Here is a poster on a middle school website. Read the website poster.

       Going, Going, Gone!

       The Haynes Middle School Parent-Teacher Organization invites you to attend our latest fund-raiser, The Fourth Annual Haynes School Auction (拍卖)!

       Saturday, May 10

☆6:00 p.m. ~ 11:00 p.m.

☆In the school hall

       ☆6:00 p.m.~ 6:30 p.m.: All items for auction are previewed.

       ☆6:30 p.m.~ 7:00 p.m.: Silent auction begins.

       ☆7:00 p.m.~ 7:30 p.m.: Highest bidders (出价人) from silent auction are determined.

       ☆7:30 p.m.~ 11:00 p.m.: Main auction begins.

       Items (物品) up for bid in the silent auction vary in value from $ 5.00 to $ 30.00.

       Items up for bid in the main auction include the following:

       ●Airline tickets to a place of your choice

       ●Weekend getaways at first-class hotels

       ●Season tickets to the Chicago Bears football game

       ●$ 50 gift tickets to local gift shops, restaurants, and salons

       Don’t miss the boat! Book your tickets today.

       Last year, tickets were sold out within four days!

       Tickets are sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

       $ 15.00 per person

       All the money from the auction will be given to the Haynes School computer lab.

Which of the following is NOT mentioned as being up for bid at the auction?

       A. A movie pass to the local cinema.        B. A weekend stay at a hotel.

       C. A ticket to a restaurant.                 D. Airline tickets.

The more items that are given or bought for auction, ________.

       A. the less money that will be charged for the tickets to the auction

       B. the more money that can be raised to support the computer lab

       C. the faster the ticket will be sold to the auction

       D. the higher the value that will be placed on the items in the silent auction

Which of the following is most likely to happen at the year’s auction?

       A. The airline tickets will receive higher bids than any other item.

       B. All items up for bid will be sold for at least twice their value.

       C. More money will be raised this year than in any other year before.

       D. Tickets for the event will be sold out in less than one week.

The phrase “first-come, first-served” tells you that ________.

A. people can buy the tickets on the first day only

B. the person who is the first to arrive will receive a ticket at no charge

C. food and drinks will be served at the auction

D. tickets are sold in the order of who arrives first to buy them

My husband and son took a New York-to-Milwaukee flight that was supposed to leave Friday at 11:29 am. The flight boarded after 4 pm and didn’t leave the gate until 4:40, and half an hour later the pilot announced it would be another hour until takeoff. At that point a Jewish family, worried about violating the Sabbath （安息日）, asked to get off. Going back to the gate cost the plane its place in line for takeoff, and the flight was eventually cancelled. Was the airline right to grant that request?

M. W, Norwalk, CONN.

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Situations like that can bring out the worst in people. But despite the increasing resentment（怨恨） of a plane full of people, the pilot tried to do the right thing. He went out of his way to satisfy one family’s urgent need. He should not have done so.

Passengers bought tickets in the belief that the airline’s primary goal was to get them to their destination as close to the schedule as possible. Once they got on the plane and the doors are locked, it’s not correct to announce that the rules have changed and that a personal (as opposed to medical) emergency —no matter how urgent — might take precedence（优先）.

That would be just as true if turning back to the gate had merely cost a few minutes rather than doomed the flight entirely, since on a plane, even a slight delay can spread outward, from the people in the cabin to those meeting them to the passengers waiting to board the plane for the next leg of its journey and so on. It would also be true if the personal emergency were not religious — if someone suddenly realized she’d made a professional mistake that might cost her millions, and she had to race back to the office to fix it.

If a religious practice does nothing to harm others, then airlines should make a reasonable effort to accommodate it. Though that family has every right to observe the Sabbath, it has no right to enlist an airplane full of captive bystanders to help them do so. By boarding a flight on a Friday afternoon, the family knowingly risked running into trouble. The risk was theirs alone to bear.

1.M. W. wrote the letter to ask whether ______.

A．Any religious passenger has the right to ask the pilot to take off

B．The airline has the right to cancel the flight without any reason

C．A flight should meet any passenger’s need despite others’ benefit

D．A plane which has left the gate should give up taking off

2.What do we know from the reply letter?

A．The pilot did the right thing in spite of the fierce resentment.

B．The plane should turn back if anyone aboard is seriously ill.

C．Anybody who has boarded has no chance to get off the plane.

D．Any flight shouldn’t change its schedule no matter what has happened.

3.What does the underlined part in Paragraph 4 mean?

A．Turning back to the gate usually takes a plane quite a long time.

B．Nobody should take precedence to require the plane to turn back to the gate.

C．Even if it had taken a few minutes it was not right to turn back to the gate.

D．It was OK if turning back to the gate hadn’t caused the flight to be cancelled.

4.The author of the reply letter thinks that _________.

A．It’s right for the plane to turn back to the gate to save a passenger’s treasure

B．The Jewish family should give up observing the Sabbath after boarding

C．The biggest problem of turning back is to bring trouble to the pilot

D．The Jewish family had better avoid boarding on Friday afternoon

 

When I stepped out the plane from Miami into Charlotte, North Carolina, airport for a connecting flight home, I immediately knew something was wrong. Lots of desperate people crowded the terminal. I quickly learned that flights headed to the Northeast were called off because of a storm. The earliest they could get us out of Charlotte was Tuesday. It was Friday. A gate agent stood on the counter and shouted, “Don’t ask us for help! We cannot help you!”

I joined a crowd that ran from terminal to terminal in search of a flight out. Eventually, I found six strangers willing to rent a van with me. We drove through the night to Washington, where I took a train the rest of the way to Providence.

The real problem, of course, is that incidents like this happen every day, to everyone who flies, more and more often. It really gets to me, though, because for eight years I was on the other side, as a flight attendant for Trans-World Airlines (TWA).

