A gentle breeze blew through Jennifer's hair. The golden red sun was setting. She was on the beach, looking up at the fiery (火红的) ball. She was amazed by its color, deep red in the middle, softly fading into yellow. She could hear nothing but the waves and the seagulls flying up above in the sky.    

The atmosphere relaxed her. After all she had been through, this was what she needed. "It's getting late," she thought, "I must go home. My parents will be wondering where I am."

She wondered how her parents would react, when she got home after the three days she was missing. She kept on walking, directing herself where she spent every summer holiday. The road was deserted. She walked slowly and silently. Just in a few hundred meters she would have been safe in her house.

It was really getting dark now. The sun had set a few minutes before and it was getting cold too. She wished she had her favorite sweater on: it kept her really warm. She imagined having it with her. This thought disappeared when she finally saw her front door. It seemed different. Nobody had taken care of the outside garden for a few days. She was shocked: her father was usually so strict about keeping everything clean and tidy, and now... It all seemed deserted. She couldn't understand what was going on.    

She entered the house. First, she went into the kitchen where she saw a note written by her father. It said: "Dear Ellen, there is some coffee ready. I went looking." Ellen was her mother but－where was she? On the right side of the hallway was her parents' room. She went in. Then she saw her. Her mother, lying on the bed, was sleeping. Her face looked so tired, as if she hadn't slept for days. She was really pale. Jennifer would have wanted to wake her up but she looked too tired. So Jennifer just fell asleep beside her. When Jennifer woke up, something was different－she wasn't in her mother's room and she wasn't wearing the old clothes she ran away in. She was in her cozy bed in her pajamas.     

It felt so good being back home. Suddenly she heard a voice, "Are you feeling better now, dear? You know you got us very, very scared."

Three days later Jennifer came back home      .

A. at sunrise         B. at sunset      C. at night              D. at midday

What does the underlined phrase "This thought" most probably mean?

A. The idea of going back home.           

B. Her anxiety about her parents.     

C. The feeling of being warm in her favorite sweater.     

D. The feeling of getting back home safely.

Her father didn't take care of the garden because      .

A. he was busy looking for her   

B. he had to look after his wife

C. he was not strict with his job        

D. he no longer enjoyed working in the garden

What can we infer from this passage?

A. In fact Jennifer's mother had been sick for days.     

B. As Jennifer walked towards home, she became increasingly scared.     

C. When she found the garden deserted, she realized she was wrong.     

D. Having experienced a lot outside, Jennifer felt home was safest for her.

A university graduate described as a “respectable and intelligent” woman is seeking professional help after being convicted of （证明有……罪）shoplifting for the second time in six months．

       Ana Luz, recently studying for her PhD, has been told she could end up behind bars unless she can control the desire to steal from shops．

       Luz ,who lives with her partner in Fitzwilliam Road ,Cambridge ,admitted stealing clothes worth ￡9．95 from John Lewis in Oxford Street ,London ,on March 9．

       Phillip Lemoyne ,prosecuting（起诉）,said Luz selected some clothes from a display and took them to the ladies’ toilet in the store．When she came out again she was wearing one of the skirts she had selected ,having taken off the anti-theft security alarms（防盗警报装置）．

       She was stopped and caught after leaving the store without paying ,Mr Lemoyne said．

       He added that she was upset on her arrest and apologized for her actions．

       Luz,28, was said to have been convicted of shoplifting by Cambridge judges last October ,but Morag Duff, defending ,said she had never been in trouble with the police before that．

       “She is ashamed and embarrassed but doesn’t really have any explanation why she did this ,” Miss Duff said．“She didn’t intend to steal when she went into the store．She is at a loss to explain it．She is otherwise a very respectable and intelligent young lady．She went to her doctor and asked for advice because she wants to know if there is anything in particular that caused her to do this．”

       Judge David Azan fined Luz ￡ 50,  and warned : “You’ve got a criminal record．If you carry on like this ,you will end up in prison ,which will ruin your bright future you may have．”

       Luz achieved a degree in design at university in her native Spain ,went on to a famous university in Berlin , Germany for her master’s degree and is now studying for a PhD at Cambridge University ,UK．

What is Ana Luz’s nationality?

       A．American．     B．British．  C．Spanish． D．German．

What does the underlined sentence “She is at a loss to explain it” mean?

       A．In her opinion it was a loss to the clothes shops where she stole things．

       B．She doesn’t have any idea why she has the desire to steal from shops．

       C．She thinks it is a loss for her to explain why she stole things from shops．

       D．Personally she feels ashamed and embarrassed for her shoplifting actions．

Which of the following best explains the meaning of the word “shoplifting” used in the passage?

       A．Carrying goods in a lift for a shop．    

       B．Taking goods to the ladies’ toilet．

       C．Selecting some goods from a display． 

       D．Taking goods from a shop without paying．

From the passage we can learn that          ．

       A．Ana Luz is already got her PhD at Cambridge University ,UK

       B．Ana Luz is ashamed and embarrassed and knows why she often did so

       C．the university graduate will be put in prison if she steals in shops once more

       D．Phillip Lemoyne is the “respectable and intelligent” woman’s defense lawyer

D

This brief book is aimed at high school students , but speaks to anyone learning at any stage of life.

