A group of swans flew down to a beach where a crow(乌鸦) was jumping around. The crow watched them with disdain(鄙视).

“You have no flying skills at all!” he said to the swans. “All you can do is to move your wings. Can you turn over in the air? No, that’s beyond you. Let’s have a flying competition. I’ll show you what real flying is!”

One of the swans, a strong young male, took up the challenge. The crow flew up and began to show his skills. He flew in circles, performed other flying tricks, and then came down and looked proudly at the swan.

Now it was the swan’s turn. He flew up, and began flying over the sea. The crow flew after him, making all kinds of comments(评价) about his flying. They flew on and on till they couldn’t see the land and there was nothing but water on all sides. The crow was making fewer and fewer comments. He was now so exhausted that he found it hard to stay in the air, and had to struggle to keep himself from falling into the water.

The swan pretended(假装) not to notice, and said, “Why do you keep touching the water, brother? Is that another trick?”

“No,” said the crow. He knew he had lost the competition. “I’m in trouble because of my pride! If you don’t help me, I’ll lose my life…”

The swan took pity on him, and took him on his shoulders and flew back to the beach.

1.What’s the correct order of the following events?

a. The crow showed off its flying skills.

b. The swan felt pity for the crow and saved it.

c. The crow laughed at the swan’s flying.

d. The crow followed the swan and got into trouble.

e. The crow challenged the swans and a strong young swan accepted it.

A. e, c, d, a, b             B. a, e, c, d, b              C. c, e, a, d, b           D. e, a, d, c, b

2.What does the underlined word “exhausted” in Paragraph 4 mean?

A. Tired.                     B. Angry.            C. Frightened.          D. Regretful.

3.Why did the crow keep touching the water?

A. It was showing another flying skill.

B. It was struggling to keep itself from falling into the water.

C. It was thirsty and wanted to drink some water.

D. It was enjoying itself by doing so.

4.What can we infer(推断) from the passage?

A. The crow didn’t know flying.

B. Flying skills were useless.

C. The swan saved the crow because they were good friends.

D. The swan was better at long-distance flying than the crow.

5.What does the story tell us?

A. No pains, no gains.                            B. The early bird catches the worm.

C. Pride goes before a fall.                  D. Practice makes perfect.

 

Events?
Long March exhibit?
The Shanghai History Museum is putting on exhibition to remember the Long March(长征) which took place 75 years ago. More than 220 photos and 40 other things are on show. All the exhibition is explained in Chinese. The show will end on November 20.?
Time: 10:00 a.m.—4:00 p.m.?
Address: 1286 Hongqiao Road?
Ticket: 8 yuan for Chinese / 15 yuan for foreigners?
Thai elephants?
Eight elephants from Thailand are an attraction for visitors at Changfeng Park by riding bikes, playing basketball, dancing and blowing a musical instrument. The elephants give three shows a day at 9:30 a.m., 3:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. and there is an extra show at 1:30 p.m. at weekends. The show will end on November 15.?
Address: 189 Daduhe Road?
Ticket: 30—40 yuan?
Dancing dolphins?
Dolphins jumping from the water to touch a ball, dancing to music, kissing people and doing easy math problems, and seals and sea lions, also performing, have made a large part of the aquarium in Peace Park, which interests children greatly.?
Hours: 10:30 a.m., 4:00 p.m., and 7:30 p.m.?
Ticket: 20 yuan for adults and 10 yuan for children
【小题1】Where can one see the Long March exhibition??

A．In Shanghai History Museum.	B．In Changfeng Park.?
C．In Peace Park.	D．On 189 Dahude Road.?

【小题2】How many shows do the Thailand elephants give at weekends??

A．One.

B．Two.

C．Three.

D．Four.?

【小题3】What may interest children very much in Peace Park??

A．Elephants playing basketball.	B．Dolphins dancing to the music.?
C．Seals riding bikes.	D．Sea lions blowing instruments?

【小题4】How much should a child pay to go into Peace Park??

A．Five yuan.

B．Fifteen yuan.

C．Ten yuan.

D．Twenty yuan. ?

【小题5】Which of the following is true? ?

A．The Long March exhibition is explained in English.?

B．The sea animals can work out difficult math problems.?

C．Thai elephants’ shows can only be seen in the day.?

D．The sea animals perform three times a day.

According to some predictions, human beings will die out in 2012. Nearly all people think it’s impossible, but there are some more earthquakes in recent years.
Animals can predict the weather or other natural events. It may sound strange, but farmers living in the countryside think so. For hundreds of years , they have observed animals.
“Animals ’ behavior can be connected to future weather conditions or events.” They say. For example, if cows lie down, a rainstorm is coming. There are many traditional stories connecting animals and natural events. Many people think that these stories don’t have scientific evidence( 根据 ) at all. Scientists, however, are beginning to take another look at some of these ideas.
A Japanese earthquake researcher named Kiyoshi Shimamura noticed an increase in dog bites a short time before earthquake hit. Then he did research on twelve public health centers in Kobe, Japan. These health centers treated people after the 1995 earthquake . He got some interesting information about the month before the big earthquake:  treatment for animals’ bites had increased . In fact, aggressive(侵略的)behavior in dogs, such as biting and barking loudly , jumped 60 percent.
There are also other changes in animals’ behavior before the earthquake. For example, fish began swimming together in large groups , but only in the middle of the water and not near the edges. Birds flew away from their nests for many days, leaving their eggs unprotected . These animals’ behavior suggests that animals may be able to predict natural events better than people.
【小题1】What would cows behave before a rainstorm?

