B

What Is a Boy?

Between the innocence of babyhood and the seriousness of manhood we find a delightful creature called a “boy”．Boys come in different sizes, weights, and colors, but all boys have the same belief: to enjoy every second of every minute of every hour of every day and to fill the air with noise until the adult males pack them off to bed at night．

Boys are found everywhere – on top of, under, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, running around, or jumping to．Mothers spoil them, little girls hate them, older sisters and brothers love them, and God protects them．A boy is TRUTH with dirt on its face, BEAUTY with a cut on its finger, WISDOM with chocolate in its hair, and the HOPE of the future with a snake in its pocket．

When you are busy, a boy is a trouble-maker and a noise．When you want him to make a good impression, his brain turns to jelly or else he becomes a wild creature bent on destroying the world and himself with it．

A boy is a mixture – he has the stomach of a horse, the digestion of stones and sand, the energy of an atomic bomb, the curiosity of a cat, the imagination of a superman, the shyness of a sweet girl, the brave nature of a bull, the violence of a firecracker, but when you ask him to make something, he has five thumbs on each hand．

He likes ice cream, knives, saws, Christmas, comic books, woods, water (in its natural habitat), large animals, Dad, trains, Saturday mornings, and fire engines．He is not much for Sunday schools, company, schools, books without pictures, music lessons, neckties, barbers, girls, overcoats, adults, or bedtime．

Nobody else is so early to rise, or so late to supper．Nobody else gets so much fun out of trees, dogs, and breezes．Nobody else can put into one pocket a rusty knife, a half eaten apple, a three-feet rope, six cents and some unknown things．

A boy is a magical creature – he is your headache but when you come home at night with only destroyed pieces of your hopes and dreams, he can mend them like new with two magic words, “Hi, Dad!”

59．The whole passage is in a tone of _________．

A．humor and love 　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B．respect and harmony　

C．hope and expectation　　　　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D．confidence and imagination

60．What’s the meaning of the underlined sentence?

A．He has altogether five fingers．　　　 　　　　　　　　　 B．He is slow, foolish and clumsy．

C．He becomes clever and smart．　　　 　　　　　　　　　 D．He cuts his hand with a knife．

61．According to the writer, boys appreciate everything in the following except _________．

A．ice cream　　　　　　 　　　　 B．comic books　　　 　　　　 C．Saturday mornings　　　　　　 　　　　 D．Sunday schools

62．What does the writer feel about boys?

A．He feels curious about their noise．　　　　 　　　　 B．He is fed up with these creatures．

C．He is amazed by their naughtiness．　　　 　　　　 D．He feels unsafe staying with them．

A

Many people have tried to simplify the spelling of English word. Unlike other languages, English spells the same sounds in very different ways. For example, there is ‘light’ but ‘white’, ‘loan’ but ‘phone’, and there are at least seven different ways of pronouncing the sound ‘ough’! Each of the following words is pronounced differently: ‘though’, ‘through’, ‘bough’, ‘cough’, ‘enough’, ‘ought’, and ‘thorough’.

The great Irish writer, George Bernard Shaw, was very interested in making English spelling more logical. The American president Theodore Roosevelt almost succeeded in doing this.

In 1906 one of the richest men in America, Andrew Carnegie, started the Simplified Spelling Board. This Board was a group of people whose plan was to make the spelling of words nearer to the way they sounded. For example, the word ‘though’ would be spelt ‘tho’, ‘through’ would became ‘thru’ (which it did, but much later), ‘enough’ would become ‘enuf’, and so on. Other people on the Board were Melvin Dewey, the head of the New York libraries, and Professor Brander Matthews of Columbia University.

They took the idea to President Roosevelt who thought it was a very good one. He immediately told the government printer to use the simplified spelling on all government letters.

But people do not like change – even change that makes life easier – and many people disliked the new, simpler spelling. The British – who probably thought they owned the English language – were particularly angry. More importantly, when American politicians discussed the plan, they did not like it. Because Roosevelt did not want to have a problem with the politicians, he changed his plans and told the printer to go back to the old way of spelling.

Since then no one in any government has dared to try to simplify English spelling. However, people do simplify many words, mainly in advertisements. We often see ‘tonite’ instead of ‘tonight’, for example, and ‘thru’ instead of ‘through’.

56. The passage is about ________.

　　　　 A. President Roosevelt.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. people who tried to simplify English spelling

C. the way that advertisements simplify English spelling　　　 D. how to pronounce English properly

57. People wanted to simplify the spelling of English so that ________.

　　　　 A. words could have several different pronunciations　　　　　　 B. words could be spelt as they were pronounced

　　　　 C. they could establish the Simplified Spelling Board　　　 　 D. it was more difficult to read government letters

58. Simplified spelling failed because ________.

　　　　 A. it was not easy to understand　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. the government didn’t like the idea

　　　　 C. there were too many new words to learn　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. people did not want to change

　 When I was a little girl，every Sunday my family of six would put on their best clothes and go to Sunday

School and then church. The 　36 　in elementary school would all meet together to sing songs， and then later

divide into 　37 　based on their ages.

　One Easter Sunday， all the kids 　38　 　with big eyes and big 　39　 about what the Easter Bunny(复活节小兔) had brought. 　　40　 all of the kids shared their stories with 　41　 ，one young boy， whom I will call Bobby， sat 　42　 . One of the teachers， noticing this， said to him， "And what did the Easter Bunny 　43 　you？" He replied， "My mom 　44 　the door on accident so the Easter Bunny couldn't 　45　 ."

　This sounded like a 　46 　idea to all of us kids， so we kept on going with the stories. My mom knew the true story，　 47　 . Bobby's mom was a single parent， and she suspected that they just couldn't 　　48　 the Easter Bunny.

　After Sunday School was over， everyone went off to 　49　 . When my dad came to meet us my mom announced that we were going home 　50　 . At home， she explained that to make Bobby feel 　51　 ， we were going to 　52　 　to be the Easter Bunny and make a basket of goodies(糖果)for him and 　　53　 it at church. We all donated some of our candies to the basket， and 　54　 back up to church. There， mom unzipped(拉开……拉链)his coat， hung the basket over the hanger， and zipped up the coat and attached 　55　 :

Dear Bobby，

　I'm sorry I missed your house last night. Happy Easter.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 Love， 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　　The Easter Bunny

35. My most famous relative of all, ______ who really left his mark on America, was Red Sussel, my

great –grandfather.

　　 A. one　　　　　 B. he　　　　　　 　C. the one　　　　　 D. someone

34. It was very ______ of you to include me.

　　 A. conventional　　 B. considerable　　 C. considerate　　　 D. consistent

33. ______ into use in April 2000, the hotline was meant for residents reporting water and heating supply breakdowns.

　　 A. Put　　　　　 B. To put　　　　　 　C. Having put　　 　D. Being put

32. --- ______ do you know New York?

---Not at all. It’s my first trip here.

A. How much　　 B. How long　　　 　C. How many　　　 D. How well

31. ---You’ve agreed to go. So aren’t you getting ready?

　　 ---But I ______ that you would have me start at once.

A. haven’t realized　　 B. didn’t realize　　 C. hadn’t realized　 D. don’t realize

30. The other day, my brother drove his car down the street at ______ I thought was a dangerous speed.

A. which　　　　 　B. what　　　　　 C. that　　　　　　 D. as

29. They have ______ the cause of the accident, but the result is still not known to us.

A. given out　　　 B. accounted for　　 C. spied on　　　 　D. looked into