Those books ______ in brown paper are for the kids so that the kids will not easily tear them

up．

A．to do with           B．done up                        C．being done                 D．having done over

In 1988 , Mary Andersen was at the Miami airport checking in for a flight to Norway to be with her husband when she was told she wouldn't be able to check her luggage without paying a $ 100 surcharge （超載）．                

         Mary had no money as her new husband had left for Norway and she had no one else to call．

         "I was completely desperate and tried to think which of my things I could manage without．" says Mary．          

         As tears ran down her face, a voice behind her said, "That's okay, I'll pay for her．"

         Rather surprised, Mary turned around to see a tall man whom she had never seen before．He had a gentle and kind voice mat was firm and decisive．                     

         Although this happened twenty years ago, Mary still remembers the authority that radiated （發(fā)出）from the man, Mary was pleased to bring her luggage to Norway and told the stranger she would give his money back．The man wrote his name and address on a piece of paper he gave to Mary．She thanked him repeatedly When she finally walked off towards the boarding gate, he waved goodbye to her．

         That man turned out to be Barack Obama．      

         Mary paid the money back to Obama the day she joined her husband．At that time he had just finished his job as a poorly paid community worker in Chicago, and had started his law studies at Harvard University.        

In the spring of 2006 Mary’s parents heard Obama was considering a run for president. They wrote a letter saying that they would support him. At the same time, they thanked Obama for helping their daughter 18 years earlier.

         And Obama replied, “ I want to thank you for the lovely things you wrote about me and for reminding me of what happened at Miami airport. I’m happy I could help her then, and I’m delighted to hear that your daughter is happy in Norway. Please send her my best wishes. Sincerely, Barack Obama, United States Senator.”

56．Why did Mary feel completely desperate?                                 

         A．She had missed the only flight to Norway．

         B．Her new husband abandoned her suddenly．

         C．She didn't have the money to buy a ticket．

         D．She had no money to pay for the surcharge．

57．How did Mary feel when someone offered to help her"?

         A ．Amazed．            B．Puzzled．      C．Delighted．           D．Annoyed．

58．Mary asked the stranger to leave his name and address____,

         A．in order to contact him later                    B．so that she could repay him

         C．because impressed her deeply          D．because she fell in love with him

59．What’s the passage mainly about?                         

         A．A letter from Barack Obama．                         

         B．Mary's parents support Obama．                        

         C．Obama helped a stranger about 20 years ago．

         D．Mary was lucky to get help at the airport．

People have been painting pictures for at least 30,000 years．The earliest pictures were painted by people who hunted animals．They used to paint pictures of the animals they wanted to catch and kill．Pictures of this kind have been found on the walls of caves in France and Spain．No one knows why they were painted there．Perhaps the painters thought that their pictures would help them to catch these animals．Or perhaps human beings have always wanted to tell stories in pictures.

About 5,000 years ago, the Egyptians and other people in the Near East began to use pictures as kind of writing．They drew simple pictures or signs to represent things and ideas, and also to represent the sounds of their language．The signs these people used became a kind of alphabet.

The Egyptians used to record information and to tell stories by putting picture-writing and pictures together．When an important person died, scenes and stories from his life were painted and carved on the walls of the place where he was buried．Some of these pictures are like modern comic strip stories．It has been said that Egypt is the home of the comic strip．But, for the Egyptians, pictures still had magic power．So they did not try to make their way of writing simple．The ordinary people could not understand it.

By the year 1,000 BC, people who lived in the area around the Mediterranean Sea had developed a simpler system of writing．The signs they used were very easy to write, and there were fewer of them than in the Egyptian system．This was because each sign, or letter, represented only one sound in their language．The Greeks developed this system and formed the letters of the Greek alphabet．The Romans copied the idea, and the Roman alphabet is now used all over the world.

These days, we can write down a story, or record information, without using pictures．But we still need pictures of all kinds: drawing, photographs, signs and diagrams．We find them everywhere: in books and newspapers, in the street, and on the walls of the places where we live and work．Pictures help us to understand and remember things more easily, and they can make a story much more interesting.

Pictures of animals were painted on the walls of caves in France and Spain because ______.

       A．the hunters wanted to see the pictures    

       B．the painters were animal lovers

       C．the painters wanted to show imagination

       D．the pictures were thought to be helpful

The Greek alphabet was simpler than the Egyptian system for all the following reasons      EXCEPT that _______.

     A．the former was easy to write     B．there were fewer signs in the former    

       C．the former was easy to pronounce D．each sign stood for only one sound

Which of the following statements is TRUE?

       A．The Egyptian signs later became a particular alphabet.

       B．The Egyptians liked to write comic-strip stories.

       C．The Roman alphabet was developed from the Egyptian one．   

       D．The Greeks copied their writing system from the Egyptians.

In the last paragraph, the author thinks that pictures ___________.

       A．should be made comprehensible    B．should be made interesting

       C．a(chǎn)re of much use in our life        D．have disappeared from our life

By sunset we had ___ thirty miles.

A.taken   B. covered   C. reached   D.added

It’s a bad habit to sleep with all the windows ___.

A. close   B. closed   C. closing   D. to close

Bamboo is ___ grass, but not tree.

A. a type of   B. a pile of   C. a kind of   D. a piece of

They are in high spirits.They ___ have been defeated in the game.

A. can    B.can’t    C. may     D. mustn’t

Before going ___ the old man took a ___ pole with him.

A. to finishing, fishing   B. fishing, fished  C. fishing, fishing  D. to fish, fished

What an ___ game! I’m really __ at it.

A. excited; excited   B. exciting, excited  C.excited, exciting  D.exciting; exciting

To make more of other people is ___ important thing in life in the world.

A. the most   B. a most   C. almost    D. mostly