Miss Jones teaches maths at a school. In one of her classes, the boys and girls are about eight years old, and they are not very good at maths. Miss Jones always tries to make the work interesting.

　　One day she gave them a question:“If you go to the market to buy vegetables.” she said, “and a carrot (胡蘿卜) and a half cost twelve fen, how much will you have to pay for ten carrots?”

　　The pupils began to write in their exercise-books, and for a long time nobody spoke. Then one boy put his hand up and said, “Could you repeat the question, please, Miss?”

　　The teacher began, “If a carrot and a half…” but the boy interrupted(打擾) her.

　　“Oh, a carrot and a half?” he said. “All this time I've been trying to work it out in cabbages, Miss.”

1．Miss Jones is a teacher of ________ .

[　　]

2．Miss Jones asked her students to ________ .

[　　]

3．________ good at maths.

[　　]

4．The right answer is that you will have to pay ________ for ten carrots.

[　　]

5．Which of the following statements(陳述) is TRUE?

[　　]

A．The boy could answer the question.

B．The pupils worked very fast.

C．Miss Jones helps her pupils to enjoy their work.

D．The pupils are very clever at maths.

　　My phone rings a lot. But most of the time it's not for me. It's for my cat! Well, the caller doesn't want to talk to my cat. He wants to talk about him.

　　You see, my cat really gets around!

　　I met him three years ago. I was walking home one cold winter night. As I went by a row of houses, I saw something orange on a stoop(門前臺(tái)階). Then I heard a little cry. I went closer. It was a kitten.

　　He was sitting in the snow. As I watched, the ball of orange fur tried to stand up. But he wobbled－and fell down a step.

　　“You need to get warm.” I said. “My coat is big enough for both of us.” I picked up the shaking kitten. “I found you on a stoop.” I went on. “So that will be your name.” At once I heard a soft purr(咕嚕聲).

　　At home, Stoop lapped (舔) up some milk. He was warm and happy. In a week, he was running all over the apartment(一套房間).

　　But Stoop was not going to let himself be just an apartment cat. In the spring, he found his way to the streets of the city. How? By climbing down a tree outside my window!

　　I wanted to make sure that Stoop would always come home. I bought a little collar(頸圈) with a tag (標(biāo)簽). The tag said:“I have a home. If I look lost, phone Fred Sparks XY9－8809.”

1．The writer's telephone rings a lot because ________ .

[　　]

A．the writer has so many friends all over the world

B．the writer has much business to do with others

C．the caller wants to talk about the writer's books

D．the caller wants to talk to the writer's about his cat

2．If we say that somebody gets around, we means that ________ .

[　　]

A．he travels a lot from place to place

B．he is not active and always stays at home

C．he becomes as round as a big ball

D．he is very famous and everybody seems to know him

3．In the story “the ball of orange fur” refers to (指) ________ .

[　　]

4．An apartment cat must be a cat that ________ .

[　　]

A．is living with a family in an apartment

B．is born and grows up in an apartment

C．stays in an apartment, never goes out to play

D．has no place to live in and no master to attend him

5．How did all those callers know the writer's telephone number?

[　　]

　　In the course of one of his lecture trips, Mark Twain arrived at a small town. Before dinner he went to a barber's shop to be shaved (刮臉).

　　“Are you a stranger?” asked the barber.

　　“Yes,” Mark Twain replied. “This is the first time I've been here.”

　　“You chose a good time to come.” the barber continued. “Mark Twain is going to read a lecture tonight. You'll go, I suppose.”

　　“Oh, I guess so.”

　　“Have you bought your ticket?”

　　“Not yet.”

　　“But everything is sold out. You'll have to stand.”

　　“How very annoying(令人生氣)!” Mark Twain said with a sigh(嘆息). “I never saw such luck. I always have to stand when that fellow lectures.”

1．Mark Twain came to the small town ________ .

[　　]

2．At first, the barber thought the stranger ________ .

