閱讀七選五

For the rest of March， a disease will sweep across the US. It will keep kids home from school. 1 Employees will suddenly lose their ability to concentrate.

The disease， known as “March Madness”， refers to the yearly 65-team US mens college basketball tournament. 2 Teams compete against each other in a single-elimination（單局淘汰）tournament that eventually crowns a national champion.

Nearly 20 million Americans will find themselves prisoners of basketball festival madness. The fun comes partly from guessing the winners for every game. Friends compete against friends. 3 Colleagues against bosses.

Big-name schools are usually favored to advance into the tournament. But each year there are dark horses from little-known universities.

This adds to the madness. Watching a team from a school with 3，000 students beat a team from a school with 30，000， for many Americans， is an exciting experience. Two years ago， the little-known George Mason University was one of the final teams. 4

College basketball players are not paid， so the game is more about making a name for their university and themselves. 5 About $4 billion will be spent gambling on the event. According to Media Life magazine， the event will bring in $500 million in advertising income this year， topping the post-season income of every US professional league， including that of the NBA.

A. Husbands against wives.

B. The players will go all out for the games.

C. But that doesnt mean money isnt involved.

D. College students will ignore piles of homework.

E. People are willing to spend more money watching it.

F. It begins on March 15 and lasts through the beginning of April.

G. Many people had never even heard of the university before the tournament.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

完形填空

People of Burlington are being disturbed by the sound of bells. Four students from Burlington College of Higher Education are in the bell tower of the 1 and have made up their minds to 2 the bells non-stop for two weeks as a protest against heavy trucks which 3 day and night through the narrow High Street.

“They not only make it 4 to sleep at night， but they are 5

damage to our houses and shops of historical 6 ，” said John Norris， one of the protesters.

“ 7 we must have these noisy trucks on the roads，” said Jean Lacey， a biology student， “why dont they build a new road that goes 8 the town？ Burlington isnt much more than a 9 village. Its streets were never meant for heavy traffic.”

Harry Fields also studying 10 said they wanted to make as much 11 as possible to force the government officials to realize what everybody was having to 12 . “Most of them dont live here anyway，” he said. “They come in for meetings， and the Town Hall is soundproof（隔音）， 13 they probably dont 14 the noise all that much. Its high time they realized the 15 .”

The fourth student， Liza Vernum， said she thought the public were 16 on their side， and even if they werent， they soon would be.

I asked if they were 17 that the police might come to stop them.

“Not really，” she said， “actually we are 18 bell-ringers. I mean we are assistant bell-ringers for the church. There is no 19

against practising.”

I 20 the church with the sound of the bells ringing in my ears.

1. A. college B. village C. town D. church

2. A. change B. make C. ring D. shake

3. A. march B. run C. drive D. carry

4. A. terrible B. difficult C. uncomfortable D. unpleasant

5. A. doing B. raising C. increasing D. decreasing

6. A. street B. period C. interest D. sense

7. A. If B. Although C. When D. Unless

8. A. to B. through C. over D. round

9. A. pretty B. quiet C. large D. modern

10. A. physics B. economy C. biology D. education

11. A. effort B. time C. trouble D. noise

12. A. stand B. accept C. know D. hear

13. A. but B. so C. or D. however

14. A. notice B. mention C. fear D. control

15. A. event B. loss C. action D. problem

16. A. hardly B. unwillingly C. mostly D. usually

17. A. surprised B. afraid C. pleased D. determined

18. A. proper B. experienced C. hopeful D. serious

19. A. point B. reason C. need D. law

20. A. left B. found C. reached D. passed