O. Henry, a famous American writer of short stories, was born in North Carolina in 1862. O. Henry was a pen name. His real name was William Sydney Porter. When he was a young boy, he did not go to school for long because of being born in a poor family, but he tried to teach himself everything he needed to know.
When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas. There he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank. But he got himself into some trouble. Some money went missing from the bank. O. Henry was believed to have stolen it, so he was sent to prison(监狱). During the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and went on writing.
He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because almost all of them finished with a sudden change. This made the readers surprised.O. Henry was sent to prison because __________.
| A．people thought he had stolen money from the newspaper. |
| B．People thought he had stolen money from the bank. |
| C．he wanted to write stories about prisoners. |
| D．he broke the law (法律) by not using his own name |
Which of the following is true?
| A．O. Henry was from a rich family |
| B．O. Henry was in school for a long time. |
| C．O. Henry learned everything he needed by himself. |
| D．O. Henry liked writing stories when he was a little boy. |
O. Henry got most materials for his stories from ________.
| A．his happy life as a boy |
| B．New York and the poor of the city |
| C．the newspaper |
| D．his life in prison |
People enjoyed reading O. Henry’s stories because ________.
| A．they had surprising endings |
| B．they were easy to understand |
| C．they showed love for the poor |
| D．they were about New York |
Now cities are full of cars. Some families even have two or more cars. Parking is a great problem, and so is the traffic in and around the cities. Something will have to be done to change it.
What will the cars of tomorrow be like?
Little cars may some day take the place of today’s big cars. If everyone drives little cars in the future, there will be less pollution in the air. There will also be more space for parking cars in cities, and the streets will be less crowded. Three little cars can fit in the space now needed for one car of the usual size.
The little cars will cost much less to own and to drive. Driving will be safer, too. What is more, these little cars can go about 65 kilometers per hour.
Little cars of the future will be fine for getting around a city, but they will not be useful for long trips. If big cars are still used along with the small ones, two sets of roads will be needed in the future. Some roads will be used for the big, fast cars, and other roads will be needed for the slower small ones. Cars in the future mustn’t bring ________ pollution in the air.
| A．more | B．fewer | C．less | D．no |
The little car’s size may be ________ today’s car’s size.
| A．one third of | B．two thirds of |
| C．as big as | D．as small as |
Little cars are very fine for ________.
| A．long trips | B．journeys |
| C．everyday life | D．sport |
The big cars are ________ the little cars for long trips.
| A．as useful as | B．not so useful as |
| C．more useful than | D．less useful than |
People began making clocks over 500 years ago. The first clocks had only one hand---the hour hand. At a later time the clocks had the minute hand. The first clocks were big and heavy. Some rich people had servants (仆人) to carry the clocks when they were out. Time passed and clocks became smaller.
Bells became a part of some large clocks in cities and towns. They were for people unable to see the clock. Some clocks were in large towers（塔）. Some of them are 400 or 500 years old now. Big Ben in London is a very famous tower clock.
Now many people have alarm clocks (闹钟) to wake them up to go to work or go to school.
So clocks are the very important part of people’s life. People began to make clocks ________ 500 years ago.
| A．less than | B．for | C．more than | D．without |
At the beginning the clocks had ________ .
| A．one hand | B．two hands |
| C．three hands | D．four hands |
Bells were made for ________ .
| A．the old people |
| B．everyone |
| C．the people unable to see the clock |
| D．the children |
Alarm clocks can help people ________ .
| A．work hard | B．wake up |
| C．see the time | D．go to bed |
Can plants eat people? Probably not, but there are many plants that eat meat. Some of them are big, and they can eat small animals. One famous meat-eating plant is the Venus flytrap.
The Venus flytrap is a very strange plant. It grows in dry parts of the United States. Its leaves are like the pages of a book. They can open and close very quickly. Inside the leaves, there are three small hairs. If a fly touches one of the hairs, the leaves closes quickly. The fly cannot get out. In about half an hour, the leaves press the fly until it is dead. Then, the plant covers the fly. Slowly, the plant eats the fly.
