Mr. Robinson worked in Africa. His son was born there. His name was John. One winter Mr. and Mrs.
Robinson went to England, and they took John there. John was seven years old then. One day it snowed.
The boy went into the garden, and he played in the snow. He said, "Snow is very beautiful, but it is very
cold, too." But it was not glass. It was ice. It was on the a bucket (桶) of water. John said, "Who put the
glass here? I am going to put it into the house." He took the ice to his father and said, "This is a beautiful
piece of glass, but it is very cold and wet. It was on a bucket of water in the garden." Mr. Robinson smiled
and said, "Take it to the kitchen, put it in front of the stove there, and dry it." The boy took the ice to the
kitchen and put it in front of the stoves. He dried his hands, because they were very cold and wet, and then
he went to the ice again. He looked at it, and then he took it to his father again. He said, "I put the glass in
front of the stove, but it does not get drier. It becomes wetter and smaller."

1. John didn't know what the ice was because _____.

A. he was very foolish
B. he was young
C. he was born in Africa
D. he didn't go to school

2. One winter Mr. and Mrs. Robinson went to England with _____.

A. their son
B. a boy of their friends
C. their daughter
D. one of their friend's son

3. One day John found _____ on a bucket of water.

A. a piece of glass
B. a piece of ice
C. some snow
D. some water

4. What did Mr. Robinson ask John to do?

A. He asked John to take the ice out.
B. He asked John to put the ice in front of the stove.
C. He asked John not to play with ice.
D. He asked John to dry his hands at once.

5. After John put the ice in front of the stove, he found that it became _____.

A. dry
B. wetter
C. bigger
D. colder

     Mr King lived with six hundred wild animals on the Greek Island of Kyklos. Ever since he left school,
he had travelled all over the world collecting animals for his own zoo. He hoped to collect two examples
of every kind of animal on his island. But he was afraid that people would find him someday.
     He wrote books about his travels, and about his animals that he collected. The money from the books
helped to pay for all the food that these animals eat.
     One day, when Mr King was out looking for drinking water, he found oil (石油). He needed money
for his travels and for his zoo, and a little oil would buy enough water for what he needed all his life, but
he know that if he told anybody else about it, it would be the end of his zoo and his life's work.
      So he decided not to tell anyone about what he had found, because oil and water couldn't mix (混合).

1. Mr King travelled all over the world for _____.

A. oil
B. water
C. animals
D. money

2. Mr King was afraid that people would find him someday because ______.

A. he hadn't got enough money for them
B. that would be the end of his zoo
C. he hadn't got enough water and oil
D. they would buy his animals

3. Mr King used the money from his books to _____.

A. get something for himself
B. keep his wild animals
C. tell people he had got many wild animals
D. let people know he lived on an island

4. Mr King had to find water maybe because _____.

A. water was expensive at that time
B. he wanted to find oil
C. the water around the island could not be drunk
D. he needed money for his travel

5. In the passage "oil and water couldn't mix" means _____.

A. Mr King needed not only water but also oil
B. oil and water were rather difficult to be mixed together.
C. Mr King's animals only need water, not oil
D. if he told others he had found oil, his life's work would be stopped

     Ron is ten years old. He loves to watch TV. But for one full year he did not watch TV at all. What was
the reason? Ron's parents said they would give him $ 600 if he didn't watch TV for a year.
     Ron's parents thought he watched too much TV. One day his mother saw a news- paper story about a
boy who didn't watch TV for a year. She showed the story to Ron. Ron liked the idea. He turned off the
TV right away, and said, "It doesn't bother me not to watch TV. I just want the money."
     At first, Ron's parents were very happy. Ron read books and newspapers, played outside, played
computer games, and played cards with his mother. But after some time, he got bored. Every morning,
he asked his parents,"What are we doing tonight?" Sometimes his mother and father wished he would
watch TV just for one evening. Ron always said, "No, it would cost me money!"
      Finally the year was over. Then Ron started watching his favourite TV shows all day long again. Ron
got the money from his parents. What does he plan to do with the $ 600? "I want to buy myself a TV set!"
he said.

1. Ron didn't watch TV for one year because _____.

A. he wanted the money
B. watching TV too much is bad
C. he wanted to study harder
D. he wanted to learn from the boy

2. "It doesn't bother me not to watch TV" means "It's _____ to watch TV".

