It was 3:00 a.m. Rain beat against the windows. Tamsen Bell's cellphone began to ring so she jumped
out of bed quickly for she knew that someone was in trouble, and it was up to her and the other members
of the Marin Search and Rescue Team to help. The team has a motto: "Any time, any place, any weather."
Bell, 18, joined the search-and-rescue team when she was 14 years old, the youngest age at which a person
can join."I remember the first search I ever went on," Bell says. "I was very nervous." Thanks to the strict
training program, Bell now is no longer nervous and a lot more confident.
     When Bell was 16 years old, she took a lead role in a tough search-and-rescue action that she says
changed her life. While hiking, a 60-year-old woman fell off a cliff and landed on a mountain ledge (巖石架).
Bell slid down in a seated position to get to where the injured woman lay. The situation was very dangerous
and she had to make a quick decision which could have endangered the woman's life. Bell helped to lift the
woman onto a litter (擔(dān)架), and her teammates then pulled the litter up the mountain using ropes. The rescue
took more than eight hours, the longest in the history of the team. 
     Afterwards, Bell said she realized that she could keep cool in stressful situations. The experience inspired
her to devote her life to helping others. She remains a search-and-rescue member and plans to study nursing
in college.
     "Search-and-rescue work may be tough, but it is rewarding. The best part is the support, and the common
feeling that everyone on the team wants to make people's lives better." Said Bell.

1. According to the passage, we know that Bell _____.

A. was the youngest member in the team
B. plays a leading role in every task
C. majored in nursing in college
D. learned a lot through the training program

2. Why does Bell say that the tough action changed her life?

A. She learnt to make quick decisions when in danger.
B. She learnt to transport the injured to safety through a litter.
C. The experience inspired her to devote herself to helping others.
D. The experience made her realize that she could calm down even in danger.

3. Which of the following is TURE about Bell's tough task?

A. It was the toughest task in the history of the team.
B. Bell slid down the cliff seated in a litter.
C. It's the first task Bell took part in after the training program.
D. Bell played a very important role in the action.

4. The passage is mainly about _____.

A. a tough task Bell carried out
B. Bell's job as a young search-and-rescue member
C. how people keep cool in dangerous situations
D. what search-and-rescue tasks are

                                                                   The Worst Part
       Mom is usually home on Sunday but this week she was going to a big golf game and I was all alone in
the house. I was mad at Mom for divorcing Dad.
      I kept looking at the telephone until I couldn't stand it any longer. I picked up the receiver and dialed Dad's
number over in Bakersfield. I even remembered to dial 1 first because it was long distance."You promised to
phone me this week but you didn't," I said, feeling I had to talk to him.
      "Take it easy, kid," he said. "I just didn't get around to it. I was going to call this evening. The week isn't
over yet."
      I thought about that.
      "Something on your mind?" he asked. 
      "I hoped you would call, so I waited and waited." Then I was sorry I said it.
      "There was heavy snow in the morning," he said, "I had to chain up on highway 80 and lost time."
      I know putting chains on eight big wheels in the snow is no fun. I felt a little better, as long as we were
talking. "How is Bandit?" I asked.
      There was a funny silence. For a minute I thought the line was dead. Then I knew something must have
happened to my dog.
      "Well, kid", he began. "My name is Leigh!" I almost yelled. "I'm not just some kid you met on the street!"
      "Keep your shirt on, Leigh," he said. "When I had to stop along with some other truckers to put on chains,
I left Bandit out of the cab, I thought he would get back … I have sent out a call to CB radio, but I didn't get
an answer yet." I was about to say I understood when there came the bad part, the really bad part. I heard a
boy's voice say, "Hey, Bill, Mom wants to know when we're going out to get the pizza?"

1. From the story we know that ______.

A. Leigh's dad never had a rest on Sundays
B. Leigh was a deserted boy
C. Leigh's dad lived in another city
D. Leigh's mother often went to golf games

2. What happened to Bandit?

A. It was frozen to death.
B. It was let out of the cab and got lost
C. It was killed by a truck.
D. It ran off Highway 80 and into the mountain.

