Idecidedtocutmyfrontlawn(草坪)to-优题课

Treasure hunts (寻宝) have excited people' s imagination for hundreds of years both in real life and in books such as Robert Louis Stevenson' s Treasure Island. Kit Williams, a modern writer, had the idea of combining the real excitement of a treasure hunt with clues (线索) found in a book when he wrote a children' story, Masquerade, in 1979. The book was about a hare, and a month before it came out Williams buried a gold hare in a park in Bedfordshire. The book contained a large number of clues to help readers find the hare, but Williams put in a lot of "red herrings", or false clues, to mislead them.
Ken Roberts, the man who found the hare, had been looking for it for nearly two years. Al- though he had been searching in the wrong area most of the time, he found it by logic (逻辑), not by luck. His success came from the fact that he had gained an important clue at the start. He had realized that the words: "One of Six to Eight" under the first picture in the book connected the hare in some way to Katherine of Aragon, the first of Henry VIII's six wives. Even here, however, Williams had succeeded in misleading him. Ken knew that Katherine of Aragon had died at Kimbolton in Cambridgeshire in 1536 and thought that Williams had buried the hare there. He had been digging there for over a year before a new idea occurred to him. He found out that Kit Williams had spent his childhood near Ampthill, in Bedfordshire, and thought that he must have buried the hare in a place he knew well, but he still could not see the connection with Katherine of Aragon, until one day he came across two stone crosses(十字架) in Ampthill Park and learnt that they had been built in her honor in 1773.
Even then his search had not come to an end. It was only after he had spent several nights digging around the cross that he decided to write to Kit Williams to find out if he was wasting his time there. Williams encouraged him to continue, and on February 24th 1982, he found the treasure. It was worth ₤3000 in the beginning, but the excitement it had caused since its burial made it much more valuable.
1. The underlined word "them" (paragraph 1 ) refers to________.
A. red herrings B. treasure hunts
C. Henry VIII's six wives D. readers of Masquerade
2. What is the most important clue in the story to help Ken Roberts find the hare?
A. Two stone crosses in Ampthill. B. Stevenson's Treasure Island.
C. Katherine of Aragon. D. Williams' hometown.
3. The stone crosses in Ampthill were built________.
A. to tell about what happened in 1773 B. to show respect for Henry VIII' s first wife
C. to serve as a roadsign in Ampthill Park D. to inform people where the gold hare was
4. Which of the following describes Roberts' logic in searching for the hare?
a. Henry VIII' s six wives
b. Katherine's burial place at Kimbolton
c. Williams' childhood in Ampthill
d. Katherine of Aragon
e. stone crosses in Ampthill Park
A. a -b- c- e- d B. d- b- c- e- a
C. a- d- b- c- eD. b- a- e- c- d

Laptop (便携式)computers are popular all over the world. People use them on trains and airplanes in airports and hotels. These laptops connect people to their workplace. In the United States today. laptops also connect students to their classrooms.
Westlake Coolege in Virginia will start a laptop computer program that allows students to do schoolwork anywhere they want. Within five years, each of the 1,500 students at the college will receive a laptop. The laptops are part of a $10 million computer program at Westlake, a 110-year-old college. The students with laptops will also have access to the Internet .In addition, they will be able to use e-mail to “speak”with their teachers, their classmates, and their families. However. the most important part of the laptop program is that students will be able to use computers without going to computer labs. They can work with it at home ,in a fast –food restaurant or under the trees—anywhere at all!
Because of the many changes in computer technology, laptop use in higher education, such as colleges and universities is workable. As laptops become more powerful, they become more similar to desktop computers. In addition, the portable computers can connect students to not only the Internet but also libraries and other resources. State higher-education officials are studying how laptops can help students. State officials also are testing laptop programs at other universities, too.
At Westlake College, more than 60 percent of the staff use computers.The laptops will allow all teachers to use computers in their lessons. As one Westlake teacher said ,“Here we are in the middle of Virginia and we’re giving students a window on the world… They can see everything and do everything.”
1. Why is the word“speak”in the second paragraph in quotation marks(引号)?
A. They don’t really talk B. They use the computer language.
C. laptops have speakers(扬声器). D .None of the above reasons is correct.
2. Which of the following is true about Westlake College?
A.All teachers use computers. B.1,500 students have laptops.
C. It is an old college in America. D. Students there can do everything.
3. The underlined word “ a window on the world” in the last paragraph means that students can_________.
A.attend lectures on information technology B. travel around the world
C. get information from around the world D. have free laptops
4. What can we infer from the passage?
A. The program is successful B. The program is not workable.
C. The program is too expensive. D. We don’t know the result yet.

