A

It is very important to be able to control yourself. Losing control may bring things that would never want to see. We can learn something from the following story.

Once a boy often made trouble. His mother gave him many nails （釘子）. She told him to hammer （錘，釘） one in the garden fence （柵欄）, every time he lost his patience （耐心） and fought with someone. The first day he hammered 27 nails. In the following weeks he learned how to control himself better and the number of the nails he hammered became smaller and smaller. He learned it was easier to control himself than to hammer nails.

The day finally came when he didn’t hammer any nails. He went to tell his mother about it. Then his mother told him to pull off a nail from the fence each time he didn’t lose his patience. After some days he told his mother that all the nails had been pulled off. Thus, she took him to the fence and said to him, “You’ve behaved（表現） well, but look at all the holes in the fence. The fence will never be again like it was before. When you fight with someone, you leave wounds（傷口） in him like these. The trouble may be over, but the wounds will always be there.”

So, learn to control yourself before you hammer the nails in the fence. Try not to leave any holes in your past.

（   ） 1. Losing control may bring you ________.

A. good luck         B. trouble             C. nails                   D. a hammer

（   ） 2. The boy used to _______.

A. be polite           B. do wrong         C. be careless          D. be friendly to others

（   ） 3. Why did the mother give her son nails?

A. To put the garden fence right.        B. To put them away.

C. To help him understand something. D. To make him lose patience.

（   ） 4. In what condition （條件） could the boy pull off a nail?

A. He could control himself.              B. He fought with others.

C. He wanted to do so.                      D. His mother asked him to do so.

（   ） 5. The writer wants us to ______.

A. praise the clever mother                B. correct our mistakes

C. learn to control ourselves              D. know hammering nails is useful

B

    A man once had a dream about the Black Forest In Germany. In his dream he was walking in the forest when two men ran out and tried to throw him to the ground. He ran off as fast as he could, but they followed him. He reached a place where he saw two roads in front of him, one to the right and the other to the left. Which road should he take? He heard the two men behind him, getting nearer, and at the same time he heard a voice in his ear. It told him to go to the right, and he did so. He ran on and soon came to a small hotel. He was received there kindly and given a room, and he was saved from the two men. That was the dream.

    Twenty years later he was really in the Black Forest and, as happened in the dream long ago, two men ran out and tried to throw him down. He ran off, and came to a place with two roads, like in the dream. He remembered the dream and took the road to the right. He soon reached a small hotel, was taken in, and so was safe. His dream of twenty years before had saved him.

（    ） 6. The Black Forest is ______.

         A. a place in Germany                          B. not a real place

         C. invented by the writer                       D. a place in Britain

（    ） 7. When he was walking in the forest, _______ ran after him.

         A. two dogs           B. two tigers           C. two men             D. two women

（    ） 8. At last he came to _______.

         A. a forest              B. another road        C. another dream      D. a small hotel

（    ） 9. It was ______ that saved the man’s life 20 years later.

         A. a voice     B the dream     C. someone else    D. God

（    ） 10. The story tells us that ______.

A. a dream may come true some time later

B. a dream is always a dream

C. people should not believe their dreams

D. people should always believe their dreams

A beautiful and very successful actress was the star for a new musical show. Her home was in the country, but she didn’t want to go back there every night, so she bought an expensive house in the center of the city, got some beautiful furniture and got a man to paint the rooms in new colour.
It was very difficult to get tickets for her show in the evening, because everyone wanted to see it. So she decided to give the painter two of the best seats. She hoped that this would make him work better for her. He took the tickets without saying anything, and she heard no more about them until the end of month, when she got the painter’s bill. At the bottom of it were these words: “Four hours from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. watching Miss Hall sing and dance: 3 pounds,” with this note: “Before 5:00 p.m. I get 10 shillings (先令)an hour and after 5:00 p.m. 15 shillings.”

1. 1.

   The actress bought a house in the center of the city because        .

   1. A.
      she liked to live in the busiest place
   2. B.
      she didn’t like to live in the country
   3. C.
      she wanted to work harder than before
   4. D.
      she didn’t want to live in old house
2. 2.

   In order to make the painter work better for her, the actress        .

   1. A.
      gave him two tickets for her show
   2. B.
      sang and danced for four hours
   3. C.
      decided to give him 3 pounds
   4. D.
      invited him for a big dinner
3. 3.

   The actress got the painter’s bill        .

   1. A.
      to ask for the money of his painting work
   2. B.
      to ask her to pay for his watching her show
   3. C.
      in which he showed his thanks for the tickets
   4. D.
      in which he expressed his dissatisfaction
4. 4.

   It can be learned from the text that one pound is         shillings.

   1. A.
      10
   2. B.
      12
   3. C.
      15
   4. D.
      20
5. 5.

   What kind of man was the painter?

   1. A.
      He was a careful man.
   2. B.
      He was a poor man.
   3. C.
      He was not friendly to others.
   4. D.
      He knew little about music and dance.