Nick was tired of life，every day was exactly the same.

“What I need is a little adventure!”Nick thought as he waited at the bus stop one morning.Nick’s little adventure happened sooner than he had expected!

While he was on the bus，reading his newspaper，the man sitting next to him suddenly pushed a large brown envelope in his hands.“Here，take this!”he murmured.Then he stood up and got off the bus before Nick could say a word.

Nick sat there holding the envelope.It felt heavy.There were papers inside，or money perhaps.“I’d better hand it over to the police，”he thought.There was a police station close to his office.But as he got off the bus，a man came up to him.He was obviously waiting for something.“He wants the envelope.”Nick thought.Nick began to walk quickly and the man hurried after him.Nick started to run and the man began to run，too.But then，just before he got to the police station.Nick managed to lose the man in the crowds when he entered the police station，the man was no longer in sight.

Inside the police station，the envelope was full of money—false money.“Obviously the man made a mistake，”the inspector said，“He thought you were one of the gang! Well，congratulations!”

Nick felt like a hero.He could already see his name in all the papers.He could imagine an interview on television!

“However，”the inspector went on，interrupting Nick’s daydreams.“I’m afraid I must ask you to keep quiet about this.We’re trying to catch some very clever thieves and we don’t want them to know that we have some of the money.So you mustn’t say a word to anyone—even your boss! Sorry!”

“So that’s that!”Nick said to himself on his way to the office.He was over an hour late.“I’ve had my little adventure，but I can’t tell anyone about it.So what’s the point? I’ve even got to make up an excuse to the boss!”

46.Nick was bored because his life wasn’t ______.

A.very pleasant　　　　                                  B.very easy

C.full of amusement　　　　                           D.interesting

47.The man gave Nick an envelope while Nick was going______.

A.to his office　　　　                                    B.to get off the bus

C.to take the bus　　　　                                D.to get on the bus

48.Nick decided to take the envelope to the police because he thought it was______.

A.dangerous　　　　                                      B.heavy

C.important　　　　                                       D.funny

49.The man who wanted the envelope knew______.

A.Nick’s boss　　　　                                     B.Nick’s name

C.about the envelope　　　　                          D.about Nick’s adventure

50.After his adventure，Nick expected to be______.

A.rich　　　　                                               B.important

C.famous　　　　                                           D.an adventurer

A king once went to a master (大师)．He wanted to become more powerful than other__26__kings.He sat in front of the master and__27__telling him the purpose of his__28__.The master listened__29__to the king.

He then told the king to go to the__30__where a rose plant and a cypress (柏树) plant were growing side by side.He told the king，“They are your__31__.They can teach you what you want to__32__.”

The king went into the garden，and__33__the two plants but could not__34__what he could learn from them.He went back to the master and asked，“What do you__35__，master? I am not able to understand what and how these plants will teach me.”

The master took the king to the plants and__36__，“This cypress plant has been next to the rose plant for so many years.Never once has it wanted to become a rose plant.__37__，the rose plant has never wanted to become a cypress plant.If man had been the cypress plant，he would have__38__himself with the rose and felt jealous (忌妒的) at the__39__that the beautiful rose plant was getting from all the people.__40__，if man were the rose plant，he would have__41__the cypress plant enviously  (羡慕地)  thinking how__42__ the plant was without the__43__ of being disturbed by people all day！Both of the plants grew very well because they__44__all their energy for their own__45__instead of using it to compete with the other.”

