My destination is the River Walk, one of the most popular places in all of Texas. In the first half of 20^th century, to control flooding, the city fathers began redirecting the San Antonio River. They built a network of canals that pass through the downtown area. At nearly every street corner, stairs lead down to walkways on both sides of the canals.

The River Walk is linked with cafes, bars, shops --- and, of course, plenty of bridges. You can easily cross over to the other side without having to return to the street. It’s a constant party along the River Walk, with music and festivals throughout the year. The Mud Festival, for example, takes place each January, when the city empties this section of the river to clean it out. That’s when the Mud King and Mud Queen are crowned.

No visit to Texas would be complete without seeing a rodeo --- another aspect of this part of the country that is completely foreign to someone from New England. The announcer walks on stage and gets the crowd excited with talk about the courageous cowboys who’ll be performing. While he’s talking, a band plays sad songs about love gone wrong.

Suddenly the announcer calls for silence. He takes off his tall hat and asks us to join him in prayer. We pray for the cowboys who are, we are told, risking their lives to entertain us, as well as for the bulls and other animals taking part in the shows. We pray for the tourists who are visiting. The rodeo gets going and the fun begins.

Our prayers for the cowboys and animals are answered, and nobody gets hurt. But as we walk over to the cowboy dance hall after the show to enjoy a Texas-size barbecue, it’s clear that not enough prayers were said for the bulls’ less athletic relatives --- the ones not chosen for rodeo work. They’ll be our meal. It seems that moving too slowly has its disadvantages, too.

What do you know about the River Walk from the article?

A. People hold parties to celebrate festivals here every day.

B. It refers to the sidewalks on either side of this section of the San Antonio River.

C. There are many bridges that connect the River Walk and the Main Street.

D. Stairs link the River Walk to cafes, bars and shops in the street.

Which of the following statements about Mud festival is NOT true?

A. Mud Festival dates back to the first half of 20^th century.

B. Mud Festival is held in January every year.

C. Mud King and Mud Queen are chosen in the festival

D. Mud Festival is celebrated to clear the mud of the San Antonio River.

What does the underlined word “rodeo” refer to?

A. One aspect of the American country life. B. The concert given by a band.

C. The cowboys’ performance. D. The grand Texas-size barbecue.

Why do some bulls become the visitors’ meal?

A. Because they do not run as fast as those taking part in the shows.

B. Because the visitors do not pray enough for them before the shows.

C. Because they lose the competition to their relatives in the shows.

D. Because they are only beef cattle intended as people’s food.

Which of the following words can NOT be used to describe the writer’s mood?

A. light-hearted       B. excited          C. anxious        D. humorous

C
Have you ever played the game Hot Potato? Jon Scieszka and a team of 13 popular children’s book authors are playing a writer’s version of the game, and are having a blast.
Here’s how it works. In The Exquisite Corpse Adventure, the “hot potato” is the story, and it is passed from one author to the next. Scieszka wrote the first chapter. Then he passed the story to another author Katherine Paterson. If Scieszka decides to introduce a roller-skating baby into the story, Paterson and the other contributing authors will have to decide what to do with the baby in later chapters. Every two weeks a new chapter, written by a different author, will be published on the Library of Congress’s read. Gov site. The high rate of hits has proved that Scieszka did not fail to make the readers laugh with his incredibly silly story.
“Working on The Exquisite Corpse Adventure was so much fun,” Scieszka says. “I got to write the first chapter so I could set up all these foolish traps for the other authors and make them have to write about clowns and ninjas(忍者).”
The story might be crazy, but all of the authors agreed that writing the story together was a whole lot of fun. “I started in the middle of the story,” author Steven Kellogg said, “That’s kind of fun. I got to read about everyone else’s characters and then brought them into the chapter that I was writing. It’s really good to think about other authors’ ideas and connect them with my own.”
You may wonder why the book is called The Exquisite Corpse Adventure. In fact Kellogg and the other authors are playing a game that is over 100 years old. Exquisite Corpse is actually the name of an old game in which players begin a story on a sheet of paper and pass it on to the next player to continue the tale. The game ends when someone finishes the story, which is then read aloud.
59. How is the game Hot Potato played according to the passage?
A．People make up the story about the “hot potato” one by one.
B．People throw the “hot potato” to hit one another.
C．People pass the “hot potato” from one person to the next.
D．People hit by the “hot potato” must tell a funny story.
60. We can infer from the passage that________.
A．it’s the first time such a game of writing has ever been played
B．the story hasn’t been finished yet
C．the clues of the story have been decided by Kellogg
D．every chapter will be online for two weeks
61.Kellogg thinks the game is fun because________.
A．the story is very silly and crazy
B．he writes the main part of the story
C．he could continue the story by sharing it with other authors
D．there are so many different characters in the story
62.The last paragraph is mainly about________.
A．how the game ended           B．when the game stared
C．how the book was named       D．how the Exquisite corpse worked

Read the following text and choose the most suitable heading from the list A-F for each paragraph. There is one extra heading which you do not need.

"Look, it's Baldy!" A boy shouted in my direction across the playground. Even though I was used to regular insults(侮辱) because of the   11  on my head, it was   12  horrible to hear. I sighed as I headed back to the class.

When I was just 20 months old, I suffered serious   13  after a bowl full of hot oil fell on my head. I was   14  to hospital and had to stay there for weeks while the doctors   15  to save my life. "Holly's very   16  to be alive," they told Mum and Dad. "But she'll be   17  with scars on her head, and of course her hair won't grow there."

As a child, I cared much about my scars, so I   18  wore a scarf to cover them up when I left home.   19  I didn't, people would call me horrible names like Baldy. Although my friends were always comforting me, they never   20  understood how it felt.

Then through the hospital I was   21  to a children's burns camp, where children like me can get any help. There, I   22  14-year-old Stephanie, whose burns are a lot more serious than mine. But she is so   23  that she never lets anyone put her down. "You shouldn't   24  what people say about what you look like because we're not different from anyone else, Holly," she   25  me. "And you don't need to wear a scarf because you look great   26  it!" For the first time in my life I could speak to someone who'd been through something   27 . So weeks later, at my 13th birthday party,   28  by her bravery, I gave up my scarf and showed off my scars. It felt amazing not having to   29  away behind my scarf.

Now, I am   30  of what I look like and much happier, because I have realized it is your personality（个性）that decides who you truly are.

1.                A．hat            B．scarf           C．scars D．cuts

2.                A．still            B．just            C．never    D．seldom

3.                A．hunger         B．cold           C．defeats   D．burns

4.                A．rushed         B．led            C．invited   D．forced

5.                A．learned        B．fought          C．returned  D．decided

6.                A．happy          B．lucky           C．lonely    D．poor

7.                A．pressed        B．occupied        C．left  D．painted

8.                A．possibly        B．usually         C．finally    D．nearly

9.                A．Although       B．Since           C．If    D．Before

10.               A．correctly       B．roughly         C．easily D．really

11.               A．promoted       B．introduced      C．reported  D．carried

12.               A．met           B．recognized      C．remembered   D．caught

13.               A．honest         B．strong          C．active D．young

14.               A．write down      B．agree with      C．pass on    D．listen to

15.               A．promised       B．encouraged     C．ordered   D．calmed

16.               A．in             B．for            C．without   D．beyond

17.               A．similar         B．strange         C．hard  D．important

18.               A．allowed        B．required        C．guided    D．inspired

19.               A．hide           B．give           C．keep D．put

20.               A．sick           B．aware          C．tired  D．proud

_______ from father to son, the music has not changed for centuries.

A. Passing      B. To pass           C. Having passed            D. Passed