Long ago, near the village of Hedley, there lived a strange and playful trickster(骗子), known as the Hedley Kow.  Sometimes it looked like an ordinary object.  Sometimes it looked like a donkey or a goat.

One evening, as an old woman went along the path, she saw an old iron pot lying in the ditch. “Fancy that,” she said.  “Nobody seems to want this old pot. I will take it home and plant pretty flowers in it.”

When she tried to lift it, she saw that it was full of gold pieces. “Well, now, if that doesn’t beat all,” she said. “I’m rich! I can buy a fine house and fancy clothes.”

The pot was heavy, so she tied her shawl around it and began to drag it home.  After a while, she stopped to rest. When she looked in the pot, she was amazed to see that it was full of silver pieces!

“Oh, my god!” she said.  “Aren’t I the lucky one ! If it were gold, thieves would have been after me.  My friends might have been jealous.  But I can hide these silver pieces, take out a few at a time, and live like a queen.”

On she went, pulling the pot after her. She was nearing home now. At her gate, she looked into the pot. What a surprise! The silver had changed into a lump(块) of iron. “Iron,” she said.  “Well, now! No one will be jealous or want to steal this from me.  I can use this iron to prop my door open and let in fresh air and sunlight. Lucky  me!”

As soon as she said that, the pot began to grow and later it became a goat. Then it jumped up and ran off down the road laughing.

“Fancy that!” said the old woman.  “I believe I have seen the Hedley Kow! Not many folks can say that, and that’s a fact. I’ll just sit up by my fire tonight thinking about how lucky I was to see it for myself. I truly must be the luckiest person in the world!”

1. Which of the following sayings can best describe this story?

A. All good things come to an end.                    B. The early bird catches the worm.

C. Content is better than riches.                       D. All bad luck goes away.

2.What does “the Hedley Kow” stand for in the eyes of the old woman?

A. Glory         B. Honor           C. Misfortune     D. Luck[来源:Zxxk.Com]

3. From this passage we can know the old woman is _________.

A. optimistic     B. pessimistic        C. strange       D. mindless

4.Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?

A. The woman   B. The Hedley Kow    C. The pot       D. The Effort

 

When most people turn 21, they spend too much time partying and having fun. But when Adele turned 21, she did something completely different.
After going through a tough breakup(分手), the British singer turned her pain into glory and recorded one of the most moving albums of the year.
The album, 21, which was released in January, has already hit the charts in 14 countries, according to the Billboard magazine.
It also noted that Adele made history as the first artist since the Beatles to have two top five singles and two top five albums in the charts at the same time (Adele’s first album, 19, was released in 2008. Each album is named for her age when she wrote it).
Now, after touring around the world for almost a year, the DVD of her live concert, released on November 29, is Adele’s latest work.
Having topped the pre-order list of Amazon. com for over a month already, this one seems set to stay on top for a while.
Born in north London, Adele sang her way up honestly:  In 2006, she was signed by England’s XL Recordings on the strength of (基于)a three-song demo(样本唱片) a friend of hers had posted on MySpace;within two years she had won the BRIT Awards ‘Critics’ Choice prize and been tipped by the BBC as the “Sound of 2008”.
In 2009 she got the best new artist Grammy Award, and went on a world tour in support of the album 19 with a sold-out show in Los Angeles.
According to Adele herself, much of the inspiration of her music comes from one single breakup.
That’s probably what has made the singer’s success-that emotional certitude(确信), according to Dickins.
“The key to great singers is believing every single word they sing, ” he said. “And I think you believe every word that comes out of Adele’s mouth. You can feel her life force through her voice. ”
【小题1】When she wrote album 19, she is at the age of______.

A．21

B．18

C．20

D．19

【小题2】How many awards did Adele get?

A．One.

B．Two.

C．Three.

D．Four.

【小题3】The underlined word “released” can be best replaced by ______.

A．recorded	B．came out
C．sold	D．written

【小题4】 In Adele’s opinion, where does her inspiration of music mainly come from?

A．Emotional certitude.	B．One single breakup.
C．A three-song demo.	D．A world tour.

The website “FarmersOnly.com” calls itself an online dating and friendship finder. The idea started in the mind of a man, Jerry Miller in Ohio. He wondered how farmers could meet new people who understand the life of a farmer. Jerry Miller is not a farmer but he represents a lot of farmers.

As he tells it, the idea for the site was planted when a farmer told him one day that she was recently divorced and would like to date. But someone would invite her to meet for coffee at nine o’clock at night, when she had to start her day at five the next morning.

So, in 2005, Jerry Miller launched his website. “You don’t have to be a farmer to be on FarmersOnly.com, but you do have to have the good old-fashioned traditional values of America’s Heartland.” 

You also have to live in the United States or Canada to be a member of the site. Some services are free, but a full membership costs fifty dollars for a year. As of last week the site listed more than 58,000 members. Many of them are farmers in the United States. Others are students or workers involved in some way with agriculture. Jerry Miller tells us about thirty marriages in the last year have resulted from his website.

