A long time ago, in an Italian city, the people there built a tower which was admired by everyone passing through. A little further down the road, in a neighboring city, they had built a tower of similar beauty. The two towers were equally well known. The people of the second city, envious (妒忌的) and filled with pride, planned to destroy the neighboring tower so it wouldn’t take attention away from their own. One night, they came to the tower and began to quietly undermine its foundations(地基).
The next morning, the tower was leaning(倾斜) slightly ,but nobody noticed. The same happened for the following few days, until a little girl who was passing by pointed up at the tower and said: “ I think the tower is going to fall down.” And everyone around looked closely, and could see that she was right .Nervousness spread through the city. And they tried many methods to try to straighten the tower, but nothing seemed to work. That was, until one day when the same little girl was walking up again, and she put her arm on the side of the tower to rest. She felt the tower shaking slightly. When she took her hand off it, the movement stopped. And when she put it back on again, the same thing happened. The girl spent a while doing this, until she was completely certain of what she had discovered: “ The tower is ticklish ( 怕痒的) !” She ran to get some plants, and she planted them right next to the tower. Now if the tower leant over any further it would be tickled by the leaves of those plants. Being a ticklish tower, it would then return to where it had been. In this way, the girl managed to make sure that the tower didn’t fall down, but still kept it leaning a little.
The fact that it was leaning made it even more famous, and this taught a fine lesson to the envious people of the neighboring city.

  1. 1.

    Why did the people of the second city plan to destroy the neighboring tower?

    1. A.
      Because the tower blocked the way of their tourists.
    2. B.
      Because the tower had the same building style as theirs.
    3. C.
      Because they hoped that the tower could lean slightly.
    4. D.
      Because they hoped that visitors just liked their own tower.
  2. 2.

    The underlined word“undermine”(in Paragraph1)probably mean “_________”.

    1. A.
      test
    2. B.
      raise
    3. C.
      damage
    4. D.
      strengthen
  3. 3.

    When local people heard the news that their tower was going to fall down, they were _________.

    1. A.
      very anxious
    2. B.
      very happy
    3. C.
      very ashamed of themselves
    4. D.
      angry at the people in the neighboring city
  4. 4.

    What lesson can we learn from the practice of the envious people in the neighboring city?

    1. A.
      All that ends well is well.
    2. B.
      Every dog has his day.
    3. C.
      A bad beginning makes a bad ending.
    4. D.
      A friend is never known till a man has need.

Happy April Fool’s Day.In celebration of the day, we have put together a list of some of the greatest hoaxes in history.They are the lies that have been designed for innocent people who are ready to believe them.
INSTANT COLOUR TV
In 1962 there was only one TV channel in Sweden, and it broadcast in black and white.The station’s technical expert, Kjell Stensson, appeared on the news to announce that thanks to a newly developed technology, all viewers could now quickly and easily transform their existing sets to display colour reception.All they had to do was pull a nylon stocking over their TV screen, and they would begin to see their favorite shows in color.Reportedly, hundreds of thousands of people were taken in.Actual color TV transmission only started to appear in Sweden on April 1, 1970.
SAN ERRIFFE
In 1977 the British newspaper The Guardian published a special seven-page supplement (增刊)in honor of the tenth anniversary of San Serriffe, a small republic located in the Indian Ocean.A series of articles affectionately described the geography and culture of this unknown nation.The Guardian’s phones rang all day as readers asked for more information about the beautiful holiday spot.Few noticed that everything about the island was made up.
NIXON FOR PRESIDENT
In 1992 American National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation program announced that Richard Nixon, in a surprise move, was running for President again.His new campaign slogan was, “I didn’t do anything wrong, and I won’t do it again.” Accompanying this announcement were audio clips of Nixon delivering his election speech.Listeners responded immediately to the announcement, flooding the show with calls expressing shock and anger.Only during the second half of the show did the host John Hockenberry reveal that the announcement was a practical joke, Nixon’s voice was copied by comedian Rich Little.

  1. 1.

    The underlined phrase “taken in” in the 2nd paragraph means ________.

    1. A.
      deceived
    2. B.
      pleased
    3. C.
      innocent
    4. D.
      broadcast
  2. 2.

    What can be inferred from the text about Color TV?

    1. A.
      The Swedish People didn’t watch color TVs until 1970.
    2. B.
      The Swedish People began to watch color TVs in 1962.
    3. C.
      Kjell Stensson was a TV host.
    4. D.
      Not many people believed Kjell Stensson.
  3. 3.

    Which of the following statements about San Serriffe is True?

    1. A.
      San Seffiffe is located in the Indian Ocean.
    2. B.
      San Seffiffe became a republic in 1967.
    3. C.
      San Seffiffe is a beautiful place.
    4. D.
      San Seffiffe doesn’t exist.
  4. 4.

    We get to know from the passage that _____.

    1. A.
      Richard Nixon didn’t win the election in 1992.
    2. B.
      Richard Nixon didn’t do anything wrong
    3. C.
      Richard Nixon was not liked by the American people
    4. D.
      Richard Nixon asked Rich Little to speak for him
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