“Mum, what does it mean when someone tells you that they have a skeleton (骨骼) in the closet (衣橱)?”Jessica asked. “A skeleton in the closet?” her mother paused thoughtfully. “Well, it's something that you would rather not have anyone else know about. For example, if in the past, someone in Dad's family had been arrested for stealing a horse, it would be ‘a skeleton in his family's closet’. He really wouldn't want any neighbor to know about it. ”
“Why pick on my family?” Jessica's father said with anger. “Your family history isn't so good, you know. Wasn't your great－great－grandfather a prisoner who was transported to Australia for his crimes?”“Yes, but people these days say that you are not a real Australian unless your ancestors arrived as prisoners. ” “Gosh, sorry I asked. I think I understand now, ” Jessica cut in before things grew worse.
After dinner, the house was very quiet. Jessica's parents were still quite angry with each other. Her mother was ironing clothes and every now and then she glared at her husband, who hid behind his newspaper pretending to read. When she finished, she gathered the freshly pressed clothes in her arms and walked to Jessica's closet. Just as she opened the door and reached in to hang a skirt, a bony arm stuck out from the dark depths and a bundle of white bones fell to the floor. Jessica's mother sank into a faint(晕倒), waking only when Jessica put a cold, wet cloth on her forehead. She looked up to see the worried faces of her husband and daughter.
“What happened?Where am I?” she asked. “You just destroyed the school's skeleton, Mum, ” explained Jessica. “I brought it home to help me with my health project. I meant to tell you, but it seemed that as soon as I mentioned skeletons and closets, it caused a problem between you and Dad. ” Jessica looked in amazement as her parents began to laugh madly. “They're both crazy, ” she thought. According to Jessica's mother, “a skeleton in the closet” means______.
| A．a family honor |
| B．a family secret |
| C．a family story |
| D．a family treasure |
Jessica's mother fell down into a faint because she was______.
| A．knocked |
| B．frightened |
| C．injured |
| D．surprised |
Why did Jessica bring a skeleton home?
| A．She was curious about it. |
| B．She planned to keep it for fun. |
| C．She needed it for her school task. |
| D．She intended to scare her parents. |
Jessica's parents laughed madly at the end of the story probably because______.
| A．they were crazy |
| B．they were overexcited |
| C．they realized their misunderstanding |
| D．they both thought they had won the quarrel |
For a 400-year-old art form, opera had a bad fame: overweight actresses singing the words whic
h were hard to understand in one of those romantic languages you were supposed to learn in high school. And with tickets costing as much as $145 a performance, operagoers also had a certain appearance in people’s mind: rich, well-dressed and old.
But now opera companies around the country are loosening their ties and kicking off their shoes in an attempt to keep opera alive and take it to a younger and not so wealthy audience.
Opera producers have found that to attract this crowd, they need to associate opera with the common people. That means no form
al suits, old-styled theatre or bank-breaking ticket prices. And because young people don’t or won’t come to the opera, companies are bringing the opera to them, giving performances in such usual places as parks, libraries and public schools.
The Houston Grand Opera’s choice is the public library, where it performs “mobile operas”, shortened versions of child-friendly operas. This summer’s production is Hansel & Gretel. By performing smaller versions o
f large prod
uctions, producers are able to make people interested while keeping costs at a reasonable level. The San Francisco Opera, which will be celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, is staging Cinderella free of charge, keeping costs down by employing students from its Young
Artists’ Training Program.Which is the main idea of this passage?
| A．Opera is famous for its long history. |
| B．Opera is only performed for rich people. |
| C．Opera companies are trying to keep opera alive. |
| D．Young people are not interested in opera. |
The underlined phrase in the second paragraph means _________.
| A．breaking up the old rules | B．changing the dresses |
| C．making the audience at ease | D．advertising themselves |
Opera companies prefer to perform short versions because _________.
| A．they can be performed in public libraries |
| B．short versions are easy to perform |
| C．it is hard to find long versions |
| D．they can make people interested |
The San Francisco Opera employs students in order to _________.
A．celebra te its 75th anniversary |
| B．reduce the cost |
| C．attract young people |
| D．make Cinderella popular |
From the passage we can infer that _________.
| A．the tickets for opera are very expensive |
B．opera is performed in a di fficult language |
| C．opera is not so popular an art form today |
| D．students enjoy performing opera very much |
It was the summer of 1965. DeLuca, then 17, visited Peter Buck, a family friend. Buck asked DeLuca about his plans for the future. “I’m going to col
lege, but I need a way to pay for it,” DeLuca recalls saying. “Buck said, ‘You should open a sandwich shop.’”
