It was a Sunday and the heavy storm had lasted all night. The morning after the storm, though, was beautiful: blue skies, warm air and a calm, inviting sea touching the shore gently.
My father realized it was a good day for fishing and invited my sister and me to go with him. I was only 14 and fishing had never been my thing, but I decided to go all the same. I ’m so glad I did.
On the road to the harbour we could see the terrible destruction on the coast, but the harbour itself was in fairly good shape. After all, it was protected by the arms of a bay that only one tiny channel to the sea. As we got on board, we noticed two big humps(里脊）in the distance.
On approaching them, we saw it was a mother whale with her baby. We couldn’t believe it---there aren’t any whales along the coast here. The storm must have driven them across the ocean into the bay, in which the still water was so badly polluted that nothing could survive.
The little baby whale--- actually as big as our boat-- was obviously stuck and could not move. The mother dived under the water and camp up suddenly, making big whirlpools(旋涡）and waves. “ she’s trying to help her baby, but on the wrong side,” my father said. At this point , my father moved our boat in a semicircle to the other side and, heading the boat towards the baby whale, pushed it gently. With our several gentle pushes the big hump turned over and disappeared under water. Then it swam up right beside its mum. They struggled in their desperate attempts to escape but missed the exit and started heading in the wrong direction. We hurried up to the whales and tried to lead them towards the bay channel. Slowly, they let us lead them, sometimes rising from the water right beside us to breathe---and to give us a trusting look with those huge eyes. Once they hit their first part of clean water flowing straight from the sea, the mum gave us a wave with her tail and off they swam into the distance.
In the excitement it had felt like only a few minutes, but we had been with those wonderful animals for almost an hour and a half. That was the simple and lasting beauty of the day. Nearly four decades later, I still look back fondly to that golden day at sea.The author says “ I’m so glad I did”(in Para.2) because_________
| A．he witnessed the whole process of fishing |
| B．he enjoyed the beauty of the calm sea |
| C．he spent the weekend with his family |
| D．he experienced the rescue of the whales |
The harbour survived the storm owing to____________
| A．the shape of the harbour |
| B．the arms of the bay |
| C．the still water in the channel |
| D．the long coast line |
The mother whale failed to help her baby because___________
| A．she had stayed in the polluted water for too long. |
| B．the whirlpools she had made were no big enough. |
| C．the waves pushed her baby in the wrong direction. |
| D．she had no other whales around to turn to for help |
What is the theme of the story?
| A．Fishing provides excitement for children. |
| B．It’s necessary to live in harmony with animals. |
| C．It’s vital to protect the environment. |
| D．Saving lives brings people a sense of happiness. |
On a Friday night, a poor young artist stood at the gate of a New York subway station, playing his violin. Many of passers-by slowed down their paces and put some money into the hat of the young man.
The next day, at the same place, he put his hat on the ground gracefully. Different than the day before, he took out a large piece of paper and laid it on the ground and put some stones on it. Then he adjusted the violin and began playing. It seemed more pleasant to listen to.
The words read, “Last night, a gentleman named George Sang put an important thing into my hat mistakenly. Please come to claim it soon.”
Seeing this, people wondered what it could be. After about half an hour, a middle-aged man ran there hurriedly and rushed through the crowd to the violinist and grabbed his shoulders and said, “Yes, it’s you. You did come here. I knew that you’re an honest man and would certainly come here.”
“Are you Mr. George Sang”? asked the young violinist.
The man nodded. “Did you lose something?” “Lottery. It’s lottery.” “Is it?” The violinist took out a lottery ticket and asked.
George nodded promptly and seized the lottery ticket and kissed it, then he danced with the violinist.
The story turned out to be this: George Sang bought a lottery ticket, winning a prize of $500,000. After work, he passed the station and felt the music was so wonderful that he took out 50 dollars and put it in the hat. However, the lottery ticket was also thrown in. The violinist was a student at an Arts College and had planned to attend further study in Vienna. He had booked the ticket and would fly that morning. However when he was cleaning up he found the lottery ticket. Thinking that the owner would return to look for it, he cancelled the flight and came back to where he was given the lottery ticket.
