题目内容
Reading Comprehension
Read the following passages, and choose the best answer that can answer the question.
Sally arrived early. As she walked around the old house, she couldn't help feeling sad because of what was about to happen. It was almost a year since her dear grandmother had passed away in this house at the age of ninety－two. The family had very much wanted to keep all her things. Unfortunately, the family business had failed and left them with heavy debts. The bank now forced them to have an auction(拍卖) sale to repay their debts. The auction was to be held today.
In the yard, all her grandma's things were neatly arranged, including dishes, old furniture, and this like. She found the quilt, which had been in her family for over one hundred years, lying on her grandma's bed as she always remembered it. If the quilt could talk, she thought, the stories it would surely tell! Her entire family history was contained within it.
As the auction began, Sally waited. Finally the time came to bid(出价) on the quilt. Sally held her purse tightly and listened. The first bid was 6 50. She was shocked. It was so high! Quickly. other people bid and soon the bidding reached to $ 85. It was now or never. Taking a deep breath, Sally shouted out “$ 100!”. For a moment, there was silence. Hope filled her. She glanced again at the quilt, thinking how pleased her grandma would have been with her at this moment.
Just then, from the back, another person shouted “$ 125.” In a moment, Sally's eyes filled with tears. She had lost her chance. She couldn't understand why so many people would be interested in that old, torn, dirty quilt. The quilt was finally sold for $ 500 to a complete stranger. For the rest of the auction, with an empty feeling inside her, Sally just bid for a few small things that reminded her of her childhood.
After the sale, she went to the counter to pay for these few things that were now hers. The woman at the cash register handed her a rather large box. When Sally opened it, there was the quilt. “There must be a mistake. Someone else got this,” she said. At this moment she noticed a handwritten note attached to the quilt with a safety pin, which read:
Dear Madam,
Before the auction, I noticed you admiring the quilt. Clearly, this object was very precious to you. Your sadness at losing the bid was so clear that it broke my heart. Though you don't know me, please accept this quilt as my gift. 1 don't expect repayment from you. I only ask that you do a similar favor in the future for a stranger who happens to cross your path.
Yours,
A Sentimental Stranger
1．What made sally sad is the fact that ________.
[ ]
A．her grandma had died
B．her family were in heavy debts
C．she had to move out of the house
D．her family had to sell her grandma's belongings
2．Sally wanted to own the quilt very much because ________.
[ ]
A．it was probably the oldest object in her family
B．she had used it for about a hundred years
C．it was so old that it seemed to contain the history of the family
D．she thought it was most beautiful quilt
3．Which of the following best describes Sally's feeling during the bidding for the quilt?
[ ]
A．As soon as she heard the bid, she was sure that she could get the quilt,
B．From the start of the bidding she was sure her bid would be the highest.
C．She was too anxious to know what other people said.
D．Before she bid, she thought her bid would be successful.
4．The underlined word “this” in the fifth paragraph of the passage refers to ________.
[ ]
5．The handwritten note in the box asked Sally ________.
