May: Happenings from the past

May 5, 1884

Isaac Murphy, son of a slave and perhaps the greatest horse rider in American history, rides Buchanan to win his first Kentucky Derby. He becomes the first rider ever to win the race three times.

May 9, 1754

Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette produces perhaps the first American political cartoon(漫画), showing a snake cut in pieces, with the words “ Join or Die" printed under the picture.

May 11, 1934

The first great dust storm of the Great Plains Dust Bowl, the result of years of drought(干旱)，blows topsoil all the way to New York City and Washington, D.C.

May 19,1994

Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, former first lady and one of the most famous people of the 1960s, died of cancer in New York City at the age of 64.

May 24,1844

Samuel F. B. Morse taps out the first message, “What hath God wrought, "over the experimental long-distance telegraph line which runs from Washington, D.C. , to Baltimore, Md.

1. We know from the text that Buchanan is ______

A. Isaac's father　　　　　　　　　B. a winning horse

C. a slave taking care of horses　　　D. the first racing horse in Kentucky

2. What is the title of the first American political cartoon? 

A. Join or Die　　　                B. Pennsylvania Gazette

C. What Hath God Wrought            D. Kentucky Derby　　　       

3. In which year did the former first lady Jacqueline die? 

 A.1934.　　　　B.1960.　　　　C.1964. 　　　D.1994.

4. Which of the following places has to do with the first telegram in history?

A. Washington, D. C.　　　　         B. New York City.　　　　　　　　

C. Kentucky                          D. Pennsylvania

基础词汇：从所给选项中选出最佳选项。(20×2分)

1.leave          A. 回来      B. 离开      C.飞翔    

2.begin          A.开始       B.结束       C.中间

3.festival       A.假期       B.节日       C.周末     

4.daughter       A.儿子       B.老表       C.女儿

5.early          A.早的       B.晚的       C.迟的         

6.plane          A.飞机       B.船         C.汽车

7.life           A.生活       B.生产       C.死亡         

8.safe           A.危险       B.安全       C.正常

9.village        A.村庄       B.小屋       C.别墅      

10.dream         A.梦想       B.黑暗       C.明天

11.really        A.假的       B.真正地     C.现实    

12.carefully     A.粗心地     B.小心地     C.大方地

13.beach         A.海滩       B.大海       C.凳子       

14.foreign       A.国内的     B.国外的     C.乡村的

15.population    A.人民       B.民族       C.人口  

16.continue      A.终止       B.开始       C.继续

17 technology    A. 技术      B.效能       C.能量 

18.bring         A.带来       B.带走       C.拿回

19.noon          A.正午       B.下午       C.晚上        

20.arrive        A.出发       B.到达       C.中途

I’m a pig, and my son is a rabbit. I have snakes for daughters, and my wife, believe it or not, is a dragon! Do I live in a zoo? No, of course not! I am talking about Chinese zodiac signs（十二生肖）. Depending on the year of your birth, each person has an animal for a sign. That’s why I am a pig and my wife is a dragon. If you, like me, were born in the year of the pig, then you are brave, thoughtful and loyal. The year of the pig is filled with good fortune.

　　 Now let’s take a closer look at this interesting animal.

　　 Pigs were first raised by man about 9,000 years ago, and are still a very common farm animal in many parts of the world. We don’t just use pigs for their meat — almost every part of the animal is used. The hair is used for artists’ brushes. The fat is used to make floor wax, rubber and plastics.

　   Pigs have also been important in the world of entertainment. In 1995 the film ‘Babe’ starred a loveable talking pig as its main character. The film won an Oscar and was nominated （提名）for 6 more. In England you can even go to watch pig racing. A farmer, Rob Shepherd, has been raising money for charity by holding pig races on his farm. The events have been very successful. People don’t just want to eat pigs, it seems!

　   Pigs also play an important role in the English language. For example, if someone says that he will travel to the sun one day, you can say “pigs might fly!” to him. Hungry? Well then, you can “pig out” and eat lots of food. And what if someone rescues you? Well, you can say that they “saved your bacon”.

1. The writer wrote the first paragraph in a ______ tone.

　　A. sad　　　　　　B. confused       　C. serious　　　　 D. humorous

2. We may know from the passage that ______.

　　A. people in England like pigs more than other animals

　　B. pigs are more useful than ordinary people imagine

　　C. pigs are the first animals raised by man

　　D. more people don’t want to eat pigs now

3.The underlined sentence “pigs might fly!” in the fifth paragraph means “______”.

　　A. What you have just said is impossible

　　B. Pigs are great animals

　　C. I don’t understand your words

　　D. I can’t agree with you more

4.Which diagram shows the structure（结构） of the passage?

