A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the pups and set about nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard. As he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt a tug on his overalls. He looked down into the sad eyes of a little boy.

“Mister," he said, "I want to buy one of your puppies." 

"Well," said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat of the back of his neck, “these puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money."

The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer. "I've got thirty- nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?”  

"Sure," said the farmer.

And with that he let out a whistle. "Here, Dolly!" he called.

Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur. The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence. His eyes danced with delight.

As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed something else stirring inside the doghouse. Slowly another little ball appeared; this one noticeably smaller.

Down the ramp it slid. Then in a somewhat awkward manner, the little pup began hobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up....

"I want that one," the little boy said, pointing to the runt.

The farmer knelt down at the boy's side and said, "Son, you don't want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would."

With that the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down, and began rolling up one leg of his trousers. In doing so he revealed a steel brace running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specially made shoe. Looking back up at the farmer, he said, "You see sir, I don't run too well myself, and he will need someone who understands."

With tears in his eyes, the farmer reached down and picked up the little pup. Holding it carefully he handed it to the little boy.

"How much?" asked the little boy.

"No charge," answered the farmer, "There's no charge for love."

The world is full of people who need someone who understands. It's National Friendship Week.

1.How many baby pups did the farmer have for sale?

  A. 3                                B. 4                             C. 5                             D. 6

2.Why did the farmer agree to sell the boy one of the puppies?

  A. The boy had the money to buy one.   

  B. There were few people wanting to buy a dog.

  C. The farmer felt sorry for the boy.             

  D. The farmer wanted to get rid of the dogs quickly.

3. Which of the following words is closest in meaning to the underlined word “ hobbling”?

  A. strolling.                     B. crawling.                       C. limping.                 D. running.

4.Why did the boy finally choose the “ hobbling” pup?

  A. He feared the farmer would kill it.           

  B. He thought no one else would buy that pup.

  C. He believed it was the cutest of the pups.          

D. He could identify with this pup.

5.What would be the most suitable title for this passage?

  A. Man’s Best Friend                                        B. Puppy For Sale.       

  C. Perfect Match.                                                 D. Love at First Sight.

 

My uncle has a very beautiful umbrella. He has had it   16   and he is very careful with it. It still looks as good as new. ‘That umbrella must have   17   you a great deal of money, Uncle,’ I said to him one day. ‘No,’ he replied, ‘  18  .’ ‘Was it a present?’ I asked again. ‘No,’ said he. ‘Then how did you get it?’ I asked.

   ‘Well,’ he answered, ‘it is a strange true story. About ten years ago I was walking along a quiet London street one evening   19  it suddenly rained. I had no  20   and no umbrella. No buses   21    that street and there were no taxis in sight. As I was on my way to a party I didn’t want to get   22    . So I stood in a doorway and waited for the rain to stop. By and by it grew quite    23    , there wasn’t a person around, and still it rained and rained.    24     a young man came to the place where I was standing,    25   a large umbrella over his head. As I hoped he would   26     me to walk to the next corner with him,    27   I could have got a taxi, I stepped    28    the dark doorway where I had been standing, and said,   29     , where are you going with that umbrella?

        30     by my sudden appearance, the young man    31  the umbrella which I am afraid, he had just stolen, ran away, and    32   into the darkness. I picked up the umbrella and    33   my walk. I knew it would be   34   in this big city to try and discover the owner and so I’ve kept it   35 .’

1.

A. for months    B. for years    C. since childhood    D. since then

2.

 A. used         B. cost        C. taken            D. spent

3.

A. very little  B. only a few pounds  C. not a penny D. not a great deal

4.

A. when        B. then        C. before            D. as

5.

 A. car          B. hat         C. raincoat          D. friend

6.

 A. moved through   B. ran through   C. went across  D. passed across

7.

 A. tired         B. back        C. wet           D. away

8.

  A. dark         B. wet        C. late             D. helpless

9.

 A. At once      B. At last      C. Strangely        D. Secretly

10.

A. raising       B. carrying     C. holding         D. lifting

11.

A. allow        B. let         C. agree           D. promise

12.

  A. there        B. where      C. from which       D. in which

13.

A. into         B. out of      C. towards          D. from behind

14.

