In a small village in England about 150 years ago, a mail coach ( 邮车 ) was standing on the street . It didn’t come to that village often . People had to pay a lot to get a letter . The person who sent the letter didn’t have to pay the postage (邮资) , while the receiver had to .

“Here’s a letter for Miss Alice Brown , ” said the mailman .

“ I’m Alice Brown , ” a girl of about 18 said in a low voice .

Alice looked at the envelope(信封) for a minute , and then handed it back to the mailman .

“ I'm sorry I can’t take it , I don’t have enough money to pay it", she said .

A gentleman standing around were very sorry for her . Then he came up and paid the postage for her .

When the gentleman gave the letter to her , she said with a smile , “ Thank you very much ,This letter is from Tom . I’m going to marry him . He went to London to look for work . I’ve waited a long time for this letter , but now I don’t need it , there is nothing in it .”

“ Really ? How do you know that ? ” the gentleman said in surprise .

“ He told me that he would put some signs on the envelope . Look ,sir ,this cross in the corner means that he is well and this circle means he has found work . That’s good news .”

The gentleman was Sir Rowland Hill . He didn’t forgot Alice and her letter .

“ The postage to be paid by the receiver has to be changed ,” he said to himself and had a good plan .

“ The postage has to be much lower , what about a penny (便士) ? And the person who sends the letter pays the postage . He has to buy a stamp and put it on the envelope .” he said .

The government accepted his plan . Then the first stamp was put out in 1840 . It was called the “ Penny Black “ . It had a picture of the Queen on it .

1. The first postage stamp was made ________ .

A.in England B.in America

C.by Alice D.in 1910

2. The girl handed the letter back to the mailman because _________ .

A.she didn’t know whose letter it was

B.she had no money to pay the postage

C.she received the letter but she didn’t want to open it

D.she had already known what was written in the letter

3.We can know from Alice’s words that _________ .

A. Tom had told her what the signs meant before leaving

B. Alice was clever and could guess the meaning of the signs

C. Alice had put the signs on the envelope herself

D. Tom had put the signs as Alice had told him to

4.The idea of using stamps was thought of by _________ .

A.the government B. Sir Rowland Hill

C. Alice Brown D. Tom

5.From the passage we know the high postage made _________ .

A.People never send each other letters

B.lovers almost lose every touch with each other

C.people try their best to avoid(避免) paying it

D.receivers refuse to pay the coming letters

完形填空

I had been in London for two years. During the time I was _________there, my strong wish was to ___________ instead of staying in the city I didn't know well.

So when the day came for my __________ .I had a strange feeling and my mind was full of beautiful things in London-----the tall trees around my __________ , the clean streets, the school library, the old church(教堂)near the school and so on. I was for the first time not sure ___________ I really wish to go. I was becoming good at spoken English and interested in the different way of living in London. Most important of all, I did not want to leave my ________ who were near and dear to me during the two long years. I felt like running into the head teacher's office and telling him that I really didn't want to go home. But on the second thought I stopped myself __________ the plan. My parents are quite old and I might have no time to see them again if I gave up this plan.

At the airport, most of my teachers and friends came to see me off and quite a few gave me __________.Many group photos were taken and before long the final moment came. Everyone shook hands with me and said goodbye to me. Their eyes ___________ tears and I knew they were ____________ at the moment.

1.A. leaving B. working C. studying D. preparing

2.A. stay there B. go back home C. change my room D. travel about

3.A. new house B. new job C. sleeping D. leaving

4.A. house B. bedroom C. bathroom D. kitchen

5.A. where B. what C. whether D. how

6.A. parents B. friends C. college D. sports ground

7.A. making B. telling C. building D. waiting

8.A. languages B. medicine C. numbers D. presents

9.A. seemed to be B. were filled with C. became colored D. opened wide

10.A. thankful B. merry C. glad D. Sad

Sheep always follow each other and never really think about where they are going. Perhaps fashion makes us into “sheep”. Maybe we should find our own way and not follow the crowd. Everyone wants to wear top brand clothing. However, we should remember that clothes designers(设计师) study what ordinary people wear on the street. Then they make clothes like ordinary people’s for everyone. Therefore, fashion really starts with individual(个人的) finding a new look. Then a company uses that look and then it becomes fashionable! That doesn’t mean you will. That is to say, a model might look perfect in a shirt but that doesn’t mean you will.

The same goes for mobile phones. Young people are always asking me when to change my mobile phones. Mobile phone companies are always putting new functions on their phones but do we really need all these extra functions? I use my phone to call people and to send messages to my friends. I don’t need a camera, Internet surfing or a calendar on my phone. Again, if you buy the latest phone, it will only be the latest phone for a month or so. Then something new will come out and you’ll be unfashionable again. You can’t keep up with fashion all the time, so you don’t need to follow the fashion.

1. The underlined word “sheep” means”________.”

A. a kind of animal which is white

B. people who always follow the fashion

C. honest people who want to be fashionable

D. black sheep which break laws

2.Clothes designers study what you wear on the street because______________.

A. they want to design fashion clothes

B. they like your clothes

C. they want to buy the clothes you wear

D. your clothes are ugly

3. If you have a model’s clothes on, you________

A. are sure to be beautiful B. will become a model

C. will be smarter D. may not look perfect

4. The passage is written mainly to _________.

A. explain what sheep are

B. tell us to buy new mobile phones

C. tell us not to be “sheep”

D. tell students not to care about the clothes

5.What can we infer from the article?

A. Sheep which are out of date have been killed.

B. The writer is a person who always follows the fashion.

C. Fashion only exists among those fashion models.

D. Fashion changes so quickly that we can hardly keep up with it.

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