Once upon a time there lived a king called Minos．He ruled the island of Crete．And he also had a terrible monster （怪兽） called the Minotaur．The Minotaur lived at the center of a very large maze（迷宫）．It had the body of a man but the head of a bull．
Minos was a cruel king．Whenever he was bored，he would attack（进攻） a nearby island called Athens．In order to get peace，King Aegeus of Athens made a deal with King Minos．If Minos didn't attack Athens，he would send seven boys and seven girls to Crete every nine years to be eaten by the Minotaur．
It was time again to send the children to Crete．Theseus，the son of King Aegeus，could not stand this situation，and decided to go as the seventh boy and kill the Minotaur．He promised his father that if he was successful，he would use white sails（船帆） instead of the black ones to show he was alive．
When arriving in Crete，Theseus met King Minos'daughter called Ariadne．She fell in love with him and wanted to help him．So when the children were sent to the Minotaur，Ariadne gave Theseus a ball of string （细绳） and a knife．Theseus left a line of string behind him when he entered the maze．After he killed the monster，he followed the string and got out of the maze．Ariadne was waiting outside．They quickly ran away together before Minos could catch them．
However，on the journey home，Theseus was so full of joy that he forgot to change the color of the sails．As soon as King Aegeus saw the black sails，he was so upset and jumped into the sea．Since then，the sea has been called the Aegean Sea in memory of King Aegeus．
56．Who had the Minotaur，King Aegeus or King Minos？
57．Where did the Minotaur live？
58．How often would King Aegeus send seven boys and seven girls to Crete according to the deal？
59．How did Theseus get out of the maze after he killed the monster？
60．Why did King Aegeus feel upset and jump into the sea as soon as he saw the black sails？
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Many years ago, there lived an old man with his three sons, Dharma, Harrison and Keith, in a village. The man worked hard when he was young, son he had the largest farmyard and the most beautiful house in the village. However, his sons were all born to be lazy, which mad him disappointed. He was worried that his sons would use up his money and starve to death.
One day, the old man came up with a plan. He called his sons and said to them, “Look, my dear sons: in the land we have at the farmyard, there is lots of hidden gold. If you should work together, you may find it”
In a wish to find out the gold, his sons worked hard from the morning to the evening digging and digging all through the land. The days had passed, but they didn’t find what were they were looking for. They got frustrated and angry. They decided to give up and returned to ask their father.
“There is no gold in the land. We are cheated.”
“Since the land has been dup soft. Why don’t you pant some crops there?” was the reply of the father to the sons.
Off went the sons. Soon the whole once-useless land was rich crops.
“This if the real gold, my sons.” Said the now proud father.What do we know about the old man?
| A．He was the richest in his village. |
| B．He was unable to feed his family. |
| C．He loved daughters more than sons. |
| D．He was quite successful as a farmer. |
Why did the old man ask his sons to dig the land?
| A．He was too old to do it himself. |
| B．He didn’t have money to pay workers. |
| C．He decided to teach his sons an Important lesson. |
| D．He didn’t want other people to set foot on his land. |
Why did his sons agree to dig the land?
| A．They wanted to help their father. |
| B．They wanted to grow their own crops. |
| C．They didn’t want to be lazy any more. |
| D．They wanted to find the hidden gold. |
After they dug the land , his sons found ________________.
| A．lots of gold | B．nothing |
| C．seeds of crops | D．the value of work |
What can we learn from the end of the story ?
| A．The old man had achieved his goal. |
| B．The three sons were still as lazy as before. |
| C．The sons were quite angry with their father. |
| D．The old man was still worried about his sons. |
Zheng He was an amazing man. He was born in 1371. Eleven years later, he was caught by the army of a rich young man called Zhu Di and made to work for him. Over time the rich man saw that Zheng He was very clever and strong and they became close friends. In 1403 Zhu Di was made the King of China and he asked Zheng He to join his government.
The King wanted to learn more about the world and show other countries his power. He ordered many new ships to be built and made Zheng He their leader. between 1405 and 1433, Zheng He led seven sea trips to different parts of the world. He certainly travelled to India, Africa and the Middle East. A few people think his ships have even reached South America and Australia.
