—Excuse me, can you tell me where the nearest bank is, please?

         —______ Oh yes! It’s past the post office, next to a big market.

        A. Mm, let me think.      B. Oh, I beg your pardon?

        C. You’re welcome.       D. What do you mean?

For many people today, reading is no longer relaxation. To keep up their work they must read letters, reports, trade publications, interoffice communications, not to mention newspapers and magazines: a never-ending flood of words. In  1  a job or advancing in one, the ability to read and comprehend  2   can mean the difference between success and failure. Yet the unfortunate fact is that most of us are   3   readers. Most of us develop poor reading  4    at an early age, and never get over them. The main deficiency   5  in the actual stuff of language itself ——words. Taken individually, words have  6   meaning until they are strung together into phrases, sentences and paragraphs.    7  , however, the untrained reader does not read groups of words. He laboriously reads one word at a time, often regressing（退回） to  8    words or passages. Regression, the tendency to look back over   9  you have just read, is a common bad habit in reading. Another habit which  10   down the speed of reading is vocalization—sounding each word either orally or mentally as  11    reads.

　　To overcome these bad habits, some reading clinics use a device called an  12  , which moves a bar (or curtain) down the page at a predetermined（预先确定的） speeD．The bar is set at a slightly faster rate  13   the reader finds comfortable, in order to “stretch” him. The accelerator forces the reader to read fast,    14  word-by-word reading, regression and subvocalization（默读）practically impossible. At first  15  is sacrificed for speeD．But when you learn to read ideas and concepts, you will not only read faster,   16    your comprehension will improve. Many people have found  17   reading skill drastically improved after some training. 18  Charlce Au, a business manager, for instance, his reading rate was a reasonably good 172 words a minute  19   the training, now it is an excellent 1,28 words a minute. He is delighted that how he can   20  a lot more reading material in a short period of time.  

1．  A．applying B．doing       C．offering   D．getting

2．  A．quickly    B．easily       C．roughly    D．decidedly

3．  A．good       B．curious    C．poor        D．urgent

4．  A．training   B．habits      C．situations        D．custom

5．  A．lies   B．combines        C．touches    D．involves

6．  A．some       B．a lot        C．little        D．dull

7．  A．Fortunately     B．In fact      C．Logically        D．Unfortunately

8．  A．reuse       B．reread      C．rewrite     D．recite

9．  A．what        B．which      C．that D．if

10．A．scales      B．cuts C．slows       D．measures

11．A．some one        B．one   C．he    D．reader

12．A．accelerator      B．actor        C．amplifier D．observer

13．A．then        B．as     C．beyond    D．than

14．A．enabling B．leading    C．making    D．indicating

15．A．meaning B．comprehensionC．gist    D．regression

16．A．but   B．nor   C．or     D．for

17．A．our   B．your        C．their        D．such a

18．A．Look at    B．Take        C．Make       D．Consider

19．A．for   B．in     C．after        D．before

20．A．master     B．go over     C．present     D．get through

. Now that we’ve discussed our problem, are people happy with the decisions ________?

A. taking B. take

C. taken  D. to take

A boy walked along Carver Street, singing a sad song. He walked with his head down. Once he looked up and noticed the sign across the empty street, painted on the side of an old house. On the sign a big woman with yellow hair and a five-mile smile held out a big bottle. “Coca-Cola. Drink Coca-Cola,” the sign said.

“Boy!” the silence was cut by a sudden cry. He turned around quickly to see who had called.

An old woman was standing at her door.

“You boy! Come here this minute!”

Slowly the boy ___1___ onto the cold flat stones leading to the old woman’s house. When he arrived at her house, she ___2___ out her hand and wrapped(缠住) her ___3___ old fingers around his arm.

“Help me inside, boy”, she said, “Help me ___4___ to my bed. What’s your name?”

“Joseph,” he said.

The old woman on the bed tried to ___5___ up, raising herself on her elbow(肘). Water ___6___ from her eyes and mouth. The sight of her made Joseph feel ___7___.

“I am dying, Joseph. You can see that, can’t you? I want you to write a ___8___ for me. There’s paper and pencil on the table there.”

