5. The man wanted to make some money with the dog.

4.According to what the dog said the woman was often in a bad mood.

3.The man was surprised when he heard the dog speaking.

2.The dog was sitting on the right side of the man.

1. From what the dog said we can see that ____.

A. the woman was very fond of the little dog.

B. the woman was not very kind to the dog

C. the dog was best in the world

D. the woman got on well with the dog

8.By saying “I wish I’d said I’d lost fifty dollars” the girl meant ___.

A. if she had said she lost fifty dollars she would have got fifty dollars.

B. she did not want to lose any money at all

C. Police Officer Fang should give her money.

D. she had really lost fifty dollars

Words per minute ______

%Comprehension _______

Passage 17　

A Good Reason

A man was sitting in the park watching the ducks on the pond (池塘), when a woman approached him. She had a little dog on the leash (链子).

She sat down on a bench, took out a magazine and began to read.

The dog was sitting between her and the man. After it had been sitting quietly for about ten minutes, the dog turned and looked up at the man.

“Excuse me,” the dog whispered, “but you look like a kind man. Please buy me from this bad woman.”

The man could hardly believe his ears. A dog was whispering to him in English.

“She is so mean (小气) to me,” the dog continued. She never plays with me. She doesn’t feed me properly and she often beats me when she’s in a bad mood (情绪), which is most of the time.”

The man was surprised to hear the dog say all this. He was even more surprised when the dog added, “And I’m really a very good dog. I’m quite famous, too. I won a medal (奖章) in the last war and was twice wounded in action. I’ve saved three children---two from drowning and one from a fire.”

The man decided that he would try to buy the dog from the woman.

He would pay a lot of money if necessary. The dog would soon earn tens of thousands of dollars on television. It would be the world’s first talking dog.

“Excuse me,” he said to the woman, “but I love your little dog. Will you sell him to me?”

“I’ll be delighted to sell him,” the woman said. “You can have him for ten dollars.”

“Ten dollars!” the man said “Only ten dollars? Why so little?”

“Because,” the woman said “he is a trouble-making liar (说谎者).”

　　　　　　　　　　　　 Length 296

Total Reading Time ___

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Answer the following questions without referring to the reading:

7.In this passage the word lectured means ____.

　 A. gave somebody a lesson　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. wrote down

　 C. beat somebody hard　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. ask somebody to remember

6.After getting the money, the girl stopped crying.

5.Police Officer Fang gave his wallet to the girl.

4.The girl was crying because she had lost her way.