Driving to a friend’s house on a recent evening, I was struck by the sight of the full moon rising just above my friend’s rooftops, huge and round, yellow through the dust and smoke of the city. I stopped to watch it for a few moments, thinking what a pity it was that most city livers---myself included---usually miss sights like this because we spend most of our lives indoors.

My friend had also seen it. He grew up living in a forest in Europe, and the moon meant a lot to him then. It had touched much of his life.

I know the feeling. Last December I took my seven-year-old daughter to the mountainous jungle of northern India with some friends. We stayed in a forest rest house with no electricity or hot water. Our group had campfires outside every night, and indoors when it was too cold outside. The moon grew to its fullest during our trip. Between me and the high mountains lay three or four valleys. Not a light shone in them and not a sound could be heard. It was one of the quietest places I have ever known, a bottomless well of silence. And above me was the full moon.

Today our lives are connected with glass, metal, plastic and fiber-glass. We eat and breathe things our bodies were not designed to process. We have televisions, cell phones, pagers, electricity, heaters, air-conditioners, cars and computers. White noise and pollution is in the air. Radio waves and strange lights are constantly disturbing our minds and bodies.

Struggling through traffic that evening at the end of a tiring day, most of it spent indoors, I saw the moon and remembered these things. And I thought: before long, I would like to live in a small cottage. There I will grow vegetables and read books and walk in the mountains and perhaps write. I may grow old there. But I will be able to walk outside on a cold silent night and touch the moon.

What was the author’s pity in this passage?

A. Most people living in the city failed to see the beautiful moon.

B. There was too much pollution in the city.

C. There were too many modern inventions.

D. There was too much traffic on the road.

What attracted the author most according to the passage?

A. The mountainous jungle of India.           B. The fullest moon.

C. The high mountains in India.                  D. All kinds of modern inventions.

The author longs for ________.

A. Camping outside at night                     B. Returning to the nature

C. Writing books                                     D. Watching the moon

The main idea of this passage probably is “________”.

A. Disadvantage of Living in Cities

B. The Pleasure of Being out at Night

C. Touched by the Moon                    

D. Pollution Caused by Modern Technology

Napoleon Bonaparte died on May 5, 1821, on the island of St. Helena off the coast of Africa. He was 51 years old at the time. When doctors examined Napoleon’s body, they said that the former emperor of France had died from cancer of the stomach. That was the cause of death recorded in the official report. However, other doctors disagreed. One doctor who was present during the examination of the body said that Napoleon died of hepatitis. Other historians and medical experts have suggested that Napoleon died of syphilis, tuberculosis, or perhaps malaria. Now, after careful research, a British chemist thinks that Napoleon might have been poisoned -- not by a person, but by his wallpaper.
Napoleon was sent to the island of St. Helena in 1815 after he lost the battle of Waterloo. He was a prisoner on the island. Although he had servants to attend to him, he had to live in one small building. St. Helena is a very wet island, so the walls of the building were always covered with mold. Napoleon became ill from spending too much time inside his house. Almost constantly he had a fever, chills, and felt sick to his stomach. He often felt pain in his shoulders and in his side. His skin turned yellow. He got frequent headaches, and he would become dizzy and vomit(吐). None of the medicine that the doctors gave Napoleon seemed to help. They were not sure what was the matter. Finally, Napoleon was too weak to leave the house. One night, while he was sleeping, he went into a coma and died.
Many doctors who later reviewed the reports of Napoleon’s illness found that the symptoms(症状) did not show a man who suffered from stomach cancer. It seemed obvious that Napoleon had died from some other cause. In 1961, a Swedish doctor examined some of Napoleon’s hair and found a high level of arsenic, a chemical poison. Was Napoleon murdered? It is doubtful. Arsenic was used in many types of medicine during Napoleon’s time, so he might have taken the arsenic as a cure for his illness. Then, in 1982, Dr. David Jones from England began to look into the mystery and suggested that Napoleon might have breathed in arsenic which was in the air of his house. In the 1700s and 1800s, arsenic was used to make a kind of green paint used on cloth and wallpaper. If the paint was used on a wet wall, the arsenic would go into the air. A person in the room might breathe that air. After studying the wallpaper in the room where Napoleon died, Dr. Jones found high levels of arsenic in the green paint on the walls.
【小题1】Why did Napoleon live on St. Helena?

