Mr. and Mrs. Brown were going abroad(出国) for their holiday. They had a dog called Blackie which they were very fond of, but they could not take him abroad with them, so they looked for a good place to leave him while they were away, and at last found a place which looked after dogs very well while their owners were away. They took Blackie there just before they left for their holiday, and sadly said goodbye to him.

　　At the end of their holiday, they got back to England very late at night, and as they thought that the place where Blackie was staying might be closed at that late hour, they decided to wait until the next morning before going to get him.

　　So the next morning Mr. Brown got into his car and drove off happily to collect Blackie.

　　When he reached home with the dog, he said to his wife, “Do you know, dear, I don't think Blackie can have enjoyed his stay at that place very much. He barked(叫) all the way home in the car as if he wanted to tell me something. ”

　　Mrs. Brown looked at the dog carefully and then answered. “You are quite right, dear. He was certainly trying to tell you something. But he wasn't trying to tell you that he hadn't enjoyed his stay at that place. He was only trying to tell you that you were bringing the wrong dog home. This isn't Blackie !”

1．Why were Mr. and Mrs. Brown going abroad?

2．What was their dog called?

3．What did Mr. and Mrs. Brown do when they knew they could not take Blackie abroad with them?

4．What did they do just before they left for their holiday?

5．At what time did they get back to England at the end of their holiday?

6．Why did they decide to wait until the next morning?

7．What did Mr. Brown do the next morning?

8．Why didn't Mr. Brown think Blackie could have enjoyed his stay at that place very much?

9．What did Mrs. Brown do when her husband got home?

10．What did Mrs. Brown think that the dog was trying to do?

　　In the United States, gifts by a company or a person to a charity(慈善机构) which is approved (许可) by the government can be used to reduce(减少) the company's or the person's tax. (This is, of course, to encourage people to give money to charities. ) One day the secretary of a world-famous charity had a telephone call from a tax officer, who said, “A certain gentleman who says that his name is Howard Vine claims(声明) to have given your society $15000 in gifts last year. I am telephoning to find out whether he did in fact do so. ”

　　“Howard Vine, did you say?” answered the secretary of the charity cautiously (慎重的). “Wait a moment, please. I'll have a look in our records. ”

　　After half a minute, the tax officer heard the secretary's voice again. “Mr. Howard Vine hasn't given us $15000 yet, ” the secretary said delightedly, “but he's going to now !”

1．How can people in the United States reduce their tax?

2．Why does the government allow this?

3．What had Mr. Vine done?

4．Why was the secretary of the charity so happy?

　　One year Miss Wyatt decided to have a holiday in Italy. She did not speak much Italian, but wherever she went, she was fortunate enough to find people who knew enough English to be able to understand what she wanted, until one day she decided to have lunch in a charming (迷人的) little restaurant in a village in the south of Italy.

　　She had seen some nice mushrooms(蘑菇) in the market of another village near there and thought they would taste very good, so when the waiter came to take her order for lunch, she inquired(询问)whether she could have some mushrooms for her meal, but she had great difficulty in explaining to him, because she did not know the Italian word for mushrooms.

　　At last she took out a pencil and drew a picture of a mushroom. The waiter's face brightened at once, and he hastened out to the kitchen. A minute later he returned, carrying an umbrella.

1．Why did the poorness of Miss Wyatt's knowledge of Italian not interfere with her enjoyment of her holiday most of the time?

2．Where did she have trouble in making herself understood?

3．Why did she think she would like some mushrooms?

4．How did she try to show the waiter what she wanted?

5．Why did he bring her an umbrella?

　　George was a quiet, serious young man. He had been studying particularly(特别地) hard one year, and when he passed his examinations, his friend Jim went to give him his congratulations and then had an earnest conversation with him.

　　“You've never been to a dance, George, ” he said. “It's boring (烦躁)always studying and never enjoying oneself. Come out with me this evening. ”

　　“Perhaps you're right, Jim, ” replied George after a moment's hesitation(犹豫).

　　So they went to a dance and had an enjoyable time. But George drank more than he was used to, and by midnight Jim had become worried about him, so he said, “Now we'll walk home in the cool air. ”

　　On their way home, they came to a bridge, and George looked down at the river below attentively (集中精力地) . The stars were reflected(反射) in its smooth surface.

　　“What are those lights down there?” George inquired.

　　“They're the stars, George, ” Jim replied.

　　“The stars?” George said. “ Well, then, how did I get up here?”

1．Why did Jim think that George needed a change?

2．What sort of change did he want him to have?

3．Why did Jim feel worried?

4．Why did the stars seem to be below George?

5．Why was George puzzled?

　　Carol and Susan were great friends. They were in the same class at school, and they often visited each other's homes at weekends.

　　When they were both eight years old, Carol's mother had a baby. Carol was overjoyed to have a little sister and was always talking about her to Susan, who had no brothers or sisters.

　　At first Susan was very interested in the new baby, but after some time she began to get rather discontented (不高兴的) with Carol's continual talking about it. She also felt a little jealous(妒忌的).

　　One morning when the two girls were in the school playground, Carol said to Susan cheerfully, “Do you know, Sue, my baby sister gained nearly two hundred grams in weight this week. ”

　　“That's not very much, ” answered Susan. “I know a baby that gains five kilograms a day. ”

　　“Oh, that can't be true! ” answered Carol. “Whose baby is it?”

　　“An elephant's,” said Susan.

