Harry Houdini was one of the greatest American entertainers in the theater this century. He was a man famous for his escapes from prison cells, from wooden boxes floating in rivers, from locked tanks full of water. He appeared in theaters all over Europe and America. Crowds came to see the great Houdini and his “magic” tricks.
Of course, his secret was not magic or supernatural power. It was simply strength. He had the ability to move his toes as well as he moved his fingers. He could move his body into almost any position he wanted.
Houdini started working in the entertainment world when he was 17, in 1891. He and his brother Theo performed card tricks in clubs in New York. They called themselves the Houdini Brothers. When Harry married in 1894, he and his wife Bess worked together as magician and assistant. But for a long time they were not very successful. Then Harry performed his first prison escape in Chicago in 1898. Harry persuaded a detective to let him try to escape from the prison, and he invited the local newspapermen to watch.
It was the publicity (宣傳) that came from this that started Harry Houdini’s success. Harry had fingers trained to escape from handcuffs and toes trained to escape from ankle chains. But his biggest secret was how he unlocked the prison doors. Every time he went into the prison cell, Bess gave him a kiss for good luck and a small skeleton key, which is a key that fits many locks. She passed it quickly from her mouth to his.
Harry used these prison escapes to build his fame. He arranged to escape from the local prison of every town he visited. In the afternoon, the people of the town would read about it in their local newspapers, and in the evening every seat in the local theater would be full. What was the result? Worldwide fame and a name remembered today.
小題1:According to the passage, Houdini’s success in prison escapes depends on ______.
A．his special tricks and supernatural powers
B．his unusual ability and skeleton key
C．his magic tricks and supernatural powers
D．his wisdom and magic tricks
小題2: It can be inferred from the passage that Houdini became famous ______ .
A．in 1894B．before he married
C．a(chǎn)t the age of 17D．when he was 24
小題3:According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true?                         
A．Houdini was a famous American magician.
B．Houdini was first recognized in Chicago.
C．Houdini first entered the entertainment world together with his wife.
D．Houdini was popular with people from Europe and America.
小題4: Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
A．A Skeleton KeyB．A Secret Prisoner
C．Worldwide FameD．Great Escapes

小題1:B
小題2:D
小題3:C
小題4:D

試題分析：文章介紹了一代魔術(shù)大師哈里·胡迪尼。他起初在娛樂界打拼，但是碌碌無為，后來在1898年他成功表演了監(jiān)獄逃脫后，媒體的大肆宣傳開啟了他事業(yè)成功的大門。為他贏得了“脫逃大師”稱號的是他特殊的身體技能和一把萬能鑰匙。
小題1:B細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)文章第二段和文章倒數(shù)第二段Bess gave him a kiss for good luck and a small skeleton key, which is a key that fits many locks.可知他腳趾和手指一樣靈活，而且身體也可以弄成隨意的姿勢。就是因?yàn)樗兄煌诔Ｈ说募寄�，再加上一把萬能鑰匙，他才可以每次都能成功越獄。故答案選B。
小題2:D根據(jù)文章第三段Then Harry performed his first prison escape in Chicago in 1898. 和第四段It was the publicity  that came from this that started Harry Houdini’s success.可知他是1898年第一次成功越獄后成名，再由第三段第一句話when he was 17, in 1891.可知1898年他開始成名時(shí)是24歲，故答案選D。
小題3:C根據(jù)文章第三段前兩句話Houdini started working in the entertainment world when he was 17, in 1891. He and his brother T…..可知胡迪尼進(jìn)入娛樂界是在他17歲時(shí)，和他哥哥一起，所以C選項(xiàng)內(nèi)容錯(cuò)誤。
小題4:D文章講述了胡迪尼靠成功越獄獲得了聲譽(yù)，以此走上了成功的道路，而且在文中作者也詳細(xì)敘述了他之所以能夠成功越獄的技能和秘密，由此推斷D選項(xiàng)標(biāo)題更能反映文章中心，故答案選D。
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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

