A farmer had some young dogs to sell. He made an advertisement and began to nail (钉) _36 into the wall. As he was knocking the last one into the wall, he _37 a pull on his coat. He looked   38  and found a little boy.

“Mister,” he said, “I want to _39 one of your dogs.”

“Well,” said the farmer, as he  40 the sweat (汗水) off his neck, “these dogs come from__41  parents and cost plenty of money.”

The boy   42 _his head for a moment. Reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of   43  and handed them to the farmer. “I’ve got thirty-nine cents. Is that   44  to take a look?”

“Sure,” said the farmer.

Then he let out(发出) a   45  . “Here, Dolly!” he called.

Dolly ran out from the doghouse, __46  by four little dogs. The boy’s eyes danced   __47_  .

As the dogs ran to the fence (篱笆), the boy noticed something else moving _48  inside the doghouse. Then another little dog   49 . This one was even smaller, walking with  50  to the others, doing its best to catch up with them.

“I   51  that one,” the boy said, pointing to the smallest and  52 developed dog.

The farmer said, “Son, you don’t want that dog,   53  he will never be able to run and play with you.”

Hearing that, the boy stepped back, and began rolling up(卷起) one leg of his  54 . A steel brace (铁的支撑板) appeared running down his leg connecting itself with a  55 made shoe. He said to the farmer, “You see, I don’t run too well myself, and he will need someone who understands.”

1.                A．it             B．them           C．himself   D．dogs

 

2.                A．smelt          B．felt            C．touched  D．saw

 

3.                A．back           B．inside          C．down D．up

 

4.                A．raise           B．keep           C．afford    D．buy

 

5.                A．took           B．carried         C．removed  D．moved

 

6.                A．fine           B．special         C．ordinary  D．natural

 

7.                A．fell            B．dropped        C．raised    D．rose

 

8.                A．bills           B．notes          C．coins D．dollars

 

9.                A．right           B．enough         C．nice D．good

 

10.               A．sound          B．noise          C．voice D．whistle

 

11.               A．followed        B．run            C．caught    D．hurried

 

12.               A．with care       B．with joy        C．in surprise D．in danger

 

13.               A．quickly         B．violently        C．slowly     D．happily

 

14.               A．disappeared     B．went           C．appeared  D．jumped

 

15.               A．care           B．guide          C．help  D．difficulty

 

16.               A．love           B．like            C．prefer D．want

 

17.               A．most           B．least           C．much D．very

 

18.               A．because        B．and            C．so    D．but

 

19.               A．legs           B．arms           C．trousers   D．coats

 

20.               A．beautifully      B．specially        C．powerfully D．wonderfully

 

 

I keep hammering this because I keep seeing people who don’t do it.

1. Look up English to Elvish.

2. Look up the Elvish word in the best Elvish dictionary you have, and, preferably, find out the context（上下文） in Tolkien’s language dictionary.

3. Change the word to suit rules of grammar: singular or plural, mutations, verb tenses, etc.

You cannot leave out any of these steps. If you do, you’re almost certain to have errors. Why you have to do step 2:

Languages never match up one- to-one. English and Elvish are closer than usual, but there are still problems. And English has strange idioms: why are there no baths or beds in public bathrooms or restrooms? You can’t translate literally（逐字地）. You have to understand the meaning behind each word.

In Elvish this is even more true, since our dictionaries contain more or less questionable reconstructions, and words that Tolkien later threw away or replaced. Find the best one you can.

Consider the word “fair”. We tend to use it to mean “just”. Tolkien tends to use it to mean “beautiful”. In Elvish, these are two entirely different words. So when you look up “fair”, you’ll have to go to the Elvish dictionary to see that you’ve got the right one.

Consider the nightmare（噩梦） of He left the bar. Is “left” the opposite of “right” （which also has two meanings） ? Is “bar” extruded steel（型材钢）, or something to do with law? You have to know what words mean in both languages.

