I came to India a year ago to find a village in which I could live and write but it was many months before I settled down happily in this Himalayan community.

    I wasted a lot of time looking for the “typical” village. Yet no such thing exists. Conditions are quite different from village to village. But the villages I stayed in had much in common---poor, dirty and backward. Often the villagers themselves were puzzled and doubtful. Why had I come? I had put aside my work as a political journalist because my ideas had changed. I had come to believe that what was happening in the Third World was more important than anything else. But to understand how three—quarters of the world population live, and what effect their future might have on ours, I felt that I first had to try and share their way of life.

   In the end I chose a mountain village because it was little cooler than those in the plains. I took the bus from town along a rocky road. Then came a rough walk down a steep path to the river. After this I began the climb into the hills. Whenever I stopped to catch my breath, there was a beautiful scene. After several hours’ walk the village came into sight.

1.After the writer had arrived in India,________.

A.he spent a year writing about the place he lived in

B.he spent quite some time looking for a suitable place to live in

C.he stayed in an Indian village working for the poor

D.he lived in a Himalayan community for many months.

2.While looking for a typical village, the writer found__________.

A.he was searching for the impossible

B.all the villages were exactly the same

C.he was doing something enjoyable

D.the villagers were curious about him

3.Before coming to India, the writer________.

A.had been a successful politician

B.had made a decision to work for India

C.had studied India culture for some months

D.had worked for newspapers and magazines

4.The write decided to change his way of life because__________.

A.he no longer found his work interesting

B.he hoped to live a peaceful life in the countryside

C.he wanted to find out more about the Third World

D.he wanted to try his luck in a foreign country

5.The village the writer finally chose to live in_________.

A.lay at the end of a rocky road

B.had a beautiful sight of the river

C.was a short walk from the river

D.had better weather than those in the plains.

Have you ever heard the story of the four-minute miles? Many years ago, people believed that it was impossible for a human being to run a mile in less than four minutes until Roger Banister proved it wrong in 1954.

   What happens if you put an animal in a pond? Any animal, big or small, will swim its way through. What happens when someone, who doesn’t know how to swim, falls in deep water? They drown. If an animal who has not learnt swimming could escape by swimming, why not you? Because you believe you will drown while the animal doesn’t.

   Have you ever wondered why the letters are organized in a particular order on your keyboard? You might have thought it is to increase the typing speed. Most people never questioned it. But the fact is that this system was developed to reduce the typing speed at a time when typewriter parts you jam if the operator typed too fast.

   These three cases show the power of our beliefs. There is no other more powerful force in human behavior than belief. Your beliefs have the power to create and to destroy. A belief delivers command to your nervous system.

   I used a snake in my workshop for children to show them how unrealistic some of their beliefs are. Students of a school in India said snakes are slippery and slimy and poisonous. After doing an exercise for changing beliefs, they took my snake and found it to be dry and clean. They also remembered that only three types of poisonous snakes exist in India.

   Did this story end the way you thought? Review your beliefs now and find out which ones you need to change.

60．In the author’s opinion, if a person in deep water doesn’t know how to swim, he will drown because_________.

    A．he is afraid of water               B．he believes he will drown

    C．he hasn’t learnt to swim before      D．he doesn’t want to live in the world

61．The author thinks that the letters are organized in a particular order on your keyboard in order to _________.

    A．save more space                  B．satisfy the operator

    C．reduce one’s typing speed           D．increase one’s typing speed

62．The author’s experiment shows that________.

    A．snakes are dry and clean            B．snakes can be caught easily

    C．snakes are slimy and poisonous      D．snakes in India aren’t poisonous

63．According to the passage, we know that_________

A．students from India have unrealistic beliefs on how to live a better life 

B．an animal who hasn’t learnt how to swim will drown if you put it in pond

C．most people don’t like the order the letters are arranged on the keyboard

D．Roger Banister was the first person who ran a mile in less than four minutes

64. The main idea of this passage should be that________.

A. beliefs are very powerful           

B. beliefs make us seem stupid

C. changing your beliefs now is necessary

D. people should always believe in themselves

President Bush’s dogs often play on the White House lawn（草坪）, but did you know that he also has cows and a cat? His cat is named India. India, also called “Willie”, has lived with the Bush family for more than ten years! On his farm in Crawford, Texas, he keeps a cow called Ofelia named after a person who worked with him when he worked in Texas.

Past Presidents brought many interesting animals to the White House. The wife of John Quincy Adams, the sixth President, had silkworms. Herbert Hoover, the 31^st President, had an opossum（负鼠）. And Calvin Coolidge, the 30^th President, had a raccoon（浣熊）named Rebecca.

