My mother's father worked in a church when he was young. One day,he built some boxes for some clothes. The church was sending them to an orphanage (孤儿院) in India. On his way home,he reached into his shirt pocket to find his glasses,but they were gone. Then he realized what had happened：the glasses had slipped out of his pocket and fallen into one of the boxes. His new glasses were on the way to India！

Grandpa had spent $20 for those glasses that very morning. That was much money for him then. He was upset by the thought of having to buy another pair. "It's not fair. I've been working so hard. How can this happen to me?" he thought.

Several months later,the director of the orphanage came to the US. He wanted to visit all the churches that supported his orphanage in India,so he came to give a speech one Sunday at my grandfather's small church in Chicago. The director began by thanking the people for their kindness.

"But most of all ," he said ," I must thank you for the glasses you sent. You see,the typhoon (台风) had just swept through the orphanage,destroying everything,including my glasses. Along with not being able to see well,I had headaches every day. Then your boxes arrived. When I opened them,I found a pair of glasses lying on top."

The people in the church were confused. There were no glasses on the list. But sitting quietly in the back,my grandfather realized what his glasses had done.

There are times when we come across something bad,we always want to complain. But perhaps it is something we should thank. Maybe you should thank God for not allowing your car to start this morning,because he may have saved your life from a car accident.

(   ) 11. Where did the author's grandfather's glasses go?

   A. A church in theUS. B. An orphanage in theUS.

   C. A church inIndia. D. An orphanage inIndia.

(   ) 12. The underlined word " slipped" means "         " in Chinese.

   A. 破碎   B. 滑落   C. 使用   D. 寻找

(   ) 13. What did the director of the orphanage want to do in the US？

   A. He wanted to visit some old friends.

   B. He wanted to visit the churches that supported his orphanage.

   C. He wanted to buy some clothes.

   D. He wanted to give the glasses back to the author's grandfather.

(   ) 14. Why were the people in the church confused?

   A. Because they wanted to send the clothes to another country.

   B. Because they didn't listen to the director carefully.

   C. Because they never sent glasses toIndia.

   D. Because they didn't know there was a typhoon.

(   ) 15. What can we learn from the passage?

   A. The bad things may be actually good for us.

   B. Glasses can be very useful for some people.

   C. We should try not to confuse others while giving a speech.

   D. We should give more care to the children in orphanages.

Beauty meant something special to me for a time. I guess that was before I was six or seven years old. Later I was sent to an orphanage (孤儿院) and the life there turned me into an old man.

I would get up every morning at the orphanage,make my bed just like a little soldier and then I would get into one of the two straight lines for breakfast with other twenty or thirty boys who also lived in my dormitory.

One Saturday morning after breakfast,I saw the houseparent (宿舍管理员) chasing the beautiful butterflies that lived in the bushes around the orphanage.

I carefully watched as he caught these beautiful living things,one after another,and then took them from the net and then stuck straight pins (大头4十) through their head and wings,and put them on a board.

How cruel it was to kill something of such beauty. I had walked many times into the bushes,all by myself;the butterflies could land on my head,face and hands...

When the telephone rang,the houseparent put the large board down on the ground and went inside to answer the phone. I walked up to the board and looked at the butterflies he caught just now. One of them was still moving about so I touched it carefully making one of the pins fall out. It started flying around and around trying to get away.

Soon the houseparent came back and started shouting at me. He picked up the board and started beating me on the head. There were all kinds of butterfly pieces going everywhere. I sat there by that big old tree for a long time. And I tried to get all the butterfly pieces back together,but it was too hard to do so.

Every year when the butterflies returned to the orphanage,I would always try to drive them away,because they did not know that the orphanage was a bad place to live and a very bad place to die.

(   ) 6. When did the story happen?

   A. On Saturday morning. B. On Saturday afternoon.

   C. On Sunday morning. D. On Sunday afternoon.

(   ) 7. The writer set the living butterfly free because         .

   A. it was interesting

   B. he thought it was cruel to kill the beautiful butterflies

   C. the houseparent let him to do so

   D. he wanted to make the houseparent angry

(   ) 8. According to the passage,the writer's life in the orphanage was         .

   A. dull and unhappy   B. simple and easy

   C. happy and full of hope   D. hard and busy

(   ) 9. What attitude would the writer have to the houseparent who caught the butterflies?

   A. Satisfied. B. Thankful.

   C. Angry. D. Confused.

(   ) 10. The writer wrote the passage to .

   A. talk about his experiences in the orphanage

   B. show his love of butterflies

   C. express his thanks to the orphanage

   D. encourage people to protect butterflies

If you have no special plans for your holidays,why not spend your time helping others?

Don't listen to people who say that young people today often think only of themselves. It's not true at all. More and more young people in the USA volunteer (自愿) to spend their school holidays working for others. And they don't do it for money. Here are some of their stories.

