The host poured the tea into the cup and placed it on the small table in front of his guests，who were a father and his daughter，and put the lid on the cup with a clink．Obviously thinking of something．he hurried into the inner room，leaving the thermos (熱水瓶)on the table．His two guests heard a chest of drawers opening and rustling.

    They remained sitting in the sitting room，the ten-year-old daughter looking at the flowers outside the window，the father just about to take his cup，when the crash came，right there in the sitting room．Something was hopelessly broken．

    It was the thermos，which had fallen to the floor．The girls looked over her shoulder suddenly，shocked, staring. It was mysterious；neither of them had touched it，not even a little bit．True．it hadn’t stood steadily when their host placed it on the table，but it hadn’t fallen then．

    The crash of the thermos caused the host，with a box of sugar cubes in his hand，to rush back from the inner room．He looked foolishly at the steaming floor and blurted out�！癐t doesn’t matter! It doesn’t matter!’'

    The father started to say something．Then he said in a low voice，“Sorry I touched it and it fell．”

    “It doesn’t matter，”the host said．

    Later，when they left the house，the daughter said，“Daddy，did you touch it?’’

    “No．But it stood so close to me．”

    “But you didn’t touch it．I saw your reflection in the window .You were sitting perfectly still．”

    The father laughed．“Then how would you explain the cause of its fall?”

    “The thermos fell by itself , The floor is uneven. It wasn’t steady when Mr. Li put it there．

Daddy，why did you say that?”

    “That won’t do，girl．It sounds more acceptable when I say I knocked it down．There are things which people accept less true it sounds．”

    The daughter was lost in silence for a while．Then she said，“Can you explain it only this way?”

    “Only this way．”her father said．

49．Which statement is a possible main idea of this story?

    A．People seldom tell the truth．

    B．You can’t always make people believe the truth

    C．If you try to defend yourself，people will believe you．

    D．People never believe others．

50．It can be inferred from the story that the father          

A．didn’t know Mr. Li very well       

B．was sorry that he hadn’t told the host the truth

C．didn’t think Mr. Li would believe the truth

D．was glad that he had told the truth

 51．From the story，we know that the daughter          ．

    A．thought her father should have told the truth

    B．knew the thermos would fall and stepped out

    C．thought her father shouldn’t have told the truth

    D．thought her father must have known the cause

 52．From the passage，we can see the reason why the thermos fell was that         ．

    A．the table was too small

    B．the father sat too close to the thermos

    C．the father wanted to help himself with some water

    D．something impossible to explain happened

    There are about a billion bicycles in the world，twice as many as there are cars．But if Karl von Drais．the Baron of Sauerbronn(1785一1851) hadn’t been such a lazy person，the bicycle may never have been invented at all．

    Although he had a very important title (and was also a qualified and skillful engineer)，the Baron was in fact a forest ranger，in other words，a gardener with responsibility for a very large garden．He was in charge of several hundred square kilometers of royal garden and forests in Central Germany．

    In 1817．he invented a “running machine” that would help him get round the estate more quickly．The machine was made of wood，and had two wheels，which were the same size．The machine had a wooden frame and a leather seat．The rider rode the machine like a horse，but with his feet on the ground．After running for a while，he could then take his feet off the ground and glide along．It was possible to change direction by controlling the front wheel．but there were no brakes! In 1863，a Frenchman called Pierre Lallement attached pedals(踏板)to the front wheel of a bicycle，and the modern idea of a bicycle was born．

    Every generation sees new designs and new interest in bicycles．Mountain bikes，for example，transformed the way people thought about cycling and introduced a new sport，which was accepted into the Olympics in 1996．

    New materials such as titanium and carbon fiber are now used to build strong，lightweight machines and combined brake and gear systems have been developed．Englishman Chris Boardman astonished the world in the 1990s with his carbon fiber Lotus bicycle，winning Olympic gold in the 4，000 meters track pursuit(追逐)in Barcelona．More recently，the Great Britain team took several medals at the Athens Olympics

    For most people．however．the bicycle remains what it has always been－a pollution-free way of taking exercise and getting from A to B．

45．The underlined word “estate” in Paragraph 3 refers to          

    A．the Baron’s big house                         B．the mountains in Central Germany

    C．the forests near the Baron’s house       D．the large garden and forests the Baron in charge of

46．Karl von Drais invented the first bicycle          ．

    A．with wooden wheels and a seat，no pedals

    B．with two wooden wheels like a wooden horse with pedals

    C．so he could walk faster around the garden

    D．to ride downhill with his feet off the ground

47．What kind of gardener does the text suggest the Baron was?

