The morning for our snowmobiling (雪上汽车) adventure finally arrived, and we set off on the hour-and-a-half drive to the resort. A fresh powder had fallen the night before, and everything was frosted white. We couldn’t have asked for more perfect conditions. The sun sparkled (闪光) on the snow, and the trails (路线) were completely empty – not another person or snowmobile in sight. We were thrilled at being the only people for miles around … until we got going.
As we drove through the deserted wilderness (荒野), my excitement became stone-cold fear. I had no idea what I was afraid of, or why I was afraid, but suddenly every turn, every hill, every steep (陡峭的) side of the mountain scared me to death. I kept picturing us crashing headlong into a tree or falling off the side of a drop. ?
But after lunch things changed. We were the only humans who had been there since the snowfall. The peaceful place, the incredible beauty of the landscape, and the almost sacred experience of sharing a mountain with the wildlife touched my very core (核心).  My mind cleared and quieted and my muscles relaxed.
As we drove the last leg of the run, I began to resent being afraid to drive. Deep down, I wanted to be in charge of the thing that scared me. It made me angry that fear was keeping me from something I really wanted to do. The day was coming to an end, and the resort was only a few miles away. I knew that if I didn’t take my chance now, I would regret it.
I signaled for my husband to pull over. I wanted to drive, although my heart pounded (重击). I stared off slowly and felt the wind in my face. I smiled and sped up a little. I let out a “Yee-haw!” and went full out, taking my husband on the best ride of the day.
We ended the day on that breathless, carefree, and I felt proud of myself – proud of overcoming my fear.
【小题1】What is the story mainly about?

A．gradually calmed down

B．stopped to enjoy the beautiful scenery

C．saw some wildlife on the mountain

D．was afraid to continue her journey

A．A person’s biggest enemy is his or her inner self.

B．It’s no use crying over the spilt milk.

C．Take time to enjoy the beauty of nature.

D．Respect and take pride in yourself.

I got up and dressed, stuck my violin under my jacket, and went out into the street. I wandered about for an hour, looking for a likely place, feeling as if I were about to commit a crime. Then I stopped at last under a bridge near the station and decided to have a go.

I felt tense and shaking. I drew my violin from under my coat like a gun. It was here, in Southampton, with trains passing overhead, that I was about to prove myself.

??? The first notes I played were loud and raw, and then they settled down and began to run more smoothly and to stay more or less in tune. To my surprise I was neither arrested nor told to shut up. Indeed, nobody took any notice at all.

I walked the streets of Southampton for several days, gradually knowing how to try and get money by being a street artist. It was not a good thing, for instance, to let the hat fill up with money — the sight could discourage the people; nor was it wise to empty it completely, which could also confuse them, giving them no hint as to where to drop his money. Placing a couple of pennies in the hat to start the thing going soon became a good idea. Before I played another tune, I took off the big money, but always left two pennies behind.

Old ladies were most generous, and so were women with children, shop girls, and typists. As for the men: Heavy drinkers were always generous too and so were big young with muscles. But never a man with a hat, briefcase or dog; respectable types were the meanest of all, except retired army officers, who would bark “Why aren’t you working, young man?” and then threw much money into the hat to hide their confusion.

1.The underlined phrase “have a go” in Paragraph 1 probably means ________.

A. have a try????????????? ????????????? B. run away?????????????

C. change a place????????????? ????????????? D. commit a crime

2.When the writer began to play the violin, he thought that ________.

A. he could make a lot of money????????????? B. he had chosen the wrong place

C. he would get into trouble ????????????? D. people would stop and listen to him

3.According to the passage, the writer thought the best way of encouraging people to give a street-violinist money was to ________.

A. let the hat fill up with money first ?????????????

B. leave a small amount of money in the hat

C. make sure that the hat was always empty

D. choose the best place to play more smooth tunes

4.Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A. Most of the ladies were willing to give him money.

B. Retired army officers seldom gave him money.

C. Drinkers were generous with their money.

D. Not all the people would feel pity for street-violinists.

四、阅读理解（20小题；每小题2分，共40分）

Joanne was stuck in a traffic jam in central Birmingham at 5：30, and at 6：30 she was expected to be chairing a meeting of the tennis club. At last, the traffic was moving. She swung quickly racing to her house. As she opened the door, she nearly tripped over Sheba.

    “Hey, Sheba” she said, “I’ve got no time for you now, but I’ll take you out as soon as I get back from tennis club.” Then she noticed Sheba seemed to be coughing or choking. Obviously, she could hardly breathe. Immediately Joanne realized she would have to take her to the vet (兽医). When she got there, the vet was just about to close for the day. Seeing the state of Sheba, Dr. Sterne brought her quickly into his office.

