It had been said that Lincoln was always ready to join in a laugh at himself. There is one particular story that he always told with great delight.
In his early days as a lawyer, Lincoln went from town to town to hear and judge legal cases. During one of these trips, he was sitting in a train when a strange man came up to him. The stranger looked at the tall clumsy(愚笨的)lawyer and said that he had something he believed belonged to him. Lincoln was a bit puzzled. He had never seen the man before. He didn’t see how a total stranger could have something of his. Lincoln asked him how this could be. The stranger pulled out a pencil knife and began to explain. Many years before, he had been given the pencil knife. He had been told to keep it until he was able to find a man uglier than himself.
Lincoln’s eyes always sparkled when he reached this part of the story. The story always brought smiles to the faces of those who heard it. The tale itself was funny. But even more delightful was the fact that a man as Lincoln could still laugh at himself.207
41. This passage is about .
A. a stranger and his knife B. Lincoln’s favorite story
C. meeting strangers on a train D. Lincoln’s favorite pencil knife
42. Lincoln was given the pencil knife for .
A. his appearance B. a good laugh
C. being a lawyer D. being good-humored
43. From this story we know that the stranger in the train .
A. liked to make friends B. liked to tell jokes
C. collected pencil knives D. was not a handsome man
44. What do you think would happen to the knife eventually? .
A. Lincoln accepted it and kept it
B. Lincoln refused it and the stranger kept it
C. Lincoln accepted it but immediately threw it away
D. Lincoln refused it and the stranger threw it away
45. The MAIN POINT of the story is that .
A. Lincoln was a great and proud man B. Lincoln, even though great, was not proud
C. Lincoln lacked self-respect D. Lincoln had a good sense of humor
Passage Two
You have been badly injured in a car accident. It is necessary to give you a blood transfusion. However, special care must be taken in selecting new blood for you. If the blood is too different from your own, the transfusion could kill you.
There are four basic types of blood: A, B, AB, and O. A simple test can show a person’s blood type. Everybody is born with one of these four types of blood. Blood type, like hair color and height, is inherited (遗传)from parents.
Because of substances contained in each type, the four groups must be transfused carefully. Basically, A and B cannot be mixed. A and B cannot receive AB, but AB may receive A or B. O can be given to any other group; hence, it is often called the universal giver. For the opposite reason, AB is sometimes called the universal receiver. However, because so many reactions can happen in transfusions, patients usually receive only salt or plasma (血浆) until their blood can be matched (匹配)as exactly as possible in the blood bank of a hospital. In this way, it is possible to avoid any bad reactions to the transfusion.
There is a relationship between your blood type and your nationality. Among Europeans and people of European ancestry, about 42 percent have type A while 45 percent have type O. The rarest is type AB. Other races have different percentages. For example, some American Indian groups have nearly 100 percent type O.
46. A good title for this selection is .
A. Getting Blood And Plasma B. Special Blood Colors
C. Universal Giver and Receiver D. Human Blood Types
47. The word “hence” in the third paragraph means .
A. therefore B. always C. often D. while
48. The author suggests that the third most common blood type among Europeans be .
A. A B. B C. AB D. O
49. People with type A blood can receive .
A. AB B. B C. O D. all the above
50. If you need a transfusion, the best and safest blood for you is .
A. type A B. type AB
C. exactly the same type as yours D. a mixture of salt, plasma, and type O
Passage Three
According to a recent report from UN, the world’s population continues to grow. There are over 5 billion people now. It could reach 6.2 billion by the end of the century and 8.4 billion in the year of 2025.
But during the past 10 years or so, a large rapid drop in the world’s birth rate has taken place. Families generally are smaller now than they were a few years ago. It is happening in both developing and developed countries.
China is one such country that has already cut its rate of population growth by about one half since 1970. Each Chinese family has one child. And the hope is to reach a zero population growth rate by 2000.
Several countries in Europe already have a negative growth rate. Experts said that these countries would have not enough workers in the future. And the people who are working could face much higher taxes to help support the growing retirees.159
51. How many people will have been increased by the 2000?
A. 3 400 million B. 1 200 million C. 2 200 million D. 6 200 million
52. In the past ten years, _______.
A. there are fewer and fewer people
B. the world’s population has not been growing as fast as I used to
C. the world’s birth rate has risen
D. the number of people has been cut
53. In China each family is allowed to have only one child, so that _______.
A. the birth rate can be cut
B. half of the number of people has been cut
C. the number of people has increased by 1/2
D. each family is smaller
54. In some European countries _______.
A. the birth rate is unknown
B. the birth rate is too large
C. the death rate is larger than the birth rate
D. the birth rate is larger than the death rate
55. In the European countries _______.
A. not many people would like working
B. supporting the retired would be a big problem
C. the people who are working would refuse to pay taxes
D. retirees live on taxes
Passage Four
Can you remember the day when you spoke your first word? If you can, you are unusual.
Try to imagine what first few months of your life were like. I am sure you just spent most of your time eating, sleeping and crying. As you grow older, you were awake more of the time. It took your parents more time to play with you and talk to you. You watched and listened curiously. You began to know that people made certain sounds to go with certain things.
Then you began to try making the sounds you heard. And step by step you were able to make the right sound for one thing.
On that day you came to understand the secret of language. The secret is that a certain sound means a certain thing. One sound might be as good as another. But it is no good as a word unless everybody agrees on its meaning. Only when a group of people use the same set of sounds of things, can they understand each other. Then, and only then do these people have a language.
After you found the secret of language, you learned words. Some of the words meant things, such as books, chairs and shoes. Some words meant doing things, such as go and swim. And other words describe things, such as good and dirty. Soon you learned to put words together to express one’s idea, such as “I want to go out and play with my friends.” This is language. By means of language people can communicate. So we say languages are means of communication.
56. _______ can remember the day when _______.
A. One, he spoke his first word B. No one, he spoke his first word
C. Most people, they spoke their first words D. None, they spoke their first words
57. When you were a little baby, you _______.
A. made sounds to let people know that you wanted to eat
B. spent most of your time playing with your parents
C. could not hear any sound around you
D. spent most of your time eating, playing and crying
58. The “secret of language” is that _______.
A. one sound might be as good as another B. people can understand each other
C. a certain sound is for a certain thing D. there is a special sound for each person
59. You could learn words _______.
A. before you knew what the language was B. after you knew what the language was
C. if you knew the secret of the language D. when you were a baby
60. The aim in using language is _______.
A. to get everything one wants from others
B. to say what one wants to know
C. to share ideas, opinions, news, etc with one another
D. to make oneself understood by others
Ⅴ.Writing (20 points)
Directions: For this part, write a letter in about 80 words based on the following situations.
你是Helen，要写一封信给Julie，对她和她丈夫昨天请你和你丈夫吃饭表示感谢，表示要回请他们，以答谢他们的盛情款待。