When asked why he didn’t take the lottery ticket for himself, the violinist said, “Although I don’t have much money, I live happily; but if I lose honesty I won’t be happy forever.” What is the sequence(顺序) of the story?
a. The violinist tried to look for the ticket-owner
b. George Sang won a lottery
c. George Sang threw $50 and his ticket in the hat of a violinist’s
d. The violinist found the owner of the lottery ticket
e. A young student played the violinist near a subway station.
| A．c, d, e, a, e | B．b, c, e, d, a | C．b, e, c, a, d | D．c, a, d, b, e |
George Sang was so ______that he kissed the lost ticket and danced with the violinist.
| A．moved | B．disappointed | C．mad | D．pleased |
By telling the story, the writer intends to tell us that__________.
| A．getting rich overnight is important |
| B．showing sympathy for others is important |
| C．being honest is of great importance |
| D．school fees are high at the present time |
We can infer from the passage that______.
| A．The Arts College the young violinist was going to attend is not in New York. |
| B．Many people usually put their money in their hat in the distant past. |
| C．George Sang may give some money to the young violinist as a reward. |
| D．all the people who win lotteries are generous and easy-going. |
Each time I see a balloon, 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 (缠绕) 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 does the underlined sentence imply?
| A．When the girl asked if they could write to her father, her mother felt it hard to answer. |
| B．When the girl asked if they could write to her father, her mother thought her a creative girl. |
| C．When the girl asked if they could write to her father, her mother believed it easy to do so. |
| D．When the girl asked if they could write to her father, her mother found it easy to lie. |
When the girl was told that she could send a letter to her father, she _________.
| A．jumped with surprise | B．became excited |
| C．didn’t know how to write | 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 hard time her father had. | D．The failures her father experienced. |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．An unforgettable experience. | B．The strong red balloon. |
| C．Fly to paradise. | D．A great father. |
In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what "keeping up with the Joneses" is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors.
The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhoodoutside New York City.. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors.
It was like a race, but one could never finish this race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They had to move back to an apartment in New York City. Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbors. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it "Keeping up with the Joneses” because "Jones" is a very common name in the United States. "Keeping up with the Joneses" came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand's series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.
People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are "Joneses" in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they ______.
| A．want to be as rich as their neighbors |
| B．want others to know or to think that they are rich |
| C．don't want others to know they are rich |
| D．want to be happy |
It can be inferred from the story that rich people like to ________.
| A．live outside New York City |
| B．live in New York City |
| C．live in apartments |
| D．live with many neighbors |
What's the author's attitude to keeping up with the Joneses?
| A．Negative. | B．Positive. | C．Supportive. | D．Objective. |
The grandfather of Nell Trent owns a shop of odds and ends. He wants to make sure his grandfather is provided for when he dies. His memory of his daughter’s suffering and early death gives him a fear of poverty. Gambling(赌博) becomes an addiction for Nell’s grandfather, which results in his financial and physical ruin. Nell and her grandfather flee from their home and begin a journey that has no destination. For Nell, all she wants is a peaceful existence with enough to live on.
They come across many interesting people on their travels and often meet with the kindness of strangers. Yet, in a colorful world, they also face the reality of the Industrial Revolution. From simple villages and fields of flowers, they go into a dirty city full of mass unemployment and plague (瘟疫) victims --- where children die of starvation and many are abandoned.
The story isn’t only about Nell and her grandfather, but also the people who are connected to them directly or indirectly. There is Richard Swiveller, a careless young man who is a friend of Nell’s older brother, who wants Swiveller to marry Nell for the fortune he thinks she has. Daniel Quilp is a cruel moneylender, who manages to fool the grandfather into borrowing large sums of money from him. There is honest Kit, a boy employed at the shop, who becomes a victim even though he never harms other people. Kit desires to help Nell, whom he considers an angel that has always inspired the best in him. The mysterious Bevis Marks, who is a generous customer to some people and an enemy to others, also has his own reasons for looking after Nell and her grandfather.
Unlike Dickens’ other works, The Old Curiosity Shop is a book of contrasts: the purity of Nell compared to the dishonesty of Quilp, fresh air and scenic villages to the polluted, stone-covered city, etc. Even people’s reaction to the book presented a cruel contrast. At first, Nell Trent was praised and considered Dickens’ best character. Later, she was criticized by many well-known people like Oscar Wilde. While characters in Dickens’ other books are moving towards a better future, Nell and her grandfather are fleeing for their life and their story is moving towards a sad ending. We can infer from the first two paragraphs that ___________.
