On a Friday night, a poor young artist stood at the gate of the New York railway station, playing his violin. The music was so great that many people stopped to put some money into the hat of the young man.

       The next day, the young artist came to the same place, and put his hat on the ground gracefully. Different from the day before, he took out a large piece of paper and laid it under his hat. Then he began to play the violin. It sounded more pleasant than ever.

       Soon he was surrounded with people who were attracted by the words on that paper. It said, “Last night, a gentleman named George Sang put an important thing into my hat by mistake. Please come to claim (认领) it soon.”

       After about half an hour, a middle-aged man rushed through the crowd to the violinist and said, “Yes, it’s you. I knew that you were an honest man and would certainly come here.” The young violinist asked calmly, “Are you Mr George Sang?” The man nodded. The violinist asked, “Did you lose something?” “It’s a lottery ticket,” said the man. The violinist took out a lottery ticket on which George Sang’s name was seen. “Is it?” he asked. George nodded and took the lottery ticket and kissed it, then danced with the violinist.

       The violinist was a student at an arts college and had planned to attend advanced studies in Vienna. Later his classmate asked the violinist, “At that time you needed money to pay the tuition (学费)and you had to play the violin in the railway station every day to make money. Why didn’t you keep the lottery ticket for yourself?”

       The violinist said, “Although I don’t have much money, I live happily. But if I lose honesty I won’t be happy forever.” Through our lives, we can gain a lot and lose so much. But being honest should always be with us.

What did the young artist do at the railway station on Friday?

   A. He played the violin to make some money.

   B. He waited for the train to Vienna.

   C. He came to buy a train ticket to Vienna.

D. He walked around the New York railway station.

According to the words on the paper, which sentence below is TRUE?

   A. It asked a gentleman named George Sang to claim his hat.

B. It asked a gentleman named George Sang to claim his important thing.

   C. It was a lottery ticket and he needed to find the owner.

   D. It was a lottery ticket and the owner is unknown.

From this article, we can learn that ____.

   A. we should share with others if we find something valuable

   B. we should know the importance of honesty and lead a happy life

   C. keep the lottery if you find one

   D. playing the violin could make you feel happy

Napoleon, as a character in Tolstoy’s War and Peace, is more than once described as having “fat little hands.’’ Nor does he “sit well or firmly on the horse.’’ He is said to be “undersized.’’ With “short legs’’ and a “round stomach”. The issue here is not the accuracy of Tolstoy’s description--it seems not that far off from historical accounts but his choice of facts:other things that could be said of the man are not said. We are meant to understand the difference of a warring commander in the body of a fat little Frenchman. Tolstoy’s Napoleon could be any man wandering in the streets and putting a little of powdered tobacco up his nose—and that is the point.

It is a way the novelist uses to show the moral nature of a character. And it turns out that, as Tolstoy has it, Napoleon is a crazy man. In a scene in Book Three of War and Peace, the wars having reached the critical year of 1812,Napoleon receives a representative from the Tsar(沙皇), who has come with peace terms. Napoleon is very angry:doesn’t he have more army? He, not the Tsar, is the one to make the terms. He will destroy all of Europe if his army is stopped. “That is what you will have gained by engaging me in the war!” he shouts. And then, Tolstoy writes, Napoleon “walked silently several times up and down the room, his fat shoulders moving quickly.’’

Still later, after reviewing his army amid cheering crowds, Napoleon invites the shaken Russian to dinner. “He raised his hand to the Russian’s…face,” Tolstoy writes, and “taking him by the ear pulled it gently….” To have one’s ear pulled by the Emperor was considered the greatest honor and mark of favor at the French court. “Well, well, why don’t you say anything?’’ said he, as if it was ridiculous in his presence to respect any one but himself, Napoleon.

Tolstoy did his research, but the composition is his own.

Tolstoy’s description of Napoleon in War and Peace is _________.

