Dick was born in a poor family. His father had a small boat and went fishing in the morning and sold the fish in the market in the afternoon. Then he bought some food for his family. When winter came, they were often hungry. One morning the hungry man fell into the river and wasn’t found. Dick’s mother left her three-year-old son without saying good-bye. His aunt had to look after him.

Twenty years passed. Dick became a tall, strong man. He found work on a farm. He worked hard and wanted to get more money. He often went to see his aunt with some nice presents. The woman was very happy but one day she died in a traffic accident. The young man was very sad. After he buried her, he decided to buy a beautiful tombstone(墓碑)for her. He went to town and came in a shop, but all the tombstones were too expensive. He asked, “Do you sell an old tombstone, sir?” “Yes, we do, sir, ” answered the shopkeeper. “Is it as expensive as the new one?”

“No, it’s much cheaper,” said the man. “But another name was engraved (刻) on it.” “It doesn’t matter, ” said Dick. “My aunt couldn’t read.”

1. If      , the family members were hungry.

A．Dick’s father could catch no fish in winter

B．Dick’s father had a boat in winter

C．Dick’s father had to look after him in winter

D．no food was sold in winter

2.Dick wanted to get more money to     .

A．marry a wife	B．give his aunt nice presents
C．buy a farm	D．build a house

3.Dick often went to see his aunt because       .

A．she felt lonely	B．she was often ill
C．she had no children	D．with her help he grew up

4.Dick wanted to buy an old tombstone because     .

A．he didn’t had enough money to buy a new one

B．his aunt couldn’t read whose name was engraved

C．his aunt wasn’t going to mind it

D．nobody knew what his aunt’s name was

 

閱讀理解

　　Are you a man or a mouse? When people ask this question they want to know if you think you are a brave person or a coward. But you will never really know the answer to that question until you are tested in real life. Some people think they are brave, but when they come face to face with real danger, they act like cowards. Other people think of themselves as cowardly, but when they meet danger, they act like heroes.

　　Lenny Skutnik had always thought of himself as a nervous person. He got worried before examinations. He worried about his job and his health. All he wanted in life was to be safe and healthy. Then, on 15th January 1982, a plane crashed into the Potomac River in Washington. Lenny went to the river to see what was happening. Then he saw a woman in the ice-cold water. Suddenly Lenny did not feel afraid. He kept very calm and did a very courageous thing. He jumped into the Potomac, swam to the woman, and kept her head above the water. Seventyeight people died that day. Thanks to Lenny Skutnik, it was not seventy-nine.

　　When you are in a very dangerous situation and feel afraid, the body automatically produces a chemical in the blood. This chemical is called adrenalin(副腎素). With adrenalin in the blood system, you actually feel stronger and are ready to fight or run away. However, when you are absolutely terrified, the body can produce too much adrenalin. When this happens, the muscles become very hard and you find that you cannot move at all. You are then paralysed with fear. That is why, when we are very frightened, we sometimes say that we are ‘petrified’. This word comes from the Greek word‘petros’which means‘stone’. We are so frightened we have become like stone.

1．According to the writer’s opinion, a brave person can be judged by ________.

[　　]

2．From what Lenny did , we can conclude that ________.

[　　]

A．Lenny had a good chance

B．Lenny liked swimming

C．Lenny was brave

D．Lenny wanted to be a hero

3．In great danger, a hero always keeps ________.

[　　]

4．Adrenalin in our body is ________.

[　　]

5．If a person’s body produces too much adrenalin, he will ________.

[　　]

 

第二節(jié)：完形填空(共20小題；每小題1.5分，滿分30分)

    閱讀下面短文，掌握其大意，然后從36—55各題所給的四個(gè)選項(xiàng)(A、B、C和D)中，選出最佳選項(xiàng)。

     This is a true story. Rex White lived in a  36  some distance from the coast, so he   37   to drive to Lytham and leave his car in a car park beside the river. Then he  38  row out to the pilot boat, and wait for the  39   ship that it was his duty to guide.

     Early one morning, Mr. White   40   to Lytham from a night on duty, only to   41 he couldn't start his car. He had driven from his village the evening before and left his car in the car park   42  . Now with his work finished; how he   43   to drive home to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate and a warm bed!   44  , no matter what he did, he could not get the engine to start.

     It was a cold and windy night; there was no garage   45   to which he could turn for help. He was just about to   46 , and spend the rest of the night in his car,  when a bright idea 47   him.  He pushed his car round so that it was facing in the   48   of the wind, opened ail four doors,   49   it along a short way, and then jumped in. The doors acted like 50, and in no time the wind had taken him  51   out of the car park and away down the beach road. When he   52  the starter-switch once more,  the engine roared to   53  immediately.  All he had to do then was to stop the car and shut the   54  .

     He went to bed later than usual,   55   he did not go without his cup of hot chocolate. Mr. White was not a seaman for nothing.

