When Charles Strattion was five, he stopped growing. His mother took him to see the famous showman, P. T. Barnum, and thought a small person would be the perfect addition to his show. He hired Charles’ parents along with him, and they traveled around the world together.
He gave the two-foot-tall Charles a new name, general Tom Thumb. He taught Tom how to sing, dance, act, and tell jokes. When he felt Tom was ready to perform on stage, he made up ads. To stir up great interest, he said that Tom was eleven years old and had come from England.
Tom’s act was very popular and brought in a lot of money. By the time Tom was an adult, he had grown very rich. He had become a billionaire at the age of twenty-five.
Fortunately for Tom, Mr. Barnum added more little people to his show, and Tom became lucky in love as well. One of the little people was Lavinia Warren, a school teacher. Tom was able to win her love, and they married.
The ceremony and reception were the talk of the town. They were attended by many rich and famous people and by about two thousand guests. Crowds filled the street of New York to have a look at their tiny wedding carriage. The couple even met with President Abraham Lincoln on their honeymoon, just before going to live in Tom’s house in Connecticut.
Their wedding, which took place during the Civil War, provided a welcome escape from the sad problems of war. Not willing to let this bit of sunshine fade, communities throughout the country held Tom Thumb’s weddings. In these weddings, small boys and girls, all dressed up, went through marriage ceremony for fun.
【小题1】“the talk of the town” means      .

A.they were in the newspaper
B.people spread many rumors about them
C.they were the most popular things happening
D.they were discussed in a city meeting
【小题2】What does the author think about Tom Thumb’s wedding?
A.People gave it too much of their attention.
B.It helped people cheer up in a dark time
C.It was funny and ridiculous
D.Tom and Lavinia were stupid.
【小题3】Which of the following is the best description of the fact that Tom was smart?
A.He became a billionaire at twenty-five
B.He learned how to sing, dance, and act at a very young age.
C.He met with President Lincoln during his honeymoon
D.He married a school teacher.
【小题4】It was very funny when Tom danced on a wooden plate held by a person who was eight feet tall because      .
A.the wooden plate would make it sound as of Tom were tap dancing
B.it made Tom feel taller
C.the eight-foot-tall man was the only tall person Tom trusted
D.the difference between them would make Tom look even smaller
【小题5】What does the author imply in the last paragraph?
A.Weddings always make people feel full of sunshine
B.People are always disappointed during wartime
C.Entertainment can serve an important purpose
D.People should be married even if they are small

_____, everyone present was amused by his adventure story in Africa.

A. Absurd as might it sound       B. As it might sound absurd

C. As absurd it might sound        D. Absurd as it might sound

 

Studying volcanoes is a demanding profession. Hazel Rymer frequently has to struggle through rainforests, climb to the top of mountains, then climb 200 metres into the crater of active volcanoes. But the 38-year-old volcanologist does her best to make it sound less alarming than it is. “Driving to work is more risky,” she insists. “And the deepest I go into the crater of a volcano is about 300 metres,” she adds, trying to make it all sound as ordinary as taking the dog for a walk.

Hazel has been studying volcanoes for a long time, so it’s not surprising she is used to the danger. Her interest in volcanoes began at school. A teacher gave her a book about Pompeii. “I remember reading about the eruption of Vesuvius and the destruction of the city,” she explains. “The thought of all those people just frozen in time had quite an effect on me and I am still excited by their dangerous beauty today.”

Nowadays, volcanoes are getting more and more unpredictable. There have been many changes in sea level caused by global warming and melting ice caps. These have resulted in some dormant volcanoes erupting, so studying them is more dangerous than ever before. Hazel says that although she doesn’t take any unnecessary risk she has had some frightening moments. Her worst experience was on the slopes of Mount Etna in Sicily, when she was slowly surrounded by lava. “I had a choice of walking ten hours to get around the lava flow or just walking across it,” she explains. She chose to pick a path across the cooler rocks in the lava stream. “I guess it was five metres. The flow was 1,000°C, so if you hesitated your boots would begin to melt. It was scary, but it really was a practical decision --- there wasn't time to do anything else.”

And what about the future? “I haven’t been to the volcanoes in Indonesia yet. And I would love to spend some time working in the Antarctic,” she says. “I would also like to know why quiet lava flows erupt from some volcanoes and why other volcanoes go bang.” In other words, Hazel Rymer won’t be exchanging her volcanoes for the relative safety of driving to work just yet.

1.Hazel’s claim that “driving to work is more risky” than exploring volcanoes shows that ______.

A. people have exaggerated the dangers of volcanoes in the past

B. Hazel does not really understand the dangerous situations she puts herself in.

C. there are many bad drivers in the place where Hazel lives

D. Hazel is being modest and understating the dangers she faces

2.When did Hazel first become interested in volcanoes?

A. When she was visiting Italy.

B. When she was at school.

C. When she was twenty.

D. When she saw Vesuvius.

3.The underlined word “these” (in paragraph 3) refers to __________.

A. melting ice-caps         B. volcanic eruptions

C. changes in sea level         D. higher temperatures

4.When Hazel was on Mount Etna she had to ________.

A. take a dangerous route

B. take an unnecessary risk

C. leave her boots behind

D. walk for ten hours around the mountain

5.In the future, Hazel wants to ________.

A. revisit volcanoes she knows

B. go on holiday to the Antarctic

C. find a less dangerous job

D. discover new things about volcanoes

 

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