Each trip lasted between two and four years and it is believed he sailed more than 50,000 kms during the years of his travels.Zheng He led a fleet with 28,000 men and over 300 ships, such as boats for food, water and even soldiers' horses.
On these trips he brought with him many Chinese goods like silk and medicine to give to foreign kings or to sell for local goods. He returned from each trip with boats filled with expensive things such as gold and treasures, foreign guests and strange animals like a giraffe.
It is a pity that we may never learn everything about Zheng He' s travels. The Columbus of the east, Zheng He, died in 1433. After that, the new king, had these trips stopped and he burned almost all the books about Zheng He's travels, because he believed the trips were unlucky and too expensive. It is only in the last 50 years that historians have begun to carefully study the adventures of great Zheng He.Why did Zhu Di want Zheng He to sail to many different countries?
A. To learn more about the world.
B. To bring new countries under the control of China.
C. To show other countries his power.
D. Both A and C.What do we know about Zheng He from the passage?
| A．He travelled to India and Africa. |
| B．Each trip lasted six years. |
| C．When he died, he was 72 years old. |
| D．He was a great king. |
Which of the following did Zheng He take to foreign countries from China?
| A．Gold | B．Treasures | C．Giraffes | D．Silk. |
After Zheng He died, ___________
| A．nobody remembered him |
| B．almost all the books about his travels were burned |
| C．the new king thought these trips were lucky |
| D．sea trips to other countries lasted 50 years. |
What's the best title of this passage?
| A．The King's Seven Sea Trips |
| B．Zheng He's Travels to Western Countries |
| C．Zheng He, the Columbus of the East |
| D．Zhu Di, the Great King |
Mr. Black’s office was only 5 kilometers away from his house, so he could go home to have lunch every day. But when he got home at noon, he had to drive another place to park his car, then walked back home. Because he found many cars outside his house and there was no room for his own car. This made him very angry.
One day, he put up a board in the garden facing the road
| NO PARKING |
But nobody noticed it. People seemed to obey only a police notice with white letters on a blue board
| POLICE NOTICE NO PARKING |
Mrs. Black asked his husband to steal a police notice but he was afraid to do so. Then she asked him to make one just like a police notice. Mr. Black said he was not the police and couldn’t use the word “police”. Several days later, Mr. Black made a blue board with white letters
| POLITE NOTICE NO PARKING |
“Oh!” Mrs. Black said, “ You told me you weren’t going to use the word ‘police’, but why do you use it now?”
“Really?” he asked with a smile. “Look again!”
“Oh, Dear!” she started to laugh, “ You are really clever!”How far is it from Mr. Black's house to his office?
| A．5 miles | B．5 hours' drive |
| C．5,000 meters | D．Less than 5 kilometers |
Mr. White was angry because ______.
| A．he lost the way when he drove back home one day |
| B．his car was broken on his way home one day |
| C．he had to walk home from his office. |
| D．he found no room to park his car outside his house |
How many notice boards did Mr. Black make according to the passage?
| A．One | B．Two | C．Three | D．None |
In the end, Mr. Black made a notice board and it _____
| A．said "POLICE NOTICE, NO PARKING" |
| B．said "NO PARKING" |
| C．said "POLITE NOTICE, NO PARKING" |
| D．was different in color from a police notice. |
What would most probably happen after he put up the blue board?
| A．Fewer people would park their cars outside his house because of the blue board. |
| B．More people would have to park their cars outside his house because of the blue board. |
| C．He would be punished because he stole the blue board. |
| D．He couldn't park his car outside his house any more because there was no room for his car. |
What do you do if you are in trouble on a lonely island? Surely you need to find a way to get in touch with the outside world. Your best chance of doing this is to draw the attention of a passing plane.
Body signals
Pilots from different countries understand body signals if they have the correct training, When you wave your arms up and down in a straight line, it means, "yes". When you point downwards and swing your arm from side to side, it means "no". If you want the pilot to know that it's safe to land, push your hands out in front of you and bend your knees. If you want to say that it's not safe to land, put your arms in the air and move them to one side.