| A．Nell’s mother died young because of poverty |
| B．Nell’s grandfather made a fortune by gambling |
| C．Nell died of starvation during her journey |
| D．Nell had no one to turn to on her travels |
What’s the third paragraph mainly about?
| A．The plot (情节) of the story. | B．The characters in the story. |
| C．The background of the story. | D．The inspiration behind the story. |
The Old Curiosity Shop is different from Dickens’ other works because it ___________.
| A．is full of contrasts | B．has a surprise ending |
| C．reflects Dickens’ own life | D．is set in the Industrial Revolution |
My husband and I had just opened up a pet sitting business earlier that year. Our customers had slowly risen from three to thirty a month. We were busy through those hot summer months, driving between visits. Our services were strictly held at the pet owner’s home. It was almost too busy for the two of us, but we were making good money!
We asked pet owners new to our services to phone two weeks ahead so we had enough time to meet the owners and pets at their homes and make any following meetings before the owner leaves.
One day, we decided to take on a new customer just two days before they would leave. We met the family, filled in a form, and spent some time with their dog, Hercules. He playfully jumped on us and touched our hands and arms using his tongue. The family laughed as he did this, showing us that he was very loving.
Two days later I appeared at the house, alone. I came up to Hercules and said hello happily. I filled up his water bowl and cleaned any messes he made. Meanwhile, he was so lovely sitting beside. I thought this would be the good picture to send to the owners, a usual service. After the light and “click” sound went off, Hercules rushed at me. I didn’t know what had just happened until I noticed the drops of blood. I ran out and did the only thing — calling my husband.
Then I went to neighbors for help. My husband arrived after ten minutes. The helpful neighbor and my husband led Hercules back into his pen (圈). Then my husband and I took off to the hospital.
I must have looked like I was shot when I walked into the hospital. The nurses quickly moved me to a room. I asked the doctor in a weak but playful manner, “ Am I going to die？” He replied, “Finally.”According to the text, the author’s work was .
| A．tiring and dangerous | B．easy and free |
| C．well paid | D．done outdoors |
What did the author often do during her work?
| A．Cleaning the clients’ house. |
| B．Walking the pets outside. |
| C．Bringing the pets to her own house. |
| D．Taking a photo of pets to the owners. |
It can be inferred from the text that the author was attacked because .
| A．Hercules feared the sound and the flash |
| B．the author attacked Hercules first |
| C．Hercules was very hungry then |
| D．the author treated Hercules badly |
The doctor’s answer gave us a sense of .
| A．anger | B．humor | C．carelessness | D．patience |
Our bedroom has no full-length mirror. There is one at the canteen entrance. I always cherish a secret desire to take a glance before it at myself in a beautiful new dress. However, each time when it comes to the fulfillment, I get seized with such an uneasiness that I literally stagger(踉跄) away—backing out at the critical moment.
At the root of it is my lack of confidence by which I have been enslaved since childhood. It embarrasses me at the mildest praise, crushes my utmost efforts to say “No”, and prevents me from asking my parents for one cent more than necessary. Among other things, lack of confidence has wormed its way into my love of piano.
At the age of 14, one Sunday morning, I was woken up by a resounding hymn(洪亮的圣歌). Tracing that call of God into a neighboring church, I found myself deeply attracted by the melody of a piano—something beyond the means of my parents. To make it worse, people say a pianist is supposed to have music in the blood, but I believe I had none from my engineer father and technician mother. For days on end, I kept thinking of nothing else. I had a dream.
It wasn’t a dream after gold, which made some of my close friends to engage in business as self-employed traders or street peddlers. I was sometimes dazzled by their gold rings or elegant necklaces behind which, however, I seemed to catch sight of skeletons in their cupboards and was frightened away from the craze for fortunate. Out of despair, I kept it to myself, lack of confidence weighing heavy on me. I could do nothing but turn to my dream for comfort, for courage to aim high and wish for the impossible. I was convinced that before I could afford anything expensive (to me, it was a piano), I should climb up the academic ladder as high as possible.
For the next nine years, I carefully held back my desire for music to keep my search for learning, especially in English studies. My efforts were so rewarding that I went successfully through high school and college in my hometown. When I received the admission notice for a second degree course at a famous university in Beijing, the national capital, tears welled up in my eyes. I knew my command of English was my wealth, for I might make a deal with a pianist who would give me access to his piano in exchange for English lessons. And that has come true!
