Mail was usually carried west on ships that sailed around the bottom of South America and then north to California．That could take several months.  
So, in eighteen fifty-seven, D.C．Lawmakers in Congress（国会） in Washington wanted to make it possible to send mail all the way across the United States by land．Congress offered to help any company that would try to deliver mail overland to the West Coast. A man named John Butterfield accepted this offer. He developed plans for a company that would carry the mail—and passengers, too.
Congress gave John Butterfield six hundred thousand dollars to start his company. In return, he had to promise that the mail would travel from Saint Louis, Missouri, to San Francisco, California, in twenty-five days or less.
It was not possible to travel straight through because of the Rocky Mountains and the deep snow that fell in winter. So the stagecoach（马车） would travel south from Saint Louis to El Paso, Texas, then over to southern California, then north to San Francisco. The distance was about four thousand five hundred kilometers.
Two hundred of these stations were built, each about thirty-two kilometers apart. The workers were to quickly change the horses or mules whenever a stagecoach reached the station. There could be no delay. Each stagecoach was to travel nearly two hundred kilometers a day.
One hundred stagecoaches were built and painted red or dark green. They were the most modern coaches that money could buy. They were designed to hold as many as nine passengers and twelve thousand pieces of mail. The seats inside could be folded down to make beds. Passengers either slept on them or on the bags of mail.
The cost would be one hundred fifty dollars to travel from Saint Louis to San Francisco. If a passenger was not going all the way, the cost was about ten cents a kilometer. The passengers had to buy their own food at the stations. The stagecoach would stop for forty minutes, two times a day.
The company warned passengers about the possible dangers. A poster said: “You will be traveling through Indian country and the safety of your person cannot by granted by anyone but God.”
1．What is the passage mainly about?
A．Different ways of sending mail in the United States.
B．The difficulty in sending mails across the USA by land.
C．The first stagecoaches that carried both passengers and mail.
D．The history of the first stagecoaches carrying mail to the American West.
2．The reason why Lawmakers wanted to send mail by land was that ________.
A．mail was usually carried west on ships  
B．it was safer to travel to send mail by land
C．it would take less time to send mail by land
D．stagecoaches could carry passengers and mail
3．As is described in the passage, the stagecoach ________.
A．could only stop once a day           
B．was modern with seats ,beds and cooking equipment
C．was a closed wagon operated only by skillful drivers.
D．had different horses or mules pulled all the way
4．What can we learn from the passage?
A．John Buttterfield got thousands of dollars for delivering mail in stagecoaches.
B．John Buttterfield kept his promise to deliver mail straight to the West Coast.
C．Passengers might be robbed by Indians when traveling through the West.
D．Passengers needed to pay one hundred dollars for their journey. 

It was early morning. Peter Corbett helped Mark Wellman out of his wheelchair and onto the ground. They stood before El Capitan, a huge mass of rock almost three-quarters of a mile high in California's beautiful Yosemite Valley. It had been Mark's dream to climb El Capitan for as long as he could remember. But how could a person without the use of his legs hope to try to climb it?
Mark knew he couldn't finish the climb alone, but his friend Peter, an expert rock climber, would be there to lend a helping hand. He and Mark thought that it would take seven days to reach the top.
Peter climbed about 100 feet up and hammered a piton (岩钉) into the rock. Fastening one end of a 165-foot rope to the piton, he let one end of the rope fall down. Mark caught the rope and fastened it to his belt with a special instrument. This instrument would allow Mark to move upward, but would prevent him from falling even as much as a single inch. He next reached above his head and fastened a T-shaped bar to the rope, using the same kind of instrument.
Mark took a deep breath, pushed the T-bar up almost as far as his arms could reach, and began the first of the 7,000 pull-ups needed to reach the top. High above, Peter let out a cheer. “You're on your way.”
Seven years before, at the age of twenty-one, he had fallen while mountain climbing, injuring his backbone. The fall cost him the use of his legs, but he never lost his love of adventure or his joyful spirit.
For the first four days the two men progressed steadily upward without incident. But on the fifth day an unbearably hot wind began to blow, and as time went by, it became stronger and stronger, causing Mark to sway (摇摆) violently on his rope. But Mark kept on determinedly pushing up the T-bar and pulling himself up. In spite of that, he had to admit that he felt a lot better when the wind finally died down and his body touched solid rock again.
It took them one day more than they had expected, but on July 26 at 1:45 in the afternoon, the crowd of people waiting on the top went wild with joy as the two heads appeared. Mark Wellman had shown that if you set your heart and mind on a goal, no wall is too high, no dream impossible.
【小题1】What had Mark Wellman long desired to do?

I fell in love with Yosemite National Park the first time I saw it, when I was 13 . My parents took us there for camping. On the way out, I asked them to wait while I ran up to EL Capitan, a  36  rock of 3,300 feet straight up. I touched that giant rock and knew  37  I wanted to climb it. That has been my life’s passion ever since— 38  the rocks and mountains of Yosemite. I’ve long made Yosemite my  39 .
About 15 years ago I started seeing a lot of  40 , like toilet paper, beer cans, and empty boxes, around the area. It’s  41  me why visitors started respecting the place 42  and treated such a beautiful home-like place this way.
I tried  43 trash myself, but the job was too big. I would  44  an hour or two on the job, only to find the area trashed all over again weeks later. Finally, I got so  45  it that I decided something had to change.
As a rock-climbing guide, I knew  46  about organizing any big event. But in 2004, together with some climbers, I set a date for a  47 . On that day, more than 300 people  48 . Over three days we collected about 6,000 pounds of trash. It was amazing how much we were able to  49 . I couldn’t believe the  50  we made —the park looked clean!
Each year volunteers come for the cleanup from everywhere. In 2007 alone, 2,945 people picked up 42,330 pounds of trash and  51  132 miles of roadway.
I often hear people  52  about their surroundings. If you are one of them, I would say the only way to change things is by  53  rather than complaining. We need to teach by  54 . You can’t blame others  55  you start with yourself.

