Our daughter Kerrin, a student at Boston University, had been home for a week-end visit, and I dropped her off at the bus station just in time for her back to college. After Kerrin’s bus had gone and I was driving away, I noticed that she had left her purse on the passenger seat. Worried that she would arrive in Boston without money or keys to her room, I called my wife, Bette Jean, on the car phone, explaining why I would be late. As I was following the bus, Bette Jean phoned me back to say she had phoned the bus dispatcher（調(diào)度員）on the other line and he, in return, had phoned the bus driver on yet another phone. The driver asked me to wave out of my window to show where I was. Then he pulled over at a rest stop, and I did the same. Kerrin jumped off the bus, and I handed her the purse and went on my way.
11. The writer saw his daughter’s purse right after       .
A. seeing her off at the bus station
B. starting his car again
C. she got off the car
D. she got on the bus
12. Kerrin didn’t find her purse missing until       .
A. the bus started off
B. her mother told her
C. the bus stopped again
D. she returned to the university
13. In which order did the following persons know about the loss of the purse?
A. driver—writer—Better Jean—Kerrin
B. Kerrin—writer—Better Jean—driver
C. writer—driver—Kerrin—Better Jean
D. writer—Bette—Jean—driver—Kerrin
14. Which of the following is not true?
A. The bus was too fast for the car to catch up with in no time.
B. The writer had tried to phone the dispatcher but failed.
C. The writer couldn’t get in touch with the driver by the phone.
D. Both the writer and the bus driver could use the car phone.
15. Which of the following seems the most necessary in helping the writer?
a. his car           b. phone
c. the bus driver     d. the dispatcher
e. his wife         f. his daughter
A. a, b, d and e       B. c, d, e and f   C. a, b, c and d      D. b, c, d and e

In the age of reality television, success isn’t the only way to the public eye. Failure can also create fame, just like William Hung, 21, a native of Hong Kong.
Hung recently has made an agreement with US-based entertainment firms Koch Records and Fuse Music Network. They will publish a full-length record, titled “The True Idol” on April 6.
The idol is a civil engineering student at the University of California at Berkeley. He did a version of Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs” on the television show “American Idol 3”, on January 27. The Fox TV singing contest searches for pop stars among ordinary people. In the case of Hung, however, his act was so bad that the judges cut him off in mid-act.
Hung’s response? “I already gave my best, so I have no regrets at all.” That’s good, because any common person would have found plenty to regret: The off-key singing. The blue Hawaiian shirt worn with pants pulled up too high. The terrible dancing. The hips jerking (搖擺) to a beat that did not belong to the song, maybe not even to this planet. It was, by all accounts, bad.But, it was this very bad act that sold well.Marc Juris, president of Fuse, explained it this way: “Every one of us is happily guilty of singing our favorite song at the top of our lungs with complete freedom, completely off-key and completely unworried. That’s what William did and immediately won the hearts of America.”
Whatever it is, for the moment it’s big. Three websites devoted to Hung have gone up on the Internet in the past few weeks. Versions of his performance have been remixed with hip hop and techno-music and have made it to the top 10 request list at a Chicago radio station.So, what does Hung think of this?
“There were all these people saying things about me. A lot were saying I was very courageous and that I was great on the show, but some didn’t have much respect for me and some were kind of mean.”
Now he says he’s not so sure whether to distance himself from the glamour (魅力) or to accept it. Returning to normal hasn’t been easy.
13.What is the main idea of this passage?
A.Sometimes an idol behaves quite foolishly.  
B.Hung’s performance attracted the public eye.
C.How an unsuccessful person became famous.
D.Success sometimes does not require hard work.
14.What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 7 refer to?
A.William Hung.     B.Hung’s bad act.   C.Hung’s website.    D.The public’s opinion.
15.Which of the following shows the correct order of what happened to Hung?
a.The entertainment firms made an agreement with Hung.
b.The judges cut Hung off in mid-act in the singing contest.
c.Hung became popular among Americans.
d.Hung gave a terrible performance though he tried his best.
e.Three websites put Hung’s funny performance on the Internet.
A.d, b, e, c, a       B.a, c, d, b, e        C.a, d, b, c, e          D.d, b, a, e, c
16.Why was Hung able to win the hearts of America?
A.His success was based on his own hard work.
B.He attracted people’s attention in the contest.
C.He was good-looking though he didn’t sing well.
D.His character was completely different from other idols’.

