An old Indian story says that the game of chess（国家象棋）was invented by Sissa Ben, Prime Minister of King Shirham. As soon as the invention was finished, he gave it to the king, who was glad and asked him what he would like to have in return. To the king’s surprise, what Sissa wanted seemed very little.“Your Majesty,”said the minister, kneeling in front of the king.“I want nothing but some wheat. Please put a grain of wheat on the first square of the chessboard（棋盘）, two on the second, four on the third, eight on the fourthand so on, doubling the number for each following square, give me enough grains to cover the 64 squares of the chessboard.”

　　“You don’t ask for much, my honest servant. You might have asked for gold or money,”said the king and then ordered a bag of wheat brought to the palace.

　　But when the counting began, with one grain for the first square, two for the second, four for the third, and so on, the bag was emptied before the 20th square. More bags were brought, but the number of grain needed for the following squares increased so rapidly that the king soon realized that he was not able to keep his promise even with all the crops in the whole India! In fact, he would have needed 8 466 744 073 709 511 615 grains, which would be as much as that they would produce in about 2000 years!

　　Now the king found himself keep in debt to his minister. He had either to face the terrible trouble all his life or to cut off Sissa’s head, which, it is said, he finally chose.

(1) This story tells us ________.

[　　]

A．how cruel the king was

B．how clever the minister was

C．Sissa was a famous mathematician

D．how the game of chess came into being

(2) According to the story, the game of chess was invented by an ________.

[　　]

A．American Indian

B．ancient Indian official

C．Indian king

D．Indian officer

(3) The king was glad to know that Sissa only wanted some wheat because ________.

[　　]

A．wheat was not expensive

B．it didn’t seem much

C．Sissa was honest to him

D．both A and B

(4) A bag of wheat was enough for ________.

[　　]

A．19 squares

B．one third of the squares

C．the first 19 squares

D．20 squares

　　Daily at this time we shall speak to you about America and the war. The news may be good or bad. We shall tell you the truth.

February 24,1942

　　Those words were from the Voice of America’s first broadcast during World War Ⅱ. Today more than 80 million listeners tune in every day. The broadcast network is the largest in the world and reaches millions of listeners in Africa, in English, French, Hausa, Portuguese, and Swahili. The program is broadcast in Spanish and Portuguese for Central and South America. The Middle East receives its news in Arabic and Parsi, South Asia picks up signals in Bengali, Hindi, and Urdu. The Russian-language service is on 14 hours a day.

　　All of the broadcasts come from the Voice of America headquarters（总部）in Washington D．C．. Visitors can push a red button outside any of the twenty-five glass-walled studios and listen to the broadcasts, in Hindi, that Indian citizens are listening to at that very moment in India.

　　In addition to news broadcasts, the Voice of America sends out interviews and a wide variety of programs. For example, special broadcasts in easy English are written for students of English as a foreign language. Among the most popular features（特色）of the Voice of America are the musical programs which offer every kind of music from Bach to Rock.

The Voice of America is the official voice of the United States government, but it presents opposing opinions as well. To give an objective analysis（客观分析）of the news, the station gets advice from newspapers, news services, reporters, and correspondents（通讯员）from all over the world.

(1) According to the text, the Voice of America broadcast ________ during World War Ⅱ.

[　　]

A．only good news

B．only bad news

C．the real news

D．uncertain news

(2) It can be inferred that South Asian people speak ________.

[　　]

A．Arabic and Chinese

B．Swahili and Spanish

C．Hindi and Parsi

D．Hindi, Urdu and Bengali

(3) If the visitors want to listen to the broadcast in Hindi, they ________.

[　　]

A．need to understand 25 languages

B．need to push a button

C．have to learn English

D．have to be Indian Citizens

(4) From the text we know that _________.

[　　]

A．the Voice of America presents different kinds of opinions

B．it was not during the World War Ⅱ that the Voice of America started broadcasting

C．not only newspapers but also news services ask the Voice of America for help

D．the most popular program presented by the Voice of America is the English course

　　The human nose has given to the language of the world many interesting expressions. Of course, this is not surprising. Without the nose we could not breathe or smell. It is the part of the face that gives a person special character. Cyrano De Bergerac said that a large nose showed a great man-brave, polite, manly, and bright. A famous woman poet wished that she had two noses to smell. Blaise Pascal, a French philosopher（哲学家）made an interesting comment about Cleopatra’s nose. If it had been shorter, he said, it would have changed the whole face of the world. Historically, man’s nose has had an important role in his imagination. Man has referred to the nose in many ways to express his feelings. Expressions about the nose refer to human weakness, anger, pride, jealousy（嫉妒）and revenge（报复）. In English there are a number of phrases about the nose. For example,“to hold up one’s nose”expresses a basic human feeling—pride. People can hold up their noses at people, things and places. On the other hand, a person who follows his nose, lets his instinct guide him.

