Lego, the inventor of those colorful bricks that have inspired kids’ imaginations world-wide, has celebrated its 50th anniversary.

On January 28, 1958, a man named Godtfred Kirk Christiansen created the plastic building bricks that can now be found in almost every child’s toy box. The simple building block has become one of the most well-known and popular toys around the world.

"The Lego brick continues to be very attractive, because it allows children, and others, to develop their creativity and imagination," said Charlotte Simonsen, a spokeswoman of the Danish Lego company.

The company’s building brick allows an infinite number of links. With just two bricks there are 24 different links, and with six, there are 915 million possibilities, according to Lego.

A half-century after its creation, more than 400 million children and adults spend five billion hours a year putting the bricks together and pulling them apart. Also, the bricks made today can still interlock with those made in 1958.

Lego bricks are not just child’s play: they also attract the interest of adults. South Korean adventurer, Heo Young-Ho, who climbed Mount Everest in 1987, left a Lego toy behind in the snow during his climb.

After its great success Lego experienced a severe crisis at the end of the 1990s, hit hard by fierce competition from electronic games. This so-called "Toy of the Century" then suffered a dark period that lasted several years.

With great efforts, the company began to prosper again, and in 2006 it earned about 1.5 billion dollars in 130 countries. Seven boxes of Lego are now sold every second around the world, and 19 billion bricks are produced each year: enough to encircle the Earth five times！

The Lego bricks have remained popular in the past 50 years as a result of _______.

  A. attracting many children worldwide  B. brought imagination to the children worldwide

  C. making the children and even adults worldwide creative and imaginative

  D. having infinite links that bring many imagination

The author gave the example of South Korean adventurer Heo Young-Ho in order to prove that ______.

  A. Heo Youn-Ho also loved playing Lego bricks

  B. the Lego bricks made him a mountain climber

  C. the Lego bricks not only interest children but also adults

  D. the Lego bricks are a must when on goes on an adventure

It can be inferred from the text that ______.

  A. there are 915 different links with just 6 bricks

  B. the Lego Bricks Company has made a lot of money from the people worldwide

  C. the Lego Bricks can’t compare with computer games

  D. the bricks made today don’t change much compared with those made in 1958

The underlined word “hit” in the seventh paragraph means _____.

  A. defeated in a fight or a competition

  B. have a crash in an accident or a fight

  C. get known through a song

  D. attack    somebody   in a fight

The main idea of the story is that _____.

  A. Lego bricks: brilliant past and struggling future

  B. Lego bricks: an attraction of both children and adults

  C. Lego bricks: making creativity and imagination

  D. Lego bricks: making billions of money every year

閱讀下面短文，從短文后各題所給的四個(gè)選項(xiàng)（A、B、C和D）中，選出可以填入空白處的最佳選項(xiàng)，并從答題卡上將該選項(xiàng)涂黑。

I sat in the all-too-quiet waiting room of the cancer center, counting the minutes until my treatment. I thought I'd  36  it two years ago, but it was back. After my   37    diagnosis, Nom and Dad had driven more than l,200 miles from their home to be with me for three  38  while I was getting over from   39   and chemotherapy(化療). When the cancer returned last, they, once again,   40    it here , too. They waited for hours while I received my treatments------Dad with his   41   and Mom with a magazine.

But now, they were   42   in Westlake.

My children are  43   and my four brothers live far from my home outside Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania.  I knew    44  of them would come if  asked, but I didn't want to  45   them,even with the intense    46  I felt.

I   47   picked one of the magazines on the end table beside me and couldn't help  wishing my  48   were there inside. One publication caught my   49  , a magazine I liked best and had   50    to ages ago. I couldn't tell you the last time when I'd read an issue. I   51   it up and I started right in with the letters to the   52  .

"I love  53   my copy every month," the first letter began. The author mentioned a daughter who  54    in Clinton, Pennsylvania. Huh, that's funny. I thought. That's my town! I read the letter to the end, where my    55   fell upon the author's signature:

"Thank you, Margie and Tom Parrish, Westlake, Louisiana"

Alone? Hardly. Margie and Tom-or as I call them, Mom and Dad-were right beside me,even now.

1.A. treated           B. beaten         C. infected              D. operated

2.A. first             B. terrible        C. invisible               D. last

3.A. days             B. months        C. years                 D. hours

4.A. illness            B. hospital       C. work                 D. surgery

5. A. made             B. put           C. hoped               D. arrived

6.A. pen               B. glasses        C.Bible                D. smile

7. A. in hospital        B. back home     C. at work              D. in town

8.A. youn             B. caring         C. struggling            D. full-grown

9.A. any              B. some          C. none                 D. both

10.A. scare             B. disappoint      C. surprise              D. trouble

11.A. loneliness         B. pride          C. happiness             D. anger

12.A. half-heartedly      B. carefully       C. seriously             D. anxiously

13.A. brothers           B. children       C. friends               D. parents

14.A. thought           B. mind          C. eye                  D. hand

15.A. referred           B. subscribed      C. turned               D. contributed

16.A.put                B.picked         C.set                   D.broke

17.A. editor             B. writer         C. producer              D. reader

18.A. editing            B. sending        C. receiving             D. organizing

19. A. studied            B. worked        C. died                 D. lived

20.A.gaze               B.touch          C.thought               D.sense

If you have read Sylvia Plath’s poetry ,you wil probably wonder what it is about and why she wrote the way she did . Her work always has strong feelings .

