C
Life is like the four seasons. Now I am very old, but when I was young, it was the spring of my life. After I was born, I played a lot, and then I started school. I learned many new things. Like a flower, I grew bigger every day. There were happy days and sorrowful days: some days the sun shone, and some days it didn’t.
In my twenties, I had a good job. I was strong and happy. Then I married and had a child. In those days, I didn’t have much time to think. Every day I was busy and worked very hard. And so, I started to get some white hairs. The summer of my life passed quickly.
Then the days got shorter. Leaves fell from the trees. My child was a university student, and then an engineer. My home was much quieter. I started walking more slowly. One day I stopped working. I had more time. I understood this was my autumn, a beautiful time when the trees change color and give us delicious fruits.
But the days kept getting shorter and colder. Winter has come. I am older and weaker. I know I do not have many days left, but I will enjoy them to the end.
【小題1】The writer started walking more slowly in the _______ of his life.

A．spring

B．summer

C．a(chǎn)utumn

D．winter

【小題2】According to the passage, which of the following ages is during the summer of his life?

A．15.

B．33.

C．62.

D．87.

【小題3】What does the word “sorrowful” in the first part mean in this passage?

A．Sad.

B．Exciting.

C．Wonderful.

D．Pleasant.

【小題4】The best title of the passage can be _______.

A．Four Seasons	B．My Life
C．Four Seasons in a Year	D．Four Seasons in My Life

C
“Everything happens for the best.” Whenever I faced disappointment, my mother would say this to me.
After I graduated form college in 1932, I decided to find a job in radio as a sports announcer(廣播員). I went to Chicago and knocked at the door of every station. But unluckily, I was refused every time.
At one station, a kind lady told me that big stations wouldn’t hire(雇傭) a person without any experience and suggested that I try my luck at smaller stations. Following her advice, I went back to Dixon, where I had grown up. There were no such jobs in Dixon, and my father said a newly-opened store wanted a local athlete to work for it. I wanted this job, but I was refused again.
“Everything happens for the best,” Mom reminded me. Dad offered me the car to look for a job. I tried WOC Radio in Davenport, Iowa. The program director, Peter MacArthur, told me they had already hired an announcer.
As I left his office, I felt so frustrated. “How can I become a sports announcer if I can’t get a job in a radio station?” I asked aloud.
While I was waiting for the elevator, I heard someone calling. It was MacArthur. “What was that you said about sports? Do you know anything about football?” Then he asked me to have a try. He was pleased with my performance, and he offered me a chance to work there.
On my way home, I thought of my mother’s words: “If you carry on, one day something good will happen. Something wouldn’t have happened if without the failure before.”
【小題1】Why couldn’t the writer find a job at big radio stations?

A．Because he never graduated from college.

B．Because he didn’t work hard in college.

C．Because he didn’t have much experience.

D．Because he didn’t know about sports.

【小題2】Which of the following is the correct order of events?
a. The writer got a job as a sports announcer at a radio station.
b. The writer was refused when he wanted jobs in Chicago.
c. The writer graduated from college.
d. The writer went back to his hometown to look for a job.

A．cbda

B．cbad

C．bcda

D．bcad

【小題3】 Which of the following is TRUE?

A．The writer’s parents didn’t want him to be a sports announcer.

B．There were no radio announcer jobs in the writer’s hometown.

C．The writer became uninterested in being a sports announcer.

D．The writer got a job as a sports announcer in Dixon at last.

【小題4】 According to the last paragraph, what did the writer’s mom want to tell him?

A．He shouldn’t be a sports announcer.

B．Disappointment leads to failure.

C．He should be proud of himself.

D．Everything will be OK if he keeps trying.

 (C)
Mr. Ma, a famous mental(心理的)doctor from Beijing once said at an important meeting, “Now many young students can have problems with their minds. Some students become worried because they have to study very hard. Others have trouble getting on well with people around them like their parents and classmates. Parents and teachers should care more about this problem.”
Then Mr. Ma gave some examples. One patient, a middle school students from Xi’an was doing badly in his lessons. He thought his teachers and friends often laughed at him, and he became so nervous and worried that one night he left his home without telling parents. Another student, a 14-year-old schoolgirl from Shanghai, was very afraid of exams. While she was reading the exam paper, she couldn’t think of anything to write.
A recent report from Jiefang Daily says about 18% of the young students in Shanghai have mental problems. They often felt worried and very unhappy. Unluckily many of them won’t go and ask for help. Some think they will look stupid if they go to see a doctor. Others won’t talk about their secrets.
At the end of the meeting, Mr. Ma offered some good ideas to young people:
u     Talk to your parents or teacher often.
u     Take part in group activities.
u     Try to get on well with the people around you.
u     Go to see a doctor if you often feel unhappy.
【小題1】 The students who often become worried or have trouble getting on with others may have _______.

