阅读理解

　　A group of soldiers were stationed(驻扎)in the country near the home of a big landowner, called Lord Hunt．As they wanted to stay on good terms with the landowner, they offered to blow up a large tree stump that had remained after part of a tree had been blown down in the storm．But Lord Hunt asked them not to damage the plantation of young trees that was next to the stump．The officer in charge of the engineers promised him that they would be careful．Lord Hunt was so pleased that he asked the whole group to lunch on the day of the explosion．

　　The day came and just before lunch, the officer checked with one of his men to see if they had put enough explosive in the stump．“I checked the maths,” said the soldier and it comes to 32 kilos．“Are you sure?” asked the officer．“Perhaps you’d better put in a bit more just to make sure．” The lunch continued and everyone ate a lot and drank a lot．

　　A little later, the group of soldiers went outside with Lord Hunt to see the explosion．“You just see, Lord Hunt, that tree will fall in exactly the right place without hurting any of your young trees,” said the officer．The soldier lit the fuse, then walked quickly away to take cover．After a minute the tree, instead of falling over on its side, rose with the explosion 20 metres into the air, taking with it a huge quantity of earth together with all the young plantation．“Sorry sir, I made a mistake!” said the soldier．“It should have been 3．2 kilos, not 32 kilos．”

　　Lord Hunt was so upset that he turned around and walked back to his house．He looked at the house in horror and saw that every single window had been broken by the explosion．He was so upset that he went to the toilet on the ground floor to get over his feelings of shock．When he had finished, he pulled the plug of the toilet and the whole ceiling, which had been weakened by the explosion, fell on his head．

阅读理解

　　It was my first day at school in London and I was half-excited and half-frightened．On my way to school I wondered what sort of questions the other boys would ask me and rehearsed(practiced)all the answers：“I am nine years old．I was born here but I haven’t lived here since I was two．I was living in Farley．It’s about thirty miles away．I came back to London two months ago．”I also wondered if it was the custom for boys to fight strangers like me, but I was tall for my age．I hoped they would decide not to risk it．

　　No one took any notice of me before school．I stood in the center of the playground, expecting someone to say“hello”, but no one spoke to me．When a teacher called my name and told me where my classroom was, one or two boys looked at me but that was all the curiosity my arrival aroused．

　　My teacher was called Mr Jones．There were 42 boys in the class, so I didn’t stand out there, either, until the first lesson of the afternoon．Mr Jones was very fond of Charles Dickens and he had decided to read aloud to us from David Copperfield, but first he asked several boys if they knew Dickens’ birthplace, but no one guessed right．A boy called Brian, the biggest in the class, said：“Timbuktu”, and Mr Jones went red in the face．Then he asked me．I said：“Portsmouth”, and everyone stared at me because Mr Jones said I was right．This didn’t make me very popular, of course．

　　“He thinks he’s clever,”I heard Brian say．

　　After that, we went out to the playground to play football．I was in Brian’s team, and he obviously had Dickens in mind because he told me to go in goal．No one ever wanted to be the goalkeeper．

　　“He’s big enough and useless enough,”Brian said when someone asked him why he had chosen me．

　　I suppose Mr Jones remembered Dickens, too, because when the game was nearly over, Brian pushed one of the players on the other team, and he gave them a penalty．As the boy kicked the ball hard along the ground to my right, I threw myself down instinctively and saved it．All my team crowded round me．My bare knees were grazed and bleeding．Brian took out a handkerchief and offered it to me．

　　“Do you want to join my gang(team)?”he said．

　　At the end of the day, I was no longer a stranger．

阅读理解

　　It was my first day at school in London and I was half-excited and half-frightened．On my way to school I wondered what sort of questions the other boys would ask me and rehearsed(practiced)all the answers：“I am nine years old．I was born here but I haven’t lived here since I was two．I was living in Farley．It’s about thirty miles away．I came back to London two months ago．”I also wondered if it was the custom for boys to fight strangers like me, but I was tall for my age．I hoped they would decide not to risk it．

　　No one took any notice of me before school．I stood in the center of the playground, expecting someone to say“hello”, but no one spoke to me．When a teacher called my name and told me where my classroom was, one or two boys looked at me but that was all the curiosity my arrival aroused．

　　My teacher was called Mr Jones．There were 42 boys in the class, so I didn’t stand out there, either, until the first lesson of the afternoon．Mr Jones was very fond of Charles Dickens and he had decided to read aloud to us from David Copperfield, but first he asked several boys if they knew Dickens’ birthplace, but no one guessed right．A boy called Brian, the biggest in the class, said：“Timbuktu”, and Mr Jones went red in the face．Then he asked me．I said：“Portsmouth”, and everyone stared at me because Mr Jones said I was right．This didn’t make me very popular, of course．

　　“He thinks he’s clever,”I heard Brian say．

　　After that, we went out to the playground to play football．I was in Brian’s team, and he obviously had Dickens in mind because he told me to go in goal．No one ever wanted to be the goalkeeper．

　　“He’s big enough and useless enough,”Brian said when someone asked him why he had chosen me．

　　I suppose Mr Jones remembered Dickens, too, because when the game was nearly over, Brian pushed one of the players on the other team, and he gave them a penalty．As the boy kicked the ball hard along the ground to my right, I threw myself down instinctively and saved it．All my team crowded round me．My bare knees were grazed and bleeding．Brian took out a handkerchief and offered it to me．

　　“Do you want to join my gang(team)?”he said．

　　At the end of the day, I was no longer a stranger．

完形填空

　　I will never forget the two impressive things that happened last winter．One of my classmates and I were 　　1　　 our project work late at night on my university's campus far from home．Since there was 　　2　　 in the forecast, I had worn a winter 　　3　　 to school that day with a raincoat in my bag．

　　Throughout our work on the project, I could 　　4　　 that my friend was tired from a very long day working．As we stepped outside to begin the 　　5　　 walk home, I 　　6　　 she was shivering(颤抖)．The temperature had dropped to the low thirties(Fahrenheit)and she 　　7　　 had a sweater on．I 　　8　　 offered her my warm jacket．She accepted it and asked me what I 　　9　　 wear then．I told her I had another one and pretended that my 　　10　　 was a jacket．She said later that she 　　11　　 the next morning and the first thing on her mind was feeling moved about my 　　12　　 of the jacket．

　　Coincidentally(碰巧), the next day I went to an open-air play and I was freezing 　　13　　 I didn’t expect it to be so 　　14　　．A person who I hardly 　　15　　 insisted that I wear his jacket．I was 　　16　　 touched by this warm gesture．He was so matter-of-fact(讲究实际的)about me 　　17　　 his coat, too：he simply took it off and handed it to me telling me that I should 　　18　　 it．I used to think that this vast universe was a cold 　　19　　．It turns out that even when the temperature drops low, the people never 　　20　　 to warm each other's hearts．