A story from the Bible tells of old Babylon, where the men decided to build a tower that would touch the sky．But God was unhappy, and he made them speak different languages．They couldn’t understand each other, so their dream never came true．

Yet the dream remains alive: if all men speak the same language, they can do anything．L．L．Zamenhof from Poland was among the men who pursue this dream．He developed Esperanto（世界语）between 1877 and 1885．

As the most successful man-made world language, it is spoken by over two million people around the world．Last month, the World Esperanto Congress（大会）, dealing with language rights, ended in Sweden．The 2004 conference will be held in Beijing．Most Esperanto speakers are in Central and Eastern Europe and in East Asia, particularly Chinese mainland．

Esperanto has two advantages．First, it’s easy．Each letter has exactly one sound and there are just 16 basic grammar rules．The second advantage is that it belongs to no one country．But Esperanto has only reached a small number of people compared with natural languages widely used around the world-such as English or Chinese．While these languages are deeply connected with their nations and cultures, Esperanto doesn’t have this background．

Will Esperanto really become a global language? It remains a question．

The writer tells us a story at the beginning to          ．

           A．explain why men have been making the effort to create a language shared by all

              B．explain why men now speak different languages

              C．show the relationship between man and God

              D．prove that language is very important

What does the underlined word “pursue” in the second paragraph mean?

              A．“Realize”．     B．“Work for”．   C．“Be against”． D．“Follow”．

What is the basic difference between Esperanto and English?

              A．More people speak English than Esperanto．

              B．Esperanto words are easier to spell．

              C．Esperanto has fewer grammar rules．

              D．Esperanto is not supported by any country or culture．

What does the story mainly talk about?

              A．Advantages and disadvantages of Esperanto．

              B．Men’s dream of sharing the same language．

              C．The most successful planned language-Esperanto．

              D．Comparison of Esperanto and other languages like English and Chinese．

A man who served 11 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of murdering his wife was officially cleared yesterday, walking free from Jingshan County People's Court—the same body that sentenced him to a 15?year jail term in 1998—as over 2000 local residents cheered.

“Police and other law enforcers made the errors,”39?year?old She Xianglin told China Daily, “I believe the law will punish them and give me a just result.”?

The original conviction came based on a confession which She said was extracted under police torture and the misidentification of a still-unknown woman's body.?

“The provincial Hubei government has sent a team of police, procurators and high people's court officials to investigate the case,” a spokesperson for the Jingmen government, which administrates Jingshan County, said yesterday.?

The miscarriage of justice only came to light when Shen's wife, Zhang Zaiyu, resurfaced late last month after being thought missing for 11 years.?

This was despite at least five letters from Zhang to her brother over the last two years, which he said he didn't report to police because he thought they were a hoax.?

Zhang disappeared in January 1994 from Yanmenkou Township, and 3 months later a body was found in a pond that her relatives positively identified.?

Local police arrested Shen for murder in April 1994,although questions had been raised about discrepancies between the features and clothes of the body and Zhang. Confirmation through DNA testing had not been attempted.?

　　Zhang Chengmao, Shen's lawyer, said yesterday he would seek State compensation “but we have not reached a figure yet”.?

When asked about compensation, Shen said, “My mother, who died from the stress of continually appealing, cannot be bought. Eleven years of freedom cannot be bought. Schooling of my daughter that was stopped because of poverty cannot be bought.”?

As for his wife, the man said he did not hate her at all. “If she had not reappeared, maybe I would have been wronged for life,” he said.?

He also said he did not plan to sue Zhang for bigamy, though she had remarried in Shandong Province without divorcing him.?

Why did She Xianglin served 11 years in prison?

A. Because She Xianglin was convicted of murdering his wife.?

B. Because the Police and other law enforcers made the errors.?

C. Because through DNA testing the dead woman was his wife.?

D. Because her wife was missing.

Which of the following is NOT true??

A. The miscarriage of justice only came to light when Shen's wife reappeared.?

B. The man said he did not hate her at all.?

C. Zhang Zaiyu wrote at least five letters to her brother over the last two years to hoax him.?

D. She Xianglin's mother died from the stress of continually appealing.

We can infer from the passage _______.?

A. She Xianglin will get State compensation?

B. She Xianglin's daughter dropped out of school because of poverty?

C. She Xianglin stayed in prison for 11 years?

D. who murdered the woman is known to all

The underlined word “cleared” in the first paragraph means _______.?

A. 清除      B. 宣告无罪     C. （天气）变晴    D. 移走物体

A week ago, I read When Money Talks, Listen! by Rich Ezzo. It took only about an hour to read, and that included one trip to the coffee maker and about 10 distractions (分心)from Alex, our cat, who thinks he is the center of the universe.

When I first received a copy, I thought it was a get-rich-quick type of publication. There is nothing wrong with that kind of book, but my mind just doesn’t chase after dreams of wealth. I figure that if God ever wants me to be rich, he knows where to find my purse.

When I began reading When Money Talks, Listen!, I was overjoyed to find that Rich Ezzo isn’t money hungry either. He, too, is hungry for things far more important than money.

I absolutely love this e-book. Why did I wait a week to write the review ? simple. I wanted to see if the impact it had on me could keep up. After reading the last word of the e-book, I totally agreed with the subtitle(副标题)which promised to forever change the way we thought about money. I had so many thoughts running around my mind that I had to install a stop light to stop some while others made their way into the picture. I had a mental traffic jam, which only goes to show how slow the traffic usually is.