Joseph looked down at the ___9___, and then looked out the window. He saw the sign again: “Coca-Cola. Drink Coca-cola.”

“I want my silver pin to ___10___ to my daughter.”

Joseph bent his small body over the table and ___11___ the pencil slowly across the paper.

“There’s my Bible(圣经),” the old woman said. “That’s for my daughter, too. I want a ___12__ Christian burial(基督葬礼) with lots of singing. Write that down, too. That’s the last ___13__ of a poor old woman.”

The boy labored over the paper. Again he looked out the window.

“Here. Bring it here so I can ___14___ it.”

Joseph found the Bible, and ___15___the paper inside, laid it next to the bed.

“___16___ me now, boy,” she sighed. “I’m tired.”

He ran out of the house.

A cold wind blew through the ___17___ window, but the old woman on the bed ___18___ nothing. She was dead. The paper in the Bible moved back and forth in the wind. ___19___ on the paper were some childish letters. They ___20___ the words “Coca-Cola. Drink Coca-cola.”

1. A. rushed    B. struggled    C. hurried       D. stepped

2. A. reached  B. let      C. pushed       D. pointed

3. A. firm       B. smooth       C. dry     D. fresh

4. A. back       B. over    C. away   D. ahead

5. A. sit   B. get      C. stand   D. wake

6. A. rolled     B. burnt  C. burst   D. ran

7. A. ill   B. sick    C. unpleasant  D. funny

8. A. letter      B. note    C. will    D. message

9. A. table      B. pen     C. paper  D. woman

10. A. send     B. go      C. belong       D. come

11. A. moved  B. drew   C. used    D. pulled

12. A. great    B. merry C. splendid     D. real

13. A. hope     B. chance       C. opinion      D. wish

14. A. sign      B. read    C. remember   D. copy

15. A. setting  B. hiding C. placing       D. laying

16. A. Hold    B. Leave  C. Excuse       D. Pardon

17. A. large    B. open   C. small  D. pretty

18. A. did       B. saw     C. felt     D. knew

19. A. Described    B. Printed       C. Recorded    D. Written

20. A. formed B. spelled       C. organized   D. repeated

An important question about eating out is who pays for the meal. If a friend of yours asks you to have lunch with him. You may say something like this, “I’m afraid it’ll have to be some place cheap, as I have very little money.” The other person may say, “OK, I’ll meet you at McDonald’s.” This means that two agree to go Dutch, that is, each person pays for himself. He may also say, “Oh, no. I want to take you to lunch at Johnson’s”, or “I want you to try the steak(牛排) there. It’s great.” This means the person wants to pay for both of you. If you feel friendly towards this person, you can go with him and you needn’t pay for the meal. You may just say, “Thank you. That would be very nice.”

American customs about who pays for dates(约会) are much the same as in other parts of the world. In the old days, American women wanted men to pay for all the meals. But, today, a university girl or a woman in the business world will usually pay her own way during the day. If a man asks her to dinner or a dance outside the working hours, it means “come as my guest”. So as you can see, it is a polite thing to make the question clear at the very beginning.

In the old days _______ often paid for all the meals.

A. women      B. men

C. university students     D. businessmen

“To go Dutch” means to _______.

A. go to play outside     B. eat out

C. pay for oneself   D. go to a cheaper eating place

“McDonald’s” here means _______.

A. a tea house B. a gate

C. an office    D. an eating place

If you feel friendly to the person, _______.

A. you should pay for him    B. you needn’t pay for him

C. you can accept his invitation     D. you can’t accept his invitation

We’d better know who will pay for the meal _______.

A. at the beginning B. at the end

C. in the middle of the meal  D. after drinking

--- Shall we go outing this weekend?

     --- _____________. There will be a meeting maybe.

    A．It all depends.  B．You got it. C．I can’t wait.       D．No problem.

