初中英語(yǔ)閱讀專項(xiàng)訓(xùn)練

Have to Pay

A boy who was cleaning shoes in the street said to a young man passing by， \"Let me clean your shoes.\" The young man said， \"No， thank you.\" \"You may pay me only a pound， sir.\" said the boy. But the young man refused again. Then the boy told him that he would clean his shoes for nothing. The young man agreed to this， and soon one of his shoes was shining brightly. The man put the other shoe on the boy， but the boy refused to clean it unless he was paid two pounds for his work. The young man refused to pay anything and went away.

But the dirty one looked so bad that he couldn't walk away. He had to turn back and gave the boy two pounds. In a very short time his shoes shone brightly.

1. The boy was a shoes ____.

A. cleanerB. maker

C. repairerD. seller

2. At first the young man refused to clean his

shoes， because ____.

A. he couldn't pay

B. he had not enough money

C. he didn't think it necessary

D. he had just cleaned his shoes

3. Then the young man agreed to clean his

shoes， because the boy asked for ____.

A. two pounds B. one pound

C. nothingD. few money

4. The boy refused to clean the second shoe，

because ____.

A. it was very dirty

B. the young man paid only one pound

C. it was difficult to clean

D. he asked to be paid two pounds

5. The boy said he would clean the

young man's shoes for nothing just in

order to ____.

A. show his kindness

B. help the young man

C. get more money from him

D. let everyone see

A Sentence with Five \"And\"

Can you think of a sentence that the word \"and\" appears five times， without any words in between? There is one at the end of this story.

There was once an inn which was called \"The Horse and Cart\". It had a sign outside it， and there was a picture of a horse and a cart on it. But the sign was getting old， so the owner of the inn decided to have a new one made. He went to a painter and asked him to paint one and to write \"The Horse and Cart\" on it in large letters.

A few days later， he went to see how the painter was getting on. He liked the picture of the horse and cart very much， but he did not like the writing at all. He said to the painter， \"No， no! There's too much room between HORSE and AND and AND and CART!\"

1. An inn is a ____.

A. a small house

B. a small horse

C. a small hotel or place where one can stay

D. a kind of colored liquid that can be used for writing

2. There was a ____ outside the inn.

A. blackboard B. cart

C. painterD. sign

3. The owner of the inn decided to ____.

A. sell his inn

B. buy a new sign

C. to paint his inn

D. call a painter to paint a new sign

4. The owner of the inn thought ____.

A. the letters on the sign were too large

B. the letters on the sign were poorly written

C. there were less space between the letters on the sign

D. the letters on the sign were separated too widely

5. The owner liked ____ but not ____.

A. the painter ... the letters

B. the horse ... the letters

C. the picture ... the writing

D. the sign ... the writing

Seeing the Horse Eat Fish

Once an old man was walking in a street with his horse. It was raining hard.

The old man was cold because he was walking in the rain. He wanted to stay in a restaurant. It was a quarter past three in the afternoon. The old man got to a small restaurant. There were a lot of people in it. The old man couldn' t come near the fire. He thought and thought. At last he said to the waiters， \"Take some fish to my horse.\" The waiter（侍者） and the people were very surprised.

The waiter said， \"A horse doesn't eat fish.\" The old man told the waiter， \"This horse is very interesting. It can sing， dance and does all kinds of things. It can eat fish， too，\" So the waiter brought the horse some fish.

All the people in the restaurant ran out to see the horse eat fish except the old man. Now the old man sat beside the fire. After a while the waiter came back and said. \"Your horse didn't eat any fish.\" The old man said， \"All right， take the fish back and put it on the table. I'll eat it.\"

1. The old man felt very cold because ____.

A. it was a cloudy and windy day

B. it snowed

C. he had travelled in the heavy rain

D. he was hungry

2. The people in the restaurant all ran out because ____.

A. they wanted to see the old man

B. they wanted to see the horse eating fish

C. they had been told there came the horse

D. there was no fire over the stove

3. Indeed， the horse can neither ____ nor ____ nor ____.

A. walk ... speak ... eat

B. sing ... dance ... sleep

C. sing ... dance ... eat fish

D. speak ... walk ... sit

4. All the people in the restaurant rushed out

____ but ____.

A. to see the horse sing ... the old man

B. to watch the horse play games...the waiter

C. to look for the horse ... the old man

D. to see the horse eat fish...the old man

5. Why did the old man ask the waiter to

take some fish to his horse? Because ____.

