A young father was visiting an old neighbor. They were standing in the old man’s garden, and talking about children. The young man said,“How strict should parents be with their children?”
　  The old man pointed to（指着）a string (细绳) between a big strong tree and a thin young one.
　 “Please untie (解开) that string.” said the old man. “But first pull the string tight so that（以便于）the young tree is straight again.” The young man did so. He untied the string and only found that the young tree bent（弯）over to one side.
　 Then the old man said,“There, it is the same with children. You must be strict with them. But sometimes you must untie the string to see how they are getting on. If they are not yet able to stand alone，you must tie the string tight again. But when you find that they are ready to stand alone，you can take the string away.”
【小题1】The story is about ____________.
　　    A. how to take care of young trees　   
B. how strict parents should be with their children
C. how the young father should get on with his old neighbor
【小题2】 The young man untied the string ________________.
　　    A. in order to throw it away  　　
B. so that both of the trees wouldn’t grow straight
　　    C. and found that the young tree bent over to one side
【小题3】When could the string be taken away?
　　    A. When the old man left.　  　　
B. When the young man untied it next time.
　   　C. When the young tree grew strong enough.
【小题4】 At last the old man told the young man ________________.
　　    A. that he should be strict with his children if they could not 
stand alone
　　    B. that he should always be strict with his children
　　   C. that he should be hard on his children
【小题5】We learn that the big strong tree and the thin young one are like _________.
A. the young father and the old neighbor   　　
B. parents and their children
　　     C. the old neighbor and the children of young father

A recent study offers a picture of how dangerous it is to get a lift from a teenage driver. Indeed, a 16-year-old driver with three or more passengers is three times as likely to have a fatal（致命的）accident as a teenager driving alone. However, the possibility of death for drivers between 30 and 59 decreases with each additional (added) passenger.
　　It was also found that the death rates for teenage drivers increased greatly after 10 p.m., and especially after midnight. With passengers in the car, the driver was even more likely to die in a late night accident.
　　Robert Foss, a scientist at the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, says the higher death rates for teenage drivers have less to do with “really stupid behavior” than with just a lack of driving experience. Both he and the author of the study believe that the way to help solve the problem is to have states setting up so-called graduated licensing systems（等级执照制）. A graduated license requires that a teenager first prove that he/she is able to drive in the presence of an adult, followed by a period of driving with a limited number of passengers, before graduating to full driving on his own. About half of the states now have some sort of graduated licensing system in place. The systems have reduced teenage driver crashes（相撞）, according to recent studies.
【小题1】Which of the following situations is most dangerous according to the passage?

A．Adults giving a lift to teenagers on the highway after 10 p.m.

B．A teenager driving after midnight with passengers in the car.

C．Adults driving with three or more teenage passengers late at night.

D．A teenager getting a lift from a stranger on the highway at midnight.

【小题2】According to Robert Foss, the high death rate of teenage drivers is mainly because __.

A．their preference for driving at night

B．their lack of driving experience

C．their careless way of driving

D．their driving with passengers

　　阅读理解

　　An English traveler found himself in Norway with only enough money in his pocket to buy the ticket for his trip back home. As he knew that it would take him two days to get to England, he decided he could easily do without food. So he bought a ticket and got on the ship.

　　He closed his ears to the sound of the lunch bell. When dinner time came, he refused (拒绝) to go to the dinning hall. He told others he didn't feel well. The next morning, he didn't go to breakfast and at lunch time he again stayed in the room. At dinner time he was very hungry, he said, “I'm going to eat. ”

　　At the dinner table he ate everything the waiter put in front of him.

　　“Bring me the bill,” he said.

　　“The bill, sir?” said the waiter.

　　“Yes,” answered the traveler.

　　“There isn't any bill,” he said, “On the ship meals are included (包括) in the money for the ticket. ”

A．True or False?

1．The story happened on a ship from Norway to England.

2．The English traveler got on the ship in the afternoon.

3．The Englishman refused to go the dining hall to eat at first because he didn't feel well.

4．He went to eat the next evening because he knew there wasn't any bill on the ship.

5．He knew at last the travelers on the ship had free meals.

B．Fill in the blanks.

6．The English traveler found himself with ________ money to pay for the food.

7．He was so ________ that he went to ________ at the dinner time.

8．He didn't need to pay for his ________ on the ship.