A group of swans flew down to a beach where a crow was jumping around. The crow watched them with disdain.
“You have no flying skills at all!” he said to the swans. “All you can do is to move your wings. Can you turn over in the air? No, that’s beyond you. Let’s have a flying competition. I’ll show you what real flying is!”
One of the swans, a strong young male, took up the challenge. The crow flew up and began to show his skills. He flew in circles, performed other flying tricks, and then came down and looked proudly at the swan.
Now it was the swan’s turn. He flew up, and began flying over the sea. The crow flew after him, making all kinds of comments about his flying. They flew on and on till they couldn’t see the land and there was nothing but water on all sides. The crow was making fewer and fewer comments. He was now so exhausted that he found it hard to stay in the air, and had to struggle to keep himself from falling into the water.
The swan pretended not to notice, and said, “Why do you keep touching the water, brother? Is that another trick? “
“No,” said the crow. He knew he had lost the competition. “I’m in trouble because of my pride! If you don’t help me, I’ll lose my life. . . ”
The swan took pity on him, and took him on his shoulders and flew back to the beach.
【小题1】The crow met the swan on a ___________

A．beach

B．field

C．lake

D．ground

【小题2】What’s the correct order of the following events?
a. The crow followed the swan and got into trouble.
b. The swan felt pity for the crow and saved it.
c. The crow had to ask the swan for help.
d. The swan accepted a challenge of performing flying tricks.

A．a, d, b, c

B．a, b, d, c

C．d, a, c, b

D．d, c, a, b

【小题3】What does the underlined word “took pity on” in the last paragraph mean?

A．对…… 怜悯

B．对……后悔

C．对……蔑视

D．对……失望

【小题4】The underlined sentence means ____________ .

A．The swan began to fly.

B．It is the turn for the swan to feel proud.

C．The crow began to fly.

D．It is the turn for the crow to feel proud.

【小题5】What do we learn from the passage?

A．Practice makes perfect.

B．The early bird catches the worm.

C．No pains, no gains.

D．Pride goes before a fall.

Once upon a time there lived an old man. He had three sons. One day, he called them together and said, "Sons, I will die soon. To my oldest son I give half my camels, to my second, one-third(三分之一), and to my youngest, one-ninth (九分之一)." Soon after that he died.

Now, the old man had seventeen camels, and the three brothers didn't know how to do as their father said. They thought a long time about the problem, and it seemed that they must either kill some of the camels and cut them into pieces, or disobey their father. At last they went to their father's old friend and asked for his advice. As soon as he heard their story, he said, "I will help you. I was a good friend of your father's. I am old. I have only one camel, but take it-it is yours."

The three sons thanked the old man and took his camel. Now they found it was easy to do as their father wished, The oldest took half- that was nine camels; the second took one-third, that was six; and the youngest took one-ninth, that was two.

After each had got his camels, they found that there was still a camel there. So, to show their thanks to their father's friend, they gave the camel back to him.

(   )11. "Once upon a time" means " ________".

A. long long ago B. not very long ago

C. at once D. sometimes

(   )12. The meaning of "disobey" in the second paragraph is" ________".

A. 服从 B. 违背 C. 听从 D. 嘲笑

(   )13. The meaning of "asked for his advice" in the second paragraph is " ________".

A. 向他请教 B. 问他数量 C. 批评他 D. 劝告他

(   )14. The second old man ________the three brothers.

A. was good to B. was not good to C. didn't like D. cheated(哄骗)

(   )15. Both the two old men in the story were ________.

foolish B. clever C. poor D. rich

 

Have you ever had the strange feeling that you were being watched? You turned around and, sure enough, someone was looking right at you!

Parapsychologists (灵学家) say that humans have a natural ability to sense when someone is looking at them. To research whether such a “sixth sense” really exists, Robert Baker, a psychologist (心理学家) at the University of Kentucky, did two experiments.

In the first one, Baker sat behind unknowing people in public places and stared at the backs of their heads for 5 to 15 minutes. The subjects（受试者）were eating, drinking, reading, studying, watching TV, or working at a computer. Baker made sure that the people could not tell that he was sitting behind them during those periods. Later, when he questioned the subjects, almost all of them said they had no sense that someone was staring at them.

For the second experiment, Baker told the subjects that they would be stared at from time to time from behind in a laboratory setting. The people had to write down when they felt they were being stared at and when they weren’t. Baker found that the subjects were no better at telling when they were stared at and when they weren’t.

Baker concludes that people do not have the ability to sense when they’re being stared at. If people doubt the outcome of his two experiments, said Baker, “I suggest they repeat the experiments and see for themselves.”

