There once was a little boy who wanted to meet the king. He set off, walking towards the king’s castle. After many years of walking, the king’s castle came into his view. However, as the boy drew closer to the outside of the castle, the guards noticed him.

“Get out of here!” ordered the guards.

Well, the little boy didn’t have to be told twice. He turned…and ran. All he wanted to do was to tell the king wonderful things, and see all the beautiful things in the king’s house. But he couldn’t even get near the castle! The boy finally stopped running, sat down and cried.

A young man happened to be coming down the path at the very moment. He saw the little boy and stopped. “What’s wrong, young man?” he asked.

“Sir, I walked and walked just to see the king. But these guards made me scared. I wanted to tell the king how lovely everything is and just tell the king that I just wanted to see him!”

The man looked at the little boy thoughtfully. “Look, why don’t you try again? I’ll come with you this time.”

The little boy got up and took the man’s hand. The king’s guards spotted them.

“Look, mister, we don’t have to do this…I don’t want you to get hurt. We can just turn around now.”

The man held the little boy’s hand and went on. The boy really thought the man might be crazy until he looked back up at the guards. They were all smiling now. The little boy was amazed.

“Who are you?” asked the little boy in astonishment.

“Why, I’m the king’s son. You can enter the castle and be with the king.” Said the man.

The little boy broke into a huge smile.

1.Why did the boy want to see the king?

A. To get some help from the king.

B. To invite the king to visit his beautiful village.

C. To share wonderful things with the king.

D. To ask the king to play with him.

2.What does the underlined sentence in the paragraph mean?

A. The little boy didn’t understand the guards’ words at first.

B. The guards repeated the words to the boy.

C. The little boy had been to the castle twice.

D. The little boy understood the guards’ words immediately.

3.According to the passage, the man is .

A. kind B. stupid C. ambitious D. mean

4.Which of the following best suits the story’s lesson for us?

A. Never judge a book by its cover.

B. Anything is possible if one tried hard enough.

C. Life can sometimes be unfair.

D. Make new friends and keep the old.

For most caffeine(咖啡因)consumers, its chief benefit is that it helps you get more done. This is what makes it unusual, says Stephen Braun, author of Buzz: The Science and Lore of Alcohol and Caffeine.

“Its appeal is that it helps us earn more money,” he adds. “What makes it different from other drugs is that it’s used as a productivity tool –– not for pleasure.”

Many of history’s creative minds have also been associated with a large amount of caffeine consumption.

According to one biographer, the French novelist and playwright Balzac drank as many as 50 cups of coffee a day. “Were it not for coffee one could not write, which is to say one could not live,” he once insisted.

For seven years, the film-maker David Lynch ate at the same Los Angeles diner every day, drinking up to seven sweetened cups of coffee “with lots of sugar” in one sitting, which he said would guarantee that “lots of ideas” arrived.

Ludwig van Beethoven was said to have painstakingly counted out exactly 60 coffee beans per cup when he brewed(煮)coffee.

Perhaps recent tales of caffeine excess featured the singer Robbie Williams, who reportedly consumed 36 cups of black coffee and 20 cans of Red Bull a day.

It is the routine task itself, as much as the stimulating(刺激的)effects of caffeine, that makes the process so important, says Mason Currey, author of Daily Rituals: How Artists Work. “A lot of artists use the process of making coffee as a gateway to the creative process,” he adds. “You need to get into the right mindset to do that sort of work, and the preparation process provides a focus.”

One problem with attempting to control caffeine, says Braun, is that it affects everyone differently –– it is impossible to work out a “safe” limit that works for everyone. “Eventually, you have to become your own scientist –– there isn’t an alternative to careful self-experimentation,” he says.

1.Stephen Braun mainly stresses caffeine’s _______.

A. creating ideas B. improving work efficiency

C. helping people to relax D. stimulating people

2.The examples of some famous people are given to show that _______.

A. most artists like drinking coffee

B. drinking coffee helps artists make more money

C. there’s a link between drinking coffee and creating ideas

D. drinking coffee makes artists become more successful

3.What leads to the artists’ creative process according to Mason Currey?

A. Getting a good mindset. B. Drinking the coffee.

C. Being lost in thought. D. Brewing the coffee.

4.What does Braun advise us to do in the end?

A. To drink less coffee.

B. Never to take more coffee than you need.

C. Never to limit caffeine use.

D. To work out a safe level of caffeine use.

完形填空,阅读下面短文,从短文后各题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

Lyse Doucet lives a happy life in Chicago. But recently there is some difficulty for her and her family. She and her husband have each other’s parents and young daughter and for that they are . But she and her husband are both currently . And their car is in great need of . And then there is the matter of their second child, who is soon. So things are a little tense for the Doucet family these days.

When Lyse and her daughter were walking through a store lot recently, Lyse picked up an envelop from the ground that $4,000 in cash. There were a _of different explanations that could be considered. Was this a kind of good ? Could it be an attempt by the universe to balance everything? Could it be simply a gift from God? Lyse didn’t know. The only thing she knew was that the cash in that envelope to someone else. Oh, and one other thing she knew was that her young daughter was . “My kid was standing right there I found it,” Lyse told WLS-TV in Chicago. “So basically I wanted to teach my daughter how to be . And for me that was enough.”

Never mind the bills that were , or the car that needed to be fixed, or the baby that would come soon. When she the money over to the police she was told that there was actually nothing illegal if she it.

The police were able to return the money to the person who it-- an old woman. And one can imagine the joy and she felt when the police handed the lost envelop back to her. “She came to my house and she was almost in tears, me,” Lyse said. “She gave me a hug and an envelope with a small in it. But what was in it wasn’t . What mattered was the opportunity to teach my daughter honesty.”

1.A. restricted B. upset C. grateful D. sensitive

2.A. appreciated B. unemployed C. disappointed D. removed

3.A. cash B. protection C. sale D. repair

4.A. sick B. due C. desperate D. dull

5.A. gathering B. begging C. cleaning D. parking

6.A. contained B. involved C. charged D. paid

7.A. handful B. deal C. number D. flood

8.A. expense B. luck C. hope D. prize

9.A. belonged B. reacted C. pointed D. responded

10.A. urging B. affecting C. laughing D. watching

11.A. before B. when C. because D. though

12.A. ripe B. loyal C. honest D. humorous

13.A. passing by B. giving away C. showing off D. piling up

14.A. turned B. watched C. got D. collected

15.A. checked B. made C. kept D. promoted

16.A. sent B. lost C. disliked D. generated

17.A. relief B. anxiety C. tension D. respect

18.A. comforting B. congratulatingC. thanking D. offending

19.A. option B. present C. envelope D. amount

20.A. important B. serious C. sufficient D. efficient

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