A. far from the historical facts

B. based on the Russian history

C. based on his selection of facts

D. not related to historical details

Napoleon was angry when receiving the Russian representative because _________.

A. he thought he should be the one to make the peace terms

B. the Tsar's peace terms were hard to accept

C. the Russians stopped his military movement

D. he didn’t have any more army to fight with

What did Napoleon expect the Russian representative to do?

A. To walk out of the room in anger.

B. To show agreement with him.

C. To say something about the Tsar.

D. To express his admiration.

Tolstoy intended to present Napoleon as a man who is _________.

A. ill-mannered in dealing with foreign guests

B. fond of showing off his iron will

C. determined in destroying all of Europe

D. crazy for power and respect

What does the last sentence of the passage imply?

A. A writer doesn’t have to be faithful to his findings.

B. A writer may write about a hero in his own way.

C. A writer may not be responsible for what he writes.

D. A writer has hardly any freedom to show his feelings.

He was the baby with no name. Found and taken from the north Atlantic 6 days after the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, his tiny body so moved the salvage (救援) workers that they called him “our baby.” In their home port of Halifax, Nova Scotia, people collected money for a headstone in front of the baby's grave (墓), carved with the words: “To the memory of an unknown child.” He has rested there ever since.

    But history has a way of uncovering its secrets. On Nov. 5, this year, three members of a family from Finland arrived at Halifax and laid fresh flowers at the grave. “This is our baby,” says Magda Schleifer, 68, a banker. She grew up hearing stories about a great-aunt named Maria Panula,42, who had sailed on the Titanic for America to be reunited with her husband. According to the information Mrs. Schleifer had gathered, Panula gave up her seat on a lifeboat to search for her five children -- including a 13-month-old boy named Eino from whom she had become separated during the final minutes of the crossing. "We thought they were all lost in the sea," says Schleifer.

    Now, using teeth and bone pieces taken from the baby's grave, scientists have compared the

DNA from the Unknown Child with those collected from members of five families who lost relatives on the Titanic and never recovered the bodies. The result of the test points only to one possible person: young Eino. Now, the family sees: no need for a new grave. "He belongs to the people of Halifax," says Schleifer. "They've taken care of him for 90 years."

Adapted from People, November 25, 2002

The baby travelled on the Titanic with his___________.

     A. mother               B. parents          C. aunt       D. relatives

What is probably the boy's last name?

     A. Schleiferi           B. Eino.                C. Magda.          D. Panula.

Some members of the family went to Halifax and put flowers at the child's grave on Nov. 5__.

       A.  1912              B. 1954            C. 2002            D. 2004

This text is mainly about  how______________.

     A. the unknown baby's body was taken from the north Atlantic

     B. the unknown baby was buried in Halifax, Nova Scotia

     C. people found out who the unknown baby was

     D. people took care of the unknown baby for 90 years

阅读理解                     

   The easy way out isn't always easiest . I learned that lesson when I decided to treat Doug , my husband of one month , to a special meal . I glanced through my cookbook and chose a menu(菜谱) which included homemade bread . Knowing the bread would take time , I started on it as soon as Doug left for work . As I was not experienced in cooking , I thought if a dozen was good , two dozens would be better , so I doubled(加倍)everything . As Doug loved oranges , I also opened a can of orange and poured it all into the bowl . Soon there was a sticky dough (面团) covered with ugly yellowish marks . Realizing I had been defeated , I put the dough in the rubbish bin outside so I wouldn't have to face Doug laughing at my work , I went on preparing the rest of the meal , and , when Doug got home , we sat down to eat Cornish chicken with rice . He tried to enjoy the meal but seemed disturbed . Twice he got up and went outside , saying he thought he heard a noise . The third time he left , I went to the windows to see what he was doing . Looking out , I saw Doug standing about three feet from the rubbish bin , holding the lid up with a stick and looking into the container . When I came out of the house , he dropped the stick and explained that there was something alive in our rubbish bin . Picking up the stick again , he held the lid up enough for me to see . I felt cold . But I stepped closer and looked harder . Without doubt it was my work . The hot sun had caused the dough to double in size and the fermenting yeast (酵母)made the surface shake and sigh as though it were breathing .It looked like some unknown being from outer space. I could see why Doug was so shaken. I had to admit what the 'living thing” was and why it was there . I don't know who was more embarrassed(尴尬)by the whole thing - Doug or me.

