A child who has once been pleased with a tale likes, as a rule, to have it retold in almost the same
words, but this should not lead parents to treat printed fairly stories as formal texts. It is always much
better to tell a story than read it out of a book, and if a parent can produce what, in the actual situation
of the time and the child, is an improvement on the printed text, so much the better.
     A charge made against fairy tales is that they harm the child by frightening him or making him sad
thinking. To prove the latter, one would have to show in a controlled experiment that children who have
read fairy stories were more often sorry for cruelty than those who had not. As to fears, there are, in
think, some cases of children being dangerously terrified by some fairy story. Often, however, this arises
from the child having heard the story once. Familiarity with the story by repetition turns the pain of fear
into the pleasure of a fear faces and mastered.
     There are also people who object to fairy stories on the grounds that they are not objectively true,
that giants, witches, two-headed dragons, magic carpets, etc. do not exist; and that , instead of being
fond of the strange side in fairy tales, the child should be taught to learn the reality by studying history. I
find such people, I must say so peculiar that I do not know how to argue with them. If their case were
sound, the world should be full of mad men attempting to fly from New York to Philadelphia on a stick
or covering a telephone with kisses in the belief that it was their beloved girlfriend.
     No fairy story ever declared to be a description of the real world and no clever child has ever
believed that it was

1. The author considers that a fairy story is more effective when it is_______

A. repeated without any change
B. treated as a joke
C. make some changes by the parents
D. set in the present

2. According to the passage, great fear can take place in a child when the story is _____.

A. in a realistic setting        
B. heard for the first time
C. repeated too often        
D. told in a different way

3. The advantage claimed (提出) for repeating fairy stories to young children is that it ______.

A. makes them less fearful        
B. develops their power of memory
C. makes them believe there is nothing to be afraid of
D. encourages them not to have strange beliefs

4. The author's mention of sticks and telephones is meant to suggest that _______.

A. fairy stories are still being made up
B. there is some misunderstanding about fairy tales
C. people try to modernize old fairy stories
D. there is more concern for children's fears nowadays

5. One of the reasons why some people are not in favor of fairy tales is that ______.

A. they are full of imagination
B. they just make up the stories which are far from the truth
C. they are not interesting
D. they make teachers of history difficult to teach

     Bill and his family has been living in the six－family building for years. All the neighbors got along
fairly well with each other until recently.
     An old man and his wife used to live on the second floor. Bill's mother and the old lady were good
friends. Unfortunately the lady died last month. Her husband could not live alone, so he had his grandson
move over and live with him.
     The grandson has become a problem to all the neighbors, especially to Bill's family. The walls of the
building are thin and he is noisy. Bill is used to peace and quiet but the young man likes to listen to the
radio late at night. Sometimes friends of his visit and they make a lot of noise. That is too much for Bill's
family.
     Bill's mother once asked the old man politely if he was able to sleep well at night, but obviously the
man didn't understand what she meant. If he did and spoke to his grandson, the young man obviously
didn't listen, since things haven't changed any. Everyone in Bill's family agrees that something must be
done though they don't want to hurt the kind old man.

1. Bill's family got angry because ________.

A. the old lady had died
B. a young man moved in
C. the old man could not live alone
D. the grandson made a lot of noise

2. Which of the following statements is true?

A. The old man could not live without his wife's help.
B. The old man and his wife were sometimes making trouble too.
C. Bill's mother was kind to her neighbors.
D. Bill's mother was the only one who likes the young man.

3. The grandson makes a lot of noise as ________.

A. he never thinks other people might not be happy with so much noise around
B. the walls of the building are thin
C. he likes to listen to the radio at night
D. friends of his visit

4. It seems that ________to solve the problem.

A. anyone is able
B. only the grandfather is going
C. Bill's mother is able
D. nobody is likely

     Mr. Peter Johnson, aged twenty-three, battled for half an hour to escape from his trapped car
yesterday when it landed upside down in three feet of water. Mr. Johnson took the only escape
route-through the boot (行李箱).
     Mr. Johnson’s car had finished up in a ditch (溝渠) at Romney Marsin, Kent after skidding on ice
and hitting a bank. “Fortunately, the water began to come in only slowly,” Mr. Johnson said. "I couldn’t
force the doors because they were jammed against the walls of the ditch and dared not open the windows because I knew water would come flooding in."
     Mr. Johnson, a sweet salesman of Sitting Home, Kent, first tried to attract the attention of other
motorists by sounding the horn and hammering on the roof and boot. Then he began his struggle to escape.
     Later he said, "It was really a half penny that saved my life. It was the only coin I had in my pocket
and I used it to unscrew(擰開) the back seat to get into the boot. I hammered desperately with a hammer
trying to make someone hear, but no help came."
     It took ten minutes to unscrew the seat, and a further five minutes to clear the sweet samples from the
boot. Then Mr. Johnson found a wrench and began to work on the boot lock. Fifteen minutes passed by. "It was the only chance I had. Finally it gave, but as soon as I moved the boot lid, the water and mud
poured in. I forced the lid down into the mud and climbed out as the car filled up."
     His hands and arms cut and bruised, Mr. Johnson got to Beckett Farm nearby, where he was looked
after by the farmer’s wife, Mrs. Lucy Bates. Huddled in a blanket, he said, “That thirty minutes seemed
like hours.” Only the tips of the car wheels were visible, police said last night. The vehicle had sunk into
two feet of mud at the bottom of the ditch.
1. Which of the following objects is the most important to Mr. Johnson?
A. The hammer.
B. The screw.
C. The coin.
D. The horn.
2. "Finally it gave"(Paragraph 5) means that _____.
A. Luckily the door was torn away in the end
B. At last the wrench went broken
C. The chance was lost at the last minute
D. The lock came open after all his efforts
3. Which statement is true according to the passage?
A. Mr. Johnson’s car stood on its boot as it fell down.
B. Mr. Johnson’s car accident was partly due to the icy road.
C. Mr. Johnson could not escape from the door because it was full of sweet jam.
D. Mr. Johnson struggled in the pouring mud as he unscrewed the back seat.
4. What is the best title for this newspaper article?
A. The Story of Mr. Johnson, A Sweet Salesman
B. Driver Escapes Through Car Boot 
C. Car Boot Can Serve As The Best Escape Route
D. The Driver Survived A Terrible Car Accident

