My father had returned from his business visit to London when I came in, rather late, to supper. I could tell at once that he and my mother had been discussing something. In that half-playful, half-serious way I knew so well, he said, "How would you like to go to Eton?"
"You bet," I cried quickly catching the joke. Everyone knew it was the most expensive, the most famous of schools. You had to be entered at birth, if not before. Besides, even at 12 or 13, I understood my father. He disliked any form of showing off. He always knew his proper station in life, which was in the middle of the middle class, our house was medium-sized; he had avoided joining Royal Liverpool Golf Club and went to a smaller one instead; though once he had got a second-hand Rolls-Royce at a remarkably low price, he felt embarrassed driving it, and quickly changed it for an Austin 1100.
This could only be his delightful way of telling me that the whole boarding school idea was to be dropped. Alas! I should also have remembered that he had a liking for being different from everyone else, if it did not conflict with his fear of drawing attention to himself.
It seemed that he had happened to be talking to Graham Brown of the London office, a very nice fellow, and Graham had a friend who had just entered his boy at the school, and while he was in that part of the world he thought he might just as well phone them. I remember my eyes stinging(刺痛) and my hands shaking with the confusion of my feelings. There was excitement, at the heart of great sadness.
"Oh, he doesn’t want to go away," said my mother, "You shouldn’t go on like this.” “It’s up to him," said my father. "He can make up his own mind."
小題1:The house the writer’s family lived in was ________.

A．the best they could afford	B．right for their social position
C．for showing off	D．rather small

小題2:His father sold his Roils-Royce because ________.

A．it made him feel uneasy	B．it was too old to work well
C．it was too expensive to possess	D．it was too cheap

小題3:The writer’s father enjoyed being different as long as ________.

A．it drew attention to him	B．it didn’t bring him in arguments
C．it was understood as a joke	D．there was no danger of his showing off

小題4: What was the writer’s reaction to the idea of going to Eton?

A．He was very unhappy.	B．He didn’t believe it.
C．He was delighted.	D．He had mixed feelings.

小題5:What was the writer’s reaction to the idea of going to boarding-school?

A．He was very unhappy,	B．He had mixed feelings.
C．He was delighted,	D．He didn't believe it.

At five he was collecting old newspapers to make money. And when he was 15 he signed his schoolmates up to start a baby-sitting circle.
Now 20, third-year Cambridge University student, Peter Blackburn is managing director of a company with a £ 30,000 plan. And he thinks it will make more than $15,000 by next summer. He set up Peter Blackborn Ltd last year to bring out a new, color term-planner that now students all over the UK are using.
"I felt that most of the planners going around were pretty unimaginative," he says, "I believed that I could do a better job and decided to have a go".
Blackburn admits that he is putting far more effort into business than his computer studies course at university. While fellow students are out with their friends, he keeps in touch with his business office in Lancashire by movable phone. Before he set up the company he spent one holiday preparing a plan that would persuade his bank to lend him money.
"Most students work hard for a good degree because they believe that will help them get a job to support themselves," he says "I work hard at my company, because that is what will support me next year, after I leave college."
Friends believe that Blackburn will make £ 1 million within 5 years. He is not quite so sure, however. "There's a lot to be done yet," he says.
小題1:Choose the right order of the facts given in the passage.
a. He spent his holiday preparing a plan.
b. He collected newspapers.
c. He set up his own company.
d. He asked the bank for money.
e. He set up a babysitting circle.

A．e, b, c, a, d

B．b, e, a, d, c

C．b, e, d, a, c

D．b, e, c, a, d

小題2:When he was quite young, Blackburn _______ .

A．a(chǎn)lready made a lot of money	B．a(chǎn)lready had a business brain
C．was already managing director of a company	D．a(chǎn)lready set up his own business

小題3: The underlined expression in the fourth paragraph "have a go," here means _______ .

A．give up this job and have a new one	B．leave the company
C．have a try	D．develop my business quickly

小題4: In spite of a college student, Blackburn _______ .

A．spends more time on his business than on his studies course

B．keep in touch with his business office by movable phone

C．seldom goes out with his friends

D．often spends whole holiday preparing business plan

小題5:Which of the following best explain why Blackburn works hard at his company?

A．He wants to do more business practice before he leaves college.

B．He wants to make more money before he leaves college.

C．He wants to get a good job like most students after he leaves the college.

