Question

A group of swans flew down to a beach where a crow(乌鸦) was jumping around. The crow watched them with disdain(鄙视).

“You have no flying skills at all!” he said to the swans. “All you can do is to move your wings. Can you turn over in the air? No, that’s beyond you. Let’s have a flying competition. I’ll show you what real flying is!”

One of the swans, a strong young male, took up the challenge. The crow flew up and began to show his skills. He flew in circles, performed other flying tricks, and then came down and looked proudly at the swan. Now it was the swan’s turn. He flew up, and began flying over the sea. The crow flew after him, making all kinds of comments(评价) about his flying. They flew on and on till they couldn’t see the land and there was nothing but water on all sides. The crow was making fewer and fewer comments. He was now so exhausted that he found it hard to stay in the air, and had to struggle to keep himself from falling into the water.

The swan pretended not to notice, and said, “Why do you keep touching the water, brother? Is that another trick?”

“No,” said the crow. He knew he had lost the competition. “I’m in trouble because of my pride! If you don’t help me, I’ll lose my life…”

The swan took pity on him, and took him on his shoulders and flew back to the beach.

1.What’s the correct order of the following events?

a. The crow showed off its flying skills.

b. The swan felt pity for the crow and saved it.

c. The crow laughed at the swan’s flying.

d. The crow followed the swan and got into trouble.

e. The crow challenged the swans and a strong young swan accepted it.

A. e, c, d, a, b B. a, e, c, d, b

C. c, e, a, d, b D. e, a, d, c, b

2.What does the underlined word “exhausted” in Paragraph 4 mean?

A. Tired. B. Angry.

C. Frightened.D. Regretful.

3.Why did the crow keep touching the water?

A. It was showing another flying skill.

B. It was struggling to keep itself from falling into the water.

C. It was thirsty and wanted to drink some water.

D. It was enjoying itself by doing so.

4.What can we infer(推断) from the passage?

A. The crow didn’t know flying.

B. Flying skills were useless.

C. The swan saved the crow because they were good friends.

D. The swan was better at long-distance flying than the crow.

5.What does the story tell us?

A. Pride goes before a fall

B. The early bird catches the worm.

C. No pains, no gains.       

D. Practice makes perfect.

Answer

1.C

2.A

3.B

4.D

5.A

【解析】

试题分析：本文讲述乌鸦和天鹅比武飞行的故事。乌鸦嘲笑天鹅不懂飞行，因此向天鹅发起挑战，结果失败的是乌鸦。这个故事告诉我们做人做事戒骄戒躁。

1.通篇理解题。文章第二段讲述乌鸦嘲笑天鹅并向天鹅挑战，第三段讲述乌鸦展示自己的飞行技巧，第四段讲述乌鸦飞随天鹅并陷入了危险；最后一段讲述天鹅可怜乌鸦并救了它。故答案为C。

2.词义猜测题。He was now so exhausted that he found it hard to stay in the air, and had to struggle to keep himself from falling into the water.“他现在非常累以致很难待在空气中，并且必须挣扎着保护自己以免落入水中。”联系上下文，可知exhauxted的意思是疲劳的。故选A。

3.细节理解题。根据第四段最后一句话He was now so exhausted that he found it hard to stay in the air, and had to struggle to keep himself from falling into the water. “他现在非常累以致很难待在空气中，并且必须挣扎着保护自己以免落入水中。”可知答案，故选B。

4.推理判断题。根据文中后部分介绍，在飞行长距离后，乌鸦非常疲累，而天鹅并无大碍，可以推断天鹅比乌鸦更适合长距离飞行，故选D。

5.推理判断题。文章倒数第二段提到I’m in trouble because of my pride!“我陷入危险都是因为我太骄傲。”可知，文章告诉我们“骄者必败”这个道理。故选A。

考点：故事类短文阅读。