He has spent ____ money on his new house.

       A. lot of  B. a great deal of    C. a great many      D. a large number of

Let Harry play with your toys as well, Clare, ----- you must learn to _______.

A. support              B. share         C. spare         D. care

The _________ hunter has many interesting ________.

       A. experience; experiences                  B. experienced; experience

       C. experienced; experiences                 D. experiences; experienced

Chinese are very generous (慷慨) when it comes to educating their children. Not caring about the money, parents often send their children to the best schools or even abroad to England, the United States or Australia. They also want their children to take extra-course activities where they will either learn a musical instrument or ballet（芭蕾舞）, or other classes that will give them a head start in life. The Chinese believe that the more expensive an education is, the better it is. So parents will spend an unreasonable amount of money on education. Even poor couples will buy a computer for their son or daughter.

   However, what most parents fail to see is that the best early education they can give their children is usually very cheap.

   Parents can see that their children’s skills vary, skilled in some areas while poor in others. What most parents fail to realize though, is that today’s children lack self-respect and self-confidence (自信). 

   The problem is that parents are only educating their children on how to take multiple-choice tests and how to study well, but parents are not teaching them the most important skills they need to be confident, happy and clever.

   Parents can achieve this by teaching practical skills like cooking, sewing and doing other housework.

   Teaching a child to cook will improve many of the skills that he will need later in life. Cooking demands patience and time. It is an enjoyable but difficult experience. A good cook always tries to improve his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and gradually finish his job successfully. His result, a well-cooked dinner, will give him much satisfaction and a lot of self-confidence.

   Some old machines, such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your child to play with will make him curious and arouse（唤起） his interest. He will spend hours looking at them, trying to fix them; your child might become an engineer when he grows up. These activities are not only teaching a child to read a book, but rather to think, to use his mind. And that is more important.  

Parents in China, according to this passage, _______.

A. are too strict with their children 

B. are too rich to educate their children

C.have some problems in educating their children correctly

D. are too poor to educate their children

The writer of the passage does not seem to be satisfied with ______.

A. the parents’ ideas of educating their children   B. the education system       

C. children’s skills                          D. children’s hobbies  

Doing some cooking at home helps children ______.

A. learn how to serve their parents   

B. learn how to become strong and fat

C. benefit from it and prepare themselves for the future

D. make their parents believe that they are clever

According to the last paragraph we can conclude that ______.

A. broken radios and television sets are useful

B. one’s curiosity may be useful for his later life

C. an engineer must fix many broken radios

D. a good student should spend much time repairing radios 

________ their son away to college, the couple got more room in the house.

A. As             B. For          C. Through    D. With

把下列短语填入每个句子的空白处（注意所填短语的形式变化）：

1 Dujiangyan(都江堰) is still ___________in irrigation(灌溉) today.

2 That question ___________ at yesterday’s meeting.

3 Karl Marx could speak a few foreign languages, _________Russian and English.

4 You must ask for leave first __________ you have something very important.

5 The media _________ major ________ in influencing people’s opinions.

6 _________ years of hard work she looked like a woman in her fifties.

Jenny hopes that Mr. Smith will suggest a good way to have her written English _______ in a short period.

A. improved        B. improving               C. to improve              D. improve

One of the traditions which is now a necessary part of Christmas is that of Father Christmas, or Santa Claus. According to the modern legend, he is a magical figure who visits all the children of the world during the night before Christmas Day, leaving presents which they find the next morning. He flies through the night sky in a sledge pulled by reindeer, and enters houses by climbing down chimneys. This strange legend is based on the life of a man called Nicholas, but in fact we know very little about him. Historians think he was a Christian bishop(主教) in Turkey in about 285－350 A. D. One of the stories about him is that he helped three poor girls. No one would marry them because they were so poor. To provide them with money for their weddings, Nicholas secretly dropped some gold coins down the chimney of their house. After Nicholas died, he was made a saint(圣人) by the church. (The name Santa Claus thus comes from St Nicholas.) His feast day was celebrated in December, and parents started giving their children secret presents from St Nicholas. Over the years, this custom became part of our Christmas traditions.

    Recently, a psychologist has claimed that Father Christmas is “the perfect fantasy” for children. According to Professor Anthony Clare, children love the character of Father Christmas because he is like an ideal father: he loves children and gives them presents, but he never criticizes them, is never angry, and children do not even need to thank him for the presents. Other writers, however, point out that Father Christmas can be a frightening character to some children. Jane Bidder says that some children are terrified of this fat, bearded old man. It can certainly confuse many children. As parents, we warn our children to be careful of strangers and never to let them into the house, and yet we tell children that a strange man will come into their bedroom at night! Some children can become very worried about this idea and fear that he is a kind of burglar.

Most children, however, understand from their parents and from the media that Father Christmas is basically a benign character, and look forward to his annual visit with joy and excitement.

46. The main point of the first paragraph is that ________.

Father Christmas is an important part of Christmas 

the tradition of Father Christmas is a modern idea

Father Christmas is a magical figure who can fly   

the legends about Father Christmas are not true

47. The writer mentions details such as Father Christmas’s sledge, the reindeer and the way he climbs down chimneys because he/she ____________.

wants to make it clear that these things are impossible   

is describing the history of St Nicholas

wants everyone to believe that Father Christmas is real

is explaining the modern legend of Father Christmas

48. Why does the writer mention the story about St Nicholas helping three poor girls?

It shows us that historians know very little about him.

This story explains why parents give secret presents to children.

It supports the writer’s main point that Father Christmas is based on an untrue story.

This story explains why we celebrate Christmas in December.

49. In the last paragraph, the word “benign” means _________.

      A. religious    B. friendly      C. frightening D. unreal

50. The best title for this passage would be __________.

   A. Is Father Christmas Dangerous?       B. The True History of St Nicholas

   C. The Legend of Santa Claus  D. The Traditions of Christmas

.What is the way Tom thought of _______enough money to buy it ?

A.to get         B.having got          C.getting            D.being getting

Though ___ to stop to take a rest, the workers went on working till sunset.

A. told    B. being told     C. telling     D. having told