高中英语故事类阅读试题

In one of the old buildings near our school，one could see an old man sitting by a large window on the first floor．His name was James．During the three years at schoo1, I had hardly ever found him missing from his usual position．
He was a high-ranking government official and lived happily with his wife．Once there was a bus accident，in which a number of passengers were seriously injured and were taken to the hospital for treatment．James was responsible for the rescue operation．It was a big hospital，but James was shocked to notice how ill-equipped it was．There were no enough life-saving drugs and life—supporting equipment． The injured and their companions had to struggle there．James attempted to help．However，though he emptied his pockets，many of them died that day．
That was a turning point in his life．He made a decision to devote his life to helping others， particularly the poor and needy patients and their companions．He began spending much of his income on these people．Since this required a lot of time and energy，he found it difficult to fulfill his official duties and therefore chose to retire，which，in turn，reduced his income considerably．
His wife was deeply worried. Most of the time，James was out and paid least attention to home affairs．Meanwhile，as he was spending a lot helping others，she had to struggle even to meet the household expenses．Though she was not opposed to his helping the poor，she urged him not to overlook his own life and home，but it had no effect on him．One day they had a heated argument and in the end she left him，never to return．Though he continued with his work，this was a great blow and did serious harm to his health and enthusiasm and was soon forced to stay indoors．That was when he took his position by the window，spending his time looking outside．
A few weeks after my graduation，I returned to school，only to find the buildings gone．I heard that they were torn down．All the people left except James．He refused to go and the next morning，he was found at his usual place by the window，dead．
What changed James’ view towards life?

A．The difficulties in his career．

B．The deaths in the bus accident．

C．The bad conditions in the hospital．

D．The responsibilities in the operation．

James chose to retire in order to____________________.

A．take care of the injured passengers

B．find a better job to increase his income

C．spare more time and energy to help others

D．stay away from the difficult official duties

James’ wife left because_________________________．

A．she was strongly against his deeds

B．James paid too little attention to his work

C．her work to support their daily life was too tiring

D．James failed to keep a balance between charity and home

The underlined word this in Paragraph 4 refers to ____________.

A．His decision to retire

B．The departure of his wife

C．The argument with his wife

D．His devotion to helping others

What is possibly the reason why James sat by the window every day?

A．He expected his wife to return.

B．He looked forward to going out.

C．He desired to watch the students.

D．He attempted to know the outside life.

Steve Flaig of Grand Rapids, Michigan, knew he’d been adopted as a baby, and when he turned 18, in 2003, he decided he’d try to track down his birth mother. The agency from which he’d been adopted gave him his mother’s name: Christine Tallady. But online searches didn’t turn up any results, and Flaig let it go.
In 2007, though, he searched for the name again online. This time, the search results included a home address near the Lowe’s store where Flaig, then 22, worked as a deliveryman.When he mentioned the coincidence to his boss, his boss said, “ You mean Chris Tallady, who works here?”
Flaig and Tallady, 45, a cashier, had said hi to each other a few times at thestore, but they’d never really talked. He hadn’t even known her name. Flaig thought, “ There’s no possible way she’s my mother.”
For a few months, Flaig avoided Tallady. “ I wasn’t sure how to approach her,” he told a local reporter. Finally, an adoption agency employee volunteered to call Tallady for him.
When Tallady realized that the nice guy she’d been waving at was her son, she blubbered. “ I wasn’t ready to be a mother at that time.” She’d given him up for adoption in 1985, when she was 23. However, she’d always hoped to meet her birth son one day. Later that day, mother and son talked for almost three hours at a nearbybar.
Married with two other children, Tallady said, “I have a complete family now.”
What did Steve Flaig do in the Lowe’s store in 2007?

A．He worked as a deliveryman.

B．He was as a cashier.

C．He was the boss of the shop.

D．He was a local reporter.

The underlined word “blubbered” in Paragraph 5 probably means______.

A．shouted aloud	B．read aloud
C．said while crying	D．sang happily

What would be the best title for the passage?

