D

It was Sunday morning. All the summer world was bright and fresh, and full of life. There was cheer on every face and a spring in every step.

Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He stopped by the fence in front of the house where he lived with his aunt Polly. He looked at it, and all joy left him. The fence was long and high. He put the brush into the whitewash and moved it along the top of the fence. He repeated the operation. He felt he could not continue and sat down.

He knew that his friends would arrive soon with all kinds of interesting plans for the day. They would walk past him and laugh. They would make jokes about his having to work on a beautiful summer Saturday. The thought burned him like fire.

He put his hand into his pockets and took out all that he owned. Perhaps he could find some way to pay someone to do the whitewashing for him. But there was nothing of value in his pockets—nothing that could buy even half an hour of freedom. So he put the bits of toys back into his pockets and gave up the idea.

At this dark and hopeless moment, a wonderful idea came to him. It filled his mind with a great, bright light. Calmly he picked up the brush and started again to whitewash.

While Tom was working, Ben Rogers appeared. Ben was eating an apple as he walked along the street. As he walked along, he was making noises like the sound of a riverboat. First he shouted loudly, like a boat captain. Then he said “Ding-Dong-Dong”, “Ding-Dong-Dong” again and again, like the bell of a riverboat. And he made other strange noises. When he came close to Tom, he stopped.

Tom went on whitewashing. He did not look at Ben. Ben stared a moment and then said: "Hello! I’m going swimming, but you can’t go, can you?”

No answer. Tom moved his brush carefully along the fence and looked at the result with the eye of an artist. Ben came nearer. Tom's mouth watered for the apple, but he kept on working.

Ben said, "Hello, old fellow, you’ve got to work, hey?"

Tom turned suddenly and said, "Why, it's you, Ben! I wasn't noticing."

"Say — I'm going swimming. Don't you wish you could? But of course you’d rather work — wouldn't you? Of course you would."

Tom looked at the boy a bit, and said "What do you call work?"

"Why, isn't that work?"

Tom went back to his whitewashing, and answered casually,

"Well, maybe it is, and maybe it isn't. All I know is, it suits Tom Sawyer."

"Oh come, now, you don't mean to say that you like it?"

The brush continued to move.

"Like it? Well, I don't see why I shouldn’t like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?" Ben stopped eating his apple. Tom moved his brush back and forth, stepped back to look at the result, added a touch here and there, and stepped back again. Ben watched every move and got more and more interested. Soon he said,

"Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little."

Tom thought for a moment, was about to agree; but he changed his mind:

"No — no — it won’t do, Ben. You see, Aunt Polly wants this fence to be perfect. It has got to be done very carefully. I don’t think there is one boy in a thousand, maybe two thousand, that can do it well enough."

"No — is that so? Oh come, now —let me just try. Only just a little."

"Ben, I'd like to, but if it isn’t done right, I’m afraid Aunt Polly— "

"Oh, I'll be careful. Now let me try. Say -- I'll give you the core（核心）of my apple."

"Well, here — No, Ben, now don't. I'm afraid —"

"I'll give you all of it."

Tom gave up the brush with unwillingness on his face, but joy in his heart. And while Ben worked at the fence in the hot sun, Tom sat under a tree, eating the apple, and planning how to get more help. There were enough boys. Each one came to laugh, but remained to whitewash. By the time Ben was tired, Tom sold the next chance to Billy for a kite; and when Billy was tired, Johnny bought in for a dead rat — and so on, hour after hour. And when the middle of the afternoon came, Tom had won many treasures

And he had not worked. He had had a nice idle time all the time, with plenty of company -- and the fence had been whitewashed three times. If he hadn't run out of whitewash, Tom would have owned everything belonging to his friends.

He had discovered a great law of human action, namely, that in order to make a man or a boy want a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to get.

68．Tom was about to agree to let Ben whitewash when he changed his mind because ______ .

A. Tom wanted to do the whitewashing by himself

B. Tom was unwilling to let Ben do the whitewashing

C. Tom was afraid Ben would do the whitewashing better

D. Tom didn’t want to let Ben do the whitewashing before he made him give up his apple first

69．The underlined word “casually” is most similar to “______” in meaning.

A. carelessly                 B. delightedly               C. seriously                  D. angrily

70．We can learn from the passage that ______ .

