One bright sunny day our class went to the schoolyard. Miss Brooks told us to look for something on
the ground that belonged to us. We looked and looked. Finally Mike cried. "I know, It's my shadow on the
ground." We saw that each girl and boy had a shadow and Miss Brooks had a bigger one. I tried some
funny tricks. When I moved, my shadow moved. When I ran, my shadow ran, too. But I could' t catch it
at all. Then Jess found a long and thin bamboo pole and stuch it in to the ground. Even the pole had a
shadow.
     All this started me thinking about shadows. I did not have a shadow the day before, when I walked in
the darkness. My shadow is never with me in my room at night when the light is out.
     I can't stop thinking about me and my shadow and about what makes shadows. I am going to look for
more shadows because they are lots of fun.

1. The story took place on a ____.

Ａ: cloudy day in the schoolyard.
Ｂ: rainy day in the schoolroom.
Ｃ: fine day in the schoolroom.
Ｄ: fine day at the schoolyard.

2. Miss Brooks told her students to look for something on the ground because ____.

3. When the children really found the things on the ground that belonged to them, they ____.

Ａ: were no longer interested in them
Ｂ: were very active in playing with them
Ｃ: began to realize that shadows were necessary for their lives
Ｄ: immediately ran to Miss Brooks and told her that they had found the thing she had asked them to find

4. From this passage, we can know that _____.

Ａ: where there is light, there exists a shadow
Ｂ: a shadow is one of your friends
Ｃ: though it had been sunny the day before, the writer of the story did not find a shadow
Ｄ: your shadow always follows you even when it is a cloudy day or when it is very dark in your room

Ａ: education is very important and necessary to small children
Ｂ: all the pupils' time must be spent in classes, studying lesson
Ｃ: children should be taught to learn something even when they are playing games
Ｄ: teachers must be strict with their pupils when they are very young

6. The phrase "belong to" means ____.

Ａ: 屬于
Ｂ: 跟隨
Ｃ:召喚
Ｄ: 服從

        Mr White is talking to a psychiatrist. Mr White: "Every night when I get into bed, I think that someone is
under my bed. I then get up and look. There is never anyone there. When I go under the bed and lie down, I get
the idea that there is someone on top of the bed. I then get up and look and I never find anyone on top of the
bed. This goes on all night, up and down, up and down. I nearly get mad. Do you think you can help?" 　　
        Psychiatrist: "I think I can. All you have to do is to visit me twice a week for the next two years and I
think I can cure (治愈) you. The visits will costs ＄75 an hour." 　　
       Mr. White: "That is an awful lot of money for a working man like me. I'll have to talk it over with my wife
and let you know." 　　
       The next week Mr. White phoned the Psychiatrist. 　　
       Mr. White: "I won't be back, sir. My wife solved the problem. She cut the legs off the bed."

1. Mr. white is _____ .

A. ill in mind(精神)
B. crazy about sports
C. interested in his bed
D. afraid of someone in his house

2. The psychiatrist works as a _____.

3. The psychiatrist told Mr. White to _______.

A. ask his wife for help
B. visit him a lot more
C. cut the legs off the bed
D. believe his abilities

4. Mr. White became all right with the help of ______.

A. the psychiatrist
B. his wife
C. his bed
D. a working man

5. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. Mr. White is in a good health because he exercises every day.
B. The psychiatrist made a lot of money by helping Mr. White.
C. Mr. White has a smart wife who is very helpful.
D. Mr. White went mad before he went to see the psychiatrist.

      Fred liked playing tricks on others. One afternoon he went to a shop and bought some bread. On his
way home he saw Johnson, an old man about sixty riding a donkey (驢). The boy walked to the old man
and decided to play a trick on him. He thought for a moment and then he had an idea.
     "Hello, my friend," Fred said in a loud voice. "Please come and have a piece of bread." 
     "Thank you very much." Johnson got off the donkey and said gladly." "But I have already had lunch."
     "I'm sorry. I'm talking to your donkey, not to you." Fred said with a smile. Johnson understood at once
that the boy was playing a trick on him. He became angry, but he didn't show his anger. He just turned
quickly to his donkey, held up the lash (鞭子) and hit it on the back.
     "Before we set off, I asked if you had friends in the town. You said again and again that you hadn't. Can
you explain why the young man asked you to have the bread, then?"
     The more the old man said, the less he could control his anger. He finally shouted, "I'll beat you to death
if you dare fool me again!"
     Hearing this, Fred's face turned red and he left away quickly.

