Bernice Gallegos sat down one day this summer, as she does pretty much every day, and began listing items on eBay．She dug into a box and pulled out a baseball card．She stopped for a moment and admired the picture．“Red Stocking B．B．Club of Cincinnati,” the card read, under the reddish brown color photo of 10 men with their socks pulled up to their knees．

       As a collector and seller, it's her job to spot old items that might have value today．It's what Bernice, 72, and her husband, Al Gallegos, 80, have been doing since 1974 at their California antique （古玩） store．

       This card, she figured, was worth selling on eBay．She took a picture, wrote a description and put it up for auction （拍卖）．She put a $10 price tag on it, deciding against $15 because it would have cost her an extra 20 cents．Later that night she got a few odd inquiries—someone wanting to know whether the card was real, someone wanting her to end the auction and sell him the card immediately．

       The card is actually 139 years old．Sports card collectors call the find "extremely rare" and estimate the card could fetch five, or perhaps, six figures at auction．

       Just like that, Bernice is the least likely character ever for a rare-baseball card story．"I didn't even know baseball existed that far back," Gallegos says, "I don't think that I've ever been to a baseball game．" The theory is that the card came out of a storage space they bought a few years back．It is not uncommon in their line of work to buy the entire contents of storage units for around $200．

       When she met with card trader Rick Mirigian, she found out what the card was—an 1869 advertisement with a picture of the first professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings．

       "When I came to meet her and she took it out of a sandwich bag and she was smoking a cigarette, I almost fainted," Mirigian says．"They've uncovered a piece of history that few people will ever be able to imagine．That card is history．It's like unearthing a Mona Lisa or a Picasso．"

What can we conclude from Paragraph 3?

       A．Bernice had to pay some fees for her card on eBay．

       B．Bernice wanted to end the auction that night．

       C．Bernice decided to sell the card for $15．

       D．eBay charged her 20 cents for the card．

The underlined word "fetch" in Paragraph 4 most probably means "____"．

       A．go and bring  B．add up to        C．go down to     D．be sold for

From the passage, we may learn that ____．

       A．Bernice is a baseball fan

       B．Bernice is the last person to purchase the rare-baseball card

       C．Bernice unexpectedly became the owner of the rare-baseball card

       D．Bernice didn't realize the value of the card until she put it up for auction

What would be the best title for the passage?

       A．A Surprisingly Valuable Discovery       B．Be mice Gallegos—A Lucky Collector

       C．Sports Card Collectors                D．The History of the Baseball Card

Three armed robbers stole two Pablo Picasso prints from an art museum in downtown Sao

Paulo on Thursday, which was the city’s second high-profile art theft in less than a year. The bandits also took two oil paintings by well-know Brazilian artists Emiliano Di Cavalcanti and Lasar Segall, said Carla Regina, a spokeswoman for the Pinacoteca do Estado museum.

The Picasso prints stolen were "The Painter and the Model" from 1963 and "Minotaur, Drinker and Women" from 1933, according to a statement from the Sao Paulo Secretary of State for Culture, which oversees the museum. The prints and paintings have a combined value of $612,000, the statement and a museum official said.

About noon, three armed men paid the $2.45 entrance fee and immediately went to the second-floor gallery where the works were being exhibited, bypassing more valuable pieces, authorities said. "This indicates to us that they probably received an order" to take those specific works, Youssef Abou Chain, head of Sao Paulo's organized crime unit, told reporters at a news conference. The assailants overpowered three unarmed museum guards and grabbed the works, officials said. The robbery took about 10 minutes and the museum was nearly empty at the time. The assailants took the pieces — frames and all — out of the museum in two bags. The institution has no metal detectors.

In December, Picasso's "Portrait of Suzanne Bloch" and "O Lavrador de Cafe" by Candido Portinari, an influential Brazilian artist, were stolen from the Sao Paulo Museum of Art by three men who used a crowbar（铁撬棍）and car jack to force open one of the museum's steel doors. The framed paintings were found Jan. 8, covered in plastic and leaning against a wall in a house on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, South America's largest city. One of the suspects in that robbery — a former TV chef — turned himself over to police in January, who already had two suspects in custody（监禁）.

What did the armed men steal on Thursday?

         A．Two prints by Pablo Picasso

        B．Two oil painting by Brazilian artists

        C．Two prints by Pablo Picasso and two oil paintings by two Brazilian artists.

        D．Two prints by two Brazilian artists and two oil paintings by Picasso Pablo.

Why didn't the thieves take other more valuable works?

        A．Because they didn't know that the other pieces were worth more.

        B．Probably because they had received an order for the prints that they took.

        C．Because they didn't have enough time.

        D．Because they were in such a hurry that they couldn’t get them all.

How many people were in the museum during the robbery?

        A．A lot. The museum was crowded.

        B．Not too many. It was almost empty.

        C．There were a lot of people outside the museum.

        D．Only three of them.

According to the passage, which of the followings is TRUE?

        A．In December, "Portrait of Suzanne Bloch" and "O Lavrador de Cafe" painted by Candido

Portinari were stolen.

        B．There are steel doors and no detectors in Sao Paulo Museum of Art.

        C．Three robbers defeated three armed museum guards and took away the works on Thursday.

        D．Three suspects in the first high-profile art theft in less than a year were arrested.

