A beggar followed a lady and asked her for some money. She refused, so he turned away sadly and said he must do what he had made up his mind to do.

At this word, the lady was greatly frightened for she was afraid for his life. So she called him back and gave him a dollar. The beggar took the money, put it into his pocket, and thanked her a great deal. “You have saved me from a terrible fate,” he said.

The lady asked him what he meant. The beggar replied, “Madame, I have been begging all day, but only you have taken pity on me. Without this dollar you gave to me, I should have had to go to work now.

21. Before meeting the lady, the beggar ________.

A. had already received some dollars already                B. had been thinking of taking his own life

C. had received no money for that day                     D. had acted as if he was looking for a job

22. If the woman had understood the beggar’s words correctly, she would probably _____.

A. have given him one more dollar                        B. have persuaded him to give up begging

C. have gone away without giving him any money           D. have offered him some work

23. In the story, “a terrible fate” means _______

A. to beg                B. to go to work               C. to die            D. to live a hard life

24. The best headline(标题) for the story is ______.

   A. How to Beg    B. Money before Everything    C. Anything except Work    D. Work for Money

I was never very neat（整洁的）, while my roommate Kate was extremely organized. Each of her objects had its place, but mine always hid somewhere. She even labeled(贴标签) everything. I always looked for everything. Over time, Kate got neater and I got messier. She would push my dirty clothing over, and I would lay my books on her tidy desk. We both got tired of each other.

War broke out one evening. Kate came into the room. Soon, I heard her screaming, ‘Take your shoes away! Why under my bed!’ Deafened, I saw my shoes flying at me. I jumped to my feet and started yelling. She yelled back louder.

The room was filled with anger. We could not have stayed together for a single minute but for a phone call. Kate answered it. From her end of the conversation, I could tell right away her grandma was seriously ill. When she hung up, she quickly crawled(爬) under her covers, sobbing. Obviously, that was something she should not go through alone. All of a sudden, a warm feeling of sympathy rose up in my heart.

Slowly, I collected the pencils, took back the books, made my bed, cleaned the socks and swept the floor, even on her side. I got so into my work that I even didn’t notice Kate had sat up. She was watching, her tears dried and her expression one of disbelief. Then, she reached out her hands to grasp mine. I looked up into her eyes. She smiled at me, ‘Thanks.’

Kate and I stayed roommates for the rest of the year. We didn’t always agree, but we learned the key to living together: giving in, cleaning up and holding on.

25. What made Kate angry one evening?

A. She couldn’t find her books                    B. She got the news that her grandma was ill

C. She heard the author shouting loud              D. She saw the author’s shoes beneath her bed

26. The author tidied up the room most probably because       .

A. she was scared by Kate’s anger                 B. she wanted to show her care

C. she hated herself for being so messy             D. she was asked by Kate to do so

27. How is Paragraph 1 mainly developed?

A. By analyzing causes                                             B. By describing a process

C. By showing differences                                    D. By following time order

28. What might be the best title for the story?

A. My Friend Kate                                                        B. Hard Work Pays Off

C. How to Be Organized                                               D. Learning to Be Roommates

Do you like spicy food?

What’s your opinion on spicy(辣的) food? Some people cannot handle even the smallest amount of chili-red pepper in their dinner while others can’t get enough of it.

Scientists have long been puzzled by why some people love chili while others loathe it. Plenty of research has been done on the subject, dating as far back as the 1970s. Previous results showed that a love of chili is related to childhood experiences, and cultural influences affect our taste buds too. But the latest study has found that a person’s love of spicy food may be linked to his or her personality more than anything else, CBC News reported.

‘We have always assumed（假设）that liking drives intake, we eat what we like and we like what we eat. But no one has actually directly bothered to connect these personality traits(个性特点) with intake of chili peppers,’ said Professor John Hayes from Pennsylvania State University, who led the study.

But before you look at the study, you should first know that “spicy” is not a taste, unlike sour, sweet, bitter and salty. It is, in fact, a burning sensation（感觉）that you feel on the surface of your tongue. This got scientists thinking that maybe a love of spicy food is brought about by people’s longing for thrill, something they usually get from watching action movies or riding a roller coaster.

