C
Chinese people call the Spring Festival“Nian”. But do you know that Nian was once the name of a monster(妖怪)?

A long time ago, the monster Nian lived in the mountains. It ate
animals. But in winter, it could not find food. So it came to villages and
ate a lot of people. People were so afraid of Nian that they locked their
doors before evening came during the winter. One day, an old man came to a
village. He told people there that Nian was afraid of three things——the
color red, fire and noise. He told people to play drums and gongs, make
big fires and set off fireworks(放鞭炮)to make Nian go away.

On a moonless, cold night, Nian went to the village again. As soon as it
opened its big mouth, people made loud noises and made fires. Nian was
really afraid and ran away. wherever it went, there was noise and fire.
When Nian was tired and could not run anymore, people killed the monster.

After that, on the coldest day of winter, people beat drums and gongs,
and set off fireworks to celebrate the death of the monster of Nian. They
put up red lanterns and have a big dinner without sleeping during the
night.

In the morning people greet each other happily. So now we have the
Spring Festival.

56 From the story, Nian seemed to be long, long ago.
A exciting B interesting C boring D terrible

57 The monster Nian ate people in winter because it .
A wanted to make people afraid B had no food to eat
C celebrated the Spring Festival D liked to eat people in a village

58 Nian was afraid of .
A red B fire C noise D A, B and C

59 The monster Nian wasn’t killed until .
A it had eaten all the animals B the old man came to a village
C it was too tired to run away D people knew what it was afraid of

60 What is the best title for the passage?
A How the Spring Festival Came B What People did During Nian
C How People Celebrated Nian D What the Spring Festival was

第四部分：任务型阅读：
A poor farmer had a friend who was famous for the wonderful apple tree he grew.

One day, his friend gave the farmer a young apple tree and told him to plant it. The farmer was pleased with the gift,but he did not know where to plant it.

He was afraid that if he planted the tree near the road, strangers would steal the fruit. If he planted the tree in one of his fields, his neighbors would come at night and steal some of the apples. If he planted the tree near his house,his children would take the fruit. Finally he planted the tree in his wood. But without sunlight and good soil(土壤),the tree soon died,

Later the friend asked the farmer why he had planted the tree in such a poor place. "What's the difference? " the farmer said angrily and then told what he had thought.

"Yes," said the friend, "but at least someone could have enjoyed the fruit. Now you not only have robbed everyone of the fruit,but also you have destroyed (毁掉) a good apple tree !"

61. Was the farmer famous for planting the apple tree?

62. What gift did the farmer get from his friend one day?

63. Did the farmer plant the apple tree near his house or in his wood at last?

64. Why did the apple tree soon die?

65. Who destroyed the apple tree?