Once upon a time there was a precious sword. Now, this sword belonged to a great King, and for as long as anyone could remember, the King spent all his time in his place, enjoying its shows and competitions with other swords. One day a great dispute（爭端）arouse between this King and the King of a neighbouring country. It ended with both declaring war.
The sword was greatly excited at the prospect of taking part in its first real battle. It would show everyone how truly brave and special it was, and would become well-known throughout the kingdom. On the way to the front line, the sword imagined itself the winner of many battles. However, when it arrived, the first battle had already broken out, and the sword got to see the results of the war. What it saw had nothing in common with what the sword had imagined. No elegant shining knights, successful, with their weapons shining in the sunlight. Instead, all the sword saw was broken weapons, and a large crowd of hungry and thirsty men. There was hardly any food left. Everything was covered in dirt and disgusting smell. Many were half dead and scattered on the ground, bleeding from multiple wounds.
Seeing this, the sword realized it liked neither wars nor battles. It decided it preferred to live in peace and spend its time taking part in tournaments and competitions. So, on the night before what was going to be the big final battle, the sword tried to find a way to prevent it from taking place. After a while, the sword started to vibrate（顫抖）. First it gave out a low buzz, and then this gradually got louder, until it became an annoying metallic noise. The swords and armour（盔甲）of the soldiers asked the King’s sword what it was doing. It told them, “I don’t want there to be a battle tomorrow. I don’t like war.”
One answered, “No one likes it, but what can we do?”
“Make yourself vibrate, just like what I’m doing,” said the King’s sword. “If we make enough noise, no one will sleep.”
So the weapons started vibrating, and the noise became deafening. It was so loud that it reached the enemy camp, and the weapons there, which were equally sick of war, joined the protest.
The next morning, when the battle should have begun, not a single soldier was ready to fight. No one had managed to get even a wink of sleep, not even the King or the Generals. So they spent the whole day catching up on sleep. During the evening they started to wake up, and decided to put off the battle until the next day.
However, the weapons, led by the King’s sword, spent the night repeating their peace song, and again no soldier could rest. The battle had to be postponed yet again, and this carried on for the next seven days. On the evening of the seventh day, the Kings of the two armies met to see what they could do about the situation. Both were very angry at their previous disputes, but after being together for a while they started to discuss their sleepless nights, the surprise on their soldiers’ faces, the confusion between day and night, and the amusing situations all this had created. It wasn’t long before both were laughing, like friends, at these little stories. Fortunately, they forgot their old disputes and they put an end to the war, each returning to their own land with
the double joy.
小題1: From the first paragraph, we can infer that _________.
| A．the great King was fond of his precious sword |
| B．a(chǎn) disagreement led to a war between Kings |
| C．the two Kings were once good friends before the war |
| D．the precious sword was used to entertain the great King |
小題2: What is the best word to describe the mood of the sword when it heard about the war?
| A．Worried | B．Fearful | C．Eager | D．peaceful |
小題3: When did the sword change its attitude to war?
| A．When it fought at the first battle |
| B．After it realized that it was not powerful |
| C．When it was on the way to the front line |
| D．After it saw the terrible results of the first battle |
小題4: What is the right order of the following events?
a. The noise was loud enough to reach the other side
b. The battle had to be postponed because the soldiers in both armies lacked sleep.
c. It let out continuous low noise
d. It persuaded other swords to join in.
e. All the weapons in both side confused day with night
| A．a(chǎn), b, c, d, e | B．b, a, c, e, d |
| C．c, d, a, e, b | D．d, b, a, e, c |
小題5: According to the passage, how many times was the battle put off?
| A．Seven | B．Eight | C．Nine | D．Ten |
小題6:What do the underlined words in the last paragraph refer to?
| A．Both King’s sleepless nights |
| B．The end of war and being friends |
| C．The surprise on the soldiers’ faces |
| D．The confusion of day with night |
