閱讀下列短文，從每題所給的四個選項（A、B、C和D）中，選出最佳選項。

（一）

Sarah Williams went to a boarding school. Here is one of the letters she wrote to her parents from the school：

Wentworth Girls school

Beachside

July 20th

Dearest Mom and Dad，

Im afraid I have some very bad news for you. I have been very naughty and the school principal is very angry with me. She is going to write to you. You must come and take me away from here. She does not want me in the school any longer.

The trouble started last night when I was smoking in bed. This is against the rules， of course. We are not supposed to smoke at all.

As I was smoking， I heard footsteps coming towards the room. I did not want a teacher to catch me smoking， so I threw the cigarette away.

Unfortunately， the cigarette fell into the waste-paper bas-ket， which caught fire.

There was a curtain near the waste-paper basket which caught fire， too. Soon the whole room was burning.

The principal phoned for the fire department. The school is a long way from the town and by the time the fire depart-ment arrived， the whole school was in flames. Many of the girls are in the hospital.

The principal says that the fire was all my fault and you must pay for the damage. She will send you a bill for about a million dollars.

Im very sorry about this.

Much love，

Sarah

P. S. None of the above is true， but I have failed my ex-ams. I just want you to know how bad things could have been！

1. Why did Sarah write home？

A. To tell her parents about the fire.

B. To ask for a lot of money.

C. To tell her parents she had failed her exams.

D. To tell her parents she had to leave school.

2. Why did Sarah tell her parents the story about the fire？

A. She wanted to worry them.

B. She wanted to make them laugh.

C. She wanted to make them less angry at the real news.

D. She wanted to warn them about what the principal was going to do.

3. The letter before the P. S. was ________.

A. mostly true? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?B. partly true

C. all true? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? D. completely untrue

4. Sarah said the principal was angry because ________.

A. she had failed her exams

B. it was her fault that had caused the fire

C. he had not made the phone call in time

D. she had been caught smokimg in bed

（二）

Parts of Africa are covered by a dark cloud. But this is no rain cloud. It is a living cloud made of billions of locusts[蝗蟲] that are traveling across the continent eating everything in their path.

And now in the battle to stop this disaster， a radio station in Senegal， West Africa， is offering listeners 50 kilograms of rice if they can catch and kill 50 kilograms of locusts.? “We think this idea will get more people to take part in the war on the locusts，” said Abdoulaye Ba， from Sud-Fm， a radio station in one of Senegals worst affected area.

This is West Africas biggest locust disaster in 15 years， and it is moving east， causing huge damage to crops. As they move they produce young and increase their number and will soon threaten[威脅] Sudan in the northeast of Africa. Some say it could reach Asia.

Experts say the harmful effect on crops in areas already suffering from food shortage and war could cause many people to go hungry. Governments in the areas are not well equipped to fight the pest.

Although leaders of 12 countries have agreed on a plan， it is not expected to be enough. “We are now treating 6，000 hectares[公頃] per day with pesticide[殺蟲劑]， but we need to treat 20，000 hectares per day in order to have any hope of controlling this disaster，” said Mohamed Abdallahi Ould Babah， director of locust control in Mauritania.

Requests are being made for international aid， which is the only way to limit the disaster， the UNs Food and Agriculture Organization warned.

1. By using “dark cloud” to describe locusts in the first para-graph， the author of the article ________.

A. showed the size and speed of the mass of locusts

B. suggested the great damage that locusts can cause

C. warned that locusts would sweep the continent like rain clouds

D. both A and B

2. The story is mainly about ________.

A. West Africas united effort in fighting a disaster

B. the difficulty in controlling locusts

C. how locusts caused great damage to West Africa

D. a struggle to fight against a disaster brought by locusts in West Africa

3. The locust disaster ________.

A. would be even more serious in Asia

B. is（was）out of control

C. affected only the warning areas

D. can not be stopped unless twice as much pesticide is provided for the affected areas

4. Which of the following is WRONG？

A. Sud-Fm offered a reward for fighting locusts so that more people would join in the effort.

B. Senegal is to the southwest of Sudan.

C. The locusts can cause such damage mainly because it has no natural enemy in West Africa.

D. 12 countries affected by locusts have united but still lack pesticide.

（三）

About 1966 or so， a NASA team doing work for the Apollo moon mission took the astronauts near Tuba City. There the landscape of the Navajo Reservation looks very much like the lunar surface. Among all the trucks and large vehicles were two large figures that were dressed in full lunar space suits.

