The Western has been the favorite type for American adventure story since the nineteenth centu??ry. While the American West was being settled, newspapers and "dime novels" could depend on stories of the frontier settlements and tell tales about living in the untamed wilderness to sell. The public back East was eager to read about the West, even if the stories were more fiction than fact.

In 1902, Owen Wister published his novel The Virginian, which was one of the first novels to treat the Western as a serious literary form; the novel still sold well and had inspired several movies and a television series. In 1905, Bertha H. Bower and Zane Grey published their first novels, and the popular Western novels had continued to flourish from that day on, with current novels by Luke Short, Max Brand, and Louis L’ Amour carrying on the tradition.

The first Western movie appeared even earlier than these serious Western novels. Before the turn of the century, an associate of Edison’s had filmed Cripple Creek Barroom Scene, a few seconds of film showing the inside of a saloon, to help publicize the invention of the movie camera. In 1903 the Edison’ company filmed the first "full-length" Western — The Great Train Robbery. The film lasts less than fifteen minutes, but a story is told its entirety. In the movie, bandits (强盗) rob a train and its passengers, killing the engineer, and find themselves tracked down by a posse. Audiences loved the movie. Some theaters were actually opened for the single purpose of showing The Great Train Rob??bery and only later realized that they could do equally well showing other movies. The film was so suc??cessful that other companies, and finally even the Edison company itself, began producing copies and other versions of The Great Train Robbery. Ironically, in" an era when the West was still very real —-Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma were all territories rather than states in 1903 — The Great Train Robbery was filmed in New Jersey.  

9. The purpose of this passage is to________.

A. discuss the making of the movie The Great Train Robbery

B. discuss the early Western novels

C. discuss the art of movie making

D. trace the development of the Western as an American adventure story tradition

10. We can conclude from this passage that________.

A. people lost interest in the West after 1903

B. Owen Wister was an ex-cowboy

C. New Jersey was still "untamed wilderness" in 1903

D. films were fairly uncommon at the time The Great Train Robbery was made

11. The passage suggests that________.

A. Edison’s invention of the movie camera happened;by accident

B. movie houses didn’t make much-money in the early days

C. Easterners were fascinated by the " wild West"

D. The Great Train Robbery was poorly received by the public because it lacked a plot

12. As used in this passage, the word “literary” means________.

A. humorous                B. financial             C. appropriate to literature      D. amateur 

Mr. Backer is a kind-hearted man. Once he gave some food to a poor woman . Mr White, the boss of the restaurant, found it and became angry. He often gave the leftovers(剩饭菜) to  some poor workers. Mr. Backers lost his work for it. It was difficult for him to find work in the small country though he was an able cook. The war made all stop. Children couldn't go  to school, most shops were closed, even some farmers were  hungry. Some people were made to leave their houses and they had to find the safe places. It was an autumn night. Mr Backer  hadn't any food to eat and went to bed, but he couldn't fall asleep, because he was very hungry . suddenly he heard a noise in  his room. He saw a man looking for something useful there. He said nothing and watched it carefully. At last the man took a few old clothes out of a broken paper box and took them away. He got up from his bed quickly and followed him gently(文雅地), with his quilt on his back. The man didn't find him and went into a small and wet house. Mr. Backer also went in and saw there was nothing in the room. The thief(贼) saw him and was surprised. He asked, “What did you come here for?” “You have carried my things here,” said Mr. Backer. “I have to move here, too!”   
【小题1】Mr White sent Mr. Backer away because            .

A．he couldn't cook	B．he didn't work hard
C．he didn't like him at all	D．he gave some leftovers to the poor woman

【小题2】       , so the people in the small country got into trouble.

A．The war broke out(爆发)	B．It didn't rain
C．Children couldn't go to school	D．Shops and factories were closed

【小题3】Mr. Backer couldn't go to sleep because               .

A．the weather was cold	B．the weather was hot
C．he was hungry	D．he was ill

【小题4】Mr. Backer said nothing when the thief went into his room because        .

A．he wanted to send him to the police station	B．there was nothing expensive there
C．he was afraid the man could hurt him	D．he hoped the man could help him

【小题5】The underlined word “quilt” in this story means               .

A．珠宝

B．钱箱

C．被子

D．鞋带

Last year I had a wonderful experience. I went on a student exchange to Japan. It was an exciting time of my life and I       learned many things about the school system in Japan. I was in Grade 11, which is second year of high school in Japan, but I was younger than most of my classmates. That’s because Japanese children enter first year of elementary school (小学) in April following their sixth birthday. I started school when I was still five years old.

In Japan, Children attend elementary school for six years, where they study Japanese, arithmetic, science, social studies, music, crafts, physical education, and home economics (simple cooking and sewing skills). During their three years in middle school, English is added to this list. Most schools have access to computers and the Internet.

The classes in my school seemed rather big to me, around 30 students in a typical high school class. We ate lunch in the classroom, instead of a cafeteria and enjoyed a healthy, nutritious meal prepared by the school or by a local “school lunch centre” instead of eating the same, dry sandwiches every day. I really like the Japanese interpretation of school lunches. I also enjoyed the field trips and activities. At Japanese schools, there are many school events during the year, such as field day when students compete in tug-of-war, field trips, and arts and cultural festivals.

1.The writer went to Japan _____ last year.

A．to visit his family memebers	B．to finish his high school there
C．to study as an exchange student	D．to do research on school system in Japan

2.Children in Japan may start their elementary school at the age of ____.

A．5

B．6

C．7

D．11

3.Japanese students start to learn English _____.

A． before they start their school year	B．when they are in elementary school
C．when they are in middle school	D．when they are in high school

4.In the writer’s country, there are normally _____ students in a high school class.

A．less than 30

B．exactly 30

C．more than 30

D．Not certain

5. In the writer’s country, students probably _____.

A．have lunch in the classroom	B．have different lunch every day
C．have lunch at home	D．have sandwiches for lunch