There was once a professor of medicine, who was very strict with the students. Whenever he took the chair on the exam committee, the students would be in fear, because he was seldom pleased with the answers they gave. A student would be lucky enough if he or she could receive a good mark from him. At the end of the term, the students of medicine would take their exam again. Now a student entered the exam room and got seated before the committee. This student was a little nervous as he knew it would not be so easy to get through the exam at all.
The professor began to ask. The student was required to describe a certain illness, his description of which turned out to be OK.
　　Then the professor asked about the cure (藥劑) for illness, and the student, too, answered just as right.
“Good,” said the professor, “ and how much will you give the patient?”
“A full spoon”, answered the student.
“Now you may go out and wait for what you can get.”, said the professor. At the same time, the committee discussed carefully the answers the student had given. Suddenly the student noticed that there was something wrong with his last answer. “ A full spoon is too much,” he thought to himself. Anxiously he opened the door of the room and cried, “Mr Professor, I’ve make a mistake! A full spoon is too much for a patient. He can take only five drops.”
“I’m sorry, sir.” Said the professor coldly, “But it’s too late. Your patient has died.
小題1:The students were afraid of the professor because_________.
A．they often angered and disappointed him
B．their answers often astonished him
C．their answers seldom satisfied him
D．he often misunderstood(誤解) them and give them bad marks
小題2:The student’s description of the illness was _____.
A．not correctB．not satisfiedC．completely discouragingD．a(chǎn)ccepted.
小題3:Before he left the room the student was almost sure that ______.
A．he had passed the exam, and the only thing was to wait for the mark
B．his last answer was satisfying
C．he had made a mistake
D．he had not done well in the exam.
小題4:Which of the following is Not true?
A．The patient will be in danger if he’s taken as much as a full spoon.
B．The doctor will be in trouble if he’s given the patient a full spoon.
C．Since one spoon is less than five drops, the patient will be all right soon if he takes only one full spoon at a time.
D．If the patient wants to remain safe, he should take no more than five drops at a time.
小題5:Which guess is the most reasonable from the passage?
A．The student must have passed the exam.
B．The student may not have passed the exam.
C．The student must have been very happy when he heard, “Your patient has died.”
D．The professor must have been very pleased and given the student a good mark.

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

I lost my sight when I was four by falling off a box car in a freight（貨物）yard in Atlantic City. Now I am thirty two. I can slightly remember what color red is. It would be wonderful to see again, but a disaster can do strange things to people. I might not have come to love life as I do if I hadn’t been blind. I don’t mean that I would prefer to go without my eyes. I simply mean that the loss of them made me appreciate the more what I had left.
Life, I believe, asks constant adjustments to reality. The adjustment is never easy. I was totally confused and afraid. But I was lucky. My parents and my teachers saw something in me—a potential to live, and they made me want to fight it out with blindness.
The hardest lesson I had to learn was to believe in myself. If I hadn’t been able to do that, I would have become a chair rocker on the front porch for the rest of my life. When I say belief in myself, I mean: an assurance that I am, despite imperfections, a real, positive person; that somewhere in the intricate（錯(cuò)綜復(fù)雜的） pattern of people there is a special place where I can make myself fit.
It took me years to discover and strengthen this assurance. Once a man gave me an indoor baseball. I thought he was making fun of me and I was hurt. “I can’t use this.” I said. “Take it with you,” he urged me, “and roll it around.” The words stuck in my head. “Roll it around!” By rolling the ball I could hear where it went. This gave me an idea how to achieve a goal I had thought impossible: playing baseball. At Philadelphia’s Overbrook School for the Blind I invented a new kind of baseball. We called it ground ball.
All my life I have set a series of goals and then tried to reach them, one at a time. I had to learn my limitations. It was no good trying for something that I knew at the start was out of reach. I would fail sometimes anyway but on the average I made progress.
小題1:We can learn from the beginning of the passage that _______
A．the author lost his sight because of a car crash.
B．the author wouldn’t love life if the disaster didn’t happen.
C．the disaster made the author appreciate what he had.
D．the disaster strengthened the author’s desire to see.
小題2:What’s the most difficult thing for the author?
A．How to adjust himself to reality.
B．Building up assurance that he can find his place in life.
C．Learning to manage his life alone.
D．How to invent a new kind of baseball.
小題3:According to the context, “a chair rocker on the front porch” in paragraph 3 means that the author _________.
A．would sit in a rocking chair and enjoy his life.
B．would be unable to move and stay in a rocking chair.
C．would lose his will to struggle against difficulties.
D．would sit in a chair and stay at home.
小題4:What is the best title for the passage?
A．A Miserable LifeB．Struggle Against Difficulties
C．A Disaster Makes a Strong PersonD．An Unforgettable Experience

