Tom was a poor boy. He made a living by cleaning leather shoes for others in the street. Tom was also a clever boy.

One day, a very rich man with the name Miser appeared in front of Tom. He watched his dirty shoes for a while, and then looked at Tom. Tom knew this kind of people well: they love money very much and hate to spend it.

Tom said, “Let me clean your shoes, sir.”

“For nothing?” the rich man asked.

“Only two pence, sir.”

Mr Miser shook his head and walked away.

Tom thought for a moment and then called out, “I’d like to clean it for nothing!” This time Mr Miser agreed. And soon one of his shoes was shining brightly.

When the rich man put his other shoe on the stool(凳子), Tom said he wouldn’t clean it for him unless he was paid two pence for his work. Mr Miser was very angry. He refused to pay anything and went away with a smile on his face.

But to his surprise, the well-cleaned shoe was so bright that it made the other one look even dirtier. Mr Miser took a look around. People in the street were laughing at him. He couldn’t walk on any further.

Finally the rich man returned and gave Tom two pence. In a very short time his two shoes shone brightly.

1.The story happened___________.

A．in a shoe shop                          B．in the street

C．at the rich man’s house                 D．near the boy’s home

2.The boy called the man back and agreed to clean his shoes for nothing, because_______.

A.he was afraid of the rich man

B.B.he liked to clean shoes for rich men

C.he wanted to get something else instead of money

D.he was sure he could get his pay from Mr. Miser

3.Mr Miser smiled because________.

A．he liked to walk with only one shoe cleaned

B．He had one of his shoes cleaned without paying for it

C．He thought his other shoe needn’t be cleaned at all

D．He thought he wouldn’t be laughed at by the people in the street.

4.Which of the following is true?

A．The boy was waiting for the rich man that day.

B．Mr. Miser didn’t want to have his shoes cleaned.

C．The rich man won at last.

D．The rich man had to pay the boy for his work.

5.From the passage we know__________.

A.Mr. Miser was a generous man

B.B.the boy was fooled by the rich man

C.the boy was clever enough to have his work paid

D.it is good manners to have one’s shoes cleaned before he or she goes out.

December 21, 2012 marks the completion of the 5,125 year Great Cycle of the Ancient Maya Long Count Calendar.

Rather than being an end－point, this cycle that is closing is naturally I followed by the start of a new cycle. What this new cycle has in store for humanity is a mystery that has yet to unfold...

The recent 2012 movie serves to alert a targeted 140 million people, in case they too haven't already heard the news. Unfortunately, however, the movie does a disservice because it distorts the message of this ancient prophecy (预言) by associating it with fear and destruction, as described by the movie's global disaster scenario (场景), rather than the themes of transformation and renewal the prophecy is actually based on.

In other words, the global scenario of the 2012 movie is not based on any facts. As Emmerich clarifies，“We only used the fact that the Mayan calendar ends. That gave us the year.” Emmerich said after checking out the range of 2012 books on Amazon, he realized, “...there are so many (theories) that, in a way, you can just create your own.” He shares that “2012” was tacked on as a title to his disaster movie because it is something “people believe” and it made the movie seem more “real.”

Interestingly, Emmerich's underlying motivation for the movie seems to be genuine concern about the course we are all on as modern society. As he states, “I hope we are not ruining our planet. I really believe that, if we keep going and doing what we are doing, we will not be leaving the planet how it should be, for our kids. That has been going on for generations. It just very sad to see and read the news, every day, and see what these people are fighting over. It's like they don't  understand that the clock is ticking.”

6. According to the Ancient Maya Long Count Calendar, December 21,2012 is the day on which ________.

A. the world will end with many disasters

B. the old age will end and a new one will begin

C. there will be a world flood

D. the world can survive many disasters

7. Which of the following is TRUE about the movie 2012?

A. It is intended to explore what is in store in the new cycle.

B. It tells us about the Ancient Maya Long Count Calendar as it is.

C. It is just based on the director's ideas.

D. It describes the ancient prophecy vividly.

8. What Emmerich says suggests that ________.

A. he is quite concerned about the present situation on the earth

B. he is regretful that people have misunderstood his movie

C. he himself believes what is described in the movie

D. he just wants to attract viewers by the disaster scenario

9. By this passage, the author intends to ________.

A. tell us about what the movie 2012 is all about

B. help the director to promote his film

C. tell us what we should learn from the movie 2012

D. explain whether we can trust the ancient prophecy

10. The underlined word “distort” in the third paragraph probably means ________.

A. change something in a wrong way

B. convey the original meaning

C. describe something clearly

D. give more proof to something

Task-based reading 任务型阅读

请认真阅读下面短文，并根据所读内容在文章后图表中的空格里填入最恰当的单词。注意：每空不超过1个单词。

For centuries people dreamed of going into space. This dream began to seem possible when high-flying rockets were built in the early 1900s.

