It was not until he came back _____ he knew the police were looking for him.

He knew the problem was serious and promised to look into it _____ he reached office.

A. at that moment        B. for that moment C. immediately           D. soon

Not long ago, people thought babies were not able to learn things until they were five or six months old. Yet doctors in the United States say babies begin learning on their first day of life.

Scientists note that babies are strongly influenced by their environment. They say a baby will smile if her mother does something the baby likes. A baby learns to get the best care possible by smiling to please her mother or other caregivers. This is how babies learn to connect and communicate with other human beings.

One study shows that babies can learn before they are born. The researchers placed a tape recorder on the stomach of a pregnant woman. Then, they played a recording of a short story. On the day the baby was born, the researchers attempted to find if he knew the sounds of the story repeated while in his mother. They did this by placing a device in the mouth of the newborn baby.

The baby would hear the story if he moved his mouth one way. If the baby moved his mouth the other way, he would hear a different story. The researchers say the baby clearly liked the story he heard before he was born. They say the baby would move his mouth so he could hear the story again and again.

Another study shows how mothers can strongly influence social development and language skills in their children.

Researchers studied the children from the age of one month to three years. The researchers attempted to measure the sensitivity of the mothers. The women were considered sensitive if they supported their children’s activities and did not interfere (干涉) unnecessarily. They tested the children for thinking and language development when they were three years old. Also, the researchers observed the women for signs of depression (消沉).

The children of depressed women did not do as well in tests as the children of women who did not suffer from depression. The children of depressed women did poorly in tests of language skills and understanding what they hear.

These children also were less cooperative and had more problems dealing with other people. The researchers noted that the sensitivity of the mothers was important to the intelligence development of their children. Children did better when their mothers were caring, even when they suffered from depression.

According to the passage, which of the following is NOT the factor that influences intelligence development in babies?

  A. The environment.                                     B. Mother’s sensitivity.

C. Education before birth.                        D. Their peers (同龄人)

What is the purpose of the experiment in which newborn babies heard the stories?

  A. To prove that babies can learn on the first day they are born.

  B. To prove that babies can learn before they are born.

  C. To show mothers can strongly influence intelligence development in their babies.

  D. To indicate early education has a deep effect on the babies’ language skills.

Which group of children did the worst in tests of language skills?

  A. The children of women who did not suffer from depression.

  B. The children of depressed but caring mothers.

  C. The children of depressed mothers who cared little for their children.

  D. The children with high communication abilities.

What is the main idea of the passage?

  A. Scientific findings about how intelligence develops in babies.

  B. Scientific findings about how the environment has an effect on babies’ intelligence.

  C. A study shows babies are not able to learn things until they are five or six months old.

  D. Scientific findings about how babies develop before birth.

For eighty four days old Santiago had not caught a single fish. At first a young boy, Manolin, had shared his bad fortune, but after the fortieth luck less day the boy’s father told his son to go in another boat. From that time on, Santigao worked alone. The boy loved the old fisherman and always helped him with money and food. Usually, they would talk about the fish they had taken in luckier times or about American baseball after supper, while at night, alone in his cottage, Santiago dreamed of lions on the beaches of Africa, where he had gone years before. He no longer dreamed of his dead wife.

On the eighty-fifth day, Santiago set off to fish before dawn. Two of his baits (饵) were fresh tunas (金枪鱼) the boy had given him, as well as sardines (沙丁鱼) to cover his hooks. Then he set his lines which went straight down into deep dark water.

As the sun rose he saw other boats in toward shore. A bird showed him where dolphin were chasing some flying fish. This time Santiago saw tuna jumping in the sunlight. A small one took the hook on his line. Pulling the fish aboard, the old man thought it a good fortune.

Toward noon a marlin, a common fish in the sea, started eating the bait which was one hundred meters down. Gently the old man played the fish, a big one, as he knew from the weight on the line. At last he struck to settle the hook. The fish did not come out of she surface. Instead, it began to pull the boat to the northwest. The old man followed it. Although he was alone and no longer strong, he had his skill and knew many tricks. He waited patiently for the fish to be tired.

It was cold after the sunset. When something took one of his remaining baits, he cut the line with his knife. Once the marlin leaned suddenly, pulling Santiago forward on his face and cutting his cheek. By dawn his left hand was cramped (抽筋的). The fish had headed northward; there was no land in sight. Hungry, he cut pieces from the tuna and chewed them slowly.

That morning the fist jumped. Seeing it, Santiago knew he had hooked the biggest marlin he had ever seen. Then the fish went down and turned toward the east. Santiago drank a little water from the bottle during the hot afternoon.

