阅读理解

　　For more than six million American children, coming home after school, means coming home to an empty house．Some deal with the situation by watching TV．Some may hide．But all of them have something in common．They spend part of each day alone．They are called latchkey children．They’re children who look after themselves while their parents work．And their bad condition has become a subject of concern．

　　Lynette Long was once the headmaster of an elementary school．She said, “We had a school rule against wearing jewelry．A lot of kids had chains around their necks with keys attached．I was constantly telling them to put them inside shirts．There were so many keys; it never came to my mind what they meant．” Slowly, she learned they were house keys．She and her husband began talking to the children who had them．They learned of the impact(影响)working couples and single parents were having on their children．Fear is the biggest problem faced by children at home alone．One in each three latchkey children the Longs talked to reported being scared．Many had nightmares and were worried about their own safety．

　　The most common way latchkey children deal with their fears is by hiding．It might be in a shower stall, under a bed in a closet．The second is TV．They’ll often play it at high volume．It’s hard to get statistics on latchkey children, the Longs learned．Most parents are slow to admit they leave their children alone．

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

阅读理解

　　Most English people have two or three names, but some Spaniards have a lot more．

　　A Spaniard and his wife went to a foreign country in their car and drove around in it for several weeks．They always slept in big hotels in towns at night, but then something in their car broke．They took it to a garage, and the men there repaired it, but it took a long time, and the Spaniard and his wife were very late after that．

　　They did not reach a town that evening, but came to a small village in the middle of the night．They were very tired, and the next town was forty miles away．They got out of their car and looked for a hotel in the small streets．They walked around the village for a quarter of an hour, and then they found a small hotel．There were not any others in the village．

　　There were no lights in the hotel, but the Spaniard went to the door and knocked at it．He waited for a minute, but nobody came to the door．

　　He knocked again and waited another minute, but again no one came．

　　Then he found a bell and rang it．He rang it for several minutes, and then a window at the top of the hotel opened．An old man looked out of the window and said, “What do you want?”

　　“Good evening,” the Spaniard said “Have you got any free rooms? We’re very tired．”

　　It was very dark in the street, and the old man said, “Who are you?

　　The Spaniard said, “We are Don Ramon Roberto Nanuel Claudio Rodriguez Rafael Eduardo de Salas and Dona Maria Conchita Diana Marcelina Roberta Mercedes Manuela de Salas．”

　　The old man did not speak for a few seconds, and then he said, “There are a lot of you．This is a small hotel, and we haven’t got more than two free rooms．”Then he closed the window．

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

阅读理解

　　Lisa, a middle-aged woman, went to prepare lunch, leaving her 3-year-old son, Barney, playing by himself in the backyard．

　　All of a sudden, a sharp cry of Barney came into the mother’s ears, and Lisa rushed into the backyard and found a big snake entwining(纠缠)the little child with its body and trying to swallow the boy．Lisa was terrified and quite angry．She made up her mind to save her son from the snake’s mouth．

　　It was a fearless mother’s love that made Lisa forget what she faced．She took up an old hatchet(斧头)from the ground and struck the snake with all her strength．

　　One…two…With the hatchet, Lisa hit the snake again and again, but she felt as if she were striking a mass of solid rubber．The little boy’s voice and breath were getting weaker and weaker．Lisa’s heart was broken and she nearly went mad．

　　Suddenly Lisa put aside the hatchet and threw herself on to the snake, opened her mouth and bit into its back, as if tearing a tough steak(牛排)．Lisa was really mad．

　　A small piece of flesh was bitten off．Lisa picked up the hatchet again and hit at the wound in the snake’s back madly and savagely．

　　Stinking blood was spraying out of the snake’s body．The snake was so badly wounded that it let go of Barney and moved back into the forest．It had never imagined that human beings had such terrible, sharp teeth．Halfway home, the snake died．

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

阅读理解

　　Francis Bacon, one of the most important philosophers(哲人)of England, was born in London and educated at Cambridge University．When he was only 15,he went to France to work for the English ambassador(大使)．Two years later he went back to England to study law．At the age of twenty-three he was chosen to parliament(议会)．His ideas about how scientists should study things in nature help to bring the modern way of thinking, called the scientific method．

　　One of the Bacon’s best-known books was his Essays．Each essay was a short piece of writing in which he tried to give a lesson by discussing sides of a subject such as studying, conversation, friends and healthy living．In many of his books, Bacon explained how scientists should study things as they really existed in nature and then tried to figure out what caused a particular thing to be as it was．Later, by doing experiments, the scientist could see that any cause would always have the same result．This method, which is called inductive reasoning, is used by all the scientists today, but it was new in Bacon’s time．

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

阅读理解

　　Hank Viscardi was born without legs．He had no legs but stumps(残肢)that could be fitted with a kind of special boots．People stared at him with cruel interest．Children laughed at him and called him “Ape Man”(猿人)because his arms practically dragged on the ground．

　　Hank went to school like other boys．His grades were good and he needed only eight years to finish his schooling instead of the usual twelve．After graduating from school, he worked his way through college．He swept floors, waited on table, or worked in one of the college offices．During all this busy life, he had been moving around on his stumps．But one day the doctor told him even the stumps were not going to last much longer．He would soon have to use a wheel chair．