26．A.rich　　 　                                  B．handsome　 　

C．western　 　                                    D．neighboring

27．A.forgot                                         B．continued 

C．started                                            D．suggested

28．A.transport                                    B．visit    

C．study                                               D．test

29．A.patiently                                      B．angrily     

C．happily                                            D．worriedly

30．A.valley                                          B．bank    

C．garden                                        D．forest

31．A.enemies                                      B．families

C．friends                                             D．teachers

32．A.design                                         B．learn   

C．build                                                D．notice

33．A.saw                                            B．watched 

C．noticed                                            D．heard

34．A.provide                                       B．show 

C．understand                                      D．remember

35．A.hear                                           B．find 

C．say                                                  D．mean

36．A.ordered                                       B．explained 

C．asked                                              D．requested

37．A.Similarly                                      B．Frequently 

C．Finally                                             D．Luckily

38．A.covered                                      B．compared 

C．marked                                           D．dressed

39．A.pack                                           B．pay 

C．attention                                          D．message

40．A.Besides                                       B．However    

C．Therefore                                        D．Or

41．A.looked at                                    B．waited for

C．called on                                         D．listened to

42．A.heavy                                          B．useful  

C．peaceful                                        D．poor

43．A.duty                                           B．mistake 

C．interest                                            D．trouble

44．A.lost                                             B．used 

C．lent                                                 D．received

45．A.growth                                       B．opinion 

C．fun  D．victory

　　                                C
Among the more colorful characters of Leadville’s golden age were H.A.W. Tabor and his second wife, Elizabeth McCourt, better known as "Baby Doe". Their history is fast becoming one of the legends of the Old West. Horace Austin Warner Tabor was a school teacher in Vermont. With his first wife and two children he left Vermont by covered wagon in 1855 to homestead in Kansas. Perhaps he did not find farming to his liking, or perhaps he was attracted by rumors of fortunes to be made in Colorado mines. At any rate, a few years later he moved west to the small Colorado mining camp known as California Gulch, which he later renamed Leadville when he became its leading citizen. "A large amount of lead is sure to be found here." he said.  
　　As it turned out, it was silver, not lead, that was to make Leadville’s fortune and wealth. Tabor knew little about mining himself, so he opened a general store, which sold everything from boots to salt, flour, and tobacco. It was his custom to "grubstake" prospective（预期的） miners, in other words, to supply them with food and supplies, or"grub", while they looked for ore（矿石）, in return for which he would get a share in the mine if one was discovered. He did this for a number of years, but no one that he aided ever found anything of value.
　　Finally one day in the year 1878, so the story goes, two miners came in and asked for "grub". Tabor had decided to quit supplying it because he had lost too much money that way. These were persistent（坚持的）, however, and Tabor was too busy to argue with them. "Oh help yourself. One more time won’t make any difference," He said and went on selling shoes and hats to other customers. The two miners took $17 worth of supplies, in return for which they gave Tabor a one-third interest in their findings. They picked a barren place on the mountainside and began to dig. After nine days they struck a rich vein of silver. Tabor bought the shares of the other two men, and so the mine belonged to him alone. This mine, known as the "Pittsburgh Mine," made $1,300, 000 for Tabor in return for his $17 investment.
　　Later Tabor bought the Matchless Mine on another barren hillside just outside the town for $117,000.This turned out to be even more abundant than the Pittsburgh, producing $35 000 worth of silver per day at one time. Leadville grew. Tabor became its first mayor, and later became the governor of the state.  
49. The word "grubstake" in paragraph 2 means __________ .
　A. to supply miners with food and supplies
　B. to open a general store
　C. to do one’s contribution to the development of the mine
　D. to supply miners with food and supplies and in return get a share in the mine, if one was discovered
50.Tabor made his first fortune_________.
　A. by supplying two prospective miners and getting in return a one-third interest in the findings
　B. because he was persuaded by the two miners to quit supplying
　C. by buying the shares of the other
　D. as a land speculator（投机商）
51. The underlying（潜在的）reason for Tabor’s successful life career is __________.
　  A. purely accidental
B. based on the analysis of miner’s being very poor and their possibility of discovering
profitable mining site
C. through the help from his second wife
　　D. he planned well and accomplished targets step by step
52. If this passage is the first part of an article, who might be introduced in the following  part?
A. Tabor’s life.     　　                        B. Tabor’s second wife, Elizabeth McCourt.
　　C. Other colorful characters.　　         D. Tabor’s other careers.　　

Among the more colorful characters of Leadville’s golden age were H.A.W. Tabor and his

second wife, Elizabeth McCourt, better known as "Baby Doe". Their history is fast becoming one of the legends of the Old West. Horace Austin Warner Tabor was a school teacher in Vermont. With his first wife and two children he left Vermont by covered wagon in 1855 to homestead in Kansas. Perhaps he did not find farming to his liking, or perhaps he was attracted by rumors of fortunes to be made in Colorado mines. At any rate, a few years later he moved west to the small Colorado mining camp known as California Gulch, which he later renamed Leadville when he became its leading citizen. "A large amount of lead is sure to be found here." he said.

　　As it turned out, it was silver, not lead, that was to make Leadville’s fortune and wealth. Tabor knew little about mining himself, so he opened a general store, which sold everything from boots to salt, flour, and tobacco. It was his custom to "grubstake" prospective（预期的） miners, in other words, to supply them with food and supplies, or"grub", while they looked for ore（矿石）, in return for which he would get a share in the mine if one was discovered. He did this for a number of years, but no one that he aided ever found anything of value.

