I can remember the day my father came home from the war. As he walked up the front path of our home, he saw Mum and me and he dropped the suitcase.

I was only five years old so Dad made a fuss of me, then began making an even bigger fuss of my mother. This left me free to examine all the stuff lying around the broken suitcase, and I was quick to notice a newspaper advertisement displaying a new piano. When Dad saw me holding up the newspaper cutting, he smiled.

“Yes, that’s right,” he said. “I bought your mum a piano for ten pounds down and two pounds a week.”

A few moments later, a horse pulled a cart with a piano on top. Soon we all stared at it in our small lounger room. Mum had never been close to a piano before, except at the kindergarten I attended, and she used to say how wonderful it would be if the teachers could teach her to play.

After tea that night, Mum began to teach herself to play. She plinked the keys for about two hours and drove everybody in the street mad, until Dad gently said, “Enough is enough.”

From that day on, she would plink between doing the cooking and housework. Three months went by and Mum was now a skilled pianist, holding parties with all the neighbors gathering around to sing.

Although we were poor, Mum felt like a princess and was delighted at all the attention she was receiving.

At the height of Mum’s happiness, I began to notice that Dad was looking increasingly worried. It turned out that since returning from the war, he’d been unable to find a job. Then, a few weeks later, I observed two men taking Mum’s piano away. Mum sobbed in the kitchen. Suddenly, it all became clear to me: no job, no money, no piano.

Dad finally got a job. Mum was happy again as if he’d just win the lottery(彩票). Dad had to study to qualify as an account. Every night after dinner he’d place a stack of books on the kitchen table and study late into the night. Mum didn’t say much but I could tell she was proud of Dad.

Two years later, Dad bought Mum another piano. This time he paid cash for it.

1.How did the author’s Dad buy the piano for his mum?

A．He paid part of the bill regularly.

B．He earned it by winning a bet.

C．He paid cash for it.

D．He bought it as a big bargain.

2.By saying “Enough is enough”, the author’s dad meant_______.

A．practice makes perfect

B．it was time to stop practicing

C．he couldn’t bear being troubled

D．his wife played the piano well enough

3.What made the author’s mum proud of his dad?

A．His dad’s willingness to help cook.

B．His dad’s winning the lottery luckily.

C．His dad’s loyalty to his motherland.

D．His dad’s determination to rebuild his life.

D  
Every August on the island of Heimaey, young people often take a walk along the street throughout the night. Why their parents allow them to stay out ? The children of Heimaey are going to save young puffins ---- small black-and-white seabirds.
The cliffs（悬崖）above the town are home to a large group of puffins . The birds dig holes all around the cliffs . These holes are their homes. The young stay in the holes for about seven weeks. Then they begin to leave . Some move slowly on their undeveloped wings and feet down to the sea around Heimaey. There they swim, which they can do naturally , and learn to dive for fish . Others, however, may lose their way at night and find themselves in the town instead. On the ground, the young birds are in trouble. Because their wings are fully developed, they cannot take off quickly to sea and safety. The birds then become a good meal for cats and other animals .
For many years, islanders have help the young puffins. At night in late August, children carrying thick paper boxes and lights hurry out to catch puffins . They spend most of the night running after the birds. They put the birds they've caught into boxes and take good care of them .
The next morning the children take the puffins to the sea and set them free. The bird will live at sea until they are at least two years old. Then they will return to the cliffs to build homes of their own.
The children of Heimaey look forward to August !
16．Every August the children of Heimaey are allowed to stay out all night.    
A．to catch puffins and take them home  B．to save puffins from danger
C．to drive puffins away  D．to run after puffins for pleasure
17．The young puffins that lose their way are in the danger of ______.
A．being killed by hunters  B．knowing nothing about the sea
C．being eaten by animals  D．having no fish to eat
18．The children put the seabirds into boxes and ______.     
A．look after them carefully for several days, then set them free
B．set them free when they grow bigger and can take off to sea and safety
C．carry them to the sea right away to set them free
D．they don' t set them free until the next morning
19．The children look forward to August because ______.     
A．they enjoy playing the game of running after seabirds
B．it' s time for them to go out at night to save puffins
C．it' s time for them to catch seabirds
D．they like to stay out at night to catch puffins
20．According to the passage, which of the following is NOT TRUE?   
A．Once a year the children are allowed to stay out at night to have a good time .
B．The earlier home for the young puffins is in the cliffs, not in the sand of shores .
C．Young puffins make their way down to the sea when they are about seven weeks old.
D．The young birds that get to the sea will stay there for at least two years before they return to the cliffs .

