Long ago, little attention was paid to a person’s birthday. Even though everyone knew that people grew older, they had no way of correctly marking time. It wasn’t until the early people learned more about how time passed that they made a note of time changes. Then they developed a calendar and began to celebrate special events such as birthdays. When birthdays first started to be celebrated during the early days, common people, especially children, hardly celebrated their birthdays.

　 Today, birthdays are celebrated by the young and the old alike all around the world. Many countries have different customs from ours of celebrating birthdays. At the same time there are a lot of people that celebrate birthdays in quite similar ways as we do. Some of the countries are very similar to the United States, such as Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Sweden and Switzerland.

　 Customs within countries can be affected by things like language, religion, geographic location, and economic conditions. No matter what the customs are, however, they are always followed by the majority of the people in each country. For example, not all children in the US have birthday parties, candles or birthday cakes, but most of them do.

However, the reasons why we celebrate birthdays and use different symbols are very much the same to everyone. The reason why we have birthday parties goes back to long time ago. At that time people believed that good and bad spirits appeared when a child was born and influenced that child through his / her life. The belief brought about the custom of having birthday parties. They believed that surrounding the birthday person with friends, family and good wishes would frighten the bad spirits away.

72. According to the passage, when did people begin to celebrate birthdays?

A. When they learned that no one could stop time. 　　　　　 B. Before they invented a calendar.

C. Before they learned how time went by. 　　　　　　　　　　　 D. After they had a right way of marking time.

73. We can guess that in the early times, 　　　　　.

A. only grown-up people celebrated their birthdays　　　　　 B. only old people celebrated their birthdays

C. only people in the upper class celebrated their birthdays D. people only celebrated birthdays for children

74. Which of the following will NOT affect birthday customs according to the passage?

A. Religion. 　 　　　　　　 B. Education. 　　　　　　　　　　 C. Economic conditions. 　　　　　 D. Language.

75. At first, people had birthday parties to 　　　　　.

A. get rid of bad luck B. bring good luck 　　　

C. honor the important day 　　　 D. express their wishes

In today’s world English is the most wildly used language. It is our duty to learn English in the new situation of the reform and opening (改革開(kāi)放) to the outside world. How can we master the English language? I’d like to give you some good advice.

First, get interested in it. I enjoy listening to foreign friends talking when I was a child. At the same time I watched the English programme Follow Me on TV. From then on, I kept on learning English. The more I learned, the more progress I made.

Second, practice makes perfect. Many people study English very hard, but they are very shy to speak it in public, for they are afraid of making mistakes. Remember you have to make a mistake before you can correct it. A native English speaker makes mistakes sometimes, too.

Third, the beginners should be encouraged to pay attention to idioms. The English language has many idioms. For example, you should say “He is as strong as a cow.”

68. If we want to learn English, we must first 　　　　　.

　 A. show interest in it　　　　　　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　　　 B. enjoy listening to it

　 C. watch English programmes on TV　　　　 　　　　　　　　　　 D. practice speaking it

69. When learning English, we will 　　　　　.

　 A. remember the mistakes and correct them　　 　　　　　　　　　 B. try not to make any mistakes

　 C. avoid mistakes before making them　　　　 　　　　　　　　　　 D. not be afraid of making mistakes

70. The underlined word “idioms” in the last paragraph means “　　　　 .”

　 A. 單詞　 　　　　　　　　 B. 習(xí)語(yǔ)　 　　　　　　　　 C. 句子　 　　　　　　　 D. 短語(yǔ)

71. According to the writer, what is the most important in learning English?

　 A. Not being shy to speak in public　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　

B. Paying attention to idioms.

　 C. Practising listening and speaking as much as possible. 　

D. Watching English programmes

Not many years ago, a wealthy and rather strange old man named Johnson lived alone in a village in the south of England. He had made a lot of money in trading with foreign countries. When he was seventy-five, he gave￡12,000 to the village school to buy land and equipment for a children’s playground.

