I’m a pig, and my son is a rabbit. I have snakes for daughters, and my wife, believe it or not, is a dragon! Do I live in a zoo? No, of course not! I am talking about Chinese zodiac signs. Depending on the year of your birth, each person has an animal for a sign. That’s why I am a pig and my wife is a dragon. If you, like me, were born in the year of the pig, then you are brave, thoughtful and loyal. The year of the pig is filled with good fortune.
　　Now let’s take a closer look at this interesting animal.
　　Pigs were first raised by man about 9,000 years ago, and are still a very common farm animal in many parts of the world. We don’t just use pigs for their meat — almost every part of the animal is used. The hair is used for artists’ brushes. The fat is used to make floor wax, rubber and plastics.
　　Pigs have also been important in the world of entertainment. In 1995 the film ‘Babe’ starred a loveable talking pig as its main character. The film won an Oscar and was nominated for 6 more. In England you can even go to watch pig racing. A farmer, Rob Shepherd, has been raising money for charity by holding pig races on his farm. The events have been very successful. People don’t just want to eat pigs, it seems!
　　Pigs also play an important role in the English language. For example, if someone says that he will travel to the sun one day, you can say “pigs might fly!” to him. Hungry? Well then, you can “pig out” and eat lots of food. And what if someone rescues you? Well, you can say that they “saved your bacon”.
63. The writer wrote the first paragraph in a ______ tone.
A. sad　　　　　　B. confused　　　　　C. serious　　　　 D. humorous
64. We may know from the passage that ______.
A. people in England like pigs more than other animals
B. pigs are more useful than ordinary people imagine
C. pigs are the first animals raised by man
D. more people don’t want to eat pigs now
65. The underlined sentence “pigs might fly! ” in the fifth paragraph means ______.
A. What you have just said is impossible
B. Pigs are great animals
C. I don’t understand your words
D. I can’t agree with you more
66. Which diagram shows the structure of the passage?
　　　　　　　　
　　　　　A 　　　　　　　　B 　　　　　　　C　　　　　　　　　 D

B

　　More and more young people enjoy having pets,but they don't like to keep them.At present in Changchun,people prefer to rent pets and play with them during weekends,regarding this as a fashionablelifestyle.

　　Mr.Feng,from Jilin Province,likes pet dogs.Last weekend he rented a Scottish shepherd dog from a localpet shop.He bathed the dog,and went walking with it.He said he could not keep pets in his spare time because he was busy everday except weekends.To rent pets during weekends seemsto be the most practical and economical way to relax himself.

　　A manager from a pet shop says his customers(主顾) are all like Mr.Feng,usually too busy to keeppets,and some of them have never kept any pets before. But they hope torent pets and learn to keep pets so that they can know whether they can be good pet masters or not.

　　It's reported that all pets for rent need to beimmunized(免疫).Before they are rented out,pet shops will teach their customers the ABCs of pet keeping and preparing pet food based on each pet's taste.

　　Shop assistants will also provide(提供)different konds of services for pets like health checkup if their customers want to rent pets for a longer period.

　　Dogs for rent are often not ordinary ones,so their rent is high,usually 200 - 500 yuan(US＄ 25-63) per day.Sometimes,you have to leave thousands of yuan with the owner before you can take a dog away.

　　60.Mr.Feng rents pets instead of keeping them mainly because _______.

　　A.it's cheaper                  B.it is more fun

　　C.he has little spare time         D.he wants a new pet for each week

　　61.What do we know about those who rent pets?

　　A.None of them ever kept a pet before.

　　B.They'll become pet owners later.

　　C.They enjoy having pets.

　　D.They want to help protect animals.

　　62.The underlined phrase "the ABCs(of…)"in the 4th paragraph refers to "______(of…)".

　　A.the possible dangers           B.the basic knowledge

　　C.the communicative language    D.the rules set by the shops

　　63.The dogs' rent is high because___________.