A．Remarkable Reunion.	B．An Adopted Son.
C．A Boss Helped Flaig	D．A Cashier’s Experience

Each time I see a balloon(气球), my mind flies back to a memory of when I was a six-year-old girl. It was a rainy Sunday and my father had recently died. I asked my mom if Dad had gone to heaven. "Yes, honey. Of course." she said.
"Can we write him a letter?"
She paused, the longest pause of my short life, and answered, "Yes."
My heart jumped. "How? Does the mailman go there?" I asked.
"No, but I have an idea." Mom drove to a party store and returned with a red balloon. I asked her what it was for.
"Just wait, honey. You'll see." Mom told me to write my letter. Eagerly, I got my favorite pen, and poured out my six-year-old heart in the form of blue ink. I wrote about my day, what I learned at school, how Mom was doing, and even about what happened in a story I had read. For a few minutes it was as if Dad were still alive. I gave the letter to Mom. She read it over, and a smile crossed her face.
She made a hole in the corner of the letter where she looped the balloon string. We went outside and she gave me the balloon. It was still raining.
"Okay, on the count of three, let go. One, two, three."
The balloon, carrying my letter, darted upward against the rain. We watched until it was swallowed by the mass of clouds.
Later I realized, like the balloon, that Dad had never let his sickness get him down. He was strong. No matter what he suffered, he'd persevere, dart up, and finally transcend this cold world and his sick body. He rose into sky and became something beautiful. I watched until the balloon disappeared into the gray and white and I prayed that his strength was hereditary. I prayed to be a balloon.
What would be the best title for the passage?

A．An unforgettable experience

B．A great father

C．Fly to paradise

D．The strong red balloon

When the girl asked her mother if they could write to her father, her mother _________.
A．believed it easy to do so
B．thought her a creative girl
C  felt it hard to answer
D．found it easy to lie
When the girl was told that she could send a letter to her father, she _________.

A．jumped with joy

B．became excited

C．started writing immediately

D．was worried that it couldn't be delivered

In the eyes of the author, what was the rain like?

A．An incurable disease.

B．An unforgettable memory.

C．The failures her father experienced

D．The hard time her father had.

When I was six, Dad brought home a dog one day, who was called “Brownie”. My brothers and I all loved Brownie and did different things with her. One of us would walk her, another would feed her, then there were baths, playing catch and many other games. Brownie, in return, loved each and every one of us. One thing that most touched my heart was that she would go to whoever was sick and just be with them. We always felt better when she was around.
One day, as I was getting her food, she chewed up (咬破) one of Dad’s shoes, which had to be thrown away in the end. I knew Dad would be mad and I had to let her know what she did was wrong. When I looked at her and said, “Bad girl,” she looked down at the ground and then went and hid. I saw a tear in her eyes.
Brownie turned out to be more than just our family pet. She went everywhere with us. People would stop and ask if they could pet her. Of course she’d let anyone pet her. She was just the most lovable dog. There were many times when we’d be out walking and a small child would come over and pull on her hair. She never barked (吠) or tried to get away. Funny thing is she would smile. This frightened people because they thought she was showing her teeth. Far from the truth, she loved everyone.
Now many years have passed since Brownie died of old age. I still miss the days when she was with us.
What would Brownie do when someone was ill in the family?

A．Keep them company.	B．Look at them sadly.
C．Play games with them.	D．Touch them gently.

We can infer from Paragraph 2 that Brownie__________.

A．would eat anything when hungry

B．felt sorry for her mistake

C．loved playing hide-and-seek

D．disliked the author’s dad

Why does the author say that Brownie was more than just a family pet?

A．She was treated as a member of the family.

B．She played games with anyone she liked.

C．She was loved by everybody she met.

D．She went everywhere with the family.

