He never thought of it before, ________all that his parents had done for him for granted. 

         A.taking   B.taken    C.to take D.took

 

    Little Tommy was doing very badly in math. His parents had tried everything -- tutors, cards, special learning centers -- in short, everything they could think of. Finally they took Tommy to a catholic(天主教的) school.

After the first day, little Tommy came home with a very serious look on his face. He didn't kiss his mother hello. Instead, he went straight to his room and started studying. Books and paper were spread(鋪開)out all over the room and little Tommy was hard at work. His mother was surprised. She called him down to dinner and as soon as he finished eating, he went back hitting the books as hard as before. This went on for some time, day after day while the mother tried to understand what was happening.

Finally, little Tommy brought home his report card. He quietly put it on the table and went up to his room and hit the books. His mother looked at it and to her surprise, little Tommy got an A in math. She could no longer hold her curiosity(好奇心). She went to his room and asked, "son, what was it? Was it the nuns(修女)?"

Little Tommy looked at her and shook his head(搖動(dòng)), "No."

"Well then," she asked again. "What was it?"

Little Tommy looked at her and said, "Well, on the first day of school, when I saw that man nailed(釘) to the plus sign(加號(hào)), I knew they weren't joking."

1. Why did Tommy's parents send him to a catholic school?

A．Because he could eat well there.

B．Because he could learn more about nuns.

C．Because his parents wanted him to do better in his math.

D．Because his parents didn't want him to learn math any more.

2.Tommy's mother felt surprised that his son _____.

A．was still the same

B．a(chǎn)te so much at dinner

C．kissed her hello after school

D．worked so hard but said too little

3.The phrase "hit the books" means “_____” in Chinese.

A．用功

B．捶書

C．發(fā)泄

D．振作

4.The last sentence in the passage shows that ______.

A．Tommy felt sorry for the man

B．Tommy didn't like the plus sign

C．Tommy was afraid of being nailed

D．Tommy liked playing jokes on others

 

The Man behind Blue Jeans

Levi Strauss was born in 1829 in Bavaria, Germany. He was the fifth of six children. His father sold dry goods from door to door. (Dry goods include many different things: fabric, thread, scissors, combs, buttons, yarn, etc.)

In 1845, his father died. All six children decided to go to the United States. Two of Strauss’ bothers started a dry goods company in New York City. Strauss’ sister Fanny and her husband started a similar business in San Francisco. Strauss decided to go to the southeastern part of the United States. For eight years, he walked along the country roads selling dry goods from door to door –just like his father in Bavaria.

In 1853, Strauss decided to move to San Francisco. (At that time, thousands of people traveled to California to look for gold.) On the way to California, Strauss sold almost all of his dry goods. He had only one thing left—some canvas.

In California, Strauss tried to sell the canvas to the gold miners. He said they could make tents from the canvas. But they weren’t interested in canvas for tents. Strauss didn’t know what to do with the canvas. Then, he had an idea. Strauss could see that the miners needed new pants. There were holes in their pants because the fabric wasn’t strong. He decided to make the canvas into pants. They called them “Levi’s”. Later, Strauss stopped using canvas and used a different fabric. It was a heavy cotton fabric—the same kind people wear today.

Levi Strauss died in 1902. He never married and left his money to his nephews. He left the world much more—the jeans that so many people wear.

________ isn’t a kind of dry goods.

 A. Thread    B. Gold    C. Comb    D. Yarn

What is canvas?

A. Tent.    B. Pants.    C. A very strong fabric.

D. Anything which is used to make all kinds of trousers.

Why did the miners call the pants “Levi’s”?

A. Because the pants belonged to Levi Strauss’ father

B. In memory of Levi Strauss’ father.          C. It’s the name of Levi’ Strauss’ nephew.

D. Because the pants are Levi’s invention.

Which of the following is NOT true about Levi Strauss?

