The Man was very sad. He knew that the Cat's days were numbered. The doctor had said there wasn’t anything more that could be done, and that he should take the Cat home and make him as comfortable as possible.

A tear rolled down the Man’s cheek and landed on the Cat’s forehead, The Cat gave him a slightly annoyed look. “Why do you cry, Man?” the Cat asked. “Because you can’t bear the thought of losing me? Because you think you can never replace me?” The Man nodded “yes”.

“Pick up that piece of string from the floor. There, my ‘toy’. The Man reached over and picked up the string. It was about two feet long and the Cat had been able to entertain himself for hours with it. “Now take each end of the string in one hand,” the Cat ordered. The Man did so.

“The end in your left hand is my birth and the end in your right hand is my death. Now bring the two ends together,” the Cat said. The man did so. Then the Cat continued, “You have made a continuous circle. Does any point along the string appear to be different, worse or better than any other part of the string?” The Man inspected the string and then shook his head.

“Close your eyes.” the Cat said. “Now lick your hand.” The Man widened his eyes in surprise. “Just do it,” the Cat said. “Lick your hand, think of me in all my familiar places, and think about all the pieces of string.”

Licking his hand, he discovered what a cat must know, that licking a paw is very calming and allows one to think more clearly. He continued licking and the corners of his mouth turned upward into the first smile he had shown in days. He waited for the Cat to tell him to stop, and when he didn’t, he opened his eyes. The Cat’s eyes were closed. The Man stroked(轻抚) the warm, brown fur, but the Cat was gone.

One day, not long after, there was a new cat on his lap. She was a lovely white cat. It is very different from his earlier beloved Cat and very much the same.

1.Why did the Cat give the man a slightly annoyed look?

A．Because the man’s tears made the Cat really anxious.

B．Because the Cat didn’t know what made the man burst into tears.

C．Because the Cat couldn’t go to sleep when the man was in low spirits.

D．Because the man didn’t have to be so sad and concerned.

2.According to the text, which of the following is the reason why a cat licks paws?

A．Licking paws can make a cat remain calm and have a clear mind.

B．Licking paws will make a cat happy and energetic.

C．Licking paws will make a cat find out many unknown secrets.

D．Licking paws can make a cat stay tidy and healthy.

3.What does the underlined word “string” in paragraph 3 stand for?

A．Life.              B．Birth.             C．Hope.            D．Power.

4.What's the main idea of the passage?

A．Pets play an important part in our life.

B．Life has no end and death is just a new beginning.

C．We should take a positive attitude towards life and live life to its fullest.

D．It gives us some suggestions on how to relieve ourselves when a pet passes away.

He almost didn’t see the old lady, stranded on the side of the road, but even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed help. So he pulled up in front her Mercedes and got out.

Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so. Was he going to hurt her? He didn’t look safe; he looked poor and hungry. He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He knew how she felt.

He said, “I am here to help you, ma’am. Why don’t you wait in the car where it’s warm? By the way, my name is Bryan Anderson.”

Well, all she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that was bad enough. Bryan crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able to change the tire. But he had to get dirty and his hands hurt.

As he was tightening up the lug nuts, she rolled down the window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from St. Louis and was just passing through. She couldn’t thank him enough for coming to her aid.

Bryan just smiled as he closed her trunk. The lady asked how much she owed him. Any amount would have been all right with her. She already imagined all the awful things that could have happened, had he not stopped. Bryan never thought twice about being paid. This was not a job to him. This was helping someone in need, and God knows there were many people who had given him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that way, and it never occurred to him to act any other way.

He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance they needed, and Bryan added, “And think of me.”

He waited until she started her car and drove off. It had been a cold and depressing day, but he felt good as he headed for home, disappearing into the twilight.

1.This story most probably took place_______.

A. in a garage   B. on a highway    C. in a busy street    D. near a gas station

2.When the man approached the old lady, the first thing he did was to______.

A. ask what was wrong with her car        B. get the old lady out of her car

C. change her tire as soon as possible       D. make her know he wanted to help her

3.The underlined part in Paragraph 6 suggests that________.

A. the old lady had got ready to pay the man

B. the old lady was grateful to the man

C. the man had a lot of difficulty changing the tire

D. the man didn’t stop changing the tire

4.Which of the following words can best describe the man?

A. Warm-hearted and sensitive.   B. Careful and serious.

C. Thoughtful and helpful.       D. Generous and open-minded.

5. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that ______________.

A. the man was happy after helping the old lady

B. the man received a lot of money from the old lady

C. the man made the old lady feel cold and depressed 

D. the man felt extremely frustrated all the way home

　　Some time ago ,I discovered that one of my chairs had a broken leg. I didn’t think there would be any difficulty in getting it mended ,as there are a whole lot of antique（古董）shops near my home. So I left home one morning carrying the chair with me. I went into the first shop expecting a friendly reception（接待）. I was quite wrong. The man wouldn't oven look at my chair.

　　The second shop, though slightly more polite, was just the same, and the third and the fourth - so I decided that my approach must be wrong.

　　I went into the fifth shop with a plan in my mind. I placed the chair on the floor and said to the shopkeeper,“ Would you like to buy a chair?” He looked it over carefully and said,“ Yes, not a bad chair. How much do you want for it, sir?” “Twenty pounds,”I said. “OK, ”he said, “I’ll give you twenty pounds. ”“It ‘s got a slightly broken leg,”I said. “Yes, I saw that, it's nothing.”

