Ⅴ.Reading

A.

A holidaymaker in Australia was awakened by a “horrible, animal-like” noise outside her hotel window. When she went out, she saw a giant, hairy creature crossing the garden. “It was the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen and it smelled awful,” Tania Smith told investigators. She described the creature as “at least two and a half meters tall and covered with long, dark hair”. When the creature saw her, it roared like a bear and escaped into the woods. “It looked almost human with sad, frightened eyes,” she said.

According to Aborigine legend, a kind of ape man called the Yowie once populated Australia but when the Aborigines arrived thousands of years ago, they exterminated it. However, many people believe that the Yowie didn’t completely die out and may still survive in remote parts of Australia.

B.

A fisherman claims to have seen a flying creature which he later identified as a Ropen or “demon-flyer”. Ralph, who is a native of the remote Rambutyo Island of Papua New Guinea, was fishing at nightfall. “It flew out of the jungle, diving into the sea right by my boat. I was too terrified to move,” he told our reporter.

There have been several recent sightings of these mysterious bird-like animals. It is reported to have two leathery wings, a long tail, a long beak filled with sharp teeth and claws. The creature has a wing-span of up to two meters. Experts think it might be a kind of pterodactyl, making it the only surviving dinosaur. The natives say the Ropen is aggressive and eats fish.

C

Kate Brow was driving home from a day’s hiking when she saw a thylacine near the road. “At first I thought it was a cat because of the stripes on its back but it was much bigger,” she said. “I noticed its tail. It was like a kangaroo’s, long and thick near the body.” The thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian tiger, was a marsupial which once lived in Tasmanian, part of Australia. They were hunted by farmers because they attacked sheep and are now thought to be extinct. However, every year there are several unofficial sightings in remote areas of the island so it may not have disappeared completely.

D

There has been another sighting of the mysterious orang pendek in a national park of Indonesia. A local policeman claimed to have seen two orang pendeks, which is also called the “little man of the jungle”. “It was a small creature, only about a meter tall with short legs, broad shoulders and a hairy body.” When shown photographs of other primates, the man said it looked a bit like a gorilla but, he said “Orang pendek is more handsome than this animal, and its face is more like a human’s.” There have been so many similar sightings that the park director believes it may be an unknown species.

1.      Answer the questions.

2)                 What do the creatures in article A and D have in common?

3)                 Which creature do we know for certain existed in the past?

4)                 Which creature may rally exist?

5)                 Which eye-witness report is the most convincing?

It was about midday. I’d left work early in the morning to cash a cheque. I walked along to the bank, and found that there weren’t too many people about ten or eleven customers in there, which was pretty unusual for those central city banks.

    I waited until it was my turn and just went up to the desk and started to talk to the bank clerk. He had a really strange expression on his face -- just sort of blank stare at least I thought he was looking at me and then I realized he was staring over my shoulder.

    I began to turn round to see what he was looking at. At the same moment the outside bank guard came flying through the door and lay face down on the floor and following him through the door were three frightening masked men. They were carrying guns; at least I think the one in front was carrying a gun. Whether or not they said anything at that point I can’t remember to this day, or whether people just automatically put their hands up I’ve just no idea.

    For a few moments there was just total silence, suddenly broken by the telephone ringing and I remember thinking and wondering who was on the other end of the telephone. Nobody went to answer the telephone, so this thing just kept on ringing and ringing. Then two of the masked men went to the counter, jumped over it and got the cashiers and the bank clerks to start filling the bags with cash. While the two were getting the money, the one at the door who was covering us with the gun was a bit frightened. He started swearing at them, and telling them to hurry up, to get a move on. They jumped back over the counter. One of them slipped as he landed on the floor and fell over and the other two swore at him again. They left through the door. Warning us, “Don’t move, stay like that with your hands up for ten minutes.” And then they just disappeared. Again back to total silence. People put their hands down, I put my hands down but I just stayed exactly where I was.

What does the writer mean by saying “…a pretty unusual number for those central banks” in the first paragraph?

    A. More customers than usual were staying in the bank.

    B. Less bank clerks than expected were in the bank.

    C. There were often more than a dozen customers in the bank.

    D. More banks should be open to serve customers in the city center.

The bank clerk wore a blank expression on his face probably because ________.

    A. he was feeling upset at that moment

    B. he felt puzzled and sensed something terrible

    C. he was required to keep silence

    D. he was threatened with a gun by robbers

Which of the following is true according to the passage?

    A. The customers didn’t wait in line but jumped the queue because of the confusion.

    B. All the people in the bank except the writer put their hands up automatically.

    C. Nobody answered the phone because all the clerks were busy with work.

    D. the bank workers were forced to fill the robbers’ bags with cash.

What’s the best title of this passage?

