |
C.can’t be understood at all |
D.is of no scientific value |