A. Tom was interested in whitewashing the fence.

B. Tom had a lot of friends who are ready to help others.

C. Tom was unwilling to whitewash the fence, but he managed to let other boys do it for him

D. Tom was good at whitewashing the fence, so he looked at the result of his work with the eye of an artist.

七．阅读理解 (20分)
A
February has long been a month of romance. With the sweet smell of roses in the air, romantic films hit cinemas and love stories fill newspapers and magazines.
   On the 14th day, it is a custom for a boy to take his girlfriend out to dinner, buy her flowers and chocolates, write poems, sing to her or even spell out her name with rose petals! This is what you see on Valentine’s Day, a day named after Valentine who was a priest in the third century Rome. When the emperor decided that single men could become better soldiers than those with wives, he didn’t allow marriage.
   But Valentine continued to perform marriage ceremonies for young lovers in secret. When his actions were discovered, the emperor sentenced him to death. While in prison, it is said that Valentine fell in love with the daughter of his prison guard. Before his death, he wrote her a letter, which he signed “From your Valentine”, an expression that is still in use today. Valentine died for what he believed in and so he was made a Saint (圣徒), as well as becoming one of history’s most romantic characters.
   Nowadays, Valentine’s Day is also popular among Chinese young people. Some students are planning to make Valentine’s cards for parents, teachers and friends. Others want to hold parties at which they will exchange small gifts and eat heart-shaped cakes. The idea is to have fun and encourage people to share in the spirit of St. Valentine.
1. Which of the following is not a custom for a boy to do on Valentine’s Day?
   A. to take his girlfriend out to dinner
   B. to buy his girlfriend flowers and chocolates     
   C. to make Valentine’s cards for teachers and friends
   D. to spell out his girlfriend’s name with rose petals
2. Why did the emperor in Rome not allow marriage in his country?
   A. Because there were few women in his country at that time.
   B. Because he thought men without wives could be better soldiers.
   C. Because there wasn’t enough food for so many people.
   D. Because he wanted to control the birth rate.
3. Valentine was put into prison because ______.
   A. he killed one of the soldiers 
   B. he stole a lot of food
   C. he didn’t obey the emperor’s order   
   D. he didn’t want to be a soldier
4. The last paragraph mainly tells us ______.
   A. students in China send cards to their teachers
   B. it is a good idea to celebrate Valentine’s Day in China
   C. it is interesting to celebrate Valentine’s Day in China
   D. Valentine’s Day is also popular in China now
5. The best title for this passage should be ______.
   A. Valentine’s Day                  B. A Brave Priest  
   C. Valentine’s Day in China          D. A Romantic Man

七．阅读理解

                            February has long been a month of romance. With the sweet smell of roses in the air, romantic films hit cinemas and love stories fill newspapers and magazines.

   On the 14th day, it is a custom for a boy to take his girlfriend out to dinner, buy her flowers and chocolates, write poems, sing to her or even spell out her name with rose petals! This is what you see on Valentine’s Day, a day named after Valentine who was a priest in the third century Rome. When the emperor decided that single men could become better soldiers than those with wives, he didn’t allow marriage.

   But Valentine continued to perform marriage ceremonies for young lovers in secret. When his actions were discovered, the emperor sentenced him to death. While in prison, it is said that Valentine fell in love with the daughter of his prison guard. Before his death, he wrote her a letter, which he signed “From your Valentine”, an expression that is still in use today. Valentine died for what he believed in and so he was made a Saint (圣徒), as well as becoming one of history’s most romantic characters.

   Nowadays, Valentine’s Day is also popular among Chinese young people. Some students are planning to make Valentine’s cards for parents, teachers and friends. Others want to hold parties at which they will exchange small gifts and eat heart-shaped cakes. The idea is to have fun and encourage people to share in the spirit of St. Valentine.

1. Which of the following is not a custom for a boy to do on Valentine’s Day?

   A. to take his girlfriend out to dinner

   B. to buy his girlfriend flowers and chocolates     

   C. to make Valentine’s cards for teachers and friends

   D. to spell out his girlfriend’s name with rose petals

2. Why did the emperor in Rome not allow marriage in his country?

   A. Because there were few women in his country at that time.

   B. Because he thought men without wives could be better soldiers.

   C. Because there wasn’t enough food for so many people.

   D. Because he wanted to control the birth rate.

3. Valentine was put into prison because ______.

   A. he killed one of the soldiers 

   B. he stole a lot of food

   C. he didn’t obey the emperor’s order   

   D. he didn’t want to be a soldier

4. The last paragraph mainly tells us ______.

   A. students in China send cards to their teachers

   B. it is a good idea to celebrate Valentine’s Day in China

   C. it is interesting to celebrate Valentine’s Day in China

   D. Valentine’s Day is also popular in China now

5. The best title for this passage should be ______.

   A. Valentine’s Day                    B. A Brave Priest  

   C. Valentine’s Day in China           D. A Romantic Man

三．阅读理解，阅读文章后，从每题所给A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳答案。

（共13小题; 每小题2分，满分26分）

    February has long been a month of romance. With the sweet smell of roses in the air, romantic films hit cinemas and love stories fill newspapers and magazines.