1. Fred ______.

A. was clever but not polite.
B. liked playing with donkeys
C. often help others
D. wasn't clever

2. Johnson ______ at first.

3. Which of the following is true?

A. The old man didn't beat the donkey.
B. The old man taught Fred how to be polite.
C. The old man beat the donkey to death.
D. The man played a trick back on the boy.

      I was being interviewed by a senior manager for a major insurance (保險業(yè)) company. I told him
honestly why I wanted the job-I needed to keep my family in Boston. My wife recently died of a heart
attack (心臟病). A job in Boston would help me reduce some of the extreme trauma (精神創(chuàng)傷) and pain
of the loss for my 16-year-old daughter. It was important for me to keep her in her high school. I could
still hardly talk about the loss of my wife. Bruce, the interviewer, was politely empathetic, but he didn't
probe (徹底調(diào)查) any further. He admitted (接受) my loss and, with great respect, moved on to another
subject. After the next round of the interview, Bruce took me to lunch with another person. Then he
asked me to take a walk with him. He told me that he, too, had lost his wife. And, like me, he had also
been married 20 years and had three children. In his sharing, I realized that he had experienced the same
pain as I had a pain that was almost impossible to explain to someone who had not lost a beloved one. He
offered his business card and home phone number and suggested that, if I need help or just want someone
to talk to, I should feel free to give him a call. Whether I got the job or not, he wanted me to know that
he was there if I ever needed help. When he had no idea if we would ever see each other again, he helped
our family deal with one of the greatest losses. He turned the normally cold business interview into a caring
support for another person in need.

1. The writer took part in the interview because _______.

A. he had lost his job and wanted to find a new one
B. he had to support his family in Boston
C. his wife had recently died of a heart attack
D. his daughter needed money for schooling

2. The underlined word "empathetic" in the sixth line means _______.

3. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A. Bruce invited the writer to lunch later.
B. Bruce shared his life experience with the writer.
C. Bruce was willing to help the writer.
D. Bruce finally gave the job to the writer.

4. We can infer (推斷) from the passage that _______.

A. Bruce and the writer saw each other often
B. the writer got little help from Bruce
C. the writer learned much from the job interview
D. the writer had a better life afterwards

A. An act of kindness
B. A pleasant interview
C. The same experience
D. An important lesson

     The first public railroad in the world to be run by steam was opened in England in 1825. It was a single
track. The next big railroad was a double track that ran between Manchester and Liverpool. The opening
day was a success except for Mr Huskisson, that is.
     Eight trains took part in the opening ceremony. There were 600 people in 29 coaches. After traveling for
17 miles, the trains had to stop for water. Mr Huskisson got out of his train to talk to a friend on one of the
other trains. He was half-way across the track when he suddenly saw a locomotive (車頭) racing toward
him. It was going at a fantastic speed-23 miles per hour. Mr Huskisson panicked (驚慌) and froze with fear.
He was run over by the train, and died the same evening.

1. The first railway in the world came into being in the ____ century.

Ａ: twenties of 20th
Ｂ: twenties of the 18th
Ｃ: twenties of the 19th
Ｄ: 28 year of 19

