If you had a strange sound in your ear, what would you do? One man in Wales who thought he had a fly in his ear called 999, the emergency services number in Britain. And so did a woman who was worried about her green potatoes. Could she make chips with them? Were they poisonous? She didn’t hesitate about calling the local ambulance service to ask. According to a recent report, more than 31,000 non-urgent calls were made to the Welsh Ambulance Service in the last year.

Inappropriate calls are a headache for health professionals everywhere. In the US, prank calls to 911 happen on a daily basis. Many callers use apps which hide their identity. But those who try to be funny shouldn’t be surprised if the police have the last laugh. One man from Colorado was arrested for making more than 1,200 prank calls, according to a report on the US television station KOAA—TV.

People who take these calls are trained to stay calm and keep a straight face, no matter how strange the call sounds. “There’s no way for us to know whether the call is real, accidental or a prank call,” said a public safety worker interviewed by the American TV channel.

The Head of Clinical Services at the Welsh Ambulance Service, Richard Lee, has a warning for prank callers. He says:“ When people misuse the service it means our precious time is being taken away from someone who really does need our help.” Indeed, these hotlines are supposed to help the seriously ill or those with a life-threatening injury. You never know, one day, the person who needs assistance could be you or someone in your family.

1.How does the author introduce the topic of the text?

A. By giving examples. B. By telling a story.

C. By listing figures. D. By making a comparison.

2.According to the text, prank calls are usually________.

A. meant to be helpful B. dealt with in time

C. thought highly of D. made to play tricks

3.What does the underlined phrase “have the last laugh” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A. win at last. B. never find them.

C. laugh at them. D. know nothing.

4.What does the author intend to suggest in the text?

A. Prank calls are usually easy to identify.

B. Operators feel annoyed by strange callers.

C. Prank calls may cause serious results.

D. Prank callers should be punished by law.

I had recently arrived in London and I wanted to see some of the famous places. Should I go to the seaside? Or maybe one of the famous parks? I walked along the street, past a kindergarten playground, and suddenly saw an underground railway station. I was surprised because it was not on my map. I went to buy a ticket. The ticket-seller looked very old. He gave me a ticket, said "Remember it's a return", laughed and walked away without taking my money. Was it special for tourists?

A train arrived. I could not see any other passengers. I got on and the doors closed. I suddenly felt I should not have got onto the train. It started to go faster and faster, shooting along the tracks. As it entered the tunnel, everything became as dark as midnight and I do not remember the next few minutes. The train came to a station and I got out. I could see light shining in the distance so I walked towards it and came to a door. Beyond it there was a busy street.

There were lots of English people walking about, and I could see some of the famous buildings of London, but there was something wrong. The people's clothes were strange. There were no cars, no motorbikes—but there were horses everywhere. Was someone making a film?

“Excuse me,” I said to a man. “Would you mind telling me where I am and what is happening?”

“What do you mean? Who are you? Where do you come from? Are you from China? This is London and everyone's going to work. Can't you see that?” he asked.

“Thank you, sir. I'm sorry, but could I look at your newspaper?” I asked.

“You can have it,” he said as he walked off.

I looked at it; I saw “New Bicycle Law” and above that “July 5, 1880”.

Maybe I should have walked around, but I ran back to the door. I waited a long time. I was very afraid. A train came. I got on. It took me back to the first station. As I left, a woman asked, “What were you doing in that abandoned station?” I had no answer, but I still had the newspaper in my hand.

1.Why was the author surprised at the beginning of the story?

A. Because he suddenly saw an underground railway station.

B. Because he walked past a kindergarten playground.

C. Because the ticket-seller looked very old.

D. Because he couldn’t find the station on his map.

2.What does the underlined “it” in the second paragraph most probably mean?

A. The train. B. The light.

C. The distance. D. The door

3.Why did the author think he had arrived in a film-making scene?

A. Because he could see some of the famous buildings of London.

B. Because he had done something wrong in the street of London.

C. Because he could only see horses rather than cars in the streets.

D. Because the people in the streets were all neatly dressed.

4.According to the passage, New Bicycle Law might be _______.

A. The name for a London street.

B. The name for a film made in London.

C. The name for a newspaper article

D. The name for a underground station.

5.Where can this passage most probably be taken from?

A. In a storybook.

B. In a math textbook.

C. In a travel guidebook.

D. In a scientific experiment report.

CANYOUMAGINEHOWHARDITWOULDBETOREADSENTENCESLIKES?

Every one of us gets so used to punctuation marks that not many of us give them a secondthought.Actually,the ancient Greeks wrote this way.The lack of punctuation marks probably didn’t bother good readers,though.As they read,they just put pauses where they fit best. Also at this time,sentences switched directions.A sentence read from leftto right.The next one read right to left,and then left to right again,etc.The ancient Romans sometimes punctuatedlike this:They put somethingthat can separate words in a sentence.The wordpunctuationactually comes from this idea andthe Latin word“punctum”which means a lot.