That afternoon, they agreed to be partners. And they set a goal: to open 32 stores in ten years. After doing some research, Buck wrote a check for $1000. DeLuca rented a storefront (店面) in Connecticut, and when they couldn’t cover their start-up costs, Buck kicked in another $1000.
But business didn’t go smoothly as they expected. DeLuca says, “After six months, we were doing poorly, but we didn’t know how badly, because we didn’t have any financial controls.” All he and Buck knew was that their sales were lower than their costs.
DeLuca was managing the store and going to the University of Bridgeport at the same time. Buck was working at his day job as a nuclear physicist in New York. They’d meet Monday evenings and brainstorm ideas for keeping the business running. “We convinced ourselves to open a second store. We figured we could tell the public, ‘We are so successful, we are opening a second store.’” And they did—in the spring of 1966. Still, it was a lot of learning by trial and error.
But the partners’ learn-as-you-go approach turned out to be their greatest s
trength. Every Friday, DeLuca would drive a
round and hand-deliver the checks to pay their suppliers. “It probably took me two and a half hours and it wasn’
t necessary, but as a result, the suppliers got to know me very well, and the personal relationships established really helped out,” DeLuca says.
And having a goal was also important. “There are so many problems that can get you down. You just have to keep working toward your goal,” DeLuca adds.
DeLuca ended up founding Subway Sandwich, the multimillion-dollar restaurant chain.DeLuca opened the first sandwich shop in order to ____.
| A．support his family | B．pay for his college education |
| C．help his partner expand business | D．do some research |
Which of the following is true of Buck?
| A．He put money into the sandwich business. |
| B．He was a professor of business administration. |
| C．He was studying at the University of Bridgeport. |
| D．He rented a storefront for DeLuca. |
What can we learn about their first shop?
| A．It stood at an unfavorable place. |
| B．It lowered the prices to promote sales. |
| C．It made no profits due to poor management |
| D．It lacked control over the quality of sandwiches |
They decided to open a second store because they ___.
| A．had enough money to do it. |
| B．had succeeded in their business |
| C．wished to meet the increasing demand of customers |
| D．wanted to make people believe that they were successful |
What contribute most to their success according to the author?
| A．Learning by trial and error. | B．Making friends with suppliers. |
| C．Finding a good partner. | D．Opening chain stores. |
I’m glad to find this comment which has some sort of support in this quest（寻求）I have to eat raw（未煮熟的）foods. I’m an unhealt
hy 49 years old and have come to the conclusion that it’s now or never, so I a
m taking a dive into the raw eating lifestyle.
I have to cook for my family and 
prepare what they want to eat. I’m trying to plan out this better so I have some of these unusual foods ready for myself.
I’ve read several books written by Ann Wigmore and like her appr
oach to the living foods.
Last week I atte
mpted fasting（禁食）and failed. I lasted five days by having carrots, spinach, apples and other vegetarian diets I could get my hands on. I was doing fine until I drank some coffee. I kind of proved it in my mind to have the coffee but it only made me excited and then I couldn’t sleep well and felt hungry and weak. So I stopped and went back to the old way of eating with the family.
This week I started to make a drink called rejuvelac made of sprouted wheat（芽麦）. This is fairly new to do for me and the drink smelled sort of musty（发霉的）and tasted kind of like a musty lemon. The kids tasted it and almost t
hrew up but surprisingly it tasted good to me. It is supposed to help in digestion（消化）.
I’ve made some attempts to grow wheat grass. I think I have figured that out as long as I keep it away from birds and our horses. I have two habits to get rid of, drinking coffee and smoking. I quit smoking last month but something happened, so I started up again. I’m very frustrated(受挫的) with the
smoking and really have a desire to quit for good. Anyhow I will keep this updated on my progress.The author must have ________ before she wrote this article.
| A．hesitated at whether she should eat raw foods |
| B．never eaten raw foods |
| C．made up her mind to eat raw foods instead of cooked ones |
D．been discouraged by her  family from fasting |
The books written by Ann Wigmore which the author has read are probably about ________.
| A．fasting |
| B．losing weight |
| C．how to be on a diet |
| D．approaches to eating raw foods |
To the author, the drink made of sprouted wheat ________.
| A．might help in digestion |
| B．might make people who drank it throw up |
| C．tasted good to anybody |
| D．was welcomed by the whole family |
We can learn from the passage that ________ smoking.
| A．the author has given up |
| B．the author will never give up |
| C．it’s hard for the author to quit |
| D．it’s easy for the author to quit |
The author’s biggest worry at present is most probably ________.
| A．that she can’t eat with her family |
| B．that she can’t get rid of drinking coffee and smoking |
| C．how to get used to raw foods |
| D．that she doesn’t know whether she should eat raw foods |
Many children first learn the value of money by receiving an allowance. Parents often give th
eir children an amount of money that they may spend as they wish. The purpose is to let the children learn from experience at an early age when financial mistakes are not very costly.
