A rat looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package. What food might it contain? But he discovered that it was a rattrap (捕鼠夹）.

Going back to the farmyard, the rat started to give a warning.

The rat turned to the pig and told him:“There is a rattrap in the house, a rattrap in the house!”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Rat,” said the pig, “I can only say this is something terrible to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered with it.”

The rat turned to the cow. But the cow said, “Like wow, Mr. Rat? A rattrap? I am in danger, Huh?”

The rat returned to the house, head down and dejected. So the rat had to face the farmer's rattrap alone.

That very night, a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a rattrap catching its prey (猎物). The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught.In the darkness, she did not notice that it was a poisonous snake whose tail had been caught by the trap. The snake bit her.The farmer rushed her to hospital. She returned home with a fever. Everyone knows that a fever could be treated with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his knife to the farmyard for the soup. However, his wife's sickness continued.

The farmer's friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer killed the pig. But she didn't get well. Finally, she died, and so many people came for the last sight that the farmer had the cow killed to provide meat for all of them.

So the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that it does not concern you, remember that the whole farmyard is at risk when there is a rattrap in the house.

1.From the passage we know that ______.

A．the pig helped the rat get rid of the trap

B．the cow strongly believed in what the rat said

C．no animals showed concern over the rat's warning

D．the snake was killed immediately after being caught

2.The underlined word ‘‘dejected” is the closest in meaning to _______.

A．disappointed       B．surprised          C．irritated           D．excited

3.We can learn from the article that _______.

A．the farmer had planned to kill the rat

B．the rat was very clever in avoiding the trap

C．the farmer's wife got good treatment in hospital

D．the rat had expected what would happen to the pig and cow

4. What message does the story intend to pass?

A．We should mind our own business.

B．Everything is related to something else.

C．We'd better treat animals in a friendly way.

D．The farmer couple and their friends are all foolish.

Furthermore, if they like the sound of a method and try it, they may get ____ with it.

A. sticking B. to stick C. being stuck  D. stuck

Among the dead in South Asia’s tsunami^① were many tourists at Sri Lanka’s national wildlife park at Yala. But very few of the park’s animals — elephants, buffaloes, monkeys and wild cats — appear to have died. There are theories that animals can sense natural disasters and flee to safety.

First, it’s possible that the animals may have heard the quake before the tsunami hit. The underwater rupture likely produced sound waves known as infrasound^② or infrasonic sound. Humans can’t hear infrasound, but many animals including dogs, elephants, tigers and pigeons can.

A second early warning sign the animals might have sensed is ground vibration^③. The massive quake would have produced vibrational waves known as Rayleigh waves. These vibrations move through the ground like waves move on the surface of the ocean but faster. They travel at ten times the speed of sound. The Rayleigh waves would have reached SriLanka hours before the water hit. Mammals, birds, insects and spiders can sense Rayleigh waves. So the animals at Yale might have felt the Rayleigh waves and then run to higher ground.

But what about humans? While we can’t hear infrasound, we can feel it, although we don’t necessarily know we’re feeling it. We also experience Rayleigh waves by special sensors in our joints, which exist just for that purpose. Sadly, it seems we don’t pay attention to the information when we get it. Maybe we screen it out because there’s so much going on before our eyes and in our ears. Humans have a lot of things on our minds and usually that works out OK.

Notes:

tsunami  n. 海啸

infrasound  n. 次声

vibration  n. 振动，颤动

Choose the best answers according to the above:

Why did few animals at Yala die when the tsunamis that caused a huge number of human deaths hit?

A. Because the animals were staying at a higher place in the park.

B. Because the animals were able to run much faster than human beings.

C. Because human beings cannot hear the infrasonic sound.

D. Because the animals might have picked up the danger signals and ran away.

Which of the statements about “Ravleigh waves” is true?

A. Rayleigh waves are massive vibrational waves that usually cause quakes or tsunamis.

B. Rayleigh waves move on the ocean surface at a speed ten times that of sound waves.

C. Rayleigh waves can be felt both by animals and human beings.

D. Rayleigh waves, just like infrasonic sound, can only be felt by animals.

When a tsunami hits, it is possible that ＿＿＿＿.

A. we can’t feel the infrasound so we can’t be informed of the danger

B. we can feel Rayleigh waves as well as infrasound so we are able to escape the danger like animals

C. we were so busy with things on our minds that we feel neither infrasound nor Rayleigh waves

      D. we think nothing of the information of its coming even though we can also get it

What does the underlined word “that” in the last sentence refer to?

A. Screening out the information.

B. There being so much going on before our eyes and in our ears.

C. Having a lot of things on our minds.

D. Paying attention to the information.

An old woman had two large pots, one on each end of a pole. She carried the pole with the pots across her neck.
One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full pot of water. At the end of the long walk from the well to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half-full.
For two years this happened daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection.
One day, the cracked pot spoke to the woman by the well: “I am ashamed of myself because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.”
The old woman smiled: “Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your crack, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path. And every day while we walk back, you water them.”
“For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, I would not have this beauty.”
Each of us has our own cracks. But it’s these cracks that make our lives together so interesting and meaningful.
【小题1】What does the underlined word “crack” mean?

Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He stopped by the fence in front of the house where he lived with his aunt Polly. He looked at it, and all joy left him. The fence was long and high. He put the brush into the whitewash and moved it along the top of the fence. He repeated the operation. He felt he could not continue and sat down.

He knew that his friends would arrive soon with all kinds of interesting plans for the day. They would walk past him and laugh. They would make jokes about his having to work on a beautiful summer Saturday. The thought burned him like fire.

He put his hand into his pockets and took out all that he owned. Perhaps he could find some way to pay someone to do the whitewashing for him. But there was nothing of value in his pockets —nothing that could buy even half an hour of freedom. So he put the bits of toys back into his pockets and gave up the idea. At this dark and hopeless moment, a wonderful idea came to him. It filled his mind with a great, bright light. Calmly he picked up the brush and started again to whitewash.

While Tom was working, Ben Rogers appeared. Ben was eating an apple as he walked along the street. As he walked along, he was making noises like the sound of a riverboat. First he shouted loudly, like a boat captain. Then he said “Ding-Dong-Dong”, “Ding-Dong-Dong” again and again, like the bell of a riverboat. And he made other strange noises. When he came close to Tom, he stopped.

Tom went on whitewashing. He did not look at Ben. Ben stared a moment and then said: “Hello! I’m going swimming, but you can’t go, can you?”

No answer. Tom moved his brush carefully along the fence and looked at the result with the eye of an artist. Ben came nearer. Tom’s mouth watered for the apple, but he kept on working.

Ben said, “Hello, old fellow, you’ve got to work, hey?”

Tom turned suddenly and said, “Why, it’s you, Ben! I wasn’t noticing.”

“Say —I’m going swimming. Don’t you wish you could? But of course you’d rather work — wouldn’t you? Of course you would.”

Tom looked at the boy a bit, and said “What do you call work?”

“Why, isn’t that work?”? Tom went back to his whitewashing, and answered carelessly.

“Well, maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t. All I know is, it suits Tom Sawyer.”

“Oh come, now, you don’t mean to say that you like it?”? The brush continued to move.

“Like it? Well, I don’t see why I shouldn’t like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?”

Ben stopped eating his apple. Tom moved his brush back and forth, stepped back to look at the result, added a touch here and there, and stepped back again. Ben watched every move and got more and more interested. Soon he said,

“Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little.”

Tom thought for a moment, was about to agree; but he changed his mind.

“No —no —it won’t do, Ben. You see, Aunt Polly wants this fence to be perfect. It has got to be done very carefully. I don’t think there is one boy in a thousand, maybe two thousand, that can do it well enough.”

“No —is that so? Oh come, now —let me just try. Only just a little.” “Ben, I’d like to, but if it isn’t done right, I’m afraid Aunt Polly … ”

“Oh, I’ll be careful. Now let me try. Say —I’ll give you the core of? my apple.”

“Well, here —No, Ben, now don’t. I’m afraid …”

“I’ll give you all of it.”

Tom gave up the brush with unwillingness on his face, but joy in his heart. And while Ben worked at the fence in the hot sun, Tom sat under a tree, eating the apple, and planning how to get more help. There were enough boys. Each one came to laugh, but remained to whitewash. By the time Ben was tired, Tom sold the next chance to Billy for a kite; and when Billy was tired, Johnny bought in for a dead rat —and so on, hour after hour. And when the middle of the afternoon came, Tom had won many treasures.

And he had not worked. He had had a nice idle time all the time, with plenty of company －and the fence had been whitewashed three times. If he hadn’t run out of whitewash, Tom would have owned everything belonging to his friends.

He had discovered a great law of human action, namely, that in order to make a man or a boy want a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to get.

1.Why did Tom take all his bits of toys out of his pockets?

A. Because he is tired and wanted to play with his toys.

B. Because he wanted to throw his toys away.

C. Because he wanted to give his toys to his friends.

D. Because he wanted to know if he could buy help with his toys.

2.Tom was about to agree to let Ben whitewash when he changed his mind because ____________.

A. Tom wanted to do the whitewashing by himself

B. Tom planned to make Ben give up his apple first

C. Tom was unwilling to let Ben do the whitewashing

D. Tom was afraid Ben would do the whitewashing better.

3.What made Ben Rogers eagerly gave up his apple and offer to brush the fence for Tom?

A. His warm heart and kindness to friends.?????????????

B. His curiosity about Tom’s brushing job.

C. Tom’s threat.????????????? ????????????? ????????????? ????????????? ????????????? ????????????? ?????????????

D. Aunt Polly’s idea.

4.Which of the following is the most suitable title for this passage?

A. The Happy Whitewasher ????????????? ????????????? ????????????? ?????????????

B. Tom And His Fellows

C. Whitewashing A Fence????????????? ????????????? ? ????????????? ????????????? ?????????????

D. How To Make The Things Difficult To Get