Mr. Black was over fifty years old. He sometimes made some mistakes in his work, and he lost his work. So he had   41  time every day to do something. Then he often met his old friends under a big tree. They had drinks there and   42   anything they liked.

One day, some old men were sitting together again and talking about young people in this world. They all agreed that the old people were    43   than young people. Then one of the old  44   said that young men were stronger than old men.

   45   of them agreed that this was true,   46   Mr. Black didn’t. He said, “No. I am as strong now as when I was a young man.” His friends were surprised   47   what he said.

“Well,” said Mr. Black, “Near my house there is a big stone. When I was a young man, I used    48   to move it, but I couldn’t because I was not    49  . I am an old man now, and when I try to move it, I still   50  . So, I am as strong as when I was young.”

1.A. many B. a lot       C. lots of   D. lot

2.A. talked for   B. talked to      C. talked with   D. talked about

3.A. clever        B. cleverer       C. cleverest      D. a clever

4.A. man B. woman         C. men     D. women

5.A. All      B. None    C. Both     D. Neither

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

7.A. at      B. to C. of          D. on

8.A. trying        B. try      C. to try    D. to trying

9.A. strong enough B. enough strong      C. weak enough        D. enough weak

10.A. can         B. can’t      C. could            D. couldn’t

 

A

It is very important to be able to control yourself. Losing control may bring things that would never want to see. We can learn something from the following story.

Once a boy often made trouble. His mother gave him many nails （钉子）. She told him to hammer （锤，钉） one in the garden fence （栅栏）, every time he lost his patience （耐心） and fought with someone. The first day he hammered 27 nails. In the following weeks he learned how to control himself better and the number of the nails he hammered became smaller and smaller. He learned it was easier to control himself than to hammer nails.

The day finally came when he didn’t hammer any nails. He went to tell his mother about it. Then his mother told him to pull off a nail from the fence each time he didn’t lose his patience. After some days he told his mother that all the nails had been pulled off. Thus, she took him to the fence and said to him, “You’ve behaved（表现） well, but look at all the holes in the fence. The fence will never be again like it was before. When you fight with someone, you leave wounds（伤口） in him like these. The trouble may be over, but the wounds will always be there.”

So, learn to control yourself before you hammer the nails in the fence. Try not to leave any holes in your past.

（   ） 1. Losing control may bring you ________.

A. good luck         B. trouble             C. nails                   D. a hammer

（   ） 2. The boy used to _______.

A. be polite           B. do wrong         C. be careless          D. be friendly to others

（   ） 3. Why did the mother give her son nails?

A. To put the garden fence right.        B. To put them away.

C. To help him understand something. D. To make him lose patience.

（   ） 4. In what condition （条件） could the boy pull off a nail?

A. He could control himself.              B. He fought with others.

C. He wanted to do so.                      D. His mother asked him to do so.

（   ） 5. The writer wants us to ______.

A. praise the clever mother                B. correct our mistakes

C. learn to control ourselves              D. know hammering nails is useful

B

    A man once had a dream about the Black Forest In Germany. In his dream he was walking in the forest when two men ran out and tried to throw him to the ground. He ran off as fast as he could, but they followed him. He reached a place where he saw two roads in front of him, one to the right and the other to the left. Which road should he take? He heard the two men behind him, getting nearer, and at the same time he heard a voice in his ear. It told him to go to the right, and he did so. He ran on and soon came to a small hotel. He was received there kindly and given a room, and he was saved from the two men. That was the dream.

    Twenty years later he was really in the Black Forest and, as happened in the dream long ago, two men ran out and tried to throw him down. He ran off, and came to a place with two roads, like in the dream. He remembered the dream and took the road to the right. He soon reached a small hotel, was taken in, and so was safe. His dream of twenty years before had saved him.

（    ） 6. The Black Forest is ______.

         A. a place in Germany                          B. not a real place

         C. invented by the writer                       D. a place in Britain

（    ） 7. When he was walking in the forest, _______ ran after him.

         A. two dogs           B. two tigers           C. two men             D. two women

（    ） 8. At last he came to _______.

         A. a forest              B. another road        C. another dream      D. a small hotel

（    ） 9. It was ______ that saved the man’s life 20 years later.

         A. a voice     B the dream     C. someone else    D. God

（    ） 10. The story tells us that ______.

A. a dream may come true some time later

B. a dream is always a dream

C. people should not believe their dreams

D. people should always believe their dreams

Mr. Brown was a nice teacher．He taught ns science。In the first class，he gave us a talk on an animal called“birdcat”which had died out（灭绝）during the Ice Age．He passed around a skull（头骨）as he was talking．We all took notes carefully and later we had an exam on it．

    When he returned my paper the next day, I found there was a big red“X”on it．I falled! I couldn’t believe my eves! There must be some mistakes! 一 I wrote down exactly what Mr. Brown said．But then I learned that everyone in the class failed．What had happened?

    Very simple! Mr. Brown said that he had made up（编造）all that“birdcat”and there had never been such an animal．So the information in our notes was incorrect．

    But We all felt that was unfair．What kind of exam was this? And what kind of teacher was he?

    “You should have figured it out,”Mr. Brown said．“Actually, the‘birdcat’skull was a cat’s．”Hadn’t he been telling us no other findings about this animal except the skull? He had told us many unbelievable（难以置信）things about the animal，such as the size，the color, the diet…．but none of us had questioned him!

    Mr. Brown said he hoped we would learn something from that lesson．Teachers and textbooks are not always correct．In fact no one is．He told us not to let our minds go to sleep．and to speak up if we ever thought he or file textbook was wrong．

    Mr. Brown's class let me and my classmates learn something important：never fear to look people in the eye and tell them they are wrong．

（   ）1．Mr. Brown was a _______teacher．

    A．math                   B．history                 C．science                  D．music

（   ）2．Why did the writer fall the exam?

    A．Because the exam was too difficult．

    B．Because he didn’t answer the questions according to what Mr. Brown said。

    C．Because Mr. Brown made some mistakes．

    D．Because the information in the answers was incorrect．

（   ）3．The underlined part“figured it out”probably means“________”．

    A．wrote it down      B．found it out          C．took it out              D．talked about it

（   ）4．Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

    A．The writer’s classmates passed the exam，but the writer didn’t．

    B．Mr. Brown found fire“birdcat”skull himself and he succeeded．

    C．During the talk on“birdcat”，some students questioned the teacher

    D．The teacher encouraged us to question what he said arid tell the truth bravely．

（   ）5．Which is the best title for this passage'?

    A．A Birdcat’s Skull                                     B．A Strange Animal

    C．An Unforgettable Exam                               D．An Unfair Teacher