To this day, whenever I lay my fingers on the snow-white keyboard, ready for a melody, I still feel shy. I am quite aware of my limited music talent, but as a shy dreamer, I have found my way to success.According to the first two paragraphs, we can learn that the writer is __________.
| A．helpless | B．shy | C．honest | D．considerate |
Why did the writer say her desire for the piano was a dream in the third paragraph?
a. Her parents couldn’t afford a piano.
b. Her parents didn’t want her to engage in music.
c. She thought she had no gift for music.
d. She could do nothing but accept the reality.
| A．a, b | B．c, d | C．a, c | D．b, d |
How did the writer make her dream of playing the piano come true?
| A．She turned to her friends for financial aid. |
| B．She taught English in exchange for piano lessons. |
| C．She was admitted to a university for a second degree course in music. |
| D．She earned money by doing a part-time job to pay for her piano lessons. |
What can we learn from the writer’s example?
| A．Wealth always comes after a great effort. |
| B．Confidence is a key factor in success. |
| C．We should be academically successful before other achievements. |
| D．We should make every effort to turn a dream into reality. |
Mr. Peter Johnson, aged twenty-three, battled for half an hour to escape from his trapped car yesterday when it landed upside down in three feet of water. He took the only escape route—through the boot.
Mr. Johnson’s car had ended up in a ditch at Romney Marsin, Kent after he lost proper control on ice and hit a bank. “Fortunately, the water began to come in only slowly,” Mr. Johnson said. “I couldn’t force the doors open because they were jammed against the walls of the ditch and dared not open the windows because I knew water would come flooding in.”
Mr. Johnson, a sweet salesman of Sitting Home, Kent, first tried to attract the attention of other motorists by sounding the horn and hammering on the roof and boot. Then he began his struggle to escape.
Later he said, “It was really a half penny that saved my life. It was the only coin I had in my pocket and I used it to unscrew the back seat to get into the boot. I hammered desperately with a hammer trying to make someone hear, but no help came.”
It took ten minutes to unscrew the seat, and a further five minutes to clear the sweet samples from the boot. Then Mr. Johnson found a wrench (扳手) and began to work on the boot lock. Fifteen minutes passed by. “It was the only chance I had. Finally it gave, but as soon as I moved the boot lid, the water and mud poured in. I forced the lid down into the mud and climbed up clear as the car filled up.”
His hands and arms cut and bruised, Mr. Johnson got to Beckett Farm nearby. Huddled in a blanket, he said, “That thirty minutes seemed like hours.” Only the tips of the car wheels were visible, police said last night. The vehicle had sunk into two feet of mud at the bottom of the ditch. Which of the following objects is the most important to Mr. Johnson?
| A．The hammer. | B．The coin. | C．The seat. | D．The horn. |
We know from the passage that ______.
| A．Mr. Johnson’s car stood on its boot as it fell down |
| B．Mr. Johnson’s car accident was partly due to the slippery road |
| C．Mr. Johnson struggled in the pouring mud as he unscrewed the back seat |
| D．Mr. Johnson could not escape from the door because it was full of sweet jam |
“Finally it gave” in Paragraph 5 means that ______.
| A．at last the wrench went broken |
| B．the chance was lost at the last minute |
| C．the lock came open after all his efforts |
| D．luckily the door was torn away in the end |
What is the best title for this newspaper article?
| A．Driver Escapes through Car Boot |
| B．The Story of Mr. Johnson, a Sweet Salesman |
| C．The Driver Survived a Terrible Car Accident |
| D．Car Boot Can Serve as the Best Escape Route |
I lost my sight when I was four by falling off a box car in a freight（货物）yard in Atlantic City. Now I am thirty two. I can slightly remember what color red is. It would be wonderful to see again, but a disaster can do strange things to people. I might not have come to love life as I do if I hadn’t been blind. I don’t mean that I would prefer to go without my eyes. I simply mean that the loss of them made me appreciate the more what I had left.
Life, I believe, asks constant adjustments to reality. The adjustment is never easy. I was totally confused and afraid. But I was lucky. My parents and my teachers saw something in me—a potential to live, and they made me want to fight it out with blindness.
The hardest lesson I had to learn was to believe in myself. If I hadn’t been able to do that, I would have become a chair rocker on the front porch for the rest of my life. When I say belief in myself, I mean: an assurance that I am, despite imperfections, a real, positive person; that somewhere in the intricate（错综复杂的） pattern of people there is a special place where I can make myself fit.
