Dear Jack，

    Thank you for your congratulations，my congratulations to you! I remember Margaret Field very well—the girl with that wonderful red hair and those beautiful eyes．She was the most popular girl in our college．You’re a very lucky fellow and I'm sure you’11 be very happy with her．

    Brenda and I are very lucky，too．Her father gave us this house as a wedding present，so we

don't have to pay rent．The house and furniture are insured already，so I can’t help you by giving you that kind of business．I wish I'd known earlier that you were in the insurance business．I'd

certainly have asked you to give me a policy for the house and its contents．

    I'm rather doubtful about the value of life insurance．It’s my duty，I know，to see that there will be money for my wife，and later on for the children，in the event of my early death．But I feel that it's wiser to put my money into the shares of good business companies．You say I can get policy that will provide 50，000 when I'm 65．Yes，but that time is nearly forty years away，and what will 50，000 be worth then? The real value of money has been going down and prices go up a little every year，perhaps only 4％or 5％，but the movement is always up，never down．50，000 in fifty years from now may be worth only two—thirds or even a half of what it is worth today．Now if I put my savings into the shares of the big oil companies，or aircraft manufacturers，the value of the shares will go up with the rise in costs and prices．So the real value of my money would remain about the same，wouldn’t it? I know your answer．You’ll say that your life insurance policy provides against my possible death．I've got to balance that possibility against the almost certain fall in the value of money·

    I'd very much like you to meet Brenda．Can you come for a weekend some time? What about next Saturday? If you can manage it，please let me know which train you’re coming by，and I’ll meet you at the station．We can have a talk about life insurance and perhaps you’ll succeed in making me see that life insurance is a good thing．

                                                             Yours sincerely，

                                                                   Fred

1．We can infer from the passage that              ．

    A．Margaret is Fred’s wife

    B．Jack is a customer of Fred

    C．Brenda is familiar to Margaret

    D．Jack，Fred and Margaret once studied in the same college

2．The underlined sentence” In the event of my early death” can be replaced by      

    A．when I should die young         B．if I should die young

    C．after I should die young          D．before I should die young

3．Which word can be used to describe Fred according to the passage?

    A．Narrow-minded．  B．Short-sighted．    C．Ambitious．   D．Practical．

4．This is a letter of        ．

    A．refusing  B．inquiring（询问） C．complaining    D． negotiating（协商）

For the 17 years my life was very happy. Then the first sad thing happened. My mother became very ill, and soon she knew that she was dying. Just before she died, she asked Elizabeth and me to go to her room. She held our hands and said, “Victor and Elizabeth, my children, I’m very happy because you love each other, and because one day you’ll get married. Everyone in the family loves you, Elizabeth. Will you take my place in the family, my dear? I can die happy if you look after them when I have gone.”
My mother died and we were very sad, because we loved her dearly. Elizabeth was brave and helped us; her sweet smile gave us some happiness in the unhappy days after my mother’s death. The time came for me to go to university. I didn’t want to leave my sad family, but we all knew that I should go. It was hard to leave, too, because the parents of my good friend Henry would not let him go to university with me. So I had gone alone.
On my first day at university I met my teacher, Professor Waldman, who was one of the greatest scientists in the world. He gave a wonderful talk to all the students who were starting at the university. He ended his talk by saying, “Some of you will become the greatest scientists of tomorrow. You must study hard and discover everything that you can. This is why God made you intelligent—to help other people.”
After the professor’s talk, I thought very carefully. I remembered the storm when I was 15; I remembered how the lightning had destroyed the tree. From then on, I wanted to use electricity to help people, and I wanted to discover the secrets of life. I decided to work on these two things.
I started to work the next day. I worked very hard and soon Professor Waldman and I realized that I could learn to be a very good scientist.
The professor helped me very much, and other important scientists who were his friends helped me, too. I was interested in my work and I did not take one day’s holiday during the next two years, I did not go home, and my letters to my family were very short.
After two years, I had discovered many things and I built a scientific machine that was the best in the university. My machine would help me answer the most important question of all. How does life begin? Is it possible to put life into dead things? To answer these questions about life I had to learn first about death. I had to watch bodies from the moment when they died and the warm life left them. In the hospital and in the university, I watched the dying and the dead. Day after day, month after month, I followed death, so it was a dark and terrible time.
I built a tall mast about 150 meters high, which is higher than the tallest building in the city, to catch lightning and send the electricity down to my machine in the lab. I believed I could use that electricity to give life to things that were dead.
Then one day, the answer came to me. Suddenly I was sure that I knew the secret of life.
【小题1】Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Elizabeth married shortly after Victor’s mother died.

B．Elizabeth was a brave girl who loved Victor and gave him much help.

C．Victor’s mother was very angry when she knew he loved Elizabeth.

D．Victor did not want to leave his family because his mother died not long before.

【小题2】Victor did all the following during his research in the university EXCEPT that       .

A．he discovered many things and built a scientific machine

B．he learnt much about death both in the hospitals and in the university

C．he worked hard and took only one day’s holiday during the next two years

D．he built a tall mast to catch lightning and send the electricity down to the lab

【小题3】According to the author, the secret of life is to        .

A．give life to things that were dead

B．use electricity to help others

C．build the best machine to learn about death

D．become the greatest scientist of tomorrow

【小题4】Which is the correct order about the life of Victor?
① Victor’s mother passed away.
② Victor got help from the professor and other scientists.
③ Victor went to university and attended the professor’s talk.
④ Victor found the answer to giving life to things that were dead.
⑤ Victor experienced a storm, seeing the lightning destroying the tree.

A．①②③④⑤

B．⑤①②④③

C．①③②⑤④

D．⑤①③②④