These days，it is easier for us to travel to other countries than ever before．However，there is a big difficulty that most of us  41  when we meet people in other countries—we cannot communicate with them. There are  42  where English is still not spoken，though it is the most widely known language．So，wouldn’t it be  43  if there was one language that could be understood by anyone anywhere in the world?

    Esperanto that was created in 1887 may be the world’s  44  truly international language．In fact，although  45  artificial(人造的) languages have been already created，only Esperanto has had much success．Its learners say that it is about four times  46  to learn than other languages．Spelling and pronunciation are both easy，too．For example，it does not have silent  47  like the“h”in“honest”．If you  48  a word，you can spell it without any difficulty．The grammar is also as simple as possible：only sixteen basic  49 ，no irregular verbs(不规则动词)，only six verb endings．

    In short，Esperanto should be attractive(有吸引力的) as a language to learn， 50  there is a problem：how many people have met anyone who can really speak it? Anyway，we hope that some day one language can be mastered easily by anyone．

41．A．need      B．miss       C．face      D．touch

42．A．offices     B．schools    C．cities     D．places

43．A．safe       B．nice        C．funny    D．difficult

44．A．first       B．another     C．last      D．other

45．A．little       B．a little      C．few      D．a few

46．A．better     B．easier       C．slower   D．shorter

47．A．marks     B．parts        C．words   D．letters

48．A．hear       B．see         C．watch   D．notice

49．A．subjects   B．sentences   C．rules    D．lessons

50．A．and       B．but          C．so       D．because

                                  (22)

When Liu Kaiqu was young he was poor in Shanghai. One day he   36  a picture of a tiger and tried to sell it on the street. It caught the   37   of an American, who asked, “How much does it cost?” He said,“500 dollars. ”The foreigner thought it was too  38  and asked again, “Can you make it cheaper?” He answered, “No,” Then he tore(撕)it to pieces. In great   39   ,the foreigner said, “Young man, are you angry?” “No, sir. I’m not angry. I sold it   40  500 dollars because I thought it was worth the    41   . But you wanted a lower price. It means   42  didn’t think so and it is not good enough. I’ll go on working   43   until my customers(顾客)are satisfied.  ”At that time,   44  Liu Kaiqu was not famous at all, he never   45   his dream. Now he is well-known all over the world as a great artist.

36. A. stole        B. picked        C. drew        D. saw