One August afternoon, Richard Allen dropped off his last passenger, Mrs. Carey. Lifting two grocery bags, he followed her across the yard and stood on the step of her house. Glancing up, he saw a large wasp（黄蜂）nest under the roof. Allen had heard that wasps can become more likely to sting（sting, stung, stung蜇）in summer. He mentioned this to Mrs. Carey, who had opened the door.
“Oh, they don’t bother me,” she said lightly. “I go in and out all the time.”
Anxiously, Allen looked at the nest again-to see the wasps flying straight at him. “Hurry!” he shouted to Mrs. Carey. “Get in!”
She stepped quickly inside. Allen ran for his mini-bus. Too late; they were upon him. Just as he jumped aboard, half a dozen red spots showed on his arm, and he felt more on his back and shoulders.
As he was driving down the road, Allen felt as if something was burning at the back of his neck, and the “fire” was spreading forward toward his face. An immediate anxiety took hold of him. Allen knew that stings could cause some persons to die. But he had been stung the previous summer and the after-effects soon passed. However, what he didn’t know was that the first sting had turned his body into a time bomb waiting for the next to set off an explosion.
Miles from the nearest medical assistance, Allen began to feel his tongue thick and heavy and his heartbeat louder. Most frightening, he felt his breathing more and more difficult. He reached for the radio mike（话筒）,trying to call the mini-bus center, but his words were hardly understandable. Signals were also poor that far out. He knew a rescue team was on 24-hour duty at the Amherst Fire Department’s north station. So his best chance was to make a run for it.
Rushing down the mountain, Allen tried not to panic, focusing his mind on each sharp turn. He was almost through the last of them when he felt sure he was going into shock（休克）.Just then he reached for the radio mike again.
“Call fire station,” he shouted, concentrating to form the words. “Emergency. Bee sting. Emergency. There in ten minutes.”
“Five-ten,” the center replied.
Hold on, Allen thought. Keep your eyes open. Breathe. Keep awake.
At last he reached the station. Two firemen ran out. Allen felt their hands grasp him before he hit the ground. You made it, he thought.
【小题1】It is mentioned in the passage that wasps are more likely to attack when_____.
A. there are huge noises
　　B. strangers are approaching
　　C. the hottest season comes around
D the air is filled with food smell
【小题2】Allen didn’t know that if stung by wasps again, he would______.

A．have no after-effects

B．suffer from sharper pain

C．become more sensitive

D．surely lose his life

【小题3】Allen failed at his first attempt to send his message to the mini-bus center because _______.

A．he was in a state of shock

B．his radio equipment was poor

C．he was unable to speak clearly

D．no one was on duty

【小题4】Which would be the best title for the passage？

A．A Race Against Death

B．Wasps, Bloody Killers

C．Allen, A Helpless Driver

D．War Against Wasps

The rise of multinational corporations （跨国公司）, global marketing, new communications technologies, and shrinking cultural differences have led to an unparalleled increase in global public relations or PR．
　　Surprisingly, since modern PR was largely an American invention, America’s relations is being threatened by PR efforts in other countries． Ten years ago, for example, the world’s top five public relations agencies were American-owned． In 1991, only one was． The British in particular are becoming more sophisticated and creative． A recent survey found that more than half of all British companies include PR as part of their corporate （公司的） planning activities, compared to about one-third of U．S． companies． It may not be long before London replaces New York as the capital of PR．
　　Why is America lagging behind in the global PR race? First, Americans as a whole tend to be fairly provincial and take more of an interest in local affairs． Knowledge of world geography, for example, has never been strong in this country． Secondly, Americans lag behind their European and Asian counterparts （相对应的人） in knowing a second language． Less than 5 percent of Burson—Marshall’s U．S．employees know two languages． Ogilvy and Mather have about the same percentage． Conversely, some European firms have half or more of their employees fluent in a second language． Finally, people involved in PR abroad tend to keep a closer eye on international affairs． In the financial PR area, for instance, most Americans read the Wall Street Journal． Overseas, their counterparts read the Journal as well as the Financial Times of London and The Economist, publications not often read in this country．
Perhaps the PR industry might take a lesson from Ted Turner of CNN （Cable News Network）． Turner recently announced that the word “foreign” would no longer be used on CNN news broadcasts． According to Turner, global communications have made the nations of the world so interdependent that there is no longer any such thing as foreign．
【小题1】Compared with the American PR personnel, what is/are an advantage（s） of the non-Americans involved in PR?
A． They tend to be more internationally minded
B． They speak more and better foreign languages．
C． They usually pay more attention to global financial situation．
D． Both A and B．
【小题2】What is the immediate cause of the downfall of America’s public relations?

