How Americans Began to Eat Tomatoes
People have strange ideas about food. For example, the tomato is a kind of very
delicious vegetable. It is one of useful plants that can be prepared in many ways. It has rich nutrition and vitamin in it. But in the 18th century, Americans never ate tomatoes. They grow them in their gardens because tomato plants are so pretty. But they thought the vegetable was poisonous (有毒的). They called tomatoes “poison apples”.
President Thomas Jefferson, however, knew that tomatoes were good to eat. He was a learned man. He had been to Paris, where he learned to love the taste of tomatoes. He grew many kinds of tomatoes in his garden. The President taught his cook a way for a cream of tomato soup. This beautiful pink soup was served at the President’s party. The guests thought the soup tasted really good. They never thought their president would serve his honored guests poison apples. Jefferson never spoke to his honored (尊贵的) guests about the fact.
【小题1】After you read the passage, which of the following do you think is true?

Peter and Paul had a permission from their parents to camp in a field close to their farm. But, being adventurous boys, they know it would be more 36   to camp in the woods that lay beyond the river. Excitedly, the boys  37  with their tent and food.
Carrying their heavy 38  , the two brothers walked along the riverbank, hardly noticing the distance or the sun beating down. . They were eager to reach their 39  before lunchtime. As they entered the cool, shadowy woods, they began to search for a suitable camping spot. Peter wanted to 40  close to the river at the edge of the woods, 41  Paul, who was older, insisted that they camp further away. 42  Peter followed his brother deeper into the 43 . “This really is a wonderful setting!” said Paul in excitement. They 44 the tent , and settled down to eat the sandwiches they had made, then decided to find their way 45  to the river to catch some fish.
“Are you sure that this is the right 46  ?” whispered Peter shakily. “I’m sure we passed that hollow tree just a while ago. ” Paul walked 47  silently. “Look, there it is again. We’re lost, aren’t we?” complained Peter. Paul had to admit that he didn’t know where they were. 48  , they were a long distance from where they were 49 to be. They were not even 50  of where they had set up their camp. They set in 51 for a few minutes until Peter had a bright idea. “Why don’t we look for clues（线索） the way trackers 52 in the movies? We weren’t careful about how we walked, so I’m sure we would have left 53 some broken tree branches and leaves. ”
Carefully, the boys 54 the marks that they had left, until finally they found their campsite. Hurriedly, they packed their belongings and set off 55 the direction of the river.
What would their parents think of their adventure?
36. A. surprising         B. exciting          C. annoying       D. frightening
37. A. went round         B. went back         C. went away      D. went though
38. A. load               B. torn              C. food           D. storage
39. A. grassland          B. destination       C. field          D. river
40. A. live               B. lie               C. wait           D. stay
41. A. but                B. and               C. or             D. so
42. A. Unconsciously      B. Unfortunately     C. Unwillingly    D. Uninterestingly
43. A. woods              B. farm              C. setting        D. camp
44. A. put off            B. put on            C. put down       D. put up
45. A. forward            B. near              C.  back         D. further
46. A. place              B. mark              C. way            D. time
47. A. alone              B. about             C. in             D. on
48. A. After all         B. At last          C. Above all     D. At first
49. A. discovered         B. encouraged        C. persuaded      D. supposed
50. A. afraid             B. sure              C. informed       D. reminded
51. A. enjoyment          B. satisfaction      C. disappointment D. imagination
52. A. appear             B. do                C. work           D. behave
53. A. behind             B. out               C. aside          D. amount
54. A. fetched            B. watched           C. followed       D. collected
55. A. for           B. to                C. at                D. in