　　Excused from recycling（回收利用） because you live in a high rise with a rubbish chute（垃圾道）? You won't be for long. Miami's Mark Shantzis has made it simple for those living in tall buildings to use the chute and recycle too .
　　In Shantzis' Hi-Rise Recycling System, a chute leads to a pie-shaped container with six boxes that can turn around when operated. The system, which fits in the same space as the chute and container now in use, enables glass, plastic, paper, metal, and other rubbish to go into separate boxes.
　　The system is controlled from a board next to the chute door. The board has a button for each class of recycling materials （as well as for unrecyclables）. At the press of a button, a microcomputer locks all other floors' chute door and sets the recycling container turning until the right box comes under the chute. The computer also counts the loads and gives a signal by phone when the box is full. And a particular piece of equipment breaks up the nonrecyclables
　　Sorting（分类） recyclables before they are collected saves the use of expensive materials recovery equipment which otherwise has to do the sorting. Such equipment often makes recycled materials very expensive, so expensive that tons of recyclables remain wasted. Shantzis believes his system could help recycled materials become more cost-effective.
57．The purpose in writing this text is _________.
　　A．to encourage people to recycle their rubbish
　　B．to introduce a recycling system for high rises
　　C．to describe the use of computer technology in recycling
　　D．to explain the need for rubbish collection in high rises
58．When he says "You won't be for long" the writer means that _______.
　　A．you'll soon be living in a cleaner building
　　B．rubbish chutes will become out of date before long
　　C．you won't wait long for your turn to recycle rubbish
　　D．it won't be long before you'll have to recycle your rubbish
59．Before dropping rubbish into the chute you have to ___________
　　A．lock the other floors' chute doors
　　B．check if the container is full
　　C．press the correct button
　　D．break up the rubbish
60．The biggest advantage of this new system is that _________
　　A．it readuces the cost of recycling
　　B．it saves time and space
　　C．it saves money for people living in high rises
　　D．it makes better use of the existing recovery equipment

As dangerous as sharks may have seed to people after watching Jaws, which was released on June 20,1975, the recent disastrous decrease in their numbers show that people have proven far more dangerous to sharks.

    This disastrous decline is due in large part to commercial fishing of sharks. “The market for

shark fins（鱼翅）in East Asia opened up thanks to changes in their economy, increasing their

ability to spend money on things such as shark fin soup,” Burgess said.

However, the biggest worry for sharks and their relatives, the skates and rays, which are suffering a similar fate, “is how they are killed incidentally when fishermen try and take other fish—the problem of bycatch（渔业混获）,” Burgess explained. “They may be thrown back afterward, but they’re still dead.”

The key of the problems behind bringing sharks back is that “they’re not the same as other fish,” Burgess said, “Sharks are slow growing and slow to reach maturity. Sharks are live bearers, which means females keep their young in their body just like us, but instead of nine months, it takes 12 to 18 months or more in sharks. Also, sharks generally can’t give birth again until a year after they’ve given birth—sometimes they’re on a three-year cycle. So once you get a shark population knocked down, this ‘life in the slow lane’ means that recovery is measured in decades rather than years.”\

Burgess said, “I’m on the recovery team for it, but the recovery plan for that is over the course of 100 years. So I won’t see them recover, nor will you, nor will your children. That’s what it means when these animals go down—they’re down a long time.”

Any measures aimed at saving sharks must not only consider byeatch, “which is the real killer right now,” but also encourage interactional cooperation, Burgess said.

“Sharks are very migratory, and many species cross borders,” he said. “We can protect them only by getting many govemment to come aboard. That’s the hardest part about this.”

The text mainly tells us       .

       A．shark fins are valuable    B．sharks are dangerous

       C．bycatch brings bad effects       D．sharks are in danger

The number of sharks is decreasing mostly because of      .

       A．the film Jaws          B．commercial interests

       C．changes in economy D．shark fin soup

Bringing sharks back is difficult because      .

       A．they’re like the other fish      

       B．their reproductive rate is slow

       C．they can’t give birth again     

       D．their life cycle is only 3 years

What can be concluded from the last paragraph?

       A．Sharks live the way human beings do.

       B．It’s time many govemments cooperate.

       C．Sharks’ migration takes a very long time.

       D．Bycatch shouldn’t be forbidden by intemational laws.

The test is most probably a        .

       A．newspaper ad          B．book review

       C．science news report  D．science fiction story