Many students usually struggle_________their endless homework on the weekend while their parents go out to enjoy the scenery．

A．for           B．at          C．about          D．with

As boys and girls grow older, they _______their interests and become more confident．

A．equip          B．expand          C．large          D．produce

On stepping into the sitting-room, I was surprised to see floor covered with _____looked like tiny insects．

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

Susan wanted to be independent of her parents．She tried_______alone, but she didn’t like it and moved back home．

A．living           B．to live        C．to be living         D．having lived

The driver’s carelessness and tiredness led to ___________．

A．killing the old man                        B．kill the old man

C．the old man to be killed                    D．the old man being killed．

We have had three persons called Paul James _______for us , so it’s a bit ________．

A．working, confusing                                     B．to work, confused

C．work, puzzled                                    D．worked, puzzling

His father is a retired engineer in chief．He____in our steel plant almost for 40 years．

A．has worked        B．had been working        C．worked         D．was working

Twice-crowned beauty queen Michele Reis, may be of 18 years old, but she is still her mummy's little girl．Mrs. Reis described her   1 feeling the night when her daughter  2  the Miss Hong Kong Beauty Pageant （选美大赛） "I felt as if I   3    from the loss of something important   4    they crowned her．Not that I was not happy for her, but I knew that my daughter no longer belonged to me alone and I would have to  5   her with everyone else．"

But Mom should have seen it  6   ．With her Portuguese-Chinese heritage （遗传因素）, Michele was quite good-looking as a young girl．She began modeling part-time as a school   7   

There was something   8   about her even as a child．People in the   9   always turned around to look at her．

      10    her recent fame, the beauty queen said, "Sometimes, I have the feeling that I am no longer myself now．My schedule （日程） is   11   ．I'm not getting   12   sleep, and I am always   13  from one place to another．There are days when I am   14   tired that I just want to sit and    15   ．

     "Being a famous person has another  16  ．People no longer regard me as a（n）    17

person．It's becoming more  18   for me to make friends, and I've learned to  19   old friends because they still treat me as Michele     20   Miss Hong Kong．"

1．A．mixed          B．pleased         C．excited          D．surprised

2．A．became                 B．got             C．won                   D．made

3．A．noticed                B．smiled           C．took                   D．suffered

4．A．since                   B．when           C．because         D．though

5．A．help                   B．leave            C．encourage      D．share

6．A．coming                B．waiting          C．changing        D．rushing

7．A．teacher                B．dancer          C．girl             D．singer

8．A．important               B．useful           C．strange           D．special

9．A．street                   B．room          C．theatre            D．meeting

10．A．Knowing              B．Believing         C．Accepting       D．Considering

11．A．busy                   B．full              C．pleased          D．covered

12．A．much                         B．any              C．enough          D．few

13．A．hurrying               B．leaving   C．traveling       D．staying

14．A．rather                 B．so               C．too              D．very

15．A．laugh                  B．shout             C．cry            D．sleep

16．A．beauty                B．advantage        C．danger          D price

17．A．honest                  B．beautiful         C．ordinary        D．regular

18．A．delighted               B．difficult         C．disappointed  D．different

19．A．treasure              B．believe          C．lose         D．find

20．A．because of            B．instead of       C．as a result of  D．in search of

In most languages, a greeting is usually followed by "small talk"．Small talk means the．little, things we talk about at the start of a conversation．In English-speaking countries people often make small talk about the weather: "Nice day, isn't it?" "Terrible weather, isn't it?"．But there is something special about small talk．It must be about something that both people have the same opinion about．The purpose of small talk is to let both people agree on something．This makes meeting people easier and more comfortable．People usually agree about the weather, so it is a safe topic for small talk．But people often disagree about religion （宗教） or politics so these are not suitable topics for small talk in English．The topics for small talk also depend on where the conversation is taking place．At football matches, people make small talk about the game they are watching: "A great game, isn't it?" At bus-stops, people may talk about the transport system （体制）： "The bus service is terrible, isn't it?"

