The telephone rang in the police station at Richmond, California, US. “  1  station? A train for Santa Fe collided (相撞) a   2  at the McDonald Street Crossing. Please come here at once. With an ambulance(救护车)，too. A man is badly wounded,” said a(n)  3  voice of a young woman.

“OK. We’ll come soon. Please stay there and wait.” Replied the policeman.

Within a minute, a police car and an ambulance  4  off. Soon they got to the crossing, but only to find everything was  5  . No collision, no wounded man.

“What a dirty  6  !” said the policeman angrily. “ We must find out that mischievous (恶作剧)   7  

and…”

They had not been able to say anything about a  8  when they heard the whistle of a train was nearing them quickly. All of a sudden, a truck appeared. It came  9  towards them, too. When it was passing the crossing, it suddenly  10  to move on. Right then and there, before the eyes of all the people present, the train collided with the truck heavily and struck it dozens of metres away.

When Randolph Bruce, the driver , was helped out of the damaged truck, he was badly wounded just as the young woman had foretold (预言) on the phone. As he was taken to hospital in time, he was  11  at last. Later the police did whatever they could to  12  the woman who had  13  them, but failed.

It is really  14  that a prophecy(预言) should agree with the fact so  15  .

1.  A. Weather                B. Railway               C. Fire                 D. Police v       

2.  A. bus                       B. truck                   C. taxi                  D. train            

3.  A. sweet                   B. anxious               C. beautiful           D. low             

4.  A. turned                   B. took                    C. started             D. walked         

5.  A. bad                       B. satisfied               C. pleasant            D. fine             

6.  A. call                       B. lie                       C. trick                D. plan             

7.  A. policeman             B. boy                     C. woman            D. driver          

8.  A. reward                  B. praise                  C. thanks              D. punishment  

9.  A. turning                  B. running               C. starting            D. passing        

10.  A. continued            B. refused                C. began               D. stopped        

11.  A. saved                  B. dead                    C. awake              D. alive            

12.  A. find                    B. meet                   C. punish              D. thank           

13.  A. laughed               B. telephoned           C. repeated           D. visited          

14.  A. exciting               B. surprising            C. pleasing            D. interesting    

15.   A. equally            B. truly            C. exactly        D. carefully  

Paul Lucas can often be seen walking around the city of San Francisco. Sometimes people are surprised to see him walking  16  any shoes or socks,  17  Lucas doesn’t mind at all.  18  likes to walk barefoot, and so do 640 other members of Dirty Sole Society, the club that Lucas  19  (start) years ago. Lucas’ idea for this is to encourage others to live  20  (free) --- free of shoes.

According to Lucas, the barefoot life has many advantages.  21   most important is simply that it feels good. He also says  22  walking barefoot allows you to experience the world directly by touching it with your feet.  23  addition, the feet do not smell so much because they stay dry,   24  (make) it hard for bacteria to grow. And, of course, walking barefoot keeps your feet in good shape, so it’s actually   25  (healthy) than wearing shoes.

    The weather is getting hotter. You are thirsty playing basketball or riding home from school. A cold drink may be just the thing. But be careful what you are drinking. Something that looks cool may not be good for your health. There are plenty of “energy drinks” on the market. Most of them have beautiful colors and cool names. The lists on them tell you they are helpful to your health. Sounds great!

But after a careful check you may find that most energy drinks have lots of caffeine(咖啡碱)in them. These drinks are especially aimed at young people, students, busy people and sports players. Makers sometimes say their drinks make you better at sports and can keep you awake. But be careful not to drink too much. Caffeine makes your heart beat fast. Because of this, the International Olympic Committee(IOC) has limited(限制) its use. Caffeine in most energy drinks is at least as strong as that in a cup of coffee or tea. Possible health dangers have something to do with energy drinks. Just one box of energy drink can make you nervous, have difficulty sleeping and can even cause heart problems. Scientists say that teenagers should be discouraged from taking drinks with a lot of caffeine in them.