　　For the human emotion of rejection, the phrase“to have one’s nose put out of joint”is very descriptive. The expression applies to persons who have been turned aside because of a competitor. Their pride is hurt and they feel rejected. This expression is not new. It was used by Erasmus in 1542.

　　This is only a sampling of expressions in English dealing with the nose. There are a number of others. However, it should be as plain as the nose on your face that the nose is more than an organ for breathing and smelling.

(1) This passage is about ________.

[　　]

A．the human nose, an organ for breathing and smelling

B．the nose giving various expressions

C．a woman poet’s wish to have two noses

D．interesting comments made on Cleopatra’s nose

(2) According to Blaise Pascal,“Cleopatra’s nose”________.

[　　]

A．did change the whole face of the world

B．should be shorter

C．represented her powerful character

D．had been cut shorter

(3)“To hold up one’s nose”is an expression of ________.

[　　]

(4) A man who is described as“to have one’s nose put out of joint”________.

[　　]

A．is happy

B．wants to sell a flower

C．is ill

D．feels hurt and rejected

(5) When you say it is“as plain as the nose on your face”, you mean ________.

[　　]

A．it is easy to solve

B．it is hard to crack

C．it is something quite easy to understand

D．there is plain-looking nose on your face

Tales From Animal Hospital

David Grant

　　David Grant has become a familiar face to millions of fans of Animal Hospital. Here Dr Grant tells us the very best of his personal stories about the animals he has treated, including familiar patients such as the dogs Snowy and Duchess, the delightful cat Marigold Serendipity Diamond. He also takes the reader behind the scenes at Harmsworth Memorial Animal Hospital as he describes his day, from ordinary medical check-ups to surgery（外科手术）. Tales From Animal Hospital will delight all fans of the programme and anyone who has a lively interest in their pet, whether it be cat, dog or snake!

￡14.99 Hardback 272pp Simon Schuster

ISBN 0751304417

Isaac Newton：The Last Sorcerer

Michael White

　　From the author of Stephen Hawking：A life in Science, comes this colourful description of the life of the world's first modem scientist. Interesting yet based on fact, Michael White's learned yet readable new book offers a true picture of Newton completely different from what people commonly know about him. Newton is shown as a gifted scientist with very human weaknesses who stood at the point in history where magic ended and science began.

￡18.99 Hardback 320pp Fourth Estate

ISBN 1857024168

Fermat's Last Theorem

Simon Singh

　　In 1963 a schoolboy called Andrew Wiles reading in his school library came across the world's greatest mathematical problem：Fermat's Last Theorem（定理）. First put forward by the French mathematician Pierre de Fermat in the seventeenth century, the theorem had baffled and beaten the finest mathematical minds, including a French woman scientist who made a major advance in working out the problem, and who had to dress like a man in order to be able to study at the Ecole Polytechnique. Through unbelievable determination Andrew Wiles finally worked out the problem in 1995. An unusual story of human effort over three centuries, Fermat's Last Theorem will delight specialists and general readers alike.

￡12.99 Hardback 384pp Fourth Estate

ISBN 1857025210

(1) What is Animal Hospital?

[　　]

(2) In Michael White's book, Newton is described as_______.

[　　]

A．a person who did not look the same as in many pictures

B．a person who lived a colourful and meaningful life

C．a great but not perfect man

D．an old-time magician

(3) Which of the following best explains the meaning of the word“baffle”as it is used in the text?

[　　]

A．To encourage people to raise questions.

B．To cause difficulty in understanding.

C．To provide a person with an explanation.

D．To limit people's imagination.

(4) The person who finally proved Fermat's Last Theorem is________.

[　　]

(5) What is the purpose of writing these three texts?

[　　]

A．To make the books easier to read.

B．To show the importance of science.

C．To introduce new authors.

D．To sell the books.

Fair Way

　　The Westborough High School golf team had taken the official photos with the state prize. The other teams, disappointed, were on the bus heading home. And then Westborough instructor Greg Rota noticed something wrong on one of the score cards. A 9 had been recorded as a 7 .They were not the state prize winner; Wobum High had won.“No one would have known,” said Wobum's instructor, Bob Doran. For Rota, it wasn't a difficult decision：“The prize wasn't ours to take.”