Long ago, in days of the Roman Empire, people used to believe a god of farmings called “Saturn”. They believed that Saturn could make the weather good or bad, and that he had the power to control how much rain would fall.
Before a Roman farmer would plant his fields, he would try to get Saturn to give him good weather. He believed that if he killed an animal for Saturn, that would make Saturn happy. Then Saturn would make sure that the weather was good.
Not only did the people name a planet after Saturn but they also name a day of the week after him. They called this day “Saturni dies”, Latin words which mean “day of Saturn”. In English those words became Saturday.
6. What was Saturn believed to be in charge of?
A. Rainfall.    B. The power of nature.   C. Farming.    D. Days in a week.
7. Why did a Roman farmer kill an animal before planting his fields?
Because      .
A. killing an animal would bring him good luck
B. Saturn enjoyed eating animals
C. Saturn was happy to see animals being killed
D. he wanted to please Saturn so that Saturn would make the weather good for his planting
8. Which of the following is NOT TRUE?
A. Saturn is also the name of planet.
B. The Roman people used to believe Saturn to be their god.
C. Saturn was named for the last day of the week.
D. Saturn had three meanings.
9. What’s the aim of the author in writing this passage?
A. How the Romans worshipped (崇拜) Saturn.
B. Why the Romans believed in Saturn.
C. The different meanings of the word Saturn.
D. How Saturday got its name.

He was once referred to as the Picasso of poetry. Beloved by Chileans of all classes, he is one of the most widely read and respected poets in history. And this year is the 100th birthday of Pablo Neruda (1904-1973).
Born with the name Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basolto, he was a tall, shy and lonely boy. He loved to read and started to write poetry when he was ten. The American poet Walt Whitman, whose framed picture Neruda later kept on his table, became a major influence on his work.
However, his father did not like the idea of having a poet for a son and tried to discourage him from writing. To cover up the publication of his first poem, he took the pen name Pablo Neruda.
In 1924 Neruda gained fame with his most widely read work “Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair’’. Yet his rich experience as a diplomat and exile made him go beyond the theme of love. His work also reflected the political struggle of the left and development of South America. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.
Neruda loved the sea which he saw as creative, destructive and forever moving. He found inspiration in the power and freedom of the waves and the seabirds on the coast. “I need the sea because it teaches me,” he wrote. “I move in the university of the waves.” He loved how the sea forever renewed itself, a renewal echoed in his work.
5. The underlined word “Picasso” can probably be replaced by “________”.
A. most important person         B. famous person from Picasso
C. freedom fighter in Picasso     D. poem fan
6. Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basolto took the pen name Pablo Neruda because ________.
A. literary greats usually used the pen name
B. his father encouraged him to use the name
C. he wanted to prevent his father knowing the publication
D. he was greatly influenced by other poets
7. Which of the following is not the theme of his works?
A. Love.    B. Political struggle.  C. Social reform.   D. Development of South America.
8. The last paragraph mainly tells us ________.
A. the sea gave Neruda vast writing inspiration  B. the beautiful scenery along the Chile coast
C. Neruda’s poems were widely read overseas  D. Neruda loved to write his poems near the sea

There was a story many years ago of a school teacher--- Mrs. Thompson. She told the children on the first day that she loved them all the same. But that was a lie. There in the front row was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard. He didn’t play well with the other children and he always needed a bath. She did not like him.
Then Mrs. Thompson got to know that Teddy was actually a very good boy before the death of his mother. Mrs. Thompson was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when, like all her other students, Teddy brought her a Christmas present too. It was his mother’s perfume(香水)。
Teddy said, “Mrs. Thompson, today you smell just like my Mom used to.” After the children left she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she stopped teaching reading, writing and math. Instead, she began to teach children.
Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. The boy’s mind seemed to come alive. The more she encourage him, the faster he improved. By the end of the sixth grade, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class.
Six years went by before she got a note from Teddy. He wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole lift. He went to college. Mrs. Thompson got two more letters from him with the last one signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, M. D.(醫(yī)學(xué)博士).
The story doesn’t end there. On his wedding day, Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson’s ear, “Thank you, Mrs. Thompson, for believing in me. You made me feel important and showed me that I could make a difference.”
Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back, “Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn’t know how to teach until I met you.”
小題1:What did Mrs. Thompson do on the first day of school?

A．She made Teddy feel ashamed.	B．She asked the children to play with Teddy.
C．She changed Teddy’s seat to the front row.
D．She told the class something untrue about herself.

小題2:What did Mrs. Thompson find out about Teddy?

A．He often told lies.	B．He was good at math.
C．He needed motherly care.	D．He enjoyed playing with others.

小題3:In what way did Mrs. Thompson change?

A．She taught fewer school subjects.	B．She became stricter with her students.
C．She no longer liked her job as a teacher.	D．She cared more about educating students.

小題4:Why did Teddy thank Mrs. Thompson at his wedding?

