Alicia was a young woman who liked to exercise for her health. In fact, she walked five kilometers before    26   every morning, and went swimming once a week at the swimming pool. She didn’t smoke and never    27   . She didn’t eat chocolate. She didn’t eat sweet and

fatty food,    28   . She weighted herself every day.

One day Alicia was on her daily walk when she saw a    29    sitting in a rocking chair under a tree. He looked very old and his hair was white. He looked thin and weak, and his hands were shaking,   30    he looked very happy.

He smiled at her and said, “Good morning! Lovely day, isn’t it?”

He had a wide smile    31    his face, and his eyes shone with happiness. But Alicia saw that he did not have teeth.

“Good morning!” replied Alicia. “Yes, it is a lovely day.”

Alicia thought he    32   very old and wise. She thought he must be at least 90 years old! She decided to ask him about the    33    of a happy old age.”

“I hope you don’t    34    me asking,” she said, “but what is your secret for being so happy at your age? I hope I can look as happy as you do    35    I am your age.”

The man in the rocking chair said, “My secret for   36   ? I smoke twenty packets of cigarettes every week, and drink three bottles of wine every day. I eat hamburgers and chocolates whenever I want. I never eat vegetables. I never walk anywhere and I never play sports. I sit at home every day.”

Alicia was    37   . She didn’t expect the man to give her an answer like that. She wondered how the man got to be so old when he did    38    wrong. She thought he should be    39    and unhappy. Perhaps she was wrong. Maybe, she thought, people could live a long happy life    40    eating well or doing lots of exercise.

“How old are you?” she asked.

“It’s my birthday today,” said the man. “I’m forty-seven!”

1. A. lunch         B. breakfast    C. dinner           D. supper

2. A. exercised         B. drank        C. worked           D. slept

3. A. too               B. also         C. either           D. still

4. A. man               B. woman        C. boy          D. girl

5. A. so            B. but              C. and          D. or

6. A. in            B. with         C. at               D. on

7. A. saw               B. looked           C. listened         D. found

8. A. secret        B. dream        C. plan         D. future

9. A. stand         B. mind         C. allow        D. enjoy

10. A. when         B. since        C. though           D. for

11. A. health           B. success          C. happiness   D. life

12. A. surprised        B. worried          C. excited          D. relaxed

13. A. something        B. anything     C. everything       D. nothing

14.A. angry             B. serious     C. quiet        D. sick

15. A. through          B. from         C. without          D. by

Dear Alice,
I just received your letter. And I was very surprised to know that you decided to drop out of school and wanted to be a model（模特）.
Being a model for a living is not easy. In fact, a famous person like me has a lot of problems that you couldn’t see. I can’t eat what I like, even though I’m very hungry. Keeping thin makes me look more beautiful on the stage because no one would like to see a heavy model.
Besides, I have to wear a heavy coat in the hot sun, in a swimming suit in the cold air. And practicing walking nicely every day is tiring for me.
You might say I made much money from modeling. But my dear niece （侄女）, you have to know that money is nothing, knowledge is everything. School is important and everyone should go to school for a certain period of time. The longer they stay at school, the better they will be. Very often, I hope I can give up my job and continue my studies at school. But it is very difficult for me to go back to school again. I am too old to go back to school now.
You are a pretty young girl with a bright future. You only have one year to finish your studies in high school. A year is really short. Please do consider my words carefully before you decide. Of course, there is only one thing I care about, and that is your happiness.
Love,
Emma
【小题1】What was Emma surprised about?

Last summer vacation, I volunteered to work at a vet’s（兽医诊所）. There I saw a lot of dogs. Minnie was the funniest-looking dog I’d ever seen. Short thin curly hair covered her sausage-shaped（香肠形）body. Her eyes always seemed surprised. And her tail looked like a rat’s tail.

She was brought to the vet because her owners didn’t want her any more. I thought Minnie had a sweet personality, though.“No one should judge her by her looks,”I thought. Finally, I advertised Minnie in the local paper.“Funny-looking dog, well-behaved, needs a loving family.”

When a boy called, I warned him that Minnie was strange-looking. The boy on the phone told me that his grandfather’s sixteen-year-old dog had just died. They wanted Minnie no matter what. I gave Minnie a good bath. Then we waited for them to arrive. At last, an old car pulled up in front of the vet’s. Two kids raced to the door. They picked Minnie up and rushed her out to their grandfather, who was waiting in the car. I hurried behind them to see his reaction to Minnie. Inside the car, the grandfather held Minnie in his arms and stroked her soft hair. She licked（舔）his face. Her tail wagged（摇摆）around so quickly that it looked like it might fly off her body.

“She’s perfect!”the old man said happily.

I was thankful that Minnie had found a good home.

Suddenly, I saw that the grandfather’s eyes were a milky white colour—he was blind.

1.The last three sentences in the first paragraph tell us      .

A. how funny Minnie looked          B. how well Minnie behaved

C. Minnie was a beautiful dog       D. Minnie was dying

2.Why did the writer advertise Minnie in the local newspaper?

A. Because he wanted to sell her at a good price.

B. Because he didn’t want her any more, either.

C. Because he wanted to find a family for her.

D. Because he wanted to have another dog.

3.Why did the boy who called the writer want Minnie?

A. Because he loved all kinds of dogs very much.

B. Because he had seen Minnie and loved her very much.

C. Because his grandfather’s dog was too old.

D. Because his grandfather’s dog had just died.

4.The underlined word“stroke”may mean      .

A. 抚摸         B. 拔           C. 剪           D. 揪

5.Which of the following is TRUE?

A. Minnie wasn’t the type of dog the old man loved.

B. The old man couldn’t see how funny Minnie looked.

C. Minnie knew very well how to make others dislike her.

D. Minnie was like the old man’s dog which had just died

The question whether there is life on Mars (火星) has made the public think a lot for more than a century. The closest look showed Mars to be a dusty, cold world, covered by air too thin to breathe. A British spaceship and Europe's Mars spaceship plan to land on Mars or enter orbit (轨道) around it. One of the NASA’s (美国宇航局) spaceships is expected to land on January 3, the other is going to land on the opposite side of Mars on January 24. Since 1960, over twenty spaceships sent to Mars have failed. Most have been lost on flying up or landing because those are the most difficult times of any flights.     Scientists wanted to find out whether there was water in Mars. In October, a team of scientists reported that Mars had been a dry wasteland. But weeks later, a second team reported differently that they had found some marks showed clearly that they were made by the rivers. Such marks told us that Mars was a warmer place billions of years ago — just as life first appeared here on Earth. Scientists at once raise a question: if what they said is true, what happened on Mars? Then what about the earth?
【小题1】Which is right about Mars?