When I was growing up in America, I was ashamed of my mother’s Chinese English. Because of her English, she was often treated unfairly. People in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously ,did not give her good service ,pretended not to understand her ,or even acted as if they did not hear her .W_w w.k*s*5 u.c@o m
My mother has realized the limitations of her English as well. When I was fifteen, she used to have me call people on phone to pretend I was she . I was forced to ask for information or even to yell at people who had been rude to her. One time I had to call her stockbroker (股票经纪人).I said in an adolescent voice that was not very convincing, “This is Mrs.Tan..”
And my mother was standing beside me ,whispering loudly, “Why he don’t send me cheek already two week late.”
And then , in perfect English I said : “I’m getting rather concerned .You agreed to send the check two weeks ago, but it hasn’t arrived.”
Then she talked more loudly. “What he want? I come to New York tell him front of his boss.” And so I turned to the stockbroker again, “I can’t tolerate any more excuse. If I don’t receive the check immediately , I am going to have to speak to your manager when I am in New York next week.”
The next week we ended up in New York. While I was sitting there red-faced, my mother, the real Mrs.Tan, was shouting to his boss in her broken English.
When I was a teenager, my mother’s broken English embarrassed me. But now, I see it differently. To me, my mother’s English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. It is my mother tongue. Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, and full of observation and wisdom. It was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed ideas, and made sense of the world.
【小题1】Why was the author’s mother poorly served?w_w w. k#s5_u.c o*m

A．She was unable to speak good English.

B．She was often misunderstood.

C．She was not clearly heard.

D．She was not very polite.W_w w.k*s*5 u.c@o m

【小题2】From Paragraph 2, we know that the author was ________ .

A．good at pretending	B．rude to the stockbroker
C．ready to help her mother	D．unwilling to phone for her mother

【小题3】After the author made the phone call, _______.

A．they forgave the stockbroker

B．they went to New York immediately

C．they failed to get the check

D．they spoke to their boss at once

【小题4】What does the author think of her mother’s English now?

A．It confuses her.

B．It embarrasses her.

C．It helps her understand the world.

D．It helps her tolerate rude people.

【小题5】We can infer from the passage that Chinese English ________.w_w w. k#s5_u.c o*m

A．is clear and natural to non-native speakers

B．is vivid and direct to non-native speakers

C．has a very bad reputation in America

D．may bring inconvenience in America

A Frenchman went to a small Italian town and was staying with his wife at the best hotel there. One night, he went out for a walk alone. It was late and the small street was dark and quiet. Suddenly he felt someone behind him. He turned his head and saw an Italian young man who quickly walked past him. The man was nearly out of sight when the Frenchman suddenly found that his watch was gone. He thought that it must be the Italian who had taken his watch. He decided to follow him and get back the watch.
Soon the Frenchman caught up with the Italian. Neither of them understood the other’s language. The Frenchman frightened the Italian with his fist(拳头) and pointed at the Italian’s watch. In the end the Italian gave up his watch to the Frenchman.
When he returned to the hotel, the Frenchman told his wife what had happened. He was greatly surprised when his wife pointed to the watch on the table. Now he realized that by mistake he had robbed the watch and it was the Italian’s.
【小题1】The Frenchman went to a small Italian town _______.

A．alone

B．with his wife

C．with his friend

D．with an Italian

【小题2】The Italian gave up his watch to him at last because ________.

A．he had stolen the watch from the Frenchman

B．he understood what the Frenchman wanted

C．he had picked up the watch on his way from work

D．he was afraid of the Frenchman

【小题3】Who was robbed of the watch in fact?

A．The Frenchman was.	B．The Italian was.
C．Both of them were.	D．Neither of them was.

Thomas Alva Edison was awarded more patents on inventions than any other American. When he died in 1931, Americans wondered how they could best show their respect for him. One suggestion was that the nation observe a minute or two of total blackout. All electric power would be shut off in homes, streets, and factories. Perhaps this suggested plan made Americans realize fully what Edison and his inventions mean to them. Electric power was too important to the country. Shutting it off for even a short time would have led to complete confusion. A blackout was impossible.
On the day of Edison's funeral, many people silently dimmed their lights. In this way they honored the man who had done more than anyone else to put the great force of electricity at his countrymen's fingertips.
【小题1】This selection says that Thomas Edison ________.

A．was the only important American inventor

B．received the first American patent

C．received more patents than any other American

D．was the first American inventor

【小题2】People decided to honor Edison when ________.

A．he made the first electric light

B．electric power was 100 years

C．the country realized electricity's importance

D．he died in 1931

【小题3】The suggested plan was to ________.