A．She had kept in touch with him.	B．She had given him encouragement.
C．She had sent him Christmas presents.	D．She had taught him how to judge people.

WASHINGTON?Laura Straub is a very worried woman.  Her job is to find families for French teenagers who expect to live with American families in the summer.
It’s not easy, even desperate.
“We have many children left to place: 40 out of 75,” said Straub, who works for a Paris based foreign exchange programme called LEC.
When exchange programmes started 50 years ago, more families were willing to help others. For one thing, more mothers stayed home.
But now, increasing numbers of women work outside the home. Exchange student programmes have struggled in recent years to sign up host families for the 30,000 teenagers who come from abroad every year to have some courses for one year in the United States. as well as the thousands more who take part in summer programmes.
School systems in many parts of the US,unhappy about accepting non?taxpaying students, have also strictly limited the number of exchange students they accept. At the same time, the idea of hosting foreign students is becoming less exotic (異國情調(diào)的).
In searching for host families, who usually receive no pay, exchange programmes are increasingly broadening their requests to include everyone from young couples to the retired.
“We are open to many different types of families.” said Vickie Weiner, eastern regional director for ASSE, a 25-year-old programme that sends about 30,000 teenagers
on one-year exchange programmes worldwide.
For elderly people,exchange students “keep up young——they really do,” said Jean Foster,who is hosting 16-year-old Nina Porst from Denmark.
5.Foreign teenagers come to American families wilh the purpose of .
A.finding thier parents in America         B.finding good jobs in America
C.learning the culture of America          D.enjoying the life of America
6.In the past, Straub’s job was easy, because American families .
A.needed more money to live              B.had fewer children to support
C.had spare rooms to rent                 D.were not as busy as now
7.To deal with the problem in recent years, Straub and her workmates have to .
A.ask different kinds of families for help    B.limit the number of the exchange students
C.borrow much money to pay for the costs  D.force some families to accept students
8.From the last paragraph we can conclude that __________.
A.exchange students are welcome in America
B.exchange students must pay much money to the host families
C.American students don’t want to join the exchange programmes
D.old Americans can benefit from hosting exchange students

After inventing dynamites(炸藥), Swedish-born Alfred Nobel became a very rich man. However, he foresaw its universally destructive powers too late. Nobel preferred not to be remembered as the inventor of dynamite, so in 1895, just two weeks before his death, he created a fund to be used for awarding prizes to people who had made worthwhile contributions to mankind. Originally there were five awards: literature, physics, chemistry, medicine, and peace. Economics was added in 1968, just sixty-seven years after the first awards ceremony.
Nobel’s original legacy of nine million dollars was invested, and the interest on this sum is used for the awards which vary from $ 30,000 to $125,000.
Every year on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death, the awards (gold medal, illuminated diploma, and money) are presented to the winners. Sometimes politics plays an important role in the judges’ decision. Americans have won numerous science awards, but relatively few literature prizes.
No awards were presented from 1940 to 1942 at the beginning of World War II. Some people have won two prizes, but this is rare; others have shared their prizes.
1. What did the first award ceremony take place?
A. 1895.           B. 1901.             C. 1962.                 D. 1968.
2. The Nobel prize was established to ________.
A. honor the inventor of dynamite       B. recognize worthwhile contributions to humanity
C. resolve political differences        D. spend money
3. In which area have Americans received the most awards?
A. Literature.         B. Economics.          C. Peace.             D. Science.
4. Which of the following statement is NOT true?
A. Awards vary in money value.
B. Ceremonies are held on December 10 to commemorate Nobel’s invention.
C. Politics can be of importance in selecting the winners.
D. A few individuals have won two awards.

