Ed Viesturs grew up in Rockford, Illinois, where the tallest thing on the ground was the water tower. But on Thursday, Viesturs became the only American to climb to the top of the world’s 14 highest mountains.

His last hike was up Mount Annapurna, in Asia’s snowcapped Himalayas. At 26,545 feet, its top is the 10th highest in the world. It is the mountain that inspired him to start climbing.

“It seems to be the most difficult, the most dangerous,” said Viesturs. “There’s no simple way to climb it. There are threatening avalanches (雪崩) and ice falls that protect the mountain.”

In high school, Viesturs read French climber Maurice Herzog’s story of climbing the icy Annapurna. Herzog’s story was of frostbite (冻伤) and difficulty and near-death experiences. Viesturs was hooked right away.

Viesturs got his start on Washington’s Mount Rainier in 1977, guiding hikes in the summer. Fifteen years ago, he set out to walk up to the world’s highest tops. Finally, he’s done.

The pioneering climber talks about mountains as if they were living creatures that should be treated with respect. “You have to use all of your senses, all of your abilities to see if the mountain will let you climb it,” said Viesturs. “If we have the patience and the respect, and if we’re here at the right time, under the right conditions, they allow us to go up, and allow us to come down.”

What’s next for a man who can’t stop climbing? “I’m going to hold my wife and kids and enjoy the summer,” says Viesturs. But for a man who has climbed the world’s 14 tallest mountains, he will probably soon start another adventure.

1.The author used Viestures’ words in Paragraph 6 to support an opinion that       .

2.The underlined word “hooked” in Paragraph 4 can be replaced by ________.

3. What’s the next probable plan of Viestures?

Education is not an end, but a means to an end. In other words, we do not educate children only for the purpose of educating them. Our purpose is to fit them for life.

In some modern countries it has for some time been fashionable to think that by free education for all — one can solve all the problems of society and build a perfect nation. But we can already see that free education for all is not enough; we find in such countries a far larger number of people with university degree; they refuse to do what they think “low” work; and, in fact, work with hands is thought to be dirty and shameful in such countries. But we have only to think a moment to understand that the work of a completely uneducated farmer is far more important than that of a professor; we can live without education, but we die if we have no food. If no one cleaned our streets and took the rubbish away from our houses, we should get terrible diseases in our towns…

In fact, when we say that all of us must be educated to fit us for life, it means that we must be educated in such a way that, firstly, each of us can do whatever work suited to his brains and ability and, secondly, that we can realize that all jobs are necessary to society, and that is very bad to be ashamed of one’s work. Only such a type of education can be considered valuable to society.

1.The writer of the passage thinks that _______.

2.The writer wants to prove that _______.

3.The purpose of education is _______.

4.The passage tells us about _______ of the education.

The young people who talk of the village as being “dead” are talking nothing but nonsense, as in their hearts they must surely know.
No, the village is not dead. There is more life in it now than there ever was. But it seems that “village life” is dead. Gone for ever. It began to decline about a hundred years ago. When many girls left home to go into service in town many miles away, and men also left home in increasing numbers in search of work, and home was where work was. There are still a number of people alive today who can remember what “village life” meant in the early years of the present century. It meant knowing and being known by everybody else in the village. It meant finding your entertainment in the village of within walking distance of it. It meant housewives tied to the home all day and every day. It meant going to bed early to save lamp oil and coal.
Then came the First World War and the Second World War. After each war, new ideas, new attitudes, new trades and occupations were revealed（展现）to villagers. The long-established order of society was no longer taken for granted. Electricity and the motorcar were steadily operating to make “village life” and “town life” almost alike. Now with the highly developed science and technology and high-level social welfare（福利）for all, there is no point whatever in talking any longer about “village life.” It is just life, and a better life.
Finally, if we have any doubts about the future, or about the many changes which we have seen in our lives, we have only to look in at the school playground any mid-morning; or see the children as they walk homeward in little groups. 0bviously these children are better fed, better clothed, better educated, healthier, prettier and happier than any generation of children that ever before walked the village street.
1．By saying that village is not dead, but “village life” is dead, the writer suggests that_______ .
A．those young people who talk of the village as being “dead” are wrong
B．the two statements are against each other
C．“village life” today is rather uninteresting
D．“village life” today is no longer like what it used to be
2．As is suggested in paragraph 2, villages in the past______________.
A．lived a simpler life than villagers today 
B．knew fewer people than villagers today
C．found it difficult to enjoy themselves
D．like to wash themselves with cold water
3．The expression “…there is no point whatever in talking about…” in paragraph 3 means that______________.
A．there is no end to the talking about …  
B．it is harmful to talk about …
C．it is not meaningless to talk about …
D．there is no reason for talking about …
4．What does the writer think of the “village life today”?
A．Dead.       B．Worse       C．Better.      D．Unclear.

 根据对话内容，从对话后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

—Honey, what would you say if we have a Christmas party at home this year?

—61   . Where could you have it? The house is rather small.

—62   . We could put food on the dining room table.

—   63   .

—Let me see, --- the Turners, the Manders, and a few boys, and some girls from my office. We may have music or ---

—64   .

—That’s plenty of time. We’ll get some invitations ready and sent out soon. We’ll call to get a small Christmas tree ---65   .

—You mean you fix food?

— Well, I can do some easy things. Maybe I can do some shopping --- or, at least, wash dishes.

A．Then who should we invite?

B．You might have brought the presents in advance.

C．And if we should fix food ourselves, it would cost less.

D．We might have a small one.

E．It would be a lot of work to get the house decorated.

F．But I thought you were planning to go to the Turners’.

G．We’ve got only three weeks to go.