3. The underlined sentence "Keep your shirt on" probably means "______".

A. Listen to reason
B. Stop talking
C. Calm down
D. Keep warm

4. The worst part in Leigh's eyes may be that ______.

A. his dad got remarried
B. his parents got divorced
C. his dad didn't love him
D. his mom didn't take him to pizza

     There's a man in the habit of hitting me on the head with an umbrella. At first I couldn't stand it, now I'm
used to it. 
      I don't know his name. I know he's average in appearance, wears a gray suit, and has a common face. I
met him five years ago one hot morning when I was sitting on a tree-shaded bench in Palermo Park, reading
the paper. Suddenly I felt something touch my head. It was the very same man who now, as I'm writing,
keeps hitting me, mechanically (機(jī)械地) and impassively, with an umbrella. 
     On that occasion I turned around filled with anger. He just kept on hitting me. I asked him if he was crazy,
he didn't even seem to hear me. Then I threatened to call a policeman. Calmly, cool as a cucumber, he stuck
with his task. After a few moments of hesitation, and seeing that he was not about to change his attitude, I
stood up and hit him on the nose. The man fell down, but he immediately got back on his feet, obviously with
great effort, and without a word again began hitting me on the head with the umbrella. His nose was bleeding
and, at that moment, I felt sorry for him. I felt regret for having hit him so hard. After all, the man wasn't
exactly hitting me; he was merely tapping me lightly with his umbrella, not causing any pain at all. Of course,
those taps were extremely bothersome. As we all know, when a fly lands on your forehead, you don't feel any
pain; what you feel is annoyance. Well then, that umbrella was one huge fly that kept landing on my head time
after time. 
     Convinced that I was dealing with a madman, I tried to escape. But the man followed me, wordlessly
continuing to hit me. So I began to run (I should point out that not many people run as fast as I do). He took
off after me, trying to land a blow. The man was out of breath so that I thought, if I continued to force him
to run at that speed, he would drop dead right then and there.

1. When the man began to strike the author with an umbrella, the author ______.

[     ]

A. became angry
B. called the police
C. turned around and escaped
D. turned around and fought back

2. The author would most probably agree that the man was ______.

[     ]

A. deaf
B. blind
C. dead
D. mad

3. The author felt sorry for the man because ______.

[     ]

A. the man formed a bad habit of beating others
B. he hit the man so hard that his nose bled
C. the man couldn't catch up with him
D. there was a fly on the man's head

4. It can be learned from the passage that the man ______.

[     ]

A. shouted loudly while hitting the author
B. wanted to tell the author something
C. ran after the author breathlessly
D. acted as if he were a fly

      An old friend from California called from the airport (機(jī)場) to tell me that he had arrived. I was not able
to leave the office, but I had made plans for his arrival. After explaining where my new house was, I told him
that I had left the key under the doormat (門墊). Since I knew it would be pretty late before I could get home,
I suggested that he make himself at home and help himself to anything that was in the refrigerator.
     Two hours later my friend phoned me from the house. At the moment, he said, he was listening to some
of my records after having had a delicious meal. Now, he said, he was drinking a glass of orange juice. When
I asked him if he had had any difficulty finding the house, he answered that the only problem was that he had
not been able to find the key under the doormat (門墊), but luckily, the living room window by the apple tree
had been left open and he had climbed in through the window. I listened to all this in great surprise. There is
no apple tree outside my window, but there is one by the living room window of my next door neighbor's
house!

1. An old friend of mine called ______.

[     ]

A. to tell me to meet him at the airport
B. to tell me about his arrival
C. to ask me to leave the office
D. to ask me to make plans for his arrival.