Looking back on  my childhood, I am convinced that naturalists are born and not made.  Although we were all brought up in the same way,my br others and sisters soon abandoned their pressed flowers and insects. Unlike them,I had no ear for music and languages. I was not an early reader and I could not do mental arithmetic.
Before World War I we spent our summer holidays in Hungary. I have only the dim memory of the house we lived in, of my room and my toys. Nor do I recall clearly the large family of grandparents,aunts, uncles and cousins who gathered next door. But I do have a clear memory of the dogs, the farm animals, the local birds, and above all, the insects.
I am a naturalist, not a scientist. I have a strong love of the natural world and my enthusiasm had led me into varied investigations. I love discussing my favorite topics and enjoy burning the midnight oil reading about other people's observations and discoveries. Then something happens that brings these observations together in my conscious mind. Suddenly you fancy you see the answer to the riddle, because it all seems to fit together. This has resulted in my publishing 300 papers and books, which some might honor with the title of scientific research.
But curiosity,a keen eye,a good memory and enjoyment of the animal and plant world do not make a scientist: one of the outstanding  and essential qualities required is self?discipline, a quality I lack. A scientist, up to a certain point,can be made. A naturalist is born. If you can combine the two,you get the best of both worlds.
1.The first paragraph tells us the author .      
A.was interested in flowers and insects in his childhood 
B.lost his hearing when he was a child
C.didn’t like his brothers and sisters    
D.was born to a naturalist’s family
2.The author can’t remember his relatives clearly because         .
A.he didn’t live very long with them   
B.the family was extremely large
C.he was too young when he lived with them  
D.he was fully occupied with observing nature
3.It can be inferred from the passage that the author was         .
A.a scientist as well as a naturalist   
B.a naturalist but not a scientist
C.no more than a born naturalist        
D.first of all a scientist
4.The author says that he is a naturalist rather than a scientist probably because he thinks he         .
A.has a great deal of trouble doing mental arithmetic
B.lacks some of the qualities required of a scientist
C.just reads about other people’s observations and discoveries
D.comes up with solutions in a most natural way

Buckminster Fuller once said, “The minute you choose to do what you really want to do, it’s a different kind of life.” If you want to live abundantly, decide what you really want and figure out a way to do it. Be clear and live with intent (意向).
You may have heard of Fred Lebow. He complained to his doctor that he lacked energy. His doctor advised him to take up running. He fell in love with it! He was 39 years old when he entered his first race.
Fred joined the New York Road Runners Club and organized New York City’s first marathon race. But what Fred truly wanted to do was to bring people together. He believes that anybody should be able to run — people of all ages and of any country.
Not everyone in New York was excited about people running through their neighborhood. A youth gang warned him that nobody had better run through their turf. “That’s great,” Fred said. “I need someone to protect the runners in your area, and you look like just the fellows to do it.”
He gave them each a hat, shirt and jacket and that year, when the marathon went through their neighborhood, these young men proudly guarded the runners along their way.
Fred decided what was truly important to him and he found a way to do it. He lived with intent. That single decision made his life remarkably different.
As one sports writer said, “Fate handed him a short race. With his goal, with his love of life, Fred turned it into a marathon.” Fred would say that it’s not about how long you live, but how you run the race of life.
小題1:The purpose that Fred Lebow organized New York City’s first marathon race was _____.

A．to be popular with people

B．to display his true love for sports development

C．to drive away his loneliness in the running

D．to get more people together

小題2:Which word in the passage is the closest in meaning to the underlined word “turf”?

A．Neighborhood.

B．Way.

C．Decision.

D．Race.

小題3:What’s the best title for this passage?

A．Determination guarantees you a success.

B．The race of life with intent.

C．Nothing is impossible in one’s life race.

D．The benefits of taking up running.

You want something you can’t get by behaving within the rules, and you want it badly enough you’ll do it regardless of any guilt or deep regret, and you’re willing to run the risk of being caught. That’s how Ladd Wheeler, psychology professor at the University of Rochester in New York, defines cheating. Many experts believe cheating is on the rise. "We’re suffering a moral breakdown," Pinkard says. "We’re seeing more of the kind of person who regards the world as a series of things to be dealt with. Whether to cheat depends on whether it’s in the person’s interest." He does, however, see less cheating among the youngest students. Richard Dienstbier, psychology professor at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, believes that society’s attitudes explain much of the increase in cheating. "Twenty years ago if a person cheated in college, that is extremely serious, he will be dropped for a semester if not kicked out permanently," he says. "Nowadays, at the University of Nebraska, for example, it is the stated policy of the College of Arts and Science that if a student cheats in an exam, the student must receive an "F" on what he cheated in. That’s nothing. If you’re going to fail anyway, why not cheat? Cheating is most likely in situations where the interests are high and the chances of getting caught are low," says social psychologist Lynn Kahle of the University of Oregon in Eugene.
1. The passage focuses on ________.
A. making the reader believe that cheating is immoral       
B. discussing the reasons for cheating
C. describing how students cheat in exams                       
D. suggesting how to control cheating
2. Cheating tends to occur in all the following situations except when ________.
A. one wants something badly             B. one can’t get something in a right way
C. it is not very likely to be found out       D. a series of things have to be dealt with
3. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. It is forgivable to cheat unless money is involved. 
B. There has been an increase in cheating.
C. Most cheaters are college students.                       
D. Cheaters do not feel guilty and regretful.
4. What can be inferred from the passage?
A. Cheating is widespread because society is too understanding.
B. Cheating is the result of heavy pressure.
C. Cheating is cheating, whether in a test or on any other occasions.
D. Cheating comes together with civilization