Smoke signals
The smoke from a fire can be seen from far away, so it’s a good way to draw attention. If the weather is dry, it isn’t hard to start a fire. Remember, however, that fires can be very dangerous if they get out of control. Never light a tire unless you're sure that it can’t spread. If the ground is dark, light smoke can be seen more easily. Green grass and leaves produce light smoke.
Ground-to-air signals
It's a good idea lo build some signals, too. Use large pieces of wood to make the symbols (标记). If you can't find any wood, use earth. Some useful symbols are:
F "I need food and water"
II "I need medicine."
I "I am badly hurt."
X "I am unable lo move from here."
Pilots' replies
If the pilot lowers the plane's wings from side to side, this means: "message received and understood" (At night, the pilot flashes the plane's green lights.) If the pilot flies the plane in a clockwise circle, this means "message received hut not understood" (At night, the: pilot flashes the plants red lights.)
However, there is no signal which means "message not received.According to the passage, you can use _____ to build Ground-to-air signals on a lonely island
| A．wood of earth | B．grass and leaves |
| C．wood and leaves | D．sand or grass |
Which picture means "it's safe to land"?
If the pilot flies the plane in a clockwise circle, what does this mean?
| A．It means “ message not received”. |
| B．It means “ message received and understood”. |
| C．It means “message received but not understood”. |
| D．It’s not mentioned in the passage. |
From the passage we know that ____________.
| A．swinging your arm from side to side means “yes” |
| B．light smoke can be seen easily if the ground is dark. |
| C．make a symbol “I” if you need some medicine |
| D．the pilots make replies with a yellow light at night. |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．the explanation of body signals on an island. |
| B．The importance of making signals on an island. |
| C．Ways of living on a lonely island. |
| D．Ways of sending out signals on a lonely island. |
China is a country with a long history. It has great traditional culture, especially Chinese characters. Chinese characters usually have more than one meaning and some of them are very interesting. Here are six ones. We use “pinyin” here because “pinyin” is the Chinese spelling way for the characters. For example, “fu” is the “pinyin” for good luck in Chinese. “pinyin” “fu” is only the phonic part of the character and if you want to know the meaning of good luck “fu”, you must read Chinese character 福 because “fu” also represents(代表) other Chinese characters that sound the same.
“fu” means blessing, good fortune, good luck. Chinese character “fu” is one of the most popular ones used during Chinese New Year. Chinese people often put up “fu” upside down on the front door of a house or an apartment. The upside down “fu” means good luck comes since the character for upside down in Chinese sounds the same as the character for “come”.
“lu” is used to mean official’s a pay in old China. “shou” means long life, age or birthday. “xi” is happiness, The doubled character “xi” means double happiness. It is usually put up everywhere at Chinese weddings. “cai” is weath or money. Chinese often say “ money can make a ghost turn a millstone”. It is to say money really can do a lot of things. But, money can’t buy everything. “he” is an important part of Chinese culture. It means good relations with other people, when you have “he”, things will be a lot easier for you.
The top six lucky Chinese charaters. “fu” “lu” “shou” “xi” “cai” “he”,are particularly loved by Chinese people.We use ______ to show how to read the Chinese characters.
| A．“pinyin” | B．letters |
| C．words | D．spelling |
The upside down 福 “fu” means .
| A．coming | B．good luck comes |
| C．good fortune | D．“fu” is upside down |
People in China most probably put up the Chinese Characters _______ on the front door at their wedding.
| A．upside down “cai” | B．upside down “fu” |
| C．doubled “xi” | D．doubled “he” |
Which of the following in Not true according to the passage?
| A．“Cai” is wealth or money |
| B．“lu” is used to mean offical’s pay in old China |
| C．“shou” means keeping thin |
| D．Things will be a lot easier if you have “he” |
The underlined word “character” means _____ in this passage.
| A．角色 | B．特征 | C．性格 | D．汉字 |