阅读下列短文，从所给的四个选项中，选出最佳答案

　Jane was a few minutes late．Mr Smith had left the office when she got there．

　His secretary told her he would be back in a few minutes．She had to sit down and wait for a few minutes in the outer office．

　“I'll never get this job, ”she told herself．For a moment she wanted to run out of the building．Just then, Mr Smith came through the door and hurried into his office．A few seconds later, his secretary took Jane in and introduced her．

　Jane apologized for being late．Mr Smith didn't seem to mind．They talked a few seconds and then got down to business．He took out her letter of application．

　“You've never worked in radio or television before, have you?”he said．Jane answered that she was afraid that she hadn't．Now, she was even more sure that she would not get the job．Mr Smith asked her a few more questions．

　To her surprise, he seemed to be interested in her other qualifications（条件）．

　She was even more surprised when he asked if she could start soon．

　“I wonder if you'd mind starting next month?”he asked with a smile．It seemed she had got the job after all!

(1)Jane had to wait because _______．　　　

[　　]

A．her secretary told her she would be back in a vew minutes

B．the man she wanted to see had just gone out

C．Mr Smith was late and didn't come to his office yet.

D．it was not time for Mr Smith to do his work

(2)Jane wanted to run out of the building _______．　　　

[　　]

A．for she had someting else to do at the moment

B．because she wanted to look for Mr Smith herself

C．because she was told that she wouldn't be able to get the job

D．whti the thought she would be refused

(3)The word-group“get down to business”here means“______”．

[　　]

A．get downstairs to the office

B．have business going down

C．go out of the office to keep away from others

D．start to talk about her application for the job

(4)_______, so she got the job．　　　

[　　]

A．Jane was very good at talking

B．Jane hadn't worked in radio or television

C．Jane's qualifications were very much helpful

D．Jane didn't mind whether she could get the job or not

(5)Mr Smith asked Jane if she could ______．　　　

[　　]

A．start her work as early as possible

B．wait for an answer for starting work until the following month

C．begin to work in the month that followed

D．posslbly take the job and begin to work right away

Here’s an idyllic(田园风光的) scene: a small village where the sun always shines, crops always grow and your friends drop by to sweep your yard to the sound of guitar music. Animals do what they are told, there is no disease, and lending folks a helping hand makes you richer and wiser. Welcome to FarmVille — current population 69m and rising fast.

“It reminds me of my childhood,” says one player, Lia Curran, 37, a chemist from London. “Right now I’m growing wheat and poinsettia, I’ve got a small orchard, and I’m keeping some chickens and some cows. I like having the animals. It’s comfortable.”

Curran’s young animals, however, are nothing more than a collection of computer-controlled cartoons. FarmVille is an online computer game built into the social networking site Facebook and is described by its players as “addictive”. Launched last June by Zynga Game Network, FarmVille now has more players than Twiter’s entire user base — or more than the population of the UK. The players are largely women over the age of 35.

Jenny Glyn, 33, a London housewife, started playing in September. “I had a look at a friend’s farm and was hooked,” she says. “My first motivation was to overtake her, but I did that pretty quickly. Now there’s something satisfying about growing crops.”

FarmVille intellectually unites the worlds of social networking and gaming. Players are given a patch of ground with six fields, “cash”, a few seeds and a plough and have to build up wealth, skills and neighbors to create bigger, better, richer farms.

Inviting your online friends to play means you earn more and get free gifts; you rise rapidly through the first levels but, once hooked, have to work harder and harder with no final level or goal in sight.

“It’s very moreish,” says Curran. She hasn’t yet paid real-world money to advance in the game, but her friends do. One buys extra virtual currency at the exchange rate of $240 (??145) in FarmVille for $40 (??24) in the real world.

“I’d expanded on FarmVille as much as I could, but I just wanted a pond and some bushes and trees around it,” says the woman, who is too embarrassed to be named. “I didn’t tell my husband I’d paid real money because he’d think I’m mad. But then he did keep me waiting in the car outside our house while he harvested his raspberries.”

