O．Henry, a famous American writer of short stories, was born in North Carolina in 1862．O．Henry was a pen name．His real name was William Sydney Porter．When he was a young boy, he did not go to school for long because of being born in a poor family, but he tried to teach himself everything he needed to know．

　　When he was about 20 years old, O．Henry went to Texas．There he tried different jobs．He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank．But he got himself into some trouble．Some money went missing from the bank．O．Henry was believed to have stolen(偷)it, so he was sent to prison(监狱)．During the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories．After he got out of prison, he went to New York and went on writing．

　　He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there．People liked his stories, because almost all of them finished with a sudden change．This made the readers surprised．

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阅读理解

　　Modern life is impossible without traveling．The fastest way of traveling is by plane．With a modern plane it takes one day to travel places which took a month or more to get to a hundred years ago．

　　Traveling by train is slower than by plane, but it has its advantages．You can see the country you are traveling through．Modern trains have comfortable seats and dining-cars．They make even the longest journey enjoyable．

　　Some people prefer to travel by sea when possible．There are large planes and river boats．You can visit many other countries and different parts of your country on them．Ships are not as fast as trains or planes, but traveling by sea is a very pleasant way to spend a holiday．

　　Many people like to travel by car．You can make your own timetable．You can travel three or four hundred miles or only fifty or one hundred miles a day, just as you like．You can stop wherever you wish－where there is something interesting to see, at a good restaurant where you can enjoy a good meal, or at a hotel where you can spend the night．That is why traveling by car is a popular pleasure trip, while people usually take a train or a plane when they are traveling on business．

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　　A 50-year-old American officer(官员)came back to his school．The teacher asked him to give a talk to the small boys and girls there．The talk was about the love of their great country．All the little ones were sitting in a large meeting-room．The old officer went up and began speaking．He said, “boys and girls, I studied in this school forty years ago．When I was your age, we were not as happy as you are today．Think about it and answer me, why are you so happy now?”

　　No sound came from the children．The old man waited for a long time．Then a short boy in front put up his small dirty hand．“Good boy! Please answer me, dear．” Said the officer．

　　With a big smile on his face, the boy stood up and said, “if you speak long enough, we won’t have maths and biology(生物学)lessons this morning．”

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阅读理解：

　　Scientists are trying to make the deserts()into good land again．They want to bring water to the deserts, so people can live and grow food．They are learning a lot about the deserts．But more and more of the earth is becoming desert all the time．Scientists may not be able to change the desert in time．

　　Why is more and more land becoming desert? Scientists think that people make deserts．People are doing bad things to the earth．

　　Some places on the earth don’t get much rain．But they still don’t become deserts．This is because some green plants are growing there．Small green plants and grass are very important to dry places．Plants don’t let the hot sun make the earth even drier．Plants don’t let the wind blow the dirt away．When a little bit of rain falls, the plants hold the water．Without plants, the land can become a desert much more easily．

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I live in a small town near Xing’an in Guilin．You can’t see it on the map of China, because it is too small．The air here is fresh．There are not many tall buildings in our town．The best building is in our school．There are four hundred students and twenty-five teachers in our school．In the front of the school, there is a playground．I often play basketball with my classmates on it．There is a little garden behind our school．And we can grow beautiful flowers and plant trees in the garden．Next to the garden, there is an orange orchard(果园)．You can hear birds sing everywhere(到处)．There is a river not far from our school．In summer, we usually go swimming with our teachers in it．We study Chinese, English, maths and other subjects at school．The teachers are very nice．We love our school．

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阅读下列表格中的内容，然后选择正确答案：

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　　David’s got a text message from his friend Sam．Can you understand it?

　　7,15　　20,15　　20,8,5　　16,1,18,11

　　This message was in code(密码，代码)．How many letters are there in the English alphabet?Twenty-six．So can you read it now?

　　David decided to use a different code in his answer to Sam．This time, he was putting A instead of B, B instead of C, and so on．His message to Sam shown on the right was very short．Can you understand?

　　Sam guessed David’s code, and he replied：ZESDQ RBGNNK．When David’s little sister saw the message, she felt puzzled．She couldn’t read it at all．But David was very happy that his sister couldn’t read his message!

　　Lots of people use codes to send secret messages．In a war, secrets are very important so soldiers often send each other messages in code．Nowadays, we can use computers to make and break difficult codes．Even before computers, people invented other machines to do this．

　　Here’s a famous machine that Germans used in the Second World War(1941－1945)．It’s called the Enigma Machine．The machines were very big, heavy and expensive．Every day they changed the codes automatically, and this made it almost impossible for anyone to break the codes．The person sending a message had one machine, and the person receiving the message had another．

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阅读理解

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　　Linda and David have travelled by air from London to Sydney, Australia．Linda has promised her mother that she will ring her to let her know that they have arrived safely．This is something she has done ever since she was a child．David thinks it is not a good idea to ring so far, to spend too much．and to say so little．

　　But Linda has promised that she would ring．She says：“It doesn't cost much when you just think that it's the other side of the world．It's only six pence per second．”

　　“If you're on that telephone for less than one minute, I'll eat my hat．”David says, “And one minute is nearly four pounds．”

　　“That's no more titan you'd pay for a new hat．”Linda answers．

　　She has asked the man at the hotel desk to get her the number．The telephone rings．Linda picks it up．

　　“Hello, Mum．Is that you?”She says．

　　“Six pence per second．”David reminds her．

　　“Hello, love．”It is Mrs Lee, Linda's mother, speaking from London．“I can hear you very clearly just like you are in the next room．It's a better line than when you called me from your office．Do you remember?I shouted at that time, and still you couldn't hear me sometimes．”

　　“Yes, Mum．”Linda puts in, “I just wanted to ring to…．”

　　“I remember how you rang when you went to Betty's house to eat, when you were a little girl．And then when you…”．Mrs Lee is a great talker．

　　“Nearly four pounds．”says David．

　　Linda tries to tell her mother that it is time to say goodbye．

　　“Yes, all right,”says Mrs Lee, “But you will write, won't you, as you did when you were at work…”．

　　“Four pounds fifty,”says David．

　　At last, Linda cuts her mother short, promises to write, and rings off．

　　“There!That wasn't long, was it?”

　　“Four pounds, ninety pence．”David answers．“And you didn't even say that we've arrived．”

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