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi for a living. One night I went to pick up a passenger at 2:30 am. When I arrived to collect, I found the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window.
I walked to the door and knocked, “Just a minute,” answered a weak and elderly voice. After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her eighties stood before me. By her side was a small suitcase.
I took the suitcase to the car, and then returned to help the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly towards the car.
She kept thanking me for my kindness. “It's nothing,” I told her. “I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated.”
“Oh, you are such a good man.” She said. When we got into the taxi, she gave me an address, and then asked, “Could you drive through downtown?”
“It's not the shortest way,” I answered quickly.
“Oh, I'm in no hurry,” she said. “I'm on my way to a hospice (臨終醫(yī)院). I don't have any family left. The doctor says I don't have very long.”
I quietly reached over and shut off the meter (計(jì)價(jià)器).
For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked, the neighborhood where she had lived, and the furniture shop that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.
Sometimes she'd ask me to slow down in front of a special building and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.
At dawn, she suddenly said, “I'm tired. Let's go now.”
We drove in silence to the address she had given me.
“How much do I owe you?” she asked.
“Nothing.” I said.
“You have to make a living,” she answered. “Oh, there are other passengers.” I answered.
Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly. Our hug ended with her remark, “You gave an old woman a little moment of joy.”
小題1:Why did the man help the old woman so much?
A．He wanted to get more money from the old woman.
B．He was out of patience with the woman and wanted to leave quicker.
C．The old woman asked him to help.
D．He hoped others could also treated his old mother as well as he did.
小題2:The old woman chose to ride through the city in order to       .
A．show she was familiar with the city
B．see some places for the last time
C．let the driver earn more money
D．reach the destination on time
小題3:According to the text, what would the old woman feel after the driver showed her around the city and gave her a warm hug?
A．Excited.B．Shocked.
C．Grateful.D．Upset.
小題4:What can we learn from the story?
A．Giving is always a pleasure.
B．People should respect each other.
C．An act of kindness can bring people great joy.
D．People should learn to appreciate others' concern.

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Many years ago in a small German town, a Jewish businessman had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to the moneylender. The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the businessman’s beautiful daughter. So he proposed a bargain.
The moneylender told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty bag. The girl would then have to pick one pebble from the bag. If she picked the black pebble, she would become the moneylender’s wife and he would forgo her father’s debt. If she picked the white pebble, she need not marry him and her father’s debt would still be forgiven. But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail.
They were standing on a pebble-strewn path. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. The sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick a pebble from the bag. No doubt she was caught in a dilemma.
What would you have done if you were the girl? Careful analysis would produce three possibilities:
1.The girl should refuse to take a pebble.
2.The girl should know that there were two black pebbles in the bag and expose the money-lender as a cheat.
3.The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from his debt and imprisonment.
The above story is used with the hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral (橫向的)and logical thinking.
Read on…
The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles. “Oh, how clumsy of me!” she said. “But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.” Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had picked the white one. And since the moneylender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one.
小題1:The underlined word “forgo” in paragraph 2 may mean ________.
A．pay offB．run outC．take overD．give up
小題2:Which of the following indicates lateral thinking?
A．The girl refused to take a pebble and fled at once.
B．The girl exposed the cheat and found another way.
C．The girl picked one pebbles and made it disappear.
D．The girl picked a black pebble and accepted the result.
小題3:It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
A．The girl dropped the pebble onto the path on purpose
B．The girl dropped the pebble onto the path by accident
C．The girl didn’t know there were two black pebbles in the bag
D．The girl replaced a black pebble in the bag
小題4:What lesson can we learn from the story?
A．Keeping calm when facing a difficult situation.
B．Thinking about a complicated problem in another way.
C．Thinking twice before making a final choice.
D．Coming up with a clever answer is easy.

