Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
People use their mouths for many things. They eat, talk, shout and sing. They smile and they kiss. In the English language, there are many expressions using the word mouth. But some of them are not so nice.
For example, if you say bad things about a person, the person might protest and say “Do not bad mouth me.”
Sometimes, people say something to a friend or a family member that they later regret because it hurts that person’s feelings. Or they tell the person something they were not supposed to tell. The speaker might say: “I really put my foot in my mouth this time.” If this should happen, the speaker might feel down in the mouth. In other words, he might feel sad for saying the wrong thing.
Another situation is when someone falsely claims another person said something. The other person might protest: “I did not say that. Do not put words in my mouth.”
Information is often spread through word of mouth. This is general communication between people, like friends talking to each other. “How did you hear about that new movie?” someone might ask. “Oh, by word of mouth.” A more official way of getting information is through a company or government mouthpiece. This is an official spokesperson. Government-run media could also be called a mouthpiece.
Sometimes when one person is speaking, he says the same thing that his friend was going to say. When this happens, the friend might say: “You took the words right out of my mouth!” Sometimes a person has a bad or unpleasant experience with another person. He might say that experience “left a bad taste in my mouth.” Or the person might have had a very frightening experience, like being chased by an angry dog. He might say: “I had my heart in my mouth.”
Some people have lots of money because they were born into a very rich family. There is an expression for this, too. You might say such a person, “was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.” This rich person is the opposite of a person who lives from hand to mouth. This person is very poor and only has enough money for the most important things in life, like food.
Parents might sometimes withhold sweet food from a child as a form of punishment for saying bad things. For example, if a child says things she should not say to her parents, she might be described as a mouthy child. The parents might even tell the child to stop mouthing off.
But enough of all this talk. I have been running my mouth long enough.Which of the following can best describe his or her feeling if a speaker feels down in the mouth?
| A．Delighted | B．Regretful |
| C．Disappointed | D．Respectful |
When your car was close to knocking into a truck, you might say “_______”
| A．I really put my foot in my mouth this time. |
| B．I had my heart in my mouth. |
| C．I live from hand to mouth. |
| D．I get to know it by word of mouth. |
According to the passage, which behavior is surely Not welcome?
a. bad mouthing somebody
b. mouthing off about something
c. putting words in somebody’s mouth
d. taking the words right out of somebody’s mouth
| A．abc | B．abd | C．bcd | D．acd |
What do “I” probably (in the last Para.) do?
| A．A host | B．A journalist |
| C．A director | D．A listener |
第三部分：阅读理解(共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分)
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项。
My wife and I used to feel that it was impossible to be a true friend to someone whose name we didn’t know. How wrong we were! Years of Sunday-morning bus trips through the city with the same group of “nameless” people have changed our thinking.
Before the bus takes off, we all join in a conversation: where’s the silent woman who sits up front and never responds to our cheery greetings? Here she comes. Her worn clothing suggests she doesn’t have much money to spare, but she 
always takes an extra cup of coffee for the driver.
We get smiles from a Mexican couple as they get on the bus hand in hand. When they get off, they’re still holding hands. The woman was pregnant late last year, and one day her change of shape confirmed that she’d delivered the child. We even felt a little pride at the thought of our extended family.
For many months, our only sadness lay in our inability to establish the same friendship with the silent woman at the front of the bus. Then, one evening, we went to a fish restaurant. We were shown to a table alongside someone sitting alone. It was the woman from the bus.
We greeted her with friendly familiarity we’d
shown all year, but this time her face softened, then a shy smile. When she spoke, the words escaped awkwardly from her lips. All at once we realized why she hadn’t spoken to us before. Talking was hard for her.
Over dinner; we learned the stay of a single mother with a disabled son who was receiving special care away from home. She missed him desperately, she explained.
“I love him… and he loves me, even though he doesn’t express it very well,” she murmured. “Lots of us have that problem, don’t we? We don’t say what we want to say, what we should be saying. And that’s not good enough.”
The candles flared on our tables. Our fish had never tasted better. But the atmosphere grew pleasant, and when we parted as friends—we shared names.
56.Which of the following might be the best title of this passage?
Friends of the Road B. The Silent Woman on the Bus
C. Going to Work by Bus D. Different Kinds of Friendship
57.All the following statements can describe the woman except ______.
