One day, Raul was miles away from the small ranch（牧场） house in a large valley.   36

seemed to be all right, yet he felt strange and somewhat uneasy. The wind had picked up, and angry, dark clouds   37  across the sky. He could smell the rain coming. And it did.  38  ,the lightning flashed through the clouds, nearly   39    Raul. The thunder（雷声） was so loud that he buried his  40   in his hands and rubbed his eyes. Then he heard it. Hoof beats（蹄声）.He   41  .There before him stood a tall, white   42  . An old man stared down at him from its back.

      “Wh-wh-who are y-y-you?” asked Raul. “My name is Gray Cloud,” the old man answered   43  .“Come with me.”

      Raul followed on his horse. A   44   feeling came over him. All    45    them the rain was pouring down,  46    not a drop fell on them. They seemed to be  47   back toward Raul’s home. Raul lost track of time. Then all at once he found  48  at the ranch gate. The old man turned his horse,  49  his hand, and smiled. Lightning flashed again. The old man and his horse were  50 .

Raul’s father ran out across the yard  to   51  him. “we have been  52  sick about you. Are you okay? Hurry. Let’s get in out of the  53  .”

   “Wait,” said Raul. “Have you ever heard of an old man called Gray Cloud?”

   “Can’t say I … wait. I  54  my great-grandfather used to tell storied about a man called Gray Cloud. He died a long time ago. They say he was  55  by lightning during a terrible thunderstorm. Why do you ask?”

    One day,Raul was miles away from the small ranch（牧场） house in a large valley. 36  seemed to be all right, yet he felt strange and somewhat uneasy.The wind had picked up, and angry, dark clouds  37  across the sky. He could smell the rain coming. And it did. 38  ,the lightning flashed through the clouds, nearly  39  Raul. The thunder（雷声） was so loud that he buried his  40   in his hands and rubbed his eyes. Then he heard it. Hoofbeats（蹄声）.He  41 .There before him stood a tall, white  42 . An old man stared down at him from its back.

    “Wh-wh-who are y-y-you?” asked Raul. “My name is Gray Cloud,” the old man answered  43 . “Come with me.”

    Raul followed on his horse. A  44 feeling came over him. All  45  them the rain was pouring down,  46  not a drop fell on them. They seemed to be  47   back toward Raul’s home. Raul lost track of time. Then all at once he found  48  at the ranch gate. The old man turned his horse,  49  his hand, and smiled. Lightning flashed again. The old man and his horse were  50 .

    Raul’s father ran out across the yard  to   51  him. “we have been  52  sick about you. Are you okay? Hurry. Let’s get in out of the  53  .”

    “Wait,” said Raul. “Have you ever heard of an old man called Gray Cloud?”

    “Can’t say I … wait. I  54  my great-grandfather used to tell storied about a man called Gray Cloud. He died a long time ago. They say he was  55  by lightning during a terrible thunderstorm. Why do you ask?”

36. A.Something  B.Everything               C.Anything                  D.Nothing

37.A.dropped        B.fell                   C.rolled                       D.covered

38.A.Suddenly      B.Strongly            C.Quickly             D.Hardly

39.A.beating                B.blinding            C.burning             D.touching

40.A.nose             B.hair                   C.neck                  D.head

41.A.looked up     B.woke up            C.lay down           D.sat down

42.A.tiger             B.horse                C.lion                   D.elephant

43.A.lazily            B.angrily              C.coldly                      D.slowly

44.A.natural         B.common            C.strange              D.bad

45.A.around         B.beside               C.through             D.above

46.A.yet               B.for                    C.so                     D.or

47.A.walking               B.leading              C.heading             D.returning

48.A.them            B.themselves         C.him                   D.himself

49.A.shook           B.waved               C.held                  D.took

50.A.gone             B.left                   C.followed            D.lost

51.A.see               B.meet                C.beat                  D.ask

52.A.waited         B.thought             C.worried             D.excited

53.A.yard             B.wind                C.grass                D.rain

54.A.believe                B.consider            C.doubt                       D.forget

55.A.defeated        B.caught               C.damaged            D.struck

Communications technologies are far from equal when it comes to conveying the truth．The first study to compare honesty across a range of communication media has found that people are twice as likely to tell lies in phone conversations as they are in emails．The fact that emails are automatically recorded—and can come back to puzzle you---appears to be the key to the finding．
Jeff Hancock of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, asked 30 students to keep a communications diary for a week．In it they noted the number of conversations or email exchanges they had lasting more than 10 minutes, and confessed to how many lies they told．Hancock then worked out the number of lies per conversation for each medium．He found that lies made up 14 per cent of emails, 21 percent of instant messages, 27 per cent of face-to-face interactions and an astonishing 37 percent of phone calls．
His results to be presented at the conference on human-computer interaction in Vienna, Austria, in April, have surprised psychologists．Some expected emailers to be the biggest liars, reasoning that because deception makes people uncomfortable, the indirect contact of emailing would make it easier to lie．Others expected people to lie more in face-to-face exchanges because we are most practiced at that form of communication．
But Hancock says it is also crucial whether a conversation is being recorded and could be reread, and whether it occurs in real time．People appear to be afraid to lie when they know the communication could later be used to hold them to account, he says．This is why fewer lies appear in email than on the phone．
People are also more likely to lie in real time---in an instant message or phone call, say---than if they have time to think of a response, says Hancock．He found many lies are spontaneous（脱口而出） responses to an unexpected demand, such as: “Do you like my dress?”
Hancock hopes his research will help companies work out the best ways for their employees to communicate．For instance, the phone might be the best medium for sales where employees are encouraged to stretch the truth．But, given his result, work assessment where honesty is a priority, might be best done using email．
【小题1】Hancock’s study focuses on _______．

