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阅读短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

　　Read a whole book in English? Me?

　　Yes , you．Believe it or not , that may be easier than you think．Not all classics are too difficult or complicated．So you’re not limited to the simplified versions．And the easier books are not all for children．

　　Books in their original versions may send you to the dictionary．And you might not understand everything you read．But reading one from cover to cover will give you a real sense of accomplishment (成就)．

　　The key is to find the right books．Let’s take a look at these．

　　Stepping into an old wardrobe , four English schoolchildren find themselves in the magical world of Narnia．On this delightful land , they find friends among the many talking creatures．

　　The children soon discover , however , that Narnia is ruled by the White Witch．Edmund , one of the children , falls under her power．Who can free Narnia? Only Aslan , the great and noble lion．He alone knows the Deeper Magic．But the children themselves must help fight the battle against the White Witch and those who serve her．

　　Santiago , an old Cuban fisherman , hasn’t caught any fish in more than 80 days．Sailing far out from land , the old man hooks an enormous fish．That begins an agonizing three day battle．First he struggles against the great fish．Then he must fight off the sharks that circle the little boat and threaten to eat his fish．Exhausted and bleeding , the old man arrives back at shore．But his fish , his beautiful fish．．．

　　Hemingway won the Nobel Prize for this superb story of strength and courage , of victory and regret．

　　Meg’s father , a U．S．government scientist , has been missing for many months．He had been experimenting with time travel when he mysteriously disappeared．

　　Now Meg , her little brother Charles Wallace and her friend Calvin will try to rescue him．But first they must outwit the forces of evil they encounter (遇到) on their journey through time and space．Can they find Meg’s father before it’s too late?

　　This novel is more than just a science fiction adventure．It’s an exploration of the nature of our universe．

　　One day Kino , a poor Mexican pearl diver , finds a magnificent pearl．With it he dreams of buying a better life , new clothes and schooling for his son．Instead , it brings only evil．His wife pleads with him to get rid of it．"No ," says Kino．"I will have my chance．I am a man．" But when he kills a man who is trying to steal the pearl , Kino and his wife must run for their lives．

　　This tale of dreams , justice and the power of greed is told simply and beautifully．

　　It’s winter , 1880－1881 , on America’s northern prairies．Mr．and Mrs．Ingalls and their four girls stay near the kitchen stove to keep warm．Heavy snowstorms cut them off even from neighbors．With the trains stopped , no supplies can reach the town．Food and fuel are running out．Day after day the girls must grind wheat for bread and twist hay to burn．At times they nearly lose the battle to keep their spirits up．

　　This story provides a fascinating glimpse into the life of early American settlers．

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阅读下面短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

　　Read a whole book in English?Me?

　　Yes, you．Believe it or not, that may be easier than you think．Not all classics are too difficult or complicated．So you’re not limited to the simplified versions．And the easier books are not all for children．

　　Books in their original versions may send you to the dictionary．And you might not understand everything you read．But reading one from cover to cover will give you a real sense of accomplishment(成就)．

　　The key is to find the right books．Let’s take a look at these．

　　The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe(C．S．Lewis)Stepping into an old wardrobe, four English schoolchildren find themselves in the magical world of Narnia．On this delightful land, they find friends among the many talking creatures．

　　The children soon discover, however, that Narnia is ruled by the White Witch．Edmund, one of the children, falls under her power．Who can free Narnia?Only Aslan, the great and noble lion．He alone knows the Deeper Magic．But the children themselves must help fight the battle against the White Witch and those who serve her．

　　The Old Man and the Sea(Ernest Hemingway)Santiago, an old Cuban fisherman, hasn’t caught any fish in more than 80 days．Sailing far out from land, the old man hooks an enormous fish．

　　That begins an agonizing three day battle．First he struggles against the great fish．Then he must fight off the sharks that circle the little boat and threaten to eat his fish．Exhausted and bleeding, the old man arrives back at shore．But his fish, his beautiful fish…

　　Hemingway won the Nobel Prize for this superb story of strength and courage, of victory and regret．

　　A Wrinkle in Time(Madeleine Lingle)Meg’s father, a U．S．government scientist, has been missing for many months．He had been experimenting with time travel when he mysteriously disappeared．

　　Now Meg, her little brother Charles Wallace and her friend Calvin will try to rescue him．But first they must outwit the forces of evil they encounter(遇到)on their journey through time and space．Can they find Meg’s father before it’s too late?

　　This novel is more than just a science fiction adventure．It’s an exploration of the nature of our universe．

　　The Pearl(John Steinbeck)One day Kino, a poor Mexican pearl diver, finds a magnificent pearl．

　　With it he dreams of buying a better life, new clothes and schooling for his son．Instead, it brings only evil．His wife pleads with him to get rid of it．“No,”says Kino．“I will have my chance．I am a man．”But when he kills a man who is trying to steal the pearl, Kino and his wife must run for their lives．

　　This tale of dreams, justice and the power of greed is told simply and beautifully．

　　The Long Winter(Laura Ingalls Wilder)It’s winter, 1880－1881, on America’s northern prairies．Mr．and Mrs．

　　Ingalls and their four girls stay near the kitchen stove to keep warm．

　　Heavy snowstorms cut them off even from neighbors．With the trains stopped, no supplies can reach the town．Food and fuel are running out．

　　Day after day the girls must grind wheat for bread and twist hay to burn．

　　At times they nearly lose the battle to keep their spirits up．

　　This story provides a fascinating glimpse into the life of early American settlers．