A．turn off the lights in factories and schools

B．observe a few minutes of total silence

C．dim all electric lights

D．shut off all electricity for a short time

His first successful fight was for the equal rights of black people in South Africa. Then, as the first black president, he fought to unite the country and organize the government. Now Nelson Mandela has set his sights on a new enemy, AIDS.
On March 19 the 82-year-old, former president, hosted his second AIDS-awareness concert. He warned that 25 million people in Africa were already infected with the fatal disease.
Mandela was born in a small village in South Africa in 1918. He was adopted by the chief of his tribe and could have been a chief himself and lived a happy country life.
But he refused to be a chief when his people lived under racial discrimination(歧视). He decided to fight for equal rights for all the people in South Africa. Before 1990, under the country’s Racial Segregation Law, colored and white people lived separately. Black people were treated unfairly even when taking a bus. Blacks had to stand at the back of the bus to make room for white people even when there were only a few of them on board.
For his opposition to the system, Mandela was arrested and spent 27 years in prison. He was freed in 1990 and became the president of the country after the first election were held in which everyone could vote.
Mandela was not only a political fighter who attacked with speeches. He was also a trained boxer and fought in the ring when he was young.
“Although I did not enjoy the violence of boxing, I was interested in how one moved one’s body to protect oneself, how one used a strategy both to attack and retreat”, he wrote in his autobiography.
As a skillful fighter, he chose music as his weapon against AIDS. He hopes to win another victory against AIDS.
【小题1】When was Mandela arrested?

A．In 1963

B．In 1990

C．When he refused to be a chief

D．When he became the president

【小题2】Nelson Mandela succeeded in doing the following except _______.

A．winning the equal rights for the black people in South Africa

B．Uniting South Africa

C．organizing a government in South Africa

D．controlling the spread of AIDS

【小题3】If Nelson Mandela hadn’t fought against racial discrimination, he_______.

A．could have been the president of South Africa

B．could still have lived a happy life

C．could have been in a difficult situation

D．would have been an excellent boxer

【小题4】Which of the following statements can best describe the life of Nelson Mandela?

A．struggle is his life

B．sports make his fame

C．fight for equal rights

D．a great fighter against government.

Early one morning the sub­inspector at a station at the other end of the town rang me. An elephant was damaging the town. Would I please come and do something about it?
I did not know what I could do, but I got onto a horse and started out.  I took my gun, maybe too small to kill an elephant, but I thought the noise might scare him. Various local people stopped me on the way and told me about the elephant's doings.
It was not, of course, a wild elephant, but a tame one. It had been chained up but last night it had broken its chain and escaped. Its owner, had set out to run after it, but had taken the wrong direction. He was now twelve hours' journey away, and in the morning the elephant had suddenly appeared in the town. It had already destroyed somebody's bamboo hut (棚屋), killed a cow and turned over fruit­stalls.
I came round the hut and saw a man's dead body sprawling in the mud.  He was an Indian, and he could not have been dead many minutes. The people said that the elephant caught him with its trunk, put its foot on his back and grounded him into the earth. This was the rainy season and he was lying on his stomach in the soft mud, the__peacebreaker standing beside, looking innocent.
As I lifted my gun, I hesitated a few seconds. Then I fired. That was a shot that did for him.
You could see the pain of it knock the last strength from his legs. But in falling he seemed for a moment to rise, his trunk reaching skyward like a tree. He trumpeted, for the first and only time. And then down he came, with a crash that shook the ground.
【小题1】Which of the following statements about the author is TRUE?

A．He was an Indian.

B．He knew elephants well.

C．He was not a local villager.

D．He was the owner of the elephant.

【小题2】The elephant made so much trouble because ________.

A．its owner treated him cruelly

B．it got out of control

C．it hated the village people

D．it was a wild elephant

【小题3】The underlined words “the peacebreaker” in Paragraph 4 refer to ________.

A．the elephant	B．the dead man
C．the author	D．the sub­inspector

【小题4】It can be inferred that the author felt ________ when he shot the elephant.