One day, Raul was miles away from the small ranch（牧场） house in a large valley.   36

seemed to be all right, yet he felt strange and somewhat uneasy. The wind had picked up, and angry, dark clouds   37  across the sky. He could smell the rain coming. And it did.  38  ,the lightning flashed through the clouds, nearly   39    Raul. The thunder（雷声） was so loud that he buried his  40   in his hands and rubbed his eyes. Then he heard it. Hoof beats（蹄声）.He   41  .There before him stood a tall, white   42  . An old man stared down at him from its back.

      “Wh-wh-who are y-y-you?” asked Raul. “My name is Gray Cloud,” the old man answered   43  .“Come with me.”

      Raul followed on his horse. A   44   feeling came over him. All    45    them the rain was pouring down,  46    not a drop fell on them. They seemed to be  47   back toward Raul’s home. Raul lost track of time. Then all at once he found  48  at the ranch gate. The old man turned his horse,  49  his hand, and smiled. Lightning flashed again. The old man and his horse were  50 .

Raul’s father ran out across the yard  to   51  him. “we have been  52  sick about you. Are you okay? Hurry. Let’s get in out of the  53  .”

   “Wait,” said Raul. “Have you ever heard of an old man called Gray Cloud?”

   “Can’t say I … wait. I  54  my great-grandfather used to tell storied about a man called Gray Cloud. He died a long time ago. They say he was  55  by lightning during a terrible thunderstorm. Why do you ask?”

36. A. Something             B. Everything            C. Anything              D. Nothing

37.A.dropped                   B. fell                       C. rolled                   D. covered

38.A.Suddenly                 B. Strongly               C. Quickly                D. Hardly

39.A.beating                    B. blinding                C. burning                D. touching

40.A.nose                        B. hair                      C. neck                    D. head

41.A.looked up                B. woke up               C. lay down              D. sat down

42.A.tiger                        B. horse                   C. lion                      D. elephant

43.A.lazily                       B. angrily                 C. coldly                  D. slowly

44.A.natural                     B. common              C. strange                D. bad

45.A.around                    B. beside                  C. through                D. above

46.A.yet                          B. for                       C. so                       D. or

47.A.walking                   B. leading                 C. heading                D. returning

48.A.them                       B. themselves           C. him                     D. himself

49.A.shook                      B. waved                  C. held                     D. took

50.A.gone                       B. left                      C. followed              D. lost

51.A.see                          B. meet                    C. beat                     D. ask

52.A.waited                     B. thought                C. worried                D. excited

53.A.yard                        B. wind                    C. grass                   D. rain

54.A.believe                     B. consider               C. doubt                   D. forget

55.A.defeated                  B. caught                 C. damaged              D. struck

This site contains 100 original short stories about life in America. These stories are written for ESL(English as a second language ) learners who are, at least, high beginners. We want to help ESL students learn English as quickly and effortlessly as possible. Learning should be interesting, not boring. We hope that learners will find that these stories are of some help to improve their English.

The stories have interesting topics and are easy to understand. Each story comes with an audio narrative so that learners can listen as they read. The audio requires downloading the free Real Player. Each story contains a search for pictures, definitions, and pronunciation.“ Following each story are four sets of exercises, and each containing 10 items.

Exercise A is “Yes / No Questions”. The learner is asked questions like, “Does Sara have children?” The learner can then type in, “Yes, she does.” Then the learner can check whether it’s the right answer or not.

Exercise B is “Wh-Questions”. The learner is asked questions like, “Where does Sara live?” The learner can then type in, “She lives in Pasadena.” Then the learner can check his answer.

Exercise C is “Ask Questions”. The learner is given an answer like, “They have two children.” The learner must then type in a question like, “How many children do they have?”The learner can then check to see whether he is correct or not. Exercise D is “Dictation”. The learner listens to a sentence. Most of the sentences duplicate  the sentences in the stories. The learner types the dictation and then checks to see whether he is correct or not.

Work on the site is in progress. Help us make it better as the years go by. We welcome all comments, suggestions, complaints, new ideas, and questions. Click here to send us emails.

1.Where does this passage come from?

2.The main purpose of this passage is to _____.

3.All of the following statements are correct EXCEPT _______.

4.If you want to improve your listening ability, you may mainly do some practice in _____.