O. Henry was a pen name used by an American writer for short stories. His 36 name was William Sydney Porter. He was born in North Carolina in 1862. As a young boy he lived an exciting life. He did not go to school for very long, 37 he managed to 38 himself everything he needed to know. When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry 39 to Texas, where he tried different 40. He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank. When some money went missing from the bank, O. Henry was believed to have 41 it. Because of that, he was sent to 42. During the three years in prison, he learned to 43 short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and 44 writing. He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there.

 Most of O. Henry's 45 are set in his own time, the early years of the 20th century. Many take place in New York City, and deal for the most part with ordinary 46: clerks, policemen, waitresses. O. Henry's short stories are well known 47 their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings. And his stories were 48 more playful and optimistic. People like his stories, 49 simple as the tales were, they would finish with a sudden change at the 50, to the reader's surprise.

1.  

A. real            B. middle           C. first               D.last

2.

 A. or             B.and               C. for                 D. but

3.

 A. learn          B.teach             C. allow               D. turn

4.

A. went            B. lived             C. stayed             D.left

5.

 A. stories         B. books             C. banks              D. jobs

6.

A. defended        B. stolen             C. preserved         D. reacted

7.  

A.prison           B.homeland         C. neighbourhood        D. jungle

8.

 A.read            B. write              C. tell                 D.take

9.

A. liked           B. believed          C. continued            D.stopped

10.

A. families        B.stories             C.fantasies             D. deeds

11.  

A.things           B. writers            C. people              D. readers

12.  

A. like            B. as                 C. to                  D. for

13.  

A.very             B.less                C. so                  D. much

14.

A. when            B. how                C.because             D. so

15.

A. end             B. last               C. first               D. beginning

     John，a very thin boy, loved football with all his heart when he was very young．Practice after practice，he eagerly gave everything he had．But being half the size of the other boys，he could only sit on the bench and hardly ever played in games．Even though the son was always on the bench，his father was always standing with cheers and encouraging him．

     When John went to college，he decided to try out for the football team as a “walk-on”．Everyone was sure he could never make the cut，but he did．The coach  thought he could provide the other members with the spirit they needed．

     The news that he had survived the cut excited him so much that he rushed to the  nearest phone and called his father．His father shared his excitement and was sent season tickets for all the college games．

      It was the end of this last football season．One day John received a telegram and  asked one week off．Nobody knew what happened except the coach．The coach said，“Don't plan to come back to the game on Saturday．”

     Saturday arrived，and the game was not going well：When the team was ten points behind，John came back．“Coach，please let me play．I’ve just got to play today,”said John．The coach pretended not to hear him．But John persisted，and finally feeling sorry for the kid，the coach gave in．

     Before long everyone could not believe their eyes．John was doing everything fight．The opposing team could not stop him．He ran，he passed and blocked like a star．And at last his team won the game．

     After the game，John looked at the coach，with tears in his eyes，and said，“Well， you knew my dad died，but did you know that my dad was blind?''John swallowed hard and forced a smile，“Dad came to all my games，but today was the first time he could see me play, and I wanted to show him that I could do it．”

31．Why did John hardly have any chance to play in games?

   A．Because he had no time to practice．

   B．Because he was too young to play games．

   C．Because everyone looked down upon him．

   D．Because his body condition was not good．

32．The underlined phrase “make the cut” in the second paragraph can be replaced by “       “

    A．make progress    B．be allowed to join the team

    C．cut himself       D．be refused by the coach

33．How did the other members feel when they saw John play in the saturday game?

  A．Surprised．    B．Hopeless．    C．Excited． D．Disappointed．

34．From the text we can know that        ．

A．John felt very depressed as a “walk-on”

B．John's father always taught him how to play

C．John's father went to most of his college games

D．the coach was sure John would be the best player one day

35．This story tells us that        

  A．a burden of one’s choice is not felt    B．better to do well than to say well

  C．a fall into a pit，a gain in your wit    D．where there is a will，there is a way

Humor is a most effective, yet frequently neglected, 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 dialogue may start a quarrel. For example, many believe that comedians on television are doing more today for racial and religious tolerance than people in any other forum.
Humor is often the best way to keep a small misunderstanding from escalating into a big deal. Recently a neighbor of mine had a squabble with his wife as she drove him to the airport. Airborne, he felt miserable, and he knew she did, too. Two hours after she returned home, she received a long-distance phone call. “Person-to-person for Mrs. I. A. Pologize,” intoned the operator. “That’s spelled ‘P’ as in…” In a twinkling, the whole day changed from grim to lovely at both ends of the wire.
An English hostess with a quick wit was giving a formal dinner for eight distinguished guests whom she hoped to enlist in a major charity drive. Austerity（节俭）was a fashion in England at the time, and she had asked her children to serve the meal. She knew that anything could happen—and it did, just as her son, with the studied concentration of a tightrope walker, brought in a large roast turkey. He successfully elbowed the swinging dining-room door, but the backswing threw the bird onto the dining-room floor.
The boy stood rooted: guests stared at their plates. Moving only her head the hostess smiled at her son,” No harm, Daniel,” she said. “Just pick him up and take him back to the kitchen”… she enunciated clearly so he would think about what she was saying… “and bring in the other one.”
A wink and a one-liner instantly changed the dinner from a red-faced embarrassment to a conspiracy of fun.
【小题1】What is the main idea of the passage?

Once there was a poor farmer and his farm belonged to(属于) a rich man. One day he brought a basket of apples to the rich man’s house. On the doorsteps, he met two monkeys dressed like children. They jumped onto the basket to eat the apples and threw some on the ground. The farmer politely took off his hat and asked the monkeys to get off. They obeyed(服从) and the farmer went into the house. He asked to see the rich man. A servant took him to the room where the rich man was sitting.

“I have brought you the basket of apples you asked for,” he said.

“But why have you brought a half-empty basket?” the rich man asked.

“I met your children outside, and they stole some of the apples.”

1.Why did the farmer bring apples to the rich man? Because        .

2.What did the monkeys do when the farmer was on the doorsteps?

3.The monkeys left the basket because         .

4.How did the rich man feel when he saw the basket?  He felt        .