　　Finally one day in the year 1878, so the story goes, two miners came in and asked for "grub". Tabor had decided to quit supplying it because he had lost too much money that way. These were persistent（坚持的）, however, and Tabor was too busy to argue with them. "Oh help yourself. One more time won’t make any difference," He said and went on selling shoes and hats to other customers. The two miners took $17 worth of supplies, in return for which they gave Tabor a one-third interest in their findings. They picked a barren place on the mountainside and began to dig. After nine days they struck a rich vein of silver. Tabor bought the shares of the other two men, and so the mine belonged to him alone. This mine, known as the "Pittsburgh Mine," made $1,300, 000 for Tabor in return for his $17 investment.

　　Later Tabor bought the Matchless Mine on another barren hillside just outside the town for $117,000.This turned out to be even more abundant than the Pittsburgh, producing $35 000 worth of silver per day at one time. Leadville grew. Tabor became its first mayor, and later became the governor of the state.

1. The word "grubstake" in paragraph 2 means __________ .

　　A. to supply miners with food and supplies

　　B. to open a general store

　　C. to do one’s contribution to the development of the mine

　　D. to supply miners with food and supplies and in return get a share in the mine,  if one    

was discovered

2. The underlying（潜在的）reason for Tabor’s successful life career is __________.

　　A. purely accidental

B. based on the analysis of miner’s being very poor and their possibility of   discovering profitable mining site

C. through the help from his second wife

　　D. he planned well and accomplished targets step by step

3. If this passage is the first part of an article, who might be introduced in the following  part?

A. Tabor’s life.      　　                     B. Tabor’s second wife, Elizabeth McCourt.

　　C. Other colorful characters.　　         D. Tabor’s other careers.　　

The government-run command post in Tunis is staffed around the clock by military personnel, meteorologists and civilians. On the wall are maps, crisscrossed with brightly colors arrows that painstakingly track the fearsome path of the enemy.

　　What kind of invader gives rise to such high-level monitoring? Not man, not beast, but the lowly desert locust(蝗虫). In recent months, billions of the 3-inch-long winged warriors have descended on Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, blackening the sky and eating up crops and vegetation. The insect invasion, the worst in 30 years, is already creating great destruction in the Middle East and is now treating southern Europe. The current crisis began in late 1985 near the Red Sea. Unusually rainy weather moistened the sands of the Sudan, making them ideal seedbed for the locust, which lays its eggs in the earth. The insect onslaught threatens to create yet another African famine. Each locust can eat its weight (not quite a tenth of an ounce) in vegetation every 24 hours. A good-size swarm of 50 billion insects eats up 100,000 tons of grass, trees and crops in a single night.

　　All ﹩150 million may be needed this year. The U.S. has provided two spraying planes and about 50,000 gal. of pesticide. The European Community has donated ﹩3.8 million in aid and the Soviet Union, Canada, Japan and China have provided chemical-spraying aircraft to help wipe out the pests. But relief efforts are hampered by the relative mildness of approved pesticides, which quickly lose their deadly punch and require frequent replications. The most effective locust killer dieldrin has been linked to cancer and is banned by many Western countries and some of the affected African nations. More than 5 million acres have been dusted with locust-killing chemicals; another 5 million will be treated by the end of June.

　　On May 30, representatives of Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Mauritania will meet in Algiers to discuss tactics to wipe out the ravenous swarms. The move is an important step, but whatever plan is devised, the locust plague promised to get worse before the insects can be brought under control.[来源:Zxxk.Com]

1.The main idea of the first sentence in the passage is that ______.

　 A. the command post is stationed with people all the time.

　 B. the command post is crowded with people all the time.

　 C. there are clocks around the command post.

　 D. the clock in the command post is taken care of by the staff.

2. The favorable breeding ground for the locust is ______.

　 A. rich soil.                               B. wet land

　 C. paces covered crops and vegetation        D. the Red Sea

3. People are alert at the threat of the locust because ______.

　 A. the insects are likely to create another African famine.

　 B. the insects may blacken the sky.

　 C. the number of the insects increases drastically.

　 D. the insects are gathering and moving in great speed.

4.Which of the following is true?

　 A. Once the pesticides are used, locust will die immediately.

　 B. Relief efforts are proved most fruitful due to the effectiveness of certain pesticides.

　 C. Dieldrin, the most effective locust killer, has been widely accepted in many countries.

　 D. Over 10 million acres of affected area will have been treated with locust-killing chemicals by the end of June.

5. The purpose for affected nations to meet in Algiers on May 30 is ______.

　 A. to devise anti-locust plans.

　 B. to wipe out the swarms in two years.

　 C. to call out for additional financial aid from other nations.

D. to bring the insects under control before the plague gets worse.