If we are driving a car or crossing a street, we will stop when the traffic lights turn red. Why do we use red rather than other colors?
As we know, scattering (散射) happens when light goes through the air. For the same media, if the wavelength (波長) is long, the scattering will be short. If the wavelength is short, then the scattering will be long.
Of all light we can see red has the longest wavelength, so the scattering is the weakest. That means the red light travels far. In fact, it travels farther on rainy days.
Using the red light can help drivers in farther areas see the lights. It helps drivers slow down or stop in time. If drivers don’t see the red light until they are close, they may not be able to stop the car in time. An accident may happen. Red can also excite people. We can act more quickly when we see the color red.
In a word, red light helps drivers stop in time and help prevent accidents.
【小題1】______ has the longest wavelength of all light we can see.

A．Red

B．Green

C．Yellow

D．Black

【小題2】Red light travels farther on ______ days.

A．windy

B．sunny

C．rainy

D．cloudy

【小題3】Red can make people act more quickly because ____________.

A．red can make people happier	B．the scattering of red is very short
C．the scattering of red is very long	D．red can make people more excited

【小題4】The underlined word “prevent” means ______ in Chinese.

A．逃避

B．防止

C．處理

D．檢查

【小題5】The passage mainly tells us ____________.

A．why accidents happen	B．how the red light travels
C．why we use red traffic lights	D．how to stop in time at traffic lights

A very old lady won a million dollars in a lottery(彩票). Her son and her husband heard the news on the radio.
“How are we going to tell your mother?” the man asked. “The news might kill her!”
“That’s true,” the son said. “Perhaps we’d better speak to her doctor about it. He’ll know how to bring her the news gently.”
They told the old lady’s doctor about this.
“I’m glad you told me, ” he said “A shock(震驚), even a happy one, could give her a heart attack, leave it to me. I’ll find a way of bringing the news to her.”
The doctor thought about the problem for several days, then decided what he would say.
He called on the old lady and sat by her. He took her hand in his.
“Let’s play a game, my dear,” he said. “‘Let’s pretend(假裝)’ game.”
“Oh, yes, ” the old lady said. “I love ‘Let’s pretend’ game.”
“Good, I’ll ask you a question first, ” the doctor said, “Then you can ask me one.”
He pretended to think for a few minutes. Then he said, “Tell me, what would you do if you won a million dollars in the lottery?”
“Oh, that’s an easy one,” the old lady said, “I’d give most of it to you, doctor, because you have been so good to me all these years, doctor!” But the doctor was now lying on the floor. He had died of shock.
【小題1】Who won a million dollars in a lottery?

A．The man.

B．The son.

C．The old lady.

D．The doctor.

【小題2】What does “heart attack” mean in Chinese?

A．攻擊心臟.

B．驚喜.

C．心情.

D．心臟病.

【小題3】Why did the doctor play ‘Let’s pretend’ game with the lady?

A．Because he wanted to get the money.

B．Because he wanted to bring her the news gently.

C．Because he didn’t want to tell her the news.

D．Because he wasn’t honest.

【小題4】Who had died of shock?

A．The man.

B．The son.

C．The old lady.

D．The doctor.

【小題5】What’s the best title for the passage?

A．A Sad Shock	B．A wonderful Shock
C．An Interesting Shock	D．A Lucky Shock

A group of swans flew down to a beach where a crow (烏鴉) was jumping around. The crow watched them with disdain (筆試).
“You have no flying skills at all!” he said to the swans. “All you can do is to move your wings. Can you turn over in the air? No, that’s beyond you. Let’s have a flying competition. I’ll show you what real flying is!”
One of the swans, a strong young male, took up the challenge (挑戰(zhàn)). The crow flew up and began to show his skills. He flew in circles, performed other flying tricks, and then came down and looked proudly at the swan.
Now it was the swan’s turn. He flew up, and began flying over the sea. The crow flew after him, making all kinds of comments (評價(jià)) about his flying. They flew on and on till they couldn’t see the land and there was nothing but water on all sides. The crow was making fewer and fewer comments. He was now so exhausted that he found it hard to stay in the air, and had to struggle to keep himself from falling into the water.
The swan pretended (假裝) not to notice, and said, “Why do you keep touching the water, brother? Is that another trick? “
“No,” said the crow. He knew he had lost the competition. “I’m in trouble because of my pride (自大) ! If you don’t help me, I’ll lose my life...”
The swan took pity on him, and took him on his shoulders and flew back to the beach.
【小題1】What’s the correct order of the following events?
a. The crow followed the swan and got into trouble.
b. The swan felt pity for the crow and saved it.
c. The crow had to ask the swan for help.
d. The swan accepted a challenge of performing flying tricks.

A．a(chǎn), d, b, c

B．a(chǎn), b, d, c

C．d, a, c, b

D．d, c, a, b

【小題2】What does the underlined word “exhausted” in Paragraph 4 mean?

A．Tired.

B．Bored.

C．Nervous.

D．Frightened.

【小題3】What do we learn from the passage?

A．Practice makes perfect.	B．The early bird catches the worm.
C．No pains, no gains.	D．Pride goes before a fall.

If you go to Finland, you’ll be surprised to find how “foolish” the Finnish people are.
Take the taxi drivers for example. Taxis in Finland are mostly high class Benz with a fare (票價(jià)) of two US dollars a kilometer. You can go anywhere in one, tell the driver to drop you at any place, say that you have some business to attend to, and then get off without paying your fare. And the driver would not show the least sign of worry.
The dining rooms in all big hotels not only serve their guests, but also outside diners. Hotel guests have their meals free, so their good faith is to wave their registration card to the waiter. With such a loose check, you can easily use any old registration card to take a couple of friends and dine free of charge.
With so many loopholes (漏洞) in everyday life, surely Finland must be a heaven to those who love to take “pretty advantages”. But the strange things is, all the taxi-passengers would always come back to pay their fare after they have attended to their business; not a single outsider has ever been found in the free hotel dining rooms. As the Finns always act on good faith and always show an attitude of “which is which” and “what is what” in everything they do, so to live in such a society has turned everyone into a real “gentleman”. In a society of such high moral practice, what need is there for people to take precautions (預(yù)防措施) against others?
【小題1】The word “foolish” probably means _____________.

A．friendly

B．careful

C．strange

D．funny

【小題2】Why wouldn’t the driver show the least sign of worry? Because _________.

A．he is sure that the passengers always act on good faith

B．he is afraid to make the passengers angry and unhappy

C．he thinks the passengers may be too poor to pay him

D．he is sure that the passengers are really in trouble

【小題3】The dining rooms in all big hotels ___________.

A．check the guests’ registration card carefully

B．give people meals without paying

C．serve their guests free of charge

D．only serve their guests free breakfast

【小題4】What’s FALSE according to the passage?

A．No one takes advantages although there are many loopholes.

B．All the taxi-passengers come back to pay their fare after they have attended to their business.

C．Not a single outsider has ever been found in the free hotel dining rooms.

D．Finland is heaven for immoral people because they can always take advantages freely.

【小題5】The sentences “which is which” and “what is what” show that __________.

A．the Finns are foolish

B．the Finns take things seriously

C．the Finns are busy making money for the family

D．the Finns never take precaution against others