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the guest room. Instead the angels were given a space in the cold basement. As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied: Things aren’t always what they seem.
The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable(好客的)farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had，the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night’s rest. When the sun came up the next morning，the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their only income, lay dead in the field.
The younger angel was very angry and asked the older angel, “How could this happen?” “Why did you not watch out for the cow? The first man had everything, yet you watched over his house,” she accused. “The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you did not help.”
“Things aren’t always what they seem,” the older angel replied. “When we stayed in the basement，I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so greedy and unwilling to share his good fortune，I asked God if I could seal(封口) the wall so he wouldn’t find it. Then last night as we slept in the farmer’s bed，the angel of death(死神) came for his wife. I asked God if the angel could take the cow instead. Things aren’t always what they seem.”
小題1:The underlined part “the pair” in the second paragraph two refers to　　　 .
A．the poor coupleB．the rich coupleC．the angelsD．the guests
小題2:The younger angel was very angry because 　　　　.
A．the older angel killed the farmer’s cow
B．the older angel treated the two families unfairly
C．the wealthy man gave them a bad place to live
D．the angel of death took the cow away
小題3:Why did the older angel let the farmer’s cow die?
A．Because God wanted the older angel to take the cow.
B．Because she wanted to teach the younger angel a lesson.
C．Because she was sympathetic to the rich.
D．Because she wanted to save the farmer’s wife.
小題4:The story tries to tell the reader that 　　　　.
A．sometimes things are not what they seem
B．a(chǎn)ngels are always ready to help the poor
C．a(chǎn)ngels are always ready to help the rich
D．the young should always learn from the old

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：完形填空

Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, was born in Kingfish, Oklahoma on March 29, 1918. He was raised in Missouri where he worked in his father’s store while attending school. This was his first retailing (零售業(yè)) experience and he really enjoyed it. After graduation, he began his own career as a retail merchant.
He soon opened his first Wal-Mart store in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. Wal-Mart specialized in name brands at low prices and Sam Walton was surprised at the success. Soon a chain of Wal-Mart stores sprang up across rural America.
Walton's management style was popular with employees and he founded some of the basic concepts of management that are still in use today.
After taking the company public in 1970, Walton introduced his “profit sharing plan”. The profit sharing plan was a plan for Wal-Mart employees to improve their income dependent on the profits of the store. Sam Walton believed that “individuals don't win, teams do”. Employees at Wal-Mart stores were offered stock options (認(rèn)股權(quán)) and store discounts. These benefits are commonplace today, but Walton was among the first to implement (實(shí)現(xiàn)) them. Walton believed that a happy employee meant happy customers and more sales. He also believed that by giving employees a part of the company and making their success dependent on the company’s success, they would care about the company.
By the 1980s, Wal-Mart had sales of over one billion dollars and over three hundred stores across North America. Wal-Mart’s unique decentralized (分散的) distribution system, also Walton’s idea, created the edge needed to further encourage growth in the 1980s during growing complaints that the “superstore” was stopping smaller and traditional stores from developing. By 1991, Wal-Mart was the largest US retailer with 1,700 stores. Walton remained active in managing the company, as president and CEO until 1988 and chairman until his death. He was awarded the Medal of Freedom shortly before his death.
小題1: Sam Walton first made a hit in retailing when __________.
A．he worked in his father’s store
B．he created Walton's management style
C．a(chǎn) chain of Wal-Mart stores sprang up across rural America
D．he specialized in name brands at low prices
小題2:What is the purpose of Walton’s carrying out “profit sharing plan”?
A．To make sure all the employees had their own shares.
B．To encourage the employees to work hard and make joint efforts.
C．To select excellent employees for his stores.
D．To make more profit for himself.
小題3:Which of the statements is TRUE?
A．With Walton’s management style, employees treated the stores as their own.
B．Walton wasn’t one of the merchants who first implemented stock options.
C．The smaller and traditional stores were well affected by Walton’s stores.
D．In his old age, Walton gave all the management to his men.
小題4:What does the underlined word “edge” in the last paragraph mean here?
A．Danger.B．Disadvantage.C．Advantage.D．System.