J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter book series, began writing at age 6. In her biography（传记）, she well remembers her good friend, Sean, whom she met in secondary school, helped build her confidence in becoming a very good writer. “He was the first person to know my serious dream to be a writer. He was also the only person who thought I was certain to be a success at it, which meant much more to me.”
Rowling met many difficulties in her writing, especially fantasy(幻想） stories. It wasn't until l990 that she first got the idea about Harry Potter. As she recalls, it was on a long train journey from London to Manchester that “the idea of Harry Potter simply fell into my head. I didn't have a pen with me, and I was too shy to ask anybody if I could borrow one. I think, now, that this was probably a good thing, because I simply sat and thought, for four(delayed train) hours, and all the details appear in my brain, and this thin, black-haired, glasses-wearing boy who didn't know he was a wizard （男巫）became more and more real to me.”
That same year, her mother passed away after a ten-year illness, which deeply affected her writing. She went on to marry and had a daughter, but separated from her husband shortly afterwards.
During this time, Rowling suffered from depression（抑郁症）. She ,out of work,completed her first novel in the cafes, where she could get her daughter to fall asleep. After being refused by l2 publishing houses, the first Harry Potter novel was sold to a small British publishing house.
Now with seven books sold nearly 400 million copies in 64 languages, J. K. Rowling is the highest earning novelist in history. And it all began with the confidence of a friend !

Which of the following could be the best title of the passage?

A．Confidence of a Friend Helped the Success of Harry Potter

B．J.K.Rowing’s Hard Life and the Success of Harry Potter

C．J.K.Rowing---author of the Harry Potter book series

D．How J.K.Rowing Firstly Got the Idea of Harry Potter

According to the passage, we know J.K.Rowing_______.

A．had a happy family

B．had a ten-year illness

C．earned a lot from her novels

D．published 12 books in 64 languages

Where did J.K.Rowing first have the shape of Harry Potter?

A．in the cafes	B．on a train
C．in a secondary school	D．in a publishing house

What can we learn from the passage?

A．Harry Potter’s friends didn’t know he was a wizard until he graduated.

B．J.K.Rowing wrote down her idea while she was on the train by borrowing a pen.

C．It’s lucky that J.K.Rowing didn’t have a pen while she got the idea of Harry Potter.

D．Harry Potter was a thin,yellow-haired handsome boy with a pair of glasses on his nose.

Two travelling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family were rude and refused to let the angels stay in the guest room. Instead the angels were given a space in the cold basement. As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied: “Things aren’t always what they seem.”
The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable(好客的)farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had，the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night’s rest. When the sun came up the next morning，the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their only income, lay dead in the field.
The younger angel was very angry and asked the older angel, “How could this happen?” “Why did you not watch out for the cow? The first man had everything, yet you watched over his house,” she accused. “The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you did not help.”
“Things aren’t always what they seem,” the older angel replied. “When we stayed in the basement，I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so greedy and unwilling to share his good fortune，I asked God if I could seal(封口) the wall so he wouldn’t find it. Then last night as we slept in the farmer’s bed，the angel of death(死神) came for his wife. I asked God if the angel could take the cow instead. Things aren’t always what they seem.”
The underlined part “the pair” in the second paragraph two refers to    .

A．the poor couple	B．the rich couple
C．the guests	D．the angels

The younger angel was very angry because     .

A．the older angel treated the two families unfairly.

B．the older angel killed the farmer’s cow.

C．the wealthy man gave them a bad place to live.

D．the angel of death took the cow away.

Why did the older angel let the farmer’s cow die?

A．Because she wanted to save the farmer’s wife.

B．Because she wanted to teach the younger angel a lesson.

C．Because she was sympathetic to the rich.

D．Because God wanted the older angel to take the cow.

The story tries to tell the reader that     .

A．the young should always learn from the old

B．angels are always ready to help the poor.

C．angels are always ready to help the rich.

D．sometimes things are not what they seem.

Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois, on July 21^st, 1899. Influenced by his father, he enjoyed camping, fishing and hunting at his early age. In 1917, after graduation from high school, Hemingway began his writing career with The Kansas City Star. And then, after being rejected for army service in World War I because of poor vision, he volunteered to serve as a driver for an American ambulance unit in France. In 1918, he transferred to duty on the Italian front, where he was seriously wounded in an explosion. After his recovery, he returned home. He worked for The Toronto star, covered the Greco-Turkish war as a foreign reporter, and then returned to Paris, which was a city full of intellectual life, creativity, and genius after the war. In Paris, where he accomplished a revolution in literary style and language, his first book, Three Stories and Ten Poems, appeared in 1923, and was followed by a short story collection In Our Time, which marked his entry to American literature in 1925.
Hemingway’s status as a remarkable writer of his time was confirmed with the publication of A Farewell to Arms in 1929. The novel represented a farewell both for war and for love. In 1937, he became a foreign reporter covering the Spanish Civil war. Three years later, he published For Whom the Bell Tolls. Set in Spain during the Civil war, the novel restated his view of love found and lost and described the tough spirit of the common people. In 1912, the same judgment was reflected in his portrait of fisherman, Santiago, with an indomitable spirit in defeat, in The Old Man and the Sea, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1953. Hemingway won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. With one of the most important influences on the development of the American short story and novel, Hemingway has seized the imagination of the American public like no other twentieth-century author. He died by suicide, in Ketchum, Idaho, in 1961.
Hemingway was turned down for army service in World war I because ______ .

A．he was unlearned	B．he was in poor condition
C．he was inexperienced	D．he had bad eyesight

The publication of _______ proved Hemingway one of the greatest literary lights of the 20th century.

A．Three Stories and Ten Poems

B．A Farewell to Arms

C．The Old Man and the Sea

D．In Our Time

Which is the correct order of the following events given in this passage?
a. Hemingway’s work For Whom the Bell tolls came out.
b. Hemingway won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
c. Hemingway’s first book was published in Paris.
d. Hemingway got wounded on the Italian front.
e. Hemingway covered the Greco-Turkish war as a foreign reporter.

A．d, e, c, a, b	B．e, c, d, a, b
C．a, c, e, b, d	D．c, e, a, b, d

The underlined word “indomitable” in the last paragraph probably means ______.

A．unending

B．unselfish

C．unbending

D．Unchanging

A city child's summer is spent in the street in front of his home’, and all through the long summer vacations I sat on the edge of the street and watched enviously the other boys on the block play baseball. I was never asked to take part even when one team had a member missing—not out of special cruelty, but because they took it for granted, I would be no good at it. They were right, of course.
I would never forget the wonderful evening when something changed. The baseball ended about eight or eight thirty when it grew dark. Then it was the custom of the boys to retire to a little stoop(门廊) that stuck out from the candy store on the corner and that somehow had become theirs. No grownup ever sat there or attempted to. There the boys would sit，mostly talking about the games played during the day and of the game to be played tomorrow. Then long silences would fall and the boys would wander off one by one. It was just after one of those long silences that my life as an outsider changed. I can no longer remember which boy it was that summer evening who broke the silence with a question；but whoever he was, I nod to him gratefully now. “What's in those books you're always reading?” he asked casually. “Stories,” I answered. “What kind?” asked somebody else without much interest.
Nor do I know what drove me to behave as I did, for usually I just sat there in silence, glad enough to be allowed to remain among them; but instead of answering his question, I told them for two hours the story I was reading at the moment. The book was Sister Carrie. They listened bugeyed and breathless. I must have told it well, but I think there was another and deeper reason that made them so keen an audience. Listening to a tale being told in the dark is one of the most ancient of man's entertainments, but I was offering them as well, without being aware of doing it, a new and exciting experience.
The books they themselves read were the Rover Boys or Tom Swift or G．A. Henry. I had read them too, but at thirteen I had long since left them behind. Since I was much alone I had become an enthusiastic reader and I had gone through the booksforboys series. In those days there was no reading material between children's and grownups' books，or I could find none. I had gone right from Tom Swift and His Flying Machine to Theodore Dreiser and Sister Carrie. Dreiser had hit my young mind，and they listened to me tell the story with some of the wonder that I had in reading it.
The next night and many nights thereafter，a kind of unspoken ritual(仪式) took place. As it grew dark, I would take my place in the centre of the stoop and begin the evening's tale. Some nights, in order to taste my victory more completely, I cheated. I would stop at the most exciting part of a story by Jack London or Bret Harte, and without warning tell them that was as far as I had gone in the book and it would have to be continued the following evening. It was not true, of course; but I had to make certain of my newfound power and position. I enjoyed the long summer evenings until school began in the fall. Other words of mine have been listened to by larger and more fashionable audiences, but for that tough and athletic one that sat close on the stoop outside the candy store, I have an unreasoning love that will last forever.
Watching the boys playing baseball, the writer must have felt ________.