Few people would defend the Victorian attitude on children, but if you were a parent in those days, at least you knew where you stood: children were to be seen and not heard. Freud and his colleagues did away with all that and parents have been puzzled ever since. The child’s happiness is all- important, they say, but what about the parents’ happiness? Modern child-rearing manuals（抚养孩子手册）would never permit cruelty to children .The trouble is you are not allowed even to shout. Who knows what deep psychological(心理的)wounds you might cause? The poor child may never recover from the dreadful experience. So it is the parents that bend over backwards to avoid giving their children complex which a hundred years ago hadn’t even been heard of. Certainly, a child needs love, and a lot of it. But the excessive permissive(纵容) of modern parents is surely doing more harm than good.

     Psychologists(心理学家) have succeeded in weakening parents confidence in their own authority. And it hasn’t taken children long to get wind of the fact. In addition to the great modern classics on child care, there are countless articles in magazines and newspapers. With so much advice flying about, mum and dad just don’t know what to do any more. In the end, they do nothing at all. So, from early childhood, the kids are in charge and parents’ lives are regulated according to the needs of their kids. When the little dears develop into teenagers, they take complete control. Lack of authority over the years makes teenagers rebellion against parents all the more violent. If the young people are going to have a party, for example, parents are asked to leave the house. Their presence merely spoils the fun. What else can the poor parents do but obey?

The author says that today’s parents _______.

       A. are bombarded with excessive amounts of child-care literature.

       B. draw a distinction between permissiveness and carelessness.

       C. are only towards children from happy home backgrounds.

       D. weigh their children’s knowledge rather than intelligence.

The phrase “get wind of” (Para.2) most likely means _______ .

A. become used to                  B. try to avoid

C. realize                            D. become puzzled of

Which of the following can be inferred from this passage?

A. Victorian child rearing is a model for parents to follow.

B. Psychologists have much to answer for today’s problems on child care.

C. With the help of so much advice, raising children is easier than ever.

D. Parents like to enjoy the freedom when there is a party in the house.

What’s the main idea of this passage?

A. The excessive permissiveness of today’s parents is harmful to children.

B. Psychologists shouldn’t interfere so much with child care.

C. Parents should hold the Victorian attitudes towards children.

D. Children are too sensitive to be hurt.

When a group of children politely stop a conversation with you, saying: “We have to go to work now,” you’re left feeling surprised and certainly uneasy. After all, this is the 1990s and the idea of children working is just unthinkable. That is, until you are told that they are all pupils of stage schools, and that the “work” they go off to is to go on the stage in a theatre.

　　Stage schools often act as agencies（代理机构）to supply children for stage and television work. More worthy of the name “stage school” are those few places where children attend full time, with a training for the theatre and a general education.

　　A visit to such schools will leave you in no doubt that the children enjoy themselves. After all, what lively children wouldn’t settle for spending only half the day doing ordinary school work, and acting, singing or dancing their way through the other half of the day?

　Then of course there are times for the children to make a name and make a little money in some big shows. Some stage schools give their children too much professional work at such a young age. But the law is very tight on the amount they can do. Those under 13 are limited to 40 days in the year; those over 13 to 80 days.

　The schools themselves admit that not all children will be successful in the profession for which they are being trained. So what happens to those who don’t make it? While all the leading schools say they place great importance on children getting good study results, the facts seem to suggest this is not always the case.

　People would stop feeling uneasy when realizing that the children they’re talking to________.

　　  A. attend a stage school　　　　  B. are going to the theatre

　　  C. have got some work to do 　　  D. love singing and dancing

　　 In the writer’s opinion, a good stage school should ________.

　　  A. produce star performers

　　  B. help pupils improve their study skills

　　  C. train pupils in language and performing arts

　　  D. provide a general education and stage training.

　“Professional work” as used in the text means ________.

　　  A. ordinary school work　　　　　  B. money-making performances

　　  C. stage training at school 　 　  D. acting, singing or dancing after class

　 Which of the following best describes how the writer feels about stage schools?

　　  A. He thinks highly of what they have to offer.　　　　

　　  B. He favours an early start in the training of performing arts.

　　  C. He feels uncomfortable about children putting on night shows.

　　  D. He doubts the standard of ordinary education they have reached.

The majority of astronauts from America have been men. At the start of the space programme there was strong resistance from some people against having women in space. However, some women were very keen to become astronauts and in the end they were successful. In 1978, NASA began the first training programme for women astronauts.