A. poor B. warm hearted C. silentD. cold
58. The underlined word “establish” in the fourth passage probably has the same meaning as ______.
A. keep B. discover C. set up D. accept
59. Why did the woman usually keep silence while taking the bus?
A. She was worried about her disabled son.
B. She was sad to see the happy Mexican couple us a single mother.
C. She had difficulty in expressing herself. D. She was only interested in the bus driver.
60. The woman had the same problem with her son in the way that ______.
A. they both disabled people B. they both had some difficulty in expressing
C. they both liked bus travel D. they both brought interest to the passengers
The need to feed a growing population is putting much pressure on the world’s supply of water. With 97% of the world’s water too salty to be drunk or used in agriculture, the worldwide supply of water needs careful management, especially in agriculture. Although the idea of a water shortage seems strange to someone fortunate enough to live in a high rainfall country, many of the world’s agricultural industries experience water shortages from time to time.
Although dams can be built to store water for agricultural use in dry areas and dry seasons,
the costs of water redistribution(重新分配) are very high. Not only is there the cost of the engineering itself, but there is also an environmental cost to be considered.Where valleys are flooded to create dams, houses are lost and wildlife homes destroyed. Besides, water may flow easily through pipes to fields, but it cannot be transported from one side of the world to the other.Each country must therefore rely on the management of its own water to supply its farming
requirements.
This is particularly troubling for countries with agricultural industries in areas dependent on irrigation. In Texas, farmers' overuse of irrigation water has resulted in a 25% reduction of the water stores. In the Central Valley area of southwestern USA, a huge water engineering project provided water for farming in dry valleys, but much of the water use has been poorly managed.
Saudi Arabia's attempts(尝试) to grow wheat in desert areas have seen the pumping of huge quantities of irrigation water from underground reserves(水库). Because there is no rainfall in these areas, such reserves can only decrease, and it is believed that fifty years of pumping will see them run dry.
72. From the first two paragraphs we learn that _____.
A. much of the world’s water can be used by us right now
B. people in high rainfall countries feel lucky to be there
C. the costs of water redistribution should be considered
D. water can be easily carried through pipes across the world
73. Which of the following is TRUE?
A. The water stores in Texas have been reduced by 75%.
B. Most industries in the world suffer from water shortages.
C. Underground water in Saudi Arabia might run out in 50 years.
D. Good management of water resulted from the Central Valley project.
74. What is most likely to be discussed in the paragraph that follows?
A. Steps to improving water use management.
B. Ways to reduce the costs of building dams.
C. Measures to deal with worldwide water shortages.
D. Ways to deal with the pressure on water supply.
75. The text is mainly about _____.
A. water supply and increasing population
B. water use management and agriculture
C. water redistribution and wildlife protection
D. water shortages and environmental protection
What's the furthest you have ever cycled? Perhaps you cycle to school or to work, or maybe at most a short cycling trip with friends? How would you feel about spending months on the road travelling on your own from the UK to China, by bike?
For the British cyclist Pete Jones, camping in the wild and cycling long distances through inhospitable terrain are his second nature. An experienced explorer through places such as the Tianshan Mountains and the Tibetan Plateau, Mr. Jones is currently taking a great journey across the Eurasian continent from Britain to China.
Having lived on and off(断断续续地) in Xinjiang for three years, and having visited the country many times since 1992, Pete Jones is no stranger to China. But he says many people there are puzzled by his strong love for cycling, asking why he would choose to cycle when he can afford a car. Indeed, while there are about 400 million bicycles in China, where it has long been the preferred means of transport, rapid economic growth has caused an rapid development in car ownership.
Edward Genochio, another British cyclist who completed a 41,000km trip to China and back, said one of his goals was to "tell people cycling is a safe, sustainable and environmentally friendly means of getting about."
In the UK, the last few years have seen a rise in the number of people choosing two wheels over four, with some estimates(估计) saying the number of people cycling to work has almost doubled in the last five years.
Politicians also see cycling as a way to prove that they are concerned about the environment, with people such as London mayor Boris Johnson often riding to work by himself. But we may have to wait some time before we see him emulating(效仿) Pete Jones in attempting to cycle all the way to China.