26. Many people like drinking energy drinks because of the following EXCEPT that ______.

    A. they have beautiful colors and cool names        B. they have lots of caffeine

    C. they can keep them awake and better at sports     D. they are said to be helpful to health

27. The main reason for people not to drink too much energy drinks is that they may cause ______.

    A. heart problems       B. nervousness    C. sleeping difficulty       D. possible health dangers

28. The underlined word “discouraged” can be replaced(替换) with ______.

    A. encouraged            B. stopped               C. helped              D. disliked

29. From the passage we can know that ______.

    A. advertisements are important in getting people to buy energy drinks

    B. energy drinks are helpful to teenagers’ study

    C. sports players need to drink a lot of energy drinks

    D. energy drinks are especially aimed at teenagers

30. Which of the following can be the best title of the passage? ______

    A. What’s the Use of Energy Drinks?          B. Who Can Drink Energy Drinks?

    C. What’s That in Energy Drinks?                D. Why Can’t We Buy Energy Drinks?

“Some day, there’ll be no Americans left in the NBA,” said 12-year-old Xing Tao, who joined his school team two weeks ago after watching Yao Ming in a televised NBA game, “The players will all be Chinese, like Yao.”

To China, Yao is a home-grown superstar who helped make the world’s first basketball league closer to Chinese players. To the NBA, the 2.23-meter center offers an opening of a different sort into the world’s largest new market. Yao’s NBA first appearance against the Indiana Pacers in October reached 287 million families in the US. That game might have been a bit of a letdown to Yao’s fans: He played just 11 of the 48 minutes, had two rebounds(篮板) and got no points. Comparing that with his performance on December 19, also against Indiana, Yao won 29 points and 10 rebounds. “This was one of the most exciting games I’ve had,” Yao said after Houston’s 95-83 victory. The NBA has to be excited about his on-count success. In all his games, he’s averaging 12.7 points and 7.7 rebounds, quite good for a new star. “Yao Ming has brought the NBA closer to the Chinese,” said NBA spokeswoman Cheong Sau Ching, “That makes the dream seem practical for other people in China and proud to be Chinese.”

The 22-year-old Yao is not the country’s first player in the NBA: Wang Zhizhi broke down the Dallas Mavericks in November 2003. But Yao’s combination of modesty and skills make him a favorite back home.

31. What’s the direct reason for Xing Tao to join the school basketball team?

    A. He watched an NBA game.                 B. He liked basketball.

    C. He hoped to play for the NBA.       D. He had dream that he would become a basketball star.

32. How many points did Yao Ming win in his first game in the NBA? 

    A. zero           B. two                       C. 29            D. 10

33. What does the word “letdown” in line 4, Paragraph 2 mean?

    A. failure              B. surprise                  C. disappointment                D. sadness.

34. Why does Yao Ming win more popularity than Wang Zhizhi at home?

A. He is modest and performs excellently.                             B. He is too kind to others.

C. More and more Chinese people like to watch his games.      D. He is very modest but proud.

35. What’s the main idea of this passage? 

A. Middle school students want to play basketball.    B. Yao Ming makes NBA closer to China.

C. There’ll be no Americans left in the NBA.        D. There are many new stars from China in the NBA.

American is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while—then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us flower more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending (延伸) sometimes deeply into both families.

   Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality (好客) easily.

   Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes, but truly can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine (常规). They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.

   For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for purely business matters. So accept their hospitality at home!

36. The writer of this passage must be ___________.

    A. an American      B. a Chinese      C. a professor      D. a student

37. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

    A. Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their family.

    B. Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives.

    C. Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy.

    D. Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break.

38. From the last two paragraphs we can learn that when we arrive in America to visit an American friend, we will probably be _________________.

    A. warmly welcomed at the airport    B. offered a ride to his home

    C. treated hospitably at his home      D. treated to dinner in a restaurant

39. From the underlined sentence, we can know the Chinese people ________________.

    A. are strict with time           B. don’t take time seriously

    C. don’t know how to use time    D. are willing to spend time for friends

40. A suitable title for this passage would probably be “________________”.

    A. Friendships between Chinese   B. Friendships between Americans

    C. Americans’ hospitality         D. Americans’ and Chinese’s views of friendship