閱讀理解

A

This is a true story in Guyana. One day， a child took some silver paper from a cigarette box. He rolled it into a tiny ball and pushed it up his nose. He couldnt get it out again. He ran crying to his mother. His mother couldnt get the paper out， either. A week later the paper was still in his nose. His nose began to have a bad smell.

So his mother took his child to the hospital. The doctor looked up his nose. She put a tiny steel rod （鋼棒） into his nose and felt the paper. She said she would have to cut his nose to get the paper out.

The childs mother came home looking sad. She didnt want her child to have his nose cut. He was a handsome boy and the cut would make him ugly.

Next day， the childs mother took him to her friend Sidney. Sidney lived in a house with an old woman called May. She asked to see the child， so the child let her look up his nose. He closed his eyes.

“Yes， I can see it，” May said. “It will be out soon！”

As she spoke， she shook black pepper on the childs nose. He gave a mighty （有力的） sneeze and the paper flew out. His mother was surprised. May told her to take the boy to the sea for a swim. She said the salt water would go up his nose and stop the bad smell.

So the child didnt have to go to the hospital and have his nose cut.

1. How did the silver ball go into the boys nose？

A. It rolled into his nose itself.

B. He himself pushed it up his nose.

C. His mother put it into his nose.

D. A doctor put it in.

2. Why did the boys nose have a bad smell？

A. The ball stayed in his nose for too long.

B. His nose is cut and gave out a bad smell.

C. He didnt like to wash his nose.

D. He had a running nose.

3. What can help to stop the bad smell according to May？

A. Some medicine. B. Some black pepper.

C. Fresh air. D. The salt water.

4. Who helps to take the silver ball out？

A. The boy himself. B. The doctor.

C. Sidney. D. May.

B

The English language changed a lot during the past years and is still changing. This is because Britain has been influenced by many cultures and invaded （侵略） by many countries， too.

The British people had the first big change in their language when the Vikings came and conquered England. They brought words from their language into everyday use： house， ocean， boat. What were these called before？ Perhaps nobody knows.

Later on the Romans invaded， and they brought another set of words： judicial， centenarian， legion， villa， vineyard and many， many more. In fact， for a time Latin became the main language of educated people. Poor people spoke in their own local dialect （方言）， which separated educated people from ordinary people.

After 1066， French was spoken in government offices and became widely used because the rulers were from the French court.

Other rulers from Spain came， and Spanish words came into the English language. With time， many of these words changed and became “English” words， but most of the words we use—delicate， sofa， bed， garden， in fact most words you can think of—came from one of the other European countries.

The history of English is still being written. More words are becoming used daily， largely because of the development of science and technology. Words like byte， download and hyper drive are now in the dictionary. Other colloquial （口頭的） words like bro， phut， yo are also appearing in the dictionary.

5. What was the fact after the Romans invaded England？

A. Latin was spoken by most people.

B. The English language began to form.

C. Different classes spoke different languages.

D. Different classes began to appear in Britain.

6. In the old days， English was influenced greatly by ___ .

A. the other European countries

B. the countries that invaded Britain

C. the main language of educated people

D. the dialects spoken by ordinary people

7. What can we infer from the last paragraph？

A. Some English words changed a lot.

B. English has a long history.

C. English is still changing nowadays.

D. English has a big influence in the world.

8. Whats the passage mainly about？

A. The development of the English language.

B. The countries that invaded Britain.

C. Different kinds of English.

D. The history of Britain.