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阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

　　Scientific experts from around the world are genuinely predicting that 3 years from now, all life on Earth could well finish．Some are saying it'll be humans that set it off．Others believe that a natural phenomenon will be the cause．And the religious folks are saying it'll be God himself who presses the stop button．．．Seven reasons are going about why the world will end in 2012 and netizens have started a discussion in the forum．

　　1．Mayan Calendar

　　The first mob to predict 2012 as the end of the world were the Mayans, a bloodthirsty race that were good at two things：Building highly accurate astrological(占星术的)equipment out of stone and sacrificing virgins．

　　Thousands of years ago they managed to calculate the length of the lunar moon as 329.53020 days, only 34 seconds out．The Mayan calendar predicts that the Earth will end on December 21, 2012．Given that they were pretty close to the mark with the lunar cycle, it's likely they’ve got the end of the world right as well．

　　2．Sun Storms

　　Solar experts from around the world monitoring the sun have made an extremely discovery：our sun is a bit of conflict．The energy output of the sun is, like most things in nature, cyclic(循环的), and it's supposed to be in the middle of a period of relative stability．However, recent solar storms have been bombarding the Earth with so much radiation energy, and it's been knocking out power grids and destroying satellites．This activity is predicted to get worse, and calculations suggest it will reach its deadly peak sometime in 2012．

　　3．The Atom Smasher

　　Scientists in Europe have been building the world's largest particle accelerator(粒子加速器)．Basically it's a 27km tunnel designed to break atoms together to find out what makes the Universe tick．However, the device has caused serious concern, with some scientists suggesting that it's properly even a bad idea to turn it on in the first place．They’re predicting all manner of deadly results, including mini black holes．So when this machine is fired up for its first serious experiment in 2012, the world could be squeezed into a super-dense drop the size of a basketball．

　　4．The Bible says…

　　If having scientists warning us about the end of the world isn't bad enough, religious folks are getting in on the act as well．Interpretations of the Christian Bible reveal that the date for Armageddon, the final battle between Good and Evil, has been set down for 2012．The I Ching, also known as the Chinese book of Changes, says the same thing, as do various sections of the Hindu teachings．

　　5．Super Volcano

　　Yellowstone National Park in the United States is famous for its thermal springs and Old Faithful geyser．The reason for this is simple-it's sitting on top of the world's biggest volcano, and geological experts are beginning to get nervous sweats．The Yellowstone volcano has a pattern of erupting every 650, 000 years or so, and we’re many years overdue for an explosion that will fill the atmosphere with ash, blocking the sun and suddenly moving the Earth into a frozen winter that could last up to 15, 000 years．The pressure under the Yellowstone is building steadily, and geologists have set 2012 as a likely date for the big bang．

　　6．The Physicists

　　This one is case of bog-simple maths mathematics．Physicists at Berkley University have been dealing with the numbers and they have determined that the Earth is well overdue for a major catastrophic event．Even worse, they’re claiming their calculations proof that we’re all going to die, very soon-while also saying their prediction comes with a certainty of 99 percent-and 2012 just happens to be the best guess as to when it occurs．

　　7．Slip-Slop-Slap-BANG!

　　We all know the Earth is surrounded by a magnetic(磁的)field that shields us from most of the sun's radiation．What you might not know is that the magnetic poles we call north and south have a bad habit of swapping places every 750, 000 years or so-and right now we’re about 30, 000 years overdue．Scientists have noted that the poles are drifting apart roughly 20-30kms each year, much faster than ever before, which points to a pole-shift being right around the corner．While the pole shift is underway, the magnetic field is disrupted and will eventually disappear, sometimes for ups to 100 years．The result is enough UV(紫外线的)outdoors to crisp your skin in seconds, killing everything it touches．

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阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

　　Ernest Miller Hemingway(July 21, 1899-July 2, 1961)was an American writer and journalist．His writing style had a strong influence on 20^th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image(形象)affected later generations．Hemingway produced most of his works between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954．

　　Hemingway was raised in Illinois．After high school he reported for The Kansas City Star, before leaving for the Italian front to enlist with the World War I ambulance drivers．In 1918, he was seriously wounded and returned home．In 1922, he married Hadley Richardson．The couple moved to Paris, where he worked as a foreign journalist．Advised and encouraged by other American writers in Paris－F．Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, he began to see his work appear in print there, and in 1925 his first important book, a collection of stories called In Our Time, was published．A year later, he published The Sun Also Rises, a novel with which he scored his first solid success．

　　The writing of books occupied Hemingway for most of the postwar years．He remained based in Paris, but he traveled widely for bullfighting(斗牛), fishing, and hunting that by then had become part of his life and formed the background for much of his writing．Hemingway's love of Spain and bullfighting resulted in Death in the Afternoon(1932)．His position as a master of short fiction had been advanced by Men Without Women in 1927．The harvest of Hemingway's considerable experience of Spain in war and peace was the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls(1940)．In the public view, however, the novel A Farewell to Arms (1929) overshadowed such works．

　　Shortly after he published The Old Man and the Sea in 1952, Hemingway went to Africa, where he was almost killed in a plane crash that left him in pain or ill-health for much of the rest of his life．Hemingway lived in Florida and Cuba during the 1930s and 1940s, but in 1959 he moved from Cuba to Ketchum, Idaho, where ended his life in the summer of 1961．

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