A. He was born in Germany.     B. His parents had six children.

C. He had five children.        D. He died in 1902.

    Little Tommy was doing very badly in math. His parents had tried everything -- tutors, cards, special learning centers -- in short, everything they could think of. Finally they took Tommy to a catholic(天主教的) school.

    After the first day, little Tommy came home with a very serious look on his face. He didn't kiss his mother hello. Instead, he went straight to his room and started studying. Books and paper were spread(鋪開)out all over the room and little Tommy was hard at work. His mother was surprised. She called him down to dinner and as soon as he finished eating, he went back hitting the books as hard as before. This went on for some time, day after day while the mother tried to understand what was happening.

    Finally, little Tommy brought home his report card. He quietly put it on the table and went up to his room and hit the books. His mother looked at it and to her surprise, little Tommy got an A in math. She could no longer hold her curiosity(好奇心). She went to his room and asked, "son, what was it? Was it the nuns(修女)?"

    Little Tommy looked at her and shook his head(搖動(dòng)), "No."

    "Well then," she asked again. "What was it?"

    Little Tommy looked at her and said, "Well, on the first day of school, when I saw that man nailed(釘) to the plus sign(加號(hào)), I knew they weren't joking."

Why did Tommy's parents send him to a catholic school?

    A. Because he could eat well there.

    B. Because he could learn more about nuns.

    C. Because his parents wanted him to do better in his math.

    D. Because his parents didn't want him to learn math any more.

Tommy's mother felt surprised that his son _____.

    A. was still the same

    B. ate so much at dinner

    C. kissed her hello after school

    D. worked so hard but said too little

The phrase "hit the books" means “_____” in Chinese.

A. 用功                B. 捶書                C. 發(fā)泄                D. 振作

The last sentence in the passage shows that ______.

    A. Tommy felt sorry for the man

    B. Tommy didn't like the plus sign

    C. Tommy was afraid of being nailed

D. Tommy liked playing jokes on others

    Michael was a farmer in Texas．His parents moved to the USA from Ireland in the 1940’s， and they became very rich．Michael decided to go back to Ireland to meet his old grandfather， who was still living on the same farm．
Michael booked his ticket，flew to Shannon airport，hired a car and drove to the small village where his parents had been born．He asked for directions to the Ohagan farm，and in the end he drove up a bumpy path．He was shocked by what he saw：a small field，and in the middle of it was an old house，which looked as if it was falling down．Animals were wandering in and out of the front door，and on the porch an old man was smoking a pipe.
“Are you Mr. Ohagan?”asked Michael。
“Yes，”replied the old mall．
“I'm your grandson，Michael，”said Michael．
“A--ha，”replied the old man．
“Is this your farm?”asked Michael．
“Yes，all the way to the wall over there，”said the old man．
Michael was astonished．“Grandfather,”he said，“I have a farm in Texas．I can get into my car and drive all day and I still haven’t reached the end of the farm．”
“Yes，”said his grandfather．“I used to have a car like that．”
【小題1】Michael’s parents _______．

A．still lived in Ireland alone	B．owned a small farm in Texas
C．returned to their birthplace	D．were Irish immigrants（移民）in America

【小題2】Which of the following shocked Michael?

A．The farm was small	B．The old house looked like his own．
C．Living conditions were poor in the fields．	D．Animals were free in the fields．

【小題3】The old man _______．

A．owned a small farm, which extended only to the wall not far away

B．had so large a farm that he couldn’t cover it in a day

C．hadn’t his modern car any longer

D．used to have as good a car as his grandson’s

【小題4】Which of the following is TRUE?

A．Michael owned a large farm in Ireland.

B．Michael’s car was in such poor condition that it couldn’t reach the end of the farm within a day．

C．Michael’s farm was too large for a car to reach its end in a day．

D．Michael didn’t know what to say to his grandfather

【小題5】From“I used to have a car like that”，we can see that________．

A．the old man really had a car like that

B．the old man knew his son’s farm in the US was quite large

C．the old man misunderstood what Michael said

D．the old man wanted to buy a car like that