From the beginning of human history, wild animals provided food, clothing and sometimes medicine for man. We may not depend as much on wild animals now. But we hear about them every day. Americans use the names of animals in many ways. Automobile manufacturers and gasoline companies especially like to use big cats to sell their products. They like lions, tigers and wildcats. When Americans say wildcat, they usually mean a lynx, an ocelot or a bobcat. All these cats attack quickly and fiercely. So wildcats represent something fast and fierce.
An early American use of the word wildcat was quite different. It was used to describe members of Congress who declared war on Britain in 1812. A magazine of that year said the wildcat congressmen went home. It said they were unable to face the responsibility of having involved their country in an unnecessary war.
Wildcat also has been used as a name for money in the 1800s. At that time, some states permitted banks to make their own money. One bank in the state of Michigan offered paper money with a picture of a wildcat on it. Some banks, however, did not have enough gold to support all the paper money they offered. So the money had little or no value. It was called a wildcat bill or a wildcat banknote. The banks who offered this money were called wildcat banks. A newspaper of the time said those were the days of wildcat money. It said a man might be rich in the morning and poor by night.
Wildcat then was also used for an oil well or gold mine that had almost no oil or gold in it. Dishonest developers would buy such property. Then they would sell it and leave town with the money. The buyers were left with worthless holes in the ground. Today, wildcat oil wells are in areas that are not known to have oil.
1.What is the main idea of the passage?
A. Wildcats and their stories. B. Wildcats and their characters.
C. Varieties of animal species. D. Relationship between animals and humans.
2. The underlined words "a lynx, an ocelot or a bobcat" in Paragraph 1 may refer to "__________".
A. gasoline companies B. automobile manufacturers
C. brands of automobile D. names of wildcats
3.Which of the following would people like to have or trust according to the passage?
A. Wildcat congressmen. B. Wildcat oil wells.
C. Wildcat banks. D. Wildcat cars.
4.It can be inferred that during the days of wildcat money__________.
A. people couldn't buy anything with the money
B. people complained and suffered a lot
C. the rich invested too much on oil wells
D. people didn't know how to save money
Some people believe that international sport creates goodwill between the nations and that if countries play games together they will learn to live together. Others say that the opposite is true: international contests encourage false national pride and lead to misunderstanding and hatred. There is probably some truth in both arguments, but in recent years the Olympic Games have done little to support the view that sports encourage international brotherhood. Not only was there the incident of tragedy involving murders of athletes, but the Games were also ruined by lesser incidents caused principally by minor national contests.
One country received its second-place medals with visible anger after the hockey final. There had been noisy scenes at the end of the hockey match, as the losers disagreed with the final decisions. They believed that one of their goals should have been allowed and that their opponents’ victory was unfair. Their manager was in great anger when he said: “This isn’t hockey. Hockey and the International Hockey Federation are finished.” The president of the Federation said later that such behavior could result in the suspension(停赛) of the team for at least three years.
The American basketball team announced that they would not yield first place to Russia, after a disputable(有争议的) end to their contest. The game had ended in disorder. It was thought at first that the United States had won by a single point, but it was announced that there were three seconds still to play. A Russian player then threw the ball from one end of the court to the other, and another player popped it into the basket. It was the first time the US had ever lost an Olympic basketball match. An appeal jury (评审委员会) debated the matter for four and a half hours before announcing that the result would stand. The American players then voted not to receive the silver medals.
Incidents of this kind will continue as long as sport is played competitively rather than for the love of the game. The suggestion that athletes should compete as individuals or in non-national teams, might be too much to hope for. But in the present organization of the Olympics there is far too much that encourages aggressive patriotism (爱国主义).
According to the author, recent Olympic Games have ____.
A. created goodwill between the nations
B. hardly showed any international friendship
C. caused only false national pride
D. led to more and more misunderstanding and hatred
【小题２】What did the manager mean by saying, “...Hockey and the International Hockey Federation are finished”?
A. There should be no more hockey matches organized by the Federation.
B. His team would no longer take part in international games.
C. Hockey and the Federation are ruined by the unfair decisions.
D. The Federation should be ended.
【小题３】 The basketball example implied that .
A. too much patriotism was displayed in the incident
B. the announcement to make the match last longer was wrong
C. the appeal jury was too hesitant in making the decision
D. The American team was right in receiving the silver medals
【小题４】Which statement best summarizes this passage?
A. The organization of the Olympic Games must be improved.
B. Different teams often have disputes when fighting for the first place.
C. Any team that has disrespectful behavior should be suspended.
D. Athletes should compete as individuals.
College libraries are designed primarily for research and study. To explain its use, let us choose a research topic and follow the step-by-step procedure of looking up the material for the paper．
Suppose your assignment is to write a paper on a novel called The Sun Also Rises by American writer Hemingway．The first step is to go to the main catalog．Many small drawers on the large wooden cabinets are lined up in alphabetical(字母的) order．Each of the drawers contains hundreds of alphabetical ordered cards．These cards are printed references to all material available in the library．Title cards are cataloged by the first word of the book title, leaving out the articles like “a”, “an” and “the”．And then you get the cards for the books you need．On the upper left corner of each card is the call number．This is the numerical code that shows where the book is located in the library．The library has open and closed stacks．If your book is on the open stacks, you can go to the open-stack room, and according to the call number find it out by yourself．There are only about 30,000 books on open stacks, while most of the 800,000 books in our library are kept in closed stacks, which are accessible only to teachers and graduate students.
For undergraduates like you, borrowing books from the closed stacks have to be done with the help of our librarian．In that case, you must fill out a call slip(纸条) for the book, showing the call number, author and title．You can get call slips on tables near the catalog cabinets．You show your call slip together with your library card to a librarian at the information desk．He or she will help you find the book out in the closed stacks.
