阅读下列材料，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项。

    People often ask why "Uncle Sam" is a nickname (绰号) for the United States of America. The reason is strange but simple.

    Once there was a man called Samuel Wilson. He was born in Arlington, Massachusetts, on 3 September 1766. His nickname was "Uncle Sam". When Sam Wilson was 14 years old, he joined the army and fought in some battles (战役). At the end of the war (战争) he went to live in the state of New York. He opened a meat-packing business (生意) there.

Sam Wilson worked hard and loved his country. People in the city liked him. One day in 1812, a reporter from a newspaper visited his business. The reporter looked at some boxes of meat. He saw the letters "EA-US" on the sides of the boxes.

    "What do those letters mean?" he asked one of the workers.

    "The ‘EA' stands for (代表) ‘Edward Anderson'," the workman replied. "The boxes of meat are for him."

    "What about the letters ‘US'?" the reporter asked.

    These letters really stood for "United States", but the workman wanted to have a laugh. "Oh," he said. "They stand for Sam Wilson. He has this company(公司). We call him ‘Uncle Sam'."

    The worker did not think that the reporter would believe him. But the reporter wrote a story about his visit to Sam Wilson's business. He wrote that his workers called him "Uncle Sam" and that "Uncle Sam" meant the United States.

Many people liked using the name "Uncle Sam" as a nickname for the United States and soon they were all using it. In 1961, almost 150 years later, the United States government(政府) made the nickname "Uncle Sam" official (官方的).

  The cartoon series Bears Note《熊出没》is popular with people of ages in China at the moment．Bald strong，a logging(原木)team boss，came to the beautiful Heilongjiang forest to harvest logs with a boss，Lee's trust．But the forest had hidden(已经藏着)two terrible rivals(对手)  forest owner，bear brothers!Xiong Da and Xiong Er!

    Looking at the forest was destroyed，bear brothers decided to fight with Bald strong to protect the forest．Xiong Da is so clever that he can beat Bald strong easily．Xiong Er is not as clever as his brother but his brute force(蛮力)．But the cunning(狡猾的)head cannot leave so easily．For a long time home defense(防御)lasted and Bald strong tried different thoughts to beat bear brothers and cut down logs，but every time he failed．Finally Bald strong lost Boss Lee's trust and got nothing．As the saying says，doing good will be repaid and doing evil(罪恶) will be punished(被惩罚)．

    The cartoon story shows us an active topic in laughter，and two bears facing the failure feel hopeful．It also tells us to protect forests，protect the environment，protect ecological balance(生态平衡)in our everyday life．

B

    Frederic Chopin(弗兰德里克.肖邦) was born in March, 1810, near Warsaw in Poland(波兰). He was one of the greatest musicians in the world. In 1831, he went to Paris. No people but he could play the piano very well.

    At that time people in Paris liked the Hungarian(匈牙利的) pianist Franz Liszt(弗朗兹.李斯特).One night, at a concert, Liszt went to the piano and the people shouted. As all the lights in the concert were turned off, a wonderful piano concert started. The music was so good that the listeners were all greatly interested. They kept praising the pianist and thought that Liszt had reached something new in playing the piano. Suddenly, all the lights were turned on again as the music came to an end. And there stood a young man instead of the famous Hungarian pianist Franz Liszt.

    Liszt had planned all this. As the lights went out, Liszt left his chair and let Chopin take his place. So with the help of Liszt and his own talent(天赋), Chopin soon became famous.

    Once a little boy named Tom always felt lonely and unhappy. One day he decided to meet love. He started off with some food and drinks in the early morning. When he passed through a small park, he saw an old woman watching some flowers. She looked a little hungry. He gave her a sandwich. She gave him a smile and ate it. The smile was very beautiful. He wanted to see it again. So he gave her another sandwich. She smiled at him once again. Tom was very happy and sat down beside her.

    They sat there for a long time, eating and smiling, but said nothing. When it grew dark.Tom decided to go home. After he had gone a few steps, he turned around, ran back and gave the old woman a hug(拥抱). And she gave him the biggest smile ever.

    When Tom came back home his mother was amazed at the joy(快乐)on his face. "Tom, why are you so happy?" asked the mother. "I had lunch with love, and she has the most beautiful smile in the world. ”

    Also the old woman's daughter was amazed at her mother's pleasure. “Mum, what has made you so happy?"asked the daughter. "I ate some sandwiches with love and he is much younger than I expected,"the old woman answered.

Alice in Wonderland

Chapter 2

    Alice was not hurt, so she jumped to her feet in a moment. She looked up, and found the White Rabbit was still in sight. She was close behind it when she turned the comer, but the Rabbit was no longer to be seen. She found herself in a long, low hall.

    There were doors all around the hall, but they were all locked.

    Alice walked sadly down the middle, wondering how she was ever to get out again.

    Suddenly, she came upon a little three-legged table. There was nothing on it but a tiny golden key, and Alice's first idea was that this might belong to one of the doors of the hall.

    But, alas! Either the locks were too large, or the key was too small. However, on the second time round, she came upon a low curtain she had not noticed before and behind it was a little door.

    She tried the little golden key in the lock, and she was pleased to find it fitted!

    Once upon a time, a proud (骄傲的) Swallow lived in a large tree. He liked his colorful feathers (羽毛) and his long tail so much that he believed nothing could be better than them. One day he saw a Crow and thought. "How silly this bird is! All his feathers are black." He looked at himself lovingly and enjoyed his own feathers.

    Just then, the crow flew and sat on the same branch as the Swallow. The Swallow said, "All your feathers are black and your tail is so short." The Crow smiled and said. "But they help me fly." The Swallow said. "So do mine. But look at how beautiful they are!" He spread (展开) his wings and flew a little closer to the Crow. The Crow saw that the Swallow had lots of blue feathers and some white and pink ones, too. He looked at his own feathers and thought, "It's true. The Swallow's feathers are much prettier than mine."

    The Crow said, "Swallow, you're right. You have lovely feathers and a long tail, but only in summer. Your little feathers cannot keep you warm in winters at all. While you shiver (颤抖) in the cold, my thick feathers keep me warm in the cold winters."