I knew_____ John Lennon, but not ______famous one you know.

    A. the , a       B. a , the           C. \ , the           D. the , the

Never in my wildest dreams _______  these people are living in such poor conditions.

   A  I could imagine           B could I imagine

  C  I couldn’t imagine         D couldn’t I imagine

If you ______ the chat room ten minutes ago, you _______ what we were talking about.

   A. have joined ; will know                B. had joined ; would have known

   C. should join ; would know               D. would join ; have known

They really have a great time too , designing everything , drawing the blue prints , ___________the angles and so on .

       A．looking out     B．taking out       C．finding out      D．figuring out

That little “a” with a circle curling around it that is found in E – mail addresses is most commonly referred to as the “at” symbol.

Surprisingly though, there is no official, universal name for this sign. There are dozens of strange terms to describe the "@" symbol.

Before it became the standard symbol for electronic mail, the "@" symbol was used to represent the cost of something or how heavy something is. For instance, if you purchased 6 apples, you might write it as 6 apples "@" $1.10 each.

With the introduction of e-mail came the popularity of the "@" symbol. The "@" symbol or the "at sign" separates a person's online user name from his mail server(服務(wù)器) address. For instance, joe@uselessknowledge.com. Its widespread use on the Internet made it necessary to put this symbol on keyboards in other countries that have never seen or used the symbol before. As a result, there is really no official name for this symbol.

The actual origin of the symbol remains a mystery. History tells us that the @ symbol came from the tired hands of the Middle Ages. During the Middle Ages before the invention of printing machines, every letter of a word had to be copied with great efforts by hand for each copy of a published book. The monks that performed these long, boring copying duties looked for ways to reduce the number of individual strokes (筆畫) per word for common words. Although the word “at” is quite short to begin with, it was a common enough word in text and documents so that those monks thought it would be quicker and easier to shorten the word “at” even more. As a result, the monks changed the shape of “t” into a circle to surround “a”, thus leaving out two strokes in the spelling “t”. 

45．Which of the following is the best title of the passage?

         A．How “at” developed into @.     B．How @ came into being.

         C．How monks invented @.   D．How people wrote the cost of something.

46．Who knows the origin of @?

         A．Nobody      B．Monks        C．Apple buyers      D．Internet users

47．Which is NOT the reason for the monks to spell “at” as @?

         A．Though “at” is short, it was used very often.

         B．The monks wanted to be quicker and easier with their copying.

         C．The monks wanted to invent a new word.

         D．Copying work was long and boring for them.

48．According to the paragraph , which is TRUE about the symbol of @ today?

         A．When you are online, you must use the @ symbol.

         B．Kittly 163.com@is an email address.

         C．In countries where @ is used, governments have given it an official name.

         D．It is likely to find the @ symbol on computer keyboards worldwide.

As we know, Stephen Hawing is ____ man of great achievement, who is considered one of ____ greatest scientists of our time.

   A the, the    B the, ∕   C a, the     D a, ∕

Boxing Day is ____ public holiday usually celebrated on 26 December,_____ day after Christmas Day.

   A the, the           B the, a                C a, the             D a, a

– I wonder if I could possibly use your car for tonight?

  --_______. I’m not using it anyhow.

  A Sure, go ahead   B I don’t know  C Yes, indeed  D I don’t care

______ all our efforts, we still lost the game.

       A. Despite                    B. As if                        C. Even if              D. Though

John Grisham was born on February 2,1955, in Jonesboro, Arkansas, in the USA. His father was a construction worker and moved his family all around the southern states of America, stopping wherever he could find work. Eventually they settled in Mississippi. Graduating from law school in 1981, Grisham practiced law for nearly a decade in Southaven, specializing in criminal defense and personal injury litigation(訴訟). In 1983, he was elected to the state House of Representatives and served until 1990.

One day at the Dessoto County courthouse, Grisham heard the horrifying testimony(證詞) of a 12-year-old rape victim. He decided to write a novel exploring what would have happened if the girl’s father had murdered her attackers. He got up every morning at 5 am, to work on the novel, called A Time to Kill, which was published in 1988. Grisham’s next novel, The Firm, was one of the biggest hits of 1991, spending 47 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. Grisham was then able to give up law and concentrate on writing. Grisham lives with his wife and two children, dividing their time between their Victorian home on a 67 acre farm in Mississippi and a 204 acre plantation near Charlottesville, Virginia.

When he’s not writing, Grisham devote time to charitable(慈善) causes, including mission trip with his church group. As a child he dreamt of becoming a professional baseball player, and now serves as the local Little League leader. He has built six ball fields on his property and hosts children from Little League teams.

1．What inspired Grisham to write his first novel?

       A．A case of murder.    B．A case of rape.

       C．His father’s experience.   D．His life on the farm.

2．The story of the novel A time to Kill would probably focus on __________.

       A．how the girl was attacked       B．what the circumstances of the rape were

       C．how the girl’s father would act       D．how the case of rape was settled

3．Which of the following is not true of the novel The Firm?

       A．It was popular at the time of publication. B．It earned Grisham great fame.

       C．It brought Grisham wealth. D．It was carried by the New York Times as a series.

4．It can be inferred from the passage that Grisham has built ball fields on his property _______.

       A．to achieve his life’s goal as a professional baseball player

       B．to coach children in baseball

       C．to see his childhood dream being realized in the children

       D．to provide facilities of baseball training

5．John Grisham is a _______ at present.

       A．writer  B．lawyer   C．Congressman D．professional baseball player