36. A. city                     B. town                C. village                          D. family

37. A. decided                 B. had                 C. managed                      D. asked

38. A. could                     B. should                C. would                          D. might

39. A. old                      B. foreign               C. big                            D. particular

40. A. returned                 B. got                  C. went                         D. walked

41. A. accept                  B.  tell               C. find                            D. remember

42. A. once more         B. as usual            C. at last                  D. as well

43. A. prepared                 B. supposed             C. hurried                   D. desired

44. A. Sadly        B. Surprisingly        C. Naturally               D. Finally

45. A. inside                    B. around               C. away                          D. ahead

46. A. shout at                  B. break down      C. give out               D. give up

47. A. knocked          B. beat            C. kicked                          D. struck

48. A. position                  B. direction              C. speed                         D. strength

49. A. pulled                   B. rode                 C. pushed                        D. followed

50. A. brakes                  B. engines              C. energies                       D. batteries

51. A. nearly                   B. right                  C. almost                         D. hardly

52. A. opened                  B. checked              C. tried                          D. provided

53. A. effect                    B. way                  C. use                           D. life

54. A. windows                 B. doors                C. lights                          D. systems

55. A. but                           B. or                   C. and                           D. so

 

2010 was the year the Earth struck back.

Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, blizzards(暴風(fēng)雪), landslides(滑坡)and droughts

killed at least a quarter million people in 2010---the deadliest year in more than a generation. More people were killed worldwide by natural disasters this year than have been killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined.

“It just seemed like it was back-to-back (接二連三) and it came waves,” said Craig Fugate, who heads the US Federal Emergency Management Agency. It handled a record number of disasters in 2010.

“The term ' 100-year event ' really lost its meaning this year.”

And we have ourselves to blame most of the time, scientists and disaster experts say.

Even though many disasters seem accidental, the hand of man made this a particularly deadly, costly, extreme and strange year for everything from wild weather to earthquakes.

Poor construction and development practices make earthquake more deadly than they need be. More people live in poverty in vulnerable building (危房) in crowded cities. That means that when the ground shakes the river breaches(攻破), or the tropical cyclone (旋風(fēng)) hits, more people die.

The January earthquake that killed well more than 220000 people in Haita is a perfect example. Port-au-Prince has nearly three times as many people, many of them living in poverty, and more poorly built shanties (棚戶區(qū)) than it did 25 years ago. So had the same quake hit in 1985 instead of 2010, total deaths would have probably been in the 80 000 range, said Richard Olson, director of disaster risk reduction at Florida International University.

Climate scientists say Earth's climate also is changing thanks to man-made global warning, bringing extreme weather, such as heat waves and flooding.

The excessive (過(guò)多的) amount of extreme weather of 2010 is a clear sign of man-made global warning that climate scientists have long warned about. They calculate that the killer Russian heat wave ---setting a national record of 111 degrees --- would happen once every 100000 years without global warning.

Preliminary (之前的) data show that 18 counties broke their records for the hottest day ever.

White House science adviser John Holdren said we should get used to climate disasters or do something about global warning. "The science is clear that we can expect more and more of these kinds of damaging events unless and until society's emissions of heat-trapping (吸熱的)gases and particles are sharply reduce."

1. What does the second paragraph mainly tell us?

A．How the Earth struck back in 2010.           B. Why the Earth struck back.

C．How terrorism attacks struck.                D. What natural disaster mean to us.

2.What does the underlined word "it" refer to in the third paragraph?

A． Earthquake.     B. The Earth.     C. 2010           D. Natural disaster.

3.What do the fifth, sixth and seventh paragraphs mainly tell us?

A. The reason why there were so mainly disasters in 2010.

B. The way that natural disasters happened.

C. The way that man built buildings.

D. The way that people lived.

4.What is the way to cut back on the number of natural disasters?

A. To build stronger houses.                  

B．To develop less.

C. To reduce the emissions of heat-trapping gases and particles greatly.

D. To forecast the happening of natural disasters correctly.

5.Why did the writer give the example of the earthquake that happened in Haiti?

A. To show more people's living in vulnerable building can cause more people to die in an earthquake.

B. To show Haiti is a poor country.            

C．To show Port-au-Prince is too crowded.

D．To show man's forecast ability of an earthquake reduced.

 

One night I went to Himeji, a city not far from Kobe. As I walked with my family along the river I saw a __20__. It was a young man who looked just like me. He was wearing a cap and smiling. Around his neck was a leather strap （皮帶）and in his hands was a saxophone. He was __21___ the saxophone to his __22__ and just about to play. My family walked on up the river towards the castle __23__ I stayed there by the statue, __24__ of playing a saxophone on TV.

Two weeks later it was my birthday. Imagine my __25___ when I opened my present from my parents and found that it was a __26__! I put it to my lips to play, but it wouldn’t make a sound. Then Dad told me to read the __27___ book to find out what to do. After about 15 minutes the saxophone was ready to play. I __28__hard but I couldn’t get the saxophone to play. I was almost __29___ when suddenly the saxophone made the most beautiful sound – loud and clear like I __30__ the music of the man by the river in Kobe. 

1.	A. car	B. bus	C. train	D. motorcycle
2.	A. bank	B. castle	C. mountain	D. river
3.	A. closed	B. open	C. broken	D. clear
4.	A. low	B. lonely	C. loud	D. deep
5.	A. man	B. statue	C. photo	D. picture
6.	A. playing	B. picking	C. lifting	D. rising
7.	A. hands	B. ears	C. eyes	D. lips
8.	A. though	B. but	C. so	D. or
9.	A. dreaming	B. pretending	C. admiring	D. observing
10.	A. anger	B. regret	C. sickness	D. joy
11.	A. guitar	B. drum	C. saxophone	D. violin
12.	A. music	B. exercise	C. instruction	D. note
13.	A. blew	B. flew	C. shook	D. beat
14.	A. reading	B. crying	C. talking	D. asking
15.	A. made	B. heard	C. played	D. imagined