Coin Stars

　　“College students are lazy, but they also want to help,” says University of Pennsylvania graduate Dana Hork. So she made it easy, placing cups in rooms where students could leave their spare coins, and handing out cups to first-year students to keep in their rooms. Her“Change for Change” effort has collected $ 40,000 for charities（慈善机构）, which were decided upon by students.

Never Forgotten

　　A school in Massachusetts received a $ 9.5 million check from Jacques LeBermuth. But it took officials several days of digging to discover his connection to the school. Records showed the LeBermuth came from Belgium and studied in the school in the 1920s. When his family fell on hard times, he was offered free room and board. LeBermuth became a trader, owned shares of AT&T and lived off the earnings until he died, at age 89.

(1) What did Greg Rota probably do in the end?

[　　]

A．Took photos of Doran.

B．Had a meeting with Doran.

C．Returned the prize to the organizer.

D．Apologized to Woburn High School.

(2) Greg Rota's decision shows that he was________.

[　　]

(3) The underlined word“Change” in the second paragraph means_______.

[　　]

(4) What did the school officials do after receiving the check from Mr LeBermuth?

[　　]

A．They tried to find out why he gave them the money.

B．They went to Belgium to pay their respects to him.

C．They dug out the records that were buried underground.

D．They decided to offer their students free mom and board.

(5) Jacques LeBermuth gave the money to the school because________.

[　　]

A．the school asked for it

B．he had no need for that much money

C．the school had helped him in the past

Springtime in Paris

　　Departures: May 5,12,19 and June 9,

　　4 days for $129 per person

　　Paris in the Springtime was, is and always will be, something rather special. Why not experience it for yourself with this excellent break for four days? This attractive city has something to offer everyone and with price at just ＄129, it’s great value too.

　　Your break begins with executive coach（长途公汽车）transfer中转）from regional（各地的）pick-up points and travel to Paris is via crosschannel ferry（渡船）, arriving at your hotel in the evening. The Ibis is an excellent quality hotel with private facilities in all rooms: satellite TV, radio, telephone and alarm clock, It has a bar and restaurant and is situated about two miles south of Notre Dame enabling you to explore Paris with ease.

　　The following day, after continental breakfast（included）,the coach takes you on a comprehensive sightseeing tour of the city, during which you will see the Eiffes Tower, Champs Elysees, I’Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, in fact almost every famous landmark you will ever have heard of. You then leave Paris and take a short drive to the magnificent Palace of Versailles, the home of Louis XIV. The tour ends mid-afternoon back in Paris where you will have the remainder of the day at your leisure. In the evening there is a“Paris By Night”tour showing you the beautiful buildings with bright lights.

　　Day three takes you to Montmartre, perhaps the most picturesque quarter of Paris and home of the Sacre Coeur and the Moulin Rouge. In the afternoon you are free to explore this beautiful city as you wish, perhaps a pleasure voyage on the River Seine, wander around the picturesque gardens or look through among the antique shops（古玩店）. In the evening you will have the opportunity to visit the best night-club in the city, the splendid Patin. On the final day it’s back to the UK via channel ferry.

　　Included in the price of $129 per person:

　　* Return executive coach travel to Paris

　　*Return ferry crossings

　　*3 nights accommodation in a twin bedded room in a Central Paris hotel with private facilities

　　*Continental breakfast during your stay

　　*Guided sightseeing tour of“Paris By Day”and“Paris By Night”

　　* Visit to Chateau of Versailles（admission not included）

　　*Tour on Montmartre

　　*Services of an experienced bi-lingual tour guide at all times

(1) This advertisement is mainly ________.

[　　]

A．to tell tourists the route to Paris

B．to show the price of traveling to Paris

C．to introduce the city of Paris

D．to attract tourists to Paris

(2) During the stay in Paris, the tourists will ________.

[　　]

A．have a free time of half day

B．have a“Paris By Night”on the first evening

C．have a pleasure voyage on the River Seine together

D．live in a hotel two miles away from Paris

(3) The underlined word“quarter”is used in the text to refer to ________.

[　　]

(4) After paying $129, the tourists will have to pay ________ in Paris.

[　　]

A．the continental breakfast

B．tour on Montmartre

C．admission ticket to Chateau of Versailles

D．services of a bi-lingual tour guide

(5) We learn from the text that ________.

