Frankenstein is one of the world’s most famous horror stories. It’s about a doctor who creates a new man from the body parts of dead people and brings it to life. But the experiment goes wrong and the monster(怪獸) kills the doctor and many others. The story has been read by millions since it was first published and in the last hundred years it has been made into dozens of movies. Many people are surprised to learn its writer was a 19-year-old woman, called Mary Shelley.
Mary was born into a rich London family in August 1797. She was educated by her parents and when she was 13 decided to become a writer. In 1812, she met the famous writer Percy Shelley and they soon got married. Sadly for Mary, their first child died soon after birth in Italy. In her diary, Mary wrote about a dream: “I dreamt that my little baby came to life again—that it had only been cold and that we rubbed it before the fire and it lived.”
In 1816, Percy Shelley and 19-year-odl May visited the poet Lord Byron at his home in Switzerland. Because of the bad weather they stayed indoors reading horror stories. One night, Byron asked everyone to write their own story. Mary thought of her dream and wrote the story Frankenstein.
Frankenstein was published when Mary was 21, and became a huge success. Many people didn’t think a 19-year-old woman could write so well and believed her husband was the real writer.
Although famous, Shelley’s life was full of sadness. Only one of her four children lived and in 1822 her husband died in a swimming accident. Mary was broken-hearted and decided not to marry again. She devoted herself to her child and continued to write until her death in 1851.
【小題1】 What do we know about he story Frankenstein?

Jack Johnson is one of the most popular singer-song writers in the world.
Jack was born on May 18, 1975 in Hawaii. Being the son of a famous surfer, Jack naturally has an interest in surfing. Most of his life lesson were learned in the water. At the age of 17, Jack entered the finals of the Pineline Masters – the world’s most famous surfing competition. Everyone thought Jack would become a professional surfing like his father. Unluckily, one month later, he had a deadly accident while surfing and was seriously hurt.
Life is like a revolving door. When it closes, it also opens. Jack started to practice playing the guitar and write songs when he was staying in hospital. At first, his father thought Jack only did it for fun, but soon he was surprised at the great progress his son had made.
When studying in the university, Jack didn’t stop practicing his guitar skills. He played the guitar for school parties. He wrote songs and sang for his teachers and friends. They liked his songs. His first music album Brushfire Fairytales came out in 2001. It was a great success. His second album, On and On, was much like his first. They were filled with sweet, easy-going songs that everybody liked listening to. Later Jack had lots of concerts in and out of America. He became popular all over the world.
Jack had five albums by 2010 and more than 15 million copies of them were sold. His music doesn’t fall into any of the popular music styles like pop, R&B or hip-hop. It is more like folk music, played with a guitar and beautiful voice. When listening to his songs, you feel like lying on the beach enjoying the warm sunshine.
Jack is a talent, though he himself says he is only a surfer who loves music. In his songs we can find his secret of success: Whatever happen in our lives, we have to accept it and do the best we can.
【小題1】At the age of 17, Jack __________.

閱讀短文，根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容判斷所給句子正(T)誤(F)。(共5小題，每小題2分)
David got a job in a police station after he left school. He worked there for 42 years and he’ll retire this year. He worked hard in the past 42 years. But he was not a lucky man. Hefailed to catch a thief. He was often sorry for it.
Last weekend, while David's wife was cooking she found there was no salt at home. Soshe asked her husband to buy some. In the shop, David saw a young man taking away awallet from a woman's bag. He walked to him quietly, but the young man noticed David andran away at once. David ran after him. At last the thief ran into a blind alley(死胡同) andDavid caught him.
“Please give me a chance, sir.” said the thief
“Who can give one to me?”said David, “I’ll soon retire and I catch athief for the first time!”
【小題1】David worked hard in the past 42 years.
【小題2】David was a lucky man, and he often caught thieves.
【小題3】 Last weekend his wife asked him to buy some sugar.
【小題4】A young man was stealing a woman's wallet in a shop
【小題5】The young man was the first thief that David caught.

