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B
In August 2015, President Obama announced that North America’s highest mountain, Mount McKinley, would be renamed. Its new moniker（名字）, Denali, was actually its original Aleut name, meaning “the high one”. The previous name, on the other hand, only dates back to 1896—the year when it was named in honour of William McKinley（1843—1901）, who was shortly to become President of the United States. Denali is of course not the only mountain with an interesting linguistic history, so let’s travel to Asia, and across Europe, to explore the naming of those continents’ most famous peaks and mountain ranges.
The Nepalese name Himalaya comes from a Sanskrit word meaning “Abode of Snow”, from hima for “snow” and ālaya for “abode”. In Buddhist sources, Himalaya is known by various names such as Himavā and Himavanta.
In 1856, Mount Everest was named after Sir George Everest （1790—1866）, who was the superintendent （负责人）of the Trigonometrical Survey of India. Everest himself was initially displeased by the naming, since he feared that local inhabitants might not be able to pronounce it.
    K2 stands for Karakoram 2, because it was the second peak to be surveyed in the Trigonometrical Survey in the Karakoram system. It was also formerly known as Mount Godwin Austen after Col. H. H. Godwin Austen, who first surveyed it. Another alternative name for the mountain is Chhogori.
Annapurna is a household Goddess for Hindus, who guarantees to her worshippers （崇拜者）that food will not fail. The name derives（源出）from a Sanskrit word meaning “one who gives nourishment”.
    The Matterhorn’s name derives from the name of the nearby town of Zermatt, the second element of which is apparently Matte “meadow”, and Horn, “horn”. Horn is not an unusual element in German names of mountains with jutting（突出的）peaks. The mountain is called Mont Cervin in French and Monte Cervino in Italian, from the Italian adjective cervino “deer-like”, which conjures up （使想起）a deer’s antlers.
Ben Nevis is the Anglicized form of the Scottish Gaelic name Beinn Nibheis, which means“Mountain by the（River）Nevis”. The name of the river apparently derives from a Celtic root for “water”.
24. How many continents’ mountains are mentioned in the passage?
    A. 2             B. 3                C. 4               D. 5
25. Himalaya is a mountain also named ________.
    A. Nepalese       B. Abode of Snow    C. Alaya            D. Himavā
26. Which of the following is FALSE according to the passage?
    A. Everest was unhappy about the name of Mount Everest at first.
    B. K2 was once called Col. H. H. Godwin.
    C. Annapurna means “one who offers food”.
    D. Matterhorn comes from the name of the nearby town of Zermatt.
27. The above mountains’ names come from sources other than _________.
    A. color          B. a Sanskrit word    C. a person’s name   D. geographic name
C
    My neighbor Mrs. Gargan first told me about it. “Have you seen the tree?” She asked as I was sitting in the backyard enjoying the autumn twilight （暮色）. “The one down at the corner,” she explained. “It’s a beautiful tree—all kinds of colors. All the passers-by stop to have a look. You ought to see it.” I told her I would, but I soon forgot about the tree. Three days later, I was jogging down the street when a splash of bright orange caught my eyes. For an instant, I thought someone’s house had caught fire. Then I remembered the tree.
I approached the tree to look at it closely. There was nothing remarkable about the shape of the tree. It was a medium-sized maple. But Mrs. Gargan had been right about its colors. Like the mess of an artist’s palette（调色板）, the tree blazed a bright crimson（深红色）on its lower branches and burned with vivid yellows and oranges in its center, and deep red at its top. Through these colors were light green leaves as yet untouched by autumn.
Walking closer I noticed several bare branches near the top, their small black branches scratching the air like claws. The fallen leaves lay like a red carpet around the trunk.
    As I was amazed at this beauty, I thought of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s comments about the stars. “If the constellations（星座）appeared only once in a thousand years, imagine what an exciting event it would be. But because they’re up there every night, we barely give them a look,” he made a remark in Nature.
I felt the same way about the tree. Because its beauty will last only a week, it should be especially precious to us. And I had almost missed it.
    Once in the 19th century when a man noticed a brilliant display of northern lights（北极光）in the sky over Massachusetts, he rang a church bell to alert the whole town’s people. That’s what I felt like doing about the tree. I wanted to awake the countryside to its wonder.
    I didn’t have a church bell, but as I walked home, I did ask each neighbor I passed the same simple but important question Mrs. Gargan had asked me: “Have you seen the tree?”.
28. What did the author’s neighbor remind him?
A. To appreciate the beauty of the sunset.  B. To find what happened at the street corner.
    C. To draw a picture of a tree.           D. To enjoy the beautiful tree in all colors.
29. From the passage we know _________.
    A. the author felt it precious to see the beauty of the tree
    B. the author thought of the stars as beautiful as the tree
    C. the remarkable scene of the tree only appeared in a thousand years
    D. People never had a close look at the tree
30. How did the author call on people to enjoy the wonder?
    A. He rang the church bell.              B. He passed on the same question.
    C. He awakened all neighbors up.         D. He required people to the corner.
31. The best title of the passage can be ________.
    A. Have You Seen the Tree?             B. The Most Beautiful Tree
    C. One of the Wonders in Nature         D. The Precious Moment in Life
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