And you’d be amazed at how many people ignore step 3, forgetting that language is more than a string of words, and there are rules about how to fit those words together. You can’t simply look up the word “I” and use it everywhere. Sometimes you need “me” or “my”. There’s a reason it takes a while to learn a language: you have to learn the rules.

It drives me completely mad when people give a questionable translation they insist is right because “it’s in the dictionary”. A dictionary is a tool, a resource. but its entries（词目）should not be mistaken for a finished product. They are raw materials.

The underlined word “this” in paragraph 1 refers to         .

A. consulting the dictionaries when translating between languages

B. finding out the true meaning in context

C. ignoring the rules of grammar

D. leaving out some of the three steps the author mentions

According to the author, you have to do step 2 because         .

A. you have to understand the meaning behind each word

B. Elvish and English are quite different in forms

C. there are no baths or beds in public bathrooms

D. Elvish has some words which are hard to find

Grammar is also very important because it         .

A. helps fit the words together

B. takes a while to learn a language

C. is a rule to obey

D. is often forgotten in translating

In the last paragraph, the author shows         .

A. his impatience to those who insist their wrong translation is right

B. his puzzle to the questionable translation

C. the importance of the correct use of dictionaries

D. the mistaken entries in the dictionaries

The passage is mainly about how to         .

A. learn a foreign language with a dictionary

B. avoid errors when looking up a dictionary

C. understand the meaning of a strange word

D. use a dictionary to translate between languages

Many people say pennies are not worth saving. After all, a penny is only worth a cent. But one unusual penny turned out to be worth a lot more when a coin collector paid $1.7 million for it earlier this month.

The coin is one of a kind. It is the only penny that the Denver mint(铸币厂) made out of copper, instead of steel, in 1943. Because it is unique, it is also very valuable. No penny has ever sold for so much money.

The Changing Penny

The Lincoln penny first appeared in 1909. For 34 years, the one-cent coin was made out of copper. Then, in 1943, the penny changed. World War II was going on, and copper was needed for equipment. So for one year, pennies were made out of steel instead. At least most of them were.

Only a few coins were made out of unused copper. There are three main mints, or places where coins are made, in the United States. Of the known copper pennies from 1943, twelve were made in the Philadephia mint, and five were made in the San Francisco mint. Only one was made in the Denver mint.

Nobody knows for sure why a copper penny was made at the Denver mint in 1943, coin dealers Andy Skrabalak told Time for Kids. “There is a rumor that a mint employee made the coin in the middle of the night.”

A Special Set

The coin collector who bought the $1.7 million penny wants to remain unknown. But the reason for the trade is known. He already had two copper pennies from 1943 – one from the San Francisco mint and one from the Philadephia mint. To complete the set, he needed the Denver penny. The three coins will go on display at a coin exhibition in Tampa, Florida.

The collector who sold the penny is also keeping his name a secret. It took four years to convince him to give up the rare coin. Now that he has finally donating all of the money to charity.

1.Why is the Lincoln penny worth over one million dollars?

A．Because it has a history of thirty-four years.

B．Because it was made out of a rare material.

C．Because it was made on one night of 1943 by the Denver mint.

D．Because it was the only coin Denver mint made out of copper in 1943.

2.Before the Lincoln penny was sold, people thought one-cent coins __________.

A．were worth collecting for selling later

B．were surely valuable if not made out of steel

C．wouldn’t be sold for large amounts of money

D．were only useful for some coin museums

3.At least how many copper coins were made in 1943?

A．Five              B．Twelve            C．Seventeen         D．Eighteen

4.What can we learn about the collector who sold the penny?

A．He already had two copper pennies from 1943.

B．He wanted to complete the set of copper pennies.

C．He didn’t want to sell his penny in the beginning.

D．He was a well-known coin dealer in Tampa, Horida.

