Almost a decade ago, the federal government dropped $10 million for an Earth-monitoring satellite that never made it into space. Today it sits in a closet in Maryland. Cost to taxpayers for storing it: $1 million a year. And that's just what's hiding in one closet. Who knows what's in the rest of them?
Because we think the government should be held to at least the same standards as a publicly traded company, and because as taxpayers, we're America's shareholders, we performed an audit （財務(wù)檢查）of sorts of the federal books. We're not economists, but we do have common sense. We tried to get help from Congressional staffers from both parties, as well as various watchdog groups and agencies. In the end, we found that the federal government wastes nearly $1 trillion every year.
That's roughly equal to the amount collected annually by the Internal Revenue Service in personal income taxes. Put another way, it's also equal to about one-third of the country's $2.9 trillion total annual budget. And reclaiming that lost trillion could help wipe out the country's annual budget deficit（赤字）, improve education, and provide health insurance for those who don't have it.
So how do you define "waste"? David Walker of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a federal watchdog agency, calls it "the government's failure to give taxpayers the most for their money." For our part, we used the kind of household test you would use on a piece of meat sitting in your refrigerator: If it smells rotten, it's waste. Our government regularly pays for products and services it never gets, wildly overpays companies to do things it could do more cheaply itself, loses money outright due to lax（不嚴(yán)格的）accounting and oversight, and spends money randomly on unnecessary programs.
How exactly does the federal government waste your hard-earned tax dollars? We've identified what we consider ten of the worst ways.
【小題1】The underlined sentence in Paragraph1 really means        .

Almost a decade ago, the federal government dropped $10 million for an Earth-monitoring satellite that never made it into space. Today it sits in a closet in Maryland. Cost to taxpayers for storing it: $1 million a year. And that's just what's hiding in one closet. Who knows what's in the rest of them?

Because we think the government should be held to at least the same standards as a publicly traded company, and because as taxpayers, we're America's shareholders, we performed an audit （財務(wù)檢查）of sorts of the federal books. We're not economists, but we do have common sense. We tried to get help from Congressional staffers from both parties, as well as various watchdog groups and agencies. In the end, we found that the federal government wastes nearly $1 trillion every year.

That's roughly equal to the amount collected annually by the Internal Revenue Service in personal income taxes. Put another way, it's also equal to about one-third of the country's $2.9 trillion total annual budget. And reclaiming that lost trillion could help wipe out the country's annual budget deficit（赤字）, improve education, and provide health insurance for those who don't have it.

So how do you define "waste"? David Walker of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a federal watchdog agency, calls it "the government's failure to give taxpayers the most for their money." For our part, we used the kind of household test you would use on a piece of meat sitting in your refrigerator: If it smells rotten, it's waste. Our government regularly pays for products and services it never gets, wildly overpays companies to do things it could do more cheaply itself, loses money outright due to lax（不嚴(yán)格的）accounting and oversight, and spends money randomly on unnecessary programs.

How exactly does the federal government waste your hard-earned tax dollars? We've identified what we consider ten of the worst ways.

1.The underlined sentence in Paragraph1 really means         .

A．there are many other closets     B．there are some other satellites

C．there is something else in the closets    D．the waste may be quite amazing

2.Which of the following can best describe the feeling of the author?

    A．Annoyed.       B．Calm.          C．Surprised.     D．Not concerned.

3.Which of the following statements may be right?

    A．The country’s annual budget is usually decided by the public.

    B．The government failed in launching the satellite.

    C．The government is only wasting money in space experiments.

    D．The amount collected annually in personal income taxes is equal to the country’s budget.

4.The best title for the passage would be         .

    A．Protecting Our Rights!          

    B．Our Country Is In Danger!

    C．The Government Is Wasting Our Tax Dollars!

    D．How to Prevent Government from Wasting Money!

5.What might be talked about if the passage is continued?

    A．The government’s taking some steps to stop wasting taxes.

    B．Presenting people’s feelings against the government’s wasting taxes.

    C．Giving suggestion to help the government solve the financial problem.

    D．Listing how the government is wasting taxes.

When I was seven, my parents gave me a doll, a doll’s house and a book. The Arabian Nights, came wrapped in red paper. I was just ready to read when my mother walked into my room．

“Isn’t your doll just beautiful?” my mother asked. I looked at the doll, with fair hair in a pink dress----I’ll have to call her “she” because I never gave her a name. I folded my lips and raised my eyebrows, not really knowing how to let my mother down easily.

“This doll is different.” My mother explained, trying to talk me into playing with it.

Thinking the doll needed love, I hugged her tightly for a long time. Useless, I said to myself. Finally, I decided to play with the doll’s house. But since rearranging the tiny furniture seemed to be the only active possible, I lost interest. I caught sight again of the third of my gifts The Arabian Nights, and I began to read it. From that moment, the book was my constant companion.

Every day I climbed our garden tree, nestled among its branches, I read the stories in The Arabian Nights to my heart’s content. My mother became concerned as she noticed I wasn’t playing with either the doll or the little house. She insisted that I take the doll up the tree with me.

Trying to read on a branch 15 feet off the ground while holding on to the silly doll was not easy. After nearly falling off twice, I tied one end of a long vine around the doll’s neck and the opposite one around the branch, letting the doll hang in mid air while I read. I always looked out for my mother, though. I sensed that my playing with the doll was of great importance to her. So every time I heard her coming, I lifted the doll up and hugged her. The smile in my mother’s eyes told me my plan worked.