A. By the way   B. Pardon     C. Excuse me        D. Sorry

15.

  A. Encouraged   B. Forced     C. Warmed         D. Frightened

16.

A. shut         B. took       C. dropped         D. forgot

17.

 A. disappeared   B. wandered   C. marched        D. came

18.

 A. stopped      B. started      C. continued       D. delayed

19.

  A. endless      B. interesting    C. exciting       D. hopeless

20.

A. ever since    B. forever     C. long enough     D. in the end

 

One of the best-loved American writers was William Sydney Porter, or O.Henry. From 1893 he lived with his family in a house in Austin, Texas, which is now a museum. Visitors to Austin can see the house. It was saved from destruction (破坏) and turned into a museum in1934. The museum is a good way to learn about the interesting life of the American writer.

William Porter rented this house in Austin and lived there with his wife Athol and daughter Margaret for about two years. Many objects in the museum belonged to the Porters. Others did not. An important piece in the room is the original photograph over here. It was taken there in the house about 1895. The piano there goes back to the 1860s. His wife took lessons on it when she first moved to Austin.

Porter did not start his career as a successful writer. He worked at a farm, land office and bank. He also loved words and writing. The museum has a special proof of Porter’s love of language --- his dictionary. It is said that he had read every word in that dictionary.

Later William Porter was forced to leave Austin because he was charged with financial wrongdoing at the bank and lost his job. Because he was afraid of a trail (审判), he left the country secretly. But he returned because his wife was dying. After her death, he faced the trial and became a criminal. He served three and a half years in a prison in Ohio.

William Porter would keep his time in prison a secret. But there was one good thing about it. It provided him with time to write. By the time he was freed, he had published 14 stories and became well known as O.Henry.

Porter later moved to New York City and found great success there. He published over 180 stories in the last eight years of his life.

1.O.Henry’s house in Austin has been well kept up till now so that ____.

A. Americans can explore their history

B more visitors will be attracted to Austin

C. visitors can learn about O.Henry’s life

D. it can show the way of life in the 1860s

2.What do we know about the piano in the house?

A．It was hated by Porter’s daughter.

B．It has a long history of about 150 years.

C．Porter’s wife gave music lessons on it.

D．Porter usually created music on it.

3.How does the museum prove (证明) Porter was fond of language?

A．With a dictionary he used.	B．With the records they keep.
C．Using the books they wrote.	D．Using the photograph they keep.

4.Why did Porter escape from Austin?

A．He didn’t want to lose his job.	B．He didn’t want to make trouble.
C．He meant to save his wife’s life.	D．He was charged with a crime.

5.From the last two paragraphs we know that _______.

A．Porter became famous suddenly

B．Porter spent his time in prison writing

C．Porter suffered a lot from his time in prison

D．life in prison provided what he could write for Porter

 

On March 5, 2009, Michael Jackson stood in front of crowds of fans. Before screaming fans, he pronounced with pumping arms: “This is it!”

A few months later, Jackson was dead. With the late pop star’s return to radio, television and the cultural events, Forbes judges that Jackson has made $90 million since his death June 25. This figure is based on his royalties（版税） from album sales, radio play, rights to his name and royalties from his stock in the Sony/ATV music catalog (编目权).

Jackson’s music was his most easily-seen source in the last months. “Nothing increases the value of an artist than death ... an untimely death,” says Barry Massarsky, a music industry economist.

The music’s immediate value was clear. Since June, Jackson has sold more than 5.9 million albums in the U.S. and another 4.5 million overseas. In the first weeks after his death, there were 5.6 million single downloads across North America, Europe and Australia. Jackson recently has three of the top 20 best-selling albums of the year in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan. His 2003 hits album Number Ones is the best seller of the year, beating Taylor Swift’s Fearless.

More than 500,000 Jackson ringtones and 100,000 music videos were sold. In the week following his death, songs by The Jackson 5, The Jacksons and Michael were played over 100,000 times on the radio, according to Nielsen BDS.

Jackson’s estate（遗产）will likely see more money by the end of this year, as it has rights to some of the profits from This Is It as well as the two-disc album of the same name. The estate will share 90% of the film profits with AEG.