    A．Someone who took care of forests across Germany．

    B．Someone responsible for a big estate of loyal forests and gardens．

    C．Someone responsible for the gardens in the whole of Central Germany．

  D．Someone who was a qualified engineer looking after running machines．

48．Changes to the bicycle have occurred over the years because of           ．

    A．the need for mountain bikes

    B．the need for new kinds of bicycles

    C．the discovery of useful new materials and new ideas

    D．the Olympics and competitive cycling sports

    The Peales were a famous family of American artists．Charles Willson Peale is best remembered for his portraits of leading figures of the American Revolution．He painted portraits of Franklin and Jefferson and over a dozen of George Washington．His life-size portrait of his sons Raphaelle and Titian was so realistic that George Washington reportedly once tipped his hat(脫帽打招呼)to the figures in the picture．

  Charles Willson Peale gave up painting in his middle age and devoted his life to the Peale seum，which he founded in Philadelphia．The world’s first popular museum of art and natural science mainly covered paintings by Peale and his family as well as displays of animals in their natural settings Peale found the animals himself and found a method to make the exhibits more lifelike．The museum’s most popular display was the skeleton(骷髏)of a huge，extinct elephant，which Peale unearthed on a New York farm in l801．

    Three of Peale’s seventeen children were also famous artists．Raphaelle Peale often painted still lives of flowers，fruit，and cheese．His brother Rembrandt studied under his father and painted portraits of many noted people，including one of George Washington. Another brother，Rubens Peale，painted mostly landscapes and portraits．

    James Peale．the brother of Charles Willson Peale，specialized in miniatures(小畫(huà)像).His daughter Sarah Miriam Peale was probably the first professional female portrait painter in America

41．What is the main topic of the passage?

    A．The life of Charles Willson Peale．    B．Portraits in the l8th century．

    C．The Peale Museum．                       D．A family of artists．

42．The author mentions in Paragraph l that Washington tipped his hat to the figures in the painting to show that             ．

    A．Charles Willson Peale’s painting was very lifelike

    B．Washington respected Charles Willson Peale’s work

    C．Washington was friendly with Raphaelle and Titian Peale

    D．the painting of the two brothers was very large

43．Which of the following is NOT the child of Charles Willson Peale?

    A．Titian Peale．   B．Rubens Peale．   C．Raphaelle Peale． D．Sarah Miriam Peale．

44．The author’s attitude toward the Peales is in general             ．

    A．puzzling       B．exciting         C．a(chǎn)dmiring        D．disappointing

     The tiny snow leopard cub(雪豹仔) looked across the mountainside for its mother, waiting for her to return. She never did. The cub’s mother was   21  , likely killed by a hunter in the steep mountain of Pakistan. Her cub was  22    and alone-without care it was doomed (注定) to starve .

       23   a passing herder（牧人）noticed the tiny cub. He took the   24   home and raised it . At first the cub seemed fine.   25   after a week, the herder  26   the snow leopard baby wasn't healthy and that he didn’t know   27    to feed it . He sent word to wildlife officials, hoping   28   would arrive in time.

       As soon as the World Wide Fund for nature Pakistan(WWF-P) in the city of Gilgit 29 about the cub, they sent a staffer to the remote village. The  30   was more urgent than just one animal in danger; snow leopards are endangered species.   31   being hunted for their beautiful thick coats, the wild cats have  32   much of their   33   prey, such as wild mountain goats and sheep, to hunt. The world population of snow leopards in their natural habitat－h(huán)igh mountain in central Aisa－h(huán)as   34   between 4,500 and 7,000 . In Pakistan only about 300 are   35     . The people at the WWR-P didn’t want to lose    36 

     They loaded the snow leopard into a card board box lined with a towel and grass and drove it to Gilgit for a veterinary(獸醫(yī)的)exam.   37   the cub was weak, he had no diseases or infections. The vet felt he would   38   with proper care. But since a snow leopard learns survival   39   like hunting from its mother, the cub could never be set free back into the    40  He was sent to a national park and placed in the care of wildlife keeper who often raised wild baby animals.

The doctor tried his best to reduce the girl’s fear         she would have her leg cut off．

    A．whether          B．if          C．that          D．for which

－Li Hua got the champion in the piano competition．

--          ?He never shows his talent for music!

    A．What about       B．How        C．Why not      D．How come

－Have you got         with your test paper?

－No．I need another twenty minutes．

    A．through       B．up             C．a(chǎn)long             D．well

一I’m afraid I can’t finish the report this week

―          ．It won’t be needed until next Wednesday．

    A．Don’t mention it．                B．Go ahead，please

    C．Not at all                                D．Take your time

The boy was allowed to play computer games         he finished his homework．

    A．in case            B．by the time     C．on condition that  D．if only

His son never calls him        to ask for money.

    A．rather than          B．other than     C．more than      D．or rather