Mr. Li was in bed and was trying to go to sleep when he heard the bell ring . He turned on the light and looked at his clock. It was half past twelve. “Who can it be at this time of night?” he wondered. He decided to go and find out .So he got out of bed, put on his dressing gown and went to the door. When he opened the door, there was nobody there. “That’s very strange.” He thought. Then he went back to his bedroom, took off his dressing gown, got back into bed, turned off the light and tried to go to sleep.
A few minutes later he heard the bell ring again. Mr. Li jumped out of bed very quickly and rushed to the door. He opened it, but again he found no one there. He shut the door and found a piece of paper with some words on it: “It is now after midnight, so it is April 1st. April fool to you!”
“Oh, it was the English boy next door!” Mr. Li exclaimed, and almost smiled, He went back to bed and fell asleep immediately. The bell did not ring again.
【小题1】Mr. Li was trying to go to sleep when he heard ________.

A． the telephone ring

B． the bell ring

C． someone knock at the door

D． someone shout

【小题2】He turned on the light and _______.

A． got out of bed

B． looked out of the window

C． looked at his watch

D． looked at his clock

【小题3】When he opened the door for the first time, there was ________ there.

A．a boy

B．a piece of paper

C．someone

D．nobody

【小题4】There were some words on the piece of paper: “It is now_____ April 1st . April fool to you!”

A． before midnight, so it is

B． after midnight, so it is

C． before noon, so it will be

D． after noon, so it was

【小题5】The English boy rang the bell because he ________.

A． had something important to tell Mr. Li

B． Wanted to give Mr. Li a piece of paper

C． Wanted to make fun of Mr. Li

D． Wanted to borrow Mr. Li’s bell

There was once a man called Mr. Flowers, and flowers were his only joy in life. He spent all his spare time in one of his four glass-houses and grew flowers of every color, with long and difficult names, for competitions, he tried to grow a rose of a new color to win the silver cup(银杯) for the Rose of the Year.
Mr. Flowers’ glass-houses were very close to a middle school. Boys of around thirteen years of age were often tempted to throw a stone(石头) or two at one of Mr. Flowers’ glass-houses. So Mr. Flower did his best to be in or close by his glass-houses at the beginning and end of the school day.
But it was not always possible to be on watch at those times. Mr. Flowers had tried in many ways to protect his glass, but nothing had been useful. He had been to report to the headmaster, but this bad not done any good. He had tried to drive away the boys when they threw stones. He had even picked up all the stones around his garden, so that the boys would have nothing to throw, but they soon found others.
At last Mr. Flowers had a good idea. He put up a large notice. It was made of good, strong wood. It was some meters away from the glass-houses. On it he had written the words: DO NOT THROW STONES AT THIS NOTICE. After that, Mr Flowers had no further trouble: The boys were much more attempted to throw stoned at the notice than at the glass-houses.
【小题1】It was Mr. Flowers’ hope to ____

A．build glass-houses in his spare time

B．grow the rose in a glass-house

C．win a silver cup for growing a rose of a new color

D．grow a rose with the longest name

【小题2】Boys were often tempted to ____

A．throw stones at Mr. Flowers’ glass-houses

B．throw stones at Mr. Flowers from their school

C．be in or close by Mr. Flowers’ glass-houses

D．play with Mr. Flowers near his glass-houses

【小题3】Mr Flowers stayed in or close by his glass-houses ____

A．at times when school-boys were walking near them

B．all the school day when there were no boys around

C．where he could not be seen by the boya passing

D．in his spare time at the beginning and end of the school day

【小题4】Mr. Flowers had tried to ____ to protect his glass.

A．be on watch in his spare time

B．ask the headmaster for help

C．pick up all the stones around his garden

D．do all the above

【小题5】Mr. Flowers’ good idea was to ____

A．write some words on the glass

B．put up a larger notice to cover his glasshouses

C．give the boys something else to throw stones at

D．send for policemen

Long ago, Bluebird’s feathers were the colour of dust. She did not like her ugly colour. She was attracted by the colour of the lake near her home. It was as blue as the sky after a storm. Bluebird wanted to be the colour of that beautiful lake very much. Flapping her wings one morning, Bluebird flew from her tree to the blue lake. Then she bathed in the water three times. After each bath, she sang, “Blue water. Still water. I went in. I am blue.” Bluebird repeated this every morning. On the third day, she came out of the lake with beautiful blue feathers.
Now Coyote was a trickster(骗子)—and hungry too. He stayed behind Bluebird’s tree for a long time every day and watched her go to the lake. He pretended(伪装) to be interested in everything she did. He wanted Bluebird for lunch, but he was afraid of the blue water. On the third morning, Coyote saw Bluebird come out of the lake with beautiful blue feathers. Impressed, he sat next to Bluebird’s tree and waited for her. When she returned, he asked, “How did you get blue feathers? I want to be blue like the mountains too.” Bluebird didn’t believe Coyote, but she taught him how to bathe three times each morning and how to sing her song. Coyote did what she said, and after three days of bathing in the lake, his white fur turned deep blue.
Convinced(确信的) that blue fur was even more beautiful than blue feathers, Coyote forgot all about being hungry. He ran as fast as he could to the top of the hill. Standing on his back legs, he raised his front legs off the ground and howled. But Coyote slipped(滑倒) and rolled down the hill. He couldn’t stop himself, and the dust and dirt covered his new blue fur. He rolled and rolled until he hit into Bluebird’s tree heavily. No matter how much he tried, foolish Coyote could not shake the dust from his fur. And so the fur of all coyotes had the dull colour of dust to this very day.
【小题1】How many times did Bluebird bathe every morning before she had beautiful blue feathers?

