A man once said how useless it was to put advertisements in the newspaper.

“Last week, ” he said,  “my umbrella was stolen from a London church. As

it was a present,  I spent twice its worth in advertising,  but didn’t get it back. ”

“How did you write your advertisement? ” asked one of the listeners,  a merchant.

　　“Here it is, ” said the man,  taking out of his pocket a slip cut from a newspaper. The other man took it and read,  “Lost from the City Church last Sunday evening,  a black silk umbrella. The gentleman who finds it will receive ten shillings on leaving it at No. 10 Broad Street. ”

“Now, ” said the merchant,  “I often advertise,  and find that it pays me well. But the way in which an advertisement is expressed is of extreme importance. Let us try for your umbrella again,  and if it fails,  I’ll buy you a new one. ”

　　The merchant then took a slip of paper out of his pocket and wrote:  “If the man who was seen to take an umbrella from the City Church last Sunday evening doesn’t wish to get into trouble,  he will return the umbrella to No. 10 Broad Street. He is well known. ”

　　This appeared in the newspaper,  and on the following morning,  the man was astonished when he opened the front door. In the doorway lay at least twelve umbrellas of all sizes and colors,  and his own was among them. Many of them had notes fastened to them saying that they had been taken by mistake,  and begging the loser not to say anything about the matter.

1.The result of the first advertisement was that＿＿＿＿ .

2.The merchant suggested that the man should＿＿＿ .

3.“. . . if it fails,  I’ll buy you a new one” suggested that the merchant＿＿＿＿ .

4.The story is mainly about ＿＿＿＿＿.

——　Have you ever seen a whale alive?

——　Yes, I’ve seen ＿＿＿.

A.that　　??? B.it　　　C.such　　　??? D.one

  ＿＿＿＿being March 12th, they planted trees on the hill.

A.That　　B.It is　 C.It　　　    D.This

After the long journey,  the three of them went back home, ＿＿＿＿＿＿ .

High school dropouts（辍学者）earn an average of $ 9,000 less per year than graduates. Now a new study dispels a common belief why they quit. It’s much more basic than flunking out（不及格）.

    Society tends to think of high school dropouts as kids who just can’t cut it. They are lazy，and perhaps not too bright．So researchers were surprised when they asked more than 450 kids who quit school about why they left.

    “The vast majority actually had passing grades and they were confident that they could have graduated from high school.” John Bridgeland, the executive researcher said. About 1 million teens leave school each year. Only about half of African-American and Hispanic（美籍西班牙的）student will receive a diploma（证书），and actually all dropouts come to regret their decision. So， if failing grades don’t explain why these kids quit, what does? Again，John Bridgeland："The most dependable finding was that they were bored.” “They found classes uninteresting; they weren’t inspired or motivated. They didn’t see any direct connection between what they were learning in the classroom to their own lives, or to their career aspirations.”

    The study found that most teens who do drop out wait until they turn sixteen, which happens to be the age at which most states allow students to quit. In the US，only one state，New Mexico，has a law requiring teenagers to stay in high school until they graduate. Only four states: California, Tennessee, Texas and Utah, plus the District of Columbia, require school attendance until age 18, no exceptions, another researcher，says raising the compulsory（义务的）attendance age may be one way to keep more kids in school．

 　“As these dropouts look back，they realize they’ve made a mistake. And anything that sort of gives these people an extra push to stick it out and it through to the end, is probably helpful measure.”

    New Hampshire may be the next state to raise its school attendance age to 18. But critics say that forcing the students unwilling to continue their studies to stay in school misses the point－the need for reform. It's been called for to reinvent high school education to make it more challenging and relevant, and to ensure that kids who do stick it out receive a diploma that actually means something. 　

Most high school students drop out of' school because＿＿．

A. they have failing grades                                B. they take no interest in classes

C. they are discriminated against                        D. they are lazy and not intelligent

Acceding to the passage，which state has a law requiring school attendance until they graduate?

A. New Hampshire        B. Utah　　C. New Mexico  　　D. The District of Columbia

The underlined words “stick it out” probably means“＿＿”．

A. complete schooling                                      B. solve the problem

C. love having classes                                       D. believe in themselves

From the passage，we can infer the following EXCEPT that＿．

A. the grades of most dropouts at school were acceptable

B. about 500, 000 high school dropouts are black and Spanish

C. classes don't appeal to dropouts

D. on average dropouts cannot get good jobs