[　　]

A．the tourists can telephone in Ibis without paying

B．the tourists will spend the night in Paradis latin on the third day

C．Palace of Versailles is not in the center of Paris

D．it will take you a long time to get to Montmartre from Paris.

In 1957 a doctor in Singapore noticed that hospitals were treating an unusual number of influenza like cases. Influenza is sometimes called“flu”or a“bad cold”. He took samples from the throats of patients in his hospital and was able to find the virus（病毒）of this influenza.

　　There are three main types of influenza virus. The most important of these are types A and B, each of them having several sub-groups（亚群）.At the hospital the doctor recognized that the outbreak was because of a virus-group A, but he did not know the sub-group. He reported the outbreak to the World Health Organization in Geneva. W．H．O．published the important news together with reports of the same kind of outbreak in Hong Kong, where about 15％～20％ of the population had become ill.

　　As soon as the London doctors received the package of throat samples, they began to test them. They found that they could reproduce themselves at a very high speed. Continuing their careful tests, the doctor checked the effect of medicine used against all the known sub-groups of type A virus. On this virus, none of them was of any use

　　Having separated the virus, the two doctors now made tests on some selected animals. In a short time the usual signs of the disease appeared. These experiments showed that the new virus spread easily, but that it was not a killer. Scientists, like the general pubic, it simply“Asian flu”.

(1) The Asian flu mentioned in the passage ________.

[　　]

A．had something to do with a virus group B

B．was reported to W．H．O．in Geneva by a doctor in Hong Kong

C．broke out not only in Singapore but also in Hong Kong

D．was taken from the throats of the patients in a hospital in Singapore

(2) London doctors considered ________.

[　　]

A．Asian flu as a bad cold

B．there were three main types of influenza

C．it was necessary to test the other groups of virus besides group A

D．the influenza called“Asian flu”is a new one

(3) The Singapore doctor helped the world by _______.

[　　]

A．making those with Asian flu well again

B．killing the virus that caused Asian flu

C．finding the sub-group of the virus

D．reporting the outbreak of Geneva

(4) The Asian flu virus _______.

[　　]

A．was a killer

B．was very weak

C．could reproduce very quickly

D．died very fast

(5) We can draw a conclusion that ________ from this paragraph.

[　　]

A．careful observation and research can make a new discovery

B．we must stop us from catching Asian flu

C．doctors should pay attention to patients

D．practice makes perfect

    People in the United States honor their parents with 2 special days: Mother’s Day on the second Sunday in May and Father’s Day on the third Sunday in June. These days are to show love and respect for parents. They raise their children and educate them to be responsible citizens. They give love and care. These two days offer an opportunity to think about the changing roles of mothers and fathers. More mothers now work outside the home and more fathers must help with child-care.

    These two special days are celebrated in many different ways. On Mother’s Day, people wear carnations. A red one symbolizes a living mother. A White one shows that the mother is dead. Many people attend religious services to honor parents. It’s also a day when people whose parents are dead visit the cemetery（公墓）. On these days families get together at home as well as in restaurants. They often have outdoor barbecues（野炊）for Father’s Day. These are days of fun and good feelings and memories.

　　Another tradition is to give cards and gifts. Children make them in school. Many people make their own presents. These are more valued than those bought in stores. It’s not the value of the gift that is important, but“he thought that counts”. Greeting card stores, florists, candy makers, bakeries, phone companies and other stores do lots of business during these holidays.

(1) Which is not a reason for children to show love and respect for parents?

[　　]

A．Parents bring up children.

B．Parents give love and care to children.

C．Parents educate children to be good persons.

D．Parents pass away before children grow up.

(2) What do you know from the passage?

[　　]

A．Both festivals are in May.

B．Few women worked outside the home in the past.

C．Not all the children respect their parents.

D．Fathers are not as important as mothers at home.

(3) Which do you know about“carnation”?

[　　]

A．It only has two kinds of color.

B．It refers to the special clothes people wear on Mother’s Day.

C．It’s a kind of flower showing love and best wishes.

D．People can wear them only on the second Sunday in May.

(4) On Mother’s Day and Father’s Day ________.

[　　]

A．people usually have family parties

B．everyone goes to the cemetery

C．children always go to parents’ home

(5) What do you think“florists”do?

[　　]

A．They sell flowers.

B．They make bread of pastry（糕点）.

C．They offer enough room for having family parties.