A year after graduation, I was offered a position teaching a writing class. Teaching was a profession I had never seriously considered, though several of my stories had been published. I accepted the job without hesitation, as it would allow me to wear a tie and go by the name of Mr. Davis. My father went by the same name, and I liked to imagine people getting the two of us confused. “Wait a minute,” someone might say, “are you talking about Mr. Davis the retired man, or Mr. Davis the respectable scholar?”
The position was offered at the last minute, and I was given two weeks to prepare, a period I spent searching for briefcase (公文包) and standing before my full-length mirror, repeating the words, “Hello, class. I’m Mr. Davis.” Sometimes I would give myself an aggressive voice. Sometimes I would sound experienced. But when the day eventually came, my nerves kicked in and the true Mr. Davis was there. I sounded not like a thoughtful professor, but rather a 12-year-old boy.
I arrived in the classroom with paper cards designed in the shape of maple leaves. I had cut them myself out of orange construction paper. I saw nine students along a long table. I handed out the cards, and the students wrote down their names and fastened them to their breast pockets as I required.
“All right then,” I said. “Okay, here we go.” Then I opened my briefcase and realized that I had never thought beyond this moment. I had been thinking that the students would be the first to talk, offering their thoughts and opinions on the events of the day. I had imagined that I would sit at the edge of the desk, overlooking a forests of hands. Every student would yell. “Calm down, you’ll all get your turn. One at a time, one at a time!”
A terrible silence ruled the room, and seeing no other opinions, I inspected the students to pull out their notebooks and write a brief essay related to the theme of deep disappointment.
【小题1】The author took the job to teach writing because ______.

On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln went to Gettysburg to speak at the National Soldiers Cemetery（公墓）. The Civil War was still going on. There was much criticism (批评) of President Lincoln at the time. He had been invited to speak at Gettysburg only out of politeness. The other speaker was to be Edward Everett, a famous statesman (政治家) and speaker of the day. Everett was a handsome man and very popular everywhere.
It is said that Lincoln prepared his speech on the train while going to Gettysburg. Later that night, alone in his hotel room and tired out, he again worked briefly on the speech. The next day Everett spoke first. His speech lasted an hour and 57 minutes and it was a perfect example of the day. Then Lincoln rose. The crowd of 15,000 people at first paid little attention to him. He spoke for only nine minutes. At the end there was little applause（掌声）. Lincoln turned to a friend and said, “I have failed again.”
Some newspapers at first criticized (批评) the speech. But little by little, as people read the speech, they began to like its simplicity（简洁）and its deep meaning. It was a speech which only Abraham Lincoln could have made.
Now everyone thinks of it as one of the greatest speeches ever given in American history.
【小题1】 In 1863, Abraham Lincoln was __________________ in Gettysburg.

Many people watched the lift-off of the space shuttle Columbia on March 21, 1982. But none watched more closely than eighteen-year-old Ted, as Ted’s insects were on board the shuttle.
The Shuttle Student Involvement Program invited students to make a science experiment. The experiment would be done by astronauts on the space shuttle.
Ted had always been interested in space and flight. Insect flight especially interested him. Ted noticed that insects need gravity to take off and land. They need gravity to fly in a straight line. But in space, there is no gravity. Could insects fly in zero gravity? That is what Ted wanted to find out.
Ted made an experiment called “Insect in Flight Motion Study”. He entered his experiment and soon news came that it was a winner.
A large team of scientists and engineers helped Ted get his experiment ready to fly. There were many questions to be answered first. What kind of insects would Ted use in his experiment? The insects would have to be strong enough to live on the shuttle for nine days without much food. What kind of container would hold the insects? Would the insects die during the shuttle flight?
After months of hard work, the “insectronauts” were chosen. A group of moths, flies, and honeybees were put into a special box and put onto the space shuttle. When Columbia flew into space, it was carrying insect passengers.
On March 24, astronauts Gordon Fullerton and Jack Lousma took out the box that held the insects. They began filming the insects with a special video camera.
When the space shuttle landed Ted was able to watch the video film of insects. Just as he thought, most of the insects did have trouble flying in zero gravity. The flies did well. But the moths’ flight seemed “uncontrolled”. They would often just hang in the air. The bees had the most trouble. They couldn’t fly at all! The film showed bees spinning around in all directions. Others were just floating about in the box.
Ted learned the answer to his question about insects’ flight in zero gravity. But he also learned a lot more. He learned about the hard work needed in making a successful experiment.
【小题1】What does the underlined sentence “it was a winner” mean?