B

   No one is glad to hear that his body has to be cut open by a surgeon（外科医生）and part of it taken out．Today，however，we needn’t worry about feeling pain during the operation．The sick person falls into a kind of sleep，and when he awakes， the operation is finished．But these happy conditions are fairly new．

   Long ago，operation usually had to be done while the sick man could feel everything．The sick man had to be held down on a table by force while the doctors did their best to save him．He could feel all the pain if his leg or arm was being cut off，and his fearful cries filled the room and the hearts of those who watched．

   Soon after 1770，Josept Priestley discovered a gas which is now called “laughing gas”．Laughing gas became known in America．Young men and women went to parties to try it． Most of them spent their time laughing，but one man at a party，Horace Wells，noticed that people didn’t seem to feel pain when they were using this gas．He decided to make an experiment on himself．He asked a friend to help him．

   Wells took some of the gas，and his friend pulled out one of Wells’ teeth．Wells felt no pain at all．

   As he didn’t know enough about laughing gas，he gave a man less gas than he should have．The man cried out with pain when his tooth was being pulled out．

   Wells tried again，but this time he gave too much of the gas，and the man died．Wells never forgot this terrible event．

24. Long ago，when the sick man was operated on, he _________．

A．could feel nothing         B. could not want anything

C．could feel all the pain      D．could do anything

25. Using the laughing gas, the people did not seem to _________．

A．be afraid of anything        B．feel pain

C．want to go to the parties     D．be ill

26. If a man took less laughing gas than he should have when an operation went on, he _________．

A．felt nothing              B．felt very comfortable  

C．still felt pain             D．would die

27. One who took too much of the laughing gas _________．

A．would laugh all the time        B．would die

C．would never feel pain          D. would be very calm

A little under one-third of U.S. families have no Internet access and do not plan to get it, with most of the holdouts seeing little use for it in their lives, according to a survey released on Friday.

Park Associates, a Dallas-based technology market research firm, said 29 percent of U.S. families, or 31 million homes, do not have Internet access and do not intend to subscribe（预订） to an Internet service over the next 12 months. The second annual National Technology Scan conducted by Park found that the main reason why potential customers say they do not subscribe to the Internet is because of the low value to their daily lives rather than concerns over cost.

Forty-four percent of these families say they are not interested in anything on the Internet, versus just 22 percent who say they cannot afford a computer or the cost of Internet service, the survey showed. The answer "I'm not sure how to use the Internet" came from 17 percent of participants who do not subscribe. The response "I do all my e-commerce shopping and YouTube-watching at work" was cited by 14 percent of Internet-access refuseniks. Three percent said the Internet doesn't reach their homes.

The study found U.S. broadband adoption grew to 52 percent over 2006, up from 42 percent in 2005. Roughly half of new subscribers converted（转变） from slower-speed, dial-up Internet access while the other half of families had no prior access.

"The industry continues to chip （击破）away at the core of non-subscribers, but has a long way to go," said John Barrett, director of research at Parks Associates. "Entertainment applications will be the key. If anything will pull in the holdouts, it's going to be applications that make the Internet more similar to pay-TV," he predicted.

What does the underlined word “holdouts” in the first paragraph most probably mean?

A. some American families      

B. those who hold out one’s opinions

C. those who have been surveyed    

D. those who still haven’t access to the Internet currently

Many potential customers refuse to subscribe to the Internet mainly because __________.

A. they show too much concern about the cost

B. they can find little value of it

C. they do most YouTube-watching at work

D. the Internet doesn’t reach their homes

From the passage we can infer that _____________.

A. It is not an easy job to transform those holdouts into the Internet users

B. people will adopt dial-up Internet access no more

C. many Americans enjoy doing e-commerce shopping at home

D. more than half of the population are using the Internet in 2005

According to John Barrett, what is the key to attracting more U.S. families to broadband service?

A. making the Internet look more similar to TV set

B. applying the Internet more to entertainment

C. providing more pay-TV programs

D. chipping away at the core of non-subscribers

Which is the best title for the passage?

A. Web develops with technology

B. The present situation of web

C. Many Americans see little point to web

D. It is urgent to promote web service

A thief entered the bedroom of the 30th President of the United States, who met him and helped him escape punishment．

The event happened in the early morning hours in one of the first days when Calvin Coolidge came into power, late in August, 1923．He and his family were living in the same third-floor suite (套房) at the Willard Hotel in Washington that they had occupied several years before．The former President’s wife was still living in the White House．

Coolidge awoke to see a stranger go through his clothes, remove a wallet and a watch chain．

Coolidge spoke, “I wish you wouldn’t take that．”

The thief, gaining his voice,  said, “Why?”

