Big Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock in London. The name was given in honor of Sir Benjamin Hall, who was in charge of the work when the bell was built in 1856.

The clock has become a landmark of the United Kingdom and London, particularly in the visual media. When a television or film-maker wishes to quickly show a non-UK audience a certain location in Britain, a popular way to do so is to show an image of the Clock Tower.

The Clock Tower is a focus of New Year celebrations in the United Kingdom, with radio and TV stations turning to its chimes（報時鐘聲） to welcome the start of the year.

Londoners who live a proper distance from the Clock Tower and Big Ben can, by means of listening to the chimes both live and on the radio or television, hear the bell strike thirteen times on New Year’s Eve. This is possible because the speed of sound is a lot slower than the speed of radio waves.

Big Ben has appeared in many films. In the 1978 version of The Thirty-Nine Steps, the hero attempted to halt the clock’s progress to prevent a linked bomb blowing up by hanging from the minute hand of its western face. It was also used in the filming of Shanghai Knights starring Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson, and was described as being partially destroyed in the film Doctor Who. An animated version（卡通版） of the clock was also used as the setting in the Walt Disney film The Great Mouse Detective, and was shown being destroyed by a UFO in the film Mars Attacks! 

66. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. The nickname of the clock was given by Benjamin.

B. The clock strikes thirteen times to welcome the New Year.

C. The radio and TV make a mistake about the clock’s chimes.

D. Benjamin was responsible for the work when the bell was built.

67. The second paragraph mainly wants to show us that Big Ben is_______ .

A. a symbol of the UK and London

B. a most popular scene for film-makers

C. a must-see sight for tourists to London

D. a popular place to have pictures taken

68. The underlined word“halt” in Paragraph 5 probably means“_______”.

A. look into something

B. get something to stop

C. make something work again

D. draw people’s attention to something

69. In which of the following movies was the clock destroyed?

A. The Thirty-Nine Steps and Shanghai Knights.

B. Shanghai Knights and Doctor Who.

C. The Great Mouse Detective and Doctor Who.

D. Mars Attacks and Doctor Who.

70. In which section of a newspaper would the passage be found?

A. Entertainment & Sports

B. Business & Economy

C. Sightseeing & Tourism

D. Culture & Arts

閱讀下列短文, 從所給的四個選項中, 選出最佳答案。

　　     Mark Twain was born on November 30th, 1835, 1 a small slave-holding village in the Mississippi(密西西比河). After his father's 2 in 1847, he began learning the skill3 books. At this early 4 he was already　　 reading the funny stories 5 at the time and began to develop 6 style(風格) of writing. In 1851,his 7 brother became a publisherand the boy started to work 8 him. At fifteen Mark Twain 　　 had his first article 9 , and at sixteen, his first story.　　In 1856, the young man started 10 the Mississippi River,on a trip 11 South America. But he 12 so interested in river boat life that he decided 13 a steamboat pilot(領航員).

　　    The Civil War put an end to his career 14 a river pilot, and in 1860 he 15 his brother on a trip to the west 16 they hope 17 rich by searching for gold.Unsuccessful in his business,Twain turned 18 funny stories. In 1867, his first collection of stories 19 , 20 instantly made him famous. The same year,Twain visited 21 , Italy, Greece and Turkey. A full-length book was the result of his 22 .

　　    Twain 23 writing 24 his death in 1910. He wrote dozens ofbooks all his life. But nothing that he wrote reached the heights of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn which 25 in 1884. 　　

Jean—Francois Millet (October 4,1814----January 20, 1875) was a French painter and one of the founder of the Barbizon School in rural France. Born of a peasant family, Millet was encouraged by his father to study art in Cherbourg, France. He can be categorized as part of the movement called “naturalism”(自然主義). His understanding of the peasant’ hard life was perfectly expressed in his choice of subject and natural preference for powerful but simple drawing and coloring.
One of the most well—known of Millet’s paintings, The Gleaners(《拾穗者》)，first came in a vertical composition(垂直式構圖) painted in 1854,and then there came the horizontal version in 1856, which is now preserved in the Musee d’Orsay. It depicts women bending over in the fields to collect the leftover’s from the harvest, and it is a monumental composition devoted to the working class.
Previously, servants were depicted in paintings as obedient to a noble or a king, and picking up what was left of the harvest was regarded as one of the lowest jobs in Millet;s times. However, Millet offered these women as the heroic focus of the picture. Besides, in the painting, light lights up the women’s shoulders as they carry out their work. Behind them, the field that stretches into the distance is bathed in golden light, under a wide , magnificent sky. The forms of the three figures, standing against the lighter field, show balance and harmony.
【小題1】According to the passage , we can know that Millet________.

French novelist Jules Verne (1828—1905) is often called the father of science fiction. Although he was not a great traveler himself, his characters travelled to the moon (in From the Earth to the Moon), under the sea (in Twenty thousand leagues under the sea), into a volcano (in A journey to the centre of the earth), around the world (in Around the World in Eighty Days) and to many other places.

　　Jules Verne was born in the French city of Nantes in 1828. When he was a boy he ran away from home to work on a ship. However, his father soon found him and brought him home. After that he decided that any future travel he did would be in books. In 1847 his father sent Jules to Paris to study to be a lawyer. Even though he was busy writing, Verne passed his exams in 1849 with high marks.

　　When Jules told his father he did not want to be a lawyer, his father was very angry. He stopped sending his son any money, so Jules had to earn a living by his writing. Over the next few years he wrote many stories and plays, which brought him only a little money. Then, in 1856, he met Honorine de Viane, a rich, young widow with two children. The couple married the next year.

After his marriage, Verne worked as a businessman in Paris. However, he was not very successful at his job and spent most of his time writing books and doing research for the next one. In 1863 he published his novel Five Weeks in a balloon and the following year he published A Journey to the centre of the earth which made him famous. His books became so popular and earned him so much money that he was able to leave his job and work full time on his writing.

In his Lifetime, Jules Verne wrote more than 50 books and he became a rich man. Many of this imaginative novels have been turned into films.

1.When Jules Verne was brought home by his father, he decided that ________.

A．he would devote himself to writing

B．he would go on more travels in the future

C．he would stop writing about future travels

D．he would do what his father required

2.Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A．He was not good at his schoolwork.

B．He went to Paris because he wanted to be a lawyer.

C．His early stories and plays didn’t bring in much money.

D．He got married in 1856.

3.Jules Verne became rich mainly because of his ________.

A．family            B．marriage          C．business          D．writing

4.Which book can be considered as a turning point in Jules Verne’s life?

A. From the Earth to the Moon.

B. Five Weeks in a Balloon.

C. A Journey to the Center of the Earth.

D. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

5.Which can we infer from the passage?

A．Jules Verne’s stories and plays were liked by film makers.

B．Jules Verne was not clever enough to learn law.

C．Jules Verne’s wife helped him a lot in his writing career.

D．Jules Verne’s stories and plays made him famous in the 1850s.