As a result of his kindness, many people came to visit him. Among them was a newspaperman. During their talk, Johnson remarked that he was seventy-five and expected to live to be a hundred. The newspaperman asked him how he managed to be healthy at seventy-five. Johnson had a sense of humor. He liked whisky and drank some each day. “I have an injection (注射) in my neck each evening,” he told the newspaperman, thinking of his evening glass of whisky.

The newspaperman did not understand what Johnson meant. In his newspaper he reported that Johnson was seventy-five and had a daily injection in his neck. Within a week Johnson received thousands of letters from all over Britain, asking him for the secret of his daily injection.

64. Johnson became a rich man through           .

A. doing business         B. making whisky        C. cheating          D. buying and selling land

65. Many people wrote to Johnson to find out           .

A. what kind of whisky he had                               B. how to live longer

C. how to become wealthy                                  D. in which part of the neck to have an injection

66. The newspaperman           .

A. should have reported what Johnson said         B. shouldn’t have asked Johnson what injection he had

C. was eager to live a long life                           D. should have found out what Johnson really meant

67. When Johnson said he had an injection in his neck each evening, he really meant that           .

A. an injection in the evening would make him sleep well    B. he needn’t an injection in the neck

C. he liked drinking a glass of whisky in the evening          D. there was something wrong with his neck

Most dog owners feel that their dogs are their best friends. Almost everyone likes dogs because they try hard to please their owners. One of my favorite stories is about a dog who wanted his owner to please him.

　　One of my friends has a large German shepherd ( 牧羊狗) named Jack. Every Sunday afternoon, my friend takes Jack for a walk in the park. Jack likes these long walks very much. One Sunday afternoon, a young man came to visit my friend. He stayed a long time, and he talked and talked. Soon it was time for my friend to take Jack for his walk, but the visitor didn’t leave. Jack became very worried about his walk in the park. He walked around the room several times and then sat down directly in front of the visitor and looked at him. But the visitor paid no attention. He continued talking. Finally, Jack couldn’t stand it any longer. He went out of the room and came back a few minutes later. He sat down again in front of the visitor, but this time he held the man’s hat in his mouth.

German shepherds aren’t the only clever dogs. Another clever dog is a Seeing Eye dog. This is a special dog which helps blind people walk along the streets and do many other things. We call these dogs Seeing Eye dogs because they are the “eye” of the blind people and they help them to “see”. Seeing Eye dogs generally go to special schools for several years to learn to help blind people.

60. The writer tells the story about the dog Jack to show that　　　　 .

A. it, like many other dogs, always tried to please its owner master

B. it, unlike many other dogs, always wanted its master to please it

C. it was more intelligent than many other dogs

D. it was the most faithful dog of his friend’s

61. Jack came to sit in front of the visitor in order to　　　　 .

A. please him 　　　　　　 B. be pleased 　　 C. ask him to leave at once 　　　　 D. invite him for a walk

62. The sentence “Finally, Jack couldn’t stand it any longer.” Means　　　　 .

A. Jack could no longer put up with the visitor　 B. Jack could no longer stand but he might sit down

C. Jack was very tired and wanted a rest 　　　 D. Jack was very angry with the visitor

63. Which of the following titles would be the best for the passage?

A. Dogs─A Great Help to People　 　　　　　　　 B. Famous Dogs in Germany

C. An Introduction to Dogs　　　　 　　　　　　　 D. Dogs ─ Our Faithful friends

When we arrived at Prinsengracht, we went quickly upstairs and into the hiding place. We closed the door behind us and we were alone. Margot had come faster on her bicycle and was already waiting for us. All the rooms were full boxes. They lay on the floor and the beds. The little room was filled with bedclothes. We had to start clearing up at once, if we wished to sleep in comfortable beds that night. Mummy and Margot were not able to help. They were tired and lay down on their beds. But Daddy and I, the two “helpers’ of the family, started at once.

