When Charles Strattion was five, he stopped growing. His mother took him to see the famous showman, P.T.Barnum, and thought a small person would be the perfect addition to his show. He hired Charles’ parents along with him, and they traveled around the world together.

He gave the two-foot-tall Charles a new name, general Tom Thumb. He taught Tom how to sing, dance, act, and tell jokes. When he felt Tom was ready to perform on stage, he made up ads. To stir up great interest, he said that Tom was eleven years old and had come from England.

During the show, Tom fought battles pretendedly with tall people. He also danced upon a wooden plate held by a person who was eight feet tall.

Tom’s act was very popular and brought in a lot of money. By the time Tom was an adult, he had grown very rich. He had become a billionaire at the age of twenty-five.

Fortunately for Tom, Mr. Barnum added more little people to his show, and Tom became lucky in love as well. One of the little people was Lavinia Warren, a school teacher. Tom was able to win her love, and they married.

The ceremony and reception were the talk of the town. They were attended by many rich and famous people and by about two thousand guests. Crowds filled the streets of New York to have a look at their tiny wedding carriage. The couple even met with President Abraham Lincoln on their honeymoon, just before going to live in Tom’s house in Connecticut.

Their wedding, which took place during the Civil War, provided a welcome escape from the sad problems of war. Not willing to let this bit of sunshine fade, communities throughout the country sponsored “Tom Thumb” weddings. In these weddings, small boys and girls, all dressed up, went through marriage ceremony for fun.

1.“the talk of the town” means _________ .

2.What does the author think about Tom Thumb’s wedding?

3.Which of the following is the best clue to the fact that Tom was smart?

4. It was very funny when Tom danced on a wooden plate held by a person who was eight feet tall because ________ .

5.What does the author imply in the last paragraph?

单词拼写（共10小题，每空一词，每小题1分，满分10分） 
【小题1】As friends, we should be c___________ about each other .
【小题2】It is not easy for a Chinese person to speak English as f____________ as a native speaker.
【小题3】L_____________ is what we call truck in British English.
【小题4】After g________________ from college, we finally got the chance to take a bike trip.
【小题5】After supper, Wang wei put her head down on her p__________ and went to sleep.
【小题6】Although many Americans move a lot , they still _______________(识别) and understand each other’s dialects.
【小题7】Two years ago, she bought an expensive mountain bike and then she __________________
(劝说) me to buy one .
【小题8】People began to wonder how long the _______________(灾难) would last.
【小题9】Sun Yat-sen _______________(成立) the first Republic in China in 1911.
【小题10】We tried to achieve our dream of making black and white people _____________(平等)

用单词的正确形式填空。（每题1分，共10分）

1.It was quite terrible. It took me some time to c______ myself  down.

2.I'm terribly sorry. I didn't do it on p__________.

3. Though I haven’t met him for many years, I could r__________ him immediately when I saw him in the crowd.

4.I am d__________ to change my job. No one else can change  my mind.

5.Whether you will succeed or not in doing the work depends on your  a________ to it.

6.Water can be turned into ________(蒸汽) when heated.

7.Because of the global warming, there are more and more natural _______.（灾难）

8.He thought I had known the fact. But _______,(事实上 ) I knew nothing about it.

9.He is a stubborn person. No one can _______him.(说服，劝说)

10.The workers made great efforts to ________（营救，援救） the people who were trapped underground.

第三部分：阅读理解 
第一节 阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。 （共15小题，每小题2分，共30分）           
A
HOW TO BOOK
Booking opens for Beckett Shorts on 8 September.
BY TELEPHONE
For credit card（信用卡）bookings. Calls are answered.
BOX OFFICE
01789 295623  9 a.m. — 8 p. m.（Mon—Sat）
0541 541051（24 hours, 7 days, no booking charge）
BY FAX
For credit card booking. Please allow least 48 hours for reply, if required.
BOX OFFICE
01789 261974 or 01862 387765
BY POST
Please enclose（附上）a cheque or credit card details together with an SAE(Self-Addressed Envelope, 回信用信封) or add 50p to the total amount（总额）to cover postage. Please send to the Box Office. RST. Startford-upon-Avoe, CV37 6BB.
Booking opens for all other plays on 19 September
IN PERSON
BOX OFFICE
RST hall, 9:30 a.m. — 8 p.m.（Mon—Sat）（6p.m. when theatres are closed）
OVERSEAS BOOKING
The easiest method of payment is by credit card. You can also pay by Euro-cheque（up to ￡500）with your card number written on the back.
PAYING FOR YOUR TICKETS
CREDIT CARDS
We accept Visa, Master Card, American Express and Diners Club, Please give the card number, name and address of cardholder.
CHEQUES
Cheques and postal orders should be payable to: Royal Shakespeare Theatre.
56. In which of the following ways of booking does one probably have to pay extra money?
A. In person          B. By telephone            C. By fax           D. By post
57. One has to wait for 2 days or longer for a reply if he/she pays_________.
A. in person           B. by telephone             C. by fax      D. by post
58. What is useful number to call at 11 a.m. Sunday?
A. 01789 295623   B. 0541 541051            C. 01789 261974    D. 01862 387765

When Charles Stratton was five, he stopped growing. His mother took him to see the famous showman, P. T. Barnum. Mr. Barnum thought a small person would be the perfect addition to his show. He hired Charles’ parents along with him, and they traveled the world together.

He gave the two-foot-tall Charles a name, General Tom Thumb. He taught Tom how to sing, dance, act and tell jokes. When he felt Tom was ready to perform on stage, he made up ads. To stir up great interest, he said that Tom was eleven years old and had come from England.

During the show, Tom fought battles pretendedly with tall people. He also danced upon a wooden plate held by a person who was eight feet tall. Tom’s act was very popular and brought in a lot of money. By the time Tom was an adult, he had grown very rich. He had become a billionaire at the age of twenty five.

Fortunately for Tom, Mr. Barnum added more little people to his show, and Tom became lucky in love as well. One of the little people was Lavinia Warren, a schoolteacher. Tom was able to win her love, and they married.

The ceremony and reception were the talk of the town. They were attended by many rich and famous people and by about 2000 guests. Crowds filled the streets of New York to have a look at their tiny wedding marriage. The couple even met with President on their honeymoon just before going to live in Tom’s house in Connecticut.

Their wedding, which took place during the Civil War, provided a welcome escape from the sad problems of war. Not willing to let this bit of sunshine fade, communities throughout the country sponsored (发起) “Tom Thumb” weddings. In these weddings, small boys and girls, all dressed up, went through marriage ceremony for fun.

56. Which of the statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Charles’ parents supported him and performed together with him.

B. Charles was found and hired by the famous showman.

C. Charles put lots of advertisements to arouse interest.

D. Charles’ success was largely due to Mr. Barnum’s help.

57. Tom would dance on a wooden plate held by an eight-foot-tall person probably because ______________.

A. the wooden plate would make it sound as if Tom was dancing

B. it made Tom look taller

C. the eight–foot–tall man was the only tall person Tom trusted

D. the difference between them would make Tom look even smaller

58. The underlined words “talk of the town” in the second paragraph from the bottom means ______________.

A. it was in the newspaper                       B. people spread bad rumors about it

C. it was the most popular topic                    D. it was discussed in a city meeting

59. What does the author think about Tom’s wedding?

A. It helped people cheer up in a dark time.              B. People gave it too much of their attention.

C. It was funny and ridiculous.                         D. Tom and Lavinia were stupid.