10－year－old John ran bare foot out of the door on a windy, cold day in February and he __1__ straight for the 125－foot electric tower behind their home. The tower carried 230,000 volts through its silver wires but John wasn't __2__ of the danger. He had suffered from a mental illness, a condition that separates him from reality，__3__ him to live within his own __4__. That day his thoughts were set on climbing to the top of that tower, touching the sky and feeling what it was like to __5__.

His seventeen－year－old brother, James, who had always been close by, watching him and making sure that no __6__ came to him，__7__ to realize that he was missing this time.

John had already __8__ the handrails(栏杆) and was making his __9__ to the sky by the time James __10__ him. James understood the __11__ of the electrical tower but he chose to follow his younger brother up each gray rail, trying not to look __12__，all the way to the top. James finally __13__ his brother and held him tightly with his right hand. With his left hand, he held on to a metal bar to help stabilize(固定) them __14__.

The minutes lengthened into hours __15__ they balanced on a three－inch rail. James sang songs to __16__ his own beating heart and to draw his brother's attention away from the rescue action taking place __17__.

Hundreds of people gathered at the base of the tower and they looked like ants to James. Helicopters(直升飞机) began to circle overhead and emergency trucks rushed to the __18__.When secured with a safety line, the brothers and their rescuers were carefully lowered to the ground, the crowd below burst out __19__. They witnessed the __20__ of a 17－year－old boy named James.

1. A. looked  B. headed  C. cared  D. sent

2. A. aware         B. proud         C. sure           D. afraid

3. A. teaching      B. allowing      C. coaching       D. forcing

4. A. words         B. opinions      C. thoughts       D. ideas

5. A. run           B. fly           C. rush           D. walk

6. A. harm          B. wound         C. fear           D. damage

7. A. refused       B. headed        C. pretended      D. failed

8. A. removed            B. cleared      

C. overcome           D. occupied

9. A. way           B. trip          C. tour           D. journey

10. A. caught       B. saved         C. found          D. recognized

11. A. usage        B. danger        C. effect         D. height

12. A. left         B. right         C. up             D. down

13. A. reached      B. touched       C. fetched        D. found

14. A. either       B. both          C. all            D. each

15. A. before       B. till          C. where          D. as

16. A. stop         B. rest          C. calm           D. resist

17. A. below        B. nearby        C. ahead          D. around

18. A. land         B. space         C. center         D. scene

19. A. cries        B. cheers        C. laughter       D. shouts

20. A. carefulness       B. friendliness 

C. braveness        D. unselfishness

(NEW YORK) A French tourist highly praised for rescuing a two-year-old girl in Manhattan said he didn’t think twice before diving into the freezing East River.

   Tuesday’s Daily News said 29-year-old Julien Duret from France was the man who left the spot quickly after the rescue last Saturday.

   He lifted the little girl out of the water after she fell off the bank at the South Street Seaport museum. He handed the girl to her father, David Anderson, who had dived in after him.

   “I didn’t think at all,” Duret told the Daily News. “It happened very fast. I reacted very fast.”

   Duret, an engineer on vacation, was walking with his girlfriend along the pier(码头) when he saw something falling into the water. He thought it was a doll, but realized it was a child when he approached the river. Immediately, he took off his coat and jumped into the water.

   When he reached the girl, she appeared lifeless, he said. Fortunately, when she was out of the water, she opened her eyes.

   Anderson said his daughter slipped off the bank when he was adjusting his camera. An ambulance came later for her, said Duret, who was handed dry clothes from onlookers. Duret caught a taxi with his girlfriend shortly after.

   The rescue happened on the day before he left for France. Duret said he didn’t realize his story of heroism had greatly moved New York until he was leaving the city the next morning.

   “I don’t really think I’m a hero,” said Duret. “Anyone would do the same thing.”

Why was Duret in New York?

   A. To meet his girlfriend.               B. To spend his holiday.

   C. To work as an engineer.              D. To visit the Andersons.

What did Duret do shortly after the ambulance came?

   A. He was interviewed by a newspaper.

   B. He went to the hospital in the ambulance.

   C. He disappeared from the spot quickly.

   D. He asked his girlfriend for his dry clothes.

Who dived after Duret into the river to save the little girl?

   A. David Anderson     B. A passer-by   C. His girlfriend    D. A taxi driver

What is probably the headline of this news report?

   A. A Careless Father                   B. A Poor Girl

   C. Warm-hearted Onlookers             D. Brave Frenchman Found

33 Chilean miners were trapped nearly a half-mile underground after the mine accident. They had no real hope that they’d ever be found. Luckily, though, the men had Luis Urzua. They were rescued to safety on October 13, 2010.Urzua, 54, was the shift leader at the time of the disaster, and used all his wisdoms and his leadership talents to help his men stay calm and in control for the 17 terrible days it took for rescuers to make their first contact with them.

It was no surprise that Urzua was the last of the 33 miners to leave the mine.

Urzua --- after shaking hands with rescue workers ---- climbed into a capsule barely wider than a man’s shoulders at 9:46 and was hauled up (拖上来) from a narrow hole drilled through 2,000 feet of rock. He arrived at the top 11 minutes later.

“We have done what the entire world was waiting for,” he told Chilean President Sebastian Pinera immediately after his rescue. “The 69 days that we fought so hard were not in vain.” Pinera greeted Urzua, saying “You have been rescued, coming out last like a good leader… You have no idea how all Chileans share with

you your hardships, your hope, and your joy. You are an inspiration.” With Urzua by his side, the president led the crowd in singing the national anthem.Robinson Marquez once worked with Urzua in a nearby mine. He described Urzua as a calm, professional person and a born leader. “He is very protective of his men and obviously loves them. He wouldn’t have left until all of his men were safely above ground,” Marquez said.