D．he depends on the company for his living in the future.

A German taxi-driver, Franz Bussman, recently found his brother who was thought to have been killed twenty years before.
While on a walking tour with his wife, he stopped to talk to a workman. After they had gone on, Mrs Bussman said that the workman was closely like her husband and even suggested that he might be his brother. Franz laughed at the idea, pointing out that his brother had been killed in action during the war. Though Mrs Bussman knew this story quite well, she thought that there was a chance in a million that she might be right.
A few days later, she sent a boy to the wokman to ask him if his name was Hans Bussman. Needless to say, the man’s name was Hans Bussman. And he really was Franz’s long-lost brother. When the brothers were reunited, Hans explained how it was that he was still alive.
After having been wounded towards the end of the war, he had been sent to hospital and was separated from his unit. The hospital had been bombed and Hans had made his way back into Western Germany on foot. Meanwhile, his unit was lost and all records of him had been destroyed. Hans returned to his family house, but the house had been bombed. Guessing that his family had been killed during an air-raid. Hans settled down in a village fifty miles away where he had remained ever since.
69．Which of the following can be used as the best title of the passage?
A．Living Not Far.              B．A Chance in a Million
C．Coming Back to Life   D．Back after the War.
70．Walking along the street, _______.
A．Mr. Bussman recognized his brother at the first sight.
B．Mrs. Bussman thought of her long-lost brother.
C．Mr. and Mrs. Bussman talked to a workman because he looked like his brother.
D．Mr. Bussman happened to meet a work-man and talked to him.
71. Which of the following order is RIGHT?
A．He walked back to Western German
B．He was wounded when the war was coming to the end.
C．The hospital was destroyed by bombs.
D．He came back to his family house.
e. He was sent to hospital.
f. His unit of German didn’t exist any longer.
A．b, a, e, d, f, c           B．b, e, c, a, f, d   
C．b, e, a, c, d, f           D．b, c, f, d, a, e

The following is a true story. It happened in the northern end of Queens land, Australia, where all kinds of animals live in the forest.
Lisa, a 33-year-old woman, went to prepare lunch in the kitchen, leaving Barney, her three-year-old son, playing by himself in the back garden.
Suddenly, a sharp cry of Barney came into the mother’s ears, and Lisa rushed into the backyard in a hurry and found a big snake entwining(纏繞) the little child with its terrible body and trying to eat the boy as its delicious dish! It was a boa(蟒)! Lisa was terrified and quite angry. She made up her mind to save her son from the snake’s mouth.
It was fearless mother love that made Lisa forget what she faced. She took up an old hoe from the ground and beat the boa with all her might.
One...two... With the hoe, Lisa beat the snake repeatedly, but useless. The little boy’s voice and breath were getting weaker and weaker. Lisa’s heart was broken and she got nearly mad.
Suddenly Lisa put away the hoe and threw herself to the boa, opening her mouth and bit into the boa’s back as if trying to eat a rare steak(牛排). Lisa was really mad!
Blood was spurting(噴射) out of the boa’s body and covered most of Lisa’s body. The boa was so badly wounded that it let go of Barney and moved back into the forest hurriedly. It had never known how a man had such terrible sharp teeth! On halfway home, the boa died.
It was fearless mother love that saved the little boy.
61．When she rushed into the back garden, Lisa found  ______
A．a(chǎn) boa eating her son         
B．her son was playing with a big snake
C．her son in danger of losing his life    
D．her son was fighting with a boa
62．Lisa failed in fighting against the boa at first just because ______.
A．she was bit by the boa       
B．the boa was too strong
C．the hoe was not sharp enough 
D．she was afraid that she would hurt her son
63． Lisa bit the snake because ______.
A．she was mad      
B．she thought her teeth were much sharper than the boa 
C．her son was entwined by the boa
D．she hadn’t got any other way to fight with the snake
64．The best title for this passage is ______.
A．Mother and Boa            B．Fearless Mother Love
C．A Boa and a Boy            D．Saving a Boy from a Boa