1.The aim of the two experiments is to ________.

A．explain when people can have a sixth sense

B．show how people act while being watched in the lab

C．study whether humans can sense when they are stared at

D．prove why humans have a sixth sense

2.The underlined word “outcome” in the last paragraph most probably means ________.

A．value             B．result             C．performance       D．connection

3. In the second experiment, the subjects _________.

A．could tell when they were stared at and when they weren’t.

B．could tell when they were stared at but couldn’t tell when they weren’t.

C．couldn’t tell when they were stared at but could tell when they weren’t.

D．couldn’t tell when they were stared at or when they weren’t.

4.What can be learned from the passage?

A．People are born with a sixth sense.

B．The experiments support parapsychologists’ idea.

C．The subjects do not have a sixth sense in the experiments.

D．People have a sixth sense in all places.

 

It was a quiet village in which there was a military camp. It was far from the towns and cities and there were some high mountains around. Of course it was a good place for training the new soldiers. But it was difficult for the young men to go outside. Mr. White, an officer of forty, was strict with them and he hardly let them leave the camp.
　　Once Mr. White was ill in bed. He couldn't work, so a young officer, Mr. Hunt, began to train the new soldiers instead of him. He knew the young men well and let nine soldiers go to the nearest town to have a holiday. But night fell and none came back to the camp. He was worried about it and stood at the gate. It was five to twelve when Mr. Hunt decided to go to the town and see what was happening with the young men. He started the car quickly and set off. At that moment the nine soldiers came back. It seemed they were all drunk. Of course they found the officer was angry.
　　"I'm sorry, sir," said the first soldier. "I left the town on time. But something was wrong with my bus on my way here. I had to buy a horse and made it run fast. Bad luck! It died and I had to run back."
　　And the other seven soldiers said they were late for the same reasons. It was the last soldier's turn. He said, "I'm sorry, sir. I got on a bus on time, but…"
　　Having heard this, the officer became even angrier and stopped him at once. He called out, "If you say something was wrong with your bus, I'll punish you at once!"
　　"No, no, sir," said the young man. "My bus was all right, but their horses were in the way!"
【小题1】The military camp was built in the village to _______.

A．stop the soldiers going to towns

B．stop the soldiers meeting their friends

C．train the new soldiers

D．make the young men live quietly

【小题2】The nine soldiers returned to the camp late because _______.

A．something was wrong with their buses

B．their horses died on the way back

C．it took them much time to run back

D．they all had drunk much in the town

【小题3】The underlined phrase in the way in the last paragraph means ______.

A．stopping somebody from moving

B．getting drunk

C．standing on the road

D．running very fast

We were doing the best to control the fire of the burning garage (车库). Outside, I heard the sounds of cats crying. I couldn’t stop—I would have to look for the cats after the fire was put out.
It took a long time to finally bring the big fire under control. No one inside was hurt. At that point I was free to find out where the cat noises were from. There was still a lot of smoke and heat coming from the building. I followed the meowing to the sidewalk in front of the garage. There, crying and huddled (挤作一团) together, were five frightened kittens (小猫). They must have been inside the building, as their fur was badly hurt.
I wanted to find the mother cat. It was clear that she had gone into the burning garage and carried out all her babies, one by one—unbelievable.
We finally found her. Her paws and face were blackened, and her fur was burned all over. You could even see her reddened skin under the burned fur. She could hardly move. I picked her up, and she relaxed in my arms as much as her pain would allow. I decided to save this brave little cat and her family.
The vet told me they would watch the kittens and their mother for the night, but they weren’t confident about the mother’s chances.
About a week later, I found out she was going to live. We named her Scarlet because of her reddened skin.
I was happy to see Scarlet get together with the kittens again. She touched each of them, nose to nose. She had been in danger for five times and it had paid off. All of her babies had survived.
As a fireman, I see heroic acts every day. But what Scarlet showed me that day was the kind of bravery that can only come from a mother’s love.
【小题1】Which of the following is TRUE according to the story?

A．The writer went to look for the cats as soon as he heard them crying.

B．The firefighters put out the fire quickly and no one was hurt.

C．The writer didn’t find the cats until the smoke and heat were gone.

D．The mother cat moved all her babies out of the fire to a safe place.

【小题2】Why did the writer decide to save the cats?

A．Because he was amazed at the mother cat’s courage.

B．Because the cats attracted many people’s attention.

C．Because he didn’t want to see any living things die.

D．Because it had taken him much time and effort to save them.

【小题3】The writer talks about the cat’s story to show that ________________.

A．animals should be taken good care of

B．mother’s love can be great and brave

C．it is meaningful to help others

D．a cat always has nine lives