On Thursday afternoon Mrs. Clarke locked the door and went to the women’s    36    as usual. It was a pleasant way of passing time for an old woman who lived    37  .

When she came home she sensed    38   unusual. Had someone got in? The back door and the    39   were all locked and there was no sign of forced entry ( 进入). Had anything been     40  ? She went from room to room, checking, and found her camera and watch     41    .

The following Thursday she went out at her    42    time, but she didn’t go to the club.     43   , she took a short walk in a park nearby and came home,     44   herself in through the back door. She settled down to wait and see what would    45  .

It was 4 o’clock when the front doorbell rang. Mrs. Clarke was making tea at the time. The bell rang again, and    46   she heard her letter-box being pushed open.    47   the kettle（壶）of boiling water, she moved quietly towards the door. A piece of wire appeared through the letter-box, and then a    48   . The wire turned and caught around the knob (圆型旋包钮) on the door-lock. Mrs. Clarke raised the kettle and    49 _ the water over the hand.    50 __ was heard outside as the    51    fell to the floor and the hand was pulled back, which was    52   by the sound of running feet.

It wasn’t long    53  the police caught the thief. And Mrs. Clarke was greatly    54   at the club for her successful     55  .

1.                A．organization     B．party           C．movement D．club

 

2.                A．lonely          B．alone          C．away D．busily

 

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

 

4.                A．windows        B．rooms          C．doors    D．gates

 

5.                A．found          B．opened         C．taken D．broken

 

6.                A．losing          B．missing         C．leaving   D．disappearing

 

7.                A．same          B．spare          C．special   D．usual

 

8.                A．Therefore       B．However        C．Instead   D．Again

 

9.                A．pushing        B．letting          C．pulling   D．leading

 

10.               A．appear         B．follow          C．happen   D．continue

 

11.               A．the next moment B．for a while      C．in time    D．at once

 

12.               A．Putting down    B．Laying aside     C．Picking up D．Taking away

 

13.               A．knife          B．hand           C．letter D．key

 

14.               A．spread         B．dropped        C．poured    D．covered

 

15.               A．A sad voice      B．A sharp cry      C．A warning shout D．A strange noise

 

16.               A．key            B．kettle          C．door-lock  D．wire

 

17.               A．followed        B．caused         C．produced  D．ended

 

18.               A．before         B．since          C．until  D．when

 

19.               A．surprised       B．admired        C．inspired   D．supported

 

20.               A．self-satisfaction  B．self-protection   C．self-respect    D．self-service

 

 

Looking back on  my childhood, I am convinced that naturalists are born and not made.  Although we were all brought up in the same way,my br others and sisters soon abandoned their pressed flowers and insects. Unlike them,I had no ear for music and languages. I was not an early reader and I could not do mental arithmetic.

Before World War I we spent our summer holidays in Hungary. I have only the dim memory of the house we lived in, of my room and my toys. Nor do I recall clearly the large family of grandparents,aunts, uncles and cousins who gathered next door. But I do have a clear memory of the dogs, the farm animals, the local birds, and above all, the insects.

I am a naturalist, not a scientist. I have a strong love of the natural world and my enthusiasm had led me into varied investigations. I love discussing my favorite topics and enjoy burning the midnight oil reading about other people's observations and discoveries. Then something happens that brings these observations together in my conscious mind. Suddenly you fancy you see the answer to the riddle, because it all seems to fit together. This has resulted in my publishing 300 papers and books, which some might honor with the title of scientific research.

But curiosity,a keen eye,a good memory and enjoyment of the animal and plant world do not make a scientist: one of the outstanding  and essential qualities required is self?discipline, a quality I lack. A scientist, up to a certain point,can be made. A naturalist is born. If you can combine the two,you get the best of both worlds.

1.The first paragraph tells us the author .      

A.was interested in flowers and insects in his childhood 

B.lost his hearing when he was a child

C.didn’t like his brothers and sisters    

D.was born to a naturalist’s family

2.The author can’t remember his relatives clearly because         .