　　Hank felt himself got cold all over．However, the doctor said there was a chance that he could be fitted with artificial legs(假腿)．Finally a leg maker was found and the day came when Hank stood up before the mirror．For the first time he saw himself as he had always wanted to be－a full five feet eight inches tall．By this time he was already 26 years old．

　　Hank had to learn to use his new legs．Again and again he marched the length of the room, and marched back again．There were times when he fell down on the floor, but he pulled himself up and went back to the endless marching．He went out on the street．He climbed stairs and learned to dance．He built a boat and learned to sail it．

　　When World War Ⅱ came, he talked the Red Cross into giving him a job．He took the regular training．He marched and drilled along with the other soldiers．Few knew that he was legless．This was the true story of Hank Viscardi, a man without legs．

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

阅读理解

　　Tony Morrison has won this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature．Tony Morrison is sixty-two years old．She was born in Lorain, Ohio．She is the daughter of farmers who moved to Ohio from the southern state of Alabama．She studied at Harvard University in Washington D．C．and Cornell University in Ithaca, New York．

　　Her first success came in 1970 with the book called The Bluest Eye．It tells the story of a young black girl in a society where golden hair and blue eyes are considered beautiful．Her next book was called Sulla．It tells the story of two black girls and pain in their lives as they grow up in a small town in Ohio．Her book The Song of Solomon is about a black man who tries to forget his past as a slave and begins a new life．And Tar Baby explores the relationship of a black man and a black woman．In the story the writer argues that black men and women can not get along with each other until they join together to fight racial hatred(种族仇视)．

　　Miss Morrison won America’s highest prize for literature, the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for her book Beloved．It is a powerful story of a slave woman who kills her baby daughter so she will not grow up to be a slave, too．Her latest book Jazz was published last year．It tells about the sad stories in the lives of a black man and a woman who moved from a small town in the south to New York City．It took place in the 1920s,a time when Jazz music became popular in America．

　　Tony Morrison is a professor in literature at Princeton University in New Jersey．She says the most wonderful thing about winning the Nobel Prize is that it has finally been awarded to an African American writer．The prize is valued at more than 800 000 dollars．It will be awarded on Dec．10 in Stockholm in Sweden．

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

阅读理解

　　China’s first astronaut Yang Liwei walked out of the return capsule(舱)of the Shenzhou Ⅴspaceship, smiling and waving to the waiting people．Thursday morning in the grasslands in Gobi Desert, Inner Mongolia, state television pictures showed．

　　Yang had spent 21 hours in outer space, travelling more than 600 000 kilometers in the earth’s orbit(轨道)before Shenzhou Ⅴ brought him back at 6∶07 a.m．Thursday morning Beijing time．Yang said he felt excellent after the 21-hour journey, the first by a Chinese．

　　Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said in a congratulation message Thursday morning that China’s first manned spaceflight had been a “complete success”, which shall be written into the history of China’s space program development．

　　After Yang went out of the capsule, doctors offered a physical checkup to Yang at once, which found him in good condition．At about 7∶40 a.m．Yang was carried by a helicopter(直升机)to Beijing, where a celebration party would be held．

　　At about 6∶00 a. m．Thursday, the return capsule of Shenzhou Ⅴentered China’s air space．Several minutes later, the capsule landed safely in Northwest China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Yang reported “The conditions are good”．

　　Five rescue helicopters went very fast towards the capsule and found it at 6∶36 a.m．They said Yang felt good and the conditions with the capsule also seemed normal．

　　At 6∶51, Yang Liwei went out of the capsule on himself, waving and smiling to rescuers and reporters．

　　Li Jinai, director of China’s space program, said that, the actual(实际)landing site is only 4.8 kilometers from the designed site(预定着落点), the conditions of the return capsule are good and Yang could walk out of the capsule on himself．All these marked the complete success of the manned flight．

(1)

(2)

(3)

Sports Stars

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

Modern Heroes

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

　　On July 16, 1960, Jane Goodall, a 26-year-old former secretary from England, began to study the behavior of chimpanzees in the wild．Until that time, scientists had mostly observed and studied chimpanzees in laboratories and zoos．Few scientists had gone to study chimpanzees in the remote areas of Africa where the chimps live．When scientists had studied the chimpanzees in the wild, they hadn’t spent long periods of time observing them．Jane Goodall planned to watch chimpanzees in Africa over a ten-year period and see exactly how they behaved．She was not a professional scientist when she started out．Her book, In the Shadow of Man, tells how she began her project and what she discovered．

　　As Goodall said in 1973, “I had no qualifications at all．I was just somebody with a love of animals．” Her love of animals drew her to Africa, where she met Dr Louis S．B．Leakey．Leakey was a world-famous scientist who was studying how prehistoric people lived．Since chimpanzees are humans’ closest living relatives, Leakey thought prehistoric people might have lived in the same ways that chimpanzees live today．Leakey told Goodall that studying chimpanzees might give clues about the way that early people lived．

　　Leakey asked Goodall to study the chimpanzees on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Africa．The chimpanzees were very shy and the country was very difficult to travel through．Goodall took on the difficult job of finding and watching the chimpanzees．

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)