I met with my old friend Tom，who I saw two years ago last time，on the street________term.

A．at the begin                                      B．at the beginning of

C．in the beginning                                D．in the beginning of

The Sahara Festival is a celebration of the very recent past.The three-day event is not fixed to the same dates each year，but generally takes place in November or December.It is well attended by tourists，but even better attended by locals.

During the opening ceremonies，after the official greetings from the government leaders，people who attend the festival begin to march smartly before the viewing stands，and white camels transport their riders across the sands.Horsemen from different nations display their beautiful clothes and their fine horsemanship.One following another，groups of musicians and dancers from all over the Sahara take their turn to show off their wonderful traditional culture.Groups of men in blue and yellow play horns and beat drums as they dance in different designs.On their knees in the sand，a group of women in long dark dresses dance with their hair：their long，dark shiny hair is thrown back and forth in the wind to the rhythm of their dance.

The local and visiting Italian dogs are anxious to run after hares.The crowd is on its feet for the camel races.Camels and riders run far into the distance and then return to the finishing line in front of the cheering people.

Towards the evening，there comes the grand finale of the opening day，an extremely exciting horserace.All the riders run very fast on horseback.Some riders hang off the side of their saddles.Some even ride upside down—their legs and feet straight up in the air—all at full speed.Others rush down the course together，men arm in arm，on different horses.On and on they went.So fast and so wonderful!

1The Sahara Festival is a festival which ______.

A．has a very long history in North Africa

B．is held in the same place on the same day

C．is attended mainly by the people in the Sahara

D．is celebrated mostly by travelers from different countries

2Before the races begin，______ take part in the activities during the opening ceremonies.

A．musicians，dancers，horses and hares

B．camel riders，musicians，dogs and hares

C．horsemen，dancers，camels and dogs

D．musicians，officials，camels and horses

3The underlined word “finale” in the fourth paragraph most probably means the ______ of the opening day.

A．first part  B．middle

C．last part   D．whole

4This passage mainly tells readers______.

A．what happens on the opening day of the Sahara Festival

B．how people celebrate during the three-day Sahara Festival

C．what takes place at the closing ceremonies of the Sahara Festival

D．how animals race on the first and the last days of the Sahara Festival

I was sitting at the counter having breakfast at a restaurant the other day．It' s a small place． A man walked in and sat next to me．On top of the milk-dispenser （ 自动售货机） is a small  1_ placed there for both the customers' enjoyment and the owners when things get   2 The news was mostly about the local people．There was a little girl   3  through some coats in a shop on the screen now．The reporter asked her if she found something that   4  ．She smiled, "I like this store．Mommy said I could have any coat I wanted,   5  I'm getting this one for my friend, Mandy．All I know is that Mandy   6  a coat．"
Out of the comer of my eye I could see the man lower his head and begin to   7  his eyes．"Hey, don't feel bad," I told him．He turned  8  me．I could still see the   9  ．
He said, "I'm Mandy' s father．That's the first time I've seen that．"
Oh, my God! My hands   10  and I also wept．"It must be raining," he   11  ．We spoke for a few more minutes．It turns out that he' s been   12 for more than a year and now does odd （零散的） jobs to pay bills．We said   13  and I went to the cash register．I said in a low voice that I   14  his check．"He only gets coffee," the  15  said．"Well, here．This is for my meal, his coffee and tell him this is for Mandy．"
Many years ago I spoke at my friend' s church in Atlanta．A woman came up to me and gave me everything she had in her  16  ．I was shocked and began to   17  it．"It isn't very much , but God said it would multiply．Please take it," she said．
It was $ 57．I   18  carried it with me until that very day．I gave it away and replaced it． I turned to walk away and another man sitting at the counter said, " I heard your  19  with that man．I'll help him,   20  ．"
His eyes watered and he said," He' s right．It must be raining．"

Local police will begin pulling over drivers and cyclists tomorrow so they can fill out a survey to help the city better understand and improve its traffic situation.

The survey, which will run from tomorrow until the end of the year, is the biggest of its kind in the city's history. It will be used to gather information about traffic patterns to help future urban planning, particularly for the World Expo in 2010.

“The survey is to determine the city's daily and weekly traffic situations，” Zhang Yan, a senior engineer at the Shanghai Urban Planning and Design Research Institute, said yesterday. This is the third time the city has conducted a large－scale traffic survey. The other two surveys were conducted in 1986 and 1995.

Officials will send questionnaires to pedestrians and drivers, record traffic jams in major areas, and analyze the information from electronic traffic signs.

The Road Administrative Office will also survey traffic outside the Outer Ring Road, paying particular attention to vehicles entering or exiting the city.

“With more vehicles from neighboring provinces, we have to find it out how many, when and for what purposes those vehicles are coming to the city，” said Dong Hui, a spokeswoman for the Road Administrative Office.

Officials from her office will stop about half of the vehicles passing by 53 major venues (场所) tomorrow and ask drivers to fill out questionnaires about where they are coming from, where they are headed and whether their trip is for private or business purposes.

1. Who is likely to be stopped by the police for the questions?

A. A student returning home from school.

B. A dustman cleaning a parking lot.    

C. A customer shopping in a market.

D. A garage worker repairing a car.

2. Shanghai has decided to start such a survey because it wants to ________.

A. reduce traffic accidents

B. satisfy the future need

C. make the road users happy

D. make more money

3. Where are the 53 major venues mentioned in the last paragraph?

A. Outside the Outer Ring Road.         

B. We're not told about it in the passage.

C. Inside the Outer Ring Road.

D. Both outside and inside the Outer Ring Road.

4. It seems that Shanghai's large traffic survey is ________.

A. mainly about vehicles going in and out           

B. done by just collecting public opinions

C. done at the request of the World Expo

D. held quite regularly

5. We are NOT told about the ________ of the survey in the passage.

A. contents                     B. time

C. steps                          D. purpose 

This morning I went to a nearby food store to buy some breads. After the man in the store packing the bread in a small bag for me, I began to walk home with bag in my hand. On the way I met my next-door neighbor, Miss Wang, that was walking her dog .We greeted with each other and begin to talk about the weather. As we were talking, his dog came up at the bag in my hand though the bread gave off a delicious smell. As a result, some of the bread fell to the ground or the dog began to enjoy it. Five minutes late, I was back at the store to buy bread again.