     There was a gardener who looked after his garden with great care.To water his flowers, he used two
buckets.One was a shiny and new bucket.The other was a very old and dilapidated one, which had seen
many years of service, but was now past its best.
     Every morning, the gardener would fill up the two buckets.Then he would carry them along the path,
one on each side, to the flowerbeds.The new bucket was very proud of itself.It could carry a full bucket of water without a single drop spilled (溢出)．The old bucket felt very ashamed because of its holes: before
it reached the flowerbeds, much water had leaked along the path.
     Sometimes the new bucket would say, "See how capable I am! How good it is that the gardener has
me to water the flowers every day! I don't know why he still bothers with you.What a waste of space you are!"
     And all that the old bucket could say was, "I know I'm not very useful, but I can only do my best.I'm
happy that the gardener still finds a little bit of use in me, at least."
     One day, the gardener heard that kind of conversation.After watering the flowers as usual, he said,
"You both have done your work very well.Now I am going to carry you back.I want you to look carefully along the path."
     Then the two buckets did so.All along the path, they noticed, on the side where the new bucket was
carried, there was just bare (光禿禿的) earth; on the other side where the old bucket was carried, there was a joyous row of wild flowers, leading all the way to the garden.

1. What does the underlined word "dilapidated" probably mean?            
A. Dirty.                                                                
B. Dark.                                                                  
C. Worn-out.                                                            
D. Plain-looking.                                                          
2. What was the old bucket ashamed of?                                    
A. His past.                                                            
B. His aging.                                                              
C. His manner.                                                          
D. His leaking.                                                            
3. The new bucket made conversations with the old one mainly to ________.  
A. laugh at the old one                                                    
B. take pity on the old one                                                
C. show off its beautiful looks                                            
D. praise the gardener's kindness                                          
4. Why was the old bucket still kept by the gardener?                      
A. Because it was used to keep a balance.                                  
B. Because it stayed in its best condition.                                
C. Because it was taken as a treasure.                                    
D. Because it had its own function.                                        

     Sixteen years ago, Eileen Doyle's husband, an engineer, took his four children up for an early morning
cup of tea, packed a small case and was never seen or heard of again.Eileen was astonished and in a
state of despair.They had been a happy family and, as far as she knew, there had been nothing wrong with their marriage.
       Every day of the year a small group of men and women quietly pack a few belongings and without so much as a note or a goodbye close the front door for the last time, leaving their debts, their worries and
their confused families behind them.Last year, more than 1,200 men and nearly as many women were
reported missing from home-the highest in 15 years.Many did return home within a year, but others
rejected the past completely and are now living a new life somewhere under a different identity.
      To those left behind, this form of desertion (遺棄) is a terrible blow to their pride and selfconfidence.
Even the finality of death might be preferable.At least it does not imply rejection or failure.Worse than that, people can be left with an unfinished marriage, not knowing whether they will have to wait several years
before they are free to start a fresh life.
      Clinical psychologist Paul Brown believes most departures of this kind to be well planned rather than
impulsive."It's typical of the kind of personality which seems able to ignore other people's pain and
difficulties.Running away, like killing yourself, is a highly aggressive act.By creating an absence the people
left behind feel guilty, upset and empty."

1. When her husband left home, Eileen Doyle ________.

A. could not forgive him for taking the children
B. had been expecting it to happen for some time
C. could not understand why
D. blamed herself for what had happened

2. Most people who leave their families behind them ________.

A. do so without warning
B. do so because of their debts
C. come back immediately
D. change their names

3. Which might be the title of the passage?

A. Broken marriage
B. New life after desertion
C. A new social problem
D. Desertion and its influence

4. What can be inferred from the passage?

A. Many people choose to leave home quietly because they hate their family.
B. Paul Brown regards leaving home as an act of selfishness.
C. Those who are left behind will lose confidence and won't marry again.
D. Eileen's husband, together with his four kids, was probably killed in an accident.