68. From this passage we can know the following EXCEPT that _____.
A. Pete Jones has travelled through the Tianshan Mountains and the Tibetan Plateau
B. in the past few years more UK people have changed their means of transport to work
C. most Chinese people can understand why Pete Jones is so crazy about cycling
D. Edward Genochio is a cyclist from Britain who has been to China by riding a bike
69. We can infer from the passage that _____.
A. Pete Jones’s desire for cycling led to his staying in China for three years
B. now the number of Chinese people owning cars is larger than those owning bikes
C. London mayor Boris Johnson will emulate Pete Jones to cycle to China in the future
D. Both British common people and politicians see riding bikes as a good means of transport
70. The underlined phrase “inhospitable terrain” in the second paragraph most probably means
______.
A. places where you can find modern cities B. places that are unsuitable for people to live in
C. places where there are many people D. places that are far away from modern cities
71. Which of the following statements is true?
A. Pete Jones has come to China many times by riding the bicycle.
B. More Chinese people own private cars as a result of economic growth.
C. More British people prefer bicycles as they can’t afford to drive now.
D. Before long, more people will ride bicycles to China following Pete and Edward.
A volcaniceruptioninIcelandhassentashacrossnorthernEurope. Airlines have stopped or changedtheflightsacrosstheAtlanticOcean,leavinghundredsofpassengersstuckinairports.
Grimsvotnisoneofthelargestandmostactivevolcanoes in Europe. What makes Grimsvom different is that it lies under a huge glacier(冰川) of ice up to 12 meters thick. The hot volcano heats up the ice above it, which then forms a layer(层) of water between the glacier and the volcano. This layer of water puts pressure on the volcano, keeping it still. As the water flows out from under the glacier, the pressure lifts. The lava(岩浆) from the volcano then comes up to the surface. This is exactly what happened today.
Now, airlines have to make changes to their flights so as not to fly through the clouds of volcanic ash. According to KLM, one of Europe's biggest airlines, airplanes cannot go under the cloud or over it. Going through the cloud can result in ash getting stuck in the airplane's engines, causing damage to the plane.
The eruption has also caused problems for animals in Iceland. The volcano left ash and sharp,
glass-like rocks all over the countryside. Farmers are keeping their animals inside to stop them
from eating ash-covered grass or the sharp object. w_
64. What makes Grimsvotn different from other volcanoes?
A. It is below ice. B. It lies under the sea.
C. It is the largest volcano. D. Its lava affects the airlines.
65. _____ keeps Grimsvotn still.
A. The slow flow of water B. The low water temperature
C. The thick glacier D. The water pressure
66. Which of the following is the result of the volcanic eruption?
A. People stop traveling in Europe. B. Airlines suffer from the loss of planes.
C. It is dangerous for animals to eat out. D. Farmers have lost many of their animals.
67. This text is most probably taken from_____.
A. a research paper B. a newspaper report
C. a class duty report D. a geography textbook
Everyone knows the smart black-and-white dog that sits on top of a red doghouse with his best friend ---- a bird called Woodstock.
Created by the American cartoonist Charles Schulz in 1950, the clever dog is loved by generations of kids and adults. He speaks more than 20 languages and appears daily in 26,000 newspapers around the world.
When Snoopy first appeared, he was no different from other pet dogs. But two years later, he had begun to speak in thought bubbles with simple words and sounds. By 1957 he could walk on two legs and was going to school with his master, Charlie Brown, who fails at just about everything. Later he learned to use the typewriter.
Snoopy has done lots of jobs. He has been a bow-tie wearing lawyer, a tennis player, an Olympic figure skater, a world famous grocery checkout clerk, a pilot and even the first astronaut on the moon.
However, Snoopy has always dreamed of being a famous writer. The beginning of his story is always, “It was a dark and stormy night…” Unfortunately for him no one has ever wanted to publish the story.
In love, Snoopy is as much of a failure as Charlie Brown is at baseball. He easily falls in love but always has his heart broken. He eats to forget, but it never works.
Snoopy is an insightful(有洞察力的), feel-good and sometimes sad dog. If you think a little about his words, you might find them full of life lessons. Among his most famous lines are “To live is to dance, to dance is to live.” And “Yesterday I was a dog. Today I’m a dog. Tomorrow I’ll probably still be a dog. Sigh! There’s so little hope for advancement.”
60. From the passage, we can learn that ________.
A. Snoopy is always a sad dog
B. Snoopy can't speak in the beginning
C. Snoopy often dreams of true love
D. Snoopy is a real smart pet dog
61. Snoopy has done all the following jobs EXCEPT ________.
A. a lawyer B. a player C. a clerk D. a writer
62. It can be inferred that Snoopy ________.
A. has many bird friends and relatives B. is a well-known writer and clerk
C. has been unfortunate since it was born D. is very popular in the whole world
63. The underlined word “advancement” in the last paragraph probably means ________.
A. success B. progress C. growth D. popularity