　　Everything was going according to plan and I was getting excited. “What will you do with it?”I asked. “Oh, it will be easy to sell once the repair is done. ”“I'll buy it,”I said. “What do you mean？ You’ve just sold it to me,”he said. “Yes, I know but I’ve changed my mind. I'm sorry, I'll give you twenty -seven pounds for it. ”“ Your must be crazy, ”he said. Then, suddenly the penny dropped. “I know what you want. You want me to repair your chair. ”“ You’re right, ”I said. “And what would you have done if I had walked in and said,’Would you mend this chair for me　I wouldn't have agreed to do it,” he said. “We don’t do repairs, not enough money in it and too much trouble. But I’ll mend this for you, shall we say for a fiver?”He was a very nice man and was greatly amused（感到有趣）by the whole thing.

We can learn from the text that in the first shop the writer ________.

　　A. was rather impolite

　　B. was warmly received

　　C. asked the shopkeeper to buy his chair

　　D. asked the shopkeeper to repair his chair

The expression “the penny dropped” in the last paragraph means the shopkeeper ________.

　　A. changed his mind　　　　　　　 B. accepted the offer

　　C. saw the writer’s purpose　　　　　D. decided to help the writer

How much did the writer pay?

　　A. ￡ 5.　　　　B. ￡ 7.　　　　 C. ￡ 20.　　　　D. ￡ 27.

From the text, we can learn that the writer was ________

　　A. hanest　　　　B. careful　　　　C. smart　　　　 D. funny

There’s a man in the habit of hitting me on the head with an umbrella. At first I couldn’t stand it, now I’m used to it.

I don’t know his name. I know he’s average in appearance, wears a gray suit, and has a common face. I met him five years ago one hot morning when I was sitting on a tree-shaded bench in Palermo Park, reading the paper. Suddenly I felt something touch my head. It was the very same man who now, as I’m writing, keeps hitting me, mechanically (机械地) and impassively, with an umbrella.

On that occasion I turned around filled with anger. He just kept on hitting me. I asked him if he was crazy, he didn’t even seem to hear me. Then I threatened to call a policeman. Calmly, cool as a cucumber, he stuck with his task. After a few moments of hesitation, and seeing that he was not about to change his attitude, I stood up and hit him on the nose. The man fell down, but he immediately got back on his feet, obviously with great effort, and without a word again began hitting me on the head with the umbrella. His nose was bleeding and, at that moment, I felt sorry for him. I felt regret for having hit him so hard. After all, the man wasn’t exactly hitting me; he was merely tapping me lightly with his umbrella, not causing any pain at all. Of course, those taps were extremely bothersome. As we all know, when a fly lands on your forehead, you don’t feel any pain; what you feel is annoyance. Well then, that umbrella was one huge fly that kept landing on my head time after time.

Convinced that I was dealing with a madman, I tried to escape. But the man followed me, wordlessly continuing to hit me. So I began to run (I should point out that not many people run as fast as I do). He took off after me, trying to land a blow. The man was out of breath so that I thought, if I continued to force him to run at that speed, he would drop dead right then and there.

When the man began to strike the author with an umbrella, the author ________.

A. became angry

B. called the police

C. turned around and escaped

D. turned around and fought back

The author would most probably agree that the man was ________.

A. deaf          B. blind           C. dead           D. mad

The author felt sorry for the man because ________.

A. the man formed a bad habit of beating others

B. he hit the man so hard that his nose bled

C. the man couldn’t catch up with him

D. there was a fly on the man’s head

It can be learned from the passage that the man ________.

A. shouted loudly while hitting the author

B. wanted to tell the author something

C. ran after the author breathlessly

D. acted as if he were a fly

.
第三部分：阅读理解(共两节，16小题；每小题2分，满分32分)
第一节：阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
People enjoy talking about “firsts”. They like to remember their first love or their first car. But not all firsts are happy ones.
One of history’s bad but important firsts was the first car accident. Cars were still young when it happened. The accident took place in New York City in May 1896. A man from Massachusetts was visiting the city in his new car. At that time, bicycle riders were still trying to get used to the new set of wheels on the road. No one was sure who was to blame for it. Anyway, the bike and the car hit each other hard. The man on the bike was injured. The driver of the car had to stay in jail and wait for the hospital report on the bicycle rider. Luckily, the rider was not killed.
Three years later, another car accident took place. It was again in New York City. A man named Henry Bliss stepped off a streetcar(无轨电车). He was hit by a passing car. Once again, no one was sure just how it happened or whose fault it was. The driver of the car was put in prison. Poor Mr. Bliss became the first person to die in a car accident.
46. Which of the following is true?
A. The first driver came from New York City.
B. Both of the two car accidents killed a person.
C. The second car accident didn’t happen in the same city as the first one.
D. No one knew how the two accidents had happened.
47. In both accidents the drivers of the cars_______.
A. could not drive their cars very well
B. had to stay in prison for a while
C. tried to run away after the accidents took place
D. knew it was their fault
48. The word “jail” in this passage means ________.
A. police station      B. prison                C. school       D. office
49. The main idea of the passage is ________.
A. not all firsts are happy ones                           B. two of the first car accidents
C. two unhappy “firsts”                             D. bicycle riders get used to cars