　　　　　A 　　　　　　　　B 　　　　　　　C　　　　　　　　　 D

C

　　The curtain on the 2008 US presidential election finally rose last month as Requblican Senator(参议员) John McCain and Democratic Senator Barack Obama were formally selected as candidates of the two major parties.This may be one of the hardest decisions voters have to make between two appealing candidates.The big question for voters,as they face both an economic downturn and international threats,is :who will they elect? A young first - term senator promising change and new ideas,or a longtime senator with strong military experience and a reputation as a maverick(特立独行的人)？

　　American voters have never seen a candidate quite like Obama.He has a white mother from the US and a black fater from Kenya who left the family when Obama was very young.He spent part of his youth in Indonesia.

　　However,McCain has a very different life story.

　　He grew up in a Navy family and was a daring pilot during the Vietnam War in the 1960s. When Obama was in kindergarten in Indonesia,McCain's plane was shot down over Ietenam and he became a prisoner of war.McCain could have been set free if he disowned America but he refused and so was held for five years.

　　"We need a president who is very,very old,"McCain joked at his age as many others do.If elected,he would be 72 when he takes office and the oldest man to step in.

　　So in the end,the election may depend on several factors that are hard to judge:Will Obama's race matter to a significant number of voters ? Will workingclass whites who tended to support his primary (党内初选) oponent,Hillary Clinton,vote for Obama? And perhaps most important of all,will uncertain voters be more attracted to Obama's vision or to McCain's experience?

　　Whatever happens,one thing is clear,however:Whoever walks into the White House on January 20,2009,will find huge challenges waiting for him in the Oval Office,both at home and abroad.

　　64.______makes the result of the election hard to predict.

　　　A.Whether working class whites care about Obama's inexperience

　　　B.The economic trouble the country now faces

　　　C.Who uncertain voters will finally decide to vote for

　　　D.McCain being too old to govern the country

　　65.The appeal in Obama as a presidential candidate lies in _________

　　　A.his multi - cultural background

　　　B.his belife in tradition

　　　C.his inexperience in politics

　　　D.his fantastic promises

　　66.The word "disown" in Paragraph 6 means closest to ______.

　　　A.flee from

　　　B.turn his back on

　　　C.not keep it private

　　　D.expose secrets about

　　67.The challenges that will face the new preident______.

　　　A.are not mentioned in the text

　　　B.include buklding a strong party and a friendly image

　　　C.refer to the problems of immigrants and economy

　　　D.refer to the problems of economy amd international relations

 Some time ago ,I discovered that one of my chairs had a broken leg. I didn’t think there would be any difficulty in getting it mended ,as there are a whole lot of antique shops near my home. So I left home one morning carrying the chair with me. I went into the first shop expecting a friendly reception. I was quite wrong. The man wouldn't even look at my chair.

The second shop, though slightly more polite, was just the same, and the third and the fourth - so I decided that my approach must be wrong.

I went into the fifth shop with a plan in my mind. I placed the chair on the floor and said to the shopkeeper,“ Would you like to buy a chair?” He looked it over carefully and said,“ Yes, not a bad chair. How much do you want for it, sir?” “Twenty pounds,”I said. “OK, ”he said, “I’ll give you twenty pounds. ”“It ‘s got a slightly broken leg,”I said. “Yes, I saw that, it's nothing.”

Everything was going according to plan and I was getting excited. “What will you do with it?”I asked. “Oh, it will be easy to sell once the repair is done. ”“I'll buy it,”I said. “What do you mean？ You’ve just sold it to me,”he said. “Yes, I know but I’ve changed my mind. I'm sorry, I'll give you twenty -seven pounds for it. ”“ Your must be crazy, ”he said. Then, suddenly the penny dropped. “I know what you want. You want me to repair your chair. ”“ You’re right, ”I said. “And what would you have done if I had walked in and said,Would you mend this chair for me?I wouldn't have agreed to do it,” he said. “We don’t do repairs, not enough money in it and too much trouble. But I’ll mend this for you, shall we say for a fiver?”He was a very nice man and was greatly amused by the whole thing.

1.We can learn from the text that in the first shop the writer ________.

A. was rather impolite               　　   B. was warmly received

C. asked the shopkeeper to repair his chair      D. asked the shopkeeper to buy his chair

2.The expression “the penny dropped” in the last paragraph means the shopkeeper ________.

A. changed his mind　　　　　　　       B. accepted the offer

C.decided to help the writer　　　　       D. saw the writer’s purpose

3.How much did the writer pay?

　A.　 ￡ 5.　　B. ￡ 7.　　    C. ￡ 20.　　　　D. ￡ 27.

4.From the text, we can learn that the writer was ________

　A. honest　　　　B. careful　　　　 C.　 funny　　 D. smart