Mr. Briggs got a job with an insurance company(保险公司) after he left school and went around visiting people in their homes to sell them life insurance. One day, after he had been working for the company for about a year, the insurance manager sent for him and said, “Mr. Briggs, I have been looking at your record as a salesman with our company, and there is one thing that surprises me about it. Why have you been selling insurance only to people over 95 years old, and why have you been giving them such generous（宽厚的）conditions? You’ll ruin our company if you go on like that.”

  “Oh, no, sir,” answered Mr. Briggs at once, “Before I started work, I looked at the figures(数字) for deaths in this country during the past ten years, and I can tell you that few people die at the age of 95.”

Before he worked in an insurance company, what was Mr. Briggs?______.

A .He was a worker.   B. He was an official.

C. He was a student.   D. He was a businessman.

The word “ruin” in the second paragraph means       .

A. lose  B. break   C. leave   D. destroy

Which of the following is true according to the passage?      

A.Mr. Briggs had studied the figures for deaths for several years.

B. Mr. Briggs began to look at the figures after he started work.

C. A great number of very old people die every year.

D. The number of the very old people who died every year is small.

Mr. Briggs got a job with an insurance company(保险公司) after he left school and went around visiting people in their homes to sell them life insurance. One day, after he had been working for the company for about a year, the insurance manager sent for him and said, “Mr. Briggs, I have been looking at your record as a salesman with our company, and there is one thing that surprises me about it. Why have you been selling insurance only to people over 95 years old, and why have you been giving them such generous（宽厚的）conditions? You’ll ruin our company if you go on like that.”
“Oh, no, sir,” answered Mr. Briggs at once, “Before I started work, I looked at the figures(数字) for deaths in this country during the past ten years, and I can tell you that few people die at the age of 95.”
【小题1】 Before he worked in an insurance company, what was Mr. Briggs?______.

选择方框内所给短语的适当形式填空（共6小题；每小题1分，满分6分）

It is difficult for doctors to help a person with a damaged brain. Without enough blood, the brain lives for only three to five minutes. More often the doctors can’t fix the damage. Sometimes they are afraid to try something to help because it is dangerous to work on the brain. The doctors might make the person worse if he operates on the brain.
Dr. Robert White, a famous professor and doctor, thinks he knows a way to help. He thinks doctors should make the brain very cold. If it is very cold, the brain can live without blood for 30 minutes. This gives the doctor a longer time to do something for the brain.
Dr. White tried his idea on 13 monkeys. First he taught them to do different jobs, then he operated on them. He made the monkeys’ blood back to the monkeys’ brains. When the brain’s temperature was 10℃, Dr. White stopped the blood to the brain. After 30 minutes he turned the blood back on. He warmed the blood again. After their operations the monkeys were like they had been before. They were healthy and busy. Each one could still do the jobs the doctor had taught them.
【小题1】.The biggest difficulty in operating on the damaged brain is that ____.

完成句子：（共10个空；每空1分，满分10分）

1.When the car went around the corner, the legendary castle ____________________ (呈现在眼前). (come)

2.They put a dark cloth across the window, ____________________ (遮住) the sun-light. (block)

3.The Venus ____________________ (以……命名) a Rome goddess. (name)

4.There are some things that ____________________ (不能忍受) , and her complaining is one. (put)

5.If you go on doing that kind of thing, you ____________________ （最终会进监狱）. (end)

6.I know of at least two people who ___________________（能够指望）to support us.（count）

7.He never remembered ____________________ (遇到) a person like him. (come)

8.The pillar ____________________ (支撑起) the roof. (hold)

9.____________________（弄清楚怎么做）is not an easy job. (figure)

10.The story of Helen Keller’s life ____________________（展现了一个新的世界）to us .(open)