“It was all his own idea, ” says Pat Peters, the 38-year-old wife of Palo Alto, California high school football coach Bob Peters, 39. Bob had just drawn up a “motherhood contract” -a document(文件) stating that for 70 days this summer he would take over the care and feeding of the couple’s four children, plus all household chores(雜務). Although he didn’t even know how to make coffee when he signed, he was quite confident.(He thought the experience would make a nice book.)
After 40 of the 70 days, he was ready to give up. “I was beaten down, completely humbled, ” admits Peters. Three weeks later he spoke to the local press(also part of the bargain), stating, “Not only is motherhood a difficult task, not only is it never-ending, it is an impossible job for any normal human being.”
Bob and Pat were high school sweethearts. After they were married in 1960, she worked as a secretary to help put him through university. Since then Bob has been the football and wrestling coach at Palo Alto’s Cubberley High while Pat raised the kids.
Then two years ago Pat went back to work as a secretary at Cubberley. “I had been around children so much,” she sighs(嘆氣), “I couldn’t talk to a grown-up.” She continued to run the household, however-until Bob signed the contract, whereupon she decided to relax and enjoy it.
Although Peters had consulted(咨詢) with his school’s home economics teachers and the head of the cafeteria(食堂), his meals were sometimes a disaster. “I tried to slip the butter I’d forgotten under the eggs after they were frying, ” he says. For the last three weeks, the family ate out a lot—sometimes having Macdonald’s hamburgers for lunch and dinner.
As for housekeeping, a home economics teacher had told Bob that a room always looks clean if the bed is made. “I found an easier way-I shut the doors, ” he says. Soon the kids were wearing the same clothes for a week. “I made them wear their shirts inside out, and when we went to pick up Pat at work they turned them right side out so they would look clean.”
Now that Bob has publicly admitted he was wrong, he is routinely(日常地) sharing the child-raising and household tasks with Pat. The tentative(暫定的) title of his book about the summer is taken from something he shouted at the kids one day.
小題1:The couple signed the contract because _______.

A．Pat complained a lot about her doing the housework all by herself

B．Bob loved taking care of children and wanted his wife to have a good rest

C．they agreed that husband and wife should share household tasks

D．Bob thought it easy to take care of the family and wanted the experience for a book

小題2:It was agreed that if Bob failed to keep to the contract, he would have to _______.

A．pay a certain amount of money

B．do all the housework for years

C．say sorry to his wife

D．a(chǎn)dmit publicly he was wrong about motherhood

小題3:What can we learn about Pat Peters?

A．She was hard-working and selfless.

B．She was pretty and kind-hearted.

C．She was tired of the child-raising and household tasks.

D．She did not love Bob any longer.

小題4:Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A．Bob managed to keep the kids’clothes clean.

B．Bob tried to cook good meals for his children.

C．Bob frequently took the kids out to eat because he was too busy at work.

D．Bob taught the kids to make their beds every day.

小題5:Which of the following can best end the news story?

A．“My experience of being a mother.”

B．“I’m proud of you all, my dear!”

C．“Wait till your mother gets home!”

D．“Motherhood: an impossible job for anyone.”

An important question about eating out is who pays for the meal. If a friend of yours asks you to have lunch with him. You may say something like this, “I’m afraid it’ll have to be some place cheap, as I have very little money.” The other person may say, “OK, I’ll meet you at McDonald’s.” This means that two agree to go Dutch, that is, each person pays for himself. He may also say, “Oh, no. I want to take you to lunch at Johnson’s”, or “I want you to try the steak(牛排) there. It’s great.” This means the person wants to pay for both of you. If you feel friendly towards this person, you can go with him and you needn’t pay for the meal. You may just say, “Thank you. That would be very nice.”
American customs about who pays for dates(約會) are much the same as in other parts of the world. In the old days, American women wanted men to pay for all the meals. But, today, a university girl or a woman in the business world will usually pay her own way during the day. If a man asks her to dinner or a dance outside the working hours, it means “come as my guest”. So as you can see, it is a polite thing to make the question clear at the very beginning.
小題1:In the old days _______ often paid for all the meals.

A．women	B．men
C．university students	D．businessmen

小題2: “To go Dutch” means to _______.

A．go to play outside	B．eat out
C．pay for oneself	D．go to a cheaper eating place

小題3: “McDonald’s” here means _______.

A．a(chǎn) tea house	B．a(chǎn) gate
C．a(chǎn)n office	D．a(chǎn)n eating place

小題4:If you feel friendly to the person, _______.

A．you should pay for him	B．you needn’t pay for him
C．you can accept his invitation	D．you can’t accept his invitation

小題5:We’d better know who will pay for the meal _______.

