Mr. Brown was on his way home from the railway station. It was very late, and he was alone on the dark road. Suddenly he heard someone behind him. He began to walk faster. The man behind him walked faster, too. He walked more slowly, and the man moved more slowly, too. He began to run, and the man was following him and he was really scared.
There was a wall on one side of the road, and he quickly climbed up on it and jumped down on the other side. “If he passes and doesn’t stop,” Mr. Brown thought, “everything will be all right.” But the man didn’t pass. He climbed up on the wall and jumped down, too. Mr. Brown’s only thought was, “I’m in great danger!” He stood up and shouted, “What do you want? Why are you following me?”
The man was so tired that at first it was difficult for him to speak. “I didn’t know that you were a very good runner,” he said at last, “I have to go to Mr. White’s house, but I don’t know the way. A man at the station told me that you lived next to Mr. White’s and he told me to follow you. I’m too tired to go any farther （更远）.”
（  ） 1. Mr. Brown came home from _____.
A. the police station                   B. the railway station
C. the hospital                       D. Mr. White’s house
（  ） 2. Mr. Brown was really _____.
A. in great danger               B. a policeman
C. afraid of the man            D. too tired to move
（  ） 3. The man followed Mr. Brown because _____.
A. he wanted to scare Mr. Brown         
B. he wanted to get some money from Mr. Brown
C. Mr. Brown lived next to Mr. White
D. Mr. Brown was one of his good friends
（  ） 4. The man was _____.
A. a thief                      B. a good runner
C. too tired to speak            D. very angry with Mr. Brown
（  ） 5. Which is wrong?
A. There were few people on the road.
B. The man didn’t know where Mr. White lived.
C. Mr. Brown thought he was in great danger.
D. Mr. Brown didn’t know where Mr. White lived.

　When I was at university，I studied very hard．But a lot of my friends did very little work．Some did just enough to pass exams．Others didn’t do quite enough．Fred Baines was one of them．He spent more time drinking in the Students’ Union than working in the library．

　　Once at the end of the term，we had to take an important test in chemistry．The test had a hundred questions. In my room the night before the test，Fred was watching TV．Fred usually worried a lot the night before a test．But on that night he looked perfectly calm．Then he told me of his plan．“It’s very simple．There are a hundred questions and I have to get fifty correct to pass the test．I’ll take a coin into the examination room．I haven’t studied a chemistry book for months，so I’ll just toss the coin．That way，I’m sure I’ll get half the questions right．”

　　The next day，Fred came happily into the exam room．As he sat tossing a coin for half an hour he marked down his answers．Then he left，half an hour before the rest of us．

　　The next day，he saw the chemistry professor in the corridor．“Oh，good，”he said，“Have you got the result of the test?”The professor looked at him and smiled，“Ah，it’s you，Baines．Just a minute．”Then he reached into his pocket and took out a coin．He threw it into the air，caught it in his hand and looked at it．

　　“I’m terribly sorry，Baines，”he said，“You failed!”

1.This story mainly wants to tell us ________．

A．chemistry is really hard to learn

B．there were too many questions for students to prepare for

C．good exam results needs hard study

D．tossing a coin can not always decide the result

2.Fred Baines was one of those who ________．

A．did just enough to pass the exam

B．didn’t work hard enough for their studies

C．had too much other work for the Students’ Union

D．were quite good at passing exams

3.Fred came happily into the exam room because ________．

A．he had got ready for the exam

B．he knew the answers already

C．the other students would be behind him

D．he had his way to finish the exam

4.The chemistry exam in fact ________．

A．was not very hard

B．took the other students an hour to finish

C．had more than one hundred questions

D．needed to be done by tossing a coin

5.The professor tossed the coin to tell Baines that ________．

A．he was satisfied with his way for the exam

B．he wanted to make friends with him

C．his way for the exam would never work

D．the exam result depended on the coin

There are hundreds of funny and strange expressions in the English language. A lot of them include country names or nationalities. Take these examples:
The Dutch（丹麦人）are the target of most English expressions about nationalities. Why are there so many jokes about the Dutch in English? And what do these expressions mean? In the 17th and early 18th centuries, there were three wars between the British and the Dutch, and Dutch became a bad word. So double Dutch means something that has no meaning or is impossible to understand. A Dutch uncle is someone who gives much stronger advice than they need to. There are later expressions, which are funnier and kinder, like to go Dutch, which is nowadays a popular expression. It means to pay for your part of a bill. This often happens when a group of friends have a meal together, and each person pays for the food they ate. I’m a Dutchman is another commonly used expression. This means not being able to believe something.
An expression with a similar meaning to double Dutch is it’s all Greek to me, which means I don’t understand. The expression was made famous in Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar although the expression is actually hundreds of years older.
If you take French leave, you are not present or leave somewhere without permission. For example, you could take French leave from a classroom or the place where you work. This expression is from the 18th century when French people left parties without saying goodbye to the host or hostess.
There are Chinese whispers, which mean confused（令人困惑的）messages. This describes the fact that a message can often change as it is passed from person to person. This expression comes from the First World War when foreigners were often confused by Chinese language.
Many people find English expressions confusing, but now that you know about some of them, you can easily have fun finding out many more funny English expressions.
【小题1】Are there many jokes about the Dutch in English?
【小题2】When did Dutch become a bad word?
【小题3】What does “French leave” mean?
【小题4】Which three expressions mentioned above have similar meanings?
【小题5】What do the funny and strange expressions in the passage have in common?

短文填空 根据短文内容及首字母提示，补全空格内单词，使短文完整、通顺。（请在答题卡上写出完整单词）（本大题共10小题，满分10分）

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: “I am blind, please help.” There were only a few coins in the h  1. .

A man was w  2.  by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, wrote some words on the other side of it. Then he put the sign back s__3.__ that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot m  4.  people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had c  5. the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, “Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?”

The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a d  6.  way.”

What he had written was: “Today is a beautiful day, b  7.  I cannot see it.”

Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing? Of course b8.  signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign s 9.  said the boy was blind. The second sign told people they were so l  10.  that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Mark Twain was a great American    1  . He was also a famous speaker. Many people liked to listen to his   2  .

One day Mark Twain was going to a small town  3  his writing.  4  he was going to leave, one of his friends said to him that there were always a lot of mosquitoes (蚊子) in the town. Mark Twain said, “  5  I don’t think the mosquitoes will come to visit me.

After he   6   the town, Mark Twain stayed in a small hotel near the station. He went into his room, but when he was just about to have a rest, quite a few mosquitoes flew about him. The waiter felt very sorry about that.  “ I’m very sorry, Mr. Mark Twain. There are    7   mosquitoes in our town,” he said.

Mark Twain ,  however,   8  a joke, saying to the waiter, “ the mosquitoes are very   9  . They know my    10   number. They didn’t come to the wrong room.”

1.                A．writer          B．singer          C．painter   D．astronaut

2.                A．to talk          B．talking          C．talk  D．talks

3.                A．thank for       B．because of      C．get on with    D．take part in

4.                A．After          B．In front of       C．Since     D．Before

5.                A．It doesn’t matter.                  B．I’m sorry for that.  C．Good idea. D．You’re welcome.

6.                A．arrived at       B．arrived to       C．get to    D．reached in

7.                A．too much       B．much too        C．too many D．many too

8.                A．makes          B．has made       C．was making    D．made

9.                A．clean          B．clear           C．clever    D．happy

10.               A．hotel          B．room          C．hospital   D．bed