For eighty four days old Santiago had not caught a single fish. At first a young boy, Manolin, had shared his bad fortune, but after the fortieth luckless day the boy’s father told his son to go in another boat. From that time on, Santiago worked alone. The boy loved the old fisherman and  always helped him with money and food. Usually, they would talk about the fish they had taken in luckier times or about American baseball after supper, while at night, alone in his cottage, Santiago dreamed of lions on the beaches of Africa, where he had gone years before. He no longer dreamed of his dead wife.
On the eighty-fifth day, Santiago set off to fish before dawn. Two of his baits(饵) were fresh tunas(金枪鱼) the boy had given him, as well as sardines(沙丁鱼) to cover his hooks. Then he set his lines which went straight down into deep dark water.
As the sun rose he saw other boats in toward shore. A bird showed him where dolphin were chasing some flying fish. This time Santiago saw tuna jumping in the sunlight. A small one took the hook on his line. Pulling the fish aboard, the old man thought it a good fortune.
Toward noon a marlin, a common fish in the sea, started eating the bait which was one hundred meters down. Gently the old man played the fish, a big one, as he knew from the weight on the line. At last he struck to settle the hook. The fish did not come out of the surface. Instead, it began to pull the boat to the northwest. The old man followed it. Although he was alone and no longer strong, he had his skill and knew many tricks. He waited patiently for the fish to be tired .
It was cold after the sunset. When something took one of his remaining baits, he cut the line with his knife. Once the marlin leaned suddenly, pulling Santiago forward on his face and cutting his cheek. By dawn his left hand was cramped(抽筋的). The fish had headed northward; there was no land in sight. Hungry, he cut pieces from the tuna and chewed them slowly.
That morning the fish jumped. Seeing it, Santiago knew he had hooked the biggest marlin he had ever seen. Then the fish went down and turned toward the east. Santiago drank a little water from the bottle during the hot afternoon.
Close to nightfall a dolphin took the small hook he had rebaited. He lifted it aboard, careful. After he had rested, he cut meat from the dolphin and kept also the two flying fish he found in its stomach. That night he slept. He awoke to feel the line running through his fingers as the fish jumped. Feeding line slowly, he tried to tire the marlin. After the fish slowed its run, he washed his cut hands in sea water and ate one of the flying fish. At sunrise the marlin began to circle. Faint, he worked to bring the big fish nearer with each turn. Almost exhausted, he finally drew his big fish alongside and drove in the harpoon(鱼叉). The fish was two feet longer than the boat. No fish like it had ever been seen in Havana harbor.
An hour later, he sighted the first shark, a fierce Mako, and it came in fast to chase after the dead marlin. The old man struck the shark with his harpoon. The Mako rolled and sank, carrying the harpoon with it and leaving the marlin bloody. He knew the smell would spread. Watching, he saw two sharks closing in. He struck at one with his knife and watched it sliding down into deep water. The other he killed while it tore at the flesh of the marlin. When the third appeared, he thrust(刺) it with the knife. The other sharks came at sunset. At first he tried to beat them with the tiller(舵柄) from the boat, but his hands were bleeding and there were too many in the sea. In the darkness, as he steered toward the harbor of Havana, he heard them hitting the boat again and again. But the old man thought only of his steering and his great tiredness. He had gone out too far and the sharks had beaten him. He knew they would leave him nothing but the stripped skeleton of the big marlin.
All lights were out when he sailed into the little harbor and beached his boat. He could just make out the white backbone and the upstanding tail of the fish. Once he fell under their weight and lay patiently until he could gather his strength to go on. In his cottage he fell on his bed and went to sleep.
【小题1】The above story is adapted from __________.

A．Treasure Island	B．The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer
C．The Old Man And The Sea	D．The Son Of The Sea

【小题2】Why did the man feel that he could be lucky this time?

A．Because a small tuna took the hook on his line.

B．Because he dreamed about the American lions.

C．Because he saw many flying fish were chased by the dolphins.

D．Because a lot of sharks followed his boat.

【小题3】According to the text, which statement is NOT true about Manolin?

A．The boy had mercy on Santiago.

B．The boy often shared his stories with Santiago.

C．The boy showed his great concerns to Santiago.

D．The boy was Santiago’s adopted son.

【小题4】Why does Santiago let the marlin lead his boat instead of pulling the big fish up?

A．He wanted to kill the marlin first before he pulled it up to the boat.

B．He was too tired and hungry to pull the big fish up.

C．His experience told him not to do so before the fish was tired out.

