Do you know who invented tea? In fact, tea, the most popular drink in the world （after water）, was invented by accident （偶然）. According to an ancient Chinese legend （传说）, the emperor Shen Nong   1   tea when he was boiling drinking water over an open fire. Some leaves from a nearby bush （灌木丛） fell into the water and remained there for   2  . The emperor noticed that the leaves in the water produced a   3  smell. Later he decided   4   the hot mixture （混合物）. It was quite delicious. And   5  , one of the world’s favorite drinks was invented.

       China is the home of tea,   6  has more than 4,000 years history. People throughout China drink tea daily.   7   the three major drinks—tea, coffee and cocoa, tea is drunk by   8   people in the world. Tea from China, along   9   silk and porcelain, began to be known by the world over a thousand years ago and has been an important Chinese export   10  .

       Tea leaves   11  mainly in the area south of the Yangtze River, in the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Fujian, because of the mild   12   and rich soil there. Longjing, Wulong, Pu’er and Tieguanyin are all   13   kinds of tea.

       Over the past centuries, Chinese people   14  their unique tea culture, which includes tea planting, tea-leaf picking, tea making and so on. Tea is   15   a popular topic which is often mentioned in dances, songs, poems and novels.

1. A. invented               B. found out                 C. discovered         D. tried out

2. A. sometimes            B. some time                 C. some times        D. some days

3. A. pleasant                B. pleased                     C. bad                   D. terrible

4. A. not to taste           B. to taste                     C. tasting               D. taste

5. A. by the way           B. on the way               C. on its way         D. in this way

6. A. who                            B. which                      C. where               D. when

7. A. In                        B. For                          C. Of                    D. By

8. A. the number of       B. a number of                 C. a large number of D. the largest number of

9. A. between               B. with                         C. except               D. besides

10. A. At that time         B. from now on            C. since then          D. since now

11. A. produce                     B. are produced             C. make                D. are made

12. A. climate               B. weather                    C. condition           D. environment

13. A. interesting           B. important                  C. famous             D. normal

14. A. had developed     B. have developed          C. developed          D. are developing

15. A. too                  B. as well                            C. either                D. also

Mr. White is seventy years old. He has been staying at home since he retired. Last year his wife 41 .He was very sad. He has four children, but they all have their own families. Now he lives in an old house  42. Sometimes he feels lonely. One day, one of his children bought a parrot for him. It could  43 and usually gave it nice  44. But one afternoon, a cat ate the parrot. He was very sad and  45 to buy another one. He also bought a strong and beautiful cage for it and began to  46 it to speak. Every morning, as soon as he got up, he said“Good morning”  47 the bird. The bird had a look at him but said  48 . He kept on teaching it but the parrot didn’t learn anything. He felt sorry for it and lost his patience(耐心).
One evening his  49  called and told him that his granddaughter was  50  in hospital. He went to see her  51 . When he got there, she was being operated(手术) on and he didn’t see her. The doctors asked him to go home. He was so worried about her that he couldn’t  52  the whole night. The next morning, when he was passing by the parrot, he  53  to say “Good morning” to the bird.
Suddenly(突然地) he  54  someone saying,“What happened to you this morning?” He looked  55 . There was nobody except himself in the room. It was the bird.