A．Running

B．Biting

C．Lying down

D．Sleeping

【小题2】What do dogs begin to do just before an earthquake?

A．They leave their homes.	B．They hurt people.
C．They lie down in grass.	D．They stay together in large groups.

【小题3】Which of the following animals behave strangely before an earthquake according to this passage?

A．Fish

B．Cows

C．Pigs

D．All of the above.

【小题4】In Kiyoshi Shimamura’s investigation(调查)，before the big earthquake, treatment for animals’  bites had _________.

A．disappeared

B．increased

C．been the same as before.

D．never changed.

【小题5】What is the main idea of the passage?

A．Natural events and animals’ actions.

B．What animals do during earthquakes

C．Many earthquakes of Japan.

D．Some stories about animals.

“The zoo has money problem,” Grandmother Sandy said.

Angel listened. She heard that Fresno’s Chaffee Zoo didn’t have enough money to take care of its animals.

Angel loved animals. She planned to study them when she grew up. Angel’s family had four cats. Angel took good care of them and made sure that they always had food and water.

Angel felt sorry for the zoo animals. While the others in the family were cooking dinner, Angel was cooking up a way to help the animals. She decided to write a letter to show how she felt. At the end of the letter, she wrote: “Give a dollar, help an animal.” She sent the letter and a dollar to The Fresno Bee, a local newspaper.

A few days after that, Angel’s letter was published. Almost immediately, people began sending in money. Angel’s letter was having effect!

At school, Angel went to each classroom to read the letter that appeared on the newspaper. She asked students in her school to give money to the zoo. Next, Angel was asked to appear on television. She was invited to be on a popular talk show.

The workers in the zoo were very happy. Ray Navarro is the person most responsible(有责任的)for the animals. “Angel opened the eyes of Fresno,” said Ray. “She made us see that people can make a difference.”

1.By saying “Angel was cooking up a way to help the animals”, the writer means ___________

A．Angel wanted to cook the animals for food

B．Angel was cooking a meal for the animals

C．Angel wanted to help the animals to run away

D．Angel was thinking of an idea to help the animals

2.Which is the correct order of the following events?

a. Angel appeared on television.            b. People began sending in money.

c. Angel’s letter was published.            d. Angel asked her schoolmates to give money.

e. Angel wrote the letter to a local newspaper.

A．c-a-b-e-d          B．e-a-b-d-c          C．e-c-b-d-a          D．b-d-e-c-a

3.Ray Navarro thought that Angel _________.

A．was most responsible for the animals        B．was good at making animals happy

C．helped the people in Fresno               D．could cure blind people

 

Many children love to play with snow in winter. But Long Chuan has come to hate it.
This year his hometown suffered from snowstorms (遭受暴风雪) for nearly a month. The heavy snow stopped cars and trains, broke the electricity (电) tower and turned tap water to ice.
Every day Long Chuan had to walk several kilometers to carry drinking water. “I couldn’t ride a bike and it took me 3 hours to walk to school. I can’t remember how many times I slipped (滑倒) on the hard ice, ” said Long Chuan.
Long is not alone. This year millions of people in central and southern China had a freezing winter without enough water and electricity. The biggest snowstorms in 50 years killed more than 100 people. They also cost the country 111.1 billion yuan.
Experts (专家) say a special type of climate condition (气候条件), La Nina, caused the storms. During a La Nina, the water in the Pacific Ocean (太平洋) near the equator (赤道) becomes colder than usual. It changes the weather around the world.
Besides China, Canada, the US and Middle Eastern countries also met with heavy snowstorms this winter. The special climate caused the recent flooding (洪水) in Australia, too.
However, experts say that people have destroyed the environment (环境). Global warming (全球变暖) may be causing these terrible weather events to happen more and more often.
【小题1】What took place in Long Chuan’s hometown last winter?

A．Earthquake.

B．Flooding.

C．Traffic Accident.

D．Heavy snowstorms.

【小题2】During the snowstorms this year, Long Chuan  __________.

A．had to walk to carry drinking water	B．had to ride a bike to school
C．couldn’t go to school on foot	D．couldn’t play with snow

【小题3】The heavy snow ____________ this year.

A．killed millions of Chinese	B．cost China 111.1 billion yuan
C．used too much electricity	D．lasted more than three hours

【小题4】We can tell from the story that __________ .

A．China is the only country which suffered from the heavy snow

B．La Nina is said to have caused the snowstorms

C．La Nina also caused hot summer in Australia

D．the snowstorms have nothing to do with global warming

【小题5】The passage tells people around the world ___________.

A．to wear more clothes in winter	B．to stop riding bikes on the hard ice
C．to protect (保护) the environment	D．to save water and electricity