Joker found one of the biggest diamonds in the world right in his own back yard. He sold the stone to a diamond dealer for over three hundred thousand dollars. In New York, the diamond was resold---this time for almost eight hundred thousand dollars. The true value of a diamond is never known until it has been cut. Once cut successfully, its value can increase a thousand times. It's easy to understand why the owner of Joker's diamond went to the best diamond cutter he knew, Kaplan. The cutter studied the diamond for twelve whole months.
When he felt he was ready to start work, he discovered a flaw (瑕疵) . He had to begin his calculations all over again, or he might have made the stone useless. Six months passed, and Kaplan finally said to the owner, “I am ready to start my work. There will be one excellent diamond that will be comparable one excellent diamond of first-class quality (質(zhì)量)  " Kaplan waited a few more days until he felt he was in the best physical and mental (精神的) condition(條件) possible. He picked up his tools (工具) and held his breath as he made the diamond exactly as he promised.
小題1:Joker found one of the biggest diamonds in the world_________.

A．in a minute	B．a(chǎn)t the foot of a big mountain
C．in his own back yard	D．in a garage (汽車庫)

小題2:A diamond dealer is a person ___________.

A．in the diamond business	B．who stole diamonds
C．who cuts diamonds	D．who sells diamonds

小題3:When the diamond was resold,____________.

A．the dealer lost a lot of money

B．Joker made some more money

C．the dealer got 800, 000 dollars

D．Kaplan got 800,000 dollars

小題4:The owner of the diamond thought that if the diamond was cut successfully it might be worth_________.

A．$ 300, 000	B．$ 500,000
C．$ 300, 000	D．$ 800,000,000

小題5:Kaplan studied the diamond for____________.

A．more than one and a half years

B．more than half a year

C．over eight months

D．more than nineteen months

Are you worried by the rising crime rate? If you are, you probably know that your house, possessions(財(cái)產(chǎn)) and person are increasingly in danger of suffering from great rise in the cases of burglary(夜盜;搶劫) and attack.
Figures show an ever-increasing crime rate, but it is only too easy to imagine "It will never happen to me". Unfortunately, statistics show that it really can happen to you and, if you live in a large city, you run twice the risk of being a victim.
Fortunately, there is something definite which you can do. Protect Alarms can help to protect your house with a burglar alarm system（報(bào)警系統(tǒng)） which is effective, simple to operate and easily affordable.
You must remember that owning a burglar alarm is no indication(暗示) that your house is packed with valuable possessions. It quite simply indicates to unwelcome visitors that yours is one house they will not break into easily, so they carry on to an unprotected house where their job is made a lot easier.
Send now for our free leaflet(宣傳冊) telling you how we can Protect Alarm your house quickly, easily and cheaply. Complete and tear off the slip below and post it to us. Postage is free. Also, telephone us on 327 6721 where we have a round-the-clock answering service. It costs nothing to find out about Protect Alarm.
小題1:Anyone who takes an interest in the crime rate will, according to the text, be aware that ___________.

A．more burglars are being caught than ever before

B．people have more possessions to worry about nowadays

C．burglars are more at risk than they used to be

D．homes are more likely to be broken into nowadays

小題2:It seems that people who live in cities are ____________

A．more often victims than those living in other areas

B．of the opinion that statistics are wrong

C．twice as well as people living in other areas

D．of the opinion that burglars only rob unprotected homes

小題3:The article suggests that possessing an alarm system will _________.

A．show burglars that you have something worth stealing

B．persuade burglars not to break into your house

C．make the burglars' job less complicated

D．persuade burglars to try again another time

小題4:In order to find out more information about this alarm system one can _______.