Alice Hamilton,17 Fm going to help the Forest Center build new hiking paths in the mountains. It's going to be terrific―I'll spend the whole summer living in a tent and breathing the clean mountain air. I'm going to sleep under the stars. It will be a nice sport. And I'll be able to do something good at the same time!Jason Moore,18 This summer,Fm going to volunteer with Special House Program. They build good,lowcost (低成本的) houses and sell them to families that are not very rich. They'll teach me what to do,so I'll help people and also have a chance to learn how to build houses. Trish Anderson,16

I'm going to teach kids who have trouble in reading. I'll work for a program called Reading for Life. Every day,I'm going to help kids choose and read books that they like. I want to be a teacher,and I love children and reading,so this is going to be a great experience for me.

(   ) 1. Young people in the USA volunteer to spend        helping others.

   A. school holidays   B. weekdays

   C. every morning   D. every afternoon

(   ) 2. What does Alice volunteer to do in summer?

   A. To sleep under the stars.

   B. To breath the clean mountain air.

   C. To spend the whole summer living in a tent.

   D. To help build new hiking paths in the mountains.

(   ) 3. From the passage,we know that Jason Moore .

   A. likes reading   B. is 18 years old

   C. isn't very rich   D. is good at sport

(   ) 4.        wants to be a teacher.

   A. Alice Hamilton   B. Jason Moore

   C. Trish Anderson   D. None of them

(   ) 5. Which is the most possible title for this passage?

   A. Reading for Life   B. A Special House Program

   C. The Forest Center   D. Young American Volunteers

Man,101,Passes Driver's Test Alden Couch celebrated (庆祝) his 101st birthday last Monday. He also c 1       another thing：he just p 2       his driver's test and got the driver's 1 3      (驾照) . "I haven't d 4      for 10 years,but I passed," he said.

Alden's friends h 5       a party for him. Couch drove his car to the party by h 6       ,After two cakes and a round of dancing,he drove home. Were there 101 c 7       on his cakes?

"No，no,not 101," he said on the telephone. "There would be a bonfire (篝火) with 101 candles."

Alden's son,64-year-old Bill Couch,said he sometimes f 8       his father in his car to make sure his dad drove s 9      

"I feel a lot better about that,”Bill Couch said. Alden Couch's new license will e 10       in 2012. During his lifetime,Couch has owned 10 to 15 cars. The first car he drove was his parents' car.

1. c        2. p       3. 1       4. d       5. h         

6. h        7. c       8. f        9. s       10. e       

When I read a good article in a newspaper,Fll cut it down and keep it. But usually,just as I am about to do so,I find the article on the opposite side is interesting,too. It may be a discussion on how to keep in good health,or advice on how to behave in society. If I keep one article,the other one will be destroyed. As a result,I have to give up,and I always feel sorry for it.

Often in your life,two things may appear at the same time,and both draw your attention. But you can only take up one of them; the other one has to be given up. But how you wish to get them both!So you are caught in a fix and feel sad. You may feel it strange how these things come at the same time. But that is life,and you can only accept it. It may happen that your life changes because of your choice.

I still remember a philosopher's saying, " When one door shuts,another door opens in life. " So whatever you choose,don't regret!Your choice is always right.

Whatever we do in our lifetime,wherever life's storm throws us,there must be something we can achieve and some beaches we can land on. And new views will be always there waiting for us to discover. Don't forget that God always keeps one of the two doors open for everyone. While the front door is closed,there must be a back door open for you.

(   ) 11. People may        when two things that draw their attention appear at the same time.

   A. feel sad   B. learn to give up both

   C. learn to predict the future   D. do nothing

(   ) 12. What does the underlined word "fix" mean in the passage?

   A. Repair. B. Hole. C. Breaking. D. Trouble.

(   ) 13. According to the passage the writer thinks         .

   A. when you choose one,the other may be bad

   B. we must find a place to keep away from the storm instead of landing on the beaches

   C. each coin has two sides

   D. the front door is more important than the back door

(   ) 14. We can learn from the passage that .

   A. people always face choices in life

   B. it is very easy to choose

   C. the front door is easily opened

   D. life is hard to most of us

(   ) 15. What is the best title of this passage?

   A. When One Door Shuts,Another Door Opens.

   B. That's Life.

   C. Get Two Things at the Same Time.

   D. How to Make a Decision?

Have you ever heard someone say he is going outside "to get a breath of fresh air"？

Have you ever tried to imagine what life would be like if the air was so dirty that people couldn't get a breath of fresh air?

Everyone wants to know why the air has become so bad. Well,millions of cars and factories often give out waste gas. A lot of garbage is burned every day. . . Sometimes you can smell the pollution and sometimes,when the air looks smoky,you can even see it. But more often,pollution is invisible.

