第三部分:閱讀理解（共20小題;每小題2分, 滿分40分）

閱讀下列短文，從每篇短文后所給各題的四個選項（A、B、C和D）中，選出最佳選項，并在答題卡上將該項涂黑。

It was my first day at school in London and I was half-excited and half-frightened. On my way to school I wondered what sort of questions the other boys would ask me and rehearsed (practiced) all the answers: “I am nine years old. I was born here but I haven’t lived here since I was two. I was living in Farley. It’s about thirty miles away. I came back to London two months ago.” I also wondered if it was the custom for boys to fight strangers like me, but I was tall for my age. I hoped they would decide not to risk it.

    No one took any notice of me before school. I stood in the center of the playground, expecting someone to say “hello”, but no one spoke to me. When a teacher called my name and told me where my classroom was, one or two boys looked at me but that was all the curiosity my arrival aroused.

    My teacher was called Mr Jones. There were 42 boys in the class, so I didn’t stand out there, either, until the first lesson of the afternoon. Mr Jones was very fond of Charles Dickens and he had decided to read aloud to us from David Copperfield, but first he asked several boys if they knew Dickens’ birthplace, but no one guessed right. A boy called Brian, the biggest in the class, said: “Timbuktu”, and Mr Jones went red in the face. Then he asked me. I said: “Portsmouth”, and everyone stared at me because Mr Jones said I was right. This didn’t make me very popular, of course.

    “He thinks he’s clever,” I heard Brian say.

    After that, we went out to the playground to play football. I was in Brian’s team, and he obviously had Dickens in mind because he told me to go in goal. No one ever wanted to be the goalkeeper.

    “He’s big enough and useless enough,” Brian said when someone asked him why he had chosen me.

    I suppose Mr Jones remembered Dickens, too, because when the game was nearly over, Brian pushed one of the players on the other team, and he gave them a penalty. As the boy kicked the ball hard along the ground to my right, I threw myself down instinctively and saved it. All my team crowded round me. My bare knees were grazed and bleeding. Brian took out a handkerchief and offered it to me.

    “Do you want to join my gang (team)?” he said.

    At the end of the day, I was no longer a stranger.

51．The writer prepared to answer all of the following questions EXCEPT “________”.

    A. How old are you?                                              B. When did you come back to London?

    C. Do you want to join my gang?              D. where are you from?

52．We can learn from the passage that ________.

A. boys were usually unfriendly to new students   

B. the writer was glad to be a goalkeeper

C. Brian praised the writer for his cleverness

D. the writer was not greeted as he expected

53．The underlined part “I didn’t stand out” in paragraph 3 means that the writer was not ________.

    A. noticeable                      B. outstanding                            C. important                       D. welcome

54．The writer was offered a handkerchief because ________.

A. he threw himself down and saved the goal        

B. he was no longer a new comer

C. he was beginning to be accepted                          

D. he pushed a player on the other team

I was hurrying to class one morning when Hillary Barnes, the most popular girl in school, stopped me. “Are you the twin who won the art contest?” she asked.

“No, that’s Christine. I’m Katie,” I said.

We’re not identical twins; we look quite different. Still, we’re the Carpenter Twins. It was making you angry having a twin straight out of a fairy tale. She could defeat Snow White in a beauty contest and attract friends like the Pied Piper! Compared to Christine, I felt like one of Cinderella’s stepsisters.

In math class I dug into my school bag, searching for my homework. “Here, Katie,” said Christine, offering a crumpled paper. “It was under your pillow.” “Thanks,” I said. She’d made my bed again! Truly she was an amazing sister. How could I be angry with her? It wasn’t her fault I was the one with wild, unmanageable hair and no talent.

The bell rang, and I slapped my math book shut. “Katie, don’t forget our basketball game after school,” reminded Christine.

“I won’t,” I said. Joining Christine’s basketball team was my latest effort to be like her. Though I’d practiced hard all season, my shots still bounced off the rim of the basket. I ran awkwardly when trying to dribble(運球) the ball. Once a pass I threw hit Coach Struthers in the shoulder, practically knocking her over.

This was a new day, a new game. As I was breathing slowly, thinking positive thoughts, Christine called, “Katie, here!” She threw me a ball. I jumped for it; it slipped through my fingers and flew into the bleachers. No one was seated right there, but my relief disappeared when the ball crashed into the tape recorder that was used to play The Star Spangled Banner before each game.

I apologized in a low voice as I picked up the broken pieces of the recorder. Coach looked at the mess and asked, “How are we going to play the song now?”

Christine suggested, “Let Katie sing it! She’s always singing at home.”

Coach asked, “Would you?” I found myself nodding. Coach announced the national anthem and everyone stood. Standing before a microphone, I looked at the flag and took a deep breath. The notes seemed to flow from deep inside me, and my voice was steady and clear. When I finished, the gym was silent. Then it filled with cheering. As the game started, teammates patted my back and gave me the “thumbs up” sign.

Laura Jamison said, “You should try out for the school musical!” I nodded and said that I might.

The next morning, Hillary Barnes stopped me in the hallway and asked, “Are you the twin who sings?”

“Yes, that’s me,” I answered, smiling as I walked to class.

The author wrote this story most likely to ______.

A．show that people are talented in different ways

B．explain why some people are not talented

C．inform readers about making the most of bad situations

D．persuade readers to always be kind to others

Which question does paragraph 6 answer?

A．How did Christine help Katie on the basketball court?

B．How often does the team practice?

C．How does Katie like Christine?

D．Why does Katie join the basketball team?

Which detail from the story supports the idea that Katie does a good job singing at the basketball game?

A．She looks at the flag and takes a deep breath.

B．A teammate says she should try out for the school musical.

C．Coach Struthers asks her to sing before the game. 

D．Her sister says she is always singing at home.

Based on the event described in this story, Katie can best be described as ______

A．foolish          B．cheerful    C．clumsy     D．jealous