Once a man named Grand found a box of old papers in a room at the top of his house. He burned most of them, because he didn’t like old things very much, But one of these papers was an old letter. At the bottom(底部) of the letter was the name of a well-known writer. “When this letter was written,” said Grant, “no one knew about the writer. But now everyone knows him. Some people like to buy letters like this. I may be able to get much money for the letter if I sell it to the right man.”
But there were a lot of dirty marks all over the letter.
“It doesn’t look nice,” he thought. “No one wants to buy a letter if it’s dirty. I’ll have to clean it.”
So he took a piece of cloth and some water and cleaned the letter. He worked hard and gave a lot of care. At last the letter looked better. And he was very pleased with his work.
“Now it looks nice,” he said to himself. “I’ll be able to sell it for a lot of money.”
He took the letter to a shop in London where old papers of this kind were bought and sold.
“I want to sell this letter,” Grant said to the man in the shop. “It was written by a well-known writer. You know about these things. How much will you give me for it?”
The man looked at him for a long time.
“I will give you two pounds for it,” he said at last.
“Only two pounds!” said Grant. “But people pay ten pounds for a letter like this. And just look! I’ve even cleaned it to make it look nice.”
“I can see that,” said the man. “That’s the trouble. People who buy old papers like them to be dirty.”
【小题1】Which of the following is not right?

A．Grant found a box of old letters.	B．Grant didn’t like old things very much.
C．Grant didn’t burn the old letter.	D．The letter was written by a famous writer.

【小题2】Grant didn’t burn the letter because______.

A．it was written by his father	B．he thought he could get much money by selling it
C．he wanted to keep it forever	D．he wanted to give it to the government

【小题3】In order to sell it, Grant decided to _____ first.

A．make advertisement(广告)in the newspapers	B．show it to others around him
C．clean it to make it look nice	D．take it to an archeologist(考古学家)

【小题4】Grant didn’t sell the letter at a good price because_______.

A．it was not an old letter	B．few people knew about the writer
C．it had been cleaned	D．the man didn’t like it

At two o’clock a bank robber stole in. “This is a holdup,” the man said rudely. He took a gun from under his jacket, pointing to George. “Hand it over!” George reached into his money-box and took all the bills from the top part—close to six thousand dollars. The robber snatched them and turned to leave.

Then while everyone watched the robber, George calmly lifted the top part of the money-box, took bills from the bottom part and put them into his won pocket secretly.

The door was shut and the bank robber was gone. George fainted(晕倒).

As soon as he was safely behind his bedroom door, George counted the money. He had eight thousand dollars. He was very happy.

The next morning, while the others were examining the bank’s records, George was called into Mr. Burrow’s office and was introduced to Mr. Carruthers, who used to be president of the bank.

“Good morning, George, I was sorry, to give you a hard time yesterday, but with all the banks being robbed these days I thought it would be a good idea to prove that our little bank can robbed, too. I retired yesterday, just to keep everyone on his toes. Now, I have put the money back in your money-box—all six thousand.”

This passage tells us ______.

A. a serious case            B. one part of a play

C. a humorous story          D. a meaningful story

Which of the following do you think is true?

A. George wanted to protect the money for the bank.

B. George had been thinking of taking money away.

C. This bank had been robbed several times.

D. Nobody knew the bank would be robbed that day.

Why was George called into Mr. Burrow’s office?

A. His stealing money was disclosed.

B. Mr. Burrow wanted to say sorry to him.

C. Mr. Carruthers wanted to explain the whole thing to him.

D. Mr. Burrow wanted to tell him the money had been put back.

In this article “to keep everyone on his toes” means “______”.

A. to make everyone work hard

B. to keep everyone standing straight

C. to make everyone do a kind of exercise

D. to keep everyone paying attention to the coming danger

Which sentence can be used to end the story?

A. George turned cold with fear.          B. George turned red with anger.

C. George was pleased with the end.       D. George was disappointed with the end.

Once upon a time in a land far away, there was a wonderful old man who loved everything：animals, spiders, insects．

       One day while walking through the woods, the nice old man found a cocoon（茧）of a butterfly．He took it home．A few days later, a small opening appeared; he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole．Then it seemed to stop making any progress．It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther．Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and cut off the remaining bit of the cocoon．

       The butterfly then appeared easily．

       But it had a swollen body and small, fragile wings．The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would be smaller in time．Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling （慢慢爬行）around with a swollen body and fragile wings．

       It never was able to fly．

       What the man in his kindness and hurry did not understand was that the limited cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were Nature's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon．

       Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life．If we were allowed to go through our life without any obstacles and difficulties, it would disable us．We would not be as strong as what we could have been．And we could never fly．

1.The butterfly could never fly because _______________．

       A．it was too fat and strong．

    B．it loved crawling around．

       C．it got out of the cocoon easily．

    D．it didn’t get through the cocoon．

2.The text is most likely to be found in a book about_______________．

       A．popular science                                          B．humorous stories．

       C．successful people                                       D．philosophy events

3.What is the implied meaning of the passage?