I know the days are gone when attendants could be written up if we did not put the lines napkins with the TWA logo in the lower right-hand corner of the first-class diners’ trays. As are the days when there were three dinner options on flights from Boston to Los Angeles in economy class. When, once, stuck on a tarmac（机场停机坪）in Newark for four hours, a planeload of passengers got McDonald’s hamburgers and fries by thoughtfulness of the airline. I have experienced the decline of service along with the rest of the flying public. But I believe everything will change little by little, because I remember the days when to fly was to soar (翱翔). The airlines, and their employees, took pride in how their passengers were treated. And I think the days are sure to come back one day in the near future.

1.Many people crowded the terminal because _______.

A. they were ready to board on the planes      

B. something was wrong with the terminal

C. the flights to the Northeast were canceled 

D. the gate agent wouldn’t help the passengers

2. How did the writer get to Providence at last?___

A. by air               B. by van          

C. by train            D. by underground

3.Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?______

A. Incidents happened to those who fly quite often.

B. The writer used to be a flight attendant for Trans-World Airlines.

C. Even a small mistake might cause complaints from passengers in the past.

D. McDonald’s hamburgers and fries were among regular dinner options. 

4.What can be implied from the passage?____

A. The writer lived in Charlotte, North Carolina.

B. The writer thought the service was not as good as it used to be.

C. The writer with other passengers waited to be picked up patiently.

D. Passengers would feel proud of how they were treated on the plane.

 

Our surroundings are being polluted faster than nature and man’s present efforts cannot prevent it. Time is bringing us more people, and more people will bring us more industry, more cars, larger cities, and the growing use of man-made materials.

What can explain and solve this problem? The fact is that pollution is caused by man — by his desire for a modern way of life. We make “increasing industrialization” our chief aim. So we are often ready to offer everything: clean air, pure water, good food, our health and the future of our children. There is a constant flow of people from the countryside into the cities, eager for the benefits of our modern society. But as our technological achievements have grown in the last twenty years, pollution has become a serious problem.

Isn’t it time we stopped to ask ourselves where we are going — and why? It makes one think of the story about the airline pilot who told his passengers over the loudspeaker, “I’ve some good news and some bad news. The good news is that we’re making rapid progress at 530 miles per hour. The bad news is that we’re lost and don’t know where we’re going.” The sad fact is that this becomes a true story when spoken of our modern society.

Man cannot prevent the world from being polluted mainly because ______.

   A. the population of the world is decreasing fast 

   B. people use too many man-made materials

   C. we have more and more industry  

   D. we are producing more cars, trucks and buses

People crowd into the cities because ______.

　 A. they want very much to find well-paid jobs

　 B. they are anxious to enjoy the achievements of our society

   C. they have become tired of their homeland

   D. they have a strong wish to become industrial workers

According to the passage, what does man value most?

   A. Industry.                                       B. Health.   

   C. Clean air.                                 D. The future of the children.

The story about the airline pilot tells us that ______.

   A. man knows where the society is going

   B. people do not welcome the rapid development of modern society

   C. man can do little about the problem of pollution

   D. the writer is worried about the future of our society

What does the writer really want to say in this passage?

   A. With the development of technology, pollution has become a serious problem.

   B. Lower the speed of development to stop pollution.

   C. It’s time we did something to reduce pollution.

   D. As industry is growing fast, pollution is the natural result.

Andy was still traveling in Spain when he realized he had to confirm (确认) his flight home with the airline company (航空公司). He was visiting Spain in order to ___1___ his Spanish. When he was speaking to people ___2___ he had no ___3___ understanding what they said. ___4___, when he was speaking on the phone, he ___5___ had a problem. Andy ___6___ the airline. And the clerk confirmed that his plane was leaving at nine o’clock three days from that day. She ___7___ told Andy to be at the airport two hours ___8___ in order to check in his luggage and get a seat.

Since he was ___9___ in three days, Andy didn’t ___10___ any time. He visited as many places as he could. He thought that it would probably be a while before he had enough money again. He wished he could ___11___ and spend a year in Spain.

Too ___12___, the final day arrived. Andy left early for the airport to arrive two hours before take-off. He hated to ___13___. He went to the clerk to ___14___ his ticket. The clerk looked at the ticket with ___15___. “Why, sir, but your flight was at nine o’clock in the morning, and ___16___ it is eight in the evening.” “But I confirmed my flight,” ___17___ Andy. “Will I have to pay for another ticket?”

“No, sir. However, the next flight out will be three days from now.”

Andy’s ___18___ of shock turned to one of ___19___ as he realized that now he could continue his ___20___.

1. A. prepare  B. improve     C. enjoy  D. learn

2. A. slowly    B. in public    C. in person    D. carefully

3. A. difficulty       B. idea    C. mistake      D. interest

4. A. Instead   B. Therefore   C. Meanwhile D. However

5. A. even      B. just     C. still     D. seldom

6. A. called     B. liked   C. trusted       D. asked

7. A. again     B. also    C. only    D. once

8. A. before    B. earlier C. later    D. after

9. A. moving  B. returning    C. staying       D. leaving

10. A. take     B. have   C. lose    D. find

11. A. wait     B. go home     C. stop    D. come back

12. A. shortly B. quickly      C. badly  D. early

13. A. speak   B. go      C. rush    D. delay

14. A. buy      B. present       C. order  D. provide

15. A. astonishment B. patience    C. respect       D. delight

16. A. maybe  B. so       C. here    D. now

17. A. insisted B. apologized  C. replied       D. demanded

18. A. experience   B. expression  C. look    D. face

19. A. pleasure       B. comfort      C. sadness       D. hopelessness

20. A. plan     B. flight  C. journey      D. vacation