A child may receive an allowance ea
ch week or each month. The amount is not so important. But parents should make clear what the child is expected to pay for with the money.
At first, young children may spend all of their allowance soon after they receive it. If they do this, they will learn the hard way that spending must be done within a budget. Parents should not offer more money until the next allowance is to be given.
Older children may be responsible enough to budget larger costs like those for clothing. The object is to show young people that a budget demands choices between spending and saving.
Many people who have written on the subject say it is not a good idea to pay your child for work around the home. These jobs are a normal part of family life. Paying children to do extra work around the home, however, can be useful. It can even provide an understanding of how a business works.
Allowances give children a chance to experience three things they can do with money. They can share it in the form of gifts or giving it to organizations. They can spend it by buying things they wan
t. Or they can save it.
Saving helps children understand that costly goals require sacrifice: you have to cut costs and plan for the future. Requiring children to save part of their allowance can also open the doo
r to future saving and investing. Many banks offer free savings accounts for young people with small amounts of money.The functions of allowances given to children are the following EXCEPT ______.
| A．they can save more money for their future business |
| B．they can give them to charities |
| C．they may spend them on what they like |
| D．they can learn to deal with money |
The underlined word "sacrifice" in the last paragraph means "_____".
| A．牺牲 | B．计划 | C．选择 | D．放弃 |
What's the main idea of the passage?
| A．Children should save part of their allowance. |
B．Don’t pay your chi ld for work around the home. |
| C．Allowance helps teach children early about money. |
D． Parents should allow children to spend money as they wish. |
How many advantages of saving has the passage mentioned?
| A．2 | B．3 | C．4 | D．5 |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A．Children are advised  to buy anything they wish to with the allowance. |
| B．Parents should offer children more money if they spend all of their allowance soon after they get it. |
| C．It can be useful to pay children to do extra work around the home. |
| D．It is unnecessary for the children to save part of the allowance. |
A Tchaikovsky concerto（协奏曲）is what made Romel Joseph fall in love with the violin.
He learned how to play in Haiti, where he was born, but a Fulbright scholarship brought him to the United States, and he finally earned a master’s degree, reports CBS News reporter Katie Couric. Music had changed his life. He wanted to do the same for the children of Haiti.
Joseph built a school in Port-au-Prince nearly 20 years ago. He was on the third floor when suddenly “It was like boom boom boom and everything just opened,” Joseph said. “And the next thing I knew I was on the ground.”
Blind since birth, Joseph tried to feel his way out, but was pinned（夹）beneath heavy concrete（混凝土）. He remained trapped for 18 hours. He prays that his new wife, seven months pregnant（怀孕的）, will be found.
He is now being treated at Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital for two injured legs and an arm.
Joseph wonders if he’ll ever play the violin again. He can feel sensation（知觉）in his fingertips. He said, “If you were to give me a violin and if I didn’t have to fold the fingers, I would be able to play.”
Joseph’s daughter Victoria spent three terrifying days unsure of her father’s fate. For her, having him home is the sweetest music.
“Can you imagine your dad not being able to play the violin?” Couric asked.
“No, I can’t,” Victoria Joseph said. “But I will love him all the same if he can’t.”
Romel do
esn’t know how many of his 300 students died in the quake. As he waits for news about his wife, Romel Joseph is already planning a return to Haiti to rebuild the school and continue teaching there.
“We can save two children, 20, 200, 300, 500 through education and music, and these children will make a difference,” Romel Joseph said. Romel began to like music ________.
| A．because he was blind since birth |
| B．after he had listened to a famous piece of music |
| C．when he got a scholarship to study in America |
| D．since he was born in Haiti |
From what Romel said in Paragraph 6, we can infe
r that he was ________.
| A．upset | B．fearful | C．excited | D．optimistic |
To Victoria, the best thing is ________.
| A．to see her father recover from the injury quickly |
| B．to listen to her father playing the sweetest music |
C．to play the violin  as well as her father |
| D．to be sure that her father could play the violin |
Why does Romel want to go back to Haiti?
| A．To save his students from the earthquake. |
| B．To change the life of children by teaching music. |
| C．To find out how seriously his school was damaged. |
| D．To look for his wife who is pregnant. |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．Music education: keep your creativity alive |
| B．A great blind musician and his students |
| C．Haiti earthquake: a story of a music teacher |
| D．How did some Haiti earthquake victims survive |