New York is one of the last large American cities to have some of its policemen on horseback. The New York police have 170 horses working in certain parts of the city. The horses are expensive to feed, but it is even more expensive to look after them. Because the horses must walk on the streets, they need special horseshoes. In fact, they need more than 8,000 of them each year. Every police horse in New York gets new shoes every month. Keeping these shoes in good repair is the job of six blacksmiths(铁匠). There are only about thirty-five of these blacksmiths in the whole United States. The cost of shoeing a horse is between twenty dollars and thirty-five dollars, and it takes a good blacksmith two or three hours to do the job.

A blacksmith’s job is not an easy one. He must be able to shape a shoe from a piece of metal and then fit it to the horse’s foot. The blacksmith must bend over all the time when he is fitting the shoe and must hold the weight of the horse’s leg while he works. Clearly, a blacksmith must be very storng. But even more important, he must be able to deal with horses---for before the blacksmith can begin his work, he has to get the horse to lift its leg.

One of the blacksmiths in New York is James Corbin. He came to the country from Ireland in 1948. He not only makes horseshoes for the police but also works for a group of horse owners near the city. Corbin became interested in blacksmithing because his father did it, and, as he puts it, “It’s a good way to make a living.”

1.According to the reading passage, a blacksmith must be likely a ________________ man.

A. clever????????????? ????????????? ????????????? ????????????? B. rich????????????? ????????????? ????????????? ????????????? C. strong????????????? ????????????? ????????????? ????????????? D. lucky

2.James Corbin became a blacksmith because he ________________.

A. was interested in horses

B. was needed by the policemen

C. drew a picture of the horseshoe

D. had to make a living

3.In the reading passage “to shape a shoe” is to ________________.

A. fit it on the horse’s foot

B. use it for two or three hours

C. make the form of a horseshoe from a piece of metal

D. draw a picture of the shoe

4.The best title for the passage is “________________”.

A. Policemen on Horseback

B. Blacksmiths and Horseshoeing

C. James Corbin, a Blacksmith

D. Horseshoeing is a Good Way to Make a Living

5.Which of the following is true?

A. Only a few large American cities have some policemen on horseback.

B. New York is the only city in America to have some policemen on horseback.

C. Policemen on horseback enjoy travelling around the United States.

D. Policemen on horseback are less expensive than those in cars.

Have you ever seen a horse with toes(脚趾)？Millions of years ago, horses had many toes. They had four toes on each front foot. They had three toes on each back foot. The horses were no bigger than the cats.These small horses lived in the forest. The toes helped the horses run on the soft, wet ground.

At first, it was very hot in the forest. But the weather changed. It became very cold. Many trees could not live in cold weather. The trees died and fell. Open fields took the place of forests. The sun made the ground dry and hard.

Horsed began to change, too. They began to get bigger. This took a long time. On the dry, hard land, horses needed only their middle toes for running. Their middle toes became hard. After a long time, horses had only one hard toe on each foot. Now we call this hard toe a hoof.

1.How many toes did a horse have millions of years ago?

A．14               B．12               C．16               D．13

2.What does the underlined word “hoof” mean in Chinese?

A．尾巴             B．马鬃             C．腿               D．蹄子

3.What was the weather like in the forest at first?

A．Very warm         B．Very hot           C．Very cold          D．Very cool

4.Which is WRONG according to the passage?

A．The horses were much bigger than the cats millions of years ago.

B．The trees died and feel because the weather changed.

C．On the dry, hard land, horses needed only their middle toes for running.

D．The horses have fewer toes than before.

5.The main idea of the passage is that_______________.

A．horses had three toes on each back foot.     B．horses lived in the hot forest

C．horses changed a lot over the years         D．horses didn’t like the cold weather

阅读短文，用所给动词的适当形式填空，必要时可加助动词或情态动词（10分）

I am John．I am l7 years old，and I live in England．My father works in a horse-riding school．I have been riding since I1.________ （be）six．I go horse-riding every Saturday．Now, I can ride quite well．I often2.________ （spend）all Saturdays at the riding school．I help to get the horses ready．I also help the new students．

Look，there are some people3._____ （train）horse-riding．The girl named Xinyi4._____ （walk）the horse around（遛马）and getting ready to get onto the horse．She is from China．She looks beautiful．She5._____ （study）here three times．Last time，I helped her move up and down at the same time as the horse．While we were learning how to jump the horse，suddenly she fell off the horse and6._____（hurt）her knees badly．I felt sorry that I7._____（not help）her at that time．I thought she wouldn’t come this Saturday．To my surprise，she came again! What a brave girl! Last month，she8.____（invite）to come to England for a fashion show．She said she was glad to have the chance to come here and she enjoyed herself．

    Oh，Xinyi is riding towards me．

    “Hi，Xinyi! You’re great! I have never seen such a brave girl like you．”

    ‘Thanks．John! I am leaving for Beijing tomorrow．Thanks for helping me these days．I will never forget the exciting experience．I9.________（share）it with my friends．”

“I hope10._____ （meet）you soon．”

用方框中所给单词的适当形式填空，使短文通顺、正确、连贯（每个单词限用一次）

To: Christin foo@hotmail.com

Date: 23^rd March

Subject: The Riding for the Disabled Association

Hi Christine,

Sorry I haven’t emailed lately —I’ve been very busy since becoming a volunteer for the Riding for the Disabled Association.

Every Saturday, I help to get the horses 1.___________ for the disabled(残疾) riders. Many more disabled people want to ride 2.___________ than you’d imagine. It’s a disadvantage that I don’t know how to ride —I’d love to got on long rides with the riders— but I’ll learn soon 3.___________. Right now, I’m just happy to be able to lead the horses around for the disabled riders.

I’m4.___________ helping to organize a sale, which will be 5.___________ next month. It’s a lot more work than helping the disabled. I need to collect second-hand things to sell at the sale. There are 6.___________ things available(获得的) than I thought, but I’m sure we’ll have enough7.__________ next month.

I hope the sale raises more money than last month’s walk. It was rainy, so too few people took part in the event. Last week, we held an auction(拍卖). The auction took much less 8.__________ to organize than the walk. 9.__________, for some reason, people offered too little money for the things, so we didn’t raise enough money.

I’m 10.___________ you some pictures in the letter, as well as a speech I gave last week.

New York is one of the last large American cities to have some of its policemen on horseback. The New York police have 170 horses working in certain parts of the city. The horses are expensive to feed, but it is even more expensive to look after them. Because the horses must walk on the streets, they need special horseshoes. In fact , they need more than 8,000 of them each year. Every police horse in New York gets new shoes every month. Keeping these shoes in good repair is the job of six blacksmiths. There are only about thirty-five of these blacksmiths in the whole United States.
The cost of shoing a horse is between twenty dollars and thirty-five dollars, and it takes a good blacksmith two or three hours to do the job.
A blacksmith’s job is not an easy one. He must be able to shape a shoe from a piece of metal and then fit it to the horse’s foot. The blacksmith must bend over all the time when he is fitting the shoe and must hold the weight of the horse’s leg while he works. Clearly, a blacksmith must be very storng. But even more important, he must be able to deal with horses---for before the blacksmith can begin his work, he has to get the horse to lift its leg.
One of the blacksmiths in New York is James Corbin. He came to the country from Ireland in 1948. He not only makes horseshoes for the police but also works for a group of horse owners near the city. Corbin became interested in blacksmithing because his father did it, and,as the puts it, “It’s a good way to make a living.”
【小题1】According to the reading passage, a blacksmith must be likely a______ man.