Before Nicholas Clapp got there, he had half hoped that he might run into some of Ubar’s ruins sticking out of the sand. But to find the city wasn’t that easy. During the summer of 1991,he and his 40 helpers dug at 35 different spots. The only things they found were ground spiders, giant ticks, and deadly snakes.

Just before Thanksgiving says Clapp,“We were within a whisker of total failure.”

Then Clapp’s team looked at the high-tech maps again and saw something surprising. Many of the caravan routes (沙漠商队路线) on the high-tech maps came together on the same spot marked “Omani Marketplace” on Ptolomy’s map. Two maps, made almost 2 000 years apart, pointed the team toward the same area!

In December 1991,Clapp arrived at the spot where, according to the maps, the caravans met. Clapp had a handheld instrument that could detect objects below the ground. It showed ruins under the sand! He and his team started digging, trying not to give their hopes up. And then they found it! A tower buried in the sand. They slowly unearthed a giant, eight-sided fortress(堡垒).It had nine towers and many rooms. People had lived in this fortress 2 000 years ago. Outside its walls, the crew had found buried remains of nearly 40 campsites. They seemed to be camping areas for traders.

More digging found shards, or pieces of pottery from the ancient empires of Rome, Greece, China, Egypt, and Syria. Diggers and scientists agree that people were on the site for about 5 000 years. Clapp and his team were excited as they continued to uncover more pieces of the past that seemed to prove that it was the lost city of Ubar.

“We started with this hopeless myth and then found seeds of truth,” says Clapp,“then finally found the reality behind the myth.”But is this unearthed site really the once-great Ubar? Experts aren’t totally persuaded.

Donald Whitcomb is an archaeologist at the University of Chicago. He doubts that Clapp really discovered Ubar.“There’s probably a grain of truth to this myth,”he says.“But Ubar is described as a place with walls all made of gold, and the rubies and emeralds.”No gold or precious stones have been found by Clapp.

“I’m not sure whether they discovered Ubar because I’m not sure if Ubar really existed,”Whitcomb says.

1.Which of the following statements is true according to the reading?

A.Ubar was an important ancient city which was buried under the sand.

B.Ubar was described as a city with towers.

C.Clapp found the spot marked“Omani Marketplace”on the high-tech maps.

D.Inside the fortress they found shards, ground spiders, giant ticks and deadly snakes.

2.The following statements are true according to the reading EXCEPT that ______.

A.Clapp made this discovery with the help of caravan routes on the maps

B.Clapp made this discovery with the help of some high technology

C.Clapp was not sure that he had found Ubar

D.Donald Whitcomb was not sure if Clapp had found Ubar

3.Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined part (in Paragraph 2)?

A.We were ready for any failure.

B.We were on the point of giving up hope.

C.We would never stop digging in spite of some difficulties.

D.We decided that we had failed to find Ubar.

4.It can be inferred from the reading that Nicholas Clapp is ______.

A. a person of courage

B.a person of determination

C.a very young person

D.a person who is good for nothing

Many thousands of years ago, people had not learned to build houses or shelters of any kind. They lived in caves where they were protected from the rain and snow. The caves were also safe places in which they could sleep without being attacked by bears or wolves.

The tools that these people used were made of stones, so we call those times the Stone Age. A hard, sharp-edged piece of stone was an axe-head. These people learnt to bind (捆) the stone to a wooden handle using the tough sinews (腱) from legs of animals they had killed. Pieces of flint (燧石) were collected and smashed (粉碎) with heavier rocks to make pointed flakes (薄片) which were used as arrow tips. Flint stones with sharp edges were used as knives.

The people of the Stone Age hunted animals which included deer, wild horses and wild cattle. After eating the meat, they took the animal’s hide, stretched it out on the ground and scraped off the fat. They left hair on the outside. Then, after they had softened the hide by stamping on it, they polished (磨光) the inside with sandstone. The finished skins gave them rugs and clothes .For needles they poked (戳) thin pointed bones through the skins and stitched them with fine sinews.

