Mr. Jones works in a factory far away from his home. One day he wanted to send a letter to his wife, but he could neither read nor write, and he had to work all day, so he could only look for somebody to write his letter late at night. At last he found the house of a letter-writer whose name was Nasreddin. 

Nasreddin was already in bed. “It is late,” he said. “What do you want?” “I want you to write a letter to my wife,” said Mr. Jones. Nasreddin was not pleased. He thought for a few seconds and then asked, “Has the letter got to go far?”

“What does that matter?” answered Mr. Jones. 

“Well, my writing is so strange that only I can read it, and if I have to travel a long way to read your letter to your wife, it will cost you a lot of money. ”Mr. Jones went away with no words.

1.Mr. Jones is a ________.

    A. letter-writer                    B. postman                  C. worker

2.Mr. Jones looked for somebody to write a letter for him ______.

    A. late at night

B. in the morning

C. in the afternoon

3.Nasreddin was not pleased because he wanted to ______.

A. write the letter             B. make money               C. remain in bed

4.We know from the story that Nasreddin is a _______ man.

A. kind                     B. funny                        C. strict

5.Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. Mr. Jones paid no money to Nasreddin.

B. Mr. Jones was happy when he heard the words.

C. Nasreddin wrote the letter for Mr. Jones.

 

In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what “keeping up with the Joneses” is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbours.
The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighbourhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbours.
It was like a race, but one could never finish his race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment in New York City.
Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbours. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses” because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States. “Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.
People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are “Joneses” in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.
【小题1】Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they ________.

A．want to be as rich as their neighbours

B．want others to know or to think that they are rich

C．don’t want others to know they are rich

D．want to be happy

【小题2】It can be inferred (推断) from the story that rich people like to ________.

A．live outside New York City	B．live in New York City
C．live in apartments	D．have many neighbours

【小题3】Arthur Momand used the name “Jones” in his series of short stories because “Jones” is ________.

A．an important name	B．a popular name in the United States
C．his neighbour’s name	D．not a good name

【小题4】If a person who keeps up with the Joneses, he would _________.

A．do as the poor persons around him do

B．do everything he likes to do

C．do as his neighbours do

D．do as the rich people around him do

One day Mrs Jones goes shopping alone(独自地). When Mr Jones comes home in the evening, she begins to tell him about a beautiful dress. “I see it in a shop this morning,” she says, “and…” “And you want to buy it,” says Mr Jones, “how much is it?” “Fifteen pounds.” Every evening, when Mr Jones comes back from work, his wife goes on talking only about the dress. And at last, after a week, he says, “Oh, buy the dress! Here’s the money!” She is very happy. But the next evening, when Mr Jones comes home and asks, “Have you got the famous(著名的) dress?” She says, “No.” Why not?” he says. “Well, it is still in the window of the shop after a week. I think nobody else wants this dress. So I think it is not a good one!”

1.Mrs Jones goes shopping_________ one day.

A．with Mr Jones

B．with her friend

C．by herself

D．with the other woman

2.Mrs Jones tells Mr Jones about the dress every day because________.

A．it is really beautiful

B．she wants the shop

C．she wants Mr Jones to buy it for her

D．she likes it very much

3.Mrs Jones is very happy after________.

A．Mr Jones agree(同意) to buy it for her

B．Mr Jones gives her the money for the pants

C．she gets the beautiful dress

D．she sees the dress is still in the shop window

4.Mr Jones thinks it’s the famous dress because________.

A．it is a beautiful dress

B．it is in the shop window for a week

C．his wife has it

D．his wife talks about it again and again

5.From the story we can know__________.

A．Mrs Jones is a housewife, she doesn’t have much money

B．Mr Jones doesn’t like his wife

C．Mr Jones comes home for lunch every day

D．Mrs Jones doesn’t like the things if others like them

 

Ms. LaRosa is a great teacher. She can answer almost any question that you have about any history topic and if she cannot, she will try her best to help you find the answer. Although she has a hearing aid(助听器., she does not let that prevent her from being a great teacher. She told the class about it on the first day and told us not to let it get in the way of our learning and not to treat her differently.

We all like her class, especially an activity which is called the station. Stations are when our tables of four or five become our groups and we go through four various activities, such as Ancient China, in which we need to put together a sentence and write it using ancient symbols. Each station needs about 40 minutes to complete.

Ms. LaRosa has a policy that not many teachers give a second thought to. That is writing in cursive (草书的.letters. She will provide you with various resources so that your cursive handwriting is the best that it can be. Ms. LaRosa always says that she has a reason for everything that she does. Recently we just understood her reason for supporting cursive handwriting. Cursive writing can force you to think in words but not in letters. Also it has been proven that people who write in cursive letters do better on tests.

Ms. LaRosa’s class gets to do various fun and exciting things. She also uses real examples from her own life, such as things that her daughter has done. Ms. LaRosa also has absolute trust in her students. She always leaves her purse on her desk.

Ms. LaRosa is a great person and a great teacher who is always there for you, and I feel like I can tell her anything.

1. Ms. LaRosa is a teacher with a good knowledge of history, isn’t she?  （1 分.

   __________, ___________________________________________________________.

2. What activity is especially liked by the students? （2分.

   ______________________________________________________________________.

3. How long do the students usually spend on each station? （2分.

   _____________________________________________________________________.

4. Why does Ms. LaRosa support cursive handwriting? （2 分.

   _____________________________________________________________________.

5. How does Ms. LaRosa usually teach her class? （2 分.

   _____________________________________________________________________.

6.What do you think makes Ms. LaRosa a great teacher? （3分.

   _____________________________________________________________________.

 

Mrs. Jones is waiting for an important telephone call, but she has no vegetables at home, so she leaves the baby and says to her five-year-old son, “I’m going to the shops, Jimmy, and I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
While she is out, the telephone rings, and Jimmy answers.
“Hello,” says a man. “Is your mother here?”
“No.” answers Jimmy.
“Well, when she comes back, tell her Mr. Baker telephones.”
“What?” says Jimmy.
“Mr. Baker, write it down B-A-K-E-R.”
“How do you make a B,” asks Jimmy.
“How do I make B? Listen, little boy, is there anyone else with you? Any brothers or sisters?”
“My brother Billy is here.”
“Good, I want to talk to him, please.”
“All right.” Jimmy takes the telephone to the baby’s bed and gives it to Billy. When their mother comes back, she asks, “Does anyone telephone?”
“Yes,” says Jimmy, “a man. But he only wants to talk to Billy.”
【小题1】 Mrs. Jones is waiting for _____.

A．her friend

B．Mr. Baker

C．Billy

D．a call

【小题2】Billy is _____.

A．Jimmy’s brother	B．Mrs. Jones’s brother
C．Mr. Baker’s son	D．Jimmy’s sister

【小题3】There is no _____ in Mrs. Jones’s house.

A．money

B．vegetables

C．milk

D．people

【小题4】When the telephone rings, Mrs. Jones is _____.

A．at home

B．cooking

C．with Jimmy

D．shopping