About ten years ago when I was an undergraduate in college in New York, I was working as a practice student at my University's Museum of Natural History. One day while I was working at the cash register in the gift shop, I saw an elderly couple come in with a little girl in wheelchair.
As I looked closer at this girl, I saw that she was seated on her chair. I then realized she had no arms or legs, just a head, neck and the trunk of the human body. She was wearing a little white dress with the patterns of red roses and yellow dots.
As the couple wheeled her up to me I was looking down at the register. I turned my head toward the girl and gave her a wink(眨眼示意). As I took the money from her grandparents, I looked back at the girl, who was giving me the most beautiful, largest smile I have ever seen
All of a sudden her handicap was gone and all I saw was this beautiful girl, whose smile just melted me and almost instantly gave me a completely new sense of what life is all about. I immediately felt full of hope and confidence. She took me, a poor, unhappy college student, into her world, a world of smiles, love and warmth.               
That was ten years ago, but I still remember it clearly as if it happened just yesterday. I'm a successful business person now and whenever I get down and think about the troubles of the world, I think about that little girl and the remarkable lesson about life that she taught me.

1. 1.

   What was the writer a decade ago?

   1. A.
      A worker working in a university.
   2. B.
      A teacher teaching in a college.
   3. C.
      A clerk working in a museum.
   4. D.
      A university student who had not yet taken a degree.
2. 2.

   What does the underlined world “handicap” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

   1. A.
      Life difficulty.
   2. B.
      Troublesome problem.
   3. C.
      Failure in work.
   4. D.
      Physical disability.
3. 3.

   How did the writer probably feel before meeting the disabled girl?

   1. A.
      She felt full of hope.
   2. B.
      She was filled with confidence.
   3. C.
      She felt unhappy because of poverty.
   4. D.
      She felt life was beautiful.
4. 4.

   Which of the following title suits this passage best?

   1. A.
      A Disabled Girl.
   2. B.
      A Disabled Girl’s Smile.
   3. C.
      Full of Hope.
   4. D.
      Full of Confidence.

The summer I was ten, my mother decided to bring us to the world of art. My brother and I were not very excited when we realized what my mother meant. What she meant was that we would have to spend one afternoon a week with her at the Fine Arts Museum. Before each visit to the museum, she made us read about artists and painting styles. It was almost as bad as being in school. Who wants to spend the summer thinking about artists when you could be with your friends at the swimming pool?

     First we had to read about ancient Egyptians and their strange way of painting faces and then go to look at them at the museum. My 12-year-old brother thought this was so funny, but I was not interested. Later we had to learn about artists in the Middle Ages who painted people wearing strange long clothing. We had to look at pictures of fat babies with wings and curly (鬈曲的) hair and with no clothes on flying around the edges of paintings. I certainly couldn't see what was so great about art.

     On our last visit to the museum, something happened when I saw a painting by a woman called Mary. In it, a woman was reading to a child. The colors were soft and gentle, and you could tell by the mother’s expression how happy she was just to be with the child. I couldn't stop looking at this painting! I wanted to see every painting Mary had ever made! It was really worth looking at so many paintings to find a painter who could interest me so much.

   The aim of the mother’s plan was to _______.

    A. take them to visit the museum           B. introduce them to the world of art

    C. ask them to read about artists               D. show them different painting styles

   What was the writer’s experience in the museum before the last visit?

    A. She came to feel her mother’s love.         B. She liked many paintings.

    C. She hardly enjoyed herself.             

D. She could understand the pictures of fat babies.

   What made the writer go through a change that summer?

    A. One of Mary's paintings.                 B. A strange way of painting.

    C. Artists in the Middle Ages.                  D. Her mother’s instruction.

Annie had just begun school. Her parents were tired of the methods they were using to correct her behavior, including scolding (训斥), and taking away privileges (特权). Annie still needed to be scolded for her bad behavior, but her parents felt the good things she did needed to be recognized. So, they began to spend more time recognizing the improvements (改进) in Annie’s behavior and the good things she did every day rather than like before when they only noticed her bad behavior. Within a few weeks Annie began to change her attitude and her behavior improved.
Praise is one of the most powerful tools parents can use to teach their children good skills and help them grow. Praise works well when it is given and when you remember to use it frequently. It is important to praise all good behavior. Look for the good things your child does. Praise will have a lot of effects on your child. Use the 4 to 1 rule. For every bad behavior you notice, find four good behaviors or reasons to praise. It is a good way to remember to look for good behavior.
Remember to praise the things your child has already done well, or improvements in his behavior and new skills. Show your agreement by smiling and touching his shoulder or back. Be sure to say what your child did well in detail. Tell your child how good behavior helps and that it is liked by others.
【小题1】What was the result of recognizing Annie’s good behavior?

A．She started to correct her bad behavior.

B．She was tired of her parents’ scolding.

C．She was not scolded for her bad behavior.

D．She spent more time praising her good behavior.