We are not certain when the Stone Age began. Scientists think it could have been over a million years ago. They do know that it ended in about 3000 B.C. when people learnt to make things from copper and bronze. There were Stone Age people living in South Africa in the Kalahari Desert, Australia and New Guinea when white settlers arrived not many years ago. In distant parts of New Guinea some tribes have only just begun to use tools made of iron.

1.The reason why we call those times the Stone Age is because ______.

A. people built stone houses

B.people wore stone clothes

C.the tools people used then were made of stone

D.the caves people lived in were made of stone

2.Why did people live in caves many thousands of years ago?

A. Because they found them safe from attack.

B.Because they found them warm.

C.Because they found them big enough for them to live in.

D.Because the caves were animals’ shelters.

3.Where did the people of the Stone Age get the sinews when they made tools?

A. They got the sinews from their own legs.

B.They got the sinews from wolves and wild horses’ legs they had.

C.They picked them up when they found them.

D.They got the sinews from the legs of animals they had killed.

4.The word “hide” means ______.

A.后腿　　　　　　　　　　　　 B.兽皮　　　　　　　　　　　　 C.骨头　　　　　　　　　　　　 D.兽毛

5.The Stone Age didn’t end until ______.

A. people learnt to make things from copper and bronze

B.people learnt to use machines

C.people didn’t kill animals

D.people didn’t need rugs any more

The success of Pickwick Papers made Dickens very popular. He suddenly found himself at twenty-four, the most famous novelist of his day. Busy as his social life was, he worked on two novels at the same time—Oliver Twist and Pickwick Papers. He was particularly proud of Pickwick, which was a huge success and was regarded as a comedy masterpiece.“If I were to live a hundred years and write novels in each, I should never be so proud of any of them as I am of Pickwick.”

It has been said of Dickens that he gripped (控制) the imagination of his readers because his imagination gripped himself. The people in his works were so real that they could make him laugh or cry. When writing Oliver Twist he said that he could not rest until Fagin, the wrongdoer, had been hanged.

Dickens’s marriage to Catherine Hagarth, with whom he had nine children, ended unhappily in 1858.He started to travel about giving readings of his works. His interest in theatre gave his novels the qualities that made them suitable for reading aloud on the stage. A tiring travel to the United States affected his health. On June 9, 1870, when he was working on a new novel, he died, as he had wished. He said he wanted to die working.

1.It seems clear that Dickens became a famous novelist ______.

A. because of his social work

B.with the success of Pickwick

C.because he was writing two novels at the same time

D.when he began to give readings of his works

2.According to this passage we know that Dickens ______.

A. was only interested in writing novels

B.didn’t like Oliver Twist

C.wished to live a hundred years and write three novels in each

D.didn’t think he could write a better novel than Pickwick Papers in his life

3.As a novelist, Dickens ______.

A. was full of imagination

B.found it hard to satisfy his readers

C.always wrote about real people in life　　  

D.wrote works according to his reader’s imagination

4.From the passage we can see that Fagin must be ______.

A. a person in real life

B.a character in Oliver Twist

C.a character in Pickwick Papers

D.one of Dickens’ works

5.Which of the following is true?

A. Dickens had always enjoyed his marriage to Catherine Hagarth.

B.Dickens was a successful actor.

C.Dickens’ death had little to do with his hard work.

D.Dickens had wished to die in the course of work.

John Milton was born in 1608. His father expected him to enter the Church of England, but Milton wanted to be a poet. At twenty-nine, Milton set out a travel on the continent. He traveled in France, Switzerland and Italy meeting and winning the friendship of many artists and scientists including Galiled, the famous Italian scientist who suffered for his discovery in prison. In 1639,he was planning to go on his journey when the news reached him of the break between the king and the Parliament (国会).Milton returned to England immediately, and put himself into the struggle against the king, for which he had long been preparing. During the Civil War Milton worked as the spokesman of the revolution. By the beginning of 1652, Milton had become totally blind, yet he didn’t stop fighting. After the Restoration (复辟) his books were burnt, and he himself avoided (免于) being killed because of his blindness. John Milton was not only a brave revolutionary but also a great poet. His famous poem Paradise Lost (《失乐园》) was an immediate success. But, for its publication, Milton received only 18 pounds. He died in 1671.