The whole day we unpacked the boxes, filled the cupboards and tidied, until we were extremely tired. We did sleep in clean beds that night. We hadn’t had any warm food to eat all day, but we didn’t care. Mummy and Margot were too tired and worried to eat, and Daddy and I were too busy.

56. Who was waiting for them when they arrived at the hiding place?

A. Margot                  B. Mummy and Margot              C. Daddy                    D. Nobody

57. They wanted to move to a new place because they thought         

A. this place was a comfortable place                             B. this place was a safe place

C. they liked to move a new place                                   D. they were invited to that place

58. After they arrived at the new place,         

A. they could at once have a good rest                            B. they could find something hot to eat

C. they had to tidy the place                                                  D. Mummy and Margot were unwilling to tidy.

59. From the text, we can guess that the writer was very          in her mind when she wrote the diary.

A. happy                     B. afraid                                           C. excited                    D. interested

Here is an interesting question. Do you know how many languages in the world? It is said that there are about fifteen hundred, but many of them are not very     41    . English is one of the most important languages     42     so many people use it, not only in England and the USA, but in other parts of the world. More than200, 000,000 speak it     43    their own language, and about     44     200,000,000 use it as a second language. It is     45     to say how many people are learning it. Many millions of     46     boys and girls are trying to do so.

Which is the best     47     to learn English well as a second language? We should     48     that we all learnt our own language well when we were    49    . If we could learn a second language in the same way, it would not seem to be so     50    . Think of what a child does. It listens to what people say, and it     51     to imitate(模仿) what it hears. When it wants something, it has to ask for it. It is using the language, talking in it, and thinking in it all the     52    .

We learn our language by hearing people speak it, not by seeing    53     they write. In school, though you learn to read and write, as well as to hear and speak, it is better to learn all the new words first    54     the ear. You can read them, spell them, and write them     55    .

41. A. necessary          B. easy                  C. important             D. difficult

42. A. because                  B. though                C. when              D. and

43. A. like                B. for                   C. with                D. as

44. A. other              B. another                C. more               D. the other

45. A. easy                     B. interesting               C. different              D. difficult

46. A. school             B. class                  C. country             D. city

47. A. time                     B. age                   C. way               D. road

48. A. forget             B. remember             C. learn                D. notice

49. A. born              B. boys                  C. girls                 D. children

50. A. useful             B. easy                  C. difficult               D. useless

51. A. has               B. tries                   C. is able               D. fails

52. A. time                     B. way                  C. same               D. best

53. A. what             B. how                        C. why               D. as

54. A. in                       B. through                C. over               D. into

55. A. earlier             B. late                    C. later                  D. early

What is Standard English? Is it 　　36　 in Britain, the US, Canada, Australia, India and New Zealand? Believe it or not, there is　 37　 such thing as Standard English. Many people　 38　 the English spoken on TV and radio is Standard English. This is because in the early 　　39　 of radio, those who reported the news were expected to speak excellent English. However, on TV and the radio you will　 40　 differences in the way people speak.

36. A. made 　　　　　　　 B. spoken 　　　　　　　　　 C. bought 　　　　　　　　　 D. based

37. A. not 　　　　　　　　　 B. so 　　　　　　　　　　　　 C. only 　　　　　　　　　　　 D. no

38. A. believe 　　　　　　 B. realize 　　　　　　　　　　 C. recover 　　　　　　　　 D. settle

39. A. centuries 　　　　　 B. mornings 　　　　　　　 C. days 　　　　　　　　　　　 D. months

40. A. read 　　　　　　　　 B. watch 　　　　　　　　　　 C. write 　　　　　　　　　　 D. hear

 _______ of the students who took part in the military training is 450

A. The number           B. Numbers              C. Number              D. A number

 I have been dreaming of_______ a good chance for further education abroad, and my dream has come true.

A. there will be           B. there being            C. there is               D. there to be

This is the first time I _______ such beautiful music .

A. heard                B. am hearing           C. will hear            D. have heard