    “Listen, doctor, I’m really in a rush to get to a meeting. Can I leave her with you, and go and get changed? I’ll be back in ten minutes to pick her up, and then I’ll take her on to the meeting with me. Is that OK?”

    “Sure.” said the doctor.

    Joanne made the quick trip back to her house in a couple of minutes. As she was once more entering the hallway, the phone by the door began to ring.

    “This is Dr. Sterne,” said an anxious voice. “I want you to get out of that house immediately,” said the doctor’s voice. “I’m coming round soon, and the police will be there any time now. Wait outside!”

    At that moment, a police car screeched to a stop outside the house. Two policemen got out and ran into the house. Joanne was by now completely confused and very frightened. Then the doctor arrived.

    “Where’s Sheba? Is she OK?” shouted Joanne.

    “She’s fine, Joanne. I took out the thing which was choking her, and she’s OK now. ”

    Just then, the two policemen reappeared from the house, half-carrying a white-faced man, who could hardly walk. There was blood all over him.

    “My God,” said Joanne, “how did he get in there? And how did you know he was there?”

    “I think he must be a burglar,” said the doctor. “I knew he was there because when I finally removed what was stuck in Sheba’s throat: it turned out to be three human fingers.”

1. What was Joanne supposed to do at 6:30？

    A. To walk her dog.                                                        B. To see her doctor.

    C. To attend a club meeting.                                       D. To play tennis with her friends.

2. Joanne wanted to get back to her home again            .

       A. to phone the police station                                      B. to dress up for the meeting        

       C. to catch the badly hurt burglar                               D. to wait for her dog to be cured  

3. From the passage, we can infer that          .

       A. Sheba fought against the burglar                          

B. the police found the burglar had broken in

       C. Joanne had planned to take her dog to the meeting

       D. the doctor performed a difficult operation on the dog

4. In this passage, the writer intends to tell us that the dog is            .

       A. clever                         B. friendly                      C. frightening                   D. devoted

King Midas used to love gold. One day he met a fairy who allowed him to make a wish for something. The king replied at once , ‘‘I love gold . I want everything I touch to change into gold”. ‘‘Very well , tomorrow morning, everything you touch will turn into gold .”Saying this, the fairy disappeared.
The king waited excitedly till the next morning. To his joy ,everything he touched changed immediately into gold. ‘‘I’m the richest man in the world now.” He shouted.
Soon Midas became hungry. He sat down at his table. All the foods and drinks turned into gold in his hand . ‘‘I’m dying of hunger.” He cried.
Just then his daughter came running in . ‘‘Why are you so sad , dad ?” she asked, putting her arms around him. There and then she became a golden statue. The king loved his daughter very much .Seeing this ,he began to cry. He looked up and suddenly saw the fairy before him.  ‘‘Don’t you like the golden touch?” asked the fairy. ‘‘ Please take it away,” begged the king, ‘‘ give me back my daughter.”  ‘‘Well, you have learned your lesson. Go and wash in the river. Then the golden touch will be gone.” The king ran quickly to the nearby river.
【小题1】 The fairy allowed the king to make a wish because_____

My favorite English teacher could draw humor out of the driest material. It wasn’t forced on us either. He took Samuel Johnson’s dictionary, Addison’s essays, and many other literary wonders from the eighteenth century and made them hilarious, even at eight o’clock in the morning. The thing that amazed me most was that the first time I read these works on my own, some of them seemed dead, but the second time, after his explanation, I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t seen the humor. The stories and poems and plays were suddenly filled with allusions(典故) and irony and hilarious moments. I learned more from him than from any other teacher.

My least favorite English teacher also made people laugh. Some students found him to be wonderfully funny. Many others did not. He assigned journals over a six-week period, to be written every day. At the end of the six weeks I had a notebook full of bits and pieces about my ideas, short stories, reactions to what we had read, and so on. Our teacher announced that we would be grading each other’s journals. Mine was passed to Joe, that class clown, who always behaved in a funny or silly way. He saw it fit to make a joke of and said, “This writing isn’t fit to line the bottom of a birdcage.” Our teacher laughed at that funny remark. It hurt me so much that the anger from it has driven my writing and teaching ever since.

So what makes the difference? Humor is one of the most powerful tools teachers or writers have. It can build up students and classes and make them excited about literature and writing, or it can tear them apart. It is true that humor is either productive or counter-productive and self-defeating.

1.The passage mainly discusses ________.

A. teaching                     B. literature                    C. humor                D. knowledge

2.The underlined word “hilarious” in Paragraph 1 probably means ________.

A. funny                B. tiring                          C. inspiring                       D. brilliant

3.The English teacher the writer disliked most ________.

A. was not able to make students laugh                   B. hurt his student’s feelings

C. didn’t let his students do the grading                  D. had no sense of humor