Under Urzua’s leadership, the men stretched an emergency food supply meant to last just 48 hours over two and a half weeks, taking tiny sips of milk and bites of fish every other day.He described the difficulties of the first days, saying that it took about three hours for the dust to settle before the men could inspect where tons of collapsed rock sealed off (堵住) the main way out. When the rescuers first made contact by drilling a narrow hole into their refuge (避难处), the miners were so excited that everyone wanted to hug the drill hammer.After the collapse, Urzua was the first to speak to Pinera and to urge him not to let him and his men down. “Don’t leave us alone,” he asked the president, who assured the workers that they would not be abandoned, telling them he would do everything he could to get them back to the surface.

1.The mine collapsed on ____.

2.Which word can’t be used to describe Urzua?

3.What do you know about the capsule?

4.The emergency food supply was designed to last ____.

BUKHANNON, West Virginia—Two rescue teams slowly moved along a two-mile path on Monday night to the site of a coal mine explosion that trapped 13 miners, who had not been heard from since the early morning accident.

   Meanwhile, at a nearby church, more than 250 family members and friends gathered, waiting for updates（最新报道）on the rescuers’ progress.

  The miners were trapped at about 6:30 and many families weren’t informed of the accident until about 10 a.m-more than three hours after it happened. “It’s very upsetting, but you’ve got to be patient, I guess,” said John Helms, whose brother, Terry, was trapped in the mine.

   The trapped miners were about 260 feet underground and about 10,000 feet from the Sago Mine’s entrance, said Roger Nicholson, general counsel from International Coal Group.

   At a late night news conference, Nicholson said one team had advanced about 4, 800 feet in the four hours since entering the mine just before 6 p.m. Another team entered the mine about 30 minutes later.

   He said the crew was very experienced, with some members having worked underground for

30 to 35 years. The miners were equipped with about one hour of breathable oxygen each. The company has not released the names of the miners.

   The teams test the air about every 500 feet, and have to disconnect (remove) the power to the phones they use to communicate with the surface before doing that. “ We don’t want to be energizing anything if it’s in an atmosphere with burnable gases,” Kips said.

   The cause of the explosion was not immediately known. High levels of carbon monoxide were discovered shortly after the explosion, which delayed rescue efforts, but those levels have since subsided（减退）, authorities said.

1.According to the passage, we can infer that ________.

A. all the miners who were trapped underground were still alive

B. communication with the trapped miners was cut off

C. the two rescue teams entered the mine at the same time

D. the rescue started as soon as the accident happened

2. If the first team advanced at an average speed, they could dig about _______ per hour.

       A. 1,000 feet          B. 2,400 feet         C. 1,200feet             D. 4,800feet

3.Where can the passage be seen?

 A. In a magazine.        B. In a newspaper.     C. In a science book..      D. On an advertisement.

4.Which of the following shows the position where the miners were trapped?

The name “cowboy” conjures up many different images from movies, songs and TV. These imagined cowboys range from white-hat-wearing heroes to gun-shooting hooligans(流氓).But, cowboys are actually real people from US history.?

When the US Civil War ended, many soldiers had no place to call home. So, they began to drift to the country's rural West. Ranchers(农场主) hired these men to take care of the cattle and work around the ranch. When the ranch owner wanted to sell the cattle, the cowboys would round up the herd from the open prairie(牧场) and drive the cattle miles to the market.?

With the invention of barbed wire(铁丝网),the cowboy era(1865-1890) began to come to an end. But people in the East had always been curious about their lifestyle. Many country/western songs during this time tried to capture the true cowboy spirit. Newspapers published cowboy tales in serial form and adventure novels followed. The bigger the fiction, the better the sales. These novels often portrayed cowboys as cruel and violent men. Cowboys carried the bad reputation for many years afterwards.

When movies began to be popular in the 1920s,the cowboy image changed again. Now, a cowboy became the great white knight(骑士) that loved his horse more than the beautiful ladies he rescued. As the cowboy of the “Old West” spent more time with his horse than the ladies, this era's image was not entirely false.

Then, in the 50s,Hollywood began producing so-called “spaghetti westerns(意大利西部片)”.They earned the nickname because Italian companies financed the films and TV shows. This started the decade's “Cowboy Craze”.While this didn't last long, it made modern country/western music, fashion and dance extremely popular.?

In recent years, with the help of musicians, radio stations and bars, cowboy nostalgia(怀旧情绪) has returned. Even though his image is still changing—somewhere between ballad singing country boy and bar?room fighter—there's one thing for sure, you can't keep the cowboy down.?

The purpose of this story is to _______.

A. introduce cowboy movies and novels?

B. introduce various productions associated with cowboys?

C. show the cowboy's everlasting charm　?

D. inform us about the cowboy's spirit?

Before they became cowboys, they _______.

A. served in the army    B. worked as bar-room fighters?

C. owned ranches      D. were adventurous explorers?

During “the cowboy era” mentioned in the story, _______.?

A. the cowboy often came to the rescue of ladies in newspaper tales?

B. the distant Wild West appealed to people in the East?

C. cowboys were shown as cruel and violent men on the silver screen?

D. country music started the cowboy craze which swept the whole country

By saying “you can't keep the cowboy down”,the writer means that _______.

A. cowboys are real people in history   B. cowboys still fascinate people?

C. you can't make cowboys unhappy     D. you can't grasp the cowboy spirit?