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A

When Mac was a small boy at school, his favorite lesson was art, and he used to win the best prizes for it. After he graduated, he worked as a cashier(出纳员) in a bank, but he still went to evening schools in art three times a week, and whenever he had time, he did nothing but paint.

    A few months after that, he thought, “Maybe I can sell some of my paintings to get some money. Then I needn’t work in the bank. I will become a real artist and travel a lot so that I can visit foreign museums to improve myself. I don’t want to work in the bank. I only enjoy painting.”

    At work, Mac sometimes had to deal with a man who owned a picture shop. After he had had a few talks with the owner, Mac invited him to see his paintings. “Perhaps you can judge whether I can be a good artist.” Mac said hopefully. The man agreed.

    One evening, the man arrived at Mac’s flat. Mac took him to the studio and showed him some paintings that he thought best of all. The man looked at them one by one without a word, his expression remaining unchanged. Mac felt so discouraged!

    When the owner finished and looked around, however, his eyes suddenly shone with excitement. A satisfied smile came over his face for the first time. “Wonderful!” he pointed to a picture at the corner, “This one is so full of deep feeling. I’m sure it is worth $300.”

    “But,” said poor Mac, “it’s only the piece on which I clean the paint off my brushes!”

1. Mac didn’t want to be a cashier any longer because ______________.

    A. he could make money by selling paintings

    B. he didn’t have much time to work

    C. he thought he could make a living by painting

    D. he liked to be a traveler

2. What do you think of the owner?

    A. He was very critical.                             B. He thought highly of Mac’s talent(才能).

    C. He didn’t want to help Mac.                       D. He was not a real expert in art

3. What do you think of Mac?

    A. Actually he didn’t do well in art.                  B. He didn’t work hard at painting.

    C. He could make money from his pictures.     D. In fact he had a gift for art.

                                     B

It had been a very rough football match. One player from each side had been given a red card, and two others got yellow cards. After the game, the referee, Bill Cross, was on television with Frank Duff.

Frank: This has been a very usual Saturday afternoon for you, hasn’t it? Do you really enjoy refereeing?

Bill:  Yes, I find I still look forward to it.

Frank: I can’t help feeling that you’d enjoy the game much more sitting in a chair.

Bill:  Well, of course, every game produces different problems for the referee.

Frank: Now you didn’t give Smith a red card for his action against the rules, did you? You gave him the red card for arguing?

Bill:  Yes. I don’t like people arguing with the referee. I had warned him, but he went on arguing, so he went out of the game.

Frank: Then there was the incident with Brown. Why didn't you allow the coach (教练) onto the field?

Bill:  I hate seeing a player pretending to be hurt in order to get a free kick. A couple of minutes later, when the ball came near him he was just fine.

Frank: Then in the second half, the crowd got very angry with you. Doesn’t that bother you?

Bill:  No, if the football match is exciting, the crowd is going to get excited, naturally. I don't mind the crowd shouting at me at all. As a referee, I expect it.

4. It seems to Frank that Smith was given a red card because _________.

   A. he broke the rules                            B. he went out of the game

   C. he warned a player for arguing   D. he continued arguing with the referee

5. Brown was mentioned in the conversation because _________.

   A. he had an accident                    B. he got a free kick     

C. he received a red card               D. he pretended to be hurt

                                 C

Every night for a year, Neil Simmons quietly went out of his house. He wanted to “talk” to an owl (猫头鹰) settling for the night at the end of his garden. He made owl cries like a real wild owl and was happy to hear the bird “hooting” back to him.

   Last year Fred Cornes moved in next door. He heard an owl hooting and answered back. For 12 months the neighbors got into the back gardens of their homes, thinking they were talking with nature. Mr. Simmons kept a diary of all his talks with his bird friend. They would both be out again tonight if it weren’t for a chance talk between their wives.

   Mr. Simmons said: “My wife Kim was telling Fred’s wife Wendy about my owl watching and described how I got the birds to hoot back. She said, “That’s funny= that’s just what Fred has been doing.” Then the penny dropped. I felt such a fool when I found out. The trouble is that owl calls aren’t exactly the same and it’s easy to make a mistake.”

   Mr. Cornes said: “ I’m really flattered (过奖). I didn’t know I sounded so real. I love nature and I couldn’t resist hooting at the owls. I was very excited when they hooted back. I’m sorry that I was fooling my neighbor who was fooling me.”

6. “Then the penny dropped.” most probably means “Then __________.”

   A. I understood B. everybody knew about it   C. I heard the noise       D. no money was paid

7. Mr. Simmons felt upset about the whole thing because _________.

   A. all his efforts seemed to be meaningless            B. his wife let out his secret by chance

   C. garden owls hooted so differently                           D. Fred has been doing the same

8. The text suggests that _________.

   A. Neil seldom heard natural owl calls           B. the owl never hooted back to Neil

 C. Fred was always good at pleasing owls     D. owl watching is no longer interesting to Fred

                               D

Although I had left school against the advice of my teachers, I had, without telling anyone, tried to continue my studies in literature (文学) at evening classes. It was a tiresome walk from one end of the city to another and to sit among adults was uninteresting. I was the youngest in the class, so the friendship I knew at school was absent. I put with(忍受) it for a short period. It was too long a walk on cold winter’s nights and it was hard to put my heart into Shakespeare with wet shoes and trousers. So I continued reading books and started writing poetry at home.

