Taxes, Taxes and More Taxes
Americans often say that there are only two things a person can be sure of in life; death and taxes. Americans do not have a corner on the “death” market, but many people feel that the United States leads the world with the worst taxes.
Taxes consist of the money which people pay to support their government. There are generally three levels of government in the United States: federal (联邦), state, and city; therefore, there are three types of taxes.
Salaried people who earn more than a few thousand dollars must pay a certain percentage of their salaries to the federal government. The percentage varies form person to person. It depends on their salaries. The federal government has a graduated income tax, that is, the percentage of the tax (14 to 70 percent) increases as a person’s income increases. With the high cost of taxes people are not very happy on April 15, when the federal taxes are due.
The second tax is for the state government: New York, California, North Dakota, or any of the other forty-seven states. Some states have an income tax similar to that of the federal government. Of course, the percentage for the state tax is lower. Other states have a sales tax, which is a percentage charged to any item(项目) which you buy in that state. For example, a person might want to buy a packet of cigarettes for twenty-five cents. If there is a sales tax of eight percent in that state, then the cost of the cigarettes is twenty-seven cents. This figure includes the sales tax. Some states use income tax in addition to sales tax to raise their revenues (收入). The state tax laws are various and confusing.
The third tax is for the city. This tax comes in two forms: property tax (people who own a home have to pay taxes on it) and excise (国产) tax, which is charged on cars in a city. The cities use these funds for education, police and fire departments, public works and municipal (市政内) buildings.
Since Americans pay such high taxes, they often feel that they are working one day each week just to pay their taxes. People always complain about taxes. They often protest that the government uses their tax dollars in the wrong way. They say that it spends too much on useless and impractical programs. Although Americans have different views on many issues, they tend to agree on one subject: taxes are too high.How do you understand the sentence “Americans do not have a corner on the ‘death’ market”?
| A．It means that Americans, just like all other people, must die. |
| B．It means that Americans do not have a secret place to keep from death in their life. |
| C．It means that Americans are not good at doing business in the death market. |
| D．It means that there is no such place as a death market in the U. S. |
Why should the American people usually pay three types of taxes?
| A．There are three levels of government--federal, state and city-to support the United States. |
| B．There are three kinds of taxes to pay--graduated income tax, sales tax and property tax.. |
| C．They earn different salaries: high, middle, and low. |
| D．Tax laws in different states are different. |
What does the title “Taxes, Taxes, and More Taxes” imply?
| A．Americans are not satisfied with the three types of taxes. |
| B．The three levels of government do not use the taxes in a right way. |
| C．Americans complain that taxes are too high. |
| D．Americans’ taxes are diverse and confusing. |
Jack was so excited about getting a new backpack because his old one had a broken zipper(拉链) and a hole in the bottom.
Jack’s elder brother took him to buy a new backpack. There were so many cool ones. How would he ever decide? He saw blue ones—his favorite color. He saw ones with his favorite action hero on the front. And then Jack saw a backpack with a black square design. When he opened it, he saw it had a hidden, secret small bag. He liked it, which made it different from others.
“This is the one,” he said, then carried it to the check-out counter.
That evening, Jack carefully filled his new backpack with his school things. He put his special pen in the secret small bag. The next day in English class, Mr. Mack said, “Let’s write an essay about earthquakes!” Jack looked for his pen in his backpack, but he couldn’t find it! He rummaged through his desk and his pockets, but no pen.
Jack asked if anyone had seen his pen, but no one had. Mr. Mack lent him a pencil, but Jack was feeling anxious because he lost his pen. When he got home, Jack told his brother he couldn’t find his favorite pen. His brother said, “You must have put it in that secret small bag.”
