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 carelessly.

“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 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.

1.Why did Tom take all his bits of toys out of his pockets?

A. Because he is tired and wanted to play with his toys.

B. Because he wanted to throw his toys away.

C. Because he wanted to give his toys to his friends.

D. Because he wanted to know if he could buy help with his toys.

2.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 planned to make Ben give up his apple first

C. Tom was unwilling to let Ben do the whitewashing

D. Tom was afraid Ben would do the whitewashing better.

3.What made Ben Rogers eagerly gave up his apple and offer to brush the fence for Tom?

A. His warm heart and kindness to friends.?????????????

B. His curiosity about Tom’s brushing job.

C. Tom’s threat.????????????? ????????????? ????????????? ????????????? ????????????? ????????????? ?????????????

D. Aunt Polly’s idea.

4.Which of the following is the most suitable title for this passage?

A. The Happy Whitewasher ????????????? ????????????? ????????????? ?????????????

B. Tom And His Fellows

C. Whitewashing A Fence????????????? ????????????? ? ????????????? ????????????? ?????????????

D. How To Make The Things Difficult To Get

Changsha,
Hunan Province
May 6, 2010
Dear editor,
Under China’s current (现在的) educational system, there are those who do nothing but study. They of course are thought to be model students.
But I feel that there is another type of student who, perhaps not as diligent (勤奋的) as the first type, uses his time more efficiently and achieves a lot academically.
Last year, a classmate of mine was accepted by a top university. It surprised all of us. It was because, unlike most of us, he didn’t spend too much of his time studying.
When I asked him the secret of his success, he said that the key was properly and scientifically arranging his time.
“ I spent a lot of time keeping fit and as a result, I was able to better concentrate (集中) on my class work.”
The moral (教训) of the story is: it isn’t necessary to sit at your desk all day long to get high academic (学术) grades.
Yours,
Zhang Zishu
【小题1】What does the letter-writer (a reader) think leads to the fact that many students do nothing but study?

—I believe we've met somewhere before.

　—No, _________.

　　A. it isn't the same　　　　B. it can't be true

　　C. I don't think so　　　　　D. I'd rather not

The letter was a great disappointment to me. It was from Holy Cross, the only school I really wanted to  41  . I scanned the page, “…. We had a great applicant pool this year. …We can’t offer spaces to   42   … and place you on our waiting list.”

“What does it say, honey?” my dad asked, his voice full of   43   for me.

“I didn’t get in, but I’m on the waiting list.”

“Well, at least it isn’t   44  ,” he said brightly.

“Yeah, but   45  , I don’t want to be on the waiting list; I want to be   46  . No one gets in off the waiting list. It’s a way of saying ‘Thanks for   47  ’.”

“Then let’s go out there and tell them so.”

“That sounds   48  , dad.” I said sadly, “It doesn’t work.”

Upset and annoyed, I   49   myself in my room. However，my father’s advice kept   50   in my head. I thought about it for a few days, finally coming to the   51   that he was right. And the next day I seated myself across from Mr. Luis Soto, my admissions officer.

“What can I do for you, Nacie?” he asked pleasantly.

“Well, sir, I am here to tell you that I love this school and would love a   52   to be here. I just wanted to tell you how much going here would   53   to me—it is my only dream college— and that I would use my time here to the best   54  . I wanted to let you know that if you gave me a chance and reconsidered my application, you wouldn’t   55   it.” The words had poured out  56  I could stop them or check their desperate tone.

Mr. Soto looked me over for a minute before he smiled broadly.

“OK, that is the kind of thing we love to hear. Congratulations, you’re in.”

It was so   57   and I asked, “I’m sorry?”

“We want people in the class who want to be here, who will   58   the best of this education. I’m glad you came to talk   59   to me. I’m happy to offer you a position in the Class of 2009.”

The whole experience taught me a lesson: if you truly want something, never, ever   60  .

A. attend                   B. study                       C. admit                      D. visit

A. everyone          B. anyone                  C. someone        D. no one

A. trust              B. pity                    C. anxiety          D. curiosity

A. admission          B. imagination             C. restriction        D. rejection  

A. ever               B. again                 C. also              D. still

A. recognized          B. received                 C. accepted          D. permitted

A. writing            B. trying                   C. replying           D. waiting

A. lame             B. reasonable               C. painful         D. practical 

A. enjoyed             B. comforted            C. stayed             D. buried 

A. saying            B. ringing               C. showing          D. reminding

A. point             B. conclusion              C. agreement         D. arrangement

A. chance          B. motivation         C. degree         D. change  

A. refer              B. turn                    C. mean            D. stick

A. contribution       B. condition                       C. advantage        D. result 

A. suspect              B. disappoint               C. refuse              D. regret

A. as                B. when                 C. until           D. before    

A. unbelievable         B. unforgettable           C. unbearable     D. favorable

A. take                      B. get                          C. make                D. receive

A. patiently            B. openly                     C. carefully           D. calmly

A. get through            B. give up                 C. keep on            D. try out

B
“How are you?” is a nice question. It’s a friendly way that people in the United States greet each other. But “How are you?” is also a very unusual question. It’s a question that often doesn’t have an answer. The person who asks “How are you?” hopes to hear the answer “Fine.”, even if the person’s friend isn’t fine. The reason is that “How are you?” isn’t really a question and “Fine.” isn’t really an answer. They are simply other ways of saying “Hello!” or “Hi!”.
Sometimes, people also don’t say exactly what they mean. For example, when someone asks, “Do you agree?”, the other person might be thinking, “No, I disagree. I think you’re wrong …” But it isn’t very polite to disagree strongly, so the other person might say “I’m not sure …”. It’s a nice way to say that you don’t agree with someone.
People also don’t say exactly what they are thinking when they finish talking with other people. For example, many talks over the phone finish when one person says “I’ve to go now.” Often, the person who wants to hang up gives an excuse, “Someone is at the door.” “Something is burning on the stove.” The excuses might be real, or it might not. Perhaps the person who wants to hang up simply doesn’t want to talk any more, but it isn’t polite to say that. The excuse is more polite, and it doesn’t hurt the other person.
When they are greeting each other, talking about an idea, or finishing a talk, people often don’t say exactly what they are thinking. It’s an important way that people try to be nice to each other, and it’s also a part of the game of language.
60. When a person in the United States asks “How are you?”, he or she wants to hear “___________”
A. How are you?      B. Hello!       C. I don’t know.        D. Fine.
61. When a person wants to disagree with someone, it is polite to say “___________”
A. You’re wrong. I disagree.           B. I’m not sure.
C. I’m sure I disagree.                D. No, I disagree.
62. When a person says “I’ve to go now. Someone is at the door.”, he or she may be __________.
A. giving an excuse                  B. hurting someone’s feeling
C. talking to a person at the door        D. going to another place
63. One of the rules of the game of language is probably “_________”
A. Always say what you mean.               B. Don’t disagree with people.
C. Never say exactly what you’re thinking.     D. Be polite.