   Its formal ,serious style closely matches its content ,a school-masterly book on schooling .The author , W .H . Armstrong ,starts with the basics : reading and writing . In his opinion , reading doesn’t just mean recognizing each word on the page ; it means taking in the information, digesting it and incorporating it into oneself just as one digests a sandwich and makes it a part of himself .The goal is to bring the information back to life , not just to treat it as dead facts on paper from dead trees . Reading and writing cannot be completely separated from each other ; in fact ,the aim of reading is to express the information you have got from the text .I’ve seen it again and again ：someone who can’t express an idea after reading a text is just as ineffective as someone who hasn’t read it at all.

Only a third of the book remains after that discussion, which Armstrong devotes to specific tips for studying languages, math, science and history. He generally handles these topics thoroughly and equally, except for some weakness in the science and math sections and a bit too much passion regarding history. Well, he was a history teacher---if conveyed only a tenth of his passion to his students, that was a hundred times more than my history teachers ever got across .To my disappointment, in this part of the book he ignores the arts. As a matter of fact, they demand all the concentration and study that math and science do, though the study differs slightly in kind. Although it’s commonly believed that the arts can only be naturally acquired ,actually ,learning the arts is no more natural than learning French or mathematics.

My other comment is that the text aged. The first edition apparently dates to the 1960s—none of the references(参考文献)seem newer than the late 1950s. As a result, the discussion misses the entire computer age.

These are small points, though, and don’t affect the main discussion. I recommend it to any student and any teacher, including the self-taught student.

According to Armstrong, the goal of reading is to________.

A. gain knowledge and expand one’s view

B. understand the meaning between the lines

C. express ideas based on what one has read

D. get information and keep it alive in memory

The author of the passage insists that learning the arts_________.

A. requires great efforts

B. demands real passion

C. is less natural than learning math

D. is as natural as learning a language

What is a shortcoming of Armstrong’s work according to the author?

A. Some ideas are slightly contradictory.

B. There is too much discussion on studying science.

C. The style is too serious.

D. It lacks new information.

This passage can be classified as________.

A. an advertisement

B. a book review

C. a feature story

D. A news report

A man was on the side of the road hitchhiking（搭便车）on a very dark night in the middle of a terrible rainstorm, with no cars on the road．The storm was so strong that the man could hardly see a few feet ahead of him．Suddenly, he saw a car come towards him and stop．The man, without thinking about it, got in the car and closed the door and only then did he realize that there was nobody behind the steering wheel（方向盘）!

       The car started to move very slowly．The man looked at the road and saw a curve （拐弯处）coming his way．Terrified, he started to pray, begging for his life．He had not come out of shock when, just before the car hit the curve, a hand suddenly appeared through the window and moved the wheel．The man, paralyzed with fear, watched how the hand appeared every time the car was drawing near a curve．Finally, although terrified, the man managed to open the door and jump out of the spooky car．Without looking back, the man ran through the storm all the way to the nearest town．In a state of complete horror, the man walked into a nearby bar and asked for two glasses of Scotch whisky．

       Then, still shaking with fright, he started telling everybody in the bar about the horrible experience he just went through in the spooky car．Everyone in the bar listened in silence and became frightened, with hair standing on end, when they realized the man was telling the truth because he was crying and he was certainly not drunk!

       About half an hour later, two other young men walked into the same bar and one said to the other, “Hey, there’s a stupid man who jumped into the car while we were pushing it!”

When the car was first drawing near a curve, the man ________．

    A．felt very curious                 B．was extremely frightened

    C．cried for help                 D．remained as calm as possible

According to the passage, what made the man’s experience believable?

    A．His reasonable behavior．              B．His vivid description．

    C．His plain appearance．           D．His honest attitude．

We can infer from the passage that ________．

    A．it is unsafe for people to take a free ride

    B．the man was telling a lie to his listeners

    C．the car probably broke down on the way

       D．the two young men were familiar with the man

A man was on the side of the road hitchhiking（搭便车）on a very dark night in the middle of a terrible rainstorm, with no cars on the road．The storm was so strong that the man could hardly see a few feet ahead of him．Suddenly, he saw a car come towards him and stop．The man, without thinking about it, got in the car and closed the door and only then did he realize that there was nobody behind the steering wheel（方向盘）!  

    The car started to move very slowly．The man looked at the road and saw a curve （拐弯处）coming his way．Terrified, he started to pray, begging for his life．He had not come out of shock when, just before the car hit the curve, a hand suddenly appeared through the window and moved the wheel．The man, paralyzed with fear, watched how the hand appeared every time the car was drawing near a curve．Finally, although terrified, the man managed to open the door and jump out of the spooky car．Without looking back, the man ran through the storm all the way to the nearest town．In a state of complete horror, the man walked into a nearby bar and asked for two glasses of Scotch whisky．

    Then, still shaking with fright, he started telling everybody in the bar about the horrible experience he just went through in the spooky car．Everyone in the bar listened in silence and became frightened, with hair standing on end, when they realized the man was telling the truth because he was crying and he was certainly not drunk!

    About half an hour later, two other young men walked into the same bar and one said to the other, “Hey, there’s a stupid man who jumped into the car while we were pushing it!”

When the car was first drawing near a curve, the man ________．

    A．felt very curious                B．was extremely frightened

    C．cried for help               D．remained as calm as possible

According to the passage, what made the man’s experience believable?

    A．His reasonable behavior．       B．His vivid description．

    C．His plain appearance．          D．His honest attitude．

We can infer from the passage that ________．

    A．it is unsafe for people to take a free ride

    B．the man was telling a lie to his listeners

    C．the car probably broke down on the way

    D．the two young men were familiar with the man