“Weren’t you a crazy kid ! ”said Sister．

　　I was．The　 1　 I was seven．Father gave me a new penny, bright as gold．He had taken it out of his pocket several times,　 2　 to be examining the date on it waiting for me to　 3 it．He couldn’t offer me anything until I had 4  some sign that the gift would be  5  ．

　 “You can　 6　 it if you want it, Peter, ” he said at long last．“Oh, thanks．”I said 7 　 more．I couldn’t show any of my eagerness．

　　I started with it to the　 8　 ．For a penny you could buy the magic cylinder of“ Long Tom” popcorn（爆米花）．　9　 the more I thought my shining　 10　 disappearing forever into the black drawer the store keeper　11　 his money in, the slower my　 12　 became as the store came nearer and nearer．I　 13　 down in the road．I began to play with the penny, putting off the　14　 ．I closed my eyes and　 15　 it deep in the sand; and then, with my eyes still closed,　 16　 and walked around and then came back to search for it．I did that again and again．Alas, once　 17　 often, the penny was lost．

　　It was almost dark when their　 18　 talking awakened me．It was Mother who had found me．“Peter! What made you come up here and hide?”I was to have told her the whole story but Father was there．How could I bear the　 19　 to repeat the　20　 thing before him!

1．A．time                    B．day                C．year                D．date

2．A．pretending           B．appearing        C．trying             D．managing

3．A．want                   B．find                C．notice             D．pick

4．A．shown                B．expressed       C．raised             D．said

5．A．nice                    B．valuable          C．useful             D．welcome

6．A．spend                 B．pay                C．cost                D．have

7．A．something           B．nothing           C．anything          D．everything

8．A．sand                   B．restaurant       C．store               D．field

9．A．And                    B．So                 C．Still                D．But

10．A．gift                   B．penny             C．money            D．cent

11．A．hid                    B．kept               C．locked            D．held

12．A．breath               B．heart              C．steps              D．run

13．A．sat                    B．lay                 C．went               D．broke

14．A．idea                  B．decision          C．thought           D．mind

15．A．covered             B．dropped          C．buried             D．threw

16．A．left                   B．rose               C．felt                 D．turned

17．A．very                  B．quite              C．rather             D．too

18．A．frightened          B．surprised         C．excited            D．disappointed

19．A．pity                   B．shame            C．regret             D．sadness

20．A．silly                B．funny          C．clever         D．interesting

One day a lawyer’s wife fell ill, and he went to get a doctor．The doctor willingly came to see the woman and to do what he could for her, but before he went into the house, he made a short stop．He knew that the lawyer was famous for not paying his bills, even if they were due（正当的）．He therefore said to the man．“But if I save your wife, I am afraid you may not pay me．”

“Sir,” replied the lawyer．“Here I have $ 500, whether you cure my wife or you kill her．I’ll give you all this．”

The doctor was reassured（使消除疑虑） and went into the house．When he reached the woman’s bedside, it soon became clear to him that he could do little．She was seriously ill, and though he prescribed（开药方） her medicine, she soon died．

He told the lawyer he was very sorry, and then asked for the money which he had promised．“Did you kill my wife?” asked the lawyer．“Of course I didn’t,” said the doctor．“Well! Did you cure my wife?” asked the man．“I’m afraid that was impossible,” replied the doctor．“Well, then since you neither killed my wife nor cured her, I have nothing to pay you．”

1．One day a lawyer’s wife fell ill, and the lawyer ___．

   A．cured his wife                              B．got a doctor for her

   C．got some medicine for her illness   D．promised to pay $ 500 to the doctor

2．Before entering the lawyer’s house the doctor stopped for a while, because ___．

   A．the doctor wanted to ask something about his wife’s illness

   B．the doctor thought it impossible to save the woman

   C．the doctor was afraid that the lawyer would refuse to pay him

   D．the lawyer was too poor to pay his bills

3．Because the lawyer’s wife was seriously ill, the doctor ___．

   A．couldn’t do much and didn’t save her life

   B．tried his best and saved her at last

   C．had to do everything he could for her

   D．had to spend a lot of time to cure her

4．After that the doctor ___．

   A．got nothing but the money for the medicine

   B．got nothing but the money the lawyer had promised

   C．got nothing from the lawyer

   D．wanted nothing from the lawyer because he didn’t cure the patient

5．From the story, we know __．

   A．the lawyer was very clever

   B．how the lawyer’s wife died

   C．the doctor was stupid enough to be fooled

   D．the lawyer was dishonest and that he fooled the doctor

INSIDE

1．The above section may probably appear on _______ of China Daily．

A．Page 1                           B．Page 3                 C．Page 4                    D．Page5

2．From the headline we expect there will be _______ job chances for laid –off workers in Beijing this year．

A．fewer                       B．enough                   C．more                      D．no

3．Premier Zhu will go to Europe to _______．

A．attend Asem in Paris

B．visit Britain and France from March to April

C．have his first foreign trip

D．attend the meeting and pay an official visit to Britain and France as well．  

4．We can infer that Chinese language teaching in Primary and secondary schools at present _______．

A．is satisfactory

B．meets the demand of the society

C．needs improvement

D．interests students

About ten men in every hundred suffer from color blindness in some way．Women are luckier, only about one in two hundred is affected（影响） in this matter．Perhaps, after all, it is safer to be driven by a woman!

