Mark was walking home from school one day when he noticed a boy ahead of him had dropped all of the books he was carrying．Mark helped the boy pick them up． 1 they were going the same way, he carried them for the boy．As they walked, Mark knew the boy’s name was Bill．Mark 2 discovered that he loved computer games, baseball and history and that he was having a lot of 3 with his other subjects．
They arrived at Bill’s home first and Mark was invited in 4 Coke and to watch some television．The afternoon passed 5 with a few laughs and some shared small talk, and then Mark went home．They 6 to see each other around school, had lunch together once or twice and then 7 ended up from the same high school．Just three weeks before they finished school, Bill asked Mark if they could have a talk．
Bill 8 him of the day years ago when they had first met．‘Do you 9 wonder why I was carrying so many things home that day?’ asked Bill．‘You see, I 10 out my locker because I didn’t want to leave a mess for anyone else．I had planned to 11 from home and I was going home to pack my things．But after we spent some time together 12 and laughing, I realized that 13 I had done that, I would have 14 a new friend and missed all the fun we would have together．So you see, Mark, when you picked up my books that day, you did a lot more．You 15 my life．’
A man walked into a restaurant．The restaurant advertised it had the 1 menu in the world．The manager was very proud of being able to provide any dish, no matter how 2 it was．
At the bottom of the 3 , there was a notice that said, “If you do not see the dish you need on this menu, please tell us and we will add it to the menu right away．”
The man 4 the menu and decided to make sure if it was true．He would order 5 that was very unusual．
When a waiter came up to take his order, he said, “You say you can serve any dish, even if it's not on your longest menu in the world．”
“That is correct, sir．We are able to meet everyone's requirements．”
“Well,” the man said, “bring me a sandwich with two elephant ears． 6 , not African．”
The waiter wrote down in his paper：Two Indian elephant ears on toast．
“Very good, sir,” he said．“That shouldn't 7 long．”
The waiter walked away quickly．
The man was very surprised and rather disappointed．
Then he smiled 8 the waiter returned with a very unhappy look on his face．
“Ah!” the man said．“You can't 9 it to me, can you?”
The waiter made an apology(道歉)．
“I'm very sorry, sir, and this is the 10 embarrassing,” he said, “but I'm afraid we can't because we've run out of bread．”
Mr．Thomas and his wife had taken their nine-year-old grand-daughter to Paris for a short holiday．One morning they set off for a 1 on one of the Metro lines where the trains run on rubber wheels．In changing from one line to 2 , the child was 3 behind on the platform in the rush to get on the train． 4 that Mr．and Mrs．Thomas could do was 5 out at the next station and ask a station official to telephone back to 6 the child taken care of．They caught the very 7 train back and felt pleased to see the little girl 8 patiently on a bench on the opposite platform．
9 they had crossed 10 , the child had vanished．An official told them that he had 11 her(in French, of course)and she had immediately run away． 12 followed an hour of searching every passage in the station until 13 Mr．Thomas went to the police, who agreed to 14 the search．One police officer had the 15 idea of telephoning the hotel where they were staying．What a relief to hear that the child had been saved by a kind young lady and brought back to the hotel! The child, who spoke no French, had given the name of the Metro station near the hotel．
Last week 1 was trying to cheer up Jimmy the Bike Boy．But 2 week, Jimmy is happy again． 3 Monday he told a radio interviewer that he had run out of 4 to buy old bikes．He also put up some 5 asking for old bikes and called up all his friends and told them about the problem．He even handed 6 advertisements at a local supermarket．Then he told the teachers at 7 about his problem and they set up a call-in center for parents．The strategies 8 he came up with worked out fine．He now 9 sixteen bikes to fix up and give away to 10 who don’t have bikes．
Chinese people call the Spring Festival “Nian”．But do you know that Nian was once the name of a monster(妖怪)?
A long time ago, the monster Nian lived in the mountains．It ate animals．But in winter, it could not find food．So it came to villages and ate a lot of people．People were so afraid of Nian that they locked their doors before evening came during the winter．One day, an old man came to a village．He told people there that Nian was afraid of three things－the color red, fire and noise．He told people to play drums and gongs, make big fires and set off fireworks(放鞭炮)to make Nian go away．
On a moonless, cold night, Nian went to the village again．As soon as it opened its big mouth, people made loud noises and made fires．Nian was really afraid and ran away．wherever it went, there was noise and fire．When Nian was tired and could not run anymore, people killed the monster．
After that, on the coldest day of winter, people beat drums and gongs, and set off fireworks to celebrate the death of the monster of Nian．They put up red lanterns and have a big dinner without sleeping during the night．
In the morning people greet each other happily．So now we have the Spring Festival．
(1)
From the story, Nian seemed to be _________ long, long ago．
[ ]
A．
exciting
B．
interesting
C．
boring
D．
terrible
(2)
The monster Nian ate people in winter because it _________．