Ma father was a self-taught mandolin player. He was one of the best string instrument players in our town. He could not read music, but if he heard a tune a few times, he could play it. When he was younger, he was a member of a small country music band. They would play at local dances and on a few occasions would play for the local radio station. He often told us how he had auditioned and earned a position in a band that featured Patsy Cline as their lead singer. He told the family that after he was hired he never went back. Dad was a very religious man. He stated that there was a lot of drinking and cursing the day of his audition and he did not want to be around that type of environment.

Occasionally, Dad would get out his mandolin and play for the family. We three children: Trisha, Monte and I , George Jr, would often sing along. Songs such as the Tennessee Waltz, Harbor Lights and around Christmas time, the well-known rendition of Silver Bells. "Silver Bells, Silver Bells, its Christmas time in the city" would ring throughout the house. One of Dad's favorite hymns was "The Old Rugged Cross". We learned the words to the hymn when we were very young, and would sing it with Dad when he would play and sing. Another song that was often shared in our house was a song that accompanied the Walt Disney series: Davey Crockett. Dad only had to hear the song twice before he learned it well enough to play it. "Davey, Davey Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier" was a favorite song for the family. He knew we enjoyed the song and the program and would often get out the mandolin after the program was over. I could never get over how he could play the songs so well after only hearing them a few times. I loved to sing, but I never learned how to play the mandolin. This is something I regret to this day.

Dad loved to play the mandolin for his family he knew we enjoyed singing, and hearing him play. He was like that. If he could give pleasure to others, he would, especially his family. He was always there, sacrificing his time and efforts to see that his family had enough in their life. I had to mature into a man and have children of my own before I realized how much he had sacrificed.

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

   A. Dad became a mandolin player after he went to earn a position in a band

   B. Dad was talented and a self-taught mandolin player

   C. Dad would play the Teennessee Waltz, Harbor Lights for the family, and Silver Bells was one of Dad’s favorite hymns.

   D. Dad was seldom sacrificing his time and efforts make his family happy in their life.

22. The author felt regretted because ___________.

   A. his father didn’t want to teach him              B. he had no music gene from his father

   C. he didn’t learn how to play mandolin            D. he hated to play it

23. What’s the best title for the text? 

   A. Kind Dad and His Mandolin                    B. Proud Father

   C. Strange Mandolin                             D. Harmonious Family

The spread of Western eating habits around the world is bad for human health and the environment. These findings come from a new report in the journal Nature.

   There are ways to solve this diet-health-environment problem. But they will require a change in eating habits. And what we eat can be a product of culture, personal taste, price and ease.

    David Tillman, a professor of ecology at the University of Minnesota. In the study, he examined information from 100 countries to identify what people ate and how diet affected health. He noted a movement beginning in the 1960s. He found that as nations industrialized, population increased and earnings rose, more people began to adopt what has been called the Western diet.

The Western diet is high in refined, or processed, sugar, fat, oil and meat. By eating these foods, people began to get fatter and sicker. “The excess, let us say, in the 15 richest nations in the world, right now is on the order of about 400 or 500 extra calories a day that are eaten beyond what people need, and that lead people to gain weight.” David Tillman says overweight people are at greater risk for non-infectious diseases like diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. “Unfortunately when people become industrialized, if they adopt this Western diet, they are going to have these some health impacts, and in some cases if you are Asians, you have the more severely.”

And, a diet bad for human beings, is also bad for the environment. As the world's population grows, experts says, more forests and tropical areas will become farmland for crops or grasslands for gazing cattle. These areas will be needed to meet the increasing demand for food.

 “We are likely to have more greenhouse gas in the future from agriculture than that coming out of all forms of transportation right now.”

Mr. Tillman calls the link between diet, the environment and human health, "a dilemma": a problem offering a difficult choice. He says one possible solution is leaving the Western diet behind. 

24. Which of the following statements is Not true according to the passage?

   A. Different cultures may cause different eating habits

   B. Population increase is likely to lead to environmental destruction  

   C. The Western diet will probably make some people overweight

   D. The Western diet is unhealthy because it is high in vitamins and proteins

25. What can we infer from the passage?

   A. The Western diet does less harm to the health of Asians

   B. More greenhouse gas has been giving off from agriculture

   C. Western eating habits are responsible form some diseases like cancer

   D. Nearly all the people in the developed countries consume more calories than needed

26. The underlined word “dilemma” in the last paragraph means

   A. a relation to be maintained               B. an opinion causing an argument

   C. a decision to be made                   D. a problem offering a difficult choice

27. What is the main idea of the passage?

   A. What people eat does influence on their health

   B. Our change in diet will lead to global climate change

   C. The western diet is bad for environment as well as for human beings

   D. Industrialization considerably shortens the lifespan to the world people.

The first living creatures to travel in space were the dogs of the Soviet Unions space program. Beginning in 1951 dogs flew aboard sub-orbital flights to the height of 63 miles and higher. They helped to test the equipment that would later be used by humans. The first pair of dogs to fly, on July 22. 1951, were named Tsygan and Dezik.