Why do plants do it? Most plants get what they need from the sun, the air, and the ground. In some places, the ground is very poor. It doesn’t have all these important things, especially nitrogen(氮). So some plants eat meat to get what they need. Let’s hope that some of the bigger plants don’t get the same idea!The Venus flytrap is a kind of ______.
| A．plant | B．animal | C．food | D．meat |
The Venus flytrap grows in ______.
| A．most parts of the world |
| B．some parts of Africa |
| C．dry parts of the United States |
| D．wet parts of England |
From the passage, we learn that ______.
| A．all plants can eat people |
| B．all plants can eat animals |
| C．some plants can eat people |
| D．some plants can eat animals |
The underlined word “press” probably means ______ in Chinese.
| A．挤压 | B．关上 | C．打开 | D．松开 |
Why do some plants eat animal meat?
| A．Because plants are dangerous to animals. |
| B．Because animals are dangerous to plants. |
| C．Because plants want to get what they need from animal meat. |
| D．Because plants want to protect themselves against animals. |
阅读下列短文，从每小题所给的四个选项选出最佳选项。
The American alligator (短吻鳄) is the largest reptile (爬行动物) in North America. Some of them can be over 5 metres long.
In North America, the bison (野牛) is the largest animal on land. If they are frightened, the American bison will run away and can reach a speed of 52 km per hour.
The white-tailed deer can run up to 58 km per hour. This North American deer can also jump as high as 2.6 metres and jump as far as 9 metres.
There is a frog that barks just like a dog. This barking frog is found in the southwestern part of the United States.
The polar bear is a great swimmer and can swim as fast as 10 km per hour using only its front feet.
The wild turkey nearly died out in the early 1900’s, because people hunted many of them. This wild bird is making a comeback now.
The ________ is the largest animal on land in North America.
| A．polar bear | B．bison |
| C．alligator | D．white-tailed deer |
In the _____ of the United States, there lives a kind of frog that can bark like a dog.
| A．southwest | B．southeast |
| C．northwest | D．northeast |
The white-tailed deer runs up to __________ per hour.
| A．52 km | B．58 km | C．9 metres | D．10 km |
The polar bear _________.
| A．is good at running | B．is good at swimming |
| C．swims with its back legs | D．can jump as far as 9 metres |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．The alligator is the largest reptile in North America. |
| B．The white-tailed deer can jump as high as 2.6 metres. |
| C．Six kinds of animals are mentioned in the passage. |
| D．The wild turkey died out about 1000 years ago. |
Tom walks into a shop. It has a sign outside: “ Second hand clothes bought(买)and sold(卖).” He is carrying an old pair of trousers and asks the owner of the shop. “ How much will you give me for these?” The man looks at them and then says, “ Two dollars.” “ What!” says Tom, “ I think they are worth(价值) at least five.”
“No,” says the man, “They aren’t worth a cent(美分) more than two dollars.”
“ Well,” says Tom. Taking two dollars out of his pocket, “ Here’s your money. These trousers are hanging (挂) outside your shop. The list price of them is six dollars and a half. But I think that is too much money, so I want to find out how much they are really worth.”
Before the shop owner can think of anything, Tom walks out of the shop with the pair of trousers.At first the owner of the shop ________ for the old trousers.
| A．will give Tom two dollars |
| B．will pay three dollars |
| C．will pay five dollars |
| D．will give Tom six dollars and a half |
The shop owner insists（坚持) that the trousers are worth only two dollars because ___.
| A．he wants to sell them cheaply |
| B．he wants to buy them cheaply |
| C．he doesn’t like the trousers |
| D．they are old and dirty |
In fact, the trousers _______.
| A．are hanging inside the shop |
| B．are stolen by Tom from the shop |
| C．are the shop owner’s |
| D．are Tom’s |
From the story we know that _______ cheaper than the list price.
| A．the owner sells (卖)the trousers two dollars. |
| B．Tom buys the trousers two dollars |
| C．the owner buys the trousers four dollars and a half |
| D．Tom buys the trousers four dollars and a half |