As you know, the great American writer Jack London was often in need of money when he began to write his books. He worked very hard but it did not help him.

　　Once he promised(允诺) a New York magazine(杂志) to write a story for it, but he was busy at that time and could not keep his promise. The boss of the magazine wrote letters to Jack London several times to ask him to send the story. At last he went to Jack London's room and left him a note (字条).

　　“Dear Jack London, if I don't get the story in twenty-four hours, I'll come to your room and kick(踢) you downstairs, and I always keep my promise.”

　　Jack London read the note and answered：“Dear Dick, if I could do my work with my feet like you, I could keep my promise, too.”

1．Jack London ________ when he began to write his books.

[　　]

A．had much money

B．didn't have enough money

C．didn't have any money

D．didn't need any money

2．Once Jack London was ________ busy ________ write a story for a New York magazine as he promised.

[　　]

3．The bass of the magazine wrote letters to Jack London to ________ the story.

[　　]

4．At last the boss ________ left a note in Jack London's room.

[　　]

5．Jack London's answer meant he ________ do his work with his feet.

[　　]

　　Foulsham House is a fine, large house of the 1790s. It stands by the River Byer, in twenty-five hectares (公顷) of the best farmland in the southwest.

　　The house was built by Smithson, and the story goes back to George, the son of King of Whales, who fell in love with the beautiful Lady Kitty, at one of the first Foulsham's wild woods (野外) parties. Many years ago many great men rode on the hills about Foulsham House, and many fine girls took tea in the Green Room.

　　The house has eight bedrooms; three bathrooms (浴室), two living-rooms and a dining-mom with a real Adam fire-place. Its library has a good view over the park and the river. All rooms are light and airy, with good, high windows, and wood floors.

　　At the back of the house there is a room for four cars. The third Foulsham once kept horses there. In many other ways, this house of the 1790s meets the needs of the 1990s. If you wish to know more about Foulsham House, write to：Harvey. Platt, Longford & Sons 6, Castle Green, Gilham, Byreside.

1．Foulsham House is ________.

[　　]

A．an old farm house

B．a 25-hectare house by the River Byre

C．a large house for people to come to listen to its story

D．a house with a history of nearly two hundred years

2．We learned from the reading that ________.

[　　]

A．Smithson built the house for wild wood parties

B．many important people had been to the Foulsham House

C．George and Lady Kitty loved the house and had many parties here

D．the Green Room is a place for many girls to make tea

3．The sentence “Its library bas a good view over the park and the river” means “________.”

[　　]

A．The park and the river can be seen clearly from the library

B．The library has a picture of the park and the river on the wall

C．The library was built in the park by the river

D．Books about the part and the river can be read in the library

4．Which of the following is true?

[　　]

A．The 3rd Foulsham often rode his horses at the back of the house.

B．The house has a room for cars at the back of the house.

C．The road behind the house is wide enough for 4 cars to go.

D．There is some parking behind the house.

5. We can infer(推断) that Harvey ________.

[　　]

A．wants the house to meet the needs of modern life

B．wants people to know the history of the house

C．wants to sell the house

D．wants some money to make the house meet today's needs

　　Mr. Clarke lives at the foot of the mountain. He keeps the forest for a rich farmer there. The only road to the forest is just in front of his house. He can easily see the people who want to enter the forest. Sometimes he has to be on duty at night. When he hears some sound, he has to get up to see if someone cuts the trees.

　　One day he bought something in the town. He found a strong dog and bought it. He loves it very much and often gives some meat or bread to it. And when a strange man walks close to his house, it barks (吠) loudly. So he can soon know about it and goes out to find out who it is. But last week something was wrong with Mr. Clarke. He didn't feel well and couldn't fall asleep in the evening. He had to go to a hospital in the town. The doctor looked him over and then asked, “Have you got a dog, sir?”

　　“Yes, I have got one.”

　　“You have got a skin disease (皮肤病),” said the doctor. “I am sure your dog infected (传染) it to you. You can't come in touch with it any longer.”

　　When he came out of the hospital, he met a friend and told him about it. The man asked, “What are you going to do, to sell your dog or to give it to another man?”

　　“Neither,” answered Mr. Clarke, “I have decided to see another doctor. It's much easier to find a doctor than to buy a good dog!”

1．Mr. Clarke lives at the foot of the mountain because ________.

[　　]

A．it's very quiet there

B．he has a farm there

C．his work is to keep the forest

D．he can have a good rest there

2．Mr. Clarke is afraid, so he bought a dog, because ________.

[　　]

A．someone picks the fruit

B．some animals hurt him

C．someone hurt him

D．someone may cut the trees

3．________, so Mr. Clarke loves it.

[　　]

A．The dog can help him keep the forest

B．Everyone is afraid of the dog

C．The dog can stop people coming in the room

D．He can play with the strong dog

4．The doctor told him to ________.

[　　]

A．buy another dog

B．throw the dog away

C．take the dog to the hospital

D．buy some medicine for his dog

5．Which of the following is true?

