An old woman walked into a clothes shop. She asked the salesgirl to let her have a look at a new dress, but the girl stood still behind the counter(柜台),taking no notice of the request. The old woman spoke to the girl again, raising her voice a bit, but still received no answer. The old woman looked at the girl and nodded to herself, “ I am too old to see well. I can’t even tell a plastic model from a real girl!”   On hearing this, the salesgirl shouted to the old woman, “What? Did you call me a plastic model? ”The old woman was greatly surprised. “Oh, dear me, ” she said. “The model can speak!”
【小题1】What did the old woman go to the shop to do?

A．To choose a dress.	B．To buy a dress for herself.
C．To show off her dress.	D．To pick a quarrel with the salesgirl.

【小题2】The salesgirl did not make a reply __________.

A．because she didn't see the old woman

B．because she didn't think the old woman had enough money for a new dress

C．because she was too busy to notice the old woman

D．for some reason unknown in this story

【小题3】It was not until that woman spoke for the _____ time that the salesgirl said something.

A．first

B．second

C．third

D．fourth

【小题4】When the old woman said, “I am too old to see well,” she _______.

A．meant to say that she really had poor eyesight

B．wanted the salesgirl to excuse her

C．was simply telling a lie

D．was, in fact, trying to make the salesgirl open her mouth

【小题5】What do you think the salesgirl would do on hearing this?  She would_____.

A．be too angry to say a word for a moment

B．run and tell the shop owner about it

C．apologize to the old woman and do what she had been asked to do

D．turn back and cry

Although many Chinese students say that their knowledge of English grammar is
good, most would admit that their spoken English is poor. Whenever I speak to a Chinese student, they
always say “My spoken English is poor.” 【小题1】 I would like to suggest that there may be some reasons for their problems with spoken English.
First, they fail to find suitable words to express themselves due to a limited vocabulary.  【小题2】 
However, you can speak with a limited vocabulary, if you choose a positive attitude. Others will follow
You as long as you use the words that you know. _【小题3】 . Sometimes they make mistakes
when they are speaking because they are shy and nervous. Yet students should remember
that their goal should be FLUENCY NOT ACCURACY. Your aim in writing is to be accurate
following the rules for grammar and using the right words and spelling them correctly.
However, in speaking your aim is fluency. You want to get your message across, to talk
to someone in English, as quickly and as well as you can, even though sometimes you may
use a wrong word or tense , but it doesn’t matter. 【小题4】 .  
The third reason is that not enough attention is paid to listening . You have one mouth but two
ears！All that hearing is necessary for you to start speaking .
Actively seeking out opportunities to improve their spoken English they passively wait for speaking opportunities to come to them and wonder why their English always remains poor. 【小题5】 .

A．The person you are speaking to will understand you and make allowances for any mistakes he hears.

B．They may try to avoid making similar mistakes next time.

C．Obviously the better answer is to expand their vocabulary .

D．If you have this proactive outlook, then you will see English opportunities wherever you go.

E. However, their spoken English does not have to remain “poor”！
F. Second , they are afraid of making mistakes.
G. The second reason lies in the reluctance of using what has just been learned.

Traditional fairytales(童话) are being given up by parents because they are too scary for their young children, a study found．
Research uncovered that one in five parents has got rid of old literature such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Rapunzel in favor of more modern books．
One third of parents said their children have been left in tears after hearing the gruesome details of Little Red Riding Hood．
And nearly half of mothers and fathers refuse to read Rumplesliltshin to their kids as the themes of the story are kidnapping and killing．
Similarly, Goldilocks and the Three Bears was also a tale likely to be left on the book shelf as parents felt it forgives stealing．
The survey of 2,000 adults was completed to mark the launch of the hit US drama GRIMM （ 格林童话剧） , which starts tonight at 9pm on Watch, and sees six drama series based on traditional fairytales．
The survey found a quarter of parents questioned wouldn’t consider reading fairytales to their kids．
And 52 percent of the parents said Cinderella didn’t send a good message to their children as it describes a young woman doing housework all day．
Steve Hornsey, General Manager of Watch, said: "Bedtime stories are supposed to calm children down and send them off to sleep soundly．But as we see in GMMM, fairytales can be dark and dramatic so it’s understandable that parents worry about reading them to young children．As adults we can see the innocence in fairytales, but a five - year - old child could take them too literally．Despite the dark nature of classic fairytales as we see in GRIMM, good will defeat evil and there is always a moral to the story．"
The study also found two thirds of mums and dads try to avoid stories which might give their children nightmares．The most popular book read at bedtime is now 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' by Eric Carle.
However half of parents said traditional tales are "more likely to have a strong moral message than a lot of modern kids' books, such as The Gruffato, The Hungary Caterpillar and the Mr. Men books．
【小题1】Classical works for children are being avoided by parents they think           .

