Whoever has made a voyage up the Hudson River must remember the Catskill Mountains. They are a branch of the great Appalachian family, and can be seen to the west rising up to a noble height and towering over the surrounding country. When the weather is fair and settled, they are clothed in blue and purple, and print their beautiful shapes on the clear evening sky, but sometimes when it is cloudless, gray steam gathers around the top of the mountains which, in the last rays of the setting sun, will shine and light up like a crown of glory （华丽的皇冠）.

     At the foot of these mountains, a traveler may see light smoke going up from a village.

     In that village, and in one of the houses （which, to tell the exact truth, was sadly time-worn and weather-beaten）, there lived many years ago, a simple, good-natured fellow by the name of Rip Van Winkle.

     Rip's great weakness was a natural dislike of all kinds of money-making labor. It could not be from lack of diligence （勤劳）, for he could sit all day on a wet rock and fish without saying a word, even though he was not encouraged by a single bite. He would carry a gun on his shoulder for hours, walking through woods and fields to shoot a few birds or squirrels. He would never refuse to help a neighbor, even in the roughest work. The women of the village, too, used to employ him to do such little jobs as their less helpful husbands would not do for them. In a word, Rip was ready to attend to everybody's business but his own.

      If left to himself, he would have whistled （ 吹口哨） life away in perfect satisfaction; but his wife was always mad at him for his idleness （懒散）. Morning, noon, and night, her tongue was endlessly going, so that he was forced to escape to the outside of the house -- the only side which, in truth, belongs to a henpecked husband.

68. Which of the following best describes the Catskill Mountains?

     A. They are on the west of the Hudson River.

     B. They are very high and beautiful in this area.

     C. They can be seen from the Appalachian family.

     D. They gather beautiful clouds in blue and purple.

69. The hero of the story is probably_____________.

A. hard-working and likes all kinds of work

B. idle and hates all kinds of jobs

C. simple, idle but very dutiful

D. gentle, helpful but a little idle

70. The underlined words "henpecked husband" in the last paragraph probably means a man who____.

    A. likes hunting        B. is afraid of hens

    C. loves his wife        D. is afraid of his wife

71. What would be the best title for the text?

     A. Catskill Mountains.        B. A Mountain Village.

     C. Rip Van Winkle.          D. A Dutiful Husband.

A child, who has once got interested in a tale, likes, as a rule, to have it retold in almost the same words, but this should not lead parents to treat printed fairy stories as formal texts. It is always much better to “tell” a story than just “read” it out of a book, and, if a parent can produce his own as an improvement on the printed text, according to his child’s actual situation, so much the better.

There is a charge made against some fairy tales, as they probably harm children by frightening them or leaving them sad feelings. To prove it, an experiment has been done to show that children who have heard terrible fairy stories often feel more uneasy than those who have not. As for fears, there are some cases where children get timid (胆怯的) by some fairy story. Often, however, this arises from the child having heard the story once. Familiarity with the story by repetition may weaken the pain of fear.

There are also people who object to fairy stories on the grounds that the stories are not objectively true, and that those giants, witches, two-headed dragons, magic carpets etc. do not really exist, so children should be taught to learn the reality by studying history, instead of being got fond of the strange side in fairy tales. Those, who prefer to create such stories, are so peculiar (奇怪的) that it is hard to argue with them. If their creative exaggeration (夸张) were sound, the world should be full of mad men attempting to fly from New York to Philadelphia on a stick or covering a telephone with kisses in the belief that it was their beloved girl-friend.

Not once is a fairy story ever declared to be a description of the real world, but not every child is clever enough to be aware of it. Parents should choose their children’s “bed-time” reading materials with much care. Only the fairy stories containing positive effect will make a clever and caring child with rich imagination.   

1.The author considers that a fairy story is more effective when it is ______.

A．repeated without any change

B．treated as no more than a joke

C．made some changes by parents

D．set in the present situation

2.According to the passage, when a child hears a terrible fairy story, ______.

A．he will get more interested

B．great fear can take place in him

C．he will like it to be repeated

D．an experiment is being done

3.The word “sound” in Para.3 can be understood as ______.

A．fashionable        B．forgettable        C．available          D．believable

4.The author mentions “sticks” and “telephones” to prove that ______.

A．fairy stories are all made up

B．fairy tales lead to misunderstanding

C．children are cheated by old stories

D．there is more concern for children

5.One of the reasons why some people are not in favor of fairy tales is that ______.

A．they are made up far from the truth

B．they are so full of imagination

C．they are not interesting at all

D．they make history difficult to teach

6.It makes sense that parents choose fairy stories with ______ as “bed-time” reading materials..