Judy Resnick and Christa McAuliffe were both astronauts and they were both women, but in many other ways they were very different. Both of them were on Flight STS-5L-L. Judy Resnick was born in 1949 and studied engineering at university and went on to obtain a PhD in 1977. She was a member of the first group of women selected for astronaut training in 1978, and in 1984, she became the second woman in space. During that flight, she helped to launch three new satellites and she carried out a programme of research. She was, in many ways, a professional astronaut whose whole life was devoted to space travel.

Christa McAuliffe was born in 1948 and she was an astronaut almost by accident. In 1984, NASA decided to find a teacher who could accompany astronauts into space. They hoped that she would be able to communicate with students from space and encourage every one of them to be interested in space travel. Christa was a secondary teacher in history and social studies. She was a gifted teacher and she was selected from over 11,000 applicants to go on flight STS-51-L. She was also a very good communicator and she immediately established a very good relationship with the news media(radio, television and newspapers）. It was partly because of this that there was a great deal of interest and excitement about the flight. Thousands of students in schools and universities all around the country were looking forward to communicating with Christa in space. Millions of people were watching her flight with great interest. It is partly because of the excitement over McAuliffe's place in the flight that the disaster in 1986 had such an effect on people.

We can learn from the first two paragraphs that ___________.

A. Judy was against the idea of having women in space at first

B. Judy was the first woman selected for astronaut training

C. Judy helped to launch three new satellites at the age of 35

D. Judy carried out a programme during her second space travel

Christa McAuliffe was chosen for training because _______.

A. she was popular with the news media

B. she expected to give history lessons in space

C. she was an excellent teacher and communicator

D. she made the students in space very excited

The reason why there was great interest in Flight STS-51-L is that ________.

A. both Christa and Judy got PhD degrees in the same year

B. a young secondary school teacher was on the flight

C. students were going to learn more about space travel

D. it was the first time for women to travel in space

What would be the best title for the passage?

 A. Two Astronauts         B. Flight STS-51-L

C. Travelling in Space       D. The Training Programme

Sitting and eating quietly on his father’s lap, the 18-month-old was oblivious to the infection in his veins(血管).But his father a strong farmer, knew only too well. It was the same one that killed his wife four month ago, leaving him alone with four children. The man started to cry.

“When my wife died, I thought ,well, it is from God, but at least I have him.” he said. “Then I learned he is sick, too. I asked if there was medicine and the doctors said no.

HIV and AIDS have quietly arrived in this land. They remain almost completely underground, hidden in ignorance（无知）and shame.

The father of the infected 18-month-old said his village teacher had never talked about AIDS. Nearly a year of tests on the father have found no HIV, and the old children are clear, but his smallest child tested positive（阳性）at ten months.

Six years earlier, his wife lost a baby and have several transfusions in Pakistan. After she became sick and was found to be infected, “I told the family her blood was not good and to avoid eating with her.” he said. “And I told them not to kiss his son, he burst into tears.

“I don’t know what to do,” he said; “I have sacrificed so much since my marriage.. I mortgaged (抵押)half my land to pay for her medical care.”

The father can do little for his son but keep his secret. There are no AIDS treatment centers in Afghanistan, only a single secret clinic in the capital that just monitors the disease, and no drugs are available.

The underlined part “was oblivious to” in Paragraph 1 can best be replaced by______.

A.    was shocked by

B.    was afraid of

C.    was curious about

D.    was unaware of

What happened to the man?

A.    He was diagnosed with AIDS just now

B.    He has no money to support the family

C.    His wife died of AIDS four weeks ago

D.    His youngest son was infected with AIDS

It can be inferred from Paragraph 5 that______

A.    the wife had several blood transfusions

B.    the family knew how to avoid AIDS

C.    the farmer had little knowledge about AIDS

D.    the family loved the youngest son most

Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A.    There are several AIDS treatment centers in Afghanistan

B.    The farmer will keep his son’s disease unknown to others

C.    The farmer sold his house to pay for his wife’s medial care

D.    Afghanistian’s medical conditions have been greatly improved.