Brian Dudley, chief executive at Broadway Lodge, an addiction treatment centre, warns that this sort of obsessive(令人着魔的) play can lead to an addiction as severe as gambling.

59. What does Curran do in the passage?

   A. She is a player.                                                      B. She is a farmer who grows wheat and poinsettia.

   C. She is a chemist.                                                  D. She is a housewife who raises chickens and cows.

60. By FarmVille, the writer means ______.

   A. an addictive farm on which live 69 million farmers

   B. a London housewife’s farm

   C. an online computer game built into the social networking site

   D. a farm on which people grow real crops and play as well

61. In the last but one paragraph, the husband kept the woman waiting outside ______.

   A. because he was angry at his wife’s being mad about the farm

   B. because he himself was busy with his farm

   C. in order to punish his wife for her having paid real money

   D. so that his wife would wake up from her addiction to the farm

62. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?

   A. The population of the UK is less than 69 million.

   B. This sort of obsessive play can cause very severe addiction.

   C. Once hooked, one has to make greater efforts to reach a higher level.

   D. Up till now, nobody has yet paid real-world money to advance in the play.

Here’s an idyllic(田园风光的) scene: a small village where the sun always shines, crops always grow and your friends drop by to sweep your yard to the sound of guitar music. Animals do what they are told, there is no disease, and lending folks a helping hand makes you richer and wiser. Welcome to FarmVille — current population 69m and rising fast.
“It reminds me of my childhood,” says one player, Lia Curran, 37, a chemist from London. “Right now I’m growing wheat and poinsettia, I’ve got a small orchard, and I’m keeping some chickens and some cows. I like having the animals. It’s comfortable.”
Curran’s young animals, however, are nothing more than a collection of computer-controlled cartoons. FarmVille is an online computer game built into the social networking site Facebook and is described by its players as “addictive”. Launched last June by Zynga Game Network, FarmVille now has more players than Twiter’s entire user base — or more than the population of the UK. The players are largely women over the age of 35.
Jenny Glyn, 33, a London housewife, started playing in September. “I had a look at a friend’s farm and was hooked,” she says. “My first motivation was to overtake her, but I did that pretty quickly. Now there’s something satisfying about growing crops.”
FarmVille intellectually unites the worlds of social networking and gaming. Players are given a patch of ground with six fields, “cash”, a few seeds and a plough and have to build up wealth, skills and neighbors to create bigger, better, richer farms.
Inviting your online friends to play means you earn more and get free gifts; you rise rapidly through the first levels but, once hooked, have to work harder and harder with no final level or goal in sight.
“It’s very moreish,” says Curran. She hasn’t yet paid real-world money to advance in the game, but her friends do. One buys extra virtual currency at the exchange rate of $240 (£145) in FarmVille for $40 (£24) in the real world.
“I’d expanded on FarmVille as much as I could, but I just wanted a pond and some bushes and trees around it,” says the woman, who is too embarrassed to be named. “I didn’t tell my husband I’d paid real money because he’d think I’m mad. But then he did keep me waiting in the car outside our house while he harvested his raspberries.”
Brian Dudley, chief executive at Broadway Lodge, an addiction treatment centre, warns that this sort of obsessive(令人着魔的) play can lead to an addiction as severe as gambling.
59. What does Curran do in the passage?
A. She is a player.                                                      B. She is a farmer who grows wheat and poinsettia.
C. She is a chemist.                                                  D. She is a housewife who raises chickens and cows.
60. By FarmVille, the writer means ______.
A. an addictive farm on which live 69 million farmers
B. a London housewife’s farm
C. an online computer game built into the social networking site
D. a farm on which people grow real crops and play as well
61. In the last but one paragraph, the husband kept the woman waiting outside ______.
A. because he was angry at his wife’s being mad about the farm
B. because he himself was busy with his farm
C. in order to punish his wife for her having paid real money
D. so that his wife would wake up from her addiction to the farm
62. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?
A. The population of the UK is less than 69 million.
B. This sort of obsessive play can cause very severe addiction.
C. Once hooked, one has to make greater efforts to reach a higher level.
D. Up till now, nobody has yet paid real-world money to advance in the play.