Jack laughed and said, “That small bag was so secret that I forgot all about it.”The backpack that Jack bought is__________.
| A．a blue one. | B．one with a black square design. |
| C．one with an action hero. | D．a small one. |
Jack decided to buy that backpack because __________.
| A．it had his favorite color | B．he liked the black square design |
| C．the secret small bag made it special | D．his brother suggested he get that one |
The underlined word “rummaged” in Paragraph 4 probably means “________”.
| A．forgot to look at | B．searched really well | C．turned sideways | D．threw away |
When Jack realized what he had done, he thought it was ________.
| A．funny | B．annoying | C．surprising | D．cool |
This text mainly tells us ________.
| A．a story of Jack’s old backpack | B．that Jack was studying earthquakes |
| C．that Jack was old enough to do shopping | D．a story of Jack’s pen and new backpack |
七选五：根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。（共5小题；每小题2分，满分10分）
A man came home from work late, tired and found his 5-year-old son waiting for him at the door.
“Daddy, may I ask you a question?”“Yeah, sure, what is it?” replied the man. “If you must know, I make $20 an hour.”“Oh,” the little boy replied, with his head down. Then he looked up and said, “Daddy, may I borrow $10?” The father was angry, “If the only reason you asked for that is to borrow some money to buy a silly toy, then you should go to bed.”
After about an hour or so, the man calmed down, and started to think. Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $10 and he really didn’t ask for money very often. “Are you asleep, son?” He opened the door and as
ked. “No, Daddy,” replied the boy. “I’ve been thinking, maybe I was 
too hard on you just now.” said the man, “Here’s the $10 you asked for.”“Oh, thank you, Daddy!” he yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some small change.
“Why do you want more money if you have already had some?” the father asked angrily.
“Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do.” The little boy replied, “Daddy, I have $20 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home earlier tomorrow, I would like to have dinner with you.”
| A．Silently the little boy returned the money to his father with tears. |
| B．The man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. |
| C．“Daddy, how much do you make an hour?” |
| D．“Daddy, how much do you spend a day?” |
E. The man went to the door of the little boy’s room.
F. The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.
G. The little boy sat straight up, smiling.
A couple from Miami, Bill and Simone Butler, spent sixty –six days in a life-raft (救生艇) in the seas of Central America after their boat sank.
Twenty-one days after they left Panama in their boat, Simony, they met some whales (鲸鱼). “They started to hit the side of the boat,” said Bill, “and then suddenly we heard water.” Two minutes later, the boat was sinking. They jumped into the life-raft and watched the boat go under the water.
For twenty days they had tins of food, biscuits, and bottles of water. They also had a fishing-line and a machine to make salt water into drinking water— two things which saved their lives. They caught eight to ten fish a day and ate them raw (生的). Then the line broke. “So we had no more fish until something very strange happened. Some sharks (鲨鱼) came to feed, and the fish under the raft were afraid and came to the surface. I caught them with my hands.”
About twenty ships passed them, but no one saw them. After fifty days at sea their life-raft was beginning to break up. Then suddenly it was all over. A fishing boat saw them and picked them up. They couldn’t stand up. So the captain carr
ied them onto his boat and took them to Costa Rica. Their two months at sea was over. Bill and Simone were traveling ______ when they met some whales.
| A．in a life-raft | B．in Miami | C．in Simony | D．in Panama |
During their days at sea, ______ saved their lives.
A．tins of food and bottles of water |
B．a fishing-line and a machine |
| C．whales and sharks | D．Twenty passing ships |
After their boat sank, the couple ______.
| A．jumped into the life-raft | B．heard water |
| C．watched the boat go under water | D．stayed in the life-raft |
You have the ability to decide whether you are happy or not. Happiness is a choice.
You can’t depend on someone else to make you happy. That is a lesson I learned early in my marriage. I realized that I couldn’t rely on my husband as my source of happiness. I learned that my happiness depended on myself and not my husband’s actions. I learned that you have to choose to be happy.
You can choose your emotions. True happiness comes from within, and it can’t be forced by outside force. So how do you choose happiness? The same way, you choose to smile or choose to wear a certain outfit（一套衣服）. You choose it because that’s what you want to experience in you life.
