I had gone to bed after a very hard day when the phone rang. It was an eccentric(古怪的)  

farmer. I had never met him before although I had often heard people talk about him. He sounded quite nervous and he had been talking for a minute or so before I understand anything. Finally all I could make out was that someone called Millry had a very bad accident. No matter who she was I obviously had to go.

It had been snowing heavily that day. I didn’t know the way. I had been driving for at least an hour when I finally found his place. He was standing there, waiting for me. It seemed Millry had died. “She meant more to me than anyone…even my own wife!” he said. I could see that he had been crying. I thought something terrible had taken place, it may be a scandal(丑聞). I was even more shocked when he told me be had put her in the barn(廄). “I wouldn’t leave her out in the cold!” he said.

Millry had clearly been a secret lover of his. I was about to tell him he could not expect me to cover anything up when he opened the barn door. He lifted his candle and I saw a dark figure on the ground, “She was such a good cow! I wouldn’t let anyone but a doctor touch her!”  

he said, and bust into tears again.

1. The underlined phrase “make out” in the first paragraph means        .

   A. expect        B. understand          C. see clearly        D. hear clearly

2. Before he arrived at the farmer’s house, the writer expected to see Millry lying       .  

   A. on the ground of a barn         B. on the floor of a room

   C. in bed in a room               D. in bed in a barn

3. The farmer wished that the writer might       .

   A. look into the matter          B. bring Millry back to life

   C. free him from a scandal       D. keep a whole thing a secret

4. The person who told the story is probably a             .

   A. farmer        B. policeman       C. country doctor      D. newspaper reporter 

Children who speak English as their first language are now a minority in inner-city London primary schools，official figures show.

Youngsters with foreign mother tongues form a majority at primary schools in 13 out of33 London cities. Across the country，English is a foreign language to more than one in seven primary school youngsters.

The figures from the Department for Children，Schools and Families (DCSF) point to major demographic (人口的) changes over the past few decades，with around a fifth of pupils now coming from ethnic minorities.

There are concerns that school finances are coming under stress from the growing numbers of youngsters requiring help with English. The government has been urged to provide more funding，and give fair treatment to schools with large concentrations of non-English speakers.

In Tower Hamlets almost four out of five youngsters do not have English as their mother tongue. In other areas，including Leicester，Luton and Bradford the proportion approaches 50 percent.

The figures indicate that many recent migrants have settled in London. Sir Andrew Green，F(xiàn)ounder and Chairman of Migration Watch UK，says，“These figures confirm the huge impact immigration is having on our society. When government funds are as tight as they are，this is bound to have a negative impact，since children for whom English is a second language need extra tuition (學(xué)費(fèi)).”He adds，“In inner London it's hard to know with whom immigrant chil­dren are supposed to practice English，since the number of immigrant children is much larger than that of local. ”

A spokesman for DCSF stresses that the figures “only indicate the language to which a child was initially exposed at home，regardless of whether he or she comes to speak English fluently later on. It is only a relatively few recent arrivals for whom communication problems are serious”.“We are increasing funding to the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant (助學(xué)金)to £206 million by 2010，to help bring students weak in English up to speed. We’re also equipping schools to offer effective English as an Additional Language teaching to new arrivals，”he adds

1.A minority of London primary school students speak English as their first language because

       .

A. local children prefer to speak other languages

B. more and more immigrant children are attending school in London

C. children learning English as an additional language need extra tuition

D. English is too difficult a language for primary school children to learn

2.Some people worry about       .

A. the increasing number of adults needing help with English

B. the government taking no measures to help the schools

C. non-English speakers putting school finances under stress

D. London schools not providing adequate service for children in need

3.It can be inferred from the passage that         .

A. most immigrant children make a great effort to learn English

B. the government used to treat non-English speakers unfairly

C. it's not easy to find English speakers for immigrant children in some parts of London to communicate with

D. local children are influenced by immigrant children

4.According to the spokesman for DCSF，the figures indi­cate        .

A. that children will speak English fluently later on

B. that immigration is having a huge impact on English society

C. what the language the children were exposed to first was

D. that funding is increasing to help students weak in English

The Voice of America began during the World WarⅡ, when Germany was broadcasting a radio program to get international 　1 . American officials believed they should 　2　 the German broadcast with words that they thought were the facts of world events. The first VOA news report began with words in 　3 . “The 　4 may be good or bad, but we shall tell you the truth.” Within a week, other VOA 　5 were broadcasting in Italian, French and English.