Scott was not happy. He had no money left to buy the new toy train he wanted. Suddenly,he had an idea! "I’ll ask my brother Alan if I can borrow some money. He always has money to lend peo­ple. "
Scott found Alan in his room. "Alan,may I borrow $20 from you to buy myself a new train?"
Alan replied,"I just spent all of my money on Mom’s birthday present. I have no money left. You are barking up the wrong tree. "
Scott was very disappointed. He decided to get a job. He went to many stores, but no one had a job for him. He walked and walked from store to store.
Finally,he got a job selling ice cream and he was very happy. "My feet are tired for walking all day,but I can get enough money for a toy train. "
【小題1】Why did Scott need to borrow money?
A. Because he needed to get a job.
B. Because he wanted to buy a new toy train.
C. Because he wanted to buy a present for his mother.
【小題2】The underlined( 劃線) phrase "barking up the wrong tree" means______.
A. acting like a dog        B. asking the wrong person      
C. asking the right person
【小題3】According to the story, Scott might work in_______.
A. a dessert house  B. a book store   C. a clothing store
【小題4】What do you think of Alan?
A. He was unfriendly.    B. He was clever.   C. He was kind.
【小題5】What can we know from the story?
A. Scott could get a new train.
B. Scott didn't like his brother.
C. Scott's family was very poor.

Sharks frighten most of us, but Daniel Weaver, a shark scientist, swims with them for a living! We asked him some questions about this unusual job.
So Daniel, what’s it like to be a shark scientist?
Well, it’s a great job. I often travel to faraway places like South Africa and Fiji to study sharks. On the other hand, a shark scientist sometimes does boring desk work, such as writing reports. Also, shark scientists don’t usually get paid a lot.
What qualities (品質(zhì)) do you need to become a shark scientist?
Shark scientists need to be wise and strong. They enjoy working outdoors and they have to be cool and patient (耐心). They also have to be quite brave!
So do you think it’s a dangerous job?
Well, sharks have up to 15 rows of sharp teeth. However, sharks hardly attack (攻擊) humans. There are over 350 kinds of sharks in the world and only about 10 are dangerous to us. In fact, dogs kill more people every year than sharks! Humans kill over 12 million sharks a year for food and sport!
How do you become a shark scientist?
A shark scientist usually studies Marine Science or Zoology at university. It’s also good to get some work experience in an aquarium (水族館). In my opinion, I have the best job in the world!
【小題1】_______ questions were asked about Daniel’s unusual job.

Just a Little Smile
Mark was walking home from school one day when he saw the boy in front of turn fall over and drop all of the books he was carrying, along with two sweaters, a basketball and a walkman (隨身聽). Mark stopped and helped the boy pick up these things. Since they were going the same way, he helped to carry some of his things. As they walked, Mark knew that the boy’s name was Bill, that he loved computer games, basketball and history, and that he was having lots of troubles with his other subjects and that he had just broken up with his girlfriend.
They arrived at Bill’s home first and Mark was invited(邀請) in for a Coke and to watch some television. The afternoon passed happily with a few laughs and some small talk, then Mark went home. They often saw . each other at school, had lunch together once or twice, and then they both finished middle school. They ended up in the same high school where they sometimes saw and talked with each other over the years. At last just three weeks before they finished high school, Bill asked Mark if they could talk.
Bill asked Mark if he still remembered the day years ago when they had first met. "Did you ever think why I was carrying so many things home that day?" asked Bill. "You see, I cleaned out my locker(鎖柜) because I didn’t want to leave anything for anyone else. I had put away some of my mother’s sleeping pills and I was going home to kill myself. But after we spent some time together talking and laughing, ! began to understand that if I killed myself, I would have missed that time and so many others that might follow. So you see, Mark, when you picked up those books that day, you did a lot more. You saved my life. "
【小題1】 When Mark met him the first time, Bill was going

Mr. White works in an office. He liked reading in bed when he was at school. It was bad for his eyes and now he is near-sighted. But he wouldn’t want anybody else to know about it and he never wears a pair of glasses. It often brings him some trouble.
One winter morning he was sent to a village school on business. He got off a bus at a stop in a small town. Then he had to walk there. The road to the village wasn’t smooth. There were stones here and there. He fell over several times and it made his clothes very duty. At last he got to the village. Suddenly it began to blow strongly and it got much colder. His hat was blown off while he was looking for the school. He had to run after it but he couldn’t catch it. He was wondering why his hat ran into a house as if it had legs. And then he ran into the house, too.
A big woman appeared and stopped him by shouting angrily, " What are you running after my hen for?"
【小題1】According to the passage, which of the following is true?