New Zealand

What can you see? Mountains, volcanoes, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, forests, beaches. Both islands are mountainous. In fact, only 30% of New Zealand is flat.		The Maoris When the Maoris first arrived in New Zealand, they lived in villages and were excellent fishermen, hunters and farmers. About 50 years ago many Maoris started to live and work in the large cities and took jobs in government, industries, medicine and education. They are proud of their culture and are determined to keep many of the customs which are part of their way of life.
Who can you meet? Most people live on North Island. Eighty-five percent of New Zealanders are “pakeha” (“white men”), which means their “great grandfathers” came from Europe. Ten percent are Maoris. The Maoris came to New Zealand from the Polynesian islands probably around the tenth century. The “pakeha” started to arrive in New Zealand from Europe about 200 years ago as farmers and traders.		Fact box: New Zealand Position: South of the Equator (赤道); nearest neighbour: Australia, 1600 km away. Size: Two main islands — North Island and South Island: together they are 268.680 sq. km. Population: 4 million Capital: Wellington Languages: English and Maori

1. Which of the following is a fact about New Zealand?
A. 20% of the population being Maoris. B. Four million white people.
C. About 1600 km south of the Equator. D. Nearly 1/3 of the country being plains(平原).
2. The country’s population is mainly made up of .
A. the white people and the Polynesians B. the white people and the “pakeha”
C. the Maoris and the white people D. the Maoris and the Polynesians
3. When did the white people begin to live in New Zealand?
A. 1000 years ago. B. 200 years ago.
C. 85 years ago. D. 50 years ago.
4. What do the Maoris value most in life?
A. Living in small villages. B. Developing farming skills.
C. Keeping their own culture. D. Taking up government jobs.

It may help you to know that there is no such thing as a perfect speech. At some point in every speech, every speaker says something that is not understood exactly as he has planned. Fortunately，such moments are usually not obvious to the listeners. Why? Because the listeners do not know what the speaker plans to say. They hear only what the speaker does say. If you lose your place for a moment, wrongly change the order of a couple of sentences, or forget to pause at a certain place, no one will be wiser. When such moments occur, don’t worry about them. Just continue if nothing happened.
Even if you do make an obvious mistake during a speech, that doesn’t really matter. If you have ever listened to Martin Luther Kings famous speech—“I have a Dream”, you may notice that he stumbles (结巴) over his words twice during the speech. Most likely, however, you don’t remember. Why? Because you were fixing your attention on his message rather than on his way of speech-making.
People care a lot about making a mistake in a speech because they regard speech-making as a kind of performance rather than as an act of communication. They feel the listeners are like judges in an ice-skating competition. But, in fact, the listeners are not looking for a perfect performance. They are looking for a well-thought-out speech that expresses the speaker’s ideas clearly and directly. Sometimes a mistake or two can actually increase a speaker’s attractiveness by making him more human.
As you work on your speech, don’t worry about being perfect. Once you free your mind of this, you will find it much easier to give your speech freely.
1. The underlined part in the first paragraph means that no one will _________.
A. be smarter than you B. notice your mistakes
C. do better than you D. know what you are talking about
2. You don’t remember obvious mistakes in a speech because ___________.
A. your attention is on the content
B. you don’t fully understand the speech
C. you don’t know what the speaker plans to say
D. you find the way of speech-making more important
3. It can be inferred from the passage that___________.
A. giving a speech is like giving a performance
B. one or two mistakes in a speech may not be bad
C. the listeners should pay more attention to how a speech is made
D. the more mistakes a speaker makes, the more attractive he will be
4. What would be the best title for the passage?
A. How to Be a Perfect Speaker B. how to Make a Perfect Speech
C. Don’t Expect a Perfect Speech D. Don’t Expect Mistakes in a Speech

四、阅读理解（每小题1.5分，满分30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，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
The easy way out isn’t always easiest. I learned that lesson when I decided to treat Doug,
my husband of one month, to a special meal. I glanced through my cookbook and chose a menu
which included homemade bread. Knowing making the bread would take time, I started on it as
soon as Doug left for work. As I was not experienced in cooking, I thought if a dozen wasgood, two dozen would be better, so I doubled everything. As Doug loved oranges, I also openeda can of orange and poured it all into the bowl. Soon there was a sticky dough (面团) coveredwith ugly yellowish marks. Realizing I had been defeated, I put the dough in the rubbish binoutside so I wouldn’t have to face Doug laughing at my work. I went on preparing the rest ofthe meal, and, when Doug got home, we sat down to Cornish chicken with rice. He tried to enjoythe meal but seemed disturbed. Twice he got up and went outside, saying he thought he heard anoise. The third time he left, I went to the window to see what he was doing. Looking out, Isaw Doug standing about three feet from the rubbish bin, holding the lid up with a stick andlooking into the container. When I came out of the house, he dropped the stick again, he heldthe lid up enough for me to see. I felt cold. But I stepped closer and looked harder. Withoutdoubt it was my work. The hot sun had caused the dough to double in size and the fermentingyeast (酵母) made the surface shake and sigh as though it were breathing. It looked like someunknown being from outer space. I could see why Doug was so shaken. I had to admit what the‘living thing’ was and why it was there. I don’t know who was more embarrassed (尴尬) bythe whole thing --- Doug or me.
1. The writer’s purpose in writing this story is ____________.
A. to tell an interesting experience
B. to show the easiest way out of a difficulty
C. to describe the trouble facing a newly married woman
D. to explain the difficulty of learning to cook from books
2. Why did the woman’s attempt at making the bread turn out to be unsuccessful? _________
A. The canned orange had gone bad.
B. She didn’t use the right kind of flour.
C. The cookbook was hard to understand.
D. She did not follow the directions closely.
3. Why did the woman put the dough in the rubbish bin? _________
A. She didn’t see the use of keeping it.
B. She meant to joke with her husband.
C. She didn’t want her husband to see it.
D. She hoped it would soon dry in the sun.
4. What made the dough in the bin look frightening? _________
A. The rising and falling movement. B. The strange-looking marks.
C. Its shape. D. Its size.

A．pessimistic	B．optimistic
C．depressed	D．disappointed