How ________ it is raining now!

1. A.
   heavy
2. B.
   heavier
3. C.
   heavily
4. D.
   most heavy

[　　]

Have you ever heard anyone say“It’s raining cats and dogs”? It means“It’s raining hard!”
　　But sometimes cats and dogs do drop from the sky! Here’s how it happens.
　　Not so long ago, a country far away had many large rats. The people there said,“We need cats!”So cats were sent to them by airplane. But the country had many mountains. It was hard for an airplane to land. So the cats came down by parachute(降落伞). Did the cats like the ride? They didn’t say they didn’t! And today they are still catching rats!
　　In another country far away, there is snow the year around. People sometimes got lost in it.
　　“We need big dogs!”the people said.“The dogs could find people lost in the snow. The dogs could help bring them home. Where can we get big dogs?”
　　A man across the sea had big dogs to sell.“I will send dogs to you.”He said.“I have some very big ones. They can find people lost in the snow.”
　　He sent the dogs by airplane.
　　But the airplane didn’t land in the snow. The dogs came down by parachute—you guessed it!
　　Did the dogs like the ride? They didn’t say they didn’t! And today they are well and happy. They find anyone who gets lost in the snow. Then they help him get home. Good dogs!
　　Remember it, so you can say,“Yes, it does rain cats and dogs sometimes. They came down by parachute!”
　　1．The underlined word“it”in Paragraph 2 refers to_________.
　　A. the weather
　　B. the saying“It’s raining cats and dogs.”
　　C. the saying“It’s raining hard.”
　　D. the fact that real cats and dogs drop from the sky
　　2．Cats and dogs drop from the sky because_________.
　　A. there are many mountains in the country
　　B. it snows the year around in the country
　　C. it was hard for a plane to land in the two countries
　　D. coming down by parachute could save money
　　3．The underlined sentence“They didn’t say they didn’t!”in Paragraph 3 means“_________”.
　　A. Poor animals       B. Good animals
　　C. Have a nice trip       D. Thank you
　　4．Which of the following is not true according to the passage?
　　A. Cats and dogs can help people quite a lot.
　　B.“It rains cats and dogs.”usually means a heavy rain.
　　C. When the people saw cats drop from the plane, they were pleased.
　　D. The man across the sea didn’t want his dogs dropped by air.
　　5．The main purpose of the passage is to_________.
　　A. tell the readers a famous British saying
　　B. tell the readers of a new meaning about an old saying
　　C. show cats and dogs are our good friends
　　D. show parachutes is an important invention

You have probably heard the expression，“It’s raining cats and dogs outside．”That means 16  it’s raining very hard I not that  17  cats and dogs are falling from the  18  ．However，one day in June，1882，it really did rain  19  over Dubuque，Iowa．The frogs  20  falling along with hailstones(冰雹)during a  21  storm．

    Hail is formed when drops of rainwater are  22  by heavy winds and are carried high up into the air．There the raindrops become frozen．Many drops may freeze  23  to form balls of ice；these ice balls，or hailstones，then  24  to earth．

    During the storm in Dubuque，the strong winds lifted small frogs from nearby ponds(池塘) 25  the air along with raindrops．When some of these frogs became covered with ice，both hailstones and“frog-stones”fell onto the ground．

1.A．that       B．how        C．why        D．if

2.A．careless    B． blind       C．dead        D．real

3.A．hill       B．tower       C．sky         D．building

4.A．cats       B．frogs       C．dogs        D．birds

5.A．stopped    B．enjoyed     C．began       D．forgot

6.A．popular    B．terrible      C．weekly      D．common

7.A．divided    B．added       C．changed      D．caught

8.A．together    B．alone       C．so           D．almost

9.A．hold       B．lose        C．keep         D．fall

10.A．from       B．into        C．after         D．by