Donna is 19 years old and loves animals, which is why I’m always happy to leave my dog with her when I go on holiday. Donna also helps to train hunting dogs, but recently, her boyfriend told me, she returned home from a farm in tears after being told to hit some dogs.

  “She wasn’t being asked to hit them because they didn’t behave well,” he said. “She was told to punch these puppies with a closed fist simply to let them know who is the boss,” Donna refused. Good for Donna. In my view, you hit an animal for only two reasons: as a way to teach it an important lesson to protect it from danger, such as not into the road; or because you like hurting animals.

  Last summer, I attended a horse race. I don’t know much about horses, but I was alarmed when I saw a horse with a huge ulcer (溃疡) on its legs. “Surely this horse won’t race?” I asked. I was very surprised that nobody in the crowd seemed concerned.

  The horse began the race, but later it fell heavily. It had broken its leg. The next thing I saw was its dead body in a bag, being driven past. No one seemed to care, except those who had bet on it. I know people care for horse racing, but do they really care for horses? I doubt it.

  Oh, but it’s a tradition, I hear you say. Wouldn’t the world be a boring place if we didn’t occasionally hit, shoot and chase animals? Traditions are made by man and can be unmade. It was once acceptable to kill servants when their master died, to visit the mental hospitals to laugh at the patients or to watch public execution (执行死刑).

  Nor should it be forgotten that in our progress to a more civilized world, animals have played an important role: they have fed us, carried us, worked for us, rescued us, died for us and sometimes just saved us from loneliness. Surely by now they deserve our kindness. At the very least, they deserve our respect.

1.Donna was asked to hit the young dogs because ________.

A. they misbehaved                                    

B. their owner disliked them

C. people on the farm enjoy hurting them     

D. it was a way to train them to obey people

2.What does the underlined word in paragraph 2 probably mean?

A. strike        B. stroke        C. scold        D. pump

3.What is the author’s purpose in telling the readers the story about the horse?

A. To explain the traditional horse race to readers.

B. To prove that the weak horse can’t win in the race.

C. To show that animals are treated unfairly by humans.

D. To say that people care more for horses than horse racing.

4.Which of the following is NOT true?

A. People no longer watch killing criminals in public.

B. The author cannot accept anyone who hits the animals.

C. It was a traditional practice to kill servants for their dead master.

D. The author thinks it is possible to change the traditions made by man.

5.What’s the best title of the passage?

A. No One Cares for Animals Nowadays.     

B. Let’s Protect the Endangered Animals.

C. Show Animals the Respect They Deserve.           

D. The Stories Between Animals and People.

We've all heard the old saying，“Sticks and stones can break my bones，but words can never hurt me.” Don't you believe it？Words are powerful，and they can hurt—a lot. In fact，if you're not careful，you can even hurt yourself，by using the wrong word in your writing.
Recently a friend sent me a copy of an e-mail she received from the customer service department of her credit card company，after she contacted them with a question about her account. She was happy with their positive response. But as I read the e-mail，one line jumped out at me：“In lieu of good customer service...”
Did they really mean they were offering her a few extra reward points instead of good customer service？I doubt it. More likely，what the customer service department meant to say was，“Because good customer service is important to us...” followed by the details of what they were doing to make sure she remained a happy customer.
So why didn't the writer say that？I can only guess that perhaps the writer liked the phrase “in lieu of”，thought it sounded more interesting than saying “because”，and so used it—without bothering to check the true meaning.
Have you ever done that？Try to impress others with a big word，only to find out you've used the word incorrectly？It's just the opposite effect，isn't it？You may impress people all right，but it's not the impression you were going for.
When you write，remember to choose your words carefully. People may still disagree with what you say，but they won't be able to dismiss you because you made careless mistakes in how you said it.
【小题1】What's the writer's purpose in giving the saying?

You can complain, but I doubt _____ it’ll make any difference.

A. if               B. what               C. that                D. how

You can complain, but I doubt _____ it’ll make any difference．

A．if???????? ????????????? B．what?? ????????????? C．that?????????? D．how

We've all heard the old saying，“Sticks and stones can break my bones，but words can never hurt me.” Don't you believe it？Words are powerful，and they can hurt—a lot. In fact，if you're not careful，you can even hurt yourself，by using the wrong word in your writing.

    Recently a friend sent me a copy of an e-mail she received from the customer service department of her credit card company，after she contacted them with a question about her account. She was happy with their positive response. But as I read the e-mail，one line jumped out at me：“In lieu of good customer service...”

    Did they really mean they were offering her a few extra reward points instead of good customer service？I doubt it. More likely，what the customer service department meant to say was，“Because good customer service is important to us...” followed by the details of what they were doing to make sure she remained a happy customer.

    So why didn't the writer say that？I can only guess that perhaps the writer liked the phrase “in lieu of”，thought it sounded more interesting than saying “because”，and so used it—without bothering to check the true meaning.

    Have you ever done that？Try to impress others with a big word，only to find out you've used the word incorrectly？It's just the opposite effect，isn't it？You may impress people all right，but it's not the impression you were going for.

    When you write，remember to choose your words carefully. People may still disagree with what you say，but they won't be able to dismiss you because you made careless mistakes in how you said it.

1.What's the writer's purpose in giving the saying?

    A．To amuse the reader.     B．To persuade the reader.

    C．To support a conclusion.  D．To lead to the topic.

2.What does the phrase “in lieu of” most probably mean?

    A．Because of   B．In honour of   C．Instead of      D．In favour of

3.According to the writer，the customer service department ______.

    A．didn't prefer to use familiar words to attract customers

    B．didn't express what they really meant

    C．didn't need to offer their customers extra reward points

    D．succeeded in impressing their customers