A．they contain unmoral themes

B．they are terrifying

C．they encourage stealing, kidnapping and killing

D．they are tired of answering questions

【小题2】What does the underlined word "gruesome" mean?

A．Very horrible	B．Very amusing
C．Very disappointing	D．Very amazing

【小题3】Which stories are the popular bedtime stories that parents like to tell their children now?

A．Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Cinderella

B．The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Little Red Riding Hood.

C．The Very Hungry Caterpillar andMr. Men

D．Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Cinderella

【小题4】According to Steve Hornsey , adults can see innocence in a fairy tale but a 5-year-old child might ______．

A．think it is different from the reality

B．dislike it because it is scary

C．believe exactly what the tale says

D．feel there is a moral to the story

I sat at my seat waiting for the school paper to be passed around. I waited anxiously, knowing that once I received it I would know how good a writer I really am.
When the paper arrived at my classroom, I nearly knocked down five of my classmates to get to the first paper. With a school paper in my hands, I returned to my seat. About a month earlier, I had handed in one of, what I believed to be, my best stories. I named it Symbol of Success. The head of the English Department at my school, Professor Cullen had said that she would include some reviews of students’ stories in the latest school paper. Professor Cullen was known for her rough criticism. Impressing her was very hard but I wanted to be the first to do so.
I sat at the edge of my seat as I read through the other story reviews. There wasn’t one story that got more than three stars .I became calm and wasn’t anxious to know my review. It was long after that I heard someone shout out “Five stars?! Seriously!” from behind me. I turned around and saw the shocked expression of Gene’s face, “Peter, your story got five stars!” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I turned my attention back to my story and saw the five stars at the end of the review that I had not read yet. I looked through the review written by Professor Cullen. She wrote that I had a gift for story writing.
I was proud that I achieved what I thought was impossible .For so long I believed I wasn’t as good as I thought I was and that my talent was not enough to cover up my lack of wring skills .But this review proved that I was truly a good writer and that there was a future ahead of me in the field of fiction writing. The review and the five stars meant the world of me. Those five stars became the symbol of my success.
【小题1】How did the writer get the school paper?

A．His teacher gave it to him first

B．The publisher sent it to him first

C．His friend helped him get the first one.

D．He rushed ahead to get the first one by himself.

【小题2】What can we learn about Professor Cullen?

A．She was very gentle to everyone.	B．She seldom praised her students.
C．She was very cold to her students.	D．She was respected by her students.

【小题3】We can learn from this text that Peter_______.

A．had thought his story was better than those of others

B．was always anxious to know the review about him

C．didn’t know he got five stars until others told him

D．looked through a few stories that had got four stars

【小题4】What did Professor Cullen think of Peter’s story?

A．She thought highly of it .

B．She thought it was just so-so.

C．She thought it was extremely bad

D．She doubted if it was written by him.

【小题5】Why did the review and the five stars mean the world to Peter?

A．Because they helped him learn writing skills

B．Because they made him happy for some time

C．Because they helped him enter a key university

D．Because they made him see his writing talents

How old is “old”?  The answer has changed over the years. Two hundred years ago，you were old at 35.At the beginning of the 20 th century，the average life span（平均寿命）was 45. In 1950，70-year-olds were really old.Today，a healthy 70-year-old is still thought young.
So，how old is old? The answer is one you’ve heard many times，from all kinds of people.“You are as old（or young）as you feel.”Your age simply tells you how many years you have lived.Your body tells you how well you’ve lived.
“Nobody grows old by living a number of years.” wrote a writer.“People grow old when they don’t have their ideas.”
People shouldn’t have the wrong ideas about aging.Sometimes，older minds can be as bright as young minds.Alice Brophy once said，“It makes me unhappy when people say，‘You look young for your age。’ What does that mean?You know you can die old at 30 and live young at 80. ”
【小题1】In 1950, the average life span was       .

A．35

B．45

C．50

D．70

【小题2】People grow old when        according to a writer.

A．they don’t have their ideas.	B．they live many years.
C．They can’t live longer.	D．they have their ideas.

【小题3】The meaning of the underlined word “aging” is “        ”

A．growing old	B．staying young
C．keeping healthy	D．feeling unhappy

【小题4】Which question is NOT answered in the passage?

A．Can older people be as bright as young people?

B．What’s the wrong ideas about aging?

C．How old is “old”?

D．what is the average life span today?

【小题5】The passage is mainly about __________ .

A．the average life span	B．aging
C．the 20th century	D．older people and young people