    A. A Street Gang              B. A Strange Bank

    C. A Bank Robbery            D. A Horrible Adventure

D
You’ve probably heard of the butterfly effect that small changes in one place can lead to great damage elsewhere. The Toy Story II, Made-in-China, appearing on the internet, TV screens and front pages of newspapers worldwide since August, was a live show. China’s fame as “the world’s factory” was badly damaged this summer by a small, but powerful magnet (磁铁), and colorful paints on toys.
Mattel, the world’s largest toy company in the US, on August 14 announced the biggest recall (召回) of toys in its history. Among the recalled products were 17.4 million toys that had a design problem. They contained a small, powerful magnet that could harm children if it was swallowed. Another 2.2 million toys were recalled because of impermissible levels of lead (铅) in their paint.
Although the designing problem has nothing to do with where the toys were made, the reports in the western media of the recall started to draw a horrible picture in many American parent’s minds.
The toy recall issue followed shortly after recalls earlier in the year of Chinese-made pet food and toothpaste and left users all over the world worried about buying anything labeled (贴上标签) “Made-in-China”.
The recall of the toys teaches Chinese companies that quality is extremely important. However, many of the complaints by western countries about Chinese goods reflect complicated feelings about the growing Chinese economy, culture differences and various political systems.
However, more than 100 US multinational companies from many industries, including Boeing and Microsoft, signed a letter to the US Congress on September 28, to say no to the proposal against China. “Imposing (加强) unfair barriers to trade in the name of product safety is not a solution,” the companies wrote.
Toys are made for children to learn about the reality world and become more mature (成熟), however, the Chinese version of Toy Story helps lots of adults learn about responsibility, importance of quality, understanding, communications, and more.
53. The author mentions the butterfly effect at the beginning of the passage to ______.
A. explain what the butterfly effect is
B. tell the readers what causes the butterfly effect
C. say that the toy effect is similar to the butterfly effect
D. compare the differences between the butterfly effect and the toy effect
54. Which of the following are the reasons mentioned to have caused the recall?
a. The picture on the toys.
b. The designing problem.
c. The colorful paints on toys.
d. The materials toys are made of.
e. The small powerful magnet on toys.
A. abe                   B. bde                   C. bce                   D. acd
55. Boeing and Microsoft signed a letter to the US Congress because ______.
A. the growing Chinese economy makes them afraid
B. the Chinese companies have realized the importance of quality
C. the Toy Story has made some Chinese companies suffer great losses
D. they think it’s unfair to impose barriers in the name of product safety
56. Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
A. Made in China.                              B. Butterfly Effect.
C. Western Media.                              D. Toy Story.

Now and again I have had horrible dreams, but not enough of them to make me lose my delight in dreams. To begin with. I like the idea of dreaming, of going to bed and lying still and then, by some queer magic(神奇的魔力), wandering into another kind of existence. As a child, I could never understand why grown-ups took dreaming so calmly when they could make such a fuss(大惊小怪) about any holiday, This still puzzles me. I am puzzled by people who say they never dream and appear to have no interest in the subject. It is much more astonishing than it would be if they said they never went out for a walk. Most people do not seem to accept dreaming as part of their lives. They appear to see it as an irritating(令人困扰的) little habit, like sneezing or yawning(打哈欠).I can never understand this. My dream life does not seem as important as my waking life because there is far less of it, but to me it is important.

1.What is the author’s attitude toward dreaming?

A．He likes it                             B．He thinks it puzzling

C．He hates it                             D．He doesn’t accept it as part of his life

2.For the author of the passage, dreaming is    .

A．an irritating little habit

B．a horrible but wonderful experience

C．a true reflection of reality

D．another kind of existence

3.The author of the passage suggests that people who say they never go out for a walk are    .

A．interesting        B．mysterious(难以理解的)                  C．foolish D．lazy

4.The author of the passage enjoys dreaming most     .

A．only when he was a child                 B．only when he is a grown-up

C．both as a child and as a grown-up           D．only in his old age

5.The author of the passage complains(抱怨) that most people     .

A．are overexcited about their dreams

B．have had dreams most of the time

C．are not interested in talking about their dreams

D．consider their dreams of too much importance

Now and again I have had horrible dreams, but not enough of them to make me lose my delight in dreams. To begin with. I like the idea of dreaming, of going to bed and lying still and then, by some queer magic, wandering into another kind of existence. As a child, I could never understand why grown-ups took dreaming so calmly when they could make such a fuss about any holiday, this still puzzles me. I am puzzled by people who say they never dream and appear to have no interest in the subject. It is much more astonishing than it would be if they said they never went out for a walk. Most people do not seem to accept dreaming as part of their lives. They appear to see it as an irritating little habit, like sneezing or yawning I can never understand this. My dream life does not seem as important as my waking life because there is far less of it, but to me it is important.
【小题1】What is the author’s attitude toward dreaming?