It took me years to discover and strengthen this assurance. Once a man gave me an indoor baseball. I thought he was making fun of me and I was hurt. “I can’t use this.” I said. “Take it with you,” he urged me, “and roll it around.” The words stuck in my head. “Roll it around!” By rolling the ball I could hear where it went. This gave me an idea how to achieve a goal I had thought impossible: playing baseball. At Philadelphia’s Overbrook School for the Blind I invented a new kind of baseball. We called it ground ball.
All my life I have set a series of goals and then tried to reach them, one at a time. I had to learn my limitations. It was no good trying for something that I knew at the start was out of reach. I would fail sometimes anyway but on the average I made progress.We can learn from the beginning of the passage that _______
| A．the author lost his sight because of a car crash. |
| B．the author wouldn’t love life if the disaster didn’t happen. |
| C．the disaster made the author appreciate what he had. |
| D．the disaster strengthened the author’s desire to see. |
What’s the most difficult thing for the author?
| A．How to adjust himself to reality. |
| B．Building up assurance that he can find his place in life. |
| C．Learning to manage his life alone. |
| D．How to invent a new kind of baseball. |
According to the context, “a chair rocker on the front porch” in paragraph 3 means that the author _________.
| A．would sit in a rocking chair and enjoy his life. |
| B．would be unable to move and stay in a rocking chair. |
| C．would lose his will to struggle against difficulties. |
| D．would sit in a chair and stay at home. |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．A Miserable Life | B．Struggle Against Difficulties |
| C．A Disaster Makes a Strong Person | D．An Unforgettable Experience |
A programmer and an engineer are sitting next to each other on a long flight from Los Angeles to New York．The programmer leans over to the engineer and asks if he would like to play a fun game．The engineer just wants to take a nap, so he politely declines and rolls over to the window to catch a few winks．
The programmer persists and explains that the game is really easy and has a lot of fun．He explains, "I ask you a question, and if you don't know the answer, you pay me $5．Then you ask me a question, and if I don't know the answer, I'll pay you $5．" Again, the engineer politely refuses and tries to get to sleep．
The programmer, now somewhat anxious, says, "OK, if you don't know the answer you pay me $5, and if I don't know the answer, I'll pay you $50!" This catches the engineer's attention, and he sees no end to this torment（折磨） unless he plays, so he agrees to the game．
The programmer asks the first question．"What's the distance from the earth to the moon?'' The engineer doesn't say a word, but reaches into his wallet, pulls out a five dollar bill and hands it to the programmer．Now, it's the engineer's turn．He asks the programmer, "What goes up a hill with three legs, and comes down on four?" The programmer looks up at him with a puzzled look．He takes out his laptop computer and searches all of his references．After about an hour, he wakes the engineer and hands him $50．The engineer politely takes the $50 and turns away to try to get back to sleep．The programmer, more than a little angry, shakes the engineer and asks, "Well, so what's the answer?" Without a word, the engineer reaches into his wallet, hands the programmer $5, and turns away and goes back to sleep．What's the best title for the passage?
| A．A Boring Conversation | B．A Fun Game |
| C．A Trick During The Flight | D．A Question Without Answer |
What kind of person is the programmer according to what he said?
| A．Confident． | B．Selfish． | C．Greedy． | D．Generous． |
What can we infer according to the last sentence?
| A．The engineer has little money with him． |
| B．Actually the engineer doesn't know the answer, either． |
| C．The engineer is bored with programmer． |
| D．The engineer beats the programmer at last． |
Which is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．In the beginning the engineer is not interested in the game． |
| B．The engineer is too sleepy to want to play the game． |
| C．At last the engineer gains $45 from the programmer． |
| D．Nobody knows the answer to the engineer's question． |
You have to log on to your school's online system to check your grades, but you find the system is kind of inconvenient．What do you do?