[　　]

A．had a good chance to attend the lecture

B．couldn't go to the lecture because he had no ticket

C．had never been to this town before

D．was a great writer

3．Mark Twain ________ .

[　　]

4．The last paragraph tells us that Mark Twain was ________ .

[　　]

A．very angry for having to stand while listening to the lecture

B．disappointed for not having got a ticket

C．a(chǎn)nnoyed with the fellow who would give the lecture

D．just joking

5．From the story we can see that ________ .

[　　]

A．it was Mark Twain who would give the lecture

B．everyone knew Mark Twain

C．Mark Twain was going to listen to a lecture

D．Mark Twain never had good lucks

　　The state of Florida was once almost gobbled (大吃) up by snails(蝸牛). They were giant(巨大的) snails from Africa. A visitor took some to Florida, where they spread quickly. Some of the snails were as big as a person's hand. They ate the leaves on trees and other plants. They had to be stopped, and they were. Poison killed thousands of the snails, and Florida was saved.

　　Catching a snail should be easier than catching any other animal. The snail is the slowest of all land animals. Its top speed is 55 yards per hour. At this speed it would take the snail about 32 hours to travel one mile. A snail only goes that fast when it's very hungry.

　　The bar graph below shows some other top speeds.

　　A bar graph has bars of different lengths, instead of pictures. This kind of graph makes it easy to compare several things quickly. To read the graph, notice where each bar ends. Then find the closest number at the bottom of the graph.

　　Use the bar graph about running speeds to answer the questions.

1．What is the top speed of a rabbit?

[　　]

2．Fifty miles per hour is the top speed for ________ .

[　　]

3．What is the difference in running speed between a greyhound and a gazelle?

[　　]

4．The closest to an elephant in running speed is ________ .

[　　]

5．A rabbit and greyhound can both run faster than ________ .

[　　]

　　Mark Twain, the famous American writer, liked to play jokes (開(kāi)玩笑) on others. But once a joke was played on him.

　　One day Mark Twain was invited to give a talk in a small town. At lunch he met a young man, one of his friends.

　　The young man said that he had an uncle with him. He told Mark Twain that his uncle never laughed or smiled, and that nobody and nothing was able to make his uncle smile or laugh.

　　“You bring your uncle to my talk tonight,” said Mark Twain, “I'm sure I can make him laugh.”

　　That evening the young man and his uncle sat in the front. Mark Twain began to speak. He told several funny stories. This made everyone in the room laugh.

　　But the old man never even smiled. Mark Twain told more funny stories, but the old man still kept quiet. Mark Twain told his funniest stories. Finally he stopped. He was tired and quite disappointed.

　　Some days later, Mark Twain told another friend of his about what had happened.

　　“Oh,” said this friend, “I know that old man, He's been deaf (聾) for years.”

1．In this story, a joke was played ________ .

[　　]

2．Mark Twain went to a small town ________ .

[　　]

3．When the young man said his uncle never laughed or smiled, Mark Twain ________ .

[　　]

4．The old man didn't even smile at Mark Twain's stories because ________ .

[　　]

A．those stories were not funny at all

B．he thought he should keep quiet

C．he had sat far away and couldn't hear clearly

D．he couldn't hear anything at all

5．Mark Twain learned that the old man was a deaf later from ________ .

[　　]

　　An old porter(搬運(yùn)工人) had worked for the railway for a very long time. One morning he was standing in one of the big railway stations and waiting for travellers to ask him to help them with their luggage(行李), when he saw a small man running towards the trains with a big bag in his hand.

　　The porter watched the man for a few seconds, and then the man saw the porter. At once the small man towards the porter and said, “Can I catch the 10:35 train to London, porter?” He was breathing(喘息) very fast, and he seemed worried.

　　The old porter looked at him for a moment and then said with a smile, “Well, Sir, I'd like to help you, but I can't answer your question because I don't know how fast you can run along rails. You see,” he explained, “the 10:35 train to London left five minutes ago.”