A．bitter and lonely	B．special and different
C．pleased and excited	D．disturbed and annoyed

The writer feels grateful even now to the boy who asked the question because the boy ________.

A．invited him to join in their game

B．liked the book that he was reading

C．broke the long silence of that summer evening

D．offered him an opportunity that changed his life

According to Paragraph 3, storytelling was popular among the boys basically because ________.

A．the story was from a children's book

B．listening to tales was an ageold practice

C．the boys had few entertainments after dark

D．the boys didn't read books by themselves

Sometimes the writer stopped at the most exciting part of a story to ________.

A．play a mean trick on the boys

B．add his own imagination to the story

C．experience more joy of achievement

D．help the boys understand the story better

What is the message conveyed in the story?

A．One can find his position in life in his own way.

B．Friendship is built upon respect for each other.

C．Reading is more important than playing games.

D．Adult habits are developed from childhood.

I found out one time that doing a favor for someone could get you into a lot of trouble. I was in the eighth grade at the time, and we were having a final test. During the test, the girl sitting next to me whispered something, but I didn’t understand. So I leaned over her way and found out that she was trying to ask me if I had an extra pen. She showed me that hers was out of ink and would not write. I happened to have an extra one, so I took it out of my pocket and put it on her desk.
Later, after the test papers had been turned in, the teacher asked me to stay in the room when all the other students were dismissed（解散）. As soon as we were alone she began to talk to me about what it meant to grow up; she talked about how important it was to stand on your own two feet and be responsible (负责任) for your own acts. For a long time, she talked about honesty and emphasized（强调） the fact that when people do something dishonest, they are really cheating themselves. She made me promise that I would think seriously about all the things she had said, and then she told me I could leave. I walked out of the room wondering why she had chosen to talk to me about all those things.
Later on, I found out that she thought I had cheated on the test. When she saw me lean over to talk to the girl next to me, it looked as if I was copying answers from the girl’s test paper. I tried to explain about the pen, but all she could say was it seemed very very strange to her that I hadn’t talked of anything about the pen the day she talked to me right after the test. Even if I tried to explain that I was just doing the girl a favor by letting her use my pen, I am sure she continued to believe that I had cheated on the test.
The story took place（发生）exactly ____________ .

A．in the teacher’s office	B．in an exam room
C．in the school	D．in the language lab

The girl wanted to borrow a pen, because ____________ .

A．she had not brought a pen with her

B．she had lost her own on her way to school

C．there was something wrong with her own

D．her own had been taken away by someone

The teacher saw all this, so she asked the boy ____________ .

A．to go on writing his paper

B．to stop whispering

C．to leave the room immediately

D．to stay behind after the exam

The boy knew everything ____________ .