Mr. Williams had a lot of boats, and the fishermen borrowed them from him. Mr. Smith and his son, Daniel, borrowed one yesterday. They fished in some places, but caught nothing. Then they found a very good place, and caught about thirty fish there in an hour.
Then it was late, and Mr. Smith said, “Go back now, Daniel.”
Daniel said, “I’m going to come here again tomorrow.”
“Me, too,” said his father, “But how are we going to find the place again?”
Daniel said, “That’s easy. Look! I’ve made a mark on the side of the boat.”
His father laughed and said, “No, that’s foolish! Mr. Williams doesn’t lend us the same boat every time!”
Judge the following sentences true (T) or false (F) .
【小題1】Mr. Smith went fishing with his son yesterday.
【小題2】 At first, Mr. Smith and his son caught only a few fish.
【小題3】After they found a new place, they caught about twenty fish in an hour.
【小題4】 Daniel made a mark on the boat in order to find the same place the next day.
【小題5】Not only the son but also the father was foolish.

Chris Jones recently completed a very unusual journey. Our reporter Mary Owen met him at
his home in the south of London and be told her all about the trip.
Reporter: What gave you the idea to make a trip around India on an elephant, Chris?
Chris: Well, it all started the idea two years ago when I was planning a trip to India. I visited a
photo exhibition of elephants and I realized that the only enjoyable way to make a trip around
India was on an elephant.
Reporter: What did you do next?
Chris: I flew to New Delhi and started looking for an elephant, I needed an elephant trained to
carry people. I didn’t know anything about elephants, so I asked an expert(專家) for help. He
taught me how to ride an elephant. He also helped me find an elephant.
Reporter: How long did it take to find a suitable elephant?
Chris: Not too long. I bought a female elephant called Tara for about 6, 000 dollars.
Reporter: Can you tell me about the journey?
Chris: Tara and I set off from New Delhi a week later. We were going to Sonepur in northern
India. There is a big elephant market there and I could sell Tara easily. And what a ride! Elephants
can travel at about 6 miles an hour and Sonepur is more than 1, 200 km away. It took us 64 days to
complete the journey.
Reporter: Did you have any problems on your journey?
Chris: Yes, a few. But nothing serious. On the third day, Tara hurt her foot. Btu that got better
quickly. Also, there was a lot of heavy rain during the first week and we got very wet!
Reporter: What happened when you reached Sonepur?
Chris: My plan was to sell Tara. But I was very fond of her. I couldn’t take her back to Britain
and I didn’t want to sell her at the market. I happened to meet some people who wanted an
elephant for their national park in southern India. I knew that Tara would be safe with them, so I
gave her to them. I was very sad to say goodbye.
【小題1】Chris got the idea to make a trip around India on an elephant from __________.

A man hated his wife’s cat and decided to throw it away.
One day, he drove it over one mile from his home and left it in a park. But when he got home, he saw that his wife was playing with the cat.
The next day he drove the cat about three miles away. He put the cat out of the car and went home. Driving back his driveway（私人車道）, the cat was there already.
The man keep taking the cat further and further away and the cat would always get home before him. At last he decided to drive more than ten miles away. He turned right, then left, past a bridge, then right again and another right until he thought he was far enough from home and left the cat there.
Hours later the man was still driving home. He was lost! He called home and asked his wife, “Jen, is the cat there?”
“Yes,” his wife answered, “why do you ask?”
The man answered, “Put it on the phone. I’m lost and need directions.”
【小題1】The first time the man drove out, he _____.
A. sold the cat
B. took the cat home
C. left the cat in the park
【小題2】Which of the following is TRUE?
A. The man liked his wife’s cat and often played with it.
B. Every time the man threw the cat away, it came home earlier than the man.
C. The last time the man threw the cat away, it lost its way and didn’t come back.
【小題3】 Why did the man call home?
A. Because he was lost.
B. Because he missed his wife very much.
C. Because he wanted to know if the cat was at home.
【小題4】How far away did the man take the cat the last time?
A. Over 1 mile.            B. About 3 miles.          C. More than 10 miles.