The inevitable(不可避免的) happened one afternoon. Totally absorbed in the reading, I didn’t hear my mother calling me. When I looked down, I saw my mother staring at the hanging doll. Fearing the worst of scolding, I climbed down in a flash, reaching the ground just as my mother was untying the doll. To my surprise, she didn’t scold. She kept on staring at the doll．

The next day, my father came home early and suggested he and I play with the doll’s house. Soon I was bored, but my father seemed to be having so much fun, I didn’t have the heart to tell him. Quietly I slipped out, picking up my book on my way to the yard. So absorbed was he in arranging and rearranging the tiny furniture that he didn’t notice my quick exit.

Almost 20 years passed before I found out why the hanging-doll incident had been so significant for my parents. By then I was a parent myself. After recalling the incident, my mother said all those years she had been afraid whether I would turn out to be a most loving and understanding mother to my son．

My mother often thanks God aloud for making me a good parent, pointing out that with education I might have been a rich dentist instead of a poor poet. I look back on that same childhood incident, recalling my third gift, the book in red-paper, and I take advantage of the experiences that have made me who and what I am. Sometimes I pause to wonder at life’s wonderful ironies （諷刺）.

1.Why didn’t the author give the doll a name?

A. Because the gift was given by her parents.

B. Because the girl didn’t care much for the doll.

C. Because her parents would give the doll a name.

D. Because the doll had little in common with her.

2.The author’s account of a childhood incident shows that, as a young girl, she viewed her parents as people who         .

A. hoped to shape their children’s future  

B. were unconcerned about their behavior

C. ruined their children’s dreams completely

D. might withdraw their love at any moment

3. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A. The mother is now satisfied with her daughter’s career.

B. The daughter now regrets what she did when she was a girl.

C. The mother thinks the daughter’s achievements are unsatisfactory.

D. The daughter wishes that she had been allowed more freedom as a child.

When I was seven, my parents gave me a doll, a doll's house and a book． The Arabian Nights, came wrapped in red paper． I was just ready to read when my mother walked into my room．

"Isn't your doll just beautiful?" my mother asked． I looked at the doll, with fair hair in a pink dress-I'll have to call her "she" because I never gave her a name． I folded my lips and raised my eyebrows, not really knowing how to let my mother down easily．

"This doll is different．" My mother explained, trying to talk me into playing with it．

Thinking the doll needed love, I hugged her tightly for a long time． Useless, I said to myself．Finally, I decided to play with the doll's house． But since rearranging the tiny furniture seemed to be the only active possible, I lost interest． I caught sight again of the third of my gift The Arabian Nights, and I began to read it． From that moment, the book was my constant companion．

Every day I climbed our garden tree, Nestled among its branches, I read the stories in The Arabian Nights to my heart's content． My mother became concerned as she noliced I wasn't playing with either the doll or the little house． She insisted that I take the doll up the tree with me．

Trying to read on a branch 15 feet off the ground while holding on to the silly doll was not easy． Alter nearly falling off twice, I tied one end of a long vine around the doll's neck and the opposite one -around the branch, letting the doll hang in mid air while I read． I always looked out for my mother, though． I sensed that my playing with the doll was of great importance to her． So every time I heard her coming, I lifted the doll up and hugged her． The smile in my mother's eyes told me 　my plan worked．

The inevitable happened one afternoon． Totally absorbed in the reading, I didn't hear my mother calling me． When I looked down, I saw my mother staring at the hanging doll． Fearing the worst of scolding, I climbcd down in a flash, reaching the ground just as my mother was untying the doll． To my surprise, she didn't scold． She kept on staring at the doll．

The next day, my father came home early and suggested he and I play with the doll's house．Soon I was bored, but my father seemed to be．having so much fun, I didn't have the heart to tell him．Quietly I slipped out, picking up my book on my way to the yard． So absorbed was he in arranging 　and rearranging the tiny furniture that he didn't notice my quick exit．

Almost 20 years passed before I found out why the hanging-doll incident had been so significant for my parents． By then I was a parent myself． After recalling the incident, my mother said all those years she had been afraid whether I would turn out to be a most loving and understanding mother to my son．

My mother often thanks God aloud for making me a good parent, pointing out that with education I might have been a rich dentist instead of a poor poet． I look back on that same childhood incident, recalling my third gift, the book in red- paper, and I take advantage of the experiences that have made me who and what I am． Sometimes I pause to wonder at life's wonderful ironies （諷刺） ．

67． Why didn't the author give the doll a name?

　　　 A． Because the gift was given by her parents．

　　　 B． Because the girl didn't care much for the doll．

C． Because her parents would give the doll a name．

D． Because the doll had little in common with her．

68． Which of the following best refers to the "irony" mentioned at the end of the passage?

　　　 A． The author has herself now become a mother．

　　　 B． The father was as troubled by the incident as her mother．

　　　 C． The father was comfortable playing with toys traditionally meant for girls．

　　　 D． The author was influenced most by the gift which was least valued by her mother．

69． The author's account of a childhood incident shows that, as a young girl, she viewed her parents

　　　 as people who　　　　 .

　　　 A． hoped to shape their children's future　

　　　 B． were unconcerned about their behavior

　　　 C． ruined their children's dreams completely

D． might withdraw their love at any moment

70． What can we infer from the last paragraph?

　　　 A． The mother is now satisfied with her daughter's career．

　　　 B． The daughter now regrets what she did when she was a girl．

　　　 C． The mother thinks the daughter's achievements are unsatisfactory．

D． The daughter wishes that she had been allowed more freedom as a child．