A．buy a leaflet

B．write enclosing a stamped, addressed envelope

C．sign a contract

D．phone at any time of day or night

小題5:The underlined word "Figures" in the second paragraph can be replaced by"      "

A．Pictures

B．Fingers

C．Numbers

D．Mathematics

Derrius Quarles, 19, had an unhappy childhood. But the Chicago teen didn’t give up. He tried his best and won $1 million in college scholarships (獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金)! Now Derrius is a successful college student with a bright future.
When Derrius was 4, his father was killed. His mother couldn’t take care of him because of taking drugs. Derrius and his 9-year-old brother sometimes had to steal food to eat. Derrius felt different from other kids. In seventh grade, Derrius went to live in a foster home (寄養(yǎng)家庭). His foster parents weren’t nice to him. They told him that he’d never be anything in life.
Derrius didn’t do his best in school. The summer after ninth grade, that changed. Derrius had signed up for a biology class. He didn’t go to class the first day. On the second day, he showed up late. His teacher took him outside. She told him he was smart, but that he was wasting his potential (潛力). The talk inspired him and he planned to prove that he could be anything if he worked hard enough.
Adults at a summer program helped Derrius find out about scholarships he could earn to pay for college. In his senior year, Derrius filled out lots of applications. He told his friends, “You’re not going to see me for a long time.” Derrius’s hard work paid off. He won more than $1 million in scholarships! He has a lot to be proud of. But he’s most proud of helping others. Derrius gives speeches to teens, telling them how to find scholarships. In high school, Derrius got help buying a computer. He wanted to help others who needed them. Last year, he gave two laptops to high schoolstudents. There’s a lot of work in his future. Derrius doesn’t mind — hard work has got him where he is today. He knows it can take him anywhere.
小題1: From Paragraphs 2 and 3, we can learn that Derrius _____.

A．a(chǎn)lways studied hard in school

B．lived in the same foster home with his brother

C．hated his parents very much

D．was encouraged a lot by his biology teacher

小題2:The underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refers to _____.

A．great success	B．a(chǎn) scholarship
C．hard work	D．a(chǎn) computer

小題3:What kind of person do you think Derrius is?

A．Lazy but kind-hearted.

B．Selfish and naughty.

C．Confident but troublesome（帶來麻煩的）.

D．Determined and generous（慷慨的）.

小題4:What does the author want to tell us?

A．The way to win a scholarship to a college.

B．The importance of family background.

C．Never forget people who have helped you.

D．Hard work pays off sooner or later.

Parents have widely different views on the problem of pocket money. Four new fathers were asked this question and this is how they answered. 
Ashish Khanna: Although many argue that pocket money helps develop children’s sense of value, I don’t agree. I wouldn’t give my child any pocket money. First of all, I never got pocket money and I seem to have a good value for money. If my child ever needed something and I felt it was a reasonable (合理的) request, I would buy it for him.
Sharad Sanghi: No, I wouldn’t give my child pocket money because I don’t want to create the perception (觀念) of “her” money and “my” money. Besides, if I refuse to buy her something that I think is bad for her, she may buy it with her pocket money on the sly. In this way, I would lose control over my child’s requests. I feel it also encourages children to care more about money than anything else. I don’t want my child to start judging other children by the amount of money or pocket money they have.
Rakesh Shah: Yes, I would give my child pocket money because I feel that children should learn to spend money properly. I will give him a fixed amount every month and if he spends the money before the month is over, he will learn a lesson and not spend money so freely. He will learn what his limitations (限制) are and feel the difficulty when he has to pay for something that is over his own pocket.
Rajiv Patel: Yes, I would give my child pocket money because it is important that he learns to manage money. But I would not give it to him on a weekly or monthly basis. He would have to earn it. If he helped me finish some of my jobs or helped his mother with housework, I would reward him. This helps him realize that “money does not grow on trees” and it requires hard work to earn money.
小題1:Ashish Khanna may agree that _____.

A．he was given too much pocket money when young

B．he can take much control of his child by money

C．he will buy anything he thinks his child really needs

D．pocket money helps children develop a good value for money

小題2:The underlined phrase “on the sly” in Paragraph 3 is the closest in meaning to “_____”.

A．for free	B．a(chǎn)t a lower price
C．happily	D．secretly

小題3:Who would give his child pocket money every month?