 

After Mom died, l began visiting Dad every morning before I went to work. He was frail and moved slowly, but he always had a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice on the kitchen table for me, along with an unsigned note reading," Drink your juice." Such a gesture, l knew, was as far as Dad had ever been able to go in expressing his love. In fact, l remember, as a kid I had questioned Mom "Why doesn't Dad love me?" Mom frowned, "Who said he doesn’t love you?" "Well, he never tells me, "I complained." He never tells me either," she said, smiling. " But look how hard he works to take care of us, to buy us food and clothes, and to pay for this house. That's how your father tells us he loves us. "

I nodded slowly. I understood in my head, but not in my heart. l still wanted my father to put his arms around me and tell me he loved me. Dad owned and operated a small scrap (片) metal business, and after school I often hung around while he worked. Dad handled scrap steel into a device that chopped it as cleanly as a butcher chops a rack of ribs. The machine looked like a giant pair of scissors, with blades thicker than my father's body. If he didn’t feed those terrifying blades just right, he risked serious injury. "Why don' t you hire someone to do that for you?" Mom asked Dad one night as she bent over him and rubbed his aching shoulders with a strong smelling liniment. "Why don’t you hire a cook?" Dad asked, giving her one of his rare smiles.

Many years later, during my first daily visit, after drinking the juice my father had squeezed for me. l walked over, hugged him and said, "I love you, Dad." From then on I did this every morning. My father never told me how he felt about my hugs, and there was never any expression on his face when I gave them.

1.What would be the best title for the passage?

A．My father never loved me                B．I just couldn't understand my father

C．My hard-working father                  D．Silent fatherly love

2.The author’s father always prepared a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice for him because____.

A．that was the author's favorite

B．that was a gesture of love

C．the author was always complaining

D．he was sure the author would be thirsty

3.The author’s father didn’t hire a helper because________.              .

A．he wanted to save money

B．his job required high skills

C．his job was too dangerous

D．he was not good at communicating with others

4.We may infer from the passage that _______.

A．the author's father lacked a sense of humor

B．the author's-father didn't love him very much

C．the author quite understood his father as time went on

D．the author's father was too strict with him

 

Members of the working class have blue-collar jobs. They are construction workers, truck drivers, mechanican, steel workers, electricians, and the like. What makes this class differ from the lower class is, first, longer periods of employment—and therefore, more fixed incomes—and , second, employment in skilled or semi-skilled occupations, not unskilled ones. Although unemployment hits all levels of the American economy, including those of skilled and semi-skilled workers, it is most common at the bottom of the class structure and increasingly less common at each level upward. They consider themselves to be respectable and hard-working and they look down upon members of the “low” class, whom they often consider to be lazy, dishonest, and too ready to exploit public assistance.

  Most people in the working class have at least high school education. Many have some experience of college(especially community college), though few are college graduates. Unionization has helped the working class, but a rapidly changing economy and frequent periods of high unemployment make it difficult for most of its members to be able to increase their savings greatly. Purchasing a house for people in this class is extremely difficult, although a certain percentage may receive houses from their parents. (Home-owning rises with social class.)

  A greater number of the members of the working class take relatively little satisfaction in their jobs, because much of their work is ordinary and boring. As a result, many seek their main satisfaction in recreational activities. Many members of this class would like to earn enough money to leave their jobs and start their own businesses, though few make it. Many place their expectations on their children, hoping that they at least will rise in the ladder of success.

Which of the following is true about the working class?

A. They are often offered jobs with high incomes.

B. They are employed as skilled and semi-skilled workers.

C. They are often considered lazy and dishonest.

D. They are often exploited by the public.

The word “hit” in paragraph one roughly means__________.

A. have bad effects on            B. break up

C. beat                        D. strike with a blow

Most people in the working class ________.

A. have at least some experience of college

B. receive houses from their parents

C. buy houses by themselves

D. have difficulty increasing their savings greatly

Many members from the working class are not satisfied with their jobs because _____.

A. they are not interested in their jobs.

B. they could not earn much money

C. they are not their own bosses

D. they could not rise in the ladder of success