1．The old porter usually ________ .

[　　]

A．stood in the railway station

B．a(chǎn)nswered the traveller's questions

C．helped the travellers carry their luggage

D．a(chǎn)sked the travellers to help him

2．One morning a small man ________ .

[　　]

A．was waiting for the porter to help him

B．was running along the rails

C．was waiting for the train to London

D．was hurrying to catch to 10:35 train to London

3．The small man looked worried because ________ .

[　　]

A．he couldn't run so fast as the train

B．he wondered if he could catch the 10:35 train to London

C．the porter watched him for a few seconds

D．he lost his bag

4．At the end of the story, the porter _______.

[　　]

A．told the small man there was no 10:35 train to London

B．told the small man when he could catch the train

C．helped the small man to catch the train

D．played a joke on(開(kāi)某人的玩笑) the small man

5．When the porter told the man the train had left, the time was ________ .

[　　]

　　Once upon a time, there was no television. That wasn't because no one had tried to invent it. Scientists had worked on the idea starting in the late 1800's. Many years passed before television worked well.

　　In the 1940's, television caught on. It was a hit from the beginning. Soon the movie business, the restaurant business, and even the jukebox (大型唱機(jī)) business went down. Americans stayed home to watch television. How much watching do people do? The graph(圖表) below can help you decide.

　　This graph is called a pictograph. It shows the average number of hours a day that people have watched television in different years.

　　A pictograph uses pictures, or symbols, to show information. In the graph at the left, the symbol is a clock. Find the key at the bottom. The key tells you that each clock on the graph equals one hour of television watching. Half a clock equals one-half hour of watching.

　　To read the graph, count the number of clocks in the row for each year. A row runs across, from side to side. Use the graph to answer the questions below.

1．The average number of hours spent watching TV in 1960 was ________ .

[　　]

A．5 hours

B．5hours

C．6 hours

D．6hours

2．People spent an average of six hours a day watching TV in ________ .

[　　]

3．From 1970 to 1976, television watching ________ .

[　　]

4．Television watching went up the most from ________ .

[　　]

5．In which two years did the number of hours stay the same?

[　　]

　　Full-time university students spend all their time studying. They don't do other work. Their course (課程) usually lasts for three or four years. Medical students have to follow a course lasting for six or seven years. Then they graduate (畢業(yè)) as doctors. In Britain, full-time university students have three terms of about ten weeks in each year. During these terms they go to lectures or they study by themselves. Their vacations(假期) are long, but of course they can use them to study at home.

　　Some universities, like Oxford and Cambridge in England, are residential (住校的). This means that during the university terms the students live in universities.

　　Other universities are non-residential. Some of the students at these universities can live in a university hostel(招待所), but many live at home or in lodgings(臨時(shí)住所) and have to travel daily to their lectures. Large cities often have universities of this kind. Sometimes the students have to spend quite a lot of time on their journeys.

　　Full-time students are also called internal students, because they spend all their time at university. There are also external students who cannot attend the university full-time but who are studying for its examinations. They are part-time students. They have to do other work during the day, usually to earn their living, and they study in the evening.

　　External students are often older than full-time internal students. Sometimes they can attend lectures in the evening, but many of them have to study by correspondence (通信). They write at home the work that is set by their tutors(導(dǎo)師). Then they have to post this work to their tutors and the tutors post corrections and advice back to them.

　　In some countries, “Universities of the Air” can now help students to gain degrees(學(xué)位). After special lectures on radio or television, these students too have to send set work for correction by correspondence. However, for a few weeks each year they can attend special vacation courses at universities.

1．________ have to study at university for six or seven years.

[　　]

2．Medical students all become doctors ________ .

[　　]

A．when they graduate

B．before they graduate

C．a(chǎn)fter they work in the hospital for six or seven years

D．while they are studying at universities

3．The residential students are those who ________ .