       A．Life without any obstacles and difficulties is perfect．

       B．Obstacles and difficulties contribute to success．

       C．Never help a butterfly to get out of the cocoon．

       D．A butterfly can never fly without going through the cocoon

 

It is pretty much a one-way street. While it may be common for university researchers to try their luck in the commercial world, there is very little traffic in the opposite direction. Pay has always been the biggest deterrent, as people with families often feel they cannot afford the drop in salary when moving to a university job. For some industrial scientists, however, the attractions of academia (学术界) are more important than any financial considerations.

　　Helen Lee took a 70% cut in salary when she moved from a senior post in Abbott Laboratories to a medical department at the University of Cambridge. Her main reason for returning to academia in the middle of her career was to take advantage of the greater freedom to choose research questions.

　　The effect of a salary cut is probably less serious for a scientist in the early stages of a career. Guy Grant, now a research associate at the Unilever Centre for Molecular Informatics at the University of Cambridge, spent two years working for a pharmaceutical (制药的) company before returning to university as a post-doctoral(博士后的) researcher. He took a 30% salary cut but felt it worthwhile for the greater intellectual opportunities.

　　Higher up the ladder, where a pay cut is usually more significant, the demand for scientists with a wealth of experience in industry is forcing universities to make the transition (转换) to academia more attractive, according to Lee. Industrial scientists tend to receive training that academics do not, such as how to manage budgets and negotiate contracts. They are also well placed to bring something extra to their teaching that will help students get a job when they graduate, says Lee, perhaps experience in manufacturing practice or product development. “Only a small number of undergraduates will continue in an academic career. So someone leaving university who already has the skills needed to work in an industrial lab has far more potential in the job market than someone who has spent all their time on a narrow research project.”

1.By “a one-way street” (Line 1, Para. 1), the author means ______.

A．university researchers know little about the commercial world

B．there is little exchange between industry and academia

C．few industrial scientists would quit to work in a university

D．few university professors are willing to do industrial research

2.The underlined word “deterrent” (Line 3, Para. 1) most probably refers to something that ______.

A．keeps someone from taking action

B．encourages someone to succeed

C．attracts people’s attention

D．brings someone a financial burden

3.What was Helen Lee’s major consideration when she changed her job in the middle of her career?

A．Flexible working hours.	B．Her research interests.
C．Peaceful life on campus.	D．Her fame in academia.

4.What contribution can industrial scientists make when they come to teach in a university?

A．Increase its graduates’ competitiveness in the job market.

B．Develop its students’ potential in research.

C．Help to get financial support from industry.

D．Get more students interested in the field of industry.

 

E

Once upon a time in a land far away, there was a wonderful old man who loved everything：animals, spiders, insects...

One day while walking through the woods the nice old man found a cocoon（茧）of a butterfly. He took it home. A few days later, a small opening appeared; he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther. Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.

The butterfly then emerged（露出）easily.

But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract（收缩） in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.

It never was able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were Nature's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

 Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we were allowed to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been.

And we could never fly.

In the story, what happened to the cocoon of the butterfly after the man’s help?

A. The cocoon was broken and the butterfly died.                   

B. The man helped the butterfly out of the cocoon more easily

    C. The butterfly couldn’t fly for ever normally.                              

    D. The butterfly should spend more time practicing flying.

What would have happened to the butterfly without the old man’s help?

    A. It would have died in the cocoon.       

    B. It would have become a true butterfly.

    C. It would have been strong enough to go farther.

    D. It would have stopped struggling through the cocoon.

The underlined word “cripple” in Paragraph 7 probably means ______.

    A. disable              B. climb                C. enable               D. beat

What can we learn from this story?

    A. Man can never go against nature.

B. It’s necessary to live with some difficulties.

C. One cannot help others without thinking twice.

D. Mankind should take good care of insects.