Mr. King works in a shop and drives a car for the manager. He drives carefully and can keep calm when   16   danger. And he escaped from several accidents. The manager   17   him more and the traffic policemen often speaks highly of him.

Mr. Baker，one of his friends，works in a factory outside the city. It’s far from his house and he has to go to work by bus. As the street is   18   in the morning, sometimes he’s late for the work. His manager warns the young man that he will be sent away   19   he gets to his office on time. He hopes to buy a car，but he hasn’t enough   20  . He decides to buy an old one. One day, he went to the second-hand market and at last he chose a beautiful but cheap car. He said he wanted to try the car，the seller agreed. He   21   Mr King and asked him to help him at once.

Mr. King examined(检查) the car and then drove it away. It was early in the morning and there were few cars in the street. At first he drove slowly and it   22   well. Then he drove fast. And when he reached a crossing，the lights turned   23  . He tried to stop it， but he failed and   24   hit an old woman who was crossing the street. A policeman told him to stop，but the car went on until it hit a big tree by the road.

“Didn’t you hear me？” the policeman asked angrily.

　　“Yes, I did，sir,” said Mr King，“   25   it doesn’t listen to me，can it obey（听从）you？”

1.A. looking        B. reaching     C. facing           D. getting

2.A. gives              B. pays         C. needs        D. believes

3.A. crowded        B. quiet        C. empty        D. full

4.A. until          B. unless           C. when         D. if

5.A. time           B. experience  C. friends          D. money

6.A. called         B. found        C. visited          D. invited

7.A. looked         B. traveled         C. seemed       D. worked

8.A. red                B. green            C. up               D. out

9.A. hardly         B. heavily          C. nearly           D. mostly

10.A. Although     B. Since            C. While        D. For

On Nov.18th, 1908, three men went up in a balloon. They started early in London. The headman was Auguste Gaudron, and the other two men were Tannar and Maitland. They had a big balloon and they were ready for a long way.
Soon they heard the sea. They were carrying the usual rope, and it was hanging down from the basket of the balloon. At the end of the rope they had tied a metal box. This could hold water, or it could be empty. So they were able to use the box to change the weight of the balloon. The three people were also carrying some bags of sand.
After the sun rose, the balloon went higher. It went up to 3,000 metres, and the air was very cold. The water in the balloon became ice. Snow fell past the men’s basket, and they could see more snow on the ground. The men tried to throw out some more sand; but it was hard. They tried to break the icy sand with their knives, but it was not easy. The work was slow and they were still falling, so they had to drop some whole bags of sand. One of them fell on an icy lake and made a black hole in the ice.
　　At last they pulled the box into the basket. It was still snowing; so they climbed to get away from the snow. They rose to 5,100 metres! Everything became icy. They were very cold and  they decided to land. They came down in Poland　heavily but safely. They had travelled 1,797 kilometres from London!
【小题1】Where did they start their travel on Nov.18th, 1908?
                                                                            
【小题2】What was the metal box used for?
                                                                            
【小题3】 Why did they have to drop some whole bags of sand during the travel?
                                                                            
【小题4】 How long did they travel in the end?
                                                                            
【小题5】
What do you think of the three people and their travel? (请自拟一句话作答)
                                                                            

We’ve talked about snails (蜗牛) and their slow move. But much of the time snails don’t move at all. They are in their shells (壳) —sleeping.

Hot sun will dry out a snail’s body. So at the least sign of hot sun, a snail draws its body into his shell. A snail will die in a heavy rain. So when it rains, a snail does the same thing, too. A snail can sleep for as long as it needs to. It spends all the winter months in its shell, asleep.

In the spring the snail wakes up. Its body, about three inches long, comes out from the shell. When hungry, the snail looks for food. Its eyes, at the end of the top feelers (触角), are very weak. But its sense (感觉) of smell is very strong. It helps the snail to find food and the new greens.

A snail’s mouth is no bigger than the point of a pin (大头针). Yet it has 256,000 teeth! The teeth are very small, and you can’t see them. If you put a snail in a hard paper box, it will eat its way out! And if a snail wears out its teeth, it will grow new ones.

1. A snail _________.

　 A. moves more slowly at night　　B. has thousands of feet

C. doesn’t move at all   　　      D. sleeps much of the time

2. In the sentence “A snail draws its body into its shell”, the word “draw” means _____.

　 A. to make with a pencil     B. to push　　C. to pull      D. to move away

3. From the story, we know _________.

　 A. a snail’s shell is very thin     B. a snail can’t see well

　 C. a snail’s nose is quite short    D. a snail’s body changes in different seasons

4. A snail goes to sleep when _____.

　 A. it feels hungry   B. it is put into a paper box  C. spring is coming   D. it rains heavily

5.Which of the following is wrong?

A. In winter the snail doesn’t eat or move.　　B. A snail doesn’t like living under the sun

C. The snail’s teeth can’t be worn out.       D. The snail’s nose helps to find food.