When the 5th century arrived,there were just twopunctuation marks:spaces and points.The spaces separated words while the points showed pauses in reading.Then in the 13th century,a printer named Aldus Manutius tried to standardize punctuation.He always used a period for a complete stop at the end of a sentence.He used a slash(/)toindicate a short pause.Over time.that slash was shortened and curled,and it became the modern comma(逗号).

Since that time,other marks have enlarged the punctuation family.The exclamation mark(感叹号)comes from the Latin word“io”.It means “exclamation of joy”.The question mark originally started out as the Latin word“questio”,meaning“question”.Eventually,scholars put it attheend of a sentence to show a question.

Punctuation even keeps changing nowadays.New marks are coming into existence,and old punctuation marks are used in new ways.Take for example the“interrobang”.This 1962 invention combines the question mark and exclamation mark for times when writers want both.For example.“She did what?!”or“How much did you pay for that dress?!”Obviously,the interrobang is not widelyused or recognized yet,but its invention shows that English is not yet finishedwith its punctuation.

1.From the first paragraph,we can know that__________.

A.good readers had trouble reading without punctuation marks

B.a sentence always read from left to right in ancient Greece

C.ancient Greeks switched the direction of punctuation marks

D.the use of punctuation marks can date back to ancient times

2.We can learn from the passage that___________.

A.ancient Romans didn’t use any punctuation marks

B.exclamation and question marks came from Latin

C.spaces and slashes were already used before the 5th century

D.Aldus Manutiusfast started to use commas

3.What can be concluded from the last paragraph?

A.The combinationoftwo marks will not work.

B.It takes time for people to accept new punctuation marks.

C.Old punctuation marks need to be standardized.

D.Punctuation marks are still changing today.

Somebody Loves You

One miserable rainy night,a man named Mark decided to end his life.In his mid-fifties,Mark had never been married. the joy of having children or spent holidays with his family.Wet and unhappy,he walked along the streets,feeling as if there was in the entire world that cared whether he lived or died

,1 was sitting in my room watching the rain hit my window.When I heard the doorbell ring,I jumped from my chair and Out.But my mother was already at the door.Opening it,she found herself face-to-face with a very dirty-looking man with tears streaming down his face.My mother,overcome by ,invited the man inside,and he sat with my parents in our living room.

,1 walked secretly downstairs so that I could get a better look.I couldn't understand what they were saying,but the of the man,holding his head in his hands and crying,made my chest ache.I raced back upstairs to my room and my hand into my money jar.Pulling out my only half-dollar coin,I ran back downstairs.

When I the door of the living room,I walked right in.The three adults looked at me in as I quickly made my way over the stranger.I put the half-dollar in his hand and told him that I wanted him to have it.Then I gave him a ,turned and ran as fast as I could out of the room and back upstairs.I felt excited but happy

Downstairs,Mark sat quietly with his head .Tears streamed down his face as he tightly held that coin.Finally looking up at my parents,he said,"It’s that I thought nobody cared.For the last twenty years,I have been so .That is the first hug I have ever got.It’s hard to believe that somebody_ .”

Mark's life changed that night.When he left our house,he was to live instead of die. we never saw Mark again,we received letters from him every once in a while,letting us know that he was doing fine

My life changed that night,too,as I witnessed the hue healing power of .even if it’s only a gift of fifty cents.

Before Mark left,my parents asked him why he had knocked on our door.Mark said that he'd walked along the streets that rainy night,helpless and ready to ,he had noticed a sticker on the car.It read:SOMEBODY LOVES YOU.

1.A. believed B. noticed C. experienced D. understood

2.A. everybody B. somebody C. anybody D. nobody

3.A. Later B. First C. Afterwards D. Meanwhile

4.A. looked B. raced C. spoke D. broke

5.A. pity B. anxiety C. guilty D. fear

6.A. Worried B. Curious C. Puzzled D. Annoyed

7.A. sense B. thought C. sight D. look

8.A. shook B. Luck C. pushed D. forced

9.A. answered B. fixed C. found D. reached

10.A. anger B. delight C. peace D. surprise

11.A. hug B. kiss C. smile D. handshake

12.A. held B. turned C. bowed D. raised

13.A. just B. still C. also D. even

14.A. anxious B. stressed C. lonely D. bored

15.A. cares B. gets C. makes D. knows

16.A. lucky B. proud C. hesitant D. ready

17.A. Since B. When C. Although D. Unless

18.A. receiving B. giving C. loving D. taking

19.A. if B. as C. until D. before

20.A. die B. cry C. leave D. regret

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