Going to the beach is many American’s favorite activity. They went swimming in the ocean without giving a thought to what was underwater. But those days are long gone. In the summer of 1988, many of the beaches had to be closed because garbage（废料）from hospitals was found in the water. The garbage included glass bottles with samples of blood, and people were afraid they might get AIDS from the blood. At some beaches, sewage（下水道）was found in the water. Americans were shocked by this state of affairs. People didn’t think of the underwater garbage because it was out of sight.

Some of the most polluted waters still look beautiful. San Francisco Bay is a good example of a beautiful bay that’s full of chemicals. Scientists discovered pollution in some lakes and rivers when they found fish with rotting skin. People are told not to eat too much fish because of pollution. Most American cities put their garbage in the ground. But New York and a few other cities put their garbage in the ocean. Boston Harbor is so polluted that scientists say it won’t recover until the next century. The government has ordered the city to build a sewage treatment plant, Cleaning up oceans won’t be easy, but people can no longer ignore（忽视）this challenge.

1.The main idea of the article is that _____.

2.The oceans are polluted by _____.

3.Many polluted waters are beautiful because _____.

4.More people can go to the beaches near Boston if _____.

　　"Mark Twain" was the name used by Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910) when he wrote books. His father was a lawyer, but a poor one, who lived at Florida, Missouri. The family was so poor that Samuel did not receive much teaching. He had to learn all that he could from the people whom he met. His father died when he was very young, and then there was even less money than before.

　　Many of the men in this part of America worked in the ships on the great River Mississippi, and he did this himself at one time (1857).

　　Where did he find the name "Mark Twain"? It came from the great river itself. It was part of one of the cries used by men who worked in the ships. When a man called "By the mark twain!"  he meant that the river was "two marks deep" there, that is to say, six feet deep ( "Twain" is an old form of the work "Two".) Samuel Clemens often heard these words when he was young, and he used them as a penname all his life.

　　During his work on the Mississippi he met travelers of all kinds, and this helped him a great deal when he started to write. But the number of travelers became smaller when war started in America in 1861. Many of the great ships on the river stopped work. Samuel left then and went to Nevada with his brother, who was at that time Governor of Nevada. There, near the town of Carson, Samuel became a gold miner, but he never made much money at the time. He soon saw that life in the gold mines was not for him. He also tried writing for the newspapers in Nevada, and this seemed more hopeful. He found that he could write.

　　He went to Europe in 1867 and visited France and Italy. In 1870 he married Olivia Langdon, and two years later he was spending nearly all his time writing. Among his books is his own story (1908).

　　He is now always known as Mark Twain, and many people do not even know that his family name was Clemens. He traveled in America and in England, and went to Oxford in 1907. He was one of  the great American writers of the time, and could make his readers laugh – a thing which few writers can do. He died in 1910.

1."Mark Twain" was _________.

      A. a famous American writer  B. name of a book

      C. a great river in America  D. a large ship

2.As a child, Samuel did not get much education because _________.

A.his father died too early

B.the family was very poor

  C. he disliked school very much

D. he could learn what he liked from the people he met

3. What gave him a great deal when he started writing? _______

A. His poor childhood     B. The Mississippi river 

C. All kinds of travelers he met  D. His brother

4. We can infer from the passage that ________.

A. Samuel loved writing from his early age

B. Samuel did not love writing at the beginning

C. his writings to the newspaper were successful

D. his brother encouraged him to write more

5.According to the writer of the passage, a good writer could _________.

A. write a lot for his readers

B. make a lot of money for his family

C. cause his readers to laugh

D. travel everywhere he wanted

Her dress was spotlessly clean and well made,but it was______kind of ______dress which the daughter of a poor man might have worn.

A.the;a                  B.a;a                     C.the;/                   D./;/

Last July, my 12-year-old car died on California’s Santa Ana Freeway. It was an hour before sunset, and I was 25 miles from home. I couldn’t reach anyone to pick me up, so I decided to take a bus. Not knowing the routes, I figured I’d just head east.

A bus pulled up, and I asked the driver how far she was going. “Four more lights,” she said. There was another bus I could take from there. This clearly was going to be a long night.

She dropped me off at the end of her route and told me which bus to look for. After waiting 30 minutes, I began to think about a very expensive taxi ride home. Then a bus pulled up. There was no lighted number above its windshield(挡风玻璃). It was out of service. But the door opened, and I was surprised to find that it was the same driver.

“I just can’t leave you here,” she said. “This isn’t the nicest place. I’ll give you a ride home.”

“You’ll drive me home in the bus?” I asked, perplexed(困惑).

“No, I’ll take you in my car,” she said.

“It’s a long way,” I protested.

“Come on, ” she said. “I have nothing else to do.”

As we drove from the station in her car, she began telling me a story. A few days earlier, her brother had run out of gas. A good Samaritan picked him up, took him to a service station and then back to his car. “I’m just passing the favor along, ” she said.

When I offered her money as a thank-you, she wouldn’t hear of it. “That wouldn’t make it a favor, ” she said. “Just do something nice for somebody. Pass it along.”

1. Why did the writer say that he would have a long night?

A. He wondered how long he had to wait for the next bus.   B. No driver would give him a ride.

C. He didn’t know the routes.                            D. He perhaps would have to take a taxi.

2. Judging from its context, the place where the writer waited for the second bus was _______.

A. very quiet and peaceful                 B. dark without street lights

C. neither clean nor beautiful              D. a little unsafe

3. Why did the writer change his mind after waiting for 30 minutes at the end of the route?

A. No bus would come at the time.          B. A taxi ride would be more comfortable.

C. He became impatient and a bit worried.   D. He knew the driver would never return.

4. The bus driver drove the writer home later because ________.

A. she happened to go in the same direction  B. she wanted to do something good for other people

C. her brother told her to do so              D. she wanted to earn more money

5. The bus driver hoped that the writer ________

A. would do as she did                     B. would keep her in memory

C. would give the money to others          D. would do her a favor

Perhaps the most wonderful building put up in the 19th century was the Crystal Palace（水晶宫）which was built in Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition of 1851. The Crystal Palace was different from all the other buildings in the world, for it was made of iron and glass. It was one of the biggest buildings of all the time and a lot of people from many countries came to see it. Plenty of goods were sent to the exhibition from all parts of the world. There was also a great deal of machinery on show. Though in those days, traveling was not as easy as it is today, steamboats carried thousands of visitors across the Channel from Europe. On arriving in England, they were taken to the Crystal Palace by train. There were six million visitors in all, and the money from the exhibition was used to build museums and colleges. Later, the Crystal Palace was moved to the South London. It remained one of the most famous buildings in the world until it was burnt down in 1936.

1.The Crystal Palace was built up_________.

A. in the 1950s         B. in the 1990s   

C. shortly before 1851   D. after 1851

2.People from many countries came to the Crystal Palace mainly to______.

A. buy goods                      B. visit an exhibition    

C. travel                          D. enjoy the Crystal Palace itself

3.What happened to the Crystal Palace in 1936?

A. It caught a terrible fire.

B. It disappeared suddenly.

C. It was moved away to the south of London.

D. It was rebuilt.

4.The writer__________.

A. thought the Crystal Palace very useful

B. thought highly of the Crystal Palace

C. wanted the Crystal Palace to be rebuilt

D. was one of the visitors who had visited the Crystal Palace

5.The Crystal Palace was famous to all because__________.

A. it was the biggest building in the world then.

B. it was made of iron and glass.

C. so many visitors had been there.

D. it was burnt down at last.