Languages

There are more than 3，000 million people on the earth and about 2，500 languages. Of these languages only about twelve are used by more than 50 million people. Here are the names of some languages which have very wide use: Chinese， English， French， German， Japanese etc. All these languages have more people talking them today than ever before. A hundred and fifty years ago there were only about twenty million people who talked English， for example. Now there are at least two hundred and fifty million， and there may be many， many more.

1. There are about _____languages in the world.

A. 3，000B. 2，500

C. 5 D. 50 million

2. Which languages are widely used in the world?

A. English and Chinese

B. German and Japanese

C. French

D. ABC

3. 150 years ago， only about ____people spoke English.

A. 20，000 B. 200，000

C. 2，000，000D. 20，000，000

4. Which of the following languages has most speakers， do you think?

A. EnglishB. French

C. ChineseD. Japanese

5. We know that now there are ____ people speaking English than before.

A. fewerB. much less

C. much more D. many more

答案：BDDCD

Weather and Men

Everybody talks about the weather， but nobody does anything about it. It is true. People usually begin their talks with \"Isn't it a nice day?\" \"Do you think it will rain?\" \"What a fine day!\" etc.

Many people think they can tell what the weather is going to be like. But they hardly agree with each other. One man may say， \"Do you see how cloudy it is in the east? It's going to rain tomorrow.\" Another man will say， \"No， it's going to be fine tomorrow.\"

People often look for the weather they want. When a farmer needs water， he looks for something to tell him it's going to rain; he won't believe anything else. When friends have a travel， they are sure the weather is going to clear up very quickly.

Almost everyone listens to what the weather man says. But he doesn't always tell us what we want， and once in a while he makes a mistake. Still， he probably comes closer to being correct than anyone else.

1. \"Nobody does something about the weather\" means_____.

A. nobody can make weather

B. nobody can change weather

C. nobody can talk about weather

D. nobody likes weather

2._____is a common way to start a talk.

A. Talking about weather

B. Keeping silent

C. Asking each other's names

D. Smile

3. Many people hope the weather will be_____.

A. fine B. rainy

C. cloudyD. like what they like to be

4. A weatherman probably is a man who _____.

A. reports weather

B. can see weather

C. can change weather

D. is made of weather

5. When it is cloudy in the east， you know that_______tomorrow.

A. it is going to rain

B. it will be fine

C. it will be still cloudy

D. A or B or C

答案：BADAD

A Selfish Man

Smith was a landlord. He loved money very much and never gave anything to anybody. Soon he became rich.

One day the weather was fine. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the sun was very warm. The landlord was walking along a river with his friends， when， all of a sudden， he slipped and fell into it. He cried， \"Help! Help!\" One of his friends held out his hand and said， \"Give me your hand and I will pull you out.\" The landlord's head went under the water and then came up again， but he did not give his hand to his friends. Then another of his friends tried but the same thing happened.

Just then a farmer came over and saw all this. He knew the landlord very well. He said to the others， \"Let me try.\" He held out his hand and said to the landlord，\" Take my hand and I will pull you out.\" Hearing this， the landlord took the farmer's hand， and in a minute the farmer pulled the landlord out of the water.

All the others got very surprised at this and asked the farmer， \"Why did he give his hand to you but not to us?\" The farmer said， \"You don't know your friend very well. When you say 'give' to him， he does nothing， but when you say 'take'， he takes.\"

1. Smith was a________.

A. doctor B. farmer

C. landlord D. waiter

2. Smith became very rich， because he________gave anything to anybody.

A. alwaysB. never

C. often D. sometimes

3. One day Smith was walking along a________with his friends.

A. river B. park

C. street D. lake

4. The rich man held________his hand when he heard \"Take my hand.\"

A. inB. into

C. downD. out

5. Who knew the rich man very well?

A. his friends B. his wife

C. the farmerD. his children

答案：CBADC