   Space dogs would make history on November 3^rd 1957. On this date, just one month after the historic launch of the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik, the Soviet Union shocked the world again by launching Sputnik 2. This satellite contained the first living creature to travel in space, a dog named Laika. Laika was to have orbited for a week or more until her food and oxygen ran out. In fact, Laika lasted only hours in orbit before over heating in her capsule(太空舱) took her life.

That next step, occurred in August 1960, when the dogs Belka and Strelka made 18 orbits of earth and returned alive. Like Laika before them, they became distinguished, featured in newspapers and magazines around the world.

Six more orbital dog flights over the next eight months further tested the equipment necessary for humans to follow in the dogs’ footsteps. That historic event happened on April 12, 1961, when Yuri Gagarin became the human to travel in space.

The role of the space dogs had proven important in advancing the exploration of space. But, they would make one final flight. In 1966, traveling aboard the Cosmos 110 satellite, the dogs Ugolek and Veterok spent 22 days in orbit. Once again dogs led the way. Humans would not achieve a space flight that long for eight more years, in Skylab 2.

28. From the passage we may infer that _____________.

   A. Laika couldn’t return to the earth alive

   B. Tsygan and Dezik became world famous after they returned to the earth safely

   C. Laike was not as famous as Belka and Strelka

   D. man travel earlier in space than dogs

29. The underlined word “distinguished” in paragraph 3 probably means________.

   A. crazy              B. terrified            C. anxious              D. famous

30. According to the passage, space dogs ___________.  

   A. played an important part in space exploration

   B. were used to walked on the surface of planets instead of man

   C. did more research work than man when traveling in space

   D. could stay longer in space than man

What is the best way to catch someone who is telling a lie?

For a long time, the traditional method of identifying liars was to watch their body language, including facial expressions.

According to a new study, body language cannot be trusted. Talking, it seems, is the best way to smoke out a liar. That is what researchers in the United Kingdom found out recently. Their investigation took place at one place where lying can get you into big trouble ----- an airport.

31._________ And it only works, seemingly, be chance. In the conversational CCE method, security agents just talk with passengers. They ask about informal things as you would in a normal conversation. While talking, the agents might ask questions about topics that are seemingly unrelated.

Then the agent observes if the person becomes more vague or irregular.

32. _______________ In an article on the APA website, Ormerod says that for actual passengers, they are “just chatting about themselves. It shouldn’t feel like an interrogation.”

Here are four ways of catching a liar.

1. Use open-ended questions

These are the opposite of “Yes” and ‘"No” questions. Open-ended questions force the person to stretch the story of their lies until they are caught in their own net of lies.

2. Use the element of surprise

33._____________ Ask questions that are surprising or off-topic. This will make it harder for them to keep lying. Or better still ask them to re-tell an event backwards in time, going from the most recent event to the earliest.

3. Look for small details that do not add up or, in other words, make sense.

Ask them details about their stories and look for facts that seem in disagreement with each other. But do not let them know you know. 34._________________.

4. Watch for changes in confidence and speaking styles

Liars will often change their speaking style when they are questioned. For example, when they feel in control they may be very talkative. 35._______________.

A. The agents talking with the passengers were 20 times more likely to catch the liars.

B. The British government partly financed this study

C. But if they feel they are losing much at all

D. What they also observe is their way of speaking changes

E. Using body languages and facial expresses to catch someone in a lie is really hard

F. Just let them dig themselves deeper into a hole

G. Ask questions they may not think you are going to ask

I wanted to do something special for my fifteen-year-old son, who has always been a perfect boy. He worked all summer to earn enough money to buy  56 (he)a new racing bicycle instead of asking me for money. Then he spent hours and hours on it. I loved my son so much ___57____bought him a pair of sunglasses and   58  (glove). When my son rode the racing bicycle with them, he looked very cool. He dreamed of taking part in a race and winning.

On November 10th, my birthday, when I went to the kitchen to start the milk and bread in the morning, I found  59 beautiful guitar on the table, beside which was a card,  60  (say) “Happy birthday to my wonderful mother.” I was surprised and then began to sob. I remembered once I  61   (joke) to my family that I wanted to learn playing the guitar to make my life colorful. I   62   (regret) it, but my son remembered. He took it    63   (serious), and bought one of give to me as my birthday gift. When I wondered   64  my son could buy this expensive gift, soon I realized that my son had sold his racing bicycle  65  (get) me the guitar.