When I was a boy, I belonged to the Boy Scouts (童子军), so I used to go camping every summer, and once something happened which I have never been able to explain.

We were camping in a place above a river. After arriving, we all rushed down to the river and had a swim. Standing by the river, we noticed that it was surrounded by cliffs (悬崖). If someone wanted to reach the river at this point, he had to walk past our camp.

Several days later, the scoutmaster had to be away for a day. That afternoon, we had supper early. We were sitting round the fire, eating and talking, when a man walked past and went down towards the river. We all felt that this man looked very strange, but, because each of us was afraid of looking very stupid, no one said anything.

We ate rather slowly, taking as long as possible. After finishing, we collected our plates together so that we could take them to the river where we always washed them. But no one moved towards the river — we stood looking at each other ashamed (感到不好意思的). Then all shouting at once, we began talking about the man who had walked past us. We agreed how strange he looked and we wondered what he could be doing by the river. We knew that he could only return by passing through our camp.

An hour passed. Then one of the boys suggested we should creep (悄悄移动) down by the river so that we could see what the man was doing. Moving very slowly and keeping in the shadow (阴暗), we crept down towards the bank. One boy climbed a tree so that he could see everything clearly. He called to us that there was no one there, so we ran down to the bank, looking everywhere carefully. We could not understand where the man had gone.

When it got dark, we went back to our camp feeling bewildered. We told the scoutmaster what had happened in the evening. Smiling, he doubted that we had seen the man, but finally suggested we go and look again. We did, but there was no one there.

     Many years have passed, but I still remember it as if it were yesterday. What did we see? I do not know.

1．The writer in the text mainly tells us ________.

A. the story of his childhood                              B. a strange camping experience

C. about a stranger by the river                          D. about a good place for camping

2．Why did the boys eat their supper slowly?

A. They wanted to go to the river bank at a later time.

B. They were waiting for their scoutmaster.

C. They had a supper earlier than usual.

D. They were talking while eating.

3．The word “bewildered” in the text probably means ________.

A. ashamed                                                      B. nervous (紧张的)

C. unable to understand                                     D. eager (渴望的) to know something

4．The writer still remembers the event because  ________.

A. the boys acted foolishly

B. the camping place is beautiful

C. there has been no explanation for the event

D. he particularly enjoyed his camping that summer

Complete the passage by choosing the proper words or phrases in the box．

I grew up in a tiny Baltimore row house in a faraway mountain area．My parents ___1___ the necessities of life but they couldn’t give much more．If I asked my father for a pair of jeans, he would say, “If you want them, make the money and buy them yourself ．” He wasn’t being mean; he just couldn’t ___2___ them．From age 12 on, I did part-time jobs after school．

When I graduated from high school, I joined the navy．Soon I was in a boot camp at Parris Island, S．C．, where I learned that life in the navy centered around completing daily __3__．These could be anything from cleaning the camp to conducting mock（模拟的） battles．Completing these tasks __4____ required discipline, team-work and responsibility．It didn’t matter whether you were black, white or Asian; everyone worked together for the __5__ of the company．

I went on to graduate from the U．S．Naval Academy and later became an officer in the navy．The part of my job I enjoyed most was the consoling meetings I __6__ with the family members of the men and women in my charge , trying to help them deal with the long periods of separation ．These proved popular and before long I was being asked to give encouraging ___7___ to business groups, educators and kids across the country．

But I consider the boot camp my first real job , and my life is still guided by the __8__ lessons I learned there．It taught me discipline, friendship and the pride related to setting a task every day and working hard to __9_ it．

The elephant was lying heavily on its side, fast asleep．A few dogs started barking at it．The elephant woke up in a terrible anger: it chased the dogs into the village where they ran for safety.

That didn't stop the elephant．It destroyed a dozen houses and injured several people．The villagers were scared and angry．Then someone suggested calling Parbati, the elephant princess.

   Parbati Barua's father was a hunter of tigers and an elephant tamer．He taught Parbati to ride an elephant before she could even walk．He also taught her the dangerous art of the elephant round-up -- how to catch wild elephants.

   Parbati hasn't always lived in the jungle．After a happy childhood hunting with her father, she was sent to boarding school in the city．But Parbati never got used to being there and many years later she went back to her old fife．"Life in the city is too dull．Catching elephants is an adventure and the excitement lasts for days after the chase," she says.

   But Parbati doesn't catch elephants just for fun．"My work," she says, "is to rescue man from the elephants, and to keep the elephants safe from man." And this is exactly what Parbati has been doing for many years．Increasingly, the Indian elephant is angry: for many years, illegal hunters have attacked it and its home in the jungle has been reduced to small pieces of land．It is now fighting back．Whenever wild elephants enter a tea garden or a village, Parbati is called to guide the animals back to the jungle before they can kill.

   The work of an elephant tamer also involves love and devotion．A good elephant tamer will spend hours a day singing love songs to a newly captured elephant．"Eventually they grow to love their tamers and never forget them．They are also more loyal than humans," she said, as she climbed up one of her elephants and sat on the giant, happy animal．An elephant princess indeed!

1．For Parbati, catching elephants is mainly to             .

     A．get long lasting excitement               B．keep both man and elephants safe

     C．send them back to the jungle            D．make the angry elephants tame

2．Before Parbati studied in a boarding school,              

     A．she spent her time hunting with her father

     B．she learned how to sing love songs

     C．she had already been called an elephant princess

     D．she was taught how to hunt tigers

3．Indian elephants are getting increasingly angry and they revenge because __________.

     A．they are caught and sent for heavy work

     B．illegal hunters capture them and kill them

     C．they are attacked and their land gets limited

     D．dogs often bark at them and chase them

4．The passage starts with an elephant story in order to explain that in India _________．

     A．people easily fall victim to elephants' attacks

     B．the man-elephant relationship is getting worse

     C．elephant tamers are in short supply

     D．dogs are as powerful as elephants