On August 5 at 10:31 p.m. PST, a rover（探测器）named Curiosity touched down safely on the surface of Mars, and I was lucky enough to have a front-row seat.
My name is Clara, and when I was in Grade 6, I won the essay contest NASA held to name its next Mars rover. The essay I wrote was not even 250 words long, but somehow it was enough to change my life.
I still remember that cold December day, sitting in a science class. I’d finished a worksheet early and decided to get a Time for Kids magazine off Mrs. Estevez’s bookshelf. It was the 2008 Invention Issue, but that wasn’t the only thing that caught my eye. In the magazine, there was an article about a girl who named the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. The article also talked about the essay contest NASA was holding to name its next Mars rover. Before I even knew anything else about it, a single word flooded my 11-year-old mind: Curiosity.
I couldn’t wait for the bell to ring so I could get started on my essay. That afternoon, I raced home from the bus stop, sat down at the computer and typed until my fingers ached. It turned out that I was just in time. A few days later, and the contest would have closed.
Five months later, shortly after I had turned 12, I was watching a National Geographic special on mammoths when the phone rang. My mom answered, and immediately, a wide smile spread across her face. When she told me that I had won, I was happier than I could ever remember being, I screamed and ran up and down the stairs and all around the house. I completely forgot about the mammoths and did not even remember to turn off the TV until it was really late.
Curiosity is such an important part of who I am. I have always been fascinated by the stars, the planets, the sky and the universe. I remember as a little girl, my grandfather and I would sit together in the backyard for hours. He’d tell me stories and point out the stars.
My grandfather lived in China, thousands of miles away from my home in Kansas. I loved the stars because they kept us together even when we were apart. They were always there, yet there was so much I didn’t know about them. That’s what I love so much about space. No matter how much we learn, it will always possess some mystery.
In the past, space exploration may have been a competition to see who got somewhere first or the fastest. But now, it is one of the few things that bring people together. Science is a language that needs no translation. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what you look like – you just have to have a thirst for knowledge and a passion for learning in order to succeed.
People often ask me why we go to faraway places like Mars. Why do we explore? My answer to that is simple: because we can; because we’re curious; because we as human beings do not just stay holed up in one place. We are constantly wondering and trying to find out what’s over the hill and beyond the horizon.
The curiosity rover is more than just a robot. It is more than just a titanium body and aluminum wheels. Curiosity represents the hard work, passion, love and commitment of thousands of people from all over the world who were brought together by science. Science is so awesome. It is breathtaking and mind-blowing; and sometimes, it’s just a little bit crazy. The discoveries we make about our world are incredibly humbling. They move us forward and have the potential to benefit all of mankind.
This December it will be four years of my life that have been tied to Curiosity in some way. I’ve met so many amazing people through this experience, from scientists to engineers to administrators to volunteers. Their devotion and enthusiasm inspire me greatly. My journey with Curiosity and the MSL mission team has shaped the person that I am today, as well as the person I would one day like to become.
I am deeply grateful to everyone who made it possible for me to have this amazing adventure.
And to you, I hope your curiosity takes you far.
【小题1】 The method the writer uses to begin the passage is _____.

On August 5 at 10:31 p.m. PST, a rover（探测器）named Curiosity touched down safely on the surface of Mars, and I was lucky enough to have a front-row seat.

My name is Clara, and when I was in Grade 6, I won the essay contest NASA held to name its next Mars rover. The essay I wrote was not even 250 words long, but somehow it was enough to change my life.

