*Question*
A mouse looked through a hole in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package. What food might it contain? He was astonished to discover that it was a mouse trap! Running to the farmyard, the mouse shouted, warning, "There is a mouse trap in the house; there is a mouse trap in the house." The chicken with her head high, said, "Shut up, Little Ugly. This is a great concern to you, but it has nothing to do with me; I cannot be bothered by it." The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mouse trap in the house." "I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse," said the pig, "but there is nothing I can do about it but pray; you are always in my prayers." The mouse turned to the cow, who said, "A mouse trap; am I in great danger, huh?" So the mouse had to face the farmer's mouse trap alone. That very night a sound was heard through the house, like the sound of a mouse trap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see that it was a poisonous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital. She returned home with a fever. It is said that drinking fresh chicken soup will help treat fever, so the farmer took his sharp knife to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient. His wife's sickness continued so that friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer killed the pig. The farmer's wife did not get well, in fact, she died, and so many people came for her funeral. The farmer had the cow killed to provide meat for all of them to eat. So next time someone is facing a problem, don't say that has nothing to do with you. We could see from the passage that the mouse was _ . A) good at cheating others B) dishonest C) kind and warm-hearted D) foolish
**Answer**
C

*Question*
In today's world, we rely on computers as never before.They are used for everything from ordering a pizza to running hospitals and military defense systems.Banking and credit card information is stored and accessed by computers.So what happens when a computer gets infected with a virus? One effect is that people's access to their e-mail accounts is cut off.A more serious possible consequence is that billions of dollars could be lost. A virus is a computer program that copies itself onto other programs and infects them. Similar to an easily spread disease, a computer virus goes from computer to computer, either adding to or changing the tasks a program is designed to do. The first computer viruses were created in the mid '80s and had varying effects.Some caused files to be deleted, or made the letters on the screen appear to fall off.Others displayed a specific message once the computer was turned on. Viruses today are much more widespread and dangerous than ever before.Perhaps the most damaging to date has been the "I Love You" virus."I Love You" appeared in May 2000 and has possibly been the most destructive virus in terms of monetary loss. The virus is released when an attachment to a fake e-mail message is opened.By changing the names of files on computers, "I Love You" makes them difficult to access.It also searches for important personal information, including passwords, which it sends to a web site for others to see. It is estimated that more than 45 million people in 20 countries have had their computers infected by the "I Love You" virus.Some say the cost of repair and lost business has been more than US$10 billion. If you own a computer, it is important to keep it in good health by installing an anti-virus program.If updated frequently, it will protect your e-mail access-not to mention your wallet. What does "virus" mean in the article? A) An easily spread disease. B) A contagious computer program. C) An extremely small organism which causes disease. D) A parasite in computer.
**Answer**
B

*Question*
The painter Georgia O'keeffe was born in Wisconsin in 1887 and grew up on her family's farm. At seventeen she decided she wanted to be an artist and left the farm for schools in Chicago and New York, but she never lost her bond with the land. Like most painters, O'Keeffe painted the things that were most important to her, and nearly all her works are simplified portrayals of nature. O'Keeffe became famous when her paintings were discovered and exhibited in New York by the photographer Levered Stieglitz, whom she married in 1924. During a visit to New York in 1929, O'Keeffe was so moved by the bleak landscape and broad skies of the Western desert that she began to paint its images. Cows' skulls and other bleached bones found in the desert figured prominently in her paintings. When her husband died in 1946, she moved to New Mexico permanently and used the horizon lines of the desert, colorful flowers, rocks, barren hills, and the sky as subjects for her paintings. Although O'Keeffe painted her best known works in the 1920's, 1930's and 1940's, she continued to produce tributes(, ) to the Western desert until her death in 1986. O'Keeffe is widely considered to have been a pioneering American modernist painter. While most early modern American artists were strongly influenced by European art, O'Keeffe's position was more independent. She established her own vision and preferred to view her painting as a private endeavor. Almost from the beginning, her work was more indentifiably American than that of her contemporaries in its simplified and idealized treatment of color, light, space, and natural forms. Which of the following best tells what this passage is about ? A) O'Keeffe was a distinctive modern American painter. B) O'Keeffe was the best painter of her generation. C) O'Keeffe liked to paint only what was familiar to her. D) O'Keeffe used colors and shapes that are too reduced and simple.
**Answer**
A

*Question*
American culture is unique because it is formed and developed under certain conditions. The major factors contributing to the making of this new nation and the forming of a new culture are the hard environment, ethnic diversity (;) and plural religion, which is quite different from other nations in the world. What is more, these elements are still influencing the American culture. The early immigrants who were English Puritans settled down in northeast part of America from 1607 to 1892. Frontiers were pushed further west. The frontiersmen looked for a land of rich resources and a land of promise, opportunity and freedom. Actually they looked for a better life. So individualism , self-reliance, and equality of opportunity have perhaps been the values most closely associated with the frontier heritage of America. In history, people from different countries in the world rushed to America three times. They brought their own culture to America and later on, different cultures were mixed together. Thus the unique American culture was formed, a common cultural life with commonly shared values. The fundamental American belief in individual freedom and the fight of individuals to practice their own religion is at the center of religious experience in the United States. The great diversity of ethnic backgrounds has produced religious pluralism ; almost all of the religions of the world are now practiced in the United States. Nowadays, we can see the continual influence of the three elements in the current American society. American family is typically parents and their unmarried children. Middle-aged and elderly people generally do not live with their married children. The people in America have a very strong desire to start a new life in a new place. Quite a number of people change residences every year. The average American moves fourteen times in his lifetime. What might be the most suitable title of this article? A) The Immigrants in America B) Why American Culture Is Unique C) The Influence of American Culture D) Plural Religion and American Culture
**Answer**
B