Whether you can see it or not,air pollution can cause a lot of damage. Not only people,but also plants,animals or buildings would suffer from it. Sometimes polluted air flies into the sky,then falls to the earth with snow,rain or dust again,and they turn the water acidic (酸的) .And indoor air pollution comes from cigarette smoke,carpet (地毡) cleaners and other ordinary household products.

Scientists have been fighting against air pollution for many years. They ask factories control the waste gas,and they have found some new ways to make the air clean. Cars have been equipped (装备) with something to give out little gas. . . As for indoor pollution,people can just open doors and windows for a while to let the fresh air in.

Thanks to different kinds of controls,the air in the United States is better than it used to be. For example,between 1975 and 1984,the amount of carbon monoxide (—氧化碳) and sulfur dioxide (二氧孑匕^ 1) in the air dropped an average of more than 30 percent. The amount of lead dropped 70 percent. Today you can go outside to "get a breath of fresh air" in more and more places in the U. S.

(   ) 6. Why do people think that they can't get a breath of fresh air?

   A. Millions of cars and factories give out waste gas.

   B. Trash is burned every day,and cigarette smoke,carpet cleaners and other household products make the air smell bad.

   C. People can't control the air pollution effectively.

   D. All the above.

(   ) 7. What does the underlined word "invisible" mean?

   A. Unseen. B. Not able to be smelt.

   C. Not able to be heard. D. Not able to be tasted.

(   ) 8. Which is true about the acid rain?

   A. The polluted air flies into the sky,then falls to the earth with snow,rain or dust,and they can form acid rain.

   B. Acid rain is only dangerous to people or animals.

   C. Acid rain also does harm to the buildings.

   D. Both A and   C.

(   ) 9. How much did the amount of lead in the air drop from 1975 to 1984?

   A. 30% .   B. 50% .

   C. 70% .   D. The passage doesn't tell us.

(   ) 10. We can infer that         .

   A. if you live far away from factories and traffic,you'll be safe from air pollution

   B. you can always see and smell the air pollution

   C. we can open the doors and windows more to lighten indoor air pollution

   D. the waste gas from cars and factories is the only reason for air pollution

News1 TWO conjoined (连体的) twin sisters were separated (分离) successfully at a hospital in Hebei Province,Saturday. The two 40-day-old Chinese girls had been joined at the chest and abdomen (腹部) .Doctors still worry about the younger one,who also had heart (心脏) disease. They say she will have another operation after she fully gets well.

News2 FIRE broke out the second floor of the busy fourstorey Zhongbai Shopping Centre in Jilin City,Sunday. More than 50 people were killed and over 70 injured (受伤的) .Officials said the fire started in one of the shopping centre's storehouses.

News3 THE Chinese Embassy (大使馆) in Iraq's capital Baghdad reopened Monday. The embassy had been closed since the US-Iraq war began in March 2003. The last Chinese officer left Baghdad just three days before the war broke out.

News4 HOW old can an insect be? 400 million years!Last Wednesday,scientists found the world's oldest insect fossil (化石) in Britain. The fossil shows that the body of the insect was as big as a grain of rice and had wings. In the past,people thought the earliest insect was 380 million years old.

(   ) 1. What does News 3 talk about?

   A. China's back inIraq. B. Shopping centre fire.

   C. That's an old bug. D. It was a success.

(   ) 2. The operation done on the two Chinese girls was         .

   A. unsuccessful   B. cruel

   C. successful   D. strange

(   ) 3. The fire in the shopping centre started         

   A. on the fourth floor   B. in a storehouse

   C. on the third floor   D. outside the centre

(   ) 4. The Chinese Embassy in Baghdad reopened .

   A. when the US-Iraq war began

   B. before theUS-Iraqwar ended

   C. three days before the war broke out

   D. on a Monday

(   ) 5. The new find of the insect fossil showed that the earliest insect was        years older than believed.

   A. 10 million   B. 20 million

   C. 400 million   D. 380 million

Your local community is the area near your home where you work,play,and go to school. It is the neighbourhood where your f 1       make connections with other people,and the place you feel like you belong to. People are very social animals. We need to t 2       and interact (交往) with other human beings. We often understand ourselves b 3       when we discuss our opinions,emotions,and activities with other people. Making more connections with friends and family lets us put aside our worries and focus (关注) on things that are more i 4      ：the people we care about.

Communities grow and c 5       over time. Families move from one city to another because of w 6       or family situations. Older adults often move to smaller homes or vacation areas after their children have grown up and moved out to s 7       families of thier own. New families move in when others 1 8       .

Basic (基本的) community s 9       such as police,fire,post office,health,and public schools,remain steady (稳定的) forces in the community,a10       some people may retire (退休) or move on. Businesses provide services to the community,too. Stores sell things that people need,restaurants sell prepared food,and offices provide different kinds of skilled work.

