Tea drinking was common in China for nearly one thousand years before anyone in Europe had ever heard about tea．People in Britain were much slower in finding out what tea was like, mainly because tea was very expensive. It could not be bought in shops and even those people who could afford to have it sent from Holland did so only because it was a fashionable curiosity. Some of them were not sure how to use it. They thought it was a vegetable and tried cooking the leaves. Then they served them mixed with butter and salt. They soon discovered their mistake but many people used to spread the used tea leaves on bread and give them to their children as sandwiches.

    Tea remained scarce and very expensive in England until the ships of the East India Company began to bring it direct from China early in the seventeenth century. During the next few years so much tea came into the country that the price fell and many people could afford to buy it.

   At the same time people on the Continent were becoming more and more fond of tea．Until then tea had been drunk without milk in it, but one day a famous French lady named Madame de Sevigne decided to see what tea tasted like when milk was added．She found it so pleasant that she would never again drink it without milk. Because she was such a great lady her friends thought they must copy everything she did, so they also drank their tea with milk in it. Slowly this habit spread until it reached England and today only very few Britons drink tea without milk.

   At first, tea was usually drunk after dinner in the evening No one ever thought of drinking tea in the afternoon until a duchess (公爵夫人) found that a cup of tea and a piece of cake at three or four o’clock stopped her getting “a sinking feeling” as she called it. She invited her friends to have this new meal with her and so, tea-time was born.

1.

Which of the following is true of the introduction of tea into Britain?

A. The Britons got expensive tea from India. 

B. Tea reached Britain from Holland.

C. The Britons were the first people in Europe who drank tea.

D. It was not until the 17th century that the Britons had tea.

2.

 This passage mainly discusses_____________.

A. the history of tea drinking in Britain      

B. how tea became a popular drink in Britain

C. how the Britons got the habit of drinking tea  

D. how tea-time was born

3.

 People in Europe began to drink tea with milk because.

A. it tasted like milk                

B. it tasted more pleasant

C. it became a popular drink

                   D. Madame de Sevinge was such a lady with great social influence that people tried

   to copy the way she drank tea

4.

We may infer from the passage that the habit of drinking tea in Britain was mostly

due to the influence of　________.

A. a famous French lady             B. the ancient Chinese

C. the upper social class           D. people in Holland

Hee-haw! Scores of farms across the country are opening up to overnight guests. The best have all the appeal of a first-rate inn ----- plus here a moo, there a moo.

Sure, you and your kids plan to conquer the theme parks. In the meanwhile, why not make a little hay? Farm stays are fast becoming the great American alternative to the pre-packaged vacation.

LIBERTY HILL FARM

Rochester, Vt.; 802/767-3926; www.libertyhillfarm.com. Adults$75, teens $50,kids 12 and under $35, including breakfast and dinner; shared baths.

Beth and Bob Kennett run a farm straight out of a storybook. You’ll find Beth in the kitchen, rolling out dough（生面团） for a pie. Bob’s busy with other work. Guests sleep in seven sunny bedrooms right in the farmhouse and can participate in any of the farm jobs. Maybe you and your kids won’t be up at 6 a.m. to meet the milk truck, but you can help with the milking twice a day, collect eggs, and pick sweet corn and wild blackberries in season.

HULL-O FARM

Durham, N.Y.; 518/239-6950; www.hull-o.com; Adults $110, kids 10—14 $60, 5—9 $50, 2—4 $35, under 2 free, including breakfast and dinner; private baths.

It started in 1993 as a way to bring in some extra money at a time of falling milk prices. But soon after Frank and Sherry Hull opened their Catskill Mountains dairy farm to overnight visitors, they discovered they loved it. As you drive up, Sherry greets you on the porch（入口处）of the 1825 farmhouse with a cow-shaped cookie jar. Before long your kids are playing around with the cows, sheep, ducks, goats and getting ready for a hayride（乘坐装满干草的牛车出游）.

MERAMEC FARM CABINS

Bourbon, Mo.; 573/732-4765; http://www.wine-mo.com Doubles with private bath $75, $10 per additional person. Trail and riding fees extra.

