The Mayan（玛雅的）Indians lived in Mexico for thousands of years before the Spanish arrived in the 1500s. The Mayan achievements were many. They had farms, beautiful palaces, and cities with many buildings. The Mayan people knew a lot about nature and the world around them. This knowledge helped them to live a better life than most people of that time, because they could use it to make their lives more comfortable and rewarding（值得的）. Knowledge about tools and farming, for example, made their work easier and more productive.
The Maya believed in many gods, including rain gods, sun gods, and corn gods. The people built large temples to honor the Mayan gods. Skillful workers built cities around these temples. It was difficult for them to build these cities, because they had no horses to carry the heavy stone they used to build with. Workers had to carry all of the building materials themselves. Today, many of these ancient Mayan cities and temples are still standing.
Although the cities that the Maya built were beautiful, and the people worked hard to build them, very few of the people lived in them. Usually, only the priests（牧师）lived in the cities.
The other people lived in small villages in the forests. Their houses were much simpler than the elaborate buildings in the cities. They lived in small huts（小屋）with no windows. The walls were made of poles covered with dried mud, and the roof was made of grass or leaves. Most Maya lived a simple life close to nature.
The Mayan priests studied the Sun, the Moon, stars, and planets. They made a calendar from what they learned. The year was divided into 18 months of 20 days each with five days left over. The Mayan calendar was far more exact than the European calendars of the time.
Around the year 800, the Maya left their villages and beautiful cities, never to return. No one knows why this happened. They may have died from some disease. They may have left because the soil could no longer grow crops. Archaeologists（考古学家）are still trying to find the lost secrets of the Maya.
【小题1】What does the underlined word “elaborate’’ mean?

Yao Ming was born in China in 1980. Now the big name from China is playing for the Houston Rockets in the NBA. He is the son of two basketball players and he learned how to play basketball when he was young. Now, as one of the stars in the NBA, he is working hard to show the world that Chinese basketball players can do well in this game, too!

Pele was a famous football player. He was born in Brazil in 1940. He started playing for Santos when he was only 16 and he didn't retire（退役） until 1977. He played for Brazil 111 times and he scored 97 international goals. Pele came from a poor family. He started playing football in the streets. He played for Santos and quickly became an international star.

Steffi Graf was born in Germany in 1969. She won the tennis semi-final（半决赛） at Wimbledon in 1985 when she was only 16, but she lost the final to another great tennis player, Martina Navratilova. People were 'surprised at the strength and power of her game. She soon became a famous tennis player and won most of the main matches.

1.Who is the youngest player in the passage?

    A. Pele.          B. Yao Ming.       C. Steffi Graft.        D. No one.

2. __________ comes from South America.

    A. Pele          B. Yao Ming        C. Steffi Graft        D. No one

3.Yao Ming began to learn to play basketball __________.

    A. when he was 15                   B. when he was young

    C. when he was tall enough            D. when he was strong enough

4.From the passage, we learn __________.

    A. Steffi Graf was born in 1985 in Wimbledon

B. Martina Navratilova was also a tennis player

C. Steffi Graf won few of the main matches

D. Steffi Graf won the tennis final when she was 16

根据句意，用括号内所给单词的适当形式填空。
【小题1】The maths problem is so difficult that few of the students can work it out_______ (easy).
【小题2】Jim is a brave man. He always tells_________ (he) to calm down when he meets trouble.
【小题3】Very few of people believe what the boy says because he is_________ (honest).
【小题4】Everyone was very happy because of the famous writer’s _________ (arrive).
【小题5】In the film, the soldiers were excited when they got their________(wife) letters.

Dear Karen,

As you probably know, it’s my sister Suzie’s 16th birthday in a week. We’re planning a surprise party for her. Julie’s going to pick her up from school as usual on Friday but she’s not taking her home. She’s bringing her to the Palace Hotel, the big modern one near the station. We’re having a meal there and we’ve also hired (租用) the ballroom (舞厅) for a party in the evening. I hope you can come!

All her friends from school are coming and quite a few of the people from our village, too. Of course, Mum and Dad are coming up from England and I’ve managed to persuade (说服) our other sister, Marie, to come over from Australia. She’s bringing her kids with her, too.

After the party we’re going to have another one on Saturday! Well, not really a party. We’re inviting the family and close friends (that includes you) for a meal at the house. If the weather is nice, we’d like to have a barbecue in the garden. Julie’s going to make a special cake for Suzie.

Anyway, we hope to make it a really special weekend for Suzie. On Sunday we’re all going for a walk in the country. You know how she loves walking and we’re all going to need a bit of exercise after all that lovely food. We’re hoping to go up to the lake. Marie said she wanted her kids to feed the ducks just like Suzie and she did when they were very young. I’m sure Suzie will love that too.

It would be great if you could come over for the weekend. We would all love to see you.

Let me know as soon as you can.

Best,

David

1.Who is Karen?  ______

A. David’s cousin.                                            B. David’s friend.

C. David’s sister.                                              D. David’s classmate.

2.David and Julie are planning to have Suzie’s birthday party ______ on Friday evening.

A. at the Palace Hotel                                              B. at the house

C. in the garden                                                       D. beside the lake

3.Which of the following is NOT mentioned?   ______

A. To make a special cake.                                     B. To have a barbecue.

C. To go swimming.                              D. To feed the ducks.

4._____ won’t come for the meal at the house on Saturday because David doesn’t invite them /her.

A. Karen                                                                    B. People from their village

C. Suzie’s Mum and Dad                                D. Marie and her kids

5.Why is David planning a walk in the country on Sunday?

Because he thinks ______.

A. Suzie loves walking very much

B. Suzie used to take a walk there after dinner

C. it is special for Marie’s kids to go for a walk in the country

D. Suzie can feed the ducks in the river when going for a walk

On the terrible day, father took me to school. When he stopped in front of the school, I didn’t want to get out of the car. I looked at the students outside the building and suddenly felt sick. I slowly opened the car door and slowly got out. The body brace(支架) I wore made it hard for me to move and made me feel ugly. How I wished I were still in my school with all my friends. I didn’t know anyone here. I could feel that everyone was looking at me. I was sure that I would be the ugliest and strangest person they had ever seen. Tears fell on my new dress.
I struggled(奋力) to get through that day, and all the day for the following three days. I feel ugly for most of the time. I could hardly wait to take off the brace.
That day finally arrived on a rainy Thursday in Spring. I was so surprised and excited when the doctor said that I could take off the brace. From that day on, I began to love rain. I was free at last.
I danced up the stairs to the school building the next morning. I wanted everyone to see me, but to my surprise, no one said a word about my brace for the whole day, even Danielle, my best friend. I couldn’t wait to ask her, “Danielle, don’t you notice anything different about me? It’s the brace. The brace is gone.”
Danielle just looked at me and said, “ I know the brace is gone, but I don’t think it’ll make much difference. With or without it, you are still my friend.”
【小题1】How did the girl feel when she first went to the school?
A. She was surprised
B. She was upset.
C. She was angry.
【小题2】Which of the following is TRUE?
A. The girl’s classmates didn’t like her because she was strange.
B. The girl was always unhappy while she was wearing the brace.
C. The girl’s classmates changed their ideas after she took off the brace.
【小题3】The girl took off her brace ___________.
A. The following three days
B. the next day
C. on a rainy Thursday
【小题4】The girl _____________ in that school before she wore the body brace.
A. had never studied
B. had already studied
C. had known some friends
【小题5】What do we learn from the passage?
A. Danielle was quite different from the others in the class.
B. It was not ugly to wear a brace.
C. Few of the girl’s classmates thought that she was ugly.