Born in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Massachusetts , Plath became an author , whose writings students all over the world have tried to analyze（分析）and understand . Plath’s mother , Aurelia Schober Plath , was a first-generation American from Austria , and her father , Otto Emile Plath , was from Grabow , Germany . Plath had a very close relationship with her father . She wrote about her father in the poem “ Daddy ” , which later became one of her most famous pieces of work . And when her father died in 1940 , eight-year-old Plath said , “ I’ll never speak to God again .” Her poem shows her great love for her father .

In 1995 , Plath graduated from Smith College with highest honors , and obtained a scholarship to Newnham College , Cambridge . It was there that she met the poet Ted Hughes and married him on June 16 , 1956 . It is said that she “ met her match ”. Plath and Hughes experienced a happy life as fully as possible for a while . Plath described Hughes as a “ singer , story-teller , lion and world-wanderer（流浪者）” with a “ voice like the thunder of God .”

Their daughter Frieda was born on April l st 1960 , and their son Nicholas was born in January , 1962. Plath’s poem “ Morning Song ” expresses her feelings as her son was born . She wrote , “ Love set you going like a fat gold watch … ” She compared her baby son to “ a fat gold watch ” , which shows her deep love and great imagination . Beginning in October , 1962 , Plath experienced a great burst of creativity and wrote most of the poems on which her reputation now rests . In 1963 , Plath dead from carbon monoxide poisoning（一氧化碳中毒）. In 1982 , she became the first poet to win a Pulitzer after passing away for The Collected Poems .

56. We can learn from the text that        .

A. Plath’s poetry is famous all over the world

B. Plath didn’t like her father very much

C. Plath lived in Germany when she was youn

D. Plath’s mother was born in America

57. What can we learn from the underlined sentence in Paragraph 3 ?

A. Hughes was also an excellent poet .

B. Hughes always competed with Platch .

C. Hughes was not a good husband .

D. Hughes didn’t like to be a poet .

58. What can we learn about Plath’s poetry ?

A. It has nothing to do with her life .

B. It shows her life in the country side .

C. It is full of feelings and imagination .

D. Its language is simple and common .

59. According to the text , Sylvia Plath died        .

A. in her twenties       B. in her thirties       C. in her forties     D. in her fifties

60. What’s the main purpose of the text ?

A. To tell how Sylvia Plath became a poet .

B. To describe the features of Sylvia Plath’s poetry .

C. To explain why Sylvia Plath won a Pulitzer Prize .

D. To introduce Sylvia Plath and her poetry .

Lego, the inventor of those colorful bricks that have inspired kids’ imaginations world-wide, has celebrated its 50th anniversary.

On January 28, 1958, a man named Godtfred Kirk Christiansen created the plastic building bricks that can now be found in almost every child’s toy box. The simple building block has become one of the most well-known and popular toys around the world.
"The Lego brick continues to be very attractive, because it allows children, and others, to develop their creativity and imagination," said Charlotte Simonsen, a spokeswoman of the Danish Lego company.
The company’s building brick allows an infinite number of links. With just two bricks there are 24 different links, and with six, there are 915 million possibilities, according to Lego.
A half-century after its creation, more than 400 million children and adults spend five billion hours a year putting the bricks together and pulling them apart. Also, the bricks made today can still interlock with those made in 1958.
Lego bricks are not just child’s play: they also attract the interest of adults. South Korean adventurer, Heo Young-Ho, who climbed Mount Everest in 1987, left a Lego toy behind in the snow during his climb.
After its great success Lego experienced a severe crisis at the end of the 1990s, hit hard by fierce competition from electronic games. This so-called "Toy of the Century" then suffered a dark period that lasted several years.
With great efforts, the company began to prosper again, and in 2006 it earned about 1.5 billion dollars in 130 countries. Seven boxes of Lego are now sold every second around the world, and 19 billion bricks are produced each year: enough to encircle the Earth five times！

1. 1.

   The Lego bricks have remained popular in the past 50 years as a result of _______

   1. A.
      attracting many children worldwide
   2. B.
      brought imagination to the children worldwide
   3. C.
      making the children and even adults worldwide creative and imaginative
   4. D.
      having infinite links that bring many imagination
2. 2.

   The author gave the example of South Korean adventurer Heo Young-Ho in order to prove that ______

   1. A.
      Heo Youn-Ho also loved playing Lego bricks
   2. B.
      the Lego bricks made him a mountain climber
   3. C.
      the Lego bricks not only interest children but also adults
   4. D.
      the Lego bricks are a must when on goes on an adventure
3. 3.

   It can be inferred from the text that ______

   1. A.
      there are 915 different links with just 6 bricks
   2. B.
      the Lego Bricks Company has made a lot of money from the people worldwide
   3. C.
      the Lego Bricks can’t compare with computer games
   4. D.
      the bricks made today don’t change much compared with those made in 1958
4. 4.

   The underlined word “hit” in the seventh paragraph means _____

   1. A.
      defeated in a fight or a competition
   2. B.
      have a crash in an accident or a fight
   3. C.
      get known through a song
   4. D.
      attack somebodyin a fight
5. 5.

   The main idea of the story is that _____

   1. A.
      Lego bricks: brilliant past and struggling future
   2. B.
      Lego bricks: an attraction of both children and adults
   3. C.
      Lego bricks: making creativity and imagination
   4. D.
      Lego bricks: making billions of money every year