出自:河南大学-大学英语(一)
Shortly after the war, my brother and I were invited to spend a few days with an uncle who had just returned from abroad. He had rented a cottage in the country, although he rarely spent much time there. We understood the reason for this after our arrival: the cottage had no comfortable furniture in it, many of the windows were broken and the roof leaked, making the whole house damp. On our first evening, we sat around the fire after supper listening to the stories which our uncle had to tell of his many adventures in distant countries. I was so tired after the long train journey that I would have preferred to go to bed; but I could not bear to miss any of my uncle’s exciting tales. He was just in the middle of describing a rather terrifying experience he had once had when there was a loud crash from the bedroom above, the one where my brother and I were going to sleep. “It sounds as if the roof has fallen in!” exclaimed my uncle, with a loud laugh. When we got to the top of the stairs and opened the bedroom door, we could see nothing at first because of the thick clouds of dust which filled the room. When the dust began to clear, a strange sight met our eyes. A large part of the ceiling had collapsed, falling right on to the pillow of my bed. I was glad that I had stayed up late to listen to my uncle’s stories, otherwise I should certainly have been seriously injured, perhaps killed. That night we all slept on the floor to the sitting room downstairs, not wishing to risk our lives by sleeping under a roof which might at any moment collapse on our heads. We left for London the very next morning and my uncle gave up his cottage in the country. This was not the kind of adventure he cared for either!
1.The uncle seldom spent much time in the country cottage because ______.
A.the roof of the cottage was falling
B.the cottage was in a bad condition
C.he was used to living abroad
D.there was no furniture in it
2.The word “crash” (Line 2, Paragraph 3) most probably refers to ______.
A.a cry of terror
B.a sudden ring
C.a sound of storm
D.a sudden noise
3.When they opened the bedroom door, they could see nothing at first because ______.
A.it was completely dark inside
B.dust was blown into their eyes
C.something strange blinded them
D.there was too much dust in the air
4.The narrator felt glad that he had stayed up late because ______.
A.he did not miss the exciting stories
B.he spent more time with his uncle
C.he had a lucky escape
D.he saw a strange sight
5.Which of the following can best describe the narrator’s uncle?
A.Adventurous and good at storytelling.
B.Humorous and good at making jokes.
C.Good-tempered and sensible.
D.Hospitable and wealthy.
You might ask, what is Chinglish, anyway? It depends on whom you ask. Chinese parents raising their children in English-speaking countries will probably answer: Chinglish is a useful mix of standard Chinese or Cantonese terms with day-to-day English. It is indeed convenient to shorten a sentence such as “I don’t want to go now because it is too hot and it will be hard to find a parking lot anyway” into “Don’t go la, hot la, tai mafan la.” For the Chinese high-school teacher, Chinglish is the students’ unsuccessful attempts to understand English in a Chinese way, resulting in sentences such as “Please hurry to walk or we’ll be late” or “She is very miserable and her heart broke.” However, the English-speaking traveler more frequently comes across Chinglish in the form of public signs. No matter how one looks at the phenomenon, one thing is clear: Chinglish is not a language. Chinglish might be found, according to some scholars, in Chinese Pidgin (混杂语) English, which came to life in the eighteenth century when the British set up their first trading posts in Guangzhou. The term came from the word “business” and served, according to the great Yale China scholar Jonathan Spencer, “to keep the differing communities in touch, by mixing words from Portuguese, Indian, English, and various Chinese dialects, and spelling them according to Chinese grammar.” Some believe that expressions like “Long time no see” or “No can do” appeared during that time. Others refer to the late Qing-Dynasty Empress Dowager Cixi, who forced Chinese villagers to live and work in the West in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Another possibility is the so-called Yangjingbang , a mix of English and Chinese in the time of Lu Xun, China’s greatest twentieth-century writer. Very influential, too, are the large numbers of people from China to the United States, who came from the Gold Rush time to the last twenty-five years since the beginning of China’s policy of Reform and Opening. No matter which theory one prefers, two things are certain: first, Chinglish exists because people move, and second, as a language phenomenon (现象), it is almost new. Although most Chinglish expressions are widely regarded as mistakes, occasionally some are found enjoyable. Such errors will not die, as they keep coming all the more in our time, largely thanks to the Internet.
1.According to the passage, Chinglish is regarded as useful by ______.
A.some western scholars
B.English-speaking travelers
C.Chinese high-school teachers
D.Chinese parents in English-speaking countries
2. The second paragraph mainly discusses ______.
A.why Chinglish became popular
B.how Chinglish came into being
C.who invented the term “Chinglish”
D.where Chinglish was most popular
3.According to Jonathan Spencer, Pidgin English serves to ______.
A.force Chinese villagers to learn English
B.overcome language difficulties in business
C.help peoples communicate with each other
D.enlarge the vocabulary of the Chinese language
4. According to the passage, Yangjingbang (Line 11, Paragraph 2) is ______.
A.a kind of Chinglish
B.an influential language
C.a mix of any two languages
D.a language in Lu Xun’s time
5.The author’s attitude towards Chinglish can be described as ______.
A.critical
B.objective
C.emotional
D.supportive
What Is a Boy?
Between the innocence of babyhood and the seriousness of manhood we find a delightful creature called a“ boy ” . Boys come in different sizes, weights, and colors, but all boys have the same belief: to enjoy every second of every minute of every hour of every day and to fill the air with noise until the adult males pack them off to bed at night. Boy are found everywhere – on top of, under, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, running around, or jumping to. Mothers spoil them, little girls hate them, older sisters and brothers love them, and God protects them. A boy is TRUTH with dirt on its face. BEAUTY with a cut on its finger, WISDOM with chocalate in its hair, and the HOPE of the future with a snake in its pocket.
When you are busy, a boy is a trouble – maker and a noise. When you want him to make a good impression, his brain turns to jelly or else he becomes a wild creature bent on destroying the world and himself with it.
A boy is a mixture – he has the stomach of a horse, the digestion ( 消化力 ) of stones and sand,the energy of an atomic bomb, the curiosity of a cat, the imagination of a superman, the shyness of a sweet girl, the brave nature of a bull, the violence of a firecracker, but when you ask him to make something, he has five thumbs ( 拇指 ) on each hand.
He likes ice cream, knives, saws, Christmas, comic books, woods, water (in its natural habitat), large animals, Dad, trains, Saturday mornings, and fire engines. He is not much for Sunday schools, company, schools, books without pictures, music lessons, neckties, barbers, girls, overcoats, adults, or bedtime.
Nobody else is so early to rise, or so late to supper. Nobody else gets so much fun out of trees, dogs, and breezes. Nobody else can put into one pocket a rusty knife, a half eaten apple, a
three-feet rope, six cents and some unknown things.
A boy is a magical creature – he is your headache but when you come home at night with only shattered pieces of your hopes and dreams, he can mend them like new with two magic words, “ Hi, Dad! ”
1. The whole passage is in a tone(调子 ) of .
A. humor and affection
B. respect and harmony
C.ambition and expectation
D. confidence and imagination
2. Could you figure out the meaning of the underlined sentence?
A. He has altogether five fingers.
B.He is slow, foolish and clumsy.
C.He becomes clever and smart.
D.He cuts his hand with a knife.
3. According to the writer, boys appreciate everything in the following except .
A. ice cream
B. comic books
C.Saturday mornings
D. Sunday schools
4. What does the writer feel about boys?
A. He feels curious about their noise.
B.He is fed up with these creatures.
C.He is amazed by their naughtiness.
D.He feels unsafe staying with them.