A.he didn’t live very long with them   

B.the family was extremely large

C.he was too young when he lived with them  

D.he was fully occupied with observing nature

3.It can be inferred from the passage that the author was         .

A.a scientist as well as a naturalist   

B.a naturalist but not a scientist

C.no more than a born naturalist        

D.first of all a scientist

4.The author says that he is a naturalist rather than a scientist probably because he thinks he         .

A.has a great deal of trouble doing mental arithmetic

B.lacks some of the qualities required of a scientist

C.just reads about other people’s observations and discoveries

D.comes up with solutions in a most natural way

At dawn on Friday, May 19, 1780, farmers in New England stopped to wonder at the pink color of the sun. By noon the sky had darkened to midnight blackness, causing Americans, still in the painful struggle of a prolonged war of independence, to light candles and tremble at thoughts of the Last Judgment. As the birds quieted and no storm accompanied the darkness, men and women crowded into churches, where one minister commented that “The people were very attentive.” John Greenleaf Whittier later wrote that “Men prayed, and women wept; all ears grew sharp . . .”

A recent study of researchers, led by Richard Guyette from the University of Missouri’s Tree Ring Laboratory, has shown that vast forest fires in the Algonquin Highlands of southern Ontario and elsewhere in Canada brought this event upon New England. The scientists have discovered “fire scars” on the rings for that year, left when the heat of a wildfire has killed a part of a tree’s cambium (形成层). Evidence collected also points to a drought that year. An easterly wind and low barometric pressure (低气压) helped force smoke into the upper atmosphere. “The record fits pretty close,” says Guyette. “We had the right fuel, the drought. The conditions were all there.”

Lacking the ability to communicate quickly over long distances, Americans in 1780 remained in the dark about the event, which had disappeared by the next day. Over the next several months, the papers carried heated debates about what brought the darkness. Some were the voices of angry prediction, such as one Massachusetts farmer who wrote, “Oh! Backsliding New-England, attend now to the things which belong to your peace before they are forever hid from your eyes.” Others gave different answers. One stated that a “flaming star” had passed between the earth and the sun. Ash, argued another commentator. The debate, carried on throughout New England, where there were no scientific journals or academies yet, reflected an unfolding culture of scientific enquiry already sweeping the Western world, a revolution nearly as influential as the war for independence from the English.

New Englanders would not soon forget that dark day; it lived on in folklore, poems, and sermons for generations.

 

1.New Englanders crowded into churches because they were frightened by         .

A. the pink color of the sun

   B. the darkened sky at daytime

   C. the Last Judgment on Friday

   D. the American War of Independence

2.What can we infer about the event in New England on May 19, 1780?

   A. Prayers remained silent and attentive.

   B. Night birds no longer came out to sing.

   C. People’s ears became sharper than usual.

   D. Midday meals were served by candlelight.

3.According to the researchers, the origin of the event was         .

   A. an east wind

   B. a severe drought

C. some burning fuel

D. low barometric pressure

4.What can we know about the debates after the dark day?

A. They focused on causes of the event.

   B. They swept throughout the Western world.

C. They were organized by scientific institutions.

D. They improved Americans’ ability to communicate.

5.What can be the best title for the text?

   A. New England’s dark day.

   B. Voices of angry prediction.

C. There is no smoke without fire.

D. Tree rings and scientific discovery.

 

In a growing number of English classes, teachers are leaving the classic novels on the shelf and letting students select the books they read. Supporters say that the new approach, called reader’s workshop, helps develop a love for reading in students who are bored by classic literature. They argue that the best way to motivate students to read more is to offer them more choices.

Not all educators are on the same page, however. They worry that students who choose trendy, less challenging titles over the classics won’t be exposed to the great writing and key themes of important works of literature.

Student reporters Donald and Sarah express their ideas about this new approach.

