My friend’s grandfather came to America from a farm in Thailand. After arriving in New York, he went into a cafeteria(自助餐厅) in Manhattan to get something to eat. He sat down at an empty table and waited for someone to take his order. Of course nobody did. Finally, a woman with a big plate full of food came up to him. She sat down opposite him and told him how a cafeteria worked.

“Start out at that end,” she said, “Just go along the line and choose what you want. At the other end they’ll tell you how much you have to pay.”

“I soon learned that’s how everything works in America,” the grandfather told my friend later, “Life’s a cafeteria here. You can get anything you want as long as you want to pay the price. You can even get success, but you’ll never get it if you wait for someone to bring it to you. You have to get up and get it yourself.

21. The grandfather went into a cafeteria to         .

A. get something to eat

B. wait for someone

C. meet my friend

D. buy something

22. The woman in the cafeteria might be          .

A. a waitress

B. a friend of grandpa’s

C. a customer

D. an assistant

23. What should we do to get food in a cafeteria?

A. Wait for the waiter.

B. Ask someone for help.

C. Sit down at an empty table.

D. Get it ourselves.

24. What can we learn from the grandfather’s words about the life in the US?

A. Get up early and you can succeed.

B. Nobody brings you anything unless you pay the price.

C. Act and get what you want on your own.

D. Waiting is very important.

If Confucius（孔子）were still alive today and could celebrate his September 28 birthday with a big cake, there would be a lot of candles. He’d need a fan or a strong wind to help him put them out.

While many people in China will remember Confucius on his special day, few people in the United States will give him a passing thought. It’s nothing personal. Most Americans don’t even remember the birthdays of their own national heroes.

But this doesn’t mean that Americans don’t care about Confucius. In many ways he has become a bridge that foreigners must cross if they want to reach a deeper understanding of China.

In the past two decades, the Chinese studies programs have gained huge popularity in Western universities.  More recently, the Chinese government has set up Confucius Institutes in more than 80 countries. These schools teach both Chinese language and culture. The main courses of Chinese culture usually included Chinese art, history and philosophy. Some social scientists suggest that Westerners should take advantages of the ancient Chinese wisdom to make up for the drawbacks of Westerners philosophy. Students in the United States, at the same time, are racing to learn Chinese. So they will be ready for life in a world where China is an equal power with the United States. Businessmen who hope to make money in China are reading books about Confucius to understand their Chinese customers.

So the old thinker’s ideas are still alive and well.

Today China attracts the West more than ever, and it will need more teachers to introduce Confucius and Chinese culture to the West.

As for the old thinker, he will not soon be forgotten by people in the West, even if his birthday is.

25. The opening paragraph is mainly intended to ________

A. provide some key facts about Confucius

B. attract the readers’ interest in the subject

C. show great respect for the ancient thinker

D. prove the popularity of modern birthday celebrations

26. We can learn from Paragraph 4 that American students______

A. fight for a chance to learn Chinese

B. try to get high scores in Chinese exams

C. have a great interest in studying Chinese

D. take an active part in Chinese competitions

27. What is the best title for the passage?

A. Forgotten Wisdom in America

B. Old Thinker with a Big Future

C. Chinese Culture for Westerners

D. Huge Fans of the Chinese Language

28. The passage is likely to appear in ___________.

A. a newspaper

B. a history paper

C. a biography

D. a philosophy textbook

  Not long ago, a rock band called the Backstreet Boys made a big splash on the music scene. Young people everywhere loved their songs. One of the band’s biggest fans was a young boy named Aaron Carter. Aaron had a special reason for taking such an interest in the band. Nick Carter, one of the Backstreet Boys, was Aaron’s big brother.

Even before Nick joined the band in 1996, Aaron loved music. From the age of two, Aaron spent most of his time listening to the radio. He sang along with his favorite songs. He made up dances to go with them. So Aaron’s family was not surprised when Aaron decided to follow Nick into the music world.

Aaron got off to a fast start. At the age of seven, he joined a band in his hometown of Tampa, Florida. But after two years, Aaron didn’t want to be part of a band anymore. He wanted to sing alone. Soon, Brother Nick gave Aaron a helping hand. During a Backstreet Boys show in Germany, Aaron sang a song. He did an amazing job! After the show, someone from a record company asked Aaron to make an album (专辑). Of course, Aaron said yes!