A．a(chǎn)t the beginning	B．a(chǎn)t the end
C．in the middle of the meal	D．a(chǎn)fter drinking

Connecting with Patients
Dr. Paris often treats several generations of a family over many years. “He’s seen us through two births, one operation, multiple earaches, a broken wrist and a recovery from a serious traffic crash,” says Jill Farrow, a 43-year-old lawyer whose first visit to Dr. Paris was as a teenager. During the birth of her younger son, Farrow began bleeding badly. Dr. Paris managed to solve the problem in a delicate procedure. “Twenty years ago, she probably would have died,” he says. Today, when he performs school sports physical examinations for the Farrow boys, 10 and 11, he is always reminded that lives are changed forever by doctors just doing their jobs.
To be a mix of country doc and somewhat adventurer, the 55-year-old family physician moved to Hailey after completing his residency（醫(yī)生實習期）. He hoped to practice medicine there and ski at nearby Sun Valley. Unfortunately, the only job opening was for an emergency-room doctor in Missoula, Montana, 300 miles away. Dr. Paris took it. "I'd ski all day and then drive all night to be in Missoula for a 48-hour shift," he recalls. "I'm lucky to be alive." Knowing he couldn't keep up with his eight-hour commute（通勤）, he began taking flying lessons.
In 1981, Dr. Paris joined a small medical practice in Hailey, a former mining town with a population at the time of 2,109. As Hailey grew in the shadow of Sun Valley's booming popularity, Dr. Paris's own practice expanded to seven physicians, including his wife, Kathryn Woods, who is also a family doctor. They met in 1986 at a certification exam in Denver when, in a room full of men in stodgy suits, Woods arrived wearing a Lycra biking outfit and carrying the front wheel of her bicycle (which she couldn't lock up outside). Dr. Paris asked her out on the spot. In 1989, they married.
小題1:What Jill Farrow says is to indicate ________.

A．how weak the bodies of her family

B．how hard it is to be a doctor

C．how brilliant the physician’s skill is

D．how easy it is to deal with such problems

小題2:Dr. Paris often reminds himself that ________.

A．lives of people should not always stay the same

B．people can rely on themselves to change their life

C．doctors should change their own life

D．it is the duty of a doctor to heal the patients

小題3:Why did Dr. Paris move to Hailey?

A．Because he can be a doctor and an adventurer there.

B．Because he has to finish his residency there.

C．Because his children are fond of skiing at nearby Sun Valley.

D．Because he has to be an emergency-room doctor there.

小題4:We can infer the doctor got married probably at the age of ________.

A．27.

B．37.

C．17.

D．47.

小題5:This passage is intended to ________.

A．introduce Dr. Paris

B．praise the doctor’s excellent medical art

C．describe the doctor’s adventurous experience

D．tell the doctor’s love affairs

Help or Not
Dear editor,
During last year's winter holiday, I went shopping with my grandmother. We saw several beggars. Some of them were disabled, which made me feel sad. Among them were old people, young people and even children! When I wanted to help them, my grandmother stopped me. She told me they were not worth showing mercy to because some beggars cheated people out of their money. Should I help them?
Yours,
Mary from Guangzhou
Dear Mary,
While I understand your grandmother’s point of view, I think that just because some beggars have cheated people, this doesn’t mean you should never help any beggars.
Showing mercy to people who are not as fortunate as us is one of the kindest things we can do. While some beggars may use dishonest means to get money, most beggars will not. Even those who use dishonest means are probably hungry for food and feel they have no choice but to cheat people. It is important to be careful for your own safety. But if you want to help, you don’t necessarily have to give it to beggars in the street.
Another way you can help is by donating money to the China Charity Federation. Visit its website at: www. china charity. cn.net.
18.From the grandmother’s point of view, we can learn that ________.
A. she has never helped the beggars.    
B. she believes not all beggars are honest
C. she has surely been cheated by some beggars  
D. she shows no pity for the poor
19. Mary felt sad for _______.
A. her grandmother                                                 B. the disabled beggars 
C. the old people                                              D. herself
20. The editor suggests that Mary should _______.
A. have her own mind                                      B. follow her grandmother
C. do something for those unfortunate                D. help the China Charity Federation
21. The underlined word “donating” probably means _______.
A. give out of kindness                                     B. put into a business
C. earn through an organization                         D. give in return for some kindness

