I really like reading and writing short stories. My favourite collection of short stories is a book called The Story Giant by Britain Patten , in which a giant , alone in a crumbling (将倒塌的) castle , knows all the stories in the world except one. He gets four children from different parts of the world to tell him stories in the hope that he will find the last story so he can stay alive. Do you think he finds the last story ?

　 I also like reading novels. One of my favourite novels is called Life of Pi . It is written by a Canadian called Yann Martel and is about an Indian boy who spends a long time at sea after a shipwreck (海难) alone with nobody but a tiger .

Not many people read plays these days but many people still enjoy watching them at the theatre or on television. As for me , I read scripts much more often than I go to see live theatre. I like plays which are either about great people and great events or about something from everyday life which is funny .

Perhaps the least popular form of literature is poetry. This is because many poems are very difficult to understand and often seem to be written by very clever people to be read by very clever people too. In my native England though there is a poet called Roger McGough who writes very funny and interesting poems which anybody can understand. Most of them are about everyday events and ordinary people. I wish I could write poems like him.

1. In writing this passage , the author probably intends to ___ .

A. develop students’ interest in books

B. recommend some excellent books

C. express his / her love for literature

D. streets the importance of reading

2. According to Paragraph 1, what will happen if the last story can’t be found ?

A.The story giant will die.　　 B. The kids will be killed .

C. The castle will disappear . D. There will be a shipwreck .

3. According to the author , which of the following have the smallest number of readers ?

A. Short stories.　 B. Novels . C. Plays .　 D. Poems

4. From the passage , we can know that the author was born in ____ .

A. Canada　 B. Britain　 C. India D. the US

Robert is said 　　　 abroad,but I don’t know what country he studied in.?

A.to have studied　 B.to study

C.to be studying　　 D.to have been studying

The ______(限制) on cigarette sales benefit people.

5. ________, the pay isn’t attractive enough, though the job itself is quite interesting.

A. Generally speaking　 B. On the contrary　 C. In particular D. To be honest

Sixty miles _______ in a single night, so they were exhausted.

A. is covered　　　 　　B. was covered　　　 C. are covered　　　　 D. has covered

He narrowly missed being seriously hurt, if not______, by the explosion.

A. killed 　　　 B. being killed　 　 C. be killed 　　　 D. to be killed

_____ their hats into the air ,the fans of the winning team let out loud shouts of victory.

A. To throw　　 B. Thrown　　　　　　 C. Throwing　　　 D. Being thrown

________ is reported in the newspaper is that some large coal mines have been discovered in the southeast of China in the past two years.

A. As 　　　　　　 　B. It 　　　　 　C. That 　　　　　 　D. What