For many people the subject of hiccups (嗝) is a joke, but for Harry Mendes, a fifteen-year-old schoolboy from Birmingham, it was something quite different.

His hiccups began one Sunday lunch time and continued day and night for two weeks. After the first week, Harry's parents took him to hospital, but it took another week for the doctors to cure his attack.

Harry, who is now back at school, described what happened to him.

“When I began to hiccup, I drank a glass of water but that didn't do any good. That evening I had hiccups every four seconds. We tried everything to stop them. I held my breath and drank cold drinks. My father even tried to give me a shock but that didn't work either.”

After a week of sleepless nights, he went to hospital. The doctors took an X-ray of his chest but they couldn't find anything wrong.

“They gave me some medicine and my hiccups slowed down, but it was another week before the medicine worked completely and my hiccups stopped.”

Harry was very lucky. The world record holder is the American farmer Charles Osborne, who hiccupped for sixty-eight years. He stopped in 1990 at last, but nobody knows why.

1.Harry's hiccups lasted ____.

  A. a week              B. fourteen days          C. twenty-eight days           D. one month

2.His hiccups started after he ____.

  A. drank a glass of water                              B. went to hospital

C. ate an Indian meal                                 D. finished his homework

3.His parents decided to take him to hospital when he ____.

  A. hiccupped for four seconds                    B. held his breath

  C. hiccupped at night                           D. couldn't stop hiccupping

4.His hiccups completely stopped one week after the doctor ____.

   A. gave him some medicine                      B. took an X-ray of his chest

   C.gave him a shock                            D. let him drink cold drinks

5.What does “shock” in this passage mean？

A.震惊            B.休克            C.喷嚏             D.哈欠

- Could you give me a hand?
- Well, please tell me_______ it is first.

---Who wrote the book?---_______.but the book is interesting.

阅读理解

　　Mr. Black worked in an office in London, but he lived in the country and came to work by train every day. The station was not far from his office, and Mr. Black always walked from his office to the station in the evening, because he liked walking. He always went along the street. Every evening he passed a poor man there. The man sat at the side of the road and sold matches (火柴), and there was always an old dog near him. There was a piece of paper around the dog' s neck, and the words I AM BLIND were on the paper.

　　Mr. Black was a kind man. He always stopped and said some kind words to the poor man and gave him a little money, but he did not take any of his matches.

　　One day Mr. Black had a lot of work in his office and was very late. He said, “My train always leaves at five past six, and it is ten to six now. I'm not going to talk to the poor man today, and I' m not going to give him any money.” He came to the man and his dog, but he did not stop and did not say anything. He walked quickly to the station. But the poor man stood up quickly, ran after him and said, “Why don't you give me any money today? You're always kind to me. Give me a little money today, too. I'm a poor man.”

　　Mr. Black stopped and looked at him. “You are a blind man. How did you follow me?” he said. The poor man said, “No, I'm not blind. My dog is.”

(1) Mr. Black walked to the station every day because ________ .

[　　]

A. he had no car

B. the station was far

C. he liked walking

D. he lived in the country

(2) The old man sat at the side of the road to ________ .

[　　]

A. sell matches

B. have a rest

C. get food for his dog

D. show his blind dog

(3) On the way to the station, Mr. Black always stopped because he ________ .

[　　]

A. liked the old dog

B. liked to talk with the old man

C. was sorry for the old man

D. wanted to buy some matches

(4) Why didn't Mr. Black give the old man any money one day? Because he ________ .

[　　]

A. had given him too much help already

B. didn't want to talk to him any more

C. walked too quickly and didn't see him

D. wanted to catch the train and had not enough time

(5) The old man let his dog carry the words I AM BLIND because he wanted people to ________ .

[　　]

A. help him in his trouble

B. stop and watch his dog

C. say kind words to him

D. be kind to his dog