A young woman was driving through the lonely countryside. It was dark and raining. Suddenly she saw an old woman by the side of the road, holding her hand out as if she wanted a lift.

   “I can’t leave her out in this weather,” the woman said to herself, so she stopped the car and opened the door.

   “Do you want a lift?” she asked. The old woman nodded and climbed into the car. After a while, she said to the old woman, “Have you been waiting for a long time?” The old woman shook her head. “Strange,” thought the young woman. She tried again. “Bad weather for the time of year,” she said. The old woman nodded. No matter what the young woman said, the hitchhiker(搭车者) gave no answer except for a nod of the head or a shrug(耸肩).

   Then the young woman noticed the hitchhiker’s hands, which were large and hairy. Suddenly she realized that the hitchhiker was actually a man! She stopped the car. “ I can’t see out of the rear screen,” she said, “Would you mind clearing it for me?”

   The hitchhiker nodded and opened the door. As soon as the hitchhiker was out of the car, the terrified young woman raced off.

   When she got to the next village she pulled up. She noticed that the hitchhiker had left his handbag behind. She picked it up and opened it. She gave a gasp. Inside the bag was a gun.

The woman stopped the car because _______.

   A. the old woman asked her to        B. she recognized the old woman

   C. she knew what the woman wanted   D. she wanted to helped the old woman

What made the woman feel strange about the old woman?

   A. That she kept nodding her head          B. That she was unable to speak

   C. That she gave no answer to her questions  D. That she had large and hairy hands

The young woman asked the hitchhiker to clear the rear screen because _______.

   A. this is the way she thought of to get rid of him   B. the hitchhiker frightened her

   C. the hitchhiker was very helpful   D. she couldn’t see out of the rear screen

The hitchhiker left the bag with a gun in it behind because_______.

A. he wanted to give her a warning  

B. he had not expected the woman would leave him behind in the rain

C. it was his present for her  

D. he wanted to kill her with the gun

If I see one more article about how wonderful alternative energy is compared to oil, I will flip(翻页). Alternative energy sources can be good---- very good in fact. And it’s pretty obvious that we’re going to need them, and that our dependence on oil is a Bad Thing. But accepting that does not mean accepting that any kind of alternative energy is a good thing.
To be a good thing, it has to have three properties: 1) It has to help reduce our dependence on oil, 2) It has to be no worse for the environment, and 3) It has to be economically practical.
Many of the things praised meet one or even two of those properties. Solar panels, for example. They can reduce our need for oil, at least in certain regions, and they’re certainly not bad for the environment. But they’re expensive. If you spend the money to make your home solar-powered, you probably won’t get back your costs for at least 15 years, which approaches the lifespan of the panels.
Certainly we need to clean up our act big time and find workable sources of alternative energy. But we also have to keep in mind that every one of these alternative-energy sources comes at a cost, which is something people seem to forget. They hear the phrase “alternative energy” and automatically assume it’s got to be good. But green isn’t always good, and oil isn’t always bad.
One seemingly “green” technology that pops up again and again is electric cars. It is praised by well-meaning people as good for the environment and a way to reduce our oil dependence, especially as oil prices continue to rise.
Electric cars are dirty. In fact, not only are they dirty, they might even be more dirty than their gasoline-powered cousins.
People in California love to talk about “ zero-emissions vehicles”, but people in California seem to be clueless about where electricity comes from. Power plants mostly use fire to make it. Aside from the new folks who have their roofs covered with solar cells, we get our electricity from generators. Generators are fueled by something---- usually coal, oil, but also by heat generated in nuclear power plants. There are a few wind farms and geothermal（地热的） plants as well, but by far we get electricity mainly by burning something.
In other words, those “zero-emissions” cars are likely coal-burning cars. It’s just because the coal is burned somewhere else that it looks clean. It is not. It’s as if the California Greens are covering their eyes ---- “ If I can’t see it, it’s not happening. “ Gasoline is an incredibly efficient way to power a vehicle; a gallon of gas has a lot of energy in it. But when you take that gas ( or another fue) and first use it to make electricity, you waste a nice part of that energy, mostly in the form of wasted heat ---- at the generator, through the transmission（传送） lines, etc.
A gallon of gas may propel your car 25 miles. But the electricity you get from that gallon of gas won’t get you nearly as far ---- so electric cars burn more fuel than gas- powered ones. If our electricity came mostly from nukes; or geothermal, or hydro, or solar, or wind, then an electric car truly would be clean. But for political, technical, and economic reasons, we don’t use much of those energy sources.
In addition, electric cars’ batteries which are poisonous for a long time will eventually end up in a landfill. And finally, when cars are the polluters, the pollution is spread across all the roads. When it’s a power plant, though, all the junk is in one lace. Nature is very good at cleaning up when things are too concentrated, but it takes a lot longer when all the garbage is in one spot.
【小题1】Which of the following statements will the writer support?