Donald thinks that we should turn the page. Students should be allowed to select the books they read in English class. He says he and his classmates are allowed to pick their own books in class. That makes them more focused, and they look forward to class time. Tristin, a classmate of his at Clinton Middle School agrees. “I’m reading books that I want to read, which makes class more fun and interesting,” he says. Offering students a choice may also improve test scores. Studies by Professor John Guthrie of the University of Maryland found that students in grades 4 through 6 who had some choices in the books they read showed improved reading comprehension skills during testing. Giving students the chance to decide what they read helps build a lifelong love for reading. Isn’t that what we want for our students?

Sarah holds a different view. She thinks teachers know more about books than students do. When an English teacher assigns a book, he or she keeps in mind the reading level of most students in the class. Students who choose their own books might be cheating themselves by picking books that are not up to their reading level or that are too difficult. Furthermore, a whole class can discuss a book it reads together. That makes it easier for some kids to understand what they are reading. “The students wouldn’t be able to hold a meaningful conversation if they were all reading different books,” says Kristin, an English teacher at Fleetwood Area Middle School. “If they read the same book, their conversations would be more in-depth.”

1.What’s the meaning of the underlined sentence “Not all educators are on the same page”?

A．Educators have different opinions.          B．Educators didn’t appear at the same time.

C．Educators wrote in different pages.          D．Educators didn’t agree with the author.

2.Donald thinks that the new approach could __________.

A．helped students be more focused in class

B．draw students to reading classic novels

C．make students less worried in English class

D．encourage students to red more challenging books

3.Sarah thinks that the new approach might __________.

A．help students improve reading comprehension skills

B．help students hold meaningful conversations in class

C．make some students read books not suitable for them

D．make some students ignore the important works of literature

4.Who has the same attitude towards the new approach with Kristin?

A．Donald.           B．Sarah.            C．Tristin.            D．John Guthrie.

5.The author develops the text mainly by __________.

A．listing cases                            B．making comparisons

C．following time order                     D．explaining causes and effects

 

All her life, my mother wanted busy children. It was very important that her house should remain at all things clean and tidy.

You could turn your back for a moment in my mother's house, leave a half written letter on the dining room table, a magazine open on the chair, and turn around to find that my mother had "put it back where it belonged." as she explained.

My wife, on one of her first visits to my mother's house, placed a packet of biscuits on an end table and went to the kitchen to fetch a drink. When she returned, she found the packet had been removed. Confused (疑惑的), she set down her drink and went back to the kitchen for more biscuits, only to return to find that her drink had disappeared. Up to then she had guessed that everyone in my family held onto their drinks, so as not to make water rings on the end tables. Now she knows better.

These disappearances had a confusing effect on our family. We were all inclined to (有......的倾向) forgetfulness, and it was common for one of us, upon returning from the bathroom, to find the every sign of his work in progress had disappeared suddenly. "Do you remember what I was doing?" was a question frequently asked, but rarely answered.

Now my sister has developed a second-hand love of clean windows, and my brother does the cleaning in his house, perhaps to avoid having to be the one to lift his feet. I try not to think about it too much, but I have at this later time started to dust the furniture once a week.

1.Which of the following is TRUE about my mother?

A. She enjoyed removing others' drinks.      

B. She became more and more forgetful.

C. She preferred to do everything by herself.   

D. She wanted to keep her house in good order.

2.My wife could not find her biscuits and drink in my mother's house because _______.

A. she had already finished them

B. my mother had taken them away

C. she forgot where she had left them

D. someone in my family was holding them

3. The underlined part to the fifth paragraph suggests that my sister _______.

A. is happy to clean windows    

B. loves to clean used windows

C. is fond of clean used windows

D. likes clean windows as my mother did

4.This passage mainly tells us that _______.

A. my mother often made us confused

B. my family members had a poor memory

C. my mother helped us to form a good habit   

D. my wife was surprised when she visited my mother