　　A.the customers are rich           B.there are few dogs to rent

　　C.their owners hate to leave them    D.they are top - class dogs

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有一项为多余选项。
A.　Goods for auction (拍卖) sales
　　B.　Definition of bidding
　　C.　Way to sell more goods by auction
　　D.　Auction sales in history
　　E.　Brief introduction to auctions
　　F.　Making a larger profit as an auctioneer
【小题1】______
Auctions are public sales of goods, conducted by an officially approved auctioneer. He asks the crowd assembled in the auction-room to make offers, or “bids”, for the various items on sale. He encourages buyers to bid higher figures, and finally names the highest bidder as the buyer of the goods. This is called “knocking down” the goods, for the bidding ends when the auctioneer strikes a small hammer on a table at which he stands.
【小题2】 ______
The ancient Roman probably invented sales by auction, and the English word comes from the Latin auction, meaning “increasing”. The Romans usually sold in this way the goods taken in war. In England in the eighteenth centuries, goods were often sold “by the candle”: a short candle was lit by the auctioneer, and bids could be made while it stayed alight.
【小题3】 ______
Practically all goods whose qualities vary are sold by auction. Among these are coffee, skins, wool, tea, furs, silk and wines. Auction sales are also usual for land and property, furniture, pictures, rare books, old china and similar works of art.
【小题4】 ______
An auction is usually advertised beforehand with full particulars of the articles to be sold and where and when they can be viewed by potential buyers. If the advertisement cannot give full details, catalogues are printed, and each group of goods to be sold together, called a “lot”, is usually given a number. The auctioneer need not begin with Lot 1 and continue in the order of numbers: he may wait until he notices the fact that certain buyers are in the room and then produce the lots they are likely to be interested in.
【小题5】 ______
The auctioneer’s services are paid for in the form of a percentage of the price the goods are sold for. The auctioneer therefore has a direct interest in pushing up the bidding as high as possible. He will not waste time by starting the bidding too low. He will also play on the opponents among his buyers and succeed in getting a high price by encouraging two business competitors to bid against each other.

 — Is Mr Smith rich?

— Yes, very rich. When he worked in ________town, he earned a lot. Now he has a big farm in ________ country.

A. at; the　　　　 B. /; /　　　　　　      C. /; the　　　　 D. the; /

B
　　It was Monday. Mrs Smith's dog was hungry, but there was not any meat in the house.
　　Considering that there was no better way, Mrs Smith took a piece of paper, and wrote the following words on it:“Give my dog half a pound of meat.”Then she gave the paper to her dog and said gently:“Take this to the butcher(*person whose job is selling meat). and he's going to give you your lunch today.”
　　Holding the piece of paper in its mouth, the dog ran to the butcher's. It gave the paper to the butcher. The butcher read it carefully, recognized that it was really the lady's handwriting and soon did it as he was asked to. The dog was very happy, and ate the meat up at once.
　　At noon, the dog came to the shop again. It gave the butcher a piece of paper again. After reading it， he gave it half a pound of meat once more.
　　The next day, the dog came again exactly at noon. And as usual, it brought a piece of paper in the mouth. This time, the butcher did not take a look at paper, and gave the dog its meat, for he had regarded the dog as one of his customers (*people who buy sth. from a shop).
　　But, the dog came again at four o'clock. And the same thing happened once again. To the butcher's more surprise, it came for the third time at six o'clock, and brought with it a third piece of paper. The butcher felt a bit puzzled. He said to himself, “This is a small dog. Why does Mrs Smith give it so much meat to eat today?”
　　Looking at the piece of paper, he found that there were not any words on it!
59. Mrs Smith treated her little dog quite_________.
　　A. cruelly 　　B. fairly 　　C. kindly 　　D. politely
60 . It seemed that the dog knew well that the paper Mrs Smith gave it_______.
　　A. might do it much harm　　B. could do it much good
　　C. would help the butcher　　D. was worth many pounds
61 .The butcher did not give any meat to the dog __________.
　　A. before he felt sure that the words were really written by Mrs Smith
　　B. when he found that the words on the paper were not clear
　　C. because he had sold out all the meat in his shop
　　D. until he was paid enough by Mrs Smith
62.From its experience, the dog found that ________.
　　A. only the paper with Mrs Smith's words in it could bring it meat
　　B. the butcher would give the meat to it whenever he saw it
　　C. Mrs Smith would pay for the meat it got from the butcher
　　D. a piece of paper could bring it half a pound of meat
63.At the end of the story, you'll find that _______.
　　A. the dog was clever enough to write on the paper
　　B. the dog dared not go to the butcher's any more
　　C. the butcher was told not to give any meat to the dog
　　D. the butcher found himself cheated(*act in a way that is not honest)by the                  clever animal