2. The second railroad was different from the first one in ____.

3. No one but ____ thought the opening day was a failure.

Ａ: We
Ｂ: they
Ｃ: 600 people
Ｄ: Mr Huskisson

4. The train stopped after traveling 17 miles because of ____.

Ａ: killing a man
Ｂ: a double track
Ｃ: lack of water
Ｄ: a great speed

Ａ: cancer
Ｂ: a railway accident
Ｃ: a panic
Ｄ: a fear

          When I was at university I studied very hard. But a lot of my friends did very little work. Some did just
enough to pass exams. Others didn't do quite enough. Fred Baines was one of them. He spent more time drinking
in the Students' Union than working in the library.
          Once, at the end of the term, we had to take an important test in chemistry. The test had a hundred
questions. Beside each question we had to write "True" or "False". While I was studying in my room the night
before the test, Fred was watching television. Fred usually worried a lot the night before a test. But on that night
he looked perfectly calm. Then he told me of his plan.
          "It's very simple. There are a hundred questions and I have to get fifty correct to pass the test. I'll take a
coin into the examination room. I haven't studied a chemistry book for months, so I'll just toss the coin. (throw
the coin into the air.) That way, I'm sure I'll get half the questions right."
          The next day, Fred came happily into the examination room. As he sat tossing a coin for half an hour he
marked down his answers. Then he left, half an hour before the rest of us.
         The next day, he saw the chemistry professor at the gate.
        "Oh good,"he said,"Have you got the results of the test?"
         The professor looked at him and smiled.
         "Ah, it's you, Baines. Just a minute."
          Then he reached into his pocket and took out a coin. He threw it into the air, caught it in his hand and
looked at it.
          "I'm terribly sorry, Baines," he said, "You failed!"

1. Fred Baines usually _____ exams.

Ａ: didn't do
Ｂ: passed
Ｃ: did just enough to pass
Ｄ: failed in

2. Before the chemistry test Fred was ____ Calm.

3. He was going to toss a coin _____ he answered each question.

Ａ: before
Ｂ: if
Ｃ: after
Ｄ: because

4. The rest of the class_____.

Ａ: answered the questions in half an hour
Ｂ: left half an hour earlier
Ｃ: needed an extra hour
Ｄ: worked for an hour

5. The chemistry professor_____.

Ａ: didn't mark the test papers correctly
Ｂ: tossed a coin when he marked test papers
Ｃ: knew about Fred's method (方法)
Ｄ: thought Fred's method was good

          Can you really travel around the world for free? Li Jun, a 17-year-old girl from Shenzhen Foreign
Language School, still can't believe her 10-day free training (訓(xùn)練) camp in the Alps in Switzerland last month
was true!      
          But how did she achieve this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?
          Last October, a piece of short world news in a newspaper—"Have a chance to see the world, for free",
caught her eyes. When she asked her friends if the story was real, they laughed at her, for they thought she
was day-dreaming. However, Li decided to apply (申請) online the following weekend.
         "Opportunity is everywhere. I'd like to keep my eyes open and catch the chance." she told herself. What
happened next was tests on health, hobbies and awareness (意識) of environmental protection. She passed all
of them very easily.
          On December 14, Li Jun surprised her friends with an invitation letter from the program, the Pangaea
Young Explorer Selection Camp set up by South African explorer Mike Horn.
          On January 11, Li left for Switzerland, with several newly bought ski-suits in her suitcase. Over the
next week, she and 15 other teenagers from around the world took part in exciting training and lessons. They
took day-trips up the Alps to an altitude (緯度) of 3,200 meters, went sledging (滑雪橇) at night using modern
equipment. They were also encouraged to complete difficult journeys up mountains, down hills, and through
forests.
          Because of her performance during the training, Li was chosen as one of the eight young explorers to
join Mike Horn in the South Island of New Zealand in May. She will write for the newspaper and share her fun
experiences there with readers.

1. How did Li Jun's friends feel when Li told them the news?

A. They were surprised.
B. They didn't think it was true.
C. They all wanted to get the chance.
D. They had no idea of the news.

2. Why did Li decide to apply on the Internet?

3. How long did Li receive training in Switzerland?

A. About 28 days
B. About six months
C. About four months
D. Ten days

4. What is the correct order of the story?

a. Li got an invitation letter from the program and was trained.
b. Li read news about seeing the world for free.
c. Li became one explorer in Mike Horn's team.
d. Li applied and passed the tests.
A. b-c-a-d            B. b-a-d-c           C. c-d-a-b          D. b-d-a-c

5. What kind of girl is Li Jun?

A. A girl who likes taking adventure
B. A girl who doesn't believe her friends
C. A girl who likes talking to her friends about everything
D. A girl who likes day-dreaming