D．He wanted to use the marlin as a bait to catch the sharks.

【小题5】 Which sentence below can be used to best describe Santiago’s character?

A．“He no longer dreamed of his dead wife.”(Para 1)

B．“Although he was alone and no longer strong, he had his skill and knew many tricks.”(Para4)

C．“Almost exhausted, he finally drew his big fish alongside and drove in the harpoon.”(Para7)

D．“Once he fell under their weight and lay patiently until he could gather his strength to go on .”(Para 9)

【小题6】 According to the text, what will be talked about in the next paragraph?

A．the man’s action to realize his dream about the lions.

B．people’s reflection when they saw the giant marlin outside.

C．people’s discussion about how they ate the giant marlin.

D．a funeral held by the boy and the local people after his death.

 

Writer/ Time	Topic: Who’s a better singer, Andy Lau (刘德华) or Jacky Cheung (张学友)?
Jim 8-15-2006 5:25 pm.	Some people say Jacky is the best Chinese singer. I don’t think so! Andy is the best. I went to his concert last year. It was so wonderful, I almost cried! OK, I did cry, but that’s because Andy is so handsome!
Tom 9-3-2006 4:38 pm.	I disagree with Jim. Andy sounds like every other singer. His voice is nothing special. On the other hand, Jacky’s voice is unique, and his songs are so romantic!
Linda 9-10-2006 8:54 pm.	I think they’re about the same. But Andy is a better actor. I’ve seen almost all of his movies. Remember the one where he was an airplane pilot, and his plane crashed near a farm? I love that movie!
John 9-16-2006 10:25 pm.	I also think Jacky is a better singer. I prefer his Cantonese (粤语) songs. Maybe they sound better because Cantonese is his first language.
Tom 10-2-2006 10:12 am.	I agree. Jacky’s Cantonese songs are better than his Mandarin (华语) songs. (Though, I still like all his songs!)

1.Who likes Andy Lau the best?      .

A．Jim

B．Tom

C．Linda

D．John

2.Why did Jim cry? Because      .

A．she was sad at a concert.	B．she had a broken heart.
C．she was angry at Jacky Cheung	D．she thought Andy Lau was very good looking

3.What’s Linda’s opinion?      .

A．Andy is a better singer.	B．Jacky is a better singer.
C．They both sing equally well.	D．Jacky is a better actor.

4.Why does John think Jacky’s Cantonese songs sound the best? Because        .

A．Jacky has no experience singing in Mandarin.

B．it’s his native language

C．his mandarin pronunciation is bad

D．Jacky’s Mandarin songs are boring.

 

Lying in the sun on a rock, the cougar(美洲豹)saw Jeb and his son, Tom, before they saw it. Jeb put his bag down quickly and pulled his jacket open with both hands, making himself look big to the cougar. It worked. The cougar hesitated, ready to attack Jeb, but ready to forget the whole thing, too.
Jeb let go of his jacket, grasped Tom and held him across his body, making a cross. Now the cougar’s enemy looked even bigger, and it rose up, ready to move away, but unfortunately Tom got scared and struggled free of Jeb.
“Tom, no!” shouted his father.
But Tom broke and ran and that’s the last thing you do with a cougar. The second Tom broke free, Jeb threw himself on the cougar, just as it jumped from the rock. They hit each other in mid-air and both fell. The cougar was on Jeb in a flash, forgetting about Tom, which was what Jeb wanted.
Cougars are not as big as most people think and a determined man stands a chance, even with just his fists. As the cougar’s claws(爪子)got into his left shoulder, Jeb swung his fist at its eyes and hit hard. The animal howled（吼叫）and put its head back. Jeb followed up with his other fist. Then out of the corner of his eye, Jeb saw Tom. The boy was running back to help his father.
“Knife, Tom” shouted Jeb.
The boy ran to his father’s bag, while Jeb stated shouting as well as hitting, to keep the cougar’s attention away from Tom. Tom got the knife and ran over to Jeb. The cougar was moving its head in and out, trying to find a way through the wall Jeb was making out of his arms. Tom swung with the knife, into the cougar’s back. It howled horribly and ran off into the mountains.
The whole fight had taken about thirty seconds.
【小题1】Why did Jeb pull his jacket open when he saw the cougar?

A．To get ready to fight	B．To frighten it away
C．To protect the boy	D．To cool down

【小题2】What do we know about cougars?

A．They are afraid of noises

B．They hesitate before they hit

C．They are bigger than we think

D．They like to attack running people

【小题3】How did Jeb try to hold the cougar’s attention?