A．Ashish Khanna.	B．Sharad Sanghi.
C．Rakesh Shah.	D．Rajiv Patel.

小題4:What do Rakesh Shah and Rajiv Patel have in common?

A．They want their children to learn to manage money from an early age.

B．They ask their children to get pocket money by working.

C．They teach their children the difficulty of making money.

D．They allow their children to spend money freely.

Can you remember the day when you spoke your first word? If you can, you are unusual. Try to imagine what first few months of your life were like. I am sure you just spent most of your time eating, sleeping and crying. As you grow older, you were awake more of the time. It took your parents more time to play with you and talk to you. You watched and listened curiously. You began to know that people made certain sounds to go with certain things.
Then you began to try making the sounds you heard. And step by step you were able to make the right sound for one thing.On that day you came to understand the secret of language. The secret is that a certain sound means a certain thing. One sound might be as good as another. But it is no good as a word unless everybody agrees on its meaning. Only when a group of people use the same set of sounds of things, can they understand each other. Then, and only then do these people have a LANGUAGE.
After you found the secret of language, you learned words. Some of the words meant things, such as BOOKS, CHAIRS and SHOES. Some words meant doing things, such as GO and SWIM. And other words describe things, such as GOOD and DIRTY. Soon you learned to put words together to express one’s idea, such as “I want to go out and play with my friends.” This is language. By means of language people can communicate. So we say languages are means of communication.
小題1:When you were a little baby, you_________.

A．made sounds to let people know that you wanted to eat

B．spent most of your time playing with your parents

C．could not hear any sound around you

D．spent most of your time eating, playing and crying

小題2:The secret of language is that___________.

A．one sound might be as good as another

B．people can understand each other

C．a(chǎn) certain sound is for a certain thing

D．there is a special sound for each person

小題3:You could learn words__________.

A．before you knew what the language was

B．a(chǎn)fter you knew what the language was

C．if you knew the secret of the language

D．when you were a baby

小題4:The aim in using language is___________.

A．to get everying one wants from others

B．to say what one wants to know

C．to share ideas, opinions, news, etc with one another

D．to make oneself understood by others

If you ask some people, “How did you learn English so well?” you may get a surprising answer: “In my sleep!”
These are people who have taken part in one of the recent experiments (實(shí)驗(yàn)) to test “the learn while you sleep” method (方法), which is now being tried in several countries, and with several subjects. English is among them.
Scientists say that this sleep study method greatly speeds language learning. They say that the ordinary person can learn two or three times as much during sleep as in the same period during the day—and this does not affect (影響) his rest in any way. However, sleep teaching will only put into your head what you have studied already while you are awake.
In one experiment, ten lessons were broadcast over the radio for two weeks. Each lesson lasted twelve hours — from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. The first three hours of English grammar and vocabulary (詞匯) were given with the students awake. At 11 p.m. a lullaby (催眠曲) was broadcast to send the student to sleep and for the next three hours the radio in a soft and low voice broadcast the lesson again into his sleeping ears. At 2 a.m. a sharp noise was sent over the radio to wake the sleeping student up for a few minutes to go over the lesson. The soft music sent him back to rest again while the radio went on. At 5 o’clock his sleep ended and he had to go through the lesson again for three hours before breakfast.
小題1:In the experiment, lessons were given____ .

A．in the night time	B．a(chǎn)fter lullabies were broadcast
C．while the student was awake	D．a(chǎn)ll through the twelve hours

小題2:Before each lesson finishes, the student has to____ .

A．get up and take breakfast

B．be woken up by a loud voice

C．listen to the lesson again in sleep

D．review (復(fù)習(xí)) the lesson by himself

小題3:The sleep study method is being tried in many countries to teach____ .

