friends come to visit us in the evening, they spend their time telling us they are in a hurry and looking at their watches. It isn't that our friends are all very busy, it is just that When we haven't got a television. People think that we are very strange. "But what do you do in the evening?",they are always asking. The answer is very simple. Both my wife and I have hobbies. We certainly don't spend our evenings staring at the walls. My wife enjoys cooking and painting and often attends evening classes in foreign languages. This is particularly useful as we often go abroad for our holidays. I collect stamps and I'm always busy with my collection. Both of us enjoy listening to the music and playing chess together. Sometimes there are power cuts and we have no electricity in the house. This does not worry us, we just light candles and carry on with what we were doing before. Our friends, however, are lost---no television!---So they don't know what to do. On such evenings our house is very full ---they all come to us. They all have a good time. Instead of sitting in silence in front of the television, everybody talks and plays games. The best title for this passage is _ . A) Why Do We Need a Television? B) Candle! But No Electricity! C) Different Friends, Different Hobbies. D) We Go Without Televisions!
D
(Question)
Brenda Bongos was a happy, artistic girl. She had one big ambition--to play the drums in a band. But one big obstacle lay in her way. To be good enough to play in a band, Brenda had to practice a lot, but she lived next-door to a lot of old people. Many of them are sick. She knew that the sound of beating drums would really get on their nerves. So, she had tried playing in the strangest places: a basement, a kitchen, and even in a shower. But there was always someone it would annoy. One day, while watching a science documentary on TV, she heard that sound cannot travel in space, because there's no air. At that moment, Brenda Bongos decided to become a sort of musical astronaut. With the help of a lot of time, books and work, Brenda built a space bubble. This was a big glass ball connected to a machine which sucked out all the air inside. All that would be left inside was a drum kit and a chair. Brenda got into the space suit she had made, entered the bubble, turned on the machine, and played those drums like a wild child. It wasn't long before Brenda Bongos came very famous. Many people came to see her play in her space bubble. Shortly afterwards she came out of the bubble and started giving concerts. Her fame spread so much that the government suggested that she be part of a unique space journey. Finally, Brenda was a real musical astronaut, and had gone far beyond her first ambition of playing drums in a band. Years later, when asked how she had achieved all this, she thought for a moment, and said: "If those old people next - door hadn't mattered so much to me, I wouldn't have found a solution, and none of this would have ever happened." Why did Brenda try to play in the strangest places? A) Because she didn't want others to hear her play. B) Because she didn't want to disturb others. C) Because she didn't have a large house. D) Because she liked to play in strange places.
(Answer)
B
Ques: By the time we finished, herring covered the bottom of the boat as deep as my calves . For the first time in days, my father seemed happy as a herring choker . Then he looked at the western sky, and his smile faded. The storms were sweeping out of Canada hard and fast. No one could predict their arrival. All fishermen feared them. "We're going back," my father said. He pulled the cord and started the motor. We were only two miles out, but the shoreline looked to me as far away as the moon. Over the distant hills, black clouds ran toward us like wild horses. We made it only halfway home before we met the storm. The wind came first. It lifted the lake in whitecaps. The weight of the herring made us ride low in the water, and the waves broke over our bow. My father struggled to hold us on course. I'd put on my raincoat, but I had no life jacket. Then the rain fell so hard we couldn't see the land. The boat was filling with water. I was scared, but I saw my father sitting straight, holding the boat steady into the wind, and I felt hopeful. He didn't look hurt at all. I was starting to think we were going to make it. That's when the motor died. My father pulled the cord hard, but the motor wouldn't catch. We would go down in no time. "Grab an oar ," he cried above the wind. He always carried two oars for just such a moment. We began to pull hard. My father grunted, from pain or effort I couldn't tell. He dug his oar into the violent lake and bowed into the wind again. With all my strength, I pulled on my own oar. _ I was tired. My arms felt heavy and on fire. I didn't know how much longer I could push that oar through the water. As if he heard my thinking, my father called to me, "I need you, Karl. Only a little longer." So I kept rowing. Just when I thought I had no more strength, I heard it. The sound of waves breaking against the shore. We moved into the shelter of our small cove and rode the swells toward the landing. My mother rushed through the rain to greet us. "I've been so worried," she said. She hugged... According to the passage, what was the main reason Karl kept rowing even though he was very tired? A) He did not want to lose all the fish. B) He knew the storm was about to end. C) He knew his mother was waiting on shore. D) He did not want to disappoint his father.
Ans: D
From the first use of the rocket to carry satellites into space to the setting up of space stations,human beings have been putting great effort into space research. And so far,we have achieved many successes. But there are still numerous tasks in front of us and we should not cease trying to progress. The international space station is an important step we should take in space exploration. It is not only helpful but also essential. It provides a proper space environment for many experiments that we have wanted to do for a long time. It is also a base for the observations of the earth and the universe. It could also be an important base for later travel to the moon and Mars. In a word,if we want to explore space more,the first thing we should do is to set up a space station. As the space station costs a lot of money,it is hard for one country alone to establish one. The USA seems to be the only country that has the ability to build a space station alone,and it has tried to do so,but not very successful. So it _ many other countries to work on it together. Though it is still extremely expensive,it is much cheaper than doing it alone. It is really a job that needs everyone's effort and will benefit everyone. But even so, the funds needed are still a big problem. As for the USA,it seems that it has too many things to spend its money on. Although it is the richest country in the world,it has much debt every year. It has to make arrangements about its finance,and try to find a balance in all these issues. What is the author's attitude towards building and developing the international space station? A) Supportive. B) Doubtful. C) Critical. D) Dissatisfied.
A