[　　]

A．Mr. Clarke thought the dog was more useful than the doctor.

B．Mr. Clarke decided to go on coming in touch with his dog.

C．Mr. Clarke wouldn't hurt his dog.

D．Mr. Clarke hoped to cure(医好) his dog.

　　“You'll have to take care of the baby today,” a woman told her husband. “I'm not feeling well.”

　　“Then you must stay in bed and rest,” her husband said. “I'll be pleased to look after our baby.”

　　“Thank you. I'll have a quiet day and I'll get better soon,” his wife told him.

　　“Shall I do the shopping for you?” her husband asked. She was very pleased and said, “That will help me very much. I'll give you a list of things to buy.” She wrote out the list and gave it to him.

　　“You can get all these things at the shop,” she said. “You can put the baby in the shopping cart, (手推车) then you won't have to leave him outside.”

　　The man took the baby to the shop and put him in the shopping cart. Then he pushed the shopping cart along the rows of things to buy and looked for the things on his list.

　　At first all was well, but then the baby began to cry. Then he started to scream (尖叫).

　　“Keep calm (安静), Bill,” the man said. “Don't get angry. Don't shout, Bill.”

　　A woman in the shop heard him saying these things. She walked to him and said, “I think you are great. You are so patient (耐心) with your little Bill.”

　　“Madam,” the man said, “I'm Bill. He's Edward.”

1．Why did the man look after the baby?

[　　]

2．The man with his baby ________.

[　　]

3．What did the baby do in the shop?

[　　]

4．The baby was ________.

[　　]

A．Bill

B．Edward

C．the son of the woman in the shop

D．the man's daughter

5．The man asked ________ to keep calm.

[　　]

A little cock lived near the river. One morning the little cock ________ his beautiful clothes and went for a walk by the river. On his way he met a little duck.

[　　]

Mr. Brown began to walk at 8 in the morning. Now the sun was about to set. He was tired and hungry. He was walking slowly towards the ________ and his shadow(影子) lay long behind him. He had to look for a place for the night.

[　　]

Read “A Pool near Rajpur” and answer questions 1 to 7.

　　Ranji had been less than a month in Rajpur when he discovered the pool in the forest. It was the height of the summer, and his school had not yet opened; and, having as yet made no friends in this town, he wandered about a good deal by himself into the hills and forests that stretched away interminably on all sides. It was hot, very hot, at that time of the year, and Ranji walked about in his vest and shorts, his brown feet white with the chalky dust that flew up from the ground. The earth was parched, the grass brown, the trees listless, hardly stirring, waiting for a cool wind or a refreshing shower of rain.

　　It was on such a day－a hot, tired day -that Ranji found the pool in the forest. The water had a gentle translucency, and you could see the smooth round pebbles at the bottom of the pool. A small stream emerged from a cluster of rocks to feed the pool. During the monsoon, this stream would be a rushing torrent, cascading down from the hills, but during the summer it was barely a trickle. The rocks, however, held the water in the pool, and it did not dry up like the pools in the plains.

　　When Ranji saw the pool, he did not hesitate to get into it. He had often gone swimming, alone or with friends, when he had lived with his parents in a thirsty town in the middle of the Rajputana desert. There, he had known only sticky, muddy pools, where buffaloes wallowed and women washed clothes. He had never seen a pool like this－so clean and cold and inviting.

1．The first paragraph describes how Ranji went exploring in the forest ________.

[　　]

A．with his school friends

B．after school each day

C．without his parents' permission

D．despite the unpleasant weather

2．In the second paragraph, the writer wants the reader to feel that the pool was ________.

[　　]

A．well-known to local people

B．a delightful place to be on a hot day

C．popular with local children

D．a dangerous place for a boy on his own

3．The word “translucency” indicates that the water in the pool was ________.

[　　]

4．The trees are described as “listless”. This means that the trees were ________.

[　　]

5．Water remained in the pool during the summer because ________.

[　　]

A．the water was clean and cold

B．there were rocks to dam the water

C．trees hung over the pool to shade it

D．the pool was in a cool forest

6．The reader can assume that Ranji ________.

[　　]

A．owned very few good clothes

B．found new experiences difficult to cope with

C．felt homesick for the town where he once lived

D．felt safe wandering in the forests near Rajpur

7．What is Ranji likely to do next?

[　　]

A．chase some buffaloes away from the pool

B．enjoy swimming in the pool

C．tell his parents about the pool

D．wait for his family to arrive

Read “The Write Stuff” and answer questions 1 to 6.

　　Throughout history people have written with many different tools and on many different surfaces.

　　PAPYRUS

　　Papyrus was one of the earliest known writing surfaces. For almost 4000 years papyrus was the main writing material used in the Middle East and around the Mediterranean. The Egyptians first made papyrus from the stem of the papyrus plant which grew along the banks of the River Nile.