The writer's purpose in writing this story is ___________

A.to tell an interesting experience

B.to show the easiest way out of a difficulty

C.to describe the trouble facing a newly married woman

D.to explain the difficulty of learning to cook from books

Why did the woman's attempt at making the bread turn out to be unsuccessful?

A.The canned orange had gone bad.

B.She didn't use the right kind of flour.

C.The cookbook was hard to understand.

D.She did not follow the directions closely.

Why did the woman put the dough in the rubbish bin?

A.She didn't see the use of keeping it

B.She meant to joke with her husband.

C.She didn't want her husband to see it .

D.She hoped it would soon dry in the sun.

What made the dough in the rubbish bin look frightening?

A.The rising and falling movement.

B.The strange-looking marks.

C.Its shape.

D.Its size.

When Doug went out the third time , the woman looked out of the window because she was ______________.

A.surprised at his being interested in the bin

B.afraid that he would discover her secret

C.unhappy that he didn't enjoy the meal

D.curious to know what disturbed him

There is much more to growing up in a bilingual(双语的) family than learning two languages, and the cultural influences from both cultures are just as important.

In July we had a curious incident that shows the slight differences between cultures. My son has already changed a few of his baby teeth and since we lived in Italy we decided to go with the Italian version(版本) of the Tooth Fairy, which is not a fairy(仙女) but a little mouse. So last year when he lost his first tooth we had a visit from the little mouse who took the tooth away and left a rather good amount of coins --- when he lost the second tooth a few days later, however, the amount was significantly less! That in itself caused quite a few questions, but the real questions started when in July during a visit to the UK another tooth left my son’s mouth in Tooth Fairy land! The grandparents made a real problem out of it --- it was their first grandson’s tooth they got to say Goodbye to, so it was Tooth Fairy and rather generous, too!

The Qs & As

Son: Mum, how is the little mouse going to smell my tooth all this way? (as the story goes the little mouse smells a milk tooth and comes to collect it)

Me: No dear, it won’t! We are in England now so the Tooth Fairy will come.

Son: Oh, is she stronger than the little mouse? (I knew where this was going)

Me: She is very strong, and she is magic.

Son: What does the Tooth Fairy bring? (straight to the point)

Me: I am not sure. We’ll find out maybe a nice message.

Son: So is the little mouse coming too?

Me: No, it won’t make it all the way from Italy.

Son: But why don’t they have little mice in England?

Me: Because here the Tooth Fairy collects all baby teeth and she’s too fast, so the little mouse would always get there late.

Son: Oh!?

Italian kids are supposed to believe ________ will come and collect the milk teeth.

A. a little mouse

B. Tooth Fairy

C. their parents

D. the grandparents

The author thought Tooth Fairy would be rather generous because ________.

A. Italian parents often give much money for their kids’ lost baby teeth[

B. she knew Tooth Fairy was more generous than the little mouse 

C. she knew the grandparents would give her son a big gift

D. English people are usually more generous than Italians

Hearing “Oh, is she stronger than the little mouse?”, the author knew her son was actually worried about ________.

A. the tooth fairy’s health    

B. the little mouse’s coming

C. the amount of coins he could get

D. the story his grandparents know

By telling this story, the author intends to say it’s important to _________ in a bilingual family.

A. make kids know the folk stories

B. help kids choose one of the cultures

C. teach kids two languages

D. keep the balance of both cultures

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