A year ago, I paid no attention to English idioms, though my teacher emphasized the importance again and again. But soon, the importance of English idioms was shown in an amusing experience.

One day, I happened to meet an Englishman on the road, and soon we began to talk. As I was talking about how I was studying English, the foreigner seemed to be astonished gently shaking his head, shrugging his shoulders, saying, “You don’t say!” “You don’t say!” I was puzzled. I thought, perhaps this is not an appropriate topic. “Well, I’d better change the topic.” So I said to him, “Well, shall we talk about the Great Wall By the way, have you ever been there. “Certainly, everyone back home will laugh at me if I leave China without seeing it. It is magnificent.” He was deep in thought when I began to talk like a tourist guide, “The Great Wall is one of the wonders in the world. We are very proud of it.” Soon I was interrupted again by his order, “You don’t say!” I couldn’t help asking. I said, “Didn’t you say you don’t say” Hearing this, the Englishman laughed to tears. He began to explain, “You don’t say actually means really It is an expression of surprise. Perhaps you don’t pay attention to English idioms.” Only then did I realize I had made a fool of myself. Since then, I have been more careful with idiomatic expressions.

21.  A year ago, I paid no attention to English idioms because      .

A. English idioms were too difficult to master

B.I did not realize the importance of them

C. My teacher didn’t emphasize the importance

D.I had no interest in English learning

22. When I first heard “You don’t say!”, I thought     .

A. the Englishman was not interested in the topic

B. the Englishman was only interested in the Great Wall

C. I had talked too much

D.I had to stop talking at once

23. We can learn from the second paragraph that      .

A. the Englishman was leaving China without seeing the Great Wall

B. the Englishman wanted to see the Great Wall after I talked about it

C. the Englishman wanted me to act as his guide

D. the Englishman visited the Great Wall and thought it worth visiting

24.  After the Englishman explained the idiom,    

A. the Englishman made me a fool

B. the Englishman made a fool of himself

C.I felt very silly

D.I felt proud of my understanding

There once was a little boy who wanted to meet the king. He set off, walking towards the king’s castle. After many years of walking, the king’s castle came into his view. However, as the boy drew closer to the outside of the castle, the guards noticed him.

“Get out of here!” ordered the guards.

Well, the little boy didn’t have to be told twice. He turned…and ran. All he wanted to do was to tell the king wonderful things, and see all the beautiful things in the king’s house. But he couldn’t even get near the castle! The boy finally stopped running, sat down and cried.

A young man happened to be coming down the path at the very moment. He saw the little boy and stopped. “What’s wrong, young man?” he asked.

“Sir, I walked and walked just to see the king. But these guards made me scared. I wanted to tell the king how lovely everything is and just tell the king that I just wanted to see him!”

The man looked at the little boy thoughtfully. “Look, why don’t you try again? I’ll come with you this time.”

The little boy got up and took the man’s hand. The king’s guards spotted them.

“Look, mister, we don’t have to do this…I don’t want you to get hurt. We can just turn around now.”

The man held the little boy’s hand and went on. The boy really thought the man might be crazy until he looked back up at the guards. They were all smiling now. The little boy was amazed.

“Who are you?” asked the little boy in astonishment.

“Why, I’m the king’s son. You can enter the castle and be with the king.” Said the man.

The little boy broke into a huge smile.

25. What does the underlined sentence in the paragraph mean?

A. The little boy didn’t understand the guards’ words at first.     

B. The guards repeated the words to the boy.

C. The little boy had been to the castle twice.

D. The little boy understood the guards’ words immediately.

26. According to the passage, the man is       .

A. kind               B. stupid          C. ambitious                 D. mean

27. Which of the following best suits the story’s lesson for us?

   A. Never judge a book by its cover.       B. Anything is possible if one tried hard enough.  

   C. Life can sometimes be unfair.         D. Make new friends and keep the old.

What is the hottest topic at your school recently? In Taiyuan No. 55 Middle School, it’s money.

The school held an activity called “making money” last weekend. About 200 Junior 1 and Junior 2 students were divided into 30 teams. They went out to make money by selling things.

What did they choose to sell? Some sold newspapers; some chose bottled water; some sold environmentally friendly shopping bags and bamboo baskets.