After the World War Ⅱended in 1945, some Americans felt VOA’s 6 had to be changed, 7 the Soviet Union（蘇聯(lián)）became enemy of America. They wanted to 　8 Soviet listeners. Then VOA began broadcasting in Russian.

In the early days VOA began adding something new to its Broadcast that was 　9　　 “Music USA”. Another new idea came along in 1959. VOA knew that many listeners did not know _ 10 English to completely understand its 　11 English broadcast. So VOA 　12 a simpler kind of English, 　13 uses about 1,500 words and is spoken 　14 . Of course, it is special English.

In the 　15 of most VOA listeners, the most 　16 program is the news report. News from around the world 　17 into the VOA news room in Washington 24 hours a day. It comes from VOA reporters in 　18 cities and also from other 　19 like BBC. VOA writers and editors use these materials to 　20 news reports, which are being broadcast in 43 languages.

1.　　　　 A. business　　　　　 B. culture 　　　　　　 C. support 　　　　　 D. information

2.　　　　 A. reply 　　　　　　　 B. answer 　　　　　 C. join 　　　　　　　　 D. interrupt

3.　　　　 A. time 　　　　　　　 B. short 　　　 C. English　　　　　　 D. German

4.　　　　 A. news 　　　　　　　 B. problems C. effects 　　　　　 D. opinions

5.　　　　 A. programs 　　　　 B. news 　　　 C. announcers 　　 D. officials

6.　　　　 A. home 　　　　　　 　 B. position 　　 　 C. purpose　 D. result

7.　　　　 A. if 　　　　　　 　 B. considering　 C. supposing D. in order that

8.　　　　 A. reach 　　　　　　　　　　 B. satisfy 　　　　　　 C. attack 　　　　　　 D. support

9.　　　　 A. known 　　　　　 B. reported 　　　　　 C. called 　　　　　　 D. printed

10.　　 A. poor 　　　　　　　 B. excellent　　　　　 C. standard 　　　　 D. enough

11.　　 A. normal 　　　　　 B. fast 　　　　　　　　 C. good 　　　 D. exact

12.　　 A. stopped　　　　　　 B. discovered 　　　 C. taught 　　　　　　 D. invited

13.　　 A. it 　　　　　　　　　 B. which 　　　　　　 C. who 　　　　　　　 D. that

14.　　 A. slowly 　　　　　　 B. rapidly 　　　　　　 C. normally 　 D. loudly

15.　　 A. please 　　　　　　 B. course 　　　　　　 C. opinion 　　 　　D. advice

16.　　 A. difficult 　　　　　 B. important C. various 　　　　　 D. common

17.　　 A. past　　　　　　　　 B. send 　　　　 C. deliver 　　　　　　 D. fly

18.　　 A. all 　　　　　　　　　 B. major 　　　　　　 C. American D. news

19.　　 A. broadcasts 　　　 B. forms 　　　　　　 C. newspaper 　　　 D. countries

20.　　 A. broadcast 　　　 B. announce C. translate 　　　　 　D. prepare

---- If it hadn’t been raining so hard, I might have been home much earlier.

---- It’s too bad you _____ it. Nancy _____ here and she _____ to see you.

A. didn’t make; is; was

B. won’t make; will be; wants

C. didn’t make; was; wanted

D. wont’ make; would be; wanted

--____________?　　

-- We are looking for a pair of sports shoes.

A. What do you do B. What do you like C. Can I help you D. Do you need help

Only after they had carried out over ten experiments ______ the decision.

A. they reached      B. they reach         C. did they reach    D. do they reach

When the speaker finished his speech, he was affected to see his speech ________ with cheers and applauses from the audience.

   A. was met    B. was welcome    C. was popular   D. was greeted

Form their ________ on the top of the TV Tower, visitors can have a better view of the city.

A. stage        B. position         C. condition         D. situation

Such a small man can’t _____ reach the balloon one metre higher than he.

A. possibly                   B. impossible                C. possible                    D. Impossibly

My father _______ for London tomorrow， for there is______ an  important meeting there.

A. is leaving ; to be            B. leave ; to be

C. is going to leave ; having     D. is leaving ; having