I still remember that cold December day, sitting in a science class. I’d finished a worksheet early and decided to get a Time for Kids magazine off Mrs. Estevez’s bookshelf. It was the 2008 Invention Issue, but that wasn’t the only thing that caught my eye. In the magazine, there was an article about a girl who named the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. The article also talked about the essay contest NASA was holding to name its next Mars rover. Before I even knew anything else about it, a single word flooded my 11-year-old mind: Curiosity.

I couldn’t wait for the bell to ring so I could get started on my essay. That afternoon, I raced home from the bus stop, sat down at the computer and typed until my fingers ached. It turned out that I was just in time. A few days later, and the contest would have closed.

Five months later, shortly after I had turned 12, I was watching a National Geographic special on mammoths when the phone rang. My mom answered, and immediately, a wide smile spread across her face. When she told me that I had won, I was happier than I could ever remember being, I screamed and ran up and down the stairs and all around the house. I completely forgot about the mammoths and did not even remember to turn off the TV until it was really late.

Curiosity is such an important part of who I am. I have always been fascinated by the stars, the planets, the sky and the universe. I remember as a little girl, my grandfather and I would sit together in the backyard for hours. He’d tell me stories and point out the stars.

My grandfather lived in China, thousands of miles away from my home in Kansas. I loved the stars because they kept us together even when we were apart. They were always there, yet there was so much I didn’t know about them. That’s what I love so much about space. No matter how much we learn, it will always possess some mystery.

In the past, space exploration may have been a competition to see who got somewhere first or the fastest. But now, it is one of the few things that bring people together. Science is a language that needs no translation. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what you look like – you just have to have a thirst for knowledge and a passion for learning in order to succeed.

People often ask me why we go to faraway places like Mars. Why do we explore? My answer to that is simple: because we can; because we’re curious; because we as human beings do not just stay holed up in one place. We are constantly wondering and trying to find out what’s over the hill and beyond the horizon.

The curiosity rover is more than just a robot. It is more than just a titanium body and aluminum wheels. Curiosity represents the hard work, passion, love and commitment of thousands of people from all over the world who were brought together by science. Science is so awesome. It is breathtaking and mind-blowing; and sometimes, it’s just a little bit crazy. The discoveries we make about our world are incredibly humbling. They move us forward and have the potential to benefit all of mankind.

This December it will be four years of my life that have been tied to Curiosity in some way. I’ve met so many amazing people through this experience, from scientists to engineers to administrators to volunteers. Their devotion and enthusiasm inspire me greatly. My journey with Curiosity and the MSL mission team has shaped the person that I am today, as well as the person I would one day like to become.

I am deeply grateful to everyone who made it possible for me to have this amazing adventure.

And to you, I hope your curiosity takes you far.

1. The method the writer uses to begin the passage is _____.

A．telling a story                          B．giving an example

C．offering an explanation                   D．describing a scene

2.Why did the writer hurry home to finish the essay for the contest NASA held?

A．She had just gathered enough information from Time for Kids

B．She wanted to write down what flashed through her mind in time.

C．She knew from Mrs. Estevez the deadline for the contest was approaching.

D．She was afraid she might miss the chance to compete with the former winner.

3. The writer mentions her grandfather in order to show that ______.

A．she missed him very much.

B．he knew a great deal about space

C．he influenced her to love the stars

D．she treasured their happy moments

4.Which of the following serves as a summary of Paragraph 11?

A．The writer was inspired to be a volunteer by the people she met.

B．The writer owed her success to her team members’ encouragement.

C．The writer met many difficulties in her four-year life with Curiosity.

D．The writer has benefited a lot from her experience tied to Curiosity.

5.Which best describes the writer’s tone in the passage?

A．Sharp.            B．Proud.            C．Aggressive.        D．Enthusiastic.

6.What is conveyed in the passage?

A．Curiosity is important to human beings.

B．A thirst for knowledge helps one grow up.

C．Entering a contest is a way to achieve success.

D．Curiosity changes people’s attitude towards science.