A young woman was driving through the lonely countryside. It was dark and raining. Suddenly she saw an old woman by the side of the road, holding her hand out as if she wanted a lift.  “I can't leave her out in this weather.” the woman said to herself, so she stopped the car and opened the door. “Do you want a lift?” she asked. The old woman nodded and climbed into the car. After a while, she said to the old woman, “Have you been waiting for a long time?” The old woman shook her head, “Strange.” thought the young woman.  She tried again, “Bad weather for the time of year,” she said. The old woman nodded. No matter what the young woman said, the hitchhiker(搭车者) gave no answer except for a nod of the head or a shrug.

Then the young woman noticed the hitchhiker's hands, which were large and hairy. Suddenly she realized that the hitchhiker was actually a man! She stopped the car. “I can't see out of the rear screen,” she said, “Would you mind clearing it for me?”

The hitchhiker nodded and opened the door. As soon as the hitchhiker was out of the car, the terrified young woman raced off.

When she got to the next village she pulled up. She noticed that the hitchhiker had left his handbag behind. She picked it up and opened it. She gave a gasp(喘息), inside the bag was a gun.

1.What made the young woman feel strange about the old woman?

A．That she gave no answer to her questions.

B．That she was unable to speak.

C．That she kept nodding her head

D．That she had large and hairy hands.

2. A "lift" in the passage means ___________.

A．an elevator

B．an act of raising something

C．a ride in the car

D．help

3. The hitchhiker left the bag with a gun in it behind because ____.

A．he wanted to give her a warning

B．he had not expected that the woman would leave him behind in the rain

C．it was his present for her

D．he wanted to kill her with the gun

4.Why did the young woman driver suddenly feel the hitchhiker was a man when she talked to the woman?

A．The woman only nodded her head, but no words

B．She noticed the hitchhiker's hands, which were large and hairy.

C．Because it was dark and raining

D．Because she found the gun in the woman’s handbag.

---I’m really depressed after so many failures. I can’t see any hope.

---Cheer up! Behind every misfortune_______!

Once upon a time there lived an old man in a nice cottage with a large garden. The old man was seen   41  his flowers all the time. They were so well-tended that every passer-by could not but   42  for a glance.
One day a young man went by the garden. He gazed at the splendid garden, lost in admiration at the beauty of the scenery. Then, suddenly he   43  the old gardener was blind.   44  , the young man asked, “Why are you busy tending these flowers every day which you can’t  45  in fact?” The old man smiled and answered that “ I can tell you 46  reasons. First I was a   47  when I was young, and I really like this job. Second, although I can’t see these flowers, yet I can  48 them. Third，I can smell sweetness of them. As to the last one, that’s   49 .
“Me? But you don’t know me,” responded the young man   50  .
“Yeah, it’s   51  that I don’t know you. But I know everyone knows flowers and would never turn them down. I know the beauty of my garden will get many people into a good mood(心情). In the meantime, it also   52  a chance to me to have a word with you here and to enjoy the happiness these flowers have brought us.”
The old man’s  53  astonished me. The blind man grows flowers and serves them as a link of minds so as to make everybody enjoy the sunshine in spring. Isn’t it one kind of happiness？
I believe every flower has   54  with which they can see the kindness of the man’s heart. The blind man grows flowers in his heart. Though   55 to see the beauty of blossoming, he surely can hear the voice of it, I suppose.