Climb onto the back of the Ford pickup and catch up with the herd. One gentle cow named Cricket will even let the kids sit on her back. At the barn（牲口棚）, Carol will introduce you to the horses ---15 Missouri Fox Trotters --- and lead you on a trail ride over the hills and down along the spring-fed Meramec River, where everyone swims. Grab a fishing pole and head back to the river. When you have your fill of the wild, try Carol and Dave’s favorite restaurants or wineries（酿酒厂）, within 20 miles of the farm.

1.The underlined sentence in the first paragraph implies that ___________.

A. you can enjoy the best cuisine at the first rate restaurant

B. some farm provide country experiences as well as good accommodations

C. farm work is hard, but you can enjoy it a lot, playing with the animals

D. if you want to hear a cow’s cry, please stay on a best farm

2.We can learn from the three ads that _____________.

A. Hull-O Farm was not built for overnight visitors

B. Frank and Sherry Hull run a farm out of a storybook

C. kids can sit on a gentle cow’s back on Hull-O Farm

D. you can’t milk a cow if you get up late on Liberty Hill Farm

3.The Browns have a 13-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter. If they stay on Liberty Hill Farm for one night, how much will they pay?

A. $175.                 B. $220.                C. $235.                D. $250.

4.Who will be most likely interested in the webpage?

A. Kids who want to find pleasure in the theme parks.

B. People who expect to be employed on the farm.

C. Researchers who are interested in raising cows on farms.

D. Those who plan to have family vacations on working farms.

The tea gardens in Sri Lanka are actually large estates(种植园). The best tea usually comes from plants grown on high grounds, the cool hilltops with rows and rows of tea plants. The plants are about one metre apart. The plant is often pruned so that it remains only 60 to 90 centimetres high. Pruning is important because it encourages the growth of tender shoots, or young leaves. It is from these shoots that the best tea is got.

Practically all the tea pickers are women. The estates prefer to employ women pickers because they are more careful. Their thin fingers can easily remove the twin leaves and new shoots from the plant, which are the parts used for processing(加工) tea. The pickers carry large baskets into which they throw their pickings. A skilled worker can harvest between 9 to 14 kilogrammes of tea leaves a day. Usually new shoots can be picked from the plants about every ten or fifteen days.

       Processing tea shoots into the familiar dry tea leaves requires great care and skill .There are various methods of processing depending on the type of tea required .For black tea ,the young green leaves are first spread out o shelves to dry. This process removes much of its water and the leaves become soft. After this ,the leaves are passed through heavy rollers .This operation will press the leaves for juices which give the tea both its colour and taste .Then the leaves are spread out on floors and left to ferment （发酵）under wet conditions. Fermentation develops the rich taste of black tea .The fermented leaves are then dried with a hot-air blower until they become rolled-up black leaves .The final step is to sort and grade them before the black tea is ready for sale to countries all over the world.

68．In the first paragraph ,the word “pruning” means       .

       A．regular cutting of the plants

       B．frequent watering

       C．regular use of chemicals

       D．growing the plants high in the mountain

69．One of the reasons why women are employed to do the picking is that        .

       A．they work harder than men do in the picking

       B．they can throw their pickings more easily into the baskets

       C．their fingers fit them better for the job.

       D．they can more easily find the twin leaves.

70．How many processing steps are mentioned in the last paragraph?

       A．Three.                 B．Four.                   C．Five.                   D．Six.

71．What is the writer’s purpose in writing the passage?

       A．To introduce various methods of tea processing.

       B．To persuade readers to buy tea from Sri Lanka.

       C．To tell a story that had happened in the tea gardens.

       D．To inform readers of tea growing ,picking and processing.

O．Henry，born in Greensboro，North Carolina，was the pen name of William Sydney Porter.His father，Algernon Sidney Porter，was a physician.When William was three years old，his mother died，and he was raised by his grandmother and aunt.William was a good reader，but at the age of fifteen he left school，and worked in a drug store and later on a Texas farm.After that，he moved to Houston，where he had a number of jobs，including that of bank clerk.After moving to Austin，Texas，in 1882，he married.

In 1884 he started a humorous weekly The  Rolling Stone.When the weekly failed，he joined The  Houston Post as a reporter and columnist(专栏作家)．In 1897 he was put into prison over some financial(财务的)dealings.While in prison，William started to write short stories to earn money to support his daughter Margaret.His first work，Whistling Dick’s Christmas Stocking(1899)，appeared in McClure’s Magazine.After serving three years of the five years’ sentence，he changed his name to O．Henry，hoping to forget his bitter past.