A．excited	B．sad
C．frightened	D．happy

Susan Sontag (1933----2004) was one of the most noticeable figures in the world of literature. For more than 40 years she made it morally necessary to know everything---to read every book worth reading, to see every movie worth seeing. When she was still in her early 30s, publishing essays in such important magazines as Partisan Review, she appeared as the symbol of American culture life, trying hard to follow every new development in literature, film and art. With great effort and serious judgment, Sontag walked at the latest edges of world culture.
Seriousness was one of Sontag’s lifelong watchwords(格言),but at a time when the barriers between the well-educated and the poor-educated were obvious, she argued for a true openness to the pleasure of pop culture. In Notes on Camp, the 1964 essay that first made her name, she explained what was then a little-known set of difficult understandings, through which she could not have been more famous. “Notes on Camp”, she wrote, represents “ a victory of ‘form’ over ‘content’, ‘beauty’ over ‘morals’”.
By conviction（信念）she was a sensualist, but by nature she was a moralist, and in the works she published in the 1970s and 1980s , it was the latter side of her that came forward. In Illness as Metaphor —published in 1978, after she suffered cancer—she argued against the idea that cancer was somehow a special problem of repressed personalities, a concept that effectively blamed the victim for the disease. In fact, re-examining old positions was her lifelong habit.
In America, her story of a19thcentury Polish actress who set up a perfect society in California, won the National Book Award in 2000.But it was as a all-purpose cultural view that she made her lasting fame. “Sometimes,” she once said, “I feel that, in the end, all I am really defending …is the idea of seriousness, of true seriousness.” And in the end, she made us take it seriously too.
【小题1】The underlined sentence in paragraph 1 means Sontag_________.

A．was a symbol of American cultural life

B．developed world literature, film and art

C．published many essays about world culture

D．kept pace with the newest development of world culture

【小题2】She first won her name through ___________.

A．her story of a Polish actress

B．her book Illness as Metaphor

C．publishing essays in magazines like partisan Review

D．her explanation of a set of difficult understandings

【小题3】According to the passage, Susan Sontag__________.

A．was a sensualist as well as a moralist

B．looked down upon the pop culture

C．thought content was more important than form

D．blamed the victim of cancer for being repressed

【小题4】As for Susan Sontag’s lifelong habit, she __________.

A．misunderstood the idea of seriousness

B．re-examined old positions

C．argued for an openness to pop culture

D．preferred morals to beauty

【小题5】Why Susan Sontag won her lasting fame was because of___________-.

A．her point which was suitable for common cultural view

B．her lifelong watchword：seriousness

C．her publishing books on morals

D．her enjoying books worth reading and movies worth seeing

Talk about a real-life hero! Ten-year-old Larry Champagne from St. Louis，Missouri, hit the brake (刹车) on a runaway school bus. He saved himself and 20 other kids on board from disaster.
It all happened in one terrible accident. On the way to school, the bus driver, Ernestine Blackman, suddenly fell ill. Seeing the car was running away, the other kids started to scream, but Larry ran to the front and stopped the bus.
“At first I thought, ‘We’re going to die,’” says Larry, “but after I pressed the brake, I felt safe.”
Larry’s speedy reaction made news all over the country. He appeared on TV shows as a hero. The bus company gave Larry a big gift. His school hung a medal of honor around his neck.
“My grandmother always tells me to do what’s right,” says Larry. He thanked his brother, Jerrick, 9, who “helped me get the bus driver up” during the emergency（紧急情况）. How did he know how to stop the bus? Larry is something of a mechanic（机械师）. He helps his grandfather work on his old truck. “He gets his hands dirty,” says his grandfather. One thing is for certain: Larry knows where to find the brakes.
【小题1】What did Larry do to save the runaway bus?

A．He parked it for the sleeping bus driver.

B．He helped all the kids climb out through the windows.

C．He dialed 911.

D．he pressed the brake.

【小题2】When did Larry finally feel safe?

A．When the kids finally stopped screaming.

B．When the police officers arrived.

C．Once he pressed the brake, and the bus stopped.

D．When the bus driver started driving again.

【小题3】 Larry got the following as praise for his hero action Except _______.

A．appearing on TV shows

B．a scholarship from his school

C．a big gift from the bus company

D．a medal of honor

【小题4】 Larry thanked his brother Jerrick for __________.

A．helping him get the bus driver up

B．helping him work on his old truck

C．teaching him how to find the brake

D．teaching him how to stop the bus

【小题5】The underlined sentence“Larry is something of a mechanic” tells us that ____.

A．Larry’s job is a mechanic

B．Larry knows something about machines

C．Larry is a robot

D．Larry knows nothing about machines

One day, a poor boy who was trying to pay his way through school by sending newspapers door to door, was so hungry that he decided to beg for a meal at the next house.
However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door. Instead of a meal he asked for a drink of water. She thought he looked hungry so she brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it slowly, and then asked, “How much do I owe you?”
“You don’t owe me anything,” she replied. “Then I thank you from the bottom of my heart.” With these words, Howard Kelly left that house.
Years later the woman became badly ill and was finally sent to the hospital in a big city. Dr. Howard Kelly, now famous, was called in. When he heard the name of the town she came from, a strange light filled his eyes. Dressed in his doctor’s clothes, Dr. Kelly went into her room and recognized her at once. From that day on, he gave special attention to her, and decided to do his best to save her life.
At last the woman was saved. Dr. Kelly asked the business office to pass the final bill to him. He looked at it and then wrote something on the side. The bill was sent to the woman’s room. She was afraid to open it because she was sure that it would take the rest of her life to pay for it off. Finally she looked, and the note on the side of the bill caught her attention. She read these words:
“Paid in full with a glass of milk, Dr. Howard Kelly.”
Tear of joy flooded her eyes.
【小题1】The boy sent newspapers door to door in order to ________.

