Once there was a parrot on sale in a pet store. It was a beautiful red and blue bird. It sat on a perch in the middle of the store, so that everyone could see it when they came in. The owner was very proud of it and asked a high price for it.
One day a man went into the store. "That's a beautiful bird,"he said to the pet store owner, "But why is it so expensive? Is it unsual bird?"
"No, it's not very unusual. It's expensive because it can talk," the pet store owner said.
"I see. How can I make it talk?" the man asked.
The pet store owner asked him, "Do you see those string tied to each of the bird's legs?"
"Yes," the man answered.
"Well, you pull those strings," the pet store owner told him."That will make the parrot talk."
The man asked,"Do you mind if I try?"
"Not at all," the pet store owner said.
The man walked up to the parrot and pulled the string on its left leg. The parrot said, "Good morning."
The man pulled the string on the parrot's right leg. This time the parrot said, "How are you today?"
"That's not very interesting, " said the man. "Any parrot could do that." Then he laughed, "But what wold happen if I pulled both strings at the same time?"
"I'll fall off my perch, you fool!" the parrot said.
【小题1】The parrot was expensive because________.

Light travels at a speed which is about a million times faster than the speed of sound. You can get some idea of this difference by watching the start of a race. If you stand some distance(距离) away from the starter, you can see smoke from his gun before the sound reaches your ears.

This great speed of light produces some strange facts. Sunlight(太阳光) takes about 8 minutes to reach us. If you look at the light of the moon tonight, remember that the light rays left the moon 1.3 seconds before they reached you. The nearest star is so far away that the light that you can see from it tonight started to travel towards you four years ago at a speed of nearly 2 million km. per minute. In some cases, the light from one of tonight’s stars had started on its journey to you before you were born.

Thus, if we want to be honest, we can’t say, “The stars are shining tonight.” We have to say instead, “The stars look pretty. They were shining four years ago, but their light has only just reached the earth.”

1.Light speed is ______ sound speed.

A. as fast as                          

B. a million times slower than

C. about millions of times faster than     

D. about a million times faster than

2. If you stand 200 meters away from a man who is firing a gun to start a race, you will find out that ______.

A. you can hear the sound before you see the smoke

B. the sound does not travel as fast as light

C. the sound will reach you before the man fires

D. sound travels about a million times faster than light

3.Sunlight obviously(显然的) ______ than the light of the moon.

A. has to travel a greater distance          

B. moves less quickly

C. travels much more quickly            

D. is less powerful

4. The scientific way of saying "The stars are shining tonight" should be ______.

A. the stars have been shining all the time

B. the stars seen tonight will shine four years later

C. the stars were shining long ago but seen tonight

D. the starlight seen today could be seen four years ago

When I was ten, my mother worked all day so I had to take care of my younger brother. At that time my little brother was about four years old and he missed mum all the time.

One day, after I had given him his dinner, he started crying for mum. He was so young and really needed mum. So I dressed him, put on his shoes, carried him on my back and walked out. Soon he fell asleep. About half an hour later, I found that he had lost a shoe while sleeping. I took him off my back and put him down. I knew we needed to find that shoe, for our mother couldn’t afford new shoes. We had to go back to find it, so I told my brother to wait right there. A man heard it and stopped me just before I walked off. He asked me, “You are leaving your brother here to find the shoe? What would you do if he is not here when you return?” I did not know how to answer that question. He continued, “It’s OK if you can’t find the shoe, but it is not OK to lose your brother.” Then he sent us to mum’s workplace by taxi.

My whole life I have depended on (依靠) the kindness of many strangers, I feel regretful that I cannot find them and say thank you. I do not even remember what the man’s face looked like, but he taught me a lesson—people are more important than things.

1.Why did the younger brother cry for his mother?

A．Because he was hungry.                  B．Because he missed his mother.

C．Because he wanted to sleep.               D．Because he wanted to play outside.

2.What does the underlined word “regretful” in the last paragraph mean?

A．Sorry             B．Happy            C．Excited           D．Angry

3.What did the man mean by saying “It’s OK if you can’t find the shoe, but it is not OK to lose your brother.”?

A．People are more important than things.

B．Things are more important than people.

C．Both the shoe and your brother are important.

D．The shoe is more important than your brother.

4.According to the passage, which word can best describe the man?

A．Rude.            B．Funny.            C．Silly.              D．Kind.

“I’m sorry that you’ve missed the last bus. It _______ only five minutes ago.” said the man.