A. waste time
B. important for me
C. not use
D. not important for me

3. The best title for the story is _____.

A. A Funny Story
B. A Year without TV
C. A Good Boy
D. Buying a TV Set

     Tom owned a small shop. He worked hard. It was open from seven in the morning until eleven at night
and sold many different things. Tom worked hard in his shop but he had a good business and he was happy.
     Then a supermarket opened across the street. The supermarket was ten times the size of Tom's shop.
     The manager of the supermarket wanted to take people away from Tom. He found out what Tom's
prices were and then made his lower than Tom's.
     People quickly stopped buying things from Tom's shop. They bought everything from the supermarket
instead. Soon Tom's business was very bad and he was angry.
     "It's not fair," Tom thought, "I must do something to teach that supermarket manager a lesson." The
price of steak in the supermarket was $ 5.00 a pound. Tom put a sign in his window,"Steak—$4.50 a pound."
     The next day the price of steak in the supermarket was $4.25 a pound, Tom changed the sign in his
window. "Steak—$4.00 a pound."
     An hour later, the sign in the supermarket said, "Steak—$3.75 a pound." Ten minutes later the sign in
Tom's window said, "Steak—$ 3.50 a pound." Five minutes later the sign in the supermarket said, "Steak—
$ 2.50 a pound." Twenty seconds later the sign in Tom's window said, "Steak—$ 1.00 a pound."
     The manager of the supermarket ran cross the street into Tom's shop. "This price cutting must stop,"
he said, "Steak is costing me $ 4.00 a pound. I'm selling it at $ 2.50 a pound. I'm losing money every minute!"
     "I'll stop cutting all my prices," Tom said, "if you will stop cutting all yours."
     The supermarket manager agreed, and the two men shook  hands.
     Tom smiled. He had not lost any money on the steak. He didn't sell steak at all.

1. Tom worked hard but he was happy because ______. 

A. he liked hard work
B. he wanted to make a lot of money
C. he had a good business.
D. his prices were high

2. What does "price cutting" mean?

A. Making your prices the same as others'.
B. Making your prices lower than others'.
C. Making your prices higher than others'.
D. Losing money every minute.

3. According to this passage, if the supermarket manager sold out 100 pounds steak at $ 2.75 a pound,
    he would at least lose _____ dollars.

A. 125
B. 150
C. 100
D. 175

4. If you're Tom, how do you solve the problem between the supermarket manager and you?
     Please give us at least two ways.

A. _____________________________________________________________.
B. _____________________________________________________________.

     Jess really felt very happy. When he arrived at his seat in the classroom that morning, he found an
invitation on his desk. It was from several of his classmates asking him to join them on a camping trip.
This was the first time he was asked to join in an out-of school activity. Why were they asking him now?
Nobody seemed to like him. In fact, he had been so lonely that he drowned his feeling with food. As a
result, he hat put on a lot of weight, and this gave the kids something more to make fun of him. 　　
      Cindy, who was standing near Jess when he read the invitation, went out quickly to tell the others that
the trick had worked. Everyone was pleased that Jess thought that was true. But there was no camping trip.
Tile whole thing was made up. 　　
     At first, Cindy thought it was fun. But later, when Jess told her that he was going to buy a sleeping bag
with his savings, Cindy bad second thoughts. She knew that Jess's family had little money, and she hated
to see him spend his savings on something he would never use. Cindy also hated to tell Jess the truth. Her
close friends would be angry with her. 　　
     What could she do now?

1. What would happen if Cindy told Jess the truth?

A. Jess would go on the camping trip himself.
B. Everyone would be angry with Cindy.
C. Cindy might have trouble with her friends.
D. Jess would be thankful to his classmates.

2. The sentence "he drowned his feeling with food" means ______.

A. he ate a lot to make himself feel less lonely
B. he asked for a lot of food from his classmates
C. he brought his food to his classmates
D. he had a lot of food to put on weight

3. From the story we can guess ______.

A. everybody would go camping except Jess
B. Jess had few friends in the class
C. Cindy was Jess's best friend in the class
D. Jess joined in many out-of-school activities

     Tom lived a long way from the city. One day he went to the city to buy something in the shop, and after
he bought them, he went into a restaurant and sat down at a table. When he looked round, he saw some old
people put eye glasses on before reading their books, so after lunch he went to a shop to buy some glasses,
too. He walked along the road, and soon found a shop. The man in the shop made him try on (試戴) a lot of
glasses, but Tom always said, "No, I can't read with these."
     The man became more and more puzzled (困惑). At last he said, "Excuse me, but can you read at all?"
      "No, I can't," Tom said, "If I can read, do you think I come here to buy glasses?"

1.Tom met some old people _____.

A. far away from the city
B. in the shop
C. in the restaurant
D. in the park 

2. When did Tom go to the shop to buy some glasses? _____.

       The students were having their chemistry class. Miss Li was telling the children what water was like. After
that, she asked her students. "What's water?" No one spoke for a few minutes. Miss Li asked again, "Why don't
you answer my question? Didn't tell you what water is like ?" 
       Just then a boy put up his hand and said, "Miss Li, you told us that water has no colour and no smell. But
where to find such kind of water? The water in the river behind my house is always black and it has a bad
smell." Most of the children agreed with him. 
      "I'm sorry, children." said the teacher, "Our water is getting dirtier and dirtier. That's a problem."

1. Miss Li was telling the children what _______ was like.

A. water
B. air
C. earth
D. weather

2. Most of the children _______ the boy.

A. agreed with
B. wrote to
C. heard from
D. sent for

3. The water in the river has colour and smell because it is getting ______.

A. more and more
B. less and less
C. cleaner and cleaner
D. dirtier and dirtier