B．Book Club Planning: A Great Challenge
C．Five Steps to Recruit Members for a Book Club D．Starting a Successful Book Club: A Guide
Passage Two
The Mayan (玛雅) Indians lived in Mexico for thousands of years before the Spanish arrived in the 1500s. The Maya were an intelligent, culturally rich people whose achievements were many. They had farms, beautiful palaces, and cities with many buildings. The Mayan people knew a lot about nature and the world around them. This knowledge helped them to live a better life than most people of that time, because they could use it to make their lives more comfortable and rewarding. Knowledge about tools and farming, for instance, made their work easier and more productive.
The Maya believed in many gods, including rain gods, sun gods, and corn gods. The people built large temples to honor them. Skillful workers built cities around these temples. It was difficult for them to construct these cities, because they had no horses to carry the heavy stones they used to build with. Workers had to carry all of the building materials themselves. Today, many of these ancient Mayan cities and temples are still standing.
Usually, only the priests lived in the cities. The other people lived in small
villages in the forests. Their houses were much simpler than the elaborate structures in the cities. They lived in small huts with no windows. Most Maya lived a simple life close to nature.
Measuring time was important to the Maya, so the Mayan priests made a system to keep track of time, and they made a calendar in which the year was divided into 18 months of 20 days each with five days left over. The Mayan calendar was far more accurate than the European calendars of the time.
16. The Maya lived in Mexico ________.
A. shortly before the Spanish arrived B. long before the Spanish arrived C. at the same time as the Spanish
D. with the Spanish for thousands of years
17. Many Mayan cities and temples ________.
A. were constructed by the priests B. were rebuilt several times C. were built with heavy stones D. were the miracles of god
18. Most Mayanpeople lived in.
A. beautiful cities B. simple huts C. primitive caves D. stone temples
19. What can we learn about the Mayan calendar?
A. It was based on European calendars. B. It was better than European calendars. C. It was as accurate as European calendars. D. It was copied by Europeans.
20. What is the main idea of this article?
A. The Mayan calendar was excellent. B. The Maya were excellent farmers. C. The Maya were intelligent people.
D. The Mayan cities were difficult to build.
Passage Three
A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer’s showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.
As Graduation Day approached, the young man waited for signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautifully wrapped gift box. Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man’s name in gold. Angrily, he raised his voice to his father and said, “With all your money you give me a Bible?” He then stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible.
Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and a wonderful family, but realizing his father was very old, he thought perhaps he should go to see him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make the arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things.
When he arrived at his father’s house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father’s important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the
pages. As he was reading, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words “PAID IN FULL”.
21．The best title for this passage could be “________”.
A．A Tragedy of Father and Son B．A Loving Father C．The Holy Bible D．A Missed Gift
22．On the Graduation Day, what did the father give his son as a gift?
A．A Bible and a sports car. B．A beautiful house. C．A lot of money. D．Some gold.
23．Before his father’s death, the young man ________.
A．learned a lot from his father B．got what he had longed for C．failed to understand his father D．kept contact with his father
24．Which of the following statements is true?
A．The young man made fortunes by himself after graduation. B．The young man was proud of his father.
C．The father thought his son didn’t deserve the sports car. D．The father couldn’t afford the graduation gift.
25．It can be inferred from the passage that people________.
A．shouldvisit their parents more often B．should cherish what they already have C．shouldn’t desire more than they deserve
D．should be grateful for whatever they are given
Passage Four
It is becoming more and more difficult to be sure that the food we eat is not actually harming us. We seem to get one food scare after another.
Several of these, recently, have concerned genetically modified (GM，转基因) foods. Although some experts tell us that these foods will do us no harm and that the concern about them is just speculative, other experts say that GM food is potentially very damaging to health.At the very best, the jury is still out on the matter.
In many countries, products which have been genetically modified are supposed to show this information on their labels, but now some of the large food producers are saying that it is growing increasingly difficult to separate GM food from the conventional varieties.
Pesticides (杀虫剂) and chemical fertilizers are also a cause of concern. In the last few years, a great many people have started to buy organic produce, although this is much more expensive than that which is grown using conventional methods. They do so in an effort to stop filling their bodies, and those of their children, with poisonous chemicals.
Thus there is an increased demand for organic food and this is not a temporary fashion. But some experts claim that organically grown food is no healthier than other food, because the poison level of the latter is not so high as to be harmful. Those who push for organic food may not be objective, but are part of the powerful food lobby, the chief concern of which is to increase organic food production with a corresponding increase in profits.
The use of additives (添加剂) is still another source of anxiety to consumers. These are often added to food to supposedly improve the colour or the flavour. However, it is thought that some of these may be the cause of allergies (过敏), or even the cause of behavioural problems in children.
We have to eat to live. The problem is: what is safe to eat?
26．What is people’s main concern about GM foods?
A．Some of them are not labeled with required information. B．They might posehazards we don’t know yet.
C．They don’t have the same flavour as conventional foods. D．The sowing of them will damage the environment.
27．What does the author mean by “the jury is still out on the matter” (Para. 2)?
A．The matter is still uncertain.
B．The matter needs a jury to judge. C．The jury to judge is not available. D．The matter is not important.
28．In Paragraph 5, the author tries to tell readers that .
A．experts agree that organic food is no healthier than other food
B．profit-makingmay be behind the drive to produce more organic food C．the demand for organic food will not last long
D．organic food may also contain poisonous chemicals
29．It can be inferred from the last but one paragraph that food additives .
A．may be harmful to children in particular
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