—Did all of the boys go to the cinema?

—No.They __________ went to the Internet bar instead.

A.almost        B.nearly         C.never          D.mostly

The professor’s house, big and untidy, stood alone at one end of a huge garden. The place was totally uncared for, quite __36__ and overgrown with all sorts of useless things. I __37__ my way through bushes and tall weeds to the front door and rang the bell.

I was glad that I found him. In twenty minutes he put me right on all the __38__ that had puzzled me. I was on the __39__ of leaving when I looked out of his study window and said, “You’re very fond of gardening, I see”

“No, I’m not,” he said. “__40__, I love this garden, though. It’s __41__ I always wanted it to be. I never touch it __42__ all.”

“It could be made lovely. It seems a pity to let all this ground go to __43__. But perhaps you don’t _ 44__ that way?” said I.

“I don’t. I lived here when I was a child, and I had   45  of gardening then. It was my father’s hobby, you see. Unfortunately, he wasn’t   46  _ enough to do it himself. My brother and I did all of it between us year after year. There was one right way and many wrong ways. Each blade (叶片) of grass was an enemy to be _ _47__ out by hand, not just cut off. I’ve spent a good part of life at work here.”

“I see. You took a dislike to it, and now you’re getting even！”

“I dislike it. Then, of course, I didn’t understand the effect it had. It used to __48__ me. It appeared in my __49__ ——— a mistake here, something not quite straight here, the enemy showing its head in a place I was __50__ to have cleaned. The work was too much. It seemed endless. The size of the place was itself a fight to a boy.”

“And now it’s yours, you’re just letting it go to ...”

“__51__?” he said. “No, I don’t agree with that. This garden and I are now the best friends. I like  _52__ it grow in its own way. I make no __53__ on it. I never disturb it, and it never disturbs me. It has _ 54__ at last, and so have I.”

“But the path is over grown. It’s __55__ for you, isn’t it?”

“That’s part of my pleasure，” he laughed. “You can go out the back way. The weeds are shorter there because they don’t get the sun.”                             

1.                A．wild           B．crazy           C．large D．nice

2.                A．lost            B．felt            C．made D．took

3.                A．gardening       B．problems       C．plants    D．solution

4.                A．time           B．request         C．permission    D．point

5.                A．Even so         B．So             C．As though D．Even if

6.                A．where         B．as             C．why D．whether

7.                A．after           B．of             C．at   D．in

8.                A．desert         B．trouble         C．garden   D．waste

9.                A．recognize       B．observe        C．know D．see

10.               A．much          B．enough         C．something D．nothing

11.               A．interested      B．excited         C．fit    D．demanding

12.               A．fought         B．ruled          C．rooted    D．cut

13.               A．worry          B．shock          C．astonish   D．disappoint

14.               A．life            B．dreams         C．house D．hands

15.               A．thought        B．expected       C．ordered   D．supposed

16.               A．Ruin           B．Develop        C．Grow D．Sell

17.               A．watching       B．attending       C．watering   D．noticing

18.               A．comments      B．difference      C．sense D．demands

19.               A．time           B．freedom        C．sunlight   D．space

20.               A．important       B．useless         C．inconvenient   D．previous

“Colour” and “color”, “favourite” and “favorite”···Have you ever wondered why Americans spell those words without a “u”? Is it because they are lazy?
Of course not. In fact, the difference in spelling was created by Noah Webster (1758—1843). He is a teacher who reformed English to make American identity stronger. Linguists（语言学家） celebrated his 250^th birthday on October 16. After the Revolutionary War(1775—1783), Webster believed that Americans should have their own dictionary, rather than rely on British versions（版本）. He dropped the British “u” in some words. And he changed “centre” into “center” for children to learn English by spelling words more like they sounded.
Webster wasn’t shy about expressing his opinions. In defining（定义） preposterous, he wrote: “A republican government in the hands of females is preposterous.”
Webster spent 28 years on the project before completing the 70,000-word dictionary in 1828 with his American-style spellings. He also added local words. His dictionary was widely used in schools. Linguists believed it helped a new nation achieve unity and cultural independence at a time when most were focused on political freedom.
“He was the shaper of our language and the shaper of American identity,” said Joshua Kendall, who is working on a biography（传记） about Webster. “He at last bonded（联合） us through our language.”
【小题1】          According to the passage, when he worked on his dictionary, Noah Webster did all of the following EXCEPT______.

I have been using the Internet since I was five years old, when my dad first sat me down in front of a computer and connected me the World Wide Web.

I’ve always felt like a master of the Internet world. AOL Instant Messaging, MSN, Gmail, Facebook, Myspace -- I’ve got it all under control. I thought there was nothing more to it besides checking my e-mail and wasting my time, until I was introduced to electronic commerce(e-commerce): business on the Internet.

Some online businesses are run from one-room home offices. Others have hundreds of employees (雇员) across the world. Have you ever heard of Amazon.com, Yahoo.com?

My friends often said they got cheap textbooks off Amazon.com, or had a good deal (交易) on Steve Madden shoes that were on sale at SteveMaden.com. Unfortunately for me, I continued my “e-commerceless” Web-surfing, not knowing about all the deals I was missing out on.

That is, of course, until my sister finally sold the idea to me.

“Why are all these packages arriving in the mail for you, Katy?” I asked her one day. Strange envelopes (信封) had been put on our doorstep for weeks now, each one always addressed to my sister; and we all know little sisters should never be getting more mail than their elders!

“Oh, it’s the things I ordered online!” she answered. I watched speechlessly as she opened them. There was no way our parents were letting her spend that much money- online or off!

“How much did all of this coat?”

“Oh, only about $15 in all!” She said excitedly. “Everything on eBay is on sale! It’s a way better than going to the mall.”

I felt as if there had been a store right in my backyard that I had never walked into! That week, I ordered a used Spanish textbook for my summer course online for 10 percent of the publishing price. A few days later, I bought an iPod protector and a book or two via the wonderful eBay.com.

1.From the first two paragraph we can conclude that the author        

2. The writer didn’t find out about e-commerce until       

3.We can infer from the last paragraph that the author       .

4.What’s the purpose of the article?

"Colour" and "color"，"favourite" and "favorite"... Have you ever wondered why Americans spell those words without a "u"? Is it because they are lazy?

Of course not. In fact，the difference in spelling was created by Noah Webster (1758-1843). He is a teacher who reformed English to make American identity stronger. Linguists (语言学家) celebrated his 250th birthday on October 16. After the Revolutionary War (1775~ 1783)，Webster believed that Americans should have their own dictionary，rather than rely on British versions (版本). He dropped the British "u" in some words. And he changed "centre" into "center" for children to learn English by spelling words more like they sounded.

Webster wasn't shy about expressing his opinions. In defining (定义) preposterous (unreasonable)，he wrote: "A republican government in the hands of females is preposterous."

Webster spent 28 years on the project before completing the 70,000-word dictionary in 1828 with his American-style spellings. He also added local words. His dictionary was widely used in schools. Linguists believed it helped a new nation achieve unity and cultural independence at a time when most were focused on political freedom.

"He was the shaper of our language and the shaper of American identity，"said Joshua Kendall，who is working on a biography (传记) about Webster. "He at last bonded (联合)us through our language."

1.Which of the following would probably be the best title for the passage?

2.According to the passage，when he worked on his dictionary, Noah Webster did all of the following EXCEPT        .

3.Which of the following word can best describe Noah Webster’s work?

4.Why did Noah Webster create these differences in his dictionary?

5.When did Noah Webster probably begin his project of the dictionary?