On the 14th day, it is a custom for a boy to take his girlfriend out to dinner, buy her flowers and chocolates, write poems, sing to her or even spell out her name with rose petals(花瓣)! This is the scene that greets you on Valentine's Day, named after Valentine who was a priest (牧师) in third century Rome. When the emperor（皇帝）decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives, he didn’t allow marriage.But Valentine continued to perform marriage ceremonies for young lovers in secret. When his actions were discovered, the emperor had him put to death. While in prison, it is said that Valentine fell in love with the daughter of his prison guard. Before his death on 14th Feb 270 DC, he wrote her a letter, which he signed ‘From your Valentine’, an expression_r that is still in use today. Valentine died for what he believed in and so was made a Saint(圣徒), as well as becoming one of history's most romantic figures.

Nowadays, Valentine’s Day is also popular among Chinese young people. Some students are planning to make Valentine’s cards for parents, teachers and friends. Others want to hold parties at which they will exchange small gifts and eat heart-shaped cakes. The idea is to have fun and encourage people to share the spirit of St. Valentine.

36.   The Emperor in Rome did not allow marriage in his country because __________.

   A. there were few women in his country at that time  

   B. he thought men without wives could be better soldiers

C. There wasn’t enough food for so many people

D. he wanted to control the birth rate

37.   Valentine was put into prison because __________.

   A. he killed one of the soldiers               B. he stole a lot of food

   C. he didn’t obey the emperor’s order    D. he didn’t want to be a soldier

38.   The last paragraph mainly tells us _________.

   A. students in China send cards to their teachers

   B. it is a good idea to celebrate Valentine’s Day in China

   C. it is interesting to celebrate Valentine’s Day in China

   D. Valentine’s Day is also popular in China now

39.   The best titles for this passage should be ________.

   A. Valentine’s Day                                B. A Brave Priest

   C. Valentine’s Day in China                    D. A Romantic Man

七．阅读理解

                               A

February has long been a month of romance. With the sweet smell of roses in the air, romantic films hit cinemas and love stories fill newspapers and magazines.

   On the 14th day, it is a custom for a boy to take his girlfriend out to dinner, buy her flowers and chocolates, write poems, sing to her or even spell out her name with rose petals! This is what you see on Valentine’s Day, a day named after Valentine who was a priest in the third century Rome. When the emperor decided that single men could become better soldiers than those with wives, he didn’t allow marriage.

   But Valentine continued to perform marriage ceremonies for young lovers in secret. When his actions were discovered, the emperor sentenced him to death. While in prison, it is said that Valentine fell in love with the daughter of his prison guard. Before his death, he wrote her a letter, which he signed “From your Valentine”, an expression that is still in use today. Valentine died for what he believed in and so he was made a Saint (圣徒), as well as becoming one of history’s most romantic characters.

   Nowadays, Valentine’s Day is also popular among Chinese young people. Some students are planning to make Valentine’s cards for parents, teachers and friends. Others want to hold parties at which they will exchange small gifts and eat heart-shaped cakes. The idea is to have fun and encourage people to share in the spirit of St. Valentine.

1. Which of the following is not a custom for a boy to do on Valentine’s Day?

   A. to take his girlfriend out to dinner

   B. to buy his girlfriend flowers and chocolates     

   C. to make Valentine’s cards for teachers and friends

   D. to spell out his girlfriend’s name with rose petals

2. Why did the emperor in Rome not allow marriage in his country?

   A. Because there were few women in his country at that time.

   B. Because he thought men without wives could be better soldiers.

   C. Because there wasn’t enough food for so many people.

   D. Because he wanted to control the birth rate.

3. Valentine was put into prison because ______.

   A. he killed one of the soldiers 

   B. he stole a lot of food

   C. he didn’t obey the emperor’s order   

   D. he didn’t want to be a soldier

4. The last paragraph mainly tells us ______.

   A. students in China send cards to their teachers

   B. it is a good idea to celebrate Valentine’s Day in China

   C. it is interesting to celebrate Valentine’s Day in China

   D. Valentine’s Day is also popular in China now

5. The best title for this passage should be ______.

   A. Valentine’s Day                    B. A Brave Priest  

   C. Valentine’s Day in China           D. A Romantic Man