A．the moment he was asked to stay behind

B．when the teacher started talking about honesty

C．only some time later

D．when he was walking out of the room

About ten years ago, a young and very successful businessman named Josh was traveling down a Chicago neighborhood street. He was going a bit too fast in his shiny, black, 12 cylinder Jaguar XKE, which was only two months old.
He was watching for kids rushing out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no child came out, but a brick sailed out and—WHUMP! —it hit the Jag’s shiny black side door! Immediately Josh stopped the car, jumped out, seized the kid and pushed him up against a parked car. He shouted at the kid, “What was that all about and who are you? That’s my new Jag, that brick you threw is gonna cost you a lot of money. Why did you throw it? ”
“Please, mister, please. . . I’m sorry! I didn’t know what else to do! ” begged the youngster. “I threw the brick because no one else would stop! ” Tears were streaming down the boy’s face as he pointed around the parked car. “It’s my brother, mister, ” he said. “He rolled of the curb (路沿) and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up. ”Sobbing, the boy asked the businessman, “ Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me. ”
Moved beyond words, the young businessman tried hard to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. Straining, he lifted the young man back into the wheelchair and took out his handkerchief and wiped the scrapers and cuts, checking to see that everything was going to be OK. He then watched the younger brother push him down the sidewalk toward their home.
It was a long walk back to the black, shining 12 cylinder Jaguar XKE—a long and slow walk. Josh never did fix the side door of his Jaguar. He kept the dent (凹痕) to remind him not to go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at him to get his attention. Feel for the bricks of life coming at you.
How did the driver reflect firstly when he found the boy throwing a brick on his car?

A．Surprised

B．Angry

C．Strange

D．Sad

The boy threw a brick at the businessman’s car because _________.

A．the businessman drove at a high speed

B．he envied the brand-new car very much

C．he wanted to ask for some money

D．he wanted to get help from the driver

Which of the following is the right order of the story?
a. The younger brother threw a brick at Josh’s car.
b. The elder brother fell out of his wheelchair.
c. The younger brother begged Josh for help.
d. Josh lifted the elder brother back into his wheelchair.
e. Josh shouted at the younger brother.

A．b, a, e, c, d	B．a, c, d, b, e
C．b, a, c, e, d	D．a, c, b, e, d

What can we learn from the passage?

A．Josh would accept the money from the kids.

B．The two kids were Josh’s neighbors.

C．Josh was a kind-hearted man.

D．Josh’s new car broke down easily.

According to the passage, the last sentence means ________.

A．trying to get ready for the trouble in your future life

B．driving fast in a neighborhood street is dangerous

C．trying to be more understanding seeing others in trouble

D．protecting oneself from being hurt

Yesterday I started the Year of Giving, my first day of a year-long journey into exploring the act of giving and the meaning of charity. I chose December 15 as the starting date, which marked three years since my mother died from heart disease. She was one of the most generous people that I have ever known. She always thought of others first and certainly serves as an inspiration to me.
I had a rather busy day yesterday, ironic (具有讽刺意义的) for someone who is unemployed right now. In the morning I went to the gym, and unsuccessfully got the phone call from the unemployment office for some job searching. Before I knew it, it was noon. I grabbed a quick lunch and rushed down to a meeting. On my way to Connecticut, I wondered if I would see someone that I would feel forced to give my first $ 10 to. I was running late and decided to do it afterwards.
After the meeting I had about half an hour to find the first person of my Year of Giving! I decided to check out DuPont Circle. I had met a guy there named Jerry once and thought he would willing accept my $ 10. He wasn’t there, but I did see a man sitting by himself who looked really lonely, so I approached him. Now I had to figure out what I was going to say, I think I said something like, “Hi, can I sit down here?” “I would like to know if I could give you $ 10?” He asked me to repeat what I had said, I did, then he looked at me funny, got up and left.
I then started walking south where I spotted a man standing by the bus stop on Connecticut Ave. He appeared to be in his 60s. I don’t know what drew me to him, but I thought I would make my second attempt. I was a bit nervous and asked him which bus came by that stop. Then I explained that I was starting a year-long project to give $ 10 to someone every day and that I wanted to give my $ 10 for today to him. The gentleman, I later found out that his name was Ed, responded without hesitation that he could not accept my offer and that there were many people more deserving the money than him. This was exactly one of the things that I hoped would happen. People would think of others before themselves.
The author set the starting date on December 15 to ____.

A．help the charity	B．remember his mother
C．make an explosion	D．fulfill a wish if his mum

In the author’s first attempt to give away the money, ____.

A．he was considered ridiculous

B．he hesitated for a long time

C．he was forced to donate the money

D．he had no time to take action

In the author’s second attempt, the gentleman refused his offer because ____.

A．he didn’t need other’s help

B．he thought more for others

C．he didn’t care about money

D．he wanted to get more money

We can refer that the author was inspired by ____.