A．the English language	B．grammar and vocabulary
C．a(chǎn) number of subjects	D．foreign languages

Is it true that cats have nine lives? One 4-year-old American cat named Sugar definitely seems to have more than one. Sugar fell from the 19th floor of her owner’s home in Boston last month and was only hurt a little on her chest.
“This story isn’t much of a surprise,” said Jake Socha, a scientist at Virginia Tech University, US, in an interview with the BBC. “There have been lots of records of these cats surviving.”
Back in 1987, scientists studied 132 cats. All of them had been brought to a vet’s clinic in New York after falling from tall buildings. Around 90 percent of these cats were alive after their fall and only 37 percent had been seriously injured.
“Being able to survive falls is a critical thing for animals that live in trees, and cats are one of them,” said Socha.
Cats have developed special body structures to survive accidental falls. Their legs are muscular. This can protect their bones from breaking, Professor Andrew Biewener from Harvard University told the BBC. Cats can also spread out their legs like a parachute to reduce their falling speed, he said.
The strange part, according to scientists, is that cats have a better chance of survival if they fall from higher than seven stories. This is because cats have a good sense of which way is down. They can twist their bodies as they fall to make sure they land on their feet. A higher fall means more time for the cat to change its body position.
However, you should not throw your cat out of the window to see how this works. Most pet cats are overweight nowadays. They are not fit enough to change their position in midair, warned Steve Dale, an American cat behavior scientist.
“This cat (Sugar) was lucky,” Dale said. In fact, most cats would suffer serious lung damage, a broken leg or a broken jaw or teeth damage, he said.
小題1:What can we learn from Paragraph 3?

A．Cats really do have nine lives.

B．Many cats can survive falls.

C．Cats are the softest animals in the world.

D．More than half of the cats that fall from high places end up badly injured.

小題2:What does the underlined word “critical” mean in the context?

A．Important.

B．Easy.

C．Challenging.

D．Serious.

小題3:Why can cats survive falls according to the article?
a. They have a hidden parachute in their bodies.
b. Their legs have developed in a way that protects their bones from breaking.
c. They can land on their feet.
d. They can twist their bodies to reduce the speed at which they are falling.

A．a(chǎn), b

B．b, c

C．c, d

D．b, d

小題4:Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．A pet cat that falls out of a tall building is not really at risk.

B．Sugar was lucky that she was only injured in the leg.

C．Cats are confused as to which way is down when they are in midair.

D．A cat that falls from the fourth story of a building is more likely to die than one that falls from the 10th story.

For many of us, printed books are satisfying in ways beyond the words they contain． Billions of printed books have been published, read and saved in the 600 years since movable type was invented, so why mess with a good things?
Sony Electronics is doing just that, betting that readers will be won over by the convenience of readability of its new electronic book devices． Sony's reader, the PRS-505, can hold 160 books in its fixed memory, enough to line the shelves on a good-sized wall in the average American home． The $299 device is about the size of a paperback book, but a half-inch thick and weighs less than a pound．
The Sony book reader is revolutionary not only in its storage capacity． The font（字體） is highly readable and adjustable by size． Unlike laptop computers, you can put the Sony in your purse, read it in direct sunlight and even bookmark the pages． And you can connect it to your PC to download books．
Surprisingly, though the reader has liberated the book from paper, electronic books aren't always a bargain． For example, David Baldacci's "Stone Cold" download retails（零售） for $15．19 at the Sony site, while Amazon（卓越網(wǎng)） will deliver a hard copy to your mailbox for $16．19．
The Sony reader also lets you store and play or display music． So what's not to like about the Sony? Well, for many bibliophiles, a lot． Book lovers like to have, hold and keep their volumes, which don't need charging． You can write notes in the margins, and enjoy the ambience they provide on your book shelves．The need for electronic reading devices is likely to grow as more people worried about the billions of tons of paper used for printed material． Many believe the time will come when devices like the Sony reader are as common as printed newspapers and magazines today．

小題1:According to the passage, the Sony book reader _________．

A．is as light as a laptop computer

B．can hold more than 200 books

C．is convenient to carry around

D．cannot be connected to a PC

小題2:What is the author’s point when he mentions “Stone Cold”?

