阅读理解

閱读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。

（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[蝗虫] 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[威胁] 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[杀虫剂]， 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

参考答案与解析

（一）

介绍了Sarah Williams从学校给父母亲所写的一封信。

1. C 推断题。选项B在文章中没有涉及，因此排除;根据信后的附言：None of the above is true，but l have failed my exams可知选项A、D都不真实。

2. C 推测题。根据文章中附言的最后一句可知。

3. D 细节题。根据信后的附言None of the above is true可知。

4. B 细节题。在信的正文根本没有涉及有关考试之事，排除A;根据信的最后两段，校长并没有责备她未及时打电话，排除C;信的第三段so I threw the cigarette away说明她没有被抓着在吸烟，排除D。

（二）

本文主要叙述了在非洲所发生的一次蝗灾害。

1. D 细节题。由第一段中的traveling across the continent eating everything in their path可知作者想表明蝗灾发生的规模和所造成的灾害。

2. D 主旨题。由每段首句和末段可知。

3. B 推论题。根据第三段和第四段的意思可推知。

4. C 细节题。文章中没有被提到C项内容，所以错了。由文第二段可知A对;由…于蝗灾发生在West Africa，然后向northwest of Africa发展，而Sudan正在这一个方向，所以B对;由第五段可知D也对。

（三）

本文讲述了幽默而又机智的牧羊人父子与美国宇航局官员斗智的故事。

1. B 细节题。由第一段第二句可知。

2. D 细节题。由第二段最后一句可知。

3. C 推斷题。由最后一段可推知。

4. C 推断题。由整个故事推知，牧羊人幽默而又聪明。

终身保修

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.”

在将母亲下葬9个月后，当地殡仪馆的一个客户终于攒够了钱去买那副他早就相中的价值不菲的棺材了。他把母亲的棺材挖了出来，将尸体转移到了那副新的钢制棺材中。

“这副棺材有什么特别？”，我问葬礼的承办人。他回答说，“这种棺材终生保修。”