三、阅读理解(本题有15小题，每小题2分，共30分)

阅读下面短文，从每个小题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项。

A

“Reading makes a full man” (Bacon, 1597). Novels written by the writers like Jane Austen, Victor Hugo and Ernest Hemingway help us to know more about our history, culture and many other things.

Jane Austen was one of the most well-known women writers of the world. She was born in England in 1775. Jane loved reading and writing. She wrote a number of famous novels in her life. Among them, Pride and Prejudice written in 1779 was the most popular.

Victor Hugo, born in 1802 in France, was one of the best writers in the19th century. The talent in writing and hard work brought great success to Hugo at an early age. His most popular novel, the Hunchback of Notre-Dame, was written in 1831. The book was so successful that it was quickly translated into many other languages across Europe.

Ernest Hemingway, an outstanding American writer and reporter, was born in 1899. His life experience had a great influence on his writing style. Hemingway lived in France and Italy between the 1920s and 1950s. Most of his books such as The Sun Also Rises were written at that time. He won the Nobel Prize in 1954 mainly because of the novel The Old Man and the Sea.

26. When was Jane Austen born?

A. In 1775    B. In 1799   C. In 1802   D. In 1899

27. Where was Victor Hugo from?

A. England.   B. America.    C. Italy.   D. France.

28. Ernest Hemingway won the Nobel Prize mainly because of _________.

A. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame    B. Pride and Prejudice

C. The Old man and the Sea    D. The Sun Also Rises

B

Frogs are animals that can live both in water and on land. There are more than 5,000 kinds of frogs on the earth. The earliest known frogs lived about 190 million years ago and the frogs today still look the same. Here are some fun things that you might not know about frogs. Enjoy!

The Biggest and the Smallest Frogs

Some frogs can be very big. The biggest kind of frog is the Goliath Frog in West Africa. Its body can be nearly 30cm long, about the size of a large cat. The Gold Frog and the Poison Frog are the smallest frogs in the world. They are less than 1cm long. Though the Poison Frog is very small, it is not weak at all. It is dangerous. Any animal that eats it will die very soon.

The Best Jumpers

Frogs are very good at jumping. They developed jumping legs so that they would not be eaten by other large animals. Using their big strong legs, more frogs can jump over 20 times their own length. It is like a person jumping over about 30,48. The Australian Rocket Frog can even jump over 2m, which is 50 times its body length(5.5cm). That might be the reason why frogs are called the best jumpers on the earth.

The Cryogenic Animal

Some frogs like the Common Wood Frog have a special ability to live in very cold places. When the temperature goes down, they become ice frogs. 2/3of their body water freezes. Their hearts stop, and their breathing stops too. You may think they are dead, but in fact they are not. Maybe we humans can learn the way that the frogs do for medical purpose.

29. The earliest frogs lived about ________ million years ago.

A. 20  B. 30   C. 50   D. 190

30. The Gold Frog is one of the ________ frogs on the earth.

A. smallest   B. biggest   C. strongest   D. weakest

31. ________ can jump over 2m.

A. The Goliath Frog   B. The Common Wood Frog

C. The Poison Frog   D. The Australian Rocket Frog

32. What will happen to a Common Wood Frog at very low temperature?

A.It will die very soon.   B. It will be an ice frog.

B.It will become dangerous.   D. It will become very small.

C

I grew up in New Hampshire, a small town in South Canada, where in my father’s words for the seasons were “Spring, Summer, Fairtime and Winter!” At that time, a week-long fair was held in the town every autumn. Thousands of people from other towns came to sell and buy things. It was the busiest time of the year.

When “Fairtime” came, my grandma became the most “useful” and busiest person of the family. Grandma was a kind, well-educated old lady. She was good at cooking. All her rrelatives liked the foodshe cooked. During “fairtime”, they would come to live in her house and have meals there. Grandma was always happy to look after them.

Year after year, many people moved to big cities. There was no loner “Fairtime”. Grandma became very old and was gradually going blind. My parents and I moved to live with Granma in her house. We did our best to make her day-to-day life as comfortable as possible. I was at high school then. What I often did at home was to help Grandma with the daily newspaper’s crossword puzzle. However, she didn’t look happy. She often sat in her room for hours, without saying a word.

To attract people to move back, the Town Hall decided to reopen the Fair. One day, when I came back room school, I saw Grandma wearing her glasses, washing the dishes in the kitchen. With a big smile on her face, she looked a lot much younger. She told me that her two nieces would come. “They said the food I cooked was very delicious and they want to stay in my house again.” Grandma said happily. “They will stay here for one week and we can have a big party. That must be the busiest week I’ve had in years!”

I suddenly realized that Grandma didn’t want to be looked after. She wanted to be “useful”, appreciated and helpful.

33. Thousands of people came to the town to __________ at the Fair.

A. enjoy Grandma’s food    B. sell and buy things

C. learn to cook   D. have a big party

34. Why was Grandma unhappy?

A.She was too busy.   B. No one lived with her.

B.She was not “useful”.  D. She couldn’t see anything

35. Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage?

A. Grandma was good at cooking.   B. Many people moved to big cities.

C. Grandma didn’t like “Fairtime”.   D. Grandma was a kind old lady.

36. What’s the best title for the passage?

A. Fairtime   B. My “Old” Grandma

C. A Small Town    D. Grandma’s Family

D

Text messaging, or simply “texting”, with allows people to send and receive messages on mobile phones, becomes very popular today.

The advantages of texting are obvious. Texting helps to save money. If you have a few words to greet your families and friends on their birthdays or on some important festivals, sending messages can be cheaper than phone calling. Texting helps to save time. Even if you want to send a message to 100 people, you can do it one second. Texting helps you to “talk” to someone when he is too busy to answer the phone. Texting can also help you to “talk” to someone secretly if you don’t want others to hear what you are talking on the phone. These advantages are so amazing that many people are crazy about it. They hold mobile phones in hands all day long, send dozens of messages each day, and even text while driving or walking.

However, texting has its disadvantages. Junk messages may come into your mobile phone box now and then. When your phone box gets too full, you can’t receive any more messages. You may therefore miss some important information.

What’s more, if you don’t do texting properly, for example texting while driving or walking, it can be dangerous. It can cause injuries and even death. It was reported that about 6,000 people were killed and half a million were injured for this reason each year. In Fort Lee, a small town in New Jersey, USA, three people died because they walked into traffic while texting in 2011. Two researchers at Stony Brook University, New York found that texters are 60% more probably to have an accident than others. When people are texting, they don’t notice other people or things around them. To reduce traffic accidents, all drivers of the UN are now not allowed to text while driving. About 32 countries have passed laws restricting the use of mobile phones while driving.

Texting is a wonderful way of communication. However, only when we use it properly, can we fully enjoy the fun it brings.

37. How many advantages of texting are mentioned in the passage?

A.Two.   B. Three.   C. Four.   D. Five.

38. What did the researchers at Stony Brook University find?

A.Texters are easier to have an accident.

B.Texting is a good way of communication.

C.6,000 people were killed and injured.

D.Many people text to greet families and friends.

39. The underlined word restricting probably means _________.

A. not telling   B. not allowing    C. enjoying   D. making

40. This passage is written to tell us that __________.

A. we should do less texting   B. texting has many advantages

C. texting is better than phone calling    D. we should do texting properly