A．no parents	B．no secrets
C．poor memories	D．mental problems

【小題2】The schoolgirl’s problem happened whenever she _______.

A．studied very hard	B．had exams
C．talked with her parents	D．went to see the doctor

【小題3】Some of those with mental problems won’t ask for help because _______.

A．they don’t want to tell their secrets to others

B．their parents are too busy to look after them

C．doctors can’t help them with the problems

D．they can do with the problems themselves

【小題4】The underlined word “stupid” in this passage means _______.

A．pretty

B．happy

C．not clever

D．not friendly

【小題5】According to the last part, which of the followings is a good idea?

A．It’s important for children to live with their parents.

B．It’s helpful for people to see doctors every day.

C．It’s useful for students to keep quiet in class.

D．It’s necessary for young people to have group activities.

C
There are 5 channels on British television and each channel has several news programs all day long. Some programs are only for 3 minutes but some are one hour long. The people who read the news are called news presenters and because they appear on television every day, they are very famous.
This is a popular news presenter in England called Trevor McDonald, in the news studio. He presents a program called “News at Ten”every Monday to Friday evenings.
Another popular news presenter is Kirsty Young. She has a more modern style of reading the news, as you can see, she sits on the desk not on a chair!
Television news presenters need to have worked as journalists because they have to write most of the news that they read. Sometimes an important new event happens after the program has started, so the presenter has to be able to read something without looking at it first. They must always keep calm even when there are many changes during the program. At the end of “News at Ten”Trevor McDonald says “And finally...”. Then he reads an unusual or interesting item. It’s a famous saying in England now.
【小題1】Who sits on the desk to read the news?

A．Kirsty Young.	B．Trevor McDonald.
C．All the news presenters.	D．Some journalists

【小題2】People in Britain can watch TV news _______ every day.

A．only for three minutes	B．for an hour
C．in the evening	D．a(chǎn)t any time

【小題3】Which is the best title of this passage?

A．Television News	B．Trevor McDonald
C．Evening News	D．News at Ten

D
Everyone would like to be remembered. A few people even try to do something that no one else in history has ever tried to do. These people sometimes have their names recorded（記錄）in the Guinness Book of Records.
Often it takes a group of people to do something unusual. One such team paddled（用槳劃）a bathtub（浴缸）145 kilometers for 24 hours. This group had 13 members. They paddled their bathtub on a river near Ashford, Great Britain on May 28 and 29. 1983. A month later, a racing team of hospital bed pushers in Avon, Great Britain, pushed a hospital bed 16 kilometers in just 50 minutes! However, the distance（距離）record for hospital bed pushing is still held by the men of Bruntsfield Bedding Center. This team from Edinburgh pushed a hospital bed 5,203 kilometers in 1979. It took the team 35 days to cover the distance.
Another group of record makers held the highest dinner party in the world. Nine people from Sydney,Australia, climbed Mountain Huascaran on June 28, 1989. The climbers carried a dinner table. chairs, and a meal up the mountain. When they reached the top, they all put on warm suits for dinner.
People all over the world are trying hard to do something unusual to make a record. It should be understood, however, that now not all the records will be kept in the Guinness Book of Records.
【小題1】 According to the passage, what record was made near Ashford in May, 1983?

A．A record for paddling a bathtub.

B．A record for climbing a mountain.

C．A record for pushing a hospital bed

D．A record for swimming across a river.

【小題2】The word cover in the passage means _______.

A．start

B．go through

C．keep

D．know

【小題3】What was unusual about the highest dinner party held by the nine people in the passage?

A．The people who held the dinner party all came from Sydney.

B．Only nine people held the highest dinner party.

C．They had a meal on the mountain.

D．They carried a dinner table and chairs up the mountain to hold the dinner party.

【小題4】Which of the following shows the right order（順序）of what happened in the passage?
a. A group of 13 members paddled a bathtub on a river near Ashford.
b. A team from Edinburgh made a distance record for hospital bed pushing.
c. A group of nine people from Sydney had a dinner party on the top of Mountain Huascaran.
d. A racing team pushed a hospital bed 16 kilometers in just 50 minutes in Avon.

A．a(chǎn)-b-c-d

B．d-b-c-a

C．a(chǎn)-d-b-c

D．b-a-d-c

【小題5】 Which of the following is mentioned（提及）in the passage?

A．Hospital bed pushing was a popular sport in Edinburgh.

B．People living in Ashford usually used a bathtub to carry things.

C．Two different records for hospital bed pushing were given.

D．Hospital bed pushing was held twice a year in Avon, Great Britain.