Hu Qing’s team decided to sell some useful books in front of the Children Activity Center. They thought parents would like to buy the books for their children. But unfortunately, they met urban management officers (城管). The officers asked them to leave. “We played hide-and-seek (捉迷藏) with the officers for the whole morning” said Hu. “Finally we had to give up.”

Wang Bing and her team sold ice cream in a square. They didn’t meet any officers. But few people were interested in what they were selling. The team then put up a board saying “For Country Kids”. It worked. More people came to their stall (小摊). A foreigner even gave them 100 yuan. “He didn’t want any change. He said he wanted to help the children,” said Wang. “We were touched.” Later that day they gave the 100 yuan and more to the “Project Hope” office.

Meng Zhaoxiang and his team were luckier. They sold all their cakes in four hours, spending 39.5 yuan and getting back 80 yuan. They made 40.5 yuan. “It was not easy to make the money,” said Meng. “Some people just looked. Others just tasted but didn’t buy. Now I know how hard it is for our parents to make the money we need to lead happy lives.”

32. ______ took part in the activity.

A. Some teachers

B. About 200 of Junior 1 and Junior 2 students 

C. About 200 students of the three grades        

D.About200 Junior 1 students

33. Hu Qing’s team finally gave up because ______.

A. the parents didn’t like to buy the books

B. the Children Activity Center was too crowded

C. the officers didn’t allow them to sell anything there

    D. the team played the game of the hide-and-seek the whole morning

34. Why did more people come to Wang Bing’s stall at last?

A. The people were willing to help country kids.

B. A foreigner came up and helped them.

C. The team put up a magic board.

    D. The people were interested in their ice cream.

35. According to the passage the students learn ______.

A. it’s impossible for them to make money

B. it’s very important for them to make a living

C. it’s not easy for their parents to make money

Yesterday and Today

Life in the twenty-first century will be different from life today. Between then and now many changes will take place, but what will the changes be?

The population is growing fast. There will be many people in world and most of them will live longer than people live now.

Computers will be much smaller and more useful, and there will be at least one in every home. And computer studies will be one of the important subjects in schools then.

People will work fewer hours than they do now and they will have more free time for sports, watching TV and travel. Traveling will be much cheaper and easier. And many more people will go to other countries for holidays.

There will be changes in our food, too. More land will be used for building new towns and houses for all the people. Then there will be less room for cows and sheep, so meat will be more expensive. Maybe no one will eat it every day. Instead they will eat more fruit and vegetable. Maybe people will be healthier.

Work in the future will be different, too. Dangerous and hard work will be done by robots. Because of this, many people will not have enough work to do. This will be a problem.

28. In the next century people don’t have to        .

A. work long hours         B. work fast   

C. walk on foot            D. eat meat

29. People may not eat       as much as they do today.

A. fruit                   B. fish        

C. meat                  D. rice

30.  One big problem in the future is that       .

A .many people don’t have to work

B. many people will not be able to find work

C. people won’t have enough food to eat

D. all the work will be done by robots

31. In the future         

A. traveling will be more expensive   

B. computers will be less important

C. people will be too busy to do sports.    

D. computers will be much smaller.

What is the secret of writing a good letter? Here are two main ones. Don’t try to be fancy. Don’t try to impress your reader.You will be successfully if you follow these six Cs.

   Clear.  36  Make them easy to understand.Talk as if the reader is right there with you.

   Correct.  37  Don’t guess,even for spelling.Refer to your dictionary.If you need to,check a referance    book,too.

   Complete(完整的).Don’t scatter(分散) your points.  38  This is good organization,too.

   Concise(简洁的).Make each point as clearly and briefly as you can.

   Conversational.This is really the secret of good writing.  39  Such a letter has a natural,friendly tone(语调) and lets you come through naturally.

   Considerate(体贴的).Think of the readers’ point of view as you write. Write about what you believe the reader needs or wants to know.Try to be helpful.  40

A.      Just “ talk” to the person

B.      This will build good feeling toward you.

C.      Use short,direct sentences.

D.     Include long sentences in your letter.

E.      Make sure what you say is correct.

F.      Writing should not be taken too seriously.

G.     Finish one point completely before going on to the next.