Cross was what people call a mysterious (神秘的) man. We had known him for over five years, eve since he became a member of our club(俱乐部)，but he had a way of keeping all his life to himself. We knew where he lived, though he never invited us to his home, and his age too, but only unimportant matters of this kind. It appeared that he did not have to work for a living as we did . He had once talked about a lot of money on which he managed to live comfortably. He was not, however, ready to spend money freely, he was not especially well-dressed and he did not even own a car. At the age of forty-five he remained single though, since marriage(婚姻) was not a subject he ever discussed, we had no means of finding out whether he was sorry for that.

　　Cross disappeared suddenly from for circle and shortly after we came to learn the fact that our mysterious man was nothing but a thief. From reports that appeared in the newspapers, together with photos of a man who was exactly our Mr Cross, it was shown that he was a most experienced（熟练的）thief, operating mostly in London; and that he had practised this job for many years, until he was caught and sent to prison.

(　　)1. Which of the following statements is true?

　　　　A. Cross had remembered the club.

　　　　B. but he never had enough money to invite us

　　　　C. Cross led a very hard life.

　　　　D. His life was unimportant.

(　　)2. We knew his address ______ .

　　　　A. because he had invited us to his home

　　　　B. but he never had enough money to invite us

　　　　C. but we always refused to be in his home

　　　　D. though he did not ever ask us to drop in on him

(　　)3. He was never married ______ .

　　　　A. and he never talked about that

　　　　B. till he was forty-five years old

　　　　C. as he did not own a car

　　　　D. but he felt sorry not to have got married

(　　)4. We did not know that Cross was a thief until ______ .

　　　　A. he disappeared

　　　　B. he appeared in prison

　　　　C. he sent us his photos

　　　　D. his name appeared in the newspapers

(　　)5. From the story we learn that Cross _____ .

　　　　A. worked in London

　　　　B. was a man who made a living by stealing

　　　　C. was a man with little money

　　　　D. had a job for many years

The way people hold to the belief that a fun - filled, pain free life equals happiness actually reduces their chances of ever attaining real happiness. If fun and pleasure are equal to happiness then pain must be equal to unhappiness. But in fact, the opposite is true: more often than not things that lead to happiness involve some pain.

As a result, many people avoid the very attempts that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain inevitably(不可避免的)brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, religious commitment (义务), self - improvement.

Ask a bachelor(单身汉)why he resists marriage even though he finds dating to be less and less satisfying. If he is honest he will tell you that he is afraid of making a commitment. For commitment is in fact quite painful. The single life is filled with fun, adventure, excitement. Marriage has such moments, but they are not its most distinguishing features.

Couples with infant children are lucky to get a whole night’s sleep or a three - day vacation. I don’t know any parent who would choose the word fun to describe raising children. But couples who decide not to have children never know the joys of watching a child grow up or of playing with a grandchild.

Understanding and accepting that true happiness has nothing to do with fun is one of the most liberating realizations. It liberates（解放） time: now we can devote more hours to activities that can genuinely increase our happiness. It liberates money: buying that new car or those fancy clothes that will do nothing to increase our happiness now seems pointless. And it liberates us from envy: we now understand that all those who are always having so much fun actually may not be happy at all.

1. According to the author, a bachelor resists marriage chiefly because _______ .

A. he finds more fun in dating than in marriage

B. he believes that life will be more cheerful if he remains single

C. he is reluctant to take on family responsibilities

D. he fears it will put an end to all his fun adventure and excitement

2. Raising children, in the author’s opinion is ________ .

A. a rewarding task                  B. a thankless job

C. a moral duty                     D. a source of inevitable pain

3. From the last paragraph, we learn that envy sometimes stems from(由…造成)________ .

A. hatred　　 B. ignorance      C. prejudice(偏见)　　　D. misunderstanding

4. To understand what true happiness is one must ________ .

A. have as much fun as possible during one’s lifetime

B. be able to distinguish happiness from fun

C. put up with pain under all circumstances

D. make every effort to liberate oneself from pain

5. What is the author trying to tell us?

A. It is important to make commitments     B. One must know how to attain happiness.

C. Happiness often goes hand in hand with pain.   D. It is pain that leads to happiness.

America is growing older. Fifty - eight years ago, only 4 out of every 100 people in the United States were 10 or older. To day, 10 out of every 100 Americans are over 10. The aging of the population will affect（影响）American society in many ways—education, medicine, and business. Quietly, the graying of America has made us a very different society—one in which people have a quite different idea of what kind of behavior（行为） is suitable（合适）at various , ages.

