Last week, I bought an alarm system for about $ 450. It consisted of a control unit with three small units. I put the control unit in the sitting-room and fastened the other units by the front door, back door and living-room windows. The instructions told us to choose three numbers, so we chose 4, 9 and 1, the last three numbers of our telephone number.
Now I must explain how the alarm works:
l There is a power siren(警报器) in the control unit. It makes a very loud noise.
2 Each of the small units sends out beams or rays in different directions. If anything moves, it breaks a beam. This sends a signal to the control unit. The siren makes a noise which you can hear 50 meters away.
3. When we go to bed, I press the three buttons numbered 4, 9 and 1. Then we have 30 seconds to get out of the room before the alarm starts to work.
That night I slept soundly because I was sure that no burglar(夜贼) could get into our house. However, at about 2:10 a. m., I woke up and heard the siren. “There must be a burglar in the house,” Mary said. “What shall we do?”“I’ll go and see who’s there,” I said. “Stay here. Don’t make a noise.”I went downstairs quietly. When I reached the living-room, I switched on my torch and looked round the room. Then I turned the light on. I switched the siren off and searched the rooms downstairs. There was nothing wrong except that the back door was unlocked. I locked it, reset the alarm and went back to bed. About an hour later, the alarm started again. I jumped out of bed, fell over a chair in the dark and bumped into the bedroom door. Mary woke up and started hitting me with a torch. “Hey! Wait a minute!” I whispered. “It’s only me. I’m going downstairs to see what’s wrong.”I went down into the living-room and listened for a moment. The only sound I could hear was the siren. I turned on the light and then switched the siren off. As I did so, I glanced across at the curtains in front of the windows. I saw a house lizard (a kind of small animal) disappear behind the curtains.“Oh!” I said to myself. “That’s our burglar. ”When the lizard moved, it started the siren. I guessed that the alarm had been made in Europe, where there are no house lizards. Well. I won’t finish this story but if you want an alarm system free of charge, let me know. I’ll send you ours. We bought a dog this morning. It knows the difference between a lizard and a burglar.
【小题1】The writer bought an alarm system to ________.

Last week, I bought an alarm system for about $ 450. It consisted of a control unit with three small units. I put the control unit in the sitting-room and fastened the other units by the front door, back door and living-room windows. The instructions told us to choose three numbers, so we chose 4, 9 and 1, the last three numbers of our telephone number.

Now I must explain how the alarm works:

l There is a power siren(警报器) in the control unit. It makes a very loud noise.

2 Each of the small units sends out beams or rays in different directions. If anything moves, it breaks a beam. This sends a signal to the control unit. The siren makes a noise which you can hear 50 meters away.

3. When we go to bed, I press the three buttons numbered 4, 9 and 1. Then we have 30 seconds to get out of the room before the alarm starts to work.

That night I slept soundly because I was sure that no burglar(夜贼) could get into our house. However, at about 2:10 a. m., I woke up and heard the siren. “There must be a burglar in the house,” Mary said. “What shall we do?”“I’ll go and see who’s there,” I said. “Stay here. Don’t make a noise.”I went downstairs quietly. When I reached the living-room, I switched on my torch and looked round the room. Then I turned the light on. I switched the siren off and searched the rooms downstairs. There was nothing wrong except that the back door was unlocked. I locked it, reset the alarm and went back to bed. About an hour later, the alarm started again. I jumped out of bed, fell over a chair in the dark and bumped into the bedroom door. Mary woke up and started hitting me with a torch. “Hey! Wait a minute!” I whispered. “It’s only me. I’m going downstairs to see what’s wrong.”I went down into the living-room and listened for a moment. The only sound I could hear was the siren. I turned on the light and then switched the siren off. As I did so, I glanced across at the curtains in front of the windows. I saw a house lizard (a kind of small animal) disappear behind the curtains.“Oh!” I said to myself. “That’s our burglar. ”When the lizard moved, it started the siren. I guessed that the alarm had been made in Europe, where there are no house lizards. Well. I won’t finish this story but if you want an alarm system free of charge, let me know. I’ll send you ours. We bought a dog this morning. It knows the difference between a lizard and a burglar.

1.The writer bought an alarm system to ________.

2.The purpose of the three units was to________.

3.If the writer set the alarm and remained in the room for more than half a minute, _______.

4.The purpose of the writer in writing the passage is to ________.