D．They sell special clothes for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

　　A lot of us lose life's tougher battles by starting a frontal（正面的）attack?   when a touch of humor might well enable us to win. Consider the case of a young friend of mine, who hit a traffic jam on his way to work shortly after receiving an ultimatum（最后通牒）about being late on the job. Although there was a good reason for Sam's being late—serious illness at home—he decided that this by-now-familiar excuse wouldn't work any longer. His supervisor was probably already pacing up and down preparing a dismissal speech.

　　Yes, the boss was. Sam entered the office at 9∶35. The place was as quiet as a locker room（更衣室）; everyone was hard at work. Sam's supervisor came up to him. Suddenly, Sam forced a grin and stretched out his hand.“How do you do !”he said.“I'm Sam Maynard. I'm applying for a job, which, I understand, became available just 35 minutes ago. Does the early bird get the worm?”

　　The room exploded in laughter. The supervisor clamped off a smile and walked back to his office. Sam Maynard had saved his job—with the only tool that could win, a laugh.

　　Humor is a most effective, yet frequently neglected（忽略）, means of handling the difficult situations in our lives. It can be used for patching up differences, apologizing, saying“no,” criticizing, getting the other fellow to do what you want without his losing face. For some jobs, it's the only tool that can succeed. It is a way to discuss subjects so sensitive that serious dialog may start a quarrel. For example, many believe that comedians（喜剧演员）on television are doing more today for racial and religious tolerance（忍受力）than people in any other forum.

(1) Why was Sam late for his job?

[　　]

A．Because he was ill.

B．Because he got up late.

C．Because he was caught in a traffic jam.

D．He was busy applying for a new job.

(2) The main idea of this passage is________.

[　　]

A．Stun Maynard saved his job with humor

B．humor is important in our lives

C．early bird gets the worm

D．humor can solve racial discriminations

(3) The phrase“clumped off”in paragraph 3 means________.

[　　]

(4) Which of the following statements can we infer from the passage?

[　　]

A．Many lose life's battles for they are lacking in a sense of humor.

B．It wasn't the first time that Tom came late for his work.

C．Tom was supposed to come to his office at 8∶30.

D．Humor is the most effective way of solving problems.

    The French writer Honore de Balzac is known around the world for the novels and shorter works of fiction that he collected under the general title The Human Comedy. His ambition (eagerness) in this great work was to describe all of French society.

　　Balzac was born on May 20,1799, in Tours, where his father was a civil servant. At the age of 8,he was sent to a boarding school. He was an undisciplined child, and he was often sent to detention, or kept in. He looked on this punishment as a blessing in disguise（因祸得福）because it gave him all the time he wanted to read. When his family moved to Paris in 1814, he went to school there.

　　For a while Balzac studied law, but he had no taste for legal work. He wanted to write plays, but his first play, Gromwell（1819）, was a failure. He turned to writing sensational（神圣地）novels under various pen names. Realizing that he would never make his fortune this way, he went into business as a publisher and later as a printer. But he earned only debts.

　　In 1829,Balzac started the novels that made him famous. Some were fantastic, like the Wild ass’s Skin（1831）. This novel tells how a young man acquires a magic piece of leather that grants（允许）his every wish but shrinks a little every time he uses it. He knows he will die when the leather has shrunk to nothing. Others were realistic, like Eugenie（Garnet）（1833）, the story of a miser who loves his gold more than his daughter.

　　Balzac lived extravagantly（奢侈地）, and he was always in debt. His many women friends inspired the sensitive portraits of women in his novels. Just before his death, he married a Polish Countess（女伯爵）, Eveline Hanska.

　　Balzac worked as intensely（紧张的）as he lived. By writing as much as 16 hours a day, he published over 80 titles between 1829 and 184(7) This great labor brought on a serious illness before he was able to complete The Human Comedy. But when he died in Paris on August 18,1850, he left a vivid record of his time.

(1) The world knows Balzac because of________.

[　　]

A．his great work The Human Comedy.

B．his collection of novels and short stories

C．his description of the French society

D．his hard work

(2) When Balzac was at school, ________.

[　　]

A．he was often praised by his teachers

B．he often broke the school rules

C．he did some reading in his spare time

D．his family moved to Paris

(3) The word“detention”in the second paragraph suggests ________.

[　　]

A．preventing from leaving after school

B．headmaster’s or teacher’s office

C．being stopped going to classes

D．a room used for punishing students

(4) Before Balzac was thirty, ________.

[　　]

A．he had come to be famous

B．he had some interest in laws

C．he never made his fortune

D．he was in great debt