A．true friendship	B．his own kindness
C．generous donations	D．human’s good nature

Around four years ago, I received a call from the principal of our school as to the “Parents View” talk the next morning. He asked me to speak to the group. After the call, my whole body became feverish and panicky. The time from his call to the next morning seemed like years. The whole night, I could not sleep with many ominous apprehensions in mind. One of them was to call the principal with regret and tell him that I could not come. Finally, I gathered some courage. I thought, “If I miss this opportunity, surely the school will never invite me again to any of their programs.”
I reached the school in time. Before my turn came, my whole body was trembling. When my turn came and I started speaking, my heartbeat increased and my mouth went dry. I wasn’t even able to read the written speech properly. I was not aware of where I was standing and what I was reading. That was the day when I realized my biggest weakness, Public Speaking.
After my speech, I met with the principal and explained what happened to me. He told me that this happens to everyone. Even great speaker, faced the same things when they started. He suggested that I come again next time.
Around one month later, I was invited to refer to a topic on Motivation. This time I was feeling comfortable. My speech was not only appreciated by the principal as well as the teachers, because I was able to get my idea across to them. They encouraged and praised my efforts.
After delivering is successfully, I became more confident .l said to myself, “If I can speak in front of such a learned audience, like the principal who educates others, I can now speak in front of others too.”
I started delivering lectures in my plant, on various topics like Self Motivation, Personality Development, Personal Excellence, Spoken English and Presentation Skills. This has become a passion for me. I learned that everything is possible if we have the courage to take the first step.
Which of the following is the hest title for the passage?

A．Practice Makes a Man a Better Speechmaker

B．Public Speaking Makes a Man Embarrassed.

C．Principal Provides the Best Chances.

D．Spoken English Develops in Malting Speeches.

The author had bad feelings before the speech because______.

A．he disliked the idea of giving a lecture

B．he had got a high fever before that

C．he regretted accepting the invitation

D．he feared he couldn't perform it properly

What does the underlined part “ominous apprehensions” in the first paragraph mean?

A．Unlucky opportunities.

B．Negative ideas.

C．Curious views.

D．Happy comments.

What can we conclude from the passage?

A．Nothing is to be got without pains but poverty.

B．Knowledge makes humble, ignorance makes proud.

C．A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

D．Necessity is the mother of invention.

TEN-YEAR-OLD Barack Obama was one of the only three black students at his school in Hawaii, US. He felt very different from most other students. White girls wanted to touch his hair. A white boy asked him whether his father ate people.
“I lied to them that my father was a Kenyan prince. But I kept asking myself who I am,” said Obama.
However, 37 years later, the boy made history. Last year Obama became the first black president in US history.
Obama was born in 1961, to an African father and a white American woman from a small town in the US. He grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii. This unusual background made him wonder who he was. He once turned to alcohol to help forget this question.
With help from his friends, Obama finally turned his life around at college. His hard work made him a star at Harvard. Later, he became only the third black senator (参议员) in US history. During his race to the highest post in the US, Obama talked about his background. He called for a United States of America, rather than a white America or a black America.
“Obama’s success has made Martin Luther King’s dream come true. That is: A man should not be judged by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character,” wrote ABC news.
When Obama was ten years old, he was in _______.

A．Hawaii

B．Kenya

C．Africa

D．Indonesia

When Obama became president of the US, he was _______.

A．37

B．48

C．47

D．38

Why did Obama lie to his classmates that his father was a Kenyan prince?

A．Because he was uncertain about his background then.

B．Because he dreamed of becoming a Kenyan prince.

C．Because he was afraid of being laughed at by his classmates.

D．Because he was told his father was a Kenyan prince.

Which of the following statements is right?

A．Obama is optimistic all his life.

B．Obama was brought up in Africa.

C．.According to Luther King, a man should be judged by the content of his

D．Obama didn’t work hard at Harvard, but he finally turned president of the US.

