A soldier came home after having fought in Vietnam （越南）. He called his parents from San Francisco.

“Mom and Dad, I’m coming home, but I have a friend with me.”

“Sure,” they replied, “We’d love to meet him.”

“There’s something you should know,” the son continued, “he was hurt badly in the fighting. He lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to live with us.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live.”

“No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us.”

“Son,” said the father. “You don’t know what you’re asking. The young man’s handicap （残疾） will create such a terrible burden that we can’t afford. We have our own lives to live, and we can’t let something like this become a part of our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He’ll find a way to live on his own.”

At that point, the son hung up the phone. A few days later, the parents received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building. The police believed it was suicide （自杀）.

The sad parents flew to San Francisco to see the body of their son.

They recognized （认出） him, but to their surprise, they also discovered something they didn’t know before: their son had only one arm and one leg.

1. The soldier called his parents _____.

A．before going on a trip to Vietnam        B．after having fought in Vietnam

C．while serving in the army                D．on his way home from Vietnam
2. The soldier called his parents to _____.

A．tell them how he became badly hurt

B．see if they would look down upon his “friend”

C．tell them how he missed them

D．ask if everything was going well in his family

3. The son killed himself because ________.

A．he was suffering from great pain from his wound

B．he didn't want to be a burden to his family

C．he was fired from the army

D．his parents didn't like his friend

4. The expression “live on his own” in the passage means ____.

A．taking care of himself                  B．living alone and being lonely

C．living a free and happy life               D．living in a house he owns

5. Which is Not True according to the passage?

A．The soldier wanted to bring home a friend to live with his family.

B．The soldier was disappointed when his parents refused to receive the injured person.

C．The soldier was actually talking about himself.

D．The parents probably felt sad and regretful when they saw their son's body.

Imagine a perfect day: the weather is good and everything seems fine. When, suddenly, your cell phone loses its signal, the television has no programs, and you can't get online with your computer.

What has happened? These are just the types of problems a solar storm (太阳风暴) might  cause. You may not think of storms as putting our society in danger.  But today, a solar storm is as serious as other bad events, such as earthquakes.

A solar storm is caused by solar flares (太阳耀斑): large explosions near the sun that can give off lots of energy. The strong energy can stop the satellite systems (卫星系统) that operate our computers, telecom networks and so on. These storms can even cause the power to go out for weeks or months.

In the past few months, scientists have recorded some of the strongest sun flares in years. The most recent one happened around Valentine's Day, 2011. It caused radio and satellite signals to go down in some northern cities in China.

"Solar flare activity is going to be much worse than what we've seen in the past. We' re not talking about a few cities losing power. It could be half the country, maybe more," SolarStormWarning. com, a US website about space weather, warned.

Experts say that little can be done to predict (预测) such a storm. Governments around the world are trying to work together before the next storm, although they are not sure when that may happen.

46. Solar storms can cause many problems EXCEPT that_______.

A. TVs cannot be turned on           B. mobile phones have no signals

C. people cannot get online              D. the satellite system will be stopped

47. According to the article, what are solar flares?

A. Natural disasters like earthquakes.         B. Strong solar storms.

C. Large explosions near the sun.       D. A lot of energy around the sun.

 48. The writer wrote the article mainly to_______.

A. introduce to people what solar storms are

B. tell people how to solve the problems caused by solar storms

C. call for scientists to predict when the next storm will happen

D. ask people to work to prevent the solar storms from happening

The doctor in a small town was standing behind his desk, cleaning something．On the desk there are some books．A young man came in and asked quite excitedly： “Doctor, have you anything to stop the hiccups （打嗝） ?” The doctor looked at him with a smile for a moment and suddenly slapped （给……一巴掌）him in the face with the cloth he held in his hand．“What do you mean by that?” The young man shouted angrily．“Why! I only asked you a question．”“That was the cure（治疗） for the hiccups,” the doctor explained．“Are they gone?” “No, it is my wife．My wife has the hiccups and she is out in the car．”

1 What was the doctor doing when the young man came in?

A．He was reading                                         B．He was talking with others．

C．He was cleaning something．                      D．He was making a phone call．

2 Why did the man go to see the doctor?

      A．Because was ill．

B．Because he couldn't stop hiccupping．

      C．Because his wife was ill in bed．

D．Because he wanted to help his wife stop hiccupping．

3 Why did the doctor slap the young man?

      A．Because the young man was not polite to him．

B．Because the doctor was busy cleaning and didn't want to listen to him．

      C．Because the doctor thought it would be great fun to slap the young man．

      D．Because he thought the young man had hiccups．

4 How was the young man after the doctor slapped him?

      A．He was happy because he stopped hiccupping．

B．He was angry and shouted to the doctor．

C．He went out without saying say a word．

D．He slapped the doctor．

5 What do you think the doctor would do after he heard what the young man said?

      A．He would feel funny．

      B．He would ask the young man slap him, too．

      C．He would say sorry to the young man．

      D．He would go and slap the young man's wife in the face．

"How are you?" is a nice question．It's a friendly way that people in the U．S．A greet each other．But "How are you?" is also a very unusual question．It's a question that often doesn't need an answer．The person who asks "How are you?" hopes to hear the answer "Fine", even if the person's friend isn't fine．The reason is that "How are you?" isn't really a question and "Fine" isn't really an answer．They are simply other ways of saying "Hello" or "Hi"．

Sometimes, people also don't say exactly what they mean．For example, when someone asks "Do you agree?", the other person might think, "No, I disagree．I think you're wrong ．．．" But it isn't very polite to disagree so strongly, so the other person might say "I'm not sure．" It's a nicer way to say that you don't agree with someone．

People also don't say exactly what they are thinking when they finish talking with other people．For example, many talks over the phone finish when one person says "I've to go now．" Often, the person who wants to hang up gives an excuse．"Someone's at the door．" "Something is burning on the stove (炉灶)．" The excuses might be real, or not．Perhaps the person who wants to hang up simply doesn't want to talk any more, but it isn't polite to say that．The excuse is more polite, and it doesn't hurt the other person．

When they are greeting each other, talking about an idea, or finishing a talk, people don't say exactly what they are thinking．It's an important way that people try to be nice to each other, and it's part of the game of language．

1．When a person in America asks" How are you? ", he or she wants to hear        ．

A．How are you?                                              B．Hello．

C．I don't know．                                            D．Fine．

2．When a person disagree with someone, it is polite to say "        "

A．You are wrong．I disagree．                        B．I'm not sure．

C．I'm sure I disagree．                             D．No, I disagree．

3．A polite way to finish a talk is to say "        "

A．You have to go now．                                  B．I want to hang up．

C．I have to go now．                                      D．I don't want to talk any more．

4．When a person says " I've to go now．Someone's at the door．", the person may be        

A．giving an excuse                                    B．hurting someone's feeling

C．ill                                                         D．asking you a question

5．The rule of the game of language is probably        

A．" Always say what you mean．"

B．"Don't disagree with people．"

C．"Never say exactly what you're thinking．"

D． "Be polite．"