1.Milton’s father wanted him to ______.

A. serve god　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　    B.study in a church

C.go to church on Sundays　　　　　　　　　　　　　　   D.visit the Church of England

2.Milton returned to England because ______.

A. the war had made it possible for him to go on with his journey

B.the time had finally come when he could devote himself to his cause

C.he was forced to join in the war

D.experiences in the war would help him in poem writing

3.What saved Milton’s life after the Restoration?

A. His contribution (贡献) in the war.

B. His great fame (名声) as a poet.

C. His physical condition.

D. The king’s mercy.

Travel has been a considerable part of my life and I have different kinds of journeys to many parts of the world. Often in my travels, I was alone, traveling under difficult conditions in wartime, and I have flown over the oceans many times when I wanted to get quickly from one place to another. But a sea voyage, especially a long one, has something unusual of its own, and after taking a few of them, I became interested in the reasons why people take such trips and how they are affected（影响）by them. That is why I wanted to write LIFE NUMBER TWO.

Some people go for escape（逃避）from grief（悲伤）or failure, some from a wish not to be very long in one place in the world. Others go to celebrate a marriage, or are a retirement（退休）, and many people take voyages to enjoy a luxury（享乐）they do not have at home and for shipboard fun. When you put all these motives （动机）into a forced companionship（伙伴关系） and sometimes an unpleasant one—a voyage can be like a mirror held up to modern life with all its variety（多样）. Voyages can be boring but they can give some passengers new view on life, renew courage and awaken a sense of the size of the world.

   There are many books about ocean voyages, but as a rule they are magazines or diaries of travel. LIFE NUMBER TWO is a novel written not mainly to show shipboard life but to tell the stories of a few people on board, trying their past lives and their possible futures into the narrative（叙述）.It also deals with some modern social problems worth our consideration.

1.The writer spent ______in traveling.

A. all his life　　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　    B.the most important part of life

C.the period of wartime  　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D.much time

2.LIFE NUMBER TWO tells how people feel ______.

A. when they are alone in their trips

B.when they fly quickly from one place to another

C.when they are on board a ship for a long time

D.when they are always in one place of the world

3.A sea voyage in one’s life is______ as the writer says.

A. sometimes a thing worth doing  　　　　　　　　   B.a waste of time

C.a sign of failure　　　　　　   　　　　　　　　   D.one’s strong wish

4.The shipboard life is ______.

A. very tiresome　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　   B.very luxurious

C.a reflection of society　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　    D.very funny

5.This passage may be something written by ______.

A. a reader after reading the book 　　　　　　　　　　　　    B.the author to give the introduction

C.a passage on board the ship　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　   D.someone who got a second life

With the possible exception of equal rights, perhaps the most heated argument across the United States today is the death penalty (死刑).Many argue that it is an effective deterrent（威慑）to murder, while others think there is no enough proof that the death penalty reduces the number of murders.

The argument advanced by those opposed to the death penalty is that it is cruel and inhuman punishment, that it is the mark of a bad society and finally that it is of questionable effectiveness as a deterrent to crime anyway.

In our opinion, the death penalty is a necessary action. Throughout recorded history there have always been those peculiar persons in every society who made terrible crimes such as murder. But some are more dangerous than others.

For example, it is one thing to take the life of another in time of blind anger, but quite another to coldly plan and carry out the murder of one or more people in the style of a butcher. Thus, murder, like all other crimes, is a matter of different degree. While it could be argued with some reason that the criminal in the first instance should be merely kept from society, such should not be the fate of the latter type murderer.

The value of the death penalty as a deterrent to crime may be open to discussion. But the majority of people believe that the death penalty protects them. Their belief is proved by the fact that the death penalty prevents murder. For example, from 1954 to 1963,when the death penalty was carried out from time to time in California, the murder rate remained between three and four murders for each 100 000 population. Since 1964 the death penalty has been done only once, and the murder rate has risen to 10.4 murders for each 100 000 population. The sharp climb in the state’s murder rate, which began when killings stopped, does not happen by chance. It certainly shows that the death penalty does deter many murderers. If the law about death penalty is vetoed(否决),some people will be murdered—some whose lives may have been saved if the death penalty were in effect. This is really a life or death matter. The lives of thousands of people must be protected.