“I don’t mean the watch and chain, only the charm (表坠)．Take it near the window and read what is impressed on its back, “ the President said．

The thief read, “Presented to Calvin Coolidge．”

“Are you President Coolidge ? “ he asked．

The President answered, “Yes, and the House of Representatives (众议院) gave me that watch charm．I’m fond of it．It would do you no good．You want money．Let’s talk this over．”

Holding up the wallet, the young man said in a low voice, “I’ll take this and leave everything else．”

Coolidge, knowing there was ＄80 in it, persuaded the young man to sit down and talk．He told the President he and his college roommate had overspent during their holiday and did not have enough money to pay their hotel bill．

Coolidge added up the roommate and two rail tickets back to the college．Then he counted out ＄32 said it was a loan (借款)．

He then told the young man, “There is a guard in the corridor．” The young man nodded and left through the same window as he had entered．

What caused the thief to meet the President?

A．He knew the President had lots of money．

B．He knew the President lived in the suite．

C．He wanted to be a rich businessman．

D．He wanted to steal some money．

Why did Calvin Coolidge live at the Willard Hotel in those days?

A．Because the former President was still living in the White House．

B．Because the former First Lady hadn’t left the White House．

C．Because the First Lady liked to live there．

D．Because he liked there．

Coolidge counted out ＄32 ______．

A．in order not to be killed by the thief

B．in order to be out of danger

C．so as to help the young student overcome his difficulty

D．because he had no more money

The young man’s roommate went back to the college ______．

A．by air B．by water C．by bus D．by train

Which of the following might happen afterwards?

A．The young student repaid the＄32．

B．The thief was put into prison．

C．The President told many reporters the thief’s name．

D．The President ordered the young man to repay the money．

A man was on the side of the road hitchhiking（搭便车）on a very dark night in the middle of a terrible rainstorm, with no cars on the road．The storm was so strong that the man could hardly see a few feet ahead of him．Suddenly, he saw a car come towards him and stop．The man, without thinking about it, got in the car and closed the door and only then did he realize that there was nobody behind the steering wheel（方向盘）!

       The car started to move very slowly．The man looked at the road and saw a curve （拐弯处）coming his way．Terrified, he started to pray, begging for his life．He had not come out of shock when, just before the car hit the curve, a hand suddenly appeared through the window and moved the wheel．The man, paralyzed with fear, watched how the hand appeared every time the car was drawing near a curve．Finally, although terrified, the man managed to open the door and jump out of the spooky car．Without looking back, the man ran through the storm all the way to the nearest town．In a state of complete horror, the man walked into a nearby bar and asked for two glasses of Scotch whisky．

       Then, still shaking with fright, he started telling everybody in the bar about the horrible experience he just went through in the spooky car．Everyone in the bar listened in silence and became frightened, with hair standing on end, when they realized the man was telling the truth because he was crying and he was certainly not drunk!

       About half an hour later, two other young men walked into the same bar and one said to the other, “Hey, there’s a stupid man who jumped into the car while we were pushing it!”

When the car was first drawing near a curve, the man ________．

    A．felt very curious                 B．was extremely frightened

    C．cried for help                 D．remained as calm as possible

According to the passage, what made the man’s experience believable?

    A．His reasonable behavior．              B．His vivid description．

    C．His plain appearance．           D．His honest attitude．

We can infer from the passage that ________．

    A．it is unsafe for people to take a free ride

    B．the man was telling a lie to his listeners

    C．the car probably broke down on the way

       D．the two young men were familiar with the man

A man was on the side of the road hitchhiking（搭便车）on a very dark night in the middle of a terrible rainstorm, with no cars on the road．The storm was so strong that the man could hardly see a few feet ahead of him．Suddenly, he saw a car come towards him and stop．The man, without thinking about it, got in the car and closed the door and only then did he realize that there was nobody behind the steering wheel（方向盘）!  

    The car started to move very slowly．The man looked at the road and saw a curve （拐弯处）coming his way．Terrified, he started to pray, begging for his life．He had not come out of shock when, just before the car hit the curve, a hand suddenly appeared through the window and moved the wheel．The man, paralyzed with fear, watched how the hand appeared every time the car was drawing near a curve．Finally, although terrified, the man managed to open the door and jump out of the spooky car．Without looking back, the man ran through the storm all the way to the nearest town．In a state of complete horror, the man walked into a nearby bar and asked for two glasses of Scotch whisky．

    Then, still shaking with fright, he started telling everybody in the bar about the horrible experience he just went through in the spooky car．Everyone in the bar listened in silence and became frightened, with hair standing on end, when they realized the man was telling the truth because he was crying and he was certainly not drunk!

    About half an hour later, two other young men walked into the same bar and one said to the other, “Hey, there’s a stupid man who jumped into the car while we were pushing it!”

When the car was first drawing near a curve, the man ________．

    A．felt very curious                B．was extremely frightened

    C．cried for help               D．remained as calm as possible

According to the passage, what made the man’s experience believable?

    A．His reasonable behavior．       B．His vivid description．

    C．His plain appearance．          D．His honest attitude．

We can infer from the passage that ________．

    A．it is unsafe for people to take a free ride

    B．the man was telling a lie to his listeners

    C．the car probably broke down on the way

    D．the two young men were familiar with the man