In the study, 97 participants（参与者）, both male and female, were asked to fill out questionnaires（调查问卷）about certain traits of their personality, for example, whether they like new experiences or tend to avoid risks. They were then given a glass of water with capsaicin（辣椒素）, the plant chemical that makes a chili burn, mixed into it.

By comparing the answers to the questionnaire and what participants said they felt about the spicy water, researchers found that those who tended to enjoy action movies or take risks were about six times more likely to enjoy the spicy water.

Interestingly, we used to believe that the reason some people can withstand（抵挡；禁得起）spicy food is that their tongues have become less sensitive to it. However, this latest study has found otherwise. “It’s not that it doesn’t burn as badly, it’s that you actually learn to like the burn,” Hayes explained.

29. What’s the meaning of the underlined word “loathe” in the second paragraph?

A. dislike                        B. fear                   C. put up with                           D. adapt to

30. What did Professor John Hayes and his team discover from their study?

A. what we eat actually helps to develop our personalities

B. Males are more likely to enjoy spicy food than females

C. Those trying to avoid risks tend to be less interested in spicy food

D. People are wrong to treat spicy as a kind of taste rather than a feeling

31. Why do some people like spicy food according to the recent study?

A. Because their taste buds have become less sensitive

B. Because they love the burning sensation（感觉）

C. Because they want to challenge themselves

D. Because the more they try spicy food, the less it burns

32. What’s the main idea of the passage?

A. What he or she likes to eat mainly decides on his or her personality

B. That a person enjoys spicy food depends largely on the personality

C. His or her childhood experiences decide on his or her personality

D. His or her cultural background decides on his or her personality

Popeye the Sailor《大力水手》 first became a popular cartoon in the 1930s.The sailor in that cartoon ate lots of spinach（菠菜） to make him strong. People watched him, and they began to buy and eat a lot more spinach. Popeye helped sell 33 percent more spinach than before! Spinach became a necessary part of many people’s diets. Even some children who hated the taste began to eat the vegetable.

Many people thought that the iron in spinach made Popeye strong, but this is not true. Spinach does not have any more iron than any other green vegetable.

People only thought spinach had a lot of iron because the people who studied the food made a mistake. In the 1890s, a group of people studied what was inside vegetables. This group said that spinach had ten times more iron than it did. The group wrote the number wrong, and everyone accepted it.

Today, we know that the little iron there is in spinach cannot make a difference in how strong a person is. However, spinach does have something else which the body needs—folic acid（叶酸，维生素B）. It is interesting to point out that folic acid can help make a person strong. Maybe it was really the folic acid that made Popeye strong all along.

33.Why did many people eat spinach after they saw Popeye the Sailor?

A. They thought spinach made them strong.      B. They thought Popeye was funny.

C. Spinach had a lot of iron.                  D .People liked folic acid.

34.A research group told people that spinach______.

A .made Popeye strong                      B. was a green vegetable

C .had less iron than other green vegetables      D. had more iron than other green vegetables

35.The reading passage says that perhaps Popeye got his strength from______.

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

As you grow rapidly through your teenage years, you will experience a lot of changes. The changes may seem difficult.   36   Don't panic! You will deal successfully with them! You are a young adult now!

With more responsibility, you will find more freedom to make your own choices. This is a time to be well informed about making choices. In this way you can make healthy balanced decisions.   37   You may already know your career path or you may have no idea at all what you want to do. Both situations are fine! Work hard and the right opportunity will present itself to you.

Young adulthood means greater freedom and more choices.   38   But try not to shut your family out of your life. You should learn to think of others even though you are old enough to look after yourself.

It is also perfectly natural at this time for you to spend more time with your friends than your family.   39   A true friend will stand by you no matter what happens.

This period is a part of the life cycle. There are some people who will be with you throughout life's journey. There will be some people with whom you part and go separate way. Leaving school can be hard. The reality is that you may not even see all of your classmates again.

You are a young adult. It is your life. No one can live it for you.   40   So making the right choices will be important to you. Life is for living. Enjoy your life wisely!

A. Choose your friends wisely

B. They will help shape the future

C. They may seem to happen quickly

D. You will probably want to be independent

E. You may appreciate what you have in your own life

F. The choices that you make from now on will be your life.

G. Your family has been with you since you came into this world