You want to buy a new pair of shoes so you choose a pair that you like and feels good. You wouldn’t buy a pair of shoes that you don’t like or that doesn’t fit well, right? So why do we keep choosing emotions and feelings that don’t make us feel good?
Choosing to be happy after you realize your anger has shown up (or even choosing to be calm) can be beneficial. We choose our feelings; no one else can do that for us. If we let others get to us, influence our 
emotions — we are giving them power over us. When others cause us anger or pain, we are giving them our power.
We need to keep our feelings in check and not to react（反应） automatically to what is thrown at us. We need to think our actions out instead of just reacting to what someone says or does.
Remember that we can always choose happiness. At first it will be difficult to just switch（使转变）your thoughts and feelings from anger, self-doubt, or fear to joy and happiness. But it is only a thought away. Don’t dwell on（细想） what happens to you unnecessarily but realize what is causing you to feel that way. Realize that thoughts, feelings and emotions can change. Then move on and choose to be happy. What’s the best title of this passage?
| A．Pretend to Be Happy |
| B．Choose Your Emotions |
| C．Choose to Be Happy |
D．Find Happ iness |
The lesson the writer learned in her marriage is .
| A．one can’t depend on someone else to make himself or herself happy |
| B．balancing the relationship between husband and wife is an art |
| C．she can depend on her husband to find happiness |
| D．happiness can be influenced by outside force |
Why did the writer mention buying shoes?
| A．To offer advice on how to choose comfortable shoes. |
| B．To use it as an example to illustrate（阐述）her point of view. |
| C．To compare choosing shoes and choosing an outfit. |
| D．To help move to the next paragraph easily. |
The writer suggests that we should .
| A．let others control our feelings |
| B．respond immediately to others’ words |
| C．hold back our feelings properly |
| D．pay more attention to words than actions |
Maupassant（居·莫泊桑）was born in 1850 in northern France. His early life was not happy. His parents separated when he was 11. Most of his education came informally from Gustave Flaubert—his mother’s friend and his godfather, a journalist and novelist. Often Flaubert would let him take a walk and then ask him to write 100 lines about what he saw. This type of training developed in Maupassant a sense of observation, which he later put to use in his writing. Flaubert also allowed Maupassant to attend his Sunday gatherings with others in his literary circle
For a few years, Maupassant was connected with the Ministry of Public Instruction. It is interesting to note that Monsieur Loisel, a poor man character in The Necklace, worked there. He also served in the French army during the Franco-Prussian War. His favorite writing subjects were peasants, servants, in the city, and the Francd-Prussian War.
At an early age, Maupassant started writing short stories. In 1880, some of his works were published and he received a wide reputation for Boule de Suif (Ball of Tallow). With this success, he began to work full-time on writing. During the next ten years, he wrote over 300 stories, including six novels, three travel books, and a book of verse. Through them, he earn a lot of money.
His writing was classical and simple, avoiding social comments and dirty details. His works often showed a real world and an accurate knowledge of the subject. Although Maupassant wrote in many forms, he received widest recognition for his short stories. By 1890, Maupassant was suffering from the latter staged of syphilis（梅毒）. He died in 1893 in Paris. Which of the following is TRUE about Gustave Flaubert?
| A．He often went out for a walk with Maupassant. |
| B．He was a journalist and novelist working for church. |
| C．He had a great influence on Maupassant’s writing.. |
| D．He often helped Maupassant with his writing homework. |
From text we know Monsieur Loisel is _______.
| A．a man selling necklaces |
| B．a character in one of Maupassant’s works. |
C．a short story  written by Maupassant |
| D．a friend of Maupassant the Ministry of Public Instruction |
What are the characteristics of Maupassant’s stories?
| A．They have few social comments. |
| B．They are simple and humorous. |
| C．They only focus on the lives of peasants. |
| D．They are full of imagination. |
What can we learn about Maupassant from the text?
| A．Only in his 30s did he begin to write stories. |
| B．He did not received any formal education. |
| C．He spent his last years happily. |
| D．Boule de Suif was his first success. |