Last week, I bought an alarm system for about $ 450. It consisted of a control unit with three small units. I put the control unit in the sitting-room and fastened the other units by the front door, back door and living-room windows. The instructions told us to choose three numbers, so we chose 4, 9 and 1, the last three numbers of our telephone number.
Now I must explain how the alarm works:
l There is a power siren(警报器) in the control unit. It makes a very loud noise.
2 Each of the small units sends out beams or rays in different directions. If anything moves, it breaks a beam. This sends a signal to the control unit. The siren makes a noise which you can hear 50 meters away.
3. When we go to bed, I press the three buttons numbered 4, 9 and 1. Then we have 30 seconds to get out of the room before the alarm starts to work.
That night I slept soundly because I was sure that no burglar(夜贼) could get into our house. However, at about 2:10 a. m., I woke up and heard the siren. “There must be a burglar in the house,” Mary said. “What shall we do?”“I’ll go and see who’s there,” I said. “Stay here. Don’t make a noise.”I went downstairs quietly. When I reached the living-room, I switched on my torch and looked round the room. Then I turned the light on. I switched the siren off and searched the rooms downstairs. There was nothing wrong except that the back door was unlocked. I locked it, reset the alarm and went back to bed. About an hour later, the alarm started again. I jumped out of bed, fell over a chair in the dark and bumped into the bedroom door. Mary woke up and started hitting me with a torch. “Hey! Wait a minute!” I whispered. “It’s only me. I’m going downstairs to see what’s wrong.”I went down into the living-room and listened for a moment. The only sound I could hear was the siren. I turned on the light and then switched the siren off. As I did so, I glanced across at the curtains in front of the windows. I saw a house lizard (a kind of small animal) disappear behind the curtains.“Oh!” I said to myself. “That’s our burglar. ”When the lizard moved, it started the siren. I guessed that the alarm had been made in Europe, where there are no house lizards. Well. I won’t finish this story but if you want an alarm system free of charge, let me know. I’ll send you ours. We bought a dog this morning. It knows the difference between a lizard and a burglar.

1. 1.

   The writer bought an alarm system to ________.

   1. A.
      make sure that he got up early every day
   2. B.
      warn him when there were lizards in his house
   3. C.
      frighten burglars and tell him that somebody had got into the house
   4. D.
      make Mary feel safe to live in the large room
2. 2.

   The purpose of the three units was to________.

   1. A.
      send a message to the control unit and start the siren
   2. B.
      sound their own sirens when the control unit told them so
   3. C.
      check that the control unit worked properly all the time
   4. D.
      give them enough light
3. 3.

   If the writer set the alarm and remained in the room for more than half a minute, _______.

   1. A.
      nothing would happen
   2. B.
      the control unit would not work
   3. C.
      the siren would make a noise
   4. D.
      the dog would bark
4. 4.

   The purpose of the writer in writing the passage is to ________.

   1. A.
      tell us that the alarm system doesn’t work
   2. B.
      tell us an interesting experience
   3. C.
      show us how the alarm system works
   4. D.
      make it clear that he wants to give away his alarm system

I finished my last evening shift of the week and could hardly wait to get home. I took off my nursing shoes, relaxed and then said goodnight to the rest of the girls and headed out of the door.

It was so cold and I could see the ice crystals in the air. As I approached my car, I saw one of my coworkers standing by the bus stop. I thought it would only take a couple of extra minutes to give her a ride home, and besides, it was too cold to be standing outside on the coldest night in January.

We chatted as I drove and before we knew it, we arrived at her house. As she headed up the steps to her door she turned around. “Do you know how to get to your house from here?” “How hard can it be? I’ll just backtrack the way I came.”

I started driving. Nothing looked familiar, but at first that didn’t bother me since I’d never been to this neighborhood before. I kept driving, and soon I sensed that something was wrong. I recognized nothing, not the neighborhoods, not even the street names. My husband would be worried about me. I looked down at my watch. It was now 2:30. I’d left work at 11:30 pm.

I stopped my car. I thought I’d better take stock of my situation. My gas gauge (汽油量表) was slowly going down. In total defeat I put my head down on the steering wheel and asked for help. I lifted my head. I saw a shadow down the road in front of me. It was a car. What was a car doing in the middle of nowhere at 2:30 in the morning?