A．By keeping shouting and hitting

B．By making a wall out of his arms

C．By throwing himself on the cougar

D．By swinging his fists at the cougar’s eyes

【小题4】Which of the following happened first?

A．The cougar jumped from the rock

B．Tom struggled free of his father

C．Jeb asked Tom to get the knife

D．Jeb held Tom across his body

Geena David knew she wanted to be a movie star when she was very young. She was not sure what gave her the idea, but she wanted to look like a movie star. “I have a lot of pictures from my childhood of me wearing sunglasses,” she ways. “I used to wear them to watch TV.”

    Early movie actors started wearing sunglasses not because they looked good, but because their eyes hurt. The lights used on movie sets were extremely bright and could cause a painful problem known as “Klieg eyes”. It was named after the Klieg brothers who invented the lights. Actors wore sunglasses to give their eyes a rest. But when movie stars began wearing their sunglasses in public, they quickly became a must.

    Eventually actors started wearing sunglasses in their movies as well as on the street. Audrey Hepburn wore ultra-cool Ray-Ban sunglasses in the 1961 movie, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. As a result, Ray-Ban sunglasses started to appear more and more in the movies. In 1979, Ray-Ban “Wayfarers” were worn by Jake and Elwood in The Blue Brothers. Tom Cruise wore Ray-Ban “Aviator” sunglasses in the 1986 hit, Top Gun. Then in 1997, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones made Ray-Ban “Predator” sunglasses famous in Men in Black.

    Of course sunglasses aren’t just a fashion statement. The main reason to wear sunglasses is to protect our eyes against UV radiation. UV radiation can damage our eyes, so people now choose their sunglasses carefully. But you don’t have to give up style for safety. The choice of frames and lenses available these days is huge. So you can protect your eyes and still be the coolest person on the beach.

1.  What is mainly discussed in this passage?

    A. The use of sunglasses.                   B. The history of sunglasses.

    C. The sunglasses wearing.                  D. Why movie stars like to wear sunglasses.

2.  Why did Geena David like to wear sunglasses?

    A. She was a movie star.                        B. She wanted to follow a movie star.

    C. Wearing sunglasses was good to her eyes.     D. It was good wear sunglasses when watching TV.

3.  Early actors’ eyes hurt because _______.

    A. they wore sunglasses.                        B. they went out in the sun too much

    C. the lights on movie sets were too bright     D. their scripts were written in very small writing

4.  We may know from this passage that _______.

    A. Audrey Hepburn was a famous film star       

B. Ray-Ban is the name of sunglasses maker

    C. sunglasses made Top Gun the hit in 1986     

D. Men in Black must be an advertisement of sunglasses

 

Writer/ Time	Topic: Who’s a better singer, Andy Lau (刘德华) or Jacky Cheung (张学友)?
Jim 8-15-2006 5:25 pm.	Some people say Jacky is the best Chinese singer. I don’t think so! Andy is the best. I went to his concert last year. It was so wonderful, I almost cried! OK, I did cry, but that’s because Andy is so handsome!
Tom 9-3-2006 4:38 pm.	I disagree with Jim. Andy sounds like every other singer. His voice is nothing special. On the other hand, Jacky’s voice is unique, and his songs are so romantic!
Linda 9-10-2006 8:54 pm.	I think they’re about the same. But Andy is a better actor. I’ve seen almost all of his movies. Remember the one where he was an airplane pilot, and his plane crashed near a farm? I love that movie!
John 9-16-2006 10:25 pm.	I also think Jacky is a better singer. I prefer his Cantonese (粤语) songs. Maybe they sound better because Cantonese is his first language.
Tom 10-2-2006 10:12 am.	I agree. Jacky’s Cantonese songs are better than his Mandarin (华语) songs. (Though, I still like all his songs!)

Who likes Andy Lau the best?       .

A. Jim       B. Tom       C. Linda         D. John

Why did Jim cry? Because       .

A. she was sad at a concert.        B. she had a broken heart. 

C. she was angry at Jacky Cheung   D. she thought Andy Lau was very good looking

What’s Linda’s opinion?       .

A. Andy is a better singer.          B. Jacky is a better singer.

C. They both sing equally well.      D. Jacky is a better actor.

Why does John think Jacky’s Cantonese songs sound the best? Because        .

A. Jacky has no experience singing in Mandarin.   

B. it’s his native language

C. his mandarin pronunciation is bad         

D. Jacky’s Mandarin songs are boring.