A．formal printings     B．creative scenes     C．positive effect      D．terrible characters

I played a racquetball game against my cousin Ed last week. It was one of the most ___1___ and tiring games I’ve ever had. When Ed first phoned and ___2___ we play, I laughed quietly, figuring on an ___3___ victory. After all, Ed’s idea of ___4___ has always been nothing more ___5___ than lifting a fork to his mouth. ___6___ I can remember, Ed’s been the least physically fit member in the family, and ___7___ proud of himself. His big stomach has always ballooned out between his T-shirt and trousers. Although the family often ___8___ about that, Ed refused to buy a ___9___ T-shirt or to lose weight. So when Ed ___10___ for our game not only with the bottom of his shirt gathered inside his trousers but also with a stomach you could hardly ___11___, I was so surprised that I was ___12___. My cousin must have made an effort to get himself into shape. ___13___, at the point in our game when I’d have predicted(预计) the score to be about 9 to 1 in my favor, it was ___14___ 7 to 9 — and Ed was ___15___. The sudden realization was painful. We ___16___ to play like two mad men. When the score was 16 up, I was having serious ___17___ about staying alive until 21 years old, let alone ___18___ that many points. When the game finally ended, both of us were lying flat on our backs, too tired to ___19___. In a way, I think we both won: I the game, but cousin Ed my ___20___.

1. A. encouraging   B. hopeless     C. surprising   D. regular

2. A. declared B. mentioned  C. persuaded   D. suggested

3. A. unforgettable B. unexpected C. easy    D. early

4. A. exercise  B. preparation C. joy     D. fitness

5. A. time-saving   B. comfortable       C. suitable      D. effort-making

6. A. As soon as     B. As long as  C. When  D. Since

7. A. strangely       B. personally  C. reasonably  D. eagerly

8. A. cared     B. forgot C. quarreled    D. joked

9. A. clean      B. larger  C. straight      D. darker

10. A. set out  B. got ready    C. arrived       D. returned

11. A. notice   B. admire       C. believe       D. measure

12. A. nervous       B. curious       C. careless      D. speechless

13. A. After all      B. As a result  C. Above all   D. At last

14. A. mistakenly   B. then    C. instead       D. naturally

15. A. leading B. coming      C. waiting      D. counting

16. A. pretended    B. stopped      C. continued   D. decided

17. A. thoughts      B. doubts C. situations    D. problems

18. A. scoring B. completing C. receiving    D. keeping

19. A. play     B. start    C. sleep   D. move

20. A. friendship    B. respect       C. support      D. favor

“I don’t think I can do this any more.” “Yes, you can. You only have five more radiation treatments to go. ” I held my wife Becky close.

         Ever since the breast cancer diagnosis (诊断), she had tried hard to be strong for the kids and for me.    When her diagnosis came, my first thought was there was no way I could lose my wife. The doctors assured us the cancer was discovered early so we were feeling positive.

         Becky had received an operation and was recovering from it. After six weeks of radiation therapy(治疗), she was facing her final five treatments. She was weak and tired, in low spirits. Seeing her suffering, I felt so helpless and powerless.

         As soon as I was outside, long-held frustration and anger erupted in me like a volcano. I took a hammer and suddenly was swinging as hard as I could, beating heavily on the front porch(门廊). While doing so, I imagined I was beating my wife’s cancer. With all my strength, I destroyed the porch.

         During the treatment, my wife had been very brave. She said she had it easy, but I don’t think it was easy for her.

         Seeing the porch gone, Becky shook her head at the window. I came into the room, not knowing how she would react to what I had done.

         “Becky, are you mad at me?” She looked at me in surprise. “For what?” I pointed at the gate. “For tearing down the porch.” She laughed. “Look how sunny this room is now. I love that it’s bright in here.”

         “You comforted me in my darker hour, Vince. You’ve found a way to deal with your own frustration. By destroying the porch, you let the sunshine in.”

         As I looked around the brightened room, I realized the light that filled the space was the light of hope that shone so bright after the darkness. We never did re-build the porch.

1.When the diagnosis came out, _______.

A. the author had little hope that his wife would survive

B. the author was determined to save his wife’s life

C. the author’s wife refused to receive radiation treatments

D. the author felt lucky that his wife’s disease was not serious

2.The author went outside to destroy the porch because _______.

A. he wanted to release his frustration

B. he was disappointed with his wife

C. he intended to let sunshine in

D. his wife didn’t like it at all

3.How did the author’s wife feel about him seeing the porch gone?

A. Sympathetic B. Angry

C. Understanding                D. Happy

4.What lesson can we learn from the passage?

A. Tragedy cannot separate loving couple

B. A day without sunshine is like night

C. True love is based on understanding

D. Nothing is impossible for a willing heart