Chinese people call the Spring Festival“Nian”. But do you know that Nian
was once the name of a monster(妖怪)?
　　A long time ago, the monster Nian lived in the mountains. It ate
animals. But in winter, it could not find food. So it came to villages and
ate a lot of people. People were so afraid of Nian that they locked their
doors before evening came during the winter. One day, an old man came to a
village. He told people there that Nian was afraid of three things——the
color red, fire and noise. He told people to play drums and gongs, make
big fires and set off fireworks(放鞭炮)to make Nian go away.
　　On a moonless, cold night, Nian went to the village again. As soon as it
opened its big mouth, people made loud noises and made fires. Nian was
really afraid and ran away. wherever it went, there was noise and fire.
When Nian was tired and could not run anymore, people killed the monster.
　　After that, on the coldest day of winter, people beat drums and gongs,
and set off fireworks to celebrate the death of the monster of Nian. They
put up red lanterns and have a big dinner without sleeping during the
night.
　　In the morning people greet each other happily. So now we have the
Spring Festival.
【小题1】 From the story, Nian seemed to be       long, long ago.
A exciting    B  interesting    C boring   D terrible
【小题2】 The monster Nian ate people in winter because it          .
A  wanted to make people afraid    B  had no food to eat
C  celebrated the Spring Festival    D liked to eat people in a village
【小题3】Nian was afraid of          .
A red    B fire   C noise    D  A, B and C
【小题4】 The monster Nian wasn’t killed until          .
A it had eaten all the animals  B  the old man came to a village
C it was too tired to run away  D people knew what it was afraid of
【小题5】 What is the best title for the passage?
A How the Spring Festival Came  B What People did During Nian
C How People Celebrated Nian  D What the Spring Festival was 

Sophia Wu, 25, is a young Chinese woman who does business with her family in Santiago, Chile (智利). On February 27, she experienced a night that she will never forget.

　　"I was asleep and was woken up by powerful shaking at around 3:30 in the morning. My whole room was moving and I couldn't stand still. I wanted to run downstairs and go outside, but suddenly the wall got broken and the lights in the room went out. The room became so shaky that I couldn't move at all."

　　That night an 8.8-magnitude (震级) earthquake hit Chile. Buildings and bridges fell down. Electricity (电) and water services shut down. The Chilean Red Cross reported that about 500,000 homes were destroyed and more than 800 people died.

　　The earthquake has been the fifth strongest since 1900. More than 90 aftershocks (余震) followed the earthquake. A tsunami (海啸) was set off in the Pacific Ocean by the earthquake.

　　Scientists say that there are about 500,000 earthquakes in the world each year. Of these, only 20% are felt, and 100 of them cause damage.

　　So far, scientists haven't found a way to predict earthquakes. But you can learn to protect yourself during an earthquake. The most important thing to remember is to drop, cover and hold on. So remember to drop to the floor, get under something for cover and hold onto something strong during the shaking.

根据短文内容，选择最佳选项。（10分）

1. What happened to Sophia Wu on February 27?

2. Which is the correct order (顺序)?

a. Wu got up and found her whole room was moving.

b. Wu wanted to run downstairs and go out.

c. The wall got broken and the lights went out.

d. Wu was woken up by shaking.

3. Which is TRUE about the Chile Earthquake？

4. From the passage, we know that about 　　　 of the earthquakes cause damage every year.

5. How should we protect ourselves during an earthquake?

My father woke me up early one summer morning when I was fourteen and announced: “Get up, you're going with me to cut the grass in the garden. ”

　　The idea that my father thought I was old enough to help him in his business made me feel proud and excited. From sunup to sundown, my father, my younger brother and I worked in the large garden. By the end of the day I was too tired to say a word but I felt good. This was my first time to help my father in his business. I got $ 6 for my work that day.

　　One day my father found some leaves I had missed and pulled me aside. “Take away these leaves! ”he said, “and don't make me have to tell you to do it again.” The message was clear. Today I value(珍视)the importance of doing a job well the first time. It will never fail to impress(给……留下印象） the person you are working for.

　　After two years, my father told me and my brother that he felt we were old enough to cut the grass by ourselves. Every Saturday during my last two years of high school, we set off early in the morning with the same strong wish we had gained while working under our father.

　　Looking after the garden was neither exciting nor high paying, but that didn't matter. It taught me that any job was a good job and that whatever I was paid was more than I had before.

　　A newspaper reporter once asked me how someone could possibly live with hard work and low pay. “If you're only thinking about hard work and money, you probably don't want to do any better than you are doing.” I answered. In every job, from cutting the grass to washing dishes, I've learned much. I've learned something that helps me in my next job.

　　If you work hard enough, you can learn from any job you do.

46. The writer felt proud and excited when he was asked to cut the grass because he thought______.

　　 A. he could cut the grass himself

　　 B. he could make much money

　　 C. he could enjoy sunup and sundown

　　 D. he could help his family

47. The underlined word "message" in the passage probably refers to_____.

　　 A. not leaving leaves behind

　　 B. giving no excuse for your mistakes

　　 C. doing a good job at the very beginning

　　 D. missing things which can be found out

48. When the writer finished high school, maybe he was _____ years old.

　　 A. fourteen     B. eighteen        C. twenty　　      D. twenty-two

49. Which of the following does the writer probably think is the most important?

　　 A. Keeping learning from any job you had.

　　 B. Asking no money for work.

　　 C. Finishing work as quickly as possible.

　　 D. Keeping looking for different jobs.

50. The writer probably thinks his father is_____.

　　 A. lazy　　      B. helpful　　    C. careless        D.interesting

It was a quiet village in which there was a military camp. It was far from the towns and cities and there were some high mountains around. Of course it was a good place for training the new soldiers. But it was difficult for the young men to go outside. Mr. White, an officer of forty, was strict with them and he hardly let them leave the camp.

　　Once Mr. White was ill in bed. He couldn't work, so a young officer, Mr. Hunt, began to train the new soldiers instead of him. He knew the young men well and let nine soldiers go to the nearest town to have a holiday. But night fell and none came back to the camp. He was worried about it and stood at the gate. It was five to twelve when Mr. Hunt decided to go to the town and see what was happening with the young men. He started the car quickly and set off. At that moment the nine soldiers came back. It seemed they were all drunk. Of course they found the officer was angry.

　　"I'm sorry, sir," said the first soldier. "I left the town on time. But something was wrong with my bus on my way here. I had to buy a horse and made it run fast. Bad luck! It died and I had to run back."

　　And the other seven soldiers said they were late for the same reasons. It was the last soldier's turn. He said, "I'm sorry, sir. I got on a bus on time, but…"

　　Having heard this, the officer became even angrier and stopped him at once. He called out, "If you say something was wrong with your bus, I'll punish you at once!"

　　"No, no, sir," said the young man. "My bus was all right, but their horses were in the way!"

1.The military camp was built in the village to _______.

A．stop the soldiers going to towns

B．stop the soldiers meeting their friends

C．train the new soldiers

D．make the young men live quietly

2.The nine soldiers returned to the camp late because _______.

A．something was wrong with their buses

B．their horses died on the way back

C．it took them much time to run back

D．they all had drunk much in the town

3.The underlined phrase in the way in the last paragraph means ______.

A．stopping somebody from moving

B．getting drunk

C．standing on the road

D．running very fast