From poor beginnings to most expensive player
ZINEDINE Zidane，who dreams of leading France to its second World Cup title in a row next month，has always preferred to express himself with a football rather than with words．
Last Wednesday Zidane scored the decisive goal when Real Madrid of Spain won the Champions League final against Germany's Leverkusen 2一1．
He became one of the world’s most expensive players when he joined Real Madrid from Italy's Juventus for US $ 66 million．And he has been a national hero since he scored twice in the 3-O defeat of Brazil in the 1998 World Cup Final．
But despite his success，Zidane has always kept his feet on the ground．He leads a quite family life，there is hardly any gossip about him and he avoids putting his wife and two children in the spotlight．
“Just because I'm a public figure it doesn't mean I have to express myself on everything．I don't like to discuss some personal matters publicly．”he said．
Even as a child playing football in the slum area of Marseille，F(xiàn)rance，where he was raised by his Algerian parents，Zidane was shy．
He loved football even as a little kid．“I realized football is a wonderful mixture of a sharp mind and hard training rather than just talking，”he said．
Even when the match awards were just chocolate and bread，Zidane found that football made his poor childhood rich．
Before he was 10 years old，it was obvious that he could become a great footballer．He was offered his first professional contract(合同)when he was just 20．Now，at the age of 29，he has already picked up two World Player  of the year awards．
This quiet striker has not yet spoken of his hopes for the coming World Cup．But his fans across the world will be eagerly watching him to see what he'll do this time．
小題1: What did Zidane learn from his childhood football experience? He learned that_____________.

A．he could become a great footballer

B．he could become rich if he became a footballer

C．football is a mixture of a sharp mind and hard training but not just talking

D．football is a favorite sport in the future

小題2:According to the article，what are Zidane’s main characteristics?

A．He is a shy but successful man．

B．H e loves his wife and children．

C．He doesn't like to speak in public．

D．He is a quiet，down—to earth person of few words．

小題3: When the writer says“Zidane has always kept his feet on the ground”,he means_________.

A．Zidane spends more time standing than sitting most days

B．Zidane is a down-to earth person

C．Zidane has spent most of his time training on the pitch

D．Zidane likes standing when he succeeds

小題4:The sentence“Zidane found that football made his poor childhood rich”means___________．

A．football made Zidane's poor family wealthy when he was a child

B．Zidane knew that football could bring him fame and wealth even when he was a child

C．football brought happiness to Zidane when he was a child in a poor family

D．Zidane knew that if he wanted to be rich he must play football from childhood

When I was in the third grade, I was picked to be the princess in the school play. For
Weeks my mother had helped me practice my lines .But once on stage, every word disappeared from my head. Then my teacher told me she had written a narrator's（解說者的）part for the play ,and asked me to change roles. Though I didn't tell my mother what had happened that day, she sensed my unhappiness and asked if I wanted to take a walk in the yard.
It was a lovely spring day. We could see dandelions (蒲公英）popping through the grass in bunches as  if a painter had touched our landscape with bits of gold. I watched my mother carelessly bend down by one of the bunches." I think I am going to dig up all these weeds, "she said. "From now on, we'll have only roses in this garden."
"But I like dandelions," I protested. "All flowers are beautiful-even dandelions!"
My mother looked at me seriously. "Yes, every flower gives pleasure in its own way, doesn't it? "she asked thoughtfully. I nodded. "And that is true of people, too, "she added.
When I realized that she had guessed my pain, I started to cry and told her the truth.
“But you will be a beautiful narrator, ”she said, reminding me of how much I loved to read stories aloud to her.
Over the next few weeks, with her continuous encouragement, I learned to take pride in the role. The big day finally came. A few minutes before the play, my teacher came over to me. “Your mother asked me to give this to you,” she said, handing me a dandelion. After the play, I took home the flower, laughing that I was perhaps  the only person who would keep such a weed.
1.The girl did not play the role of the princess mainly because _______.
A. she felt nervous on the stage.
B. she lost her interest in that role.
C. she preferred the role of the narrator
D. she had difficulty memorizing her words
2.Why did the mother suggest a walk in the garden?
A. To remove the dandelions
B. To enjoy the garden scene
C. to have a talk with her daughter.
D. to help her daughter with the play.
3.What is the main idea of the story?
A. Everybody can find his or her own way to success.
B. Everybody has his or her own value in the world.
C. Everybody should learn to play different roles
D. Everybody has some unforgettable memory.