The Sahara Festival is a celebration of the very recent past. The three-day event is not fixed to the same dates each year, but generally takes place in November or December. It is well attended by tourists, but even better attended by locals.

    During the opening ceremonies（仪式）, after the official greetings from the government leaders, people who attend the festival begin to march smartly before the viewing stands, and white camels （骆驼）transport their riders across the sands. Horsemen from different nations display their beautiful clothes and their fine horsemanship. One following another, groups of musicians and dancers from all over the Sahara take their turn to show off their wonderful traditional culture. Groups of men in blue and yellow play horns and beat drums as they dance in different designs（传统文化）. On their knees in the sand, a group of women in long dark dresses dance with their hair: their long, dark, shiny hair is thrown back and forth in the wind to the rhythm of their dance.

    The local and visiting Italian dogs are anxious to run after hares. The crowd is on its feet for the camel races. Camels and riders run far into the distance, and then return to the finish Line in front of the cheering people.

    Towards the evening, there comes the grand finale of the opening day, an extremely exciting horserace. All the riders run very fast on horseback. Some riders hang off the side of their saddles. Some even ride upside down -- their legs and feet straight up in the air -- all at full speed. Others rush down the course together, men arm in arm, on different horses. On and on they went. So fast and so wonderful!

64. The Sahara Festival is a festival which________.

A. has a very long history in North Africa          

B. is held in the same place on the same day

C. is attended mainly by the people in the Sahara

D. is celebrated mostly by travelers from different countries

65. Before the races begin, ________ take part in the activities during the opening ceremonies.

A. musicians, dancers, horses and hares                  B. camel riders, musicians, dogs and hares

C. horsemen, dancers, camels and dogs               D. musicians, officials, camels and horses

66. The underlined word "finale" in the fourth paragraph most probably means the ________of the opening day.

A. first part         B. middle          C. last part          D. whole

67. This passage mainly tells readers_______.

A. what happens on the opening day of the Sahara Festival

B. how people celebrate during the three-day Sahara Festival

C. what takes place at the closing ceremonies of the Sahara Festival

D. how animals race on the first and the last days of the Sahara Festival

The Sahara Festival is a celebration of the very recent past. The three-day event is not fixed to the same dates each year, but generally takes place in November or December. It is well attended by tourists, but even better attended by locals.
During the opening ceremonies, after the official greetings from the government leaders, people who attend the festival begin to march smartly before the viewing stands, and white camels transport their riders across the sands. Horsemen from different nations display their beautiful clothes and their fine horsemanship. One following another, groups of musicians and dancers from all over the Sahara take their turn to show off their wonderful traditional culture. Groups of men in blue and yellow play horns and beat drums as they dance in different designs. On their knees in the sand, a group of women in long dark dresses dance with their hair: their long, dark, shiny hair is thrown back and forth in the wind to the rhythm of their dance.
The local and visiting Italian dogs are anxious to run after hares. The crowd is on its feet for the camel races. Camels and riders run far into the distance, and then return to the finish Line in front of the cheering people.
Towards the evening, there comes the grand finale of the opening day, an extremely exciting horserace. All the riders run very fast on horseback. Some riders hang off the side of their saddles. Some even ride upside down -- their legs and feet straight up in the air -- all at full speed. Others rush down the course together, men arm in arm, on different horses. On and on they went. SO fast and so wonderful!

1. 1.

   The Sahara Festival is a festival which________.

   1. A.
      has a very long history in North Africa
   2. B.
      is held in the same place on the same day
   3. C.
      is attended mainly by the people in the Sahara
   4. D.
      is celebrated mostly by travelers from different countries
2. 2.

   Before the races begin, ________ take part in the activities during the opening ceremonies.

   1. A.
      musicians, dancers, horses and hares
   2. B.
      camel riders, musicians, dogs and hares
   3. C.
      horsemen, dancers, camels and dogs
   4. D.
      musicians, officials, camels and horses
3. 3.

   The underlined word "finale" in the fourth paragraph most probably means the _______of the opening day.

   1. A.
      first part
   2. B.
      middle
   3. C.
      last part
   4. D.
      whole
4. 4.

   This passage mainly tells readers_______.

   1. A.
      what happens on the opening day of the Sahara Festival
   2. B.
      how people celebrate during the three-day Sahara Festival
   3. C.
      what takes place at the closing ceremonies of the Sahara Festival
   4. D.
      how animals race on the first and the last days of the Sahara Festival