A．Amazon’s printed books are very cheap

B．“Stone Cold” can be got from the Sony site and Amazon

C．The Sony book reader is not very cheap to use

D．The Sony book reader can benefit its buyers a lot

小題3:The underlined word “bibliophiles” in Paragraph 5 refers to “__________”．

A．music lovers	B．book lovers
C．electronic reading devices	D．Sony readers

小題4:According to the author, what’s the future for the electronic reading devices?

A．They’ll replace printed newspapers and magazines

B．They’ll still be more expensive than printed newspapers

C．They’ll become a must in people’s daily life

D．They’ll become more popular as time goes on

In old times,  man considered lightning to be one of the great mysteries(神秘事物)of nature.  In fact a single flash of lightning 1. 6 kilometers long has enough electricity to light one million lamps.    
The American scientist, Benjamin Franklin, was the first to suggest that lightning is in fact electricity formed between the earth and clouds high above. It happened in 1752. In the same year, he also built the first lightning rod(避雷針)to protect buildings from being struck by lightnings.    
Modern science has discovered that lightning is very strong and powerful. A lightning between a cloud and the earth may be as long as 13 kilometers, and travels at a speed of 30 million meters per second.  Scientists have the opinion that there are about 2, 000 million flashes of lightning per year. In the United States alone, it kills almost one person per day.     The safest place to be in during an electrical storm is a closed car. Outside, one should go close to low ground for cover and not stop under a tree. Also one should stay out of water and away from metal fences. Inside a house people should keep away from open doorways and windows and not touch wires or metal things.
小題1:From this passage we know lightning is_______ .

A．one of the great mysteries of nature

B．electricity high above the earth

C．a(chǎn) kind of light

D．the sound from the clouds

小題2:In the US _______.

A．every person can see lightning every day

B．a(chǎn)t least one person is killed by lightning every day

C．there are about 6 million flashes of lightning per year

D．a(chǎn)bout one person per day dies from lightning

小題3:During a lightning storm, it would be best if you _______.

A．stand under a tree

B．go outside

C．stay in a closed car

D．stop near windows

小題4:A lightning rod can _______.

A．prevent accidents caused by lightning

B．stop lightning

C．protect buildings from being washed away

D．delay the coming of lightning

When people want to know about the weather, they usually go to there radios, TVs, newspapers, or to the Internet. However, you can also find many weather signs among wildlife, because of their highly developed senses. Drops in air pressure（壓力） produce an effect on small animals in many ways. Mice and deer are good weather indicators. People who spend a lot of time outdoors have observed that, before a storm, field mice come out of their holes and run around, Deer leave high ground and come down from the mountains.
Birds are especially good weather indicators because they also show the effect of a pressure drop in many ways. For example, some birds become irritable（急躁的）and quarrelsome and will fight over a piece of bread. Other birds chirp（嘰嘰喳喳）and sing just before a storm. It seems they know they won’t get another chance for an hour or two. Birds also seek safe places before a storm, You will sometimes see birds settling in trees or gathering together on a wire close to a building. Pre-storm low pressure makes the are so thin that birds have difficulty flying.
It is unusual to see many birds flying overhead in the summertime, rather than during the periods in the spring or autumn. Watch for other weather signs if you see this. If they fly in the wrong direction, they may be flying ahead of a storm.
By paying closer attention to some important signs in nature, we can become better prepared for any kind of weather.
小題1:The word“indicators”in paragraph I probably means ________.

A．maps

B．services

C．signs

D．stations

小題2:There will be a storm if birds __________ .

A．make more noise than usual	B．fly in different directions
C．come down from tall trees	D．share a piece of bread

小題3:How can birds sense the coming of a storm?________

A．By feeling a drop in air temperature.

B．By noticing the change of wind directions.

C．By feeling a drop in air pressure.

D．By noticing the movements of other animals.

小題4:The best title for the text would be ________         .

A．Signs of a Storm	B．Drops in Air Pressure
C．Animals’Sharp Senses	D．Nature’s Weather Signs