There are different forms of color blindness．In some cases a man can not be able to see deep red．He may think that red, orange and yellow are all shades of green．Sometimes a person cannot tell the difference between blue and green．In rare cases an unlucky man may see everything in shades of green-a strange world indeed．

Color blindness in human beings is a strange thing to explain．In a single eye there are millions of very small things called “cones”．These help us to see in a bright light and to tell difference between colors．There are also millions of “rods” but these are used for seeing when it is nearly dark．They show us shape but no color．

Some insects have favorite colors．Mosquitoes（蚊子） like blue but do not like yellow．A red light will not attract insects, but a blue lamp will, in a similar way human beings also have favorite colors．Yet we are lucky．With the aid of the cones in our eyes we can see many beautiful colors by day, and with the aid of the rods we can see shapes at night．One day we may even learn more about the invisible colors around．

1．This passage is mainly about ______．

A．color and its surprising effects                B．women being luckier than men

C．danger caused by color blindness               D．color blindness

2．According to the passage, with the help of the “cones”, we can ______．

A．tell different shapes                          B．see in weak light     

C．kill mosquitoes                              D．tell orange from yellow

3．Why do some people say it is safer to be driven by women?

A．Women are more careful．

B．There are few color-blind women．

C．Women are fonder of driving than men．

D．Women are weaker but quicker in thinking．

4．We can attract and kill mosquitoes by using a ________．

A．red light                B．yellow light            C．blue light             D．green light

TELEPHONE MESSAGE

To: Deborah Lai（English teacher）

Mr. /Mrs. /Ms．: Wong

√Telephoned                □Called in                    □Wrote a note

To say: His daughter Angela will not be back at school until Thursday because she is sick．He would like to speak to you about the work she is missing．His phone number is 5895337．

Please:

√Telephone                 □Write a note               □Make t time to see

Message taken by: Mrs. Lee

Date: Monday 12 August   Time; 9:05 a．m．

1．Angela will be back at school on _______．

A．15th August                                   B．12th August

C．Monday                                    D．Wednesday

2．Mr. Wong would like the teacher to _________．

A．return his call                                   B．write him a letter

C．make an appointment to see him                          D．telephone his daughter Angela

3．From this information it is possible to tell that Mr. Wong is a _______．

A．teacher in a nearby school．

B．man who takes messages at the school

C．father who cares about his daughter’s progress

D．hard working business man

April Fool’s Day

April 1 is widely known as April Fool’s day．The custom of sending others on fool’s errands or playing other practical jokes on that day has been existing since at least the Middle Ages．The two most popular explanations in the nineteenth century were that April was a month of variable （that is, “fooling” ） weather, and that the Jews started the custom during Jesus’ passion, by sending him on fool’s errands to various magistrates （Caiaphas, Herod, and finally Pilate） before his crucifixion．

These explanations seem rather unconvincing and here is offered a more reasonable one．（until 1564, March 25 marked the European New Year, and the festivities typically lasted eight days, until April 1．In that year, the calendar changed, and the New Year’s Day became January 1．But not everyone immediately got the message, and those who continued to make the New Year’s visits and offer the traditional presents on April 1 would have been called April fools．Eventually the custom of playing tricks on others was established．

In the United States today, April Fool’s jokes are played mostly by children, who enjoy the holiday immensely．Here are some typical pranks:

---- Calling the zoo and asking to speak to Mr. Lion

---- Putting salt in the sugar bowl

---- Setting the clock back an hour．

--- Saying to a friend, “Oh my．You have four big holes in your coat--buttonholes”

---- Tying a string to a wallet and leaving the wallet in the middle of the sidewalk．When someone stops to pick it up, the prankster yanks it out of reach．

1．On April 1, the typical practice is to            ．

A.   humiliate others．                                 B．Play tricks on others．

C.      Send parents to others．                                  D．Call others “fools”．

2．According to the 19^th-century explanations, the origin of this custom was related to        ．

A.   Jesus’passion．                             B．The weather of the month．

C．The ignorance of people．                 D．Both A and B

3．According to the more reasonable explanation, in Europe, the New Year’s Day was   in 1564．

A．January 1            B．March 1              C．March 25             D．April 1

4．According to the passage,           enjoy this holiday most．

A．Children              B．The middle-aged     C．the elders              D．Housewives

以 “Reading newspapers is a good habit” 为题写一篇100 词左右的短文。提示如下：

1．看报纸能获得国内外最新消息，了解世界, 丰富我们的生活；

2．有天气预报及新书、电影、等介绍，还有旅游、商业等方面的广告；

3．对于英语学习者来说，看英文报纸是提高英语水平的最佳途径之一。

Her childhood dream became a _______ when she broke the 100m race world record．

A．truth          B．fact           C．reality             D．certainty

Mr. Smith _______ $100,000 for the car, so I had to give up．

A．bid           B．spent           C．cost         D．approached

–Will Thursday or Friday _________you?

–Either will ________．

A．fit; be           B．fit; OK          C．suit; all right          D．suit; do