A．The number of US public relations agencies had greatly decreased by 1991．

B．Other countries have increased their efforts in public relations．

C．On the global scale, cultural differences have significantly shrunk．

D．The British companies are becoming especially sophisticated and creative in public relations．

【小题3】It could be inferred that the author of the passage is______．

A．an American	B．a Briton
C．Ted Turner	D．an Asian

【小题4】The underlined word “provincial” in paragraph 3 could possibly mean “     ”．

A．strict in thinking	B．like people from rural areas
C．limited in outlook	D．interested in geographical knowledge

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从下列各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

I was in a department store with my mom, aunt, and my sister a few days ago.   61  , I am one of those people who do not like to go shopping with my family. However, I decided this time to   62   them.

My aunt and I were   63  for some things to buy for our family when I noticed two   64  on the side. One of them had a little girl sitting on it with her  65  nearby and the other one was  66  . So, I decided to sit down. While I was   67  my own thing there, I  68  that the family were not in front of the   69  anymore. I saw the girl  70  and look around for her family. She came back and I saw her in  71  , crying.

I knew that she  72  her family and was all by herself . Now, I am sure that almost everybody has been lost in a department store or   73  big before and we all know that feeling.   74  I went up to her and asked what was   75  and in between tears she told me she was lost. I   76  her a smile card I just bought. You should have seen the  77   on her face when she read it. Then I went up to customer service center and  78  them what happened. People there promised to  79  her. After I left, the little girl’s parents went there and I could see them looking around for the person who had found their daughter and given her the   80  . Little did they know it was a regular teenager who did it.

1.A．Luckily                 B．Usually             C．Sadly                  D．Surprisingly

2.A．help                B．encourage          C．join                   D．support

3.A．answering             B．looking           C．preparing               D．calling

4.A．chairs                 B．children            C．signs              D．toys

5.A．friends                B．book              C．family           D．bags

6.A．clean                B．large              C．empty            D．beautiful

7.A．studying             B．carrying          C．buying           D．doing

8.A．noticed                B．believed         C．doubted        D．understood

9.A．shop                   B．gift              C．girl             D．lady

10.A．get up              B．come up           C．give up          D．make up

11.A．return               B．detail              C．vain                   D．tears

12.A．hated               B．raised            C．lost               D．lived

13.A．somewhere         B．something         C．everywhere        D．everything

14.A．If                   B．As                C．So                     D．Or

15.A．important           B．wrong            C．strange           D．different

16.A．lent                B．gave             C．sent             D．posted

17.A．smile               B．hope             C．puzzle           D．worry

18.A．reminded             B．warned            C．asked                    D．told

19.A．look out for          B．take care of       C．wait for                D．call up

20.A．courage             B．money            C．explanation       D．card

 

If I raised the question, “What would be the last thing you would expect to happen while watching your son’s flag football game?” you probably still couldn’t come up with what happened to me and my family.
As we were sitting on the sidelines enjoying the game, a low-flying bird came swooping in attempting to land on my daughter’s head! It honestly came out of nowhere. We were seated by ourselves on the tree lined side of the field. I was able to calm my daughter’s shock and fear once I showed her that the bird was not some wild animal, it was in fact, somebody’s pet!
Now, we’re sitting at the outdoor fields of the Pontiac Silverdome, far from any populated area, wondering where this very social cockatiel, an Australian parrot (澳洲鹦鹉) could have come from. I walked up to the bird and put out my hand. Immediately, it hopped on and chirped in a friendly way. We looked around us and knew that we could not just leave and suppose that the bird would return to where it came from. This was a very domesticated bird that needed help or it would not survive.
The flag football game had ended so we walked the bird over to other groups of adults and asked if they knew of anyone who had lost a bird. All the kids were excited about the bird and fed it with some post game snacks. The bird’s nails were getting long and he was looking pretty dirty, so we knew it had been out here for a long time and was hungry. Since its wings were clipped, it could fly a little but probably not more than 100 yards or so at a try. We all just scratched our heads as a group wondering what to do with the lost bird.
We explained to the kids that this bird needed our help since it was someone’s pet and would not know how to get its own food, and it could not fly well since its wings were clipped. The kids understood, and all of them wanted to take the bird home! The parents however, knew this was not a good choice as one had a large dog, another two cats, etc. We explained to the kids that one of us could take the bird home for the night and then bring it to the Humane Society in the morning in hopes to connect it to its owners. We couldn’t keep the bird. It wasn’t ours. This was tough for the kids to understand at first. We couldn’t just leave the bird either. There was no way it could attend itself. The group of us sat around the Silverdome practice fields for quite a while trying to determine the best course of choice for the lost bird. It was getting dark out but no one was willing to leave that parking lot until we had a game plan for how to help the bird.
The owner of the football league, Chris Novak, offered to take the bird. It was extremely nice of him and he really stepped in to help while all the rest of us who had kids tugging on our shirts and begging to take it home. We took a box and put a bunch of holes in it and he brought it home for the night. Another mom went online and found a family that had lost a bird that looked just like the one we’d found. She emailed the info to Chris who got in touch with the family and the next day, reunited the bird with the family that lost it almost 3 weeks earlier! When Chris emailed us to let us know, we could not believe that this bird had traveled from The Rochester Tienken area all the way to the Silverdome!
We were so happy to be able to save this bird and get it back to its family. I showed my kids the email about how the other family got their pet back. The family has 3 kids who were so happy to see their bird. My kids realized what a nice ending this story had. Not only had we been able to save this bird’s life, but we were able to bring it back to the family that loves and misses him.
The life lesson in the missing bird story seemed to miss its mark with my kids at first. They were a little bummed out that they couldn’t keep the lost bird. I explained to them that when an animal or someone needs help, you just can’t turn a blind eye and hope everything works out OK. The “lost bird incident” was also a reminder to them that teamwork and the kindness of strangers can make a world of difference and that a group of well-meaning strangers can work together to help someone. It wasn’t a heroic act, but one that I knew had sunk in with my kids when they realized that trying to help was the best and only real course of action. 　
【小题1】What happened when the author watched his son’s football games?