I fell in love with Yosemite National Park the first time I saw it, when I was 13 . My parents took us there for camping. On the way out, I asked them to wait while I ran up to EL Capitan, a  36  rock of 3,300 feet straight up. I touched that giant rock and knew  37  I wanted to climb it. That has been my life’s passion ever since— 38  the rocks and mountains of Yosemite. I’ve long made Yosemite my  39 .

About 15 years ago I started seeing a lot of  40 , like toilet paper, beer cans, and empty boxes, around the area. It’s  41  me why visitors started respecting the place 42  and treated such a beautiful home-like place this way.

I tried  43 trash myself, but the job was too big. I would  44  an hour or two on the job, only to find the area trashed all over again weeks later. Finally, I got so  45  it that I decided something had to change.

As a rock-climbing guide, I knew  46  about organizing any big event. But in 2004, together with some climbers, I set a date for a  47 . On that day, more than 300 people  48 . Over three days we collected about 6,000 pounds of trash. It was amazing how much we were able to  49 . I couldn’t believe the  50  we made —the park looked clean!

Each year volunteers come for the cleanup from everywhere. In 2007 alone, 2,945 people picked up 42,330 pounds of trash and  51  132 miles of roadway.

I often hear people  52  about their surroundings. If you are one of them, I would say the only way to change things is by  53  rather than complaining. We need to teach by  54 . You can’t blame others  55  you start with yourself.

1.                A．narrow         B．loose           C．distant   D．huge

2.                A．gradually       B．recently        C．immediately   D．finally

3.                A．describing      B．climbing        C．imagining D．painting

4.                A．lab            B．palace          C．garden   D．home

5.                A．waste          B．goods          C．material  D．resources

6.                A．over           B．within          C．beyond   D．against

7.                A．less            B．least           C．more D．most

8.                A．breaking down   B．digging out      C．throwing away D．picking up

9.                A．wait           B．spend          C．kill  D．save

10.               A．tired of         B．used to         C．satisfied with   D．delighted in

11.               A．everything      B．nothing         C．something D．anything

12.               A．picnic          B．concert        C．cleanup   D．party

13.               A．looked around   B．called back      C．dropped out    D．showed up

14.               A．accomplish      B．overcome       C．demand   D．receive

15.               A．contact         B．difference      C．plan  D．visit

16.               A．covered        B．designed       C．crossed   D．measured

17.               A．argue          B．quarrel         C．talk   D．complain

18.               A．questioning     B．watching        C．doing D．thinking

19.               A．example        B．research        C．method   D．explanation

20.               A．when          B．unless          C．although   D．if

It was four o'clock when we left Micatlan,and we traveled quickly until it became almost completely dark.It was our intention to return to our general quarters in Atlacomulco that night.We had a long journey ahead of us,especially because it had been decided there was no way we would try to cross the ravines again at night,since they were considered far too dangerous.Futhermore,an eclipse of the moon was expected,and,in fact,while we were crossing an open field,the moon appeared on the horizon,half in shadow,a rare and beautiful sight.

After a few hours of riding,we suddenly realized that we had lost our way,and worse still,had no way of finding it again.Night had fallen and there was not a single hut in sight,only great plains and mountains and the lowing of distant bulls all around us.We continued on ahead,trusting in luck,though it was difficult to say where she had brought us.By good fortune,our advance riders ran into two Indians,a man and a boy,who agreed to guide us their village and no further.

After an interminable and exhausting road,which we traveled at a brisk trot,the barking of several dogs announced an Indian village.In the dying light,we could just make out cane huts,firmly situated between the banana trees,with fenced gardens in front of each one.Our convoy stopped in front of one particular hut,a kind of inn or shop for alcohol,where a naked goblin-like figure,the ideal husband for a witch,was serving cheap brandy to the Indians,most of whom were already drunk.

We dismounted and threw ourselves to the ground,too tired to even think.Someone found us,God knows how,a cup of dreadful hot chocolate.We began to realize that we were completely lost,and so it was agreed to give up our attempt to reach Atlacomulco that night.Instead,we should head for the village of “E1 Puente”,where our guides know a Spanish family,made up of several unmarried brothers,who,without any doubt,would be delighted to offer us a safe refuge for the rest of the night.We remounted and began our journey,a little restored after the pause in our journey and the dreadful hot chocolate.

Where did we travel to?

A.El Puente.                                                           B.The cane huts.            C.Atlacomulco.                                                       D.An Indian Village.

When we traveled at night_________.

A.there was a good guide leading us           

B.there was a full moon in the sky

C.we could hardly see anything                  

D.we could see everything around clearly

When we lost our way we believed that_________.

A.we should stay where we were for rescue

B.we should go on to seek after our fortune

C.we should go back where we started

D.we should ask the Indians for help

When we reached the inn-like hut_________.

A.someone served alcohol and hot chocolate at once

B.we had a good sleep

C.we had a good drink

D.we were too exhausted to ask for anything