[　　]

4．The part-time students ________ .

[　　]

A．work for a living in the daytime and study in the evening

B．a(chǎn)re internal students

C．a(chǎn)re residential students

D．have to attend lectures during the day

5．Correspondence is ________ .

[　　]

A．a(chǎn) course for older students

B．a(chǎn) course for internal students

C．a(chǎn) course for the residential students

D．a(chǎn) course whose students send their work by post to their tutors

6．The students of “Universities of the Air” ________ .

[　　]

A．study as the internal students

B．study by air

C．a(chǎn)ttend lectures in the evening

D．can attend lectures on radio or television

　　Mr. Smith gave his wife ten pounds for her birthday－ten pretty(漂亮的) pound notes (紙幣). So the day after her birthday, Mrs. Smith went shopping. She got on a bus and sat down next to an old lady (女士). After a while, she noticed that the old lady's handbag(手提包) was open. Inside it she saw some pieces of pound notes like the ones her husband had given her. She quickly looked into her own bag－the notes were gone. She decided to take back the money from the old lady's handbag. She looked round the bus to make sure nobody was watching her, then she carefully put her hand into the old lady's bag, took the notes and put them in her own bag. No trouble at all!

　　When she got home that evening, she showed her husband the beautiful hat she had bought.

　　“How did you pay for it?” he asked.

　　“With the money you gave for my birthday, of course.” She replied.

　　“Oh, what's that, then?” he asked, as he pointed to some pieces of pound notes on the table.

1．Mrs. Smith went shopping ________ .

[　　]

2．On the bus, Mrs. Smith suddenly found her notes were gone. She thought ________ .

[　　]

A．the old woman sitting behind her had stolen them

B．she had left them at home

C．she had lost them somewhere

D．they were stolen by the old woman sitting by her

3．Mrs. Smith took the notes from the old lady's handbag because ________ .

[　　]

A．she thought the notes were hers

B．she needed more money to go shopping

C．it was very easy to do so

D．no one was watching her at that time

4．In fact the notes Mrs. Smith got from her husband were ________ .

[　　]

　　When in 1789, George Washington became the first president of the United States, there was no permanent (永久的) capital in which to house the government. During the Revolutionary (革命) War seven different cities had served as the national capital. In addition, members of Congress (國(guó)會(huì)) could not agree as to where this permanent capital should be located(位于). Some officials wanted it in the north, others wanted it in the south. Each of the States hoped that the capital might lie within its own state lines. At last it was decided that the capital should occupy(占據(jù)) a section(區(qū)域) by itself, separate from any of the states. The place chosen(選擇) was situated(位于) on the Potomac River. The land belonged originally (原先地) to the state of Maryland, but Maryland agreed to the national government. The section was named the District of Columbia after Christopher Columbus. The city itself was named Washington after George Washington. Work was begun on the new capital in 1791. In the year 1800 Congress occupied the new capital building; at the same time the White House was opened as the home of all future presidents.

1．Before the year 1800, the capital of America had been located in ________ .

[　　]

2．Why was it decided that the capital should be separated from any of the states? Because ________ .

[　　]

A．the District of Columbia was on the borders of several states

B．the District of Columbia was in the center of America

C．Maryland insisted that the capital lie in its own state

D．each of the states wished and expected the capital might lie within its own state

3．The capital was named after ________ .

[　　]

A．a(chǎn)n explorer(探險(xiǎn)家), who first discovered the place

B．the place where it was occupied by the English

C．the first president of the United States of America

D．a(chǎn) famous general (將軍) who fighted in the war

4．Presidents of the United States live in ________ .

[　　]

5．Which of the following statements is TRUE?

[　　]

A．A capital is the place for presidents to live in.

B．A capital should be the largest city in the country.

C．It took nine years to build the capital of Washington.

D．Since 1791, Washington has been the capital of the United States.