In 1903 a Russian teacher named Konstantin Tsiolkovsky figured out how to use rockets for space travel. His plan was the first one in rocket science to use correct scientific calculation. About 30 years later, a U.S. scientist named Robert Goddard built the first rockets that could reach high altitudes. During World War II, German scientists built large rockets that could travel very far and carry dangerous explosives. After the war, scientists from Germany went to the United States and the Soviet Union to help those countries build space rockets.

These two countries were soon racing to get to space first. Each of these countries wanted to prove that it was stronger and more advanced than the other one. Both countries also had powerful bombs. People in the United States were worried when the Soviets were first to launch a space satellite, which was called Sputnik. The Soviets were also first to send a person into space. Yury Gagarin orbited the earth in the Vostok I spaceship in 1961.

The US government set a goal for its space program to be the first country to put a person on the Moon. The U.S. space program built a series of Apollo spaceship. These vehicles were powered by huge Saturn 5 rockets. In 1969 Apollo II took three men to the moon successfully. Nell Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon.

The Soviets may have lost the race to fly people to the Moon, but they built the first space station in 1971. The United States also built a space station. The space stations allowed people to live and work in space. Then the Soviet Union and the United States cooperated to hook two spaceships together in space. This action ended the "space race". Today a much larger space station, built by several countries together, orbits Earth.

Another new way to go to space is by space shuttle. A space shuttle, first made in the United States in 1981, looks like an airplane. Astronauts who fly spaceships have used shuttles to help put satellites into space.

Information has always been at the center of human communication. You may ask why. Well, communication between people contains giving and receiving information. The way we give and receive information today has experienced a revolution in the development of the mass media in the 20th century.

The first truly mass communication medium was the newspaper. For the first time in history, people could read about events in their country and from around the world every day. However, there were two problems with newspapers of that time. Firstly, newspapers were available only in large cities, for getting newspapers to the countryside was a difficult and time-consuming（耗时的） task. Secondly, newspapers weren’t always reliable, as there was a limited range of opinions.

Nowadays, we can choose from a wide variety of sources to get information. Television and the Internet have given us the chance to be informed about everything the minute it happens. Large numbers of radio and TV stations, satellite channels and millions of websites help people keep up with the latest news. People live in history and are part of it.

The media have come a long way in the last century and there is no doubt that we now live in the information age.  Whatever type of media we choose, it all comes down to the need for information. This will always be a basic need as long as communication is part of human nature.

1.Information is considered the center of human communication because ________.

A. human communication means information exchange

    B. human communication involves people’s participation

    C. information is now experiencing a revolution

    D. information helps people gather together

2.What was the historical contribution of the newspaper as a source of information?

    A. It made the mass communication truly develop.

    B. It helped the mass communication develop in cities.

    C. It kept people timely informed about home and world events.

    D. It kept reliable information available in big cities.

3.The third paragraph mainly tells us that technology helps ________.

    A. information easily available           B. people be part of history

    C. inform everything timely             D. produce the latest news

4.It can be concluded from the last paragraph that a basic need today is ________.

    A. communication                     B. information

C. high technology                    D. media types

One morning I wasted nearly an hour watching a tiny ant carry a huge feather．Several times, it  36 obstacles（障碍物in its path．And after a pause it made the necessary detour. At one point, the ant had to  37  a crack(裂缝) about 10 mm wide．After some brief thoughts, the ant laid the                   38 over the crack, walked across it and  39 up the feather on the other side, then continued on its way．I was  40 by the cleverness of this ant．It was only a small insect, lacking in  41 yet equipped with a brain to reason, explore, discover and overcome.  42  this ant, like the other two-legged creatures  43 on the earth, also shares human feelings．

After some time the ant finally reached its  44 – a flower bed and a small hole that was the entrance to its   45 home．It was there that the ant met its  46 . How could that large feather possibly   47  such a small hole? Of course, it couldn’t．So the ant, after all this trouble and using great brightness, overcoming problems all along the way, just   48 the feather and went home. The ant had not thought the problem through   49 it began its journey and in the end the feather was   50 more than a burden. Isn’t our   51  like this?

We worry about our families; we worry about our money or the   52 of it; and we worry about all kinds of things．These are all  53 —the things we pick up all the life, and drag them around the obstacles and over the cracks that life will bring, only to   54 that at the destination they are   55  and we can’t take them with us．