Hesitantly, I got out of my car and knocked on the window of the other car. An elderly man slowly rolled his window down.

I said, “I’m lost and don’t know how to get back into town.”

In silence, he started driving. I drove behind him.

Finally I recognized a familiar street. As I turned to head home, I lost sight of my guiding angel. When I pulled into my driveway the warning light for my gas tank turned on.

66. The first paragraph tells us that the writer _______.

A. lived near her workplace                  

B. used to go home by bus

C. worked in a woman’s hospital          

D. had been working at night for a week

67. Why did the writer stop her car?          

A. To consider and judge the situation.                 B. To check whether there was gas.

C. To prevent the car breaking down.                  D. To turn to somebody for help.

68. How did the old man help the writer?

A. He told her the way to the town.                      B. He led her by driving in front.

C. He called the police to help her.                       D. He sent her to her home with his car.

69. When the writer got home, _______.

A. she thanked the old man very much

B. her husband was waiting for her anxiously

C. the oil in her car was just going to run out

D. she was totally frozen on the cold night

70. What might be the suitable title for the passage?

A. Keep up and you will succeed at last.

B. Meeting a friendly old man in trouble.

C. Giving a ride to my coworker at night.

D. Losing my way on a cold winter night.

The drug store was closing for the night and Alfred Higgins was about to go home when his new boss approached him.

“Empty your pockets please, Alfred,” Sam Carr demanded in a firm voice.

Alfred pretended to be shocked but he knew he’d been caught. From his coat he withdrew a make-up kit, a lipstick and two tubes of toothpaste.

“I’m disappointed in you, Alfred!” said the little gray-haired man.

“Sorry, sir. Please forgive me. It’s the first time I’ve ever done such a thing,” Alfred lied, hoping to gain the old man’s sympathy.

Mr Carr’s brow furrowed as he reached for the phone, “Do you take me for a fool? Let’s see what the police have to say. But first I’ll call your mother and let her know her son is heading to jail.”

“Do whatever you want,” Alfred shot back, trying to sound big. But deep down he felt like a child. He imagined his mother rushing in, eyes burning with anger, maybe in tears. Yet he wanted her to come quickly before Mr. Carr called the police.

Mr. Carr was surprised when Mrs Higgins finally arrived. She was very calm, quiet and friendly. “Is Alfred in trouble?” she asked.

“He’s been stealing from the store,” the old man coolly replied.

Mrs. Higgins put out her hand and touched Mr. Carr’s arm with great gentleness as if she knew just how he felt. She spoke as if she did not want to cause him any more trouble. “What do you want to do, Mr. Carr?”

The woman’s calm and gentle manner disarmed the once-angry store-owner. “I was going to get a cop. But I don’t want to be cruel. Tell your son not to come back here again, and I’ll let it go.” Then he warmly shook Mrs. Higgins’s hand.

Mrs. Higgins thanked the old man for his kindness, then mother and son left. They walked along the street in silence. When they arrived home his mother simply said, “Go to bed, you fool.”

In his bedroom, Alfred heard his mother in the kitchen. He felt no shame, only pride in his mother’s actions. “She was smooth!” he thought. He went to the kitchen to tell her how great she was, but was shocked by what he saw.

His mother’s face looked frightened, broken. Not the cool, bright face he saw earlier. Her lips moved nervously. She looked very old. There were tears in her eyes.

This picture of his mother made him want to cry. He felt his youth ending. He saw all the troubles he brought her and the deep lines of worry in her grey face. It seemed to him that this was the first time he had ever really seen his mother.

Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A. It was the first time Alfred had stolen anything.

B. Alfred tried to sound big to hide his fear.

C. Mr. Carr set a trap to catch Alfred stealing.

D. Mr. Carr had planned to forgive Alfred from the beginning.

What does the underlined word “disarmed” probably mean?

A. annoyed                   B. made less angry

C. convinced                 D. got over

What was the mother’s attitude toward Alfred?

A. She felt disappointed with him.

B. She was very strict with him.

C. She was supportive of him.

D. She was afraid of him.

What impressed Alfred most about his mother at the drugstore was ________.

A. how angry she was

B. that she didn’t cry

C. that she was able to save him

D. how effectively she handled Mr. Carr

From the last paragraph, we know that Alfred ________.

A. was no longer a youth

B. felt proud of his mother

C. wanted his mother to be happy

D. felt guilty and regretful for his deed