Some farmers have also found love through a group, Singles in Agriculture, which was formed as a nonprofit organization in 1986. It organizes gatherings that usually end with a dance, but is not a dating service. The purpose is to support educational and social activities that offer people a chance for friendship. Its website, singlesinag.org, says there are more than 1,000 members across the nation and as far away as France.

1.Jerry Miller started singlesinag.org in order to     .

A. help farmers                                         B. represent farmers

C. support traditions                               D. understand farmers

2.Which of the following is true of singlesinag.org?

A. It provides dating services.

B. Only farmers can become its members.

C. Its services are free.

D. Farmers in France can’t benefit from it.

3. The author of the text intends to     .

A. advertise for the two websites

B. urge readers to help farmers

C. intro duce two websites

D. encourage social activities

4.It can be inferred from the text that     .

A. farmers are easy to meet new people

B. the Internet helps improve farmers’ social life

C. all farmers desire marriage

D. more farmers get divorced in the USA

 

Diamonds may be forever. But what’s a girl to do when she gets dumped (失恋) or divorced (离婚) and those rings, necklace and love gifts lose their emotional (情感) sense?

Help is just a click away on new Web sites that provide an outlet for selling jewelry(珠宝) from past relationships, sharing break-up stories and helping broken hearts heal (愈合).

“You go through a divorce. What do you do with that ring? Maybe you have a child you can pass it on to. Maybe you don’t. It just sits there, ” said Megahn Perry, who with her stepmother (继母) Marie Perry runs www.exboyfriendjewelry.com.

Three months after its start with the slogan(口号) “You Don’t Want It. He Can’t Have It Back,” the web site has 3,000 registered users and more than 600 postings of rings, bracelets and earrings for sale—all with a personal tale attached.

As one woman posting a diamond ring for $3,500 wrote:

“Beautiful ring came with a wrong man. Decided to sell to regain the money that I spent finishing payments on the ring that my ex didn’t.”

The idea was born when Megahn Perry, a Los Angeles actress and writer, was looking for a safe place to sell a wedding set after a divorce and realized others might have former boyfriends’ jewelry with memories(记忆) that make them too painful to wear.

The local pawn shop(当铺) proved an unattractive choice. So she teamed up with her stepmother Marie, researched the market and found a gap in it.

1. The passage is mainly about _____.

A．how a web site is set up	B．how sad the love stories are
C．How much a website can make	D．How many people like the web site

2.How long is it since the start of this website?

A．Less than three months.	B．At least three months.
C．Less than one month.	D．Not known.

3.How many people have registered on this website within three months?

A．About 600.

B．About 3,000.

C．About 3,500.

D．Not know.

4.Who set up this website?

A．Megahn herself alone.	B．Megahn and her best friend.
C．Megahn and her stepmother.	D．Megahn and her exboyfriend.

5.What’s the meaning of the underlined word “gap” in the last sentence?

A．Gulf between two people.	B．Misunderstandings among each other.
C．Differences from a pawn shop.	D．A market worth developing.

 

When most people turn 21, they spend too much time partying and having fun. But when Adele turned 21, she did something completely different.

After going through a tough breakup(分手), the British singer turned her pain into glory and recorded one of the most moving albums of the year.

The album, 21, which was released in January, has already hit the charts in 14 countries, according to the Billboard magazine.

It also noted that Adele made history as the first artist since the Beatles to have two top five singles and two top five albums in the charts at the same time (Adele’s first album, 19, was released in 2008. Each album is named for her age when she wrote it).

Now, after touring around the world for almost a year, the DVD of her live concert, released on November 29, is Adele’s latest work.

Having topped the pre-order list of Amazon. com for over a month already, this one seems set to stay on top for a while.

Born in north London, Adele sang her way up honestly:  In 2006, she was signed by England’s XL Recordings on the strength of (基于)a three-song demo(样本唱片) a friend of hers had posted on MySpace;within two years she had won the BRIT Awards ‘Critics’ Choice prize and been tipped by the BBC as the “Sound of 2008”.

In 2009 she got the best new artist Grammy Award, and went on a world tour in support of the album 19 with a sold-out show in Los Angeles.

According to Adele herself, much of the inspiration of her music comes from one single breakup.

That’s probably what has made the singer’s success-that emotional certitude(确信), according to Dickins.

“The key to great singers is believing every single word they sing, ” he said. “And I think you believe every word that comes out of Adele’s mouth. You can feel her life force through her voice. ”

1.When she wrote album 19, she is at the age of______.

A．21

B．18

C．20

D．19

2.How many awards did Adele get?

A．One.

B．Two.

C．Three.

D．Four.

3.The underlined word “released” can be best replaced by ______.

A．recorded	B．came out
C．sold	D．written

4. In Adele’s opinion, where does her inspiration of music mainly come from?

A．Emotional certitude.	B．One single breakup.
C．A three-song demo.	D．A world tour.