A．A parrot tried to eat their food.

B．His daughter was hurt by a parrot.

C．A parrot flew towards his daughter.

D．A parrot landed on his daughter’s head.

【小题2】The underlined word “domesticated” in the second paragraph probably means_______.

A．having been abandoned	B．having been used to home life
C．having been used to life in the wild	D．having been week and hungry

【小题3】Who was the first one to find the bird’s owner?

A．The author	B．Chris Novak
C．The Humane Society	D．A participant’s mother

【小题4】What can be learned from the “lost bird incident”?

A．Strangers can also work well together.

B．Humane Society helps children in teamwork.

C．Children can keep lost injured pet birds home.

D．Helping others is always regarded as a heroic act.

【小题5】What did the author want to tell in the text?

A．How to help a lost parrot to find home.

B．The experience of watching a football games.

C．The importance of teamwork and helping others.

D．How a parrot can fly a long distance from home.

【小题6】The best title of the text should be________. 

A．What Animals Can Teach Us

B．Complete Care for a Lost Bird

C．Life Lessons When You Least Expect It

D．Love First, Teamwork and Kindness Second

 In the United States, it is important to be on time , or punctual , for an appointment , a class, a meeting, etc. However, this may not be true in all countries. An American professor discovered the difference while teaching a class in a Brazilian（巴西的） university. The two-hour class was scheduled to begin at 10 A.M. and end at 12. On the first day , when the professor arrived on time, no one was in the classroom. Many students came after 10:30 A.M. Two students came after 11 A.M. Although all the students greeted the professor as they arrived, few apologized(道歉)for their lateness．Were these students being rude? He decided to study the students’ behavior.

    The professor talked to American and Brazilian students about lateness in both an informal and a formal situation：at a lunch with a friend and in a university class, respectively．He gave them an example and asked them how they would react, If they had a lunch appointment with a friend，the average American student defined lateness as 19 minutes after the agreed time，On the other hand．the average Brazilian student felt the friend was late after 33 minutes．

    In an American university, students are expected to arrive at the appointed hour．In contrast, in Brazil，neither the teacher nor the students always arrive at the appointed hour．Classes not only begin at the scheduled time in the United States，but also end at the scheduled time．In the Brazilian class, only a few students left the class at 12：00；many remained past 12：30 to discuss the class and ask more questions．While arriving late may not be very important in Brazil , neither is staying late．

36. The word‘punctual’most probably means________.

    A．1eaving soon after class      B．coming early

    C．arriving a few minutes late    D．being on time

37. Why did the professor study the Brazilian students’behavior?   

A．He felt puzzled at the students’ being late．  

B．He felt angry at the students' rudeness．

C．He wanted to make the students come on time later．

D．He wanted to collect data for one of his studies．

38.  It can be inferred from the professor’s study of lateness in the informal situation that____．

     A．American students will become impatient if their friend is five minutes late

     B．neither Brazilian nor American students like being late in social gatherings

     C．being late in one culture may not be considered so in another culture

     D．Brazilian students will not come thirty-three minutes after the agreed time

39.  From the last paragraph we know that in Brazil____.

A. it is important to arrive at the appointed time

B．it is rude to keep the professor staying after class

      C．it is normal for students to leave during lectures

      D．it is acceptable for professors to be late for class．