Greetings and small talk are an important part of conversation in any language．The way people greet each other and the things they talk about, however, may be different from one language to another．This shows that there is much more to learn when we learn a language than just the vocabulary and the grammar of the language．We also have to learn the social behavior of the people who speak it

1．Small talk is________．

A．what people disagree about a topic

B．what we talk about to start a conversation

C．a greeting when people meet each other

D．a kind of talk show using short words

2．Which of the following is a good topic for small talk?

A．Politics          B．Income              C．Weather                   D．Religion

3．The passage suggests that when we learn a language ,__________．

A．we should understand the importance of the language

B．it's necessary to learn about the culture of the country

C．we should learn about the transport system of the country

D．it's enough to grasp the grammar and vocabulary of the language

4．When we say "A great game, isn't it?", we in fact__________．

A．ask a question                      B．discuss the game

C．greet the other person                D．begin a small talk

5．It can be learned from the passage that________．

A．it's important to find a suitable small talk subject

B．small talk depends on the purpose of the conversation

C．in English-speaking countries we should talk about the weather

D．agreeing with each other is the key to a successful conversation

Going on a road trip? The St．Louis Arch，Statue of Liberty and Golden Gate Br_[dga are great tourist sites．But if you prefer offbeat destinations, check out the following roadside attractions．

     World's Largest Ball of Paint

     Alexandria, Ind．

     In 1977, Michael Carmichael set out to create the biggest ball of paint anywhere．Starting with a base-ball as center, he painted layer after layer of paint day after day, year after year．The ball weighs more than 1,300 pounds, with more than 20,000 coats of paint, which is recognized by Guinness World Records．Visitors can paint the ball themselves and become part of history．

     The Museum of Dirt

     Boston, Mass．

     The museum is the idea of Glenn Johnson．Labeled （贴有标签的） glass bottles contain such treasures as dirt from the Great Wall of China, as well as sand from a desert in Saudi Arabia and Omaha Beach in France．Best of all, the cost of seeing this museum is dirt cheap: It's free．

     Mount Horeb Mustard Museum

     Mount Horeb，Wis．

     It's heaven for hotdog lovers! This museum claims to have the world's largest collection of prepared mustards （芥末）．Its more than 4,100 bottles of spices come from 60 nations, including Turkey and China．Visitors learn the history of mustard, from how it's made to how it's advertised and sold．The museum's creator, Barry Levenson, loves mustard so much, he even puts it on ice cream!

     Paper House

     Rockport, Mass．

     Swedish immigrant （移民） Ellis Stenman was much ahead of his time in 1922, when he started to build a two-room house almost entirely out of newspaper．At the time, people didn't give much — if any —thought to recycling paper．In fact, "recycling" wasn't even a word yet．The house is framed with wood, but the walls are made of 215 layers of newspaper．In all, he used about 100,000 newspapers．

1．The underlined word "offbeat" in the first paragraph can be best replaced by______．

   A．great           B．foreign           C．unusual           D．historical

2．If you want to add your own work to what you visit, you may choose______ ．

   A．World's Largest Ball of Paint                B．The Museum of Dirt

   C．Mount Horeb Mustard Museum               D．Paper House

3．Which of the following is true of Barry Levenson according to the text?

   A．No spices but mustards can be found in his museum．

   B．He travels around the world to collect mustards．

   C．Mustard is advertised and sold in his museum．

   D．In a way, he shows much preference for mustard．

4．What can be inferred from the text?

   A．Michael must have the largest ball in the world． 

B．Glenn must have paid a visit to China．

   C．Lots of hotdog lovers will travel to Mount Horeb．

D．Ellis could be seen as a pioneer in his time．

 5．According to the text, we know that

   A．Michael will never stop painting the large ball

B．there is no charge at the Museum of Dirt

   C．Barry is the owner of the mustard museum

D．Paper House was completely made of paper