阅读理解

　　In Glacier National Park, which is in the Rocky Mountains of Montana, there once roamed a little deaf Indian boy. He loved to wander in the forest, and made friends with the animals who lived there. Since he loved animals, he would observe them intently and learn their habits. This little Indian boy's name was John Lewis Clarke.

　　John Lewis Clarke's grandfather was a graduate from West Point and a captain in the U. S. Army. He was married to the daughter of a Blackfoot Indian Chief and adopted by the tribe. His son, John Lewis Clarke's father, also married an Indian princess, the daughter of Chief Stands Alone. Sadly, John's grandfather was later killed by Indians of another tribe near Helena, Montana.

　　John Lewis Clarke was not born deaf. He became ill at a young age with scarlet fever. Though he survived, he could no longer hear the sounds that the forest animals made. He could not hear his Indian friends when they called to him. Scarlet fever had caused him to lose his hearing. His Indian friends gave him the name Cutapuis (Cu-ta-pu-ee) which means, “man who talks not.”

　　Because John could not talk, he could not tell his parents about his many animal friends in the forest and the exciting things that he saw, but he found another way to express himself. He made figures of them out of clay(粘土) from the river banks. Later, when he was older, he learned to carve things out of wood. He loved to carve animals. With an axe and a pocket knife, he carved a life-sized image of a bear from a cedar trunk. The bear looked so real, the only thing missing was its growl.

　　When John was old enough to go to school, his parents sent him to the Fort Shaw Indian School. However, since he needed special education, he was transferred to a school for the deaf at Boulder, Montana. He also attended the School for the Deaf at Devil's Lake, North Dakota. When he was older, he enrolled at St. Francis Academy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he studied wood carving. While he was still in his teens, John returned to Montana and opened a studio. He began to carve all the animals he had known very well in his childhood, and offer them for sale. He made models of animals out of wood, clay, and stone. He painted pictures using water colors and oils, and did excellent pen and ink drawings. He began to make a name for himself as an artist.

　　John spent most of his 89 years at his home studio in Glacier Park. Every year when the park season was over, he continued his work in Great Falls, Montana, his second home. Many important people bought John's work. John D． Rockefeller, Jr., the famous multimillionaire, was one of them. John's work was on exhibit in many places in this country. John died on November 20,1970. In his life-time, he literally carved his way to fame.

1．John probably started to use American Sign Language as soon as ________.

[　　]

A．he became deaf

B．he entered a school for the deaf

C．he could make figures out of clay

D．his Indian friends taught him

2．The subject of his artwork was mostly animals. This is most likely because ________.

[　　]

A．the environment he grew up has influenced him

B．he was an Indian

C．it was his way of expressing ideas

D．he did not like people

3．“The bear looked so real. The only thing missing was its growl.” This phrase means ________.

[　　]

A．John forgot to add one more thing

B．the bear was missing

C．the bear missed growling

D．the bear looked perfect except that it could not make any sound

4．During the course of his education, John attended ________.

[　　]

A．two schools

B．only a residential school for the deaf

C．four different schools

D．a school in Maine

LONDON — Life for Cathy Hagner and her three children is set to permanent(永久的) fast-forward.

Their full school day and her job as a lawyer's assistant are busy enough. But Hanger also has to take the two boys to soccer or hockey or basketball while dropping off her daughter at piano lessons or Girl Scout Club.

Often, the exhausted family doesn't get home until 7 pm. There is just time for a quick supper before homework. In today's world, middle-class American and British parents treat their children as if they are competitors racing for some finishing line.

Parents take their children from activity to activity in order to make their future bright. It seems that raising a genius has become a more important goal than raising a happy and well-balanced child.

“Doctors across the country are reporting a growing number of children suffering from stomachaches and headaches due to exhaustion and stress,” says child expert William Doherty of the University of Minnesota.

Teachers are dealing with exhausted kids in the classroom. It's a very serious problem. Many children attend after-school clubs by necessity. But competitive pressures also create an explosion of activities. They include sports, language, music and math classes for children as young as four.

“There is a new parenting trend(趋势) under way which says that you have to tap all your child’s potential(潜能) at a young age; otherwise you will let him down,” says Terry Apter, a Cambridge-based child and adolescent psychiatrist(青少年精神病专家).

“It isn't entirely new: there have always been pushy parents. But what was previously(以前) seen as strange behaviour is now well accepted.”