1.The main purpose of this passage is to ______.

A. speak for the majority

B.support a veto

C.speak ill of the government

D.argue for the value of the death penalty

2.Which of the following is among the heated arguments across the USA besides death penalty?

A. Air pollution.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　    B.The war against Iraq.

C.Equal rights.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D.Election of president.

3.The numbers in the last paragraph show that______.

A. if they stick to death penalty, the number of murders will be reduced

B.death penalty almost stopped from 1954 to 1963

C.the population of California has risen

D.death penalty is of little value

4.It can be inferred that the writer thinks that ______.

A. the death penalty is the most important problem in the United States today

B.the second type of murderers(in Paragraph 4) should be sentenced to death

C.the veto of the law about death penalty is of little importance

D.the value of the death penalty as a deterrent to crime is not to be discussed

Most countries need goods and services from other countries, and so it is necessary for countries to trade with each other. This trade between countries is known as international trade. Foreign trade is very important for the rise of the standard of living in the world. Every country must meet its needs by continuing to sell some goods and buy raw materials. Many products would disappear from some countries’ market without international trade. In addition, many factories would cease (停止) production if they were unable to get certain raw materials though international trade.

International trade is very important to consumers (消费者) in all countries For example, imagine both a Japanese citizen and a Chinese citizen have ten dollars to spend. They both want a watch and a radio. Because of skills and wages the following prices exist for these products.

If the Chinese buys only Chinese products, he can own only the watch and have five dollars left over, or own only the radio. The same situation exists for the Japanese citizen if he buys only Japanese products. However, if they both buy Chinese watches and Japanese radios, they both can buy two products for their ten dollars. As a result, the standard of living is higher.

1.For most countries international trade is necessary because ______.

A. they don’t have enough money

B.they can buy more goods with the same amount of money

C.they need goods and services from other countries

D.they don’t have enough labor themselves

2.Which of the following statements is NOT true according to this passage?

A. Foreign trade is very helpful for the rise of the standard of living in every country.

B.Only a few countries in the world must sell goods to other countries and buy raw materials from them.

C.With the help of foreign trade, we can buy more things with the same amount of money.

D.Without foreign trade some factories would stop production.

3.The chart (图表) in this passage shows that ______.

A. the same product may have different prices in different countries

B.Chinese-made watches are worse than those made in Japan

C.Chinese-made radios are better than those made in Japan

D.most products made in China have higher prices than those made in Japan

4.The writer wrote this passage in order to ______.

A. tell us the importance of learning a foreign language

B.tell us an interesting story

C.teach us how to do foreign trade with other countries

D.show us the importance of foreign trade

5.Many products will disappear from some countries’ market without foreign trade. The reason is that ______.

A. these countries don’t have enough raw materials

B.these countries cannot produce these products

C.they don’t have experienced workers

D.they don’t have enough money

For a normal young child nothing is more important than his relationship with his mother. He gains enormous pleasure when what he does pleases her, and is miserable or even afraid when he does things which make her cross. He doesn’t know the difference between good and bad.

It would be ridiculous to talk of a wicked three-year-old. To him it is just as bad to break a cup by accident as to break it on purpose in a fit of temper. If asked at the age of five what is good. He’ll say, ‘Eating up my dinner is good’ or ‘Helping Mummy in the garden is good’. The desire to please is soon directed to his father and then to close relatives, ‘I’m a good boy to help Dad to clean the car’ and ‘I was naughty to throw custard at Granny’. A child is approved of and disapproved of so often that he gradually forms a general idea of what kind of actions are approved of (like being helpful, careful, obedient) and what is disapproved of (line bullying, lying, etc.) This process takes several years. By about the age of 13, he will not say merely ‘Helping my mother is good’, but ‘It’s good to help people’ instead of ‘I’m naughty not to finish my dinner’, he’ll say ‘It’s bad to waste food’, and instead of ‘I was naughty to throw custard at Granny’, he’ll say’ It’s bad to lack self-control’. It’s this general idea of what is good and bad that most people relate to conscience. It’s a widely held view that the kind of conscience you have depends almost entirely on the way you were brought up in the first few years of your life. All this training is stored up in the unconscious mind and later influences your decisions when you have to make moral choices.