2. My friend climbed into the room because ______.

[     ]

A. there was an apple tree outside
B. the living room window was left open
C. he had difficulty opening the door
D. he hadn't found the key

3. My friend telephoned me two hours later ______.

[     ]

A. from my home
B. at the airport
C. in his office
D. from my neighbor's house

4. The purpose (目的) of writing this passage (文章的段) is to ______.

[     ]

A. introduce a friend
B. tell an interesting story
C. explain something
D. show what friendship is

     It doesn't matter when and how much a person sleeps, but everyone needs some rest to stay alive. That's
what all doctors thought, until they heard about Al Herpin. Al Herpin, it was said, never slept. Could this be
true? The doctors decided to see this strange man themselves. 
     Al Herpin was 90 years old when the doctors came to his home in New Jersey. They thought for sure that
he got some sleep of some kind. So they stayed with him and watched every movement he made. But they
were surprised. Though they watched him hour after hour and day after day, they never saw him sleeping.
In fact, he did not even own a bed. He never needed one.
     The only rest that Herpin sometimes got was sitting in a comfortable chair and reading newspapers. The
doctors were puzzled by this strange continuous sleeplessness. They asked him many questions, hoping to
find an answer. They found only one answer that might explain his condition. Herpin remembered some talk
about his mother having been injured several days before he was born. But that was all. Was this the real
reason? No one could be sure.
      Herpin died at the age of 94.

1. The main idea of this passage is that _____.

A. large numbers of people do not need sleep
B. a person was found who actually didn't need any sleep
C. everyone needs some sleep to stay alive
D. people can live longer by trying not to sleep

2. After watching him closely, the doctors came to believe that Al Herpin _____.

A. needed some kind of sleep
B. was too old to need any sleep
C. needed no sleep at all
D. often sleep in a chair

3. One reason that might explain Herpin's sleeplessness was _____.

A. his mother's injury before he was born
B. that he had gradually got rid of the sleeping habit
C. his magnificent physical condition
D. that he hadn't got a bed

4. Al Herpin's condition could be regarded as ______.

A. a common one
B. one that could be cured
C. very healthy
D. a rare one

      On 27th February 2008, something very unusual happened in the UK; there was a rather large earthquake.
It was the biggest earthquake in 25 years in the UK. There have been very small tremors in the past but they
pale into insignificance compared to this one.
      It was felt in a large area across the country too, from as far north as Edinburgh in Scotland to as far
south as Plymouth on the south coast of England. 
      The epicenter of the earthquake was in a small town in Lincolnshire, which is an area about two and a
half to three hours north of London by car. A magnitude of 5.2 was registered on the Richter scale. 
      There were lots of reports in the news from people who felt the earth move. One man said, "We had
loads of vibrating and wall shaking and stuff, noise coming off the roof. I came outside-the chimney's on
the floor!" 
      A collapsed chimney was the cause of what was probably the worst injury from the earthquake; a man
broke his pelvis when the chimney fell on him.
      Another man who spoke to the BBC described the moment the earthquake occurred, "Everything was
shaking. As soon as it happened we all went outside and saw everyone else down the street, coming out
and just realized it was an earthquake."
      The huge rumble, which was felt by a lot of people, surprisingly caused very little structural damage to
property.
       Most British people would be surprised to learn that there are 200-300 earthquakes in Britain every year,
but most of them are so small, they go unnoticed. The magnitude of this earthquake is fairly small in
comparison to some other natural disasters that have made international news, but for the people affected, it
certainly came as quite a surprise.

1. Before this earthquake ______.

A. there was no signs of any shakings at all.
B. people did not feel anything unusual.
C. many people realized there would be a bigger one to come.
D. some small quakes were only too small to be ignored.

2. From this passage we know ______ is in the south of Great Britain.

A. Lincolnshire
B. Edinburgh
C. Plymouth
D. Scotland

3. This earthquake _____.

A. hardly caused any damages to the people's belongings
B. brought down many buildings in England
C. scared many people to death
D. made the world greatly surprised

4. After reading this passage we can infer ______.

A. people in England faced the earthquake bravely
B. this earthquake seemed to be felt all over Great Britain
C. this earthquake is the biggest one in history
D. the chimneys in Britain are the most poorly built parts of the houses