When Daniel Brooks was a senior at Pioneer High School in the US, he came up with a Silicon Valley-style solution; he developed an iPhone app（application, 应用程序）I C Connector．
When he tried out his school's new Web-based student information system earlier this year, he immediately noticed some shortcomings．He could no longer view his current grades for all his classes at once．Checking several classes required several clicks-which for a teenager is so much work．To save himself all this trouble, Brooks developed the app and sold it on the Apple app store．Now it has 2,300 users who have downloaded it across the US．
"It ended up on every iPhone and iPad and portable device that any student and teacher had on campus," said Scott Peterson, the campus tech support worker at Pioneer High．
Brooks said he didn't create the app to get rich - it is free．"A student is not going to want to pay 99 cents," Brooks said．"They just want to see their grades more easily．"
However, in the months that followed, Brooks experienced highs and lows．His app is now so successful that users want more, in particular, his teachers have started pushing him to develop a version for them．However, the company Infinite Campus, which developed the information system, has been less positive．
The company said in an e-mail that he was confusing users and violating the company's copyright by using Infinite Campus' name and logo in the app’s name．Brooks' father, Michael Brooks, has offered to change the name, but says he needs time to get Apple's approval．Daniel also e-mailed and called Infinite Campus．They got no response．
Daniel Brooks starts at a California university this autumn．Despite Infinite Campus' attitude, he continues to try to improve the app and hopes to put out an Android version soon．Why did Daniel Brooks develop an iPhone app IC Connector? （No more than 8 words）
_______________________________________________________What is Brooks' teachers' attitude towards the app he developed? （No more than 14 words）
________________________________________________________What does Paragraph 7 talk about between Infinite Campus and Brooks? （No more than 7 words）
________________________________________________________What does Brooks’ aim to do now? （No more than 10 words）
________________________________________________________Use one word to describe Brooks.
Family traditions were important in our house, and none was more appreciated than the perfect Christmas tree.
"Dad, can we watch when you trim(修剪) the tree?" My eldest son, Dan, nine, and his seven-year-old brother John, asked.
"I won't be cutting this year," my husband Bob said. "Dan, you and John are old enough to measure things. Do it all by yourselves. Think you boys can handle it?"
Dan and John seemed to grow six inches in their chairs at the thought of such an amazing responsibility. "We can handle it," Dan promised. "We won't let you down."
A few days before Christmas, Dan and John rushed in after school. They gathered the tools they'd need and brought them out to the yard, where the tree waited. I was cooking when I heard the happy sounds as the boys carried the tree into the living room. Then I heard the sound that every mother knows is trouble: dead silence. I hurried out to them. The tree was cut too short. John crossed his arms tight across his chest. His eyes filled with angry tears.
I felt worried. The tree was central to our holiday. I didn't want the boys to feel ashamed every time they looked at it. I couldn't lower the ceiling, and I couldn't raise the floor either. There was no way to undo the damage done. Suddenly, a thought came to my mind, which turned the problem into the solution.
"We can't make the tree taller," I said. "But we can put it on a higher position."
Dan nodded his head sideways. "We could put it on the coffee table. It just might work! Let's try it!"
When Bob got home and looked at the big tree on top of the coffee table, Dan and John held their breath.
"What a good idea!" he declared. "Why didn't I ever think of such a thing?"
John broke into a grin. Dan's chest swelled with pride. The underlined part "grow six inches" (Para. 4) implies the brothers felt .
| A．proud | B．nervous | C．embarrassed | D．scared |
What happened after the brothers moved the Christmas tree into the living room?
| A．They rushed to school. |
| B．They began to decorate the tree. |
| C．They got angry with each other. |
| D．They found the tree was cut short. |
How could the short tree be turned into a perfect one?
| A．By making the tree taller. |
| B．By lowering the ceiling. |
| C．By placing it on a coffee table. |
| D．By raising the floor. |
What Bob said in the last but one paragraph (the underlined part)showed .
| A．he was a little disappointed |
| B．he was too stupid to think of the idea |
| C．he appreciated what the brothers had done |
| D．he should not have given them the task |
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it were your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?"
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choice in life.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that was incurable, and that I would live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is my doctors' code for preparing yourself to die.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. I was completely in despair. Later that evening, I had another examination and my wife told me that tumor turned to be curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I' m fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death. To tell the truth, no one wants to die. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. It clears out the old to make room for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away.
Your time is so limited that you shouldn't waste it repeating someone else's life. Don' t be trapped by dogma（教条）— which is living with the results of other people' s thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart. It somehow already knows what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.The doctor advised the author to go home and get his affairs in order because ______.
| A．he had to rest at home |
| B．his disease couldn't be cured |
| C．his disease was not serious at all |
| D．he had to wait for the result of the test |
What does the author think of death?
| A．He thinks it is impossible to avoid. |
| B．He thinks it is not the end of life. |
| C．He thinks it is nothing to be scared of. |
| D．He thinks it is the beginning of a new life. |
In the author's opinion, we should ______.
| A．follow others' advice | B．take no notice of diseases |
| C．take exercise and keep healthy | D．have the courage to follow our heart |
What does the underlined word “encountered” in paragraph 2 mean?
| A．came across | B．dealt with | C．survived | D．supported |
In 1978, I was 18 and was working as a nurse in a small town about 270 km away from Sydney, Australia. I was looking forward to having five fays off from duty. Unfortunately, the only one train a day back to my home in Sydney had already left. So I thought I’d hitch a ride (搭便车).