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Everyone wants some degree of success. Many people believe that they deserve success simply because they believe that they deserve success.
But there is a widespread belief that people who get on in life may be successful not because they deserve it, but because of influential (有影響的)  friends or the right background. Sometimes it may just be a comforting and harmless belief, while at the other extreme it can be very destructive. I once met a brilliant young engineer who worked in a chemical plant. Because of her knowledge and experience, she should have been promoted to Production Manager. Instead, the job went to a man who was totally unsuited for the post. Everyone knew that he only got it because he was politically acceptable to his superiors (上司). This injustice discouraged the young engineer and many of her colleagues. It also meant that the factory was much less efficient than it could have been.
　　　At the same time, we should not be pessimistic (悲觀的). More and more the modern world depends on having people who are in the job because they are good enough, not just because their faces fit. There is a story of a factory owner who sent for an engineer to see to a machine which would not go. He examined it, then took out a hammer and tapped, once. The machine started up immediately. When he presented his bill, the owner protested, "This can't be right! $ 100 just for tapping a machine with a hammer?" The engineer wrote out a new bill: "For tapping a machine, $1; for knowing where to tap. $99."
小題1:The engineer at the chemical plant was not promoted because _____.
A．it was politically less good for the boss to accept her than the man
B．her boss did not think she had the fight qualifications for the job
C．the man who got the promotion was more experienced than she was
D．it is more difficult for a woman to get a promotion than for her male colleague
小題2:The engineer who repaired the machine was right in charging $ 100 because____.
A．he hit the machine to get it started again
B．the factory owner could not have repaired it himself
C．he was charging for his knowledge and expert skills
D．he was the only person who could find out what was wrong with it
小題3:What can we learn about the author's attitude toward the widespread belief that "people get on in life may be successful not because they deserve it"?
A．He quite agrees with it.
B．He doesn't express his opinion his opinion at it.
C．He completely disagrees with it.
D．He doesn't quite agree with it.
小題4:According to the text, which of the following is NOT true?
A．Having influential friends or right background seems helpful sometimes.
B．The engineer had good reason to overcharge the factory owner.
C．Not all those who are good in their jobs have the chance to be promoted.
D．Those who are good in their jobs are still largely needed by the modern society.

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Instead of a normal court hearing, the trial on Wednesday appeared more like a prepared drama. Hundreds of reporters waited outside the court, in the hope of learning “shocking” information about the case, which includes well-known military singer Li Shuangjiang’s son, who gang-raped a woman with another four men on February.
The case was not a public hearing because it includes teenagers, whose privacy must be protected under law, but many details had been exposed by the lawyers before the trial.
Lawyers of all five suspects and the woman’s lawyer made a lot of debate on the Internet before the trial, making the case more confused.
Wu Ming’an, a law professor from the China University of Political Science and Law, said it was a pity to see such a “performance” by the lawyers.
“It can be understood that the two parties freely spoke their opinions, but it’s not professional or wise to see lawyers do the same,” Wu said. “Instead, the lawyers should guide and persuade their clients(當(dāng)事人) to calm down, especially for such a non-public and sensitive case.”
China has no clear rule to manage lawyers’ behavior before trials, “but it should be general knowledge that the lawyers of the two sides cannot leak too many details, particularly in a case that includes teenagers”, Wu added.
Yi Shenghua, a lawyer who has been following the case, said it does more harm than good to both parties for such detailed information to be exposed before the trial.
“It’s OK for lawyers to speak, but what is said must be reasonable and legal. Although judgments should not be affected by public opinion, it’s hard for them not to be,” he said, suggesting judicial authorities should speak out if the case goes wrongly.
Trials must be conducted based on evidence, while lawyers should protect their clients’ rights instead of adding fuel to the flames, Yi said.
In my eyes, the most important aspect of the case, lies in how to make lawyers do their work more professionally and reasonably.
小題1:Why was the case not a public hearing?
A．Because it included the well-known military singer Li Shuangjiang’s son.
B．Because the victim was a woman.
C．Because teenagers’ privacy must be protected under law.
D．Because many details had already been exposed before the trial.
小題2:What is Wu ming’an’s attitude towards the lawyers’ behavior of making a lot of debate on the internet before the trial?
A．a(chǎn)pprovalB．criticalC．neutralD．indifferent
小題3:The underlined part “l(fā)eak” in para. 6 refers to_________.
A．give awayB．squeeze outC．break downD．sweep up
小題4:From Yi Shenghua, we know that _______________.
A．The lawyers’ behavior before trials hasn’t been ruled.
B．It doesn’t matter whether the detailed information is exposed before the trial.
C．What lawyers say must be reasonable and legal.
D．It is hard for judgments to be affected by public opinion.

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