There was a kingdom long, long ago. It was ruled by a king who loved riddles (谜语). Once a year, the king made a new riddle. He gave a prize to the person who could solve the riddle.

There was a baker who also lived in this kingdom. Everyone agreed that he baked the finest breads. The baker had almost everything he needed except for a horse. If the baker had a horse, he could sell his fine breads from one end of the kingdom to the other.

One year, the king made a new riddle that puzzled everyone. “1 will give a prize to the person who can solve my riddle,” the king said. “Anyone who wins will have the pick of one of my strongest horses.” He then drew a line down the middle of the courtyard. “Make this line shorter without erasing (清除) any part of it,” the king said.

People came from far and wide. “How can you make a line shorter without erasing any part of it?’’ the people in the crowd asked each other. Some of them tried. The dressmaker kicked dirt over the line to hide it. The farmer poured water over the line to make it disappear. None of these worked, and the people went home disappointed. Everyone was puzzled about how to solve this new riddle.

A week passed, and nobody had any new ideas. Then one day the baker came into the courtyard with a bag of flour (面粉).

“Your Majesty,” the baker said to the king, “I can make your line shorter without erasing any part of it.” Then the baker opened his bag of flour. He poured out a line of flour right next to the king’s line. The line the baker made was longer than the king’s line.

“Now, good king,” the baker smiled, “your line is shorter.”

The people were amazed. The king laughed and clapped his hands. “You have won the prize. I will give you a horse of your choice.”

The baker was excited. Now he could sell his breads from one end of the kingdom to the other.

1.What was the baker’s problem at the beginning of the story?

A.He couldn’t make fine breads.

B.He needed money to open more stores.

C.He didn’t have enough flour to make more breads.

D.He couldn’t sell his breads all over the kingdom.

2.The baker smiled because __________.

A.he was glad to see the king B.he wanted to make the king happy

C.he felt sure that he solved the riddle D.he sold a lot of breads to the villagers

3.Who tells this story?

A.The king. B.The farmer and the dressmaker.

C.The baker. D.Someone who is not a character in the story.

The oldest stone buildings in the world are the pyramids(金字塔). They have stood for nearly5,000 years, and it seems likely that they will continue to stand for thousands of years. Yet there are over eighty of them scattered along the banks of the Nile( 尼 罗 河 ) and some of them are different in shape from the true pyramids. The most famous of these are the step pyramid and the bent pyramid.

1.________They still look as much alike as they used to be when they were built thousands of years ago. However, there are no writings or pictures to show us how the Egyptians planned or built the pyramids themselves. As a result, we are only able to guess the ways they used.

2.________The first thing they have to do was to choose a proper place. You may think this would have been easy because there was miles and miles of empty desert around, but a pyramid could not be built just anywhere. Certain rules had to be followed, and certain problems had to be solved.

3.________This was for religious( 宗教的) reasons, because the sun sets on the side of it. The pyramid also had to stand well above the level of the river to protect it against the large amount of water.

4.________In the old days, water transport was, of course, much easier than land transport. So the large stones needed to be carried in boats to the nearest place down the river.

5.________It also had to be near the king’s palace so that he could visit it easily. And the king needed to check the progress himself. After all, it was his final resting place for his body.

A.There must have been careful planning before building.

B.The government has protected them from falling down.

C.Some of the pyramids can still be seen today.

D.Then pyramid had to be on the west side of the Nile.

E.Finally, the pyramid had to be near the capital.

F.The pyramid could not be too far from the Nile.

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