A mother had two daughters. She loved them very much, but two girls would fight with each other from their earliest years. As they grew older, they became total strangers. They had no contact with each other when they were adults.
This caused the mother great pain. Then, later, she had an idea. She decided to write a letter to them. In this letter, she told them how much she loved them, and how she wanted them to love each other in this way. She also gave them news of herself and some guidance on how to live happier lives.
When the letter was ready, she wrote out one copy for each daughter, but these copies were special. Each copy contained only every second sentence of the original letter: the copy for one daughter had only the even (双数的) sentences, and the other daughter’s copy contained only the odd sentences. Neither contained the fullness of the mother’s message.
When the two daughters received their letters, they were puzzled. To understand the half-letter, they would have to put the two letters together and read them as one, which meant they must approach one another again in love and respect. But they each blamed the other for not helping them when trying to read the half-letter.
For a long time, the mother waited in vain. Then one day, when the mother had almost given up hope, there was a knock at the door. There they stood, together. “We’ve come home,” they said at the same time. “We’ve finally put our letters together, and we’ve come to say how much we love you, Mum.” Then she hugged them both, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks, and welcomed them back home.
The mother gave her daughters incomplete letters mainly to ______.

A．tell them her news	B．offer them advice
C．mend their relations	D．win their hearts

Upon receiving their letters, the two daughters ______.

A．complained about each other as usual

B．put the letters together and read them

C．blamed her mother for the half-letter

D．understood the mother’s purpose at once

Why did the two daughters visit their mother at last?

A．They missed home very much.

B．They felt grateful for the mother.

C．They wanted to apologize.

D．They had put the letters together.

What is the best title for the passage?

A．Two Special Daughters

B．A Mother’s Endless Love

C．A Sincere Apology to Mother

D．An Unusual Letter

Dear Sharon Draper,
A lot of books have flashes of insight, but only few of them can open the readers’ mind and make them realize something new. Your book, Out of My Mind, filled me with those sparks. I enjoyed getting to know Melody. Despite the fact that she had cerebral palsy(脑瘫)，Melody had an amazing character that shone brightly. Out of My Mind helped me learn a life-long lesson.
Your book has changed my point of view. I never teased those who had special needs, but I never really felt comfortable around them either. When I started reading your novel, I saw how Melody was a smart and talented girl. At the beginning of the book, I asked myself, “Would I be Melody’s friend?” The voice in my stomach told me the sad truth: no. I carried on with your book from start to finish, and when I closed it, I asked myself the same question, “Would I be Melody’s friend?” I realized, with a smile, that the answer was right in front of me. Throughout Out of My Mind, I had become Melody’s friend.
Last year, there was a boy in my class who had Asperger’s syndrome(阿斯伯格综合症). I didn’t really know him; he just seemed different to me. This was around the time that I read your novel. Melody showed me how she was just as good as anyone else in her classroom and how the same goes for anyone else with disabilities. The boy in my class amazed me by what he was capable of doing. As the days went by, I started helping him instead of avoiding him.
Melody opened my eyes and cleared the world around me. She showed me how a girl with cerebral palsy was the same as a girl like me. Now it is time for me to thank you for writing this amazing novel. I will never forget your fantastic book.
Sincerely,
Margaret  Lim
Before Margaret Lim read Out of My Mind, she ________.

A．often laughed at those who are disabled

B．liked to help those who had special needs

C．wouldn’t make friends with the disabled

D．looked down upon those who are different

According to the passage, the author mainly thinks Out of My Mind is ________.

A．beautiful in words

B．influential to readers

C．skillful at writing

D．successful in sales

What does the second paragraph mainly talk about?

A．The characters of a disabled girl.

B．The change of Margaret’s attitude toward the disabled.

C．The friendship between Margaret and Melody.

D．The main content of Out of My Mind.

What can we learn from the third paragraph?

A．Melody became Margaret Lim’s classmate and they became good friends.

B．The boy who had Asperger’s syndrome was different from his classmates.

C．The disabled can deal with many things as well as the healthy people.

D．Margaret Lim often helped the disabled boy since they became classmates.