1. f          2. t        3. b      4. i       5. c      

6. w       7. s       8. 1       9. s          10. a      

We always celebrated Dad's birthday on Thanksgiving Day,even after he entered a nursing home. As years went on,these celebrations had double meanings to us―a traditional birthday party for Dad,thanking him for all that he had done for us in our lives. When we knew it might be his last birthday,the whole family decided to get together for a huge birthday celebration at the nursing home.

Dad was a good storyteller and we were always his listeners. But at this special moment,I announced it was now Dad's turn to listen to stories for a change. I asked everyone to tell Dad why he loved him. The room became still. Then one after another,people told stories from their hearts,while Dad listened with tears in eyes. People brought kinds of stories back to our minds―stories about when they were little,stories about when Dad was young,and stories that shared family happiness.

The stories went on one after another. Everyone seemed to have more than one story. Even the little grandchildren couldn't wait to tell Dad why they loved him. For a man who had been kind to so many people in his life,here was our chance to celebrate him. A few months later,at Dad's memorial service,we more fully realized what we had given Dad that night. Those are the stories people usually tell at a funeral (葬礼) after a loved one is no longer alive to hear the words. They tell stories,full of tears. But we had given those memories to Dad in his life,and we had told them through laughter,accompanied (伴随) by hugs and joys. He had them in his mind during his last days and months.

Words do matter,and they are enough. We just need to say them or to speak them publicly to the ones we love. That's the way to give back love and our chance to celebrate a person in his or her life.

(   ) 11. The writer's family decided to hold a big party for his father this time because

   A. it was the most important birthday for his father

   B. all his family were at home this time

   C. they were going to move to a new house

   D. it might be the last birthday for his father

(   ) 12. According to this passage,we know         .

   A. the writer's father was still enjoying good health

   B. all the family loved the father including the little grandchildren

   C. the party was held at the writer's home

   D. the doctor told the writer his father was going to die at once

(   ) 13. From this passage,we know the writer's father was               to hear the stories.

   A. surprised   B. moved   C. sad   D. frustrated

(   ) 14. We can infer from this passage         .

   A. it is more important to tell stories to an old person when he is alive

   B. it is not easy to show our love to him when he is alive

   C. words are the most important way to express our love

   D. people often tell stories about a dead person when he is not alive

(   ) 15. The best title of this passage can be         .

   A. A Moving Story   B. A Kind Father

   C. Say Our Love Publicly   D. A Big Party

Hello,my name's Xiao Jingwen. You can call me Irene. Fm 14 years old. I was born inChina. I used to live in Wuhan,Hubei. Now I am in Year 10        at Park side Community College,a school in Cambridge,UK. I'll tell you about the fun things I do in this country.

I like cycling,especially here in the UK. I live in Cambridge,where I can get anywhere on my bike. But biking in theUKis a different experience from biking inChina.

First of all,you have to ride on the left hand side of the road,not the right as you do in China. It was quite a challenge for me when I got here.

Once when I was on my bike I heard someone yell at me ," Wrong side!Wrong side！" I didn't get it first but then I saw the cars rushing by me. I was scared. Thank God,nothing crashed into me!

UK bikes have something Chinese bikes don't: lights. A white light at the front and a red one at the back. They are for safety when you're riding in the dark. If you don't have your lights on and the police stop you,you can be fined (罚款) .

You also need bicycle clips (装备) for your trousers and a helmet (头盔) .The clips are to stop your trousers getting caught in the chain.

Some people also have a milometer (计程表) on the handlebars (车把) .It shows them how many miles they have traveled.

But Chinese bikes have somethingUKbikes don't. In China,there are stands at the backs of bikes. You don't see those in theUK.

This means people can't just leave their bikes anywhere. There are special parks where you leave your bike. Smart,isn't it?

(   ) 6. According to the passage,which city did Irene use to live in?

   A. Hubei. B. Wuhan.

   C. Parkside. D. Cambridge.

(   ) 7. From the passage we learn that         

   A. Irene once crashed by a car

   B. inChina,you can see stands at the backs of bikes

   C. UK bikes have lights at the back only

   D. it was easy for Irene to bike in England at the beginning

(   ) 8. It's clear that         .

   A. you have to ride on the right side of the road inEngland

   B. people can just leave their bikes anywhere

   C. if you don't have your lights on,the police will stop you

   D. people must have a milometer on the handlebars

(   ) 9. The underlined word "stands" in the passage means "         ”.

   A. bears   B. frames   C. tables   D. places

(   ) 10. Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

   A. Cycling inEngland

   B. Differences betweenChinaandEngland

   C. Bicycles inEngland

   D. Young Chinese inEngland