Worries about school bus safety have drawn much attention. Now schools in some poor areas are looking   41  some other ways to go to school.
In the countryside, students are living in different places. And there isn’t enough   time for school buses to go around and pick up   42  student. So the most useful way is to let students living in the   43  village take a special school bus which is for them only. And the cost is   44  by their parents and the school.
Each bus is asked to carry only five students on the same route(路线) every day. Traffic police are also making daily checks to make sure drivers don’t carry__45  than 5 students. For a bus like this, the drivers can   46  make any money. So schools pay 300 yuan to drivers every month. The rest comes from the parents’ pockets（口袋）.
The roads to the students’ homes are rough(崎岖的) and sometimes even dangerous,   47  falling rocks and narrow（狭窄的） bridges. After spending at least an hour on the road, the students finally make it home.   48 the money for taking a bus has increased and it’s not easy for parents to make money, they are glad to know that their children will   49  home safely each day. And they feel happy to see their child enjoy their time at school. But one girl says she’s seen the big yellow school   50  on TV, and wonders when she’ll ride one of her own.

Little Tommy was doing very badly in math. His parents had tried everything-tutors(家庭教师), cards, special learning centers-in short, everything they could think of. Finally they took Tommy to a catholic(天主教的) school.

After the first day, little Tommy came home with a very serious look on his face. He didn't kiss his mother hello. Instead, he went straight to his room and started studying. Books and papers were spread out all over the room and little Tommy was hard at work. His mother was surprised. She called him down to dinner and as soon as he finished eating, he went back to his room, without a word. In no time he was back hitting the books as hard as before. This went on for some time, day after day while the mother tried to understand what was happening.

Finally, little Tommy brought home his report card. He quietly put it on the table and went up to his room and hit the books. His mom looked at it and to her surprise, little Tommy got an A in math. She could no longer hold her curiosity. She went to his room and asked, "Son, what was it? Was it the nuns (修女)?”

Little Tommy looked at her and shook his head, "No."

"Well then," she asked again. "WHAT was it?"

Little Tommy looked at her and said, "Well, on the first day of school, when I saw that man nailed（钉）to the plus sign, I knew they weren't joking."

50. Why did Tommy's parents send him to a catholic school?

A. Because he could eat well there.

B. Because he could learn more about nuns.

C. Because his parents wanted him to do better in his math.

D. Because his parents didn't want him to learn math any more.

51. "Hitting the books" means "_______" in Chinese.

    A.用功            B.捶书            C.发泄           D.振作

52. From the passage, we can infer that_______.

A. teachers should be strict with their students

B. mistaking (误解) might do good sometimes

C. a catholic school is much better than other ones

D. nuns are good at helping children with their math

Long, long ago people made fire from lightening（闪电）. But they had to keep the fire burning, for they couldn’t start it again if there was no lightening. Later, they found out hitting two pieces of stone together could make a spark（火花）. Then spark could burn dry leaves. In this way they could make the fire again if it went out. Then people also learned to make a fire by rubbing（摩擦）. They made a hole in a piece of wood and put a smaller stick into the hole. They turned the stick again and again. After a few minutes they got a fire.

Years went by, people learned other ways to make a fire. Sometimes they used the heat from the sun. They held a piece of glass in the right way and made a piece of paper of fire.

About two centuries age, people began to make matches（火柴）. Matches brought people a quick and easy way to make fires. Today matches are still being used, but people have more new ways to make fires. One of them is use an electric fire starter. Of curse an electric fire starter is much more expensive than a box of matches. But it is very useful.

（  ）49. From the text we know that a spark can            .

A. burn any leaves.                 B. burn anything

C. burn dry leaves                  D. keep the fire burning

（  ）50. We can also get a fire by            .

A. making a hole in a big piece of wood

B. putting a smaller stick into the hole

C. turning the stick hard for a while

D. doing all the above in order

（  ）51. From the passage, we know that            .

A. electric fire starters are widely used            

B. some forest fires happen from lightening

C. today there are only two ways to make a fire           

D. people haven’t used matches since they had electric fire starters

Worries about school bus safety have drawn much attention. Now schools in some poor areas are looking   41   some other ways to go to school.

In the countryside, students are living in different places. And there isn’t enough   time for school buses to go around and pick up   42   student. So the most useful way is to let students living in the   43   village take a special school bus which is for them only. And the cost is   44  by their parents and the school.

Each bus is asked to carry only five students on the same route(路线) every day. Traffic police are also making daily checks to make sure drivers don’t carry__45   than 5 students. For a bus like this, the drivers can   46   make any money. So schools pay 300 yuan to drivers every month. The rest comes from the parents’ pockets（口袋）.

 The roads to the students’ homes are rough(崎岖的) and sometimes even dangerous,   47   falling rocks and narrow（狭窄的） bridges. After spending at least an hour on the road, the students finally make it home.   48  the money for taking a bus has increased and it’s not easy for parents to make money, they are glad to know that their children will   49   home safely each day. And they feel happy to see their child enjoy their time at school. But one girl says she’s seen the big yellow school   50   on TV, and wonders when she’ll ride one of her own.

1.A. at                 B. up               C. for          D. through

2.A. all             B. every             C. both        D. either

3.A. near           B. far              C. same         D. poor

4.A. bought         B. spent            C. paid         D. took

5.A. few           B. fewer            C. many         D. more

6.A. always            B. often             C. sometimes    D. hardly

7.A. and            B. but              C. with         D. without

8.A. Because        B. Although         C. If           D. When

9.A. get B. arrive at           C. arrive in        D. reach to

10.A. desks             B. bags             C. buses        D. bikes