O．Henry moved to New York City in 1902 and from December 1903 to January 1906 he wrote a story a week for the New York World，and also published the stories in other magazines.His first collection，Cabbages and Kings，appeared in 1904.Many other works quickly followed，such as The Gift of the Magi and The Furnished Room.O.Henry’s best known work is The Ransom of Red Chief.His stories always have surprising endings.He published 10 collections and over 600 short stories during his lifetime.

O．Henry’s last years were shadowed by drinking，ill health，and financial problems.In 1907，he experienced a failed marriage.In 1910，O.Henry died after an illness.

1.What’s the passage mainly about?

A．A brief introduction to O．Henry.

B．O.Henry’s career and marriage.

C．How O．Henry became a well­known writer.

D．O.Henry’s best known works.

2.It can be inferred from the passage that O．Henry ________.

A．didn’t like to study during his childhood

B．had little parental love as a child

C．was very interested in medicine and farming

D．took up only one job after he moved to Houston

3.Which is the right time order for the following events in O．Henry’s life?

①He moved to New York City.

②He joined The Houston Post.

③Whistling Dick’s Christmas Stocking came out.

④The Furnished Room came out.

⑤Cabbages and Kings appeared.

A．①②③④⑤  B．②①③⑤④    C．③②①④⑤  D．②③①⑤④

4.Which of the following works of O. Henry’s is the most popular according to the passage?

A．Cabbages and Kings.

B．The Gift of the Magi.

C．The Furnished Room.

D．The Ransom of Red Chief.

Hee-haw! Scores of farms across the country are opening up to overnight guests. The best have all the appeal of a first-rate inn ----- plus here a moo, there a moo.

Sure, you and your kids plan to conquer the theme parks. In the meanwhile, why not make a little hay? Farm stays are fast becoming the great American alternative to the pre-packaged vacation.

LIBERTY HILL FARM

Rochester, Vt.; 802/767-3926; www.libertyhillfarm.com. Adults$75, teens $50,kids 12 and under $35, including breakfast and dinner; shared baths.

Beth and Bob Kennett run a farm straight out of a storybook. You’ll find Beth in the kitchen, rolling out dough（生面团） for a pie. Bob’s busy with other work. Guests sleep in seven sunny bedrooms right in the farmhouse and can participate in any of the farm jobs. Maybe you and your kids won’t be up at 6 a.m. to meet the milk truck, but you can help with the milking twice a day, collect eggs, and pick sweet corn and wild blackberries in season.

HULL-O FARM

Durham, N.Y.; 518/239-6950; www.hull-o.com; Adults $110, kids 10—14 $60, 5—9 $50, 2—4 $35, under 2 free, including breakfast and dinner; private baths.

It started in 1993 as a way to bring in some extra money at a time of falling milk prices. But soon after Frank and Sherry Hull opened their Catskill Mountains dairy farm to overnight visitors, they discovered they loved it. As you drive up, Sherry greets you on the porch（入口处）of the 1825 farmhouse with a cow-shaped cookie jar. Before long your kids are playing around with the cows, sheep, ducks, goats and getting ready for a hayride（乘坐装满干草的牛车出游）.

MERAMEC FARM CABINS

Bourbon, Mo.; 573/732-4765; http://www.wine-mo.com Doubles with private bath $75, $10 per additional person. Trail and riding fees extra.

Climb onto the back of the Ford pickup and catch up with the herd. One gentle cow named Cricket will even let the kids sit on her back. At the barn（牲口棚）, Carol will introduce you to the horses ---15 Missouri Fox Trotters --- and lead you on a trail ride over the hills and down along the spring-fed Meramec River, where everyone swims. Grab a fishing pole and head back to the river. When you have your fill of the wild, try Carol and Dave’s favorite restaurants or wineries（酿酒厂）, within 20 miles of the farm.

1.The underlined sentence in the first paragraph implies that ___________.

2.We can learn from the three ads that _____________.

3. The Browns have a 13-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter. If they stay on Liberty Hill Farm for one night, how much will they pay?

4.Who will be most likely interested in the webpage?