It was Saturday when the entire summer world was bright and fresh. Tom looked at the fence, which was long and high, feeling all enthusiasm leaving him. He dipped his brush into the whitewash before moving it along the top board of the fence. He knew other boys would arrive soon with all minds of interesting plans for this day. As walking past him, they would tease him for having to work on a beautiful Saturday—which burnt him like fire.
He, putting his hands into his pockets and taking out all he owned with the expectation of letting someone paint, found nothing that could buy half an hour of freedom. At this dark and hopeless moment, a wonderful idea occurred to him, pouring a great bright light into his mind. He took up his brush and continued to work pleasantly with calm and quietness.
Presently, Ben Rogers came in sight—munching an apple and making joyful noises like the sound of a riverboat as he walked along. Tom went on whitewashing, paying no attention to the steamboat. 
“Hello!” Ben said, “I’m going swimming, but you can’t go, can you?”
No answer. Tom moved his brush gently along the fence and surveyed the result. Ben came nearer. Tom’s mouth watered for Ben’s apple while he kept painting the fence.
Ben said, “That’s a lot of work, isn’t it?”
Tom turned suddenly saying “Here you are! Ben! I didn’t notice you.”
“I’m going swimming,” Ben said. “Don’t you wish you could go? Or would you rather work?”
Tom said, “Work? What do you mean ‘work’?”
“Isn’t that work?”
Tom continued painting and answered carelessly, “Maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t. All I know is it suits Tom Sawyer.”
“Do you mean that you enjoy it?”
“I don’t see why I oughtn’t to enjoy it.”
“Does a boy have a chance to paint a fence frequently” said Tom.
Ben stopped munching his apple.
Tom moved his brush back and forth—stepped back to note the effect—added a little paint here and there. Ben watched every move, getting more and more interested, more and more absorbed1. After a short time, he said, “Tom, let me whitewash a little.”
Tom seemed to be thinking for a moment before he said, “No, Aunt Polly wants this fence to be perfect. If it was the back fence, maybe you could do it. But this fence beside the street is where everybody can see it. It has to be done right.”
“Oh, come on, let me try. I’ll be careful. Listen, Tom. I’ll give you part of my apple if you let me paint.”
“No, Ben, I’m afraid—”
“I’ll give you all the apple!”
Tom handed the brush to Ben with unwillingness on his face but alacrity in his heart. While the riverboat worked and sweated in the hot sun, Tom, an artist sat in the shade close by, munching his apple, and planning how he could trick more of the boys.
Before long there were enough boys each of whom came along the street; stopped to laugh but soon begged to be allowed to paint. By the middle of the afternoon, Tom had got many treasures while the fence had had three layers of whitewash on it. If he hadn’t run out of whitewash, he would have owned everything belonging to the boys in the village.
Tom said to himself that the world was not so depressing after all. He had discovered a great law of human action: in order to make a man cover a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain.
【小题1】By using “Tom continued painting and answered carelessly”, the author shows Tom ______ when he was talking to Ben.

A.made mistakesB.damaged thingsC.was naturalD.wasn’t concentrating
【小题2】The underlined word “alacrity” in the last but two paragraph most probable means “______”.
A.kindnessB.discouragementC.sympathyD.eagerness
【小题3】Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage? ________
A.Tom did not want to go swimming at all
B.Tom was asked to help Aunt Polly paint the fence
C.Tom did not get along well with his friends
D.Tom was very busy that Saturday afternoon.
【小题4】We can draw a conclusion from the last paragraph that _______.
A.forbidden fruit is sweet.B.a friend in need is a friend indeed.
C.all good things must come to an end.D.a bad excuse is better than none.

 

         The Olympic Games are seen as the greatest test of an athlete’s ability and are supposed to celebrate the spirit of fair play. But in fact, sportsmen have been using drugs to cheat their way to victory since the Games first began.

         In the early years, athletes ate mushrooms(蘑菇)and plant seeds to improve their performance. Nowadays, this kind of cheating has a name doping(服用兴奋剂).

         Just last month, Britain’s top sprinter(赛跑选手) Dwain Chambers and several American athletes tested positive(呈阳性)for the drug THG. Until a coach secretly gave a sample of THG to scientists, no one knew how to test for it.

         “We’re like cops(警察)chasing criminals—athletes are always adapting and looking for areas we haven’t investigated,” said Jacquew de Ceaurriz, a French anti-doping expert.

         Since the first drugs test was carried out at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, many cheats have been caught out. The most famous case in history is that of Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson.

         He broke the 100 meters world record in winning gold at the 1988 Seoul(汉城)Olympics. But days later, he tested positive for drug use, lost his gold medal and was banned from the sport. Five years later, he returned to action—only to be found positive again and banned forever.

         China has also had problems with drug cheats. At the 1994 Asian Games, 11 Chinese athletes—seven of them swimmers—tested positive for banned drugs. Sports organizations promised that cheating on this scale would not happen again.

         Experts are also worried that doping can damage a person’s health. It is believed to increase the risk of liver and kidney(肝肾)diseases, and women may experience reproductive(生育) problems. As long as they can stay ahead of the scientists, it is unlikely the cheats will stop. But experts say there is a limit to what can be achieved and that athletes will not be able to change their bodies using gene(基因)technology.

         “For the moment, genetic doping does not exist,” said de Ceaurriz. “Even in 10 or 15 years it will not be done easily—the scientific community(界)will not let it happen.”

(  ) 60. Which of the following is not the way that some athletes cheat to their better sports achievements?

A.Eating mushrooms.         B Taking drug THG.

C. Taking genetic doping.       D. Eating plant seeds.

(  ) 61. How many countries are mentioned in the passage in which there were athletes doping?

         A. Two.                       B. Four.                       C. Sic.                          D. Eight.

(  ) 62. We can infer from the passage that ____.

A.scientists get a lot of information about drugs before the athletes take doping

B.taking doping will never happen again because of the serious test

C.few athletes used drug cheats before the first drugs test was carried out at the 1968 Olympics

D.problems with drug cheats are still serious though they are severely tested

(  ) 63. Which statement of the following is true?

A.Many police are sent to chase criminals of taking doping during the Olympic Games.

B.The drug test was carried out until the 1968 Olympics.

C.There is the possibility that women athletes taking doping will give no birth to a child.

D.Ben Johnson was banned from sports forever for being tested positive for drug use at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

 

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