Since that day, Aaron has made lots of songs that sell well. His songs include “Crush on You” and “I’m Gonna Miss You Forever”.

Aaron has worked hard to become a success. But he never forgets how his brother gave him his start. As Aaron has said, “If Nick wasn’t a singer, then I wouldn’t be there.”

29. According to the passage, Aaron _____.

A. fell in love with music after Nick became famous

B. joined the Backstreet Boys at the age of seven

C. was not allowed to sing by his family

D. was thankful for his brother Nick’s support

30. What does the underlined part “made a big splash” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?

A. Drew wide attention.     

B. Led to a heated discussion.

C. Collected a lot of money.     

D. Got into great trouble

31. What is discussed in the passage?

A. The rise and fall of a band. 

B. The road to success of a singer.

C. The secret of success of a band.

D. The way to be a singer.

    Mr. Brown worked in a factory of a small town. He had been there for twenty years before one day he was sent to the capital for important business. He was quite excited because he had never been there before. Before he set off, he asked his wife and three daughters if they wanted him to buy something for them in London. Mrs. Brown began to think it over and then she said she wished her husband would be able to buy a nice umbrella for her, and so did their three daughters. As he was afraid he would forget it, he drew an umbrella on a piece of paper. To his regret, he lost it at the station.

    On the train Mr. Brown sat opposite to an old woman. The woman's umbrella was so nice that he carefully looked at it and said to himself not to forget to buy a few umbrellas like it. When the train arrived at the station in London, he said good-bye to the old woman, took his bag and her umbrella and was going to get off.

    "Wait a minute, sir, "shouted the old woman. "That's my umbrella!"

    Now Mr. Brown noticed that he had taken her umbrella. His face turned red at once and said in a hurry,  "Oh, I'm very sorry, Madam! I didn't mean it!"

    Seven days later Mr. Brown left the capital. To his surprise, he met the old woman and sat opposite to her again. Looking at the four umbrellas, the old woman was satisfied with herself. It seems that I had a better result than the other four women. "She thought.

32. We can learn from the passage that Mr. Brown was   ___ .

A. a conductor   

B. a worker   

C. a thief   

D. an umbrella maker

33. The underlined word "it" in the first paragraph refers to___    .

A. his ticket   

B. his bag   

C. his drawing   

D. his umbrella

34. When looking at Mr. Brown with four umbrellas, the woman thought         .

A. Mr. Brown was an umbrella maker

B. Mr. Brown was selling his umbrellas

C. Mr. Brown had stolen the other women’s umbrellas

D. Mr. Brown had bought four umbrellas for his family

35. How did Mr. Brown get the four umbrellas?

A. He bought them in London.

B. He brought them from his small town.

C. He picked them on the train.    

D. He stole them from four women.  

  Most cars have seat belts as part of their equipment. Seat belts protect drivers and passengers in case of accidents. They also reduce the effect of a crash on the body.    36    Worldwide, the devices have protected up to a million people.

America first recognized the invention of an automobile seat belt in 1849. The government gave a patent to an engineer named Edward Claghorn of New York City so that others would not copy his invention of a safety device.   37     This early version of safety belt was said to include hooks and other attachments for securing the person to a fixed object.

Other inventors followed with different versions of the seat belt.   38      It resulted from the work of a Swedish engineer, Nils Bohlin. His three-point, lap and shoulder seat belt first appeared on cars in Europe 50 years ago.

Nils Bohlin recognized that both the upper and lower body needed to be held securely in place. His invention contained a cloth strap（带子）that was placed across the chest and another strap across his hips.   39   

Volvo was the first company to offer the modern seat belt to its cars. This company also provided use of Nils Bohlin's design to other car-makers.

    40    He received a gold medal from the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences in 1995. He died in Sweden in 2002.

A. The Swedish engineer won many honors for his seat belt.

B. Claghorn was a promising young engineer with many honors all his life.

C. The design joined the straps next to the hip.

D. There are many companies adopting Nils Bohlin's invention of the belt.

E. Safety experts say that seat belts save thousands of lives a year in America alone.

F. But more than 100 years passed before the current seat belt was developed.

G. Claghorn called his invention a safety belt.