A person s age no longer tells you anything about his/her social position, marriage or health. There’s no longer a particular year in which one goes to school or goes to work or gets married or starts a family. The social clock that kept us on time and told us when to go to school, get a job, or stop working isn’t as strong as it used to be. It doesn’t surprise us to hear of a 29 - year - old university president or a 35 - year -old grandmother, or a 15 year - old man who has become a father for the first time. Public ideas are changing.

Many people say, “I am much younger than my mother— or my father— was at my age. ”No one says“Act your age” any more. We’ve stopped looking with surprise at older people who act in youthful ways.

12．It can be learnt from the text that the aging of the population in America ________ .

A. has made people feel younger                B. has changed people’s social position

C. has changed people’s understanding of age   D. has slowed down the country’s social development

13．The underlined word “one”refers to ________ .

A. a society　　　B. America      C. a place　　　　D. population

14．” Act your age” means people should ________ .

A. be active when they are old

B. do the right thing at the right age

C. show respect for their parents young or old

D. take more physical exercise suitable to their age

15．If a 25 - year - old man becomes general manager of a big firm, the writer of the text would most probably consider it ________ .

A. normal　　　B. wonderful       C. unbelievable　　　　　D. unreasonable

阅读下面的短文，然后按照要求写一篇150词左右的英语短文。
A Little Hero
A group of Italian soldiers led by a captain were advancing slowly toward the position of the enemy. They arrived at a farmhouse, in front of which sat a small boy, cutting a branch of a tree with his knife.
"What are you doing here?" asked the captain. "Why didn’t you leave with your family?"
　　"I don’t have any family," said the boy. "I’m an orphan. I used to work for the family that lived here. They’ve gone, but I stayed in order to see the fighting."
　　"Have you seen any Austrians pass by here?"
　　"Not within the last three days."
　　"Do you think you could climb that tree and tell me whether you see anything of the Austrians in the distance?"
　　"Sure!"
　　In a few minutes the boy was at the top of the tree.
　　"Look straight ahead," cried the captain, "and tell me what you see."
　　"Two men on horseback - nothing else."
　　"How far away?"
　　"About a mile and a half. They’re standing still." ….
　　"They’re shooting at me," said the boy. "but don’t worry. Let me tell you what’s to the left. Well, there’s a church and I think I see..."
　　 A third bullet passed, and the boy was seen to fall suddenly from the tree, dead.
　　"Poor boy!" said the captain, covering the boy’s body with a national flag and saying, "He died like a soldier and we must bury him like a soldier."
Soon it was covered with flowers. He gave his life to his country.
【写作内容】
学校最近组织了一次中美学生交流活动，你参加其中的“童年生活”讨论。听完Joe讲的故事“A Little Hero” 之后，你准备写一份发言稿，题目是“After Listening to ‘A Little Hero’ ”，内容要点包括：
1. 以约30个词概括你听完A Little Hero的故事；
2. 然后以约120个词谈谈你的童年生活，内容包括：
(1) 对自己童年生活的感受；
(2) 你的童年以及现在的生活和故事中那位小英雄的童年生活有什么不同？
(3) 作为一位高中学生，你未来的理想是什么？
【写作要求】
1. 在作文中可以使用自己亲身的经历或虚构的故事，也可以参照阅读材料的内容但不得直接引用原文中的句子；
2. 作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称。
【评分标准】
概括准确，语言规范，内容合适，篇章连贯。

Two years after the First World War (1914-1918), a small group of soldiers left the army and returned to their hometown in France. Most of them lived well, but one of them was poor. His name was Clinton. Once a year they had supper in Barton’s house. Barton was very rich.
One evening Barton showed his friends a large gold coin at the supper table. The coin was passed around and praised by everyone. At the same time they were talking and talking. They soon forgot about the coin. After supper, Barton asked for his coin, but nobody could tell where it was. It was lost. One man said that everyone must be searched. One by one they turned their pockets inside out. Only Clinton refused, however.“I didn’t steal the coin, and I will not be searched,” he said.After that, people turned their heads away from Clinton when they met him. He grew poorer. Soon his wife died.
A few years later, Barton had his house repaired. The lost coin was found under the floor. Barton felt sorry and went to Clinton to apologize. “But,” he asked, “you knew the coin was not in your pocket. Why did you refuse to be searched?” “Because I was a thief,” Clinton answered. “My pockets were full of food at that time. I had taken some food from the table to carry to my hungry wife and children.”
【小题1】The story took place ________.