1.What is the main purpose of this text?
A. To present readers a brief introduction to a college library．
B. To guide readers how to find books needed in a college library.
C. To tell readers how to fill out a call slip in a college library.
D. To show readers where to find books in a college library.
2.What letter you should look for on the title card for the book The Old Man and the Sea by the Hemingway?
A. The letter “t”. B. The letter “h”. C. The letter “o”. D. The letter “s”.
3.How are books arranged and shelved in the library?
A. By call numbers. B. By call slips of authors’ names.
C. In alphabetical order. D. By the first word of book title.
4.Suppose you are an undergraduate and you want to borrow a book from the closed stacks, which is the correct order to do it?
a. go to the main catalog b. show your call slip and library card
c. find out the call number d. fill out a call slip
e. get the cards for the books
A. a-b-e-d-c B. b-a-c-d-e C. a-e-c-d-b D. b-c-a-e-d
Here is a true story about a famous man who worked in the White House and a criminal. They once faced the same thing: their mother gave them apples when they were young.
The criminal said: one day, my mother brought some apples and asked my brother and me: “Which do you want?” “The reddest and biggest one,” my little brother said. My mother stared at him and said to him angrily: “You should learn to give the good things to others; you shouldn’t always think of yourself.” Seeing this, I suddenly changed my idea and then said to my mother: “Mum, please give me the smaller one and give the bigger one to my little brother.” Hearing my words, my mother was very happy. She kissed me on my face and gave the reddest and biggest apple to me as a prize. From then on, I learned to tell lies, fight, steal and rob. In order to get what I wanted, I played hard. As a result, I was sent into prison.
The famous man from the White House said: One day, my mother brought some apples. She said to my brother and me: “You all want the reddest and biggest one, right? Well, let’s have a competition. Now I divide the grassland in front of the gate into two and I will give one to each of you and you must shear(修剪) it well. And I will give the reddest and biggest apple to him who does it the most quickly and best.”
After the competition, I won and I got the biggest apple. In our family, as long as you want to get the best things, you must take part in competition. I think it is fair. No matter what you want, you must pay lots of efforts.
1.The criminal got the reddest and biggest apple because .
A. he told the truth that he wanted a smaller one
B. his mother loved him more than she loved the younger brother
C. elder brother should of course have the bigger one
D. he knew how to make his mother happy from her answer
2.We can conclude from the passage that .
A. it’s important to make children aware that no matter what they want, they must pay work
B. it’s wrong to ask children to choose apples when they are not old enough
C. it’s wrong to ask children not to always think of themselves
D. it’s always necessary to have a competition when we give children apple
3.The writer tells the story by .
A. organizing it in the order of time
B. making a comparison between two men
C. providing some scientific information
D. describing it in the order of space
4. It is implied in the passage that .
A. we should always try to win competitions which can bring us a lot
B. in order to get what we want, we should play hard
C. giving children apples will lead them to become criminals
D. a mother’s educational method has a great influence on a child’s growing
Eighty-year-old retired tailor, James McKay, spent Saturday night in jail after thirty-year-old Keith Smith over the head his walking stick. McKay's wife, Laurence told us that while McKay is usually a person, he had been to this act of violence by getting wet just once too often.
Smith lives above the McKays and it appears that not only is he a keen gardener, he is also a collector. Unfortunately for him, the water he sent over his balcony every day ended up on the McKay's, or too often, on the McKays .
“For the last fortnight, since Smith moved into the flat above us, we have hardly dared to go to our ,” said Laurence. She added that it wasn't so much the water falling onto their balcony from Smith watering his plant bothered them, it was more the way he cleaned his fish tanks. “We'd be there happily reading our newspapers, when so much water would come from above that we'd be as wet as if we'd with our clothes on! Neither could we get rid of the of fish!”
And on Saturday evening it was just too . “It was James's birthday,” explained Laurence, “and I'd made him a birthday cake. The candles were a great sight as you can imagine, but James didn't get to blow them out.” , Smith emptied one of his larger tanks over his balcony and both the McKays and the cake were wet . Rarely had Laurence seen McKay move so fast. “I couldn't him. He was up there in a flash. It was the fastest I'd seen him move since 1964.”
Smith is not going to take things further with the police. He has also promised to change his from now on. And what of James McKay? he left the police station, a large crowd of supporters sang him, “Happy Birthday”. “ the most exciting birthday !” said the cheerful old man. “The best since my adolescence I'd say!”
1.A. hitting B. tapping C. pushing D. touching
2.A. by B. via C. through D. with
3.A. quiet B. peaceful C. sensitive D. stubborn
4.A. accustomed B. taken C. driven D. attracted
5.A. fish B. seed C. plant D. newspaper
6.A. himself B. itself C. themselves D. herself
7.A. bathroom B. kitchen C. bedroom D. balcony
8.A. which B. what C. that D. whether
9.A. sitting B. exercising C. sleeping D. eating
10.A. regularly B. unconsciously C. precisely D. suddenly
11.A. swum B. showered C. watered D. drowned
12.A. taste B. sense C. feeling D. smell
13.A. little B. soon C. late D. much
14.A. Beside B. Instead C. Otherwise D. Consequently
15.A. over B. across C. through D. down
16.A. stop B. blame C. ignore D. stand
17.A. views B. attitude C. ways D. mind
18.A. While B. Since C. Until D. As
19.A. Sincerely B. Impossibly C. Definitely D. Previously
20.A. before B. ever C. already D. since
I’m told that the job is open to everyone ______ their previous experience. So it’s a chance for a green hand like you.
A. apart from B. due to C. on behalf of D. regardless of