[ ]
A．to repay the money some day
B．to do a favor for another person
C．to pay for the quilt with the stranger's money
D．to sell the quilt in another auction
ents are mostly from nontraditional families| Welcome to my Message Board! | |
| Subject Slimming down classics? | |
| Mr. Handsome  2007-5-12&24 AM | Orion Books,which decides there is a market in creating cut-down classics(经典著作)，is slimming down some novels by such great writers as L.Tolstoy,M.Mitchell and C.Bronte.Now,each of them has been whittled down to about 400 pages by cutting 30 to 40 per cent of the original,with words,sentences,paragraphs and,in a few cases,chapters removed.The first six shortened editions,all priced at ￡6.99 and advertised as great reads “in half the time”,will go on sale next month,with plans for 50 to 100 more to follow.The publishing house believes that modern readers will welcome the shorter versions. |
| Mr. Edwards  2007-5-12 9:40 AM | Well,I’m publisher of Orion Group.Thanks for your attention,Mr.Handsome. I must say,the idea developed from a game of “shame”in my office.Each of us was required to confess(承认)to the most embarrassing blanks in his or her reading.I admitted that I had never read Anna Karenina and tried but failed to get through Gone with the Wind several times.One of my colleagues acknowledged skipping(跳读)Jane Eyre.We realised that life is too short to read all the books you want to and we never were going to read these ones. As a leading publishing house,we are trying to make classics convenient for readers but it’s not as if we’re withdrawing the original versions.They are still there if you want to read them. |
Ms.Weir 2007-5-12 11:35 AM | I’m director of the online bookclub www.lovereading.co.uk. Mr.Edwards,I think your shortened editions is a breath of fresh air.I’m guilty of never having read Anna Karenina,because it’s just so long.I’d much rather read two 300-page books than one 600-page book.I am looking forward to more shortened classics! |
| Mr. Crockatt  2007-5-124:38 PM | I’m from the London independent bookshop Crockatt & Powell. In my opinion,the practice is completely ridiculous.How can you edit the classics?I’m afraid reading some of these books is hard work,and that is why you have to develop as a reader.If people don’t have time to read Anna Karenina,then fine.But don’t read a shortened version and kid yourself it’s the real thing. |
| A．opposes the reading of original classics |
| B．is embarrassed for cutting down classics |
| C．thinks cut-down classics have a bright future |
| D．is cautious in its decision to cut down classics |
| A．make them easier to read |
| B．meet a large demand in the market |
| C．increase the sales of literary books |
| D．compete with their original versions |
| A．speaks highly of the cut-down classics |
| B．shows gailty of the original classics |
| C．feels guilty of not reading the classics |
| D．disapproves of shortening the classics |
| A．reading the classic works is a confusing attempt |
| B．shortening the classics does harm to the original |
| C．publishing the cub-down classics is a difficult job |
| D．editing the classic works satisfies children’s needs |
Britain is set to face an increase in cold winters, with up to one-in-seven hitting the UK with longer periods of time when temperatures are below freezing, a study has suggested．The prediction was based on research that found out how low solar activi
ty affected winter weather patterns．
However, the researchers were eager to stress that their findings did not suggest that the region was about to fall suddenly into a "little ice age"．The findings appear in the journal Environmental Research Letters．"We could get to the point where one-in-seven winters are very cold, as we had at the start of last winter and all through the winter before last," said co-author Mike Lockwood, professor of space environment physics at the University of Reading．
Using the Central England Temperature （CET） record, the world's longest instrumental data series that dates back to 1659, the team said that in general temperatures during recent winters had been obviously lower than the longer-term temperatures．"The mean CET for December, January and February for the recent relatively cold winters of 2008 ~ 2009 and 2009~2010 were 3．50℃ and 2．53℃ respectively," they wrote．
"However, the mean value for the previous 20 winters had been 5．04℃．The series of lower winter temperatures in the UK during the last three years had raised questions about the probability of more similar, or even colder, winters occurring in the future．"
Last year．Professor Lockwood and colleagues published a paper that found a link between fewer sunspots and atmospheric conditio
ns that "blocked" warm westerly winds reaching Europe during winter months, opening the way for cold easterly winds from the Arctic and Russia to sweep across the region．Professor Lockwood, while acknowledging that there were a range of possible meteorological factors （气象因素） that could influence blocking events, said the latest study moved things forward by showing that there was "impro
vement in the predictive skill" when solar activity was taken into consideration．
【小题1】We can know from the second paragraph that _____．
| A．research shows that Britain will soon fall into an ice age |
| B．Mike Lockwood's research focuses on space environment physics |
| C．it was quite cold in Britain over the entire winter last year |
| D．so far one-in-seven winters have been very cold in Britain |
| A．average | B．stable | C．ungenerous | D．changeable |
| A．It was sunspots that blocked warm westerly winds reaching Europe． |
| B．Meteorological factors hardly have any influence on blocking events． |
| C．The latest study done by Professor Lockwood was of little practical value． |
| D．Considering solar activity or not affects the accuracy of weather forecasting． |
| A．Another big danger approaching the UK |
| B．Research finds out solar activity is to blame for the cold |
| C．UK faces more cold winters due to weaker solar activity |
| D．Changes in weather patterns should be responsible for low solar activity |