1．How many children did Susan's parents have?

2．Why did Susan get tired of hearing about Carol's sister?

3．What did Carol boast to Susan about one morning?

4．What did Susan do to try to make Carol boast less?

　　In 1861 a Civil War started in the United States between the Northern and the Southern States. The war continued (继续) with great bitterness until 1865, when the Northerners were victorious. However, even today, many Southerners have not forgotten their defeat(失败), or forgiven the Northerners.

　　A few years ago, a party of American tourists were going round one of the battlefields (战场) of the Civil War with a guide who came from one of the Southern States. At each place, the guide told the tourists stirring(激动的) stories about how a few Southern soldiers had conquered(攻占) powerful forces of Northerners there.

　　At last, one of the tourists, a lady who came from the North, stopped the guide and said to him, “But surely the Northern army must have won at least one victory in the Civil War?”

　　“Not as long as I' m the guide here, madam, ” answered the Southern guide.

1．Who won the American Civil War?

2．How do Southerners feel about this today?

3．Why did the guide only tell tourists about Southern victories?

4．Why did one of the tourists object to this?

5．What was the guide determined not to do?

　　A man was tired of living in his old house in the country and wanted to sell it and buy a better one. He attempted(试图) to sell it for a long time, but was not successful, so at last he decided to solve the problem by using an estate(房地产) agent(代理) .

　　The agent promptly(迅速地) advertised the house, and a few days later, the owner saw a very attractive photograph of it, with a wonderful description(说明) of its gardens, in an expensive magazine.

　　After the house owner had read the advertisement through, he hastened to telephone the estate agent and said to him, “I' m sorry, Mr. Jones, but I've decided not to sell my house after all. After reading your advertisement in that magazine, I can see that it's just the kind of house I've wanted to live in all my life. ”

1．Why did the man want to sell his house?

2．Why did he finally have to go to an estate agent?

3．What did the estate agent do about selling the house?

4．How did he lose a sale by being too good at his job?

　　A policeman returned to his police station one evening and reported to the sergeant (警官) that he had found an old car with no number plates.

　　“Where was it?”asked the sergeant.

　　“In Ecclesiastes Street, beyond the bridge, ”answered the policeman.

　　The sergeant opened the report book and began to write. When he reached the name of the street, he began to spell aloud: “E-c-l” . He looked at this for a few seconds, then crossed it out and wrote “E-c-k”. Then he became annoyed, decided that he was already too busy with other jobs, and said to the policeman, “Write the report yourself . ”

　　The policeman had a try too, but after a minute, he put his helmet (头盔) on and began to go out slowly.

　　“Where are you going?” the sergeant asked.

　　“Back to Ecclesiastes Street, ” answered the policeman. “I' m going to push the car round the corner into Green Street.”

1．What report did the sergeant want to write in the book?

2．Why did he become annoyed?

3．Why did the policeman give up too?

4．Why did he want to push the car into Green Street?

　　At the entrance to a big office in London there was a book which all employees (雇员) had to sign when they arrived each morning. At nine o'clock, the manager's secretary, who lived in a small flat above the office, had to draw a red line under the last name in the book, and anyone who came after that had to explain why he was late.

　　Whenever there was a thick fog in the city, the first person to arrive late usually wrote ‘Delayed (迟到) by fog’under the red line in the book, and then everybody else who came after that just put “ditto” underneath .

　　But one foggy morning, the first man to arrive late wrote “My wife had a baby early this morning” instead of “Delayed by fog” under the red line in the book. Twenty or thirty people who came after him put “ditto” underneath this as usual.

1．Why did the employees have to sign the book?

2．What was a common reason for being late?

3．What was the first man' s reason on the day this story deals with?

4．What meaning did the rest of the employees really intend when they wrote “ditto” that morning?

5．What did their “ditto” seem to mean?

Which of these sentences are true?

6．The manager knew who were late, because they had to come and explain to him.

7．The manager could see who were late by looking at the names under the red line in the book.

8．“Ditto” usually meant “Delayed by fog”.

9．“Ditto” usually meant “I came after that”.

10．The man whose wife had had a baby arrived before anyone else .

11．The man whose wife had had a baby was the last person to arrive.

12．The man whose wife had had a baby arrived before all the others who were late.

13．The people who wrote “ditto” that morning did not read what the first man had written.

14．The people who wrote “ditto” that morning meant that the first man's wife had had a baby.

15．The people who wrote “ditto” that morning really meant “Delayed by fog. ”

　　John was the only son of a wealthy (富有的) American businessman. Usually he was taken to school by the chauffeur (私人司机) in his father' s beautiful car, before the chauffeur took John' s father to his office. One evening his father told him that he had to go to the airport early the next day, so he would need the car at the time that John had to go to school. He said that John' s mother, who possessed (拥有) another car, would still be in bed at the time he had to leave the house.

　　“Well, how will I get to school if you need your car and Mummy is still in bed?”John asked. His father thought this was a good opportunity (机会) to teach him a lesson about how hard life was for the less fortunate (幸运的) people of the world, so he answered, “You'll go in the same way as every other child in the world goes－in a taxi.

1．Why was John able to go to school in a beautiful car driven by a chauffeur?

2．Why couldn' t the chauffeur take John to school one day?

3．Why couldn't his mother do so?

4．What was the lesson that John's father wanted to teach him?

5．Do most children in the world go to school by taxi?