　　1．Papyrus was made by cutting a papyrus stem into thin strips.

　　2．Two layers of strips were then pressed together until they stuck.

The Egyptians wrote on papyrus with brushes.

　　ANIMAL SKINS

　　When papyrus became scarce, people used animal skins to write on. This was called parchment. It was made from sheep skin which was washed, scraped, stretched and dried.

　　Parchment had a very smooth writing surface. It was used in Europe until the late Middle Ages.

　　Scribes wrote on parchment with quill pens made from goose feather.

　　PAPER

　　Around AD 105, a Chinese official called Cai Lun invented a new writing material made from old rags. This was known as paper. Paper is still made approximately the same way today as it was by Cai Lun, except that now machines are used.

　　The problem with quill pens and later metal pens was that they had to be dipped in ink every few seconds. In the 19th century fountain pens were invented. These had a container for ink inside them－no more dipping or dripping!

　　The nib of a modern fountain pen is very similar to the point of the reed pen invented by the Ancient Greeks.

1．According to the information, in which order were the following surfaces developed?

[　　]

A．Paper→Parchment→papyrus

B．papyrus→parchment→paper

C．parchment→papyrus→paper

D．papyrus→paper→parchment

2．The information states that parchment was used by the ________.

[　　]

3．Parchment was made instead of papyrus mainly because ________.

[　　]

A．parchment was easier to make

B．parchment had a better writing surface

C．papyrus became scarce

D．papyrus was more suited for use with quill pens

4．The writer suggests that compared to a quill pen, using a fountain pen is more ________.

[　　]

5．Which of the following statements is TRUE?

[　　]

A．The Ancient Greeks wrote with brushes.

B．Papyrus was first used in the late Middle Ages.

C．Reed pens have similar points to fountain pens.

D．The first paper was made using machines.

6．The best word to replace “approximately”, as it is used in the passage, is ________.

[　　]

For questions 1 to 5 choose the phrase that is closest in meaning to the underlined words.

　　In ancient Egypt, kings and pharaohs were (1) revered as gods. Tutankhamen was a boyking. He was only nine years old when he became king in about 1347 BC. He died before he was twenty, and his body was (2) preserved as a mummy. His funeral took place in the Valley of the Kings, a burial centre near the ancient city of Thebes. When Tutankhamen's tomb was discovered in 1922, it was found to be filled with over five thousand objects: thrones, chariots, swords, statues, rings and even toys. The boy-king's coffin had been (3) entombed for over 3 200 years. A solid gold mask covered the head and shoulders of his mummified body. The (4) master craftsmen of the time must have created this mask, because no one else would have been allowed to (5) model the sacred face of the pharaoh.

1．

[　　]

A．treated with respect

B．remembered for centuries

C．protected by the people

D．famous and royal

2．

[　　]

A．dressed like

B．given preference

C．prevented from decaying

D．prepared for the ceremony

3．

[　　]

A．covered in jewels

B．kept in a burial chamber

C．undiscovered

D．celebrated

4．

[　　]

A．people who lived in the palace

B．people who knew the boy-king

C．people who were skilled at their trade

D．people who were religious

5．

[　　]

Read “The Curious Kiwi” and answer questions 1 to 6.

　　INTRODUCTION

　　The Kiwi lives only in New Zealand. It looks a bit like a long-beaked chicken, but it has no tail and it cannot fly.

　　Its tiny wings are completely hidden among the hair-like feathers. Kiwis are shy birds that live mainly in fern-filled forests. They sleep in burrows by day and come out to feed at night. They eat worms and insects that live in the soil or among dead leaves. They also enjoy fallen fruit.

　　Survival Watch

　　Kiwis are becoming rare, largely because so many have been killed by the cats, dogs and other animals that people have taken to New Zealand.

　　Kiwi Facts

　　The kiwi is up to 45 cm long, including its beak. It gets its name from its call of ki-wee.

　　The female weighs only 4 kg, but she can lay two eggs weighing about 500 grams each.

　　That's nearly ten times as heavy as a chicken's egg.

　　The kiwi is a very strange-looking bird. Its dark coat looks more like shaggy hair than feathers.

　　The nostrils at the tip of the beak can smell worms and other food several centimetres below the ground.

1．What do kiwis eat?

[　　]

A．worms and insects

B．ferns and fallen fruit

C．ferns and forest plants

D．dead leaves and fallen fruit

2．The female kiwi can lay an egg that weighs about ________.

[　　]

3．Which of the following words from the text describes the personality of kiwis?

[　　]

4．The kiwi has been given its name because it ________.

[　　]

A．feeds at night

B．has a call that sounds like “ki-wee”

C．is able to lay two eggs

D．sleeps during the day

5．The ward closest in meaning to “several”, as it is used in the passage is ________.

[　　]

6．Kiwis are becoming rare because ________.

[　　]

A．there are not many forests left

B．they don't lay enough eggs

C．they are being killed by other animals

D．their food is hard to catch