Holding a cell phone against your ear or stalling it in your pocket may be hazardous to your health．

       This paraphrases a warning that cell phone; manufacturers include in the small print that is often tossed aside when a new phone is purchased．Apple, for example, doesn't want iP hones to come closer to you than 1．5 centimeters; Research In Motion, Blackberry's manufacturer, recommends 2.5 centimeters．

       If health issues arise from cell phone use, the implications are huge．Voice calls - Americans chat on cell phones 2．26 trillion minutes annually - generate $109 billion for the wireless carriers．

       Devra Davis, an epidemiologist who has worked for the University of Pittsburgh, has published a book about cell phone radiation, "Disconnect." The book surveys scientific research and concludes the question is not settled.

　　Brain cancer is a concern that Ms. Davis examines. Over all, there has not been an increase in its incidence since cell phones arrived. But the average masks an increase in brain cancer in the 20-to-29 age group and a drop for the older population.

　　"Most cancers have multiple causes," she says, but she points to laboratory research that suggests low-energy radiation could damage cells that could possibly lead to cancer.

　　Children are more vulnerable to radiation than adults, Ms. Davis and other scientists point out. Radiation that penetrates only five centimeters into the brain of an adult will reach much deeper into the brains of children because their skulls are thinner and their brains contain more absorptive fluid. No studies have yet been completed on cell phone radiation and children, she says.

　　Henry Lai, a research professor in the bioengineering department at the University of Washington, began laboratory radiation studies in 1980 and found that rats exposed to radiofrequency radiation had damaged DNA in their brains.

　　Ms. Davis recommends using wired headsets or the phone's speaker. Children should text rather than call, she said, and pregnant women should keep phones away from the abdomen.

We can infer from the passage that________．

       A．Cell phone may do harm to our health if we hold it against our ear or store in our pocket

       B．Devra Davis thinks that there are many factors contributing to cancer．

       C．The increase in brain cancer in the young adults may have something to do with cell phone

       D．Children are more likely to be affected by radiation

According to the passage, how could children avoid being hurt by cell phone radiation?

       A．They can keep cell phones away from the abdomen．

       B．They can send short massage instead of making phone calls directly．

       C．They can pay more attention to the small print on the phone．

       D．They should use more advanced cell phones．

From this passage we can learn that．________．

       A．American cell phone manufacturers did not give any warning to their customers

       B．American cell phone manufacturers benefit greatly from their products

       C．Scientists have found the connection between brain cancer and ceil phone

       D．Cell phone should be banned because of the increase in brain cancer

In which column can we most probably read this passage?

       A．Advanced technology．       B．Entertainment．

       C．Science and life．            D．Celebrity．

The story goes that some time ago, a man punished his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated(愤怒的) when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree. Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, "This is for you, Daddy."

The man was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but his anger flared again when he found out the box was empty. He yelled at her, stating, "Don't you know, when you give someone a present, there is supposed to be something inside? The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and cried, "Oh, Daddy, it's not empty at all. I blew kisses into the box. They're all for you, Daddy."

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness.

Only a short time later, an accident took the life of the child. It is also told that her father kept that gold box by his bed for many years and, whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.

In a very real sense, each one of us, as humans beings, have been given a gold container filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, family members, friends, and God. There is simply no other possession, anyone could hold, more precious than this.

The 3-year-old girl was punished by her father for ________.

A. wasting gold                        

B. wasting wrapping paper

C. putting the box under the Christmas tree    

D. bringing the gift to her father

What’s inside the box according to the little girl?

A. nothing    B. air    C. kisses   D. gold wrapping paper

Choose the best title for the passage.

A. The kisses in the box.      B. A girl and his father 

C. A love story                D. The box under the Christmas tree.

A federal agency on Tuesday called for a ban on all cellphone use by drivers -- the most far-reaching recommendation up to now — saying its decision was based on a decade of investigations into distraction-related(与分散注意力有关的) accidents, as well as growing concerns that powerful mobile devices are giving drivers even more reasons to look away from the road.

As part of its recommendation, the National Transportation Safety Board is urging states to ban drivers from using hands-free devices, including wireless headsets. No state now has made laws to ban such activity, but the Board said that drivers faced serious risks from talking on wireless headsets, just as they do by taking a hand off the wheel to hold a phone to their ears.

However, the concern was heightened by increasingly powerful phones that people can use to send e-mails, watch movies and play games.

"Every year, new devices are being on sale." she said. "People are attracted to update their Facebook page, to play music with cellphone, as if sitting at a desk. But they are driving a car."

The agency based its recommendation on evidence from its investigation of numerous crashes in which electronic distraction was a major contributing factor.

Ms. Hersman said she understood that this recommendation would be unwelcome in some circles, given the number of drivers who talk and text. But she compared distracted driving to drunken driving and even smoking, which required wholesale cultural shifts to change behavior.

"It's going to be very unpopular with some people." she said. "We're not here to win a popularity contest. We're here to do the right thing. This is a difficult recommendation, but it's the right recommendation and it is time."

The agency's recommendation is not required for states to adopt such a ban. And it won't likely be agreed upon by state lawmakers who are unwillingly to anger those who have grown accustomed to using their device behind the wheel.

The ban also deserves attention because it is the first call by a federal agency to end the practice completely, rather than the partial ban that some lawmakers have put in place by allowing hands-free talking.

1.The ban on all cellphone use by drivers was put forward______.

2.From the second paragraph we know that now______.

3.We can know from the passage that______.

4.Ms Hersman thinks that distracted driving, drunken driving and smoking______.

5.Which of the following is the best title of the passage?