A．continue his schooling

B．become a famous doctor

C．thank the woman for her kindness

D．support his poor family

【小题2】Which is true about the boy and the woman?

A．He was too shy to ask her for some water.

B．She thought he was not hungry but thirsty.

C．She wanted him to pay for the glass of milk.

D．She never thought he would save her life later.

【小题3】After Dr. Kelly knew who the woman was, he ________.

A．began to take good care of her himself

B．told her she once gave him a glass of milk

C．decided to try his best to save her

D．asked for her bill and paid it off at once

【小题4】The best title for this passage is ________.

A．A Warm-hearted Woman	B．A Glass of Milk
C．The Final Bill	D．A Famous Doctor

A qualified doctor who rarely practiced but instead devoted his life to writing. He once said: “Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my lover.” Russian writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, was a great playwright and one of the masters of the modern short story.
When Chekhov entered the Moscow University Medical School in 1879, he started to publish hundreds of comic short stories to support his family. After he graduated, he wrote regularly for a local daily newspaper.
As a writer he was extremely fast, often producing a short story in an hour or less. Chekhov’s medical and science experience can be seen through the indifference(冷漠) many of his characters show to tragic events. In 1892, he became a full time writer and published some of his most memorable stories.
Chekhov often wrote about the sufferings of life in small town Russia. Tragic events control his characters who are filled with feelings of hopelessness and despair.
It is often said that nothing happens in Chekhov’s stories and plays. He made up for this with his exciting technique for developing drama within his characters. Chekhov’s works combined the calm attitude of a scientist and doctor with the sensitivity(敏感) of an artist.
Some of Chekhov's works were translated into Chinese as early as the 1940s. One of his famous stories, The Man in a Shell, about a school teacher’s extraordinarily orderly life, was selected as a text for Chinese senior students.
【小题1】Anton Pavlovich Chekhov ________.

A．had a lawful lover	B．was an illegal writer
C．used to be a lawyer	D．was a competent doctor

【小题2】In 1880, Chekhov ________.

A．became a full-time writer

B．studied medicine in Moscow University

C．practiced medicine in his hometown

D．published his most memorable stories

【小题3】Which of the following adjectives can’t be used to describe Chekhov?

A．Sensitive.

B．Cool.

C．Quick-minded.

D．Warm-hearted.

【小题4】Which of the following is the right order of the events?
a. became a doctor
b. became a full time writer
c. started to publish comic short stories
d. wrote regularly for a local daily newspaper.
e. entered the Moscow University Medical School

A．e→c→a→d→b	B．d→a→b→c→e
C．e→c→b→a→d	D．a→e→c→b→d

Once a group of 17-year-old schoolboys decided to break the world basketball marathon（马拉松）record. They wanted to play for 90 hours ,breaking the record by adding 6 hours . Each team had 9 players, with 5 at a time. The boys decided each person would play 21.5 hours and then rest for 2 hours. Then they started at 6 o’clock in the evening.
The first night was very hard for the players. When it was their turn to rest, they were too excited to fall asleep at once. On the second night,they fell asleep as soon as they stopped.Some of them had trouble with their feet and hands, but the only serious problem was a psychological（心理学的）one. Each boy was thinking: Why am I doing this? How can I play any longer? After the third night, the players knew they could finish the 90 hours. The basketball on the fourth nigth was very slow. But in the final hours, the players got better. For the last few minutes, the players looked as fresh as when they started. How happy everyone was!
【小题1】Before this basketball marathon, the world record was      .

A．84 hours

B．86 hours

C．90 hours

D．96 hours

【小题2】The first night was hard for the players because     .

A．they were too excited to sleep

B．they only slept for a short time

C．no one watched them play

D．it was very long

【小题3】The sentence“the players looked as fresh as when they started.”Here“fresh”means       .

A．不熟练的

B．兴奋不己的

C．精神饱满的

D．伤痕累累的

【小题4】Which of the following is Not true?

A．Some of the boys were hurt when they played

B．It was hard for the players to fall asleep for the first night

C．The boys started playing at 6 o’clock in the evening

D．In the end,all the boys felt happy