1. From the second paragraph of this passage we can find that _______.

A. Hagner wastes much time helping her children's lessons

B. Hagner doesn't spend much time on her full-time job

C. Hagner is interested in sports and music

D. Hagner busies herself by following a trend

2. British parents, as the writer described in this passage, _______.

A. treat their children as sports players

B. pay no attention to their children's lessons

C. bring up their children in a simple way

D. give their children little time to develop freely

3. The writer's opinion about after-school clubs is that ________.

A. activities in the country are too competitive

B. children should attend four clubs at a time

C. some clubs result in competitive pressures

D. clubs should have more subjects for school children

4. The last paragraph tells us that in Britain _______.

A. parents used to take their children to every club

B. parents used to be wise on how to raise children

C. parents have all benefited from children’s clubs

D. parents have come to know the standard of education

Hundreds of American soldiers lost their lives and thousands of them _______ in different parts of Iraq．

1. A.
   injured
2. B.
   were injured
3. C.
   were injuries
4. D.
   were the injury

Would you like to be a king or queen? To have people waiting on you hand and foot? Many Americans experience this royal treatment every day. How? By being customers. The American idea of customer service is to make each customer the center of attention. Need proof? Just listen to the commercials. Most of them sound like the McDonald’s ad: “We do it all for you.” Actually, not all stores in America roll out the red carpet for their customers. But wherever you go, good customer service means making customers feel special.

People going shopping in America can expect to be treated with respect from the very beginning. Most places don’t have a “furniture street” or a “computer road” which allow you to compare prices easily. Instead, people often “let their fingers do the walking” through the store hot lines. From the first “hello”, customers receive a satisfying response to their questions. This initial contact can help them decide where to shop.

When customers get to the store, they are treated as honored guests. Customers don’t usually find store clerks sitting around watching TV or playing cards. Instead, the clerks greet them warmly and offer to help them find what they want. In most stores, the clear signs that label each department make shopping a breeze. Customers usually don’t have to ask how much items cost, since prices are clearly marked. And unless they’re at a flea market or a yard sale, they don’t bother trying to bargain.

When customers are ready to check out, they find the nearest and shortest checkout lane. But as Murphy’s Law would have it, whichever lane they get in, all the other lanes will move faster. Good stores open new checkout lanes when the lanes get too long. Some even offer express lanes for customers with 10 items or less. After they pay for their purchases, customers receive a smile and a warm “thank you” from the clerk. Many stores even allow customers to take their shopping carts out to the parking lot. That way, they don’t have to carry heavy bags out to the car.

By quoting (引用) the McDonald’s ad: “We do it all for you”, the author intends to_______.

A. suggest that customers believe what commercials say deeply

B. show readers the American idea on good customer service

C. express all the stores pay much attention to the customers

D. persuade readers to choose the stores with ads correctly

In the USA, what may you do at first if you want to do some shopping?

A. To visit a professional street with lots of similar stores.

B. To compare prices in many shops in the same street.

C. To make phone calls and get better shopping choices.

D. To receive other customers’ answers to the questions.

The underlined words “a breeze” in Para.3 most probably means _________.

A. an easy job　　 B. a trouble　　           C. a funny thing　　     D. a boring task

Which of the followings shows American stores offer convenience to customers in this passage?

A. The store clerks don’t usually sit around watching TV or playing cards.

B. Some stores offer price bargain to the customers like a yard sale.

C. The clerks give customers a smile and a warm “thank you” after paying.

D. Some stores open new checkout lanes when the lanes are crowded.

Which of the following can be the best title of this passage?

A. Customer Service in America                     B. Excellent Stores in America

C. Shopping Rules in America                           D. Being King or Queen in America

A characteristic of American culture that has become almost a tradition is to respect the self-made man — the man who has risen to the top through his own efforts, usually beginning by working with his hands. While the leader in business or industry or the college professor occupies a higher social position and commands greater respect in the community than the common laborer or even the skilled factory worker, he may take pains to point out that his father started life in America as a farmer or laborer of some sort.

This attitude toward manual(体力的) labor is now still seen in many aspects of American life. One is invited to dinner at a home that is not only comfortably but even luxuriously (豪华地) furnished and in which there is every evidence of the fact that the family has been able to afford foreign travel, expensive hobbies, and college education for the children; yet the hostess probably will cook the dinner herself, will serve it herself and will wash dishes afterward, furthermore the dinner will not consist merely of something quickly and easily assembled from contents of various cans and a cake or a pie bought at the nearby bakery. On the contrary, the hostess usually takes pride in careful preparation of special dishes. A professional man may talk about washing the car, digging in his flowerbeds, painting the house. His wife may even help with these things, just as he often helps her with the dishwashing. The son who is away at college may wait on table and wash dishes for his living, or during the summer he may work with a construction gang on a highway in order to pay for his education. 

1. From paragraph 1, we can know that in America _________.

A. people tend to have a high opinion of the self-made man

B. people can always rise to the top through their won efforts

C. college professors win great respect from common workers

C. people feel painful to mention their fathers as labors.

2. According to the passage, the hostess cooks dinner herself mainly because _________.

A. servants in American are hard to get

B. she takes pride in what she can do herself

C. she can hardly afford servants

D. It is easy to prepare a meal with canned food

3. The expression “ wait on table” in the second paragraph means “_________”.

A. work in a furniture shop                 B. keep accounts for a bar

C. wait to lay the table                        D. serve customers in a restaurant

4. Which of the following may serve as the best title of the passage?

A. A Respectable Self-made Family             B. American Attitude toward Manual Labor

C. Characteristics of American Culture        D. The Development of Manual Labor