   By chance, I won some prizes and awards for literature. A young woman from a TV company came to the college one day. She told me that I had won a national poetry award. I stared at her in astonishment and disbelief. She wanted to make a short film about me, to which I said: “No, I couldn’t do that.” Not that I had any real excuse. I was just frightened. In the end she persuaded me that I should do it the following day.

   So I did. They made a short film of me reading one of my poems and I became more interested in literature than ever. I wondered what I should do after this, and decided some weeks later that I could not imagine myself spending the rest of my days dealing with machines. So one evening, I hesitatingly told my parents that I wanted to return to school. They were greatly surprised and, I think, a little afraid but they did not try to persuade me not to. They wanted to know if I was sure, if I knew what it meant and whether I realized that if I gave up my job training, it would be very difficult to get a good job. But nothing could stop me, and they asked about the matter no further.

9. Which of the following has most probably been discussed in the paragraphs above this passage?

   A. The writer’s unhappy childhood

   B. The poor teaching quality of the writer’s school

   C. The writer’s leaving school against his teachers’ advice

   D. Whether it was worth leaving school for job training

10. The writer did not feel comfortable at the evening school because _________.

   A. he found it difficult to make friends with his classmates

   B. he had to walk a long distance to the evening school

   C. he could not put his heart into reading books after he was caught in the rain

   D. of all of the above  

E

   Why do we laugh? For years scientists have asked themselves this question. No animals laugh and smile --- only human beings, so does laughing help us to live long in any way? The answer seems to be that smiling and laughing help us to become less worried and calm, preventing illnesses which are caused by stress. Laughing is really the best medicine.

   But if you’re unhappy, it can’t do you any good to smile, can it? That’s not true. It is clear that smiling works just in the same way whether you feel like smiling or not. Scientist in California asked a group of students to act five different feelings: happiness, sadness, anger, surprise and fear --- just using their faces. Changes in their heart rate, blood pressure and temperature were recorded. Most of the feelings they acted didn’t cause changes, but when the students smiled their heart rate and their blood pressure went down. That happened even though they were only acting!

   Now, what makes us laugh? It seems that the answer to the question is far from simple. Everyone likes jokes, but we don't laugh at the same ones. It depends largely on how old we are. There’s a kind of jokes, for example, which children love but older people might not find funny. Nationality, too, can make a difference.

11. In the passage, the writer seems to pay more attention to _________.

   A. how laughing and smiling are connected with health

   B. comparing human beings with animals

   C. the degree to which laughing and smiling are helpful

   D. finding out if any research has been done about laughing

12. In the first paragraph, the word “stress” can be best explained as “________”.

      A. surprise and fear                                   B. work and duties

C. happiness and sadness                           D. pressure and worries

F

Farmer Ed Rawling smiles as he looks at his orange trees. The young oranges are growing well in Florida’s weather. Warm sunshine and gentle rains, along with Ed Rawling’s expert care, will produce a good crop of oranges this year.

   But Ed has to fight against Florida’s changeable winter weather. In January and February, temperatures can destroy Ed’s entire orange crop. Having farmed in Florida for the past 35 years, Ed Rawlings is prepared for the frost (霜). When temperature drop below freezing, Ed tries to save his crop by watering his orange trees. The water freezes and forms a thin layer (层) of ice on the trees. Strange as it may sound, this thin layer of ice actually keeps the fruit warm.

   What happens is simple. When the trees are watered, the water loses heat and becomes ice. The warmth of the heat it loses is taken in by the fruit and keeps its temperature at a safe level. Ed Rawling has effectively used this method to save many orange crops.

   But Ed still faces some difficulties. The trees should be watered at the exact moment the temperature drops to the freezing point. Also, just the right quantity of water must be used. Too much water can form a thick layer of ice that will break the trees’ branches. Another difficulty is that wind blows away the heat. So Ed has to worry about not only when but also how often his trees should be watered, and how much water should be used.

   Computer technology may help Ed Rawlings with some of these worries. With equipment, air and soil temperatures and wind speed can be measured. The information is fed into a computer which can tell when temperatures drop to freezing. The computer can correctly decide the quantity of water to be used and how frequently the trees should be watered. Ed Rawlings will find looking after his orange trees a lot easier with the help of a computer, and we’ll all have the benefits (or advantages) of computer - age oranges.

13. The passage is mainly about __________.

   A. a farmer’s expert care for his orange trees        B. the different uses of computers

   C. growing oranges in Florida’s changeable weather     D. different ways of frost protection

14. In the writer’s eyes, computers __________.

   A. are too expensive for small farmers   

   B. can be a valuable tool for the farmer

   C. can be used to help oranges grow bigger

   D. cannot take the place of the farmer’s experience and judgment

15. Which of the following is NOT NECESSARY for Ed Rawlings to do?

   A. He should water the orange trees as soon as the temperature drops to the freezing point.

   B. He should decide the quantity of water for the orange trees.

   C. He has to water the orange trees more often in January and February.

   D. He has to judge how often he should water the orange trees.