Nearby a Navajo shepherd[牧羊人] and his son were watching the strange creatures walk about， occasionally being watched over by other NASA workers. The two Navajo people were noticed and approached by the NASA people. Since the shepherd and his son did not know English， they asked the NASA people who the strange creatures were. The NASA people told them that they were just men that were getting ready to go to the moon. The shepherd became very excited and asked if he could send a message to the moon with the astronauts.

The NASA officials thought this was a great idea so they provided a tape recorder. After the man gave them his message， they asked his son to translate. His son would not.

Later， they tried a few more people on the reservation to translate and every person they asked would chuckle[偷偷地笑] and then refuse to translate. Finally， with cash in hand someone translated the message， “Watch out for these guys， they have come to take your land！ ”

1. The appearance of the Navajo Reservation is very similar to that of ________.

A. the Tuba City

B. the moon

C. the NASA research center

D. the Apollo moon mission

2. When the older Navajo heard that the men in front of him were going to the moon， he ________.

A. felt frightened and ran away quickly

B. chatted excitedly with the NASA workers

C. got on the modern trucks and large vehicles for fun

D. tried to say something to the moon creatures

3. The son did not translate the words his father said because ________.

A. he had trouble in understanding his father

B. the words his father used were too difficult to be translated

C. his father was sending a warning against the NASA people

D. he believed that the NASA workers could understand their language

4. according to this passage， we can know that the shepherd was ________.

A. patient and brave? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?B. foolish and impolite

C. humorous and intelligent? ? ? ? ? ? ? D. knowledgeable and talkative

參考答案與解析

（一）

介紹了Sarah Williams從學(xué)校給父母親所寫的一封信。

1. C 推斷題。選項B在文章中沒有涉及，因此排除;根據(jù)信后的附言：None of the above is true，but l have failed my exams可知選項A、D都不真實。

2. C 推測題。根據(jù)文章中附言的最后一句可知。

3. D 細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)信后的附言None of the above is true可知。

4. B 細(xì)節(jié)題。在信的正文根本沒有涉及有關(guān)考試之事，排除A;根據(jù)信的最后兩段，校長并沒有責(zé)備她未及時打電話，排除C;信的第三段so I threw the cigarette away說明她沒有被抓著在吸煙，排除D。

（二）

本文主要敘述了在非洲所發(fā)生的一次蝗災(zāi)害。

1. D 細(xì)節(jié)題。由第一段中的traveling across the continent eating everything in their path可知作者想表明蝗災(zāi)發(fā)生的規(guī)模和所造成的災(zāi)害。

2. D 主旨題。由每段首句和末段可知。

3. B 推論題。根據(jù)第三段和第四段的意思可推知。

4. C 細(xì)節(jié)題。文章中沒有被提到C項內(nèi)容，所以錯了。由文第二段可知A對;由…于蝗災(zāi)發(fā)生在West Africa，然后向northwest of Africa發(fā)展，而Sudan正在這一個方向，所以B對;由第五段可知D也對。

（三）

本文講述了幽默而又機智的牧羊人父子與美國宇航局官員斗智的故事。

1. B 細(xì)節(jié)題。由第一段第二句可知。

2. D 細(xì)節(jié)題。由第二段最后一句可知。

3. C 推斷題。由最后一段可推知。

4. C 推斷題。由整個故事推知，牧羊人幽默而又聰明。

終身保修

After burying his mother nine months earlier， a client of the local mortuary finally had enough money to purchase the expensive coffin hed originally wanted. So we exhumed the body and transferred his deceased mother into the new steel casket. “Whats so special about this coffin？” I asked the funeral director. He replied， “It has a life time warranty.”

在將母親下葬9個月后，當(dāng)?shù)貧泝x館的一個客戶終于攢夠了錢去買那副他早就相中的價值不菲的棺材了。他把母親的棺材挖了出來，將尸體轉(zhuǎn)移到了那副新的鋼制棺材中。

“這副棺材有什么特別？”，我問葬禮的承辦人。他回答說，“這種棺材終生保修?！?/p>