Close to nightfall a dolphin took the small hook he had rebated. He lifted it aboard, careful. After he had rested, he cut meat from the dolphin and kept also the two flying fish he hound in its stomach. That night he slept. He awoke to feel the line running through his fingers as the fish jumped. Feeding line slowly, he tried to tire the marlin. After the fish slowed its run, he washed his cut hands in sea water and ate one of the flying fish. At sunrise the marlin began to circle. Faint, he worked to bring the big fish nearer with each turn. Almost exhausted, he finally drew his big fish alongside and drove in the harpoon(鱼叉). The fish was two feet longer than the boat. No fish like it had ever been seen in Havana harbor.

An hour later, he sighted the fist shark, a fierce Mako, and it came in fast to chase after the dead marlin. The old man struck the shark with his harpoon. The Mako rolled and sank, carrying the harpoon with it and leaving the marlin bloody. He knew the smell would spread. Watching, he saw two sharks closing in. he stuck at one with his knife and watched it sliding down into deep water. The other he killed while it tore at the flesh of the marlin. When the third appeared, he thrust (刺) it with the knife. The other sharks came at sunset. At fist he tried to beat them with the tiller (舵柄) from the boat, but his hands were bleeding and there were too many in the sea. In the darkness, as he steered toward the harbor of Havana, he head them hitting the boat again and again. But the old man though only of his steering and his great tiredness. He had gone out too far and the sharks had beaten him. He knew they would leave him nothing but the stripped skeleton of the big marlin.

All lights were out when he sailed into the little harbor and beached his boat. He could just make out the white backbone and the upstanding tail of the fish. Once he fell under their weight and lay patiently until he could gather his strength to go on. In his cottage he fell on his bed and went to sleep.

The above story is adapted from         .

    A．Treasure Island      B．The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

    C．The Old Man And The Sea  D．The Son Of The Sea

Why did the man feel that he could be lucky this time?

    A．Because a small tuna took the hoot on his line.

    B．Because he dreamed about the American lions.

    C．Because he saw many flying fish were chased by the dolphins.

    D．Because a lot of sharks followed his boat.

According to the text, which statement is NOT true about Manolin?

    A．The boy had mercy on Santiago.

    B．The boy often shared his stories with Santiago.

    C．The boy showed his great concerns to Santiago.

    D．The boy was Santiago’s adopted son.

Why does Santiago let the marlin lead his boat instead of pulling the big fish up?

    A．He wanted to kill the marlin first before he pulled it up to the boat.

    B．He was too tried and hungry to pull the big fish up.

    C．His experience told him not to do so before the fish was tired out.

    D．He wanted to use the marlin as a bait to catch the sharks.

Which sentence below can be used to best describe Santiago’s character?

    A．“He no longer dreamed of his dead wife.” (Para 1)

    B．“Although he was alone and no longer strong, he had his skill and knew many tricks.” (Para 4)

    C．“Almost exhausted, he finally drew his big fish alongside and drove in the harpoon.” (Para 7)

    D．“Once he fell under their weight and lay patiently until he could gather his strength to go on.” (Para 9)

．According to the text, what will be talked about in the next paragraph?

    A．the man’s action to realize his dream about the lions.

    B．people’s reflection when they saw the giant marlin outside.

    C．people’s discussion about how they ate the giant marlin.

    D．a funeral held by the boy and the local people after his death.

Once upon a time a king, in the company of his ministers, went to the imperial garden for a walk. When he was walking around a pond, a strange idea 26 upon him and he asked, “How many buckets(桶) of water are there in the pond?” The ministers looked at each other,  27 to give an answer.
Rather 28 , the king ordered, “You have three days’ grace. Any one who offers an answer will be handsomely awarded. Those who fail will be 29 .”
The time limit was due in the twinkling（闪烁）of an eye, yet the ministers were still at their wit’s end. At this time a child appeared who declared that he knew the answer. The king told his 30 ministers to go with the child for the measurement. To their 31 , the child refused the suggestion with a smile, “It is very easy. No 32 to go to the pond.” This made the king laugh 33 ,  “Alright, let us know what it is.” The child winked (眨眼) and said, “That 34 on the size of the bucket. If it is as big as the pond, there is one bucket of water; if it is half as big, two buckets; if one third as big, three buckets; if...”“Stop! That’s it. You’ve got the 35 .” The king was satisfied and the child was duly rewarded.
Why did the ministers feel it so different to settle the problem? Because they fell in a pitfall (陷阱), following a wrong way of thinking. People’s thinking often goes a habitual way — the beaten track of straightforwardness. 36  is a static (静态的) way presupposing every object definite and certain, i.e. the size of the pond and the bucket should be clearly 37 . If one of them is unknown, it will be difficult to do the measurement, let alone 38 . Why not change your mode of thought — from static to dynamic（动态的）, from concrete to 39  ? If you adopt an indirect way and try to find out the proportional relation between the pond and the bucket, you’ll get an answer — flexible yet 40 to solve the problem.
Sometimes to get out of the difficulty one must change one’s way of thinking, or simply change one’s approach towards a problem.