1.The child’s ideas of good and bad grow out of ______.

A. his judgment

B.his education given by his parents

C.his desire to please people

D.his behavior

2.It’s senseless to say that a three-year-old child is wicked because ______.

A. he does not see the difference between true and false

B.he does not see the difference between ‘bad’ things that he does by accident and ‘bad ’things that he does on purpose

C.he does not know very much about the world

D.he has difficulty in forming the usual ideas of good and bad

3.Which of the following is true?

A. The child learns general ideas of good and bad in the first few years.

B.Bullying and lying are examples of actions that are approved of.

C.A child of six is likely to say, ‘It’s good to help people.’

D.Childhood training has an influence on the making of moral choices in later life.

Dear Sir,

Mr. Smith wrote to your newspaper to complain that his telephone was out of order for more than a week.

We received a complaint from Mr. Smith at 2:30 p.m. on May 6. The next day we sent workmen to Mr. Smith’s house to repair his telephone. The men discovered that there was something wrong with the underground cable. They dug up 15 feet of the cable and saw many white ants. These ants had attacked the cable and damaged it badly.

On May 8~10, our workmen dug up another 30 feet of the cable and found that it was also damaged. On May 11~13 the men took out the useless cable and replaced it with a new one. To do this they had to connect more than 4 000 wires and the work was not easy.

On May 14, the cable was completely repaired and Mr. Smith’s telephone was working properly. He did not have to pay for the work.

Yours faithfully,

B.Jones

Manager of Telephone Company

1.Mr. Jones wrote to a newspaper because he wanted to ______.

A. explain why his telephone did not work properly

B.complain about his telephone

C.explain why Mr. Smith’s telephone was out of order for several days

D.complain that the Telephone Company was slow to repair his telephone

2.The workmen spent ______ days in repairing the cable.

A. eight　　　　　　　　　　    B.three　　　　　　　　　　　　 C.four　　　　　　　　   D.six

3.The workmen had to join thousands of wires when they ______ the old cable.

A. damaged　　　　　　　　  B.repaired　　　　　　　　　　 C.replaced　　　　　　　　    D.put in

4.The ______ to the cable were paid by the Telephone Company.

A. damage　　　　　　　　    B.damages　　　　　　　　    C.repairs　　　　　　　　　　  D.replacement

5.The word “discovered” means ______.

A. were learned　　　　　　 B.were seeing　　　　　　   C.find out　　　　　　　　　　 D.found out

We all know that it is impossible for ordinary people to make their homes on the equator (赤道), although often they may feel uncomfortable there. Millions do it. But as for the North Pole we know that it is not only a dangerously cold place, but also that people like you and me would find it quite impossible to live there. At the present time only the scientists and explorers can do so, and they use special equipment. Men have been traveling across and around the equator on wheels on their feet or by ships for thousands of years; but only a few men, with great difficulty and in very recent time, have ever crossed the ice to the North Pole. So it may surprise you to learn that, when traveling by air, it is really safer to fly over the North Pole than over the equator. Of course this is not true about landing in the polar region (which passenger aeroplanes do not make), but the weather, if we are flying at a height of 5 000 meters above the Pole is a delight. At 4 000 meters and more above the earth you can always be sure that you will not see a cloud in the sky as far as they can reach in the tropics (热带), on the other hand, you are not certain to keep clear of bad weather at such heights as 18 000 or 20 000 meters.

Aeroplanes cannot climb as high or as quickly in cold air as in warm. Nor can clouds. In practice, this is an advantage to the aeroplane, which is already at a good height when it reaches the polar region and so does not need to climb, while at the same time cold air keeps the clouds down.

1.Scientists can live in the North Pole because ______.

A. they know the place well

B.they are specially trained

C.they are not ordinary people

D.they are well equipped

2.From the passage we know that the polar region is ______.

A.a good place to reach by sea

B.an attracting place covered by various kinds of plants

C.a good place to fly over

D.a good place to go on holiday