A. his horse liked eating fish

B. he was cold

C. he wanted to sit by the fire， but wasn't able to do so at first

D. he himself also liked to eat fish

A Man and His Daughter

One day a man and his daughter were going out for a walk. The man had put on a pair of odd（古怪的，不配對(duì)的） shoes， one with a thick sole（鞋跟） and one with a thin sole. As he came out to the street， he felt very uncomfortable.

Turning to his daughter， he said: \"Why should one of my legs be longer than the other day?\" The daughter looked at her father's legs and said， \"You have put on two odd shoes!\"

When he heard this， the man was very happy and thought to himself: \"What a bright daughter I've got!\" Then he asked his daughter to go back to the house and got him another pair of shoes.

When the daughter went back to the house， all she could find was one shoes with thick sole and one with thin sole. Taking the shoes to show her father， she said， \"It's no use changing! These shoes are also odd， one with a thick sole and one with a thin sole.\"

The man listened and thought to himself: \"It can't be helped. I might as well wear the ones I have on now.\" So they went for their walk.

1. The man thought that his daughter was ____.

A. beautiful B. clever

C. lazy D. clean

2. It was the ____ that found the reason for it.

A. fatherB. daughter

C. neighbour D. passer-by

3. The daughter came back， bringing ____ with her.

A. a pair of shoes

B. a pair of odd shoes

C. a pair of thick-soled shoes

D. nothing

4. What do you think that the man should have done?

A. He should return to his home and got the shoes himself.

B. He should have the thick sole cut off.

C. He should have changed one of his shoes.

D. He should have no shoes on.

5. What do you think of the man and his daughter?

A. They both were not clever.

B.The father was cleverer than the daughter.

C. The daughter was cleverer than the father.

D. Either of them was foolish enough.

Communication

You speak， write a letter， make a telephone call. Your words carry a message. People communicate（交流） with words. Do you think you can communicate without words?

A smile on your face shows you are happy or friendly. Tears in your eyes tell others that you are sad. When you raise your hand in class， the teacher knows you want to say something or ask questions. You shake your head， and people know you are saying \"No\". You nod and people know you are saying \"Yes\".

Other things can also carry messages. For example， a sign（招牌，標(biāo)志） at the bus stop helps you to know which bus to take. A sign on the wall of your school helps you to find the library. Signs on doors tell you where to go in or out. Have you ever noticed that there are a lot of signs around you and that you receive messages from them all the time?

People can communicate in many other ways. An artist can use his drawings to tell about beautiful mountains， about the blue sea and many other things. Books are written to tell you about all the wonderful things in the world and also about people and their ideas. Books， magazines， TV and radios and films all help us to communicate with each other. They all help us to know what is going on in the world and what other people are thinking about.

1. Can we communicate with each other without words?

A. Yes， some times we can.

B. No， we can't.

C. No. It's impossible.

D. Yes， we always do so.

2. When we see somebody smile， then， he must be feeling ____.

A. angryB. joyful

C. surprisedD. sad

3. We can learn news from ____.

A. newspapersB. radio

C. TVD. ABC

4. A sign at the bus stop tells you ____.

A. how many buses there are

B. what kind of bus it is

C. where the bus comes and goes

D. how much money you'll pay for the ticket

5. What do you think is the quickest way to communicate with your friend in another city?

A. Writing a letter.

B. Making a telephone.

C. Drawing a picture.

D. Asking someone else to take a message.