It has been a week and the impact is the same. I guarantee this is an e-book you’ll want to read. I urge you to visit the author’s website, MysterMoney. Com, and to download the e-book. You won’t

regret it.

What’s the purpose of the passage?

     A．to strongly recommend an e-book          

         B．to show the author’s attitude to money

     C．to introduce the general idea of an e-book

     D．to tell us Rich Ezzo isn’t money hungry

The author didn’t write the review right after reading because _____.

     A．he was too excited to write anything 

         B．he was not sure whether he liked the book

     C．he had to wait for Rich Ezzo’s permission

     D．he wondered if this book had a long influence on him

Which of the following is true according to the passage?

         A．The author had known Rich Ezzo before

         B．The author hasn’t dreamed of getting rich instantly

         C．The author always prefers e-books to paper books

         D．The author likes the get-rich type of publication

Last week, I was invited to a doctor’s meeting at the Ruth Hospital. In one of the rooms a patient, an old man, got up from his bed and moved slowly towards me. I could see that he hadn’t long to live, but he came up to me and placed his right foot close to mine on the floor.

“Frank!” I cried in surprise. He couldn’t answer, as I knew, but he tried to smile, all the time keeping his foot close to mine.

My thoughts raced back more than thirty years － to the dark days of 1941, when I was a student in London. The scene was an air-raid shelter (防空洞), in which I and about a hundred other people slept every night. Among them were Mrs West and her son Frank, who lived nearby. Sharing wartime problems, we got to know each other very well. Frank interested me because he was not normal. He had never been normal, ever since he was born. His mother told me he was 37 then, but he had less of a mind than a baby has. Mrs West, then about 75, was a strong, able woman, as she had to be, of course, because Frank depended on her completely. He needed all the attention of a baby.

One night a policeman came into our shelter and told Mrs West that her house had been all destroyed. That wasn’t quite true, because the Wests went on living there for quite some time. But they certainly lost nearly everything they owned.

When that kind of thing happened, the rest of us helped the unlucky ones. So before we separated that morning, I stood beside Frank and measured my right foot against his.

They were about the same size. That night, then, I took a spare pair of shoes to the shelter for Frank. As soon as he saw me, he came running － and paced his right foot against mine. After that, he always greeted me in the same way.

How did the writer know that the patient was Frank?

A. He was told that Frank was in the hospital.  B. He was invited to study Frank’s illness.

C. Frank’s name was written on the door.      D. Frank greeted him in a special way.

When and where did the writer first meet Frank?

A. In Mrs West’s house in 1941.

B. In an air-raid shelter during the war.

C. At the Ruth Hospital about ten years ago.

D. In London after he Wests’ house was destroyed.

The unlucky ones mentioned by the doctor were ______.

A. those who suffered from illness       B. those who slept in the air-raid shelter

C. those who were killed during the war   D. those whose homes were destroyed in air-raids

The writer placed his foot against Frank’s before he left the shelter ______.

A. to be friendly towards Frank

B. to see if Frank’s feet were normal

C. to find out if Frank could put on his shoes

D. to teach Frank to greet people in a special way

A metaphor is a poetic device that deals with comparison. It compares similar qualities of two dissimilar objects. With a simple metaphor, one object becomes the other: Love is a rose. Although this does not sound like a particularly rich image, a metaphor can communicate so much about a particular image that poets use them more than any other type of figurative language(修辞). The reason for this is that poets compose their poetry to express what they are experiencing emotionally at that moment. Consequently, what the poet imagines love to be may or may not be love we see it. Therefore, the poet’s job is to enable us to experience it, to feel it the same way as the poet does.

Let’s analyze this remarkably unsophisticated metaphor concerning love and the rose to see what it offers. Because the poet uses a comparison with a rose, first we must examine the characteristics of that flower. A rose is spectacular in its beauty; its petals(花瓣) are nicely soft, and its smell is pleasing. It’s possible to say that a rose is actually a feast to the senses of sight, touch, and smell. The rose’s appearance seems to border on(近似于)perfection, each petal seemingly symmetrical(对称的) in form. Isn’t this the way one’s love should be? A loved one should be a delight to one’s senses and seem perfect. However, there is another dimension added to the comparison by using a rose. Roses have thorns(刺). The poet wants to convey the idea that roses can be tricky(机警的). So can love, the metaphor tells us. When one reaches out with absolute trust to touch the object of his or her affection, ouch, a thorn can cause great harm! “Be careful,” the metaphor warns: Love is a feast to the senses, but it can overwhelm us, and it can also hurt us and cause acute suffering. This is the poet’s perception of love--a warning. What is the point? Just this: It took almost 14 sentences to clarify what a simple metaphor communicates in only four words! That is the artistry and the joy of the simple metaphor.

According to the passage, what is a metaphor?

A. A comparison between two different objects with similar features.

B. A contrast between two different things to create a vivid image.

C. A description of two similar objects in a poetic way.

D. A literary device specially employed in poetry writing.

The main idea of this passage is that         .

A. rose is a good image in poetry    B. love is sweet and pleasing

C. metaphor is ambiguous          D. metaphor is great poetic device

It can be inferred from the passage that a metaphor is        .

A. difficult to understand        B. rich in meaning    C. not precise enough      D. like a flower

As is meant by the author, thorns of a rose_________.

A. protect the rose from harm              B. symbolize reduced love

C. add a new element to the image of love    D. represent objects of one’s affection

The meaning of the love-is–a-rose metaphor is that____________-

A. love is a true joy              B. true love comes once in a lifetime

C. love does not last long          D. love is both good and bad experiences