I waited by the side of the highway for three hours but no one stopped for me. Finally, a man walked over and introduced himself as Gordon. He said that although he couldn’t give me a lift, I should come back to his house for lunch. He noticed me standing for hours in the November heat and thought I must be hungry. I was doubtful as a young girl but he assured （使…放心）me I was safe, and he also offered to help me find a lift home afterwards. When we arrived at his house, he made us sandwiches. After lunch, he helped me find a lift home.
Twenty-five years later, in 2003, while I was driving to a nearby town one day, I saw an elderly man standing in the glaring heat, trying to hitch a ride. I thought it was another chance to repay someone for the favour I’d been given decades earlier. I pulled over and picked him up. I made him comfortable on the back seat and offered him some water.
After a few moments of small talk, the man said to me, “You haven’t changed a bit, even your red hair is still the same.” I couldn’t remember where I’d met him. He then told me he was the man who had given me lunch and helped me find a lift all those years ago. It was Gordon.The author had to hitch a ride one day in 1978 because_______.
| A．she missed the only train back home |
| B．she was going home for her holidays |
| C．the town was far away from Sydney |
| D．her work delayed her trip to Sydney |
Which of the following did Gordon do according to Paragraph 2?
| A．He gave the girl a ride back home. |
| B．He helped the girl find a ride. |
| C．He bought sandwiches for the girl. |
| D．He watched the girl for three hours. |
The reason why the author offered a lift to the elderly man was that_________.
| A．she realized he was Gordon |
| B．she had known him for decades |
| C．she wanted to repay the favour she once got |
| D．she was going to the nearby town |
What does the author want to tell the readers through the story?
| A．Those who give rides will be rapid. |
| B．Good manners bring about happiness. |
| C．People should offer free rides to others. |
| D．Giving sometimes produces nice results. |
One sunny day last September, Tim heard some shouting. Looking out to the sea carefully, he saw a couple of kids in a rowboat were being pulled out to sea.
Two 12-year-old boys, Christian and Jack, rowed out a boat to search for a football. Once they'd rowed beyond the calm waters, a beach umbrella tied to the boat caught the wind and pulled the boat into open water. The pair panicked and tried to row back to shore. But they were no match for it and the boat was out of control.
Tim knew it would soon be swallowed by the waves. "Everything went quiet in my head," Tim recalls(回忆). "I was trying to figure out how to swim to the boys in a straight line."
Tim took off his clothes and jumped into the water. Every 500 yards or so, he raised his head to judge his progress. "At one point, I considered turning back," he says. "I wondered if I was putting my life at risk." After 30 minutes of struggling, he was close enough to yell to the boys, "Take down the umbrella!"
Christian made much effort to take down the umbrella. Then Tim was able to catch up and climb aboard the boat. He took over rowing, but the waves were almost too strong for him.
"Let's aim for the pier(码头)," Jack said. Tim turned the boat toward it. Soon afterward, waves crashed over the boat, and it began to sink. "Can you guys swim?" he cried. "A little bit," the boys said.
Once the were in the water, Tim decided it would he safer and faster for him to pull the boys toward the pier. Christian and Jack were wearing life jackets and floated on their backs. Tim swan toward land as water washed over the boys' faces.
“Are we almost there?" they asked again and again. "Yes," Tim told them each time.
After 30minutes, they reached the pier.what does “it” in paragraph 2 refer to ?
| A．The beach | B．the water | C．the wind | D．the boat |
why did Tim raise his head regularly?
| A．to take in enough fresh air |
| B．To consider turning back to not. |
| C．To check his distance from the boys |
| D．To ask the boys to take down the umbrella |
How did the two boys finally reach the pier?
| A．They swam to the pier all by themselves. |
| B．They were washed to the pier by the wave. |
| C．They were carried to the pier by Tim on his back. |
| D．They were dragged to the pier by Tim. |
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