Passage Nine(Holmes’ Knowledge)
His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing. Upon my quoting Thomas Carlyle, he inquired in the naivest way who he might be and what he had done. My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar system.
“You appear to be astonished, ” Holmes said, smiling at my expression. “Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it. You see, I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose: A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has difficulty in laying his hand upon it. It is a mistake to think that the little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it, there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you know before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.”
“But the Solar System! ” I protested.
“What the deuce is it to me?” he interrupted impatiently.
One morning, I picked up a magazine from the table and attempted to while away the time with it, while my companion munched silently at his toast. One of the articles had a pencil mark at the heading, and I naturally began to run my eye through it.
Its somewhat ambitious title was “The Book of Life, ” and it attempted to show how much an observant man might learn by an accurate and systematic examination of all that came in his way. It struck me as being a remarkable mixture of shrewdness and of absurdity. The reasoning was close and intense, but the deduction appeared to me to be far-fetched and exaggerated. The writer claimed by a momentary expression, a twitch of a muscle or a glance of an eye, to fathom a man’s inmost thought. Deceit, according to him, was impossibility in the case of one trained to observation and analysis. His conclusions were as infallible as so many propositions of Euclid. So startling would his results appear to the uninitiated that until they learned the processes by which he had arrived at them they might well consider him as a necromancer.
“From a drop of water, ”said the writer, “a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic. So all life is a great chain, the nature of which is known whenever we are shown a single link of it. Like all other arts, the science of Deduction and Analysis is one which can be acquired by long and patient study, nor is life long enough to allow any mortal to attain the highest possible perfection in it. ”
This smartly written piece of theory I could not accept until a succession of evidences justified it.
1.What is the author’s attitude toward Holmes?
[A]Praising.        B.Critical.            [C]Ironical.             [D]Distaste.
2.What way did the author take to stick out Holmes’ uniqueness?
[A]By deduction.       B.By explanation.         [C]By contrast.          [D]By analysis.
3.What was the Holmes’ idea about knowledge-learning?
[A]Learning what every body learned.
B.Learning what was useful to you.
[C]Learning whatever you came across.
[D]Learning what was different to you.
4.What did the article mentioned in the passage talk about?
[A]One may master the way of reasoning through observation.
B.One may become rather critical through observation and analysis.
[C]One may become rather sharp through observation and analysis.
[D]One may become practical through observation and analysis.

On Sundays my father always wore that gray apron（围裙）?the one with the race cars all over it．    21 _breakfast Dad always announced: "Go ahead everyone．I'll   22  the dishes!"

I suppose it was  23  for a boy's father to wear an apron? even one with race cars?  24  I never thought much of it until the last Sunday in August．As we  25   home slowly from church together, my father seemed very  26  ．"Tommy," he said letting my name roll off his   27  ．"There comes a time in every boy's  28  when he must take on responsibilities．It's time you 29  a greater role in the family．From now on, I want you to__30__the dishes on Sunday morning, so your mother and I can work the crossword puzzle（纵横字谜）together．"

"The dishes!?" I  31 in surprise．

"Anything wrong with taking over the dishes, son?" father said．

I started to say something about a man's  32  or woman's work, but I knew immediately that my protests（抗议）would be 33 .

I didn't taste a bit of 34  that morning．Dad seemed joyful as he described an American game．

At the end of the meal, my father   35  : "Let's go read the paper, Honey．" "Aren't you doing the dishes?" my   36  asked surprisedly．Father smiled and said, "your oldest son has 37  to fill the position．"

"I want you to have this apron on, Tommy．It'll keep your clothes from getting 38  ．" And before I could go against it, he had put the thing on me．"Thanks, Son．Your mother and I 39  this．"

With that he disappeared into the Sunday paper．I looked 40  at the dishes．I could see my dad reaching for the dishes．He was always happy to help the family．My anger soon flew off and I began to sing．

1.                A．Until           B．During          C．Before   D．After

2.                A．keep up        B．take care of      C．look for   D．turn over

3.                A．important       B．natural         C．strange   D．exciting

4.                A．but            B．so             C．because  D．when

5.                A．rushed         B．hurried         C．walked   D．danced

6.                A．happy          B．angry          C．sad  D．mad

7.                A．eyes           B．tongue         C．ears D．hands

8.                A．death          B．school          C．work D．life

9.                A．made          B．played          C．did D．carried

10.               A．do            B．buy            C．break D．set

11.               A．smiled         B．laughed        C．whispered D．screamed

12.               A．game          B．joy            C．job   D．feeling

13.               A．turned down    B．turned to       C．turned up  D．turned off

14.               A．breakfast       B．lunch          C．supper    D．juice

15.               A．ordered        B．announced      C．demanded     D．chatted

16.               A．brother        B．sister          C．mother    D．friend

17.               A．started         B．gone           C．managed  D．offered

18.               A．cold           B．warm          C．dry   D．wet

19.               A．hate           B．scold          C．appreciate D．require

20.               A．up            B．down          C．out   D．on

There is no question that teenagers need rules, which is often not a difficult thing for parents to give. What can be more challenging is giving teenagers their freedom. It can be difficult to draw the line between the two. However, some issues cannot be changed by discussion and require firm rules. For instance, rules should be established concerning driving the family car.
I will admit that I have no problem coming up with rules. To me they make life easier and they leave no room for questioning. What can be more difficult, however, is giving my teens their freedom. I guess there are really two primary reasons for this. One is that I sometimes am afraid to give them freedom. The second is that I’m not always so sure what the freedom should be.
It helps that I have a husband with whom I can discuss these problems. We talk about them, give our thoughts and then we come up with an agreement. Sometimes one of us might be more unwilling but we know that there comes a time when we really do have to learn how to let go of the reins (缰绳) a bit.
If we try to make life have nothing but rules, we are more likely to see our teen’s rebelling (反抗). They need to know that while we do have certain expectations, we also trust them to begin making their own choices and decisions. How else can they do that unless they are given the space and room to do it?
It’s really all about balance and I will be the first to admit that it can be a challenge to carry out. However, it is a necessary part of growing up. Yes, teens definitely need rules but they also need freedom.
【小题1】According to the text, we can infer that the writer________.