A．Three times.

B．Four times.

C．Five times.

D．Six times.

【小题2】Why was Coyote a trickster?

A．He wanted to fly like Bluebird near the mountains.

B．He wanted to eat Bluebird but pretended to be curious.

C．He wanted to swim in the lake but was afraid of the water.

D．He wanted to sing Bluebird’s song but didn’t know the words.

【小题3】Where did Coyote go after his fur turned blue?

A．To the lake.

B．To the tree.

C．To the cave.

D．To the hill.

【小题4】Why did Coyote forget all about being hungry?

A．Because his fur had the dull colour of dust.

B．Because the dust and dirt covered his new blue fur.

C．Because he thought blue fur was much more beautiful.

D．Because he hit into Bluebird’s tree and hurt himself.

【小题5】What words does the writer use to help you imagine the colour blue?

A．sky, lake, mountains

B．bird, coyote, storm

C．flapped, climbed, bathed

D．fur, feathers, dust

It was Friday. Andy Barton was in a bad mood . At six o’clock his __1__ programme, “Travel with us”, was on TV. Andy liked to get home in ___2___ for that. But then, just as he was leaving his office a little earlier , a customer (顾客) rang up with a few complaints for the next fif­teen minutes. “I can ___3__ get home in time if I hurry,” Andy told himself as he___4___out of the office. As he drove off in his car, he ___5___ that he was almost out of petrol(汽油). “I’ll have to stop at Fenton’s”, Andy thought. He ___6___Fenton’s because it was a self-service petrol station. “You do all the work yourself, but you pay___7____for the petrol,” he used to complain. At Fenton’s, the pump (泵) was not working properly and it ___8__ much time to get petrol. So when Andy got home, it was already two minutes past six. Just then the phone rang. “Shall I answer it?” Andy thought. He tried to___9__ his attention on the programme and forget the phone. But it kept ringing and finally he picked it up.

“Mr Barton?”__10__said. “Fenton’s Ga­rage here.”“Fenton’s?” Andy said. “Why, I was at your place only a few minutes ago, getting some petrol. Did I _11_ something behind or what?” “No, you didn’t, Mr Bar­ton.” And the voice went on. “That’s just the __12__ ! You went off without paying for your petrol, you __13___！ Now normally, when that happens, we ring up the police. But Luckily I knew you and I know it was a _14__.” “I’m really very sorry,” Andy said. “Oh, that’s all right, Mr Barton. But could you __15__round now and pay for your petrol? And please hurry! We close at half past six!”

1.                A．favourite       B．funny          C．popular   D．lovely

 

2.                A．chance         B．time           C．seat D．spirit

 

3.                A．surely          B．obviously       C．normally  D．still

 

4.                A．stepped        B．climbed         C．looked   D．rushed

 

5.                A．observed       B．noticed         C．thought   D．suggested

 

6.                A．hated          B．liked           C．meant    D．promised

 

7.                A．a little          B．the same        C．a lot D．the bill

 

8.                A．cost           B．spent          C．took D．spared

 

9.                A．draw           B．pay            C．fix   D．force

 

10.               A．a woman       B．a man          C．a recorder D．a voice

 

11.               A．lose           B．leave          C．forget D．destroy

 

12.               A．trouble         B．worry          C．excuse    D．reason

 

13.               A．remember      B．see            C．do   D．drive

 

14.               A．mistake        B．joke           C．trick  D．truth

 

15.               A．look           B．come          C．show D．turn

 

 

Rico is a dog who lives in Germany(德国). His owners trained him from a young age to find his toys. When they say the name of a certain toy, Rico can find it. In fact, he seems to know the names of 200 toys!
Some researchers in Germany wanted to test Rico. They put his toys in a room and then told him to go in the room and find a certain toy. Since nobody was in the room with Rico, he had no help from anyone finding the right toy. The researchers did this test forty times. Rico found the right toy thirty-seven times!
Then the researchers tried something else. They put seven of Rico’s toys in the room together with one new toy that Rico had never seen before. Then they told Rico to go into the room and get the new toy. This new toy had a name Rico had never heard before. Rico found the right toy seven out of ten times!
Researchers cannot really say that Rico knows words or language. However, these tests seem to show that Rico can think about what he hears and think about what he knows. In fact, Rico seems to think and remember things as well as a three-year-old child.
From these tests, animal researchers know one thing for sure. Rico has given them a lot to think about.
【小题1】From the passage we know that Rico is good at ______.

A．catching toys

B．counting toys

C．finding toys

D．putting toys in order

【小题2】 At first researchers asked Rico to ______.

A．bring a certain toy out of a room	B．choose a toy that he liked best
C．name toys and put them away	D．put his toys into his room

【小题3】Rico went into the room _______ times to find a new toy he did not know.

A．seven

B．thirty-seven

C．ten

D．forty

【小题4】 The best title for the passage is ________.

A．German dogs are the smartest	B．An unusual dog
C．How dogs use language	D．The best toys for Rico