Ticket sales from an exhibit opening in London will also contribute a likely profit. Hundreds of Jackson’s personal belongings－his L.A. Rolls Royce etc－will remain on show for three months at the O2 for fans willing to shell out $25 for a view.

The pop singer bought ATV Publishing, for $47.5 million in 1985. Ten years later, he sold the catalog to Sony for $95 million and took a 50% stock in Sony/ATV, which is now worth about $1.7 to $2 billion. So he still owned half the Sony/ATV catalog at his death.

Jackson’s future earning potential is based on his stock in valuable music and as well as the value of his image（肖像）. As many musicians, actors and artists before him, Jackson’s fame could have a long tail on the market with allowable products, advertising and entertainment events.

1.What do Barry Massarsky’s words in Paragraph 3 imply?

A. Jackson died at the time as expected.

B. Only at death can an artist become famous.

C. Jackson became more famous at death than when he was alive.

D. Jackson’s unexpected death raised his value as an artist immediately.

2.All the following is true EXCEPT that _____.

A. “This is it” is the last concert that Jackson gave

B. Jackson has sold 10.4 million albums since June

C. Jackson’s L.A. Rolls Royce is now for show and will finally be sold

D. Jackson’s stock in music and his image will keep on earning money in the future

3.What can be inferred from the passage?

A. Jackson’s album Number Ones beat Taylor Swift’s Fearless in 2003.

B. Taylor Swift’s Fearless is the second best seller of music albums of 2009.

C. AEG takes in more film profits from “This is it” than Jackson’s estate.

D. More Jackson’s music videos were sold than his ringtones right after his death.

4.What can we know about the Sony/ATV catalog?

A. Jackson sold ATV catalog to Sony in 1985.

B. Jackson had half right of ATV Publishing at his death.

C. Jackson sold ATV catalog to Sony for $ 47.5 million in 1995.

D. Jackson’s stock in Sony/ATV now has a value of about $ 1.7 billion to 2 billion.

5.What is the main idea of the passage?

A. Why Michael Jackson’s music is so popular all over the world.

B. How Michael Jackson has earned $90 million in the months since his death.

C. What Michael Jackson’s future earning potential is based on.

D. How much Michael Jackson earned in the first few months after his death.

 

Mark was walking home from school one day when he saw the boy in front of him fall over and drop all of the books he was carrying, along with two sweaters, a basketball and a walkman（随身听）. Mark stopped and helped the boy pick up these things. Since they were going the same way, he helped to carry some of his things. As they walked, Mark knew that the boy’s name was Bill, that he loved computer games, basketball and history, and that he was having lots of troubles with his other subjects and that he had just broken up with his girlfriend.

They arrived at Bill’s home first and Mark was invited in for a Coke and to watch some television. The afternoon passed happily with a few laughs and some small talk, and then Mark went home. They often saw each other at school, had lunch together once or twice, and then they both finished middle school. They ended up in the same high school where they sometimes saw and talked with each other over the years. At last just three weeks before they finished high school, Bill asked Mark if they could talk.

Bill asked Mark if he still remembered the day years ago when they had first met. “Did you ever think why I was carrying so many things home that day?” asked Bill. “You see, I cleaned out my locker(锁柜) because I didn’t want to leave anything for anyone else. I had put away some of my mother’s sleeping pills and I was going home to kill myself. But after we spent some time together talking and laughing, I began to understand that if I killed myself, I would have missed that time and so many others that might follow. So you see, Mark, when you picked up those books that day, you did a lot more. You saved my life.”

1.When Mark met him the first time, Bill was going _______.

A. to have a basketball game        B. to his classroom

C. to see Mark                     D. back home

2. From what Bill was carrying, we can know that he _______.

A. was a good student               B. liked sports and music

C. liked all the subjects in school D. was a good friend

3.Mark and Bill _______.

A. were in the same middle school and high school

B. were in the same middle school but not in the same high school

C. often had lunch together at school

D. had known each other before they began to study in middle school

4.In this passage, the phrase “break up” means _______.

A. 相处很好   B. 和好如初    C. 关系破裂    D. 保持联系

5.When Mark helped Bill to pick up some of his things, he _______.

A. knew he could save Bill’s life

B. knew who Bill was and wanted to help him

C. didn’t know why he was going to help him

D. didn’t know what he was doing was very important to Bill