Theodore Roosevelt, the 26^th President, was famous for his many pets. His six kids had snakes, dogs, cats, a badger, birds, guinea pigs, and more. Once, Roosevelt’s son Quentin borrowed some snakes from a pet store. Running to show his father, Quentin interrupted an important meeting and dropped the snakes all over his father’s desk!

During World War Ⅰ, Woodrow Wilson, the 28^th President, kept some sheep on the White House lawn. He did this so the First Family would appear to be supporting the war effort. The sheep’s help was great. They ate the lawn and the sheep’s wool was auctioned （拍卖）to raise money for the American Red Cross.

Some of the more unusual U.S. Presidents’ pets have been gifts from other world leaders. James Buchanan received some elephants from Thailand. The Sultan of Oman gave Martin Van Buren a pair of tigers.

But even the more common pets have had an unusual time at the White House. Warren Harding, the 29^th President, and his family had a birthday party for their dog Laddie Boy. They invited other dogs and served a dog biscuit cake.

What’s next? A White House zoo?

60. 1.What do we know about President Bush’s pets?

A. A horse is his favorite pet.

B. Willie was named after a person.

C. India has lived with him for a long time.

D. Ofelia was raised on the White House lawn.

61. 2.Who raised an interesting animal called Rebecca in the White House?

A. Herbert Hoover            B. Woodrow Wilson

C. Calvin Coolidge           D. James Buchanan

62. 3.According to the passage, what happened to President Theodore Roosevelt?

A. His pets were a great help to the American Red Cross.

B. He was once disturbed by his son when he was working

C. His wife once sent him an opossum in order to please him.

D. He received a pair of tigers as a gift from Oman’s leader.

63. 4. According to the passage, who held a party for his pet dog?

A. The 6^th President           B. The 31^st President

C. The 26^th President.         D. The 29^th President.

   Mylonoa Island in autumn and winter is peaceful and beautiful. It is perfect for a relaxing stay or a brief visit. One can see and enjoy the blue skies, the wide beaches, and also have wonderful walks in the hills, perhaps not every day, but usually until the beginning of January. Visitors and winter tourists often come to Mykonos to discover the traditional Greek island. They can escape busy Athens after business, or calm down after a long European tour before traveling on further to Egypt, Israel, or Asia.

   Apart from the more usual tourists, you will find various hikers, walkers, readers, writers, bikers, and so on in this island. You can also visit the beautiful Delos, hike through mountains walk on beaches, explore another side of the island life with some monasteries(修道院), horse ride, or take part in local gatherings and meet some friendly Mykonians,

Mykonos’ climate is Mediterranean and mild. Autumn is always blue skied and sunny, where the temperature only drops very gradually. The nice days for beach going and swimming last until early January. The real winter months are also mild. Even in January, the temperature never drops very to be on. The island has a great percentage of humidity because of the south-easterly winds and rainfall between mid-January and each- March; there is also a possibility of storms and colder northerly winds at this period. Snow is rare, perhaps one every ten years. The clear blue sky still exists for most of the winter.

1.Mykonos island lies in _______.

A. Egypt        B. Israel         C. Greek           D. India

2. What’s the main purpose of this passage?

A. To sum up some situations of many islands.

B. To introduce a beautiful island to people.

C. To compare their climate.

D. To describe the people visiting the island.

3.Which of the following is NOT wrong?

A. Every year, a great number of people go to Mykonos island to tour, hike, walk, read, write and bike.

B. It often snows in Mykonos island.

C. Mykonos’ climate is very awful.

D. From time to time, you can see the blue sky in Mykonos island.

4. What’s the Chinese meaning of the underlined word “humidity”?

A. 温度       B. 湿度        C. 紫外线         D. 大气压

5. We can infer from the passage ______.

A. Mykonos island is a well-known tour resort

B. Mykonos island is a very big island in Europe

C. there are many rare animals in Mykonos island

D. winter is the best season to travel to Mykonos island.

1. All of the following books have children as their main characters (主角) except _________.

A. PETER PAN                        B. GONE WITH THE WIND    

C. A LITTLE PRINCESS                D. THE SECRET GARDEN

2. We can know from the passage that _________.

A. there are only three books with tapes

B. we can buy 5 kinds of the above books in bookstores

C. two of the above books are written by Frances Hodgson Burnett

D. THE SECRET GARDEN is ￥5 cheaper in bookstores than online

3. Mary in THE SECRET GARDEN brings the house and a long-lost garden back to life with the help of _________.

a. the power of hope  b. friendship    c. her uncle      d. nature’s magic

A. abc              B. acd              C. bcd              D. abd

4. This article may appear ___________.

A. as an advertisement               B. as an introduction to the western literature (文化)

C. in a Chinese film                 D. only to middle school students